The Merida Bikes MTB Marathon Series Training planner 2008

The programme and training sessions detailed on this website are only intended as a guide for your training. The training planner is certainly more MTB focused but if you are looking for some inspiration for your road sportive training very similar rules will apply. Please use the suggested training plan only as a guideline for your personal training. The training planner does not take into consideration every cyclist’s personal training needs and so it will be necessary to adapt and modify the programme according to your cycling experience and the time available for training.

As we head into the fifth year of the Merida Bikes MTB Marathons Series and into the 1st year of the GORE BIKEWEAR Road Sportive series you may already have a couple of events under your belt and be looking to be even fitter and faster than last season. Or perhaps you are new to this game and having heard what fun these events can be, you’ve decided to give it a go yourself. Whatever your level, you will find our training planner a useful guide that will maximise your preparation and fitness over the next few months. We’ve included all sorts of useful information from warming up and stretching to nutrition and hydration; event preparation and weight training to turbo-training and pedalling technique. There should be something for everyone whether you are hoping to achieve a top 10 placing or just reach the finish line with a smile on your face.

The Training Planner is your 17-week guide to fitness, it should give you a good idea of what to do to enjoy our events to the full and get the best out of yourself as you ride through the wilderness. As the subject is very extensive we can only give you a taster and some basic ground rules here. If you have any further questions drop us an email to training@mtb-marathon.co.uk and we will try to help. So let’s get on with it!

Even if you are just venturing out into the world of endurance events, looking only to complete your chosen distance, you will find that the fitter you are on the day, the more enjoyable the riding will be! Planned training might sound pretty frightening so let’s first dispel some myths!

• Training is just for the professionals. Not at all - In fact training principles can be used by anyone wanting to improve their general fitness regardless of the point at which you start.

• Training sounds a bit serious – OK so some people do take it seriously but riding should still be fun (isn’t that what it’s all about?!!) The good news is that a ride with your mates out to a pub or café at the weekend still counts as a training session!

• Training sounds too much like hard work – There will be times that riding your bike is hard, but following a training programme does not mean that you have to bust a gut on every ride you do. In fact this is not a good way to train. Easy low effort rides are excellent at building fitness.