This is a fantastic plan to help you build up your endurance and strength at the same time. This plan works great pre-season or even in-season when endurance and strength are your limiters. The biggest gains with this plan will occur when you are able to maintain a low enough intensity during the endurance rides; therefore, it is most excellent to apply this plan when you have less time to ride trails, which get pretty intense very often.
This plan will not crush you or drive you in to the ground. You will instead be challenged with regular endurance riding and strength training. All bike workouts have downloadable smart trainer files, which work even if you don't have a smart trainer as these offer a good workout description or can be used with your power meter (or even heart rate monitor by sticking within the prescribed zone).
Once you finish this plan, you will be in a very good position to pick up with the 4-week MTB block and 2 week taper in to your event.
This plan is recommended for advanced mountain bikers who have some experience in the gym.
To learn more or gain access to all plans, check out smartmtbtraining.com
Matt Miller is a specialist MTB coach working with professional and amateur athletes in Enduro, XC, DH and road. He has over 20 international publications focused on MTB performance, including pioneering research into FTP and braking (BrakeAce) in MTB. Matt has 20 years of personal race experience, including elite level in XC and EWS. Athletes Matt has worked with have achieved 8 USA Nationals wins (XC & Enduro), 7th overall in the EWS, 11th in an XC World Cup and top 40 in the DH World Cup.