VelocipedeSalon WOD: Workout of the day

[BSUdude]

You guys know that feeling where you're almost done with that last interval? You can see the light and the end, but you're not sure you're going to be able to make it... and then you do? That's a good feeling.

Back in my HS track days, we would do 10x400m 5 or 6 times a season. Coach always said the last interval was the easiest, 2nd to last was the hardest. That mentality has always stuck with me.

[Burnette]

Back from the dead....

Full on Base and Strength phase which will run to February then build begins for the 2017 TT season. Will be 50 in a month and making a concerted effort to gain muscle and power before I'm too old to do so. Also fun to move iron around. Even in small amounts.

Last year I started lifting and upped my core routine to a new level. Had a goal to bench press my weight (135). Achieved that several months ago and set a new goal to to 3 sets of 8 reps of body weight before New Years. Am at 3x8 x 125 solid now so should hit that goal. Next objective will be 3 sets at 150 then 175. I'd like to max at 200 pounds again eventually. A weight I haven't rolled around the floor since college let alone pressed.

Past years I've avoided doing leg workouts with weights but have decided to give it a go. Dead lifts and Squats along with low cadence + high power work on the bike. Am working on form for the leg lifts and being careful not to go too high too quickly.

Anyway, here is a Strength / Power session from last night:

10 minute warm up on rollers
5 x 1 minute Grinds with 3 minute recovery (Grinds are biggest gear, high resistance efforts)
5 min spin before hopping off for weight work

** This ends up being a TSS of around 40 and an IF around 0.9 Fairly stout efforts. I'll build up to 10 of these per session through the Base period.

Dead lifts 4 x 8 reps 100 pounds
Squats 3x8 reps, 1x15, 1x5 (Increasing the weight 10 pounds per for the 15 rep sets. Still light, 125 pounds for the last set. Focus on form, finding center before going heavier).

Bench 3 x 8 125 pounds
Lats 3 x 8 90 pounds (we added a small cable machine to our gym this summer - works great)
Overhead Press 3 x 8 50 pounds
Upright Rows 3 x 8 50 pounds

Standing chops with resistance band 3 x 10 each side
5 x 60s Bosu Ball planks

Tonight I'll do a 2 x 20 Sweetspot workout and hit the weights for arms.

Thursday will be an easy day. Friday more power / strength work

Sat/Sun hope to get outside for some easy tempo on the roads. Maybe connect with some teammates for a fall group ride. Probably about 5 hours total.

The weeks are basically working out to be about 3 hours weights and core with another 7-8 hours riding. 10-12 hours each week of fairly focused workouts. As winter sets in an roller boredom happens I'll work in the Concept 2 more often just to break things up.

--Mark

Mark, this is and awesome work out. I wish I had a place to do weights and ride I the same area. I know this is fro last year and in your build phase. I'm still in that phase and I'm looking for low cadence/high effort routines. Look two posts down from this.

[Burnette]

this is my gym joint these days -- I finished a power cycle in Oct, so now back to strength for 8 weeks, then 5 weeks of power before the race season starts in Feb.

warm up:

1 set 8 box jumps on a low, 10 inch box. I hold a 10lb medicine ball and do a broad jump, then take that into a hop on the box, then follow the box landing with a vertical jump+ball thrust. Rationale -- the broad jump is actually using your muscles a little more like pedaling, and the two reactive jumps (the low hop to the box then the vertical one after landing on top of it) ask the muscles to work in a manner that is better for a closed-chain activity like cycling.

My vert is maybe 12 inches. I'm an old endurance dork. There's no reason for me to try to jump on to a 20 inch or higher box. You land like you take off -- if you're having to bring your legs up with your hip flexors, and you land with more knee bend than you took off with, or your feet "slap" the box when you land, the box is too high, dude. Eat some ego and train on a proper box.

