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NICA FALL-league High School TEAM mountain bike training plan

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NICA FALL-league High School TEAM mountain bike training plan

Author

Lynda Wallenfels

All plans by this Coach

Length

20 Weeks

Plan Description

This FALL league TEAM training plan is designed for NICA head coaches to use to coach every athlete on a typical NICA team from Varsity podium level to beginner. Training each day is split up by 6 levels or groups. Group 1 consists of the fastest and most experienced riders and group 6 the beginner student-athletes. Specific training for each group is provided for each practice. This is a plug and play season training plan for a NICA head coach.

LW Coaching offers a free 20 min consulting session with Coach Lynda Wallenfels to any NICA head coach. Message lynda@lwcoaching.com for your appointment.

High school mountain bike training plan

This 20-week FALL league training plan is designed to start on the first Monday of "regular-season" team training and end at State Finals. Some minor schedule adjustments may be needed to fit the calendar for your State.

Workouts on this LW Coaching training plan can be paced by heart rate zone or power level or perceived exertion. Instructions on setting heart rate training zones, power levels and perceived exertion pacing guidelines are integrated into the plan.

Coach Lynda tips are provided along the way in the plan to help you coach your entire team through the season. Practices include pacing guidelines, nutrition, bike maintenance, tech riding skills and peer coaching opportunities. Practices start with a focus on riding skills and progress to more focus on race-speed fitness by race #1. Race specific drills such as passing, starts, short tracks and sprinting are included along with fitness building practices your student-athletes will love, such as hill intervals and tempo training days to peak their fitness and get them race ready.

This LW Coaching training plan is designed for one team. Please do not duplicate, distribute or share this training plan. Copyright LW Coaching.

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Training Plan Sample Week

Sample Workouts - Week 100
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Monday

Season practice #1

Bike02:00:00
Groups 1 - 6 follow the same session today.

Use part of today's practice to divide your team up into 6 groups if you have not done this already (see the attached doc - How to use your training plan for more info on the group selection process). You can use a time trial, you can have a coach sort your students or you can let students self-select a group.

Introduce all coaches and student-athletes. Give Safety and logistics talk. Explain student responsibilities and how your practices will be structured. 

Coach Lynda tip: Set your expectations high and communicate this to students. They will appreciate being part of a well organized team and strive to fulfill your expectations. This is a win-win.

Do an equipment check-off with each student. All Students must present the following required equipment at every practice:

a. Bike
b. Helmet
c. Gloves
d. Eye Protection
e. Spare tube
f. Hand Pump
g. Patch Kit
h. Tire Levers
i. Hydration Pack
j. Water Bottles
k. Nutrition
l. Quick-Link for chain
m. Multi-Tool w/Chain Breaker
n. Medications

Teach the NICA, A, B, C, D bike check (MTB 101 on-the-bike-skills manual page 9)
A: air
B: brakes
C: crank-set/ chain/cassette
D: derailleur  

Coach Lynda tip: This quick bike check should be done before every practice and can be a money and season saver.

Skills: Spend the remainder of practice time coaching neutral and ready body position drills (NICA MTB 101 on-the-bike-skills manual page 17 and 18)
Details
Tuesday

Core workout

Strength00:30:00
Core workout. Follow this routine http://lwcoaching.com/30-min-core-stretch-routine-mountain-bike-racers/

Coaches: Share this link with your student-athletes and encourage them to work on core and stretching on non-practice days.
Details

Day off the bike today

Rest
No riding today.
Details
Wednesday

MTB skill - Braking. Base.

Bike02:00:00
Groups 1-3: Practice front brake drill, rear brake drill and both brakes drill. No skidding!

Then ride fun trails at aerobic base pace (HR zones 1-3).

Aerobic base pace cues:
- Breathing is slightly elevated. You must open your mouth to breathe
- You can cruise along for 2 hours at this pace without much effort

---

Groups 4-6: Start practice with MTB skills:
- Review neutral and ready body position
- Braking.

Then ride trails at an easy pace and practice body position and braking on the trail.

