4. HOW TO USE DIFFERENT TIME SPENT IN ZONES FROM THE U19 CATEGORY TO PRO LEVEL: A MICROCYCLE EXAMPLE

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SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND

In a previous KIW Research Note, we saw the training characteristics’ progression (from junior to senior level) of world class successful Norwegian cross country skiers. These athletes started to perform already a good amount of high intensity training (HIT) at junior level, and then, when transitioning to senior level. they increased the amount of low and medium intensity training while keeping constant the HIT.

While such a observational study doesn’t necessarily mean that this is the best strategy for long term endurance athletes’ development, this progression makes sense both from a scientific and practical point of view. Why?

• At junior level, the lower training volume is optimized through a larger percentage of high intensity training, which is superior to induce aerobic performance adaptations compared to low and medium intensity (when considering the same energy expenditure); (1)

• When transitioning at senior level, a progressive increase of the training volume at low intensity is a good way for a long-term sustainable athlete development, which would not be possible through a further increase of the amount of high intensity training. In fact, a further increase in HIT would lead to distress both from a physical and psychological point of view. (2)

• A high volume of low intensity training is important to optimize durability, which becomes more and more important when progressing from U19 to professional categories, given the increasing length of races. (3)

In a study I performed during my PhD, we observed something very similar in road cycling: successful Under 19 and successful World Tour cyclists perform similar amount of training at medium and high intensity, however pros accumulate more absolute time at low intensity than U19. (4)

In this KIWApplied I will show you an example on how to build this training progression.

Enjoy the read!

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THE PRACTICAL EXAMPLE: