the main focus/peak for my indoor season is 27/2/05 in 200m
keeping in mind that there aren’t many competitions before that, should i “risk” and have an early race mid of Jan -even if this means interrupting somewhat my training plan (or not)- or should i wait and have a possible race the weekend just before the peak? or even straight the peak race as my first one, having fully completed my training plan?
and should these earlier races, if any, be shorter (i.e., 60m), or the racing distance itself (200m)?
I’m no expert, but to me it would make sense to have at least one race about a month earlier at the distance you will be competing at in order to see how you perform in a competitive environment and how you stack up to others. Also, it can allow you a chance to assess your weaknesses in the race that you can improve upon before your peak.
i absolutely agree with this; i’m just thinking of the “messing up” in the training plan as i won’t have done much of a speed endurance work, or is it worth it?
thanks!
You need a certain level of competitive experience within the season to be ready. Usually 3 to 4 races for the 200m and 5 or 6 for the 60m- and with a 10day taper before the main event, it brings you to a starting date of around mid-Jan.
even if you are not really ready for this first race in mid Jan? i was planning on starting working on speed endurance with 80-120(-150)m just after Xmas (after finishing some work with split 60s), which doesn’t leave me much time for preparation for this first 200m…
unless i regard this race as a speed end session itself, continue the rest of the training almost as planned (working meanwhile even more on speed end) and focus on a peak at the end of Feb, improving speed end through previous races, as well (if any), “not worrying” too much about the results (except monitoring); would that be ok?
That’s why you want to set up the program backwards from the main date. If you’re short of race time, you can always use a Spec End as a race test with full starting procedures etc. to simulate what you need with no pressure. In any event, the competition level should always be at or a little below what you need.
If you are in the first 2 week of the split 60 and running quite fast (say 6.4) with 20m acceleration is there a risk of burn out considering there is still a long way to the start of the season?
That’s a tough question and depends on what iss being put into the runs. First, check to see that the acceleration is not going beyond 20m
that’s exactly the problem and that’s why i posted initially
i’ve work backwards from the main event (end of Feb) and i’m fine with this (hope so), but this first race mid of Jan is supposed to be of higher level from what i really want for first race for this distance and i know i won’t be ready anyway (for first race)…
and also i was thinking of a training trial as a simulation, at least to see how things are going with no pressure as you say…
still thinking about it; see how training goes, as well…
but then again i just found out today (almost forgot it) other races begining of Feb, which are much better!
If the race s too high profile, set up a race simulation wghich you can control. I know over there, you can often race more than once a week, in which case you can compress the race time-frame.
Charlie, is it possible to utilize a race on a Friday (end of the training week) as a speed/special endurance workout? That way you could have a dual advantage of basically having a special endurance session and seeing how you perform in a race situation.
You could conceivably run a 60 meter in the race as part of your short speed/accel workout and see how things “feel” in comparision to 60m times in previous years around the same time.
That wouldnt knock as much out of you as a full on 200 and throw off the entire micro.
I’ve got a couple of races last week of Jan and then first week of Feb; some rest/training after that and then a 10d tapering for the main event end of Feb -these are the races
during comp period, races are normally regarded as Speed End sessions (more so for 200m)
as i just started doing distances of 80-120-150 (possibly 100+100m with short rec) and the Sd End sessions are not many till end of Feb (main event), would you sacrifice the Speed End session on a Mon before the 1st race of 200m (Sunday) by doing some top speed work instead on Mon, or would you regard anyway the actual race as the Speed End session of that week? Just concerned about missing some Sd End work for the main event, that is…
PS for the 2nd race after a week, the sessions will be accel and top speed, i.e., a Speed End session “lost”, or rather done as a race the following weekend