I’ve got good lactic acid tollerace, a reasonable VO2max but I recover from sprints/surges quickly. I average 91% of my MaxHR comfortably in most races <1hour. I have better cardio than leg strength (my legs hurt before my lungs will).
I have a sprinters build with a history of resistance training though my legs strugle to recover from bike work so I no longer attend the gym.
I’ve got more endurance than I require at the moment, I’m wondering how can I train to convert my LA tollerance into a higher top speed for sprint finishes.
Standing Starts: Warm up very well. Do several standing starts. From a stop, stomp on the pedals as hard as you can for 10-12 seconds. Recover and repeat. You can work this into most any ride.
Jumps: Warm up very well. From a cruising pace, stand up and sprint for 10-12 pedal revolutions. Recover and repeat. You can work these into most any ride.
The real deal sprint: Warm up very well. Bring your speed up to about as high as you can tolerate for extended periods of time (2-3 minutes). From that, jump and sprint with everything you got for as long as you can hold it. Recover and repeat. Try to work this as a specific training ride. This ride won’t last much more than an hour.
If racing is what you wish to do, you should consider training for racing. Vastly different than Tri or recreational riding. Pick up Friel’s book or get a coach. If you chose to race next spring, you’d start your training in October or so. Plan ahead and develop a plan. You can incorporate the training plan into your current riding and get a big jump on race fitness for next year while developing your skills for this year.
I already do the standing starts (I can track stand at trafic lights).
Will try the jumps. Real Deal sprints sound like fun.
I’m in Australia so I race all year round
I race averaging 91% every sat. I don’t take time off during the year, but if my legs continue to recover slowly I might start skipping my weekly race so I can train harder.
Real Deal sprints sound like the training I’m after.
I think Russell has very good advice. You have to increase your ability to attack and recover, so his sprint advice is good. I don’t think you want to give up your endurance…that’s what’s going to allow you to have the energy to attack in the end of the race. You can’t have too much endurance. You just need to have a better ability to attack and respond to attacks. Do less steady state work and more starts, jumps, sprints and pyramid intervals. Biggest thing is, give yourself time to recover. The day after intervals should be very, very easy. Recovery is where you get faster.
I think stopping your weekly race would be a big mistake. You want to be a road racer, then you’re going to have to race! Road racing is as much, or more, about tactics as it is about fitness. You only learn racecraft by racing. From your posts, I truly think the biggest gain for you would come from allowing more recovery time…thereby allowing your harder efforts to be that much harder. You can’t train to the limit if you’re not recovered and are tired. Good luck!
I’m still improving just looking for new training methods incase I plateou. Have been increasing my max speed by 1kph each week for a month.
Did a handicap yesterday, averaged 41.1kph, max 54.9kph, ave 180 bpm(93% Max) starting on chopping block.
Currently its my legs that are stopping me from progressing, my cardio and energy levels have heaps in reserve.
As far as learning goes, next time scratch catch catches my group I’ll drop back and locate the wheel of the sprinter who (I know) will sit on the bunch till the sprint.
