Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Well, it’s Friday. What to do, what to do…

The weekend schedule for people is, of course, all over the map, and the difference between today’s ideal program if you’re racing tomorrow vs Sunday vs Tomorrow and  Sunday is… big.

So, well… what are your plans this weekend?

Racing on Sunday, but not tomorrow?

Take it easy today.

Go for an easy recovery spin. Get it done early, and try to get an extra couple of hours sleep tonight.

Racing tomorrow?

You need to do some openers today. How about…

Ignition – 

You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride. Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.

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

It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.

Hop on your bike and roll out the door.

Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.

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

How hard?

Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.

You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.

Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.

Make sense?

10 sprints, 10 seconds each.

1 minute between each sprint.

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

Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.

when you get home, put your feet up and relax.

For some folks, this isn’t quite enough to get their legs open and ready the day before the race – or at least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough – and the importance of “feeling” ready can’t really be overestimated.

If you’re part of this club (I am) add a 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.

Warm up, 10 minute effort, 5 minutes spinning, sprint efforts, spin down, go home.

Racing both days this weekend?

You still need to do openers, but be conservative in your efforts! Err toward doing a bit less today, especially if you really care about the event on Sunday.

If the Sunday event is really important, and you’re as fatigued as many people are this time of the year, you may even want to consider foregoing today’s openers entirely, and just use the race tomorrow as an openers session for Sunday.

Something to consider, at least…

Have fun!

M

~ by crosssports on November 30, 2018.

Posted in Cyclocross