Hopefully you’re in better shape than me – IE, not dosed to the gills on Prednizone, and barking at the moon…
Blecch. No fun, trust me.
Could Zakk Wylde possibly throw more pinch harmonics into that song? Into any song?
What’s with that?
Where were we again?
Oh yeah… training stuff…
SO, it’s Saturday, which means you might well be racing today. Good luck if you are!
Not racing today, but racing tomorrow?
How about some openers today? Specifically…
Ignition –
You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride. Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road is what you’re looking for.
It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints.
How hard?
Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.
You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.
Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.
Make sense?
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
when you get home, put your feet up and relax.
For some folks, this isn’t quite enough to get their legs open and ready the day before the race – or at least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough – and the importance of “feeling” ready can’t really be overestimated.
If you’re part of this club (and frankly, I am too!) add a 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Friday is here again! Amazing how quickly that happens, eh?
So… whatcha’ doin’ this weekend?
Racing tomorrow?
Might should be you should do some kind of openers workout if you are, perhaps some…
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.
We all know how important starts are in the race, so make ‘em count.
I don’t quit until I nail 5 in a row, but set your own threshold.
Got em’ dialed? Ripped ‘em?
Cool.
Spin out the legs, then go home and rest.
You’re ready to race.
Not racing on Saturday, but racing on Sunday?
How about a little bit of speed work? Maybe some…
Downhill Sprints –
Start by warming up well, a bit longer than usual – 30 minutes or so.
Find a gradual downhill that lets out on a flat section of road or trail. The ideal setup for this workout is a downhill that’s about a block long that turns into a flat section of road another block or so in length.
Extra bonus points if you can loop back to the start without having to turn around – that would be perfect.
You’re going to do 3-5 sets of 5 sprints, full gas. Here’s how the sprints go:
Roll down the gradual descent in a comfortable gear. You want to hit the bottom of the hill going fast, but not yet in a sprint.
As soon as you hit the flat section at the bottom of the hill, get out of the saddle and give it full gas.
Sit back down as you get up to full speed, and try to go even faster.
Go until you are spun out.
Spun out means that your legs can’t go any faster, your form goes completely to hell, or you start bobbing up and down on the saddle a lot.
Ideally, a little bit of all of those things.
Remember, we’re working on leg speed today, so really focus on turning your legs over. The goal isn’t to make the bike go fast, the goal is to make your legs go fast.
There’s a difference, eh? Try to keep it in mind, ok?
ANYways, That’s one rep. You’re doing sets of 5.
Ouch.
Each sprint should take just a few seconds. Recover for 30 seconds to a minute between them, and 5 minutes between sets.
Stop when you hit 5 sets or just aren’t getting the same leg speed you were on the first couple of reps.
When you’re done, spin out your legs and go home.
Tips –
– You should start the sprint in a pretty big gear, and spin it out. How big? It depends on how fast you’re going and how strong you are. You’re working on speed here, so don’t try to lug a giant gear, but the gear needs to be big enough that you accelerate when you hit it at the end of the downhill.
– Important, let me reiterate: stand up out of the saddle when you start to sprint, and gradually sit down as you begin to spin up into your sprint.
– Don’t forget to breathe. Seriously. Too many people hold their breath when they sprint. Don’t be one of them.
Have fun!
M
**********
Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Well heck… it’s Thursday. How about a little bit of intensity for you today?
How about…
The CX 3×10…
Warm up.
When you’re warmed up, immediately embark upon one 10 minute interval, ridden like a 2×20.
Recover for 5 minutes.
Kind of.
You’re going to do one short (IE 10 seconds or less) cyclocross style start effort every minute between intervals.
Go again for another 10 minutes.
3 ten minute intervals, 3 sets of start efforts.
Ouch.
Have fun!
M
**********
Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Well, hell… that was a pretty crappy stretch of posting, eh?
My apologies. It’s been a crazy week, and I’ve been away from the computer for the vast majority of it.
But here we are now, and as I write this, it’s late afternoon on Wednesday… and I’m guessing posting up a workout for today wouldn’t do all that much for all that many of you.
So, let’s talk a little bit about where we are in our training, generally.
As alluded to the other day, folks are all over the place right now.
A lot of people are completely done. Season’s over, time to rest up and get things re-set for next season.
A smaller number of people are still racing, playing the string out with the last couple/few races remaining in the areas that still have racing going on.
A still smaller number of people are heading off to Nats in January.
If you’re done, you’re done. Take some time of the bike, fer chrissake. I’ll post up some thoughts on end of season-ing the right way soon, but for now? Time. Off. Bike. Relax.
If you’re racing through the last couple of races on your local calendar?
