RESISTANCE TRAINING.
We lose top end strength before top end speed followed by endurance.
A long cycle or run will cover greater distances so you may travel over more hilly terrain building up strength at the same time as endurance. Many long distance runners actually lose strength running for many hours adding hills or off road running can replace strength lost.
ENDURANCE ATHLETE
A long distance endurance athlete still needs leg strength and can generate power between one and half times to twice as much power as their body weight. Absolute strength is not as vital as the ability to keep the same force going for long periods of time.
RUGBY PLAYER.
A rugby player has to generate more than twice their body weight, so an 80kg player will need to build up to and learn to generate 160kg. The training regime will need to incorporate the ability to recover quickly from short periods of force being generated to repeat many times throughout a game.
SPRINTER.
A sprinter needs to generate up to 3.5 times their own body weight when racing. So a 75 kg sprinter will need to develop leg strength up to 260kg.
Depending on the event if heats and finals are to be completed recovery rate during training will also need to be considered and phased into training.