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:
- Week One- Total hours = 9 hours
- Week Two- Total hours = 10.5 hours
- Week Three- Total hours = 12 hours
- Week Four- Total hours = 6 hours
- Week Five- Total hours = 9.5 hours
- Week Six- Total hours = 11.5 hours
- Week Seven- Total hours = 12.5 hours
- Week Eight- Total hours = 6 hours
- Week Nine- Total hours = 10 hours
- Week Ten- Total hours = 12 hours
- Week Eleven- Total hours = 13 hours
- 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.
