Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Before we get started, a quick bit of news:

It’s official, Wednesday Night Cyclocross at the Marymoor Velodrome kicks off it’s 2014 season on September 24! Spread the word!

On with today’s workout…

It’s Tuesday, and hey – why mess with a good thing?

Welcome to 2×20 Tuesday!

Pretty simply, the 2×20 looks like this:

– Warm up.

– Go as hard as you can for 20 minutes.

– Recover for 5 minutes.

– Go again for another 20 minutes.

That’s the basic version. Success on this is,  however,  all in the details.

First of all, warm up.

No, seriously. Don’t just hop on the bike and blast one out.

Warming up makes a difference, especially if you’re doing this as a test session.

You don’t need to do anything super hard or super involved, just make sure the legs are up and running before you kick off the workout proper.

Spin for a bit, blast a couple of 30 second to 2 minute efforts off pretty hard, spin a bit more, then go for it.

When you do go for it, really go for it.

But in a controlled sort of way.

The idea here is to go as hard as you can for the duration of both intervals without being forced to go easier at the end of the second interval.  If you run out of gas before you finish the second interval, you went to hard. If your vision isn’t blurry at the end of the second interval, you went too easy.

If you’re doing this with a powermeter, you want your wattage output to be as close to constant as possible. How constant?

Can you keep it in a 10 watt range?

Probably not.

15 watts?

More likely

20 watts?

Try.

Keep it steady.

These take practice to do well, and the better you get, the harder they get (you’re welcome.) This is a workout that’s a natural for the turbo trainer, and that’s how I do ‘em.

This is a good thing, because I always wind up flat on my back on the floor trying not to puke after the 2nd interval.

I’m really not kidding about the blurry vision thing. You should aspire to seeing-spots level of output on these.

 If you can learn to push through your limits, really push, you will get better and you will get better fast.

It’ll be painful, though.

I promise.

Have fun!

M

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing

Howdy folks,

Well, you made it to Sunday. Pretty soon, you’re going to be getting up early to wrangle bikes for the races, so don’t be afraid to sleep in a wee bit today. It’s weekend luxury that really starts to feel like one a couple/few weeks into the race season!

When you do get up, and you’re ready to rock and roll, we’ve got a couple of options for you today…

Option #1  –

Race Your Ass Off!

You’re probably not sleeping in if this is on the agenda, eh? Heck, you’re probably reading this post-race, ’cause I got it up in the middle of the damn nigh. 

Whoops. 

Still, though… if there’s still racing around in your neck of the woods, don’t hesitate to partake of it a bit.

Especially if it’s of the fast criterium nature, or a wee bit of track racing.

Speed work like that is something we’re just about to start thinking more about, and if you can get some of it organically, so much the better. 

So, whatever local racing is on tap for today, do it.

Take full advantage of the few remaining road track, or MTB races, and get some hard efforts in.

It’s good for ‘ya.

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(er. Ish.) today, but better to go kinda long and really damn hard.

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 group that you’re comfortable in.

You want to finish up the ride  tired, sore, and needing to rest a bit tomorrow…

In short, if you aren’t racing today, go hard enough that when you’re done you feel like you did.

If you did yesterday’s workout, and follow up with today’s?

You earned the rest day that’s coming up tomorrow!

Have fun, ride hard, and yup; easy day tomorrow.

The Leave it all on the road/trail today.

G’night,

M

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing

Howdy folks,

Sometimes a picture (or a video) is worth a thousand words.

Today’s workout?

Sventervals – 

Just like in the video.

Really darn short – 10 seconds max – full gas hill sprints, ideally on pretty technical terrain.

5 sets of 5 for today (you’ll build up to more) and notice how hard Sven is breathing after these?

That’s the idea. 

Hit it hard. Really hard.

Have fun,

M

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing

Howdy folks,

Well, yikes… this is another post that’s going up morning-of, rather than night before.

Sorry about that.

Have had a string of late nights recently, hopefully will be able to get back to the routine of posting these up the night before soon. Well, immediately, I hope.

Anyways, today – much like last Friday – we’re going to have a go at a workout that I often recommend as a day-before-race opener.

Why are we doing openers when you aren’t racing tomorrow?

It’s a really good idea to get a handle on your day before race routine well before the racing action gets underway.

How hard do you need to hit it the day before to ensure that the legs & lungs are open and ready to perform come race day?

How hard is too hard for you the day before a race? 

How do you know?

Here’s how.

You practice your openers routine, and see how you feel the next day.

Well before the racing starts, you’re going to run through some varied openers strategies the day before you do some big training efforts and see what happens.

Keep track. Write it down.

