Questions to Ask Before Choosing Your Sprint Triathlon Training Plan<\/h2>\n
Sprint triathlons more so than any other triathlon event require a slightly different approach because of its short duration. To give you an idea of how<\/em> short, most beginner sprint triathletes can finish the event in less than 2 hours, whereas more advanced triathletes can complete it in under an 1 hour and 20 minutes. For elite triathletes, that number gets closer to an hour.<\/p>\n Whether you\u2019re a novice to endurance training or the opposite, here are the most important questions to ask yourself before deciding if a training plan is right for you:<\/p>\n This is a touchy question for some athletes more so than others. If you\u2019re starting training with no prior established exercise routine, your answer will be simple: No. This response is OK! The more truthful and matter-of-fact you are, the easier it\u2019ll be to select an appropriate training plan. The last thing you want to do is overestimate<\/em> your current level of fitness. This will only lead to early fatigue, sickness and a possible injury.<\/p>\n A good rule of thumb to help gauge where your fitness is before you start training is to recall the last time you exercised for a consistent period of time. If it\u2019s been around 10 days, it\u2019s safe to say you still have a considerable amount of base-level fitness. If however it\u2019s be been more than a couple of months, it\u2019s fairly conclusive your base fitness is weak.<\/p>\n When training for three sports versus one, time is an even bigger factor to consider before choosing your plan. This has a lot to do with travel. Jumping on the bike or treadmill is one thing, but the second you start to add in travel time to and from a pool it\u2019s a whole other thing. Be brutally honest with yourself here. If you do this, your end decision will aid you rather than exhaust and stress you out. Once you\u2019ve figured out a definitive number of hours you can train each week, that information will be critical in deciding the plan that\u2019ll works best for your lifestyle and goals.<\/p>\n This final question can also be stated as, \u201cHow good<\/em> do I want to be?\u201d There are the athletes who simply want to finish their event, the athletes who want to PR their event and then there are the athletes who want to walk away with a medal. Each of these goals necessitates a different degree of commitment and sacrifice. Having said that, it\u2019s important not to let your ambition and competitiveness overshadow the knowledge you\u2019ve learned answering the two questions above.<\/p>\n Yes, your body is tremendously adaptable and can yield big changes in fitness in relatively short durations \u2014 but it\u2019s not wise to let your eagerness discount facts: your triathlon experience (or lack thereof) and your current level of fitness. This is how athletes can get into muddy water choosing an overly ambitious training plan. Avoid this at all costs. Just because you may have the time and desire to train at high volumes, doesn\u2019t mean you should. Keep this in mind for later in this post when I discuss low-, mid- and high-volume plan options.<\/p>\n A few months ago we scrapped our old triathlon training plans (you can learn about why here<\/a>) in favor of our new triathlon training plans<\/a> that are complete with swim, bike and run instructions. Each new triathlon training plan comes with detailed workouts that go well beyond a bulleted list. You\u2019ll get weekly objectives, training tips and coaching insights from me scattered throughout each phase of training.<\/p>\n True to their names, the training plans we recommend for those looking to prepare for a sprint triathlon are our Sprint Triathlon Base<\/strong>, Sprint Triathlon Build<\/strong> and<\/span> Sprint Distance Triathlon<\/strong><\/span> plans. As I mentioned before, sprint triathlons require a very different approach than the increasingly common Half- and Full-Distance triathlons. The short duration of these events generally requires a relatively larger dose of high-intensity. These recommended plans make sure you\u2019ll get just that.<\/p>\n There are a handful of reasons we recommend the sprint triathlon plans we do. Here are the most significant:<\/p>\n As with every training plan we provide, our sprint triathlon plans are progressively phased to help you cultivate a solid foundation of fitness, build your muscular endurance and fine-tune your training for your specific event. Unlike our other training plans<\/a>, these plans have reduced Base and Build Phases. <\/span>You\u2019ll get 4 weeks of Base, 4 weeks of Build and 8 weeks of Specialty for a total of 16 weeks of training.<\/p>\n What you\u2019ll find as you progress through our sprint triathlon plans is that your stress will ramp up at the same tolerable rates across all your different types of training. This is key. Making three disciplines of training work together, such that you\u2019re not tired from doing the wrong thing on the wrong day, is tough \u2014 but it\u2019s the core reason these plans are effective.<\/p>\n Like most things in life, settling on the one-size-fits-all option doesn\u2019t often serve you as well as a custom-fit solution. The same things goes with selecting a triathlon training plan. For that reason, every one of our new triathlon training plans has a Low-, Medium- and High-Volume plan option to suit each athlete’s personal fitness level.<\/p>\n Take a look at the three plan volumes we have for our Sprint Triathlon Base, Sprint Triathlon Build and Sprint Distance Triathlon plans below:<\/p>\n Low Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n Mid Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n High Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n Low Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n Mid Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n High Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n Low Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n Mid Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n High Volume<\/strong><\/p>\n We often get questions from athletes who are surprised to see we include high-intensity work in Base training. This is absolutely intentional. The goal is help you elevate your muscular strength as quickly and efficiently as possible. By increasing your work capacity early on through short, hard efforts your body will adapt wisely and prepare itself for the more intense training that\u2019s ahead.