Cyclocross

Training
1

I’m on my last week of the 12 week cyclocross plan, first race of my season us in 1 week.

Any advice on what plan or session to do next? The last race is mid January.

2

I feel your pain, though I strongly suspect your pain will be much higher than anything I’ll be feeling when you start racing next week :wink:

All the Wahoo plans are great for building up to an event, but there’s a bit of a gap when you need something to get you through a series of events or a whole season.

Here’s some advice gained from my 3 years of 8-week cyclocross seasons (1 short, very intense race every week). My races were always on Tuesday evenings.

GENERAL:

  1. don’t keep piling on intensive training sessions or you’ll burn out

  2. continue to do “recovery” weeks according to the pattern you were using during your build up (every 3rd or 4th week). You’ll still give it your all during the race but the rest of the week will be very light.

  3. training volume needs to be low so you’re ready mentally and able physically to give it your all during the races.

  4. pay attention to your set up and think about whether anything could be improved from race to race so you can get really dialled in (tires, pressure, seat height, cleat tension, etc).

SPECIFIC:

  1. Mondays - PRIMERS workout to get the body revving again

  2. Tuesday morning -RECHARGER workout Tuesday night - race; usually it finished too late to do any kind of recovery ride

  3. Wednesday - 1 - 2 hours of Zone 2, maybe with some surges if it was outdoors or with a group

  4. Thursday - complete day off or do light strength session (RECOVERY SESSION A or B) if it’s a recovery week

  5. Friday - short, high intensity SUF trainer session like THE MODEL, RUE THE DAY, 14 VICE GRIPS , many others in the library. If it’s a recovery week, then head outside and spend an hour on cx skills - figure eights, mounting/dismounting etc.

  6. Saturday- 3-4 hour Group road ride or 2 hour virtual ride at Tempo effort

  7. Sunday - off

This pattern worked pretty well for me. Hopefully, you can adapt some of it.

‘Cross is a ton of fun regardless of whether you’re at the front or the back of the race. Good luck!

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