Training for the Big Induna 11 June 2011

[Induna]

Your BIG Induna conditioning plan:

 

A warm BIG Induna greeting from the conditioning team. With little less than 6 weeks to go to race day we have a good mind that you are most probably on one of 2, maybe 3, places pertaining your fitness.

 

You either by now have had the luxury to develop a good Aerobic fitness base for the Induna race(See QUALITY VOLUME BASE PHASE below for some pointers if you want to be on par next year), or you have not (like the majority of us) had the time to give it any thought yet. Or maybe you are somewhere in-between? Well we would like to suggest some pointers, in the form of either a SHORT TERM INTERVENTION PLAN or a FULL OUT ASSAULT (or a combination of the two if you are the in-betweener), to help make sure you will definitely have a GREAT ride coming race day.

 

When applying the SAID (Specific Adaptations for Imposed Demands) principle, your preparation for the BIG Induna will need to be uniquely different and specific for that optimal day in the saddle.

 

The reason for this is that our terrain is unlike the majority of MTB racing terrain you will have experienced thus far. If you have already raced the BIG Induna before, you will most probably, with a BIG smile, know precisely what I mean. This is mainly because it is an exhilarating technical, tight, twisty, mostly permitting low to medium speed terrain with many accelerations and punchy climbs. This makes it an out of the ordinary awesome ride and therefore your preparation will need to be specific.

Looking at the route profiles of the previous race, 2011 will be similar in many ways:

40KM Route 75KM Route

Singletrack - 10.5% Singletrack - 6.2%

Quad trails - 24% Quad trails - 54.4%

Dirt roads - 61% Dirt roads - 36.7%

Tarr road - 4.4% Tarr road - 2.6%

 

SHORT TERM INTERVENTION PLAN:

 

Keeping in mind the above mentioned you will in the 6 weeks left need to focus on mainly, fitness and skill. If you can get these 2 areas conditioned you will leave smiling all the way home.

 

We therefore suggest a something of the following to develop an “optimal as possible” base with the right amount of specific conditioning mingled therein.

 

 

5 weeks Base and skills building 40 km race conditioning example

View the table on the Induna website..,

 

Training at 70% of your age adjusted maximum heart rate (Age adjusted maximum Heart Rate = 220 – resting heart rate – age times 0.7 + resting Heart rate) 4 days a week should be sufficient for basic fitness.

 

Always make sure that you have a good 10 minute warm-up at the beginning of every ride at 60% HR max and also remember to take your last 5 to 10 minutes before reaching home easy as to give your engine time to cool down.

 

Do a skills session every week where you identify any rooty, rocky, twisting section to your disposal and condition yourself to ride as fast as you can. Before the skills session it is also very important that you warm up at least 10 minutes at 60% HR max.

 

And for those who want to condition their bodies for a full out assault we suggest a something of the following:

 

THE FULL OUT ASSAULT:

 

QUALITY VOLUME BASE PHASE

 

As always you will dearly need that quality base that is the back bone for any good performance. More especially due to the fact that constant accelerations are integral to the race and finding a rhythm is not easy. Thus for recovering from the more than occasional lactic acid bursts you will need an even bigger than usual aerobic fitness base.

 

A minimum of 5 to 6 week base riding at 70 - 80% of your age adjusted maximum heart rate (Age adjusted maximum Heart Rate = 220 – resting heart rate – age times 0.6 + resting Heart rate) 3 to 5 days a week should do the trick.

 

6 weeks Volume Base building 40 km race conditioning example

View the table on the Induna website..,

 

 

LACTATE RECOVERY / SKILLS PHASE

 

The following 5 weeks or so the focus on your training will change to that which will condition your body to recover from the short lactate producing accelerations and climbs. This can be done on your bike or just as efficient on a spinner. One such an on bike example is:

 

Identify a 150 - 200 meter hill with a tough elevation. Mark it halfway up with a marker.

 

After a good 10 minute warm-up at 60% of your maximum age adjusted heart rate do the following:

 

Ride the climb at 90-95% of your HR max. At 20 meters before the halfway mark give your all up to the marker. Keep on riding after the marker at 90-95% thus teaching your body to keep on going with lactic acid build-up.

 

Again at 20meters before the top give your all till the end. When at the top ride down very easy and repeat another 2 times. Thus after doing the 3 sets, directly follow it up with a 5 minute technical ride at 70%, to recover actively. Repeat another 3 hill-sets. Cool down with at least a 10 minute ride at 60% of your HR max.

 

 

A spinning regime that will do the same will look something as the following:

 

SPIN

 

5min warm-up 60% HR max

Lactate conditioning interval

3min 70-80% HR max

1min spin hill max simulation

1min recover

Do 5 sets of this interval

 

5 min steady recovery @ 60% HR max

 

Lactate threshold interval

2min just under 90% HR max

1min @ 100% HR max

2min just under 90% HR max

1min @ 100% HR max

2min just under 90% HR max

1min @ 100% HR max

6minute recovery @ 60% HR max

 

If you are really fit and have the reserves repeat the interval once more with 9 minute recovery at the end.

 

These session suggestions might seem a bit over the top but this is exactly the type of physiologic demand that your body will need to produce on the day. Do this type of training every 4th session throughout the following 5 weeks.

 

On the following days do a combination of longer aerobic rides to maintain your fitness and work out the lactic acid and recover from the resulting microscopic muscle damage. Throw in a skills session every week where you identify any rooty, rocky, twisting section to your disposal and condition yourself to ride as fast as you can.

 

Remember to always stretch all the major cycling muscles (neck, upper back, lower trunk, hips, knees, thighs and calves) after your rides for 15 to 20 seconds as this helps you to reduce muscle aching, lessening your chance of picking up injury and enhance performance because promoting maximum muscle contraction.

 

An example of the above is comprehensively shown in the following:

 

 

 

5 weeks intense - lactate/power endurance conditioning example (40km)

View the table on the Induna website..,

 

 

TAPER WEEK

 

Use your last week to polish up your skills in a playful fashion. Don’t do any hard rides, if you really need to ride do it at 50% of your HR max no longer than 30 minutes coming back and feeling that you wasted your time. That‘s the perfect taper ride.

 

Come fresh and hungry for an exceptional ride and you’ll have the blast of your life.

 

 

 

Disclaimer:

These are exercise guidelines that can be followed by any healthy person but do not take into consideration any specific medical conditions influenced by increased activity. Consult your medical practitioner in the presence of any such medical conditions for to safe implementation of these guidelines.

[KnobbyMech]

Very happy the race is on again this year! Remains one of my favourite SA races. Looking forward to seeing you there.