Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Hopefully you’re enjoying the long weekend, and getting some quality riding in.

It’s awfully nice to  have these three day weekends pop up right when you need ’em to get ready for ‘Cross season, isn’t it?

If you can’t get out and ride today, don’t sweat it, though.

Some times other things are just more important than training (or so they tell me…)

One of the great things about a holiday weekend is that it might mean the chance to get in a couple of days training, plus some quality time with the family. It doesn’t get much better than that…

I rambled on and on yesterday about how you should approach this weekend as a whole, so I won’t regurgitate it all over you here… check one spot down if you aren’t bored to tears already.

Suffice to say, there are a couple of options on the table for your training today, and they start with…

– Racing on Monday, but planning on taking it pretty seriously, or you’re relatively new to the game?

Sweet. Your workout for today is Can Openers –

Here’s the drill:

– Warm up for 1/2 hour or so.

– Follow with several short attacking efforts, IE 30 seconds at 80% of your max, or pretty damn hard.

– Back off and spin for 5 minutes.

– Follow with 10-15 minute effort at AT level, or CP30, or “I could talk to you if I had to, but I don’t want to” level.

– Spin for several minutes.

– Follow with 5-6 full gas start efforts on a straight section of paved road, level or slightly uphill.

You want to begin these from a dead stop, with one foot unclipped.

Do not stop until you get at least 3 perfect starts in a row, and I mean perfect; this is the cross equivalent of practicing free throws. make ‘em count.

… spin out the legs, go home, and get ready for the race.

Notice that this is a slightly different version of the Can Openers I’ve been posting the last couple of weeks; this is the full-on Cyclocross version. Do ’em on your cross bike, and if you can do ’em on variable cross-like terrain as well? Awesome.

If you’re racing on Monday, but you plan to race through it  (yeah, I know – read yesterday’s post, OK?) You can do a couple of different things today –

Start your ride by doing Spin-Ups –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/the-workout-of-the-day-for-friday-8-19-like-a-record/

…And finish up by doing the Can Openers, same as described above.

The Openers workout takes about an hour, so this will push things up to 2 hours or so. You get a little bit of a workout in, but don’t dig such a hole that you will be a total basket case in the race tomorrow.

Do you really not give a damn at all about Monday’s race, or (like me!) need to work?

OK.

Here you go –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/06/1173/

It’s The Hills Have “I’s” and yeah, it’s pretty scary hard.

Like I was saying, not something to do if you care about being fast on Monday!

🙂

🙂

One last potential workout idea for ya’all…

I waited out the rain today, and got some nice riding in.

If it rains tomorrow, I’m training inside.

I did a road race in the rain last week, and I just can’t deal with another damn bike cleaning session right now.

So, while I hope it’s nice out tomorrow, if it isn’t I’m doing a Half and Half.

One of the optional workouts last week was the Half and Half  & Half –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/30/the-workout-of-the-day-for-tuesday-8-31-half-half-and-half/

This is the same thing, except you do a full 20 minutes for the over/under interval.

Yeah, ouch.

This means you can’t hold the same wattage for the “under” part of the second interval as you do for the 2×20. You need to back it down a notch.

How much?

Honestly, it’s tough for me to tell you without seeing your test numbers.

Sorry, that’s why people actually pay me sometimes, rather than just read this and do it themselves 🙂

Basically, you will need to work at this until you find what output level will allow you to hold a constant “under” level, while still allowing you to do hard “over,” yet also leave you ready to pass out at the end of the interval.

If you’ve got a power meter, try starting out with an “under” of about 20 watts below your 20 minute level, and an “over” of about 20 watts above.

No power meter? Try riding one gear easier (at the same cadence!) and then one gear harder than you would do for your 2×20 efforts.

Good luck!

M

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Howdy folks,

Welcome to Labor Day Weekend.

In Seattle, this generally means one of two things; you’re either going to Bumbershoot, or you’re avoiding Bumbershoot.

The last couple of  years, it has also meant that the Cyclocross season is officially upon us, and that those with a serious jones on can get out there and get their first licks in.

It’s the pre-season, kinda/sorta.