Nice.
I’ll have workouts up for you through the last of the December races at least. If you’re looking for more, check out the search box at the lower right hand corner of the page. Plug in whatever day of the week it is as a search term, and you’ll get a pretty wide selection of workouts.
Racing Nationals?
You’ve got your work cut out for you.
More on the topic soon, but in short, what you do now is what determines (largely) what you’ve got in the tank in January.
We’re going to hit the intensity pretty hard the next couple of weeks, so buckle up…
Sorry for the absence the last couple of days. This past weekend wound up being kind of a giant, prolonged clusterf**k, compounded by technical difficulties with the blog.
Yuck.
Today is a new day, though, and hey; this is actually kind of a new season.
What do I mean by that?
Well, traditionally, this week has been the end-point for the domestic US cyclocross scene. Only a few short years ago, when Nats was in December, pretty much all the local cross races packed up their tents for the season after the first weekend of the month… and it seems that many (perhaps most) of them still do.
So, this is the silly season. It’s a transition time between road and cross for most, but also a time where those who plan to carry on through National’s new date in January are training hard when most of their friends are downing eggnog and making excuses to delay the winter roadie rides for as long as possible.
Up here in Seattle, things aren’t nearly as bleak as they were the last couple of seasons; we actually have 4 races on the calendar between now and the end of the year, and that’s going to improve the situation markedly. Racing is, after all, great damn training.*
It’s still going to be really hard to get the bike time and intensity necessary to be competitive in the grey days of December.
The rain doesn’t help.
Neither do the sunsets at 4:30. (Yeah, yeah… I know. You don’t live in gloomy Seattle. Gloat away.)
Wet roads, no daylight, no training partners… you know where this is going, right?
Yup.
Trainer time.
Ugh.
Let’s face it, most people can’t stand riding on the trainer. When the weather is crap, you’re riding by yourself, and it’s dark the entire time you’re not at work, though?
Suddenly the trainer doesn’t sound so bad.
Especially when you factor in the time efficiency of the gerbil machine. No dicing with traffic, no travel time out to the one traffic-free area that’s long enough to do your 2×20 effort…
Suddenly the trainer doesn’t sound so bad.
I’ve got a way to make it not just not-so-bad, but almost, kinda-sorta, just maybe in the ballpark of, an actual enjoyable experience.
Ready?
Ladies & Gentlemen…
The Wire Training Program…
Here’s how this goes…**
Put your bike on the trainer.
Situate bike and trainer in such a manner that you have a clear view of a television
Begin your regularly scheduled interval, or endurance, or recovery workout. Might I suggest The Classic 2×20?
When you finish your workout, turn off the TV, at whatever place in the particular episode of the series you find yourself.
You can only watch the continuation of the episode – or subsequent episodes – if you’re logging trainer time. Not riding? Not viewing. Sorry.
Desire to be on trainer increases exponentially.
Side effects can include increased cable TV bills, sweat-rot of headphone pads, and unconscious flinching when hearing the name “Omar”spoken aloud.
Feel free to substitute other serial programming of your choice for The Wire. Successful client choices have included Dexter, Band Of Brothers, and (god help us…) Sex And The City
Enjoy!
M
*Kind of. Racing is kind-of great training. Training != racing, but racing also != training. There are things you get from each that you can’t get from the other, specificity be damned.
** I am actually totally serious about this nonsense. It works ridiculously well. I’d be way faster right now if there were two more seasons of The Wire.
**********
Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Well, heck… another post that went up really darn late! Sorry about that, have been running around with my head cut off the last couple of days!
This weekend, UCI Cross racing returns to the Seattle area for the first time in many moons with the Waves For Water Cyclocross Collaboration. I’ll be out both days, hope to see you there!
If you’re racing tomorrow, be it in Tacoma or wherever you happen to be, today you should be cranking out some openers to get your body primed and ready to perform.
Why not try…
Ignition –
You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 – 1 1/2 hour ride. Before you head out the door, give some thought to where you can do that effectively.
A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road is what you’re looking for.
It would be great if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that would make things nice and simple.
Hop on your bike and roll out the door.
Ride steady, at a moderate pace for 1/2 hour – 45 minutes, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints.
How hard?
Well, hard to say. You’ll start to get the hang of it pretty quickly, but figure that you’re shooting for an output level that will allow you to crank out all the sprints in the set at about the same level, but not easily.
You aren’t sprinting to failure here, and you aren’t doing a max power test.
Don’t overdo it, you’re trying to open your legs, not destroy them.
Make sense?
10 sprints, 10 seconds each.
1 minute between each sprint.
After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.
