Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Before we get started with today’s workout, just a quick word.

Seattle local Nathan Kiger (the other long hair on the scene) recently got nailed badly by a right-hooking automobile, and wound up in hospital. It looks like he’s going to be fine, but it’s likely to be a long road to recovery, and a fair bit of time before he will be able to work again. This is every cyclist’s nightmare scenario, and he’s living it, and he could use some of our help.

Please take a few minutes to wander on over to the Go Fund Me page that’s been set up to help him out, and if you’ve got some extra cash sloshing around, perhaps send some his way.

Thanks!

On with the workout!

If you’re racing this Sunday, today is an easy day for you. Take the day completely off, go for an easy spin, or if you absolutely can’t make yourself chill out, do something like…

The L.B. 1 – 

You’re going to be doing a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 2 hour ride, so give some thought to where you can do these effectively.

A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road or trail is what you’re looking for.

Even better if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that will make things nice and simple.

Hop on your bike and roll out the door.

Ride steady, at an easy, relaxed pace for  45 minutes – 1 hour, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.

You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints from a standing start.

8 sprints, 7 seconds each.

1 minute between each sprint.

After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.

Budget a minimum of 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.

Put your feet up, relax, you’re done for the day.

Not racing this weekend?

Cool.

We haven’t done any running this week, so how about some…

Stairing – 

– First, figure out where you can do the workout.

We’re going to be running stairs today, so you need some stairs, or a small hill, or a grassy knoll – something you can run up. Stairs are best, but whatever you can come up with will work.

You don’t need NFL stadium stairs or anything crazy like that for this workout. Look for something that’s long enough to give you 10 seconds of running at a full sprint; That’ll be plenty long enough. We’re doing speed work, here. Short, sharp efforts.

On with the workout.

– get on your bike and warm up for 15 minutes or so.

(we’re going to warm up for any running efforts we do, all season, with some time on the bike. )

– Mosey on over to your stairs/knoll/whatever, and get set. Stretch, have a sip of water, turn up the volume on your Ipod.

– Jog up the stairs. Walk down.

Get a sense for the spacing and “feel” of the stairs. You’re going to be flying up these things in a full-on lactic acid bath shortly, so you want to get comfortable with the terrain.

– Repeat x5

– Sprint! up stairs, fast, using whatever stride is most comfortable. Walk down.

– Repeat x5

Rest for 1 minute, walking slowly up and down stairs.

– Sprint up stairs, this time using quick, tiny strides, 1 stairstep at a time. Walk down.

– Repeat x5

Rest again, same as before.

– Sprint up stairs, this time using long strides, several stair steps at a time. Walk down.

– Repeat x 5

Rest again.

– Sprint up stairs, combining the previous two exercises – 1st time up, long strides; next time up, short strides, etc. Walk down.

Rest again, 2-5 minutes.

– Run up stairs sideways. Yup, you read that right. Sideways. Try it, it’ll make sense. More of an agility drill than anything else, but it’ll be good for you.

– Repeat 2-5 times.

Rest again, 2-5 minutes

– Repeat entire damn thing until you just can’t do it anymore, or you are going so slowly it’s ridiculous.

Get back on bike, spin out your legs, go home.

Notes –

If you can, go really damn hard. If you do this right, it’s a brutal workout.

Don’t go that hard if you haven’t got the legs for that yet. Keep it under control. You want to build up to the point where you are going up the stairs in a dead sprint, and are completely gassed at the end of each set. That’s going to take a few sessions to build up to, though. Don’t kill yourself the first time out.

If anything starts to hurt, or feel strained, pulled, or otherwise bad – as in “something just ain’t right, bad” – stop. Just stop. Do Not Injure Yourself Running G-damn stairs in the pre-season, OK?

Have fun!

M

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~ by crosssports on September 9, 2016.

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, running, The Workout Of The Day