AP RACING- TRAINING METHODOLGY
OUR MISSION:
We started AP Racing as a way to help athletes accelerate their learning curve and gain a deeper understanding of themselves by sharing years of experience, trial + error and key learnings from Andy and his coaching staff have.
In the following article, we outline the key tenets Andy uses to build his training programs and the methodology we use for our athletes.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER- THE KEY PHASES OF TRAINING
Now, Let’s take a look at how we at AP Racing put it altogether.
GOAL: Establish consistent routine in training, Get body used to consistent movement. Start to develop neuromuscular connections.
GOAL: Prepare the body for race day by continuing race specific training with a decrease in total volume so athlete can peak for race day.
GOAL: Develop technical efficiency, neuromuscular connections + strength via ‘speed + cadence training’ + shorter duration intervals.
GOAL: Develop race specific skills to meet the muscular and aerobic needs on race day.
GOAL: Develop aerobic efficiency/engine and muscular endurance for race and training demands.
GOAL: You just had a great race, Celebrate and Tell Everyone! Pump up the celebration intensity + volume. Then, get back to ‘Movement’.
-The Details-
Don’t Forget Rule #1- ‘it depends’. There are no magic formulas for periodization tables, or set weeks to do any of these things. There are some general guidelines that we have found that work, but understanding yourself, learning about yourself and learning about your athlete(s) is the key to success. There are times we have athletes spend months in each of these phases, sometimes just a week or two.. There are times where we cycle through every phase in one 4 week block. Similarly, every week of training has a variety of stimuli and types of workouts to stress our bodies in different ways. We don’t just ‘hang out’ and train in one phase all the time; that wouldn't work since our body responds to ‘stress’ for adaptation.
Intensity and Volume #’s: Our Intensity and Volume Factors are based on a 10 point scale, they are not absolute numbers.
W:R Ratio’s: Our W:R and Intensity/Volume Factors also fall under rule #1, It Depends. Some athletes respond differently to different ‘stresses’ and we adjust accordingly. In addition, swim training volume typically can be a bit higher throughout all phases of our training since it is a weight supported activity.
You are an Experiment of 1: This could be the most important thing to remember- you have to try different things, understand yourself and continuously test yourself to see how your body responds. There might be years, days, weeks where it responds great to one thing and then not at all to that same stimulus another time. The more you pay attention to yourself, create a feedback loop, and simply listen…. the better an athlete you will become
In future articles, we will dive deeper into each of these phases but this should give you a look into how you can approach your training and racing season. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out via email(andy@andypottsracing.com), on my FB page, or just do it already and join AP Racing, the place where you pay for the coaching but the PR’s and gear are free :)