Sprint Training for 2012?

I did my first summer down at HH last year and must say i really enjoyed it, however i'm not a fan of anything over about 10 laps max (to which many of you are going to guffaw i'm sure!)

I come from a heavily involved background of track and field sprinting, competing at a national level for many years from being 7 years old to being 19 or so where i tore my hamstring in a 100m final, never quite recovered and went off to uni where drinking and getting a degree seemed to take over!

My PB's were sub 11 second for the 100m and sub 22 seconds for the 200m and after 4 years doing kickboxing at uni i moved to London and started riding fixed with a view to using my previous training as a solid basis down at the track. In a nutshell that 12 years of training was based around 20-odd seconds of max effort. I know this was a few years ago but i've never lost my fitness and i feel at home sprinting on a bike rather than mashing out miles and miles on end and i can potentially see a lot of similarities to sprint training on a bike and lot of the training i used to do.

I did attend one Monday night session where we did a 3 man team sprint which i really enjoyed, and i'm wondering what the score is with getting this sort of training on a regular basis? I'm at the point where i'm considering going to the intermediates solely for the half lap 2-man sprint event that usually happens at the start of the second hour and sacking the rest of the session off.

I can see the argument that the rest of the session is good base training but as an example i used to train "over distance" for the 200m by hammering fast 300m reps in a session. I'm keen to build on my fast twitch muscle and i just don't feel that doing 30 lap roatations is really helping me?

Any advice appreciated, i may be missing something obvious but am open to advice as i am pretty new to this whole track world!

Cheers,

OSR.

This might help:
https://www.lfgss.com/thread77343.html#post2584586

You will also need one of these.

^ yes mate!

That is pretty much all i used to do back in the track and field days, sit down, eat, drink, chill, run for 10 seconds, sit down again and wait for the next heat :-)

Are you a member of a cycling club?

Ah great, thanks STE, i'll have to look at the logistics of this but could be a goer...

This might help:
http://www.lfgss.com/thread77343.html#post2584586

Am looking to join British Cycling come Jan and also RP.

Are you a member of a cycling club?

That's good, you want to make sure you join a club with others interested in sprinting, as that will give you some like minded riders to train and race with. Rollapaluza, assuming RPM, Gizmond and a couple of others are racing next season, would seem a good choice.

If sprinting is what motivates you then I think it's absolutely the right thing to specialise in so I'd definitely recoomend you give it a go.

Thanks Andy, i'm glad you understood where i was coming from. It seemed a lot of the guys down at HH that i chatted to over last summer came from a roadie background so chomping 30 odd laps was no biggie but i'm well at the other end of the scale and don't want to get frustrated and end up losing interest. No point changing what i enjoy, especially as i know there's a track discipline out there that suits me better!

I'll keep my ears to the ground and maybe try and give RPM and Gizmond a shout come season time.

Sprint training at HH on Sundays 0900-1200 when the season starts in March.
Keep an eye on http://www.hernehillvelodrome.com/sessions-and-events

You will also need one of these.

lol yes and lots of cogs and tools :)

In all seriousness, what Andy says, Rollapaluza has a few good sprinters and we did have a sprint team going the season before last. Injuries and various other things meant I was unable to compete this year myself, but I know Rob (RPM on here but he seems to have left :( ) took part in the nationals.
He is often at HH so have a word with him when you see him

I myself also find anything over 8 laps a struggle keeping up with the A categories. So you will finds lots of people down there share the same view. It's not easy for us oldies. Though I know AndyP loves anything 50 laps + :)

i come from the same background as you dude and it looks like we're in the same boat. my 100m PB is dead on 11 so im a fair bit slower than you but yeah, sprinting is my thing. also looking to get onto the track this summer and right now im starting to build up a training regime to try and push up my endurance. hopefully see you next season.

Great responses and input so far guys, now i don't feel so forever alone!

Superjoe, yeah sounds like we're very similar mate.

for the record I don't want anyone to think that i am assuming sprinting 100m is the same as track cycling sprinting, and this will somehow be a walk in the park but i can see a lot of similarity and feel it suits me down to the ground. I'll be a lot happier focusing on something akin to what i've always known and loved.

I'll keep an eye out for the HHV site come summer time and in the meantime better get my sprint head on for winter training...

Also, if you are serious and want to improve, Lee has just announced a new Sprint tactics workshop which would well be worth going on. I've been to several of his clinics and you learn a hell of a lot and have fun in the meantime.

for the record I don't want anyone to think that i am assuming sprinting 100m is the same as track cycling sprinting, and this will somehow be a walk in the park but i can see a lot of similarity and feel it suits me down to the ground. I'll be a lot happier focusing on something akin to what i've always known and loved.

I'm no expert, and may be biased coming from an endurance (running/cycling) background myself, but I would've thought for competing in, for example, team sprints and the kilo (events lasting a lot longer than 11 seconds), you'd want to do some aerobic orientated training. Probably no need to slog out 70 miles on a Sunday morning ride but I reckon a few Saturday sessions at HH would be a good thing, then obviously the sprint-specific sessions on top.

Good for aerobic development, plus the more time spent getting used to bike handling on the track the better IMO.

Hey OSR,

I'm in exactly the same position for next year having enjoyed the sessions I did at HH this summer. I had a good time at Saturday intermediates and Monday night race training but am looking to try out the shorter races next season. I'm all over Sunday morning sprint training.

How far is your PB under 11 seconds?

Fuck a doodle do

631kg and Ross Edgar

10.8 for the 100m and 21.9 for the 200m. These were PB's obviously but i used to run around 11 and 22 dead consistently. I once ran against Mark Lewis Francis in a 100m heat and he schooled us all lol. Happy days!

You used to run?

How far is your PB under 11 seconds?

Yeah i totally agree Phil, i'm not saying i expect to be doing 1 lap reps of the track. I've been at the HH sessions all summer (started in beginners for about 8 weeks and then moved up to the inters for the remainder). I'm looking at doing 10 mile TT's next year (albeit fixed) on the track bike w/brake and have been doing all my training on my track bike setup for the road to put the miles in as i own 2 bikes and the commuter is a 1950's R531 so totally different! Basically i'm just gonna do what i enjoy but if there is a sprint orientated session then i'll be a lot happier :-)

I'm no expert, and may be biased coming from an endurance (running/cycling) background myself, but I would've thought for competing in, for example, team sprints and the kilo (events lasting a lot longer than 11 seconds), you'd want to do some aerobic orientated training. Probably no need to slog out 70 miles on a Sunday morning ride but I reckon a few Saturday sessions at HH would be a good thing, then obviously the sprint-specific sessions on top.

Good for aerobic development, plus the more time spent getting used to bike handling on the track the better IMO.

You used to run?

I did. I once ran a 10.5 but got it scrubbed for a +3

Wow, nice. +3 though, wind tunnel?!

Not really. I reckon I've run in wind up to +6 but never a 100m with a tail, always the 200 meaning a good chunk was in a cross wind.

I was a better bend runner than a starter.

Monday nights sometimes have some nice sprint sessions at HH