- goals:
1) maximize ATP/CP pathway
2) maximize Aerobic Conditioning (meaning very little lactate/ugly training)
3) minimal Lactate Power training
- generally trained 5 days per week
- 2 ATP/CP based sessions (1 was speed based, 1 was strength based)
- 2 Multi MAP sessions (1 shorter end higher power/1 longer end moderate power)
- 1 Lactate Power session (all sets between 35-55 sec)
- 2-3 Z1/breathing/skill sessions
- Also, played ice hockey 1-2 times per week (which is basically like 45-60 sec @ 85-90% on Airdyne/60-120 sec recovery x 15-25 sets)
Notes:
- Really enjoyed this template. Got stronger, faster, and better with breathing. Did not improve with much in the 2-3 min mark repeated @ high effort (this is lactate endurance, and this energy system was not trained).
- The "feel" of my high effort testers (2-8 minutes) felt purely aerobic power, as opposed to feeling very lactic. Basically, I was able to push hard, and sustain at what felt close to max effort, but due to the lack of higher power training (lactate endurance) for repeated efforts my ability to push even harder was not present. I will ensure this is there for the Regionals in May or June, 2012.
- The short end MAP sessions felt like butter by the end of this cycle. My fist blog post was about this, and has a video example. At the end of that 60 minute tirade, I felt fine.
- My olympic lifting numbers go up consistently when I do NOT do any type of CrossFit workouts, or any Lactate Endurance session.
- Excessive chin-ups impedes improvement in my Snatching and OHS - likely based on over use of bicep and scapulae muscles.
- During this phase, my lactic power sessions absolutely destroyed me. Even 45-55 second efforts was enough to make me have to rest at least 7 x the work time before I felt I could perform that effort again. This is good news to me, as it makes me think I was able to "dig deeper" into the CNS to allow for a truly high output for this time frame.
- goals:
1) maximize ATP/CP pathway
2) maximize Aerobic Conditioning
3) moderate Lactate Power training
- generally trained 5 days per week
- 2 ATP/CP based sessions (1 was speed based, 1 was strength based)
- 2 Multi MAP sessions (1 shorter end higher power/1 longer end moderate power)
- 1 Lactate Power/Lactate Endurance session (Week 1 was was 50 sec efforts x 4-6, 8 x rest. This progression in time duration to Week 4 which was 100-120 sec x 3 sets, 6 x rest)
- 1-2 Z1/breathing/skill sessions (schedule says more, but schedule was way too busy with clients/business prep)
- Also, played hockey 1-2 times per week (which is basically like 45-60 sec @ 85-90% on Airdyne/60-120 sec recovery x 15-25 sets)
Notes:
- stress/business got in the way a bunch in this phase. Mostly with the extra training sessions during the week. The Sunday CP speed based sessions were still getting better with regards to improvements in Olympic lifts.
- My ability to tone back the intensity on the Lactate Endurance training sessions (75-120 sec efforts) was not very good initially, likely due to my frequent exposure to the Lactate Power sessions. This resulted in me laying on my back full of viscous blood for the first 2 weeks of this training. I did initially start with 75 sec efforts repeated, then the next week it was 90-100 sec efforts repeated, then 100-120 for the next 2 weeks.
- I PR'ed my Back Squat (high bar) twice in this phase, which speaks to the work that had been accomplished in the phases prior to the OPTathalon, as well as the last phase with low lactate training.
Progressions from Spring to Template 1 to Template 2:
- Zone 1 training or a.k.a LSD or boring training - is it necessary? If you are in sport, then yes. I can expand on this point at a later date. For the fitness enthusiast these sessions will improve recovery, allow for practice of skills at low intensity, and will give people a chance to practice belly breathing with a mildly elevated heart rate.
- The ATP/CP training sessions were basically the same, as the improvements were steady - why change it? I really like the split per week of speed based for one session, then strength based for the other session. However, from the spring/summer time when the priority was to improve my back/front squat and upper body pushing, the volume of the ATP/CP sessions has steadily gone down more and more as I move closer to the Open 2012, then go up for 2-3 weeks afterwards in preparation for peaking for Regionals 2012. 2 reasons - 1) strength is a muscular quality that will stay for a long time with only maintenance levels of training per week, 2) the addition of more lactate training will demand a decrease in volume of in the ATP/CP training for me and my goals.
- The MAP sessions began as single modality (running, rowing, or airdyne) bask in the spring/summer. Then the short end (30-->90 sec work/30-->90 sec recovery) sessions were advanced into multiple modality sessions as I phased out my volume of strength training (read ATP/CP training). This phasing out was done for 3 reasons - 1) to avoid over use of any one movement/muscle, 2) to allow for optimal recovery as multiple modality MAP sessions will be hared to recover from due the extra muscular effort involved as compared to running, rowing, or airdyne, and 3) to allow for optimal adaptation of the aerobic system to the new layout of training.
- As I began to reduce the volume of ATP/CP training, I began to add in more weekly MAP sessions, these were longer sessions though. Initially the work:rest ratio was 1:1, beginning at 3 minutes of work, moving into 10 minutes of work over the following weeks. Designing these works are difficult, if you are truly trying to get a good aerobic training response, as it is too easy to slip and have too many of anyone movement or too much load, or too much usage of that muscle, then the limiting factor is that movement or muscle, not your aerobic system which was the purpose of the training session. More to come on this topic.
- As I began to reduce the volume of ATP/CP training, I began to add in more weekly MAP sessions, these were longer sessions though. Initially the work:rest ratio was 1:1, beginning at 3 minutes of work, moving into 10 minutes of work over the following weeks. Designing these works are difficult, if you are truly trying to get a good aerobic training response, as it is too easy to slip and have too many of anyone movement or too much load, or too much usage of that muscle, then the limiting factor is that movement or muscle, not your aerobic system which was the purpose of the training session. More to come on this topic.
- In the summer I did a lot of Anaerobic Alactic Power training (0-10 sec approx) and Anaerobic Alactic Endurance training(10-20 sec approx)...only running, rowing, or airdyne were utilized to train these energy systems as these are the only candidates that can allow for sufficient power output to necessitate activation and utilization of these energy systems (i.e. no other modalities I had access allowed for this to occur). Then this progressed in to Anaerobic Lactic Power (20-35 sec) sets once I had established improvement in the Alactic energy system. The 20-35 sec efforts then progressed into the 35-55 sec efforts as per Template # 1, and so on. How long should it take to move from Alactic training to Lactate Endurance training in a season? It depends on many things - how long the individual has to prepare for the event/date/comp, the current ability of the person relative to each energy system, structural balance needs, and the last one is the fact that I am not 100% confident in what the answer actually is. This is a brand new idea to anyone doing this, so this will take time to optimize for each individual.
That's all for now.