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A Resting Program?—A Look at Periodization and the Importance of Training Logs

An article by Mike Schultz CSCS of Highland Training

Resting is usually not the first thing that comes into mind when you think of a training program. That’s understood because as athletes, we think about the types of exercises that will make us stronger, faster, and more aerobically fit to handle the challenges that we decide to tackle—such as an adventure race. It is hard to look at the big picture because there are so many things to think about such as work, family, daily training schedule and equipment maintenance. Not only can all these things become daunting, but they all add into the amount of stress you carry into each week of training.

Periodization is a way to look at the big picture for athletes. Setting up periods is a way to manage the amount of training stress your mind and body accumulates during training. You accumulate a certain amount of physical and mental training stress each time you head for a run or a bike and this stress accumulates over time. There are some heart rate monitors and power meters that measure the amount of training stress an athlete logs each week by measuring the duration and intensity of each exercise session. This is called a TSS score (Training Stress Score). Long, steady, easy breathing training sessions can equal the same amount of training stress as a shorter higher intensity session. The goal of working different intensities and durations is to tax, or stress, a certain energy system to help create certain aerobic adaptations. Therefore it is important to include both the long, steady and short, high intensity sessions in your training. Equally important is scheduling rest. It is the only way to really find your limits. Scheduling quality rest allows you to work harder within your two to three week “work” period and gives your body the rest it needs. This leads to good adaptations.

There are a few ways to schedule training periods. The most widely used method is to log either two or three weeks of training followed by one full week of reduced hours to allow your systems to adapt. The following are a couple examples of a four week period or micro cycle. The hours chosen are for illustration only. Your weekly, monthly, and yearly training hours will depend on how much time you can make available to invest into exercise and training.

The above represents a sample build period and a sample taper. The sample build period has increasing hours of total training time each week followed by a week with a 50% reduction in hours to allow for adaptation. This not only allows for adaptation but will also allow for you to work at a higher level of fitness once your rest week is over. The biggest difference between a professional athlete and a novice is that the professional is always working at a higher energy output. Once too much fatigue sets in, eventually leading to an over trained athlete, a decline in performance will follow. Once over trained, your potential energy output for each day will decline as well.

The taper starts out with a 14 HR week, your biggest training week and gradually reduces hours over time to allow for additional rest and intensity to help prepare for the race. There are a few ways to taper into an event. A short seven day taper for non priority events are common and long Two to four week tapers for your priority events. Even your food cravings will subdue, during your third to fourth week of a taper, to give you a sign of recovery as well as a well prepared system.

Perceived exertion (PE) is a commonly used bio marker and it is interpreted in many different ways. Basically PE is a self measured check of how you feel when exercising. It can be best measured on a certain stretch of hill or road that you repeat often each week. You have to ask yourself a few questions - Does the Hill climb look hard? Does the hill feel harder than usual? Was I able to run or bike up that hill easily without breathing heavy? Obviously, if the last question was a yes, then that would indicate a low PE. There is a relationship or trend between PE and your training cycles. As you go through a build period, your PE will go up indicating fatigue. This is the goal. When you go through a taper, your PE should come down. This is also the goal heading into a race. Using PE along with other markers such as your heart rates, breath and power (in Watts, using a Power meter), will help you understand your level of fatigue throughout your training.

The total amount of exercise should be tracked each week to help you manage your training stress. This can be as simple as writing your daily hours on a calendar at home. Once you start doing so, you may find that you only need two weeks of training before you start to become fatigued and need a reduced hour week. There are many BIO markers that you can use to track fatigue but that will be another topic for another article at another time. So take a physical track of your hours each week and a mental note of your overall fatigue as you run, bike, swim and hike your way into better shape. Most importantly, have fun.

Mike Schultz CSCS