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EC-Beginner- 16 weeks- 5-10hrs per week

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EC-Beginner- 16 weeks- 5-10hrs per week

Author

Endurance Coach

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Length

16 Weeks

Plan Description

What to Expect
This program is designed for beginner triathletes who can commit 5-10 hours per week. This program takes a balanced approach to the different energy systems meaning you will experience workouts at both ends of the intensity spectrum from low intensity/recovery to endurance and higher intensity workouts. Note that the cumulative time indicated in the program summary will sometimes indicate more than 10 hours because the mobility sessions are included. The total time for swim, bike and run adheres to the 5-10 hour per week indication.

This program is suitable for someone who is looking to prepare for a sprint distance triathlon or an Olympic distance triathlon.

The program is progressive meaning the training load increases each week. This program runs on a four-week training cycle whereby the program progressively builds training load for three weeks with every fourth week focusing on recovery.

The workouts are very simple and aim to give the beginner triathlete a taste of the various types of workouts that are beneficial for triathlon.

This program uses RPE or rate of perceived exertion as the primary effort indicator as well as percentages of Functional Threshold Power (FTP) and threshold run pace where appropriate. If you do know your own threshold numbers in swim, bike or run please use them accordingly. The RPE numbers indicated are as a percentage of your best effort and may not always correlate exactly with the percentages of thresholds indicated in the workout builder as often these are two slightly different parameters. As a general rule we have used 65% as a rough aerobic threshold or first ventilatory threshold and 85% as a rough anaerobic, lactate or second ventilatory threshold. Understand that these thresholds are not always one and the same but these RPE indications should get you to the right place.

The higher intensity workouts are primarily delivered via shorter interval sets utilizing hilly terrain in order to help bring the intensity up organically.

This program pays particular attention to managing impact load from running. For the most part all of the runs are separated by a day with the exception of the weekend where you will see a run off the bike on Saturday and a long run on Sunday.

In this program you will see indications for indoor and outdoor bike rides. These workouts are comparable and will achieve the same objective. Similarly, you will also see indications for pool or open water swims. You do not need to do both of these workouts rather they present a choice depending on your preference or what you have available.

The endurance workouts in this program see a nice progression from a 1-hour bike ride in week 1 to a 2 hour bike ride in week 15. The long endurance runs follow a similar progression starting at 30 minutes in week 1 building to 90 minutes in week 11 through 15 (remember that weeks 4, 8 , 12 and 16 are recovery weeks). In the last four weeks of this program the long runs are capped at 90 minutes of running.

On the recovery weeks you will see an indication to do a 200m TT (time trial) swim. This is simply for your own reference so you can see the progression.

Supplementing the swim, bike and run workouts are upper and lower body mobility routines. These short, easy sessions can be done as optional recovery and injury prevention sessions. These are available in the designated workout blocks via a link to a thorough PDF.

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Training Plan Sample Week

Stats

Average Weekly Breakdown

Workouts Weekly Average Longest Workout
Strength x6
01:26:00 00:15:00
Run x4
02:37:00 01:40:00
Swim x3
01:35:00 00:50:00
Bike x3
03:08:00 02:00:00
Day Off x1
—— ——
Workouts Per Week Weekly Average Longest Workout
Strength
01:26:00 00:15:00
Run
02:37:00 01:40:00
Swim
01:35:00 00:50:00
Bike
03:08:00 02:00:00
Day Off
—— ——

Training Load By Week


This plan works best with the following fitness devices:

My Endurance Hub

My Endurance Hub

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This plan is protected by our Refund Policy and may, with the author's approval, be exchanged for a plan of equal value from the same author.

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