Crosssports's Weblog

Howdy folks,

Phew.

Monday.

Time to recover from the weekend.

Today, go for a nice…

Recovery Spin – 

– Get on your bike. Roll out into the street, and just spin around for an hour.

– Really small gear, no hard efforts – heck, no medium effort.

– Spin. You’re looking to move your legs around in circles, almost like there is no chain on the bike.

– The idea is to get your body moving, flush the systems out, and speed your recovery.

– Just get out on the road and spin aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs suddenly feel better.

– As soon as that happens, turn around, go home, eat, stretch, and put your legs up.

 Try to take it as easy as you can today, and get yourself set for the rest of the week.

Sometimes you need an easy day more than others, and this is definitely one of those times for your’s truly.

Yesterday’s race was pretty ridiculous.

Crashed hard, had to get off the bike mid-race to hit my asthma inhaler… blech.

You know what, though?

Knowing that you’re almost certain to have an asthma attack mid-race can be really damn liberating.

“Hey, let’s take this stupid-ass line on the descent and crash spectacularly, ’cause

it.

just.

doesn’t.

matter.”
Seriously, super fun.

Riding like a jackass is a blast.

Heck, riding the bike at all  should be a blast.

Sometimes I know that I forget what’s really important when caught up in the rush of competition.

Yesterday’s s**t show reminded me.

So, success!

Ride like crap, but figure something out.

Can’t really ask for more than that.

Now, time to go for a spin!

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, 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, it’s that time of year.

It’s pretty damn late in the season, and for most folks there are only a couple of races left.

It’s getting pretty hard to keep going, and lots of engines are running on fumes.

David Lindley rips on this vid, doesn’t he?

Speaking of ripping (and to get to the point of today’s workout…)

I’ve been finding that several of my clients are responding well to a change-up in their race-day routine.

Specifically, at this point in the season, they’re warming up just a little bit more intensely than they have previously.

Lots of people are  pretty much adapted to dieseling along through the races at this late stage in the game, and while they’re killing it the last half of the race, they’re just a little bit slow off the line.

So, if that sounds like you, hit it a little bit harder in your warmup today.

Heck, maybe do the…

R.S.W.O. – 

– Get on trainer. Spin for about 5 minutes.

– 2-3 minutes at your 20 minute output level

– 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.

Repeat The entire sequence (Usually minus the 2nd “20 minute level” effort.)

Enjoy!

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, 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,

Man, I just haven’t been able to get these up the night before lately. My sincere apologies, hope it hasn’t caused too much hassle for you. Have been trying to force-feed myself a better sleep schedule, and that’s forced me to push back the writing to the next day more often than I would like.

I’ll try to do better.

That said, today?

Today, many of you are probably racing (of course…) so, yup…

Go Race!

Racing tomorrow?

Nice.

Today, you get…

Ignition – 

You’re going to do a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 1/2 hour ride, so before you head out on your ride, give some thought to where you can do these effectively.

A flat, straight, low-traffic section of road 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 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?

6 -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, relax and get ready for the next day’s race.

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, 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,

Happy Black Friday. Hopefully you aren’t stuck in some kind of retail hell today.

If you are, maybe this will lighten the mood…

While the big-time euro pros mostly have this weekend off and are fleeing to warmer climes to get some endurance miles in, if you’re in the US, and your season is still going, you’re probably racing this weekend.

So, racing tomorrow?

You guessed it, today you’re doing…

Can Openers…

h/t Buzzfeed Food

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 tomorrow, but racing Sunday?

OK, this one is maybe a little bit trickier.

Odds are you probably need to work of a bit of excess food from yesterday, so you’re going to want to do a little bit of work today.

But it’s usually not a great idea to go super hard 2 days before a race.

So, what are you going to do?

Detuned 5’s.

This is actually pretty simple.

First, warm up a bit.

Nothing super intense, just roll around on the bike until your legs start to feel like they’re attached to your body.

