merlinextraligh

Did sprints today, and my peak power was within 50 watts of my all time best. I thought this was encouraging just coming out of the base phase. I figure I can easily gain more than 50 watts with some sprint workouts.

Then I started worrying as I get farther removed from the resistence training in base will my peak power go down rather than up. Has anyone noticed a seasonal trend in their training?

El Diablo Rojo

I'm only 4-5% off of last years peak which was in April. I'm happy and I feel no where near peaking. I reached my goal for the first race of the season, a podium and top ten in the overall finish (it was a 3 stage race). My coach and I have me hitting my peak for the Ft Davis stage race at the end of April. I expected to be better than last year at this time as I had a better platform to launch from. If I can stay healthy I expect to be at the minimum 5% better at my peak this year over last.

merlinextraligh

I realize my question should have been clearer, when I said peak I meant maximum sprinting wattage. I think my FTP for 60 minutes is pretty close to where I left off in the fall.

I'm pretty certain my FTP will rise as the season goes along, just thinking maximum power could drop, to the extent it was pumped up by resistence training that I'm not doing now in season.

krazyderek

What resistance trainning are you refering to? Sprint intervals on a trainner? if you're woried about losing some resistance when switching to road try and do some finish sprints on a slight to moderate uphill, in a group if possible to keep you hungry

Keep in mind though, not all finish's are uphill, if you're always looking for resistance, you're either not in a high enough gear, or if you're in 53-12(or 11) already, then you're not spinning fast enough, in which case, try some form sprints.

I found last year my best peak power (i'm assuming you're talking about sprints here), was in june when i won 2 races in a bunch sprint. I didn't start base trainning until late Feb, and didn't really start doing any sprint work until the last 2 weeks of april. What i found was that the more group rides i did (they pretty much all end with a sprint point around here) i just kept getting better, in the form of my initial snap got faster and faster. One of the main route's though has a nice 5% grade around 200m long though with a fire hidren which is a finish sprint point, so maybe i'm just fortunet to have an ideal sprint pratice at the end of each ride.

In other words, if you stop working on sprints, yes your max power probably will drop a little, you have to keep your neuromuscular(? or is is musclular skeletal?) system in check so that you can explode out of the saddle now, and down the road.

El Diablo Rojo

I'm 10w below my personal best from last season. I'd credit my time in the gym, but the Zen Master, 600DA, will chastise me and banish me from his Dojo.

Seriously though, I've had about 18 months of coaching. One of the first things he (my coach) told me was that I'd see the real fruits of my labor in my second year of racing. I did have a great race at my last race of the season in 06 so I was tracking well. This is my second year and right out of the gate I've got a result. Last year I was getting killed in the sprints and this year I was contesting 4 up sprint and missed the win by about 6". I feel good, my numbers are good, and feel very confident that I'll have a good solid year.

merlinextraligh

Weights in the gym, mostly squats, dead lifts, leg curls, and muscle tension intervals on the bike.