The Impact of Sprints on Low Intensity Days
by Doug Stewart
The use of running strides or surges has long been a staple of running programmes, as part of a warm-up routine prior to intervals, for example. Meanwhile, cyclists may use a similar approach for warming up. However, are there benefits to including sprints/strides/surges on low intensity days?
A paper from 2021 explored the impact of 3 sets of 3 x 30-second sprints during low intensity rides with elite cyclists in the off-season. 11 male cyclists with an average age of 22 participated in the research. The research was conducted during a transition period where the cyclists’ training load had reduced by 64%. The control group (6 of the riders) performed only low intensity sessions, whilst the 5 other cyclists added in the 30-second sprints to their rides. This intervention lasted for a period of 3 weeks, with the sprinting group doing 9 sprints in total once a week, during one of their low intensity rides.
Tests were completed prior to the intervention, then also after the 3-week off-season. A further set of tests was then carried out 6 weeks after the end of the intervention, once the cyclists had done a period of base training (which contained no sprinting).
Using a 20-minute power test, it was discovered that both groups had lost power after the three-week off-season (a 3% loss for the control group and a 1% decrease for the sprint group). This is perhaps not surprising, given the large reduction in training load for all cyclists.
However, the test conducted at the end of the 6 weeks of base training discovered that the control group came back to around the same level over the 20 minutes as they were at the start of the trial (prior to going into off-season). Interestingly, the sprint group improved their peak 20-minute power output by 7%.
Therefore, it appears that sprinting during the off-season as part of low intensity sessions resulted in benefits after 6 weeks of base training (even when no sprinting was conducted in the 6-week preparatory phase). How this would impact to running is not clear, but it may be that during a period of reduced training load, that including some surges once a week could potentially result in benefits several weeks later.
As with all research, it is a very select group that is being investigated, so it is also unclear how this may impact cyclists who have lower training volume, female athletes, or older athletes.
References:
Taylor, M., Almquist, N., Rønnestad, B., Tjønna, A.E., Kristoffersen, M., Spencer, M., Sandbakk, Ø. and Skovereng, K., 2021. The inclusion of sprints in low-intensity sessions during the transition period of elite cyclists improves endurance performance 6 weeks into the subsequent preparatory period. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 16(10), pp.1502-1509.