Howdy!
Pretty simple today… Go Race.
Full Gas, no hesitation, no “training through…” Go for it.
At this point in the season, you should have a really good handle on your strengths and your weaknesses. Race them today.
Go hard where you’re fast. Rest where you can.
Have fun.
Not racing?
Take the day off.
You’re due!
M
Howdy folks,
Wow… it’s really close to the end of the season for most of us! If you’re in the Seattle area, there are only a couple of races left in the season – and Nationals is so close you could almost oversleep and miss it!
What the heck does this mean for our training?
For one thing, it means that at this point, you really aren’t going to be gaining much fitness (OK, maybe for nationals, but certainly not for the local stuff!) Ya’ run what ‘ya brung at the races…
This also means that you aren’t going to lose much fitness. Feeling tired? Rest. It is far easier to lose fitness by overtraining than it is to gain fitness at this late date.
We’re going to switch the focus of our training to a speed and taper mode over the last couple of weeks of the season, but just remember – be careful, be conservative, and err on the side of Less for the next, last couple of weeks.
On with today’s workout…
Once again, operating on the assumption that you are racing on Sunday, we’re doing the beloved Can Openers:
– 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.
Or maybe the RSWO if you’re stuck inside!
– Get on trainer. Spin for about 5 minutes.
– Shift into big ring/largest cog combination.
– Ride 30 seconds in this gear, then shift up one cog.
– Ride 30 seconds in this gear, then shift up one cog.
– Repeat until you hit the hardest gear you’ve got, or can handle.
– Ride 30 seconds in that gear, and then shift all the way back down to the Big/big combo.
– Ride 30 seconds in that gear, then immediately shift to hardest gear you can handle.
– Full gas sprint, out of the saddle, for 30 seconds.
Back to big/big combo.
– Spin for two minutes.
– 5-10 minute effort at your 2×20 output level.
Repeat The entire sequence (Usually minus the 2nd 5-10 minute effort.)
Have fun!
M
Blechh… sorry! a new record for lateness in getting this up. It’s well after midnight, and I just woke up. This injury is messing up my schedule big time!
Today’s workout is Pretty Damn Easy.
Go for a 1-2 hour easy ride.
No hard efforts.
Not quite a recovery spin.
Just pedal pretty easy for a while.
You should be able to hold a conversation for the entirety of the ride, maintain a HR well behold threshold, or ride a wattage that you could almost literally hold all day – we’re talkin’ CP 6hrs+ here. Make sense?
If you’re stuck inside on the trainer, you can sub in an hour easy. Stick a DVD in, and ride while you watch it. If you lose track of the plot, you’re probably going too hard.
If you’re stuck on the trainer, but you just can’t bring yourself to do something as incredibly boring as this, try The RSWO, with a couple of modifications…
Get on trainer. Spin for about 5 minutes.
– Shift into small ring/largest cog combination.
– Ride 30 seconds in this gear, then shift up one cog.
– Ride 30 seconds in this gear, then shift up one cog.
– Repeat until you hit the biggest gear you can ride in the small ring.
– Ride 30 seconds in that gear, and then shift all the way back down to the Small/big combo.
– Ride 30 seconds in that gear, then immediately shift to biggest gear you can get in the small ring.
– Sprint, in the saddle, for 30 seconds.
Back to Small/big combo.
– Spin for two minutes.
Repeat.
If you are racing on Saturday – you guessed it – you’re doing can openers, or The “stock” RSWO. You can read about them at:
https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/11/07/workout-of-the-day-for-saturday-117/
Have fun!
M
Ouch.
I blew my “good” shoulder out today, and man… {insert your choice of profanity here}.
Be careful out there, folks.
I’ve been training a lot the last couple of weeks, and I came into Wednesday’s practice tired and worn out from the double this past weekend, and a really tough workout yesterday.
Did training hard cause me to screw up and get hurt?
No… but I wasn’t feeling sharp tonight, I wasn’t on my “A” game, and when I blew out of the (crappy, worn-out) pedal on my practice bike, maybe I wasn’t quite as fluid as I would have been otherwise.
I didn’t even fall down, but in the process of not falling… BAM! Separated shoulder.
Ouch.
So, be careful. Feeling tired, been training hard? Be extra careful!
End of sermon!
