Spring will probably arrive very early in my neck of the woods and I am starting to think about outside MTB training for my race season. I will mostly do shorter races (cross country 1 h) and a few marathons (2h +) Common denominator is technical terrain, speed is slower but much more going on in the trail and more use of muscle force, upper body, explosive strenght (i should really do some more heavy core strenght like kettlebells etc) and balance. I am going to get me a crank power meter to see whats going on watt wise when I ride, but I think riding with watt as an constant indicator will just be a distraction. I think the indoor training with focus on developing top end is very relevant to MTB, because there are never long TT like efforts but lots of up and down, and you sort of “rest” downhill (even though HR is high from excitment and adrenalin!)
I have a circuit I do for intervals. Its about 12-15 min long and has some technical challenges and both up and down. Its very hard to determine what kind of interval out from HR or watts, so I think perceived effort is the best; either flat out or 80-90% percent, its more of a subjective feeling I use to pace the effort. I would love to get more input on how I should transform to outside in a month- 6 weeks time, and thought maybe it would be interesting to have a discussion in the forum (and not just in my plan) because this could also be relevant to others or to CX-races 