Intervals for Cross Country MTB

• 6-week cross-country interval training plan
• Endurance mountain bike hammer rides, VO2's, threshold, diabolical tabatas, and race starts to prepare you to crush your goal race!

Welcome to XC MTB Intervals.

This is a hybrid polarized Sweet Spot plan built on our Fatigue Dependent Training Plan Design Model. You’ll get 2 to 3 hard XC-specific interval workouts a week, Sweet Spot riding in between, and easy days where they belong. Fatigue-dependent means the schedule respects what the hard days cost you: the intensity lands when you can actually absorb it, and the days around it are built to make sure you can.

Use this plan inside 6 to 8 weeks of your XC racing. It’s built to sharpen what you already have, not to build it. If you’re further out than that, or you’re still building your aerobic engine, run one of our Sweet Spot plans first and come back to this one when race season is close.

What you’ll be doing

The VO2 max work progresses as you go: 3 minute intervals to start, then 4 minutes, then 5. Same zone, more time at it each block. That progression is how you raise your ceiling without burying yourself in week one, and by the time you’re holding 5 minute efforts you’ll feel the difference on every climb.

Alongside that you’ll get threshold work that raises your FTP for the long sustained climbs, and race start practice that teaches you to sprint for the holeshot and then settle into a pace you can actually hold. Sweet Spot rides carry the aerobic load between the hard days without digging a hole.

Several workouts are what we call a two for one: skills plus intensity in the same session. Race start practice, race pace trail rides, Sweet Spot on singletrack. You’re building fitness and sharpening your handling at the same time, which is the hallmark of good MTB training. Riding technical terrain with your heart rate pinned is exactly what race day asks of you, so we train it that way.

First, the field test

You need to know your FTP, in power or heart rate or both, to get anything out of this plan. That’s why week one starts with a 20 minute field test. That single number sets every zone for the next six weeks and gives you a baseline to beat.

Before you test, set your FTP a little low in Profile, then Training Zones. CoachCat detects breakthrough efforts automatically, so a conservative starting number means your test will register and your zones will update on their own.

Questions? Ask CoachCat any time, or email us at help@fascatcoaching.com.

Now go get fast. Work hard, ride fast, have fun. #FtFP