I’m a triathlete, with my A race being Ironman Wales in September (hopefully). Doing a sprint, standard and middle distance earlier in the season, as well as the long course weekend (full distance split across Fri (swim), Sat (bike), Sun (run)). However at the moment I’m doing a bit of Zwift racing and while I’m doing OK on the long climbs and longer races, on the shorter races I keep getting dropped either out of the peloton about half way around or, if I hold it, I get outsprinted right at the end. I’m seeing an average of 4 w/kg (~290 watts) per race with ~4.3 w/kg for 20mins power (typically a bit higher on long drags like the Alpe du Zwift or Epic KOM), however my top end sprint is only about 600w for 10secs, maybe 500w for 20secs max. I’d like to be able to stay in the pack in these for-fun races (as in I don’t expect to win but don’t want to suck) but ultimately improve my bike leg come the summer too. What should I do? Can I race hard and improve max power now and still get a stronger bike leg end of summer?
You can do both and improve both, but probably not as much as you would if you invest the time in specific training.
Sprint is trainable quickly and you lose the ability quickly. This is why you typically train it closer to your event.
If your load is not right on the brink of burning you out you can probably throw some sprints into your easy days while following your plan. Ultimately it is also about keeping you motivated!
Lol, I need to do some sprint training myself. I put out similar figures just now yet back after my op in May 19 I was able to hold 600w for 30s now it’s less than 10s. Probably because I have been mainly TT’ing and cycling alone (not practicing it) I reckon you can do both though👍
It’s zwift…It’s make believe (but good training and fun). Train for main goals only if it were me!