PERFORMANCE CYCLING CONDITIONING A NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO IMPROVING CYCLISTS www.performancecondition.com/cycling Periodization of Sprint Cycling with Considerations for Endurance Cyclists Clay Worthington, USA Cycling Assistant Coach Sprint Track, Colorado Springs, CO Clay spent two years as a scholarship coaching intern, an additional 6 months as assistant coach of sprint track for USAC, and is in his first season as Head Coach of Sprint Track. His responsibilities include implementation of training plans for sprint track at training sessions and perform necessary testing as required. He has also coached at multiple camps/trips (e.g., track en- durance, track sprint, road endurance, Southern and Palo Saeco Games-Trinidad). He is a USAC Level 1 Coach and a Cat 3 road and track licensed cyclist. He has a Masters of Science degree in kinesiology at Midwestern State University. BGN INT n cycling, the age-old question is quality versus quantity (i.e. intensity v. volume). If you look at the power numbers XTP there’s a wide degree for variance in power output. With women, the greatest power output for world-class athletes is be- MSR I tween 1300 and 1500 watts. With men, they are able to produce in the neighborhood of 2300 to 2500 watts (Figure 1). MTB Sprint athletes will try to produce these numbers on a regular basis—they try to practice at this maximum intensity. They do this from starts or as part of accelerations. With endurance athletes, if you put them on a bike at the end of a race the best any of them could produce would be anywhere from 1600 to 1700 watts. They will ride a time trail in the range of three to five hundred watts. The endurance cyclists who aren’t great sprinters will reach 1200 to 1300 watts at the sprint portion of a race. Under normal riding conditions they will be at 300-500 watts, which is 25 to 33 percent of their peak ability. A more meaningful way to look at these numbers is in relative terms (i.e. watts/kilogram of body weight). Reasonable estimates of power output capabilities of elite male track sprinters is 23-26 W/kg; elite female sprinters will produce slightly less at 20-22 W/kg. For more information on power output of sprint track cyclists see Martin et al. “Modeling sprint cycling using field-derived parameters and forward integration.” Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2006 Mar; 38(3) 592-7. For more information on power output of endurance cyclists see “Training and Racing with a Powermeter” by Hunter Allen and Andrew Coggan. As a result of the above numbers we see that strength/power athletes are always trying to push to the limit attempting to make themselves better. It becomes a matter of seeing how hard they can ride for a given distance.

Applying Strength/Power to an Endurance Event The first consideration when applying these concepts is to provide a reality check. Sprinters are born, not made—this is all part of genetics. Any application to endurance athletes will have this limitation. Certainly everyone can improve in many different areas of performance, but some people just aren’t sprinters. This relates back to physiological factors like fiber type. You can’t take a mature adult from 1200 to 1700 watts, it just isn’t possible. Further, body type is not as big a factor as it would seem, which means that the listed absolute wattages are best viewed as relative to an individual’s body size. There are many elite sprint cyclists who are not excessively large individuals (e.g. Michael Bourgain, 4th 2006 World Championships) and therefore don’t produce giant absolute watts; it is their relative wattage production that is important In contrast to this idea that sprinters are limited primarily by their ge- netics, endurance athletes are made with time and quality of work (Mujika presented information on this at the 2006 USAC Summit). The goal in endurance training is to provide the sustained effort to get over a hill and avoid getting dropped. Talented sprinters who can do this will tend to win more races than either those without this type of sprint talent or who can’t get over the hills at the speed of the peoloton. The tactics of power endurance athletes is to create space on the hills or into the wind where the less powerful athletes will struggle. If a coach has an athlete who he thinks needs to improve sprinting abilities, that athlete can benefit from sprint type training. This type of training can be performed in the gym or on the bike each has their particular advantages and disadvantages. This is the best way to develop some speed and pop. A goal of any endurance cyclist with good sprint abilities is can s/he get through the hard parts of a race and be in position at the finish to win. S/he can rely upon sprint training and abilities to win a race so long as they can produce sufficient sustained effort to remain in the peoloton at the critical points of a race.

