This is the Bright Triathlon 'Challenger' 4 week Triathlon training plan. This plan is aimed at athletes who have completed between 4 and 9 Triathlons, so have some experience of the sport, and have between 6-8 hours of time available per week to train.
This plan will focus mainly on building Base Conditioning (Low end aerobic and muscular conditioning) but will also have some race pace and higher intensity sessions interspersed.
The aim of this plan is to help you to build a training routine that is sustainable and consistent. Consistency is a cornerstone of development and improvement, so we won't be aiming to push you to your limits each and every week but to complete something that is manageable and enjoyable for you. In the long run this will give you much greater gains than four weeks of hell!
For monitoring purposes it would be ideal if you have a heart rate monitor and use this for all of your bike and run sessions. The sessions are set up based on percentages of your max Heart Rate (Bike and Run) and Perceived Effort (Swim) but they can be adjusted to run off your FTP or Threshold Heart Rates or Threshold Paces if you know these.
Training Peaks has a myriad of Daily Metrics you can use. As a start point for these we would advise using Sleep hours, Sleep Quality and Session Emoji's daily and taking your weight once per week. These give a good starting point to track how you are coping. If your sleep quantity or quality decreases over a few days then take a rest day. Similarly if you are seeing lots of frowney faces from sessions you know you're either pushing too hard or you're getting fatigued, so either back things off or take a day or two of rest. If you see large fluctuations in weight we advise you seek professional guidance.
This training plan is not supposed or intended to replace coaching, but to give you some tips and ideas to incorporate into your weekly routine. Hopefully once you have completed your four weeks you will seek out a local group, club or coach to continue your journey and we will provide links and info on how to do this.
Before starting any training plan please consult your doctor to ensure you are in a good physical condition. If you begin to feel unusually tired at any point during this plan please don't hesitate to take a break and miss a session here or there.