I’m trying to learn more about how people plan out their seasons on a weekly basis.
With three sports to manage (and potentially other things like strength training), I find it’s no small task!
Here are some questions I have:
Are you planning weeks in terms of hours or some sort of training load or stress score?
Do you plan the weekly total of the three sports combined, or do you break down load or hours into each of the three sports for each week?
If you break down training load into the three sports, do you look at planned out PMCs they make? Are the PMCs of the individual sports important or do you mainly look at the combination of the three?
Are people mostly doing this stuff on spreadsheets?
Do you find that annual planning is more popular / important for some triathlon distances than others?
What are people’s favorite resources (books, blogs, etc) to learn how to do annual planning well?
I know that’s a lot of questions… even if you only want to jump in and share your thoughts on one or two of them, I’d appreciate the insight!
I’m trying to learn more about how people plan out their seasons on a weekly basis.
With three sports to manage (and potentially other things like strength training), I find it’s no small task!
Here are some questions I have:
Are you planning weeks in terms of hours or some sort of training load or stress score?
Do you plan the weekly total of the three sports combined, or do you break down load or hours into each of the three sports for each week?
If you break down training load into the three sports, do you look at planned out PMCs they make? Are the PMCs of the individual sports important or do you mainly look at the combination of the three?
Are people mostly doing this stuff on spreadsheets?
Do you find that annual planning is more popular / important for some triathlon distances than others?
What are people’s favorite resources (books, blogs, etc) to learn how to do annual planning well?
I know that’s a lot of questions… even if you only want to jump in and share your thoughts on one or two of them, I’d appreciate the insight!
I don’t plan annually, I plan from one race to the next. I only do 3-4 races per year during the warmer months. The longer the race distance, the more planning that’s needed. I used to use a spreadsheet, but that just became too much work (constantly updating it manually). Now I use Strava for everything. It shows a nice weekly breakdown of your workouts in each discipline, including total overall hours per week. I plan my weekly goals primarily on total hours per week and the length (in miles) of my long run & long ride each week, always looking to up my pace during workouts (if I’m feeling good). I try to not do the same discipline more than two days in a row. Sometimes I’ll replace a long ride or run with a brick. Variety is the spice of life, that’s why I like triathlon! I’ve never followed a strict training program. I find them way too complicated. For example Run x100 in zone 2.5 etc…I’m just not anal enough to take on that level of detail. Good luck!
I’m trying to learn more about how people plan out their seasons on a weekly basis.
With three sports to manage (and potentially other things like strength training), I find it’s no small task!
Here are some questions I have:
Are you planning weeks in terms of hours or some sort of training load or stress score?
Do you plan the weekly total of the three sports combined, or do you break down load or hours into each of the three sports for each week?
If you break down training load into the three sports, do you look at planned out PMCs they make? Are the PMCs of the individual sports important or do you mainly look at the combination of the three?
Are people mostly doing this stuff on spreadsheets?
Do you find that annual planning is more popular / important for some triathlon distances than others?
What are people’s favorite resources (books, blogs, etc) to learn how to do annual planning well?
I know that’s a lot of questions… even if you only want to jump in and share your thoughts on one or two of them, I’d appreciate the insight!
I’ll take a stab.
I begin ATP based on hours. ATP determines weekly volumes. I generally try to increase TSS based on the volume.
I generally had an idea of how many hours per sport I wanted to do. For example I wanted roughly 50% of my training time on the bike so I’d look at my 14 hours for the week and plan 7 on the bike.
I no longer do tris, but when i did for ~2 years i never broke out the PMC separately. There are threads on ST discussing this and I think the best answer is that you should but I never took the time to.
I used to use Training Peaks Premium for planning and analysis. I now use a combination of Final Surge for planning and Golden Cheetah for analysis, though WKO+ would probably be better for analysis for tri’s. I only cycle these days so Golden Cheetah fits my needs. I have done some spreadsheets in the past but I like automatic uploads and not having to manually enter my training details. Note that I self-coach. A lot of people choose to get a coach instead and if you go that route then you’re going to be needing to use the platform your coach is on.
Not sure, haven’t given this much thought. Probably equally important for all sports since you’re needing to be in peak performance at the same time.
Joe Friel’s “Triathlete’s bible” is a good book on setting up a training plan and how to do your ATP. Coggan and Allen Hunter’s “Training and Racing with Power” is also a good read to help learn how to train/plan training if you have a power meter.
Be careful about planning on an hours or TSS basis. If you have a real life, there will be times when you just can’t stick to a goal of total number of hours or load. Those are the times you need to pull the plug and recover. Getting faster is as much about recovering as training. A lack of realistic expectations leads to over training and poor performance.
I haven’t always done it this way, but since having a kid it’s been all turned upside down. Generally, here is what I’m doing these days, until things “settle down” and more time opens up. It’s really more fly by the seat of the pants right now & until further notice have been doing this…
Come up with an “A” goal (not just a single race, but a GOAL aside from a race). I pick goals 1-3 years out from achieving them. So far, so good. Sometimes it’s sooner than I expected in reaching them.
Be consistent, no excuses, get something in even if time only allows for a 20 minute walk on the treadmill.
Make sure I’m at race weight about a good 2 weeks out from a race, so I’m not carrying a lot of lard around unneccessarily. That will help economy. Along with this comes a cleaned up diet/nutrition. I plan this all out as I go along & keep metrics via Training Peaks & analyze them.
