Sorry this is going up so late (Early?) Vegas, Baby! Couldn’t get to the computer last night…
We’ve had a pretty tough week, especially those who did the double last weekend, so today we’re going to focus on some low power speed work.
We’re doing…
Spin Ups –
– Get on your bike and warm up with a leisurely spin, 10-20 minutes.
– After you’re warm, find a nice, long, flat or slightly downhill section of road with little or no traffic.
– Begin interval by rolling into it at a moderate speed, in a gear that’s smaller than you would typically use to sprint.
– Get out of the saddle and sprint.
– Spin the gear up out of the saddle. When your leg speed gets to the point where it’s hard to maintain, sit down and keep going until you are totally spun-out. We’re talking fast, can’t turn ‘em over any faster…
Think Road-Runner fast…
– Repeat x3-5
Recover for 5 minutes, rolling around at a leisurely pace.
– Go again, same thing.
Recover, then repeat as time and fitness allow. Shoot for 3-5 sets of 3-5.
Spin out your legs, go home, and get ready for the weekend.
I’m still in Vegas, and unfortunately my time is not my own this evening, so I’m going to need to keep this brief tonight.
It’s Wednesday, and as usual, I recommend that you make this your day to work on your skills, so get out on the bike and do a…
Cyclocross Skills Practice –
1 – warm up for 10 minutes.
2 – Stretch out after you’re warm. I’m working on a stretching routine post, but I didn’t get it done in time to post it here. Lacking that, just stretch out the muscles you will be using tonight. Pay special attention to all those movements you make hopping on and off the bike that are different from what you usually do.
3 – Barrier skills for 15 minutes.
– 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. Yeah, I know… what the hell… how do I do this? Better/more complete description of the skills side of things will show up on here soon, but this is just the *workout* of the day… cut me some slack!
4 – turning and handling skills for 15 minutes.
– work on tight, high speed turns as well as super tight low speed turns. Roll some off camber slopes, and learn to turn on them as well. Put two traffic cones about 10 feet apart from each other, and ride a figure eight around them, pedalling the entire time. Make the turns tighter and tighter until you can’t hold the line and you fall down. Learn where the break point is between riding a tight line and falling on your ass, and push that line until you are definitively over it.
5 – practice starting efforts
– full-gas starts from a stand still, with one foot on the ground. Do these until you get 3 perfect starts in a row. Make the efforts long enough that you need to shift up a gear or two, but quit right after you do.
6 – Practice race
– This is best if you can do it with a group of riders that are just a wee bit better than you. Push your limits, and learn what you can do at speed. Go faster than you will race, but shorter. If you are racing for 60 minutes on the weekend, do a single 20 minute effort, or 2 10 minute efforts.
7 – Warm down when you’re done. Spin the legs out until you loosen up, then spin for another couple of minutes. Have a drink of water, then go home.
8 – Have fun. Serious fun. This is my favorite day of the week, and I know plenty of folks who think the weekly practice session in Seattle is more fun than the races. Sitting in a hotel room in Vegas as I write this, I know I would rather be back in Seattle, getting ready to go out and play in the dirt!
Well, I’m covered with dirt and I’m completely spent… and I haven’t been on a bicycle in days.
One of the things they don’t tell you about working in the bike industry; if things are going well, you don’t get to ride nearly as much.
Oh well.
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m down at Interbike flogging product for the nice folks at Lemond Fitness. We’re showing the new Revolution Trainer off, and it’s pretty damn nice, especially for Cyclocross. No rear wheel needed!
Nice… one less thing to carry to the race.
If you’re coming down to Interbike, stop by and say “Hi.” We’re out at the Outdoor Demo, and will be downstairs in the health and fitness section at the show.
Ok, enough with that. On with the workout.
It’s Tuesday, so we’re doing Two By Twentys, right?
Well… maybe.
If you did the double this weekend, how recovered are you?
It’s still really damn stinking early in the season.
Don’t blow everything for the entire season by over-doing it right as the weather starts to change, inevitably winding up with a cold or flu that knocks you completely out of racing for a month.
Be honest with yourself, and if you’re still feeling the weekend in your legs, take it easy again today. Go for a…
1-2 Hour Moderate Ride…
Get on your bike.
