Sprints - Duration or Power?
#51
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Definitely a specific element to working on two jumps with an effort in between.
I've tried 30 second efforts with 5-6 sec jump, 20 secs hard, and then a 5-6 sec jump again at the end as I feel it mimics a lot of races.
Our Wed night crit usually has 3 separate jumps over the last minute. Making sure you cover the first two and can then squeeze off enough of a sprint for the final jump out of the last turn is important.
#52
Ninny
Definitely true, and definitely learnable. But I also think it's true that one can compensate for weaknesses in such a way as to mask the fact that they are weaknesses. This connects to a conversation I was having yesterday with a friend who is a coach.
Him: "I looked at some of your numbers. I think the area you'd benefit from working on most is 5-60 second power."
Me: "nah I'm OK there, it's FTP I need to work on. when I do well it's usually a bunch finish, I need to work on success in a break."
Him: "you won the field sprint at Branchbrook on 5 seconds @ 890 watts. just because you did well doesn't mean you're strong."
#53
out walking the earth
Definitely true, and definitely learnable. But I also think it's true that one can compensate for weaknesses in such a way as to mask the fact that they are weaknesses. This connects to a conversation I was having yesterday with a friend who is a coach.
Him: "I looked at some of your numbers. I think the area you'd benefit from working on most is 5-60 second power."
Me: "nah I'm OK there, it's FTP I need to work on. when I do well it's usually a bunch finish, I need to work on success in a break."
Him: "you won the field sprint at Branchbrook on 5 seconds @ 890 watts. just because you did well doesn't mean you're strong."
Him: "I looked at some of your numbers. I think the area you'd benefit from working on most is 5-60 second power."
Me: "nah I'm OK there, it's FTP I need to work on. when I do well it's usually a bunch finish, I need to work on success in a break."
Him: "you won the field sprint at Branchbrook on 5 seconds @ 890 watts. just because you did well doesn't mean you're strong."
It's a skill to hide your weaknesses. A delusion not to recognize them.
#54
Senior Member
The best way for me to hide my weaknesses is to put my bikes on eBay....
#56
Senior Member
Fellow racers,
I've been working on my sprints (as that area is lacking) and I'm curious if ya'll focus on the duration of the sprint or the power being produced during the sprint?
Most of the stuff I've been doing is in the 30 second range and I find it easier to simply count in my head or I pick a Strava segment close to that time and go with duration.
I'm wondering if I should focus on the amount of power I am producing during the sprint vs looking at it post ride.
Thoughts?
I've been working on my sprints (as that area is lacking) and I'm curious if ya'll focus on the duration of the sprint or the power being produced during the sprint?
Most of the stuff I've been doing is in the 30 second range and I find it easier to simply count in my head or I pick a Strava segment close to that time and go with duration.
I'm wondering if I should focus on the amount of power I am producing during the sprint vs looking at it post ride.
Thoughts?
My peaks don't move very much. 1250-1350w in a race (if I'm fit enough to get to the end without being completely exhausted), about 1450-1550w in training (and very fresh when making the efforts). However my best overall sprints (in terms of power-seconds) have been sustained 1100-1150w efforts, going on 18-19 seconds long.
In races where I do 1000w for 10-14 seconds I can do very well in most sprints.
So for me sprinting better is sustaining higher power for a longer period of time. When I'm not fit I struggle to maintain 800-900w for 8 seconds. When I'm reasonably fit I can do about 900-1000w for maybe 12 seconds. When I'm really fit I can do 1100w for a solid 17-19 seconds. I have not captured a great sprint on any clip, my 1450-1550w sprints happened before I regularly wore a camera.
One thing that I've discovered possible is to get multiple peak efforts in a sprint. I discovered that my peak power band is in a pretty narrow rpm range. I need to be going about a certain cadence, with a certain amount of acceleration. Then my power drops off rapidly. By shifting into higher gears I can keep my cadence at a close-to-ideal speed, allowing me to make multiple max wattage peaks. I haven't done it in a race but in training I've done sprints with three 1200w peaks in maybe 4 or 5 seconds. This led to a pretty high avg wattage in the sprint, even though my power dropped hard after that third peak. Through experimentation I found that my best sprint power is just around 105-110 rpm, using 175mm cranks (I have extremely short legs).
In races I struggle to optimize rpms/etc because I pay more attention to what's going on around me. I tried using a heads up display for a bit (Sportsiiis) and will try again as I now have an Ant+ powermeter (SRM wireless). The Sportsiiiis can be programmed to display certain color LEDs depending on whatever you want, cadence, HR, power, speed. I set mine to show green in a very narrow rpm range (105-110 rpm) so that I knew I was in the right zone when I jumped. With a heads up display I don't have to look down/around to see if I'm in the right cadence range, the I just get into the green zone and then I know I'm optimized to jump.
(btw my power pales in comparison to "true" sprinters that might put down over 2000w peak, 1800w for 10 seconds, and 1000w for a minute... one former National Team sprinter put down such numbers apparently, a local rider that was untouchable in sprints as a Junior / Cat 3).
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"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson
"...during the Lance years, being fit became the No. 1 thing. Totally the only thing. It’s a big part of what we do, but fitness is not the only thing. There’s skills, there’s tactics … there’s all kinds of stuff..." Tim Johnson
#57
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Don't have great peak power but I got 5th in a road race mass sprint because cat 5's are dummies and tried to sprint from half a mile out into a headwind. I rode a guys wheel till maybe 200 meters to go and overhauled a pile of guys who were burned up. So there's my useless post.
#58
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Don't have great peak power but I got 5th in a road race mass sprint because cat 5's are dummies and tried to sprint from half a mile out into a headwind. I rode a guys wheel till maybe 200 meters to go and overhauled a pile of guys who were burned up. So there's my useless post.
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