Friel mentions five terms used to in regards to training stress.  I’d like to focus on three of them:  Frequency, Duration and Intensity.  You can find more info in his book Mountain Bikers Training Bible (see link in right sidebar).

FREQUENCY
This is how many training sessions are done.  Beginners may train five to six times a week and experience 10 to 20 percent improvements.  Sport to Expert (to pro) train as often as 2 workouts a day at certain times of the year.  Seven to 12 sessions in a week are more common.  However, these high frequency sessions may only produce a 1 percent gain in fitness, since these athletes are already so close to their potential.  If a beginner try to train at the the same frequency level, they would be overtraining, thus see a decrease in fitness. 

Frequency at which you work out is dependent on what you body is currently adapted to. 

DURATION
This refers to the length of every training session.  Anaerobic endurance intervals could last several hours, while recovery rides could be much shorter.  Much like frequency, the riders experience will determine the length of the workout.

The appropriate time for long rides is largely determined by they anticipated duration of your races. Workout duration equal to, or up to twice as long as, your longest race are common. But there are obvious exceptions, especially at the high end. If you are training for a 100 mile trail race, your longest rides will seldom, if ever, be as long as the anticipated race.

Note: In mountain biking, duration is measured in time while road cycling duration is measured in miles.

INTENSITY
Combining both frequency and duration refers to the volume of training, thus much easier to quantify.  Volume of training is an incomplete description of a training session since it does not account for intensity.  When you combine volume and intensity, that is referred to as ‘workload’. 

Quantifying intensity is much more difficulty than quantifying frequency and duration.  One way to quantify intensity is by use an RPE scale.  The REP scale (ratings of perceived exertion) use a 1-10 measurement, with a 10 being the hardest level of intensity (race level effort).  You can than multiple the the number of minutes by RPE and get a workload number. 

Intensity is the stressor that most athletes get wrong.  For most mountain bikers, getting intensity right is the key to moving up to the next level.

VOLUME VS. INTENSITY
Which is more important?  Should a rider get in as many minutes as possible or ride less time at higher intensity? 

The answer depends on level of experience.  A new riders would benefit from higher volume while a more experienced rider should focus on intensity.

Finally week of HARD training before the big race on the 12th.  The biggest day this week will be Tuesday when I do a mock race.  It will be a 36 mile ride within 3 hours.  At least that’s the goal.  Here is how this week is structured.

My selected workouts are as follows:

This week will be tough to get in the required hours since rain is forecasted all week and thus far the weather people have been correct (surprise surprise).  I am in a ‘Peak’ training period so I have less hours than the normal ‘build period’.  Here is how my week is structured:

My selected workouts for each day are as follows:

Placement: 1st Place
Time Trial Series Standings: 2nd Place

Well, my first win of the season.  :)  Pretty excited about this because not only was this a trail I’ve never ridden, it was also one that played to my weakness (tight single track).  It didn’t fully expose my weakness since it was a slower course with a ton of switchbacks.  I’ve also been working hard at improving my braking so I can be faster on such trails.  Appears to be working. 

Turned out be a VERY nice day, however there was a down pour for about 10 minutes, but then sunny again.  I was worried about the rain since I took off near the end of the start category, so everybody ahead of me would be close to finishing after the rain started.  Rain really slows the course down, which hurts in a TT race format.  Anyway’s, everything turned out just fine. 

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I’ve switched back to my ‘old’ tires for training purposes (some road riding between trail heads) and I’m amazed by the difference in rolling resistance.  My current race tires are Kenda Karma’s, which I’ve converted, via Stans, to tubeless.  My old tires were Kenda Nevegal’s.  The Nevegal’s are great tires, but after riding Karma’s so much, I can definitely feel the difference.  With the Nevegals, it’s feels like a delayed response to the pedal stroke, where as the Karma’s just accelerate.   Obviously there is one key difference:  Tubes vs. No Tubes. 

Riding the Nevegals, I feel timid in high speed corners, when I use to feel so confident.  That tells me just how much more confidence the Karma’s have given me.  Granted I can run the Karma’s at 25-30 psi, which gives it the extra bite.  I’ve never dropped below 38 psi on the Nevegals.  I’ve been spoiled by going tubeless and riding Karma’s. 

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Did a 90 minute road ride today.  The splint worked very well, however I was unable to do any aggressive workouts since I couldn’t hold the handlebars very tight.  The issue with today was the wind. 

I’ve complained about this in other posts that the wind thus far into Spring is crazy strong.  I’ve decided that as miserable as it is to ride in the wind, I have little choice if I want to train.  So today I set out on what was suppose to be a 2.5 to 3 hour ride.  I lasted 90 minutes.  I was facing an 18 to 22mph wind, which I felt like I was always going against.  I climbs I ran out of gears and had to give it my all just to make it to the top.  Simple 4% grade climbs felt huge.  It’s very frustrating and it really takes the enjoyment out of riding.  I can’t mountain bike until my hand heals so riding in the wind is the only option I have.  According to the weather, the winds won’t dip below 15mph until next Thursday.  Hopefully they are wrong. 

This is a result of a night ride at a local trail.  Happened around 11:30pm.  I was riding alone so thankfully it wasn’t worse.  We’ve received a ton of rain lately so the trail was a little soft in the section I was going through.  It was an off-camber trail with a drop off of about 6 feet into a small creek. I went over a particular section and the trail just washed out from my front tire.  Almost like a mudslide. As I slid down the ravine, I slammed down on my right side with my hand being the first to hit.  The area was all rocks so the entire right side of my body is bruised real good.  I like to think I have a high tolerance for pain, but this was almost unbearable.  It sucked the wind right out of me and I was very disoriented. 

