The Workout of The Day for 8.15.12. “Skills, or the absence thereof…”
Howdy folks,
If you’ve been playing along with us, odds are you’re just a little bit gassed from yesterday’s interval session… 2×20′s are hard, eh?
No sweat. We’re taking that into account.
Today we’re going to back things down just a little bit, dust off the Cross bike, and make complete idiots out of ourselves trying to remember some of the technical skills we had so wired last season.
Yeah, I know… ouch. Today is Wednesday, and that means it’s…
Skills Day!
Here’s the program:
– Warm up on the cross bike.
– Stop and stretch for a while, paying particular attention to all those muscles you use in ‘cross but don’t even send signals to the rest of the year.
– Start with some suuuuper basic dismount skills…
At a slow speed, unclip your right leg, swing it back over the saddle, and down behind the leg that is still clipped in.
– Don’t dismount, just coast with the leg hanging behind you.
– Swing the leg back over the saddle, clip back in, pedal a few strokes, and repeat.
– Repeat the whole cycle a dozen times or so, at varying speeds. Work on your balance and control coasting with one leg clipped in.
Next, repeat the last sequence, but rather than swinging the leg back over the saddle, dismount the bike. Think about what you are doing, and how you are doing this super basic skill!
– here’s the secret… Don’t step down to the ground!
– From your coasting position, simply unclip your left foot, and drop to the ground. No step, just drop. Make sense?
– Repeat this a lot, until you’ve got it wired.
OK, now that you’re getting the hang of getting off the bike, time to get back on… with style.
– From a dead stop standstill, take 3 steps (I’m assuming you are re-mounting from the left side of the bike, btw…)
Left foot steps.
Right foot steps.
Left foot steps again, and as you plant your left foot, drive forward off of it, swinging your right leg over the saddle.
DO NOT JUMP, HOP, SKIP, OR OTHERWISE LAUNCH YOURSELF INTO THE AIR!!
What you are trying to do is very, very slowly step over the saddle.
You aren’t landing on the saddle, you’re sliiiiding over, and on to it.
Try not to focus on the saddle, rather think about the pedal on the far side of the bike, and try to step on to (and into) it as you walk over the bike.
Repeat a lot. Super slowly. Walking pace is too fast. Get this so wired that you can do it in your sleep.
Combine the last two excercises. Repeat until bored.
Stop and spin around for a few minutes.
Now, you’re going to repeat the dismount/remount sequence we just did, starting slow and gradually getting faster.
Stop when you bobble, and immediately do 5 of the sequence excruciatinglyslowly.
Repeat.
Spin out your legs, stretch, and go home.
More hard stuff tomorrow, and more advanced skills next week…
G’night,
M
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