Periodization

Anyone with a coach knows that their coach has some "master plan". Some people care to understand every detail (me) and go on to become coaches themselves (me again). Others, don't care to know the gritty details and that's why they hired a coach in the first place. Regardless of what category you fall into, I think it's important for EVERYONE know the general idea. When I explain the "master plan", just know that this is MY interpretation of training periodization based on what I've learned from my coach, heard from other USAT coaches and read from other experts in the field. I may or may not know what the hell I'm talking about.


Here it goes.


First, if you have trainingpeaks, you'll see theres a lil' ATP icon on the left side of the calendar view. Click on it, click "graph view" and you will see your Annual Training Plan.


This is one year. This is a macrocycle. Then you'll see chunks of 3 or 4 weeks at a time-Mesocycles. Each week is a microcycle. Memorize those terms. Just kidding, who cares what they're called, its just important to know that theres one big guy (year) broken into smaller phases (3 or 4 weeks... months) broken into EVEN smaller sections (each week). Would it be corny to compare it to a pizza? Pizza is your year. Slices are your mesocycles. Toppings are your microcycles.





Each athlete has a unique pizza, theres a different variety of toppings on each slice and all the slices vary in size.

Right now, I want people to understand the pieces of the pizza. The small pieces, you know, the cute ones, that's your peak and your race. The bigger pieces are: Transition, Prep, Base, Build, Peak and Race. There might be several build pieces (those really meaty ones!), and several Base pieces.

If you're training for Ironman FL in a few weeks, you're probably finishing build, starting peak week and will be ready to go for the best piece-RACE!!!

Most people don't have any trouble sticking to the plan during this time, the issues arise during Transition, Prep, and Base. THIS IS A WARNING. Transition phase is falling near the holidays. Yes, you will get time to rest during this phase. You definitely should enjoy this time. If you decide to swim, bike and run- You're exercising. Not training. You don't have to be so serious during this time, but don't forget, this is a phase. Don't hate yourself because you're not training 24/7, and don't go into it with an all or nothing attitude. If you take time off, it doesn't mean it's time to eat everything you can and gain 10lbs of Christmas cookie weight.



So, once you're made it through the transition phase "...oh...the race is over...what do I do now?"

You're in prep phase.. "alright, time to get serious again". Then comes base. Base and build are the bulk of your season. Make sure you have a way of measuring your progress (test week for us team fraser folk). Many of us had a long summer full of races. The goal was to maintain our fitness throughout the summer. Sometimes its hard to grasp. February's workouts are making my July racing a success. Or, an even bigger picture, 2007's running is helping me at my 2010 Ironman. Even though it's frustrating at times, try to keep the bigger picture in mind. You will not go from zero to amazing in 1 year. And if you do, you will not go from amazing to SUPER amazing in your second year. It takes time.

As you start your base season, it's important that you understand what it means to build an aerobic base. If you'd like to read more about it, read this article at Trifuel.com. The lesson to be learned:
GO SLOW TO GET FAST
Many people have a hard time with this concept, myself included. No matter what we read or hear, when we go out for our workout, we want to go hard. Personally, if i'm running in daylight, I don't want people to see me running 11 min/miles or (heaven forbid) WALKING! I want them to see me in perfect stride with a perfect smile (or, the "i'm really concentrating" face). If I'm riding my bike, I want to feel my legs burn, my sweat drip and most importantly- my "calories burned" to be HIGH. No matter what I tell myself BEFORE the workout, DURING the workout, I always have the urge to go harder. However, the more I learn about WHY I need to go slow, the more I listen to what my coach is telling me.
Let's break it down- You want your body to burn fat. At a lower intensity, you are burning more fat. (Picture- mall walker=Fat burner). You WANT to burn more fat. Why? Because no matter how lean you are (and, please, you know you're not really 5% body fat anyways...), you have an almost unlimited supply of fat to burn. Glucose, carbs- not so much. Its kinda like teaching a kid to like their vegetables. LISTEN PEOPLE, you WANT to use fat! It's good for you. Juuusss' try it! You know they're good for you, but that candy bar is lookin' mighty fine right about now. RESIST the high intensity, carb gobbling workouts. Teach your body to burn fat.

This winter, I swam, biked, and ran in Active Recovery (or zone 1...or "easy") all day, every day. I trained my body to become more efficient, making "hard" not as hard anymore. It also increased the time I could spend at "hard". It worked. I'm telling you. The fast people aren't fast because their trying harder during the high intensity sets, they're fast because they go hard when they're supposed to go hard and they go EASY when they're supposed to go easy.

Please believe me when I say, I SUCKED at sports all of my life. All of my progress in this sport is due to the way I train. Training smart. Many people train more than me and harder than me, but I stick with the plan and reap the benefits (even if its 6 months down the road). Since I spent the time developing my base, I was able to bounce back from injuries and down time quicker.

Weight loss Tip: If you're looking for the perfect time to lose weight, I'd recommend during base. These workouts don't leave you feeling SUPER hungry afterwards so it's easier to cut calories without feeling like you're starving yourself. If you don't manage to lose weight during the bulk of your season, I'm not going to say it's not possible during race season, but I will say that's it's not as easy and it's more likely to negatively effect your performance.

In conclusion, if you like to go the same pace every workout all year round, then get used to seeing the same results at every race. If you want to get better, train smarter. Mentally, it's tough, but it's worth it!