Gravity racing relies heavily on high-end power output, but good endurance is still crucially important. The Gravity specialty plan is designed around this reality, focusing on high-end aerobic and anaerobic conditioning without neglecting endurance fitness. Paired with some on-trail skills training, it’s just what you need to elevate your performance in your goal Gravity events.The low-volume version of this 8-week plan includes 3 workouts per week, each ranging from 60 to 90 minutes in length. An easier 4th week offers the chance for some mid-plan recovery, and the last 2 weeks of the plan serve as a taper, reducing volume but maintaining intensity in the final leadup to your goal event.

Gravity - Low Volume

In order to get a handle on any improvement gleaned from recent Build training or anything along those lines,&nbsp;this week begins with a Ramp Test that will help us update your FTP and anchor your power levels for the training ahead. Ideally, you'll have a day or two of recovery in your legs and will feel ready to fairly demonstrate your current level of fitness. If not, consider riding easy today and postponing your assessment until tomorrow.
Next, you'll face your first iteration of a theme present in every week of this training plan: reduced-recovery VO2max intervals. Each interval simulates race-day stress by forcing you to work well above your FTP long enough to load up your legs, then back off only as much as necessary to clear them before going again and again.&nbsp;
This week closes with another recurring theme, that of the hard start. Each Threshold interval in this workout kicks off with a short but highly intense sprint to familiarize your legs and brain with the effort necessary to sprint off the line, surge past a competitor, or sprint up an incline. Then you will have to&nbsp;stay on the gas for several minutes just below your threshold power and shift your focus to building stamina at a high percentage of your FTP. &nbsp;

Week 1

With your assessment workout out of the way, it's time to breathe a bit more anaerobic/aerobic power into this plan using some short, intense intervals stacked so closely together that each subsequent repeat within a set grows increasingly aerobic in nature. High power? Check. Repeatability? Check. Higher performance capabilities? Check.Then, both remaining workouts repeat last week's demands and offer the chance to improve on each workout's execution. Do your best to make each interval even higher in quality than last week and leave you feeling as though you couldn’t have done a better job.A couple enhancements to expect are longer VO2max surges during your weekday repeats and some harsher sprint demands on the weekend. In both cases, the training load remains steady while the challenges within each workout grow noticeably.

Week 2

In terms of performance metrics, your Tuesday repeats look no different than last weeks - same duration, same TSS, same IF. But a seemingly minuscule reduction in the intrainterval recoveries will make an increasingly noticeable impact on each subsequent anaerobic repeat and force you to dig a little deeper earlier in each set.
Your second interval session of the week will raise the duration of every VO2max repeat to a consistently challenging length and draw out the workload as well as the benefit just a little further. While this makes for shorter sets, it makes each one a little more difficult as it opens your eyes to the effects a few extra seconds can have on your muscles as well as those of your competitors.
Close out this week with your most aggressive&nbsp;pre-Threshold-interval sprints yet. Find out if a 30-second effort at 1.5x your FTP comes as a detriment to your post-sprint power output or instead serves to open a more substantial gap on any rider in your wake.

Week 3

Time to let the last few weeks of training soak in over the course of an easy week of riding. During this week, try not to lose sight of the fact that&nbsp;adaptation happens during recovery, not during the often muscle-damaging doses of high-intensity training that comprised much of the last few weeks.&nbsp;
Until you firmly grasp the benefit of proper and adequate&nbsp;recovery, only hard lessons await you out on the trail. If, however, you've recognized the benefit of recovery done correctly, you'll happily abide by the low-intensity, same-training-schedule nature of this easy week.

Week 4

Following a bit of respite, it&rsquo;s time to exploit your refreshed muscles and perspective by jumping right back into some potentially more entertaining workout formats beginning with a foray into highly-focused anaerobic work via repeats far less concerned with any aerobic benefit than growing your ability to produce short, very high-energy bursts of power. This intent is reflected in the short&nbsp;durations, the super high intensities, and the relatively generous recovery intervals.&nbsp;
With the goal of addressing aerobic and anaerobic capabilities within the confines of the same workout but also adding some less predictable variety into your hour of pain, the second workout of this week is a Coach Chad favorite that will throw a wide selection of efforts at you while keeping the recoveries as limited - yet sufficient - as possible.
Finally, this week closes with a bit of a mash-up where your hard-start efforts now precede your race-like on/not-quite-off&nbsp;repeats. Each one of these sets could very closely mimic the demands of the shortest of short track races, and having 6 in a row is likely to qualify as race-specific overload for most riders.

