By this time in the season, will dropping weights really matter? Strength will of course be lost to the specific lift but will this have any impact on speed?
I am wondering if the high level of speed at this point in the season will sufficiently take care of the neural and muscular drive without the need for weights.
Why drop them? You should only be using maintenance levels at this point. That is something like 3r x 3s or less. Minimal time impact.
It also gives you a way to keep the nervous system sharp while peaking.
I would definitely drop the heavy squats or deadlifting about a month pre-competition. For me, I can’t seem to train optimally with my legs sore half the time from squats. Besides, your max strength would probably only drop about 15 pounds in a month.
I agree with xlr8, don’t drop just reduce unless you are in the last week or two of your season in which case a complete drop might help. I’d say if you are going much longer than two weeks just do maintenance work-reduce the intensity and volume.
How about EMS (max strength) work during this ‘deload’ time? I’ve played with the idea of doing it on the track days (hams and quads), then on non track days doing the active recovery setting on the hams and quads for a massage effect.