Thursday, June 28, 2007

slow progression

The hallmark of a good training program is planned progression. For example, Leadout intervals are key for mountain bike racing. A typical leadout workout is in the format of:

# of sets by # of reps of Time on / Time off and Rest time/set.

So 3 sets of 8 reps of 0:15 on / 0:15 off and 2 minutes rest/set as an example.

A few months ago I was at 2 sets of 6 reps of 0:15 on 0:15 off with 3 minutes rest set. This morning I did 3 sets of 8 resp of 0:20 on 0:20 off with 1 minute rest/set.

In the meantime I've been slowly progressing by adding to each of the variables one at a time. So one week I might at 0:05 seconds to the interval. Another few weeks and I'll drop the rest period down, another few weeks and I'll increase the # of reps, another few weeks and then increase the # of sets.

Actually I didn't do this, I had a coach do it for me last year and I've just followed the methodology again.

And before you know it one foot in front of the other leads to walking out the dooor-oor-or.

I didn't think I was very good at them when I first started. I still don't think I'm good at them.

Old zen saying:
Before enlightenment chop wood and carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. -Wu Li

Another anecdote:
One day the Master announced that a young monk had reached an advanced state of enlightment. The news caused some stir. Some of the monks went to see the young monk. "We heard you are enlightened. Is that true?" they asked."It is," he replied. "And how do you feel?" "As miserable as ever," said the monk.

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