Periodization – What It Is and Why It Is An Important Component of a Racer’s Program

You are a dedicated athlete that trains on a regular basis. You have the best of intentions with your training, but lately, no matter how hard you work out, you aren’t making any gains. You have plateaued. What has really happened is that your body has adapted to your workouts, and it needs new challenges. This is where periodization comes in.

At both the amateur and professional levels, the racing season has increased to the point where the racer is competing nearly year-round and actually inhibiting his or her ability to improve physically as a racer.  It is unrealistic to think that a racer can be in top form every weekend from January through December.  Throughout the year, the body has to be provided the opportunity to develop various energy systems through specific workouts. For long term improvement, a window of time must be provided to rest and recover from the stress loads applied to the muscles and cardiovascular system.  This is where periodization comes into a racer’s program.  Periodization creates phases of training or “periods” to keep your body working hard, while still giving it adequate rest. It answers how hard, how long and how often a racer should train to reap the benefits of training without burning out or getting injured.

With riding and racing encompassing so many elements of your life, it has literally become a lifestyle – sleep, eat, ride, train off the motorcycle, repeat until the next weekend.  However, this lifestyle of training, doesn’t allow you to systematically decide to begin training seriously for four weeks out and then be ready for the season’s first big race.  On the other hand, hitting the Concept 2 Rower the Monday after your big race and riding every day until next weekend’s race isn’t productive for you either.  The reason being, you will not be able to push the body beyond its normal performance level and then you don’t allow enough time for the body to adapt to the stress loads.

At CRS, we break a year into four training “seasons”: Pre-Season, Pre-Competitive, Competitive and Off Season.  Each season has a different performance objective to optimize your training time for maximum results.

The duration of training cycles varies based on individual identified weaknesses during assessments, but typically consist of the following:

Pre-Season (12 weeks): Develops maximum aerobic capacity, muscular strength and flexibility; this is also an ideal time to work with your riding coach to help with technique and mechanics.

Pre-Competitive (8 weeks): Continued development of aerobic engine, final stage of maximum strength development, and the implementation of slight lactate tolerance intervals.

Competitive (4 Cycles of 7 weeks): Specialization is the main component of this season.  Your anaerobic threshold and sprint training should make up the high-quality workouts during the week.  Also during this phase is the increased need for rest – ideally one complete day of rest per week to help you recover both mentally and physically.

Off Season (4 weeks): This is where you deviate away from heavily structured training. Instead of structured training, you are back to casual riding or

any other type of cross training.  You don’t want to become so inactive that you begin to lose the conditioning you have worked so hard to achieve throughout the year; you do, however, what to remain active and healthy.

 STEP ONE: ESTABLISHING GOALS

This step involves establishing your long-term goals and developing a plan for achieving each of your goals.  This step needs to be quantified, simple, optimistic and realistic. Though this sounds like an easy task, it takes real brainstorming to narrow this first step down and onto paper. An example of an unrealistic long-term goal: “I want to be fast”.  There is no way to quantify fast and there is no timeline established to complete it.  It also doesn’t tell you what you are setting your standards against.

If you say: “I want to be the top local rider in my class by May in the Gold Cup series” – this is quantified, specific and with a little research you can determine what it will take to surpass the current top riders to achieve the status you are looking for.

At CRS, we have our clients establish three sets of goals – 3-month, 6-month and 12-month.  The most important thing to remember when you are sitting down to establish your goals is that they need to be specific, and each should have a date applied.  Without specific goals, you will quickly lose your motivation to stick to the homework, especially when it becomes difficult (due to either the duration or intensity levels required) or boring (i.e. stretching).

STEP TWO: DETERMINING A STARTING POINT WITH YOUR TRAINING

If you are starting at a minimum fitness level, you will have to increase your overall strength and endurance before your dive into a comprehensive performance training program.  As a general rule of thumb, strive not to increase your duration of your overall workouts by more than 5-8% every other week.  Once you have been consistent with some level of training for six to eight weeks without any physical setbacks, it is time to determine exactly where your fitness levels are – this will identify your strengths and weaknesses and what to address with daily training to maximize your training time (especially for those of you that work and/or have a family to balance).

The main concept to keep in mind when it comes to training is to strengthen weaknesses which have been specifically identified through field testing.  Riders and racers, like any athletes, have a tendency to complete workouts focusing only on the elements where strength already exists.  For example, in the gym, you rarely see anyone working their legs due to the high levels of lactic acid and associated increased heart rate levels.  Instead, they avoid these uncomfortable exercises and complete lower intensity exercises which do not address their physical limiters.   If you use riding a road bicycle as a form of cross training, and you are not a strong climber, how often do you go out and complete hill repeats to increase your strength and lactate tolerance?  It is not that you are soft; it is simply human nature to do the activities where we feel strong and confident.

When it comes to assessments, it is imperative that you capture three key testing data points in field testing: aerobic capacity, muscular strength and lactate tolerance.  At CRS, we are more interested in testing these three variables within the training modalities that you have been using over the last six to twelve months.  The important thing to keep in mind with establishing base line assessment numbers is to be consistent with your testing protocols.  For example, if you use the Concept 2 Rower for your cardio training, it would not be a wise choice to use a running test for your lactate tolerance and aerobic capacity testing due to the different muscle groups and demands on the cardiovascular system – ultimately your testing data would be inaccurate.

STEP THREE: ESTABLISHING A TRAINING PROGRAM BASED ON YOUR FIELD TESTING RESULTS

This is where a human performance specialist can be an asset to a rider and racer’s development program – identifying where the most progress can be achieved in the shortest amount of time.  As an illustration, a racer gets a riding coach to help work on problem areas around the track.  A racer may be fast through the whoops, but if he or she cannot get in and out of the corners fast, the time gained in the whoops is immediately lost in the next corner.  The same applies to developing the training protocols that are going to maximize the appropriate energy systems to enhance the elements of aerobic capacity, muscular strength and lactate tolerance specific to riding a motorcycle as fast as possible for as long as possible.

If you are serious about making performance gains, periodized training will ensure that you continue to make measurable progress and steps towards achieving your goals.