Periodisation

by Dr. Andrew Hennessy - Janyuary 2004

After spending the first two articles telling you all how to eat and prepare for all this intensive training that you should be doing I think it is right to give some guidance on training and what regimens work for the majority of athletes. Now that the New Year excesses are over and you can focus your training on the important races during the season it is VITAL that you set yourself some goals. Your goals should be set out and WRITTEN DOWN, on paper with the following aims in mind:

1) Short Term goal - i.e. Recover from injury, increase training by March, run a certain (achievable) time in a race or training, lift a certain amount in the gym etc.
2) Medium Term goal - i.e. Get a P.B. in a certain event this year, win a BAL Div 1 event, run, throw or jump a set time / distance by a specific race, perhaps make a AAA final?
3) Long Term goal - i.e. 80m plus javelin throw, Olympic Gold, stay injury free (!), let your dreams take over and write what you would love to achieve in athletics

With the above aims in mind, sit down with your coach or friend and PLAN YOUR SEASON. This is so important it nearly always gets forgotten. Planning competitions throughout the year allows you to concentrate on them and get the most out of yourself. Planning your training should fit in with the races. Training planning is crucial to top athletic performance and often neglected. Whilst I am not going to make any suggestions that you follow a particular schedule, a PLANNED training routine enhances performance. Below is a suggestion on how to plan a training year and focus on particular areas. The basis of the suggestion is 'PERIODISATION', allowing you to work on different aspect of your training at appropriate times of the year. I will use a distance running example as that is what I am most familiar with but please adapt it for your needs.

Divide the year up into 4 Twelve week blocks with a rest week in between each block. I normally start with September, October and November as Block 1, December, January and February as Block 2, March, April and May as Block 3 and June, July and August as Block 4. Each training Block has a specific purpose and within each training block I like to set certain goals in my training.

Block 1 - Strength and Conditioning

Prior to achieving medium and long term goals it is important that you prepare your body for the increased training demands necessary in order to improve. Block 1 is used to lay some of the groundwork required to complete a full training year. This period of time should be spent working on basic strength and conditioning work in the gym / circuits and on steady running (for the distance runner). Cross training is an acceptable alternative for some sessions but the emphasis should be purely on 'getting the work done' this phase of training does not need a stopwatch or an athletics track but must be geared to the individual athlete improving on weaknesses noticed the previous year. For example, if an athlete tires towards the end of a race then the weakness that needs addressing would be aerobic conditioning. If an athlete has a poor knee lift and slow sprint then strength and power need to be worked on.

Block 2 - Sustained improvement
Once the groundwork is laid down in the autumn then the crucial period of build-up can begin. This period of time should be more focussed to developing a good training routine and beginning to move out onto testing yourself against measured outcomes. For a distance athlete this is traditionally the time of year for cross country and road racing and it is possible for athletes to prepare adequately for the summer by trying different things in racing and laying down some standards for the year ahead. The training intensity should be high and peaking towards the end of the period. The introduction of specific sessions will allow comparison between the start of the period and the end of the period e.g. 16*400m off 45 seconds recovery at 3km pace, or 6-8*1,000m off 90 seconds recovery at 5km pace. It is likely that the athlete will be training 'tired' by the end of this block and it is important that the coach differentiates between an athlete tired by the session and an athlete that is 'overtrained'.

Block 3 - Pre-competition

By now the already fit and strong athlete should be sensing the competition season just around the corner. The hard training has been done and all that remains is to sharpen up and shape the athlete into the 'honed and hungry' figure that they should be. This block is when the real speed work and sport specific work is done. The volume of training may be reduced but the quality increased. The training can be brought out onto the track and the stopwatch used more extensively as each session can build upon what has come before. The introduction of specific sprint sessions and technique sessions incorporating the actual implements used in competition will give the athlete the ability to 'see where they are at' and shape their realistic goals for the next block. Some opportunities to compete are extremely useful and it is often in the athletes best interests to try events that they would not normally do in the competition period to condition themselves more thoroughly e.g. Over and Under distance races for the middle and long distance runner, 100 and 200m for the triple jumper / javelin thrower, longer sprints for the 100m specialist to keep their form for a whole straight.

Block 4 - Competition

This phase no training needs no explanation. The season has arrived and the athletes are ready to achieve the goals that they set out in the winter months. All the hard work and planning is now about to come to fruition as the athlete can afford to taper down and focus on specific targets during the competition months. Training by this stage is very sport specific with a lot of emphasis on speed, power, correct technique and race / event strategy. This is where the THAMES VALLEY HARRIER really shows their true character and determination to win the races, score the points and show BAL Division 1 that we are here to stay.
Motivational talk over. Get out there, train hard but appropriately, seek help from our very experienced coaches, team managers, physios and support staff and get ready to achieve all those goals that you should have written down by now!
All the best and speak to you all again next month.