MTBO – DIRTY WEEKEND IN WOODEND

MTBO Training

& Specificity

Kay Haarsma

TRAIN smart not harder or longer. Your body is wonderfully adaptive. It responds to the training quality and quantity, or lack of, that you invest in it. The training year would be very boring and quite unproductive if a rider did exactly the same training each week. In fact studies have demonstrated that the body acclimatises physiologically to a specific training diet after about 6 weeks, and thus adjustments then need to be made. Generally a training year is “periodised” or broken down into different blocks. These can be varied but they usually involve: Base, Pre-Competition, Competition and Recovery periods. These blocks are often broken down into micro-periods. So the three months of base training would have two or three slightly different training plans.

The above model is a bit stylised and simplified to show the two main peaks (major competition periods). In reality a MTBO rider will also have other major events that they will aim to do well in too. Luckily a cyclist can recover quickly, so can compete often in a year. B = (base) - the emphasis will be on endurance with high volume (many kilometres) and little intensity. PC = (pre-competition) - there will be a greater emphasis on quality / intensive training with intervals, sprints, hills etc. There may be some races here but there is no resting up for them. Some map reading sessions need to be incorporated too. C = (competition) - ideally with weekly races (MTBO / other) and other quality training sessions. Importantly, adequate recovery should be planned, as should tapering (training reduction) leading into major competitions. R = (recovery) - the rider needs a rest from structured training to rejuvenate. They maintain their fitness level by doing other forms of exercise or some easy riding. There are six “training principles” that need to be incorporated in training plans to achieve optimal performance. These are: Individuality; Overload; Reversibility; Variability; Recovery and Specificity. I will look at specificity below.

Jan Feb Mar April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec B PC C C R+B PC C C+R C R B B Trials WOC

Training Specificity

Most MTBO and even traditional mountain bike cross country riders tend to spend 75%+ of their training time on road bikes for the majority of the year. This is because they can train at a higher intensity and with greater consistency than single track riding allows. Also, just pure technical mountain biking, if done day after day, is very draining on the muscular system and will cause undue fatigue. However, when the major competitions come closer the rider must ensure that they are specific with their training, rather than just clocking up kilometres / hours. This is much harder for the MTBO rider than the foot orienteer as there are far fewer MTBO races available.

MTBO REQUIREMENTS and application of SPECIFICITY

Physical fitness - ride at or near threshold (very hard) for the whole race, with occasional micro breaks or slowing down for control punching and map reading. Race time is known, as is the steepness of the terrain. The best preparation for racing is to race. If you do all your training at a comfortable speed then the body won’t magically adapt to race speed when required. If you can’t do actual MTBO races every week then either simulate them, or preferably do criterium type races. These are at a high intensity and have the added value of requiring surges at the frequent corners on the course, which replicates the power demands of accelerating away from controls. Ensure that you practice races at the differing winning times. Be they 25 minutes for the Sprint, 50min for the Middle Distance or 90 / 110 minutes for the Long Distance. Do more of the one that you find the most difficult. Physical skills – MTBO races are off-road so in the competitive season you must do more sessions on the dirt. Intervals and even tempo training can be done on faster tracks. If you aren’t so good technically then a greater amount of specific single track riding is needed. Whether the riding surfaces at the race venue are sandy, rocky or root /log strewn, or have lots of single track, can usually be ascertained beforehand and you can seek to train more in the relevant terrain. However the major factor with most MTBO races are that you are riding on unknown tracks, so you must have the riding smarts to adjust quickly to what you see ahead. Imitate this by regularly riding fast on unfamiliar tracks. Navigation – quick map reading and route choice decisions whilst riding is the specific demand. Map memory and visualisation techniques are more advantageous and crucial than in Foot-O, as you can’t go roughly on compass. You must make the correct choices on which tracks to take. Mistakes are costly, as you can’t cut through to the correct track. Rider thoughts may be “after about 800 metres turn left onto small dotty track in the second gully, then almost immediately right onto steep uphill single track and turn right again when it hits the major road near the knoll after about 400 metres.” If you have to stop or slow down at every change of direction you will be considerably slower than the rider who can memorise the lot. Map reading is the area neglected terribly by many riders. No matter how fast you ride, if your map reading is poor you won’t succeed. This doesn’t need to be done all year round but must be highlighted in the pre-competition and competitive phases. Race practice or simulation is ideal. Otherwise be creative by riding around on street maps of areas as this at least trains your eyes and memory. Also just ride trails while doing route choices on maps of other areas. Decide on your route choice hurriedly (as you would do in a race) and then look again at all options and see if you chose correctly.

