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Annual Training Plan

The start of the training year will depend upon the athlete's circumstances and objectives, but this would generally be around October for track and field athletics in the UK.

Annual Training Plan

Single Periodisation

The following diagram shows an annual training plan (macrocycle) for an athlete whose major competition is sometime in July/August.

  Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Phase 1                        
Phase 2                        
Phase 3                        
Phase 4                        
Phase 5                        
Phase 6                        

The objectives of each phase are:

  • Phase 1 - General development of strength, mobility, endurance and basic technique
  • Phase 2 - Development of specific fitness and advanced technical skills
  • Phase 3 - Competition experience - achievement of qualification times for the main competition
  • Phase 4 - Adjustment of the technical model, preparation for the main competition
  • Phase 5 - Competition experience and achievement of outdoor objectives
  • Phase 6 - Active recovery - planning preparation for next season

Double Periodisation

For the athlete with competitive objectives for both the indoor and outdoor seasons, then the phase allocation could be as follows:

  Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep
Phase 1                        
Phase 2                        
Phase 3                        
Phase 4                        
Phase 5                        
Phase 6                        

The objectives of each phase are:

  • Phase 1 - General development of strength, mobility, endurance and basic technique
  • Phase 2 - Development of specific fitness and advanced technical skills
  • Phase 3 - Competition experience - Indoor competition in Feb and achievement of qualification times in May for the main competition in phase 5
  • Phase 4 - Adjustment of the technical model, preparation for the main competition
  • Phase 5 - Competition experience and achievement of outdoor objectives
  • Phase 6 - Active recovery - planning preparation for next season

Detailed Annual Training Plan

The following link provides an example of a detailed Annual Training Plan (Macrocycle, Mesocycle and Microcycle) to help guide you in planning an athlete's training program.

Page Reference

If you quote information from this page in your work, then the reference for this page is:

  • MACKENZIE, B. (2001) Annual Training Plan [WWW] Available from: https://www.brianmac.co.uk/sprints/plan100.htm [Accessed