Go Race.
M
The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Saturday, 11.9.13. “Transparent”
•November 9, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
Race day!
Well, for some of us.
Makes the workout today pretty transparent…
…if you’re racing, go do that. Have fun!
Not racing today?
Racing tomorrow?
Right on.
Today you’re doing…
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.
Have fun!
M
The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 11.6.13. “The Letter R”
•November 6, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
It’s Wednesday, and that means that It’s…
Cyclocross Skills Day!
Brought to you by our good friend, the letter “R” !
.
.
Tonight, we’re going to begin the process of reducing, refining, and replacing our skills in the waning days of the season…
.
.
Huh?
😦
Here’s what I mean by that…
Reduce.
– Every Wednesday, we’ve been working on different, discrete, individual skills. It’s time to focus on the whole, rather than parts, and to shelve the things that aren’t working for you.
We’ve talked about different ways to approach turning, barriers, dismounts, re-mounts… you name it. Identify the approaches, variations, and individual skills that suit you the best, and focus on those. All those skills that you haven’t quite figured out yet? Put them in the closet. You’ll come back to them next season.
Refine.
– We’re at the point in the season where we really need to be putting our “whole package” together. We should be working to hone our existing skill set much, much more than we are working to add new skills.
What you’ve got is what you’ve got, time to tighten up…
.
.
Replace.
– Do you have a great, smooth, perfect Cowboy dismount, but a terrible “step-through?”
You’re done with the step-through. Don’t spend any more time on it. Next season you can come back to it, but now?
Focus on the Cowboy. Nail it. Perfect every time.
Are you railing the corners when you pedal through them, but not so much when you’re foot-out, sliding?
Yup. You’re committed. You’re a pedal-the-corner rider for the duration.
Focus on what’s working. Nail it. Perfect every time.
Here’s the drill for tonight:
– warm up on bike, 10-15 minutes.
– Brief run. 5 minutes.
– Active stretching, as discussed in previous posts.
– Barrier skills, 10 minutes.
Try a couple of different approaches/skills. Figure out what’s working best for you. Ditch what isn’t.
– Technical skills, 15-20 minutes.
Here again, try different approaches to the various obstacles on your course – off cambers, tight turns, wide/fast turns, mud, sand… figure out what’s working for you. Ditch what isn’t.
– Starts
Full-gas starts from standing, foot on the ground. Just like the beginning of a race.
Each start effort should include a second effort: after you’ve gotten up to speed and settled into the saddle, get your ass back up off of it and hit the gas again.
Go until you get 5 perfect starts in a row.
Try starting a couple of different ways; Ass on saddle, ass off saddle. Pedal at 3:00, Pedal at 1:00. 3 cogs down, 2 cogs down.
Figure out how you start best.
Drop what isn’t working, and forget about it until next season.
– Race simulation. 3 x 10 minutes, 2 minute rest between efforts.
Take everything you just practiced, and use only the select approaches and skills that worked for you. Really nail ‘em. Go F-ing fast, and use whatever skills get you there.
Forget about everything else.
– Warm down.
Go Home. Eat. Recover.
Have fun!
M
Ugh…
•November 5, 2013 • Leave a Comment-
- Yay! New Tires!
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- …2 days later…
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- Yup. That’s pretty Flat.
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- It’s a small hole, but it’s enough.
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- Sealant?
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- Not sure this is a good sign…
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- Well, seems to be holding air. FIngers crossed…
Hope this works, otherwise it’s off to CyclocrossRacing.com for a replacement!
The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, November 5th, “Vote for Intervals”
•November 5, 2013 • Leave a CommentHowdy folks,
If you’re new to the blog, and came over o check things out because of the vent-fest yesterday, thanks. Hope you don’t get too bored by the usual content. 😉
If you’re a regular, I promise I won’t make a habit of that kind of stuff.
Just every once in a while.
When I really need to get something off my chest…
So, hey… it’s Tuesday.
You know what we haven’t done in a while?
Yup. ‘Bout time we had a go at the…
Two by Twenty!
(Get-up style today…)
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 do we do this variation of the workout?
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.
We also do these specifically because it’s difficult to keep your output level consistent when you get out of the saddle.
In cyclocross, we’re constantly in and out of the saddle, all race long… but we don’t always get out of the saddle because we need to accelerate, quite often we’re shifting position to maintain traction, or to muscle the bike around terrain, etc.
It’s actually pretty common for people to get out of the saddle, reflexively stomp on the gas, and lose traction because they put out too much power. This won’t usually cause you to crash, but it will blow you right out of your line, and can often be the difference between cleaning a section and being forced to dismount.
You need to have a good handle on how much power you’re putting through the rear wheel to handle the bike well in cyclocross.
Believe it or not, this workout helps with that.
Hey… don’t forget to vote!
G’day!
M
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