by Carrie Lane, Director of Sport Performance
With the start of the school year, I thought I'd bring out an analogy that I've used often during my career as a professional track and field coach:
Training is like school. And peaking is recess and summer vacation. You can miss a few days of school every now and then, and you may not like it every day. But ultimately there needs to be enough there to keep you coming back for more. Or else you're just stuck in kindergarten forever.
Training is like school. And peaking is recess and summer vacation. You can miss a few days of school every now and then, and you may not like it every day. But ultimately there needs to be enough there to keep you coming back for more. Or else you're just stuck in kindergarten forever.
I have spent most of my career implementing long term performance training plans for athletes who are training year-round and perhaps training with a 4-year training goal (i.e. Olympics). For each collegiate season, my value as a coach was determined by how well my athletes performed in the spring, after spending all year training. Beginning with their off-season summer training, I had to keep them healthy through the fall and winter and carefully monitor their improvement, so they could crush the peak performance season in June. This is not at all dissimilar to the athletes I work with now, who are training for big alpine trips or marathons or ultra marathons. There are so many factors that go into properly timing the “peaking phase.” Over the years, I’ve developed a few key guiding principles that I always go back to when I'm setting up training for my athletes. When I stick to these, my athletes train more consistently, stay enthused about their sport, and sustain fewer nagging injuries. Here they are :
Post weight room weakness THE MAGIC WORKOUT
There is no “magic workout”. Training is a collection of work with an overall cumulative effect. Workouts build on each other. So what you do in one workout does not stand alone as the secret to your success. This doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite, feel-good workouts. But, here’s an illustration that my mentor, Boo Schexnayder, uses when we teach together. He says, “When I go into the weight room, I don’t get stronger, I get weaker. I stumble out of there totally exhausted. I’m weak. This weakness, of course, is temporary. How my body RESPONDS to the weight training I just did is what ultimately makes me stronger.” It is not ONLY the weight lifting that makes you stronger. It is what you did the day before to PREPARE for that workout and what you do the day after to RECOVER from that workout that will determine how much strength you will gain from lifting those weights. This concept of course doesn’t apply just to the weight room. It absolutely applies to your endurance workouts and your hard climbing session as well. Over time, the collection of work that you build, will determine your progress and improvement.
There is no “magic workout”. Training is a collection of work with an overall cumulative effect. Workouts build on each other. So what you do in one workout does not stand alone as the secret to your success. This doesn’t mean you can’t have your favorite, feel-good workouts. But, here’s an illustration that my mentor, Boo Schexnayder, uses when we teach together. He says, “When I go into the weight room, I don’t get stronger, I get weaker. I stumble out of there totally exhausted. I’m weak. This weakness, of course, is temporary. How my body RESPONDS to the weight training I just did is what ultimately makes me stronger.” It is not ONLY the weight lifting that makes you stronger. It is what you did the day before to PREPARE for that workout and what you do the day after to RECOVER from that workout that will determine how much strength you will gain from lifting those weights. This concept of course doesn’t apply just to the weight room. It absolutely applies to your endurance workouts and your hard climbing session as well. Over time, the collection of work that you build, will determine your progress and improvement.
THE 10% RULE
Take 10% off of what you WOULD do and stop there. Training is a marathon, not a sprint. I have seen so many athletes – from weekend warriors, to college athletes, to Olympians—who get a shiny new training program and are like a puppy who is finally let outside to play. At first, they show up early for training sessions already warmed up; they crush the workout; they spend time at night doing extra stretching and eating right. But then after about 6 weeks, the enthusiasm wanes. Life gets in the way, the snooze button gets hit more frequently, the shoulders droop more as they walk into the session. At this point, training has become a tedious JOB.
 Week 1 of your new training program |  Week 6 of your not-so-new training program |
In my experience, if I have my long-term athletes do about 90% of what I actually WANT them to do, they leave the training session wanting MORE, not wanting to get as far away from me as possible. I know this flies in the face of all those motivational posters about giving 110% and all, but I need them to give the extra effort when it counts the most—at the competition or whatever ultimate trip or send they are training for. I don’t need them “going to the well” week in and week out during training, because eventually the well will run dry. An athlete who has trained for months and months needs to show up at his or her “peak event” fit, fresh, happy, healthy, and ready to crush. For me, this general rule of taking 10% off of intended training has meant less injury, less long breaks to remedy burnout and overload, and more tenacious athletes. When its time to peak, athletes are physically prepared and MORE IMPORTANTLY, are mentally ready to handle the stress of competition or of peaking for the big trip/send.
Slacklining can provide variety to everyday core work VARIETY: USE IT. BUT PLAN IT.
Along with shaving off just a bit of training, adding variety has a similar effect on your physical and mental health. Yes, there are some training components that you need to do that you may not like. But taking the time to plan some variety into your work will ultimately keep you enthused about training and will provide balance to both your neuro-muscular system (muscles, joints, tissue) and your endocrine system (energy systems and hormones). However, remember that variety is like a school field trip. It shakes up the monotony of the class, but the teacher doesn't just decide one day to go on a field trip. There's some significant planning involved. Permission slips need to get signed, parents need to chaperone, busses must get scheduled. A good training program has PLANNED variety, not just a bunch of random workouts thrown together for the sake of “variety.” Random = injury.
Along with shaving off just a bit of training, adding variety has a similar effect on your physical and mental health. Yes, there are some training components that you need to do that you may not like. But taking the time to plan some variety into your work will ultimately keep you enthused about training and will provide balance to both your neuro-muscular system (muscles, joints, tissue) and your endocrine system (energy systems and hormones). However, remember that variety is like a school field trip. It shakes up the monotony of the class, but the teacher doesn't just decide one day to go on a field trip. There's some significant planning involved. Permission slips need to get signed, parents need to chaperone, busses must get scheduled. A good training program has PLANNED variety, not just a bunch of random workouts thrown together for the sake of “variety.” Random = injury.
Ultimately, consistency is key. Your training should be mostly fun, but also well-planned to keep you moving in the right direction. Just like school, you don’t start out with the final exam in the first month. Keeping this in mind when planning your training will go a long way towards happy, consistent, and successful days outside.
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