Sprints with signs: why challenge your friends?

Who has never argued over a village sign with their training partners? "Making the 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

Performing sprints at village signs simply represents maximum power work, that is to say that we try to develop a maximum number of watts in very brief 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 producing a lot of power over a short period of time, recruiting a very large number of muscle fibers. In theory, and if you are well trained, it is even possible to use almost 100% of the muscle fibers during these efforts.

More power and strength

These "small" sprints are a real workout for strength training and general physical preparation. Any cyclist or triathlete, whatever their level, has an interest in working on their strength and maximum power in short efforts. Because having good maximum power allows you to have a power reserve for endurance efforts. Carrying out these sprints is therefore part of an overall strategy for progression and improvement of capacities. It is also interesting on the technical-tactical aspect for couriers who participate in criteriums or circuit races where it will be in their best interest to have the best physical capacities, because this is part of the specifications to be efficient.

=> SEE ALSO: Strength to ride faster

To be reproduced throughout the season

Depending on the breakdown of the season and personal goals, it is good to do it all year round. For the runner who wants to optimize this sector, either because he has a clear lack of maximum muscular power or because he wants to progress in this area, it is necessary to consider more structured work, in particular with a winter preparation cycle focused on pure strength gain, then decline the ways of sprinting directly on the ground. From sprints to signs, It is possible to do them on a slight climb, on the flat, on a slight descent to work on speed, at a high or low pedaling cadence, with a running 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 races

During training sessions, you can perform as many sprints as you want.. It all depends on the power level you are working at, since you will necessarily do more sprints at 90% of your maximum power than at 98%. If you have a power meter, it is a plus, because it allows you to have precise benchmarks in the management of your effort and in the quantification of progress.
Be careful with sprints the day before a race because they don't have exactly the same objective. The goal will be to stimulate the body, during a session called activation after one or two days of recovery before the objective.. In this context, we will talk about accelerations of 10, 15 and up to 30 seconds where we will use both the muscle fibers, but also the cardiovascular system and the ability to metabolize lactic acid. More than maximum sprints that can generate strong muscular fatigue, it will be necessary to make sub-maximal efforts to keep a maximum of energy for the D-day.

=> SEE ALSO: all our Coaching articles