The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Friday, 8.15.14. “Ignition Trial”
Howdy folks,
Well, yikes… this is another post that’s going up morning-of, rather than night before.
Sorry about that.
Have had a string of late nights recently, hopefully will be able to get back to the routine of posting these up the night before soon. Well, immediately, I hope.
Anyways, today – much like last Friday – we’re going to have a go at a workout that I often recommend as a day-before-race opener.
Why are we doing openers when you aren’t racing tomorrow?
It’s a really good idea to get a handle on your day before race routine well before the racing action gets underway.
How hard do you need to hit it the day before to ensure that the legs & lungs are open and ready to perform come race day?
How hard is too hard for you the day before a race?
How do you know?
Here’s how.
You practice your openers routine, and see how you feel the next day.
Well before the racing starts, you’re going to run through some varied openers strategies the day before you do some big training efforts and see what happens.
Keep track. Write it down.
What’s really important isn’t how you feel right after you do today’s workout, it’s how you feel during your workout tomorrow.
Write down exactly what you did today, and make note of the result tomorrow.
Make sense?
Cool.
Time for…
Ignition –
You’re going to be doing a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 1/2 – 2 hour ride, so give some thought to where you can do these effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road or trail is what you’re looking for.
Even better if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that will make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at an easy, relaxed pace for 45 minutes – 1 hour, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints from a very low starting speed, almost a standing start.
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget a minimum of 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
That’s the basic version of this.
Start with it, and see how you feel tomorrow.
Personally, I find that I need a little bit more to open up the legs, and I throw in a 10 minute steady effort at right around my 2×20 level immediately before the sprints.
Some people need more than that – although not many, and not much – and for some other folks, just the sprints is plenty.
The goal here is to figure out what you need.
So, give one of the options a shot, and take note of the results.
Next time, try a bit more or a bit less, and – yup – take note of the results.
Have fun!
M
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