Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks!

It’s Monday, and as you have probably noticed by now, on Monday we take it easy.

Use today to recover from the work of the weekend, get some real-world necessities taken care of… things of that sort.

I know some of you probably took it pretty easy yesterday, too.

No big deal.

If you were tired enough to need an easy day yesterday, another one today probably isn’t going to hurt.

So, the workout today, then, is –

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. 

If you have some extra energy, today is also an excellent day to get in some core work; remember, Good Quality core work! No crappy sit ups!

Here’s the foundation of what I’m doing right now –

Stability ball roll-outs –

Superman  Back extensions –

“six-inch” isometric extension.

Lie down on your back, hands together behind your lumbar spine. Raise your legs 6 inches in the air. Hold.

10 minutes of plank poses –

http://www.ab-core-and-stomach-exercises.com/isometric-exercises-for-stomach.html

..and, uhm… I follow up with about 2 hours of Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu.

That’s optional… but it will definitely work some muscles the cycling doesn’t get to!

G’night!

M

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Howdy folks,

Sorry this is going up so late, but watch – I’m going to turn my inability to get this done into a workout theme…

Life interfered today, and I just couldn’t get home at a reasonable hour to get the workout written up.

No

Big

Deal.

This time of year, you can miss a workout if things go sideways for you.

Don’t sweat it.

Missing a day here and there isn’t going to kill you.

Heck, the weather in Seattle was pretty miserable today, for the first time in about six weeks. I rode on the trainer today, but I could barely make myself do it.

If anybody I’m coaching tells me they decided not to ride today, I’m pretty OK with it.

Mental health day.

In fact, that’s the Workout Of The Day today –

Mental Health Day –

Get on your bike.

Do whatever the hell you feel like doing.

Ride hard, ride easy, race… whatever. Whatever feels good, do it. Have fun.

Just ride.

No time limit, no suggested tempo, just ride for the fun of it.

If the weather is crummy, think about taking the cross bike out and finding some mud.

Beautiful day? Go for a long ride.

Racing today? Sweet. Tear it up.

Feeling gassed? Spin for an hour. Go home and take a nap when you’re done.

Recharge a little bit today, work on the fun factor a little bit.

Training isn’t always fun. Today, do whatever it takes to make sure it is.

G’night,

M

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Thank God it’s Saturday!

I mean it. I needed the weekend, darnit. How about you? Feeling tapped out?

If you’ve been following the workouts so far, you’ve probably noticed me asking (continuously!) “How are you feeling today?”

Get in the habit of asking yourself this.

How are you feeling today?

Learn to set up some markers that will really let you know how you are doing. Resting pulse rate, wattage/HR on workouts you’ve done before… keep track of this stuff, and if your numbers start to look wonky and you’re feeling off your game? Step it down a notch. Take it easy for a day or two.

So, how are you feeling today? 🙂

If you’re racing today, have fun. Go hard, kick some A**.

Racing on Sunday? Do some Can Openers today –

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 sprint efforts on a straight section of paved road, level or slightly uphill.

Do half of these from a near standstill, and for 1/2 of them, get going at a pretty good clip before you start the sprint.

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

Not racing but 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.

Have fun!

M

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Howdy ya’all,

How are those legs treating you after the running? I’m pretty dang tired, but working through it… hopefully, you are too!

If you’re feeling gassed today, no problem, we’ve got you covered. Racing on Sunday? Ditto.

Your workout is a One or Two  Hour Moderate Ride.

This is just what it sounds like. Go out and ride moderately for an hour or two. Not quite a recovery ride, but no hard efforts. Keep it steady, under control, and fun.

Not racing this weekend? Not tired from yesterday? Feeling frisky?

We’re going to hit you with some short intensity, and some climbing all at once.

Your workout is Get On Up.

Warm up well

Find a moderate length hill, with a slope that is barely manageable in your big ring.

Start your interval on the flat, and roll into the hill at a pretty good speed.

As you hit the base of the climb, get out of the saddle and attack the climb.

Full gas, 30 second effort up the climb (it’s OK to sit down after you get going.)

After 30 seconds, back off, turn around, coast back down hill, and back to the flat .

Go again.

Repeat 5-6 times.

That’s a set.

Rest for 5 minutes between sets.

Do 2-3 sets.

Warm down. Go home.

(If you happen to be racing on Saturday, well… do some Can Openers today. Page down ’till you see the workout 🙂 )

Have fun!

M

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Howdy!

If you’ve been following the workouts so far, you know that I promised you intervals today.

well… I wasn’t lying. Much.

I didn’t say they would be on the bike, did I?

Psych!

We’re running again today.

In fact, we’re doing the very same workout we did last Thursday.

If you are just getting started following these workouts, you’re not getting left behind. If you did the workout last week, you know that you could probably stand to do it another time or two before things ramp up to the next level (ouch!)

So, without excessive blah-blah-blah…

Today’s workout is –

Second Verse, Same As The First –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/07/28/the-cyclocross-workout-of-the-day-for-thurs-7-29-is-somebody-chasing-you/

One little note today –

– I’m doing the exact same running workout today, but rather than just spinning around on the bike to warm up, I’m doing a single 20 minute interval on the trainer, hopping off the bike, putting on my running shoes, and jogging down to the stairs.

Ouch.