For the Workout Of The Day, I am once again going to give you a couple of options:
– Racing on Saturday? Take it easy today. Racing on Saturday and Sunday? Definitely take it easy.
Not a full-on recovery day, but go short and easy-ish. Throw in a couple of efforts so your body doesn’t go into shut-down mode, but make ‘em super short, and just one or two of ‘em. We’re talking something along the lines of “sprint for that town line sign on your way home.” Other than that, keep it in the little ring today
– Racing on Sunday? The ideal workout for today is The Slow Roast:
https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/workout-of-the-day-for-thursday-108/
Give it a shot if you can. If you’re in the Seattle area, the weather outside is frightful… and spending a couple of hours outside just cruising along isn’t delightful (cut me some slack, I’m in pain here, OK?)
You can do this workout on the trainer… but cut it in half. Cruise for an hour to an hour and a half. Hell, if you’re doing it outside and it’s as awful as it looks to be, cut it in half. All the other guidelines from the linked workout hold true.
OK, time for me to go get some more ice.
Have fun!
M
Wednesday!
yay!
It’s Cyclocross Skills Day!
Today we’re going to start the process of reducing, replacing, and refining our skills in the waning days of the season.
Huh?
OK. Here’s what I’m talking about…
Refine.
– We’re at the point in the season where we really need to be putting our “whole package” together. Nationals is right around the corner, and while we can always work to expand our skill set, the best use of time for many of us is buffing the rough edges off the skills that we have now.
Reduce.
– Every Wednesday, we’ve been working on different, discrete skills. Now we start to put some of them together… and take some of them away. We’ve talked about different ways to approach turning, barriers, dismounts, re-mounts… you name it. Now it’s time to identify the approaches, variations, and individual skills that suit you the best. Don’t throw out the things that you haven’t quite figured out yet, but put them in the closet. You’ll come back to them next season…
Replace.
– Do you have a rockin’ Cowboy dismount, but a lackin’ “step-through?” Cool. Next season you’re working on the step-through. Now, though?
Focus on the Cowboy. Nail it. Perfect every time.
Are you railing the corners when you pedal ’em? Not so much when you’re foot-out, sliding? Focus on what’s working. Nail it. Perfect every time.
Here’s the drill for tonight:
– warm up, 10-15 minutes.
– Brief run. 5 minutes.
– Stretch.
– Barrier skills, 10 minutes.
– Try a couple of different approaches/skills. Figure out what’s working best for you. Ditch what isn’t.
– Technical skills, 15-20 minutes.
– Here again, try different approaches to the various obstacles on your course – off cambers, tight turns, wide/fast turns, mud, sand… figure out what’s working for you. Ditch what isn’t. Reduce, replace… Refine.
– Starts, until you get 5 perfect starts in a row.
– Yeah, I’m a broken record. Try starting a couple of different ways; Ass on saddle, ass off saddle. Pedal at 3:00, Pedal at 1:00. 3 cogs down, 2 cogs down. Figure out how you start best. Drop what isn’t working, and forget about it until next season.
– Race simulation. 3 x 10 minutes, 2 minute rest between efforts.
– Take everything you just practiced, and use only the select approaches and skills that worked for you. Really nail ’em. Go F-ing fast, and use whatever skills get you there.
Forget about everything else.
– Warm down.
– Go Home. Eat. Recover.
Have fun!
M
This Saturday the 21st of November Classic Cycle is hosting a benefit party to help raise money to send Zach McDonald to the Koksijde World Cup in Belgium and the EuroCrossCamp.
It’s going to be a good time for all – here’s what’s on tap for the day: Classic Cycle is donating 10% of all sales made that Saturday – a great excuse to get any equipment (or that shiny new bike) that you have been longing for. From 5:30pm to 7:30pm there will be beverages, appetizers, a raffle, some stories, pictures (all things cyclocross), and a silent auction. There will be some great stuff on hand! Hopefully everyone can stop by and at least catch up with others who share the same interest in cyclocross and cycling.
Classic Cycle is located on Bainbridge Island at 740 Winslow Way E a short ferry ride from Seattle. It is a short walk (3 minutes) from the ferry, so park on the Seattle side and walk or ride over – that way the ferry ride is free going back to Seattle!
Driving? Carpool to save money and the earth! As you get off the boat simply travel to the stoplight at the top of the hill and take a right at the police station. Classic Cycle is 200 feet from there on the left. Hope you all can make it!