I was a mile away from my car which isn’t bad, but the ride back was extremely painful.  I went to the ER but there was a 2 hour wait so I skipped that and went in the morning.  Thankfully nothing broken, but they did set it in a splint, which they customized so I could still ride my road bike. 

I also put a big gash in my carbon handlebars.  I am hoping it doesn’t compromise the integrity of the bars.  Those are expensive things to replace.

Placement: 4th Place
Championship Standings: 3rd Place (down from 2nd)

Delayed post on the results of this race.  Weather was MUCH better than last year and unlike last year, I did not bonk. 

The race started out really good.  I found myself in 5th position, but quickly moved to third and then second.  I knew I had to keep the leader in sight since this was a fast flowing trail.  I managed to do that for almost the entire race.  We eventually pulled away from everyone, but some where along the trail I got caught up in traffic and just could not make up the distance.  It was at this time that two other riders caught up to me.  The first one to pass ended up winning the race by over 4 minutes.  That’s a fast rider to come from that far behind, catch up to the leader and then pull 4 minutes ahead.  I stayed on the third place guy but just could not catch up.  My weakness was exposed in the tight single track and there just wasn’t any hills for me to attack on (my strength). The trail only had 2 significant climbs.  One at the beginning (not bad) and one at the end.  I REALLY need to work on my tight single track skills. 

Anyway’s, finished fourth in the race which does knock me down to third in the championship point standings.  Next CPS is Boyne Marathon.  This is a 33 mile race on one of the hardest trails in Michigan.  I do have a TT race in a week, which I’m also looking forward too.  These TT races are on trails that I’ve never ridden so they are definitely fun to do.     

With this moody weather I need to be creative with my training schedule.  Below is how I am structuring my week.  My structure follows Friel pretty good until Saturday and Sunday.  I am flipping those days because of the weather forecast.  However since our weather people have 10% accuracy, I may switch back.  I’m also trying to fit in mountain biking.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be on the road while Thursday and Sunday will be on the trail.  You can find the actual workouts in the left sidebar.

I have become very frustrated with the weather.  Seems like it’s raining every day and on the days it doesn’t rain their is a 15-20mph head wind.  Rain takes away riding on the road and takes away mountain biking until the trail dries (1-2 days).  When it’s not raining, to ride on the road you have to fight a strong head wind that makes the ride miserable. 

Looks like the rain is suppose to stop tomorrow morning.  After three days of HEAVY rain, it will be a few days to let the trails dry out.  Some trails drain faster than others, but those are 45+ minutes away. 

I added a new article in the left sidebar.  CLICK HERE to be brought to that page.

This page gives important excerpts from Joe Friels Mountain Bikers Training Bible.  It has taken me a long time to understand ‘how’ to peak during the season.  It is not as easy as it seems.  My biggest mistake was trying to peak too much.  Friel addresses that common mistake:

Such a peaking process should only be done two or three times in a season.  The shorter the race season, the fewer peaks are possible without losing too much fitness. 

I need to adjust my annual training plan to reduce my peaking periods.  Right now I feel strong so I definitely don’t want to lose anything.  I also haven’t been getting the hours in that I need too.  Doesn’t help that the weather SUCKS lately.  It’s been so freaking windy and now they are calling for high winds AGAIN this weekend.  Not so bad when on the trail, but I’m tired of driving an hour to the nearest trail, especially at $4.00 a gallon.  Riding on the road is the best method of training, yet wind makes that just miserable.

ANYWAYS, take a look at the Peaking page. Good info.

I’ve never been a big fan of spandex.  I’m uncomfortable walking around in spandex shorts.  For me, it’d be the same as walking around in a Speedo at the beach; which will never happen.  However, spandex is a necessary evil in cycling.  It eliminates wind drag, provides excellent padding and allows for efficient heat release.   The baggy shorts they make do not compare to spandex. 

I do own a number of baggie shorts and the padding is not nearly as good as the ones that come with spandex.  In addition, they don’t breath near as well.  I even have the expensive Louis Garneau Alevio baggies, and they still don’t come close the the same short in spandex.  

I wear Pearl Izumi Ultrasensor shorts and love them.  However, the minute I get to my car or cross the finish line, I have a pair of shorts that I put on right away.  I just can’t stand around in spandex.  Also, I will NEVER shave my legs so don’t even go there. 

A few weeks ago  I took off on the trail without my helmet.  Not sure why I forgot it.  It was at the trail head, I just got wrapped up in whatever I was doing.  I realized I didn’t have my helmet about 100 yards into the trail.  I figured I’d just ride careful and there would be no issues.  FYI:  You would be amazed at how many little branches your head goes through on a typical ride.  Branches you never noticed until you ride through them without a helmet.  I will not forget a helmet again.

Did some serious hill climbs today.  At our local ski area I did 5 climbs on one of the hills.  The hills is a quarter mile long and ascends 185 feet.  The majority of the climbing is at 15% to 18% grade.  I do the first climb standing, the second two climbs seated, the fourth standing and the fifth a combination of both.  I do run a 2×9 drive train so no granny gear to bail me out.

The first two climbs are pretty high confident climbs, no real issues other than typical lactic burn.  As the climbs continue, it starts to get psychological.  On the fourth and fifth climbs, my mind wanted to quit so bad.  I spent those climbs talking to myself up the hill.  So many times I wanted to fall over and roll down the hill.  It’s great mental and physical training.

This coming race is Hanson Hills Challenge.  Approximately 17 miles trail that has little technical sections and is smooth rolling.  Thus is should be a fast race.  However, last year was a disaster.  That was the race that started out with sunshine and ended with a wicked thunderstorm.  The trail just turned to pudding.  I’ve never ridden in such horrid conditions. 

Anyway’s here is how this week is structured.  You can find the workouts in the left sidebar.  I am focusing on my hill climbing this week so it should be strong week.