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MTB Training (What is the best approach)
I'm keen to increase my average speed but not sure on the approach.
If I want to ride 40km @ 20km per hr (Cascades/Terry Hills)
- Do I ride 20km (ave) for 30min and then increase by increments to 2hrs OR
- Do I ride the entire 40km over and over and then maybe I hit 20km/hr
Also what Cadence should I aim for, is average 80 enough and how is average cadence calculated (Garmin 705) when you are going downhill (not pedaling)
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Interesting question.
To average 20km/h at Terrey Hills is probably a bit easier than doing it at Cascades (due to the hills). Manly Dam is harder still due to the pockets of single track and technical parts.
I reckon for any kind of training - just get out there and ride the terrain you want to get better/faster at over and over.
However, hills are also your friends. If you punish yourself up and down a hill then it should make a difference. Come to ride a flat trail and it'll feel a lot easier. FWIW, I read once that the ideal hill to train on is one it takes around 6 minutes to ride up. Guess someone figured out that's good interval training? I tried that kind of hill recently and it's seemed as good as any.
1. Ignore measuring cadence on the trail practice on the road.
2. Practice your cornering, braking and technical skills. The better you are with these, the more flow you will have riding taking less energy. Eg. If you don't have a good cornering technique you generally end up braking hard and then accelerating hard. I remember riding behind a guy around Appin and he was so smooth it looking like he was hovering off the ground when he rode.
3. For fitness just get out there and ride ride ride.
My 2psi worth
there are very few 'right' or 'wrong' approaches to training. I coach a couple of people at the moment, to some sucess, so am happy to share the principles...
Firstly, cadence is important - but not actually the specific number. I agree with the above comment that you should ignore it on the trail, and train it on the road...but consider this...if I was to ask you, me or Lance Armstrong to perform a time trial on the road, we would all have a cadence of around 90-100(ish). Thats generally accepted as 'optimal' - there are examples at either end of this range however.
If you were to measure your cadence on an MTB race/time trial, you would do very very well to average over 85.
Its just not possible to get up to 90/100 off road. Soo....do you keep training at the 100rpm on the road, or actually practice lowering your cadence on the road to replicate the muscular tension of the lower cadence off road.
I'd do that. Bigger gears in training to replicate the cadence of a race.
Set your Garmin to calculate averages excluding zeros. Very important.
Re the average speed - sure - get out and ride - but riding slowly really only makes you good at riding slowly. As in your example, ride in blocks (lets call them intervals) ABOVE the overally average speed required, but for shorter periods, with rest. Initially, I'd have a go at 4 blocks of 10mins at around the 21/22kph range, with 5mins recovery.
Speed is a horrible measure, given the external factors, but you get the picture.
Riding fast (and lets not mess about - 20kph on an MTB, off road, is swift) requires skill, and fitness. They both come from practice. At speed.
Cornering, gear selection, braking etc - its all different at different speeds. All of those things affect average speed as much as fitness alone.
Happy to share more ideas if you like. PM me.
This is what my training schedule is starting to look like at the moment.
Spin x 2 a week
Commute to Work but putting extra K's on the way there x 2 a week
and ideally at least one long road ride and (when the weather improves) a MTB ride as well.
and 1 rest day.
That has been benefitting me from a fitness point of view, I know I need to work on my cadence which is something I am starting to do.
Thanks for the feedback, all relevant and makes sense. Cheers
I must admit, I thought MTB riding would make you a fast MTB rider but based on the comments (amongst other things) is that most peope ride both MTB and Road.