Go ride for an hour.
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.
1 notch above a recovery ride.
Make sense?
If you’re feeling great though, and the sequence of workouts has been working for you so far, today is – you guessed it…
Two By Twenty Tuesday…
If you’re feeling up to this type of workout today at all, you’re probably good to do the slightly more intense version, so that’s what’s on the agenda, the…
As a PS, just a word of thanks for all the comments and workout suggestions.
I will definitely do my best to answer everybody that drops me a line, and if there are any workouts I’ve got that will help with anyone’s particular problem areas or shortcomings, I will for sure share ’em with ya’all. Keep ’em coming!
I’m going to keep things kind of short tonight, ’cause I’m needing to hit the sack pretty early; back on the road at 6 tomorrow morning!
The plan for this week has been geared around the Seattle race schedule, and the big double race weekend, so for many of you, today’s agenda is pretty obvious –
Go Race!
Go hard, go fast, have fun. You know the drill – enjoy yourself!
Not racing today? Racing tomorrow? You’re doing Can Openers today…
It’s the day before the big races in Seattle, and I hope ya’all have y our mud tires glued up and ready to go. It’s going to be messy!
I’m super bummed to be missing the show this weekend, but business calls, and I’m off to Vegas for Interbike starting tomorrow in the AM. Wish me luck with the whiplash on the long drive.
Ouch.
I stocked up on the vitamin “I”.
As I will be out of town for all of next week, I can’t promise that I will be able to keep the workouts up to date.
I’m going to do my best, but my time isn’t my own next week, sorry!
Keep checking in, and even if I can’t get workouts up, I will try to get some Interbike content up for you.
*******************
If you’re going to be at Interbike, drop by the Lemond Fitness booth and say “Hi.” We will be at Dirt Demo and at the show, so come on out and talk ‘cross with me, and try out the New trainer… it’s pretty damn cool.
Phew.
On with The Workout Of The Day…
If you’re racing on Saturday, you probably already know what you’re doing today. That’s right, you’re doing…
If you’re not racing on Saturday, but you are racing on Sunday? Today you’re doing a
1-2 Hour Moderate Ride.
Take a look at yesterday’s post for details. Ditto if you aren’t racing at all this weekend.
Well, that there is the workout section of the post, but I got a really interesting question from Pat yesterday –
I’m doing the double this weekend, and this is my first year of racing Cx each weekend. I’m racing afternoon at StarXd then morning at the Rad Racing GP. Any fast recovery or preparation tips so I can go hard both days?
It seemed like it made sense to try and respond to this today, so here goes…
Man, doubles are just plain hard.
That said, there are some things you can do to make things easier on yourself….
– Take it pretty damn easy two days before the first race. For a Saturday/Sunday double, you take it really easy on Thursday. Not quite recovery-day light, but not that far off.
– You need to do openers the day before the first race, but try and do the bare minimum necessary. It takes some practice and experience to figure out what this bare minimum is for you, and the first step towards that end is keeping track of what you do. Got a training log?
– Warm up before the race on day one, but don’t overdo it. I wrote a pretty lengthy piece on warming up last week…
– Make sure you eat well on race day. With an afternoon race on Saturday, get breakfast in, and lunch, but make sure to time it so you aren’t bloated at race time. Post race, get a recovery drink in pronto, and then…
– Warm down after your race. Have a trainer set up and ready to go, with a recovery drink pre-mixed and waiting.
– When you finish your race, get some warm clothing on, Get on the trainer, drink the drink, spin out your legs. When you’re done, get off the bike, get on your compression socks (if you wear them,) get some dinner, and…
GO HOME!!!!!!!
– Don’t stick around to watch the rest of the races.
Look, it’s all about priorities. If your priority is to race well on Sunday, you can’t be standing around in the rain until all hours watching the pros race.
Sorry.
Frankly, this is where I always blow it.
I always stick around and watch whatever races come after mine.
It’s not a good idea. If you do it, do it knowing that you’re making a conscious choice that will likely effect your performance the next day…
Saturday.
– Warm up as little as you need to for the race. On day two of a weekend like this, all I usually need to do the morning of the second day is ride a couple/few laps of the course, pop a couple of sprints, and then roll around on the road or trainer at low intensity for a while.