Box Jump Main Set:

15-inch box: hold a 10lb medicine ball in a deep squat (ass-to-grass) position. Explode from that position on to the box. Follow the landing with a vertical jump and ball thrust from the top of the box, land back into a deep squat on top of the box. Soft landings on all foot contacts. Step down from the box. 2 sets 6 jumps.

Squats: 3 sets 4-6 reps to failure
Deadlifts: 3 sets 4-6 reps to failure
Romanian Deadlifts: 3 sets 4-6 reps to failure
Hamstring Curls: 3 sets 4-6 reps to failure
Bench Press: 2 sets 8-10 reps to failure
Seated Row: 2 sets 8-10 reps to failure


I've gone from 170 to 172, and body fat has gone down. I'm ok with that. I'm going to be 50 in a few weeks, and I'd rather not have scrawny old bike racer bod when I'm 60. If I can start adding some muscle for aging starts to take it away, the more the better.

Robert, like MarkC, you are doing work! Again, I know this is from last year and your build phase, but it's a good one. I like your routines as well and we seem to have the same philosophy. I'll be 50 this April 12th (tomorrow!) and as a gym rat and cyclist, I want the best of both worlds. Decent endurance and speed on the bike and a body that still has symmetry. Look one post down from this one.

[Burnette]

I have been on a good roll fitness wise. On the gym side I have reverted back to my gym rat ways and use the bike for cardio and leg building.
To that end, I have lengthened my high intensity sections of my intervals and really focus on my form. I'm not thrashing or grinding. Like pushing weight, I'm using perfect form and feeling all the muscles through every stroke. As you can imagine it tires me quick!

This weekend I tried to do an hour in a big enough gear that put me at a cadence of 65. As I wore down, I would shift up a gear or two and rise to a 70/75 cadence to recover, then back to 65 as quickly as I could. I made it 34 minutes and what I got out of it was that I found peace with the suffering, a zone were everything equalized and I sat in the effort, breathing right and good form and just kept going through the pain, longer than normal. Endorphin rush, I want more.

Does anyone here do low cadence/high intensity only roller or trainer routines? If so, share them with me. I plan on doing my routine again and hope to last a bit longer each time I do it.

[MarkC]

Congrats on progress and sticking with it.

Although this thread died, I have kept up with the weights through winter and managed to gain 2-3 pounds of lean mass. No threat to The Hulk at 138 pounds but can at least lift a bike onto the roof rack now.

Changed up routine with regard to upper body. Defined 14 exercises and split into two days. Just ping-pong back and forth between days with 2-3 "recovery" in between. For legs just squats and dead lifts couple times per week. Considering adding some additional leg work after race season but not sure which moves to add. Maybe step-ups and/or lunges. Admit this is less about bike and more about strength and bone density considerations. At 50 years of age, driving a desk at work and cycling as my main activity have some concerns about lack of weight bearing work. Weights help, might even start running 2-3 times a week post ride.

Still doing a lot of planks for core. Usually 7-10 minutes per day. Sometimes one shot, sometimes 3-4 minute segments. My plank PR stays at 10 minutes straight. I've not tried to beat that either :-)

On the bike, am a big fan of low cadence and tolerance work. 30/30s, pyramids (I like the British Cycling "Russian steps" progression - its online), 45-60 second efforts with similar rest periods. When working out indoors (eMotion rollers) I usually throw these into longer tempo sessions. It breaks things up and helps with both strength and tolerance. Make the time fly by for 60-75 minutes. For example I might do 75 minutes and do 5 x 30s every 15-20 minutes. So 15-20 reps of 30s across a longer ride time. Or maybe 60s efforts every five minutes (4 off / 1 on).

I'm hoping to PR for 40 km TT this season so daily training has taken on a longer focus than past years when I was going for CP20. Doing Power Hours and long sweetspots 2-3 times per week with at least one tolerance workout. Usually the latter is 30/30s which offer a lot of bang for the buck and don't kill your brain indoors. But with spring here that will change to hill repeats and VO2max work more like 8 x 3 etc etc.

