Intensity Philosophy

Coaching from Lionel Space, Phoenix AZ

The fundamental of my intensity training is that the body will adapt to the demands you ask of it. If you do no training, the body will quickly assume that your limbs are not essential and you will quickly find yourself unable to do anything respectful on a bike. If you go on group rides and power around for 2 hours at 24 mph, your body will fulfill that capability and you will become very capable of performing that function. In a race, the key elements are often decided by bursts of speed, either in an attack or a sprint. Since top end speed is so vital to have in the tool box of someone trying to achieve success in bicycle racing, this aspect must be developed and unfortunately is rarely prioritized by most racers. In my experience, it is difficult to develop this skill while still putting in other activities that bog down the legs, like long distance group rides. Thus it takes a period of dedication to hone this skill, which once achieved can generally be maintained when later pursing other skills, such as endurance, time trialing, or hill climbing.

It is easily recognized that the top speed skill would occur in a sprint. Once a sprint is developed, that same speed can be used in attacks and counter-attacks. The power ability developed in a sprint can also be used to overcome short climbs, enhancing that aspect as a side effect. And with the raised top achievable speed will also make high tempo speeds easier, since those speeds will be a smaller fraction of your top speed.

Since a sprint will be a maximal effort, the body must be ready to produce at full intensity. Thus sprints should be practiced when everything is perfect, not just after a hard effort or while you're still breathing hard. A large part of sprinting is developing the mind control, such that the sub-conscious can ask 100% and you always expect 100%. This takes lots of practice, but has the advantage that once the ability is achieved, you can ask 100% at the end of a race where your body should likely not be able to, but you still get your 100%. It should be evident that this is much different than Tabata or HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training), where each repetition is at some state of exhaustion, the intensity demands 100%, the body only delivers less than 100%, and your sub-conscious is trained to accept that less than 100% delivery is normal and acceptable.

Course: Sprints can be practiced alone or with others. I like to find a half mile section of road (800 meters) that is flat, straight, smooth, has minimal traffic, and minimal access points where a vehicle could pop out of the side (especially the right side) while I'm sprinting. Since I use this course a lot, I've made it my own with a little can of white spray paint. I pick a finish line that has a landmark that can be seen from a far distance, like a speed limit sign. I make sure that there is adequate run-out beyond the finish where I can decelerate before I run into an intersection. I then measure back 200m, 300m, and 500m, putting a number 2, 3, and 5 at those points with the paint, about 18" high. The best measuring tool is your bike. A 700x23 tire has a roll-out of about 2.1 meters (you can roll yours on a floor and measure one wheel revolution, keeping weight on the bike while you do it). Then you would multiply that by a gear; if you used a 53 x 15, you'd have 53/15*2.1 or 7.4 meters for each rotation of the cranks. Dividing 100 by this number would show 13.5 crank revolutions per 100 meters. Starting at the finish line in this gear, with one of the pedals pointing straight down, ride 27 pedal rotations to find 200 m to go. Repeat for another 13.5 revolutions for 300 and another 27 for 500.

Session: I call this my 235 training session and it's what I do 90% of the time. After a brief warm up, my first sprint will be from 200 m to go. I will approach 200 at about 20 mph and then remain seated, accelerating as quickly as I can and continue to try to accelerate all the way to the finish. The 200 is a common length where many sprints begin and it's good to get a feeling for this distance. Often a short sprint like this will already be at speed and an out of the saddle effort may not be efficient, so it's good to practice in-saddle accelerations. Starting from the slower-than-race speed will require more effort on your part to get up to speed so that the difficulty is accentuated and you develop increased efficiency as you discover how to overcome that huge resistance.

Intensity is immediately halted at the finish line. Recovery is the next step, which can be gentle riding of anywhere from 10 mph to 18 mph, depending on what works for you. Time will generally be 6 to 12 minutes, again depending on what works for you. Once you feel like everything is back to normal and you can do another all out effort, you can begin the next intensity run.

