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That’s how it’s done, folks.

Sweet Jits, and on  T.U.F. no less…

Chapeau!, Brendan Schaub.

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As some of you may know, I’m one of the coaches out at the Kore Cross workouts at Marymoor Park in Redmond Wa. I’ve been doing this for a long time, but this is the first year that I have worked with the “B” group.

I have spent the last several years working with the juniors, and it’s been a really rewarding experience – I have been lucky enough to see young riders go from their very first experience on a cross bike to success on the regional, national, and world stage(s). Great stuff!

One of the cool things I did with the Junior riders a couple of years ago was to offer a little perk to encourage a “go for it” attitude; I procured a small amount of product, and awarded it each night to the rider that really gave it their all.

It’s back.

Thanks to the fine local product rep, I’m proud to announce the Hammer Fall of the Night Award.

Every Wednesday night at marymoor park, I will be awarding Hammer Nutrition product to the rider who best pushes their limits with spectacular results.

Getting better on the bike is all about finding the line between speed and control, and we’re going to reward the riders who drift (or plunge!) over that line.

At the end of the season, I will also be handing out a special “Fall of the Year” award…

Fame or ignominy… I’m not sure, but I’m going to reward it anyways…

– Thanks to Keith and Hammer Nutrition. http://www.hammernutrition.com

– If you get hurt, the fall don’t count. We’re talkin’ innocent yet spectacular diggers here, the stuff that makes cross fun… Kapish?

M

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We’ve got another stacked weekend of racing coming up here in Seattle – 1 local race on Saturday, and two on Sunday… Yikes…

So – way too much Cyclocross action for any single human being.

I’ve been talking a whole bunch about overtraining lately… and this is like the Holy Grail of Overtraining weekends. With that in mind…

Today’s workout is “Big Damn Can Of Fresh Air.”

Huh?

Super simple…

Hop on your bike.

Ride for an hour. Not hard. Not recovery-level easy. Just ride. No sprinting, no pushing the tempo, no big deal. Just f-in ride.

It’s like a Big Damn Can Of Fresh Air.

Finish the ride, chill out, get ready for the weekend.

-If you’re racing both days this weekend, it’s worth coming into the first race just a tiny little bit flat, rather than risk burning out – so, no Can Openers for you tomorrow. It’s freakin’ early, man…

– Even if you aren’t doubling up this weekend, this is the workout. You’ll be flyin’ on Sunday, trust me.

Have fun!

M

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I fit bikes for a living.

I do it for all types of riders, of all shapes and sizes and ability levels.

I do fits for folks riding an hour on the weekend, and for riders (literally) heading off to the World Championships or the Olympic games.

I’ve been performing this service for over a decade.

For a long, long time, when I told the average person what I did for a living, the reaction was – inevitably – “huh?” Nowadays, I more typically receive something along the lines of  “Oh – cool… I read about that in the NY Times.”

So, things have changed.

Things have really changed.

Allow me to step back in time for a moment here, and reflect upon a conversation I had with a prominent local rider. He is/was a talented guy; good enough to have a cup of coffee at the pro level, get his face in Velonews, and watch his buddies go on to ride at the Pro-Tour level.

About 5 years ago we were out on a training ride, and one of the other riders was asking me questions about bike fit, bike fitting, and what it was like to do it in a professional capacity.

The aforementioned Pro pitched in to the conversation, offering the following:

“Bike Fitting is a scam, and a waste of money. You buy a bike, you raise the seat until it’s the right height, and you’re done. End of story.”

Well, OK.

That’s an opinion. I disagree – as one would expect – but why argue, right?

So, who cares about this story? This was years ago… what’s the point?

Here’s the point.

Mr. “Bike fitting is a scam” is now a “professional bike fitting specialist.” Website, certifications and all.

In less than 5 years, he’s gone from skeptic to professional, and is charging a fair bit of money for his services.

He’s not alone.

When I started doing this, his original “scam” reaction was a pretty common one. Now, you need a broom to push all the “bike fitters” out of the way on your local club ride.

Here’s the rub, though.

I think, deep down, this guy still just might think this whole thing is a scam. The only difference is now he thinks it’s a good scam, and he wants in.

I don’t think he’s alone.

He’s on the BandWagon.

Just a thought…

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Hi Folks!

Wow… things have really started to take off with this workout of the day thing, and it sounds like some of you are pretty much following it as a training program… Neat.

Thank you for the positive vibes, the feedback, and the topic suggestions/requests. You’ve given me some great ideas, and I will do my best to follow through for you…

So, on to today’s workout…

Today we’re going to do the “Slow Roast” workout. Here’s how it goes:

– first of all, this one is a little bit longer than most of the workouts we do – you’re looking to budget 2-2 1/2 hours.

