The weather folks are telling us that it’s supposed to get wet up here in Seattle. They said the same thing about today though, and it was sunny and in the 70’s.
So who knows?
But if the weather is crappy, it can make warming up a bit of an issue for many of ya.
What the heck do you do when you’re stuck warming up on the trainer?
Got an option for you.
It’s…
TheRSWO – TheRock Stupid Warmup & Opener:
First of all, don’t neglect your course preview.
When in doubt, if you have to, sacrifice some of your warmup to preview the course.
Even if you can’t get quite the warmup that you would like in, it pretty much always pays to get the course preview done & dialed.
Better to be just a little bit less sharp than to hit the deck ’cause you didn’t have that tricky section wired, or notice the hidden root in that crucial curve.
Make sense?
Cool
Time to pull out your trainer and get crackin’…
– 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.
Repeat The entire sequence (Usually minus the 2nd 5-10 minute effort.)
Drink, eat a gel, go race.
Kick ass.
Think Sven-like thoughts today, eh?
…and for f**k’s sake, be careful out there.
Please.
This has been an *insanely* bad season for injuries on the bike, and from what I’m hearing, it continues on into Cross season.
Yay! Back, finally!
Once again, apologies for the lack of posting this week. Interbike is many things, conducive to productivity? Not one of them.
How was the show?
Pretty OK.
Lots of Cyclocross stuff. Nothing really groundbreaking, but lots of incremental improvement.
Cantilever brakes are d-e-a-d. Period.
It’s just a matter of time before they disappear entirely from the race scene.
Got an expensive cantilever Cross bike?
I hope you like it, and don’t have any plans to sell it, ’cause it’s value on the used market is, well….
It ain’t got one.
I’ve talked to a couple of pro Cross riders who have switched to Disc brakes this season almost entirely because they couldn’t get anyone to pay real money for their bikes from last season. No discs? People no want.
This is the rare case of the weekend warrior class driving the industry and the pro racers forward on the technology front.
Pretty cool.
Unfortunately, it also means my own old bikes are now pretty much worthless.
Yikes.
Speaking of yikes, there’s some racing going on this weekend.
Nice.
If you’re racing today, Saturday, you know what your workout is today, eh?
You’re…
Racing!
Not racing today? Racing tomorrow?
Nice.
For you, then, today is all about…
Ignition! –
You’re going to be doing a series of short, hard sprints midway through a 1 1/2 hour ride, so 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 45 minutes or so, eventually winding up at the aforementioned stretch of road.
You’re now going to do a series of Hard out of the saddle sprints.
Begin each sprint from a near standstill.
Barely rolling, coasting along at a very low speed, then…
BANG!
almost a start effort, but not quite.
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 minutes for the spin/ride back home.
Put your feet up, relax, and get ready for the tomorrow’s race.
Crazy, man. Never, ever thought this damn (hah!) thing would go on for this long.
Thanks to all of you for the kind words and encouragement over the years. You’re definitely the reason this thing is still alive & kicking.
………….
Oddly enough, given the demonic numerological nature of this post, I’m off to Vegas tomorrow for the Interbike trade show.
Hello, Sin City!
Blech.
If past experience is any guide (and it probably is…) this is likely to mean that I won’t manage to get posts up every day this week.
I will definitely try, but if I can’t get it done, please avail yourselves of the aforementioned catalog of previous posts.
Lots of workouts to choose from, and you can plug search terms in to the search box at the bottom right side of this page if you’re hoping to do something kinda’ specific.
Cool?
Cool.
Onwards!
It’s…
Two by Twenty Tuesday!
If you don’t know what I mean by that, go check out the Classic 2×20 .
That’s your workout today.
If you didn’t click that link, I bet you’re pretty familiar with the 2×20.
You might even be sick to death of the darn things.
Sound about right?
Maybe you shouldn’t do ‘em today.
Maybe something a touch more demonic today.
Maybe a set of…
3×10 Over-Unders.
A word to the wise; If you do these right, they’re going to be painful…
– 3×10 means you are going to do 3 of these, 10 minutes each.
– “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.
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 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear higher than the baseline level.
After those 10 seconds are up…
…ride 20 seconds at 25 watts, 10 beats, or 1 gear lower than the baseline.
After the 20 seconds, you go back to the ten (over,) followed again by the 20 (under,) etc., etc.
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…)
Spin around to recover, then go home and relax. Think demonic thoughts.
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?
Well, if you’re in the Seattle area, you should go watch the race.
Can you say Beer Garden?
Not around here?
Do something race-like today.
Maybe…
The Doppelganger –
– Warm up well. If you have time, warm up as you would for a race. It’s good practice, if nothing else.
– After you have warmed up, do five full-gas starts. As always, focus on the second effort in your start, working on getting back on the gas right after you max-out on your initial effort and begin to sit down.
– 20 minutes at your 2×20 pace.
– 2 minute rest.
– 10 minutes of Over/Under intervals
The baseline for this interval is the level of effort/output you just did in the 20 minute effort.
However hard you went in that interval, you are going to try and hold that for the 10 minutes.
Easy, right?
Here’s the rub.
You’re going to sprint for 10 seconds every minute of the interval.
How hard are you going to sprint?
Hard, but not so hard that after you sprint, you can’t sit back down and keep churning away at your 2×20 level.
This takes some practice to figure out.
Don’t get all freaked out if you blow it and can’t hold the effort until the end. You tried, right?
Having said that, don’t wuss out and quit. This is some difficult s***, man. You want to get faster, right?
Start the interval with a sprint, out of the saddle pretty hard, but not full gas.
Sprint for 10 seconds.
Back in saddle, drop into your 2×20 zone. Hold this until the minute mark, then –
Sprint again. 10 seconds.
Back in saddle, 2×20 level until 2 minute mark…
Repeat.
Repeat…
Repeat, until you have hit the 10 minute mark.
– 5 minute recovery
– 10 minutes at 2×20 level
– 2 minute recovery
– 10 minute Over/Under Intervals
– SPRINT at the very end of the last interval. 30 seconds, all out.
Really all out, like “I’m sprinting for my life/the cash/the girl” all out.
You should be at least half-blind at the end of the sprint.
Heck, you should be so gassed when you start the sprint that just upping the tempo a little bit puts you in a box.
You asked for a race simulation, right?
Ouch…
Notes –
Yes, this is f-ing hard. Shoulda’ raced.
You can always just sub in a 2×20 (or better yet a 3×20…) when you can’t race. That’s a hard damn workout if you do it right, but certainly nothing like the nightmare I just handed to you…
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
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How cool is that?
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