Planning Your Season-Coach Roundtable w/ John Fitzgerald, AJW & Duncan Callahan | KoopCast Episode 165

Episode overview:

The coaches review the process they go through with their athletes when planning out their seasons. 

Episode highlights:

(12:15) Koop on weaknesses and strengths: anchor points, assessing weaknesses and strengths, when were you at your best, when were you at your worst, Abby Hall example, recap

(33:08) Emphasizing anchor points: making the most important training events known to the athlete so they are less concerned when non-essential training is changed to accommodate life, be 100% consistent 80% of the time, be flexible

(48:32) Life cost of racing: too much racing complicates family, employment, cost, travel, these make recovery from long races more difficult, muscle damage, emotional recovery

Our conversation:

(0:00) Introduction: preparing for the training season, introducing the roundtable, how many races is too many

(2:10) Setup: lotteries are complete, setting up the conversation on long range planning

(3:45) John on season planning: athlete physical and mental health, takeaways from the previous year

(5:41) Meet athletes where they are: building a bridge between the present and the future, your present ability decides training more than goals, making good training decisions

(8:01) Duncan on training history: athletes do better when they have years to prepare, looking at new athlete training history

(9:24) AJW on training camps: example of getting into UTMB, setting schedules by training camps, planning around life events

(12:15) Koop on weaknesses and strengths: anchor points, assessing weaknesses and strengths, when were you at your best, when were you at your worst, Abby Hall example, recap

(16:15) Duncan on season planning: dietary changes occur further out, least to most specific training, variables to consider, importance of technicality

(18:00) John and AJW on specificity: incorporating some specificity early to build confidence, using races as training runs, examples

(21:59) Koop on season planning: comparing training to previous years, managing training targets, repeating training that works for you, Norwegian sandwich example

(25:19) More is not always better: repetition is key, doing less to support recovery 

(27:16) Counterargument to repetition: Leadville - CCC specificity example

(28:42) Avoiding training gaps: preventing missed training is better than a new fancy protocol

(29:51) Changing the season plan: shifting training around life events, re-evaluating when races or training don’t go as expected

(33:08) Emphasizing anchor points: making the most important training events known to the athlete so they are less concerned when non-essential training is changed to accommodate life, be 100% consistent 80% of the time, be flexible

(35:47) Koop on being flexible: ADAPT acronym, don’t panic, emphasize what matters most in training, don’t try to make up lost training, maintenance is not a huge opportunity cost

(38:41) Too many races: AJW on streak athletes, picking races to prioritize

(41:50) John on too many races: individuality, approach to races, recovery and distance, gaining race experience, balance and using training races

(45:06) Race limit: no hard set rule, Duncan’s 2+2+2 advisory, the Grand Slam and Triple Crown

(48:32) Life cost of racing: too much racing complicates family, employment, cost, travel, these make recovery from long races more difficult, muscle damage, emotional recovery

(51:59) Longevity and performance in sport: managing experience and performance in the context of high race volume, example of 9 weeks off after the Grand Slam

(54:58) Physiology behind too much racing: 4-6 weeks for performance adaptation, the training opportunity cost of improvement versus performance, counseling proper recovery between races, examples and banter

(58:38) Wrap-up: 70 years of collective coaching experience

(59:49) Outro: giving thanks, recap of training structure (anchor points, weaknesses, moderation, and adapting to the unexpected), where to find coaching, share the podcast

Additional resources:

Buy Training Essentials for Ultrarunning on Amazon or Audible

Information on coaching-

www.trainright.com

Koop’s Social Media

Twitter/Instagram- @jasonkoop

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The Complexity of Training with Manuel Sola Arjona | KoopCast Episode 166

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Differences Between Elite Road and Trail Runners with Frederic Sabater Pastor PhD | KoopCast Episode 164