July 4 to 6, 2025
Arnaud Rapillard, winner and multiple finisher of the MB Ultra, and also a sports trainer, answers all your questions on the subject of training plans. How do you approach a race like the MB Race? What’s the best way to train for the 140 km? He tells you all about it!
A lot of questions are often about the elevation and distance, but also about training possibilities in relation to the problem of geolocation (either in reference to the weather, or the lack of real mountains nearby). This seems legitimate, as 140km and 7000m of ascent are not something you can improvise. But focusing on this parameter is already the beginning of a mistake you shouldn’t make. It’s not a question of how many kilometers you ride per week, or how many vertical drops. Becoming a finisher of the MB Race 140km is not for everyone (with a few exceptions). It’s best to avoid making a bet at the end of a drunken evening…
Long, uneven rides require a solid endurance base. Our energy metabolism works mainly with fat reserves and sugar reserves stored in the form of glycogen. Without going into the details of nutrition, we need to be aware that intra-muscular and hepatic glycogen reserves are around 500 grams, regardless of training level. In view of this critical point, it goes without saying that prolonged effort must be directed towards the economy, i.e. predominantly towards fat metabolism. However, an untrained body will mainly turn to carbohydrates as the fuel of effort, which makes prolonged effort very painful. As a beginner, building up basic endurance mainly involves working on the flat to keep the intensity low. Focusing on altitude difference is therefore the first mistake not to make.
The base level determines the endurance range, which can be expressed in watts, watts/kg, heart rate range… The first good idea is to carry out an effort race to target the zones. Then, once you know your speed of movement during a climb (MVA for mean ascent velocity) in basic endurance, you can start to project yourself. An elite climber will evolve at around 1,000 meters/hour in this super-economical route, while a beginner could well see this value divided by 2. All in all, it’s the improvement in basic endurance with the increase in VAM in this zone that will enable us to estimate the time on the MB Race and its “feasibility”. For the head of the race, considering the VAM of 1000m/h and adding the descents, we arrive at around 8h30, i.e. 7h of ascents for 1h30 of descents. If you can estimate the gap to the frontrunners on a 20/30′ descent, you should also be able to calculate your total time in dry conditions.
What to do and when? How can we do basic training when the weather or winter time prevents us from doing so? Here’s the 2nd part of the discussion, which focuses more on training content.
Many have understood that the training model put forward is the polarized model, i.e. 70% of your training should be endurance, 20-30% intensity in the form of interval training. The middle zones are left out, but we note that most people often train too fast when they should be training slowly, and not fast enough when they should really be pushing hard. With this pattern, a kind of monotony sets in and progression becomes more difficult.
To cope with climatic conditions, you can apply what’s known as “reverse periodization”. This involves increasing qualitative sessions in winter (home trainer) when the days are short and the weather fickle, then developing endurance from the end of March onwards. In the February 2020 issue of “VTT magazine”, we took the time to describe typical home trainer and strengthening sessions, and I invite you to have another look. Ski touring or cross-country skiing also helps to lengthen outings (and avoid becoming a “zwift” addict).
To build up your endurance and rack up the kilometers, don’t hesitate to plan a few long weekends on the bike or training camps. A series of 4-5 hour outings, first on hilly terrain (in March and in Spain, for example) and then in a more mountainous environment (reconnaissance of the MB Race course at the beginning of June) is undoubtedly the best way to prepare yourself.
Race management can’t be improvised, and I encourage you to sign up for one or 2 preparatory races. This will enable you to experiment with nutrition before and during the race, stress management, equipment, etc., so that the majority of your doubts will be resolved by the time the race comes around. It’s all about creating your own pre-race routine and protocols, so that you arrive at the start feeling serene.
In order to manage load and recovery periods as effectively as possible, don’t hesitate to call on the services of a trainer. You can find a lot of information on the Internet, but never forget that it’s not you who has to adapt to a training plan, but the training plan itself which adapts to your schedule and your own constraints and availability.
To sum up, here are my recommendations for becoming an MB finisher:
Good preparation!
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