Figure 1 Strength/Power vs Endurance • Strength/Power – Always pushing limits – Quality, not quantity (typically 500m or less in training) – Strength is a major determinant • Gym work – Power is important • Explosive, quick, ballistic movements (1300-2600W) • Endurance: – Always within ability – Accumulation of quality (i.e., quantity) • Typically multiple minutes or more training – Strength is not a major determinant – Power is important • Sustainability (300-500W)

Sequencing Power Development Sequencing of training refers to the continuum of development of physical characteristics based on the concept that physi- ological skills, abilities, and characteristics will affect other physiologic skills, abilities, and characteristics with an end result that performance is affected; e.g., increased strength = increased power. When looking at sequencing, it should be noted that these char- acteristic evolve in the environment of a weight room. Traditionally, strength/power athletes will start in the weight room with high volume training (10 reps), which is base building for future power development. This is done by increasing loads and bringing reps down to the two to five range. Once this is accomplished, jump and explosive power activities are added. On the bike, sequencing is a little different. The accepted sequence (continuum) is STRENGTH-ENDURANCE à STRENGTH à POWER à SPEED à SPEED-ENDURANCE. The last two characteristics can be switched depending on the event for which the athlete is being prepared or the particular strengths and weaknesses of each athlete. But the concept behind the listed sequence is that you can’t really work speed-endurance until you have brought on the speed. As one might infer from the name, speed-endurance is the ability to draw out the top end speed of an athlete. Strength Endurance for a track cyclist would be road riding at 80 to 100 rpm range, which will be a strength/endurance type of training even though the wattage is very low. Moving along the continuum is strength work. This is done by doing standing starts in a big gear, which brings down the rpm to 120-125 on the track. Effort will be in the range of 500-1000 meters depending on the event. Next, the athletes do accelerations in a bigger gear for a start trying to overcome a big resistance. As they move into power, this becomes much more race-specific using a smaller gear. In this case, they pop it training to work on the rate of force development. For speed, the important concept is over-speed training (100-200m efforts). This is done behind a motorbike or in pairs taking ad- vantage of the draft working in smaller gears to get the riders to generate more speed and pedaling efficiency with the power they have. Thus, this is neurological training. Finally, speed-endurance is longer efforts of motorpacing or longer efforts of speed (300- 600m). Again, the reason this can come at the end despite the increase in volume associated with the longer efforts is that at this time the athletes have fine-tuned the neurological ability to spin their legs quickly. Speed and power are independent of one another in track cycling terms. Power is acceleration while speed on a fixed gear is the ability to turn the necessary cadence. If one can’t keep the cadence, this results in losing the power one has. For endurance road cyclists it’s different because they are not limited by cadence; therefore, power is speed.

If strength is so important, how does it relate? Strength/Power Transference Model This sequencing can be seen in the strength/power illustrated in Figure 2. This illustration shows the continuum from general strength to general power and the interrelationship of weight room work to on-bike training. For track cyclists, this is the essence of periodization. For sprint track cyclists, because they are working at the end of their range, as far as power is concerned, strength is very important and very much a limiter. To clarify, for someone to be naturally fast on a track bike, s/he doesn’t necessarily have to be strong but will need to be powerful. For example, take a junior male who doesn’t have a lot of strength (1RM squat of approximately 250 pounds; max power of 20-21 W/kg; best 200m 10.8) at a particular point in his/her career but has good speed. For that rider to move into the senior ranks and start getting higher speed levels with accelerations that are going to be competitive, s/he will have to increase strength. To draw an analogy, strength is a ballpark and power are the spectators. If you want more spectators, build a bigger ballpark. For this athlete, gym training is very important. On the endurance side, because these riders are working between 25 and 33 percent of maximum wattage, strength is not a limiter so power training CAN be performed exclusively on the bike. For athletes who need gym work, the primary activities would be squats, cleans and dead lifts. In Figure 2, once strength has been enhanced (particularly in the squat and dead lift exercises), the coach can shift training content to focus transferring strength to power by doing Olympic lifts and plyometric type activities using appropriate resistance for the goal (e.g. body weight or limited re- sistance). This is similar to on-bike training where the coach will have the athletes go from bigger gear work at slow speeds and move to smaller gears to push the strength into rate of force development. This moves to acceleration and speed work where motor- pacing and smaller gears are most useful.