More info:
Classic Cycle
740 Winslow Way E
Bainbridge Island, WA
Howdy!
I hope you’re feeling rested and recovered after your racing this weekend! If you’re not, give some thought to taking it easy again today, and just go for a nice, relaxing Recovery Ride.
Feeling good? Psyched?
Great! Today you’re going to be doing…
The 3×12 over/under fiesta
Here’s how this goes…
Warm up well.
Begin workout by riding for 5 minutes at your 2×20 minute interval level (Lots of talk about this in earlier posts!)
Recover for 2 minutes.
Start first interval at your 2×20 minute level. This is your Baseline Level.
After 2 minutes,
Accelerate, and ride 10 seconds at 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear higher than the baseline level.
– After the 10 seconds, ride 20 seconds at 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear lower than the baseline.
– After the 20 seconds, you go back to the ten (over,) followed again by the 20 (under,) etc., etc.
Got it?
2 minute baseline, 10 seconds up, 20 down, 10 up, 20 down.
Repeat the up/down efforts to the end of the interval, 12 minutes total.
Rest for 2 minutes.
Immediately begin another interval, again at your 2×20 exertion level.
After 2 minutes…
shift into a gear that is bigger than you are comfortable with.
Continue the interval, striving to maintain the same output level with the too-tall gear.
– this is super easy with a power meter… just keep the wattage the same! It’s not so easy with other methods of measuring your exertion, but try. (I wrote at length about these methods here – https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/11/03/workout-of-the-day-for-tuesday-113/ and in other posts.)
Ride the too-large gear for one minute, then…
Shift to a gear that is too small
Spin the little tiny gear for one minute, then
Switch back to the too large gear
Repeat to end of interval, total of 12 minutes.
That’s interval #2.
Rest for two – five minutes.
Interval 3 is a repeat of interval #1.
Warm down after you’re done, then go home, relax and recover.
Notes –
– These work great – maybe best – on the trainer. That’s how I do them.
– Don’t Overshoot the overs!
It’s really easy to get super ambitious and go so hard on the “over” part of these that you can’t keep going to the end of the interval.
Avoid the temptation. The goal is to finish the entire workout, not to put up super high numbers on part of it.
– This is a pretty hard workout.
If you get part way into the workout and are totally flailing, you might just need more rest after the weekend’s efforts. I’m pretty hands-on when I give a workout like this to a client after a hard weekend, and I also give them “…you might need to quit if…” type guidelines.
There’s a very, very fine line between training hard and training too much. I firmly believe that results in racing come from working hard, and that working harder than the competition before the race is how you beat them in the race.
I have spent many late nights in the gym saying to myself “I know nobody else is lifting weights at 2 am! That’s why I’m going to beat them come race time!”
This level of intent and intensity will help you succeed… but it can also put you on the couch injured or over-trained.
An important part of your training and development as an athlete is learning about your body. Make no mistake about it, this is part of the job. Learn to listen to your body. Develop the ability to recognize when enough is enough, and the stimulus of the training has outpaced the ability of the body to adapt.
This is another one of those things that will make you fast…
M
Rest Day!
Rest Day!
Take it easy today.
Go out and spin for an hour.
No pressure on the pedals, no hard efforts – heck, no efforts at all.
Just spin a really tiny gear around until you feel your legs start to loosen up. When that happens, go home.
Relax as much as you can today…
M
– more soon, including thoughts on the weekends racing, and, well… other stuff. 😮
Howdy folks,
I’m going to keep it really short today…
Racing today?
Go Race.
Full gas, no holding back, no “training race” thoughts… give it all ‘ya got.
Race on Saturday? Not racing today?
Go for a Recovery Spin today.
No hard efforts, no pressure on the pedals.
Just go out and spin around for an hour or so.
All you’re trying to do is flush the fatigue out of your legs, so meander around for a while until your legs start to feel better.
As soon as that happens, turn around and go home.
More tomorrow, including some thoughts on the weekend race post-mortem(s.)
Have fun,
M
Support this site by opening yer wallet!
Get Fit!
Think "Conspicuous Consumption," baby!
Proud to be a Source Endurance Coach!
These folks aren't giving me anything to post this, I just like 'em. They support Cyclocross in Western WA, so you should support them.
Crosssports's Weblog 