This year, the first edition of XTERRA Luxembourg will take place in the beautiful luxembourgees town of Rosport-Mompach. Nationally known for it’s mineral water named Rosport. Rosport-Mompach is not too far away from the capital Luxembourg-ville and on the german border which makes it close to Trier.
The race will be composed by a 1.5km swim loop in the Sûre, usually in that period of the year the wet-suit isn’t needed, and the water is quite calm with very few close to no current at all which should make it an easy swim.
The transition is very short as the bike parc is right outside of the swim.
Then we carry on with 2 laps of 16km mountain bike with approximatley 500m of elevation each. The course on it’s self is not very technical if the weather conditions are good otherwhise you will have to be very careful on some rocky parts. It is more physical testing rather than technical. The bike loop starts with a solid climb on asphalt before heading to the townhall’s garden, and carrying on the climb on gravel to end up in a nice single downhill track in the forest followed by a 2km climb that will take you to a small road downhill to end up the first loop with the final hardest and longest climb of the course. The 2nd bike loop will restart from the townhall and not from the bike parc.
And finally, the trail run. The run is quite fast as it is not very steep. There is only 150m of elevation, for the 2 loops 10.4km run. The first 500m are alongside the river, that takes you to a very steep climb and the run is followed up by a small portion next to the wineyards that takes you on a not so technical downhill. The run is very similar to the XTERRA Switzerland run as they have the same profile.
To help you complete the fisrt edition of XTERRA Luxembourg in the best physical condition possible, some training tips on how to train to perform well and be happy of your performance.
3 key trainings you should add on your program:
* Séances traduites en Français ci-dessous en fin d'article
1- The swim, as mentioned before, is indeed quite easy. But never the less, a physiologic exercise during your training will allow you to to have a good start for the first 80 meters and be well placed on the « age group » start.
4x (300m crawl with 20s break between each set
first 25m sprint, then the next 50m on your Maximum Aerobic Speed (which is your best time on 400m) then for the next 225m switch to your XTERRA pace try to include a small peek to see where you’re going each 25m (remember, only your eyes have to go out of the water to keep your body on a straight line)
The best time to do this would be 5 days before race day.
2- The bike course will have a lot of short accelerations, thanks to the elevation of the course. To prepare you for this type of course, try to include this in one of your rides:
12 accelerations:
4x (3s max speed, 1min easy, 8sec max 1min easy, 15sec max, 3min easy)
Try to alternate positions during your sets, 1st set stand up, 2nd set sit on the saddle, 3rd set stand up and finally 4th set sit.
Try to stay focused on the exercise rather than your watch as the highlight of this exercise is when you start to put pressure on the pedals and when you’re focusing on the terrain you’re actually doing this ecercise (stones, trees, holes, etc.)
The best time to do this would be 6 days before race day.
3- On the running part, there are still some small uphills and of course downhills. As the race is close to the end of the season for most of, you’ll be physically able to perform well on the uphills. As for the downhill, it’s less certain. So let’s take adventage of that by:
Start your run with a 35min warm up idealy with a 20min aerobic focused warm up, then 15min of active stretching to wake up and ready up your muscles.
4x (40sec fast on a 4-8% downhill, (lucidity dynamicity and focusing on the technical off road descent are key for this) 4min easy to go back uphill walk or run very slowly (max 75% of your max heartbeat) then 1min complete rest to focus on the next set.)
Doing this training 9 to 12 days before the race will be ideal.
Good luck to every athlete participating to the first ever XTERRA in Luxembourg.
Paris Fellmann & Tom Dureux
TRADUCTION SEANCES EN FRANCAIS
Pour préparer le Xterra Benelux, voici 3 axes de travail clef.
1. En natation, effectivement, ça sera très simple. Il est tout de même intéressant de refaire un exercice physiologique à l’entrainement permettant de se préparer à un départ avec les 80 premiers mètres en surrégime lié au fait que ce soit un combat avec les autres concurrents pour se placer dans l’eau, surtout sur le départ « groupe d’âge ».
4 x 300m cr r : 20s
(Les 25 premiers mètres en sprint, puis 50m à votre allure VMA=record400m, puis repasser sur les 225m suivant à votre allure Xterra=1500m) Incluez 1 regard d’orientation devant par 25m minimum, en ne sortant que les yeux pour ne pas perdre votre alignement du corps).
Idéalement 5 jours avant la course
2. En VTT, il y aura beaucoup d’accélérations courtes, forcées par le dénivelé, bien résumé en Français par le mot « coups de reins ». Pour vous préparer à cela, sur un terrain escarpé avec des bosses courtes, placez dans une séance :
12 accélérations :
4x (3s max – Récup souple 1’ – 8s max – Récup 1’ – 15s max – Récup 3’)
Alternez 1 série accel assises et 1 série accel danseuses.
N’ayez pas leurs yeux rivés sur le chronomètre à 1s près, l’important est le temps fort et la concentration maximale, la force que vous déploierez sur la partie courte explosive, tout en contrôlant votre vélo en fonction des obstacles de la bosse (racines, pierres, ornières…)
Idéalement 6 jours avant la course.
3. En cap, il y a quand même un peu de bosses… et de descentes ! En fin de saison au mois de Septembre, vous serez surement en forme et le travail en bosse a dû être accompli, pour la descente, c’est moins sûr, profitons-en :
D’abord comptez bien 35’ (échauffement aérobie 20’ puis 15’ éducatifs techniques, mouvements articulaires et accélérations progressives) avant de démarrer ce corps de séance bien chaud.
4 x
(40s descente rapide lucide dynamique ultra concentré sur chemin de foret technique entre 5% et 8% de pente descendante
/ 4' Remontée souple marche trot, maximum 75% de FC Max puis 1’ statique en haut pour se reconcentrer)
9 à 12 jours avant la course
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