Cyclocross Workout of the Day for 9/12

Well, surprise – it’s day two of this, and I’m already mixing things up.

Two different workouts today; if you have a race tomorrow, today’s workout is “Can Openers.”

If you aren’t racing tomorrow, today’s workout is ” All About Speed “, building on yesterday’s more power oriented workout.

Here’s what the “Can Openers” workout looks like:

– Warm up for 1/2 hour or so.

Follow with several short attacking efforts, IE 30 seconds at 80% of your max, or pretty damn hard.

Back off and spin for 5 minutes.

Follow with 10-15 minute effort at AT level, or CP30, or “I could talk to you if I had to, but I don’t want to” level.

Spin for several minutes.

Follow with 5-6 full gas start efforts on a straight section of paved road, level or slightly uphill. You want to begin these from a dead stop, with one foot unclipped. Do not stop until you get at least 3 perfect starts in a row, and I mean perfect; this is the cross equivalent of practicing free throws. make ’em count.

… spin out legs, go home and rest.

Here’s what “All About Speed” looks like:

– Warm up 30 min, then find a gradual, false-flat style downhill section of road with no or little traffic.

You’re going to do 6 -10 10 second Explosive efforts culminating with a high cadence at fast speeds. The slight downhill will enable you to create speeds that are outside your normal comfort range.

Go really freaking fast. You should wind up totally spun out at the end of each interval, Cadence in the 100-150 range.

Recover 5 minutes between each interval, just spinning around aimlessly is perfect.

You should feel like this:

Roadrunner
When you’ve had enough, your form has gone to hell, or your legs feel like they belong in the above picture, spin home and rest.