Week 5

This week begins with a deceivingly difficult assortment of only a few very high-power repeats that target your ability to generate maximum wattage for a small variety of short-term, overlapping, full-gas durations. The intent here is to raise raw work capacity rather than cultivate repeatability.
Up next is another of Coach Chad's favorites that covers a lot of bases in a very narrow frame of time. Efforts ranging from max aerobic to low-end anaerobic with a&nbsp;heavy emphasis on repeatability and an apparent disdain for recovery will bury you in fatigue in a way only a mass-start race could rival.
Finally, another foray into the world of hard-start, low-recovery VO2max intervals awaits. This week the opening sprint ratchets another step. For some riders, this will just be the next step in the progression toward higher performance. For others, this might signify a breaking point. The key is to determine what sort of initial burst of power exacts too costly a toll on the remainder of the repeats and what leaves just enough fuel in the muscles to back up that hard charge.

Week 6

This week&rsquo;s first round of intervals focus again on honing your ability to put down extremely high watts for very limited (but often pivotal) lengths of time. Whether you&nbsp;create big power with a fast spin, a big gear, or very likely a lot of each, this capability doesn't appear magically for most of us - it takes a few weeks of work dedicated to cultivating a very specific and useful form of fitness.
Up next, a pretty fun foray into a varied but purposeful mix of VO2max and Anaerobic repeats that will continue to ice your high-performance cake. You'll undoubtedly hit upon duration/intensity combinations in which you excel as well as ones that really beat you up. Use this information to inform your race strategies as well as future training manipulations.&nbsp;
Finally, you'll close out your pre-taper training&nbsp;with one more round of Sprint + VO2max work that increases your initial sprint's intensity to its highest point. This assumes you haven't already exceeded this percentage of FTP in prior training having discovered a possible sprint aptitude. In any case, try for even higher watts this week knowing that any additional capacity derived from this final loading week is only going to serve you better on race day.

Week 7

It's time to taper your training load with the goal of leaving you fresh and motivated by the weekend. You'll begin with a shorter round of Anaerobic capacity repeats that maintain all of the intensity necessary to keep you sharp, but dispense a bit of the volume that leaves you heavily fatigued by the end of the workout.&nbsp;
Your VO2max repeats see a volume reduction as well, but they too retain all of the intensity necessary to keep you familiar with the pain but light on fatigue.
Saturday is an&nbsp;openers&nbsp;workout based on a Sunday race, but if your race falls on Saturday or perhaps both weekend days, perform the short priming workout on Friday instead. If you'd prefer a different openers workout, take a look at Scott Peak or the many versions of Truuli.
This week&rsquo;s format can be repeated should you have a string of race weekends ahead since it maintains all of the necessary intensity but not nearly as much of the fatigue-inducing volume. Don&rsquo;t plan to utilize this approach for more than a few weeks since peak fitness is a short-lived, temporary point in your ever-changing fitness.
Before that decline has any chance set in, go out there and reap the rewards of months of hard, consistent training the likes of which only the most dedicated and hard-working riders achieve.&nbsp;

Week 8

Gravity events like Downhill, Super D, Slalom, and Enduro favor athletes with strong anaerobic abilities and good technical skills. The Gravity specialty plans handle the fitness side of things, improving your race day power to help you dominate your goal events.

Gravity

Gravity racing relies heavily on high-end power output, but good endurance is still crucially important. The Gravity specialty plan is designed around this reality, focusing on high-end aerobic and anaerobic conditioning without neglecting endurance fitness. Paired with some on-trail skills training, it’s just what you need to elevate your performance in your goal Gravity events.The mid-volume version of this 8-week plan includes 5 workouts per week, each ranging from 60 to 90 minutes in length. An easier 4th week offers the chance for some mid-plan recovery, and the last 2 weeks of the plan serve as a taper, reducing volume but maintaining intensity in the final leadup to your goal event.&nbsp;

Gravity - Mid Volume

Gravity racing relies heavily on high-end power output, but good endurance is still crucially important. The Gravity specialty plan is designed around this reality, focusing on high-end aerobic and anaerobic conditioning without neglecting endurance fitness. Paired with some on-trail skills training, it’s just what you need to elevate your performance in your goal Gravity events.The high-volume version of this 8-week plan includes 5 workouts per week, each ranging from 60 to 120 minutes in length. An easier 4th week offers the chance for some mid-plan recovery, and the last 2 weeks of the plan serve as a taper, reducing volume but maintaining intensity in the final leadup to your goal event.&nbsp;As with all our high-volume plans, this plan is intended for experienced athletes who have plateaued at lower volumes.

Gravity

Gravity (8 Weeks Per Block)

Training Plans for Your Needs

Focused Training for Your Event

More Plans for Off-Road Racers

Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Training and Racing Videos

TrainerRoad Community Forum

Gravity

Gravity (8 Weeks Per Block)

Training Plans for Your Needs

Focused Training for Your Event

More Plans for Off-Road Racers

Ready to Get Faster?

Ask a Cycling Coach Podcast

Training and Racing Videos

TrainerRoad Community Forum