XCM or Century for a XCM marathon (What a silly question, right?)

Training
1

Hi everyone,

I am planning to do the MB RACE in July, for the third year in a row but the first year with the help of TrainerRoad. :crossed_fingers:

The profile of this mountain bike race is made of long and steep climbs (between 20 minutes and up to one hour ride).
It is a race of 140 km (86 miles) and 7 000m of D+ (23 000 feet). :mountain:

My question is Which speciality plan should I pick?
XCM plan since this race is… A Cross Country Marathon?
Or should I go for the century because of the very long climb?

Thanks for helping :pray:

2

I think it depends on how punchy some of the climbs are, and how much you’ll need to go above threshold for short periods.

If it’s like Leadville with long sustained smooth climbs, then Century. If it’s a more typical XC MTB course, then XCM.

1 Like
3

Thank you Dave.

The majority of the climbs aren’t so punchy : I mean 80% of the ascension are steady climbs.
On the other hand, some of them (10-20%) are soooo steep that you have to go over threshold for 5-10 minutes.

4

The main difference between XCM and Century plans is the XCM plan includes short anaerobic bursts in some of the workouts. Whereas Century has no anaerobic bursts.

If you don’t need much anaerobic capacity, then I’d go with the century plan.

To be honest, with a ride that long and as much climbing a you have, your bigger issues I thing will be getting fueling, hydration and pacing right vs picking between XCM and Century.

3 Likes
5

Thank you Dave for your feedback!

6

@ArracK
Wow. That looks epic. Go with the century plan.

+1

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7

Thank you :slight_smile: