Originally Posted by
Mose
Also, watch as many sprinterdellacasa youtube videos as you can and read his advice in the subtitles. That alone will give you a leg up on the average Cat 5.
@
Zedmor It may not be clear but sprinterdellacasa is me. I'm pretty challenged as a racer, 210w FTP, your weight. My strength is that I have a jump, and I have a few years of racing experience.
I placed 3rd in one race this year where I averaged under 155w, which is unusual, but typically my best races are those where I average between 170 and 190w. Much higher than that and I have no sprint left at the end. I tend to pick races with a short hill or no hill (short hill is usually better for me).
For many years I had to approach racing as a survival thing - usually I got shelled long before the end of the race. I made it a goal of mine to see less than 60 seconds of wind in an hour of racing. In some races, with a fierce wind and no shelter, I could feel my strength being ripped from my body as I struggled in the wind. I can always sprint if I have some reserves - that's how sprinters work. For those that don't sprint as well it's critical to be as fresh as possible when you make your efforts so that you make them count.
I suspect? that you haven't tried sprinting 100% when you're fresh. It's one thing to try and sprint at the end of a race, it's another thing to go out and do specific sprint work. There's some coordination involved, obviously some strength, and a lot of determination. Do a few accelerations (moderately big gear so you don't get spun out immediately) under 10 seconds and see what your 5 second and peak power numbers are, it may be that you have another dimension available to your racing.