Our first race is only six weeks away! Exciting! A sincere THANK YOU to every ride leader for helping to build the skills and confidence of our student athletes. This team literally could not function without your contributions. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
Our practice race is Saturday, July 19. Let’s talk it up in our groups and encourage the riders to participate. Also in preparation for our practice race, encourage your riders to drink while still pedaling their bikes during the recovery periods between intervals and after intervals are completed.
Today we are going to once again focus on incorporating interval training into our rides. When balanced with adequate recovery time during the ride, these all-out 30-second efforts improve the riders’ ability to intake and utilize oxygen. As oxygen consumption rates improve, riders’ endurance will increase. Please encourage each rider to push their own limits responsibly. An all-out effort should never result in out-of-control riding. And each rider is different in their capabilities for this level of exertion. Allow the riders to spread out in an order that permits them to maximize their individual effort for each interval without having to sit on the wheel of the rider in front of them. If an interval is interrupted (i.e., encountering other riders on the trail, etc.), reconfigure and make a new interval effort after a brief recovery. We want to get a full-set of interval efforts for all riders. No intervals on paved roads.
WARM-UP NOTES FOR ALL GROUPS: While warming-up (15 minutes-ish), remember to talk with the riders about the benefits of a solid warm-up routine:
- Reinforce that our best efforts are simply not possible without an effective, intentional warm-up. A warm-up should include a minimum of 5-10 minutes of easy spinning, followed by several mini-intervals (30-60 seconds) of increasing intensity that gradually approach a race pace, with easy spinning between these mini-efforts. This gradual increase in effort briefly simulates the demands we will expect of our bodies for the upcoming ride.
- A proper warm-up:
- enlists the major muscle groups in the workout effort
- provides an important opportunity to mentally shift from being sedentary to active
- increases blood flow throughout the body, allowing oxygen to be more efficiently distributed to muscles (extra credit if you work the words “dilate” and “capillaries” into your description)
- warms-up tendons and joints so that muscles can experience a fuller, well-supported range of motion
- gives the body time to shift into a mode where it is prioritizing carbohydrate-based metabolism
- all of this helps us avoid injury and get the most out of the workout
- Specifically ask the riders to each pay attention to how their bodies are performing at the start and end of the warm-up period (heavy legs vs. fluid legs, mental grogginess vs. focused attention, etc.).
PINK / BLACK
After warming up, perform four 30-second all-out intervals with at least five minutes of easy recovery between each effort (this can be a chance to regroup if the group stretches out during the work-portion of the interval). Remind the riders to get themselves into the right gear for a big effort. Encourage them to pursue the 30-seconds by riding out of the saddle to enlist the entire body into the effort. Let the riders know that once this portion of the ride is completed, they have successfully achieved the training purpose of today’s ride. Complete the ride with a conversational pace.
SILVER / RED
After warming up, perform three 30-second all-out intervals with at least five minutes of easy recovery between each effort (this can be a chance to regroup if the group stretches out during the work-portion of the interval). Remind the riders to get themselves into the right gear for a big effort. Encourage them to pursue the 30-seconds by riding out of the saddle to enlist the entire body into the effort. Let the riders know that once this portion of the ride is completed, they have successfully achieved the training purpose of today’s ride. Complete the ride with a conversational pace.
ORANGE / YELLOW / GREEN
After warming up, perform three 30-second all-out intervals with at least eight minutes of easy recovery between each effort (this can be a chance to regroup if the group stretches out during the work-portion of the interval). Remind the riders to get themselves into the right gear for a big effort. Encourage them to pursue the 30-seconds by riding out of the saddle to enlist the entire body into the effort. Let the riders know that once this portion of the ride is completed, they have successfully achieved the training purpose of today’s ride. Complete the ride with a conversational pace.
BLUE / PURPLE
After warming up, continue to introduce the concept of interval training to your riders. Instead of full speed, all-out work intervals, encourage the riders in BLUE and PURPLE to spend time riding at a significantly faster pace than normal for one full minute. Then slow the pace back to normal (not slower than normal) for at least eight minutes to demonstrate that recovery after a big effort is possible without slowing to a crawl or stopping. Repeat this work-recover pattern three times during the ride. Count out the remaining time in the work portion of the interval so the riders have a sense of how much longer to “hang in there.” While working on these intervals, please always remember: safety first!!! No rider should be riding out of control during these efforts. The fire roads or the wider uphill trails would be good places for these intervals.