Thought I’d ask here, I’ve done a google search, and can’t seem to find anything. I have a friend who is a rather fit guy who loves trail running and mountain biking. We were talking a while back, and I thought he’d be the perfect guy to do Xterra’s. He broke his clavicle and is currently recovering from that, but once back up, I was wondering if there were any free Xterra training plans listed anywhere on the net?? OR should he simply follow an Olympic plan, and modify the bike training a little…any thoughts?
Xterras are a blast. Don’t know if there are any free ones out there - I did exactly what you mentioned and modified the Oly plans out of a couple different books.
I have not seen any “plans” but the Xterra site has some info. The swim is about the same as any program, the run should be your normal amounts, but I would mix in some trail runs and maybe a bit of longer running climbs. Most of the off road events are made if there is a big hill available you will run up it, that also includes sand pits too.
The bike is where the big difference would be. I like to still train on the road, but add at least one day of mtb riding a week if possible. Working on downhill as well as climbing skills.
Depends on what your goal is, if you want to be competive you also need to work on your short intervals and attacking. The reason I mention this is that because of the single track passing zones may be limited, so you need to be able to really hammer for 5 min or so. Passing some people who could potentially slow you down over the race course. One thing newbees to mtb riding also don’t do very well at is flying down the downhills. Yes you can lose time on the uphills, but in Xterra the brave soldiers can also put big amounts of time on the timid on the technical downhills. If you have to dismount to get thru a section and some hammer clears it, you may lose 30 seconds time in about 40 seconds of racing.
I am an ok downhiller, but some of my buddies (real downhill racer guys) just disappear on the long downhills. They are there then they are gone.
One last thing is to lose as much weight as you can the 10 weeks before the race, Like on the run, you can bet even in South Florida if there is a climb in the area it is in the course. If it is in the Rockies, you can be sure there will be plenty of climbs.
I my opinion, Xterra is where triathlon was in the late 80s, still a family of 'racers that know how to have fun at a race. A lot of the serious type A personality racers can not handle the dirt as there are too many factors in Xterra to control, and the dig me folks don’t like to get dirty.