[richard.ferron]

If you have a fixed number of hours to train, say 10 hours, would you still periodize your training with base and build or would you keep the training more varied? Let’s take running as an exemple: 10 hours of aerobic run Base (10h/wk), than build phase (10h/wk) or all year of short/long intervals + Tempo + long run? This assumes that the person can recover from 10 hours of training with high intensity.

Would that change according to the distance of the goal event?

Is there a tipping amount of weekly hours that would change the answer?

Thanks!

Richard

Topic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 28, 2018 at 8:20 am #8320

Richard:

There is not definitive answer to this questions. Some athletes periodize and others do not. The reason for periodization is to emphasize the development of certain physical qualities over others. This has worked well historically. If you have a very strong aerobic base then you may get by without much periodization. If you are just starting out and have a weak aerobic base then I think you’ll find it helpful to concentrate primarily on that aspect until it is sufficient before using a less focused approach. How sufficient? AeT to AnT spread < 10%. Scott

[richard.ferron]

richard.ferron on February 28, 2018 at 8:43 am #8322

Are you saying that even with constant aerobic load, the progression would still occur (albeit at a slower rate than an increasing load)?

[maxf]

maxf on February 28, 2018 at 3:22 pm #8329

Have you always trained at 10 hours? Never trained at 10 hours?

If you have been training 8 hours a week and you up it to 10, you should progress.
If you have been training 4 hours per week and you up it to 10, you will break.
If you have been training 20 hours a week and you start training 10, you will get less fit!

Im not sure I understand the question – but surely 10 hours a week is plenty of training for all but the most competitive amongst us.

Why not start with 6hr/w for a while, build till 10h/w, then sprinkle some intensity once the body is used to 10 hours of consistent volume! – easy periodisation 🙂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous on February 28, 2018 at 3:52 pm #8332

Richard:

Max is right on in his 3 bullet points.

Training MUSt be progressive to have an effect. That’s because what is a challenge to your system now will become easy and no longer challenging. So if you hold training load (duration and intensity) constant then after a while there will be no adaptation.

Remember the 3 key ingredients of an effective training program
1) Gradual progression
2) Consistency
3) Modulation in load

So, just doing 10 hours the same (with or without intensity) every week for week in week out will not give the best results. If that load is higher than you are currently doing then you will see gains for a while but if you do not take those 3 points I write above, then progress will stall and eventually you will loose fitness.

Scott

[richard.ferron]

richard.ferron on March 6, 2018 at 7:21 am #8471

Maxf, the question was more about what to do to progress with a fixed amount of hours, considering that the person can handle this amount.

Scott,your answer gets me back to the forgotten basics.

Thanks Scott and maxf for the time you took to answer my questions. It’s greatly appreciated.

Happy training!

[Thrusthamster]

Thrusthamster on March 8, 2018 at 2:35 pm #8556

If you can’t progress the training volume beyond 10 hours, is there no hope for progress beyond that point or can you start playing around with intensities to progress further?