Developing Your Seasonal Training Plan
objective of this phase is to perfect all training factors to ensure successful racing. The precompetitive subphase uses racing to test your ability. It’s an objective feedback for your training and level of preparation. The competitive subphase is dedicated to maximizing your fitness for maximum performance. Finally, the third phase, called the transition phase, is the rest and rejuvenation phase in between training cycles or seasons. The size of each mesocycle, or phase, is different and is mostly related to the training objective for that particular phase of training and its position within the race schedule. In the preparatory phase, the objective is to develop technique, endurance, and an overall conditioning foundation. These elements take a long time to develop, and therefore the preparatory phase will be the longest phase of your annual training plan. The competitive phase is shorter as the focus is on racing, which is very stressful, and therefore the amount of time you can be in that phase without detrimental effect on your body is limited. You will learn more about how to build the training phases in the section on dividing your season into training periods later in this chapter. Keep in mind that the level of the athlete will also influence the length of each phase. For example, a beginner athlete most likely will have a very long preparatory phase, up to 22 weeks, if needed, to develop a strong foundation that will enable him to endure the load of progressive, more advanced training. On the other hand, an advanced athlete who has been training for a few years has already developed a strong foundation and may need only 12 to 16 weeks to get there, and therefore she can move to the competitive phase of training more quickly. Table 1.1 provides general guidelines on how to divide the training season (macrocycle) into mesocycles and what the length, intensity, and volume of each phase would be. Table 1.2 provides general guidelines of what the focus of training in each mesocycle should be. Although the focus in each of these phases is mostly the same for every athlete, the length, intensity, and recovery time of each period will change based on the athlete’s goals and athletic experience and the time the athlete needs to adapt to the training stress.
Table 1.1
Division of Annual Training Plan Into Phases and Training Cycles Phase
Subphase
Length in weeks*
Intensity
Training volume
Preparatory
General preparation (prep and base)
12 to 20
Very little
Low
Specific preparation (build)
4 to 12
Moderate
Moderate to high
Precompetitive (peak or taper)
3 to 8
Heavy
Moderate
Competitive (race)
1 to 3
Very heavy
Low
Few days to 6 weeks
Very little
Low
Competitive
Transition *22-49 total weeks
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