Training Plans for Teenage Athletes

BY ANNABEL GORDON

I think the hard thing about creating a training plan as a teenager is knowing how to structure it. They have to be specific to you and be able to fit in with your busy lifestyle. 

In addition, all training plans adapt and change over time, and it is important to understand when changes should be made.

In this blog, I will talk about how I create a training plan and how my training changes throughout the year. Hopefully, my perspective will help you to create an effective training plan (if you haven't already) or at least encourage you to reflect on your training.

Block periodisation

Firstly, I split my time into blocks. I think this is especially easier for teenage athletes (like me) because training plans need to be more adaptable in exam years.

Using javelin as an example, you could have a block for running and hurdle drills, strength and conditioning, and throwing practice. These blocks can then be split into sections based on your targets. Throughout the year, the size of each block of training can change depending on what your focus is.

Gym training and strength and conditioning are more important in winter training, but throwing sessions are more necessary nearer to competitions. This is why organisation is key to creating a good training plan and will help you get the best benefits from your training.

An example of my weekly training

Monday

I like to keep my Mondays flexible. Occasionally, I schedule a gym session where I focus on either a core and upper body or a lower body workout alongside plyometrics. On other weeks, I leave Mondays as rest days, and I choose to revise.

It is important at ages where exams are concerned to consider that you may have more rest days or days that are flexible for your revision.

Tuesday

I do a running session, which can vary from speed work to resistance work, such as using sledges. Speed drills are an important fundamental for the javelin throw, improving your run-up and contact time on that final block.

Wednesday

I have my first javelin session of the week here. I like to structure it by beginning with a series of medicine ball throws, which I repeat every week in sets of eight. These mirror the basic javelin movements, and there is a variety you can do into a net or a wall, including overhead throws or throws in a block position.

Thursday

I do a hurdle drills session. This is partly due to my multi-events, but it is also great for the javelin throw. I have always struggled with my hip flexibility, and it is great for the hip flexors, which can help pull the javelin through when in the block.

Saturday

My main throws day!

However, this varies depending on the weather and time of the season.

Sunday

Competition or rest and recovery day (depending on the time of year).

Goal setting for teenage athletes

It is important to plan training carefully, as it helps you to meet the goals you want to achieve during the season. However, it should also be adaptable, because what you are trying to improve or correct will constantly change during the year.

At the start of each season, my coach meets with me to ask about my goals for the upcoming season and how she can support me. My club also ran some goal-setting workshops with a sports psychologist at the beginning of last season, which I found very useful because they helped me visualize my season and what I wanted to achieve.

It is important to communicate with your coaches about your goals so they can support you through your training and I would definitely try and utilize any other form of support from your club.

Make your training specific to YOU

Your targets are what is going to differentiate your training program from any other thrower's. 

For example, one of my targets is to generate more speed on the
runway, so I focus on runway drills during my throwing practice and make my speed training block larger. 

However, other throwers will have different targets and might make
their strength and conditioning blocks larger or create a section of hurdles for hip conditioning in their speed training block. I find that these blocks and sections are an easy way to adapt a program throughout the year, and they allow me to break down my training.

Having an organised (or unorganised) approach to training

Recently, I attended an insightful javelin workshop at Loughborough University, which had an especially interesting talk with a former Olympian, Nick Nieland, about his approach to training.

His main message was about organization and being prepared for training.

He asked us all to put our hands up if we frequently forget our water bottles or to bring a snack for after training, in which we all put our hands up. I thought this was intriguing because it shows the difference that actively thinking about your training instead of passively attending your training can make.

Even if you had a flawless training plan, it doesn't work without organization. Being organized for training includes wearing the right clothes for the right weather, bringing spikes and the correct equipment for that day, or even as simple as showing up on time. It is what makes us organized athletes.

I think this is quite a hard part of training for teenagers because we have lots of other commitments in our daily lives. 

