Training - Sports Periodization

[stephenmarklay]

I was reading a bit about the history of this and some of the counters to the methodology.

It seems that just about everyone trains this way (I may be naive on this point) and with the current pro circuit it seems to make sense. That is the pro's normally train to race just a few big races and in extreme case just one like Lance.

I started to wonder when this became the norm in cycling and did the pros of just a few decades ago train in this way and if they did not would they have been better?

Merckx comes to mind as a racer who just raced. Classics and the Giro and the TDF. Periodization is more difficult if that is the schedule you hold :confused:

I train this way since it is the way that, as a new rider, most trainers teach today and it makes sense to me. I have thought of it as layering (in my own mind) which applies to almost everything.

Although in most of what you read does not account for the time one has spent on a bike. In the "modern methods" a lot of intervals are employed. No doubt they work. I do wonder if they work better for those that have had more time in the saddle (measured in years).

Well that is a lot to bite of isn't it?

[FlashUNC]

I think its tough to argue Eddy Merckx would have been better if he raced less. He won everything there was to win, usually in dominating fashion.

[dekindy]

I think you have to have a certain amount of base that varies by individual before more strenuous training will yield significant gains.

I know that after several years of riding I only improved my cycling, and it was significant enough that everyone that rode with me commented on the improvement, by doing a strict regimen of intervals on the trainer over the Winter. If I had done this sooner would I have improved as much? I have no idea. I was keenly aware that I needed interval training to improve but group recreational and training rides were not a good format and I did not know exactly what I needed to do and could not motivate myself to take action. It took attending a seminar during December that my LBS sponsored to gain the knowledge I needed, purchasing a KK trainer, and forcing myself to ride indoors by myself instead of group winter rides outdoors to achieve the results that I wanted. Before I dreaded Winter but I was actually looking forward to this Winter so that I could improve more. The snowy and icey roads are discouraging to some but I am glad because there is no temptation to ride outdoors and I am forced to ride indoors on my trainer. I have no idea how much I can improve but my strength on the initial interval sessions is equal to last year and I have already improved in just a few sessions. I plan to keep doing intervals as long as it produces results.

[fiamme red]

In the old days pro cyclists raced much more (some nearly year-round, including the Six-Day circuit), and trained much less. Training was a luxury that they couldn't afford much of the time, since it would have interfered with their racing or recovery.

[Chris]

I agree that you can't go hard all the time, but I think there is some smoke and mirrors to a lot of the claims made about periodization in relation to the pros now racing less. You can't race a lot and be subject to the doping controls when you are in fact in a doping phase of your training. So, these guys would go off to their altitude training camps or whatever and dope and then come back for their events and kill everyone who had just been racing all the time, then say that it was the periodization and pedaling faster that made them that much better.

[stephenmarklay]

I agree that you can't go hard all the time, but I think there is some smoke and mirrors to a lot of the claims made about periodization in relation to the pros now racing less. You can't race a lot and be subject to the doping controls when you are in fact in a doping phase of your training. So, these guys would go off to their altitude training camps or whatever and dope and then come back for their events and kill everyone who had just been racing all the time, then say that it was the periodization and pedaling faster that made them that much better.

There might just be something to that :cool: Some of what I read is that back in the early days in the eastern bloc countries it was tied to the cyclic nature of a communistic society.

I think there is merit to some level of periodization be to what extent I don't know. For instance right now I am doing a max strength phase in the gym to build some strength for the later power that I will be needing. If my gains were as rapid year round I would be a strength freak by this time next year. I know that will not happen...

[Uncle Jam's Army]

As a popular Aussie transplant around here used to say in the late 80's, just put it in the 12 and go, mate!