Hmm. Not specifically talking about track, I've noticed some people get strong at the gym and wonder why they can't run/ride fast and get puffed out quickly. Equally I'm aware that I've been doing a lot of cardio work over the last few years, and while my endurance, speed and (latterly) cadence have all improved, my explosive power is now a bit lacking, so clearly I have to do some more strength work.
At a basic level, I think dulwichrider's right - you start by slimming down to a reasonable weight, riding your bike a lot (and fast) and you go from there. Once you start working on one skill or another you start having to compensate by doing other work - building your strength along with your cadence, or your endurance along with your speed. But once you've got to that stage you're already a bit further along the way, and even fairly rudimentary work (without all this talk of phosphate pathways and lactate processing) will help you perform.
I think once you're at the level that basic speed and strength drills aren't resulting in noticeable improvements, then all this metabolic stuff is probaly going to be quite useful (if you can parse it all...) But until then, just working at it sensibly (without getting caught up in all the details) is probably enough.
Hmm. Not specifically talking about track, I've noticed some people get strong at the gym and wonder why they can't run/ride fast and get puffed out quickly. Equally I'm aware that I've been doing a lot of cardio work over the last few years, and while my endurance, speed and (latterly) cadence have all improved, my explosive power is now a bit lacking, so clearly I have to do some more strength work.
At a basic level, I think dulwichrider's right - you start by slimming down to a reasonable weight, riding your bike a lot (and fast) and you go from there. Once you start working on one skill or another you start having to compensate by doing other work - building your strength along with your cadence, or your endurance along with your speed. But once you've got to that stage you're already a bit further along the way, and even fairly rudimentary work (without all this talk of phosphate pathways and lactate processing) will help you perform.
I think once you're at the level that basic speed and strength drills aren't resulting in noticeable improvements, then all this metabolic stuff is probaly going to be quite useful (if you can parse it all...) But until then, just working at it sensibly (without getting caught up in all the details) is probably enough.