The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Thursday, 9.14.17. “Getting it from both sides”

Howdy folks,

Before we get started, a piece of good news; it looks like the Marymoor cyclocross practices will be happening this year after all.

Some of the details are still being worked out behind the scenes, but plan on Wednesday nights as usual for the first couple/few weeks, then a switch to Tuesday to accommodate the other users of the velodrome space.

Details as they become available will be posted up here on the blog, or check out the dedicated Facebook page.

On with today’s workout!

I’ve had a few people ask me for some more running workouts, both individual coaching clients and readers of the blog, so here you go…

Stairing –

milan_stairway

– 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.

In general, I don’t think that most CX racers really need to do much running work. It’s just not that important for most of the races we see in the US these days. The running that happens organically in the races and in practice is enough to keep the legs moving, and the time needed to add extra running to the schedule is generally better spent doing something more important, like riding yer damn bike.

Having said that, if you are consistently losing ground every time you get off the bike, or if you happen to live in a part of the country where the local races have you running a lot, that’s a different story. YMMV, eh? This is exactly the sort of thing that individual coaching is useful for. I’ve got some clients who do running workouts all the way through the CX season, and others who do none at all. One size absolutely don’t fit all.

So, give today’s workout a shot, and see how it works for you. We’ll do this again next week – with an option for people who would rather do something on the bike instead – and you might decide you like it.

Or not.

If you’re in the “not” category, IE – “F*** this running nonsense!” maybe try this on for size instead…

Short Hill Repeats…

You want to do these on a climb that has you right on the edge of being over-geared.

There are a couple of ways to do this…

– big-ring-able, but just at the edge of being a small ring climb.

– small ring, but with steep or variable terrain or both.

Each effort should take 5 second or so, which tells you how long the climb needs to be.

Warm up for approx. 1/2 hour, then roll on up to the base of the climb you have selected.

Begin your intervals with an out of the saddle, full race-pace ATTACK into the climb.

You’re looking to blast up the climb, full gas the whole way.

It’s perfectly OK to sit down 1/2 -3/4 of way through the effort – especially if you need to do so to maintain traction – but don’t let the intensity drop.

Try to maintain your intensity for the duration of interval.

You’re going to recover for 30 seconds between each rep, and then 2-5 minutes between sets.

5 reps. per set.

Minimum of 5 sets.

If you can do more than that, great… but try to maintain the level of output you had on your first set.

If you have a power meter, you’re done when the wattage you can maintain throughout the set drops off the edge of the table; that’ll be pretty obvious when it happens.

Spin out & warm down after.

Enjoy,

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