Give me everything ya got.
reverse periodization is when you read Bompa correctly…so reverse periodization is not from endurance to speed, it’s from general to specific
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Apparently I used it and call it “IM training”… go figure 
Quit holdin’ out on me, frog. I been up all night, so spill it.
Let’s assume I haven’t read Bompa at all, cuz I haven’t. What’s he got to say?
reverse periodization is not from endurance to speed, it’s from general to specific
So how would that play out for a half IM, for instance? And in the case of IM distance, I assume that means that you’d do the speed stuff, then ramp up into the endurance stuff? It seems like it could lead to a lot of injuries early on, no?
general means improving overall conditioning…a bit of strength, a bit of vo2, a bit of LT. then when the time has come you get into your IM specific prep (that shouldn’t last more than 12 weeks).
no more risk of injuries than doing crazy stuff like a 20week IM prep…
and it’s not speed first, then endurance…it’s general (with no particular focus but to improve in general) to IM specific stuff
You’re killing me, here, Francois. Did I mention I’m really tired?
How long would the general conditioning last? How would it be structured? Details, man, I need details.
depends on you, your goals, your races, when your IM is…lots of stuff…
And is this Bompa guy have a first name of Tudor?
no, I am awake
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But I hear he drives a four-door sedan.
Of course “general conditioning” period is structured. It is just structured to develop overall conditioning prior to going into specific preparation structures. You focus a bit on your weakest links…but overall it is very general…as Francois said, a bit of VO2, quite a bit of threshold, a lot of endurance, plenty of form drills…the basic nuts and bolts of a solid fitness.
Then you move to specific structures in the last 8-12 weeks before a race. The structure is designed around the specific race you are doing. For IM, lots of race pace main sets…not so much VO2, if any at all…it just really depends on the demands of the race course and distance…
Its a more mature understanding of Bompa than what is generally understood to be periodization…build endurance then speed…in reality endurance and speed are just two of the factors that are worked year round, albeit misnamed…the ratios of types of work that are done are adjusted accordingly during proper periodization.
You can do a search on Slowtwitch for several threads about Reverse Periodization.
Traditional “periodization” programs for endurance events start off with higher volume, lower intensity (long slow distance) workouts to develop an aerobic base, then transition to lower volume, higher intensity workouts closer to the race. The theory is that it takes longer to develop and longer to lose aerobic “base” fitness, and less time to develop and less time to lose anerobic fitness.
Reverse periodization basically suggests the opposite: it has you going HARD several months before the race, but not necessarily long. As the race gets closer, you increase the volume and decrease the intensity. The theory is that if you’re capable of going hard, you can easily develop the capacity to go easier for a longer period of time. Reverse periodization also takes into account the notion that high intensity work is more likely to lead to injury, so better to do it long before the race in order to have time to recover. It also takes into account that for a half-IM or IM distance race, race-specific training is long endurance workouts, not high intensity workouts.
The “Slowtwitch Consensus” if there is such a thing, seemed to be that reverse periodization works OK for 5hr+ efforts (half-IM, IM) only if you come into it with a very good fitness base – i.e. you’re effectively coming into the program having done your high volume already. The people who claimed that reverse periodization worked GREAT for them were all people who started that training year with several years of training under their belt already.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
Park Slope, Brooklyn
How long would the general conditioning last? .
It lasts for “all the time.” You spend your time getting fit – raising the pace you can maintain over a given medium-duration; say 60-90 minutes. How? A mix of threshold work and medium-paced stuff. Some hard, VO2max from time to time (but not too much). The heart of the program is work done a little faster than the *true *lactate threshold (which is roughly best-effort over a 2.5-3.0 hour effort).
So you spend your year getting fast and powerful. Then one day you wake up and realize the IM is 8-10 weeks away, so you go into specific prep mode by adding over-distance rides, runs and swims. The main purpose of those training outings is not to get faster, it is to learn your pacing and beef up your glycogen storage mechanisms. It also helps with the mental factor.
But whatever pace you hold in the IM is dependent on the work you did year-round to get faster. All the long rides in the world will not allow you to ride at 85% of theshold. Threshold pace is your limiter, so work on it year-round. The reason you see hotshot Olympic distance guys blow up in IMs is not a lack of long rides and runs – it’s stupid pacing. Guys that spend years riding at 97% of threshold in races have a very hard time holding back to 75% in the first half of the IM bike. 85% just feels soooo easy for about 3-4 hours, so they do it. Then they shuffle-walk the last 8-10 miles of the run.
IM racing is mostly a matter of pacing – we can’t go too hard, maybe 75-78% of threshold effort. What distinguishes fast IM guys from slow ones is (1) intelligent pacing, and (2) how fast/powerful they are at threshold pace. The fastest IM racers in every AG (and pro) are also the people that can rip up the short-course non-drafting races. There is a lesson in there.
Obviously, it doesn’t always go the other way – not everybody figures the pacing out.
So, Francois put it very nicely above, I thought. If a little short on details.