Track Periodization Models

Strength/Power Transfer Model Speed "cadence efficiency" General Strength General Power 165-185+ rpm (dependent on duration) * Small gears and fast speeds Absolute Strength (Force) Power = Force x velocity * Motor work * 85-100% 1RM * 20-85% 1RM Acceleration * Team leadouts Change in velocity

* Body weight and/or * Limited resistance

Bike-Specific Bike-Specific Strength Power * Big gears and/or * Moderate gears and moderate speeds or * Slow speeds * Small gears and slow speeds Figure 2 Presented are two periodization models done by track athletes.

Programming Flat Loading Figure 3

Figure 3 illustrates a flat loading periodization model. While the figure looks flat, the reality is that athletes start at about 85% intensity in a longer effort and move right into maximum effort and try to sustain this maximum effort as long as necessary until it’s time to come back down and do it again. The point is that just because intensity is high because that’s where they need to be working, it doesn’t mean there is no periodization. An athlete may go to the track and do starts or accelerations at maximum but there are still rest days and other recovery methods. Further, there will be variations in stresses as a result of gearing, distance/duration of effort, number of sets/reps, activity type, etc. Figure 4 illustrates the relationship of gym and on-bike training. It demonstrates that these types of activities are offset somewhat on different days. A big day at the gym isn’t typically coupled with a heavy day on the track. Figure 4 Undulation as Periodization

Periodization Considerations for Track Cyclists—Mesocycles Figure 5 provides elements of program design for track cyclists. The component of capacity is done by a degree of road fit- ness. The on-bike strength/endurance aspect can be trained with two to three hours at 80 to 100 rpm on variable terrain with 60 to 70 rpm interspersed for 10 to 15 minutes blocks. If this is not addressed on a continuous basis, speed can be lost on the track. From my experience, 200 meter results can drop off anywhere from one-to four-tenths; if there is a parallel neglect of road training drop- off can be excessive. Even though short events on the track are anaerobic in nature, if you break it down, the aerobic component is more important than you might think. If you consider the longer events such as the Kilo, we know that the crossover of energy con- tribution happens somewhere between 75 to 90 seconds as outlined by Gastin (“Energy system interaction and relative contribution during maximal exercise.” Sports Med. 2001;31(10):725-41). At this time the aerobic contribution is about 50 percent of the activity. If you go longer, it’s more; if you go shorter, it’s less. For a 60-second Kilo event, the athletes’ aerobic energy contribution is just under 50 percent by the end of the race. A third lap team sprinter is likely to be in the same situation with a significant part of his/her performance coming from aerobic contributions. The second lap ride would be less but still it’s an important consideration. A first lap rider on a world-class level is around 18 seconds will have a little aerobic contribution but much less than the third and second lap rider. Finally, even a 200m will have more aerobic energy contribution than would be commonly thought because even though the event is only timed for 10-12 seconds, peak power commonly occurs 15-18 seconds from the finish line and significantly high power numbers (not maximal) can typically be seen in the wind up for 25-30 seconds before the finish line. The need for a good base is important. In the weeks leading into important competitions when training at speed, athletes can’t waste energy by going on long road rides. By having a big foundation, they have something upon which to rely. When doing road training, track training will be of higher volume but with less frequency due to the road rides. On the track training will be short rest 375 to 500 meter sprints, which results in less intensity than if doing 200s, though RPE will still be maximal. For power development, the gearing is smaller starting at slow speed and hitting it to gain acceleration. The volume is more moderate to take into account that power doesn’t develop well under high volume. Frequency at the track may go up depending on individual needs of the athletes and the time needed in the gym. Sets and reps are substantially diminished from the capacity phase. If one is training for force rate development, such training will not be as effective under high volume circumstances, which sacrifices quality training. To bring on top speed, the training gear should be race gear or smaller and motorpacing and team efforts are highly effective for this goal. Race rpm for a highly trained track sprinter can be around 155-165 depending on gearing. Training efforts designed to bring on speed can require 175-185 rpm or more. For speed endurance, because it’s a big consideration for event specificity and tapering it is important to consider that the balance between stress and recovery needs to result in a fresher athlete. Therefore, the motorbike or team activities can be useful because the draft can bring on the efficiency with as little stress as possible. The rpm are fast but the athletes aren’t going as hard. These are done in splits, which tend to be even. If this is placed within speed development, especially for the third lap in Kilo riders, the emphasis is more on speed endurance than speed. For sprinters, this is a good method to fine-tune the long sprint in the taper phase of training; however, it should be done with minimum volume in relation to reducing the number of sets because the distance is greater. For tapering, the important point is that if you didn’t overload, there’s no need to taper. The reason I say this is that for many riders they have everyday jobs and family responsibilities. For many of them they just don’t have the ability to put in the amount of work that will push them into overreaching or overtraining. If an athlete is asking the coach for more volume in training, particularly as an important event is approaching, this is a clear indicator that overload has not occurred. If you have a person who has been pushed to a level of high fatigue, then tapering will be very effective.

