Recently, after losing yet another Zwift race which finished in a pack sprint, I had an epiphany: my sprint sucks.
It’s all relative, of course. ZwiftPower shows my 15s power today as 878W (10.7 w/kg.) If you look at the top 20 B racers on Zwift, they probably average around 1150W, and around 13.5 w/kg. That’s a big difference.
This first epiphany was followed by a second: I’ve never really trained my sprint. Sure, I lead the Pacific Sprintapalooza ride every Friday morning. But that has always been more about timing my sprint, drafting smart, and using my powerup at just the right time. I’ve done a lot of aerobic endurance, VO2, and sweet spot work. But I’ve never actually trained to improve my sprint power or duration… and it shows.
The Big Idea
So I’ve decided to start a training project, and I’m calling it “Sprintbooster” since the goal is to increase my maximal and 15s sprint power by 20%.
Boone is riding next to me as I write this, and he says 20% is too much because I’m already well-trained. He says 10%. I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
To meet my goal, I’ll complete a variety of workouts and training including:
- Gym work (strength training): deadlifts, squats, and anything else that will help my sprint
- On the bike work
- Cadence: power is a product of torque and pedal velocity. Being able to pedal at a higher cadence increases the velocity side of the equation.
- Force: working on pure pedal force (low cadence work like standing starts or tractor pulls) increases the torque part of the power equation.
- Form: working on seated and out of the saddle form to maximize sprint power.
I’ve already done a fair amount of research on the topic of sprinting, and have identified key areas of improvement including increasing my cadence in standing sprints, “exploding” faster/harder, and strengthening my core.
While the project is underway I’ll continue researching all things sprinting by talking to coaches, reading articles, and watching videos. The information is out there – I just need to find it and apply it. And you’ll get to benefit from my research, as I’ll share the useful stuff I find in upcoming posts!
4-Week Sprintbooster Plan
Phase 1 of the project will be 4 weeks long. Here’s the plan:
- Week 1 (Feb 7-13)
- Baseline tests for maximal and 15s power (including video recording)
- 1 gym strength session: 3-5 reps in 3-5 sets at 85-95% of my one-rep max
- Bike workout: 5 sets of 5×30/30 (30s maximal, 30s recovery), with 4 minutes of recovery in between each set.
- Bike workout: standing starts. Start in a decently hard gear at 0 rpm, then spin it up at maximal effort to 100 rpm. Repeat 3x seated, 3x standing.
- Week 2 (Feb 14-20)
- 1-2 gym strength sessions
- Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
- Bike workout: 5 sets of 3×15/45, where each set of sprints is followed by 4 minutes just over FTP, then 3 minutes of recovery.
- Bike workout: torque intervals (4 sets of 4 minutes at FTP at 50 cadence with 5 minutes recovery in between each set)
- Week 3 (Feb 21-27)
- 2 gym strength sessions
- Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
- Bike workout: torque intervals (4 sets of 4 minutes at FTP at 50 cadence with 5 minutes recovery in between each set)
- Bike workout: standing starts. Start in a decently hard gear at 0 rpm, then spin it up at maximal effort to 100 rpm. Repeat 4x seated, 4x standing.
- Week 4 (Feb 28-Mar 7)
- 2 gym strength sessions
- Bike workout: jumps. Start in an easyish gear and spin it up to my maximum cadence, then hold that for 10 seconds. Repeat. Mix standing and seated.
- Bike workout: 6 sets of 3×15/45, where each set of sprints is followed by 4 minutes just over FTP, then 3 minutes of recovery.
- Finish line tests for maximal and 15s power (including video recording)
This will evolve as time goes on, but I’ll document all of that in upcoming posts.
Questions, Comments, Tips?
Got anything worth sharing? I’d love to read some sprintboosting tips you may have! Want to join me on my Sprintboosting quest? Comment below.