Treading the boards

BRITISH INDOOR 200m CHAMPION HAYLEY MILLS AND OLYMPIC 5000m FINALIST ANDY BUTCHART TELL MATT LONG HOW THEY PREPARE TO RACE INDOORS

- MATT LONG

ATHLETES who do an indoor, as well as an outdoor season, will have mastered double peak periodization. Back in the 1950s the endocrinologist Hans Selye researched the development of the “General Adaptation Syndrome” when understanding how humans respond to stress. A decade later, Russian professor Leonid Matveyev is credited with applying this pioneering work to what is nowadays commonly referred to as traditional linear sports periodisation training.

Debate still continues in the sports science community as to whether double peak periodisation is suitable for all athletes – and in consequence block and undulating periodisation has gained greater credence among coaches from certain events for producing superior results. However, with the traditional models, athlete-centered coaches realise that for some a double peak model is applicable whereas for others it would be unwise in terms of overload. However, and relevantly for indoor running, both Andy Butchart and Hayley Mills have experienced the benefits of double peak periodization.

Butchart maintains that the indoor season is a way of benchmarking winter progress. “For me the difference between training for indoor and outdoor events is just the time of year,” explains Butchart. “For indoors it’s always just a test to see how the winter is going and where improvements can be made for summer.”

The key difference for the Scot is in terms of the aerobic base he carries into the outdoor season, as he explains: “In summer you have a big base from the winter so training can become very specific.”

Last year Mills took the BUCS indoor 60m and 200m golds (the latter with a championship record) and she’s honest when she says: “I have never done any specific preparation on an indoor 200m track, as we continue to train outdoors through the winter.