The second run will be a 300 m sprint, out of the saddle jump, from about 24-25 mph. The immediate goal is to hit top speed immediately, not to gradually wind it up to the finish. This will focus your out of the saddle jump, which you should remain out of the saddle for as long as you can, which is usually to the point that it just doesn't work any longer and you must get into the saddle. The transition into the saddle is not a plop down with a lacking blip of power, but a driving one that you put more power into the pedals as you settle into the saddle. Then the real work begins where you try to increase the speed even more, carrying it all the way to the line. At first, it may seem impossible to sprint that long, but it will come with practice. Since many race sprints start at 200 m, having the ability to successfully complete a 300 m sprint opens up lots of early opportunities to take a win. If you never practice it, you will not ever have the confidence to exploit those opportunities.

After another full recovery period, most likely longer than the first one, I will do a 500 m effort. This will be from close to zero speed, simulating a standing start. Standing starts accentuate the power needed for an out of the saddle effort, so it's good practice to improve that technique. The initial 4 to 6 half pedal strokes are what I call phase one and use a different technique than the following phases. Soon it will start to feel like a normal sprint acceleration, which I call phase 2; try to get up to top speed as immediately as possible. At some point you should feel the need to transition to in the saddle pedaling, which I call phase 3; make sure not to transition too soon, but to maximize all the speed you can out of phase 2. Then comes the part that requires the most concentration. Your first efforts at this distance will most likely find you crying with 200 m to go, just wishing for it to end. With practice, you should find the mental fortitude and eventually develop the physical ability to feel strong all the way to the finish. It will take a while. But with that skill in your tool box, you'll have a powerful weapon that can be used for attacks or late escape sprints.

If after a short recovery period you feel like you can easily do a fourth sprint, then most likely you didn't put forth maximal efforts in the previous 3. The goal is to try to completely empty the tank with each effort. There is a lot of mental control that is involved in finding this plateau and it generally takes lots of practice to finally put yourself into this mode. I am usually so wiped out after the last effort that it is sometimes difficult to ride the short distance home. After a sprint in a race, I sometimes can not complete an extra lap due to be entirely drained.

Even though we've done only about 80 seconds of intensity, those that train with me will exclaim about the affect they felt the next day. When done properly, these efforts will push your physical and mental boundaries higher, raising your governors, increasing your available top speed and provide greater confidence for high speed efforts.

Since the sprint workouts are anaerobic (although you'll be huffing and puffing at the conclusion of each effort), it is also good to develop your aerobic capacities. Continuing with the theory that the body will adapt to the demands you ask of it, I will occasionally swap out a 235 workout for a 2x2k effort, usually about twice a month. As it sounds, the intensity portion will involve doing a 2 km time trial, recovering, then doing another 2 km TT. Since most people run out of anaerobic capacity at about 30 to 40 seconds, a 2.5 to 3 minute effort will involve a large portion of aerobic demand. The reason for doing such a short effort is that it will be more maximal than something much longer, like a 20k. For a 2k, it's possible to push yourself to the point of nearly passing out, so you push those aerobic governors higher and the body should react by adapting with even greater ability to meet those demands. If done correctly, your throat will be quite sore afterwards. A tiny spot of Olbus oil on a small cotton pad will help clear that up almost immediately.

What you may discover is that you can't do a 2k with a 500 m start and expect to not go into purgatory (you will not like it there). Since you will hit that anaerobic wall at about 35 seconds, you don't want to be going 100% when that wall rears it's head. There are 2 plans that can help you ride a 2k with more efficiency. One method is to go all out for about 15 seconds, then back off on the intensity without decreasing your speed. You will feel the wall come, recognize it, let it flow, let it start to dissipate, then gradually try to pick up the speed and get back to business; this process can take 45 seconds or so to get out of the way. The other method is to do a more gradual acceleration, go through the wall relaxed, but a just a bit higher speed, let it run it's course, then get back to business. I usually practice one of each and I'm always surprised that the times are always so close to each other.

So each of my intensity sessions last less than an hour and there are very few minutes that are actually spent at intensity. To those accustomed to long, grueling rides to try to improve, this seems like a farce. But I always feel the effects the next day and I do pretty well on race day with my abilities.

Racing page     Training page