Route choices can also be done in the armchair at home. Improve your memory, by looking at a leg and then drawing your route choice on paper. Foot orienteering is another way of improving your map reading and memory skills, especially for the newcomer who has trouble with contours. If you map study a lot you will see dramatic improvements in how much detail you recognise at a single glance. The fewer glances you need to take the faster you will be. Before a big race make sure that you practice reading maps of the same scale and contour interval. Study other maps and courses of similar areas and especially those that you have raced on before. Mentally – the main thing is to “control the controllables,” and rehearse other “what if ‘x’ happens” situations. At the start of every competitive season revise and update your strategies in this area. Do you have a checklist of what to take to each event? Good to incorporate this on a luggage label on your race bag. You should have a time-line from wake up to race start with everything factored in. What you have for breakfast and your warm-up should be planned. Your nutritional needs (food and fluids) for in the event and afterwards should be organised. Don’t try a new gel in a big race. Have cue words to keep you on task when: a) other riders are around you; b) if you make a mistake; c) you are pushing up a big hill etc. Be positive and pat yourself on the back for what you do right. Practice everything in minor events so you get into a routine, so you just reproduce this at Australian Championships, WOC, or other major events. Also factor in training at the time of day and in the weather of the upcoming race. Evaluate all races to confirm what strategies worked and what didn’t. Don’t just look at your mistakes. Examine all your good legs and realise what made them successful. Orienteering is a unique sport in that the “playing field” is forever changing and different mappers invariably have their own interpretations. This means that there are a lot of variables and unpredictable unknowns. I am a strong believer in exposing athletes to other sports so that they get sensitised to being in new situations. Thus doing triathlons, adventure racing, road racing, etc. can be beneficial both from a mental strength viewpoint and also by keeping the athlete fresh by not orienteering all year round. Evaluation tool: For your separate training “periods” in the year do this quick calculation and see if you have enough specificity in your competitive phase. Weekly hours spent: % Mountain Bike Training - % Map reading on/off bike - % Road Training

Main training “diet”

MTBO / MTBO training Criteriums - road / dirt Mt Bike XC races Mt Bike training Road bike training / races Indoor trainer – intervals / tempo Armchair map study Core strength

Additional training possibilities

Foot orienteering Adventure races Enduro or 12/ 24 hr team races Multi-day mountain bike stage races Bike touring Weight training Gym workouts Yoga, Swimming

Technique Hints

1) Tight corners. Look ahead – where your head points the bike usually follows. Decide on your line and then look around the corner to view what is next. If you look at the tree or drop on one side that you are trying to avoid that’s exactly where you will go. Don’t get fooled into watching where your front wheel is going either. Push down on the inside bar end - this will steer you around the corner. Start the corner wide – remember that your back wheel takes a shorter line than your front one. The outside pedal should be down and have weight on it, to increase traction. Maintain momentum – keep pedalling unless its downhill and you already have speed. Be prepared to stand up out of the seat slightly. This enables you to move your weight around quickly if need be. 2) Quick map contact In Foot Orienteering people “thumb” the map to ensure that they look at the right leg at each glance. Since a MTBO rider is travelling much faster he/she has an even harder task to identify just what part of the map is the current leg. This can be facilitated by having markers on the map board. The NZ method, which works very well, is to place tin under the map and an industrial weight magnet (or two) on top. Blutack blobs and dynatape arrows work beautifully in fine weather but are less reliable in rain. You don’t need to move these every leg.

