COMPETITION-SPECIFIC TRAINING

Abstract

Road cycling competition requires numerous short (< 15s), high-intensity sprints with markedly varying recovery periods. PURPOSE To establish the interactive effects of sprint duration and work:relief ratio (W:R) on cycling power, allowing better interpretation of competition data. METHODS 6 male road cyclists (18.7±1.0 yrs; 75.7±8.5 kg; VO2max 64.7±2.7 ml.kg−1·min−1) completed 2 cycle ergometer interval-training sessions on consecutive days. Each training session involved 9 interval sets with different combinations of sprint duration and W:R (12 × 5s, 6 × 10s, and 4 × 15s using 1:6, 1:3 and 1:1 W:R). Thus, 66 intervals were completed per session resulting in 9 min of high-intensity cycling. Sprint duration increased after every three sets for one session and W:R decreased after every three sets for the other. Power was recorded at 5 Hz using SRM cranks. Average power for each interval was used to calculate average power for each interval set. RESULTS The average day-to-day reliability (%TEM) for each interval set was ∼ 4% (3–8% range). %TEM was not noticeably influenced by interval duration or W:R. The highest power occurred during the 12 × 5s (1:6) set (10.5±1.6 W.kg−1) and the lowest power occurred during the 12 × 5s (1:1) set (7.2±0.5 W.kg−1). As W:R decreased from 1:6 to 1:1, power decreased fro 5s (−31%, p < .05), 10s (−25%, p < .05) and 15s intervals (−18%, p < .05). Increasing interval duration from 5–15s was associated with a decrease in power for 1:6 (−11%, p < .05), no significant change in power for 1:3, and an increase in power for 1:1 (6%, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Reliability of power during short, high-intensity intervals may allow moderate-large treatment effects to be detected. Recovery from short, high-intensity intervals is more dependent on absolute time between sprints than on W:R. Funded by an Australian Sports Commission Grant