High Level Planning for an Entire Year

Expert Discussion Planning and Periodization
1

As the 2011 track season is coming to a close for me, I’ve already begun thinking about how I’ll need to set up the different GPP, SPP, and Comp periods for the 2012 season. I’ve been digging through the GPP Essentials and SPP videos, in addition to reading a lot of Charlie’s materials. While I feel like I’m starting to “get” the CF approach to training at more of the detailed level (e.g., how to structure a week; what types of workouts to utilize on a power day, speed day, tempo day, etc), I’m having a hard time tying it all together into a yearly plan. Any help would be much appreciated. I’ll provide what I think is the necessary info, but definitely let me know if you need more.

General Info
Age: 27 (turning 28 in September)

Years of Training: I took 7 years away from track after high school and returned at the age of 25. I just finished my third season after returning to the sport. I kept in shape and played football for a couple years in that break.

Location: Wisconsin (US)

Personal Bests: 7.16 (60); 11.08 (100); 22.02 (200); 49.87 (400) - All within the last year.

Track Goals
I am leaning towards focusing on the 200m during the 2012 season. I’ll probably still add the 400m here and there at meets, but I’d like to run more “fresh” 200s for once. My 22.02 PB this year came at the first outdoor meet. After that, I only ran 2 more 200s - both of which were after a 400m in that day. My times were 22.65 and 22.50 in those races. Ultimately, I think I’ll come back to a heavy 400 focus at some point (maybe 2013). But I first want to see what I can do in the 200.

I compete mainly during the collegiate season. Therefore, my first Comp Period can range from mid-January to the first weekend in March. My second main Comp Period would take place from mid/late April to late May. Here’s where my lack of knowledge comes in. I’m not sure of the appropriate length of a Comp Phase. Would 7 weeks of meets (with the occasional week off) during the indoor season be too long? Also, a 12-week SPP would have to start in late-October if targeting the desired indoor Comp Period. Adding on 7 weeks or so of GPP would bring me to the beginning of September. So my main question would be, “What do I do between my last summer meet of this year (6/26) and September?” I wouldn’t want to lose what I gained this year, only to work at regaining them throughout the fall. Would it be better to extend the SPP more than 12 weeks? Or perhaps I could divide the time up until the indoor season between an SPP1 and and SPP2, even though there are no competitions between them.

As you might be able to tell, I have a lot of questions. So, here is a quick breakdown of my main ones:

  1. How long is a reasonable indoor Comp Period?

  2. Should I extend my SPP leading up until the indoor season? If not, what alternative do you suggest?

  3. What length of a GPP would you recommend for someone with my training background (let me know if you need more info)?

  4. How do you bridge the gap between the end of a season and the GPP of the next season?

Thanks for any advice that you can give me.

2

I am going to bump this thread as I just ran my final meet this past weekend. I’m kind of in that state of "What the heck do I do now? I’d love to get some feedback from some of the minds on here. Last offseason, I had a smaller view of the entire picture. I took a basic 3 weeks on/1 week rest and test approach, and my speed definitely improved. This was reflected in my PBs from 55m up through 400m. However, 1) linking the end of this season to next, 2) structuring an appropriate GPP for my level and age, 3) setting up the right SPP for my target Comp Period, and 4) the length of a manageable Comp Period are some things that I definitely need help with. Until now, I’ve had more of a bottom-up approach to training. What I’m hoping to gain now is an understanding of how best to fit all of these different elements into an annual plan. I look forward to your ideas. And as I mentioned before, I’d be happy to give additional information that would be helpful.

3

1. How long is a reasonable indoor Comp Period? I think 8 weeks is good esp if you like competing and have total control over your race schedule.

2. Should I extend my SPP leading up until the indoor season? If not, what alternative do you suggest? Your plan sounds good, I like a 6-7 weeks GPP, follow by a 10-12 weeks SPP.

3. What length of a GPP would you recommend for someone with my training background (let me know if you need more info)? See above. BTW, if you plan on making the 400 your main event - give some thoughts towards extending your GPP to 10 weeks depending where your general fitness levels are etc.

4. How do you bridge the gap between the end of a season and the GPP of the next season?

June 27-July 24: (4 weeks) Get away from training and enjoy, get therapy on any injured body parts. This is the time to go crazy on the manual therapy.
July 25-Aug 13: (4 weeks) Tempo, Mb, Gs circuits
Aug 15-26: (3 weeks) Pre GPP work (similar to what you would do week 1 of gpp but lower volume).

OR:

You could work on 2-3 weak areas - for example strength training and mobility etc etc.

4

Thanks for the response, RB34. As a follow-up question, how long should one reasonably go without speed work? My main fear would be that I’d have to spend a good amount of time getting myself back to where I already am if I stay away too long. I just don’t know what “too long” means. Looking at your answer to #4, I’d be away from any kind of speed work for 8 weeks. And even if I were to start what you call Pre-GPP work, I’m guessing I’d just be re-introducing accels and short hills. What is the thinking regarding the MaxV neural adaptions made this past year? Is it ok let those go untouched for 12+ weeks like this kind of approach implies?

I believe that I’ve read something where Charlie stated that getting too specific too early can lead to issues down the road. If any one could explain that better to me, that would be great. The whole concept of completely stepping away from what you need to do in the end doesn’t make intuitive sense to me. My mother is a piano teacher, and I know that it’s torture for her when her students stop taking lessons for the summer, never practice, and then come back in the fall worse than they left in the spring.