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Does anyone out there have any tips for training for enduro events such as megavalanche, etc? I am riding my bike as much as I can, running a couple of times a week and getting to the gym a couple of times a week to work on strength. It's all a bit haphazard, though, and I'd be interested if anyone has come up with a training plan that has worked well, or who has done these kind of events and has any advice for areas to concentrate on during training. Cheers!
Check out Chris Eatough's plans. The team use them for our event training.
6 times world 24hr champion, so knows his stuff.
[URL] http://www.chriseatough.com/?page=plans [/URL]
6 times world 24hr champion, so knows his stuff.
So, he knows his onions when it comes to endurance events. The OP was asking about Enduro events.
Technical riding skill, riding fast on snow/ice and learning how to scream and laugh at the same time, as you take the most unpracticed, improvised moves possible in order to get ahead of someone, or avoid a sudden pile up!
Strength training would help, especially if you work on wrist, hand/grip strength and shoulders to help with a long, long race. If you haven't already done so, then plan on a few uplift days, and perhaps a day at Fort Bill to just work on as getting as much descending time as possible.
Not speaking from experience here 😉 but it might still be useful. A lot of people are recommending the nevis red run as mega practice, there's no other way in the UK to get in that amount of descending miles and some (not all) say it's comparable technically. Also worth riding in its own right which is nice.
Oh and personally... Doing the FW Endurance DH this year, which is a [i]wee[/i] bit terrifying, and hopefully a couple of legs of the 661 Gravity Enduro... For the first, my arms are going to fail me, it's just a question of when in the day it happens so I'm just working on that- slow pushups, weights, core exercises, hand strength exercises, all the riding I can do... Especially trying to do more DH stuff than I normally would, I hate pushing up but it's good for the arms isn't it.
Yup, plenty of BIG DH days will really help, as well as sorting out whether your bike set-up works.
When I started getting in to this sort of stuff, I quickly found out what finger pump, arm/wrist pump was all about, and then got a few good tips about lever angle and positioning. Basically, levers as close to bars as possible, and definitely set-up for single digit braking, as you need as many fingers on the bars to control the bike.
I guess i'm writing this assuming you are already getting out and getting the miles in, as there is a load of pedalling too, so all the usual arms/legs/core strengthening stuff will be great.
Circuit training, kettlebells, free weights, core training would all help in the gym
On the bike, do intervals, drop your saddle and ride flat out for anywhere between 30 seconds and 3-4 minutes at a time, rest, and repeat. Or get a wee loop and time yourself round it, and try and keep your laps times constant.
Also practise riding really smoothly, carrying as much speed as possible, loosening your grip off unless you are on a difficult section, etc.
There are two angles to approach it from - increase the amount of punishment that you can take before fatigue starts to kick in, and decrease the amount of effort you have to put in to ride at a given speed.
Thanks very much for the advice! I'm in the lucky position of moving in reach of the Alps at the end of the month, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to ride Alpine descents before July. I think I need to take a more intelligent approach to the fitness and strength training, however, so cheers for the pointers!
Hi,
I have been doing exactly this. 3rd year in with first being haphazard and 2nd being structured. HUGE difference bewteen 1st and 2nd. It depends on how far you wanna go?
Also, when you say 'The Mega etc' there is a lot variance.
BUT basically You'll need XC fitness base to do really well but that is a fairly large commitment. What Shandy says will do pretty good BUT adding in some significantly large (4-5hr) lower intensities will pay more divedends than simply hammering yourself into the ground.
Some weights, lots of bike time working on riding etc, etc. Just riding in the Alpes is good but the physical output on these races is huge.
Rob
oh and IMO strength training is the least important aspect. CV fitness is number one priority followed by time on bike and Strength conditioning at the end. Take a look at the guys who win...Clementz and Absalon can't be described as buff and strong. Shit hot on a bike and could take most XC races yes.
Cheers Rob!
Sure you don't need to be fit for dh. Sure doing dh doesn't make you fit. Etc etc....ah.....lolz.
Sorry, ignore that. Anyway, I recall reading an interview with Remy Absalon, he mentioned his enduro dh training involved long punishing climbs and technical dh course descending - basically he would pedal to the top of a dh run and pin it down. Repeat until exhaustion, and then his training really starts.
What he was apparently aiming for was to get used to riding dh trails whilst extremely tired, something logic would tell you not to do. And obviously the climbing bit will do your cardio no harm.