Share the post "Town sign sprints: why challenge your friends?"
Who hasn’t competed for a town sign with their training partners? “Faire les pancartes” (sprinting for town signs) is certainly a game or a challenge between friends, but it is also an important and inevitable exercise that is part of a performance improvement strategy. Explanations.
By Pierre-Maxime BRANCHE. Photos: Santini, Polar, Scott and Orbea
Sprinting for town signs is simply a maximal power workout, meaning you try to develop as many watts as possible over very short and therefore very intense efforts. Under the guise of challenges between friends, these sprints are an important aspect of training because they generate muscular and technical adaptations in a fun context. When you sprint, you accustom the muscle to produce a lot of power over a short period, recruiting a very large number of muscle fibers. In theory, and if you are well-trained, it is even possible to engage almost 100% of muscle fibers during these efforts.
More power and strength
These “small” sprints are a real strength training and general physical preparation workout. Every cyclist or triathlete, whatever their level, benefits from working on their strength and maximal power over short efforts. Because having good maximal power provides a power reserve for endurance efforts. Performing these sprints is therefore part of a global strategy for progression and improving capabilities. It is also interesting from a technical-tactical aspect for racers who participate in criteriums or circuit races where they will benefit from having the best physical capabilities, as this is part of the requirements for performing well.
=> SEE ALSO: Strength training to ride faster
To be repeated throughout the season
Depending on the season’s breakdown and personal goals, it’s good to do them all year round. For the rider who wants to optimize this area, either because they have a clear lack of maximal muscular power or because they want to progress in this area, a more structured approach is needed, including a winter preparation cycle focused on pure strength gain, then adapting sprinting techniques directly on the road. Sprints for town signs can be done on slight inclines, on flat ground, on slight descents to work on cadence, at high or low pedaling cadences, with a rolling or standing start. In short, there are many variations that will not necessarily have the same muscular and energetic repercussions and adaptations.
Submaximal efforts on the eve of a race
During training sessions, you can do as many sprints as you want. It all depends on the power level you’re working at, as you’ll naturally do more sprints at 90% of your maximum power than at 98%. If you have a power meter, it’s a plus, as it provides precise benchmarks for managing your effort and quantifying your progress.
Be careful with sprints on the eve of a race, as they don’t have quite the same objective. The goal will rather be to stimulate the body during an “opener ride” session after one or two days of recovery before the objective. In this context, we’ll talk about accelerations of 10, 15, and up to 30 seconds, where you’ll engage both muscle fibers, as well as the cardiovascular system and the ability to metabolize lactic acid. Rather than maximal sprints that can generate significant muscle fatigue, you should perform submaximal efforts to conserve as much energy as possible for race day.
=> SEE ALSO: all our Coaching articles
Share the post "Town sign sprints: why challenge your friends?"
