The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, 9.17.13. “The Post of The Beast”
Howdy folks,
Holy cr*p!
You know what this is?
This is the 666th post!
Crazy, man. Never, ever thought this damn (hah!) thing would go on for this long.
Thanks to all of you for the kind words and encouragement over the years. You’re definitely the reason this thing is still alive & kicking.
………….
Oddly enough, given the demonic numerological nature of this post, I’m off to Vegas tomorrow for the Interbike trade show.
Hello, Sin City!
Blech.
If past experience is any guide (and it probably is…) this is likely to mean that I won’t manage to get posts up every day this week.
I will definitely try, but if I can’t get it done, please avail yourselves of the aforementioned catalog of previous posts.
Lots of workouts to choose from, and you can plug search terms in to the search box at the bottom right side of this page if you’re hoping to do something kinda’ specific.
Cool?
Cool.
Onwards!
It’s…
Two by Twenty Tuesday!
If you don’t know what I mean by that, go check out the Classic 2×20 .
That’s your workout today.
If you didn’t click that link, I bet you’re pretty familiar with the 2×20.
You might even be sick to death of the darn things.
Sound about right?
Maybe you shouldn’t do ‘em today.
Maybe something a touch more demonic today.
Maybe a set of…
3×10 Over-Unders.
A word to the wise; If you do these right, they’re going to be painful…
– 3×10 means you are going to do 3 of these, 10 minutes each.
– “Over-under” means that you are going to be working right around the level of your threshold, both above and below. What is your threshold? Well, for our purposes, we are going to reference the Classic 2×20 workout we all know so well. Whatever wattage, heart rate, or gear ratio you did that workout at is going to serve as your threshold today.
Haven’t done that workout?
OK.
Stop reading this, and check out this link.
We’ll wait.
*************
OK?
Onward…
Start by warming up well.
Now that you have read that 2×20 post, an have an idea of what level you’re going to use as a baseline, you’re going to ride at that level for 5 minutes.
Get a solid idea of the wattage, heart rate, or tempo you are riding at, and get it firmly stuck in your mind. This is important; you are going to bounce above and below this level for the rest of the workout.
After the 5 minute baseline effort, spin easy for 2 minutes. Then begin the first interval…
Here’s how the first (and second, and third…) over-under interval will work:
Ride for one minute at your baseline level.
At the end of that minute, ride 10 seconds at 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear higher than the baseline level.
After those 10 seconds are up…
…ride 20 seconds at 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear lower than the baseline.
After the 20 seconds, you go back to the ten (over,) followed again by the 20 (under,) etc., etc.
Got it?
1 minute baseline, 10 up, 20 down, 10 up, 20 down.
Repeat the up/down efforts to the end of the interval.
Rest 5 minutes.
Repeat the first interval.
Rest 5 minutes.
Repeat again (or not…)
Spin around to recover, then go home and relax. Think demonic thoughts.
Notes:
– The ”over” and “under” of the intervals I have given above is approximate. You are looking to go as hard as you can for the “over” while still recovering enough with the “under” to complete the interval. Keep the “under” barely under, though. Don’t go easier on the under to allow yourself a harder “over.” Do these a few times and you’ll get the hang of it – I promise…
– The idea here is to get you better at attacking and responding to attacks in a cross race. You’re motoring along at your limit, all of a sudden someone attacks; what do you do? You follow the attack, and look to recover a bit when the tempo drops just a little bit… get it?
Have fun!
M
Crosssports's Weblog 
Just done my first 2 x 20 (on the grass). What a workout!