Sample training templates
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
We'll start with a basic premise, that sprint training is most worthwhile when the athletes are fresh. They need to be warmed up but not fatigued. While there may be some times when it's necessary or desirable to train while tired, in general this is to be avoided. We want quality efforts at 100% or we're not making the best use of our time on the track or the gym or wherever we're training.
Some sample training sessions are listed here for you to see how they're structured. We'll flesh them out later in this book.
Example session
15 minutes easy rolling laps on an easy gear (eg 82") with a gradual windup from 30km/h up to around 40km/h if unassisted, if a motorbike is available, the windup can go up to 45-60km/h depending on the fitness and training phase, alternatively this can be done on rollers.
5 mins easy noodling around the infield
One rolling acceleration for 30-50 meters
5 mins easy noodling around the infield
One flying effort, accelerating off the bank and doing 0-100 metres at pace
20 minutes rest
3-4 blocks of effort, with approx 20 minutes recovery between blocks. A block may consist of a single longer effort such as a flying 200, motorpaced acceleration etc, or a set of very short efforts such as quarter lap standing starts or rolling accelerations. If it's very short efforts, less than 10 seconds, such as 1/4 lap starts or 1/4 to 1/2 lap rolling accelerations, it's common to do 3 sets of 3.
Warmdown, 10-15 laps at a very low intensity or 5-10 minutes on rollers or a little gear 500m windout, generally windouts are done after heavy strength work such as standing starts while the 10-15 laps or roller warmdown is usually done after a power, speed or speed-endurance focused session.
This would generally take around two to three hours depending on the number of riders participating in the session.
Why do we do 4 sets with 20 minutes rest?
It takes a bit over 20 minutes to allow muscle pH to return to normal after a maximum intensity effort of longer than around 10 seconds. It can take up to 30 minutes for an athlete to be recovered enough to be able to perform maximally again. We limit to 4 efforts because quality drops off for just about everyone after 4 maximal efforts and training sessions take too long so everyone gets mentally tired. A combination of neural and psychological fatigue is why we do long rests and no more than 4 main efforts.