I am considering racing the Gunnison Growler MTB race which is 62 miles. I currently own a training plan for the Iceman Cometh but because that race is only 40ish miles and faster I don’t think the plan will match quite as well. So then, should I get the Firecracker 50 plan? or something else?
Side note, my ultimate goal is to race at the Leadville 100 in the next couple years so I am letting this race in Gunnison be a little trial for me at endurance since I mostly race 2 hour XC or Crits and Cross.
Our sweet spot marathon mountain bike plan would be the best plan! Yeah the Iceman plan has a bit higher intensity work as the race is shorter and you need to hit the higher intensity efforts more often. A race that is 50 or more miles is more aerobic based and aerobic power becomes very important.
If you have more than 6 weeks you can look to do our normal sweet spot plans before hand. If you have a good base only a short period of time before starting the 6 week marathon mountain bike plan then do the our sweet spot 3 plan.
Thank you very much for the advise! I am in the 3rd week of the Advanced Base + Weights plan and I am right now ramping up the sweet spot riding so I actually think the timing of the schedules would be perfect. Also, the race is in Gunnison, CO and I live in Saint Louis. I have ridden in Crested Butte, BV, Salida and other parts of CO this past summer and summers before and know that the elevation can make a difference. I am planning to get into CO on Wed night the 20th and the race is the 24th Sunday (May). Do you think that is enough time to get acclimated to the elevation? I was planning to do some biking and skiing and hiking leading up just to round out the vacation too.
Look back at previous times at elevation. See when you felt like you were at your best. Hopefully you can go back into your TrainingPeaks and see how you did. Try to think about the rides you ddi while out there. Did you feel good the first day or better on day 3? How was your power and heart rate?
Typically its best to either get there 2 weeks before or just the day before. Seems like when you are there 3 - 4 days before it does more harm then good. But it is good that you are use to it.