Coaches, How Do You Break Down a 12 Week Season?

Historically I have used four mesocycles of 3-4 weeks each. The first two phases were General Prep and Specific Prep. Together I considered them to make up the Preparatory Period. Then the Competition Period was made up of the Pre-Comp Phase and the Competition Phase. The last phase varied in length depending on how far the athlete progressed through the championship competitions. It could be anywhere from 1 to 5 weeks long for a total season of 11-15 weeks. Good luck.

Thanks, good stuff. What kind of workouts did you incorporate early in the season?

I know this isn't of much help now, but I think it is helpful to periodize indoor and outdoor as one long season...I race students in indoor based on their weakness and race them in outdoor based on their strengths. For example, if I have a miler who is trying to break whatever and has good speed but poor strength endurance, I focus on the weaknesses early and race them primarily over distances in indoor. This sets them up well in outdoor where we focus on their strengths.

Treating these two seasons as a unit avoids overtraining and increases the opportunities for development.

This sounds good and pretty much what I do with my kids. Only thing I would add to help is a mile time trial to get threshold pace estimates to set paces for kids for tempos etc

I think your plan and the replies are all good blueprints to follow. I second the idea about paying attention to what the athletes did during indoor. December to June is ~6 months or ~24 weeks, so think about it as one big season.

In the past, I have wanted to limit the racing of my top kids, but that can have some ripple effects too. Team culture is probably the most important element in high school track. If the culture of the team is winning, that will propel the program forward. Be careful of prioritizing certain athletes.

I have my top athletes work on specific things during the dual meet season - maybe a fast finish, or winning multiple events with as little effort as needed. I also take the philosophy that if a kid runs the 2 mile well on a Tuesday, they don't really need to do a VO2 Max workout on Friday. Those races and doubles count. It may not be a perfect training model, but it will have positive results for most high school athletes.

If they aren't coming off of indoor, I break it down 4-4-3. If you aren't counting the week of State, our season is 11 weeks.

Mostly good advice here, but **don't overlook the weekly long run. This is critical in all phases. I back down the long run the week of districts, but until then, it's real important they are getting that 6-10 mile run in each week with rest on both sides.

Dear Frandogg

I doubt you will have the luxury of having a base for four weeks. From my memory, outdoor season starts this week, or usually the third week of March. I don't see how you could have four weeks of base between the end of indoor and now. Unless you don't have indoor, then Bob's your uncle

I was thinking about a more helpful response about what you can do not what you should have done.

Principle #1: don't try to do everything. if you don't have a full 24 week build up, then you will have to choose what you can and can't do. Some of this is determined by physiology, some by the individual needs of the runner.

Principle #2: With limited time, train youth from the ends. In other words, I would develop the most determinant and adaptable capacity--aerobic and build speed. Jack Daniels has some helpful advice on how to triage a season in his book. Focus on the ends, the support beams if you will for speed endurance and strength endurance and use your racing for race specific stuff (this is not to be taken as exclusively train these aspects, but focus primarily on them).

Principle #3: Periodize using Gambetta's Block Structure. Think of you time as two 6 week meso cycles (as per Daniels), but divide each into two 3 week "blocks" that can be tinkered with.

Controversial Principle #4: don't worry about the taper. I know many other coaches on this site will roast me for it, but I know I am on solid ground here. If you give your runner's the proper recovery throughout the season then you don't have to worry about cumulative fatigue. Similarly, you can take advantage of the super compensatory curve in race preparation. Obviously if a runner is injured or needs the rest, give it to him/her. But you can squeeze in a bit of extra time by racing him/her off a high training load AS LONG AS adequate rest is given all along.

Seriously check out Daniel's book to see how he prioritizes the things you need to develop on short notice.