berner

Although I don't train in any structured way and at my advanced age the Olympics is not in my future, the subject is an interesting one. An article in The Sunday NY times today followed several world class athletes and their training during lock down and canceled events. It seems that the strain of training continuously, frequent travel and sleeping in strange beds and not quite enough sleep, not allowing enough time to heal and or recover or to really work on refining technique has effected achieving best performance. The result of a less pressurized environment has been personal bests and world record performances for the athletes followed. For those of you who do train seriously it would be worth tracking down the article.

rubiksoval

Drug testing has been essentially non-existent the last six months, so there's that...

I mean, the 5000m world record, previously held by arguably the greatest runner ever, set in the peak of the EPO era, was just broken. It's kind of a joke.

Iride01 

I'm not certain what you are getting at.

In my case, there are certain climbs and other segments that I will get a new personal best on after being off the bike for a week or two. But since I like to ride more than I care to get a personal best, I'll just keep riding as often as I want.

Likewise, of course frequency, sleep, stresses from travel and need to perform affect both professionals cyclists and all cyclists. If we were to have enough rest and time to de-stress between each ride, our performance overall will suffer more. I think it unlikely my body would have built itself up to the level capable of making that PR if prior to that week or two off the bike I hadn't rode 14 of the previous 17 days.

So what's the point?

rubiksoval

I think the point is dialing back the overall stress in your life can have a positive impact on your sport performance.

Of course, it fails to take into account the fact that all the stuff off the bike is probably orders of magnitude more important than the on the bike stuff, so really, it's not applicable at all.

I mean, sure, it'd be great to not have to work for six months, get up whenever you feel like it, go train for a few hours, and then spend the rest of your time lounging on the couch in peace and quiet, but seriously, who has time for that? Not me.

wolfchild

I am no expert but I think what happens is your body resets itself when you take an extended period of rest from a rigid and intense training schedule. Training hard and living a performance oriented lifestyle creates a lot of stress and eventually all that stress will start to have a negative impact on your mind and body....Stress is stress no matter where it comes from and your mind and body deals with stress induced by exercise in the same way as any other form of stress in life. It's perfectly ok to take a break once in a while, you will come back stronger and make new gains.

Sorg67

There is a lot of evidence that sometimes less is more in training. Bill Bowerman was a track coach at the University of Oregon in the 1970s. He had great success by having his track athletes train less. He was a co-founder of Nike with Phil Knight.

I have not read the article. But I suspect the point is that A type achievers tend work hard and think harder is always better. My kids had some coaches like that in high school and college sports. But harder is not always better.

I have a long way to go before I worry about over training. But the principle behind getting stronger is to stress the body and then give it time to heal and grow stronger. You get stronger while resting.

And general healthy lifestyle has bigger benefits than many realize. No matter how hectic your schedule, you can always make improvements.

rubiksoval

That's because you were completely untrained.

jpescatore

I read that article. My impression was that there is a big difference in training for a single personal best in a sport and what is required to make a living out of that sport.

Yes, less travel and more sleep is better. But, most athletes (like most non-athletes) can't pay the bills with one great performance per year. That article has a baseball player example - I think he was forced away from training camp because of an injury and when he came back he hit 2 grand slams. But, I just checked - he is now slightly below his career averages in batting categories - now that he has to play every day and travel, etc.

Yes, over-training is usually counterproductive but that doesn't mean that under-training is productive - I doubt the baseball teams would carry a player who said "I will only play twice per week, only at home games" on the roster even if he hit really, really well twice per week at home games...

Sorg67

You raise a good point about the difference between training to peak for a particular event versus training to perform on a daily basis. But I think people who enjoy working out can over train and often do not give themselves enough rest.

Hermes

There is a big difference in achieving a personal best or world record in a casual training environment versus under the pressure of an event such as the olympics, world championship or special event that enforce all event protocols. Some athletes can perform under pressure and some cannot.

And there is cyclicality of human performance systems. I have attended a Thursday training session with my coach at the velodrome with a planned race on Sunday. Sometimes I had my race day on Thursday and my training day on Sunday. Meaning I had great legs on Thursday and so so legs on Sunday even following all the rest and sleep protocols. So it goes.

berner

There is great variability in performance and the capacity to recover.. The article referred specifically to world class or near world class athletes. If such a person has found a way to improve performance,even by a small percentage, it seems to me a serious athlete looking to improve would look into the reason for a sudden improvement.