Training Tips 1: Year Planning
Now is the time of year when you should all be thinking ahead to the year to come. A new year of exciting orienteering opportunities awaits and it’s time for New Year’s resolutions to be made. So, what can be done to make sure that we make the most of the year and ensure that all our good intentions bear fruit? Here is a slightly updated version of the article I wrote last year,
I don’t have time to write a long article and you probably don’t have time to read one, so I’ll try to set out a few brief tips that have worked for me that and which you can read and think about at your leisure. Many of them are similar to those set out by Martin Hyman in his talk in November. At the end you can find a link to one of the British Squad support articles on planning training. Some of it goes into great detail but the sections towards the end (periodisation and sketch of a training year) are quite interesting. I’ve also attached an outline calendar for the first part of 2011 which you can adapt to include your goals.
Choose which events you want to do well in
Some people just compete week in, week out and do quite well all the time. However, to produce some really good results it’s often better to pick a handful of races you want to do really well in and then plan physical training, technique training and mental preparation to help achieve that goal.
I’m not quite sure what my goals are going to be this year. I do know, though, that my first idea of going to the British Middle Distance Champs, the JK and the British Long Distance Champs plus all the SOLs is really too much, so I’m going to take a long hard look at the calendar before I commit myself.
Get into a training routine and increase gently
How much and what training you do depends on what you are used to. If you don’t do much, try to get into a routine – 3-4 times a week: arrange to meet a friend (it’s much harder to miss a session if someone is waiting for you), try out Clyde Thursday night runs or the fortnightly Tuesday training sessions which have been well attended throughout 2010. We have now settled into doing an interval session with efforts of around 2.5 minutes with different loops for different abilities as recommended by Martin. For the first part of the period up to your chosen race gradually increase what you do. To start with, I aim to have one steady run, one longer run that I gradually build up, and one or two easy runs.
Cut down on quantity and go for more quality
As your race approaches, you can cut down on the amount of running you are doing but work to increase the intensity at which you are working. I try to do a shorter faster run, then maybe a session running short hills, faster loops, or even track sometimes, an easy run and a longer run.
That’s probably quite enough to think about for the moment. Let me know if it’s been of any use and I’ll try to write something more later. Also if you have any tips you want to pass on, please send them to me and I can post them on the website.
Good luck for 2011!
Downloadable Documents
2011 Calendar of events
Posted on 29th Dec 10
by Christine Patterson
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