---

Coach Lynda tip: Experienced and skilled students can be assistant student-coaches for this session. This can be a positive team bonding exercise. Varsity riders appreciate the opportunity to coach the new students. You will be amazed at how good some of them are! Teen to teen talk can be a lot more effective at getting across a point sometimes. Let your student-coaches know they are role models for your new team members and they set the tone for the team. Ask them to be respectful and approachable. Thank your student-coaches for their contributions and let them know they are a valuable part of the team.
Details
Thursday

Day off the bike today

Rest
No riding today.
Details

Yoga - Deep-release, hips, hamstrings and lower-back

Strength00:48:00
Do this 48 min class at this link http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/deep-release-hips-hamstrings-and-lower-back or use this Vimeo link https://vimeo.com/35122022

Coaches: Share this link with your student-athletes and encourage them to do yoga on non-practice days.
Details
Friday

Training zone performance test. MTB skill bike body separation side-side.

Bike02:00:00
Group 4 - 6: MTB skill bike and body separation side to side.

---

Group 1 - 3: Training zone performance test. This is the opportunity for athletes training with a heart rate monitor or power meter to set their training zones with a training zone performance test. Student athletes should follow a 20 minute warm up starting easy or PE <2 then gradually increase intensity finishing with 1 minute at race pace or PE 5-6. Coaches should check everybody has their power meter calibrated and heart rate monitor switched on and recording data before the test. The test is a maximum effort 20 minute non-stop effort. It can be on flat ground or uphill. Data to record to establish heart rate training zones is 20 minute average heart rate and to set power levels is 20 min average power. Students should pace the 20 minutes evenly with a maximal effort. 

Coaches: See attached Training Intensity Guidelines doc (click on above paperclip icon) to coach accurate pacing in the warm up.

Use the TrainingPeaks calculator in the Settings>Zones tab to set students HR training zones and power levels. See your - How to use your training plan doc - for detailed instructions. This doc is attached to the welcome note on day 1.

Coach Lynda tip: Prior to conducting this test review the Testing Guidelines doc found at this link http://lwcoaching.com/?p=138 for tips on how to prepare for and execute the best test.

Coach Lynda tip: If you do not have a ride leader or coach that can keep pace with your fastest athletes on the test, send several coaches ahead to different parts of your course to provide safety, encouragement and make sure they stop when their 20 minutes is finished.
Details
Saturday

Base training

Bike02:00:00
Aerobic Base Ride: All groups ride trails at a moderate aerobic base pace in HRZ 1-3 or power L1-3 today. Choose a fun route!

Aerobic base pace cues:
- Breathing is slightly elevated. You must open your mouth to breathe
- You can cruise along for 2+ hours at this pace without much effort
- No suffering!

Group 1-3: Varsity rides 2.5 hours and JV/Soph/Fresh rides 2.0 hours

Group 4-6: Ride trails for 1.5 hours + skills drills for 30 mins

Coach Lynda tip: Today focus on fueling and ask your students to consume 100-200 calories on this ride. This can be via sports nutrition products such as carbohydrate/electrolyte drinks (Carborocket, Tailwind, Gatorade, EFS etc), gels, blocks or bars. This can also be via easily digestible high carbohydrate real food such as bananas, oranges, grapes, granola bars, dried fruit, fruit snacks, boiled salted potatoes, raisins, fig bars, rice cakes etc
Details

Core workout

Strength00:30:00
Group 1 and 2 riders only for this core session:

Core workout. Follow this routine http://lwcoaching.com/30-min-core-stretch-routine-mountain-bike-racers/
Details
Sunday

Day off

Rest
Day off.
Details

Sunday Sample Workout Details

Other

Stats

Average Weekly Breakdown

Workouts Weekly Average Longest Workout
Bike x4
07:21:00 02:30:00
Strength x3
01:40:00 00:48:00
Day Off x3
—— ——
Custom x1
—— ——
Workouts Per Week Weekly Average Longest Workout
Bike Bike
07:21:00 02:30:00
Strength Strength
01:40:00 00:48:00
Rest Day Off
—— ——
Other Custom
—— ——

Training Load By Week


This plan works best with the following fitness devices:

  • Heart Rate Monitor

All supported devices

Lynda Wallenfels

LW Coaching

Mountain Bike Coaching, Consulting and Mountain Bike Training Plans. We are mountain bikers and specialize in mountain biking.

Browse our LWCoaching.com website and give our LW Coaching mountain bike training plan finder App a try https://lwcoaching.com/mtb-training-plans/planfinder/ to see which mountain bike training plan stack fits your goals.

Personal coaching, pre-built mountain bike training plans, consulting. See www.lwcoaching.com or contact lynda@lwcoaching.com

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This plan is protected by our Refund Policy and may, with the author's approval, be exchanged for a plan of equal value from the same author.

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