I think that has been discussed before, but it seems that a number of elites are able to run well in cross country in the winter, track in the spring and summer, and road races in the summer and fall. It seems like this kind of schedule would not allow periodization of the kind that Daniels and Lydiard advocate. What techniques to they use to achieve so many peaks in a year? When do they do their volume?
They don't maintain racing fitness year round.
It's deceiving because they are at a higher level so it appears they are race fit year round, but they are not.
For example, an elite runner may run a 13:45 in a 5k in the Fall. Most people see that and think 'Damn that's fast!'.
In reality the elite runner just ran 30 seconds slower than his 5k PR.
Most elite runners tempo at paces that equate to really good racing times so keep that in mind.
So when an elite runner runs a 1:05:00 half marathon he just did a long tempo run in his base phase.
You're totally right. The last elite who tried to maintain racing fitness year round was Salazar, and look how well that played out.
What do oyu mean by "fitness?" Certainly not "peak" racing ability.
I'm not elite, but I race, and race well, year round. So do my training buddies. Then again, we aren't aiming for a World Championship or something of that sort.
Read Steve Scott's training log from the year he set the AR that circulates on these boards. I'd argue he was race fit that whole year.
I'm sick of this "base phase" stuff that's supposed to take months. After a break you can be race fit in a few weeks unless coming off a LONG layoff or injury.
Adaptive training
skylon wrote:
You're totally right. The last elite who tried to maintain racing fitness year round was Salazar, and look how well that played out.
Heart attack?