In college, I was an exercise science major which means that I spent many of my study hours learning about fitness and training theory. One of my favorite aspects of this was the ability to apply what I learned in school to my athletic pursuits. For example, as a young athlete, I felt the need to go hard all of the time. I thought that if I wasn’t going all out every day, then I wasn’t getting better. However, majoring in exercise science taught me (among many other things) that periodization of training is incredibly important. That means that the variables of training (intensity, volume, frequency, and duration) need to be manipulated throughout the year to reach a specific training goal. So, training hard every day is not the answer, but being intentional about when I do go hard will reap huge benefits.
Part of periodization is separating the year into distinct training blocks, formed around races and the goals for those races. Personally, my next race is a cross country 10k, but that is only the start of a (hopefully) long racing season. While I want to succeed and feel strong in that race, I know that the training block leading up to it won’t be as specific as blocks later in the year. I’m calling this training block “the build”, and it will feature a base phase, velocity at VO2Max phase, threshold phase, and 10k specific phase. I’m so excited for what is to come, and I’m documenting all of it on YouTube. Watch the video below to see the first episode.