<\/p>\n Our sprint triathlon training plans include brick workouts as early as week two in the Base phase. If you haven\u2019t done a triathlon before, you\u2019ll soon discover what that somewhat strange and heavy feeling in your legs is like the moment you stop biking and start running \u2014 your muscles aren’t used to firing like that! This is a feeling to be learned early on. For that reason, I\u2019ve included a lot of confidence-building brick workouts from the get-go, so 16 weeks later your body and mind will be prepared for your event\u2019s transitions.<\/p>\n The bike more so than any other leg is where you\u2019re going to make up the most time in your tri event. Knowing that, it\u2019s only advantageous to become as strong as possible in the discipline that\u2019ll give you the greatest edge.<\/p>\n All our triathlon training plans are comprised of structured bike workouts that are scaled to your fitness when used with the TrainerRoad app<\/a>. In addition to scaled bike workouts, you\u2019ll also benefit from Workout Text. Workout Text is instructions written by me and displayed on your device\u2019s screen during your bike workouts. The text is there to guide you up until the very last minute of the majority of your 60- to 90-minute bike workouts prescribed in our sprint triathlon plans.<\/p>\n A lot of templated training plans you can find online look like a bulleted list of workouts \u2014 no further explanation. You can expect quite the opposite with TR triathlon training plans. Notes like, \u201cThink of a light, fluid stride and walk briefly if you find yourself lumbering or shuffling due to too-high fatigue …,\u201d and explanations like, \u201cThe greatest benefit of VO2max works comes with longer durations at that high aerobic uptake …,\u201d are scattered throughout every stage of your training. For first-time and more experienced triathletes, we\u2019ve learned through athlete feedback that these bits of factual and anecdotal insights make all the difference.<\/p>\n Exactly 16 weeks prior to your event you should start your first sprint triathlon training plan: Sprint Triathlon Base. If you have less than 16 weeks to train for your event, you can modify your plan accordingly depending on your base level of fitness. If you already have an established base, then you can skip your 4 weeks of Base training and start with your Build. The more fitness you already have, the more flexibility you have with bypassing Base conditioning. Base conditioning becomes extremely important if you do not have a Base established or you\u2019re very new to the sport. So, if you have less than 16 weeks to train and you have a little amount of Base fitness, start with Base and try to get as far into your Build and Specialty as you can before your event.<\/p>\n Because these plans are progressive, meaning one week you might be doing 5 intervals, then the next you could be doing 6 or 7, you\u2019re best bet if you get sick or injured is to pick up where you left off in your training plan once you\u2019ve recovered. If, however, you\u2019ve taken a week off for a vacation, more likely than not you should be okay scrapping the week you missed and restarting at the week you should now be at. The bottom line: In the case of an illness or injury, you don\u2019t want to bump ahead into something substantially harder. But in the case of vacation, where you basically had a rest week, you can get away with skipping ahead.<\/p>\n In situations where you\u2019re preparing for two events that are close together, very rarely will you have to start your training over from the Base phase. In most cases, repeating either your Build or Speciality phase is suggested. Here are some guidelines you can follow:<\/p>\n If you plan on doing all your prescribed bike workouts indoors, you can bypass purchasing a power meter for your triathlon training and use Virtual Power<\/a> for all your indoor rides.<\/p>\n Are you ready to start training for a triathlon? With our monthly or discounted annual memberships<\/a>, you can use TrainerRoad and any of our 80+ properly structured training plans<\/a> to get ready for your next big event.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once you\u2019ve decided you want to compete in a Sprint Triathlon, your next step is figuring out the training plan that\u2019s best for you. For many triathletes and cyclists, this step can prove to be somewhat challenging \u2014 you\u2019ll soon learn it doesn\u2019t have to be! In this new series of posts, our goal is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":24171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[604,605,701,703,705,741],"class_list":["post-24103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-training","tag-sprint-triathlon","tag-sprint-triathlon-training-plan","tag-trainerroad-sprint-triathlon-training-plan","tag-trainerroad-training-plans","tag-trainerroad-triathlon-training-plans","tag-triathlon-training-plans"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Do I have a solid base level of fitness?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
How much time can I realistically dedicate to training?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
What are my specific goals for the event?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n
The Plans We Recommend to Prepare for a Sprint Triathlon<\/h2>\n
![\"sprint-triathlete-phases\"](\"https:\/\/www.trainerroad.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/sprint-triathlete-phases.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWhy We Recommend These Plans for Sprint Triathletes<\/h2>\n
16 Weeks of Progressive Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3 Volumes of Training Plans to Choose From<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Sprint Triathlon Plans<\/h2>\n
Sprint Base<\/h3>\n
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\nSprint Build<\/h3>\n
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\nSprint Specialty<\/h3>\n
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High Intensity Throughout All Phases of Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Brick Workouts Throughout All Phases of Training<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Power-Based Bike Workouts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Clear Objectives For Every Workout<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2>\n
When should I start training?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How do I adjust my training if I get sick or injured?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
How do I rebuild for another event?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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Do I need to own a power meter to do the prescribed bike workouts?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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