We’ve now got the Prep, Base, Build and Peak periods behind us. We’re almost there: The race is just a week away. Actually, there isn’t much to change in this period from what’s described in my Training Bible books.
Let’s start with how to set up a routine for the week of the race. In my next post we’ll take a look at the Transition period. This last one’s a piece of cake.
The last few days before the race is called the Race period. Not only is it short – just 6 or 7 days typically – it’s also simple. For the veteran senior athlete the purposes of this period are to 1) maintain the aerobic capacity and strength gains of the last several weeks, 2) eliminate any remaining traces of fatigue and 3) prepare mentally and physically for the race. To accomplish these objectives I’ve been using a race-week routine for several years that stays the same regardless of the endurance sport or it’s distance. It’s proven to be quite effective with a wide variety of athletes and events.
What I’ve been doing grew out of a research study by Canadian triathlon coach Barrie Shepley and associates at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. The researchers divided a group of well-trained, collegiate, cross country runners who ran 45 to 50 miles per week into three sub-groups for a one-week taper before a race. Group 1 stopped training and rested all week. So they reduced all three workout variables: duration, frequency and intensity. Group 2 ran 18 miles total for the week at a slow pace. So they reduced workout duration and intensity for 6 days. Group 3 is where it becomes interesting. They ran 5 days in a row and did not train at all the day before the race. On each of those 5 running days they warmed up and then ran 500m work intervals at their goal race pace with 6 to 7 minutes of recovery between them. Here’s their routine. With 6 days to go until the race they ran 5 of these intervals. The next day they did 4. Four days prior they did 3 intervals. With 3 days to go they ran 2 intervals. Two days before the race they ran only 1 of the 500m intervals. Then the day before the race they rested completely. So this group reduced workout duration by tapering it a bit every day while keeping intensity high. The “race” was a test to see how long they could run at their maximal-effort 1500m pace they had done in a pre-test before the taper started. So what happened? Group 1 (total rest) did not improve their performance at all. In fact, they covered about 3% less distance. Group 2 (reduced duration and intensity) improved the distance they could run at their previous 1500m pace by 6% (105 meters). Group 3 (tapered duration with race-intensity intervals) ran 22% farther (387 meters). Impressive!
Here's the take-home lesson from Shepley’s study. In the Race week period the first thing that must happen is a reduction in training volume. That should primarily be done by reducing the duration and possibly the frequency of training, but not the intensity (Houmard). Intensity is the key to a successful race week. It must be maintained at race effort (or pace, power or heart rate). To workout at a low intensity – even if you reduce workout duration and frequency – will result in a rather large drop in fitness and race-day performance. Do not reduce intensity.
But, of course, the study used college-age athletes. That's quite common since researchers at universities have easy access to a lot of young people. What about us old geezers? Does such a routine work just as well for us? There's no such research, or least none I've found. My experience has been that it works just as well for seniors. I’ve used this training pattern for many years with athletes of all ages across a variety of sports. It’s typically proven to be successful. But I’d suggest making some adjustments. Note in the following example that I’ve made some small changes in what Shepley used in his study. Each of the following workouts is preceded by a warm-up and finishes with a brief cool down.
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Monday |
Fartlek with 3 minutes total of aerobic capacity pace, power or effort and one very brief Strength Maintenance (SM) session in the gym |
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Tuesday |
5 x 90 seconds at goal race intensity (minimum of zone 3) with at least 3 minutes of recovery between intervals |
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Wednesday |
4 x 90 seconds at goal race intensity (minimum of zone 3) with at least 3 minutes of recovery between intervals |
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Thursday |
3 x 90 seconds at goal race intensity (minimum of zone 3) with at least 3 minutes of recovery between intervals |
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Friday |
Day off |
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Saturday |
1 x 90 seconds at goal race intensity (minimum of zone 3) |
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Sunday |
Race |
The above is for a Sunday race. For a Saturday race keep Monday the same but move Wednesday’s workout to Tuesday, Thursday’s to Wednesday, etc.
“Goal race intensity” is generally easy to determine for triathlons, time trials and running races since they are typically fairly steady pacing – or at least should be. For an event that has more variable pacing, such as a bicycle road race or mountain bike race, this may be the highest intensity demanded of you on race day. Or it could be the goal intensity for a critical portion of the race such a particular hill. If that intensity will be in one or more brief episodes lasting less than 90 seconds then adjust the length of the intervals above appropriately. By race day you should have a great “feel” for race goal intensity which improves your chances of getting it right, especially at the start when goal race intensity is usually screwed up. Having rehearsed race intensity and many of the details of your race almost daily for the past two weeks you should also feel mentally prepared for competition.
Triathletes present a unique challenge to the above routine. They may do two workouts each day and divide the intervals between the two sports (for example on Wednesday swim with 2 x 90-second intervals followed by a bike ride with 2 x 90-second intervals). This is probably most beneficial as combined swim-bike or bike-run sessions so transitions can also be practiced. For most triathletes the critical sport is the bike so doing that every day isn’t a bad thing. The day before the race I’ve often had triathletes do all three sports with 1 x 30-second effort at race intensity in each.
Regardless of your sport, do not increase the number of intervals or reduce the recovery time between intervals in an attempt to make the workout harder. Rest – not more fitness – is the essential now. The only purpose of the intervals is to maintain fitness while becoming completely familiar with the goal race intensity. You’re not trying to improve it.
You probably noticed that I moved the day off to two days before the race rather than the day before as Shepley had done. At one time I scheduled the day before as a rest day but so many athletes reported feeling “flat” on race day that I changed it. That seemed to resolve the problem. And since we often travel to races two days prior, the day off comes at the right time.
I’ve found this to be an effective way to train the week of the race for athletes in a wide variety of sports. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tweak it to better fit your unique situation. Feel free to experiment. But always bear in mind that the goal is shedding fatigue, not gaining fitness.
References
Houmard JA. 1991. Impact of reduced training on performance in endurance athletes. Sports Med 12(6):380-93.
Shepley B, MacDougall JD, Cipriano N, et al. 1992. Physiological effects of tapering in highly trained athletes. J Appl Physiol 72(2):706-11.
