my58vw

Alright something steming off of my last race.

I have never had the chance to do a real sprint with a pack today and relized that my sprinting abilities are limited by my power output. I was able to push 32 MPH in a prime sprint but the rest of the field did 35 MPH and you can guess what happened. I know that power is my limiting factor in sprints.

What things would you sugest to do interval wise to help develop raw power for sprinting. I would like to be at 35 MPH but I do not know how long that would take to develop. It is one of the downfalls in having only 8 months experience on a bike...

Thanks as always...

dlbcx

Work on your jump with 10-15 second bursts from a rolling start. Experiment with different gearing to see what works best. Having a strong upper body helps, too, since the arms counteract the pedaling forces from the legs. Also, when you are out of the saddle, don't lean so forward that the rear wheel starts skipping.

my58vw

I did that today... it was on odd feeling, I was spinning over 120 RPM out of the saddle and I felt the rear wheel bounce... scary!

For power workouts (i.e. sprinting) would holding the speed be beneficial after the jump or are just jumps (20 - 30 MPH, etc) beneficial? One more question, would weight room training at this point be something that I should look at for lower body to supliment the on the bike stuff?

pearcem

here's a sprint workout i have put together from various sprint workouts

1) 20 pedal revoltions sprint (120 rpm) in a big gear, 20 revolutions easy spinning
3 sets of 3 reps

2) 12 second wind-ups - start at 20 or 30 rpm, then spin the gear up to 100+ rpm. do
these in a big gear to help build power and strength
3 to 5 reps

3) 20 second agility sprints - do these in an easy gear. these help to build leg speed.
spin at 120 to 130 rpm
3 to 5 reps

4) race sprints. do 1 to 2 minutes of a steady, yet relatively fast pace. shift down one
gear and do a 20 second lead out. maintain the same cadence as the steady state.
then do a 10 to 15 second sprint
2 to 3 reps

this workout combo helps build both power and leg speed. add in the appropriate recovery time and figure out the gears that you are comfortable doing. you obviously don't have to do all of these exercises, you can mix and match accordingly.

my58vw

Thank you much, that was rather helpful.

It does seem that power is my biggest issue right now, and what I need to work on most.

surfncycling

Was that at the LA Circuit?

my58vw

Yes it was, I raced in the cat 5 second group...

surfncycling

Cool, I was in your group, it was my first race. Pretty easy pace, but I went late on the sprint, live and learn, I think I got 4th or 5th.

my58vw

That is not bad at all for your first race, it was my first circuit race too...

Which rider were you? That pace is not normal for racing as I understand it though, in my first crit paces were in the 26 MPH average.

Live and learn is right, I got dropped on the prime sprint, not the final sprint... of course I have only been riding for about 8 months and only about 4 months of that actually riding fast. If you do not mind how long have you been riding? I always wonder when I hear of people winning or doing real good in their first race...

my58vw

I went to the gym today and did some tests and found out while my power is definitly going up it is not where I want it by far. I am only lifting 180 pounds for 12 reps x 5 on leg press, 90 pound 10x5 on leg extention (quads) and 80 pounds 10x5 on leg curl. Now all these numbers are over 30 pounds higher than when I first started training but I want them much higher. Is strength training to failure a few times a week on days after intervals going to help me develop more sprinting instantanous power?

surfncycling

You want to lift *before* your on bike excercises, otherwise you're not going to gain much.
Lifting for explosive power requires you to push the muscles as far past their thresholds as possible. This tears (literally) the muscle fibers and they grow back more and stronger. Lifting is going to allow you to put MUCH more force on the muscles then you ever could cycling, so you can see why you would want them fresh. If you're legs are already tired from cycling the muscles are not going to have the fuel to be pushed hard enough to stimulate growth.
Once your muscles are completely fatigued from lifting *then* you want to get on the bike and force as much blood into the muscles as possible, also stimulating growth, and more importantly orientating the muscles to areas used in cycling.
Hope that helps!

FWIW I was a D1 athelete before I started cycling, so I've spent tons of time in the weight room building strength, though not indurance.

my58vw

Thanks for the clarification. Would it be a good idea to lift for example in the morning then ride in the evenings or is that too far apart? My legs were quite thrashed after my workout today, more than they ever feel on the bike. Today I effectlvly went to failure in all three muscle groups and I could feel it for a little while after the workout.

Sounds like something to add in to get the power that I want...

surfncycling

I'm not quite sure about that one, but I do know that many of the top European track teams have their weights in the center of the track, then immediately after lifting they are on the bikes, so I'd assume its better to go right afterwards if possible.