Carmichael Comeback

It's baaaaack!

Another riding season begins indoors on the trainer, and for yet another year, "The Carmichael" workout has returned.

This is as old school as it gets, which makes it perfect for me, an old school kind of guy. No sir, no fancy Garmin or Peloton machines here, just the same old reliable workout I clipped from Bicycling Magazine over a decade ago. No trainers yelling at me live on a video screen, just me pushing myself silently to get a good workout in.

The Carmichael is actually what trainer Chris Carmichael wrote up as his easy hotel workout for when he was on the road and using a bike in a hotel workout facility without much time to devote to training.

This is the actual magazine clipping I have kept by the trainer bike for all these years, just in case I forget the routine of this 45-minute workout.

I work up to attempting the first Carmichael each year, and today I felt was going to be the day to do the first one of 2020.

It's basically a three gear/three effort level 45 minutes on the bike. Easy-Medium-Hard split up in two groups of three with a longer warmup and cool down section at the start and the end.

For me, especially early in the indoor season, the toughest part of this entire workout is the final 10 minutes of easy gear spinning cool down. It seems to take forever and my body is objecting, which makes perfect sense because I am used to stopping after 30 minutes.

Any time you stretch 'the usual' you are going to feel it. But the nice part is that if you do it enough, then THIS workout becomes your 'usual' and you've raised the bar on your training.

RIDE

Trainer; Carmichael

10.4 miles/13.8 average mph

2020 SEASON MILES

Indoor: 41.3

Outdoor: 11