Sharp as a Razor or Fresh as a Daisy?

The art of peaking

Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 12:00 am

You often read articles and hear discussions about peaking for PR and championship performances. The articles, based on reviews of the scientific literature, usually try to define all the principles and nuances of the classic approach known as "sharpening." This technique involves "tapering" by cutting back on the volume of training and then using the energy that was saved to increase the intensity and speed of the workouts. The Training Triangle is typically pictured at this point to graphically illustrate climbing up to the "peak" at the top.

As a coach and physiologist who prefers the scientific approach, I can vouch for the effectiveness of that technique. As my years of coaching have added up, however, coachly wisdom now convinces me that there is an art, as well as a science, to peaking. In short, rabbits with speed and turtles with endurance should probably use different approaches.


I have discovered that for some types of runners "freshening" is a more effective way to peak. Freshening is for those who have a higher percentage slow-twitch muscle fibers. For these runners, the best way to peak is by avoiding high intensity speed work like chores on a "Honey Do" list. Freshening, too, involves tapering to reduce the energy spent. However, instead of using it in workouts, it is saved for race day. The taper in this technique involves only slightly reducing the volume while carefully avoiding any high-intensity workouts. Freshening workouts are substituted, run just below a runner’s anaerobic threshold.

Obviously, in order to pick one of these approaches for yourself, the challenge is to first identify your strengths and weaknesses. Were you the fastest kid on the block? Or were you the one who had to challenge everyone to a race around the whole block to have a chance to win? While pondering your answer, rest assured that as you come to a peak, you should be training your strengths, not straining your weaknesses. Pushing yourself at the end of the season to improve on something that is not your best feature can be as emotionally and mentally exhausting as a full-blown race. There is also a good chance that you’ll injure yourself running something that is not "natural’ for you. Peaking requires mental and emotional, as well as physical, strength in order to be at your best.

How to be sure whether your strength is speed or endurance? If the simple self-test mentioned above hasn’t helped you figure out who you are, you can try comparing your times at different distances. The accepted "slow down" rule is that you should be able to double the race distance by slowing down 20 seconds per mile. For example, take your 5K time, double it, and then add 2:00. If your times slow less than this when you go up in distance, and you’ve trained well for both distances, you likely have more endurance than speed.

Here are a couple of other self tests:

• Given a choice of the following workouts, which would be more fun and less challenging: 12 x 400 meters at 90-95 percent effort with 200 jog, or 3 x 1600 at 85-90 percent effort with a 400 jog.

• When going out for a long run, how many minutes do you go before you start looking at your watch to see if it’s time to turn around and head back?

If you picked the 400s and you start peeking by 20:00, you are probably blessed with more fast-twitch fibers and are more of middle-distance runner. If so, sharpening is for you. If you seem to favor longer, slower distances, then you should try freshening to peak. How? Just cut back a little on the weekly mileage and instead cut out the speed workouts at high intensities like 95-100 percent effort. Run longer repeats like 1600s at 80-85 percent so your taper saves energy by avoiding the harder, higher intensity workouts that are more difficult for your body type.

Both tapers accomplish the same thing: putting lots of energy back into your legs, your head and your heart. Happy PR hunting. It’s the season.
