Planning The Training - Brain Mackenzie
Planning The Training - Brain Mackenzie
Planning The Training - Brain Mackenzie
The purpose of a Training Plan is to identify the work to be carried out to achieve
agreed objectives. Training Plans should be drawn up to identify long term (4 years)
objectives as well as short term plans for the forth coming season. For the rest of
this topic I will concentrate on the development of the short term annual Training
Plan. In its simplest form the plan could comprise of a single, A4 sheet identifying
the overall plan for the year, and more detailed weekly plans identifying the specific
activities the athlete is to carry out.
Training year
The start of the training year will depend upon the athlete's circumstances and
objectives, but this would generally be around October for track and field athletics.
Information Gathering
Personal details
Objectives
Experience
Equipment
o Does the athlete have his own equipment (e.g. starting blocks,
javelin etc.)?
o Elastic harness
o Weight jackets
o Video camera
Finance
Competition
Open Meetings
Competitors
Competition behaviour
Planned holidays
Medical
o Physiotherapy support
o On any medication - is it a banned substance?
Training facilities
Coaching Workshops
Last season
o What can be learnt from last season - good and bad aspects
If this is not the first program you have generated with the athlete then an
important activity to conduct is a SWOT analysis of the last training program:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
o What may prevent us achieving the short and long term objectives?
Athlete Assessment
Before we can start to create a training program we need to analyse our athlete to
determine their strengths and weaknesses. The first step is to identify the ideal
attributes (e.g. body build, strength, endurance, speed, flexibility etc) that will
allow our athlete to achieve their agreed goals. The next step is to assess our
athlete against our ideal athlete to identify their strengths and weaknesses (gap
analysis). Addressing the gaps may require us to think in terms of long term
planning (4-8 years) but for this macrocycle we can set realistic but challenging
goals to start to address the gaps. The following link provides an example form for
this athlete analysis process.
Periodisation
Periodisation is the method of organising the training year into phases where each
phase has its specific aims for the development of the athlete.
For the athlete with competitive objectives for both the indoor and outdoor season
then the phase allocation for the indoor season could be as follows:
This assumes that the climax of the indoor season is in February and the outdoor
season in August. Depending on your athlete's objectives and abilities, then the
year start and duration of each phase may have to be adjusted to achieve
appropriate development.
Speed
Each of these needs should be seen as a building block, where specific blocks need
to be in place before you progress to the next. Failure to do this may result
in injury. How you allocate the blocks to each phase depends upon the athlete's
weaknesses and strengths and is for you as the coach to decide with the athlete.
speed
When progressing from one block to the next, remember to fade one out as the
other comes in and not to switch from one block to the next overnight. Some blocks
once started may continue to the end of the season but at a less intense level e.g.
mobility. Other blocks to consider are relaxation, visualisation and
psychology (mental attitude).
The relationship of Volume of work, Intensity of the work and Recovery within the
session:
Preparing a plan
Gathering information
Produce an overall plan template and identify the months/weeks of the year
o qualification competitions
Identify appropriate training units for each block as appropriate to the phase
of development.
Group the training units for each block into training schedules taking into
consideration the number of training sessions the athlete can complete per
week, the required training intensity and the phase of development.
Athlete Development
As an athlete matures, they are not only developing in terms of their sports but
also in terms of education, career, physical maturity and their relationships with
those around them. On average, an athlete is likely to face up to seven transitions
during their full athletic and perhaps the critical transition occurs around the age of
20 when they may be:
Coaches must take into consideration these transitions when planning the annual
and long term training programs for their athletes.
A Microcycle is a shorter training period of about 7-10 days and includes more
detailed information on the intensity, frequency, duration and sequencing of the
Training Sessions.
A training unit is a single activity (e.g. 6 60 metres at 90% effort with 2 minutes
recovery) with a set objective (e.g. develop specific endurance). A training session
is made up of one or more training units e.g. warm up unit, Technique drills unit,
Speed Endurance unit and a cool down unit.
Goal Setting
Goal setting is a simple, yet often misused motivational technique that can provide
some structure for your training and competition program. Goals give a focus, and
there are two well known acronyms to guide goal setting.
SMART or SMARTER
SCCAMP
FITT Principles
The basic principles of fitness training are summed up in the acronym F.I.T.T
Training ages
The following are examples of basic training programs suitable for the young athlete
or for the mature athlete who is just starting out in Track and Field athletics:
Sprint events - 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 4 100 metre relay
and 4 400 metre relay.
Jump events - High Jump, Long Jump, Triple Jump and Pole Vault
Endurance events - 800 metres, 1500 metres, 5km, 10km, Race Walking
and Steeplechase.
For the experienced athlete select this link for examples of event specific annual
training programs.
Referenced Material
Page Reference
Associated Pages
The following Sports Coach pages should be read in conjunction with this page:
Articles on Planning
Sports Massage
Training Programmes
DAVIS, B. et al. (2000) Physical Education and the Study of Sport. UK:
Harcourt Publishers Ltd.
BEASHEL, P. & TAYLOR, J. (1997) The World of Sport Examined. UK: Thomas
Nelson & Sons Ltd.