Wow! Looks like U will be fit when summer comes, thinking about doing some HIT training too..as of right now I cant find the energy...and the weather has decided to bless us with some more snow.
a long time ago 25 years or so I had a guy at the gym ask me what I was working out for. At the time it did not make since to me to young I guess . Well as I got older and a little wiser I hope I realized to be a top performing athlete it takes everything. Rest , nutrition, Cardio and weight training. I strive to get a balance of all. I try to do thing in the gym that will compliment whatever sport I might be obsessing on at the time. I find with mountain biking upper body strength has helped me a lot. I usually do some sort of push pull exercise and focus on muscle endurance. I will also push myself beyond my comfort zone every time. I figure why waste my time in the gym if Im not pushing myself. Another thing to remember is doing your exercise with the right form. I have spent the better part of thirty years working out and see so many people doing things wrong. I was one of those at one time. Do your home work and think about proper form always. You can avoid injuries and get the best milage out of your work out. Remember be efficient .
I just started training for an Enduro race in early June.
I recently raced the 25 proof at the Whiskey Offroad and almost died, it was the hardest race Ive ever done. I was going anaerobic maxing my HR on most of the steep climbs and subsequently got pretty dehydrated with horrible cramps towards the end of the race.
I know that an XC race is different than Enduro in that I can take my time and save my gastank on the climbs. Still, the Whiskey experience made me realize that I need to prioritize my base fitness before focusing on strength and power.
I did a little reading on HR zone training and invested in a cheap HR monitor. My general training plan is to focus on base training and "Race day prep".
If the base training is my physical preparation for the race, then "race day prep" is my psychological preparation. For example, I just picked up some flat pedals for my trail bike and plan to give them a solid month to see how I like them, but during this current month of training I'm only riding on my SPDs because that's what I'm racing on. I'm riding the bike I'll be racing on, and on my non-base rides I'm riding trails that most resemble the race course.
Every 2nd or 3rd day is a recovery day. I use a muscle roller and stretch 20-90 minutes every night (this is absolutely critical for me). I have 5 weeks and my general training plan is to pick and choose from the following:
-Weekends: base ride. 2+ hours in HR zone 2. Either 1 epic ride and a rest day, or 2 less epic rides.
-Weekdays: 1-1.5 hours short ride in HR zone 3 & 4. Shred smooth, flow fast, less brakes.
-Weekdays: bodyweight training week 1-4. Just picked up James Wilson's "no gym no problem" need to look into that. Otherwise I'll stick to my usual: pushups, burpees, deadlifts, squats, lunge variations, plank variations.
-Everyday: 20-90 minutes muscle roller and yoga
I'm not sure if I'll update like some of you did, I just came across this and jumped on the opportunity to formulate a training plan. train hard, ride hard!
I just started training for an Enduro race in early June.
I recently raced the 25 proof at the Whiskey Offroad and almost died, it was the hardest race Ive ever done. I was going anaerobic maxing my HR on most of the steep climbs and subsequently got pretty dehydrated with horrible cramps towards the end of the race.
I know that an XC race is different than Enduro in that I can take my time and save my gastank on the climbs. Still, the Whiskey experience made me realize that I need to prioritize my base fitness before focusing on strength and power.
I did a little reading on HR zone training and invested in a cheap HR monitor. My general training plan is to focus on base training and "Race day prep".
If the base training is my physical preparation for the race, then "race day prep" is my psychological preparation. For example, I just picked up some flat pedals for my trail bike and plan to give them a solid month to see how I like them, but during this current month of training I'm only riding on my SPDs because that's what I'm racing on. I'm riding the bike I'll be racing on, and on my non-base rides I'm riding trails that most resemble the race course.
Every 2nd or 3rd day is a recovery day. I use a muscle roller and stretch 20-90 minutes every night (this is absolutely critical for me). I have 5 weeks and my general training plan is to pick and choose from the following: -Weekends: base ride. 2+ hours in HR zone 2. Either 1 epic ride and a rest day, or 2 less epic rides.
-Weekdays: 1-1.5 hours short ride in HR zone 3 & 4. Shred smooth, flow fast, less brakes.
-Weekdays: bodyweight training week 1-4. Just picked up James Wilson's "no gym no problem" need to look into that. Otherwise I'll stick to my usual: pushups, burpees, deadlifts, squats, lunge variations, plank variations.
-Everyday: 20-90 minutes muscle roller and yoga
I'm not sure if I'll update like some of you did, I just came across this and jumped on the opportunity to formulate a training plan. train hard, ride hard!
You said you had problems with maxing out your HR. You need to do training at threshold i.e. zone 5 (or 6 if you use a 6 zone scale) and then have a short rest period and repeat. Intervals will train your body to cope better with being pushed to the upper limit and recover for the next push instead of burning out. Doing two weekend rides, one in zone 2 and one in zone 3/4 and then doing intervals during the week would seem the better way to go about it. Also the muscle roller and yoga is a great addition