Indoor Sport Services Training Guide

Serious competitors divide the year into four training periods; transition, preparation, pre-competition and competition. This enables them to be at their peak when required. The table below illustrates the training periods and their objectives for a twelve-month training programme.

Table 4.1

Notes

1. Although the table reads left to right, to periodise your training you must work back from the date of your main competition.
2. Transition period: four weeks after the main competition.
3. Competition period: From the date of the competition you wish to peak at count back 12 weeks (4 x 3 week cycles). The last seven to ten days of this period will be a taper.
4. Pre-competition period: Count back a further nine weeks (3 x 3 week cycles).
5. Preparation period: The remaining 27 weeks.
6. To check how you are progressing, and the effectiveness of your training, you should keep a training log and do some baseline tests on a regular basis (see Baseline Tests in Section 12 : Tests).

The next table sets out how you should plan your training if you have six to 48 weeks before your major competition. The table is used by working out how many weeks you have till the competition, and then reads from the left hand column across. For example, if you have six weeks till competition this whole time should be spent in the period called competition and is all competition preparation. If you have 24 weeks until competition then you should do a three week preparation cycle followed by nine weeks of pre-competition and 12 weeks of competition.

Table 4.2

Notes
The last seven to ten days of the competition period will be a taper, however, if you only have six weeks until competition a shorter taper of three to seven days would be adequate.

Tapering

For seven to ten days prior to an important competition you should taper off your training. Some people think that to reduce training doses at this time will lead to a loss of fitness but this is not true. Training is a combination of overload and super-compensation. This means that during exercise the body is brought to the point of exhaustion and, during the recovery period, the body recuperates to a point of greater capacity than before. The super-compensation period lasts for seven to ten days after the end of a training regime and so any fears of a loss of condition are groundless. The best use of this time is to focus on race strategy, getting the pre-race warm-up right, and polishing up technique. It is important to avoid the build up of lactic acid close to competition. The longest single piece of high intensity work should not exceed 90 seconds. A couple of these at the beginning of the final week should be okay, cutting back to bursts of 30 seconds in the days immediately preceding competition. If preparing for a 2,000m race, we recommend that the total number of hard strokes during the whole of the tapering period should not exceed 300. An example of a week of tapering is shown below. This is the last week before a 2,000m race and assumes that you have trained conscientiously for the event. You should find that you are able to do much more work than is on the schedule. This is a good sign but do not give into the temptation to do too much. You are tapering and should be getting rested and ready for your race, not making yourself overtired.

Table 4.3

Notes

1. 25'UT2 means row for 25 minutes at UT2 heart rate.
2. 15'UT1 means row for 15 minutes at UT1 heart rate.
3. 5'AT means row for five minutes at AT heart rate.
4. 3'TR means row for three minutes at TR heart rate.
5. 2x1.5'AN means row for one and a half minutes at AN heart rate, then repeat once fully recovered.

Body Adaptation

Perhaps surprisingly, a training session itself does not actually bring about an improvement in performance. It is during periods of rest and recovery that the body adapts to demands made on it from exercising. As your physical performance improves, you can increase the training volume that in turn will change the type of training you do. People training four or five times a week will benefit from a high percentage of high intensity sessions, whilst those training twice a day may only complete 20 to 30% of their total training programme at high intensity. An individual's heart rate at different workloads will define the training intensity, therefore people training at the same workload could be training at different intensities. Training sessions that cause the heart rate to increase to near maximum are high intensity. Sessions that can be completed at moderate heart rate are low intensity.

To ensure the desired adaptation takes place a number of factors need to be considered:

• Training needs to be regular to stimulate adaptation in the body.
• There needs to be enough time between sessions for the adaptation to take place.
• The amount of training needs to be increased as adaptation takes place.
• The training programme needs to be specific to the needs of the individual.
• Training needs to be tailored to the specific physical demands of a particular sport.
• There must be a system for monitoring progress within the programme.

Recovery Time Between Intervals

Full recovery between intervals can be considered as taken place when the heart rate has fallen to warm up level (twice resting rate).

The intensity of interval-training can be increased by working to 90% or even 80% of full recovery.

Example - resting heart rate = 60bpm. Warm up rate = 120bpm
100% recovery = 120bpm, then repeat.
90% recovery = 132bpm, then repeat.
80% recovery = 145bpm, then repeat.

Reduced recovery is most effective at the beginning of an intensive interval-training period when intensity takes precedence over quality. Close to competition quality takes precedence over intensity and therefore full recovery is advisable.

Structuring the Programme

The number of training sessions per week you are prepared to commit to will have a profound impact on the mix of training you will do. In simple terms, if you are only training three or four times a week the intensity of your programme will be proportionally higher than if you are training seven or eight times a week.

To make some sense of this Table 4.4 outlines a suggested mix of training based on the number of training sessions per week, the training bands and the period of the year that you are training in. Table 4.5 illustrates the type of work, stroke rate and heart rate appropriate to each training band.

By referring to tables 4.1, 4.2, 4.4 and 4.5 and using the wave principle of training you will be able to start constructing your own programme.

The table overleaf shows how to divide the training sessions between the different training bands, depending on how many sessions you wish to train each week.

Table 4.4

Notes
Select the number of sessions you wish to train each week, taking note of the number of sessions required in each training band.

Table 4.5

Notes

1. Band: the training band in which the athlete is working.
2. Time the duration of training within each training band.
3. Type of Work: the type of work for the training session.
4. Recovery: the recovery time, expressed as a percentage of the work time.
5. Example: an example of the work.
6. %MHR: the percentage of maximum heart rate appropriate for the type of work.
7. SPM: strokes per minute.