Learn the basics of periodization - Trail running

 The only thing

If you want to succeed without all the distractions, without all the unnecessary headaches, without the help of a coach, you must understand training methodology and physiology, at least a little.

• Progressive overload, rest, relax, repair, then repeat. 
• Periodization
• Base training and specificity
• Tapering
• Volume, frequency, intensity

This is how we ended our last article

Periodization

This is the godsend for athletes. The understanding of this is what creates champions. Not the 500 Euro VO2max test and a 15,000 Euro bike, not using the best energy gels, wearing the shiniest compression kit, or having the most up-to-date expensive carbon-plated shoe. There is tons of literature out there. One of the deepest and most comprehensive, and in my view, the best research is Tudor Bompa: Periodization - Theory and methodology of training. If you had one book to learn how to train, this is the only one you need! Then you personalize and develop from there.

Periodization is the art of planning your volume, intensity, frequency, and specificity of your training in order to arrive at your major goal at the highest fitness possible. Period. The book I mentioned is so comprehensive that it includes lifetime periodization for coaches. That starts with early 4-5-year-old kids' talent identification, followed by 3 to 5 Olympic cycles depending on sports, to arrive at a critical point of age where everything is at human peak, to win one big giant event. 16 to 20 years of planning. There are no one-year dreams! Anyway, a great book and no better place to start your journey with it. Be prepared with a big notebook, time, and thinking. It is not a one-afternoon adventure book.

I give you some basic ideas for one single season:

1. Choose your main goal and a main back-up goal.
2. Chose a couple of secondary goals. 
3. Understand your life, planning and calendar. Your work hours, weeks, family dynamics, obligations and so on. 
4. Plan out your periods. 
5. 3months of base, with low intensity, high high volume, loads of stability and strength and conditioning, technique, cross training and so. High volume, loads of Z1.
6. 3months of moderate intensity, with 1 or 2 races. Moderate volume. More and more specialization. Cutting back intensity in non sport specific training. Keeping a check on maintenance. 
7. 3 months of dialling training towards specificity. 
8. 1 month of smart tapering.
9. Then plan out your weeks
10. Plan out key workouts and progression goal

You must understand some key aspects of fitness for trail running, to plan. In the case of ultra-running, for instance, you can set a goal like, during the final month of training during the base phase, I must be able to complete half of the total race elevation gain per week, very comfortably. You started training for UTMB (August) mid-October. In January, you should be able to run D+5000m weeks in a way that it doesn't impact you. We talk about capacity and not necessarily obligations. You might not actually run the D+5000m. If you did it, on the other hand, it should not impact your next weeks of training, at all. This is an indication of a certain level of fitness.

If you trained for a marathon, like Mont Blanc marathon, Marathon de la Vesubie, or Marathon du Montcalm, with 3 to 4000m of elevation gain, you can use marathon training principles. 20 weeks of training, with 20 long runs of 20 miles, till 20 days out what is the taper. The 4 x 20 rule. 20 weeks is like 5 months. So the first 3 or 4 months of your major macrocycle should be focused on arriving at the first section of this 20-week block. Of course, being smart is necessary. 20 miles for a long run is great, but if we talked about race specificity, that is 75% of the race, what might contain 2500m of elevation gain. For each weekend, that is too much, for 99% of the athletes. Substitute it with time. For a 6-hour event, you run no more than 2 - 3h max, where big warming up and quality cool-down are included. If you were genetically inclined towards endurance, meaning that performance comes to you by high volume, you simply adjust the level of high-intensity training during your week and you alter your long run. You can do back-to-back or back-to-back-to-back long runs. You can do a back-to-back long run, with a speedier session in the evenings. You can do a long run and add 3 hours of bike after it. You can simply do a long run and next day cycle for 8 hours. Whatever your genetics need to perform well, while keeping race-specific speed sharp. Focus and specificity

This is crucial for mental health. Your goal is to do your best at your chosen event or multiple events. Then if you jumped into a race or a "C" competition, you should not go in with a winning mindset and not focus on the results or time at all. Quality technique, breathing, handling aid stations and focusing on the present actions and your current fitness at that part of the season. That is it. You might win, you might not even finish. You might lose to 4th place in a final battle between the first 4 runners. Don't forget! That was not a goal for you at all. Those 3 ahead of you might have chosen this local event as their pinnacle race for their end of season. They might be short course specialists and you are 50k specialists. Actually, in most races of 12 to 20 km, it is a privilege to be in the first 20 for a 50K specialist. Look at Mont Blanc, Lavaredo, Sierre Zinal or any other high-quality races. You train for it for years or you get dropped. This is normal.

Then there is specificity that you should be focused on. It doesn't mean going out in race gear with poles every single day on the harshest terrain. That is mental suicide. However, the closer you get to a race, the more of your training sessions should be resembling your race itself. To make it so, you must focus your intensity on race-specific sessions, cut the frequency of supplementary high-intensity training, bring down the volume of nonspecific workouts, and so on. This can mean going out for a recovery run with a race weight backpack. This can mean doing your interval training with the gear on, on race simulating course. This also can mean adding in some surges during a long long run and trying recovering from it. Race specificity includes everything that you can encounter in racing. You must simulate a lot. Recently, I had a long run where I was testing an old pair of five fingers with Injinji socks. I start slipping out of the shoe, in the middle of the first climb. I could have gone home as I live nearby and change shoes. I did not. Took off the socks and tightened the shoe on a way that it was sort of okay. I had these sorts of hiccups during races all the time. Once during the Verdon 100k I used a pair of HyperThin socks with a light pair of Inov8 shoes. I wanted to win that race. I started slipping around in the shoe like my feet were oiled up. I cannot remember what I did, but I adjusted the lacing on a way that it was kind of okay at least. I also once, snapped a shoelace 5 minutes before a winter race. That X-Talon I raced with had at least 1500 km of distance in them. Either way, the knot held up, the shoe also and tied a win with a strong runner.

Specificity is also mental. You need to have the right mindset to find immediate solutions to any issues. Gut problem? Betain Citrate. Blisters? Second skin patch. Cramps? Trace Elements, Hypertonic, Salt water, chips, deep breathing. Headache? Vitamin C, Sparkling water, breathing, cut caffeine, cut gels, eat well. Hypo? Take a gel immediately, wait 10 minutes, start eating solids to stabilize.

When you train in a way that you race at the end of your preparation, you'll have all the magic tricks in your pocket. You can also overachieve it a little. That will help. For a 42 km race, you can do some 50 km training runs. For a not that technical race, you include some more technical parts and try increasing your speed on those. For a non-steep race, you can also include steeper hills for power and speed, so when you climb the final ascent, you'll be flying. It depends.

Dorogi Levente

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Periodization, Physiology, Training Methodology, Progressive Overload, Rest, Relaxation, Repair, Repeat, Base Training, Specificity, Tapering, Volume, Frequency, Intensity, Tudor Bompa, Theory, Methodology, Coaching, Champions, Literature, Research, Goals, Planning, Calendar, Life, Periods, Base Phase, Moderate Phase, Specific Phase, Taper Phase, Weeks, Workouts, Trail Running, Ultra Running, Marathon, Elevation Gain, Genetics, Focus, Mental Health, Race Gear, Surges, Simulate, Solutions, Magic Tricks, Preparation, Technical, Steepness.