The Importance of Consistency
In the early chapters of my Training Bible books I stress how important training consistently is to fitness and performance. In fact, the biggest mistake most self-coached athletes make is not training consistently. It’s not that they don’t want to; it’s just that they frequently violate an even more basic tenet of smart training which is at the heart of consistency—moderation. When you moderately increase the training stress in conservatively measured amounts you train consistently for week after week. But if you periodically pile on huge doses of stress, or skip a recovery period, you greatly increase your risk of injury, burnout, illness and overtraining. You may get away with it once or twice, but it will soon catch up with you and will interrupt your consistency. When there is a break in training for a few weeks or even a few days fitness is lost and you have to take a step back in training and begin over again. Many athletes experience this one or two times each season and, as a result, never realize their full potential.
The first chart here shows the weekly Training Stress Scores (TSS) of an athlete who had a considerable amount of inconsistency due to injury early this season. Notice the extreme highs and lows of TSS for the first 22 weeks of the season (within the red box). Around the end of May the injury problems finally began to subside. Following that breakthrough training became more consistent—and also more moderate, you may notice. The variations in weekly TSS highs and lows are quite small compared with the variations earlier in the year.
The second chart shows what has happened to this athlete's fitness over the course of the same period of time. Note how there has been a steady fitness increase the last 10 weeks (in the blue box). With four weeks to go until the biggest race of the season the timing could not have been better. If this pattern continues she will have excellent fitness when it counts the most.
The lesson to be learned here is that in order to produce your best performances you need to train consistently. And the key to consistency is moderation when increasing training stress. If you get this right I can guarantee that you will have your best season ever.
posted by Joe Friel @ 8:29 PM
27 Comments
27 Comments:
Joe,
I am not sure what you mean by consistency here. I think you are referring to sudden increases in volume or intensity in the course of a season.
My consistency problem is related, but slightly different. Work and/or life frequently get in the way of training for me, such that I will have several really good weeks, followed by a couple of terrible ones in which I can barely fit time to exercise.
The net effect is that I keep rebuilding to about 80% of what I know I can do, then slipping back again.
Consistency is the key indeed. I'd love to hear any tips you may have to help prevent total fitness collapse during these periods. Thanks
How do you measure fitness?
Bryan--What you see here on fitness is a chart captured from WKO+ software (www.trainingpeaks.com) based on an SRM powermeter for cycling and a Garmin 305 GPS device for running. The subject here is a triathlete.
Are you measuring combined fitness or that of the bike and run seperatly? You mentioned that this data was "based on an SRM powermeter for cycling and a Garmin 305 GPS device for running" which would lead to the assumption that this is a combined CTL.
Joe:
I recognize the importance of Power Meter Data, but I am not ready to spend the money. I have a Polar HRM and a Garmin 705. Are these sufficient for the WKO+ software to calculate TSS and fitness?
anon-It's combined.
peter g--The 705 will allow you to use WKO+ to monitor running TSS and fitness but a power meter is needed for cycling TSS.
Late Season Training
How did it workout for your athlete
cheers
sam
Unless I'm very much mistake the Athletes "Fitness" seems to actually be increasing more rapidly during the time when they aren't consistent
W
W--Good observation. What you're seeing there is an abrupt increase in the training stress load caused by a single workout or a pair of workouts done back to back. That results in a great increase in Training Stress Score (TSS), a high load of fatigue and a big jump in fitness. Note, however, that this increase is short-lived. It is also somewhat tenuous. Note the decreases in fitness soon thereafter. It is much better to gradually lift one's fitness through consistent training. There are fewer setbacks and a "deeper" development of fitness.
Sam--Thanks for your interest. We won't know until her World Champs race on August 31.
Joe, will this be discussed in more detail in the upcoming release of the Triathlete Training Bible that is due in January 09? I just wonder if these concepts are discussed in more detail there.
kxux--The topics of fatigue, fitness and form will be discussed in the new version and its companion (changes only) which come out this fall, probably November.
Dear Joe,
I do not own a PM and I am trying to base the same considerations on TRIMPS instead of TSS.
Do you think this could be a valid alternative?
Also, I will try to include powercranks into next season training. What do you think about them? Would you suggest to use them during which period (mainly base?) and for which workout (force, speed, ...)?
Thank you,
Stefano
Stefano--Yes, Trimp should work OK. PC are best used in the base period to work on speed skills. May want to continue working on this periodically for maintenance in the Build period.
interesting discussion here. Regarding the observation that the rate of fitness increase is equal or greater during the first period: Certainly, you don't want to miss too many workouts (whether due to overfatigue or injury or other cause) since that will result in more inconsistent progress and even setbacks, but there's some value in varying the workload to keep your body guessing and increasing your adaptation, no? (e.g. sequential 4-week build periods) what does the comment mean about "deeper" development of fitness? Looks like a flat-line descent - missed workouts - in March. that's always going to hurt your fitness in the period right afterwards (~3/27 to ~4/27).
...
this TSS post sent me looking through my Cyclist Training Bible when you posted it & thence to google to find out what this "TSS" is about. Seems like TSS is assigning a value to workouts based on power output and duration? Are the weekly green bars accumulations of scores from each workout (e.g. 150+100+50+150=weeklyscore?). Wondering if its possible to approximate it using RPE...