Week to week planning…this is the fly by the seat of the pants I mentioned, where if it is bad weather out, I’ll swim or lift. Nice days if I have the time, bike or run. Key days have to be built on the endurance portion for runs or rides as I don’t have a big block of time to dedicate to those often. I’ve had to get by on 7-8 hrs a week last year for an Ironman.
Make sure I’m near “competitive” speeds by race day, even on a bad day. That means doing the needed speed & hills where they fit in, and being able to recover from them. Each session does focus primarily on mechanics, making sure a good warm up takes place before anything else. I try to not go 3 days between a single sport. At times, I’ll be able to run one day, swim the next, then maybe a bike. Rinse & repeat or shuffle it around depending on the craziness going on right now.
IN closing, I’d like to say, things happen, we have ups & downs & we just move on past it–not trying to make up for bad spells along the way. Case in point. I will not have completed any triathlons this year due to a chronic pretty serious injury from a race a couple years ago. I have a new doctor (a real MD) which actually knows what the real issue is, not what the other one (clinician) said it was. Hopefully, within 3-6 mo. I’ll be better off than I have the last 12+ months & be able to have a full 2018 season.
I typically get really drunk on New Year’s Eve and just start signing up for races randomly.
I have found that pulling out the new calendar in January and writing in every state and local-ish race of all kinds helps to put Mrs on notice I may be busy “that” weekend ---- as time goes by you can erase/mark out to suit what you really want to do
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I’m trying to learn more about how people plan out their seasons on a weekly basis.
With three sports to manage (and potentially other things like strength training), I find it’s no small task!
Here are some questions I have:
1 - Are you planning weeks in terms of hours or some sort of training load or stress score?
2 - Do you plan the weekly total of the three sports combined, or do you break down load or hours into each of the three sports for each week?
3 - If you break down training load into the three sports, do you look at planned out PMCs they make? Are the PMCs of the individual sports important or do you mainly look at the combination of the three?
4 - Are people mostly doing this stuff on spreadsheets?
5 - Do you find that annual planning is more popular / important for some triathlon distances than others?
6 - What are people’s favorite resources (books, blogs, etc) to learn how to do annual planning well?
I know that’s a lot of questions… even if you only want to jump in and share your thoughts on one or two of them, I’d appreciate the insight!
I plan the week dependent in which phase of the season I am. A couple of years ago I followed a fixed plan from the internet, which I adapted though over the years. I know thus roughly what I want to do and the final planning is in the end also dependent of my work and familiary obligations. The amount of hours and intensity is just a result. I do not use a stress score figure.
I do not break down anything, The frame of a training week is over the year mostly the same, where the actual content of each unit of the frame is filled in according to in which phase I am.
The frame looks like this:
Mo -commute bike; swim; long run
Tu -long bikeride
We -commute bike; swim; commute bike
Th -brick
Fr -swim
Sa -run or brick
Su -nothing
Do not know what PMC is
Since I do triathon I write a training log in a Textprogram like Word. I do not write anything beforehand, but write everyday what I did. I use the past logs regularly to plan what I do the current week.
Especially for IM I think the yearly planning is very important: from off season (not many hours per week, including unspecific things like weightlifting) to base (still unspecific including e.g. 30 second or 5*5 minute intervals on the bike) to build (specific things like intervals in IM speed).
I started 11 years ago with books, got in fixed plans from the internet and changed in the end according to things I read in the internet, dependent on my limiters.
My planning is a little simpler since I am a Duathlete. No swimming.
Yea it can be a pain when “shit happens” but I like the numbers, analysis and playing around with it so doesn’t really bother me. I do all my weekly and daily planning in Training Peaks.
I dont re-visit the template for routine changes, only for big impact items like injury, illness or my twice annual case of the “I just don’t want to workout” syndrome that I have learned to listen to.
I typically get really drunk on New Year’s Eve and just start signing up for races randomly.
I have found that pulling out the new calendar in January and writing in every state and local-ish race of all kinds helps to put Mrs on notice I may be busy “that” weekend ---- as time goes by you can erase/mark out to suit what you really want to do
No…don’t erase. Just “forget” it and enjoy the day off.
For clogs and others that don’t plan out the long term, do you not see value in having a big picture plan or is it something else? Why don’t you have one?
I know when my big meet is going to be, and I know what events I’m doing there. I know what I want to work on in each stage of the season, so no real need to write out a plan.
Although. I do need to get better at tracking what I did so I can make adjustments.
I used to. I saw gains having everything mapped out, but there is also a level of stress that goes along with it. I freak out if I don’t hit my key session for the week in a discipline. Plus, I don’t have the knowledge to sit down and plan my workouts out months down the line. I understand training, periodization, progressive overload, etc. But I’m not confident with hitting these sessions because if it’s too hard, I’ll tell myself that I’m not progressing as I should OR if it’s too easy, I will say that I under-planned the session. I could easily alleviate that with a coach, but I’m also a student and coaches cost money.
Additionally, I’ve been really focused on law school for the past two years. I didn’t have the luxury of setting races out and really focusing on them. I inevitably have stress re: finals that cranks up throughout the last month of the semester which causes me to split my focus between training and school. I will still train, but there’s no way I’m hitting big weeks with massive Vo2 max intervals during finals time. I don’t have it mentally.
With that said, 3rd year is way less demanding and I am planning on doing some bucket-list type stuff, but I wouldn’t mind really making an effort at what would be my first 70.3 I am a weak swimmer but a strong cyclist and decent runner. I’m much more suited for long(er) course racing than I am for the short course stuff I do with my university’s club team.
With that said, you’ve inspired me. Maybe I’ll look into really focusing on some races.
