Planning a Race Season

Congratulations on another successful triathlon season! I hope you have achieved everything you set out to when you were planning this time last year. I’m proud to say I came away with most of the goals I had set for myself, and now I am looking forward to the next 12 months…..and beyond. There are a few I didn’t knock off, and I will be looking to see if these fit into the planning for the near future. It’s important the plan the structure of the coming season, and there are a number of key factors that can influence it.

Know your ABC’s

Let's talk about planning your A, B, and C races. This is a very important step in your planning, because without clarity you will struggle to focus on the races that really matter, and those that can be treated with a more relaxed approach. It’s been often said that usually there are too many B races and not enough C races in season plan, so make sure you plan wisely. C races will give you all the opportunity you need to hone your skills for your A race(s).

Your A race is the most important race of the season, the one you're aiming to peak for and perform at your best. For some of you this may be as significant as the IRONMAN World Championships, for others it may be targeting a local Park Run for your PB. Whatever it is it is your A race, not someone elses, so don’t be swayed by what other people suggest. If you want to be at your peak fitness and ready to be hitting your best on this race day, then this is your A race. You may be able to fit 2 A races in a 12 month period if split with 3-4 months between, or run 2 A races closely together within a 3-4 week period. But problems may arise if you try to squeeze too many A races in a 12 month period, or too many A races consecutively over a couple of months. Recovering from an A race, such as an IRONMAN, takes a significant amount of time, as generally you have sustained a large amount of stress over many months to build up to it.

Your B races are also important, but not as crucial as your A race. These races are often used to build fitness, test your race-day strategy, and gain experience. You may still perform very well, and possibly knock over a PB, but given you don’t really taper much for these it may be you feel a bit lethargic early and improve as the race goes on. I often go into these races with a very specific race plan, and it may be quite different to your conventiaonal race plan while you try a few different strategies. A well placed B race is a great way to psychologically prepare you for the next step up in performance you will be reching for in your coming A race.

Your C races are lower-priority races, used as training opportunities or as backup options if something goes wrong with your A or B race plans. These are very important, and you will find a regular C race over the same course is a great way to track your progress as you can compare pace, heart rate, power and placings etc. Don’t put too much emotional energy on the result of these races though, this is the time to make mistakes, learn and try to better next time. I often go into these races without a race plan as it’s fun and useful to just see what happens.

Once you've identified your A, B, and C races, you can start structuring your training around them. It's important to build in enough time for proper training, tapering, and recovery leading up to each race. You’ll need to take into account the distance and terrain of each race, as well as your strengths and weaknesses as an athlete, to tailor your training plan accordingly to work around each race.

Races away from home

Travelling to a race can be a very stressful process, and too many times I have seen poor travel planning derail an A race (this has happened to me, and I will no doubt write a blog on this in the future). Where possible get advice from others who have done the races you’re planning on so you can learn from their expereinces. I dicussed traveling to the IRONMAN World Championships in this video, so it’s worth watching if you haven’t already.

If you're competing in a race away from home (especially overseas) you'll need to factor in travel time and expenses when planning your season. Traveling internationally is expensive, and costs more than you would expect. Put together a budget at the beginning of the season and start putting money aside for these races so you aren’t left struggling to make ends meet as the races draw nearer.

It's important to make sure you have enough time to recover from the trip and adjust to any time zone differences before your race. One thing I have found is travelling from New Zealand to Europe is much tougher than travelling from New Zealand to Hawaii (or West Coast USA), so this is something I always consider when planning my travel. You'll also want to consider the logistics of transporting your gear and equipment. You may have stop-overs enroute and have to lug bike boxes and bags on to the way to your hotel or another airport. Make sure you have all the necessary documentation and vaccinations for international travel as well, otherwise you may be caught short at customs.

Strengths, Weaknesses and Stressors

With your refelection from last season you should have been able to identify your strengths and weaknesses. From that you should have some insight into how your races played out and ways you could have improved these performances. Consider any potential injuries or health issues that had impacted your ability to train and race in the previous season, and what you can do to mitigate these.

It may be that you require specific blocks of training of either discipline, so planning in some periodisation around these, and finishing with a race just in that discipline, is a great way to accellerate your improvements. You may find that you can cycle this sort of Block Periodisation through a number of months as you lead into the next season, which becomes a great way to break up a long phase of training and give some motivation to improve aspects of your skill set. We often hear Professional Athletes doing this in their off-season, and there's no reason Age Groupers shouldn't do the same.

You may have found at various times over the year where there was increased stress, and less time to train; such as work, family holidays or other commitments. You will need to build in some flexibility to your training plan, to allow for these or any unexpected events that may arise.

Season Plan Example

So how would an athlete who has just finished off their New Zealand Triathlon season who has qualified for the IRONMAN World tre Championships, and then do IRONMAN New Zealand again the following year, strucuture their race season?  Following is an example of how I would approach it.

A Races:

• IRONMAN World Championships - September or October
• IRONMAN New Zealand - March

B Races:

• IRONMAN 70.3/Half Distance race - sometime between June and late August
• IRONMAN 70.3/Half Distance race - sometime between December and late January
• Olympic Distance Triathlon - Late April/Early May and Late November/Early Decemeber

C Races:

• Half Marathon - 1 or 2 events in May and/or August 
• IRONMAN Specific Training Camp - 4-6 weeks out from IRONMAN races 
• Low Key Sprint or Olympic Distance Triathlons - 2 or 3 events where you don't have to focus too much on a performance, just work on your skills and race strategy. Ideally you'll incorporate these into your current training schedule
• 5km-10km races - 1 every 8-12 weeks if they can be worked into a brick or longer training session
• Club Cycle races - when they fit in the calendar provided they don't compromise the overall A race training 
• Open Water Swim races - can be weekly or fortnightly as able to be treated as a Training Session or skills workout
• Zwift races - can be as frequently as weekly provided you understand the training stress accumulated and treat it as an alternative to an interval training session.
• Fun/Social events with a group of friends or club as it's important to keep a social component to your training

Overall, planning your triathlon race season requires careful consideration of a range of factors. With the right approach, however, our Coaching team can help you achieve your goals and set new personal bests in the coming year. Feel free to reach out if you want to chat with one of our Coaches to help you nail that A race.