Year Round Training!

Year Round Training

Jason Preston

Year Round Training/Periodization:

The athletes training year is broken down into different periods of training these are the macro cycle, the meso-cycle, and the micro cycle. This system of training originated in Russia in the 1960s by L.P. Matveyev. Many sports follow this type of a training outline.

The macro-cycle is typically a year in length, or it lasts from the start to the end of a full season. When planning a macro-cycle you need to know what your main objectives for the season will be. What are your goals and what specific systems will you focus on. The number of yearly hours is also set forth at this time. Typically you want to slightly increase your hours from year to year, 200-300.

The macro-cycle is composed of meso-cycles. A meso-cycle is typically between 6-12 weeks in length. The most common length is about 8 week long. These periods are usually broken down into areas of specific focus. A typical plan starts with a period of base or aerobic conditioning, and then moves onto a building period where the focus is on building anaerobic strength, endurance and power your aerobic hours are dropping while your intensity is increasing. The next macro cycle is often a peak the hours begin to taper off by about 50%. The intensity is all at or above race pace. Because of the reduction in hours the body is fresh and quickly recovers after each work out. The next period is a transitional period. During this time the body recovers from the previous months of training and prepares for the next efforts.

Micro-cycles are usually periods of a week at a time. This is where your training and working out becomes specific to you. The week is divided into days of tearing your body down followed by days of recovery. Each week should be more challenging than the previous week. Each micro-cycle should end with a week of active rest Micro-cycles are goal driven and lead to the over all goal of the meso-cycle.