Im gonna reach out to some wisdom, that I know is present in this forum.
My question is about how to tackle the coming off-season. At the moment I would see my self as a puncheur, however the raw top speed sprintet isnt the best. My MAX peak is around 1150w at 78kg, 5s 1075 and 15s 1036w.
I think alot of the races im doing would come off a sprint - either in a decimated field or a larger pack.
The training im doing atm. is abit polarized where my training often looks like:
Monday: off
Tuesday: Zwift race(High intensity) 1-1½hour
Wednesday: Endurance 1-1½ hours
Thursday: Easy sweetspot (To get better muscular endurance, since i feel i lack endurance at that pace - im cramping often after 75-100km)
Friday: Endurance 1-1½hours
Saturday: Threshold or vo2 max workout
Sunday: endurance 2-4 hours.
My tought was to maybe change the day with sweetspot out with the newly alot researched 30s sprints - which should benefit endurance and sprinting i would take?
How would you guys schedule your training days if you want to have an increased sprint and still be able to have the endurance and short high power?
Im at 320 FTP atm. Around 700w at 1m, 500w at 3m, 420 at 5m, 350 at 10m, 335 at 20m.
First, bear in mind that loads of other people want to win, too, and only one person can.
If you want to know “how to win”, you need to know why you’re not winning first. So - what happens in races that go well, and what happens in races that don’t go well? How much is down to fitness? How much is down to tactics? Nutrition? Fit of race to strengths?
I think the main reason is muslucar endurance and sprintpower tbh - which im also mentioning above. But alot of races are coming down to a group - and often im in the front pack however - im not winning - due to people with a faster snap than me.
What races are you doing and how are your results currently? Are you able to put out close to those numbers at the end of a hard race?
I think winning from sprints is more about racecraft, timing, maybe teamwork, and fatigue resistance than raw numbers. I.e. if you can still put out ~1000W for 15s at the end of a hard race and do so at the right time from the right position, that’s enough to win races right up to quite a high level. Even more so if you can get in the right moves and be sprinting in a depleted field against riders who don’t have a great sprint. I’ve known some people with great sprint numbers in training who never manage to do particularly well in races, and the opposite people with what look like pretty modest numbers but are adept at being in the right place at the right time.
And with off season I’m not sure it’s the time to be training the sprint anyway. Would be more inclined towards building the aerobic base and doing some strength work which will provide a stronger foundation when you get close to next race season and start doing sprint-specific work.
Rather than focusing on sprinting, could you look at the other tools you have at your disposal?
If you can hold 700 watts for one minute, could you do it for 30 seconds and then settle in for 5-10 minutes just above threshold? This might enable you to alter the composition of those coming to the line with you. Basically, train to go hard and then stay away. It’s not comfortable but, it’ll give you a whole range of options during the race. If someone else goes down the road, you’ll feel confident that you can go with them and contribute.