Jeb Stewart
With the USGP coming up this weekend, I imagine everyone would like to do their best and be ready to go from pedal stroke one. Warming up is so critical for races that go out hard, stay hard and are fairly short in duration like 'cross races are. It's also critical to WU well when racing in the cold. The following are explanations for why it is so important.
The fitter (and unfortunately) the older we are, the deeper we need to go in our WU to be at our best from the line. Why wait until the last 1/4 of the race to feel good when you can rock the house from the gun? You need to visit all of the energy systems that you will be accessing during your race in your WU to pump these energy substrates and their metabolic by products into your muscles and cardiovascular system so they can buffer it during your WU, so they are ready to do so more efficiently during your race. Blowing it out prior to the race and recovering before you head to the start will have you ready to perform optimally from the get go.
What follows is a WU routine tailored specifically for cyclo-cross racing I use with the athletes I work with. Feel free to adapt it a bit to suit your current level of fitness or time constraints. If you use it, be sure to drop me an e-mail and LMK how it goes this weekend. I'll be interested to hear. Consider this my contribution to the cause.
1.. Be sure to hydrate while warming up since you'll be sweating and since you don't drink during the race.
2.. Begin w/ a 20 min EZ spin at a comfortable cadence. This is a good time to test ride the course if possible.
3.. Then do a slow ramp up to your lactate threshold (LT) or race pace heart rate (HR) over the course of 2.5 minutes followed by a 2.5 min EZ spin.
4.. Follow w/ a solid 3 min at LT power or HR (race pace) and 3 min EZ. Flood those legs and then let them clear completely.
5.. Do 1 x 30 sec at Vo2 max power or just over race pace at 100+ rpm's followed by 90 seconds EZ.
6.. Get in 1 simulated race start whether on the trainer or on the road by starting from a stand still, clipping in and hammering all out for a solid 10-15 seconds.
7.. Spin it out nice and EZ for at least 5, but ideally 10 min. This is another good time to test ride the course.
8.. Try to end your WU within 15 min of the start so that it's effects stay with you.
9.. Shoot a gel and head to the line w/ confidence, have a great race and an even better time!
Good luck this weekend everybody! I'll see you at the races!
Cheers,
Jeb Stewart, MS, PES
Owner/Head Coach
Endurofit, LLC
www.endurofit.com
jstewart@endurofit.com
(503) 238 5408 (p)
(503) 961 7163 (f)
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