The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Friday, 10.16.15. “Ignite or Nothing”
Howdy folks,
Word I’ve been getting back from people is that we’ve reached the point in the season where overtraining, fatigue, and sickness are starting to run rampant through the race field.
Been fighting a cold?
Been in a bad mood?
Having trouble getting to sleep, or feel like you need sleep all the damn time?
Might be time to start thinking about a bit of a rest.
We’ll talk about this more at the beginning of next week, but for right now?
If you’re racing on Sunday, take today completely off.
Get to sleep early tonight, wake up late tomorrow if you can.
Relax.
Recover a bit so that you can be fast on Sunday.
Racing tomorrow?
Today you’re doing…
Ignition –
You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride. Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road is what you’re looking for.
It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints.
How hard?
Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.
You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.
Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.
Make sense?
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
when you get home, put your feet up and relax.
For some folks, this isn’t quite enough to get their legs open and ready the day before the race – or at least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough – and the importance of “feeling” ready can’t really be overestimated.
If you’re part of this club (I am) add a 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.
Warm up, 10 minute effort, 5 minutes spinning, sprint efforts, spin down, go home.
Try to get an extra hour of sleep or so tonight, ok?
Enjoy,
M
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