The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Friday, 8.5.16. “Dry Running”
Howdy folks,
Somehow it’s Friday already. How the heck did that happen?
Not only is it Friday, but if you happen to live up in the Seattle area, like I do, it’s the very last Friday of the road racing season.
Yeah.
Crazy, right?
That means we’re well and truly about to enter the cross season.
It’s happening.
We’ll be kicking things into a higher gear with the training here on the blog as we get closer and closer to the actual racing… so be forewarned!
Right now, though?
Well, perhaps you’re racing this weekend.
If you’re racing tomorrow, you should be doing some form of openers today, perhaps…
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.
Kick ass tomorrow.
Not racing tomorrow, but racing on Sunday?
Cool.
Take it slow today.
Go for an easy, short spin. Make sure you get to sleep early. Then do those openers tomorrow, then crush it on Sunday.
Not racing at all this weekend?
Still cool.
Let’s try this…
Do the openers today.
Then ride really hard tomorrow. Race-pace even. We’ll talk about that in the next post.
Kinda’ like a dry run for a race weekend.
It’ll be good for ‘ya.
I promise.
M
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