Gran Fondo Plan

• Prepare for an ultra MTB race with climbing intervals, sweet spotting and simulation rides
• Includes a taper into your race and cycling specific nutrition guidance for long events

This six week 100 mile mountain bike race plan will prep you for a grueling 100 mile mountain bike race with gobs of Sweet Spot and Threshold plus a dab of anaerobic work during the week.

The weekends are full of long rides up to 8 hours with plenty of climbing that will give you a chance to test your fueling plans as well as your saddle fit! There's also plenty of low aerobic endurance work to help you build that mitochondrial density that will make you more efficient on race day.

Over the course of the six week training plan you'll ramp up your hours up steadily to handle the long day in the saddle. We've included some of our favorite workouts (Bursts, Sweet Spot, Criss-Cross & more) to help you prepare for a great race day!

Example Events are any of the NUE Series race including Cohutta, Mohican, Bailey Hundo, High Cascades and the Shenandoah 100 to name a few 100 milers.

• Builds a Big Aerobic Base
  
• Complete 4 month Training Plan with 3 Power Tests
• new Professional Level with 18 - 26 hours / week

To begin your sweet spot base training you'll perform a Field Test to set your training zones, especially the all important sweet spot training zone!  A second test half thru your plan will measure your improvement and update your training zones and a third a final test will do the same. Athletes can expect to increase their FTP by 5 – 20%! 

This 16 week plan is all new for 2022 and combine workouts from Sweet Spot Parts 1 - 4 in a progressive optimized training plan design.  You'll start off gradually and progress in sweet spot volume each week.  

In the final mesocycle of this plan you'll be doing long sweet spot TSS rides on Saturdays and short structured 'wintertime intensity' during the work week. 

As an Optimize subscriber you may want to Hire a Coach and we will waive the $99 start up fee since you subscribed first! To get started and talk with a Coach please fill out our New Athlete Questionnaire. 

• Increase power and endurance 

This plan is best for triathletes (all triathletes, not specific to a particular distance) who have taken their post-season break and are ready to start training again, no matter what time of year. Over the course of 24 weeks, this plan will build your foundation of muscular strength with our new total body strength and conditioning program, paired with muscle tension intervals, sweet spot, sprints and hills to create a progressive triathlon training program that will improve aerobic fitness, strength, speed and power in all three disciplines.

The basic level plan is low volume, thus suited for athletes with 4-9 hours per week (including 2 strength sessions/wk), or those with less endurance training experience, less time available to train, or athletes training for shorter distance events.

The intermediate level suits those with 8-13 hours per week available to train (including strength sessions), those with more experience in triathlon training or want to do 3 strength sessions/week.

All plans include field testing for swimming, cycling and running at the beginning, middle and end of the plan.

If you're preparing for a full or half-distance triathlon, it is advised to follow a higher volume plan; especially if the event falls early in the year.

• Off-season cyclocross plan is a combination of weight lifting and sweet spot base
• 24-week plan is perfect to begin in January-March to prepare for the Spring/Summer season

This 24-week plan is perfect for the cyclocross racer to begin in January, February, or March to prepare for the Fall/Summer season. The plan is a combination of weight lifting and sweet spot ‘base building” + run conditioning. 

The plan begins with 10 weeks of cycling specific resistance training. You’ll ride, lift, and perform neuromuscular sprint work to transfer strength gains made in the gym onto the bike. Your plan also includes Running and Footwork drills + PLYOMETRICS for agility and explosiveness! 

We’ve also added weekly Yoga with a 60 day FREE YogoGlo membership so there are no excuses to miss out! Work on your balance, flexibility and core – all important for your technical skill cyclocross handling. Speaking of bike handling, your plan took a page from World & Olympic MTB Champion Nino Schurter’s 30-minute circuit training routine to further enhance your bike handling ability. There’s hip mobility and back strengthening videos for you to follow too. Ever get ‘cross back? This plans solves that!

Your off-season cyclocross training plan also has running but does NOT have jogging. Fast, explosive footwork drills are the name of the game. Tap tap tap – just like high cadence on the bike. Finally, because your functional threshold power is critical to your performance, there are two field tests one after you complete the weights to set your training zones and one at the end of the plan to measure how much faster you’ve become with 12 weeks of sweet spot training!

As a Training Plan athlete, you may want more customization of your plan which is our 1x1 coaching. We waive the $99 start up fee if you hire a coach!