The Workout Of The Day for Friday, 12.7.12. “Ανάφλεξη”

•December 7, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

First of all, just a heads up. I will out of town this weekend, down in Bend for the USGP Cyclocross races. What this means is there’s a reasonable chance that I won’t be able to get posts up this weekend, although I will try.

Heck, who knows… sometimes I can get some good photos & such from the races, and I wind up posting more, so hey – check in and see 🙂

If you happen to be down in Bend yourself, say “Hi” if you get a chance. It’s always nice to meet folks in the flesh.

Anyways, on with the workouts!

It’s Friday, and I’m guessing that a whole bunch of you are racing on Saturday this weekend, so hey… here’s a workout for all of ya’all, it’s…

Ignition!

400px-Nif-shot_target-arm-before_big

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 – 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.

6 sprints, 10 seconds each.

1 minute between each sprint.

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

Budget about 20 minutes for the spin/ride back home.

Put your feet up, relax, and get ready for the tomorrow’s race.

 

Racing on Sunday, but not on Saturday?

Cool.

Today you’re doing a…

1-2 Hour Moderate Ride –

Get on your bike.

Go ride for 2 hours.

No hard or sharp efforts, but not an effortless spin, either.

You’re not doing a recovery ride, 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.

Have fun, and happy Friday!

M

 

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The Workout Of The Day for Thursday, 12.6.12. “Bend, Spin, and Mutate.”

•December 5, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

It’s Thursday, and that usually means that we program in a little bit of intensity today, working on the assumption that you’re going to be racing on Sunday.

This week, though, we’re working off of the assumption that you’ve got a two-race weekend coming up, ’cause, well… pretty much all the folks I coach are going down to Bend to race this weekend, and that’s where my head is at 🙂

So, hey… not a zero intensity day today, but not our usual routine either.

We’re doing a leg-speed workout today, in the form of…

Spin Ups –

– Get on your bike and warm up with a leisurely spin, 10-20 minutes.

– After you’re warm, find a nice, long, flat or slightly downhill section of road with little or no traffic.

– Begin interval by rolling into it at a moderate speed, in a gear that’s smaller than you would typically use to sprint.

– Get out of the saddle and sprint.

– Spin the gear up out of the saddle. When your leg speed gets to the point where it’s hard to maintain, sit down and keep going until you are totally spun-out. We’re talking  fast, can’t turn ‘em over any faster…

Think Road-Runner fast…

– Repeat x 3-5

Recover for 5 minutes, rolling around at a leisurely pace.

– Go again, same thing.

Recover, then repeat as time and fitness allow. Shoot for 3-5 sets of  3-5.

Have fun, and if you happen to be down in Bend this weekend, say “Hi”!

M

 

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The Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 12.5.12. “Puppies & Flowers”

•December 4, 2012 • Leave a Comment

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.

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…

smell-the-flowers

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

1 notch above a recovery ride.

Have Fun!

 

M

Posted in Cyclocross, The Workout Of The Day

The Workout Of The Day for Tuesday, 12.4.12. “Fiendish Endings”

•December 4, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

It’s Tuesday, and if you’ve been following along, that usually means we’re doing 2×20’s.

Not today, though.

Today, we’re mixing it up a bit, and doing a particularly fiendish workout…

Image

The 3×10 with Happy Ending…

– Warm up.

– Go as hard as you can for 10 minutes.

– Recover for 2 minutes.

– Go again for another 10 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 all 3 intervals without being forced to go easier at the end of the subsequent interval.  If you run out of gas before you finish the second or third interval, you went too hard. If your vision isn’t blurry at the end of the last 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 a workout that works great on the trainer, and that’s how I do ‘em.

But hey… that’s not all.

This is the Happy Ending version.

What does that mean?

confused

 After the third ten-minute interval,

-spin for 1 minute.

sprint for ten seconds, starting at the one minute mark on your watch.

-spin until you hit the 2 minute mark on your watch

sprint for ten seconds

-spin until you hit the 3 minute mark on your watch

sprint for ten seconds

Etc., etc., continuing until you hit the five minute mark, and give the last little bit of your energy in one final 10 second sprint.

Ouch.

Have fun!

M

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The Workout Of The Day for Monday, 12.3.12. “Leg Up”

•December 2, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

Well, after a weekend of this –

 

You know what you need?

You need to go for a…

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.

yoga-legs-up-wall

Relax.

Have fun,

M

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The Cyclocross Workout Of The Day for Sunday, 12.2.12. “Sometimes it’s a horse”

•December 1, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

Your workout today?

Go Race.

If you haven’t read it yet, you may want to check out the post on warming up I wrote a while back. Folks seem to like the suggested routines. Give ‘em a try, and let me know if you have any luck with ’em.

Here’s some inspiration for you today…

Sven Nys… Wow.

Sven rides Cross like the guy in all the war movies who goes on the suicidal solo dash through No-Mans land. Bullets and grenades whiz by his head as he hurtles heedlessly on, only to emerge unscathed on the other side.

OK, sometimes it’s a horse.

Unreal.

M

 

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The Workout Of The Day for Saturday, December 1, 2012. “Like a Rock.”

•December 1, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

Well, yuck.

It’s dumping rain here in Seattle. Word is that it’s pretty freakin’ awful down in LA for the USGP this weekend as well.

It’s December 1st, and I’ve already had it up to here…

up to here

 

…with training in the rain.

Howabout you?

So, today?

Today, instead of flogging yourself doing openers in the pouring rain, think about staying inside where it’s warm, and – more importantly – dry!

Spend some time on the trainer today, and do…

The RSWO – The Rock Stupid Warmup & Opener:

27.9 KB Plymouth Rock

– 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.)

Have fun, and hey… if you’re racing today?

These make a great race-day warmup!

Have fun,

M

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The Workout Of The Day for Friday, 11.30.12. “Cows & Cans”

•November 29, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

It’s Friday again, holy cow!

C

Wow.

You know what? That means for many of you, it’s time to get yerself buckled up and ready to race.

That means that if you’re racing on Saturday this week, today it’s…

Can Openers for you!

– 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. make ‘em count.

… spin out the legs, go home, and get ready for the race.

Racing on Sunday but not Saturday this weekend?

Yup.

You guessed it.

Today you’re going for a…

One to Two Hour Moderate Ride –

Get on your bike.

Go ride for an hour or two.

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.

Make sense?

 

Have fun!

M

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The Workout Of The Day for Thursday, 11.29.30. – “Mostly Downhill”

•November 28, 2012 • Leave a Comment

 

Howdy folks,

Well, you’re here, so that leads me to believe that  you’re looking to do a bit of cyclocross training today, and that you’ve still got a bit of racing on your schedule…

Nice.

If you’re racing on Saturday this week?

Go for a Moderate Ride –

Get on your bike.

Go ride for at least an hour, preferably more like two.

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.

Make sense?

Not racing on Saturday  this weekend?

Today, you’re doing some…

Downhill Sprints – 

 

Start by warming up well, a bit longer than usual – 30 minutes or so.

Find a gradual downhill that lets out on a flat section of road or trail. The ideal setup for this workout is a downhill that’s about a block long that turns into  a flat section of road another block or so in length.

Extra bonus points if you can loop back to the start without having to turn around – that would be perfect.

You’re going to do 3-5 sets of 5 sprints, full gas. Here’s how the sprints go:

Roll down the gradual descent in a comfortable gear. You want to hit the bottom of the hill going fast, but not yet in a sprint.

As soon as you hit the flat section at the bottom of the hill, get out of the saddle and give it full gas.

Sit back down as you get up to full speed, and try to go even faster.

Go until you are spun out.

Spun out means that your legs can’t go any faster, your form goes completely to hell, or you start bobbing up and down on the saddle a lot.

Ideally, a little bit of all of those things.

That’s one rep. You’re doing sets of 5. Ouch.

Each sprint should take just a few seconds. Recover for 30 seconds to a minute between them, and 5 minutes between sets.

Stop when you hit 5 sets or just aren’t getting the same leg speed you were on the first couple of reps.

When you’re done, spin out your legs and go home.

Tips –

– You should start the sprint in a pretty big gear, and spin it out. How big? It depends on how fast you’re going and how strong you are. You’re working on speed here, so don’t try to lug a giant gear, but the gear needs to be big enough that you accelerate when you hit it at the end of the downhill.

– Important, let me reiterate: stand up out of the saddle when you start to sprint, and gradually sit down as you begin to spin up into your sprint.

– Don’t forget to breathe. Seriously. Too many people hold their breath when they sprint. Don’t be one of them.

Have fun!

M

 

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The Workout Of The Day for Wednesday, 11.28.12. “Dial pegged to ‘Cheetah’ ”

•November 27, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Howdy folks,

Well, it’s Wednesday again, and usually that means we’re doing skills work.

How about today?

Well, that depends.

If your season is already over, heck… it’s over.

No riding for you today. Take a break, damnit.

Check back soon. We’ll be talking about the offseason, and what you should be doing as you transition into your road/Mtb. Season, or whatever it is you do when there aren’t any cross races to flog yourself in.

Still racing?

Sweet!

You’re going to do a really abbreviated Skills Session today.

Warm up for 15 minutes or so.

Some easy dismount/remount practice for about 10 minutes. Work on smooth. 

Next, you’re going to go out and rock your race-pace skills…

Find some moderately flat, moderately technical terrain.

Lay out a short (2 minute or so so…) loop.

Ride it fast.

Do laps on this for the next 15 minutes or so, with a focus on Speed. 

Work on your corner exits. Come out of ‘em fast. Out of the saddle, drill it, back in saddle, repeat at next corner.

Don’t get bogged down, don’t wear your legs out too much. Keep the cadence high and the gearing relatively low, just work on your fast.

You definitely want the dial pegged to “Cheetah”, OK?

Rest for about 5 minutes, then work on your starts.

5 sets of 5, full gas, and when I mean full gas, I’m talking full-on race speed, and make ‘em long enough that you hit that second effort point, where you have spun up, sat down, and now you need to get your ass back up out of the saddle and reaccelerate.

Remember, it’s that second effort that pays off in the race.

Work on that.

That’s it.

Go home, relax, get to bed early tonight.

Have fun!

M

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