Budget at least 15 – 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
when you get home, put your feet up and relax.
For some folks, this isn’t quite enough to get their legs open and ready the day before the race – or at least it doesn’t feel like it’s enough – and the importance of “feeling” ready can’t really be overestimated.
If you’re part of this club (and frankly, I am too!) add a 10-minute effort at right about your 2×20 output level before you start the sprint sets.
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
So… there are some Big Damn Races in my neck of the woods this weekend, and people are pretty damn pumped up for them, ready & rarin’ to go show the world what they can do on the big UCI stage.
Should come as no surprise to anyone that this excitement will almost certainly lead to a lot of week-before-race overtraining, and plenty of race-day performance left out on the practice field.
Don’t let this happen to you.
Racing on Saturday?
Take it easy today.
Heck, take the day off.
Or maybe work on your leg speed today, and do some…
Spin Ups –
Get on your bike and warm your legs up, 10-20 minutes.
After you’re warm, find a nice, long, flat or slightly downhill section of road with little or no traffic, or if you’re on your trainer, put something loud on your headphones, and make sure a towel is handy to wipe up sweat.
Begin each 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.
Not a power sprint, though.
The idea here is to move your legs quickly, not to make the bike go fast.
Still out of the saddle, spin that gear up until…
…your leg speed gets to the point where it’s hard to maintain.
Sit down and keep it going until you are totally spun-out, should take 10-15 seconds.
We’re talking fast legs.Can’t turn ‘em over any faster fast.
Think Road-Runner fast…
– Repeat x 5 with one minute of recovery between efforts.
Recover for 5 minutes, rolling around at a leisurely pace.
– Go again, same thing.
Recover, then repeat as time and fitness allow.
Shoot for 5 sets of 5, but stop while you still have some legs left!
Remember, save something for the damn race, ok?
Recover on the bike for another 10-20 minutes, then go home (or wipe yourself down), and get ready for the weekend.
Have fun!
M
**********
Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
Before we get started, my apologies for the bizarre formatting on yesterday’s post. I have absolutely no idea what the heck happened there. Blecch.
Today, I think we’re going to revisit a post from a while back about starts. They’re important, right?
In the big races, the time you lose fighting your way through traffic can be the difference between winning and not ever seeing the person who wins… so you’ve simply got to have this stuff wired.
So, how do you go about doing that?
First of, and above all else, practice.
Every time I do my openers the day before a race, I finish the workout with a set of start efforts. Race-like, from a dead stop, one foot on the ground, and I don’t end the ride until I get five in a row absolutely perfect, no bobbles.
There were times back in the day when that wound up being a long, frustrating way to end a workout.
Totally worth it, though.
Make these starts part of your routine, and not only do you get better at the skill, you gain confidence in it.
Being confident in a skill is every bit as important as having the skill.
You can’t afford to worry about being able to clip in at the start of the race, there are simply too many other things you need to be thinking about.
Start with your pedals at 3&9 o’clock, not 12 and six.
It might take some practice if you’re used to starting with your pedals at closer to 6 & 12, but it really is better and faster.
Every gate start event does it this way, and they do it for a reason, eh?
See what I mean?
Butt on the saddle or off it?
It doesn’t really matter.
Both ways work, and you need to give them both a shot to figure out which is best for you.
I’m a butt-on-saddle guy myself, but it took a bunch of practice for me to get comfortable doing it this way. To be honest, I’m not at all sure it was worth it, or even the best choice for me, personally.
With my stubby little legs, I’m literally only making contact with about a square centimeter of the very tip of the grounded foot at the start of a race.
Teetering on a precarious tippy-toe probably isn’t the best idea in the chaos of a starting grid, but it’s worked pretty darn well for me over the years, so I’m committed.
Which is kind of a lesson in itself.
If something is working for you, don’t change it just for the sake of change.
If you’re not so committed, though? Haven’t gotten things so wired in that you’re only going to f**k things up by changing?
Now’s the time.
Figure out what works for you, and put some time into it to be sure, because once you decide, and put the practice reps in, you ain’t likely walking that choice back.
Starting with hands in the drops vs. hands on the hoods? Ditto all the above.
You’ve just got to try it both ways and see what works.
There aren’t many top crossers who start in the drops anymore, but not so long ago this was a pretty common choice for the fastest guys off the line.
Try it, it might wind up working for you.
The start of a Cross race, despite everything you may have heard, isn’t all about the first 10 meters of the race.
Let me repeat that: The start of a Cross race, despite everything you may have heard, isn’t all about the first 10 meters of the race.
Here’s how the start of a Cross goes…
The gun sounds.
Everyone clips in and immediately starts to sprint up to speed, out of the saddle.
