Happy Holidays!
The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, 12.24.13. “Not even…”
•December 24, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…
…except for the people training for Nationals, who were stuck on their trainers cranking out intervals, like…
The Classic 2×20
Pretty simply, the 2×20 looks like this:
– Warm up.
– Go as hard as you can for 20 minutes.
– Recover for 2 – 5 minutes.
– Go again for another 20 minutes.
That’s the basic version. Success on this is, however, all in the details.
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
The Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 12.18.13. “Well, heck…”
•December 18, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
Well, heck…
If you’re reading this, there’s a pretty good chance you’re still racing.
Yikes. Still got a ways to go in the season!
Done racing? Check back over the next couple of days, and we’ll talk about off-season stuff.
I’ll try to make it worth your time 🙂
But this is for the folks still racing.
Saddle up, you’re riding hard today.
In fact, we’re going to pretend it’s Tuesday…
You know what that means, right?
Yup.
It’s 2×20 Wednesday?!
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. This is the get-up version, though, so…
Start the first interval out of the saddle, and stand for the first 30 seconds.
After those 30 seconds are up, sit down. Keep the effort going, and consistent. Don’t surge, don’t go harder when you get out of the saddle.
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. This is another 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.
Why did I tell you to do the variation today? Some folks have been struggling to get through the longer efforts this season.
It can really help, mentally, to have that out of the saddle effort thrown in to the longer/larger workout. It makes it feel just a bit like you’re doing a series of 2 minute intervals rather than 20 minute ones.
You’re not, though. Try to avoid the temptation to up the output level when you get out of the saddle, OK? That’s an entirely different workout.
Enjoy!
M
M&Ms…
•December 18, 2013 • Leave a CommentWay back when, in a previous life before bike racing, I made my bones in the music business. One of the things I did to pay the bills was work with touring rock bands, at the tail end of the Heavy Metal Hair Band days.
You see a lot of s**t working that side of the scene, and – as you would expect – I’ve got stories to tell. You can fill in the blanks on most of them, of course. Groupies, drugs, debauchery… you’ve heard it all before.
That’s all just daily distraction type stuff, though.
The stories you don’t hear are the ones that aren’t nearly as flashy, or vile, or… well, they’re the actual nuts & bolts, down-low of what is, ultimately, a business.
Stuff like the legend of the Van Halen M&Ms.
When a band goes on tour, they send out a list of promoter & venue requirements in advance of their arrival. It’s called “The Rider”, and it’s purpose is to make sure that everyone is on the same page, and that the infrastructure is in place to support the band & their production staff at the gig.
Most of the stuff on The Rider is pretty straight forward; “There will be x number of 15 amp electrical sockets placed at y foot intervals evenly surrounding the stage area”.
Some Rider requirements can seem pretty bizarre, unless you know the band in question: “Promoter shall provide 6 new pairs of athletic sweat socks in sealed, plastic packaging” (cough – RHCP)
And then there’s brilliant.
Van Halen toured with a Rider that looked like a novel written for electrical engineers. When you’re hauling 9 trucks worth of production gear to every gig, there’s a long list of shit that can go wrong, and if you don’t want to see things blow up, trusses fall down, and people get electrocuted, you need to make sure that the “I’s” are dotted & the “T’s” are crossed.
Which ain’t easy.
‘Cause lots of the time, people flat-out just don’t care.
Or pay attention.
Or something.
People will figure out a way to miss something that really matters, even though you spelled it out in exquisite detail, and it’s going to make the evening a nightmare for someone on the crew.
So, what do you do?
If you’re Van Halen, in the middle of your book-length Rider, you insert a line requiring that the promoter provide – along with a deli tray, and enough booze to intoxicate a fairly large fraternity – a bowl of M&Ms.
With all the brown M&Ms removed.
Brown M&Ms in the bowl?
No show.
Van Halen still gets full payment.
There’s one word for this, and it’s “brilliant.”
If you’ve heard this story before, odds are it was in the context of “…and then they trashed the green room in a petulant rock star frenzy after finding their obscene demands weren’t adhered to.”
That completely misses the point.
Brown M&Ms in the bowl?
It’s the perfect “Don’t give a shit” litmus test.
If they’re gonna’ miss something this simple – and this obvious – what the hell else are they ‘gonna miss, and what are the odds it’ll be something important?
Brown M&Ms in the bowl?
Get out the microscope & check everything ‘cause you know they either weren’t paying attention, or they just don’t care.
So, OK… great.
What the hell does all this have to do with bike racing?
It’s pretty simple.
When I show up for a USCF/UCI Cyclocross race, and the first thing I see is a neat group of four barriers proudly taking center stage, it’s like a big-ass bowl of g-damned brown M&Ms.
Read the freaking Rider.
This piece also appears on Bikehugger today, check it out.
The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, 12.17.13. “Earned it”
•December 17, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
Sorry for the delay, today… been dealing with some very serious family health issues.
If your Cyclocross season ended this past weekend, your job for today is pretty simple.
Take the day off.
Don’t even think about biking.
We’ll have some off season homework to do soon enough, but right now?
Relax.
You’ve earned it.
Still racing?
Well, oddly enough, same for you.
Today is a day off.
Enjoy!
M
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