--Mark

[Burnette]

Congrats on progress and sticking with it.

Although this thread died, I have kept up with the weights through winter and managed to gain 2-3 pounds of lean mass. No threat to The Hulk at 138 pounds but can at least lift a bike onto the roof rack now.

Changed up routine with regard to upper body. Defined 14 exercises and split into two days. Just ping-pong back and forth between days with 2-3 "recovery" in between. For legs just squats and dead lifts couple times per week. Considering adding some additional leg work after race season but not sure which moves to add. Maybe step-ups and/or lunges. Admit this is less about bike and more about strength and bone density considerations. At 50 years of age, driving a desk at work and cycling as my main activity have some concerns about lack of weight bearing work. Weights help, might even start running 2-3 times a week post ride.

Still doing a lot of planks for core. Usually 7-10 minutes per day. Sometimes one shot, sometimes 3-4 minute segments. My plank PR stays at 10 minutes straight. I've not tried to beat that either :-)

On the bike, am a big fan of low cadence and tolerance work. 30/30s, pyramids (I like the British Cycling "Russian steps" progression - its online), 45-60 second efforts with similar rest periods. When working out indoors (eMotion rollers) I usually throw these into longer tempo sessions. It breaks things up and helps with both strength and tolerance. Make the time fly by for 60-75 minutes. For example I might do 75 minutes and do 5 x 30s every 15-20 minutes. So 15-20 reps of 30s across a longer ride time. Or maybe 60s efforts every five minutes (4 off / 1 on).

I'm hoping to PR for 40 km TT this season so daily training has taken on a longer focus than past years when I was going for CP20. Doing Power Hours and long sweetspots 2-3 times per week with at least one tolerance workout. Usually the latter is 30/30s which offer a lot of bang for the buck and don't kill your brain indoors. But with spring here that will change to hill repeats and VO2max work more like 8 x 3 etc etc.

--Mark

I've been on my weight lifting routine that I laid out earlier in this thread since winter and have nice size/definition at 136lbs (at 5" 3" tall). Body fat could always be a little lower and the bike normally takes care of that. I wanted to use the bike for endurance cardio and leg size too and the British Cycling routines you gave me are just the ticket. I found the site for them and have written down two pyramids and a 20/40s that I'm going to do. That'll be enough for me to geek out on and grow in strength, power and speed. Those are awesome routines with good instructions in them. Thanks MarkC, it's exactly what I was looking for. I'll keep up the gym work, been doing that years longer than cycling and now that I'm back at it my gains have been great so far. These routines will do nicely to tie me back into the cardio side and help with definition. You're awesome Mark and I look forward to reading about how you do this year. Good luck to you.

P.S.
As I do these routines I'll post here sometimes with results. I know that like with new weight routines that I will tank early and often, but eventually I will get stronger and reap the results visually and physically. I enjoy the painful journey and a real challenge. Gym rats get it!

[MarkC]

Far too kind - thanks.

Here is another plan with some good stuff:

https://www.racermateinc.com/wp-cont...rPowerPlan.pdf

Hunter's plans can have a lot of detail but for off the shelf can work pretty well.

Strength training (weights) is a ton of fun. Can see growth and measure progress. Also very addicting. I had to force myself to get on with race training this year. Was enjoying the gym too much!

[Burnette]

I followed the 20 minute warm up routine laid out by the British Cycling web site. I like the structure. Before I just eased into a faster/harder pedal for ten to fifteen minutes for a warm up. One thing that I did discover by this new warm up routine is that my hams are tight. I can spin well to 105, above that cadence and I bounce a bit. It's not bike fit, my seat height is dialed in, I just thing I need to stretch more. I like the routine and will do it for warm ups now.
Somehow I missed a minute in the warm up and ended with 19 minutes, Ha!
intervals 1a.jpg

Onto the workout, I did the pyramid 1 routine, cadence at 95 and start with one minute hard, one minute easy, two minutes hard, two minutes easy up to four minutes, five minutes hard the it's back down to one minute the other way.

