andythebird

Im gonna ride a kilo in october 2019. i need som training tips,tricks and maybe some sample programs.
im a newbiee on the track. so any tips will help me alot.

taras0000

If you're new to track, the best thing you can do is just ride and race the track. It seems like a cop-out answer but it isn't.

It used to be that the way to ride a was Kilo was to start flat out, at 100%, and hold on for dear life until you crossed the finish line. Now we know it's better to float the start a little (just hold back a tiny bit), to save some reserve for later on.

Now knowing that, and going back to what I first wrote. We don't know what kind of raver you are. Are you a sprinter, an Enduro, what sort of times and power output do you have. The way a kilo is ridden is highly personal, not just between riders, but a rider might change how he rides it based on the day.

Your first few kilos will probably suck. That's not meant to be an insult, it say that they will be slow. It's just a highly technical event where small details can have dramatic changes on your time.

Don't go into it looking to slay that dragon on your first try. In the meantime, practice standing starts. A lot of new track riders tend to be shaky on this. Try a few flying 500s to get the feel of what it's like when the anchor drops (you'll know what I mean once you've done your first kilo).

Other than that, ride, race, have fun and get to know the track.

andythebird

I used to ride some years ago. Competed some om the track but not that much . My personal om the kilo is 1.08.57 . I am now doing æ comeback but this time om the track. I was wondering how to train for such a specific event

ToddTheBod

You're going to want to work on starts, your Pmax, and also your anaerobic capacity.

Generally, anaerobic capacity adaptations are some of the "quickest" to gain, so they're added to the program more toward the end, before you taper. For anaerobic capacity, you're looking at doing 30-40s intervals either in something like 3-4 rounds of 4 mins of 30/30s, or something like 4-6 all out 30s efforts with partial to full recovery in between. In order to stimulate the anaerobic capacity improvements, you need to dig DEEP.

Starts, a huge benefit is getting someone to film you. Starts on small gears, race gear, and big gears, all good things that can be included in your start work.

Pmax, you're either going to need to get stronger, i.e. lift more weights, faster, i.e. build up leg speed, or both. If you've got a powermeter, you or a coach can look at data and see if it's likely you need more force or more rate of force development. You can also kind of "tell" if you're a more advanced rider which you need. If you feel like when you sprint you wind out a gear pretty quickly and at a relatively low cadence, you need more RFD, if you find yourself unable to really push bigger gears or push hard enough at low cadences like in a start, you need to develop more force.

Baby Puke

Train your start and top speed from a rolling start first, then add in the anaerobic tolerance (this stuff hurts) last. (in the final few weeks before an event). From my experience over the last ten years of doing them, 90 percent of your time should be spent training top speed from a roll. That's the biggie, in my opinion.

carleton

Hi, Andy. Welcome to the forum.

This is tough order to fill. As you might imagine, there are lots of variables in play:

- Your level of fitness
- Your level of experience racing and training
- What equipment you have available
- If you have a track nearby
- How far out is your big event
- Your commitment level (5, 10, 20, 20+ hours/week)

Asking for a training program is like saying, "I'm interested in hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my entire family. I'm a newbiee in the kitchen. Tips, tricks, and training plans would be appreciated."

There's no telling what you'd get. But, chances are, it'll be fragmented bits and pieces or very high level info.

I know this may not be the answer that you are looking for, but it may be worth it to pay a coach to write a (hopefully custom) program for you. Normal rates are about $100-$350/month and can go up from there. With such a program, you'll have confidence and not worry about, "Am I doing the right thing?". No. No program is perfect. But, any program is better than winging it.

As you gain experience and benefit from significant time on multiple programs, you'll get to a point where you can write your own program and guide yourself.

Here at BF, it seems that specific questions with specific answers get the most traction, e.g.: "Are there any sprint bars under 35cm c-c width?" and broad questions get less traction, "How do I become a better racer?"

Dolanarc1

I raced a few Kilo's way back in my day and from reading the answers from other members here.
You've got a good base of theories to go out and try a few idea's.

