The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 10.26.16. “Hit, quit, don’t get sick.”
Howdy folks,
Well, it’s raining up here in Seattle.
BOY is it raining.
This is shaping up to be an old-fashioned Seattle winter, the kind we haven’t really been having lately, the kind where you can pretty much assume it’s going to be at least a little bit wet every time you head out the door for a ride.
Oddly enough, we really haven’t seen too much of the wet out at the races. Yet. A couple of muddy days, but mostly weekends have been more or less dry.
I have a feeling that’s coming to an end.
So, it’s getting wet out. Right as we reach the point in the season where people are starting to hit the wall. Lots wet, lots of racing, reservoirs of road fitness are starting to dry up, It’s getting colder and colder, flu bugs are starting to float around in a fetid fog… yup, it’s just about November.
Which brings us to today, Wednesday.
Skills Day
We’re going to do skills work as usual today, but think about keeping it short, fast, and to the point tonight.
Don’t spend all night standing around in the wet. Hit it and quit it.
Wednesday Skills Session
Warm up for 10 minutes or so.
Some easy dismount/remount practice for about 10 minutes. Work on smooth.
Next, some race-pace riding skills…
Find some moderately flat, moderately technical terrain.
Lay out a short (2 minute or so so…) loop. This should have some technical challenges to it, but should be a loop that you can ride fast.
Think course features that won’t be super hard if you’re riding slow, but become more challenging as the speed increases. Off cambers, tight decreasing radius turns, small log hops… things of that sort.
Easy if you’re dawdling, tough if you’re going hard.
Ride it fast.
Do laps on this for the next 15 – 20 minutes with a focus on Speed.
Work on your corner exits. Come out of ‘em fast. Out of the saddle, drill it, back in saddle, repeat at next corner.
Don’t get bogged down, don’t wear your legs out too much. Keep the cadence high and the gearing relatively low, just work on your fast.
Rest for about 5 minutes, then work on your starts.
5 sets of 5, full gas, and when I mean full gas, I’m talking full-on race speed, and make ‘em long enough that you hit that second effort point, where you have spun up, sat down, and now you need to get your ass back up out of the saddle and reaccelerate.
Remember, it’s that second effort that pays off in the race.
Work on that.
That’s it.
Go home, relax, get to bed early tonight.
Have fun!
M
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