Hey folks,
Had a great race this weekend. In the final minute of the race I was able to put down 6.7 watt per kg. Not a great number but it was a hard and somewhat hilly race with 2500 feet of climbing over 67km , My max all time best 1 minute power is about 8-8.5w/kg
I will train more endurance and more 1 minute efforts. But should my focus be on improving 1 minute effort or improving endurance? I really didn’t feel great going into the sprint.
Both! You fresh 1 minute power is pretty decent, but you’re failing to hold on to that once you’re fatigued. One of the things I would be focusing on is building your fatigue-resistance by increasing your endurance, but, I would 100% be including some pre-fatigued sprint sessions into your training schedule to mimic the demands of your racing.
I think what youre saying is that I should focus slightly more on improving endurance. Which I guess I’ll do with z2 4x20min at high endurance low tempo which is a bout 3.3w/kg for me.
Agree?
What average power is required to get to the finish before the sprint, and what is the duration of the event? It’s certainly not high zone 2 and/or low tempo, but also up to threshold.
If I could have done 10,000 watts for hte last 5 seconds I could have won.
IF… small word, big meaning 
Seriously though, no point having a good sprint if you miss the bus that gets you to the sprint.
Being able to ride economically allows you to use your strength at the end.
Supposedly that you have the endurance to get to the finish with the first group, i think you have to focus on short intervals (a lot of) to increase power output. That’s the difficult part, to increase sprinting power
You have to train your anaerobic capacity. This video may help
He talks about FRC but you can use W’ instead. If you have a Garmin, there are IQ data fields that show your W’ prime balance in real time.
It certainly wouldn’t do any harm! There’s a million ways to skin this cat… Most often though, the reason people aren’t doing more volume is because they can’t; none of us are gifted enough to be pro, so we have to juggle training with work! If that case, I’d recommend being a little ‘smarter’ with the time you do have on the bike. Try integrating some tempo work at the end of rides. For pre-fatigued sprints, I’d mimic that of racing. You don’t go from 200w up to 1100w in a race. You typically ramp up to vo2 or beyond for ~60 seconds and have to try and kick from there. I’d recommend integrating some of those repeats into rides.
Yes, it would be good to have a bigger max sprint, but I’d much rather be able to access a high % of my max sprint at the end of a race. For example, 90% of 1000w is greater than 60% of 1400w. I’d much rather have the fatigue resistance than the huge max power.
I actually do have infinite time because I dont have to work much. What then?
Then ride…
Any form of training/improving intensities used during the race, will bring you to the line in a better condition. Getting there less fatigued will make you better in the final sprint.
Well in that case, get a coach who will help you build up to 30-40 hours a week in a sustainable manner and maximise your potential!