Dirty Weekend

in Woodend

Kay Haarsma

Aaron Dodd was part of a big field in M21E Photo: Mike Hubbert

Saturday’s Middle Distance courses incorporated an unusually high percentage of the famed purpose-built Wombat single track which was more technical riding-wise and navigationally. Joyce Rowlands (W70) didn’t like the small 1:20,000 A4 map and went further afield to explore uncharted territory. She redeemed herself on Sunday keeping her nose on the map and recording a relatively quick win. The slippery conditions made a “hike the bike” steep hill difficult for many and ensured that all winning times were somewhat slower than intended. The ride of the day was on Course 2 by 17-year-old Heath Jamieson who recorded 57 minutes, and rode 9 & 10 minutes faster respectively than M40 victor Fabrizio Andreoni (VIC) and W21E Carolyn Jackson (VIC). Queenslander Chris Firman took out 2nd in M17-20E in a smart 69 minutes. In W21E Melanie Simpson (NSW) was 2nd just 3mins behind Carolyn in 70mins, with Thor Egerton (QLD) 3rd on 74mins. Foot orienteer Kathryn Ewels (VIC) recorded 79mins and NSW adventure racer Alison Curtin was next on 81mins. Present Middle Distance World Champion, Adrian Jackson (VIC), had to work hard for his win in 62mins. Alex Randall (VIC) rode similar leg times but finished 2mins down, losing most of this en route to control #6. David Simpfendorfer (ACT) showed good form for 3rd (68mins), while Rob Preston (NSW) was just a minute further back and Hayden Lebbink (VIC) impressed in 5th.

Long Distance

The Long Distance courses on Sunday had all riders peering closely at the 10 metre contours as minimising climb was certainly important given the hillier terrain. Each course had two or three long route choice legs with options of around via the fire road versus shorter minor tracks. The elite men had 32km with 840 metres of climb and just 10 controls. AJ (Adrian Jackson) dominated with a clear 9min win courtesy of strong riding

Adrian Jackson punching the Radio control. Photo: Mike Hubbert

TORRENTIAL rain in the preceding 24 hours ensured that mud riding skills and the bike durability were fully tested in the Victorian MTBO Championships. Luckily there was little actual rain during the races and Sunday’s forecast strong winds and hail held off. However the 3-degree temperature and high wind chill factor required the multi-layer clothing approach, with ear warmers, long gloves and foot booties being useful accessories. Many people had a slide out or fall or two during the event, and 2008 WOC team member Melanie Simpson (NSW) managed to fracture a wrist in the Saturday warm-up. She had a somewhat painful ride, bumping along the prolific single track but still managed to place a fine 2nd before literally getting “plastered.” The area utilised, Woodend state forest (central Victoria) was new to MTBO and was yet another Andrew Slattery map production. The area had been first used for Foot Orienteering in 1972 as “Red Hill” and, amazingly, Keith Wade was the course setter then too. Orienteers are just like “eveready” batteries, they just keep on keeping on. In that event Tim Dent, Andrea Harris, Peta Whitford and Jan Weate competed in ’72 and are still navigating through the forest some 37 years later. Even faster now they are on bikes! Both the Middle Distance and Long Distance events had the assembly area and finish at Cammeray Waters Resort, with finish sprints around the lake each day. How nice it was to utilise their indoor facilities for changing, getting warm with the gas heaters and eating lunch cooked on site by Carolyn Cusworth and friends. Many orienteers chose to stay in the resort cabins, thus eliminating the travel time completely.

