Periodisation of Training
In simple terms Periodisation refers to the division of the training year into different phases, each phase designed to elicit particular training adaptions.
What does that actually mean in a practical sense though ?
Before we get into the nuts and bolts of periodised training for an ultra , an understanding of a few key concepts is necessary.
Macrocycle
This refers to the time allocated to training for an event. For example if you have an event at the end August and you start focusing on that event in January then your macrocycle is 8 months long
Mesocycle
The macro cycle is broken into smaller sections often 4-6 weeks long called mesocycle. Each has a focus on a particular fitness outcome
Microcycle
This is typically a week long so there are 4-6 microcycles in a mesocycle
The training season or macrocycle can also be broken up into different phases. The most common ones used are the preparatory or base phase , build or transition phase , peak or speed phase , a tapering phase , competition phase and recovery phase. Each phase can be broken into a number of mesocycles .
Don’t get too bogged down with this – you will see later on that the change from one phase or mesocycle to another is more a gradual transition than an abrupt change. We will talk about what those meso and microcycles look like shortly.
Block vs Traditional Periodisation
A Traditional training approach means you target a number of different intensities within each microcycle. The premise is if you dont train those intensities regularly you lose the fitness gained at those intensities. . So a typical week may have a VO2 max workout and a threshold session.
In block Training you focus on one particular intensity at a time. So one mesocycle may focus on developing Vo2 max and another on improving threshold.
Whilst studies on which is best when to comes to ultra runners are basically non existent in practice more elites do block style training and its what I believe works best.
To confuse matters some definitions of block training discuss doing nothing but one type of workout in a week -for example doing 4-5 threshold sessions in a week . Then the following week is a focus on low intensity volume . When I refer to block training this is not whats meant!
In a given week you should always have a number of easy aerobic runs . The definition of Block training we will use here refers to the harder sessions only – we usually do 2 harder sessions per week , sometimes three and in block training those sessions are all at the same intensity.
Pyramidal vs Polarised training
This is a hot topic of debate amongst researchers and coaches and you will frequently hear the terms in any discussion on training.
Lets explain the two terms first and then discuss which is best for ultra runners.
An understanding of the 3 zone model of intensity is required so if you havent watched the zones video please watch that first.
You will recall we have 3 zones where
Zone 1 is easy
Zone 2 is moderate
Zone 3 is very hard.
Pyramidal and Polarised training refers to the amount of time spent in each of the zones.
In Pyramidal most of the training time is in zone 1, less in zone 2 and the least in zone 3.
In Polarised we still have the most in zone 1 but then more time is spent in zone 3 than zone 2.
It’s important to understand exactly what is being referred to when discussing pyramidal vs polarised because different definitions can lead to different classifications.
For example we can break training down into the purpose of the training sessions ie was that session focussing on zone 1, 2 or 3.
An athlete might do 10 sessions a week with 2 of those at higher intensity. This leads us to the classic 80/20 distribution of training intensity with 8 sessions easy and 2 sessions hard. Numerous studies on elite endurance athletes show that most of them do indeed run approximately 80% of their training sessions at easy intensity and 20% at harder intensity if referring to the goal of the training session.
If we break that 20% down into sessions targeting zone 2 vs session targeting zone 3 then most endurance athletes fall into a polarised training distribution
Eg this study showed that elite endurance athletes do train in a polarised manner – eg 75%, 8%, and 17%
The 80/20 idea means if you are training 5 x a week then you should only do 1 hard session per week. So whilst it may hold true for elites doing 10+ sessions per week for most of us doing 4-7 it is not as valid.
BUT remember this is training sessions NOT training time or volume.
Instead of looking at number of training sessions lets look at how much time was spent at each intensity. Researchers in this study found that time at intensity was broken down into “91%, 6%, and 3% in zones 1, 2, and 3, respectively” which is a pyramidal training distribution.
You will also note that only 9% of their training time was at intensity not 20% as in the 80/20 model. Why the difference ?
Remember the 80/20 model is based on training sessions not time.
If we take a session such as 10 x 400m run at 90 seconds + warm up and warm down as an example. The session may last 60 minutes but only 15 minutes of that is at intensity.
In the 80/20 model the whole session is counted as a hard training session , when you use time at intensity only 15 minutes of it is.
So what does a 91,6,3 break down of training really look like ?
If you are training 10 hours a week then you would do 9 hours of easy running, 40 minutes in zone 2 and 20 minutes in zone 3
What about runners who run lower volumes , do the same percentages apply ? Ie If an elite trains for 15 hours they will spend about 90 minutes at intensity ( ie 10% of 15 hours ), for someone training 8 hours a week is 48 minutes enough ?
