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In honor of VDB –

May he finally find peace…

We are going to work on Steep Hill Accelerations today.

Here’s the drill:

– warm up well, 15 – 20 minutes or so.

– Find a hill that takes you 2-5 minutes to climb at full gas.

– The hill should be rideable in the big ring, but better done in the small ring.

– You are going to do a continuous series of accelerations on the hill. Like this:

Start climbing seated, at a comfortable pace.

After 10 seconds or so, get out of the saddle and accelerate hard. Punch it for 5 pedal strokes.

Sit back down for 5 pedal strokes.

Attack again for 5

Repeat to top of hill, 2-5 minutes, depending on your gas tank.

– Recover by coasting back down the hill.

– Do a set of 5-10, rest for 10 minutes, and repeat.

– Say “ouch,”  spin out, go home, and lie down…

Notes:

– Accelerate as hard as you can, while still being able to complete the interval.

– Vary the gear throughout the intervals; attack in a big gear, then a small gear. Mix it up. Figure out what works best for you, and work on what doesn’t.

– Don’t just coast when you sit down after the attack; you are working on your ability to respond to and initiate attacks, so you need to attack from a fairly stiff tempo, and then settle back down to that, and then go again.

– Ouch.

– You will probably find this to be very frustrating if it’s your first time doing an interval session of this type. Don’t worry about it – it gets better, I promise.

M

~ by crosssports on October 13, 2009.

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