Is it good to have peaks and valleys in training?

[Cheryl Keith]

I talked to someone today who seemed to know what he was talking about when it came to running.  He said the reason many runners plateau is because they do the same thing week after week.  He said it's best to have like three weeks of high mileage/intensity, then take a 4th week very easy, low mileage, low intensity, then repeat that cycle throughout the training period.  It seems to me that many of the top runners on this blog have high mileage week after week.  What are your thoughts on that?  Would you be able to have higher peaks if you trained like my friend suggested, or is it best to maintain high mileage week after week?

[Michelle Lowry]

When I think of the weekly mileage totals, I don't usually think in terms of peaks and valleys.  What you are referring to Josse calls a cut back week, and I think those are good in your training cycle.  If you look at training from a month to month perspective, that's where your analogy of peaks and valleys make sense to me.  Training should have phases for sure.  If you do the same type of training for 50 weeks of the year I think you'll burn out.  It's nice to have a base building phase.  By the end of the base building phase you should be itching to do some speed training, by the time you taper for a key race you generally are excited to taper.  It's easier to maintain focus and enthusiasm for the sport when you are in different phases.  Your mileage will float.  I've read that ideally your mileage in base building will be higher than during intense speed training, but I can't normally follow that because I am typically increasing, building my miles during the base period.  Even if you stay within 10% of your typical weekly mileage, there are other ways to not do the same thing week after week.  Racing different distances is one way.  Doing different speed workouts is another.  Long tempos, short tempos, tempo intervals, long intervals, short intervals, ladders, fartleks, there's lots of ways to keep your body surprised and out of its comfort zone.

[Cheryl Keith]

Thanks for that response, Michelle.  It sounds like we just have to be imaginative in our training and always be challenging ourselves.

[Bob]

Everything in life has cycles or ebb and flow.  So should your training or the voluntary break will become an involuntary one.