The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Saturday, 11.28.15. “Ignite like it’s the last time”
Howdy folks,
Wow, last race of the season for many tomorrow! Crazy how fast that happened, seems like we just started the season a couple of weeks ago!
As mentioned in previous posts, the workouts will continue through Nationals. At least they will as long as there are people still reading them. This is the time of year that the clicks start to drop pretty precipitously… but if anybody is paying attention, I’ll keep plugging away.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll also talk a bit about some good ways to hit the reset button for next season, how you can roll your cross season over into next year’s road/mtb season effectively and efficiently. Should be fun!
For right now, though, we’ve got some racing to think about.
If you’re racing today? You’re probably reading this after it’s all over. Hope things went well!
Racing tomorrow?
Right on.
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.
Be prepared to kick some ass tomorrow. Leave it all out there on the course, lots of time to rest the next few weeks!
Have fun!
M
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