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| A training plan, showing periodization targeted to produce peak performance on two specific dates in the year. |
It uses "periodisation" - the most important rule of training. The idea is apparently a rather old one, with even the Ancient Greek sportsmen dividing their year up into three periods - preparation, competition, rest. Even the Greeks knew that there was no point being at your best in the "off-season" if you were past your best by the days of the actual competitions!
No good doing well in that optional minor event if you are too tired/injured to do well in the events that matter to you. Indeed, many professional athletes deliberately enter minor competitions, not to get easy wins, but as part of their training, and the minor competition is completed as a workout exercise, and to develop technique and tactics ready for the "big" events.
For example, in 2015, I rode the local 100 km (62 mile) charity sportive as an event in it's own right, but also as final training for the charity London to Brighton ride (the biggest longer-distance cycling event in the country), which happened a few weeks later. Both events also acted as training for the 232km (145 mile) "Randonneur" ride I did about 6 weeks later.
And that is the point of periodisation - to make your "best" period of fitness/ability coincide with your "competitions".