So, first thing to get out of the way… are you racing this weekend?

If you are, how seriously are you taking the race?

By this I mean, are you an experienced racer who can show up with a casual attitude, a bit of mileage in your legs, a little less sleep than you might like, and still rock out?

Not you?

Are you more in the “OhcrapI’mstillnotsureIwantotbeouthereIhopeIdon’tcrashanddie…” category?

Somewhere in the middle?

I ask, because what stage you’re at in your racing career probably determines what you need to do this weekend (if you’re racing.)

If you’re an old hand at this stuff, you can “race through” a race like this, train right up to it, show up a little tired, and deal with whatever happens.

Folks who are new to all this tend to get pretty damn bummed out when they stink up the course ’cause they rode too hard the couple of days beforehand.

It’s not worth screwing yourself up mentally to get an extra day or two of training in when that training probably doesn’t mean a damn thing in the long run.

So, we’re going to break this weekend down into the old hand and the newbie options. Seed yourself!

If you’re a Newbie, and you’re racing on Monday, you should take it pretty easy today.

Take a look back at yesterday’s workout, and roll that again today, cutting it down to an hour if you’re a cat 3 or 4.

If you’re an old hand, and you’re racing on Monday, you can do one of  several things today:

– Ride However you Feel –

– Just go out and roll. Have some fun, play it by ear.

In a fast group ride? Cool. Take some pulls if you feel like it, chill if you don’t.

Get out there and feel unmotivated?

Equally cool. Get some easy miles in, go home, call it good.

Above all,  have fun!

This might be the last totally chill summery weekend you get for a while, so make the most of it!

Looking for some structure? Time constrained, but want to get some work in?

Today you’re doing Ramp Sprints.

– Warm up well

– Find a long, straight section of flat, traffic free road.

– You’re going to do a series of sprint efforts that look like this:

1 – Start from a dead standstill, one foot on the ground. Full gas start, like a race.

2 – Once you’re up to speed, sit down. Pause for two breaths. Go again. Full gas. Short sprint, ’till you’re spun out or 5 seconds.

3 – After you max out the 2nd sprint, slow down quickly. Make a 180 degree turn. Full gas sprint back towards where you started. Go ’till you’re spun out or 5 seconds.

That’s one rep.

Do three, then 5 minute break.

Repeat until you are obviously slowing down, max wattage has dropped appreciably, or you just can’t stand it anymore.

Got some more time? Not racing on Monday, or totally OK with mailing it in on race day, and training through?

– Go for a Hard Group Ride –

You can go on road, off road, cross bike, road bike, Mtb. – whatever.

Try to ride a bit over your head. Either ride with a group of riders that are just slightly better than you, and ride defensively, or push the tempo at the front with a normally comfortable group.

The idea is to ride just outside your comfort zone. Push your limits.

You aren’t setting out on this ride with any HR or Power Zone goals, just with the idea of going hard. Hard, as in “I feel uncomfortable a good part of the time.”

Duration? Up to 4 hours if that’s in the typical ballpark for your group ride experience. Shorter if you usually go shorter.

Just remember to push yourself.

No race in your area this weekend?

You might think about structuring things for yourself as if there were.

Follow the format we just set up (and will talk more about tomorrow…) for the weekend.

Go through all the motions as if you were going to race on Monday, and then set yourself up to do a race-like effort on Monday.

Train through if you’re experienced and strong, don’t if you aren’t.

Think of this as a dry run for the real races to come…

Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy the holiday!

G’night,

M

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Howdy folks,

Sorry this is going up so late tonight; I’ve been having problems with my internet… problems, as in *no* internet.

Thank you Comcast!

“Oh, sorry… we no longer support that modem that we rent to you… sorry we never told you…”

Grrrr….

SO, anyways…

If you live in Seattle, this is a race weekend… kinda.

There’s a race on Monday… which is cool, but don’t let it screw up your training  program 🙂

If you’re doing it, my advice is to kinda/sorta train through it. Ride through the weekend, and just go out and have fun on Monday, no pressure, no big race-prep, just roll into it and have fun.

For many of you, this is a 3 day weekend.

Nice!

Try to get out there and have some fun.

