Periodization Training- Base Phase

It's still cold outside for most of us, but now is the time to stop preparing to train and get to the task of making it happen. By now, you should know what races you are planning on doing and which ones you want to be at your best for. It is time to start increasing the amount of time (volume) you train while beginning to establish the fundamentals of intensity, which include working on speed, force, and overall endurance. This is known as the Base Phase.

The Base Phase can last 8-12 weeks for most athletes on their way to their first peak. In this phase there are three different parts:

• Base 1- Increasing an athletes workload volume

• Base 2- Increasing an athletes workload volume and introducing intensity

• Base 3- Max workload volume with low priority races and/ or priority race specific intensity

Each part of the Base Phase plays a key role in your overall growth and development as you work towards getting ready and being totally prepared for that key race you want to focus on in the months ahead. Without a good solid base, you will struggle with getting the most out of yourself as the levels of intensity increase later on. 

In each Base phase you take two to three weeks to increase the amount of workout time a little each week, usually about a 10% increase, from the week before and follow it up with a week of half of the last week to allow for recovery. Remember the Periodization Training Chart...

An example would be as follows:

1. Week One- Total hours = 9 hours
2. Week Two- Total hours = 10.5 hours
3. Week Three- Total hours = 12 hours
4. Week Four- Total hours = 6 hours
5. Week Five- Total hours = 9.5 hours
6. Week Six- Total hours = 11.5 hours
7. Week Seven- Total hours = 12.5 hours
8. Week Eight- Total hours = 6 hours
9. Week Nine- Total hours = 10 hours
10. Week Ten- Total hours = 12 hours
11. Week Eleven- Total hours = 13 hours
12. Week Twelve- Total hours = 6 hours

In this phase you are going to spend the most time training, but it is necessary to help increase your ability to ramp up your intensity in the next phase. The volume here will help you avoid the risk of injury and maximize your ability to recovery after the harder workouts later on. This for most athletes is the hardest part of their training phase because even though the intensity is still fairly low, the risk of feeling "overtrained" is always present. That is also why it is very important to follow the rule of not increasing the workload by more than 10% from week to week. 

To keep the feeling of being "overtrained" at bay it is critical to obey the recovery weeks. I have several athletes that get to these weeks and all of a sudden feel great again and are anxious to do more that the allotted time. This is a crucial mistake. Remember you feel good during the recovery weeks for a reason and to not rest when it is need will definitely send them over the edge. That is where it is my job as a coach to tell them NO!

If you don't yet have a coach, it is your job to be disciplined and trust your training plan. I promise you will be better off in the long run even if it doesn't feel that way in the moment. The most important thing you can do as an athlete is have a plan and then do your best to stick to the plan.

What is Periodization Training?

So it's January and you are starting to look at the upcoming races and even start putting a few on your calendar as targets to do for the year. You know you want to do well in them so you start thinking about the things you did in the past to get ready, what others have told you they did to get ready, and heck you have even Googled it! But if you are like most weekend warriors you just begin running, biking, and swimming whenever you can for as long as you can and hope for the best on race day.

There is a better way...

That way is Periodization Training. What is this you ask? Well, just like the title states, it is a process of structuring you training into sets of defined periods. All of us train but some us train smarter, not just harder and in Periodization Training the year is divided into periods with each period having a specific focus of what and how to improve certain aspects of fitness while maintaining the gains made in previous periods. It has become the standard among the serious athletes- from the hardcore weekend warrior, the age-grouper, and  all the way to the elite.

In the weeks and months to come I will begin discussing the separate periods within this form of training which include the following-

• Prep Phase- Endurance training that gets the body used to a daily workload
• Base 1- The first phase of increasing an athletes workload volume
• Base 2- The second phase of increasing an athletes workload volume
• Base 3- Last phase of workload volume 
• Build 1- Race specific intensity training and focusing on personal limiters.
• Build 2- Races added in this area to prepare for target races
• Peak Phase- The workload volume drops in order to achieve maximum recovery 
• Race- It is now time to put all of your hard work into action!

So right now almost all of my athletes are in the Prep Phase of their training. In this time they are working on getting used to "training." They are to concentrate solely on improving the endurance aspects of their cardiovascular system (heart, blood, lungs) and build up tolerance for training (time in the saddle, time on feet, and non-drowning). There is still Cross-training taking place in this phase including core exercise workouts and even weight training to develop muscle recruitment. Here, everyone is very excited and my main task at this point is to keep everyone calm and patient because the workload is coming and then the intensity. If your not sure how to eat an elephant, just ask a Roanoke Valley Coaching athlete and they can tell you ;)