Macrostructure

And that! is only when you look at it from the rider's point of view.

From a coach's point of view, implying that you have to manage many different programs having their own flavor in term of season's goals, periodization becomes more a matter of management, than peaking.

There is an other intesting thread on the subject of peaking. It has been opened by YMCA.

With certain athletes, I favor setting season's goals on some sort of a ranking. Could be provincial (state) cup, world cup and such. Usually, there are many races involve. Add to this a major championship, plus its qualification, you end up with a busy racing season. Management is the key to perform well and meet the goals. Peaking? Hmm well, it depends. Could be 12 even peaks, I don't mind, as long as the athlete is comfortable with it.

But with certain other athletes, long distance, the goal are based on very difficult events (Ironman triathlon, marathon, multi-stage cycling). Long distance Triathlon World Championship, held in Hawai, is an event that last between 9 and 11 hours. That is 180k TT in aero position, under heavy hot sun (over 100degrees), followed by a marathon. These events need to be treated with all due respect. In that case, proper periodization is a must, peaking is an absolute necessity.

🙂

acoggan said:

I would say that depends entirely on what that event is. If single day mass start racing is your game, then luck/fate/chaos/whatever-you-want-to-call-it plays a large enough role that you may still fall short of winning even if you're the best rider in the race and have the legs of your life. OTOH, if you're aiming for a multi-day stage race, or a race against the clock, then peaking specifically for that event is clearly the best strategy. Indeed, even those who fall in the first camp may be best off by attempting to have great "form" during a particular window(s) of time, and just squeezing in as many events as possible during this/these period(s) in hopes of maximizing the chances of winning (e.g., think of a europro attempting to do well in the spring classics). The only reason I can see for not using this approach would be if team obligations prevent it, or if you were pursuing some season-long points series (and even then you may inadvertantly find yourself peaking at one point or another, as happened to me the year I used this strategy).

I agree. I was coming from a single day mass start perspective. And I didn't mean to say that I did not think peaking during a season was a bad idea merely that only *one* race was dumb because of the reasons you listed.

In the thread YMCA opened, he suggested that by peaking once or twice a year, a racer should be fatigued/not on good form for the rest of the races. I'm interested in your thoughts on this. It seems to me like you should still be able to race all season with relatively high fitness while not undertraining for your goal events.

whoawhoa said:

It seems to me like you should still be able to race all season with relatively high fitness while not undertraining for your goal events.

I agree. Tapering for the main event(s) is different than preparing for a low profile race. The fact that one doesn't tapper for a low profile race doesn't imply that he must stay tired for that event.

🙂