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Seasonal or Annual Plans |
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| Any complete plan should incorporate a series of cycles or phases. Here's
an example of an overall (macro) plan covering 19 weeks and taking
into account a major goal (the Weymouth 1/2 ironman) in week 15: |
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| Volume, here indicated by the differing shades of blue, means
the actual amount of training within a week, and in this plan it peaks in
the second period of base training, week 6 of the plan. Intensity,
the measure of how hard on the body training is, is quite low
during this period but peaks twice in the pre-competition and
competition phases, then remaining fairly high up to the week before
the race. |
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| It's important to note that this athlete was very fit to start
with and had a goal of completing the 1/2 Ironman in under 5
hours. With this in mind it's worth looking at the plan in
slightly greater detail: |
| The Base Phase: |
| Lasted for 7 weeks and was divided into 2 periods with 2
separate peaks of training volume. There was also a test in week 2
which checked the athletes achievable swimming speed at the time
and allowed us to set a sensible goal for the swimming speed
needed in the race to achieve the target time, which also gave us
target times for cycling and running. Swimming was this athletes
weakest discipline. |
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| Pre-Competition: |
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Lasted 4 weeks and began to increase the intensity of sessions
but reduced the overall volume. In week 2 we planned a test, a
cycle time trial over race distance, to be completed at the race
pace we wanted during the Weymouth Half Ironman. After this test,
from the feedback given by the athlete, we knew that the times we
had projected were achievable a the intensities we wanted to
maintain during the race. As a judge of intensity we were using
heart rate (HR), needing to maintain the HR below a certain level
to make sure the athlete could maintain the pace he needed to
complete the race in the time he wanted. |
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| Competition Phase: |
| In the competition phase we scheduled another test putting
together both the cycle and run. The aim was again to practice
race pacing and get the body used to the pace needed to complete
the 1/2 Ironman in the time we wanted. The difficulty with anyone
moving up to a long distance race is to keep the intensity down to
a level where pace is sustainable. A 5 hour race is vastly
different to one that this athlete would complete in just over 2
hours, where he would tend to push himself to the limit. It also
gave us a chance to practice feeding while racing - very important
in a long event. After this test we had confirmed that the
pace we chose was right and that he was nearly ready for the race.
After a 2 week taper where we maintained speed but reduced volume
he recorded a 4 hour 50 minute performance. |
| Recovery: |
| A well earned rest from formal training but still with activity
included. It was time to enjoy wind surfing, kayaking and tennis.
A full 4 weeks but beginning to pick up the swimming and cycling
in the final week. |
