Perhaps the most unusual feature was the pile of woodchips used as an obstacle.  I was so surprised at coming upon it during warmups that I actually stopped and asked where the course went.  Grinning at my confusion, the volunteers pointed straight over the pile.  And over it I went.  One aspect of the race I really regret, however, was not seeing if I could ride the pile.  Several riders could, but by the time it occurred to me to try it, warmup was over, and I wasn’t willing to experiment once the race started.  Consequently, I dismounted and clambered, stumbled, and even sunk a few times as I crossed it.  Riding it would have saved a few seconds every lap, seconds that I really could have used as I finished 9th and 7th and 8th place were still within sight.

Technorati Tags     racing,cyclocross

So what explains the disappointing day?  Well the most obvious (and probably sufficient) answer is that I lined up in the back row, and on a course as tight and twisty at the one at IX, with that starting position, unless you’re a real stud, you won’t be seeing the front. But because I try to treat each race as a learning experience, I cast around for a further explanation, and it occurred to me that I may not have been breathing as hard as I usually am because the course didn’t really contain enough straights for me to reach VO2max.  What it did have was constant sharp turns and short steep hills, the kind of course that puts a real strain on your neuromuscular power.  My body’s response bears this out — I may not have been panting as I am after a race or a hard interval, but my legs were tired, the kind of tired I associate with a hard sprint workout (or when I lifted more regularly, a hard session in the squat rack).

During my V02 block, I’ve essentially neglected neuromuscular power, beyond what’s required to get over the hills that abound here in Virginia.  This neglect is borne out by the numbers — my 5″ power over the past month is nearly 10% lower than my season peak.  Just to double check this decline, I did a few sprints today as part of my race prep routine and 5″ power was down even more, nearly 20% from my season peak in May.

Cyclocross requires quite a bit of neuromuscular power because of the constant slowing down and accelerating after dismounts and tight turns.  The course at IX was just a more extreme example of this principle and really emphasized the truism that the three most important words in training for cycling are specificity, specificity, and specificity.  So, while it’s probably too late for training I do now to have an impact on any but the last few cross races, I will certainly be including some nm workouts from now on, and if I decide to focus on cross again next season, I’ll be sure to make sure I start them earlier because Sunday’s experience confirmed once again that you need to maintain that “burstiness” that comes with a well-developed neuromuscular system to succeed at cross.

Oh, and being sure that you weasel your way to front on the start line…

Technorati Tags     training,cycling,cyclocross

If a rider is not racing cross all that seriously, I generally recommend one cross workout midweek, with a warm-up of 20′ or so, focusing  on skills, then 20′-40′ (depending on the length of the races he or she does) of race simulation on a shortened course.  One of my favorite workouts is to set up a course that takes approximately 4 minutes to ride, with at least 1 dismount, 1 run-up,and if at all possible, a short section of single track to work on handling, and then alternate hard and easy laps for the recommended time.  Following this scheme gives the rider specificity both on the “on” and the “off” section of an interval.  This midweek workout, combined with a weekend race, is generally enough for riders to maintain enough race fitness to last through the cross season.  The other days of the week, I recommend all other rides be endurance rides, with the occasional sweet-spot ride through in every 10 days or so.

For most of the riders I work with, and in most years, for myself, this stripped down approach is the one I recommend.  This season, however, my move at the end of July put paid to the last 3 months of my road season, so I determined to focus more fully on cross.  I will only be doing a few cross races, but in the past, I’ve always been happy to finish in the top half of the field because I was just out there for the heck of it.  This year, I hope to move up a bit by focusing my training more specifically on cross.

What this means in practice…

In practical terms, this focus means the only time I spend in Zone 1/2 is warm ups, cool downs or recovery intervals.  Occasionally, if feeling tired, I’ll do a cross skills ride that keeps me about z2 intensity.  But wait, you  might say, won’t you lose your hard earned endurance without any endurance rides?  Well, yes, to an extent, but since the Cat 3/4 races I’ll be doing only last 45′ and I rarely do more than 1 cross race per day (as opposed to multiple crits of about the same duration), I don’t need quite the endurance.  Plus, I won’t be abandoning the aerobic side of the power curve entirely.  Every training block will have a Threshold session and a tempo ride.  Further, the focus for the next week will be that all important area (and one of my limiters) VO2max.  I do one of these per block and alternate between doing them on the road as hill repeats and on a short cross course for more specific training (as described above).  That’s the general plan for the next few weeks.  My first cross race is 10/25, so we’ll see what adjustments need to be made after that.