I was just rereading the Periodisation section in CTFS yesterday where Charlie is talking about the problems of very long GPP phases (hamstring injuries etc). Then today out of the blue i get a phone from an athlete i had been training up until recently who has moved to train with one of the UKs top 400m coaches.
Upon meeting with this coach they were told regarding “winter training” - “you are going to loose a lot of your speed, training with me over the winter months”!
Bloody hell, i mean why would you a) say something like that to an athlete when you meet them for the first time and b) train in a manner where you know you are loosing a considerable amount of speed, which you faught so hard to develop the previous year. I just don’t understand why alarm bells don’t start ringing when people hear themselves saying things like this…
I can’t see why you are surprised, Tom; it’s a classical approach of “winter training”, or “base training”, where “distance should be built for the speed training to come”…
Seriously though, I suppose the “middle-distance influence” from years back on 400 m training in the UK must still be big, don’t you think?
I don’t know…
Yeah the middle distance thing is still a big part of it, but I have never heard anyone openly admit that winter training makes you considerably slower!
It just seems a funny thing to say to someone who is coming to you already fast and wants to take thier training to the next level. It didn’t inspire confidence is all i’m trying to say…
typical of the uk/irish approach…when the indoors come around both coaches and athletes are running round like headless chickens trying to improve speed…end result is injury
Or, they regard indoors running as “just a break from training”, you go run like s**t and this is supposed to make you feel ok for the rest of your training…
As you say, typical!
The better thing to say would be complete trouth (not just part):
“You will be getting faster, but first we must develop some other thing wich may slow you down a little for some time and on the other hand it is winter and there is no comp, so you will be musch faster than now when the right time comes…”
I would say something like this… truth, truth,truth and open comnication a must have in the coaching practice…
This is so true. For females running 400m indoors it is not uncommon to see consistant 55s outdoor runners performing 57-58 indoors after 4 months of winter training. That is why this year I think one of the people i train is going to do very well indoors in comparison to people who should be kicking her ass… we will have to wait and see.