Figure 5 • Capacity (General Preparation) – Higher volume, Moderate intensity, Short rest • Power (i.e., Acceleration) – Moderate volume, Max intensity, Moderate rest, Moderate to slow speed • Speed – Low-Moderate volume, Max intensity, Long rest • Speed-Endurance – Moderate-High volume, High-Max intensity, Short-Long rest • Taper – Exponentially decay to volume ~10% of start of taper, similar frequency, Max intensity, Long rest, progress towards race specificity

Program Design Considerations Summary

At USAC we focus on quality over quantity. We have two goals: Performance “Potential” is #1 We are in the business of finding, aiding, encouraging, and challenging athletes with talent to produce elite INTERNATIONAL suc- cess. Attitude is #2

Optimistic, committed, persistent, resilient, self-efficacious, determined athletes are those we will target. The right attitude will take you further than your talent. We, as coaches and staff, will be equally as optimistic, committed, persistent, resilient, and determined in our efforts to assist our athletes’ progress as we expect from them. As discusses, on the bike components include (capacity, power, speed, speed-endurance, and strength). Road rides for con- ditioning are important and should not be overlooked. An important loading factor is range of gears for different focus. We like to do 2-3 sessions per week minimum for a targeted component and 1 session every 7-10 days for maintenance, racing as often as is reasonable/possible. A motorbike is used to finalize preparation only (last 3-5 wks). In the gym we believe that general strength is very important. Primary components include:

• Squat, Clean, Snatch = core lifts • Max strength, Max power, Unilateral strength/power • Plyometric exercises with long acceleration phase •Morning sessions are preferred

To provide you an idea on what we do, Figure 6 (next 2 pages) shows our training codes and ergo-specific exercises. I hope I was able to give you a perspective of what track cycling is all about, which we hope that you consider this as part of your cycling career.

More Information Please! Contact Clay at: [email protected] USA Training Codes Stress Gear Inch Rest b/n Rest b/n Timed distance Name Type Set Definition Sets Distance Time Ratio Reps Sets Location Intensity for comparison Notes ExSTR 3x50m (semi- Rolling start; simulate matched sprint and/or tactical) + 1x100m first 125m of SS; K1 race conditions; vary speed and tactics; K1 StSTR SS 2-4 50-100m 6-10 sec 92.6-100.3 2-3 min 15-25 min T Maximum untimed can be individual or pairs

ExSTR, StSTR, Rolling start; simulate matched sprint and/or 3x50m (tactical) + first 125m of SS: K1 race conditions; vary speed and tactics; K1 Comp ASTR 1x100m SS 2-4 50-100m 6-10 sec 92.6-100.3 2-3 min 15-25 min T Maximum untimed can be individual or pairs S1 StSTR 6 reps 2-4 50-167m 5-12 sec 103.5-117 2-3 min 15-25 min T, E Maximum first 50m or 1/2 lap Standing Starts; gated or held

