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Glentress 7 – as many laps of a xc course in 7 hours. No flat sections! No respite! 15th place in age group and approx 90/ 100 mins faster than my last solo effort a few years ago.
I kept the effort constant and each lap was pretty much the same time throughout the day, previously I would fade or start too quickly, my last lap was with my fastest lap and I was fit enough to ride all the very steep up hills throughout the whole race, previously I would err on caution and save some energy on these sections as my HR would rocket or I would be digging deep and it used to sap strength , but all good this year. I put this down to the high intensity intervals in the plan, it helps build strength even if your not racing at those levels in this type of event, I would also recover very quickly after them to keep on the pace as the hill levelled out a bit.
The main thing thing that helped this year was consistency, right from the base plan which I did 6 weeks (carefully after an Op) then 12 weeks , followed by the pre race plan, I chose the 50 mile plan , which was perfect , I completed 7 laps and 48 miles! and felt pretty ok afterwards too!
However I did notice the lack of mtb Downhill fitness on the rougher sections of the course also put this down to doing my longer rides on smoother trails with shorter downhill sections, and also the only place i was not good at the plan was on the strength exercises no real excuse, but due to covid and injury I have still lost that particular routine and nervous going into an enclosed gym and nervous of getting another hernia!The downhills were also dry and fast , better set up of suspension on all the rooty sections may have smoothed things out a bit too, I somehow bashed my arm above my wrist so was in pain on the downhill , gripping the bar became an issue, I tried to relax my grip but the arm was causing the issue and emphasized the stiff set up I usually enjoy! I think its a roadie thing!!
Sometime forgot to unlock the lockout too!! which did not help either!
Advice to others… be consistent, follow the plan, if your time crunched do something its better than nothing. make use if the rest days and stick to them, it benefits the recovery.
My only regret is that I did lots of mtb course marshalling and some non active meetings in the lead up to the event so gained a few kg eating with a routine change , so some improvement there would have helped a bit but not a massive issue really.
Overall I am over 14lb lighter than 5 years ago. Thats a big advantage too and when combined with consistent training gives proper results.Thanks Lynda.
Great plans and now to choose another event for this year and then the plan to go with it I have quite a few now!
I hope your season goes well to for yourself and all your athletes.
Graham (rider in Scotland, UK)
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