For myself, once I had a good solid base of training in my legs. It was mostly flying 500's an standing starts.

Keep us posted and good luck,

son_of_clyde

You rode a 1:08 kilo, yet you don't know how to train for it? Hmmm...

700wheel

Not a kilo guy but know that some kilo riders use Training Peaks
https://www.trainingpeaks.com/traini...y-hunter-allen

andythebird

i can see that some more information is needed here. i used to race on the road.
i trained around 20hrs a week. with 3 days with some intervals primerily zone 3 and 4 in the power zones.
my strong sight was short efforts- 20sec-1.30 min hills and stuff like that. i could produce around 850 watts standing average on 1min hills. i weight 72 kilos at the time. i retired back in 2016 but have now fallen for track cycling. and want to start racing again.
i have never trained for efforts like the kilo and shorter stuff. as that was never a problem when racing on the road.
so how should i precede?
Should i split it in to
-strenght
-Power
- Speed endurance?

or should i train more like a split routine? i can train up to 2sessions per day.

carleton

I don't want you to think that people are dismissing you or your question. It's simply a question that can't easily be answered.

The Kilo is a simple yet complex and brutal event. "Simple", meaning: "It's only 4 laps...how hard can it be?". "Complex" (see below). "Brutal", meaning: If you aren't questioning "Why the hell did I sign up for this bullsh*t event???!" after every kilo, you didn't ride it hard enough and you could have ridden faster, hahaha.

Believe it or not, I've seen roadies ride kilos then roll off the track like it was nothing. They didn't tap into their true maximum effort potential. They rode it sub-maximal. Learning how to tap into that maximal potential is a skill in and of itself.

If you are reasonably fit from the road riding/racing, then you can probably ride a pretty good kilo (close to your potential) already. Getting the rest of that speed out of you is your journey.

For conversation's sake, let's say that on any given day you can ride a 1:08 or 1:10-ish Kilo. But, your are capable of riding a 1:04 (a top-tier elite time in the USA. Not best, but only a few can do it.). That's "only 4-6 seconds", but, it may take a year of training, testing, and tweaking to get it.

- Maybe drop a road riding day and add a gym day.
- Maybe add more protein.
- Maybe 1 trip to a wind tunnel.
- Maybe a big change in gearing (larger or smaller).
- Maybe change how you ride it (head-on all you got until you die, float some in the middle, negative-split each lap).
- Maybe use a front disc...or not.
- Maybe motorpace more.

It's a journey, man. There is no magic bullet comment in a forum that will do it...if so, we would have copy-pasted it to you already

Baby Puke

Seems like no one has talked about starts yet. Maximal starts are a bit of an art form- if you can, get some coaching on your start form, and ideally if you are training for kilo one day a week is "starts day".

topflightpro

I think that before and after every Kilo I do.



This has been a challenge for me. I dug incredibly deep for my very first kilo. It hurt so much, I've really struggled to push myself to that point again.

taras0000

Your ignorance of what lay before you at the time was at the time your biggest asset, but your future hindrance. Everyone remembers their first kilo, unless they passed out.

carleton

The Kilo is an event for fools and madmen.

topflightpro

Yep. This is exactly it. I'm just trying to figure out how to push past it. If anyone has any tips, please share.

carleton

I know it sounds trite, but you just have to power through it. The pain is "only" for a few minutes after the event (only....hahaha).

When I was dedicated to training for the kilo, I only did like 4 full kilos in the entire season, including velodrome championships and Masters Nationals. This was under a top coach's program. All of the other Kilo training was in segments (start, accelerations, max speed, speed endurance) separately.

ilanpi

Hello, what is RFD?

-ilan

Morelock

Rate of Force Development

ilanpi

I'm not sure what that is, but from what I understand, the improvement comes from increase in rate of force decrease.

-ilan

Morelock

without trying to dumb it down too much... turning the crank faster / higher cadence.