Neuromuscular Power Changes

otb4evr

Lucy,

My vote was 200- 300 watts.

That wasn't since using a PM, but was since doing focused NM work, including the drills...

Last year, my best was in the low 1200s. This year, my best was in the upper 1400s...

Jim

acoggan

I'm the one person (so far) who has voted "decreased". I did so because my maximal 5 s power has fallen by 7% over the last 7 y. What I can't say, though, is whether that is due to aging, benign neglect (I generally do very little sprint training...although I do lift weights every winter! ), or a heavy emphasis on training of LT (as the saying goes, too much endurance training blunts your speed).

I've also entertained, but rejected, the hypothesis that it is the result of moving from a PowerTap (usually set to record every 2.56 s and subject to aliasing errors) to an SRM (usuall set to record every 1 s). The reason that I've rejected this hypothesis is that my 10 and 20 s maximum power values, which are based on more samples, have also fallen in parallel with my 5 s power. OTOH, my 30 s power has held constant, and my 1 min power is up by almost 10%. Thus, it appears that my neuromuscular power is falling at the same time my anaerobic capacity is creeping up, with power over 30 s (coincidentally (?) the duration of a Wingate test) reflecting "one foot in each world".

Lucy_Aspenwind

How strange!


Um, it was 0.6 m


I would love to learn Mandarin, or even Cantonese, but even English was difficult enough to learn.

The number I keep hearing tossed around is 6 weeks roughly, prior to an event this is, to commence serious Level 6 work. Is this given because most people cannot tolerate a great deal of volume in the Level 6 range for much longer? My intuition suggests is it more by how quickly this energy system trains and peaks?


I hope to but we'll have to see what happens next spring. More than anything else, I imagine it will all be a learning experience.

Thanks Andy, I will check their website. From a distance, and admittedly my knowledge on this topic is limited, the Aussies seem to be having some impressive results in a variety of sporting pursuits internationally.

Lucy_Aspenwind

Jim, those are excellent results and you've detailed your sprint training so that is all the more useful...





Yes now Andy, really you ought to be spending more time with the iron

On a serious note, I believe I read somewhere that NM power does decline with age, and seeing as you've been in the sport for many years - perhaps that is why?

RapDaddyo

It's for three reasons. The first reason is that FTP is relatively slow to respond and requires a lot of focus. So, AC work means that something else receives less attention (e.g., FTP). The second reason is that 6 wks is about long enough to peak AC (assuming focus during the 6 wks). The third reason is that AC detrains quickly as well, so if you peak it 10-12 weeks from your first target event, you need to maintain it (again taking away time and energy from FTP). So, 6 wks is sort of by default (late enough to allow focus on FTP and early enough to peak it).

Lucy_Aspenwind

Ok, this makes sense as obviously one's available time for training is quite a finite resource!

I'll want to revisit this question for more specifics next spring...

RapDaddyo

Good plan. By then, you'll just love L4s.

acoggan

Now that's a diplomatic way of phrasing it.



I listed "aging" as the first possible explanation (although notably, my ability to lift weights hasn't noticably declined).

Lucy_Aspenwind

Savoir faire isn't completely dead



Yes you did and I apparently forgot!

joemw

Went from just barely breaking 900 watts (12.5w/kg at 73kg) to now being on the verge of breaking the 1300 (19w/kg at 68kg) barrier. Wow, looking at it as w/kg, that is really a big jump. I'd never thought about how far it's come. The main reason it happened is because I was almost never sprinting before. No focused training that first year of riding, just going out and having a good time and making sure I was working enough to get my endorphin fix. I did two standing start workouts about six months ago, but for whatever reason I havn't done any since; strange because I remember enjoying them. I'm excited to start regularly doing those after hearing how just about everybody improves their sprint within a short time of doing these.

My sprint work seems to be sprinting for the "finish line" at the end of a group ride, and when I used to ride a certain route that had a downhill rolling into an uphill, I'd sprint at the bottom and hold it until over the top, which would take about 30 seconds.

Roadie_scum

Ric, that's bloody amazing! From a coaching/talent ID/event selection perspective, what made him/you/anyone think that he could improve his fairly marginal NMP by a massive - nay, ridiculous - 67% to a world class level?

ric_stern/RST

There was nothing quantifiable as such. Essentially, when he came to me he was a road sprinter, and that's what we continued for a year. However, every race he did that had a hill longer than seconds and he'd be shelled. he rode track every winter and would win most of those league races.

at some point we just decided that endurance work was hurting him and we'd solely concentrate on track work. once we drastically reduced the volume his peak power increased a lot. Once we dialled in proper track sprint and kilo work there were further increases. Coupled with lots of weights, and mainly kilo type training he improved further and went on to win major competitions.

funniest story, was after he'd been doing some kilo specific work, he came to see me for testing and did a kilo on my trainer. It was too much for the trainer, and burnt the motor unit out on it (as well as shredding the tyre).

In short, he'd started out wanting to be like Cipo (or whoever) and essentially, the endurance work was ruining him. it was all about reducing the volume, increasing the intensity and doing the weights.

ric

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http://www.cyclecoach.com

ric_stern/RST

Let me add to this:
I feel that if he'd had a power meter from the get go a lot of this time would have been shortened and we'd have had a better idea of what was happening.

i learnt a lot that year about coaching. In fact that was the first time i'd ever coached anyone in track sprinting and it was a steep learning curve once he jumped into soley track sprinting.

ric

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http://www.cyclecoach.com

otb4evr

Although a couple of years old, here is a discussion about this...

http://groups.google.com/group/watt...c9cf8501d1a949c

Just some more to think about and brings to mind some saying about specificity...

Jim