I’m doing a 24 hr 230 km MTB event in Mid August. I have selected the following plans in preparation.
BASE
SSB1 Low Vol & SSB2 Mid Vol
BUILD
Sustained Power Build Mid Vol
SPECIALTY
Cross Country Marathon Mid Vol
My concern is the specialty phase - I will need endurance for this race, so is XCM the correct paln to use or is their a better option to train endurance
Thanks for the feedback
All looks good and there is no problem with your plans. The Specialty phase would depend more on how technical the singletrack is and how you expect to ride it. Will it be more of two-track and fire roads or punchy sections intermixed with tricky singletrack? Possibly look at the workouts in Century Plan or Rolling Road Race compared to MTB Marathon, see how they differ and which you think best mimics your course profile. Probably can’t go wrong with any of those though.
You’ll be in Z2 the entire race (or you should be) so whether or not you have the endurance will be based on your endurance you build coming into the Specialty phase, and your proper pacing during the event. Specialty is just the “icing” on top, that refines your skills particular to your event. It’s a good long Base that will be crucial and and your FTP and muscle endurance you gain in Build.
I would have thought that the century plan would be most appropriate in the speciality phase.
However time in the saddle on the trail is also crucial
thanks for the feedback.
The race is 230km on rural and district farm roads - not really any single track or XC type riding the main climbing will start at approx 120km total ascent will be approx 2550m. (8366 ft)
So this is why i’m looking at a plan more suitable to a long endurance event than XCM
Here is the route
profile
When I read your post I thought you were talking about Trans Baviaans 
I have done the route a number of times (both ways but on a motorbike… 
) and it is not all that technical. Some guys do it on gravel bikes. There are some serious climbs though!!
Here is Timothy Hammond’s stats from Strava… Ave of 29.2km/h… CRAZY!!!
Search for him on Strava, then you can download the GPX Track as well. (The race was 11 Aug 2018)
Those numbers are insane 
- Maybe when i’m big i’ll ride like that 
Good god. 300 w NP for 8 hours 
Seems decent. Other option as others suggested would be century speciality plan.
Yeah, Tim is a machine!!
Do not mess with a Botswana farmer!
[quote=“Marc_Carter, post:1, topic:9855”]
BASE
SSB1 Low Vol & SSB2 Mid Vol
Hi Marc,
Noticed that you are planning from going from Low Volume to Mid Volume across the base phase? from my experience the first part of the plan prepares you for the 2nd slightly increased part - you may struggle with the 2nd part of build as you will have a bump in number of hours/rides per week along with the increase in TSS.
Sorry a bit long winded.
Good luck with event what every plan you end up following.
Hi Graham
Yes i’m aware of the increase, i selected SSB2 Mid Vol to ramp up time in the saddle, i normally do mid volume on my plans, the low volume SSB1 selection was to ease back into training after a 3 month layoff. I don’t always stick to the plan 100% as i do outrides mainly over the weekends as part of my training - So i sometimes skip TR sessions due to time and fatigue.
Thank You for your comments though
Hi Robert
yes i been going through the Century plan and thinking more and more this would be a good or better option for specialty phase.
For a very long race like that you might want to consider traditional base, if you have the time.
