Cycle/Core Syllabus Fall session 2010
Disclaimer: I blend my own ride profiles from the past 8 years as a Spinning Instructor with that of Sally Edwards, Sally Reed and Dirk Friel, Wes Hobson and Chris Carmichael. Why reinvent the wheel, right?
Also, to those of you in the throws of racing Cyclocross season.. feel free to zone down on Thursdays IF that is what works best for your training plan and are racing on Saturday/Sunday… Adjustments can be made 🙂
Finally, I have the right to swap workouts, or change things a tiny bit as I see fit – this is just a guide.
*The first 6 workouts are designed to be somewhat chill rides- getting to know your heart rate monitor if you have never used one and getting acquainted with your body’s reaction. Also it is a good active recovery time for the performance riders in our group. Rides are mostly in zone 2- taking a peak into zone 3.
W.O. #1 Criss Cross and a Change of Heart ( Tues.)
A friendly and pleasant ride. This moderate intensity ride is ideal for performance riders as a recovery and challenging for new riders to learn heart rate response. You will play with your heart rate, different positions on the bike and focus on round smooth strokes and breathing. Ahhh sounds nice, doesn’t it?
W.O. #2 Steady Eddy and drills ( Thurs.)
Working the Zen mode of zone 2. Focus on form, strokes and breathing..
W.O. #3 Ironsides (Tues.)
7 easy intervals- ride hard like iron for 2 minutes using resistance (small hills) and recover for 2 – balance! Synchronize your hard working cardiac muscles with your quads. Zone 2 to bottom Zone 3.
W.O. #4 Rock Bottom – aerobic intervals (Thurs.) 4 challenging intervals. First two sprint capability (not full on racing sprint) Second two work leg strength and power. We start at the bottom of zone 2 and work to mid zone 3 riding a ladder and then working a set of aerobic intervals at your pace, how many times can you do this before you hit rock bottom?
W.O. # 5 5×5 (Tues.) A 5 bpm ladder up and down with comfort an joy- won’t wipe you out negatively challenging your immune system, time to get social or focus, meditate- clam the monkey chatter in your brain and ride with your emotional and physical heart (yes you really did sign up for this class- enjoy the chill ride, you will be out of breath soon enough!)
W.O. # 6 5×2 ladder with ez intervals ( Thurs.) Controlling coming down the5 bpm ladder this is hard for most! We will also ride in zones 2-3 becoming the master of your own intervals. Working in the lower 3 zones help lower blood pressure and improves blood chemistry (amount and type of blood cholesterol)
*Rides # 7-12 we will be riding in the Fitness Heart Rate Zones. Zones 2, 3 and 4- start improving your measurable fitness level. The time you spend in the fitness zones will be rewarded. These are all zones where your body is able to use O2- improving your aerobic capacity. The practical result is the ability to ride your bike farther, faster and at lower heart rates for the some amount of elapsed time. -I don’t know about you, but this is always my goal! There is a lot more to be said about the benefits, but I’ll save it for class.
W.O. #7 The Chain Gang ( Tues.)
Break free from a ball and chain lifestyle that has you locked down. It’s a calorie consuming, O2 burning workout that will make you feel better after the ride than before the ride. 3 x 3 intervals in and out of the saddle. Fun stuff!
W.O. # 8 Cool Hand Luke ( Thurs.)
A cool hand and a cool head are needed to make your way through the next hour. Keep a light touch on the handlebars while climbing hard and hot out of the saddle. Six intervals while focusing on good climbing posture and strengthening quads and hams. Work on relaxing- and crank up the resistance!
W.O. #9 Carmichael’s Time Crunched Cyclist special ( Tues.)
Carmichael’s AT testing method was so much fun I thought I’d toss in one of his signature ride profiles.. this ride will take us 1 hr. 15 min. 3 sets of 3 minute peak and fade intervals with 2 minute recovery between intervals and 6 minutes recovery between sets. Good times.
W.O. #10 The Zipper (Thurs.)
A workout wonder! Which hurts more your legs burning or your lungs sucking air – joking!? Close to the red line experience.. peaking into mid zone 4.
W.O. #11 Heartbeat (Tues.)
4 challenges: 5×2 ladder, criss cross bottom to top of zone 3, set of power and sprint intervals and another criss cross from mid zone 2 to mid zone 4. Yeehaw!
W.O. # 12 Lancealot- (Tues.)
He’s a freak of nature and you can use his techniques! 4 goals: develop muscular strength and endurance with low RPM and moderate to heavy resistance, power starts out of the saddle, learning to sustain faster bike speeds by training at AT. Finally, training your neurological pathways with high RPM speed work. (zones 2- towards the top of 4)
*Workouts # 13- 17 We will be training in the Performance Zone. It will be high, hot and hard. Training in an appropriate amount of time in the Performance Zone will definitely improve your fitness. (I call it riding with the guys for as long as I can on a T/Th night) Great for attaining the “rider’s high” in working in zones 4 and 5. The downside is too much time in AT and Red Zone can decrease your performance. Workouts are balanced with two less intense rides and encouragement from me to just get on your own bike and do a zone 2 ride in between days. We have one 90 minute class in this section and a celebration race day for our final class before the second round of fitness tests.
W.O. #13 The Afterburner ( Thurs.)
One big fat burner workout! Your goal is to spend as much time at or just below AT ( I also call these over/unders- thank you Chris Carmichael) One of the best ways to maximize fat burning potential is to train near your “crossover” point and work to raise it.
W.O. # 14 Who Let the Dogs Out?? ( Thurs.)
It’s all about power and acceleration as though you were being chased by dogs! You get 1 minute recovery between the 30 second sprints.. just enough time to grab some air a little rest before the hounds are released again. 1/2 the time spent near threshold and a couple of minutes at the red line.
W.O. # 15 Unleash the Mojo! ( Tues.) Like a great cup of coffee this workout gives you more than a caffeine boost! One big dose of high intensity- it may qualify for a weeks worth of exercise. We’ll work on leg speed, smooth pedal stroke, leg strength and speed capability and a pyramid at the end. Yowza!
W.O. # 16 Hang ON! Help is on the way! ( Thurs.)
Endurance is the name of the game. Hanging on to these 5 minute intervals just below your AT is tough- your relief is on the way. Use all your tricks to recover in 2 minutes because another one is around the corner!
W.O. #17 Movie Night (Thurs.)
Seriously! We will be setting up a movie screen and watching The 9 Ball Diaries- A cyclocross documentary about our National Champion Tim Johnson.. while we ride. You may find yourself getting into it during the race scenes.. don’t be surprised if you find yourself riding along pushing the pace! We will be cheering for our racing buddies in Bend OR as they make their mark at the 2010 CX Nationals!
W.O. #18 Footloose ( Tues.)
Relax and stay loose. Low intensity and light resistance- mid zone 3 is as high as you go- use the ride to measure recovery heartbeats, just keep it loose!
W.O. #19 AT Final Exam
Need I say more? You know what you need to do!
EXTRA Racing Rhythm- if we can do a Thanksgiving ride- will do! or a swap for something above if I feel like it 🙂 Ride to the rhythm of the music to your best finish yet. This course has flats, rolling hills and a steep climb. Learn the course the first lap and master your skills for the next few.. now we just need some mud, hair pin turns and barriers tho I think shouldering these bikes would be tough!
