I’m starting to put together my potential schedule for next year. After only one race this year (IMMT) and only 2 last years (70.3s) I am desperate to get back to racing more often. My first 3 seasons in the sport I was racing 4-6 times a year. These last two years have been tough, I crave the competition. With that said I’m looking at potentially 8-10 races, April through September. This would include 2-4 sprints, 2-4 olympics and 2 70.3s.
How do you get through such a heavy season? Does the off season become increasingly more important so you go into the race season already ready to go and just maintain and add speed during the season? How much more does rest become important? Or could I potentially still train hard since the races are so much shorter than the long distance I’ve been training for?
FYI…the way I have it set up now, I would do an early May 70.3 and a late September 70.3. The olympics and sprints would be spread out June-August. There would be one stretch in June where I would race a sprint-olympic-olympic in 3 successive weekends.
n=1 here… My season started June 1 and ended Sept. 14. For me, it seemed like a long time to keep the intensity up for racing. Ideally next year I’ll schedule from mid June to mid August so there is a more focused (warm weather) season.
Others race year-round so it’s going to be very much a personal choice.
Geez, I am jealous that you get such a long season. I don’t get to start until June and end in September (knowing that there aren’t many options in June and Sept). This year, I did 1 sprint, 4 olys, and 3 HIMs.
What helps is the understanding that I’m doing some races as preparations for other races. This means that, even though I’m going to race my heart out, I will often hit the starting line in a fatigued state due to the prior week’s training. Also, depending on the distance, I won’t take more than 1 day off after the race. I likely won’t hit any PRs, but I will gain race experience and stress. It’s unrealistic to have 10 races in 6 months and have PRs in all of them. Sure, it can happen and would be awesome if it did, but don’t bank on it. Prioritize your race schedule and make 1 or 2 races your main targets. Set your training around nailing those races, sometimes at the expenses of the others.
Probably doesn’t help you much, but I’m at an age (61) where I need more recovery time - at least a couple of weeks between tri’s. What I’ve been trying to do the last few years is schedule one tri (sprint or Oly) per month between May and October and then do some misc. 5K’s in between as speed work (and because they’re fun…).
That’s a pretty intense schedule. A few years ago I race 5 races in a 6 week span (4 sprint, 1 Oly) while training up for a 70.3. Each day after a race I continued to train long as if I hadn’t raced the day before and I was pretty wiped out after the last race. In hindsight I would have given myself some recover time after racing and not try to maintain the same high training load, I was 40 at the time.
I would suspect your Sept 70.3 will suffer without sufficient recovery. I have the same craving for competition, next year will likely be all short course for me so I can race more.
I like to race a lot too (After Kona this year I will have done 15 races March-October). Think the best advice is just not to put expectations too high for every race. You can dig pretty deep and it might surprise you just how much you’re capable of doing on tired legs, but you can’t race at your absolute best form year round, and most people can only hit peak form for 1 or 2 races per season.
8-10 races in 6 months doesn’t seem very race heavy at all. You ought to be able to race a sprint every weekend. For me, a week between two Oly races would look like:
Sun Oly
Mon Swim or off
Tues 1.5 hour bike w/2x20’ tempo
Weds Swim AM, 1 hour run E pace w/strides PM
Thurs 1.5 hour bike w/4x3’ (3’) hard, 20 minute transition run, 10’ out easy, 10’ back faster, building to Oly pace for last ~3’
Friday Swim AM, 30’ run easy PM
Sat 1 hour easy bike with 5x2’ @ Oly pace
Sun Oly
Thanks for all the input guys! I know I can’t expect to be on form in every race, and I wasn’t expecting that at all. I just really like racing. Hell…after IMMT I wanted to do another IM! Like right away, I just don’t want to go through the training for one again! My goals for racing so much is to get to an all around better state of fitness that I maintain throughout the year. The last few years I train decently during the season but very poorly during the off season. I want to change that. I want to really focus on getting better during the off season so that when the races come around I’m not scrambling for fitness. This would all be in the hopes that the next time I do an IM, I will have a few years of solid, consistent training in me.
In terms of my expectations for all those races, I do have some. I would really love to be able to peak for the 70.3s in May and September and peak for an Olympic in August. The sprints I’ll go all out for and be happy with whatever happens. I can use those races to really try going to a place I haven’t in previous races and test myself. When I say peak for the 2 70.3s and 1 Oly, I don’t mean I’ll be competing for AG wins. I just want to really push to try and do as best I can for those 3 races. To me that would mean trying to get in the 5:40s for the 70.3s and sub 2:40 for the Olympic (6:25 and 2:48 are my PRs). I want to go into those races feeling like I trained well and I’m prepared to really race it. I have yet to be at that place in any of my previous 3 70.3s and 3 Olys. I really want to see what I’m capable of next season.
IMMT really showed me I’m capable of more than I think. It lit a fire in me and really made me want to be a more dedicated triathlete. I’m more excited than ever to train since I finished the race. And that says a lot in my mind, because I was extremely burned out from training the month+ leading up to the race and wanted nothing more than all of it to be over.