Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Well, it’s raining up here in Seattle.

What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, we’re staring down the barrel of what may turn out to be one of the biggest storms in the recorded history of the area, both in terms of rainfall and wind speed.

Yikes!

I live in a house in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees. Lots of trees.

It’s pretty bucolic, but the downside is that if we get hit even close to as hard as they’re predicting, the odds of our power and/or internet connection not going out are pretty small.

So, if you don’t see any posts up on here for a couple of days, you’ll know what happened!

Today, though? Today I’ve got power and internet. On with the workout!

It’s Thursday, and as per usual what you do today depends on your weekend plans.

If you’re racing on Saturday, you should take it pretty easy, or maybe even take the day off.

If you’re not?

Well, if you’re not… once again, it depends.

We’re reaching the point in the season where some folks are starting to run the tank dry on the endurance they built up during the road/mtb season.

If you’re finding yourself running out of gas towards the end of races, that might describe you.

It might also just mean that you need some rest. Hard to say without looking at your training records (you’re keeping training records, right?)

If you’ve got the time, think about trying to do a long ride today, or one of the next couple of Thursdays. Four hours would be great. Nothing super hard, just a…

Four(ish) Hour Moderate Ride –

Get on your bike.

Go ride for about four hours.

No hard efforts, but do throw in a couple of moderate ones. By moderate, I mean just that. You can sprint for the town line, but you should be laughing while you do it.

You’re not doing a recovery spin, so you need to put a little bit of gas into the pedals… just don’t go out and kill yourself.

Check out the view, smell the flowers, just do it while you’re putting a little bit of effort into the pedals.

One, maybe two notches above a recovery ride.

Make sense?

Yeah, yeah… I know. It’s a week day! How the heck do you expect me to do this!?

Think about taking a day off in the next couple of weeks to fit this in to your schedule.

It’ll be worth it.

Can’t cram this in today?

Okey doke, how about…

The Slow Roast – 

No real warm up effort required. You pretty much hop on the bike and go. This can also be done on the trainer. Ouch.

So, hop on the bike.

Ramp up to a level of output that’s approximately 2/3 of your FTP.

Hold this level for the duration of the ride.

Yup. You’re looking to average that power level for the whole damn thing, and as much as possible, you want to keep the output pretty darn consistent.

Just keep rolling along piling on the miles at a steady output level.

If you can, you do the whole damn ride one damn gear bigger than you feel comfortable.

Ouch.

When you start out, it’s probably going to feel like you’re pushing too easy on the hills, and too hard on the flats. Don’t let this get you twisted. You’re doing it right, and it’ll all even out eventually.

How long are you going to ride?

Well, as long as you have.

Got an hour?

Great.

Two?

Great.

By the end, it’s just going to feel like your legs are made of lead. Or tapioca. One or the other, depending.

When you’re finished, go home, eat, relax, recover.

Have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on October 13, 2016.

Posted in Cyclocross, The Workout Of The Day