The studies don’t really have any definitive conclusions on this. My experience is that the percentages can increase slightly for lower-volume runners. I would assume anyone training for an ultra is doing at least 5-6 hours per week and at that level spending 40-50 minutes at intensity is certainly appropriate. I would caution going above 20% of training time at intensity though. It is likely they would not have the aerobic base to support any more higher intensity training .
So is a pyramidal or polarised training plan better for Ultra runners ?
Well you might think from that I would argue pyramidal but the reality is that it likely changes throughout the year. In some mesocycles the focus might be on higher intensity and others more on tempo/ threshold. It would depend on the relative strengths and weaknesses of the athlete and how far away the target race is. Arguing one is better than the other is mostly pointless.
Periodising training throughout the year – Macro Cycle
So with an understanding of macro, meso, micro cycles and polarised and pyramidal training, we can now discuss how we go about periodising training for ultra runners.
To understand periodisation lets break the macro cycle down into the different phases of base, build, peak, taper , race , recovery and look at how we periodise volume , intensity and skill development throughout those phases.
The traditional periodisation model starts with higher volume which decreases as the race nears whilst building intensity to a peak just prior to the race. The idea is that training should become more and more race specific the closer to the race we get.
Then there is the undulating model which builds in some periods of relative higher volume lower intensity throughout the macrocycle.
But for ultra running I dont believe either model is an effective way to train. Neither model progresses training to be closer to the demands of the race.
For ultra running we need to flip the traditional model on its head.
Eg
Lets look at each the three components volume, intensity and skill and discuss how they change throughout a training macrocycle
Volume.
Volume is probably the most important training variable of ultra performance and it takes time to increase. You cant go from 15km a week long runs to 30+ in a short period of time and you cant go from 60km a week to 100km a week in the space of a few weeks . For most of us volume continues to increase throughout the year , peaking just before the taper starts allowing us to build safely with minimal risk of injury . We talked in detail about volume in the volume video.
The long run will also start at a relatively short duration and increase more and more as the race approaches , with the longest long runs about 3-5 weeks prior to the race ( see the long run video for in depth discussion on long run progressions )
Intensity.
The primary goal in ultra training is increasing endurance and fatigue resistance not our speed at distances of 5km or less. However some high intensity training is beneficial as we know if you get quicker at shorter distances it also increases the pace you can run for longer durations ( assuming you do the appropriate training to develop endurance after you have developed speed ).
We can break down the higher intensity domain into several different training intensities and their corresponding durations
VO2 max 10-20 minutes
5km pace 20-30 minutes ( note for elites this is closer to 10km pace )
Threshold 30-50 minutes
Tempo 50-80 minutes
Early in the training macro cycle the focus is on speed and from there we build speed endurance. However most athletes need a preparatory phase to prepare for high intensity speed sessions hence the model shows intensity increasing initially before decreasing as we approach the race.
This also means that initially training may be polarised with the focus on 5km pace or quicker. Speed sessions build to threshold and tempo as the race approaches which switches the training distribution from polarised to pyramidal
A decrease in intensity throughout the macrocycle does not mean training gets easier though. Whilst the intensity of the hard sessions drops , the duration of those sessions increases. We move from well above threshold intensity for durations totalling 15-30 minutes to sessions based at threshold or below for durations of 30-60 minutes or longer.
How much time you spend working on each intensity range depends on how long your macrocycle is and the athletes relative strengths and weaknesses.
From a race specific point of view for most benefit athletes more from a tempo and threshold focus to develop fatigue resistance and sustained endurance than the higher intensity 5km/ VO2 sessions. Hence a greater weighting towards threshold and tempo work in a program is usually advised.
We will talk in the speed video about the different types of higher intensity sessions , how to determine an athletes relative speed ad endurance strengths and weaknesses and how one might progress the sessions throughout a build up to a race.
For this video the key take home on speed is that for ultrarunners you are better to start with shorter higher intensity reps and progress to longer sustained reps as the race approaches.
Skill
In ultra running skill refers to ones technical skills such as descending technical slopes and using poles. it could also include aspects such as nutrition and gear selection and familiarisation. A focus on this tends to happen in the latter stages as we make training more and more race specific. If however an athlete has a distinct weakness that a race will highlight then it may be wise to begin skill development earlier in the training plan.
Terrain
Periodising terrain is something road runners dont have to consider but if you are training for a race with a lot of vert like many of the popular mountain ultras it’s extremely important. We need to develop our athletes ability to handle the loads that come with large amounts of ascending and descending. Starting at a level that the athletes can tolerate and building throughout the training cycle. We will discuss more on terrain in the terrain video.
Mesocycles
A traditional periodisation plan factors in a number of recovery weeks after every 3rd or 4th week. A graph of training load over time would look like this.
I would argue though that this is not the best approach. It means in a 12 month period there will be 3-4 months of recovery weeks.
An alternative to this model is a more gradual increase in training at a level that can be sustained week in week out and will likely lead to greater performance gains.
A graph of training load over time looks like this.