By now, you know what your 2×20 output level is, right?

After your legs start to feel like your legs again, you’re going to do 3, 5-minute intervals at your 2×20 pace.

5 minutes of rest between each interval.

Don’t overdo it.

This isn’t like a 2×20, where you’re looking to have your eyes bugging out of your head when you’re done.

You should feel like you’ve got gas in the tank the whole time, and especially when you’re done.

After the 3rd interval, spin out your legs for a bit, until you feel loose.

Don’t forget to get your eight hours of sleep tonight!

Enjoy,

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, 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, it’s Wednesday, but no Skills workout today.

If you feel like doing some of that kind of thing, head on down to the search function on the bottom right hand side of the page, enter “Wednesday,” and you’ll find a whole bunch of content to work with.

Honestly though?

Most folks – if they’re still racing – could probably do with a pretty easy day today, especially with the holiday tomorrow. Bonus rest period!

Unless you found yourself really struggling with something skill related in your last race.

In that case, it might not be a bad idea to do a little skills session… y’know, brush up on the little things that you had trouble with.

Put some thought into it.

The default workout today, though is a…

2 Hour Moderate Ride –

Get on your bike.

Go ride for 2 hours.

No hard efforts, but do throw in a couple of moderate ones.

By moderate, I mean just that. You can sprint for the town line, but you should be laughing while you do it.

You’re not doing a recovery spin, so you need to put a little bit of gas into the pedals… just don’t go out and kill yourself.

Check out the view, smell the flowers…

…just do it while you’re putting a little bit of effort into the pedals.

1 notch above a recovery ride.

having said all that, though?

If you’re feeling really motivated, having the day off tomorrow might just be the excuse you need to really go for it today.

You can recover tomorrow while you sit back and eat…

Geezus… hopefully not that!

Shudder

…anyways, looking for something hard to do today?

How about some…

Over-Unders – 

A word to the wise; If you do these right, they’re going to be painful…

“Over-under” means that you are going to be working right around the level of your threshold, both above and below. What is your threshold? Well, for our purposes, we are going to reference the Classic 2×20 workout we all know so well. Whatever wattage, heart rate, or gear ratio you did that workout at is going to serve as your threshold today.

Haven’t done that workout?

OK.

Stop reading this,  and check out this link.

We’ll wait.

*************

OK?

Onward…

Start by warming up well.

Now that you have read that 2×20 post, an have an idea of what level you’re going to use as a baseline, you’re going to ride at that level for 5 minutes.

Get a solid idea of the wattage, heart rate, or tempo you are riding at, and get it firmly stuck in your mind. This is important; you are going to bounce above and below this level for the rest of the workout.

After the 5 minute baseline effort, spin easy for 2 minutes. Then begin the first interval…

Here’s how the first (and second, and third…) over-under interval will work:

Ride for one minute at your baseline level.

At the end of that minute, ride 10 seconds at that level plus 10% of your wattage, 10 bpm of your heart rate, or 1 gear higher than the baseline level.

After those 10 seconds are up…

…ride 20 seconds at the baseline level minus 10% of your wattage, 10 bpm of your heart rate, or 1 gear lower than the baseline level.

After the 20 seconds, you go back to the ten (over,) followed again by the 20 (under,) etc., etc.

Got it?

1 minute baseline, 10 up, 20 down, 10 up, 20 down.

Repeat the up/down efforts to the end of the interval.

Rest 5 minutes.

Repeat the first interval.

Rest 5 minutes.

Repeat again (or not…) for a total of (wait for it…)

3 or 4 sets.

Ouch.

Spin around to recover, then go home and relax. Get ready for tomorrow’s Tofurkey.

Notes:

– The ”over” and “under” of the intervals I have given above is approximate. You are looking to go as hard as you can for the “over” while still recovering enough with the “under” to complete the interval. Keep the “under” barely under, though. Don’t go easier on the under to allow yourself a harder “over.” Do these a few times and you’ll get the hang of it – I promise…

– The idea here is to get you better at attacking and responding to attacks in a cross race. You’re motoring along at your limit, all of a sudden someone attacks; what do you do? You follow the attack, and look to recover a bit when the tempo drops just a little bit… get it?