That’s me.
YMMV.
Again, the key is to do as little as you need to do to be ready to go full gas at the gun. Without doing so much that you blow up half way through the race.
It’s Thursday, and if you’ve been playing along, you can probably guess that that means I’m going to throw a couple of workout options at you today.
First of all, are you racing this weekend?
What day?
In Seattle, this is the big StarCross/ Rad Cup UCI weekend. That means that a bunch of the local folks are doin’ the double this weekend.
Ouch.
If you’re racing Saturday, and especially if you’re racing both days this weekend, your workout today is…
One to Two Hour Moderate Ride –
Get on your bike.
Go ride for an hour.
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.
1 notch above a recovery ride.
Make sense?
If you’re not racing this weekend, or if you’re just racing on Sunday, well… you have some options today.
You could do some Stair Running today, but before you do, read this –
If it still makes sense for you to get yourself goin’ off the bike?
Follow the link in the post, and there’s your workout!
Racing this weekend? Feeling like you’ve got plenty of running miles in the legs already?
Cool.
I got a question from Herb T. after this last weekend’s racing, and he about things he could do to improve his starts.
I’m going to write a post dedicated to the topic soon, but for now, here’s something to get you (ahem…) started…
Today you’re doing Form Sprints.
These not only work wonders for your overall speed, but the repeated, seated accelerations make them just the ticket to kick-start your… uhm, well…. your (ahem…) starts…
Here’s what this looks like:
Warm up well.
Find a long, flat section of road with little to no traffic.
Get a rolling start; you aren’t going fast, just gently spinning.
Stand up and sprint.
You’re going to sprint hard, but in a slightly smaller than comfortable gear.
Go until you are spun out, then…
sit down.
Accelerate again, seated, spinning the same gear selection even faster.
Go until you are totally spun out.
Sit up, and spin back down to a conversational pace.
That’s one rep.
You’re doing sets of 5.
3 sets is probably enough for most all ya’all.
2-5 minutes rest between sets.
Note: These are called Form Sprints for a reason; you’re doing them in a smaller gear than you would normally sprint in, and you are concentrating on your form.Pay attention to all the little things your body does in a sprint, and work to maximize your efficiency and control. Keep it smooth. Think fast, fluid, and supple with the pedal stroke.
Apologies in advance if you came on here looking for cyclocross insight and wisdom tonight.
I got in a rear-ender car accident today on the way to work, and although I was able to fake it through a very short work day – and even rolled around on the bike a bit afterwards – I’m currently a mess.
I don’t think there’s anything seriously wrong, I just feel like I went 5 rounds with Brock Lesnar –
…And, frankly, I can’t sit comfortably in front of the computer.
I need to go take some ibuprofen and hit the sack.
Sorry folks.
It’s Wednesday, it’s Cross Skills Night, and for the workout tonight?
Just a couple of things coming up that are worth mentioning…
– I will be out at Upper Woodland Park in Seattle for to do-a the Cross practicing tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 6pm. C’mon out!
– The Marymoor Park Cyclocross workouts start on Wednesday, and I will be out there coaching yet again this year. Tap me on the shoulder and say “Hi!” if you come out. It’s always nice to put a face to some of the page view numbers!
– I’m driving down to InterBike on Friday morning, and will be on the road until the following weekend. I will do my best to get W.O.T.D. content up for the week I’m gone, but it’s going to be tough…
If you happen to be going to Interbike, stop by the Lemond booth at the Dirt Demo and say “Hi.” I will be there showing off the new Revolution Trainer, and it’s really damn nice. You should check it out!
You betcha. I do the personal coaching/trainer thing. Clients have included multiple National and even World Champions, and 2/3 of My Cyclocross athletes made the podium at Nationals in 2009, with one taking home the Stars and Stripes. Interested? Drop me a line at: crosssports@gmail.com
Yeah, that's right... if you have completely lost control of all sense of fiscal responsibility, you can now purchase silly articles of clothing with my blog address on them.
How cool is that?
Just go to - http://crosssports.spreadshirt.com/
and think "conspicuous consumption... mmm... feels so good..."
Crosssports's Weblog 