The two-week roll-over is a great way to train for runners of all abilities as it lowers the risk of injury, it’s more interesting, and it might be more effective than traditional training.

In the 1960s, Arthur Lydiard became the big name in the running community after Peter Snell won the 800 m at the 1960 Olympics and the 800 m and 1500 m at the 1964 Olympics. What made Lydiard’s training different than many of his contemporaries was the use of periodization. Periodization is a fancy term for changing the training stimulus over time. Whereas Lydiard’s contemporaries were performing daily interval training year-round, Lydiard would start with at least 10 weeks of high-volume marathon training, followed by a concentration on hills, then intervals, and finally coordination of race-specific qualities.

Periodization leads to better results with a lower risk of injury, although the research hasn’t been able to determine which method is best. There are two broad types of periodization: conjugate and concurrent. Conjugate training focusses on developing one or two fitness qualities at a time, whereas concurrent training allows simultaneous development of all qualities.

Pros and Cons of Conjugate Periodization

Pros	Cons
Allows you to maximize a fitness quality	Other fitness qualities may decline substantially
Allows for 1-2 peaks in fitness every year	You may prefer to compete at races from spring through to fall
	Concentrated blocks of volume or intensity may lead to injury
	Less variation in training may be boring

Pros and Cons of Concurrent Periodization

Pros	Cons
Simultaneous development of all fitness qualities	May not be able to maximize any one fitness quality
Allows you to stay in good shape for months at a time	You may not be able to achieve your best result in any one race
Allows you to build volume or intensity more slowly, thereby lowering risk of injury	Development of some qualities can interfere with the development of other qualities
Greater variation in weekly training may be more interesting

I prefer to mesh concurrent and conjugate training together; my runners are usually training all qualities simultaneously but the emphasis changes over the year. I came to this decision based on a lack of success with conjugate training. In high school, I was always worried about losing my speed during the higher volume phases in the winter and summer. Then, as I added speed in the spring and fall, I would have a leap in performance only to lose the benefits of my aerobic base as the championship meets arrived. These are typical complaints of those who follow a conjugate program. Many reach peak performance too early and then start sliding backward. In a concurrent or mixed system, I can train switch my emphasis from endurance to speed to recovery based on recent results from races or workouts.

The Two-Week Roll-Over

I typically train following a two-week roll-over. This cycle can be repeated for months on end and allows you to compete well at events lasting 10-90 min. For simplicity, I’ve cut out the easy runs, but this program works best on 4-6+ runs a week.

	Workout 1	Workout 2	Workout 3
Week 1	Tempo Run or Cruise Intervals	5km Pace Intervals OR Alterations	Long Run
Week 2	Tempo Run or Cruise Intervals	Hills

Sample Workouts (Always precede with a warm-up)

Workout 1

Progression Run: 20-60min progressively faster

Tempo Run: 20-60min comfortably hard

Cruise Intervals: 3x10min comfortably hard (2min rest)

Workout 2

            5km Pace Intervals: 5x1000m at 5km pace with 90sec rest

            Alternations: 12-20min alternating 30sec at 3-5km pace with 30sec floating

            Hills: 6-12 x 30sec hills with a jog back rest

Volume Adjustments Over Four Weeks

I used to build my volume progressively for three weeks and then cut back by 25-33% in the fourth week like everyone else until I read Matt Dixon’s book The Well-Built Triathlete. Dixon says that three weeks is too long to build-up and one week is too long to deload. What happens is that training goes well on week 1 and into week 2, but then the quality of training drops in week 3. I’ve found that I’ve accumulated so much stress in three weeks that I feel flat and unmotivated for the entire deload week. Instead, I reduce volume at the end of every 2^nd week by running the shorter hill workout and cutting the volume of the long run. Over the course of four weeks (two roll-overs), my volume might look like this:

Week 1: High (95%)

Week 2: Medium (90%)

Week 3: Very High (100%)

Week 4: Low (70-85%)

On week 4, the volume is reduced on all easy runs and strength workouts, but I maintain the effort on the moderate to high-intensity sessions.

Quality Workouts Over a Year

I always build quality workouts by extension. This means that you’re going to run at your goal pace for a workout and extend the volume of the session, the volume of individual intervals, or by shortening the rests between intervals. This method has been shown to reduce the risk of injury in sprinters and I think the idea extends to long-distance runners.

Sample Progression for Intervals Run at 5km Pace

            Workout 1: 12x400m (60sec rest)

            Workout 2: 8x600m (75sec rest)

            Workout 3: 6x800m (90sec rest)

            Workout 4: 5x1000m (2min rest)

Sample Progression for a Tempo Run

            Workout 1: 40min at marathon pace

            Workout 2: 50min at marathon pace

            Workout 3: 60min at marathon pace

After a race, drop back down and start building up. In this way, you’re not spending the whole year crushing yourself with long intervals and tempo runs.

In addition, the type of session and duration can be adjusted based on your next race. Over the winter I know I don’t have any races for a while, so I can use the two-week roll-over to focus more on aerobic development. I tend to use alternations more than 5km pace intervals and long tempo runs over shorter cruise intervals.

In summary, the goal of the two-week roll-over is to add variety to your training, minimize the risk of injury and over-training, and maximize results. Build up volume of easy runs and higher intensity workouts slowly and drop back to shorter sessions after a big race.

Stay fit,

Jonathan Pratt
Pratt's Pro Fitness