Goal Setting
Your training schedule will depend on your goals. There is no such thing as a one size fits all programs. Your training will be based on how you define your goals. If you want to participate in triathlons, your program will look a certain way. If your goal is to be the best triathlete then your program will be different. Find out what you really want before you set the plan in place.
Training
You can really only do hard workouts three days a week. That all depends on your history and volume, but in general it’s a good rule to train by. When I say hard, I mean maximum intensity workouts. You can’t go hard 5x a week because your hard days end up being easy to moderate days because you’re exhausted. People think they can go hard 5x days a week but perceived exertion is not a good measure of intensity. Of course you will train more than three times a week, but the other workouts should be comprised of recovery workouts. A typical program might look like this:
Basic Endurance Program Template
Monday: Rest or 1 hour easy workout
Tuesday: 1 hour morning gym workout; 1 hour interval workout
Wednesday: 90 minute morning tempo; 1 hour easy workout
Thursday: 1 hour morning gym workout; 1 hour interval workout
Friday: 90 minute morning tempo; 1 hour easy workout
Saturday: 3 hours 75-80% MHR
Sunday: 3-4 hours 65-80% MHR
Read
Educate yourself with what works for other triathletes. Fill your brain with knowledge and apply it to your own practices.
Diet
Figure out what works for you in terms of food. Different workouts require different ways of eating. Learn the basics and experiment, so you know exactly what to eat on race day. Pay attention, find what works for you and be disciplined.
Recovery
Don’t give me the excuse you don’t have time to recover. This might be the most important part of training and is usually underestimated. If you are injured, you can’t do the prescribed workouts. If you don’t recover, you will break down and get injured. You can never over-recover, so plan your workouts accordingly. You need to do recovery practices on a daily basis including foam rolling, hot/cold showers and ice baths. Put as much effort into recovery as you do training and your results will show.
Training off heart rate or Power
Training off your heart rate can be simple but hard to get a true max heart rate number. There are several factors that determine your heart rate so it might not be as consistent the more serious you get in triathlons.
Having power data will allow you to scale output accordingly and to design training to target specific characteristics. Just make sure you use them as tools to progress, rather than hold you back. If you are doing a hard session and you see a number you are not comfortable with, don’t let it stop you from pushing through. The opposite can be said when you need to dial it back for an easier workout. The nice part about power is the numbers never lie.
Transitions
Practice these in a stressful situation so you are prepared for everything in the race. The shorter the race, the more important transitions are.
Do what is needed not liked
Learn to train what is needed rather than liked because chances are you are good at what you like. It can be painful in the moment but put your ego aside. Doing the same thing over and over to no benefit is only painful on race day. It also helps if you find a good coach because they will make sure you are working on your weaknesses rather than fine tuning your strengths.
Balance
Don’t try and build your swimming, biking and running at the same time. You will have much better results focusing on maintaining two and building one. It is hard not to do everything at once but the patience will pay off.
When in doubt swim
Out of the three movements, swimming is the easiest on your body. If you’re injured, most of the time you can still use the pool. It is also a good way to keep up your aerobic capacity without breaking down your body even more.
