This question was recently posted on the Tri Talk Forums. I felt it was worthy to review the "why" behind one of the fundamentals of periodization training.
Dear David
I am an experienced triathlete, but just picking up on what it means to plan and prepare for the season. Over the last 10 years I have put in on average 3-5 workouts and 6-10 hours of training per week. I have never worked with base and build concepts, or any off-season for that matter. Most workouts are at around 75-90% of HRM. I do a marathon in around 2.50, olympic around 2.08. This season I plan to take the planning a bit more serious, so your advice would be much appreciated.
My question is this: In preparation for a new season, and taking into account my practice with doing primarily/exclusively high-intensity workouts, does it make sense spending significant amounts of time building my "base"? In other words, given that my body has never been used to workouts at 55-65% of HRM is it still the way to go if I want to prepare seriously?
Thank you,
Peter
Peter,
First of all, if you are using a system that results in a 2.50 marathon and a 2.08 Oly triathlon, it is hard for me to argue that you need to change your training routine. Like all solid training concepts, the periodization method is based on years of research and study on what worked for a majority of athletes. It does not mean that periodization training is universal as the best training application. It does mean that given a group of 100 athletes, I would feel comfortable saying that 90+ of those athletes would reach their true peak potential by using the classic periodization technique. However, differences in genetics or lifestyle might lead one athlete to become better by following a different approach. For you, your high intensity training routine seems to work.
But, I would be curious to find out, what if you spent the next 2 seasons following a true periodization plan? Going down to ridiculously low (low for you) intensities for 8+ weeks before going back to your normal routine. What if there is potential there that is going untapped?
To answer your direct question, here are some risks of too much intensity in training:
- Development of fast-twitch muscles over slow-twitch muscles. Spending too much time in high intensities can lead you to develop a high % of fast-twitch muscles. Slow-twitch muscles use far less glycogen and fatigue less easily. For athletes training for 1/2 Iron and above, this can be a critical element. If your primary racing has been in the >3hour range, you can get away with more fast-twitch muscles. But longer than that, you'll wish you had more of those slow-twitch fibers!
- Risk of injury. Spending months at a Base level allows for the strengthening of soft-tissue before introducing the intensities. This is particularly important for athletes who are injury prone.
- Teaching your body to use glycogen instead of fat for fuel. Similar to risk #1. Spending time in a zone that causes the body to use more glycogen for fuel teaches the body long-term to use that fuel source. Again, for shorter distances, this is no problem. But for 3+ hours of racing, you run the risk of getting dangerously low in glycogen.
- Finally, and probably the biggest risk, is that consistent high intensity training does not allow for the physiological phenomenon of supercompensation to take place. If you are constantly training at high intensities, this becomes the new "norm" for your body. There is no new stress that is placed on the body, and therefore the body reaches a state of being balanced at that intensity, and does not react. However, by training at low intensities for a period of time, and then "shocking" your body into intensities for which it it not prepared, it sends your physiology into a state of stress and panic (a good panic) and overcompensates your body to a level that it would not have done if the intensities were "normal". Even if the intensities are the exact same as they were a year previously, doing those intensities in year 1 (non-periodization year) would not result in the overcompensation that would occur when doing those intensities in year 2 (periodization year).
For what it is worth, in a recent interview with the world-renowned Olympian coach Dr. Tudor Bompa, he stated that the 3 biggest mistakes coaches make (and by implication, self-coached athletes) are 1) trying "gimmicky" training techniques 2) not strength training year-round and 3) not building a long enough aerobic base at the beginning of the season.
Again, you may be the exception to the genetic rule. But if I were your coach, my challenge to you would be: What if periodization does work for you, you have the potential to be even faster, and don't know it because you have not yet applied periodization to your training?
David