I am wanting to do more endurance events over the next few years and need help with developing some form of training plan.
Endurance wise i am ok but have little explosive power for longer climbs (short sharp climbs i am pretty good but have always been a sit and spin for longer up hills)
In the Mucoff 8 yesterday - legs felt good but shoulders, lats, and neck were fatigued.
Any ideas of specific training (off the bike even!!) to help remedy this?
"explodive power for longer climbs"?
should read "explosive" - meaning i want to be able to power up longer climbs like fire roads instead of twiddling away
Have somebody in the know check your bike set up, make sure it is comfortable for climbing.
Another tip for long climbs is to vary on-saddle climbing with off the saddle.
Core work - a nice strong core helps power transfer and supports your back.
And last of all, sorry but there is no replacement for doing the miles, find a nice hilly 6/7 hour training loop, do climbing intervals, go to Spain for a couple of weeks.
Oh yes and the less weight you have to carry up the hills the better, obviously...
when your out training try and ride a lot of it standing up, even if its just for short distances then a rest then a bit more then a rest, you will find yourself getting better, will really improve your leg strength.
Powering up long climbs isn't explosive. It's just power - sustainable power. There's also the weight thing if you are wanting to climb fireroads better - it'll pretty much be power/weight ratio that'll decide how fast you climb.
When you say you are OK endurance wise, I'm guessing you mean you can ride for ages, at a fairly low intensity. For getting up the climbs you'll be riding at a much higher intensity, for a smaller period of time - say up to 30 mins. Limiting factors will be things like muscular endurance, lactate clearance, lactate tolerance.
To get better at these, you'll need to stress yourself in these areas - try doing intervals up a steady climb - say 5 mins on, 5 mins rest x 4, at an intensity that isn't all out but fairly close (say 8/10). Then try increasing the length of the interval.
However, there isn't really a simple answer (though I agree with hels suggestion of lots of hilly miles). Try getting a good book and learning from that - I'd recommend the Joe Friel ones.
i find miles on the road bike help as it is less stop start than training on an mtb .