Your main race is 8 months away or more

You have picked your main race, and it is eight months or even a year away. That is a lot of time, and that is good. Race preparation itself takes less. TriCoo plans 12 weeks for a sprint, 16 for an Olympic distance, 20 for a half and 26 for a full distance. Below is what happens before that and how the year is split into parts.

The year has phases#

TriCoo decides by itself which phase of the year you are in. It decides from your race calendar. There is no separate switch: to change the phase, you change the calendar.

1. General preparation. Runs while the main race is still outside its preparation window.
2. Preparation for the main race. Starts when the race is as many weeks away as its distance needs.
3. Competition period. From the start of the taper to the end of the recovery after the race.
4. Off-season rest. Comes after the last main race of the season.

In TriCoo the main race is called an A race. Only a triathlon can be one: sprint, Olympic, half or full. Every other race is B or C. They do not switch the phase of the year.

While the race is far away#

These months are called general preparation. The plan is built every week as usual. TriCoo takes the time from your schedule and splits it between the sports with an eye on the distance of your main race. If a half is ahead, long sessions grow towards the half. Until a main race is chosen, there is no long session in the plan.

The main difference is intensity. There is no hard work in general preparation. There is only tempo work, the moderate zone, and not much of it: no more than a tenth of the week's time. Beginners get no tempo sessions at all. The core of the week is easy work.

The second difference. There is no goal yet to raise fitness by a certain date, and TriCoo does not chase growth. Fitness usually grows from steady work anyway. The safety limits work as always. Load does not rise faster than allowed, and one week in 4 is a recovery week. For beginners one in 3.

What to do in these months#

A long run-up gives you time for things that cannot be done quickly.

Swimming. Technique improves slowly, and many people are most nervous about the water on race day. If swimming 750 metres without stopping is still hard, start there. In TriCoo you can put together your own swim technique work, see the help article Swim technique.

Thresholds. A test shows where you start, and your zones become more accurate. The test is optional, the plan works without it. How to do the test is on the Threshold tests page. What zones are is on the Training zones page.

Strength. You can add it to the plan, and TriCoo will place it between your endurance sessions. More in the help article Strength training.

A practice race. A short B race a couple of months before the main one, but no later than the start of the taper, helps you rehearse transitions and race morning. In that week the race replaces the long session of its sport, and one or two easy days follow it. 3 days before a B race the volume drops to 70% of usual. Before a C race the volume does not drop.

Habit. Steady weeks without gaps give more than rare heroics. If you get ill, the week rebuilds itself and there is nothing to catch up. See Training when you are ill.

When race preparation starts#

When the time comes, TriCoo switches to preparation. It has three stages. Base has a lot of easy work, and long sessions grow little by little. Build adds race-like work and bricks. The taper clears fatigue before the race. After the race comes recovery.

All numbers in the table are weeks.

You cannot start race preparation earlier than that. The stages are tied to the race date and counted back from it. We do not stretch them over a year: race-like work would then go on for months. TriCoo gives the long run-up to general preparation.

If the race changes#

You moved the race or changed the distance. Change the calendar, and TriCoo recalculates the phase and stages by itself. There is nothing else to set up. All races with dates are in the race calendar.