Put some miles in, do a group ride or two (or three!) Enjoy the weekend.

So, what should you do today?

Take it pretty easy. Chill a little bit after the hard running workout yesterday, and save something for the fun rides this weekend.

Today, do 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?

Have fun!

M

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Howdy folks,

I hope ya’all had fun with the skills work yesterday, and that things are starting to make sense on the technical side. Still having trouble? No sweat… keep plugging away!

Today- no big surprise – we’re back to the running of the stairs.

Yeah… ouch.

We’ve been doing pretty much the same running workout for the last couple of weeks, and frankly… I’m good with it.

This is kind of like the weekly 2×20; it’s a foundational workout, and doing the same basic thing (with subtle variation…) for several weeks in a row works out nicely for us.

Doing things this way, you get better at doing the workout as you get stronger, you build skill as you build strength… insert some kinda’ cliche of your own here…

These workouts – the 2×20 and the weekly Stair Run – are hard. The better you get at them, the harder they are, and the more benefit you derive from them.

They’re hard enough that it should be pretty much impossible to get bored.

So, we do them a bunch (at least in this phase of our training,) mixing things up just enough to keep us entertained.

Make sense?

OK.

So, after all that, here we go again, today’s workout is –

More G**Damned stairs, Damnit….

– 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.

– Sprint! up stairs, fast, using whatever stride is most comfortable. Walk down.

– Repeat x3

Rest for 1 minute, walking slowly up and down stairs.

– Sprint up stairs, this time using quick, tiny strides, 1 stairstep at a time. Jog down.

– Repeat x3

Rest again, same as before.

– Sprint up stairs, this time using long strides, several stairsteps at a time. Walk down.

– Repeat x 2

Rest again.

– Sprint up stairs, combining the previous two exercises; long step, followed by 2 short steps. Do 1x.

Walk down.

– Run up stairs, high knees – (page back to a couple of Thursdays ago if you’re unsure of what I’m talking about.)

Repeat x2

Rest again, 2-5 minutes.

– Walking lunge up stairs –

Check out the video – http://vimeo.com/4272332

Do these up the stairs, pay attention to the notes on form. Speed on the vid is perfect…

repeat x2

– Sprint up stairs, free form, just go as fast as you can. Walk down. Go until spent, or speed drops appreciably.

– Repeat entire damn thing if you’re a freaking animal.

Get back on bike, spin out your legs, go home.

Have fun!

M

– a note on the length of the stairs:

I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating; don’t do these repeats on a giant set of stadium steps, on an endless hill, or up fourteen flights at your local skyscraper.

We’re looking for short, sharp, intense efforts. The average running section in a cross race is pretty damn short.

That’s what we’re training for.

I use a flight of stairs that takes me about 12 seconds to run up in a full sprint.

That means that when I’m doing my running efforts, I’m doing a whole bunch of little tiny sprint efforts, with little tiny recovery moments in between them, as I jog or walk back down the stairs.

Sound familiar?

Like a Cross race?

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Today is Wednesday, and that means Cyclocross Skills Work is on the agenda for today.

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 5-10-15 minutes (depends how rusty you are. Do more of these, less of everything else if you need to.)

– 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.

We worked on the super basics a couple of weeks ago. Need a refresher? Check out –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/07/27/cyclocross-workout-of-the-day-for-7-27-10-where-the-have-my-skills-gone/

Do just the most  basic dismount/remount as per above until you have it wired, smooth at all speeds. When you are feeling confident, add some barriers to the session…

– Again, start at a super, super slow speed.

– Approach the barrier, dismount smooth as silk.

– Step over the barrier, paying attention to how you lift the bike, and how you place your feet.

– Remount. Again, think smoooooth….

– Start with a single barrier, move to a double, and keep going slow until you have things wired. Then, speed things up until you aren’t smooth, back it down 1 notch, and make it smooth.

(If you don’t have barriers, anything will do. Use a log, put a stick on the ground – whatever.)

4- Shouldering the bike.

We covered this at length 2 weeks ago. Check it out at –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/the-cyclocross-workout-of-the-day-for-wednesday-8-10-yeah-skills-again/

Tonight, we’re adding a wrinkle to this, The Down Tube Grab.

