Prioritization for middle distance athletes
Periodization is an important aspect in training for many athletic sports not just athletics. Periodization basically dictates what training you do, when! It is the transition from fundamental running training to specific training for a specific distance. All athletes begin this fundamental training (base training) together before changing things up later in the season to accommodate their individual races. This helps athletes peak at the most important times in their seasons
Base phase (10-15 weeks)
All 800m-marathon athletes base phases will be quite similar excluding slight changes in volume and intensity. In this phase athletes prepare themselves physically for the training to come in Spring. It mainly consists of aerobic runs at a variety of paces (not just easy running) to develop stamina and endurance. Mileage should be gradually increased in this period for maximum aerobic conditioning.
Many athletes run integrate hill training into their plans also. By running on hills regularly they develop the leg power and flexibility that will be needed to support faster running.
Athletes also like to keep in touch with their raw speed in this phase performing a few quick 60-100m strides at the end of most runs. This develops their efficiency and is done in preparation for the short fast track intervals later in the year!
Transition phase: (4-8 weeks)
After a good level a fitness is built from the base phase, athletes can now move into quicker work to prepare them for their peak races. Although they are still a long way out from their key race, the training done in this phase is what dedicates how fast they can go come track season.
Athletes start to run more tempo runs and intervals. Intervals are usually fairly long in length and are done between 5k and 1500m pace. Mileage is still quiet few but slightly lower than the end of the base phase. This is undoubtedly the hardest phase in a training cycle but is where all the gains are made.
Sharpening Phase: (2-4 weeks)
This phase consists of race distance specific tuning and sharpening including shorter distance time trials and races. Track intervals are now faster and shorter usually going to further than 300m on an interval. This increases running economy at race pace dramatically and is the last ingredient needed for the ultimate race!
Taper: (1-2 weeks)
The taper usually lasts between 1-2 weeks before the race to leave the body feeling fresh and ready to run fast.! Overall volume is reduced during this period but intensity is kept the same. Lifting and gym exercises are also reduced but still slightly maintained.