It is highly likely recovery weeks will be forced on our athletes though sickness ( either the athlete or athlete’s family), holidays, work etc.
Of course determining a training load that can be sustained week in week out both physically and mentally is a difficult task. If there are signs your athlete needs a recovery week then you should definitely schedule one in.
Possible signs that a recovery week is needed include
– niggles that arent going away
– general feeling of fatigue more than usual
– mentally just not enjoying training as much
– fighting off sickness
We will talk more on overtraining in the over training video.
Do you work forwards or start with the end in mind when mapping out training ?
The often-quoted saying of “ start with the end in mind” is only partially true when it comes to planning training. You should start with the end race in mind but not with a preconceived notion of what an athletes training should be.
What I mean by that is too often I see coaches work backwards – ie they might say I want your longest long run to be 50km and that will be 4 weeks out – we have 10 weeks to go , your current long run is 20km so we need to progress your long run by 3km each week to get to our goal. Or you might say I want to get you to 100km a week – you are currently at 60 – we have 10 weeks so we need to increase your volume by 6km per week
Thats a backwards way of looking at. Instead of starting with an arbitrary training goal ( of a 50km long run for example ) start with where the athlete is currently at and progress at a rate that minimises the risk of injury. It may mean your athlete only gets to 40km not 50km for their long run but they get to the start line uninjured and with a consistent block of training in their legs.
Its fine to have an idea of where you would like the athlete to be in their peak weeks of training but ensure that your focus is on safe progressions minimising injury risk rather than increasing rapidly just to get to a pre-conceived target and significantly increasing risk of injury.
Remember that your notion of peak volume and peak long run is more a vague target , ie there is no science to say to compete in a miler you need to have done a 50+km run or be doing 120km per week. As you will have seen in the “ Factors that influence ultra marathon performance” video there are numerous factors that determine ones performance in an ultra- how long ones long run is didnt feature highly in the predictive factors.
I would rather my athletes get to the start line injury free after a consistent block of training at a lower volume than stand at the start line with niggles and tired legs after a bigger block of training just to tick the box of a 50km long run or 100km weeks. ( That in no way implies I think a low volume approach is the way to go – as discussed in the volume video , your athlete should do the most volume they can sustain. The point is there is no point pushing up volume too rapidly to meet an arbitrary volume goal ).
Key Take Home
Start your plan with where the athlete is at and progress at a sustainable rate rather than start with an arbitrary training goal and work backward to where they are.
Microcycles
For most athletes a microcycle is 7 days. In that 7 days most athletes will do a long run , 2 hard sessions and a number of easier runs. How you distribute those runs in that 7 day microcycle has an impact on training load.
We would usually spread the harder and longer sessions evenly throughout the week – so harder sessions on Tuesday/Thursday or Wednesday / Friday and a long run Saturday or Sunday.
However that may change as you approach the race. You can increase training load without changing intensity or duration by increasing volume density which we discussed in the volume video. There are a number of ways to do this but the premise is by decreasing the time periods between harder and longer runs you increase the training stress on the body.
So instead of Tuesday Thursday Saturday you could move Thursday hard session to Friday evening and follow it up with a long run on Saturday morning.
You can do two hard sessions on consecutive days or even the double threshold sessions popularised by the Norwegians. Care must be take to ensure the athlete can handle the increased training density both in term of the quality of the sessions and injury prevention.
Most athletes however will likely not get to the point in training where back to back hard sessions are a good option. Priority should be given to building the duration at intensity up first. If the athlete is not able to do 45-60 minutes threshold or tempo sessions then I see no reason to start increasing training density.
Not all athletes work best on a 7 day microcycle , for most of us our weekly routine dictates long runs can only be on weekends so the 7 day cycle fits best. BUT for some athletes spreading the 2 harder sessions over a 10 day period can work better, particularly older athletes or athletes that struggle with injuries. Programming is harder when not using a 7 – day mesocycle but dont try and fit the athlete into a training plan, design the plan around the athlete.
That may mean for some athletes three hard runs and one long run per 14 days is optimal
Shift workers or those who work 4-7 days on then 4-7 days off provide extra challenges to programming and dont fall neatly into a 7 day microcycle. Keep in mind there is nothing special about a 7 day period , the body doesnt completely adapt to workouts in 7 days so there is no reason you can’t use a 8, 10, 12 day microcycle if you feel thats what suits the athlete the best.
Key Take Homes
Periodisation of training is a system of manipulating training variables to become more and more race specific as the race approaches.
For ultra runners higher volume, longer long runs and more time at threshold and tempo is more race specific so the training plan should look to develop this throughout the macrocycle
Approximately 90% of time spent running should be in the aerobic intensity domain.
The remaining 10 % will be split between zone 2 and 3 and the distribution of which will change throughout the training macrocycle and be influenced by the athletes strengths and weaknesses.