Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

I hope you had a great weekend, and managed to get some riding in. Yay, summer! Long days, warm weather… already on the way out.

Seriously… did anyone else notice that the days are already getting shorter?

I can’t decide if I’m bummed or excited ’cause that means that ‘cross is truly right around the corner.

Maybe a little bit of both?

Either way, enough of the chit-chat, on with the Workout Of The Day…

(Ok, maybe not that workout…)

So, hey… did you happen to follow the weekend workout suggestions that went up on Saturday?

If you did, you might be feeling pretty well rested right now, and be ready and rarin’ to go this week.

If so, tomorrow is going to be a bit of a test session, setting some performance levels for the rest of the season.

You should get ready for that by doing some openers today, something like…

L.B. Number One – 

In the course of a pretty easy 1:30 ride, you’re going to do a series of 10 second sprints, six of ‘em.

So, first, make sure you have a spot where you can go pretty darn fast for 10 seconds without getting killed. Think level ground, secluded road, low traffic.

Ride out to the spot, warming your legs up on the way. 1/2 hour – 45 minutes warmup is about perfect.

Get yourself set, with a time-keeping device at the ready.

Sprint hard.

Full gas, out of the saddle for 10 seconds.

You want to start these in a gear that’s easy enough that you can blast out of the saddle from a near dead standstill. It’s a short interval, so you don’t want to lug a big gear up to speed, focus on an explosive, relatively easy-gear effort.

Recover for one minute, then do it again.

Repeat the whole shebang 10 times.

After the last interval, spin your way home, finishing up the last of the 1.5 hour ride.

When you get back, Put your feet up, relax, and get ready for the next day’s workout.

Did you ride pretty hard over the weekend? Feeling a little bit gassed today?

Yeah, maybe you shouldn’t go hard today.

Maybe instead you should go for a nice, relaxing…

Recovery Spin –

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.

Just get out on the road and spin aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs suddenly feel better.

As soon as that happens, turn around, go home, eat, stretch, and put your legs up.

Relax.

Have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on August 4, 2014.

Posted in Cyclocross
Tags: Aerobic exercise, Bicycle pedal, Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx intervals, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross intervals, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, Seattle, Sports, XC Racing