Admittedly, I often forget to pack my sports bag until the last second because I am so busy revising. But I have realized that having good organisation and time management skills are how my training plan will work the best for me alongside my revision and other stresses that come with being a student-athlete.

I found it very interesting to learn that Steve Backley had a list of everything that could go wrong during his training and competitions and how he was going to stop them from happening, which shows that professional athletes see the value in organization and actively thinking about training.

Adapting training for your athletics

Training plans are going to change because of several things, including other commitments, your training focus for that time of year, or if something isn't working in your training plan.

Personally, I find it hard to measure when a training plan isn't working because there aren't always competitions that I can use as visible progress.

I like to use a training diary to help me with this. After every training session, I write in my training diary or reflect on what I thought went well and if I would do anything differently, which I then communicate with my coach.

Sometimes, you might find that training didn't go well because of factors unrelated to athletics, like exam stress. As student-athletes, it can sometimes feel hard to keep up with the constant demands of training alongside school. 

The four main principles of athletics training

1. Frequency
2. Intensity
3. Type
4. Time

I use these principles to plan my weekly training. Depending on the factor that is affecting your routine, you may need to adapt one or more of these principles. For example, if you are struggling with workload from school, you may need to make the frequency of your training one week lower but increase the intensity.

However, other times it may be because a drill felt too easy or hard and it needs adapting, or you felt something wasn't working. This is where it is important to communicate with your coach and adapt the plan. The more specific you create your training plan, the more it will benefit you, and I believe that keeping a diary is a great way to measure the progress of training.

Winter training in athletics

This is where the most progress will be made ahead of your upcoming season.

I think it is a great time to experiment with your blocks of training and find drills that work for you. Also, it is a great time to plan your summer season and to reflect on your past season, as it is the perfect time to update your training plan.

Summer training in athletics

This is going to look very different from your winter training.

As someone who struggles with circulation issues, I find winter throwing harder, so I adapt my program to do ball throws and more medicine ball-based exercises in place of some sections of my throwing block during the winter.

Individual needs are always the foundations of a good training plan, and you should feel comfortable during your training. If that means doing more strength and conditioning indoors during cold winter months, your training plan needs to be adaptable to suit you for your training during this period.

After winter training, it is important to reflect on what you have done and what you will do approaching competition season. I like to do a few early competitions to build up to more important competitions so I can evaluate how my winter training has gone.

The benefits of competing early

Early competitions are a great indication of current throwing standards and help you develop your goals for the season. They are also more relaxed, so it allows you to make mistakes and helps you to consider if your training focus needs to be adapted before bigger competitions.

If a competition doesn't go well, that is when you adapt your plan and focus on what went wrong, which is why I always get my coach or family to video my throws so I can see what I need to improve in training or what my throw looked like when it went well.

You may find your training plan during the summer has a larger and more intense throwing block of training, but has more days of rest and recovery between competitions.

These competitions are when training is put into practice, and I think they should be less experimental than winter training and more about making minor adaptations to get the most out of your competitions.

Meeting that all-important balance...

The start of the summer is also where the majority of exams lie. As I am taking my GCSEs this year, I thought I would have to sacrifice some of my training and early competitions. However, it works out that most competitions lie after my exams and during my holidays, which allows me to have more training time than in previous years. This will most likely be a similar case for many student-athletes. This should be utilized as much as possible without overloading yourself. 

It is a perfect opportunity to get the most out of your season
with some early summer training in weather conditions that are favourable to throwers.

Make a plan for your athletics

I hope this blog has inspired you to either look at your current training plan or to create one. Ultimately, it's best to reflect on how you can improve your training to get the most out of your season. 

Good luck with the final parts of your winter training and any upcoming exams!

About Annabel Gordon

Annabel is an U17 athlete who specialises in javelin throw, but also competes in multi-events and discus throw from time to time!

As part of her role with us as a blogger, Annabel's content will largely be for other athletes around her age who are in school or are just starting to think about other opportunities alongside their athletics, such as college or sixth form!

Instagram: @annabel.athletics