Monday's training
The season is well upon us and it's time to start refining our training programs, marking our calendars, and making sure the bike is dialed in. There's a good chance that most of you have already done this. If so, nice work. As for me, I haven't set in stone any sort of training plan or decided if there's a specific race or time period that I'd like to peak for. Just looking for good top end fitness to carry me through the next six months. It is possible.
I don't have a degree in Exercise Sports Science nor am I any sort of certified coach (yet). I do have a number of seasons under my belt that give me a bit of "trail" smarts and have allowed me more than anything, the ability to listen to my body while training and racing and make some adjustments that aid to future success. Some of which have been staples in my daily training for the past fifteen years.
Assuming race day is on Saturday, below are some examples of the type of rides I would do on a Monday during a normal training block. There are multiple options for each day so feel free to mix and match the days after I've posted the full week. Note: these workouts would be done late spring and into the summer months, after a decent training base was achieved.
MONDAY:
100 % Hill Intervals: Find a hill that has a consistent angle or gradually gets steeper toward the top. Not too steep though. Something between 6%-8% grade and takes about 35-45 seconds from bottom to top. I like to get at least 20-30 min. in my legs before I put in any hard efforts. Often times an hour on the bike before any effort is nice because it helps simulate race day prep.
Roll into the hill with a nice spin anticipating a full blown effort from start to end, then go for it. Give it everything you have until you reach the top. Try every time to go a little beyond the top just to add a bit of mental toughness. Always push for an imaginary line just beyond the finish. Loop back around and bring your heart rate back down to a comfortable zone. I don't use a heart rate monitor. It's all by feel. I bring it down to just above what it was when I was spinning to warm up. Don't let it drop too far though. You need to train it to be ready to pounce at any given moment. Repeat these efforts 4-5 times. Then spin for 20 min. Go back to the hill of death and repeat another 4-5 times.
75% Hill Intervals: These are done a bit slower than the 100% and don't require the full out-burst. They do require a gradual climb that would take you 8-10 min. from top to bottom. Emigration canyon is a good option for these, because you can do them the entire way up.
After a good warm-up, roll into the hill and stay seated. Shift into a higher gear that you normally would ride in, stay seated and slowly rase your watts. Ride at about 75% of your maximum for 10 min. Recover for three and repeat 3-4 times.
MTB Mondays: One of my favorites by far. Hook up with your best training buddies, pick a trail and ride for two hours or more. Start the random attacks on the group to mix things up and raise the intensity. Hopefully they'll respond with a counter attack or launch one of their own a little later in the ride. These are great because they give you an opportunity to dice it out on the trail with others and they take the structure out of the interval set. Plus, most of them are done with a smile on your face causing your to forget about how painful intervals can be.
Check back tomorrow for Tuesday's ride.