How many weeks do you take for the fundamental period, special period, specific period and tapering period?
Hi guys, how are you doing today?
The topic today is, how many weeks you should take as the fundamental period, the special period, specific period and the tapering period. Actually, this is one of the most common questions which I get from my online school students. So, today I want to share the basic idea with you guys.
First of all, let me explain the idea of peaking and periodization. If you don’t know the idea of peaking and periodization, you cannot understand the topic today at all.
First of all, you need to understand that top athletes race time is not what they can always make or regular run. Top athletes prepare for one race very well and without perfect or close to perfect preparation, they cannot run as fast as they do on a race day.
Look at top athletes who ran marathon under 2:10. They very often run slower than 2:15 on a race day. Why?
Very often people think why they fail when they made 2:15 or slower than that.
But I ask why they were able to run marathon under 2:10 because they very often run marathon under 2:10 only once in their life. If it is more than once their life, it is usually a few times in their life. So, it is not easy at all.
They prepare for one race very strategically and if everything goes well, they can run marathon under 2:10. And it is not a coincidence. They tried to peak themselves very strategically for one race and without it, they cannot run full marathon under 2:10, even top marathoners in Japan.
Maybe the current world record holder of marathon can run marathon under 2:10 without peaking, but the story is the same. He would never run marathon under 2 hours without strategically preparation.
Then how long do they prepare for one race?
It is approximately 6 months. Of course, it depends on an athlete, coach, the weather, athlete’s conditions, financial situation, sponsor’s thought, other people’s expectations etc.
So, it could be 4 months, it could be one year. But anyway it is approximately 6 months. They peak themselves for one race strategically, so they can make good time. Amateur runners are the same. Very often they make much better results on a race after I teach them how to peak themselves for one race. This process is called peaking.
And to peak yourself for your next target race, you should know the idea of periodization. The basic idea of periodization is very simple. You focus on only one factor or two factors at one period, so you can adapt to the training stimulus which you want your body adapt to much more surely and by changing things you need to focus on at different periods, your body can adapt to all training stimuluses to make the best result on your next target race.
Periodization is a very technical, academical term. If you study training just a little bit, you would know the word. The word periodization is very popular word all over the world.
If someone studied training seriously but doesn’t know the word periodization, I’m sure, that person paid money to someone who was smart and poor and that poor person went to the university instead of the person.
But, how to periodize is different between athletes and coaches. Terms are different and how to do it is different. And also, we need to think about from where to where belongs to which period.
Here’s what I mean. I basically sperate all periods into recovery period, fundamental period, special period, specific period, tapering period. And through these periods, you always need to shift from more general training into more specific training as the race day comes closer.
But then, 6km moderate run should belong to recovery period or fundamental period?
Considering that this workout is already at the moderate intensity, this would belong to fundamental period. But considering that this workout is very short and it loosens up your muscles, it would belong to recovery period.
Or, how about 15 times 400m at your goal 5000m race pace with 200m jogging recovery for 10,000m runners?
Considering that it doesn’t get you tired so much and the load is close to moderate volume at moderate intensity training, it would belong to fundamental period.
While considering that it is already close to your goal race pace and goal race distance, it would belong to the special period.
Just like that, sometimes we cannot draw a clear line. But, although there are small differences, there is no crucial difference between top athletes and coaches. So, don’t worry about it so much.
Before we dive into the main topic, let me explain the purpose of each periodization very shortly.
Recovery period is the period for recovering from your last target race and all training for the target race.
Fundamental period is building up the solid base for further improvements.
Special period is the period that your training should be more specialized for your event.
Specific period is the period that your training should be more specific for your target race.
And the tapering period is the period you give your body more chances to adapt to the training stimulus which you’ve given to your body and get fresher to get more ready for your target race.
So, now the main question is, how many weeks we should take each period?
This is the most common question which I get from my online school students.
First of all, you need only 2 weeks for the tapering period. The reason is very simple. You can do 1 week tapering or 3 weeks period, but the result is not so much different with two weeks.
If the tapering period is too short, you have bigger risks not to get fresh enough and lose chances that your body adapts to the training stimulus which you’ve given to your body.
If the tapering period is too long, you have risks to lose your fitness level.
And if one week tapering works well and three weeks tapering works well, why not 2 weeks? You would not lose your fitness level and you get fresh enough.
If the result does not change significantly, the less variables you have, the better, in other words, if the result does not change significantly, the simpler your training structure is, the better.
Second, specific period would be 4 weeks plus minus 2 weeks. So, it should be 2 weeks from 6 weeks. The biggest problem for runners who train alone is, it is very difficult to do very race specific workouts alone.
So, it should be short and is better to put more emphasize on special period.
Third, the special period should be 6 weeks to 18 weeks. Basically, it takes 6 weeks to adapt to one new training stimulus. And the question is, how many steps you can climb up in the special period.
Of course, there is a matter of how much one step is.
The basic idea is, if you run 5 seconds per kilometer, it is one step. Also, if you run one step longer, it is one step too.
For example, now you do 6 times 1000m at 4:00 with 2 minutes recovery jogging, if you do the same workout at 3:55, now you are in one step higher position. And if you do 10x1000m at 4 minutes with 2 minutes recovery jogging, now you are also in one step higher position because if your body adapted to the stimulus very well, now you could sustain the same pace from 5000m to 10000m. 10000m race is one step longer event than 5000m race.
Anyway, if you want to take 3 steps in the special period, you need 18 weeks, if you want to take 2 steps in the special period, you need 12 weeks and if you want to take only one step, you need 6 weeks. This is the basic idea although the number can change a bit though.
How about the case you want to take 4 steps?
Then it is better to work more on your base in the fundamental period.
The fundamental period is as long as possible. Ideally speaking, 3 month or more. Once you build up your solid base, you can do whatever you want. But, without solid bases, you can do nothing. So, it would be 2 months to 6 months.
And recovery period is 2-4 weeks in this period, you need to recover physically and mentally.
Above number is a basic number.
Another question is, what if you get injured or sick?
The basic rule is, take the same amount of time you took off from running to get back to normal training.
For example, if you took off from running for 2 weeks because of an injury, you need to increase training load gradually to get back to the normal shape. So, you lost 4 weeks in total. In this case, cut off 4 weeks from the specific period. And if it is not enough, cut more from the special period.
For example, if you planned 4 weeks specific period, you cut all the specific period. Once you finish your special period, you go into the tapering period directly. And if you planned 2 weeks specific period, then you cut the whole specific period, and then cut 2 more weeks from the special period. And once you finish the special period, you go into the tapering period.
This way always works the best.
In other words, if you need to take off from running because of injury or sickness, give up completing your training plan. It’s the best way to do. In other words, if you don’t want to give up your training plan, take care of your body and try to stay healthy as much as possible.
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