What Are The Key Sessions In A Triathlon Plan?

Key Triathlon Sessions: What to Prioritise

Key triathlon sessions have the biggest impact on your fitness and help ensure you’re race-ready on event day. A well-structured plan includes a small number of high-value workouts that build endurance, speed, and efficiency across swim, bike, and run.

These sessions vary based on your race distance, experience level, and goals.

Swim Key Sessions

• Endurance Swim
  Builds aerobic fitness and stamina
  Example: 3 × 500 m at a steady pace with 30 sec rest

• Threshold Swim
  Improves sustained speed
  Example: 10 × 100 m at threshold pace with 15 sec rest

• Open Water Practice
  Prepares you for race conditions (sighting, starts, drafting)

Bike Key Sessions

• Long Ride
  Builds race-day endurance
  Example: 3–5 hours at moderate intensity, including race-pace efforts

• Threshold Intervals
  Develop sustained power
  Example: 3 × 12 min at 85–95% FTP with 5 min recovery

• Brick Session
  Prepares the body to run off the bike
  Example: 1.5–2 hr ride followed by a 20–40 min run at race pace

Run Key Sessions

• Long Run
  Improves aerobic endurance
  Example: 75–120 min at a steady pace

• Threshold / Tempo Run
  Builds race-pace control
  Example: 30 min at tempo effort (~80–90% max HR)

• Brick Run
  Simulates race conditions
  Example: 30–40 min run after a race-pace bike session

Strength & Conditioning

• 2 strength sessions  per week

• Focus on:

  • Injury prevention

  • Mobility

  • Strength and power

• Key movements include squats, lunges, and posterior chain activation

How to Prioritise Key Sessions

If you need to drop a workout, use the following guidelines:

• Train your limiters
  If running is your weakest discipline, prioritise run sessions and reduce swim or bike volume.

• Choose sessions that drive progress
  If you swim once per week and have good endurance, prioritise a speed-focused swim.

• Match sessions to race demands

  • Short, high-intensity races → prioritise interval sessions

  • Longer races → maintain endurance-focused workouts

• Peak phase focus
  Prioritise race-specific sessions, including pacing, nutrition practice, and bricks.

Rest Days Matter

Your rest day is a key session. Recovery allows your body to adapt to training and helps reduce the risk of injury and overtraining. Skipping recovery can limit progress, even with perfect workouts.

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