Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Hey, it’s Wednesday. As mentioned last week, even though we’ve switched the skills workouts to Tuesday nights up here in Seattle, we’re going to continue programming them on Wednesday on here.

If you did the skills/race section out at the JBM Velodrome last night, chill out a little bit today. Once again, as we discussed last week, one day of rest post-race weekend isn’t enough for most folks, so one day rest, then a stout race simulation, then more hard work today?

Just… no.

Chill.

Anyways, onwards.

Skills work today.

But we’re keeping it pretty simple, and pretty fast.

Focus on speed today.

Hell, if you’re getting pretty darn close to the end of your season – as many people up here in the Seattle area are – you should probably be focused on speed in all of your workouts right now.

So…

Skills work. Speedy Skills Work…

Here we go…

1 – warm up for 10 minutes.

2 – Stretch out after you’re warm.

Pay special attention to all the muscles used in those movements you make hopping on and off the bike that are different from what you usually do.

3 – Dismount/remount  skills for 5 minutes , just ’cause.

– Start at literally a walking pace, and slowly increase speed until you can mount and dismount the bike smoothly and perfectly at full speed. Do not jump on and off the bike, you are looking to smoothly slide yourself on and off.

 Need a refresher on the basics? Click here.

4 – Starts.

Just like the beginning of a race. One foot on the ground, dead standstill, get-up-and-go.

Begin with a few medium effort starts, fast but not all-out.

When you start to get the feel for things, hit it hard a couple of times, then back off.

Feeling solid?

Good.

Get  yourself ready to go hard.

– Bang! Six full-gas starts.

– short effort, just go long enough that you are up to full speed, then back down, turn around, go again.

Spin easy for a couple of minutes, then…

– Bang! ~pause~ Bang!

– Six full-gas starts, but each start effort will look like this…

– Full effort start from a dead-stop, foot on ground.

– As soon as you get up to full speed, sit back in saddle, take one deep breath, go again, HARD!

– Ouch.

5 – Recover for a few minutes, then Finish the night with two short efforts on relatively easy terrain.

– “Easy” as in a loop on grass with some tight-ish turns on it, or some pretty buffed double-track.

– Go hard, and work on accelerations out of the turns.

– Every time you slow down entering a turn, get on the gas on the way out of it, ass out of the saddle, working hard.

– 5 minutes full gas, rest for 2 minutes, then go again for another 5.

– Start each effort with, well… with a start. Like you were working on a couple of minutes ago…

Warm down, go home, relax.

Enjoy!

M

Thanks for following along.

As you’ve probably noticed, there’s been a “begging for money” bit attached to the beginning of this page for a couple/few weeks now.

I’d like to thank everyone who has chipped in this season – and the past couple of seasons – when I’ve asked you to. It’s made a difference.

How much of a difference?

Well, let’s put it this way; the small donations from you folks have kept the lights on on this page.

There’s a certain (small) amount of money that has to come out of my pocket to pay for this page, and there’s a certain (larger) amount of money that, as a largely self-employed person, I need to write off based on the time spent on writing, posting, and – yes – giving training advice away that other people charge for.

This all adds up, and if the numbers don’t make sense, the edifice collapses.

So, once again, thanks to those who have contributed.

It is deeply appreciated.

Want to get yourself a dose of that appreciation?

Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.

Thanks for the consideration!

Looking for a coach? Check out…

~ by crosssports on November 15, 2017.

Posted in Cyclocross, skills, speed work, The Workout Of The Day