Friday, August 17, 2007

Pyramid revisited

I like this workout. I'm calling it my Pyramid workout, 'cause it reminds me of the old weightlifting routine; 10-8-6-4-2 and maybe that one max if you really felt it. Keep raising the weights up while taking the reps down- we used to call them pyramids - it used to make me pretty damn strong, so I'm thinking it may work on the bike too.

I just got into the hard part of my ride tonight and had to quit on account of time. They close my perfect bike riding training center Flatwoods down around sunset, and after work, I had about time for a 2 hr ride. Last time I got in just 3 sets, and made it to the 22mph for 5 miles set. Today I got one step closer to the whole workout, and got to the 4th set, 22.5 for 4 miles, before calling it quits. I modified it a bit from the last time, and shortened the rests to 2 miles each. It's supposed to look like this:

7 mile warm up
7 miles @ 21mph
2 miles recovery
6 miles @ 21.5 mph
2 miles recovery
5 miles @ 22 mph
2 miles recovery
4 miles @ 22.5 mph
2 miles recovery
3 miles @ 23 mph
2 miles recovery
2 miles @ 23.5 mph
2 miles recovery
1 mile @ 24 mph
recover to taste.

I do this on a very flat course...I was getting a bit worried this second time out that it just wasn't that hard a workout, until I got to that last set that I had time for, the 4 miles @ 22.5mph - that one kicked me square in the cahones. I needed time for another 10 - 12 miles, which would have made this a 50 mile ride. I'm sorta dreading having the time to work at finishing it out. Those last sets will be buggers! My quads are letting me know I did something today for sure. I finished with 200 pedal strokes in the biggest gear as hard as I could muster, for a total ride of 37 miles. I'm finding that with my 12-27 cassette, I'm riding in the 12 once I get around 22mph - I'm a masher for sure. A plodder on the run, and a masher on the bike and just too dang slow in the water...

10 comments:

S. Baboo said...

Dude, what the heck are you doing with a 12/27?! The 27 is for, like, climbing vertical clifs. Surely you should be on an 11/23 or a 12/25 at least.

The Stretch Doc said...

I'm with ya on the podd and mash sessions!

nice workout tho..!!

rockon`

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

Even on a flat course, that is smokin'!

SingletrackJenny (formerly known as IronJenny) said...

... one more thing... I'm a masher, too.
I ride a 55-42 Durace.
All that cadence stuff wears me out. I want to pedal as infrequently as possible. Spinning makes my knees hurt.

Tri-Dummy said...

Really bro...you need a 12/23 for the flat stuff.

That is a sweet workout.

Dances with Corgis said...

Cool- i like your using speed averages to describe a workout, nice concept vs. zones, which I use.

Oly said...

I do the same thing on early season runs.

Mash gears!

No, really.

Mile repeats in descending order.

the Dread Pirate Rackham said...

I think my main cassette is a 12/27. the 12 got used for Iron Horse. I wasn't sure I'd need it, but there I was.

That's an interesting workout - I think I may try that sometime.

Spokane Al said...

That sounds like a workout that will definitely burn a bit of that unused carbon.

And what is all this badmouthing of the 12/27? It gets me up the hills, albeit a bit slower than most.

FunFitandHappy said...

Nice interval set.

I do a gearing pyramid and a cadence set to work on form:

Gearing: 6 minutes 19, 5 minutes 17.....down through 1 minute 13

Cadence: 3 minutes @ 100, 2 minutes @ 110, 1 minute @ 120.

Both of these will definitely get you attention