Lucy_Aspenwind said:Hi...
So a friend of mine, who I encouraged to start cycling, came to visit me recently. I had told her of discovering that I had a somewhat high 5s power (18.6 w/kg) which prompted some questions.
1 ) - Is strong neuromuscular power largely genetic? My inclination is to say yes, that it is related to the % of fast-twitch muscles and such.
2 ) - How trainable is neuromuscular power and what level, if any, of improvement can a person expect?
3 ) - I've read about how Anerobic capactiy & energy is limited, but what about neuromuscular power? Would you expect a break or gradual decline of NM power through the course of a race? Let's say a crit with a few premes.
I searched but did not find any threads that answered these specific questions. If there are some, just point them out! 🙂
1) As the saying goes, sprinters are born, not made. 🙂
2) It's certainly trainable, but probably not to the same degree as endurance performance ability (hence the etiology of the above saying). I'd be hesistant to put any absolute (or relative, i.e., percentage) numbers on it, though, simply due to individual differences.
3) Muscle fatigue is multi-factorial, and is also expressed in different ways (e.g., in the scientific literature there exists terms such as "high frequency fatigue" and "low frequency fatigue", which seem to have different causes). It's therefore difficult to say precisely what impact going for an intermediate prime might have upon your ability to win the final sprint...but if your singular goal is to win the race (vs. pocket some $$), then saving everything you can is probably a wise idea.*
*My friend Jim Martin, formerly a track-and-field sprinter in high school, describes his entire career as a cat. 3 roadie as "just hanging on until the 1 km to go kite". 🙂 Then he discovered track cycling and went on to become master nationals champion in the match sprint...