S1W StST Bike-Athlete system weighted with 1.5- R 6 reps 2-4 50-167m 5-12 sec 103.5-117 2-3 min 15-25 min T Maximumg; Standin firstg Starts g30m; gated ; g or3.0 held k 82.8 - 84.6 or SPC ExSTR Distance 4-8 100-350m 5-25 sec 88.7 - 94.5 5-10 min T, R, E % of avg Power or time rep distance Flying start 88.7 - 98.4 or Maximum and Near- Flying start can be either individual or in SPP ExSTR Distance 3-5 100-350m 5-25 sec 103.5 - 112.5 20-30 min T Maximum rep distance team formation

ExSTR and/or Flying start; increasing tempo; negative 500C CSTR Distance 5105-10 500-700m 700m 28-50 50 sec sec 88.7 7 - 96 96.4 4 10 min min TRET, R, E %ofavgPowerortime% of avg Power or time rep distance distance splits

ExSTR and/or 90.6 - 96.4 or 90-100% with some Flying start; increasing tempo; negative 500P CSTR Distance 3-5 500-700m 28-50 sec 105.8 - 112.5 20-30 min T control rep distance splits ASTR and/or % of time, cadence, Either rolling or held start with control; K2 ExSTR Distance 3-5 1000m 60-80 sec 99.7-103.8 10 min T, R, E heart rate, or power rep distance individual or team

% of time or power; 1x500m; 1x375m; greater % for shorter LC ExSTR 1x250m; 1x125m 2-4 125-500m 6-35 sec 86.8-92.6 3-4 min 15-20 min T, R, E distance rep distance Flying start ASTR Team activity; Team Sprint start and/or simulation; lead rider 250m; next riders 375-O ExSTR Distance 4-8 375m 20-30 sec 90.6-94.5 20-25 min T Near-Maximum rep distance 125m

Exercise behind behind motor; motor; motor motor accelerates sharply from moderate ASTR speed roll; rider attempts to stay in and/or draft. AC ExSTR Distance 4-8 375m 30-40 sec 86.4 - 96.4 15-25 min T Maximum last 200m Motor Designated in the training codes as any (e.g. activity with an M. Most exercises can be adapted to be behind motor.

500M, Caution: use use motor motor to tease to tease out out SPPM, acceleration or to increase cadence etc) CSTR efficiency. rep distance Typically in a.m.; 10 min

1st rider max for 20 sec; 1st rider rider 20 20 2nd rider rider 85% 85%for 20 sec for, 20 sec sec; 2nd rider max for 15 sec; 3rd rider 35 sec; 3rd 85% for 35 sec, max for Specific Team Sprint activity. Can be rider 45 sec 140-160 rpm10 sec 10 min E N/A performed individually or in team format ExSTR OS and/or CSTR Duration 3-6

ExSTR % of power based on 3 Control required to maintain required VO2i and/orCSTR CSTR Distance t 363-6 152k1.5-2km 3i3 min 130+ rpm 7i7 min E mitint est t N/A powerttt puout.

1:1 or 1:2 Near-Maximum (% of ASTR and/or moderate to work:rest ability in power or wheel VO2C ExSTR 8-12 reps 3-7 8-15 sec large ratio 10-15 min E speed) N/A

Road-Specific Exercises Stress Gear Inch Rest b/n Rest b/n Timed distance Name Type Set Definition Sets Distance Time Ratio Reps Sets Location Intensity for comparison Notes E1 N/A small N/A Road km less than aerobic threshold.

R(R (uphill) hill) %fP% of Power, dcaence, d or Strength-E thndurance E dti vacity, emphas tiis it h i E heart rateon style and N/A technique. SE ASTR Duration 1-3 5-10 km 10-20 min 45-65 rpm 20 min R ExSTR 140+ rpm while (slightly O2 maximization activity; emphasis on O2 and/or CSTR Duration 2-4 5-10 km 10-20 min surging 20 min downhill) N/A technique