I'll be in my first ever MTB race this coming April. I entered as a beginner and will be doing only two laps of a 15km course so only a total of 30km. The event would last for an hour to an hour and a half at least. I haven't pre ride the course yet but judging on the location of the event, there will be lots of climbs up to 5 to 10 minutes long. I've been slowly building up my aerobic base since December last year and pretty consistently stacking up CTL points. I was up at 95 CTL with a fairly negative TSB.
The problem. Two weeks ago, my wife gave birth and I was not able to ride my bike for a week. CTL dropped back to 80+. Now I'm back to my regular training and slowly trying to regain the lost CTL.
Question 1: How much CTL do I really need for this particular event? Question 2: Is CTL more important than FTP in an XC race? Last tested FTP was 298W @ 72 kg before the birth. Question 3: Am I crazy for considering all these things if I'm only racing the beginner level?
I'll be in my first ever MTB race this coming April. I entered as a beginner and will be doing only two laps of a 15km course so only a total of 30km. The event would last for an hour to an hour and a half at least. I haven't pre ride the course yet but judging on the location of the event, there will be lots of climbs up to 5 to 10 minutes long. I've been slowly building up my aerobic base since December last year and pretty consistently stacking up CTL points. I was up at 95 CTL with a fairly negative TSB.
The problem. Two weeks ago, my wife gave birth and I was not able to ride my bike for a week. CTL dropped back to 80+. Now I'm back to my regular training and slowly trying to regain the lost CTL.
Question 1: How much CTL do I really need for this particular event? Question 2: Is CTL more important than FTP in an XC race? Last tested FTP was 298W @ 72 kg before the birth. Question 3: Am I crazy for considering all these things if I'm only racing the beginner level?
1. It depends - enough to finish (which is not much). You have ample. 2. No. 3. Yes :p
Congrats on the new addition.😉 Why couldn't you ride? (Just kidding😄).
1. It depends - enough to finish (which is not much). You have ample. 2. No. 3. Yes :p....
+1 on this post. Your CTL should be fine, work it up a bit if you can with your newly enlarged family, but 80 is plenty for your first race and one that should only last an hour and a half.
Couldn't ride because baby got hospitalized for 7 days but he's fine now thanks. Thanks for the replies guys, so that means I'm off to 4x5 and 2x20 to try to increase FTP and at least maintain current CTL. 🙂