As I am on the road, I find it hard to keep a flat pace without rising and falling in pace during intervals. I worked at it and tried to keep a steady 95 rpm on the hard sections. I found a happy place on the four minutes hard section going up. Even though I was pushing hard it felt like was in a zone, in control and at peace with the hard effort. I started late and had to get back to work but I wanted to finish it. I made it, tired and sweaty. I'm sure that this and the other routines will help me with discipline, speed and stamina. Not to mention fat loss! I have a long way to go but enjoy the journey. I finished the routine, cleaned up and rushed to work. I enjoyed the work out and feel that I got some good things out of it. I got the forty five minutes in, hopefully my speed/endurance will improve in time:
intervals 2a.jpg

[EightySixer]

Track workout. Lactate clearance intervals. Working on aerobic/anaerobic capacity and lactate clearance - (recovering from effort while still running hard)

Approx 3mi w/u

Ladder interval set - 5mi total w/ 30sec rest
800m (lap 4)
1600m (lap 5)
3200m (laps 6 & 7)
1600m (lap 8)
800m (lap 10)

I started to fall off the second mile of the 3200, all things considered though it was nice to still keep it just under 6:30 pace.

IMG_1580.jpgIMG_1584.PNG

[false_aesthetic]

3 weeks ago I started back at the gym after about 15 months away (I think).

Now that I'm past the hobbling + light-light weight to remind my body what to do it's time to start going up.

5x week. 60-70 minute sessions during lunch.
M: Legs
T: Back
W: Chest
Th: Arms
F: Shoulders

I'll stick with this plan for 4 weeks to get some of my base strength back and then re-assess.

No goals other than to prevent getting a "dad bod" before I actually reproduce.

[zank]

I love this workout. Felt great today. 40 minute block. 30 sec at 110% FTP, then 90 sec at 90-95% FTP. Repeat for 40 minutes. Last 10 min hurt, but felt so fast and fun.

[mzilliox]

I love this workout. Felt great today. 40 minute block. 30 sec at 110% FTP, then 90 sec at 90-95% FTP. Repeat for 40 minutes. Last 10 min hurt, but felt so fast and fun.

dang, that sounds fun when you just have an hour or so to hammer. I need to push my FTP a bit these days, im finding myself lagging at the end of a 20 minute effort these days, this looks like it could help get that 20-30 minute base up.

[zank]

Absolutely. As I mentioned in another thread, I don't break up FTP, SS, or tempo. The long efforts have really helped my mental conditioning.

[BSUdude]

(3) sets of 10 x 10s sprint on 60s rest

ow ow ow ow

totally different type of pain than anything FTP or VO2

[false_aesthetic]

I'm spending week 6 reviewing my form.
Monday was hard. I had gotten into the habit of squatting instead of deadlifting. Backed off about 50 lbs and did 5x5. After each rep I took two steps back and then came to the bar to set-up properly again.

Squats were similar. Wasn't getting the right push from the hips and a bit of adduction with my right knee. Time to break out the elastic bands.

[BSUdude]

(3) sets of 10 x 10s sprint on 50s rest

Quite amazing how much adaptation takes place with these type of high end efforts with only a couple times doing the workout. Much more tolerable than the first go-round.

[hmai18]

Late ramp up for CX season for me...

2 sets of 3x3 vo2max via TrainerRoad. 3min between intervals, 6min between sets.

[hmai18]

TrainerRoad - Wynne.

3x2min 130%
3x1min 150%
3x30sec 180%

[false_aesthetic]

Missed Monday and Tuesday.

Wednesday was legs and chest. Still working on form.
I'll be excited when this becomes 2nd nature again.

[hmai18]

Lots of time spent polishing up handling this morning: figure 8s and remounts.
Then 2 sets of 10s on/50s off start sprints.