PEAK SEASON WEEKS 13-16
You should now be feeling at the peak of fitness, reaping the benefits
of all those weeks of training!!! These last few weeks prior to
the event weekend are for the final steps towards your goal.
The longest training ride that you will do takes place during these
4 weeks approximately 2 weeks before the event.
Rides continue to be a balance of low and high intensity. By this
stage you should be practicing the good eating and drinking habits
you will use on the day of the marathon – try High5 energy
source in your bottle.
WEEK 13 EXAMPLE (Start week)
New to MTB Rider
Regular MTB Rider
Experienced MTB Rider
Monday
REST
REST
1 hour 30 minutes MTB
Tuesday
1hr 15mins MTB
1 hour 30 minutes MTB
30 mins cross train or turbo (optional)
Wednesday
REST
30 mins cross train or MTB (optional)
1 hour 15mins turbo / road ride
Thursday
45 minutes MTB / Road bike
1 hour MTB / Road bike
45 minutes cross training session or MTB
Friday
REST
REST
REST
Saturday
2 hour 15min MTB
3 hours MTB/road bike
3 hours 30 minutes MTB / road bike
Sunday
30 mins cross train or MTB (optional)
1 hour cross train or MTB
1 hour MTB
Week should consist of:
3 low intensity rides
1 high intensity ride or long interval
3 or 4 low intensity rides.
1 or 2 high intensity rides (eg - one short and one long interval
session)
4 low intensity rides.
2 high intensity rides. Including one short and one long interval
session
PROGRESSIONS WEEK 13-16
Week 14 (build week) - Repeat the same
workouts as week 13 but increase the duration of each session by
15 minutes and the duration of your longest ride (Saturday) by 45
minutes.
Week 15 (push week) - Repeat the same
workouts as week 14 but increase the duration of each session by
another 15 minutes and the duration of your longest ride (Saturday)
by another 60 minutes. This is your longest ride before the event.
It should be done at an easy pace with steady efforts up the hills.
Remember your basic kit for endurance
rides and to drink and eat regularly.
Those New to MTB will therefore ride for 3 hours 45 minutes. Regular
MTBers will ride for 4 hours 45 minutes. Experienced riders will
ride for 5 hours 15 minutes.
Week 16 (recovery) - Remove two workouts
from the week and replace it with extra rest days. Stay away from
interval training this week and enjoy the rest.
SAMPLE WORKOUTS WEEK 13 TO WEEK 16 - ALL GROUPS
LOW INTENSITY RIDES
The longer rides of the week should take the form of one of the
workouts below.
• Café ride. Social ride at conversation pace. Keep
moving. Don't try to race your mates up the hills - hold back. No
anaerobic work.
• On a rolling course with several easy hills, keep in the
big chain ring. Stay seated. Don't muscle up the hills.
• Turbo trainer - focus on spinning / technique and maintaining
a high cadence of 80-90 rpm.
• Really easy flat ride - focus on keeping high cadence and
good technique.
• Turbo trainer - do a 10 minutes warm up. In an easy gear
try to spin as fast as possible for 30 secs. Repeat 5-10 times with
1 minute recovery each time. 10 minutes cool down.
HIGH INTENSITY RIDES
• Repeat the 30 minutes time trial done in previous weeks.
• Ride for between 60 and 90 minutes at a moderate pace. Not
quite flat out but at a sustainable pace. Concentrate on good technique
INTERVAL TRAINING (1)
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride flat out for 2 minutes. Rest
by cycling slowly for 3 minutes. Rpt 3-5 times (New to MTB Rider).
Cool down.
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride flat out for 3 minutes. Rest
by cycling slowly for 3 minutes. Rpt 4-6 times (Regular MTBer).
Cool down.
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride flat out for 3 minutes. Rest
by cycling slowly for 2 minutes. Rpt 5-8 times (Experienced MTB
Rider). Cool down.
• As above but intervals are done up hill. Recover by riding
back to the bottom of the hill.
INTERVAL TRAINING (2)
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride moderate hard pace for 6
minutes. Slow cycle 3 minutes. Repeat 3-5 times (New to MTB Rider).
Cool down.
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride moderate hard pace for 6
minutes. Slow cycle 3 minutes. Repeat 4-6 times (Regular MTBer).
Cool down.
• 10 minutes warm up - Then ride moderate hard pace for 7-8
minutes. Slow cycle 3-4 minutes. Repeat 3-8 times (Experienced MTB
Rider). Cool down.
TRAINING
Merida Bikes TransWales '08
The 7 day MTB stage challenge.
Check the full story and the results on www.mtbtransuk.co.uk
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