Sprint Training

Training
1

Hello everyone,

I’m looking to include a few weeks of sprint training to my training.

I never race and so I’m just looking to do it for fitness / fun. For now I’m just gonna do like 5 all out efforts (~20 seconds) with ~10 min break in-between. I’ll do this 2x a week for 2 weeks. Currently not really interested in drills (cadence etc). Perhaps I’ll add some of that for the next time I do this for a few weeks.,

  1. current technique advice?

I have been binge watching videos and reading technique. I understand everyone is built different but I hear very conflicting things…like literally sometimes opposite. One video says to pull on the bar when your opposite foot is going, one says to pull on the same (I guess most say that but a few were the opposite).

Anyone have an up to date step by step technique…just wondering how to approach that.

  1. Aero Position

I understand why getting into an aero position is important for speed. Given that I just am training for fitness, should I just skip that part of the sprint so I can apply max power?

  1. seated “sprinting”? Is that a thing? I don’t see much mention of this…just going all out for 20-30 seconds?

  2. what % of FTP are you riding during recovery between efforts?

  3. if i’m just doing 60-90 min easy ride with 5 sprints, is fueling during the ride unimportant? just make sure your meal before was decent enough?

Thank you!

2

  1. You should be pulling on the side where the foot is pushing down. You’re basically using your arms to pull the bike up while your foot is pushing down.

  2. I wouldn’t worry about this. At least at first. Especially because you’re doing it for fitness or fun. It will also likely limit your max power so that’s a consideration as well.

  3. It’s a thing but probably more race or situation specific. Like accelerating in a road race of maybe sprinting up a hill in MTB or gravel where traction or wheel lift is an issue. Can be good to mix in though

  4. Recovery power for the first couple min then low endurance till the next sprint

  5. Ehh more important than an hour of recovery or endurance but less important than an hour of threshold

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3

  1. The TR video is good on technique.

  2. If you just want some pretty numbers to look at, ignore aero. Also, lift weights.

  3. Max seated efforts are a thing. Again, though, if you are just looking for pretty numbers, getting out of the saddle for at least the first bit will help.

  4. Just recover. Spin. Don’t worry about the numbers or even the amount of time in between. Go again when you feel ready to give it everything again. (And when it is safe to do so in terms of traffic, road conditions, visibility, etc.)

  5. Fueling is always important.

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