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BASE TRAINING WEEKS 1-4
Remember that the emphasis here is on aerobic workouts. There are
no high intensity sessions at this stage. Make sure you drink and
eat sufficiently during training, for example use High5 Energy Source.
WEEK 1 EXAMPLE (Start week)
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New to MTB Rider |
Regular MTB Rider |
Experienced MTB Rider |
| Monday |
30 minutes MTB |
REST |
45min MTB |
| Tuesday |
REST |
45 minutes MTB |
REST |
| Wednesday |
REST |
REST |
30 min turbo / road ride |
| Thursday |
30 minutes cross training session |
45 minutes cross training session |
45 minutes cross training session |
| Friday |
REST |
REST |
REST |
| Saturday |
1 hour MTB / Road bike |
1 hour 30 min MTB / Road |
2 hour MTB / road bike |
| Sunday |
REST |
30 minutes cross train or MTB |
45 minutes cross training session |
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PROGRESSIONS WEEK 1-4
Week 2 (build week) – Repeat the
same workouts as week 1 and keep your 30 minute sessions unchanged.
Increase the duration of other sessions by 15 minutes. Regular MTBers
and experienced riders should increase the duration of their longest
ride (Saturday) by 30 minutes.
Week 3 (push week) - Repeat the same workouts
as week 2, still keeping your 30 minute session unchanged. Increase
the duration of other sessions by another 15 minutes. Regular MTBers
and experienced riders should also increase the duration of their
longest ride (Saturday) by 30 minutes.
Week 4 (recovery week) - Continue the
same number of workouts this week but reduce all of the week 1 times
by 15 minutes.
SAMPLE WORKOUTS WEEK 1 TO WEEK 4 FOR ALL GROUPS
• Café ride. Social ride at conversation pace. Don't
try to race your mates up the hills - hold back. No anaerobic work.
• Ride a rolling course with several easy hills. Stay seated.
Don't muscle up the hills.
• Turbo trainer - focus on spinning / pedalling
technique and maintaining a high cadence of 80-90 rpm.
• Really easy flat ride – focus on keeping high cadence
and good technique
For riders competing in MTB-Marathons at the end of the season -
If your first MTB marathon is towards the end of the summer and
you have a second base phase to complete, repeat the base phase
again exactly as you did for weeks 1-4. If you have a 3rd, 4th or
5th base phase blocks, repeat the 4-week cycle again but this time
increase the duration of all the training sessions (except your
30minute session) in the start week by 15 minutes and continue to
progress from there in the same way as before. If your base phase
extends well into April and May, you can also afford to increase
the intensity of some of your rides. Work a little harder on the
hills, occasionally race your mates but leave off the specific interval
training until closer to your event, otherwise you will peak too
soon!
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