How to extend sprinting distance?

eortiz said:

I'm getting ready for a race in mid Feb. and I would like to increase my distance to sprint so I do intervals. Are there any other training routine I can do to increase my sprinting distance? I tend to gasp for air after a couple of runs. Also, how do you do your interval training (reps, gears, % max or HR, time, etc.). Thanks

Suck it up and make yourself go longer during the intervals. Start small, and work up to longer intervals.
It's fairly simple actually...
You have a baseline/starting point for your intervals and you gradually work to your goal...
For example, to answer your question, I'll use a hypothetical situation for a general sprint workout:
reps - 2-3 to start (work up to however many you want really)
gears - harder gear typically (53x15-13-12), but you may need to start in an easier one (39xsomething). you can cruise into the start of the sprint at, say, 25+mph to mimic the actual race situation
HR - don't worry about it. your HR won't have time to reach steady state if you're doing shorter sprint intervals
time - start short and work to longer intervals (5 seconds to start maybe...then go longer. increase your time by a few seconds once the 5 second sprints feel easy...things like that)
Once you reach your goal...say, 8x:45 sprints with x amount of recovery, then evaluate yourself and set another goal.
A power meter is great for sprints. You can see how quickly or slowly you fatigue and track your peak power from sprint to sprint.

Big thing. Make sure you have adequate recovery between sprints. Since these are all-out efforts, you want to allow your body full recovery to start so that each effort is at max.

eortiz said:

I'm getting ready for a race in mid Feb. and I would like to increase my distance to sprint so I do intervals. Are there any other training routine I can do to increase my sprinting distance? I tend to gasp for air after a couple of runs. Also, how do you do your interval training (reps, gears, % max or HR, time, etc.). Thanks

You should be aiming to build to a maximum of 5 sets x 10 reps of sprint endurance intervals. Start out at, say, 3x5. You will notice the improvement in time as you are able to progress to higher levels.

10 seconds on sprinting and 50 seconds rest spinning or when your heart rate reaches a partial recovery level. The HR determiner may apply in your case if you are distressed after a couple of runs.

Preferable on an indoor trainer. Outdoors, I find a flat section between two hills provides the most efficient sprint endurance locale. Use the downhill to build speed before hitting it on the (10 seconds) flat section and coast up the second hill and turn around to repeat after recovering.

You don't want to waste time and energy accelerating from low speeds when that should be applied to your top end speed. That is a separate "jump" training exercise.

Developing speed is also a separate exercise. That requires total recovery (10-20 minutes recovery between reps). Sprint endurance extends your sprint and assists in recovery from anaerobic efforts during a race (primes, bridging, track points racing, etc).

VeloFlash said:

You should be aiming to build to a maximum of 5 sets x 10 reps of sprint endurance intervals. Start out at, say, 3x5. You will notice the improvement in time as you are able to progress to higher levels.

10 seconds on sprinting and 50 seconds rest spinning or when your heart rate reaches a partial recovery level. The HR determiner may apply in your case if you are distressed after a couple of runs.

Preferable on an indoor trainer. Outdoors, I find a flat section between two hills provides the most efficient sprint endurance locale. Use the downhill to build speed before hitting it on the (10 seconds) flat section and coast up the second hill and turn around to repeat after recovering.

You don't want to waste time and energy accelerating from low speeds when that should be applied to your top end speed. That is a separate "jump" training exercise.

Developing speed is also a separate exercise. That requires total recovery (10-20 minutes recovery between reps). Sprint endurance extends your sprint and assists in recovery from anaerobic efforts during a race (primes, bridging, track points racing, etc).

O.K. I am going from hill climbing to sprinting. For our local club crits on a Tuesday evening we have a corner about 200 meters before the finish, the corner is about 35 - 40 km/h max then the sprint is on, i am usually on the 14 cog going around the corner and find it hard to get the speed up quick enough, any tips at all for quick speed changes.If i had the nerve i could drop into the corner faster, i could also use the fifteen but find myself spiining out with about fifty metres to go. My general question is what should i train for , turning over big gears from slower speeds, faster? or spin more on the smaller cog? all the other info mentioned before is all quite usefull aswell.🙂