This is one of those things that’s pretty simple in concept, but difficult in execution.

Everything is the same as the shouldering technique we worked on in the link above, but for one thing; rather than drifting in to the barrier with the hand on the top tube, and then using that hand to flick the bike up to the shoulder using the top tube, you will use the down tube to shoulder the bike.

How does this work?

You have two options:

1 – dismount exactly as  you would normally, with your hand on the top tube.

– As you hit the ground, transfer the right hand to the down tube.

– Slide the bike up your arm and on to your shoulder, establish control of the bike.

Start running.

2- Rather than rolling into the dismount with your hand on the top tube, you roll on in with your hand on the down tube, essentially skipping a step.

– all else is as #1 above.

Check out this video of Barry Wicks at Granogue –

“Wait!” you say. “There’s no dismount or shouldering going on in that video!”

Right you are.

But you know what? If you do this right, it’s exactly the reverse of the act of placing the bike back on the ground at the end of a running section… and Barry does that perfectly here.

Here’s a longer vid of the same race –

Fast forward to 3:16 in…

…and again at 3:50 to see Barry’s teammate Ryan doing a nice down tube pick-up in some pretty grim conditions.

Give it a try!

5 – Starts.

Practice your starts, just like the beginning of a race. One foot on the ground, dead standstill, get-up-and-go.

– Do 2 sets of six full-gas starts.

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

– Lots more info on starts in last Wednesday’s post.

6 – Recover for a few minutes, then Finish the night with two interval 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.

– 6-8 minutes full gas, rest for 2 minutes, then go again for 5.

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

Warm down, go home, relax.

G’night!

M

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Howdy folks,

It’s Tuesday, and that means – yup – it’s…

2×20 Tuesday!

No real surprises, here. I told you up front you were going to do lots of these, and I wasn’t kidding, was I?

At this point, you should be starting to get the hang of these, and you should be getting better at them.

Better and stronger.

Or, maybe you’re suddenly getting worse at them.

This would be one of those signals I’m always talking about… you know, the “Take a rest, stupid!” signals.

If your 2×20 numbers aren’t going up, you need to be better rested when you do them, or you need to go harder.

One or the other.

Or, well, you’re where you’re at, and you really aren’t going to be able to get any better.

That’s possible.

Not likely, but possible.

You need to figure out which category you’re in. Be honest with yourself.

Remember, if you don’t have trouble breathing… heck, with seeing straight at the end of these intervals you aren’t going hard enough.

OK, enough said.

Here are the workouts –

You can do the good ‘ol standard…

Classic 2×20 –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/workout-of-the-day-for-914-2/

The 2×20 Get-Up Style –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/the-cyclocross-workout-of-the-day-for-tuesday-8-9-2x20s-get-up-style/

Or, if you’re looking for something new and different, you can try the…

Half & Half & Half –

– This isn’t the same thing as doing a 2×20, it’s something to do if you need a break from the damn 2×20’s. We’re going to be working slightly different energy systems here, so even if you really like this, don’t sub it for the 2×20 every week, ok?

– This is also a good way to start working your way into Over/Under intervals, something we will be doing a bit down the road. In fact, we’re doing part of an over/under for 1/2 of this (hence the goofy exercise name dujour…)

Here we go…

Workout is best done on a flat(ish) stretch of open road, with very little traffic. You need to be able to ride hard for 20 minute, going hard enough that you can’t see very well, without needing to stop.

I do these on the trainer. It’s easier and safer.
…and I’m crazy.

– Warm up well.

Do 1/2 of a Classic 2×20. (or a 2×20 Get-Up Style. Doesn’t really matter.)

Rest for 5 minutes.

Now you’re going to do a 10 minute effort.

…but wait… there are some details to get straight before you launch into it.

The baseline for this interval is the level of effort/output you just did in the 20 minute effort.

However hard you went in that interval, you are going to try and hold that for the 10 minutes.

Easy, right?

Here’s the rub.

You’re going to sprint for 10 seconds every minute of the interval.

How hard are you going to sprint?

