Progression and Recovery #7

Many times we are told that a training plan must include progression.  So if you plan to do 70km one week, you should do 80km the next and then 90 after that.

It sounds good.  But does it work?

I'd say you need to be very careful of these kind of neat progresions.

When you start a plan you may come to it fresh from weeks of inactivity or much lower level   training.  In the first week you are full of beans and easily do all the workouts.  For the second week things aren't so easy - you've already done a weeks training, and then by the 3rd week you are really getting tired.

The third week is done in the context of the 2 preceeding weeks of heavy load.  If you have planned your longest workout for this 3rd week then you are envisaging doing it when you are most tired and at danger of injury.

You may find that just being able to maintain 70km each week is actually progression - because in the 2nd and 3rd weeks you aren't as capable as you were in the first week.

You may even want to explore a negative progression  - do 90km in week 1, 80 in week 2 and 70 for the last.  So do your biggest load when you are fresh, then cut back with regard to your accumulated fatigue.

Some final thoughts on recovery:

  • If you work full-time you may want to look at taking one weekend day off.  Planning to use Mondays and/or Fridays as rest days may not be real as work can give its own stress.  Take Sunday off to have a complete rest day.
  • Recovery weeks may need to be longer.  Heavy training periods may take longer to properly recover from than the week you have planned  - remember your body has no idea of weeks and just recovers at its own pace.  It might take 10 days.
  • Planning recovery.  If you know you have a time coming up when you can't train then perhaps plan in some extra sessions before it - then when you are really tired will coincide with not being able to train - a neat use of what would otherwise be a frustrating training interruption. 
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