New to 100 mile MTB Plan

[BigStuff]

I just got your 100 mile MTB finisher plan and it looks awesome.

I am in week 1 day 2.  Just did my test ride….I am doing the Park City Point to Point in 12 weeks.  This is my first time doing a long distance race.  

I have spent the last 14 weeks building and have gotten my weekly ride time up to 10 to 13 hours and my longest ride has been 6 hours.  

Last week was a recovery week.

 

Questions:  

1. Your long rides for the first several weeks are 4 hours and build from there.  Since I have worked up to 5 and 6 hours already should I modify my long ride length or stick with your plan?

2. The race is a ton of climbing on single track and not much in the way of cross country.  Any suggestions to modify the training plan to include more hill training? (I live in Park City so I know the race course well and can train on it anytime I want)

3.  The race day is Saturday.  Your plan is for the race on Sunday.  How do I modify the last week?

Thanks!

[Lynda]

1. Stick with the plan and focus on nailing every session including the stretching and core strength work. Start out with a focus on quality not quantity.

2. Do most of your endurance rides on the race course or similar trails. Do all of your intervals uphill.

3. Miss out week 12 day 2 and move everything after that up a day to pull your race day onto Saturday.

Good luck at P2P – it is a first class event.

Lynda

[BigStuff]

Awesome.  I am on it!

[BigStuff]

Hi Lynda,

 

I am in week 2 of the 100 mile MTB finisher plan.  I have taken your advice about focusing my endurance rides on the race course (or similar trails).  

 

On my long endurance ride on Sunday I was unable to keep my heart rate in zone 2  on the climbs.  Some of the climbs are pretty steep or are semi-technical with steep switches and they take a little “punch” to keep momentum and that pulls me into zone 3 and sometimes zone 4.

My average HR for the whole 4 hours is at the high end of zone 2, but 98 mins was above zone 2.

 

My #'s were as follows

zone 1: 59 mins (on the road to and from trail head)

zone 2: 1:37:05 

zone 3 and 4: 1:35:45

above threshold: 3 minutes 40 seconds

 

Is this okay for my endurance rides to be out of zone 2 so much?

Your feedback would be awesome, thanks

[Lynda]

Pedal in your easiest gear as slow as you can on the steep parts then pedal easy for recovery and bring your HR back down where the grade lessens. The ability to ride really slowly and recover on the lesser grades is an important one for race day. As your fitness increases you will be able to stay in zone 2 for longer.

Lynda

[BigStuff]

Good advice. Will do.  I think I need to drop 5 more pounds as well 

[Lynda]

For most riders dropping 5lbs will make a significant performance increase on the climbs. Partly as you have less to push up against gravity and partly because it is easier to shed heat at the slower climbing speeds when you are wearing less insulation.

Lynda

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