Actually, the idea of base training comes from periodization training, which was largely developed in part by a (great) man, Tudor O. Bompa, PhD. He is regarded as the person who revamped the training regime of many athletes.
Prior to Bompa, the idea of training was all out power, with little or no recovery time. This antiquated idea is still maintained worldwide by many recreational athletes, and (to a lot of shock) some professional athletes, although in the professional world, periodization is becoming more and more popular as the less successful athletes see the more professional and successful athletes using periodization training principles to hone and develop themselves into winning more and more often. Bompa was an athlete himself, and developed what he considered a superior training program, and using that program, he kicked major butt. When he moved into training, he continued to train his professional clients, and as his clients began winning, people began observing Bompa's success and his formula for training and replicating it with their own athletes. Sometime in the 1960's, he began training with athletes from Eastern Europe, which led to dominance of Eastern European athletes. Bompa finally took mercy on the Western world and moved his training program to our hemisphere, and mercifully, we also began developing our athletes so that they could also rise to dominance in the sport. Today, Dr. Bompa continues to lecture and teach in Canada, and if you went to every coach with successful athletes and asked them how they trained them, they'll tell you it was a periodization program, and if they ask who was the person who most influenced them with periodization program, at least 95% of them would (IMHO) say Dr. Bompa. Here's some sites about Bompa- everyone ought to have at least one of their books in their libraries if they're training!
http://www.tudorbompa.com/main.htm
http://www.t-mag.com/articles/202bompa.html
http://www.exrx.net/Store/HK/Periodi...ningSport.html
If anyone knows Barb Lindquist (
http://www.barblindquist.com/), she is the current number one triathlete in the world. She's held that title for the last two years, having just been named number one for 2003 after she won all 5 Accenture triathlons in 2003. When she won Mrs. T's in Chicago this year, she said that she doesn't train harder since she's getting older and a little slower with her times, she just trains
smarter- she does a smart periodization program, and this works for her, and as a result, she's developed into one of the greatest athletes of all time (in my opinion, that is). I actually consider her a
much better athlete than Lance Armstrong- she competes much more than Lance and wins more often.
Another person using periodization training is Lance- working with Chris Carmichael, he's developed himself into a highly successful athlete. All of us who read his first book remember when he talked about his all out training routine before meeting Carmichael. I doubt that he would be as successful today if he hadn't brought Carmichael onto his team and developed a superior periodization program. Notice how a lot of cyclists, both professional and recreational are now mimicking Lance's program for themselves and are seeing gains in strength, power, and endurance, and (hopefully) winning more races.
Another great athlete, Steve Prefontaine, utilized periodization, but only after he failed to medal at the Munich games in 1972. He failed to pace himself and conked in the final meters, ending with a 4th place finish. The Europeans were all over him at this point, having trained with periodization methodolgies, and at that point, Prefontaine got a new coach and a new training program. We don't know how far he could have gone, as he died before he could compete at the next Olympics, but his records in some events still hold today, over 20 years later. Prefontaine was always a superior athlete, but his all out training methods kept him from attaining an Olympic medal, and after modifying his training program, many believe he would have medalled at the next Olympics, and even at subsequent Olympics, when he would have been well into his 30s. Here's a good one about Prefontaine:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/6/6_1/240.shtml
Knocking the importance of base training is a mistake made by many who have little or no reverence, respect or understanding of it's principals. To understand it is to know how to train to the highest levels, and that includes knowing how long to base train. For the fittest athletes, this will not be very long in base training, but for the less conditioned athlete, or for the athlete who's overtrained, base is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of periodizaton. Still, even then, in order to determine the length of your training, you will need to be tested for lactic acid clearance and formation during training, max hr, VO2 max, and anaerobic threshold, and at the very least, determine what your anaerobic threshold is at the conclusion of your training season. From this, one can determine how long to stay in base before incorporating other branches of the periodization training into your training program.
Koffee
(ever-toting periodization fanatic)