The rise of Eastern Bloc athletes from the 1950s has been attributed, in some areas, largely to the implementation of periodisation. In practice, this was a method of splitting the training year into phases with a different emphasis on each phase each building on the last in a linear fashion.
A typical example of a training year would include:
general preparation phase
specific preparation phase
pre competition phase
competition phase
recovery/transition phase.
The success of the Lydiard method during the 1960s was based on similar principles. Runners would spend as many weeks as possible running high mileages at aerobic paces. They would then spend 4 weeks with an emphasis on hillwork before spending 4 weeks with an emphasis on speedwork to bring them into racing shape. For most distance runners today, this same basic pattern applies. Hang around runners for long enough and you’re sure to hear someone telling you that the first thing you need to do is to ‘build a base’. Runners rarely raced during the endurance phase and if they did, their performance suffered as they were unused to running at race pace.
The Train Smart system however does not follow this pattern
There are two main reasons behind this
•The second greatest cause of running injuries after volume of mileage is changing surfaces or styles of training. I have met many runners injured in the Springtime after switching from steady state running on the roads to fast paced running on the track
•This type of plan is geared to achieving a peak performance for a short space of time at the end of the training year. While this may be appropriate for marathon runners, most competitive runners want to race regularly and perform at close to their best.
So, while there are strengths to the linear periodisation system, I believe it does not meet the needs of most runners today.
Therefore, Train Smart follows a system of Non Linear or Wave Periodisation.
This involves regular doses of running at speeds to meet all your training requirements. An example would be
• Week 1 – emphasis on endurance
• Week 2 – emphasis on threshold pace
• Week 3 – emphasis on speed (race would be at the end of this week)
• Week 4 – recovery
The essential component of fitness development is progressive overload. In the non linear system, each training block would build on the last. So, for example, if in February your endurance week covered 35 miles, by November, it might be 45 miles.
As a basic template, non linear periodisation allows for regular racing where performance can be maintained and will reduce the risk of injury as the runner is never too far from either speedwork or endurance work
Train Smart