Training – It’s More Than a Workout

Training is a cumulative process. The workout is one piece of a much bigger
picture. Training is not one spectacular or particularly tough workout, rather
it is a succession of workouts designed to fit into the overall plan in pursuit
of specific training objectives. Anyone can make a workout hard, but the
essential element is context. Where does it fit? One workout cannot stand
alone. One great workout does not necessarily lead to a great competition
result. In fact it can be detrimental. To achieve an outstanding workout the
athlete may have to dig deep into physiological, psychological, and emotional
reserves to achieve that result. That potentially may detract from competition
performance. The concept that has stood the test of time for me is Bill
Bowernan’s concept of hard easy rhythm of training days.  As the athlete progresses in their
career and you can assess their adaptability you can progress to a hard day,
followed by a medium day, followed by an easy day. Too many hard days without
easy days to balance them out will result in failing adaptation. Ideally we
want to achieve continual adaptation as a consequence of supercompensation. You
achieve this by having clearly defined training goals, a sound plan to achieve
those goals, a thorough knowledge of the athletes physical capabilities and
specific competitive goals. Remember one workout cannot make an athlete, but
one workout can break an athlete.