33-Week Ultra-Marathon MTB Complete 4-Phase Training Program- Re-Usable

Written by Cody Waite, Endurance Coach, Professional Endurance Athlete and co-owner of Sessions:6 Sport Performance

This is the complete package of our Ultra-Marathon MTB training program. All 4 Phases included: Base Prep, Base, Race Prep and Race, totaling 33 weeks.

My 33-week Ultra-Marathon MTB plan is designed for long distance MTB Racers (60-100+ miles) looking to build their fitness through their off-season and pre-season up to their A-priority event.

Overview:

PHASE 1: BASE PREP = 9 weeks designed for ultra-marathon MTB racers coming off a short break from the completion of their previous season. After this short rest period, it's time to get back on the bike with some light, fun riding while focusing energy on strength development in the gym and aerobic fitness on the bike. The first three weeks of the program eases you into a weight training program (a 12-page detailed document is included via email), followed by 5 weeks of a 3 days per week strength building program. The 9th week of the phase is a recovery week to absorb the strength gains and provide recovery for the next phase of training.

PHASE 2: BASE = 12 weeks, designed for ultra-marathon racers looking to improve their cycling fitness over the pre-season. The programming includes our highly successful 12-week Stationary Trainer Series set of training sessions. The workouts are designed to improve your complete cycling ability for off-road racing. The series begins with leg-speed and cycling-specific strength development, then progresses to build aerobic endurance before adding in intervals at and above your lactate threshold. Included is a very detailed desciption of the equipment you'll need, target training zones, intervals and session layout. A progressive aerobic strength ride is included on the weekends as well as 1-2 additional endurance rides are included for maximum training gains.

PHASE 3: RACE PREP = 10 weeks designed to sharpen up race day fitness leading up to your competitive season and A-priority event of the year. This 10 week segment is set up as 5 two-week blocks, with each block focusing on a specific energy system expanding through anaerobic power, vo2 max, lactate threshold, aerobic threshold and aerobic endurance. Along with the quality sessions, there are weekly endurance rides, recovery rides and strength maintenance sessions to solidify your fitness.

PHASE 4: RACE = the last 2 weeks are the final piece of the puzzle for our MTB program, that includes a taper and peak into your goal event(s). This final 2 week segment is set up with one week to 'de-load' and absorb all your training up to this point, followed by race week that includes some sharpening sessions to get you to the start line ready to rip!

You can also purchase the four phases individually to plug into your training program as desired (to find them, search "Cody Waite" in TP store).

REUSABLE: You can easily reuse this entire plan within the same year for second peak, or again in future seasons.

Plan Details:

• Ability Level: Intermediate to Advanced (adjustable by overall volume)


• Number of Weeks: 33


• Training Days per Week: 4-7 (written for 7 days, but can be consolidated to as few as 4)


• Training Hours per Week: 7-15+ (depending on your preference of riding/aerobic volume) (depending on your preference of riding/aerobic volume)


• Equipment Needed: gym membershi