Leadville Trail 100 MTB: 4 Weeks Until Race Day
5 important things to get right before the big day
Many people struggle with what to do in the last few weeks before the Leadville Trail 100 MTB event (or any goal event). You've already put in a lot of time and energy preparing to meet you goals for this event, the last thing you want to do is self-sabotage in the final hour.
Don't overdo the training
Many of us will get to this point feeling a little under-prepared. Maybe we didn't get as much training in as we hoped, or our fitness isn't quite where we would like. This is pretty common, however, the worst thing you can do is "try to make up for lost time" by training extra hard or adding a ton of volume right up to race day. Usually this will just increase the chance of illness, injury or other physical breakdown before the event and/or starting the race overly fatigued. You can continue to ramp things up gradually until the last week or two, but do so in an incremental way.
Training intensity
Probably the most important thing in the last few weeks is to spend a fair amount of time in your target race paces. For Leadville, you should probably have a target range for the climbs (by HR or Power). Doing intervals that simulate those climb durations and intensities will help you stay on track on race day and give you confidence that you can work hard and not blow up.
Finalize your nutrition plan and test it
How many calories per hour? how much fluid? which products? These questions need to be answered before race day and you should do your long rides in the last month applying the plan. This will get your gut ready and allow you an opportunity to make any necessary changes. It is easy to get caught up in the heat of the moment in the race and fail to take in adequate calories or fluids. Practice makes it more likely you'll stay on plan during the race.
Make sure your gear is ready to go
BIKE TUNE-UP: Do this a couple weeks out so you have time for several rides to make sure everything is working as it should.
TIRES: This means tires are new, but not brand new. You should have several rides on your race-day setup so you know it is working well.
ON-COURSE REPAIRS: Make sure you know how to use your tire plugs and inflators. Do you know how to successfully change to a tube if necessary? Does your spare tube hold air or has it started to crack and rot in your saddle bag. None of us want these things to happen during the event, but we can at least be prepared and salvage the day even if we have some bad luck.
ELECTRONICS: make sure everything has a full charge for race day. Don't forget to install a new battery in things like electronic shifters (SRAM), power meter pedals, heart monitors, etc. It can be a big mental blow on race day if something you were going to rely on suddenly stops working.
Finalize your aid station plan
The goal should be to get what you need and minimize stoppage time. Do yourself and your support team a favor and plan things out in advance. Communicate your plan with everyone involved to reduce stress and tempers on race day. Your plan should include exactly what fluids and food you want at each stop, who is doing what, and who has any spare equipment you may need (pump, spare wheels, CO2 cartridges, tires, tubes, etc.) You are not going to be in your best headspace during the race, so make sure everything is well-settled before race day.