Season planning and periodization

Training periodization

Periodization represents a training concept according to which a year is divided into periods; during each period the athlete concentrates on certain aspects of his physical fitness, while trying to keep the achievements of the previous periods.

The following terms are used in the periodization concept:

• Macrocycle — a segment of the training process which is characterized by complexity and completeness of the training system. Macrocycle includes several mesocycles and usually lasts a whole season. Completing a macrocycle allows to achieve the main goals set for the specific period. In Staminity macrocycle is called “Season plan”.

• Mesocycle — a period within the macrocycle, which is intended for development of certain skills, has uniform goals and prepares an athlete for completing activities of the following mesocycle. It is a mid-term plan and it usually takes a few weeks to complete.

• Periodization scheme defines a set of mesocycles used in season planning.

• Microcycle — a short period within the mesocycle which has certain structure and solves short-term tasks. Repeating microcycles form mesocycles, and mesocycles - macrocycle. In Staminity microcycle is a training week.

Preparation for season planning

1. Select periodization scheme. Choose a set of mesocycles which you will use when season planning. Based on this, select the system scheme from The Triathlete's Training Bible by Joe Friel or create your own scheme. Information about how to work with periodization schemes you will find in a separate article.
2. Plan the key competitions of the season. How to create competitions see in this separate article.
3. Create a season plan.

Create a season plan

In order to create a season plan:

• click on the “Season plan” item in the menu to the left
• for a coach - select an athlete

If there are no previously created season plans, create a new plan. You will need to set:

• Plan name
• Start date and end date
• Periodization scheme which you will use when planning
• Plan measure. You can select duration, distance or training load
• Description

Please note! After the season plan creation, you won’t be able to edit anything except its name and description:

In the created plan, you need to set a mesocycle for each microcycle (week)

and planned training load:

The fact of the season plan completion will be formed automatically based on the current plan in the calendar and completed activities.