Planning Your Training
Your sport makes different demands on you at different times of the year. There are times when you will be studying hard for exams and heavily involved in school work; times when you are training hard and times in which competitions are the most important part of your sport. Then there is also a time when you need a complete break from training and competitions. So you can divide up your year into four periods:
- Pre-season preparation
This is the time when you return to training. It is before any competitions start and will follow a period when you have had a complete break from your sport to allow the mind and body time to recuperate from the previous seasons exertions. It is a time to be looking at setting goals both short and long term, and re evaluating where you are and the way forward for the coming season. You are looking to develop general fitness as a base for the coming competition season. During this time the athlete should also be working on improving techniques and developing mental skills.
- Early-season preparation
As time progresses training starts to increase in intensity and becomes more specific. The athlete may well be focusing on the physicals in rotation or be looking to develop the skills base for the coming season. There may be some competitions, but the focus is still concerned with preparing for the more important competitions to come later in the competition season.
- Competition phase
At this time the focus is very much on the competitions. These are the important ones when the athletes have to perform at their best. It is necessary to identify which of these events are the most important to peak for and which ones can be trained through for experience in preparation for the big events.
- Recovery phase
This Is the time following all the competitions when the athlete has a complete break from the sport and training. The time period of this phase can be a couple of weeks and up to a month depending on how hard the season has been and what the coming seasons commitments are.