What’s really important isn’t how you feel right after you do today’s workout, it’s how you feel during your workout tomorrow.

Write down exactly what you did today, and make note of the result tomorrow.

Make sense?

Cool. 

Time for…

Ignition –

You’re going to be doing a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 1/2 – 2 hour ride, so give some thought to where you can do these effectively.

A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road or trail is what you’re looking for.

Even better if it’s about a :45 minute ride away; that will make things nice and simple.

Hop on your bike and roll out the door.

Ride steady, at an easy, relaxed pace for 45 minutes – 1 hour, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.

You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints from a very low starting speed, almost a standing start.

10 sprints, 10 seconds each.

1 minute between each sprint.

After the last sprint, roll back home spinning easily to recover.

Budget a minimum of 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.

That’s the basic version of this.

Start with it, and see how you feel tomorrow.

Personally, I find that I need a little bit more to open up the legs, and I throw in a 10 minute steady effort at right around my 2×20 level immediately before the sprints.

Some people need more than that – although not many, and not much – and for some other folks, just the sprints is plenty.

The goal here is to figure out what you need.

So, give one of the options a shot, and take note of the results.

Next time, try a bit more or a bit less, and – yup – take note of the results.

Have fun!

M

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing

Howdy folks,

It’s been a sad 24 hours for several reasons, not least among them –

😦

Not much to say beyond that.

When s**t gets me down, there isn’t much that works better to get me out of it than a really hard workout, and timing is with us on that.

It is, after all…

2×20 Tuesday!

So strap in, and get ready to put out some wattage.

We’re going to mix things up a bit today, and do our workout Get-up style, just for a little extra spice.

Here’s how this goes…

– Warm up.

– Go as hard as you can for 20 minutes.

– Recover for 2 minutes.

– Go again for another 20 minutes.

That’s the basic version (and if you’re new to all this, it’s probably the version you should do. In fact, you should do this workout today, instead of what you’re currently reading.) This here is the get-up version, though, so…

Start the first interval out of the saddle, and stand for the first 30 seconds.

Don’t surge, don’t go harder when you get out of the saddle.

After those 30 seconds are up, sit down. Keep the effort going, and keep your level of output consistent.

Stay seated for the next 1:30, then stand for 30 seconds.

Repeat to the end of the interval, and follow this format for the successive interval.

The idea here is to go as hard as you can for the duration of both intervals without being forced to go easier at the end of the second interval.  If you run out of gas before you finish the second interval, you went too hard. If your vision isn’t blurry at the end of the second interval, you went too easy.

If you’re doing this with a powermeter, you want your wattage output to be as close to constant as possible. We’re talking 10 watt variance at the most. Keep it steady.

These take practice to do well, and the better you get, the harder they get, as your output level gets closer and closer to the absolute max you’re capable of doing for an interval of this duration.

Add in the constant standing and sitting component, and you’re going to know you did some work when you’re through.

I know I’m repeating myself, but do try to avoid the temptation to up the output level when you get out of the saddle, OK?

That’s an entirely different workout, and we’ll get there soon enough, I promise.

This is a workout that works great on the trainer, and that’s how I do ‘em, which is a good thing… because I always wind up flat on my back on the floor trying not to puke after the 2nd interval.

I’m really not kidding about the seeing spots thing. If you can learn to push through your limits when you do these, you will get better and well… you will get better.

Tips:

– I do these on the trainer, with a stopwatch on the bars and an Ipod blaring in my ears. Start the stopwatch at the beginning of the interval, and the format is really easy to follow; you stand up for :30 at the 2:oo, 4:00, 6:00, etc. mark(s). Get it? It’s easy!

– A power meter will help you to keep the level of intensity constant. You want the power output to be as steady as possible with these. If you don’t have a PM, do these on the trainer,  choose a gear ratio and a cadence, and stick to that for the duration of the exercise – instant home made ergometer.

– No reason you can’t do these normal-style. Honestly, for many/most of you, that might be a better bet.

Have a great workout,

M

Posted in Cyclocross, Intervals, The Workout Of The Day
Tags: Bicycle racing, bike racing, cx classes, cx handling drills, cx intervals, CX practice, cx skills, CXWOTD, Cycling, Cyclo-cross, Cyclocross, cyclocross classes, cyclocross handling drills, cyclocross instruction, cyclocross intervals, Cyclocross Practice, cyclocross skills, cyclocross workouts, Fitness, Health, Heart rate, Howy folks, Intervals, Marymoor CX, Marymoor cyclocross, Marymoor practice, Personal Training, Physical exercise, Running, s: Aerobic exercise, Seattle, Sports, The Workout Of The Day Tags: Bicycle pedal, wootd, WOTD, XC Racing