Someone (or lots of someones…) blows their start. They get passed, quickly.
People are shifting up gears, starting to sit down in the saddle.
Someone who started way in the back blows by almost everybody on the outside.
There’s a very short pause in the acceleration, almost as if everyone takes a breath…
…Bang! There’s a second acceleration, a sprint just before or as the group leaves the starting straight.
If you want to be good at your starts, you need to master this second acceleration. You must to be able to go even harder than your first, out of the gate effort mere seconds later.
How do you develop this ability?
You can probably guess.
Practice.
So, with all this talk of practice, on with today’s workout…
Mostly Getting Started –
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.
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 – Starts.
Just like the beginning of a race. One foot on the ground, dead standstill, get-up-and-go.
Begin with a few medium effort starts, working on all the things we talked about above.
Remember…
– Start with your pedals at 3&9 o’clock, not 12 and six.
– Alternate butt-on-saddle and off
– Alternate hands in drops with hands on hoods.
When you start to get the feel for things, hit it hard a couple of times, then back off.
2 sets of all the variations above at a medium to slow pace.
Feeling solid, skills-wise?
Nice.
Get yourself ready to go hard.
– Bang! Six full-gas starts.
– short effort, just go long enough that you are up to full speed, then back down, turn around, go again.
Spin easy for a couple of minutes, then…
– Bang! ~pause~ Bang!
– Six full-gas starts, but each start effort will look like this…
– Full effort start from a dead-stop, foot on ground.
– As soon as you get up to full speed, sit back in saddle, take one deep breath, go again, HARD!
– Ouch.
5 – 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 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.
Enjoy!
**********
Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
As I’m sure you know if you’ve been following along with us over the course of the season, Tuesday is usually the day when we get some interval work in.
Heck, that’s why we call it 2×20 Tuesday!
But here’s the thing…
Up here in my neck of the woods, the season is rapidly drawing to a close.
Heck, truth be told, it’s essentially over for most folks after this weekend.
So hey…
If the season is pretty much done for you, there’s not a lot of sense in doing something like a 2×20 today.
Even if you’ve got a pretty big race – or races – this weekend, say for example the only UCI races in the Pacific Northwest of the entire season.
So what should you do?
How about some speed work today?
How about some…
Downhill Sprints –
Start by warming up well, a bit longer than usual – 30 minutes or so.
Find a gradual downhill that lets out on a flat section of road or trail.
The ideal setup for this workout is a hill that’s about a block long, and lets out on a flat section of road that’s also about a block long. Extra bonus points if you can loop back to the start without having to turn around – that would be perfect.
You’re going to do 3-5 sets of 5 sprints, full gas.
Here’s how the sprints go:
Roll down the gradual descent in a comfortable gear. You want to hit the bottom of the hill going fast, but not yet in a sprint.
As soon as you hit the flat section at the bottom of the hill, get out of the saddle and give it full gas.
Sit back down in the saddle as your leg speed comes up close to your limit. This will allow you to increase the RPMs even more.
Go until you are spun out.
That’s one rep.
You’re doing sets of 5.
Each sprint should take just a few seconds.
Recover for 30 seconds to a minute between reps, and 5 minutes between sets.
Stop when you hit 5 sets or just aren’t getting the same leg speed you were on the first couple of reps.
When you’re done, pedal easy for a few minutes, go home and relax.
Tips –
– You should start the sprint in a pretty big gear, and spin it out. How big? It depends on how fast you’re going and how strong you are.
You’re working on speed here, so don’t try to lug a giant gear, but the gear needs to be big enough that you accelerate when you hit it at the end of the downhill.
– Stand up out of the saddle when you start to sprint, and gradually sit down as you begin to spin out. – Don’t forget to breathe. Seriously
– too many people hold their breath when they sprint. Don’t be one of them.
Enjoy!
M
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Hey there…
Thanks for following my blog!
This thing started off as a lark, and over the years that I’ve been doing it, has become a little bit of a monster.
It takes a fair bit of time – and a wee bit of money – to keep this thing rolling, and as you may have noticed, I’ve recently started asking for folks to chip in a bit if they feel like what they’re getting her is worth something to them.
Honestly, it’s not like I’m trying to get rich off this here thing… or really even make any money from it at all.
It’d just make my life a fair bit easier if I didn’t lose quite as much money doing this as I currently do.
So, hey… if you feel like you’ve gotten anything of value out of this blog, please do me a favor – and yes, it’s a favor, and I will be truly thankful for it – and send a buck or two (or five, or whatever…) my way.
How do you do that?
Simply click on the graphic below, and PayPal will be glad to make it happen.
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..."
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