I’m not recommending you do this, BTW. It’s pretty damn early, and that’s a pretty damn hard workout…  And yeah, you need to be nuts to ride on the trainer this time of year, but hey… feeling frisky? want a challenge?

G’night,

M

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Howdy folks,

Have fun yesterday?

I know I did, at least when I wasn’t scared s**tless from losing my chain in a full-gas sprint. Yikes!

Anyways….

It’s Wednesday, and that means we’re going to be doing some skill work today – yeah, that’s right; the fun stuff. How cool is that?

Unfortunately, if you skipped yesterday’s intervals because you were still gassed from Sunday, you don’t get to do the fun skills today. You’re bouncing back one post, and doing the Classic 2×20 workout today.

Sorry!

Conversely, if you’re super tired from yesterday, feel free to do just the skills part of the workout today. Skip the little interval section at the end.

Onward!

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 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?

We worked on the basics of this skill last wednesday, so hey – check it 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 super basic dismount/remount as per last week 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 – turning and handling skills for 15-20 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.

– Finish the night with two 5-minute 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 5 minutes, then go for 5 again.

Warm down, go home, relax.

More interval work tomorrow!

(If you’re up for it…)

.

M

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Howdy foks,

Tick…tick…tick…

It’s the first Tuesday of August… do you know where your fitness is?

No?

Well, after today you will, because today is –

2×20 Tuesday!

That’s right, we’re doing 2×20’s again today, and by the time you are done, you should know exactly what the state of your fitness is.

Here’s the drill –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2010/07/26/the-cyclocross-workout-of-the-day-for-7-26-10-testing-testing/

(Yeah, yeah… I know, lame joke. Hey, you get what you pay for right?)

.

.

(click the link already!)

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.

.

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Ok, so now that you’ve clicked and read the link, I only have a couple of things to add…

– Get used to doing these. Tuesday Night 2×20’s are going to be with us for a while, with subtle weekly variation 🙂

– I can’t stress it enough,  find a way to track your progress and level of output in the 2×20!! This is the foundational workout of your program, and everything gets easier and makes more sense when you have this workout dialed.

– Getting this workout dialed doesn’t make it easier. If the 2×20 doesn’t absolutely suck, you’re doing it wrong.

– If you’re still gassed from this weekend, take it easy again today. Make today another active recovery day. Do the 2×20 tomorrow instead.

– It’s still OK to do a local race today instead of the 2×20, just make sure you drill it (ugh…) during the race.

Go hard, push the pace. Use the race as a workout, and to hell with the results.

Hard efforts you give now are money in the bank for cross season; try to look at them that way, and make the efforts themselves the goal in your local training races.

Have fun!

M

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M

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Howdy folks!

Yesterday should have been a pretty hard day for ya’all, so today we’re going to take it just a little bit easy.

Or, pretty damn easy.

If you did the District TT Sunday (or something along those lines,) you might be best off doing  just about nothing today. Feeling super-duper tired? OK, today your workout is….

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 just 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. 🙂

Feeling a little bit less than completely waxed today?

Great! (well, OK. Really, that means you probably didn’t go hard enough yesterday, but I will cut you some slack…)

If you have extra energy, use it today to do some off the bike work, and get busy with…

Core and Stability Excercises.

First, read this –

https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/10/01/crunches-r-bad-mmmkay/

Then, go and do some Good core work. Not this –

Remember, your core is more than just your gym-mirror muscles.

Sure, work on your abs, but also work on your back, obliques, the small supportive/connective muscles… heck, you should try to work everything that isn’t your legs and your arms… That’s your core.

.

Yeah, I know – that’s pretty damn vague.

I’ve been working on my “Pretty damn good not vague at all comprehensive core workout” post for a while, but it isn’t done yet.  Sorry.

The link above gives some info on good stuff to start with, and  cyclists should all spend a fair bit of time working on stability as well as strength…

…so when in doubt, default to Isometric or Plank-style excercises.

Here’s a great place to start –

http://www.ab-core-and-stomach-exercises.com/isometric-exercises-for-stomach.html

Remember, Rasmussen may have been leading the TDF, but…

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damn…

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G’night,

M

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Well, damn…

It’s August…

Cross season is really sneaking up on us, isn’t it? Hard to believe.

In Washington State (where I live) today is the State/District Time Trial, and if you’re doing it, you’re doing things right.

The 40 Kilometer Time Trial –

Is an absolutely perfect workout for this time of the season; 50 or so minutes, full gas, puke when you’re done.

Maybe give that a try for today if you’re limited on time, or just feel like hurting yourself in the best possible way 🙂

So, OK – workout option #1 for today is – Race Your Ass Off!

Whatever local racing is on tap for today, do it. Take full advantage of the few remaining road and MTB races, and get some hard efforts in.

Workout option #2? Hard Group Ride –

Get out there and kick some A** on the local roadie ride, or on the trails with your buddies.

Push the pace if and when you can, try and go hard – harder than usual – and see how you recover from some stiff efforts on a course or in a group you know pretty well.

Duration? 3 hours or so. OK to go long today, but better to go kinda long and really damn hard.

You want to finish up the ride  tired, sore, and needing to rest a bit tomorrow; basically, if you aren’t racing today, go hard enough that when you’re done, you feel like you did.

Have fun, ride hard, and remember: easy day tomorrow, leave it all on the road/trail today…

M

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