– No real warm up effort required for this one, either. You can pretty much hop on the bike and go…

– So, hop on the bike.

– Ramp up to a level that’s roughly 20 beats below your zone 5 heart rate level or a wattage that’s 25% below your “Classic 2×20” average, or just at the limit of comfortable conversation. You can talk comfortably, but any harder and you couldn’t.

– Hold at this level for the duration of the ride – ideally for 2-2 1/2 hours.

– Go home, eat, relax, recover.

Notes:

– Yeah, this exercise is just as simple as it sounds. Nice not to have to use the stopwatch, eh?

– Yeah, this is a “Dead Zone” exercise. Don’t worry about it – there’s method to the madness, I promise…

– If you’re hammered from yesterday, take it easy today instead, and do an hour long recovery ride instead…

G’night!

M

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This post is prompted by a couple of things…

– I received a phone call from an old client/friend who was asking me to help her out with some coaching advice for the lead in to Cyclocross Nationals. She’s a coach herself, and a former World Champion. She knows her stuff.

– There’s a Jiu-Jitsu competition coming up, and everyone at the gym is rolling extra tough…

– I spent some time reading through some posts on training on the RBR cyclocross site.

So, what’s the common thread here?

Over Training.

– The folks at the gym are rolling so hard they’re getting burned out already and the comp is still a ways off…

– The talking heads on RBR are doing crazy s**t, and burning out, or doing stuff that’s way too easy and not getting any results.

– My friend/client called me because she knows she has a tendency to over train, and needs someone she trusts to tell her when to back off.

Remember that part where I said this was a former World Champion?

“Smart” sometimes means knowing when you’re dumb. Dumb as in “too stubborn to back off when I know I should.”

Job #1 of the coach/trainer is Stop your stupid athlete from over-doing it.

Sometimes it’s your only job.

If you don’t have a coach/trainer, finding the line between training right and training too much may well be the hardest part of your job – harder even than the training itself.

Start thinking about this, and if you’re doing the Cyclocross Workout Of The Day, really pay attention to the over training warnings.

More on the topic soon, but just start thinking about this, OK?

OK.

Notes:

– If you aren’t keeping a training log, start now. Keep track of what training you are doing, and track your subjective reactions to training stimulus. This is jargonese for those little comments you make in the margins – you know,  “Felt like crap today,” or “felt AWESOME!!!”

– Rest and recover. Damn it.

– Don’t be afraid to skip workouts if you really, really need to. You gain more from recovering when you need to than from driving yourself so hard that you get sick, hurt, injured, or so burned out that you quit.

– Have. Fun. Damnit. It Just.Isn’t.Worth.It.If.It.Isn’t.Fun.

M

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Howdy!

It’s Wednesday, so once again it’s time to work on your cyclocross skills.

If you’re in the Seattle area, make your way out to the Kore Cross workout at Marymoor Park. If you aren’t in Seattle, see if you can find an organized workout in your area or a group of like-minded folks to do some riding with.

Still no luck? find yourself a field and practice skills by yourself… it’s worth it.

OK. ‘Nuff said.

Here’s the plan for tonight’s practice:

– Warm up on the bike for about ten minutes. Just roll around, and get the legs moving.

– Get off the bike and run for  5 minutes, broken down into  30 second efforts with 30 second rests. Run as fast as is comfortable – work up to full sprints over several weeks.

– Stretch. Too complicated to give a full outline here, but if there is interest I will post a stretching/warmup regimen…

– Back on bike. Do dismount and barrier skills for ten minutes. Work on cowboy and step through dismount, and smooth running off the bike.

– Turning skills. Work on slow speed turning while pedaling, and high speed turns where you can’t pedal.

One drill I suggest doing is riding in a circle around a cone, trying to make the circle as small as you can while pedaling continuously. Ride smaller and smaller circles until things get so tight that you literally fall over sideways. Work on vertical bike alignment and countersteering. Push your limits – that’s how you figure out what they are 😮 Switch directions when you start to get dizzy…

– Starts. Practice starts until you get 5 perfect starts in a row.

– Rest for 5 minutes. Drink something, eat something, get ready to go…

– Practice race. I would suggest doing lap on/lap off efforts, or sets of 10 minute efforts. Full gas, pretty damn fast. Have fun!

– Warm down, stretch, get warm and go home.

Some notes:

– If you’re up to it, double up today and ride a classic 2×20 in the morning (link in yesterday’s post) and ride the skills practice in the evening. Big fun.