Hard, but not so hard that after you sprint, you can’t sit back down and keep churning away at your 2×20 level.

This takes some practice to figure out.

Don’t get all freaked out if you blow it and can’t hold the effort until the end. You tried, right?

Having said that, don’t wuss out and quit. This is some difficult s***, man. You want to get faster, right?

OK.

Here’s how this works.

Use a stopwatch. Put it on your bars.

Start the stopwatch.

Start the interval with a sprint, out of the saddle pretty hard, but not full gas.

Sprint for 10 seconds.

Back in saddle, drop into your 2×20 zone. Hold this until the minute mark, then –

Sprint again. 10 seconds.

Back in saddle, 2×20 level until 2 minute mark…

Repeat.

Repeat…

Repeat, until you have hit the 10 minute mark.

At the 10 minute mark, finish with one 10 second all-out sprint.

If you have done the interval right, you shouldn’t be able to crank the final sprint all that much harder than the earlier sprints.

Pick yourself up off the ground, roll around and recover for a while.

Go home, get on with your day.

Have fun!

M

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Howdy folks,

It’s Monday again, and that means that most  of us are headed back to work… or school, whatever. Bottom line, unless you’re incredibly lucky (or incredibly unlucky,) you’ve probably got real life stuff you need to take care of in addition to all this cycling fun and games.

Don’t forget about that.

OK, pretty obvious, right?

What I really mean is, don’t forget the toll that all that real-life stuff takes on you.

If you work as hard as most folks that I know, you need to figure that into your training plans. When work, or school, or any of the other everyday life bits decide to bear down and take a big damn bite out of you, don’t try to ignore it. Don’t try to train through it.

REST, DAMNIT!

A big part of designing a training program is figuring out how the work stuff, the riding stuff, and the rest-of-life stuff all fit together.

Last week, I asked you to start writing down season goals, races you want to do, stuff like that.

That was the first step towards putting together a training calendar for yourself, or as I like to call it –

Step 1, Construct The Fantasy Scenario

This week, the hard part;

Sit down with a weekly calendar and write down everything that you need to do that doesn’t revolve around the two wheeled addiction.

Everything.

Sleep, Significant other(s), Work, other hobbies… everything.

That’s step 2 in the calendar prep:

Add real life into the equation.

You’re probably going to feel exhausted when you get done.

That’s OK. Writing this stuff down is an important piece of the puzzle, and while it might feel like sucking on lemons,

…it’s worth it.

You need to track the stressors in your everyday life if you’re going to get a real handle on the why’s and wherefores of your training.

Even if seeing them written down is more than a little bit depressing.

Make sense?

OK.

My father always used to say “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”  *

So, got lots of lemonade? Fold out the lawn chair, have a long sip, and take a nap.

Alright, enough with the trite nonsense.

The point is, we’re working towards an understanding of why and when you need to take a load off and get some rest, rather than train hard.

Again.

That’s pretty much the idea with Today’s Workout, The…

One Hour Recovery Spin.

– Get on your bike. Roll out into the street, and just spin around for an hour.

Really small gear, no hard efforts – heck, no medium effort. Spin. You’re looking to move your legs around in circles, almost like there is no chain on the bike. The idea is to get your body moving, flush the systems out, and speed your recovery.

When you do your recovery ride -if you have the time- just get out and spin aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs suddenly feel better.

As soon as that happens, turn around, go home, eat, stretch, and put your legs up.

…or, you know, go to work.

Or School.

Or whatever real-world hassle you have to deal with. 

– Despite all the words about taking it easy today, don’t forget that your “rest” day is a pretty good day to get some core work in. You need to get this work in on some kind of a regular basis, and since most cyclists will manufacture excuses to avoid it on days they have serious riding scheduled, I’ve found that the only way to actually get riders to work their damn cores out is to make them do it on the rest day.

Lots of info is up in previous posts, so if you have any doubts about what to do core-wise, page back a week or two and you’ll find words on the topic.

G’night,

M

.

* Actually, I’m lying. What my Dad (who was kind of a jerk, truth be told,) used to say to me was: “Matt, you better learn to like lemonade, because life isn’t going to give you anything but lemons.”  Yikes…

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Howdy folks!

