Review: Weights for Speed (One and Two)

Charlie_Francis · April 19, 2009, 6:36pm

I have found that the easiest way to ‘induce’ a peak performance is to go to maintenance weights, planning the peak period to be 5-6 weeks into the maintenance phase. However I am dabbling with the idea (if a suitable level of strength can actually be maintained for longer as Charlie states above) of raising the intensity of the running to two (very) high intensity days a week. I recognise that this will cause performances to not quite be where the athlete is capable in the lesser competitions, but with freshening up after a taper period for the big ones, I would expect to see a good rebound (this could also have the added psychological factor of giving the athlete a sense of no matter how they run they know that they will be capable of running quicker when and where it matters). An example of what I’m thinking of planning in the comp phase is set out below:
After Saturday competition
Mon: Tempo
Tue: 4x30, 80 100 120 150@100%; Weghts 2x3@85%
Wed: Tempo
Thur: 4x30 @95%
Fri: Rest or Warm up
Sat: Comp 100/200
Sun: Rest

Thoughts

i think you’d be at high risk for the meet if it is a high level athele