The Peak
Periodization is a training approach advocated by many cycling coaches. It involves carving your year into four zones, typically: transition, preparation, foundation, and specialization, all culminating in peak fitness usually attained during the specialization period. These terms and phases get pushed around by various coaches, but the general message is the same -- strive toward a peak, and take a measured, stepwise approach to attain it.
The peak is a mysterious notion in athletics. In the physical world, a peak is something you can see from a distance, climb to stand upon, and stay atop as long as you like. Some people even build houses on the peaks of some accessible mountains. In cycling, the peak does not have these topographic characteristics. While you know it is far off, especially after a long winter returning to the valley of your fitness, you can't tell how far away it is, the climb can't be reliably measured, and you certainly can't plan to stay once you arrive.
In the springtime, the peak can seem impossibly remote, especially on those cold, rainy days riding amidst the detritus of winter's sullen fury: the sand, the sticks, and the puddles. Sluggishness blends into aches and pains as your body works to respond to the familiar demands of longer rides and faster paces. At times, you cannot see how you can yet again achieve the impervious fitness that was yours mere months ago.
A physiological peak is elusive, fragile, and transitory. It also cannot be summoned by precise actions or plans. Your body conducts an underlying and complex set of negotiations within itself outside of your awareness or knowledge. The methods we are given to elicit the peak are crude at best -- training, rest, nutrition. You may titrate your training, taper your efforts, plan out your nutrition, and periodize until your head hurts, but you can still arrive at a crucial event or race feeling tired, sick, or out of sorts. Then, a couple of days later, with nothing at stake, the peak will appear unbeckoned, you will seem to fly, and then the peak will fade again.
The peak is also troublesome in that struggling to maintain it can make it crumble away or slip out of reach all the faster. Effort wears the peak down rapidly, yet too much rest and you slide down from the top. Keeping a peak as a plateau isn't possible. However, it is possible that achieving a new peak repeatedly will raise your training plateau, your base camp.
When the peak manifests itself on event day, the results can be memorable. I can recall a few centuries during which I was at peak: the speeds were fast, the high effort sustainable, and the recovery quick and effortless. In fact, one annual event that requires nearly two back-to-back centuries was so easy to complete one year that I felt by the end that I could ride it all over again.
Achieving the peak through periodization is sensible and straightforward. It requires discipline, planning, and sacrifice, but the benefits are clear as you approach top form, and sustain it. For me, the most difficult part of periodization and the peak is leaving. Once you achieve the condition from which you can ride for hours, pace at high speeds, and enjoy climbs, consciously dropping back to riding more slowly for shorter distances and less intensely is difficult. You can feel the fitness slipping away. While there are moments when you experience the reassuring feeling of healing and relaxation -- along with the mental break from training -- you worry that you may not see the peak again. I find the discipline of staying away from cycling during this period very difficult. Rituals have to change, and measurements of success shift from miles and speeds to gaps in training and diversity of activity.
In pursuing peak fitness, you realize it is the pursuit itself that is the substance of the cycling life. The peak is a goal, not a state. It is like having your true love flash a glorious and unexpected smile your direction -- your heart jumps, you savor the moment, and you find yourself recharged, your affection affirmed. And you begin the chase anew.
The peak is a mysterious notion in athletics. In the physical world, a peak is something you can see from a distance, climb to stand upon, and stay atop as long as you like. Some people even build houses on the peaks of some accessible mountains. In cycling, the peak does not have these topographic characteristics. While you know it is far off, especially after a long winter returning to the valley of your fitness, you can't tell how far away it is, the climb can't be reliably measured, and you certainly can't plan to stay once you arrive.
In the springtime, the peak can seem impossibly remote, especially on those cold, rainy days riding amidst the detritus of winter's sullen fury: the sand, the sticks, and the puddles. Sluggishness blends into aches and pains as your body works to respond to the familiar demands of longer rides and faster paces. At times, you cannot see how you can yet again achieve the impervious fitness that was yours mere months ago.
A physiological peak is elusive, fragile, and transitory. It also cannot be summoned by precise actions or plans. Your body conducts an underlying and complex set of negotiations within itself outside of your awareness or knowledge. The methods we are given to elicit the peak are crude at best -- training, rest, nutrition. You may titrate your training, taper your efforts, plan out your nutrition, and periodize until your head hurts, but you can still arrive at a crucial event or race feeling tired, sick, or out of sorts. Then, a couple of days later, with nothing at stake, the peak will appear unbeckoned, you will seem to fly, and then the peak will fade again.
The peak is also troublesome in that struggling to maintain it can make it crumble away or slip out of reach all the faster. Effort wears the peak down rapidly, yet too much rest and you slide down from the top. Keeping a peak as a plateau isn't possible. However, it is possible that achieving a new peak repeatedly will raise your training plateau, your base camp.
When the peak manifests itself on event day, the results can be memorable. I can recall a few centuries during which I was at peak: the speeds were fast, the high effort sustainable, and the recovery quick and effortless. In fact, one annual event that requires nearly two back-to-back centuries was so easy to complete one year that I felt by the end that I could ride it all over again.
Achieving the peak through periodization is sensible and straightforward. It requires discipline, planning, and sacrifice, but the benefits are clear as you approach top form, and sustain it. For me, the most difficult part of periodization and the peak is leaving. Once you achieve the condition from which you can ride for hours, pace at high speeds, and enjoy climbs, consciously dropping back to riding more slowly for shorter distances and less intensely is difficult. You can feel the fitness slipping away. While there are moments when you experience the reassuring feeling of healing and relaxation -- along with the mental break from training -- you worry that you may not see the peak again. I find the discipline of staying away from cycling during this period very difficult. Rituals have to change, and measurements of success shift from miles and speeds to gaps in training and diversity of activity.
In pursuing peak fitness, you realize it is the pursuit itself that is the substance of the cycling life. The peak is a goal, not a state. It is like having your true love flash a glorious and unexpected smile your direction -- your heart jumps, you savor the moment, and you find yourself recharged, your affection affirmed. And you begin the chase anew.
posted by Recycled Cyclist | 3:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home