This plan is made for the highly motivated and experienced mountainbiker focusing on cross country racing. It will help you get race ready and become a more complete XCO rider, as the training not only will focus on improving your physical performance level, but also your speed and power on the trails, technical skills and understanding of XCO racing!

XCO racing is a very unique and demanding sport, when you look at the physical, mental and technical demands, so in order to learn these three aspects, you need to train these three aspects individually and together. Thus, improving the single aspects, combining them in race-like intervals and finally taking this into competitions! In other words the plan will not only train you, it will also teach you to become a more complete XCO rider.

The plan has a duration of 9 weeks. After completing the plan, you will be ready to start the race season, with your first race in the last week of the plan. The training is planned in 3 week cycles, typically with 16 days of focused training followed by 5 days of easy training to ensure overall recovery. In some training periods this 21 day cycle may change, if something is considered more optimal in relation to recovery, testing and competition.

The weekly training is built upon 4 key sessions on the bike and 2 functional strength sessions. The key session on the bike will focus on developing your endurance, anaerobic threshold, maximal aerobic power, anaerobic power and riding skills. Some sessions will be very XCO specific focusing on improving your capacities on the trail. Other sessions will be more straightforward, with steady effort intervals or continuous rides. The latter can be done on a road or gravel bike, if you like to combine road or gravel rides into your training.

On average you will train around 10 hours on the bike and 1-2 hours of functional strength training. If you are time constricted in some periods, you can always train less hours, and focus on quality in the intervals (quick warm up, high quality intervals and short cool down). Thus, still reaping most of the benefits.

All training sessions on the bike are power based structured workouts. You will do a FTP test in the first week, to get a benchmark of your current level of fitness and set your training zones. After the 9 weeks of training you will be ready to take on your first XCO race of the season.
Further the workouts are also outlined in writing, so you get to know the purpose and all the important details on how to and where to perform the different rides. Getting in the details is of great importance for an XCO rider!

Make sure to read the ‘Training Plan Guide’ thoroughly before starting on the plan, as this contains valuable information that will make sure you get the most out of the plan.

The functional strength sessions are based on years of experience coaching XCO riders. Programs are designed to make you stronger and more functional on the bike, thus improving strength, power and functionality. Some exercises will be with bodyweight and some with weights. There will be instructional videos to show you the different exercises. You do not need to go to a gym to do these workouts, but you need some weights (either a barbell and weight plates, kettlebells/dumbbells or both). The programs are made simple, so that they are easy to follow. The load will be adjusted from week to week, so it does not compromise the training on the bike.

It is recommended that you have done 7-9 weeks of base training (see our ‘MTB XCO - Intermediate - Base Training - 9 Weeks’ training plan) before starting on this plan. Basically a period where you have prepared the body for the harder and more intense training, primarily doing endurance rides, threshold work and anaerobic efforts on the bike. Further some functional strength training. In other words, make sure to start on this plan feeling ready to take on a bit more load and put on the next level to become race ready!