Cycling Workout 2

I sent this workout to everyone earlier this week, but I thought that I would repost it just in case. Also, I realize that these instruction are kind of long to read. I will begin to shorten them up so people can just zip into the workout....

Hey all, trying to get these out earlier for you... so you can do this one or do the first one I sent tomorrow. Again, if these are getting totally annoying please let me know as I can switch over to Facebook or something.

Andy Schleck was quoted as saying that he accelerated/attacked 15 times on the final climb during the second to last stage of the tour this year. This takes a lot of power and it also takes a lot of climb conditioning. That is what we are going to do today. 

Warm up:

-7 min. warm-up, level 3-4, flat road, 110-120 rpm. 

*Note: With this rpm measure, you can use our knee count technique to get a rough idea of what you are doing. With these, put your hand over your knee and count how many times your knee hits your hand in 6 seconds. Take that number, multiply it by 10 and that is a rough estimate of your rpm (revolutions per minute). Thus, if your knee hits your hand 11 times in 6 seconds, this is about 110 rpm. This is a pretty normal rpm on a flat road, with a light gear/resistance. For a hill, a normal rpm is typically 60-70 rpm using a steady cadence. We will use this for the rest of the workout, but once you do it a couple of times you will get a feel for your pace.

- 6 min. one leg isolations; 1 minute isolation on each leg (3 times for each leg) for 6 minutes straight (no breaks). Flat road with some gear, level 5.

Main Set:

- 1 minute easy spin. flat road, level 5

-Add some gear to moderate tension and do 4 x 5 min. hill climb repeats; 5 minutes on x 1 minute easy spin on flat road. For each 5 minute 'on' interval start with 60 rpm (level 6) steady climb in the saddle and then kick it up to 70 rpm (level 7 race pace) for the last minute of the 5 minute 'on' interval. Do this for all 4 sets. Use the cadence count technique described above to help with these efforts.

-5 min. easy spin on flat road; work in and out of the saddle as needed and stay at level 5 (steady tempo).

-3 x 3 min. intervals climbing; for each 3 min. 'on' interval start the first minute at 60 rpm (level 6 or just below race pace, so steady tempo climb), the next minute kick it up to 70 rpm (level 7 or race pace), and for the last minute kick it up again to level 8 (hard push up and over the climb) 80 rpm... if you got it (if not just hold at level 7). Do this for all 3 minute 'on' intervals. Take 2 minute rest in between each interval. Try to do all these in the saddle (extra challenge).

Cool Down:

-10 minute cool down

-10 minutes of really solid stretching... leave time for this as the legs will be burning.

This is a trainer based workout... Unless you have a nice 5 minute climb in your area in which case have at it.

Enjoy

-Dane