Kathryn Ewells 4th W21E in the Middle

Kay Haarsma won W40 on both days

Adrian Jackson won both Middle and Long races. Photo: Peter Cusworth

on the longer legs. David Simpfendorfer found his optimal “happy speed” to gain 2nd, while 2002 WOC representative Grant Lebbink (VIC) did brilliantly in his return to be just a minute behind. Several of the other men had troubles with punctures. Rob Preston borrowed a tube from Anthony Darr (NSW) only to find it was a 29” and not a 26” and later got a correct sized one from Alex Randall. Good deeds don’t always pay off as Alex subsequently punctured himself and had to walk his bike for some 10mins plus before being given a tube by another rider. This cost Alex another 2nd place finish and he had to settle for 4th, just ahead of an emerging talent in Jamie Dougall from Qld. The A3 map required at least one map refold in the map holder and the more agile like Heath Jamieson were able to achieve this whilst riding. Some of the steeper gullies had “swimming pools” of muddy water which claimed a few victims. The elite women had 26km and 610 metres climb. Carolyn Jackson led from control #2 and was never headed, winning by 6mins in 109 minutes. This was despite losing almost 3mins to 2nd placed Thor Egerton (115 mins) by taking the straighter single-track route rather than the road option on leg #9. Alison Curtin (131 mins) stepped up for 3rd. It was great to see Jasmine Sunley (VIC) master the conditions in W17-20E but juniors in general were in short supply. Two decided to try themselves against the elite men. 20-year-old Joshua Roberts excelled in both races placing 8th (Middle) and 7th (Long) in the 21-person field despite finding the big climbs on the Long Distance quite onerous. Luke Poland (ACT) was 12th in the Middle Distance but had to DNF the Long Distance due to the cold conditions. Many people had double wins – Angus Robinson (VIC) in M14, Heath Jamieson (VIC) in M17-20E, Robert Prentice (NSW) in M50, John Sheahan (VIC) in M70, Jasmine Sunley (VIC) in W17-20E, Kay Haarsma (SA) in W40, Peta Whitford (VIC) in W50, Kath Liley (VIC) in W60. One day winners were: Fabrizio Andreoni (VIC) & Rob Davis (VIC) in M40, Tim Dent (VIC) & Leigh Privett (VIC) in M60, and Joyce Rowlands (VIC) in W70.

Alex Randall was a close second in the Middle but flatted in the Long. Photo: Mike Hubbert

National Series

National Series leaders are: M21E: Adrian Jackson – 60 pts, David Simpfendorfer – 51; Alex Randall – 49, M17-20E: Heath Jamieson – 60, Chris Firman – 27. W21E: Carolyn Jackson – 60, Thorlene Egerton – 51, Alison Curtin – 45. W1720E: Jasmine Sumley – 60 Leading states are: M21E: VIC (18), NSW (14), Qld (9). W21E: VIC (18), NSW & Qld (14) M&W17-20E: VIC (18).

Selection Trials

The Championships also incorporated the selection trials for MTB WOC 2009 to be held in Israel. Only five riders nominated this year, mostly due to ethical and safety concerns re the venue. Only Adrian Jackson and Carolyn Jackson were selected. Carolyn may be in the veteran ranks but she is navigationally brilliant and the fittest, most aggressive and most skilful rider in our squad. She was a fine 15th woman overall in the recent BMC 100km race, whilst Foot Orienteer, Dave Shepherd, displayed that he is multitalented with an outstanding 7th out of 700 riders. Alex Randall and Anthony Darr have chosen to contest the European Championships in Denmark and the Czech 5 Day event instead. Most riders are looking forward to the 2010 WOC & JWOC in Portugal, so we should have a large and very competitive team again then.

Route Gadget

Route Gadget is available for these races at www.eurekaorienteers. asn.au. Why not look at the courses, make your own route choices and then click to see where the winners went? Middle Distance: www.eurekaorienteers.asn.au/routegadget/cgibin/reitti.pl?act=map&id=1&kieli Long Distance: www.eurekaorienteers.asn.au/routegadget/cgibin/reitti.pl?act=map&id=2&kieli

Carolyn Jackson. Photo: Mike Hubbert

Melanie Simpson. Photo: Mike Hubbert

W21E Middle Distance

1. Carolyn Jackson (Vic)

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Finish

6:12 16:14 26:43 36:14 40:50 45:04 51:23 1:00:29 1:05:05 1:06:16 1:07:48 6:12 10:02 10:29 9:31 4:36 4:14 6:19 9:06 4:36 1:11 1:32 5:37 15:17 27:19 36:59 41:28 46:20 52:57 1:02:17 1:07:54 1:09:21 1:10:59 5:37 9:40 12:02 9:40 4:29 4:52 6:37 9:20 5:37 1:27 1:38

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