...
awesome post about meeting uta pippig - totally cool!!
Dave--Lots of comments here. Let's see if I can get at them...
I'm not sure what you mean by "keeping your body guessing." I suspect you mean variety is good for the body. If so, yes, I'd agree with that. There is some research, if I recall right, showing that changing the stress type and load from time to time produces greater fitness (such as VO2max) than maintaining a constant stress for a similar amount of time.
How do I explain "deeper fitness" due to consistent training. Hmmm... How about this... It takes several repetitions (workouts) of a certain type of load (for ex, VO2max intervals) for the body to fully adapt to that load. Do too few of these sessions and the body will not get the full benefit. Consistent training allows for this type of fitness "depth."
I realize that this sounds like a contradiction of the previous paragraph relative to variety. The key here is how many of these sessions/workouts do you do before changing the load/type of training. Consistent training implies you do enough to reap the benefit. With inconsistent training the loads are often too great to allow for adaptation so the body breaks down in some way therefore resulting in lost training time.
TSS is based on training intensity and duration. Using WKO+ software those metrics are derived from either a power meter or a speed and distance device (accelerometer or GPS). You can estimate TSS for any workout using RPE or even HR time by zone (this is called "Trimp") and create your own graphs. Each green bar on the graph you are referring to represents the total TSS for a week.
Joe
How long of a Power test would you do to get a true indication of vo2max power?
cheers
Ron
Ron--I use 6 minutes.
Jay Parkhill--I understand your dilemma. I've been there myself many times in the last 30 years that I've been training/racing. My client-athletes also run into this from time to time. There really is no simple solution that fits all situations. When traveling and don't have a bike with I try to find a staircase in a multi-floor hotel and do many, many floors of climbing taking 2 steps at a time without using handrail. Comes close to simulating climbing. I do body weight strength exercises in hotel room. I walk rather than using a car whenever possible. I use a treadmill if the hotel has one. I realize this only partly addresses travel issues and that there are many other complications in life besides travel. The bottom line is that you have to be as resourceful as you can with facilities and time. It isn't ever easy. But there are often ways to get around such conflicts.
I'm hardly a stellar example, but when traveling I find that running is the simplest way of keeping up some fitness. Especially if it's a work trip, there's no way I can depend on there being a gym, bike, pool, etc, but I can always get up early and take a run.
When I return, I always have renewed enthusiasm for my time in the saddle.
Given consistency is desirable that still leaves the question of what level to set it at.
Obviously time available for training can be a limiter but assuming it is not how can you judge what is the right amount?
e.g. For the athlete in question it seems to be around 550 TSS/week. I do more like 700-800 but so far (touch wood) have been aware of any overtraining effects but have seen performance improve.
So, in light of the importance of consistency, how should we approach taking a post-season break from scheduled training? I plan on a two week layoff from structured training to let my body heal before I get back into it for Winter maintenance.
Is this advised or would I be better off taking one week (for a full recovery from an Oly) and then getting back to training but at a reduced volume?
Thanks for any input, great article!
--Chris
Chris--The end of season Transition period can be 2 to 6 weeks long. But this doesn't mean do nothing. It's a time of greatly reduced exercise (not "training" as there is no race forcus) when you all the body and mind to rest. It's a good time to exercise in ways that are not usual for you. As a triathlete you might try some rock climbing, ride an easy century with a much slower friend, go hiking with your spouse, or whatever you'd like to try. The point is to stay active at a minimal level until you can no longer stand it. Then begin the Prep period for next year. If you make a mistake in the Tran period make it one of too much rest for too long.
There's one thing I'd don't quite understand from your training bible (road biking). In the base period, especially the first one, cross training is recommended, or at least acceptable. But, does 1 hour of running = 1 hour of bike riding? For example, if I've scheduled 12 hours of riding for a week and do 6 hours on the bike, should I do 6 hours running? Most of the runners I know suggest that I replace 6 hours of bike riding with less running time.
Anon--I wouldn't be concerned about this. There is no way of knowing the exact benefits to the central systems from running vs cycling. The bigger issue is how much running can your cycling legs handle without becoming injured. So it is in your best interests to hold down the run volume, especially when just starting to run.
Hi Joe,
I have been using PowerTap(s) and Training peaks for just over a year. It has allowed me to maximize my valuable training time. Especially important in the Canadian winter.
I noticed that your athlete gains ~ 14 TSS in his consistent stage. Typically I build my TSS slowly however when I go away for training camps, like the one I started today, I will easily average 2.5-3 TSS/day over 10 days or so. When I return home I recovery by riding very little and easy letting my TSS drop 8 or so over a week, the second week I ride just enough to key the TSS from dropping maybe letting it climb a small amount. The third week I get back on the "plan" and get my TSS climbing back up at a sensible rate.
My background...I raced pro/elite MTB for 4 years but took a 6 years break from racing/training (though I never stopped riding)I got back on the program last year.
Any thoughts you have would be much appreciated. And no my FT is not set too low:)
Cheers
Post a Comment
<< Home