Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Positive Cycology: Periodization and Optimization
Positive Cycology
Positive Cycology is an exploration of cycling and psychology concepts to positively enrich your riding and living experience. Enjoy!
Periodization and Optimization
Periodization in cycling is structured training that includes periods of effort and rest for maximum performance at the end (i.e. a race.)
Optimization in living is structured planning that includes periods of effort and rest for maximum achievement in life (i.e. self-actualization.)
Read on to learn more about periodization and optimization. Questions are at the end of this page to help you apply these positive cycology concepts to your own life.
Periodization
Periodization is the process of dividing an annual training plan into specific time blocks, where each block has a particular goal and provides your body with different types of stress. Periodization cycles through periods of high loads of training (stress) and decreased loads of training (recovery.) The purpose is to induce just enough stress to cause adaptation without overtraining.
Riding medium-hard all the time means you will never get the big stimulus of completing a really hard workout or the adaptation that comes with recovery. When you train hard, you actually tear your muscle fibers; when you rest and recover, those fibers heal, rebuilding the muscle so it can handle similar stress in the future.
Training itself does not produce adaptation; it is the rest that follows training that allows your body to get stronger.
You will need to experiment with the stress to recovery ratio for optimal gains. As we age we require more rest, but can still make gains. Training is not the only stress our bodies must deal with. We have jobs, families, work, life, and all other kinds of stress. To your body, all that stress is the same. It is important to consider other stressors when evaluating your training.
Periodization training is typically divided into three types of cycles: micro-, meso-, and macro-.
- Macrocyle is an entire year of training and competition. Generally there are four stages: endurance, intensity, competition, and recovery. It is comprised of 8-12 mesocycles.
- Mesocycle is a 3-5 week period of progressive loading (training that increases in duration and/or intensity) followed by a week of lighter, active-recovery workouts. Each mesocycle will typically focus on a specific aspect of training such as endurance, power, or sprinting.
- Microcycle is the smallest unit of periodization and is one week of training usually with 3-5 key workouts, a couple of lighter recovery days, and a day off.
Developing a periodization plan allows you to create some hard training periods and some easier periods to facilitate recovery. Periodization also helps you develop different physiological abilities during various phases of training. For instance, during base training you focus on the development of aerobic and muscular endurance. During the intensity phase, this focus switches to lactate threshold and aerobic capacity (i.e., VO2 max), and as you enter the competition phase, greater emphasis is placed on boosting anaerobic capacity and neuromuscular power.
Because macrocyles include all 52 weeks of the year, you might look at the date of an event or race and design your plan for peak performance then. You may also design a plan using meso and micro cycles for several peak performances throughout the year. Expect that you will be adjusting your plan throughout the year as challenges, fitness, and unforeseen events evolve.
Mesocycles are used to accomplish specific goals such as building the ability to maintain intensity. You might design three weeks that include threshold workouts followed by a week of rest. Mesocycles are typically three to four weeks long. An experienced athlete might use a 28 day mesocycle with a 23/5 training pattern. 23 days of relatively hard work followed by 5 days of recovery and easy spinning. A less experienced cyclist may better benefit from a 21 day mesocycle with a 16/5 training pattern. 16 days of hard work followed by 5 days recovery. If you are unsure where to start or are fatigued, try a 21 day mesocycle. Increase to a 28 day mesocycle when you are ready.
Microcycles are a week long with targeted training throughout. For example, if the microcycle goal is endurance, a cyclist might complete three or four long rides in one week to progressively load followed by a day or two of recovery (rest or easy spinning.) An intensity microcycle might include two or three very hard workouts in a row followed by an equal amount of recovery. Three or four microcycles form a mesocycle.
Periodization is the best way to promote the training effect, which consists of changes in your cardiopulmonary and musculoskeletal systems that result in greater speed and endurance on the bike.
Optimization
Abraham Maslow said, "What one can be, one must be." Optimization is employing a program to achieve self-actualization. In his program, Optimize, philosopher/entrepreneur, Brian Johnson lays out a structured program and lifestyle for achieving the best (Optimus) you. Here is a skeletal sampling of his compendium.
The first step to Optimization is to know where you are going. Like periodization, start at the end goal (the culmination of your life) and build a plan to achieve it. This is not simply goal setting, it includes who you want to become, what kind of person you will be, and what others might say of you at your funeral.
Consider that end vision and how you might get there. Like mesocycles in periodization training, envision the path of the rest of your life. Identify what you want to have achieve in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and ultimately over your lifetime. What will you have done? Who will you have become? As you design your plan, accept that just as in periodization training, you may change course. You may encounter unforeseen obstacles- or opportunities along the way.
Self-actualization is less about things and status and more about the optimal expression of who you are. Things and status may be desirable, but those can be outward distractions to the ultimate internal achievement. Does your vision include being a good partner, parent, and/or person? It is okay to want a better home, lifestyle, amazing abs, or a national title, but it is more important to develop who YOU are and share our gifts with the world. Try to keep the balance of your goals to at least to 49% external rewards and 51% being a good.
To help focus your vision and what you need to achieve it, Brian has identified three key areas of life: energy, work, and love. We need energy to do our best work in service to the world. Your service to the world may be your family, the people you encounter daily, and/or a large scale contribution. Energy involves sleep, exercise, nutrition, and meditation. Work involves what you do everyday whether it is inside or outside the home. Love is your relationship with yourself, your family, and the world. Love is healing and what makes the world go round.
The smallest unit in planning for life optimization is what Brian calls a Masterpiece Day. As you design your masterpiece day, consider what is the one thing you need to accomplish to move you toward your 1yr goal, which will then advance you to your 5 year goal, and so on to achieve your "optimus" you. Your masterpiece day should include one thing you can do to move yourself closer to being your best self in energy, work, and love. Today is the day do it.
A masterpiece day is a structure that includes eating, moving, sleeping, and waves of energy on and off. You need good sleep, exercise, and nutrition for optimal energy. Create time blocks for deep work and deep love. Blocks are uninterrupted, planned times to focus on work or family. No phones, no internet, no distractions.
Focus on the "book ends." The book ends are the start and end of your day and the time over which you have the most control. Design a masterpiece morning that might include a bit of exercise, meditation, and good nutrition. Try to do your most important work in the morning your energy is highest. Design a masterpiece evening that includes a digital sunset or "shut down" complete when all electronics go off work activities stop. Reflect upon your day at the end with curiosity, not judgment on how you did and what you could do tomorrow to make it better.
Knowing who you are and who you can be is key to optimization. This self-understanding and future vision informs each decision you make moment to moment. You are either moving toward or away from that best version of ourselves. We can never be perfect, but we can be optimal for the current moment and circumstance. You may come to the end of your life knowing you followed the best plan to achieve self-actualization with optimization.
Periodization and You
1. Do you train according to a structured plan? Do you incorporate periodization?
2. How might you specifically benefit from periodizatoin training?
3. What mesocycles would you need to improve your fitness?
4. What microcycles would support those mesocycles? What workouts would be included?
5. What does recovery look like for you? Is it easy for you to rest?
Optimization and You
1. Abraham Maslow said, "What one can be, one must be." Who can you be?
2. What do you want people to say about you at your funeral?
3. What do you want to have achieved in 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, and ultimately over the your lifetime. What will you have done? Who will you have become?
4. Who are you when you are at your best in energy, work and love? What virtues are you demonstrating and what behaviors are you doing when you are your optimal best?
5. What might a masterpiece day look like for you?