My A race is coming up in early August. It’s the Maah Daah Hey 100, a 107-mile XC MTB race that includes roughly 100 miles of singletrack. I’m trying to dial in a solid pacing strategy. I know from experience that keeping power consistent on singletrack is really difficult/impossible, so I’m looking for guidance on how to pace smartly under those conditions.
For reference, last year I paced for the Leadville 100 using 0.7 IF of my altitude adjusted FTP as a target, which was much easier due to the long climbs, fire roads, and minimal singletrack, but the Maah Daah Hey trail is quite different.
• Should I still aim for a power based target average (0.7 IF), or shift focus to RPE or even heart rate?
• How do you account for the surges and recovery that come with singletrack riding in your pacing plan?
• Is there a way to break the course down to create manageable pacing chunks?
For someone who is not going for the over-all win but wants to perform their best in an ultra endurance event, I would:
Start easy. Maybe to the point it feels too easy.
At mile 10-20 when you are warmed up feeling good and want to pick up the pace…. DON’T.
Then later in the race… say when you are hitting half way and still feel good and want to pick the pace…. DON’T.
Even at mile 75 and the finish is something you can now think about and wan’t to pick up the pace…. DON’T.
Then… When you hit 10-12 miles to go (about an hour) and IF you still feel good, then you can think about it.
You probably already know this, but at the end of an ultra endurance event it can sneak up and bite you quick. It is better (and faster) to finish feeling you could have pushed a bit more than cracking 10 miles out because you went too hard. To quote Paul Tergat, a Kenyan marathon great, “time “banked” in the beginning of a marathon is not time in the end.”
Even pacing is key… and on singletrack XC effort is probably going to be your best bet. Power is going to be all over and heart rate is going to spike on the uphill. You can always try to put a power cap but in MTB sometimes you are in the 52t gear and just gotta put out the power to just not fall over.
Another bit of advice… recover on the downhills. You are doing a 100 mile race and pushing the downhills, increasing rpe and risking flats and mechanicals to gain seconds (albeit fun seconds) is not worth it when you need that energy in the later parts of the race. Take recovery everywhere you can!
Ultimately… be smart, pace smart and don’t cook yourself early.
I’ve completed close to twenty 100 mile races and ironically my fastest times were when I focused more on trying to stay happy all day instead of pushing myself.