******Append a big damn asterisk to this suggestion! It will kick your ass, it will jump-start your fitness, it will make you fast… but you will need to make sure you recover the next day, and that you are up for it in the first place. Don’t mess up your season and overtrain, m’kay? *******

– Do some YouTube cruising and find some footage of the Euro guys riding crazy-ass stuff. Watch how different folks ride the same stuff in different ways, and try out the various methods you see.

Figure out what works for you.

I’m a vertical bike, keep pedaling, coutersteer kinda guy. The style works for me, but it’s not for everybody.

What works for you?

Don’t know? Figure it out… that’s what practice is for!

G’night…

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Hi

Ready for some hard work?

OK.

Today’s workout is Mixed Messages #1

Here’s what it looks like:

– Warm up well.

– Ride one 20 minute interval at the Classic 2×20 pace.

– Recover for about 5 minutes.

– Ride one or two sets of the Short Hill Repeats.

– Recover, ride home and relax.

Details?

– Figure out a good place to do this. I’m lucky, and have the perfect hill for the repeats 2 blocks from my house. I do the 20 minute effort on my trainer. If you’re a Seattle person, This exercise works great on Mercer Island. Ride the 20 minute effort out to the base of the wall, and do your repeats there…

– Confused about the 20 minute effort? Look here: https://crosssports.wordpress.com/2009/09/15/workout-of-the-day-for-914-2/

– Here’s the Short Hill Repeat protocol:

– Find a short, steep hill. You’re looking for something that’s barely rideable in your big ring, but probably better done in the small ring. You’re going to be doing intervals that are about a minute in duration, so find a hill that’s the right length, or pick a landmark that takes about a minute to get to if you’re really charging.

The format for the intervals:

– You’re going to do one or two sets of ten, with a 5-10 minute break in between.

No more than 10 minutes. Shorter if you can.

The rest period is highly dependent on your fitness level. You’re looking to go for the second set as soon as you are rested enough to do it at the same level output level as the first.

Yikes.

These are full-gas efforts. Go as hard as you can for each interval, with the understanding that you are doing 2 sets of ten, and you want to finish the damn workout.

Try to maintain a consistant level of output for each interval; don’t surge and fade.

If you have a powermeter, you are trying to maintain a consistant output level for the duration of the interval. If you don’t have a pm, pick a gear and a cadence and stick with it.

We’re hoping to work on your power a bit here, so if you’re up to it, look to do these intervals in a gear that is just bit taller than you are comfortable. Would you usually climb this hill in a 46×25? Go 46×23. Yarrggghhhh!

Start each interval standing, but sit your ass down as soon as you get up to speed, and do the rest of the interval seated.

Don’t stand up!

Have Fun!

M

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Phew… another weekend of racing out of the way. I hope you had fun!

Before I give you the workout, a reminder: Think back to your race today (or yesterday…) and make mental (or actual…) notes of what went well for you, and – more importantly – what didn’t. What do you need to work on – technically, physically… mentally?

Make a point of working on those things this week.

If you do this every week, you will get better – I promise!

Ok – so, Monday’s workout:

Today is a Recovery Day.

Spin out your legs for an hour or so – however long it takes to feel like… well, like you feel better. It’s pretty obvious when it happens. Simply hop on the bike, and ride really damn slowly until your legs feel better. You’ll know when that happens, and when it does, turn around and go home. Don’t go hard at all — no efforts, no pressure on the pedals. Just spin.

Got the spinning done?

Great. Now do some stretching, get a massage, take a nice long bath… relax.

If you feel like you just have to do something more, do some core work – check out my earlier post on Crunches, follow the link to the Good ab workout, and start by doing some of those excercises…

Rest well, and see you tomorrow for some more hard work…

M

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It’s Sunday so that means racing, right?

Yup.

Go race today.

If you don’t have a race in the area, go out and well… pretend.

Race your friends. Race yourself. Go fast.

But, here’s some stuff to think about as you race today…

– Use the early season races to fine-tune your warm-up and race day routine. Figure out if that new gel works as well in the race as it does in practice. Find out if RedBull really does give you wings…

– In your pre-race course preview, try to identify the places on the course where you are fast, and the places where you aren’t.

– Identified a part of the course you’re great on? Cool – attack the crap out of it in the race. Use this as the place you can create a gap, or widen an existing one… or just hurt the other folks you’re racing against.

– Figure out that there’s a part of the course you suck on? Great – make sure you’re first wheel in the group when you get there. Attack into it, and make everyone else follow your crappy line or sub-par speed. Make them suffer where you stink. Then gap them on that part of the course you’re great on :0)

Have fun!

M

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