Nick Harris British Triathlon Federation level 3 Coach, Training Bible Master endurance coach
This base training Olympic triathlon plan will provide you with the foundations of the aerobic training period, which is characterised by increasing volume, performed at relatively low intensities. This phase has a strong emphasis on general conditioning, and physical, mental and technical skills such as working on your swim technique, improving your cycling efficiency, or working on running cadence or technique
You might be a beginning triathlete or maybe you have a couple of races under your belt from previous seasons. In either case you are fit and are NOT a beginning athlete. Before beginning Week 1 of the plan you are capable of riding a bike 30 to 60 minutes two days a week and completing a long ride around two hours on a third day. You can swim 100 yards (or meters) nonstop and swimming for 30 minutes a couple of times per week is easy. You can run two days per week, one 30-minute run and a longer run of 45 minutes.
Weekly training hours range from 5:15 to a maximum between 8:15 and 11:00. There is some flexibility built into the plan to accommodate individual differences. For example there is no time posted for the swim workouts. Obviously there can be big differences in swimming abilities between people with a competitive swim background and those just getting into swimming. Some of the run and bike workouts also have ranges built into the workouts.
You should have build a solid base level of fitness and progressed through a build phase of training prior to starting this plan.
This build phase training plan is prepared to provide you with improved strength of your major muscle groups used in triathlon, it will involve more force and muscular endurance sessions, and is a time for eliminating muscle imbalances. This will follow a 4 week cycle of easy, medium, hard and recovery weeks based on hourly volume, with a progresssive reliance on carbohydrate as a fuel, moving into zone 3 tempo workouts during the course of the plan
This Pre Competition phase of training plan has been prepared to help you work more on the specifics of your goal A race. This time is an opportunity to do some local “training races” to become used to the race paced efforts. During this phase of training, the focus will move away from developing muscular strength to increasing muscular endurance, strength and power, it will include less important races, lactate tolerance more, interval sessions and an opportunity to practice race tactics, such as open water swimming, transitions and brick sessions
The plan itself will develop your lactate system, or race pace, and build on the aerobic base fitness you have developed. It is the anareobic or speed work that you need to go faster, which will feel hard to start with in week 1, getting easier as the weeks go by ass you adapt and build your anaerobic system
The plan will follow a 4 week cycle of easy, medium, hard and recovery weeks based on hourly volume, and will provide you with an increase in VO2 max, an improvement in lactate buffering and removal, plus an improved resistance to fatigue from interval sessions.
Weekly training hours range from 5:15 to a maximum between 8:15 and 11:00. There is some flexibility built into the plan to accommodate individual differences. For example there is no time posted for the swim workouts. Obviously there can be big differences in swimming abilities between people with a competitive swim background and those just getting into swimming. Some of the run and bike workouts also have ranges built into the workouts.
Nick is a Level 3 British Triathlon Coach with 18 years’ experience and has worked as a Master Endurance Coach with Training Bible Coaching UK. He is also a TrainingPeaks Level 2 Accredited Coach and has served as a Regional Development Coach for British Triathlon in the South East.
Alongside his online coaching, Nick runs Speedy Swimming, specialising in 1-2-1 front crawl technique lessons, endless pool video analysis, swim clinics, and group swim sessions.