Mountain biking is a rare sport in that it has a long aerobic endurance requirement with multiple intense bouts of anaerobic work. What this means is that the rides you perform are overall working your cardiovascular system at a consistent rate – then at times you come to a tough section of trail which requires a sprint, jump, or other technical move that breaks this consistent effort. This requires your cardiovascular system to work at a consistent pace, have a rapid spike in work-load, and the need to be able to recover enough in order to not drop the pace you were holding beforehand.
The best way you can improve your performance on the trail is to perform workouts on or off the bike that work your aerobic system and anaerobic system:
- High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) – Anaerobic
- These are quick, maximum intensity bouts of training with long recovery periods. Research has shown that a cumulative 1 minute of max effort training 3 times per week has given VO2 max benefits in as little as 6 weeks. Now, sprinting for 1 minute straight at maximum intensity is near impossible so you need to break it up into 10 or 20 second rounds and allow sufficient time to recover between rounds. This form of training is a fast and effective way to simulate those tough technical sections in the trails.
- Steady State Cardio – Aerobic
- These types of rides are more for improving your cardiovascular capacity and consistency throughout longer rides. Steady state rides are more beneficial on a less technical trail or a gravel road, so you can keep your cadence and heart rate in a semi-consistent zone. Unfortunately, these rides are not for stopping at the top to chat with your friends before the downhill. These are pure aerobic rides where you should be going for 45+ minutes without stopping. A good rule of thumb for these types of rides is to be able to have a conversation on the bike – if you can’t breathe enough to talk, you are going too hard.
- Strength Training
- Strength training has been shown to have significant benefits to mountain biking and all endurance athletes – check out our “Strength Training for the Mountain Biker” blog post for more information!
If you want to compete in racing, or just have a better time out with your friends – try out some of these training strategies. The concepts listed above will not only make you more competitive, but I guarantee that you will have more enjoyable rides once your engine becomes better tuned for mountain biking!
Author: Dr. Colin van Werkhoven, PT, DPT, CSCS