Sorry this went up so late. I had a looong day….

I’m guessing some of you did as well. Remember, if you’re feeling totally spent, take it a little bit easy if and when you need to!  I throw a lot of workouts up on here, and honestly not too many people should be doing all of them…

Having said that, here are some more workouts 🙂

As we discussed yesterday, many of you should probably be out racing today.

Nice.

Have fun, ride hard, kick some “A.”

Not racing?

Tired from the week?

You’re doing a two hour Easy Rider –

Hop on your bike. Spin around a flat, easy circuit for a couple of hours.

No sharp or hard efforts, just take it slow and easy.

Enjoy the day.

Stop to smell the flowers and stretch at some point during the ride, maybe about 1/2 way through.

Have fun!

Feeling great? Motivated to do some work?

OK.

Today you’re hitting the road (or the trail!) and doing –

The Hills Have “I”s

(“I” is for “intensity.”)

Warm up, ideally in the course of a ride out to some pretty darn hilly terrain.

Find a hill –  or a series of hills – that will take you 5,10,15 minutes to climb at pretty darn close to race pace.

Hit the base of the climb hard, out of the saddle, and accelerate into it.

Sit down when you feel you’re starting to lag, and drop a couple of gears. Spin (but still fast, IE about the same as your 2×20 minute level.)

Stay seated until you are breathing a little easier, then…

Out of the saddle, Attack! Hard like you did at the base of the climb.

Same as before, when you start to lag, sit down, spin.

Repeat to top of climb.

At the top of the climb, get out of the saddle, and accelerate as the grade eases.  Power over the top and well into the descent, until your speed is great enough that coasting is faster than pedaling.

Coast/spin to bottom of climb.

Pedal at moderate intensity (IE – 2/3 of your 2×20 minute level,) for roughly equal to the amount of time it took to complete the entire climb, or until you get to the next hill, whichever is greater.

Repeat 3-5 times, or until you are spent, or until you run out of time.

If you do more than 3 repeats, spin easy for 5-10 minutes after 3rd repeat.

Total duration should be 2-4 hours, longer = more climbs.

If you do 4 hours plus, you’re either really damn fit, or you’re kidding yourself.

Better to go shorter and harder than to extend the ride and slow things down.

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Howdy folks,

Welcome to the weekend!

If you read yesterday’s post, you know that I kind of set the stage for today’s workout already; I recommended that you get ‘yer butt out to a local race this weekend.

If you’re doing that, and that race is today, then the workout pretty much a foregone conclusion, right?

Ya’all are gettin’ on the bike and…

Racing.

Warm up as well as you need, get out there and kick some A**.

Remember, any race you’re in is a race you should try to do well in… if opportunity presents. Don’t deprive yourself of a chance for a result just because you’re in a “training race.”

One of the riders I coach was doing a race last week, and he went out to it with the idea that he was simply going to sit in, follow wheels, and get a couple of efforts in. Total training race type stuff.

He wound up feeling pretty good, felt like he had some legs in the sprint, and won the damn thing.

Nice.

If you’re racing on Sunday, today you’re doing…

Can Openers.

(check out yesterday’s post for the rundown.)

Not racing this weekend?

Cool.

What you’re doing is…

The Hour Of Power.

This is one of those workouts that is deceptively easy…. in concept.

Not so much in execution.

It’s pretty simple. In the course of a 2-3 hour ride, you’re going to do 3 twenty minute efforts at your 2×20 output level.

The stronger you are, the shorter this ride is, as you need less time to recover between the intervals. Or the harder you go between intervals.

If you’re super damn strong, you do this ride in about 2 1/2 hours, with your “recovery” periods not quite what you might expect.

Something like this –

Warm up for 1/2 hour.

20 minute effort at 2×20 minute output level.

5 minute recovery.

10 minutes at Slow Roast output level

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/workout-of-the-day-for-thursday-108/

20 minutes at 2×20 minute output level

5 minute recovery.

10 minutes at Slow Roast output level

20 minutes at 2×20 minute output level

spin out for 15-20 minutes, go home, rest and recover.

Have fun!

M

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