Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

If you happened to read yesterday’s post, you’ll recall that we talked a bit about your routine in the couple of days before a race, and the WOTD was a set of Can Openers, one of our old-standby day before race openers workouts.

Today we’re going to hit you with another one of those openers routines, and it’s…

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.

It’ll take a bit of time to figure out what you need.

So, give it a shot, and take note of the results.

Next time, try a bit more or a bit less, and see what happens.

Lather, rinse repeat, and after a while you’ll start to figure out just how you need to structure your own openers set.

Or, you know, not.

Some people really just aren’t that great at figuring this stuff out.

Some other folks just don’t really care to, and have a great time just winging it week after week.

If you read all the way through this, that probably ain’t you, though.

Hmmm?

Have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on September 5, 2014.

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing