I hope you enjoyed the skills work yesterday. That was quite a bit of stuff to work on in one session, so keep plugging away at it.
Style does count.
When you get this stuff perfect every (or close to it!) time, you save energy and – more importantly – you avoid winding up on your face (or your ass) on the side of the course.
Falling is never fast!
So, hey… that out of the way, on with today’s workout.
Today we’re mixing things up a bit, and bringing back an old exercise we haven’t done in a while.
Today we’re doing…
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 hill that’s about a block long, and lets out on a flat section of road that’s also about a block long.
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.
Go until you are spun out.
That’s one rep. You’re doing sets of 5.
Each sprint should take just a few seconds. Recover for 30 seconds to a minute between reps, 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 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.
– Stand up out of the saddle when you start to sprint, and gradually sit down as you begin to spin out.
– Don’t forget to breathe. Seriously – too many people hold their breath when they sprint. Don’t be one of them.
Sorry for the teaser/promise of an extra post today. I wound up spending most of the day sitting in a dentists chair…
…not what I planned on, believe me!
That kinda put the kibosh on the extra writing I was planning on doing, but I’m plugging away, and will get it up soon, I promise!
To make up for that a bit, here’s a (slightly…) expanded post for Wednesday which is, of course…
Skills Day!
1 – warm up for 10 minutes.
2 – Stretch out after you’re warm.
Pay special attention to all the muscles used in those movements you make hopping on and off the bike that are different from what you usually do.
3 – Dismount/remount skills for 5-10-15 minutes (depends how rusty you are. Do more of these, less of everything else if you need to.)
– Start at literally a walking pace, and slowly increase speed until you can mount and dismount the bike smoothly and perfectly at full speed. Do not jump on and off the bike, you are looking to smoothly slide yourself on and off.
We worked on the super basics a while back. Need a refresher? Check out –
Do just the most basic dismount/remount as per above until you have it wired, smooth at all speeds. When you are feeling confident, add some barriers to the session…
– Again, start at a super, super slow speed.
– Approach the barrier, dismount smooth as silk.
– Step over the barrier, paying attention to how you lift the bike, and how you place your feet.
– Remount. Again, think smoooooth….
– Start with a single barrier, move to a double, and keep going slow until you have things wired. Then, speed things up until you aren’t smooth, back it down 1 notch, and make it smooth.
(If you don’t have barriers, anything will do. Use a log, put a stick on the ground – whatever.)
4- Shouldering the bike.
Start with the basic dismount, as you’ve been working on.
Back things up a bit, and dismount again, but really focus on the “drift” phase of the dismount, where you are still clipped in with one foot, your off-side foot has already swung over the saddle, and you are coasting with your left hand on the bars and your right hand on the top tube.
Concentrate on the moment where your left foot unclips, and you drop to the ground. Try to coast with both feet unclipped, weight transferred onto the bike through your hand on the top tube, and your right ass-cheek against the side of the saddle.
Drop to the ground, literally. No big step, nothing dramatic, just drop to the ground.
– I don’t care if you “cowboy” your dismount, or “step-through” (right foot passes between left leg and frame.) Ideally you will work on both, and be equally competent, but there are riders on the World Cup circuit who neverdo a step through dismount, so… whatever.
Repeat, trying to coast with your weight on the top tube for a longer and longer period of time.
Got it wired?
Good.
This time, drop to the ground and swing the bike up onto your shoulder using the hand on the top tube (next week, down tube grab shouldering. Don’t worry about it right now.)
– Use both a palm-up and a palm-down grip on the top tube. Figure out which one works best for you.
– as you shoulder the bike, think about how you are going to carry it. There are really only two good options…
1 –& 2 –
It doesn’t really matter which one you choose, they both have their advantages. Just pick one. If you don’t look like one of these two pictures when the bike is on your shoulder… well, you should.
So, the bike is on your shoulder.
Run.
It doesn’t have to be uphill (we’re working on the skill, not the fitness, and you’re doing stairs tomorrow…) but it helps.
Whatever. Just run a few steps.
Place the bike gently on the ground. Don’t drop it, slam it down. Just place it.
Remount.
Repeat the whole cycle until you’re sick of it, then on to…
5 – Starts.
Practice your starts, just like the beginning of a race. One foot on the ground, dead standstill, get-up-and-go.
Begin with a few medium effort starts, just to work on the mechanics. Round off your rough edges, and make sure you remember where the heck your pedals are.
When you start to get the feel for things, hit it hard a couple of times, then back off.
Here are some tips –
– Start with your pedals at 3&9 o’clock, not 12 and six. It takes practice, but it really is better and faster. Every gate start event does it this way, and they aren’t crazy….
See what I mean?
-Try starting with your butt on the saddle, and your butt off the saddle. See what works best for you.
– Ditto, try starting with hands in the drops vs. hands on the hoods.
After you have tried a couple of variations at a medium/slow pace, get yourself set to go hard.
– Do 2 sets of six full-gas starts.
– short effort, just go long enough that you are up to full speed, then back down, turn around, go again.
6 – Recover for a few minutes, then Finish the night with two interval efforts on relatively easy terrain.
– “Easy” as in a loop on grass with some tight-ish turns on it, or some pretty buffed double-track.
– Go hard, and work on accelerations out of the turns.
– Every time you slow down entering a turn, get on the gas on the way out of it, ass out of the saddle, working hard.
– 6-8 minutes full gas, rest for 2 minutes, then go again for 5.
– Start each effort with, well… with a start. Like you were working on a couple of minutes ago…
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.
– 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.
If you are, here’s something for you, an easy to remember warm-up and opener routine.
It’s so easy to remember, it’s called…
TheRSWO – TheRock Stupid Warmup & Opener:
– 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.)
Not racing today?
Feel like you’re up for some darn hard, race-level riding anyways?
Cool.
Give these a shot, I dare you.
The Z.D.I. –
Warm up really well.
Find a fairly steep hill that you can do a 30 second hard effort on. Best bet is a climb that’s right on the big ring/small ring break point. You could do it in either one, depending…
Roll into the climb fast, and Sprint up it, 30 seconds hard effort.
Coast back down, turn around and go again immediately.
Repeat for a total of ten reps.
Yup. Ten.
Ouch.
Recover for 5-10 minutes, then go again. You’re trying to do 3-5 sets of ten.
Yes, this is really damn hard.
Don’t even try these if you’re feeling gassed. Don’t do these if you raced earlier this weekend.
I will try to get some pictures and posts up on some of the cool cyclocross goings-on down in Vegas, so stay tuned.
In the meantime, it’s a race weekend for just about everyone, so let’s get down to it.
Racing on Sunday?
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. make ‘em count.
… spin out legs, go home and rest. Get ready to race tomorrow.
If you’re racing today, Saturday, well… that’s your workout.
Go Race!
Pretty self explanatory, eh?
Not racing at all this weekend??
Do the Can Openers today anyways.
We’ll hit you with a hard workout for Sunday, and you can use this as a dry run for your next weekend.
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 legs, go home and rest. Get ready to race tomorrow.
Not racing tomorrow, but racing on Sunday?
You’re doing a…
1-2 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.
I’m still down at Interbike, so this is going to be another abbreviated entry as I’m headed out to Cross Vegas in a few moments.
We’ve been working on about a 5 week cycle of brief, intense intervals once a week, and we’re doing ’em again today.
Yup.
Today you’re doing…
Start Me Up –
Warm up well.
Find a clear, clean stretch of traffic-free open road that will allow you to ride full-gas for 10-12 seconds.
This is important.
You’re going to be going really darn hard, and you don’t want to/can’t be dealing with cars, potholes, etc.
Shift into a gear appropriate for a race-style start (you can/should experiment a bit with this until you get it figured out. This is good stuff to have figured out for ‘cross season, nice side benefit of this workout!)
From a dead stop (or as close to it as practicable…) get out of the saddle and punch it.
Hard.
Full gas, no messing around.
Shift up as necessary to continue acceleration until you get up to max speed.
Full-gas sprint continues for a duration of 10-12 seconds.
Recover for 30 seconds and then go again.
Repeat 3-5 times.
That’s a set.
Five minutes recovery and then repeat.
You’re looking to do 3-5 sets, or (if you’re using a power meter…) as many sets as you can without seeing a noticeable drop in peak power output.
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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