Training Volume

[ubermensch]

I'm curious to see what the training habits are like for those that race. Things like time in the saddle or milage per week are what I'm looking for, but it'd be nice if there are more details like the types of rides (intensity), what type of racing you do, what category you race in, etc. Your results in the races might be interesting too, but that's definitely optional.

I'm absolutely sure that my hour or less of mtb I do a week right now is not enough for me to be competitive, but I'm already itching to find a starting line somewhere, so I want to know what you guys/gals are doing.

[allison]

If you're just starting out, just get out there whenever you can.

Justin and I are going to be getting around 10 hours a week for the next month or so, but there isn't a ton of time left over for much else. About an hour of TV a night and otherwise I'm just getting ready for the next day.

However, we also do the gym for 30 mins 3 days a week, I do yoga 1-2 times a day, and then I do either physical therapy exercises, or core exercises, for like 10-15 mins a night.

So, I do quite a bit of other stuff throughout the day as well.

To be competitive next year I will need to up my training volume and intensity. But, for now this is all I can manage I think.

I'd say shoot for 5-8 hours if you can swing it.

My time is only counting 3.5 hours (ride time only) on Saturday, and 2 hours on Sunday. Actual time on the bike (as in, I hope on at the trailhead, and then return) on Saturday's is more likely 6+ hours, but very rarely is there that much pedaling. My actual ride time will probably be increasing, though.

I may also add more time on Monday's (ride at lunch or after work in addition to commuting), and then possibly do what Justin did yesterday (2.5 hours) to commute, ride at lunch, and ride after work. But, that's a lot of pedaling spread out, and makes my legs hurt just thinking about it.

You'll find people that ride a lot less and people that ride a lot more. This is about my max for time and work.

Most of the winter I did one hour interval session during the week (maybe 2, but usually just one). No commuting. Every other weekend was like a 6 hour ride time ride, then something shorter the next day, and the other weekend was a XC race, DH practice, DH race. So, not much worth of volume or anything else on Sunday, and Saturday was just a trash myself fest, basically.

[mp3]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

I'm absolutely sure that my hour or less of mtb I do a week right now is not enough for me to be competitive

Are you sure? Have you tried it?
I know a few guys that don't train very much or don't train at all and they're animals on a bike.

My brother rides once in awhile, but is still very capable of handing me my arse.

[allison]

Originally Posted by mp3

My brother rides once in awhile, but is still very capable of handing me my arse.

That isn't fair

[Zippy]

You'd do fairly well racing Beginner by training 3-5 days per week. I'd include a 1-2 hour "skill" session, a 1:30 minute session of hill repeats and one longer, aerobic ride of up to 3 hours duration.

I would also recommend a weight session 1-2 times per week for one hour each session or some home exercises depending on time and gym availability.

When you first start out, simply riding more will improve your cycling. Once you hit a fitness plateau, you may wish to begin periodizing your training and increasing the specificity of your workouts to break through.

I'd recommend Joe Friel's "The Cyclist's Training Bible" or
Ned Overend's "Mountain Bike Like a Champion" to help you figure out what and how much you'd like to do.

Do not ignore the importance of proper nutrition, you can see fitness gains of 10-20% just by eating a proper diet.

If you have the cash, hire a coach. He or she can help you avoid "rookie" mistakes and help you maximize your available training time by cutting out "junk miles". (I'm a coach and I have one, so I'm biased).

My training volume is kinda weird since I'm one of those goofy Triathletes, but my swimming, cycling, running and weights add up to 12-17 hours per week.

Training and racing can burn you out fast, be sure to do some fun stuff to keep from losing motivation: group rides, single speed, road, track, whatever.

Good luck , PM me if you have any more questions.

[jbiron]

After two seasons (16 races) as sport I have three races under my belt in the expert 45-49 class.

As a sport I typically did four rides a week with one high intensity effort (intervals or race pace) and one longer road ride. The other rides were mountain biking, taking it very easy on the climbs and pushing it on the descents.
Once every 4-5 weeks I'd do an exta long ride followed the next week by and extra high intesity effort, followed the next week by an extra day of rest and no long or high intesity efforts. This rest week was leading up to race day. Total volume for two long ride weeks was 6 hrs and for the rest week was 4 hours including the race. I also did 2 days/wk in the gym. 3 days/wk core work, stetching 1-2 times/day.