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, 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,

Hey, nice. It’s Monday.

That typically means that I suggest you go for a nice, relaxing…

Recovery Spin – 

– Get on your bike. Roll out into the street, and just spin around for an hour.

– Really small gear, no hard efforts – heck, no medium effort.

– Spin. You’re looking to move your legs around in circles, almost like there is no chain on the bike.

– The idea is to get your body moving, flush the systems out, and speed your recovery.

– Just get out on the road and spin aimlessly. At a certain point, your legs suddenly feel better.

– As soon as that happens, turn around, go home, eat, stretch, and put your legs up.

 Try to take it as easy as you can today, and get yourself set for the rest of the week.

You know what?

That’s still a great idea if you raced or rode hard yesterday…

…or if you’re feeling tired today.

With the Holiday this week, though, lots of folks are looking at a strange schedule, and might just be looking to put in some hard work today.

Got ya covered.

For your (ahem) pleasure, I present…

The Mi15

Warm up well. (Seriously. Warm up for this one, it’ll help.)

The basic idea here is to do a series of very short efforts with very little rest between them, for a pretty long period of time.

Sound confusing?

Here’s how it breaks down…

Warm up.

Get set…

Go!

15 seconds on

15 seconds off

15 seconds on

15 seconds off

…and so on and so on for the duration of the interval.

How long are you going to do this for?

 – Ten minutes would be great.

Four sets, 5 minutes between sets.

How hard do you go during the “on” segments?

– Pretty darn hard.

You’re familiar with the level of effort you put out in your 2×20′s by now, right?

You need to go at least that hard.

Harder would be good.

Ideally, you’ll hit these on periods at right about 150% of your FTP, if you’re down with FTP…

That’s about 1/2 again as hard as your 2×20 level.

Ouch.

How easy do you go during the “off” segments?

– A lot easier, but you aren’t quite soft pedaling.

Right about 50% of your FTP, or half as hard as your 2×20 level.

Again, ouch.

Want to know the real “Ouch”?

Ultimately, you want to be able to do 6 sets of these, or 3 sets twenty minutes each.

Seriously, Ouch.

Maybe not today though, eh? 3 or 4 sets is pretty darn good.

Spin your legs out/warm down when finished.

Enjoy!

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, 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,

Yay!

Saturday!

Race day! (for many of us…)

If you’re racing today, good luck! Keep it rubber side down, and have a blast.

If you’re not racing?

Maybe you’re racing tomorrow.

Either way, I’ve got a trainer-based workout for you today that functions equally well as a race-day warmup, or a day-before-race opener.

It’s…

The R.S.W.O. – 

(The Rock-Stupid Warmup & Opener)

…but first, a race vid for you to pretend to watch while you suffer on the trainer…

Ready to go?

Ok…

– 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 (5 minutes or less as a warm up, 10 minutes as an opener.)

Repeat the entire sequence (Usually minus the 2nd 5-10 minute effort, especially if a warmup.)

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, 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,

Are you ready to race this weekend?

Sho’ Nuff!

Right on.

Let’s do this thing.

Big thing to remember: what you do the day before the race goes a long, long ways towards determining your results at the race.

I blow this aspect of things all. the. time.

Seriously.

My #1 completely avoidable mistake?

I pretty much never get enough sleep.

It’s a problem.

I honestly couldn’t even guess how many races I’ve lined up for with 4 hours of sleep – or less – in the bank from the night before.

Not good at all.

So, racing Saturday?

Get some damn sleep tonight, OK?

Before that, though?

Gotta’ open those legs up so you’re ready for action tomorrow.

You know what that mean, right?

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.

Now go get some sleep, damnit!

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, 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