Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

It’s Tuesday again!

You know what that means, right? It’s…

2×20 Tuesday!

Wait a second, though…

Did you do that Gran Fondo this past weekend, or maybe that giant ride around the volcano in Oregon?

Are you kinda’ feeling like you got run over by a truck?

If you are, no hard riding for you today.

Take it easy, go for a nice, leisurely Recovery Spin .

Heck, maybe just take a day off today, eh?

Sometimes you just need a darn day off.

Maybe today?

OK, maybe not.

You? You’re feeling great today.

You’re rarin’ to go.

You’re gonna head out on out and enjoy yourself a good ‘ole…

Classic 2×20 –

– Warm up.

– Go as hard as you can for 20 minutes.

– Recover for 2 minutes.

– Go again for another 20 minutes.

That’s the basic version. Success on this is,  however,  all in the details.

The idea here is to go as hard as you can for the duration of both intervals without being forced to go easier at the end of the second interval.  If you run out of gas before you finish the second interval, you went to hard. If your vision isn’t blurry at the end of the second interval, you went too easy.

If you’re doing this with a powermeter, you want your wattage output to be as close to constant as possible. We’re talking 10 watt variance at the most. Keep it steady.

These take practice to do well, and the better you get, the harder they get. This is a workout that goes great on the trainer, and that’s how I do ‘em, which is a good thing… because I always wind up flat on my back on the floor trying not to puke after the 2nd interval.

I’m really not kidding about the seeing spots thing. If you can learn to push through your limits when you do these, you will get better and you will get better fast.

(…but, yeah, it will hurt.)

(…a lot.)

(…but, you know, the good kind of hurt…)

Hey… guess what?

You can also do the 2×20 Get-Up Style –

Frankly, pretty much anytime I suggest the Classic version of the 2×20, you can sub in the Get-Up Style. They’re more or less interchangeable once you get ’em figured out.

Whichever one you do today, have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on August 5, 2013.

Posted in Cyclocross, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Aerobic exercise, Bicycle pedal, Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, cx skills, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, cyclocross skills, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, Seattle, Sports, XC Racing