The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 10.8.14. “One from column ‘g’, one from column ‘b’.”
Howdy folks,
Well, before we get started, sincere thanks to all those who chipped in in response to my craven appeal yesterday.
I can’t really express how much it was – and is – appreciated, so I’ll just say simply “Thank You.”
I’ll be sending out personalized thanks to everyone soon, I promise.
If you have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about, skip on down to the bottom of the page. I’ll be repeating the appeal for at least a few days, or until the self-loathing gets to me.
🙂
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On with the workout!
It being Wednesday, you guessed it, today we’re working on our…
SKILLS!
Specifically, though?
Today we’re going to talk about when things go wrong.
A couple of days ago, I posted up the video from Sunday’s kick-off race from the Superprestige series, and if you haven’t watched it yet you should.
You think you had a bad day at your last race? What about some of these folks, eh? Man, if my day at the office went as bad as some of these, I’d be nose-deep in the “help wanted” section the next morning!
But you know what?
That just ain’t an option.
So what the heck do you do?
Turn your bad day into a learning experience.
What do I mean by that?
Well, right off the bat, identify what went wrong in your race.
Did you have a physical injury or problem?
Back problem? Knee pain? Nagging injury flare up?
Did you have a Physical Conditioning issue?
Couldn’t get going at the start of the race? Ran out of gas partway through?
Did you have a Skills-related issue?
Just couldn’t quite do something as well as you needed to?
Did you have an equipment problem?
Something just not working on/with your bike?
Did you have an equipment failure?
Roll a tire? Break a rim? Burp sealant all over the course?
Etc., etc.
Got it?
Write it down.
I’ve talked about it before, but if you aren’t keeping track of your races, taking notes on what went down?
You should be.
Start doing so.
Next?
Figure out why what went wrong, went wrong.
For example:
physical injury or problem?
What – “My back hurt so badly I had to stop and walk part of the course”
Why – “I had a car accident a while back, and this just happens sometimes”
Physical Conditioning issue?
What – “Couldn’t get going at the start of the race”
Why – Poor warm up, ate too close to race time
Skills related issue?
What – tripped and fell over the barriers.
Why – Suck at barriers
Equipment problem?
What – “was sliding all over the place in the mud”
Why – “Wrong damn tires, too much pressure”
Equipment failure?
What – Burped sealant all over the course
Why – believed specious claims that tubeless cyclocross tires were a good idea 😉
Etc.
So, now you know what went wrong, and you know why it went wrong.
Write it down.
Next?
Solutions.
Enough with the whining!
Don’t just worry about this stuff, figure out how you’re going to prevent it from happening again!
Back problems?
– Schedule a massage. See a PT, or get some acupuncture.
Poor warm up?
– Read this, then construct a game plan for your next race that includes a good warm up.
Suck at barriers or some other vital skill?
– Bang. Lots of reading to do. Pick your poison, and work on it today!
Wrong damn tires?
Wrong damn tire pressure?
– At skills practice today, your mission is to experiment with your tire pressure.
So, got all that down?
Cool.
Next step?
Identify one technical aspect of this past weekend’s race that you need to work on, your worst failing from last weekend.
Just one.
Identify one technical aspect of this past weekend’s race that you were pretty darn pleased with, your technical high point of the weekend’s racing.
Just one.
There was at least one, right?
Good.
Hold those in your head for a bit, we’ll come back to them.
Right now…
– warm up for 10 minutes on the bike, then run for 5 minutes, easy. Really easy, OK? Seriously, not a foot race.
– Stretch out after you’re warm.
– 10-15 minutes drilling your best skill from your last race, whatever that is.
You’re looking to transform a skill that you’re good at to one that’s an absolute killer, a race winner.
Good at barriers?
Stop being good, make ‘em perfect.
Become so darn good that the opposition can’t ever let you come into a barrier section first.
Good at starts?
Get great at starts.
Work it ’till you know that you’re coming off the line with a 5 bike-length lead in your next race.
You get the idea, right?
Whatever skill you choose, sharpen the heck out of it until it’s an even better weapon than it already was.
– spin for 5 minutes.
– 10-15 minutes drilling your worst technical skill from the last race, whatever that is.*
You’re looking to transform a skill that’s a liability to one that – if not a strength – is at least no longer a weakness.
Stink at barriers?
Stop that. Figure ‘em out.
Become good enough that the opposition can’t ever assume they’re going to drop you going over the planks.
Terrible at starts?
Not anymore, ok?
Work it ’till you know that you’re coming off the line right next to that guy that’s been dropping you all season.
You get the idea, right?
Whatever skill you choose, figure it the heck out. No more avoiding the painful reality of a liability.
– spin for 5 minutes
– immediately, spend another 5 minutes drilling your best skill again. Really nail it.
– Recover for a few minutes, then Finish the night with two 5- 10 minute race-level interval efforts on relatively easy terrain.
Include a feature that will force you to use both of the skills you worked on tonight.
Spin out when you’re done, and call it a night.
Have fun,
M
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So, hey…
I’m going to do something I don’t feel super great about, and that’s… well…
I’m going to beg ya’all for a little bit of your hard-earned money.
Here’s the thing; it’s right about the time of year where I need to renew all the behind the scenes stuff that keeps this blog up and running, and that takes some dollars to do.
In fact, it looks like the sheer volume of posting on here is going to mandate a move up to the next level of service/cost. That, or I’m going to have to start taking down old posts – there are close to a thousand of them – and I don’t want to do that.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Thanks.
Seriously, thanks.
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