I know this is a long shot (and I long read!) but I thought I'd post looking for ideas from the MTB brain trust.
My son has been XCO MTB (and cyclocross) racing competitively for more than 5 years now. He's enjoyed the sport immensely and has had some success and great experiences training and racing both in NA and Europe.
He graduated from junior is now racing elite. Unfortunately he hasn't the season he was hoping for. His problem is mostly around maintaining high enough power for the longer XCO races. He often finishes major races feeling that he just "didn't have the legs" to keep up.
The challenge is that he has been training for a long time and has a comprehensive training plan from a very competent professional MTB coach. It includes a heavy dose of zone 2 training, endurance training, intervals, and gym time focused both on core and legs. He trains in the winter in the gym and on zwift, early spring in training camps for z2, late spring with road intervals, and then tapers into MTB race season. Recovery built into the training blocks. Training weeks range from ~12-20 hours depending on the agenda. He follows fueling best practices both before, during and after races.
He does really well in short track races, long gravel races (ie >3h) and road races. Often exceeding his expectations and feeling strong during the race. Shorter XCO 'training races' at our local weekly series go well. But the big XCO races have been a challenge especially for the last few laps. He has even had a few races where his legs completely cramped up even though he fueled and hydrated well. And we are a bit stuck on 'why' and it can be pretty frustrating.
His coach has tried mixing up his training, and focusing a lot of fueling and recovery. And working on both technical skills and efficiency. But it feels like we are missing something.
My best guess is that his training has optimized his cardio system so he can deliver sustained high power at steady high cadences, but that doesn't translate as well to the low cadence/high-torque/variable output demands of XCO.
He is going away to university in the fall but wants to continue racing. He won't be able to maintain anywhere near that amount of training though.
I think the best solution for him is to try to maintain his cardio fitness but with significantly fewer hours. And then focus on leg strength primarily in the gym but with medium weight and higher reps to build a little more power. And switch interval training from gravel/road to technical MTB trails where high torque is required (punchy climbs, rocks/roots etc).
In hindsight I think he his training plan might have been a little more productive if he moved some of the interval work to MTB trails to simulate more of the XCO race demands. That is tricky without the right trails though.
We haven't gotten him 'lab tested' but that might be next on the queue at the end of the season. Of course it is possible that he just doesn't have the genetics but that is a hard pill to swallow.
Thanks for reading. Any ideas?
My son has been XCO MTB (and cyclocross) racing competitively for more than 5 years now. He's enjoyed the sport immensely and has had some success and great experiences training and racing both in NA and Europe.
He graduated from junior is now racing elite. Unfortunately he hasn't the season he was hoping for. His problem is mostly around maintaining high enough power for the longer XCO races. He often finishes major races feeling that he just "didn't have the legs" to keep up.
The challenge is that he has been training for a long time and has a comprehensive training plan from a very competent professional MTB coach. It includes a heavy dose of zone 2 training, endurance training, intervals, and gym time focused both on core and legs. He trains in the winter in the gym and on zwift, early spring in training camps for z2, late spring with road intervals, and then tapers into MTB race season. Recovery built into the training blocks. Training weeks range from ~12-20 hours depending on the agenda. He follows fueling best practices both before, during and after races.
He does really well in short track races, long gravel races (ie >3h) and road races. Often exceeding his expectations and feeling strong during the race. Shorter XCO 'training races' at our local weekly series go well. But the big XCO races have been a challenge especially for the last few laps. He has even had a few races where his legs completely cramped up even though he fueled and hydrated well. And we are a bit stuck on 'why' and it can be pretty frustrating.
His coach has tried mixing up his training, and focusing a lot of fueling and recovery. And working on both technical skills and efficiency. But it feels like we are missing something.
My best guess is that his training has optimized his cardio system so he can deliver sustained high power at steady high cadences, but that doesn't translate as well to the low cadence/high-torque/variable output demands of XCO.
He is going away to university in the fall but wants to continue racing. He won't be able to maintain anywhere near that amount of training though.
I think the best solution for him is to try to maintain his cardio fitness but with significantly fewer hours. And then focus on leg strength primarily in the gym but with medium weight and higher reps to build a little more power. And switch interval training from gravel/road to technical MTB trails where high torque is required (punchy climbs, rocks/roots etc).
In hindsight I think he his training plan might have been a little more productive if he moved some of the interval work to MTB trails to simulate more of the XCO race demands. That is tricky without the right trails though.
We haven't gotten him 'lab tested' but that might be next on the queue at the end of the season. Of course it is possible that he just doesn't have the genetics but that is a hard pill to swallow.
Thanks for reading. Any ideas?
)
