Top Form

[DIDSCO]

As the international race season is not far away I thought I'd bring up a discussion on peaking (hitting your absolute top form at the right time).

Its an interesting topic because so few people are capable of doing it - be it a world elite or a punter. To be able to produce your best result when it really counts you need to be able to master the art of form topping.

So many people waste all their hard Winter and Spring training by not being able to get their maximum form top when it really matters.

Perhaps the biggest barrier against most people hitting top form at the big race is their fear of taking rest days, or whole periods of rest.
You need to be prepared to let your body recover from hard training, otherwise you will never see its maximum benefits. This is often very hard for an elite athlete, whose used to training hard on a regular basis, to put into practice. For many people there is a false signal inside them which associates rest with a loss of form, when in actual fact it's doing exactly the opposite.

Many athletes / elite orienteers feel they've run or run their best results very soon after (or even during) a period of hard training. But what if they'd taken more rest, their results could well have been better.

Running good results during hard training is probably more to do with psychology than your actual physical shape. The period of hard training generally makes us feel tough mentally and give us a very positive pyschological edge, which is of course very important to achieving our top form at the major race. But while our head is in top shape our body isn't.

We need to be able to hit top form mentally, physically, and technically to run our best possible race.

A good plan is the key to achieving this maximum top form. A plan that tells us when we need to do the hard training and when we should be taking it easy, and when we should be taking a rest. A plan that tells us why we're doing what we're doing. A plan we're prepared to trust, and not be distracted from through the fear of rest. A plan properly executed will give us a psychological edge better than anything else. A plan that is individual, where we are prepared to go in our own direction and be selfish, and not be caught up in what everbody else is doing.

Don't fear rest, embrace it, and enjoy that flying feeling in the forest when it really matters.

[fish]

Dids

certainly is an interesting topic, and I guess the main thing is that it is very individual and differnet for everyone.

Some of my thoughts:
- It might be different peaking for a sprint race than for a classic
- Maybe we shouldn't base our training plans on the way you taper for a 10k track race (not sure if people do?)
- As a junior, if you're not training lots, a 4-6 week taper isn't really needed
- Probably applies to everyone if you're not training a lot
- But, I can't see doing your 2-4 hardest weeks of training right before the race being beneficial (but seems to work for some, sometimes)
- Psychological can be just as important as physiological
- Must have a plan as to how you'll do things if you get ill or injured in the last few weeks

And i think all of this is where working with a personal coach (over a longer period than one season can be very useful. While lots of us like to think we know best! It is very useful to have someone who knows you well to help with this period.
And at the very top level there may be some stuff from orthostatic responses that can help on working out if you need a bit of a 'kick' session, or whether you need to be taking it easy, but not sure how well understood it is yet.