Plan your basic training part 1
Base training is a concept that can evoke both anxiety and joy. It involves a lot of hard training, which for us in the Nordics is largely done in darkness and cold. However, we also believe that many look forward to base training with great motivation. Setting goals and planning for the upcoming season, and then working steadily for a longer period to develop and optimize performance is super fun.
This article series will take a closer look at how you can plan and execute an effective base training period. Tips on evaluation, goal setting, planning, and execution are some of the aspects that will be highlighted.
Why do base training and what does it involve?
For training to be effective and lead to improved performance capability, the body needs to be exposed to stimuli (training) which leads to adaptations (adjustments to the new load) and ultimately a noticeable and measurable increase in performance.
If the goal is to perform, the next step is to build a peak performance to perform as well as possible at a given occasion.
A peak form, as the name suggests and the figure to the right shows, does not last forever; it is just an acute peak.
Since recovery and rest are required to reach it, and since a competition season often reduces the possibility of maintaining a sufficient training load, a plateau will be reached and then performance will decline. We cannot be in peak condition year-round but need a period of building up to be able to accommodate more competition-specific training as the season approaches again.
The base training season gives us the opportunity to work on our weaknesses and improve our strengths. However, to plan a good and effective base training, evaluation is required!
Evaluate and Set Goals
First and foremost, how did your last season go? Did you achieve your goals? It's always good to evaluate what you did well and what you could have succeeded better with so that future goals are reflected in reality.
In order to set effective goals, we must know what is required to reach them. There are many studies that go through the specifications needed for different sports, higher VO2max or faster sprints, for example. But often you know your own strengths and what is lacking to take the next step. Is it uphill that you usually get dropped from the group? Do you lose time in the technical sections on your mountain bike? Or do you lack the speed in your 10 km to put together a good race over a 42 km marathon? Based on these thoughts and ideas, you can now start formulating the goals that your training should lead to.
Think about making your goals specific and measurable. Have a timeline for when they should be achieved. Let your goals be exciting yet realistic at the same time. One tip is to write down your goals and post them so that you are reminded of them now and then. The goals will also be easier to manage if you divide them into three categories.
Performance Goals
Clear performance goals should be used to inspire and motivate. However, they have limitations as results can be influenced by factors beyond the athlete's complete control.
Examples of performance goals could be winning the national championship or being selected for the Ironman Kona Hawaii.
Performance Goals
Here you can specify what will be required to achieve the performance goal, e.g. winning the national championship, and set further goals based on that. I will increase my FTP by 20 Watts or I will run the 10K in under 37 minutes. These goals will dictate how you structure your specific training and what process goals you set.
Process Goals
Your major goals and dreams are often set over a longer period, from several weeks to years. Process goals, on the other hand, are meant to guide training in the short term. Small goals to check off can feel nice to know that you are making progress during a long foundational training period, for example.
Examples of process goals can be to run your test course every other month, eat more vegetables, or do prehab strength training for 15 minutes a day.
However, it can be good to check in now and then on how you are doing and if any goals need to be revised.
In the next part, we will go into how to approach the planning of the base training. Read it here.