I commute to work (haven't recently due to the crappy weather and me being soft, but that's another story...lol). I initially was riding about 12km I think it was, and was simply riding that as hard as I could. I found that my legs were getting really sore and simply not recovering and I was getting crook quite easily. I was going to bed late, and not really caring about what I ate. I was also riding my Norco 6, so not the best commuter bike, but it was fun hucking off anything and everything I could find on my route. lol
Since then, I've started riding my Rush which has much better geo. I've routed a 17km route and includes a decent hill to climb. I again pedal that as hard as I can for the entire time. I do this both ways. I also push a big gear and really try and crank it maintaining a reasonable cadence. I found within a few weeks, I was killing it. My general fitness and mtb strength improved dramatically. Everyone's different, so what applies to one person may not be suitable for another. I also changed a few things. I made a concious effort to eat really well and get more sleep than normal. ie go to bed about 1-2 hrs earlier than normal to get about 8-10 hrs sleep, otherwise I was getting too tired. The extra sleep made it better. I also make up a Endura recovery drink every time I get home. This alleviated the sore legs that I was getting when I was commuting with the Norco.
I always look at the combination of ave speed, and time it took to ride. I write all the ride details down and follow the progress of my training. The ride details aren't 100% accurate, as I am always slowing for people on the paths/tracks. Stopping to cross roads etc. But it's a good guide to see how you're going. I also take note of the gearing I use to climb hills. As I noticed (which is painfully obvious when you think about it) the fitter I get the taller gear I can be in, to comfortably climb.
Hope that gives you a few more ideas.
Horner, given the amount of work you've given yourself (been given?
) on the house you won't be riding for a year! Laying those massive tiles should keep you fit...or not...lol 
The amount of rest you give yourself is equally important as the contents of the training program. The comments above on ensuring adequate sleep are important. I tend to habitually cut myself short here by failing to prioritise my time properly.
Additionally:
Under 40: one easy week with reduced training volume every fourth week
Over 40: one easy week every third week.
If you don't give yourself adequate recovery then you dig yourself into a hole... as I did last week and ended up getting sick.
If you like to read good information, a copy of The Mountain Biker's Training Bible by Joe Friel is worth picking up. This is where I got the above idea from and it has helped me previously to get off the plateau and continue the upward trend.
There is already lots of decent advice been given but you might also want to check our Mark Fenner's training approach. Back in the day those with the time would turn to LSD (no not the seventies, long slow duration). Fenner focuses on those of us with less time to train due to a busy lifestyle (so that everyone then).
There are some PDFs here:
http://www.enduropulse.com.au/index.php?option=c...
He also offers training service and can taylor individual programs to suit you: http://www.ftptraining.com/
Does anyone have any experience of using one of his programs at all ?
Fenner has a program in the second-latest issue of AMB that I am following (or was until I lost my copy
). Seems to be yielding some improvement.
Just by the way, in that first of three Enduro mag articles listed above, I feel Fenner misrepresents Friel's approach. Friel and Fenner share much common ground. (Carmichael I know nothing about.)
In the AMB article, Fenner schedules 4-weekly recovery weeks per Friel's approach, but doesn't really develop the idea in the Enduro series. I'm guessing his thinking has continued to develop, which is what you'd want to see from a coach.
Anyways, like you I'm just a punter looking to improve...
I followed Fenners training for a couple of months and it certainly worked for me. This was just before the Jetblack 24 and we not only got first in our "oldtimers" class but first overall team of 4 (although this was most certainly to do with my team mates). I was just using the PDF files that I linked in the other post. It's intense though.
Hawkeye, I would imagine the misrepresentation was due to their training programs being so radically different. My understanding from reading Friel's book (as much as I could bear to read anyway) was that it was for those with a lot more time on their hands that I could allow myself. It's certainly a book for the "very" keen.
If anyone was to spend money on a MTB training book I would recommend Brian Lope's book - Mastering Mountain bike skills. It's simple and fun, it's done wonders for me, especially on my cornering and power.
Carmichael's book for time crunched cyclists was interesting. Essentially he developed a more intense program for people who didn't have enough time to do one of his standard (more traditional) training programs. The rationale is that you have to increase the intensity if your not doing enough hours at a lower intensity to ensure that your putting your body under enough stress so that it responds with improved performance.
They key point was that you could only do the 10-12 week program 3 times a year as it accentuated the peaks and troughs of any training program so you were really only good for a 3 week period during each training cycle.
Bottom line is that any of the training plans from professional coaches are better than doing your own thing.
Just my 2c worth.