Hi, the girl (17) I’m training has a pb of 12.3 in the 100 and 7.8 in the 60. The goals for next season are around 7.6 and 11.9-12.0 (any comments?).
The major meets are on weeks 8&9 during the indoor season and weeks 29&30 outdoors. Basically the majority of outdoor season will be from week 26 to 30 (5 weeks) so I’m leaning towards double periodisation using the short to long approach.
Currently the plan is as follows:
GPP I 8-9 weeks (starting in wk 38 or 39)
SPP I 12 weeks (3-1-3 MxS + 5 wks pre-comp.)
Comp. I 3 weeks
GPP II 4 weeks (1 wk recovery + 3 wks GPP)
SPP II 12 weeks (3-1-3 MxS + 5 wks pre-comp.)
Comp. II 5(-10) weeks
What are your thoughts, is the SPP II length appropriate for peaking at the main competitions? Should I plan for equal strenght gains (~10%) in both phases or something like 12%-8%?
Seems pretty reasonable. 12 weeks should be enough. I managed to get a peak (p.b.) out of a 400m runner this summer in only 4 weeks. I only coached them for these 4 weeks before they were with another coach so in that case it was probably just that I focused on speed/SPE2 work rather than lactic endurance that made the difference but it shows it can be done.
Equal strength gains could be possible but only if the other work being performed uring the Max strength phase is structured to allow it. Otherwise maybe 10%/8%. It depends if you think it would be advantagous to go with the increased strength or want more speed work. With a S-L approach the speed should be pretty good at this point so you will probably be able to work on more strength work. If you are worried about loosing speed you could just cut the length of the max strength phase a bit.
I think this was discussed at the VAN’04 seminar but it isn’t really on the DVD though the graphs are. Someone who was there will prbably be able to help more.