7 Basic Training Assumptions

There are 7 basic training assumptions that keep me on the right path with the athletes I coach. These certainly aren’t earth-shaking thoughts but they lead in a direction that perhaps you hadn’t thought of before.

1. Training must be physically stressful. The whole purpose of training is to physically and appropriately challenge the body.  From this challenge the body adapts and becomes more capable of handling a given level of stress. To be effective the training challenge should be specific to the stress anticipated in the goal event for which you are training.

2. Adaptation to a specific physical stress is called “fitness.” This puts to rest old arguments about who is more fit - a golfer, weight lifter or marathoner. Each is equally fit for the unique physical demands of their sports. For example, if you want to define fitness as the physical skill required to hit a ball a long way accurately with a stick then the golfer is the fittest.

3. Another product of stress is fatigue. If you challenge the body many physiological changes other than fitness can occur. You may have depleted carbohydrate stores, damaged muscle cells, altered body chemistry, etc. Taken as a whole these changes are called “fatigue.”

4. Fitness and fatigue trend similarly. You may not have thought about this before, but there is a strong link between fitness and fatigue. If you are fatigued from training then you stressed the body adequately enough to create the potential for fitness. If the workout did not cause any fatigue at all then it also did not produce the potential for fitness. So, when fatigue is rising you can expect the same thing from fitness. The opposite is also true.

5. In order to race well one must reduce fatigue. This is what tapering before a big race is all about – reducing fatigue. You don’t want to go into important races tired. There is no benefit from doing that. Racing when tired most assuredly will produce less-than-stellar performances.

6. Reducing fatigue is called “coming into form.” The term “form” came from late-nineteenth-century horse racing. Before placing a bet you would check the form (sheet of paper) provided by the bookie which showed how each horse had been racing recently. When a horse was racing well it was said to be “on form.” Bike racing which started in the late nineteenth century adopted this term early on. In recent years other endurance sports have begun using it.

7. Coming into form requires losing fitness. This is where I was taking you with the above basic assumptions. Don’t believe me? Then go back to #4. The bottom line is that you must give up some fitness in order to shed fatigue and therefore race at the highest levels. The trick is to limit and control how much fitness is lost in the tapering process. I’ve probably put more time and thought into this single aspect of race preparation than any other. But what I do is far from perfect. Peaking is as much an art as a science. The protocol I use isn’t 100%. This is described in my books. It may work for a given athlete for one race but not as well for the next. That’s because we are humans and not machines. There are many variables in our lives. Actually, I’m glad it’s that way.

Comments

[Krystyna]

Now here's a question; I'm curious to hear your opinion on the subject:

Where do the easy runs, rides and swims fit into these 7 basic training assumptions? They definitely do not produce enough stress to increase your fitness or your fatigue, but I wouldn't say they are worthless. Easy runs especially enhance musculoskeletal strength and make one's running feel effortless and far more biomechanically efficient. Your thoughts?

[Linda]

I'm curious about whether a taper can be quantified using TSB numbers in WKO. Are there any rules of thumb about what TSB should be going into an A race? Either a specific number or relative to a season's high figure would be really helpful.

[Joe Friel]

Krystyna - Easy workouts have 2 basic benefits: 1. they help speed recovery in _highly fit_ athletes and 2. they maintain or improve efficiency of movement.

[Joe Friel]

Linda - I try to get the TSB of the athletes I coach to about +15 to +22 for A priority races.

[Tom]

I assume there is an exception to assumption #1 - "base 1" !? ;)

[Larry Tieman]

Two questions on CTL. First, is there a lower number when you consider a cyclists to be fit but maybe not as fit as he/she will get? 80? 100? 120? And are there factors that change that level for example age, type of race, etc.
Second, you can adjust the days considered for CTL and ATL with defaults of 42 and 7. When would you change these defaults?

[Joe Friel]

Larry Tieman - I'm not sure what you mean. There are no preconceived numbers for what your CTL should be. I'd suggest just leaving them at 42 and 7. You'll kill fewer brain cells by not worrying about it and all of the possible reasons for change one way or the other.

[Herm]

Awesome breakdown, Joe... never seen this explained quite so concisely before. It's just like you mention, I feel I knew all this stuff already, but hadn't really made all the connections.

TSB, Base 1, WKO, CTL, ATL.... damn... I guess I'm gonna have to pick up your book if I'm gonna keep up with this blog. :-)

[Oscar Im]

If you are losing fitness while coming into form, does that mean you want your peak fitness level to be higher than what you want/require for the race?

[Joe Friel]

Oscar Im - You should always be working to get your race-specific fitness to the highest level possible before a race regardless.

[Madeleine]

Are there any generalities to be made regarding the balance of fitness and form one takes into a particular race according to the specific characteristics of that race?

Which is to say, in the peak and taper weeks would you aim for higher CTL / lower TSB for an 80 mile road race over flat terrain, where the opportunity for more drafting may mitigate the effect of a little extra fatigue? And the flip side - would you aim for a lower CTL / higher TSB for a 40 mile road race with 3000 feet of climbing, where there is less of an occasion to 'rest' during the race?

Madeleine

[Herm]

Joe, do you feel spreading cumulative stress over a couple days is beneficial?

For example, for marathoners, would you prefer they do 8-10 miles at MP Saturday and then 18-23 easy distance on Sunday, or would it be better to take it easy Saturday, then do 16-20 with 8-10 of that at MP on Sunday? Or do both approaches have equal merit?

[Joe Friel]

Madeleine--That's an interesting question. I'd suggest that the greater the aniticipated cumulative stress of the race, the higher the TSB should be by race day. (High means in range of +20).

[Joe Friel]

Herm--As always, the closer you come to the race the more like the race workouts must become. A marathon is relatively long and relative fast. Both of those characteristics should be combined in single workouts in the last few weeks prior.

[cheap jerseys]

First, is there a lower number when you consider a cyclists to be fit but maybe not as fit as he/she will get? 80?

[Joe Friel]

cheap jerseys--Lower number for what? 80?

[cheap jeresys]

yes! 80