The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, 10.28.14. “The lady ain’t wrong…”
Howdy folks,
It’s Tuesday, and I’ve got some good news, and some bad news.
Bad news first; word is that the Deschutes Brewery Cup races in December have been eighty-sixed.
This is a pretty serious bummer, as there are now zero UCI races within driving range of anyone in the Pacific Northwest of The US.
Can we all just please admit that this system of patchwork sanctioning and a National federation that’s out of touch with the grassroots and the best interests of the sport just isn’t working?
The Feds change the rules in re: to participation in Elite Nationals to require UCI points or a National Ranking to participate, and the entire geographic area with the largest participation numbers in the entire freaking sport in the entire freaking world now has absolutely no races offering qualification points?
To put it bluntly…
Blecch.
Good news?
It’s Tuesday, and while we haven’t done them in a while, we are today.
Yup.
Time for…
Two by Twenty Tuesday!
Pretty simply, the 2×20 looks like this:
– Warm up.
– Go as hard as you can for 20 minutes.
– Recover for 5 minutes.
– Go again for another 20 minutes.
The idea here, folks, is to go as hard as you can for the duration ofboth intervals without being forced to go easier at the end of the second interval.
This is all about doing two intervals.
Two intervals at as close to the same level of output as you can possibly maintain.
If you’re doing this with a power meter, you want your wattage output to be as steady and unvaried as possible.
For both intervals.
Both.
How steady?
Can you keep it in a 10 watt range?
Probably not.
15 watts?
More likely
20 watts?
Try.
Keep it steady.
If you run out of gas before you finish the second interval, then you went too hard.
If your vision isn’t blurry at the end of the second interval, you went too easy. But guess what?
It’s way better to go too easy and finish both intervals than it is to go too hard and crater part way through the second 20.
These take practice to do well, and the better you get at doing them the harder they get, as you figure out how to push yourself into a deeper and deeper hole.
This is a workout that’s a natural for the turbo trainer, and that’s how I do ‘em, because I always wind up flat on my back on the floor trying not to puke after the 2nd interval.
That’s not an exaggeration.
You should aspire to seeing-spots level of output on these.
But that might take a while
Get a handle on cranking through both intervals rather than just one, first.
Eventually, when you learn to push through your limits – really push – you will get better and you will get better fast.
It’s gonna’ hurt, though.
The good kind of hurt.
Have fun!
M
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