Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

WTF? How did it get to be September already? I’m not sure I’m ready for this…

Well, ready or not, we are done with August, and that means that for many of the folks out there, the racing starts… well, the racing starts Now.
Holy cow.

So, heck. What are you doing this weekend?

Well, if your Saturday is open and you live in the Seattle area, feel free to check out the Cross Clinic I’m leading! 🙂

If you’re racing today? Well, Go Race. Have fun!

Racing on Sunday? Today you’re doing…

Can Openers – 

– 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.

Racing Monday? Today you’re doing a leisurely…

1-2 Hour Moderate Ride –

This isn’t a recovery ride.

We want you to relax a bit today, but it’s important that you don’t get your body thinking it’s time to shut things down.

You’re going to go just a bit harder than that.

Put a little bit of muscle into the pedals, but not so much that you ever feel like you’re going hard. Or hard-ish.

Moderate means just that.

Not hard, not easy… right in the middle.

Easy enough that you could hold a conversation with the guy on the bike next to you, but hard enough that the conversation better be damn interesting if you’re going to.

Not racing at all this weekend?

Well, heck. This might be a good time to do something pretty darn hard. How about…

The Jacky.

This is a good general climbing and endurance workout that will stretch you a little bit longer than anything you’re likely to see out on the cross courses.

Select a route that will enable you to hit at least 3 climbs of 10 minutes or so each, with flat to rolling terrain in between.

Warm up well, at least 20-30 minutes before you hit the first climb.

Climbs should be hard but steady.

Start medium hard (not full gas!) and try and hold it the whole climb.

Drive it over the top, and roll down the descent. Visualize a prime at the bottom of each descent, and a chase pack nipping at your heels. Don’t sit up at the top of the climbs,stay on the gas all the way down and through.

In between climbs, keep it steady.

You want to stay on top of a pretty big gear, at a level that is below threshold, but not that far below.

If you’re a power meter type, with an ftp of 265, you would want to try and average about 200 watts between the climbs and 300 on the climbs.

Not a PM type? Try and go about 90% on the climbs, and just over 50% between the climbs.

Remember, 3 climbs of 10 minutes, or as close as you can get. With a warm up of 30 minutes, and a cool down of about the same, this would be just about perfect for a 2.5 hour ride.

Got more time? Rest after the 3rd climbing effort, repeat the cycle.

It’s better to keep the intensity up than to go longer. Remember, we aren’t resting between climbs, we’re dieseling along in a big gear.

Visualize yourself driving an all-day breakaway, and you get the idea…

Have fun, and think to yourself, as you’re rolling along…

“What would Jacky do?”

~ by crosssports on August 31, 2012.

Posted in Uncategorized