This simple schedule seamed to work well for me. I won the last race of my 1st season (6th race ever) and won 8 for the 10 races I did my 2nd season with one of "loses" being a 2nd at Sea Otter.

The jump to the expert class is huge, not only are the races long, but pace is unbelievable. I borrowed a road bike and intended to do a lot of enderance work in to off season. Unfortunatly I got a bad flu and was off the bike almost the whole of Dec and spent Jan just getting back to where I was.

I'm pretty much on the same schedule, but my volume on the extra long weeks is now up to 8 hrs and an interval session is typically 8 reps, up form 6.

Concidering my competion and the fact that I had never even done a training ride as far as the average expert class race, I set some modest goals for this year, top 10 in every race and make at least one podium. Well I podiumed in my 1st race, SRWS # 4, with a 3rd behind Johnny O'mera and Dermot Carol. I placed eighth and Bonelli and NMBS #1 at Fontana. At 27 mi Bonelli was the fartest I've every riden on a bike. I'm two full gears faster on most climbs that last year, but I've finished 14-15 min behind O'mera in each race. I'll continue to gradually increase my volume and race myself into shape and hopefully make another podium against these more experienced racers.

[ubermensch]

I can get used to this--I ask for through, and I get thorough!

As for being an animal, I've been riding just long enough to know that I'm not one of those gifted ones, but even from the little experience I have, I'm at least happy to know that my body responds well when pushed. I found this out in January when I began riding a little more seriously and started joining group rides on the road. Immediately I started to see improvement from week to week because the training ride takes the same route every Saturday, so it was easy to gauge progress. Prior to that, I got my road bike last March, rode for 4 months, took 4 months off, then started again in November.

To make a long story short, I got bit by the race bug in March when I entered my first race (road), and now I'm just hooked because I love seeing the improvement from week to week. I know it's common for people out of shape to make big gains when they first start out, so I know not to expect it to be like this forever. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the ride to find my plateau, so I figured what better way to find it than to race? And the reason I started the thread was basically to see if I could survive a beginner mtb race.

As for training, I ride around 15 hours a week right now. The bulk of it is commuting, with a high intensity group training ride on Wednesdays, and Saturdays are the same if there is no race on Sunday. All of that is on the road, but I'm starting to sprinkle more mtb rides in there like this afternoon at the Fullerton Loop. With some time management, I might be able (read: willing) to do the minimum of 5 hours of dirt riding on Allison's scale. FWIW, at the loop, I'm about average on the flats and climbs, but downhill is where I get really left behind. Fast is good, but fast and bumpy is no good for me.

So, when and where is the next race?

[allison]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

With some time management, I might be able (read: willing) to do the minimum of 5 hours of dirt riding on Allison's scale. FWIW, at the loop, I'm about average on the flats and climbs, but downhill is where I get really left behind. Fast is good, but fast and bumpy is no good for me.

So, when and where is the next race?

Based on that.. honestly, I think all you really need is to do more trail riding if you want to be really competitive. I think you'd probably do fine now.

My only observation from roadies doing XC races is that they fall off on singletrack and can't make up the time.

So, get in some trail rides and get used to singletrack and descending.

If you really wanna know how you stack up now, head out to a race.

NMBS at Los Olivos next weekend, Rim Nordic series starting up, etc.

[ubermensch]

Originally Posted by allison

My only observation from roadies doing XC races is that they fall off on singletrack and can't make up the time.

Yep, that's me. I fall off at places where no one seems to have trouble at. Even when I look at it, it doesn't look difficult at all until I'm trying to unclip and not land on my head.

Come to think of it, maybe I avoided the trails this whole time because it's hard for me....

I'll look up the races you mentioned. thx

[Zippy]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

Yep, that's me. I fall off at places where no one seems to have trouble at. Even when I look at it, it doesn't look difficult at all until I'm trying to unclip and not land on my head.

Come to think of it, maybe I avoided the trails this whole time because it's hard for me....

I'll look up the races you mentioned. thx

I highly recommend the Rim Nordic races: cool people, cool racers, mountain venue and you can compare results from one race to the next because the same people tend to show up. On the cheap is the Racers and Chasers stuff in Temecula. Same cool vibe, easy on the wallet and a friendly atmosphere.

