Aging: Other Base Period Training and Microcycles

Im back home after a two-month stay in beautiful Tuscany. As much as I enjoyed the
riding there, its a great relief to back where the two-way roads are wider than one car.
Taking the many blind corners on narrow mountain roads at high speed often got my
heart rate higher than the workout effort would suggest. It will also take awhile to adjust
to being back where drivers are often angry with anyone on a bike. Im not sure which is
worse.
Now back to the topic at hand aging and performance
So far Ive been trying to summarize what the research suggests are the primary
reasons endurance performance declines with age. As a quick review, here are what
appear to be the culprits:
Aerobic capacity (VO2max) declining at the rate of 10% or more per decade
Muscle mass losses of greater 10% per decade
It appears there are several reasons for these huge changes, not the least of which
are weight gain (more body fat) and the reduced production of anabolic (tissue-
building) hormones.
These changes would seem inevitable. In fact, Carl Foster and his associates at the
University of Wisconsin in La Crosse reviewed the aging literature and reported that
there appears to be a loss in functional capacity that cannot be overcome by training.
They continue, older athletes may be limited primarily by the inability to maintain the
same volume and intensity of training. Also, older athletes appear to respond more
slowly to the same training load than do younger athletes.
While this may sound unavoidable and even depressing, bear in mind that most of what
we know about the aging process is based on studies of normal subjects meaning
sedentary old people. As the Boomers have reached their 50s and 60s in the last few
years the research has become somewhat more positive. Were learning more about
what is possible by studying those who have pushed their physical and mental limits. As
a result, it appears that about half of the loss, or perhaps even a greater portion, is due
to disuse, not aging per se. For example, a review of the research by Lewis Maharam
and associates points out that most of the changes that come with aging have been
found to be actually the result of a long-standing sedentary lifestyle. So we can
probably dismiss the results of much of the aging literature until recently.
Thats been my take-home message in the preceding posts. We shouldnt accept the
high rates of loss as being inevitable. We have some control over these losses and how
rapidly they occur by employing measured doses of high-intensity training. Continuing to
do only long, slow distance (LSD) workouts, as many of us do as we age up, has a quite
limited effect on preventing a rapid loss of performance. Its just a higher level of disuse
than that of the sedentary senior citizen. The body only responds by growing stronger
and fitter if it is challenged. A steady diet of LSD, while it is quite effective for the
aging novice athlete, does little for the highly experienced senior athlete who has been
training with LSD year after year. Thats no longer a challenge for the aging body.
Thats how I started down this path of training with more intensity in order to maintain or
even improve performance. It doesnt mean, however, that high-intensity training should
be your only training mode. As with almost everything in life, it isnt an either-or solution.
Its a mix of high-, moderate- and low-intensity that is most likely to boost your physical
performance. Most senior athletes have the moderate and low parts down pat. We just
need to add some higher intensity training which has been shown to boost aerobic
capacity and strength while stimulating hormone production.
In the previous post I discussed how to incorporate aerobic capacity and strength
training into the Base period. But as I explained, theres more to it than just high
intensity and weights. You should not neglect the other training abilities I describe in
my Training Bible books. In the Base period you still need to include aerobic
endurance, muscular force (sport-specific) and speed skills training as
described here. By Base 3a and 3b you should also include the starting levels
of muscular endurance workouts, initially in zone 3 (power, pace or heart rate). See
my Training Bibles for the details of how to do each of these.
In Base 2, 3a and 3b, when training for events lasting roughly 4 hours or less, muscular
endurance workouts are done with increasing frequency and for longer durations as
strength training, which reached a peak by Base 2, decreases both in terms of workout
time and total workload. By late Base 2 and continuing throughout the remainder of the
Base, Build and Peak periods, strength training moves into a maintenance mode.
Aerobic capacity workouts at this time, while slightly increasing in volume, remain rather
brief. Muscular endurance gradually becomes the primary focus.
For events longer than about 4 hours, sport-specific training may become somewhat
more intense in the late Base periods with an emphasis on workouts exceeding the
lactate threshold. This is in keeping with the concept that Base training is unlike the
race. So when training for an event longer than about four hours, now is the time to
emphasize high-intensity, aerobic capacity training (my pace and heart rate zone 5b or
Coggans power zone 5). Events longer than 4 hours seldom are dependent on aerobic
capacity efforts (with the possible exception of bicycle road racing) so its best to do
such training early in the season - late Base - and then in the Build period shift the focus
to event-specific intensity.
For the senior athlete the Base mesocycles may look something like the following. The
daily workout routine for the nine- and seven-day microcycles is more completely
described in my previous post. Note that for the senior athlete Base 3 is repeated.
Base Period 9-Day Microcycle
Day 1 High dose (aerobic capacity)
Day 2 Recovery day (off, active recovery, or cross train)
Day 3 Recovery day (active recovery or aerobic endurance)
Day 4 High dose (strength and aerobic or muscular endurance)
Day 5 Recovery day (off, active recovery, or cross train)
Day 6 Recovery day (active recovery or aerobic endurance)
Day 7 High dose (strength and aerobic or muscular endurance)
Day 8 Recovery day (off, active recovery, or cross train)
Day 9 Recovery day (active recovery or aerobic endurance)
Base Period 7-Day Microcycle
Day 1 High dose (aerobic capacity)
Day 2 Recovery day (strength and off or active recovery or cross train)
Day 3 Recovery day (active recovery)
Day 4 Moderate dose (aerobic or muscular endurance)
Day 5 Recovery day (off, active recovery, or cross train)
Day 6 Moderate dose (strength and aerobic or muscular endurance)
Day 7 Recovery day (off, active recovery, or cross train)
Note: Ive found that strength training is best done either after the sport-specific workout
or several hours before to allow for muscular recovery to reduce the likelihood of injury.
This is especially a concern for running.
Again, the above and what Ive described in previous posts on periodization are only
suggested Base period routines. Yours could be designed in any number of different
ways, such as longer or shorter microcycles, more or fewer mesocycles, longer or
shorter recovery microcycles and how the daily workouts are arranged. The total
workload of the sport-specific workouts (aerobic or muscular endurance) can also be
adjusted to match what you are capable of physically managing relative to recovery
while keeping a low risk for injury and overtraining. In other words, adjust the above
suggestions to better fit your unique needs.
In the next aging posts Ill provide a similar breakdown for the Build, Peak, Race and
Transition mesocycle periods.