Hello all,
Got into unbound 100 and have been working on base through traditional base 1-3, curious what suggestions on what build and specialty to use to finish the plan build. Can ride 10-15 hours a week with 5 days on and 2 days off. Thank you for suggestions! Hoping to hear from past finishers/racers, hoping for a prideful result in the 30-39 age group
Hey there and welcome to the TR community!
I haven’t done Unbound 100 myself, but hopefully I can point you in the right direction regarding your Build and Specialty phases to help you prepare.
For your Build Phase, we’d recommend going with Sustained Power Build. This plan focuses on improving your ability to sustain longer, steady efforts, which is key for a race like Unbound 100. You’d be working on Sweet Spot, Threshold, and longer VO2 Max intervals, all of which would build your strength endurance, fatigue resistance, and mental toughness.
For the Specialty Phase, the Gran Fondo Plan would be an excellent choice. It aligns perfectly with the demands of an event like Unbound 100 by continuing to develop your muscular endurance and fatigue resistance while sharpening your race-specific fitness. It would tie in really nicely with the Sustained Build Plan and see you going into race day with some solid, robust long-distance/sustained power fitness.
For some additional tips, here are some TrainerRoad articles that might help you as you work out how to approach your training:
Best of luck with your training, and I hope you crush it on race day! If you have more questions or need help adjusting your plan, feel free to ask.
Where can you find these plans these days? I click “training plans” and the only option is a custom training plan.
Click on “Training Phases” below the Custom Training Plan recommendation.
Thank you got the response! Sustained power sounds great, I would love to hear your take on the cross country marathon specialty phase vs granfondo. Mainly all the hills and repeated efforts seem like it could go either way. Thanks in advance for any insight!
IMHO XCM has a bit more focus on fitness for short punchy climbs and less on the long grind or the rollers you’ll see during Unbound.
I took the above set of plans and made some mods.
Monday Rest, Tues Thresh+Wukar, Wed Z2/Recovery/Thurs long SS+Wukar, Fri Rest, Sat Long Z2, Sunday Group/Social.
You really do need to keep some Thresh/VO2 in the mix as those workouts provide very different stimuli than SS and Z2, but in the master’s plan having one of each is for me just a bit too much. Leaves me in a Red Day on Friday.
I’d say it depends on your goals. If your are I. The pointy end at the front you may need some punch for the hills. As a 4 time participant with a “beat the sun” goal, pacing and hydration and fueling are way more important than keeping up on punch climbs. I couldn’t count the number of people who who jam past me in the first 5-6 hours on the climbs that I would pass in hours 10-14. Don’t worry about keeping up with a specific group. You can always find a few people to ride with. I’d often drop off of a group if they were pushing the pace, as I knew I’d be better off at my own pace. I learned my lesson in my first race. Good luck!
Same. I was in a fast group on my first 100, looked at my time in HR zone and backed off SUPER fast. Ended up riding right on the edge of uncomfortable, but MY uncomfortable and finished top 50% across the board. (All 100 finishers, all men, all age group men) Despite a blown (didn’t have enough on my person before check point) fueling plan no less.
I’ll be doing a high volume polarized plan to prep for unbound 100. I’ll change the weekend long ride lengths to get ready for the long unbound saddle time.
As @webdev511 and @aydraper said, it depends on your goals for the race.
The XCM plan will incorporate more short, punchy efforts, as XCM events often demand that type of fitness.
The Fondo plan will have less of that, with more of your workouts focusing purely on sustained power.
If you’re the kind of rider who likes attacking/surging more than maintaining a steadier pace and would want to use that sort of strategy in a race like the Unbound 100, you could see some benefit from those workouts.
I’d lean towards recommending the Fondo plan all the same, though – one day per week of the XCM plan would be dedicated entirely to those short surges alone, which might not be the best preparation for Unbound (where the terms “long grind” and “rollers” come to mind more so than “short” or “punchy”).
That said, the Fondo plan will still incorporate some of those above-threshold efforts, so you won’t be totally unprepared for those surges if you were to choose the Fondo plan. There just won’t be as much focus on them as you’d see in the XCM plan.
Ultimately, it’ll be your choice based on how you want to approach the race – but I’d lean towards the Fondo plan. 