[BFloFoxRider.]

Just ride
after repetitivness, you'll get it down and have no problem.
Take your normal loop and do it as often as you can, then once you can do it at a decent pace without stopping for breaks, start doing it twice and so on.
Also, nutrition also helps. Eating right is key to good fitness

[allison]

Originally Posted by BFloFoxRider.

Just ride
after repetitivness, you'll get it down and have no problem.
Take your normal loop and do it as often as you can, then once you can do it at a decent pace without stopping for breaks, start doing it twice and so on.
Also, nutrition also helps. Eating right is key to good fitness

I'd actually say if you have problems with descents and singletrack, hit up new loops. Nothing like dealing with coming up on obstacles at speed and just riding them since you don't know what to expect around every corner

[BFloFoxRider.]

Originally Posted by allison

I'd actually say if you have problems with descents and singletrack, hit up new loops. Nothing like dealing with coming up on obstacles at speed and just riding them since you don't know what to expect around every corner

Thats true, but since he'll be on his home turf, he'll be able to practice setting up lines, and body positioning.
maybe im way off i just tried to help

[ubermensch]

Originally Posted by mechmann

only fix for that is more riding, and more riding with people better than you (often they are willing to help out with pointers and such).

Lucky for me, there is no shortage of people that are better.

By the way, I made notes of all the suggestions that were made, and I appreciate the help. Some of them I should have already known, like more riding, and specifically on the trails, but for whatever reason I was hellbent on racking up road miles that I forgot to take off the blinders and see the benefits of xtraining. If only there were more hours in the day.

I think I'll lighten up a little and skip the normal ride and go do the Bonelli loop instead like I've been saying for over a year now. We'll see if variety is really the spice of life and all that.

[BFloFoxRider.]

Originally Posted by ubermensch

Lucky for me, there is no shortage of people that are better.

By the way, I made notes of all the suggestions that were made, and I appreciate the help. Some of them I should have already known, like more riding, and specifically on the trails, but for whatever reason I was hellbent on racking up road miles that I forgot to take off the blinders and see the benefits of xtraining. If only there were more hours in the day.

I think I'll lighten up a little and skip the normal ride and go do the Bonelli loop instead like I've been saying for over a year now. We'll see if variety is really the spice of life and all that.

you live near bonelli?
one day we'll have to meet at the claremont wilderness trail and do the loop through marshall... its around ~14 miles with maybe 1000 feet of climbing and its really fun, with alot of downhill..

[ubermensch]

It takes me 30 minutes to get to Bonelli on a bicycle! Obviously that translates to a short car ride. Also, my brother lives in Upland and I'm there many times a week. I know exactly where the Claremont Wilderness trail is, but I've yet to ride it. Yeah, I pretty much have no excuses because the trails are all around. I might be up for a ride in Claremont sometime this weekend. I'll send a PM if it happens.

[jbiron]

If you’re currently putting in 15 hr/wk, your volume is certainly adequate for any level of XC racing. As others have said, you just need to spend more of that time doing technical riding. Trying to keep up with faster riders definitely helps and there's no better place to do that then in a race. Also what bike are you riding? I was a hardtail holdout until this year. I'm now on an S-works Epic and while it's still short on travel and steep in head angle compared to most modern bikes, my technical abilities have improved greatly. I have a benchmark, 1.5 mi downhill run that includes a variety of terrain: bermed and off-camber switchbacks, a couple of small rock gardens, and fast hardpack single track. On the HT my time throughout most of last year was 6:30 +/- 10sec. On the Epic it's now 5:50 +/- 10 sec. If there are 2 or 3 of these descents on a typical XC course, that 1:20 to 2:00 min/lap.

[mr.hobbs]

Here's my dos peso:
I'm a big beliver in train the way you race.
I typically train with the beat the clock mentality, because the type of racing I do is just that and it's on a motorcycle.
But cycling is the same in many respects. Set a baseline time on a trail and try to beat it everytime you ride.

Treat social rides as short sprint rides in between the talking.
Riding with competitive people is great. Everyone just pushes the group to the next level.
Don't forget to work on upper body strength. Your arms and hands need a good shoulder to hold them in place while your on the brakes.