Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Well, up late again. Sorry about that. Ugh.

Honestly, given that it’s after 11:00 West Coast time, I’m going to assume that most of you have already done your workout for today, and talk briefly about something else.

About being smart.

Hey, it’s less than a week to go before Nationals, and in much of the country the weather is absolutely atrocious. And we’re in the middle of a flu epidemic.

And I keep reading about people doing stupid s**t like going for long rides in freezing rain and – surprise! – winding up sick.

So, hey… dummy?

Don’t do that.

OK?

You’re almost there.

You can survive a couple/few days of short workouts on the trainer.

Really, you can.

Maybe queue this up on the computer while you do so…

And hey… if you still haven’t done your workout today?

Try this (on the trainer, of course…)

The MB15 – 

Warm up well. (Seriously. Warm up for this one, it’ll help.)

The basic idea here is to do a series of very short efforts with very little rest between them, for a pretty long period of time.

Sound confusing?

Here’s how it breaks down…

Warm up.

Get set…

Go!

15 seconds on

15 seconds off

15 seconds on

15 seconds off

…and so on and so on for the duration of the interval.

How long are you going to do this for?

 – Ten minutes would be great.

Three -four sets, 5 minutes between sets.

How hard do you go during the “on” segments?

– Pretty darn hard.

You’re familiar with the level of effort you put out in your 2×20’s by now, right?

You need to go harder than that.

A fair bit harder would be good.

Ideally, you’ll hit these on periods at right about 150% of your FTP, if that’s a number that means anything to you. If it doesn’t, it’s harder than what you’re dong your 2×20 effort at. A fair bit harder.

Like I said, “ouch.”

How easy do you go during the “off” segments?

– A lot easier, but you aren’t quite soft pedaling.

Right about 50% of your FTP, or half as hard as your 2×20 level.

Again, ouch.

Want to know the real “Ouch”?

Ultimately, you want to be able to do 6 sets of these, or 3 sets twenty minutes each, or however many it takes to equal the duration of your races.

Seriously, Ouch.

Do what you can.

Have fun,

M

~ by crosssports on January 4, 2015.

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day