Following a periodization schedule, where your calendar year is divided into periods characterized by different forms of training, is an excellent way to help maintain optimum stress/rest balance and achieve true peak performance during the competitive season. Here is a simple annual periodization schedule:
Base Building Period -- Base training kicks off the annual training cycle. Here, you pursue workouts that are low in intensity and provide a general fitness benefit. For example, an endurance athlete will engage in aerobically paced workouts that prelude the more intense race-pace work in the peak season. Athletes who specialize in a particular sport will engage in numerous forms of cross training, including the strength and circuit training that provide an excellent strength and muscular endurance foundation for every sport.
Peak Performance/Competitive Period -- After a successful base building period, you can transition into workouts that are more intense, focused directly on your competitive goals. Total workout time and frequency drop on account of the more severe physical effort during the peak performance period. More rest days and easy workouts fill the balance of the schedule between the occasional hard efforts. This period should last a maximum of six weeks before you introduce a rest period.
Rest Period -- An extended rest period should be observed every year, such as the winter months where training (and thinking about training) are dramatically reduced for a month or two.
Inside of these macro (annual) periodization cycles, you will engage in micro cycles. For example, you might engage in base building for a couple months in the early season, transition into a competitive period lasting several weeks, then take a couple weeks of rest. Following the rest, you will again focus on base training for a few weeks before heading off for a few more races. On a weekly basis, you should have a two to three days where you engage in no exercise or very little, a balance to the cycle of regular challenging workouts you engage in.
If you have specialized athletic goals such as a particular competitive sport, your periodization cycle will be similar in philosophy, but with different specifics than athletes with differing goals. The familiar template of the endurance athlete will feature aerobically paced workouts like long, slow distance runs during the base period, following by anaerobic sessions such as intervals and tempo runs during the peak performance/competitive period.
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