300W FTP but no chance in marathon

Hello guys
I startet serious Mountain Biking, one year ago. In this time I lost 25 Kg (Now I am 72Kg) of weight and could push my FTP from 213Watts to 300Watts.
So I startet racing MTB-Marathons. But in the first Marathon of the year I was with no chance. My ranking was 70/108.
- Is that normal with this poweroutput?
- Is the level in racing that high?
- What FTP is needed to rank into the first 20%?
Thanks for serious answers.
I startet serious Mountain Biking, one year ago. In this time I lost 25 Kg (Now I am 72Kg) of weight and could push my FTP from 213Watts to 300Watts.
So I startet racing MTB-Marathons. But in the first Marathon of the year I was with no chance. My ranking was 70/108.
- Is that normal with this poweroutput?
- Is the level in racing that high?
- What FTP is needed to rank into the first 20%?
Thanks for serious answers.
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Posts
If you are meaning the downhill and tech-skills, these are average.
Various vids including many Trail Centres
How can I identify the crucial weakness?
You need to look at the demands of the event. Are you getting dropped at the beginning of the race or towards the end? Is it hard recovering from hard efforts, e.g climbing a hill. Look at previous races and try to break down where it started getting too hard. Having power meter data is helpful for a really good insight into it, but not everyone has one fitted of course.
Various vids including many Trail Centres
Uphill im getting passed or I can't go the same speed, as people in front of me. In the flat parts, I am faster than the other guys, most time. Downhill I would say, I am in the middle, some pass me, some I going to pass.
MTB-Marathons are not that technical as XCO. So I don't think this is a critical problem.
If your answer is now, you have to train uphill, or you have to lose weight, thats not new for me. Overall with the actual power I am not fast enough to hold in the front part.
I think I need just to work one more year on my base power and then going into specific skills. It was just the first race this year. Another event with another elevetian profile is coming in two weeks.
When i raced XC it was a mad dash at the start and you have to be ready for that to put yourself into the red to gain places. After that it was pick people off on the climbs, hold or gain places on the flat and let the kamikaze dudes take you on the downhills.
If you dont get a good start you've too many people to get past on the climbing and single track.
Good luck for the next race.
So it may be that those guys who are beating you on the climbs simply have way more power than you for those particular time intervals.
retired 9.6kg Carrera Kraken
The Carrera Hardtail combined thread - come on all you Carrera's!
The Sons Scott Genius RC20 build
FTP = Functional Threshold Power.
https://www.bikeradar.com/road/gear/art ... -it-48624/
My next goal, is to bring the FTP to 350Watts until next mainseason. Glad for every good tip, preferred from people who have done this already.
Depending on your training style you could be missing out key event demands. You need to consider your time to exhaustion if you are specialising in XCM.
A CTL of 100 is pretty standard for endurance athletes so you need to identify your strengths and weaknesses (it sounds like you have based on recent performances).
If you need any further help please feel free to get in touch!
www.pedaltoprogression.com
How you enter and leave corners, your body position on the bike, ability to surmount obstacles will all gain or lose you time and places.
I am not a racer, never even entered a race, but I do like to be faster than others. I can't help noticing that my speed improved as my skills improved.
Thank you "Hendo" for your advice. It's clear that it needs more than train for an FTP to become a good XCM Racer. I did analyze some of the data of the best 10% riders. All of them pressing over 300W or 5W/kg in the uphills. Even the fatique resistence will be better, the FTP need's to be on that level, because it's not realistic to ride 3 hours at FTP.
I think what I have done in one year by myself from nowhere, was pretty ok. Now I decided getting a coach to not wasting time in the wrong things. Sorry you are a little to late, I have already signed. :?
Skills can definitly play their part. At the moment I would say I am at the midrange. This will be a part what I wan't to integrate more into my training.