I have not posted in the past since I haven’t had a background in running but I have to post to keep reading everything here. My question is this- I race bicycles and at the finish of the event a sprint takes place between the riders that are together, anywhere from one to 100. Since the events are long 40-150 kms would sprint training go short to long at the end of a long workout, a seperate workout or some combo. I have seen a lot of variations but would like to see a different perspective from this group since you all have a strong background involving sprints.
I have raced for about 16 years in the U.S. starting as a junior . I also made a few trips to race in Belgium and traveled in the U.S. I have more of a Pantini build then super mario. I weigh 60 kgs and am 170 cm tall. I do some weight training during my off season which is basically mid October thru mid April. Early criteriums start here in march and then proceed to a number of hilly road races in april through may. June usually includes National championships . July brings a national level stage race to the region. August normally is light on the racing. September brings some posssible travel to a stage race and october a few local races. The previos three seasons were a waste as far as results went. I have somehow injured my hip or something but so far have not been able to get a diagnosis that is satisfactory. I took Vioxx for about 8 months with varing degrees of relief and am now able to train at at least a steady aerobic pace and have not found sprints to aggravate the problem. Overall my goal for this season would be to build my endurance back to a reasonable level and sprint at the finish effectivly. In the past I could always count on a good placing with my sprint but my lack of endurance has hampered me in the finally of the race. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Amos
Amos,
my reply or question is one of technique, not physiological in terms of training. Have you ever tried one legged training to improve your sprinting technique? I was a subject a few years ago in a one legged training study (on Monark cycle ergometers, the untrained leg was then the control) and we subjects all noticed that our `clawing´ was drastically improved in the trained leg. The study was physiological in that it was investigating buffering capacity and sprint training.
I talked to a friend who at that time was racing in criteriums as a hobby and he had heard something about one legged training, and I think that I saw something once as well, but I have no idea where or when.
My thoughts are just about increasing the efficiency of the stroke through the whole pedal stroke, not just during the `down´ phase.
I am not familiar with cycling really, although a few years ago I helped a world class velodrome cyclist with his training plan, and tested him once a month in the lab (Wingate test).
I don´t know if this is of interest to you, or maybe this is now old hat in the cycling scene, but just trying to help.
Carson, I want to get opinions from people that were not “specialists” in cycling. I do ride with one leg as part of my regular rides and find that it helps with smoothness. Also would you be willing to share some of the ideas that you had for the track cyclist as they were related to his specific needs? Amos
Amos,
I will try to get back to you on this in the next day or two.
Carson
Geez, sorry, time flies. Have you got any way to gage your speed in a short sprint? How long of a sprint are you talking? Have you got access to a Wingate test, or to a good ergometer where you can test your power on a bike that is set up for you? Do you have training partners who are faster than you in a sprint?
Carson thanks for the reply, I will do a wingate test this week. I have a computrainer that has a test in it. I do not have any training partners that are faster sprinters then me.
amos,
is it possible to somehow calibrate your computrainer? What I mean is that if you do a wingate this week, then test again in a month, are you confident that the resistance is somehow controlled so that it will be the same for both tests? THis is pretty important.
Also, what are the intervals for the results? Can you get results every 5 seconds? And check out if the results are instantaneous (or close), or averaged over a particular time period during the test. If you get results every 5 seconds, are they averaged over the 5 second period, or over the total time from the start of the test, or over a shorter time period.
Originally posted by amos
I have raced for about 16 years in the U.S. starting as a junior . I also made a few trips to race in Belgium and traveled in the U.S. I have more of a Pantini build then super mario. I weigh 60 kgs and am 170 cm tall. I do some weight training during my off season which is basically mid October thru mid April. Early criteriums start here in march and then proceed to a number of hilly road races in april through may. June usually includes National championships . July brings a national level stage race to the region. August normally is light on the racing. September brings some posssible travel to a stage race and october a few local races. The previos three seasons were a waste as far as results went. I have somehow injured my hip or something but so far have not been able to get a diagnosis that is satisfactory. I took Vioxx for about 8 months with varing degrees of relief and am now able to train at at least a steady aerobic pace and have not found sprints to aggravate the problem. Overall my goal for this season would be to build my endurance back to a reasonable level and sprint at the finish effectivly. In the past I could always count on a good placing with my sprint but my lack of endurance has hampered me in the finally of the race. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Amos
Pantani, not Pantini…
I’m italian and a fan of this old fantastic climber.
Valerio
There is a good possibility that I will be going to Italy to race for a month this summer. :sing:
Carson I rode the computrainer tonite and took the power test. Standing start 320 meters. 27.8 sec 972 watt max 717 avg watts 52km/h max speed 42.7 avg speed. Max cadence 117 avg cadence 98. Current body weight 60 kg.
Carson or others just finshed my first early season road race. 2.2 mile circut with a small hill before finish. 10th place in break of 10. Not bad but could have gone better led out sprint for a teammate who wound up 7th. One question I have is what road would you take to improve sprint performance at the end of a endurance event without factoring tactics? Improve endurance or raise threshold pace or work on sprints? There are many possibilities I know but your imput would be great.Amos