Seasonal Periodization questions

The Forums Ask Us.
1

The other day I was re-reading CFTS and suddenly a very basic doubt got me.

  1. How long should each season before a break should be taken, and how long should this break be so as to minimize the posibility of detraining?

  2. How many mesocycles should be included in a single season?

  3. Within each season what is the objective and how should they be ordered?
    Speed, Speed Endurance, Strength, MaxV, Acceleration, Hypertrophy, etc…

  4. Is active rest the best option for this?

and the last one for now

  1. Should younger sprinters (not running sub 11 yet, or less than 3 years of training experience) try to peak or just simply keep training through all meets???

Hopefully this will open up a few discussions and some good answers.

Cheers, Alex

2

does anyone want to take a swing at this???

3

Hi Alex, how are you doing dude ?
There´s sometime in sprinters career where everything seems to be “ocult”, confused and that things you did in last 1,2 or 3 years is not helping anymore.
Doubts, doubts, doubts. :confused:
It´s like a barrier ( not a 11.0s barrier ) but definitely, it´s something to be broked.
And we need as much will as possible to break this, this is the time where we will find out:
What we realy want to do, what we realy want to be, its our game ? or just a hobby ?
I´m in the same boat as you, i became stronger physically & mentally, better conditioned, improved my technique a lot, but the times on track are not friendly as he used to be at the past and i must confess, after my last “bad” injurie ( ankle sprain ) i made my decision:
This is my game !! I want this more than anything in my life ( course GOD come 1st ),
but no matter conditions, no matter times, no matter injuries, no matter wheater, no matter my english level :smiley:
at the end of the day, this is a game where we can´t fight against, actualy, if we fight, we´ll be slowed ( antagonist “muscles” thing, remember ? ).
Sometimes i woke up in the midle of the night thinking: GOD this is what you planned to me ?
I don´t know, i´m not sure about anything, just what i know is that, when i run, i feel that i can, i can be faster, i have this feeling.
I´m fighting yet, but i´m fighting against this fight, i still fighting.
I can´t predict how would be my life without sprint thing. But i can realy tell you, with all sure in my mind: My life is 100% “hapiness” with the sprint routine lifes i´m getting now.
So, no answer for your 5 questions above, but just one good counsel:
Go for it !!
Let the things comes naturaly, don´t spend your time searching for highways, looking for problems ( that doesn´t exist ), no excuses, no shortcuts, no fear, no doubt, just do what all they, sub 10 sprinters, already did in his careers; train harder, train smart, vary, get-off those bad things, catch the good ones, train, train, train. At least you´ll be a tough guy ( a good bad.ass 200m runner ).
I hope to see you next ( 2007, you know where ). :cool:
Cheers

4
  1. How long should each season before a break should be taken, and how long should this break be so as to minimize the posibility of detraining?

I think CF used 2 weeks. If you have a 2-4 week break at the end to recharge the batteries why not just do tempo work every 2-3 days to keep things ticking over?

  1. How many mesocycles should be included in a single season?

2-3 depending how often you want to peak. CF used 3 for elite sprinters.

  1. Within each season what is the objective and how should they be ordered?
    Speed, Speed Endurance, Strength, MaxV, Acceleration, Hypertrophy, etc…

This is a complex question that would take me a small book to answer. See the Vancouver 2004 DVD and the Forum Review 02 for graphs and explanation.

  1. Is active rest the best option for this?

The best option for what? Sorry don’t understand but you use tempo and active recovery techniques throughout the season.

  1. Should younger sprinters (not running sub 11 yet, or less than 3 years of training experience) try to peak or just simply keep training through all meets???

If you are training conisistantly throughout the season you will need to unload for major competitions so you are not fatigued going in. So yes. Sub 11 runners can benefit by about 0.1-0.2 from a 7 day taper (in place of full 10 day) and good periodisation in my experience.

5

You mean use tempo work every 2-3 days during the break period??

So In a year you suggest dividing the training cycles into 3 x 12 week cycles (as shown in the graphs in CFTS and the FR) and this relates to another question further on, is dividing into triple periodization really necessary for someone at a relative beginner level Sub 12 but not sub 11 secs??.

Ok in the Forum review he mentions Acc, Speed then Speed Endurance, how would these different track phases relate to the weight phases employed for example Hypertrophy is usually used in GPP Max Strength would be Acc or Speed etc…?

Here I meant is active rest the best option for the break period between seasons. As in for example the summer holidays (february here in the southern hemisphere) could replace sprint training with “beach sports” like beach volleyball or beach soccer for example??

I fully agree that a 10 day taper for someone not at elite level is too much and to be perfectly honest 7 days at my level Sub 12 but not sub 11 would even be too much, for someone at such a low level would the suggested taper be shorter?? say 2-4 days and what would be done during that period? Intensity is kept up but volume is decreased, where? In track work or weights or both??

Cheers, I hope this is useful for people

6

  1. Yes Tempo or Push up Sit up circuit during the breaks with maybe reduced volume (e.g. short circuit). Any other kind of sport or activity would also do (maybe swimming or cycling or something to take the pressure off your legs).

  2. When are your major competitions? If you only have 2 a year then have 2 phases if you have 3 then three. Since each block concludes with a competition this will give you focus. Remember GPP and rest make up the other 16 weeks of the year. Elite athletes tend to use 3 because they usually have a major championship late in the season around August/September (assuming it runs Sep - Sep).

  3. This is shown in the illustrations “Maximising Explosive Power” and “Vertical Integration” at the end of the Forum Review’02 Ebook. Do a search for Vertical Integration to find out more.

  4. Sounds good. You can do anything to keep yourself fit but be careful not to sprain your ankle on the beach you lucky bugger. (it just rains in england :stuck_out_tongue: )

  5. Why not use a 7 day taper? During days 5, 3 from the competition you still do a 95% speed run or two. If you look through the strength training literature you can see plenty of examples of adaption periods where people stop lifting have thier max isometric strength tested every 2-3 days and only reach thier peak in terms of strength after 10-14 days! This is with normal regular trainees not elite athletes. You accumilate fatigue throughout your training block. It is only when you unload at the end that you are able to realise your full potential because all other improvements you have been making are hampered by fatigue.

I was once told how unfortunite it is that most athletes competing at a major championship are at thier peak while sitting on the plane ON THEIR WAY BACK HOME!

Also CF says a 10 day taper is always used before major comps because if you get injured with 10 days left you may still recover. Any later and you won’t.