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PEAKING

jettshawnjettshawn
in General Training Discussions

Ok, im not going to lie, mu brain is smokin with all of this info..  but i cant figure out how to peak properly. I thought that peaking was a matter of not pushing hard untill you have to. If you go to hard to early you start to force your peaking. I listened to alot of power webinars this week from rich and he said to push it hard on all of your training. This makes sense to increasae your thresholds, but i fear of peaking to early. I the OS training plan is standard for all athletes then how can you control your peak and plan it so it happens right before your A race. I have wko+ and am putting data in there, but still cant figure out how to control peaking... I guess the main question is.. What dictates peaking,, and how to control it. pleasssse help or send me to a link.. thanks

Comments

  • henrysaccohenrysacco

    Hi Shawn,

    I think the most important thing to remember is you dont need to do this on your own. Put your trust in RnP and the plans outlined within EN to do this for you. If you havent done it already, i'd start with the season planning tool and some feedback from the coaches on your goals for the year.

    http://members.endurancenation.us/R...ng+Toolkit

    Henry

  • Paul ScholzPaul Scholz

    X 2 what shawn says re: trust the results and the process.

    I also think you are mixing "peaking" with "getting faster". 

    The former, "peaking", is talking about how you get to be the fittest, fastest, and most well rested right before the A event.  The plans for HIM and IM are built to give you a progressive load over the time period you have chosen, and provide a taper to help you get to the taper at your best.

    Re: "getting faster", the OS is all about ROI and focusing on getting each person as fast as they can be, while recovering within the week (as opposed to having to plan to rest every fourth week), and before building distance/time into the equation.  The testing during the OS gives the current state of your fast, and your fast training is only based on where you are, which helps both within week recovery and keeping you from getting injured (which is has been my main issue in the last decade with "getting faster" being above my current fitness for speed).

    Paul

  • SwanieSwanie

    Ahhhh the art of peaking...something near and dear to my heart these past 5 months.

    An athlete peaks for an "A" event by gradually increasing his Chronic Training Load (blue line) which is TSS/day. For me building for IM Arizona was, 105 TSS/day, three weeks out from race day. Then "tapering" for 7-21 days and allowing the Training Stress Balance (yellow line) to recover to a positive number. In laymans terms your freshness climbs without loosing too much fitness. For me +38 TSB for 7 days straight. This combination produce a "peak" and a 1:05:00 PR.

    Now getting back to your question: You will peak by gradually increasing your TSS/day by following the plans. The OS does not produce enough daily TSS to peak "early". Although you will be working hard you won't be banking excessive TSS/day. As you enter the race build phase you start to accumulate TSS in the 100+ range and you really start to see your Acute Training Load (red line)  drive that CTL up. If you want to see that CTL take a jump during your build phase, do a bike volume week or a run volume week and then watch it climb.

    Bottom line: This isn't RnP's first rodeo. They have 1000's of IM and 70.3 finishes to base their findings. They have built these plans to make us faster, stronger and to keep us healthier than 90% of the rest of the athletes out there on race day. Do yourself a favor and follow the plan for one season. If you aren't 100% satisfied I will fly you out to Washington state and you can kick me in the nutz!

  • jettshawnjettshawn
    Thanks for all the info. I do trust rich and pat, i just really want to understand the peaking process and do it right. My first IM is in may, and it looks like its all in the TSS number. I only have two wrokouts in WKO+ right now and its hard to understand all of the graphs. Any links to setting up WKO+ properly. Steve thanks for the reassurance, but you would have to fly to utah for the nut kciking..I really appreciate the help guys
  • Jenn EdwardsJenn Edwards

    Hi Shawn!

    Here is a screen shot of my “peak” for IMC. Can you see that “TSB” is high? My understanding (I trust others will correct me if I get any of this wrong) is that the chart below shows the impact of a taper. The blue line represents the Chronic Training Load (CTL) training load over 42 days, the green represents the Acute Training Load (ATL) over 7 days. When your ATL is negative, you probably don’t need this chart to tell you that you are “in a hole” meaning fatigued due to training. The pink line is the money shot: it represents the Training Stress Balance (TSB) indicating your fatigue relative to training load. Ideally the pink line peaks on race day – when your fatigue has faded but before your fitness follows suit! The plans are designed for this to happen, so at a certain point you just need to take a leap of faith and trust in the process… 

     

    Hope that helps! 

  • Al TruscottAl Truscott

     If you're new to following your training with WKO+, don't overthink or analyze it. Just collect the date, and look at it after the race.

    The NUMBER ONE thing to remember is that ALL EN race plans - short course, HIM, IM - are designed with a proper "peak" or "taper" built into the last few weeks. Follow the plan, and the peak will happen naturally. Once you've collected enough data in WKO (a year or more), you can start to obsess about following it on a prospective basis. But it's real easy to just start chasing your tail.

    Follow the plan, then race according to EN race strategy - the combo works wonders.

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