9-Week Base Phase Plan for XTERRA Triathlon - Re-Usable

Written by Cody Waite, Endurance Coach, Professional Endurance Athlete and co-owner of Sessions:6 Sport Performance

The Base Phase is phase 2 of your training program, emphasizing improvements in aerobic strength through sport-specific strength work and gradually increasing aerobic volume.

This 9 week plan builds your XTERRA base designed to set you up for your Race Prep training phase that follows. You can implement your own Specialization or Build phase or follow my Race Prep program also available in the Training Peaks Store.

Overview:

BASE PHASE: 9 weeks designed for the intermediate to advanced XTERRA athlete looking to improve their swim-bike-run fitness over the "pre-season" part of the year. The programming includes our highly successful swim strength development progression of pool workouts, our 12-session Stationary Trainer Series set of indoor bike training sessions, and our run fitness development progression. The workouts are designed to improve your complete triathlon ability for XTERRA racing.

The 9-week program begins with strength development, then progresses to build aerobic endurance before adding in intervals at and above your lactate threshold. Included is a very detailed desciption of the equipment you'll need, target training zones, intervals and session layout. There are two sessions for each sport programmed for each week, with an additional third session in each sport each week included as "optional" if it fits with your training volume goals. A progressive strength program is also included, twice per week for maximum training gains.

Upon completion of this plan you will be ready for my XTERRA race-specific Phase 3: XTERRA Race Prep plan that builds off this XTERRA Base Plan, or you can jump into your own build program.

REUSABLE: You can easily reuse this plan each year in the off-season or for additional "A" races within the same season as break between larger cycles of training.

Plan Details:

• Ability Level: Intermediate to Advanced (adjustable by overall volume & intensity)


• Number of Weeks: 9


• Training Days per Week: 5-7 (written for 7 days, but can be consolidated to as few as 5)


• Training Hours per Week: 8-15+ (adjustable depending on your preference of aerobic volume)


• Equipment Needed: pool & gym membership or strength equipment at home, HRM, power meter preferred



• INCLUDES: detailed strength training program (PDF); Trainer Series PDF, detailed swim sessions,and run technique drills.

Other Plans in this Series:

• Phase 1 XTERRA TRIATHLON: 6-Week Base Prep Plan




• Phase 3 XTERRA TRIATHLON: 7-Week Race Prep Plan




• Phase 4 XTERRA TRIATHLON: 2-Week Race Plan




• COMPLETE (phases 1-4) XTERRA TRIATHLON: 25-Week Training Plan

Questions?

Email Cody directly