The Workout Of The Day for Monday, 10.18.10 – “R3”
Howdy folks,
I went to the Seattle Series races on Sunday, and it was definitely interesting to be out there as a spectator!
Want to know what stood out?
By and large, folks have terrible technical skills.
Even some pretty fast folks looked terrible getting on and off the bike.
I was watching at the double barrier, and as one of the riders almost cased it – surmounting the obstacle with all the style of a pregnant marsupial – a nearby spectator was overheard saying “…doesn’t he teach out at the Marymoor clinics?”
Ouch.
If I had one thing to commend to you all – generally speaking – after watching this week, it would be Slow the f**k down in practice and actually learn what you’re doing!
Look, I get it.
You want to go fast.
You show up at the Marymoor (or wherever) sessions, and you go full-gas all night, and go home at the end of the night totally psyched that you were able to keep up (for a while, at least…) with the fast folks.
There’s nothing wrong with this, if the goal of your “skills” sessions is to have fun.
If the goal, however, is to get better?
It ain’t working, and it ain’t gonna work.
How do I know this?
I watched a whole bunch of you wallow in the sand today, and run over an off-camber double like it was your first time in a cross race.
Again, Ouch.
Today, when you are going back over the race in your memory and in your journal/log/whatever, think about your technical shortcomings.
We’ve all got them.
Identify them, and think about how they surfaced in Sunday’s race.
Write down what you are going to do to improve.
Not to be totally negative, I also saw some pretty great riding today.
That was a damn hard course. Not much recovery to be had anywhere on it.
That’s OK.
That’s what today is for…
R3 –
Recover –
– Get on your bike. Roll out into the street, and just spin around for an hour.
– Really small gear, no hard efforts – heck, no medium effort.
– Spin. You’re looking to move your legs around in circles, almost like there is no chain on the bike.
– The idea is to get your body moving, flush the systems out, and speed your recovery.
– When you do your recovery ride -if you have the time- just get out and spin aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs suddenly feel better.
Relax.
– As soon as that happens, turn around, go home, eat, stretch, and put your legs up.
Remember –
– this is a good day to get some core work in if you aren’t totally spent. Lots of info up on the topic in previous posts.
G’night,
M
Crosssports's Weblog 
I wanted to drop you a note today to say thank you for your daily training regimen for cross. I’ve been following it very closely in the months up to and now including the season. My results this year are far superior to the past and the tips you’ve given are working very well. So for fully selfish reasons….keep it up! Heal up and get rolling again!