Physiology of DH training?

bigstudent said:

Hi guys, I would like to do some serious training during the winter for the next season of downhill MTB. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find any books and/or articles directed at DH training. I have read Friel’s bible, the 2nd edition of training with power, Carmichael’s Crunched time cyclist, and Burke’s Serious cycling etc.
The problem is these books are directed at road or XC cyclist. The most relevant part I guess was reading section on BMX training in Coggan’s and Allan’s book and more in their blog.
Can you please share your views on sprint, endurance, weights and X-training for this discipline?
Also could you be specific about what kind of interval training should I be doing and why and at which part of the year?

To help my training I have an ergometer bike (Kettler ergoracer GT) for the winter days when the weather is just too bad…

Many thanks for any advice

I work with some of the better NZ DH cyclists and they follow the similar programme to a Track Sprint or Kilo Cyclist. Depends on the track. This years World Cup events were very technical so the training was focused on short and sharp efforts while last years tracks were more peddly so we did more anaerobic based work.

In terms of physiology they share similar attributes to a Kilo rider. We use a 30sec Wingate test to assess their physiology and do regular skinfolds. Naturally DH is a high risk sport. You may have watched the Windham round and saw Peat with a big lead eat dirt within metres of the line. So we do more strength and conditioning work than a track rider would do.

In terms of conditioning they do road rides and a lot of Motocross. In terms of specificity there are shuttles and we do a lot of sprints down a lane of a BMX track.

Psychology is a huge component of the sport. Know why you want to be there, know how you will achieve your goals and what you must do on the day. Experience is major so race often.

Fergie, thank you for your insightful reply.

I’ll look for more info on track training, as I haven’t read much on that. Is there good place to start at? I have always assumed (may be wrongly?) that very short TT was of similar physical effort to DH.

I enjoy weight training, so that shouldn’t be a problem for me. How often do you get your riders to weight train, and what is the ratio between strength training and conditioning?

I would love to have a go at some Moto, but unfortunately I can’t afford that, at least not this winter. I may be able to borrow a road bike, for most of winter, so should this be used for endurance and recovery rides?

I’ll definitely try to get to BMX track as much as I can to improve my skills and sprints.

There is one more issue I would like to understand, how does the periodization concept works for DH, compared to XC or road? Would you still get your athletes to build some base in the off season, or is it sprints with just small amount of endurance all year long?

Many thanks

bigstudent said:

There is one more issue I would like to understand, how does the periodization concept works for DH, compared to XC or road? Would you still get your athletes to build some base in the off season, or is it sprints with just small amount of endurance all year long?

All the usual rules apply of specificity, progressive overload, individuality, recovery and periodisation. For the weights starting out they may do two to three sessions but as they build strength they usually go to one session per week for legs or upper body as they find they don't recover in time especially with all the other training.

If you look the demands of the event it's more than just one run in a day. There are practice runs, maybe qualifying and a final. You need the strength, power and anaerobic capacity for the runs, but the aerobic power and capacity to handle a long day at the track and recovery between runs. You need to do the runs to get dialled in for your race run (course and the bike). Periodisation goes from general preparation to specific preparation to racing. Pretty standard. I incorporate general and specific technical and psychological skills aiming for a holistic programme.

What would you recommend me to read on psychology preparation?

Thank you for all of the advice.

bigstudent said:

What would you recommend me to read on psychology preparation?

Thank you for all of the advice.

Carol Dweck: Mindset
Simon Sinek: Start with why
John Elliot: Overachievement
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz: The power of full engagement

Ok, I'll look at them.

Thank you

fergie said:

Carol Dweck: Mindset
Simon Sinek: Start with why
John Elliot: Overachievement
Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz: The power of full engagement

Don't overdo the psy book thing unless you really enjoy the subject.
+1 for all the rest.