It’s all about steady pace, duration, and focus when it’s Hammer Time! (I make 2-3 Hammertime rides per year, hence the name Hammertime II.) Riders are challenged with a five “hammer” pyramid – 4, 6, 8, 5, 4 minutes – where the goal is to find a steady pace at an intensity they can hold for the duration of the “hammer time” (HT) then recover at a moderate pace between each one (WR-working recovery).
This is a great profile to coach pedal stroke, form, mental discipline and a rhythmic connection between pace and breath during the six and eight minute HTs. If you have power meters, riders can capture their watts for each HT to see average power at each duration and to compare the first 4:00 HT to the last 4:00 HT. There are a lot of coaching options with this profile – choose something your class could use help with or that you haven’t covered in awhile and consider focusing your coaching on that topic or topics.
The playlist: This profile has a one-to-one correlation with the playlist except for the last song. Use Somebody is 6:00 so I use the first 2:00 for the working recovery, then Hammer for the last 4:00. You’ll see I was in a Doors remix and old favorites mood. If that’s not your thing, it’s easy to swap out songs for this playlist so, as always, make it your own and have fun with it!
Here are the abbreviations: WU=Warm up; HT = Hammer Time; WR=Working Recovery; CD = Cool Down. Enjoy!
