Crosssports's Weblog

Thank God it’s Saturday!

I mean it. I needed the weekend, darnit. How about you? Feeling tapped out?

If you’ve been following the workouts so far, you’ve probably noticed me asking (continuously!) “How are you feeling today?”

Get in the habit of asking yourself this.

How are you feeling today?

Learn to set up some markers that will really let you know how you are doing. Resting pulse rate, wattage/HR on workouts you’ve done before… keep track of this stuff, and if your numbers start to look wonky and you’re feeling off your game? Step it down a notch. Take it easy for a day or two.

So, how are you feeling today? 🙂

If you’re racing today, have fun. Go hard, kick some A**.

Racing on Sunday? Do some Can Openers today –

Here’s the drill:

– 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 sprint efforts on a straight section of paved road, level or slightly uphill.

Do half of these from a near standstill, and for 1/2 of them, get going at a pretty good clip before you start the sprint.

… spin out the legs, go home, and get ready for the race.

Not racing but tired from the week? You’re doing a two hour Easy Rider –

Hop on your bike. Spin around a flat, easy circuit for a couple of hours.

No sharp or hard efforts, just take it slow and easy.

Enjoy the day.

Stop to smell the flowers and stretch at some point during the ride, maybe about 1/2 way through.

Have fun!

Feeling great? Motivated to do some work? OK, today you’re hitting the road (or the trail!) and doing –

The Hills Have “I”s

(“I” is for “intensity.”)

Warm up, ideally in the course of a ride out to some pretty darn hilly terrain.

Find a hill –  or a series of hills – that will take you 5,10,15 minutes to climb at pretty darn close to race pace.

Hit the base of the climb hard, out of the saddle, and accelerate into it.

Sit down when you feel you’re starting to lag, and drop a couple of gears. Spin (but still fast, IE about the same as your 2×20 minute level.)

Stay seated until you are breathing a little easier, then…

Out of the saddle, Attack! Hard like you did at the base of the climb.

Same as before, when you start to lag, sit down, spin.

Repeat to top of climb.

At the top of the climb, get out of the saddle, and accelerate as the grade eases.  Power over the top and well into the descent, until your speed is great enough that coasting is faster than pedaling.

Coast/spin to bottom of climb.

Pedal at moderate intensity (IE – 2/3 of your 2×20 minute level,) for roughly equal to the amount of time it took to complete the entire climb, or until you get to the next hill, whichever is greater.

Repeat 3-5 times, or until you are spent, or until you run out of time.

If you do more than 3 repeats, spin easy for 5-10 minutes after 3rd repeat.

Total duration should be 2-4 hours, longer = more climbs.

If you do 4 hours plus, you’re either really damn fit, or you’re kidding yourself.

Better to go shorter and harder than to extend the ride and slow things down.

Have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on August 6, 2010.

Posted in Uncategorized