Focused Off-Season and Winter Maintenance Training Plans

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Three new 'focused' swim, bike & run 8-week winter maintenance plans to offer improvement on your limiters. There will be workouts focused on technique and some focused on volume, speed, & strength.

It's that time of year.  Triathlon season is over or winding down.  What to do over the winter or off-season?  Relax?  Definitely not!  It's the perfect time to get on a quality off-season training plan to focus on your weak sports while getting stronger going into the next season. 

 

Can you answer 'Yes' to any of these following questions?  If so, you will gain many benefits using our Winter Maintenance Plans.

   "I tend to lose focus while training in the winter"
   "I need to work on my limiters but I don't know how"
   "I tried to develop my own plan but now I am totally lost"
   "After my first season, I would like to focus and improve for next year"
   "I just want some detailed workouts to follow.  I don't want to do the thinking."

"What do these plans do?"

 

Winter Maintenance Plans are used to keep your base strong throughout the winter - not really to add more endurance - but to add more strength and to keep the ball rolling. 

 

Winter Maintenance Plans will build up and maintain a good foundation so that you are more prepared when you transition to our other race-specific plans during your season. 

 

Focused Off-Season Plans are additionally designed to work on your limiters allowing you to become a better single sport athlete, and a better triathlete. 

 

Beginners can also start with the most basic Winter Maintenance Plan (4-7 hour) to build up some endurance then transition to a Sprint training plan once you are in-season.

 

Don't wait to be 'in season' to improve! 

 

If you already have a taste for triathlons and want to improve, your off-season is the perfect time to start building a strong base while working on your weak sports. Don't wait until race season to focus on your weaknesses that should have been taken care of in the off-season.

 

NEW!  Over 20 VIDEOS of drills and tutorials with your Silver and Gold Membership.  These videos are for the drills that are specific to our plans.  See the video library for a sample and a listing of all videos.

 

4-7 Hour Plan - 20 Week  (Beginner)

This program should be used for an athlete who is coming off a season where they have already raced a Sprint Distance triathlon or they are looking at a very basic start up program over the course of the winter months. This is a great prep program leading into any of the other Sprint programs such as the 12 Week Sprint Distance and can be followed by the 12 Week Sprint-to-Oly Bridge plan.

 

7-10 Hour Plan - 20 Week  (Intermediate)

This program should be used for an athlete who is coming off a season where they have already raced an Olympic Distance triathlon and they are looking to maintain fitness over the course of the winter months. This is a great prep program leading into any of the other programs such as the 12 Week Olympic Distance, the Bridge from Olympic Distance to Half-Ironman, and even the Bridge from Half Ironman to Ironman (if the athlete has a strong background in one of the three disciplines).

 

 'Focused' Plans - 8 Week (Intermediate/Advanced)

*These are definitely not for a first timer or someone looking to do their first Olympic on the 2nd year of racing.

 

WHO: The 'Focused' plans are going to be for the seasoned athlete or the athlete who feels they need to improve in one sport over the other two - you will be able to follow the entire 24 week sequence (6 months) or just take ONE or TWO 8 week plans and use them.  A strong runner may not use the Run Focus plan, but he/she might use the Swim and Bike Focus plans.


HOW: These plans will make you better by addressing your weakness by asking you to put your swim, run or bike hat on everyday and punch the clock. Just go out there and become a swimmer (or biker or runner) and get it done. There will be workouts focused on technique and some focused on volume, speed, and strength. But most of all its about getting it done day after day, teaching yourself to become a single sport athlete while maintaining the other two sports and the strength routine as well.

BENEFITS: Getting on a sport specific plan when the season is over will help you make some dramatic improvements in your training because the off-season is the time of the year to work on your weakness. Eight weeks later you are a better single sport athlete and a better triathlete as well. If you feel as though you need to do two 8 weeks sessions you can do that too, or maybe throw a 2nd weakness in the middle. Say for example a swim focus, a run focus and a swim focus again - this would be appropriate too.

 

Once you are done with your winter 'Focused' plans, you can follow with almost any specific race plan be it Sprint, Olympic or 1/2 Ironman provided you have kept the appropriate volumes.

 

8 Week BIKE FOCUS (Intermediate/Advanced)

Get ready to ride! This plan will raise your bike LT while putting you in the saddle 4-5x per week. This plan will peak at 9 hours of riding and 14-16 hours overall per week. Since this is a bike focus program, your run and swim will be maintenance only (2-3x per week). This program is appropriate for a second year or greater Sprint, Olympic or 1/2 IM athlete who is looking to improve their bike performance.

 

8 Week RUN FOCUS (Intermediate/Advanced)

Get ready to run lots! This plan will improve your run durability getting you out on the roads 4-6 times per week. The program starts out with around 3:30 of running in the first week and progresses to around 5.5 hours per week. Since this is a run focus program, your bike and swim will be maintenance only (2-3x per week). This program is appropriate for a second year or greater Sprint, Olympic or 1/2 IM athlete who is looking to improve their running performance.

 

8 Week SWIM FOCUS (Intermediate/Advanced)

Get ready to get wet often! This plan will expose your swim weakness but allow you to progress over the 8 weeks and see a good improvement. The athlete must be able to swim at least 2,500 yds. in one session, and should be able to do so at a pace of better than 2:15 per 100. Since this is a swim focus program, your run and bike will be maintenance only (2-3x per week). This program is appropriate for a second year or greater Sprint, Olympic or 1/2 IM athlete who is looking to improve their swim.

 

Who are these plans for?
These plans are for Silver or Gold Members.

 

How do I sign up?

 

Go directly to Upgrading/Renewing Your Membership.

  

Can I see a sample of the plans before I become a member?

 

Absolutely, just click on Programs, select 'Winter Maintenance and use the buttons to see the:

  • First 2 Weeks Details 
  • Calendar view of the entire plan training times
  • Volume Graph
  • Plan Descriptions

Likewise you can see the details on all of the other 'Race' plans too that you could have access to.

 

Where do I get the plans once I'm a Silver/Gold member?

 

See the   Training Plan Library for these Winter Maintenance Plans.  The button links on this page will take you to the appropriate pages to download and use your plans.

 

What else does my Silver or Gold Membership include?

  • Full access to all 30 detailed training plans over your membership period written by our resident, USAT Level III Triathlon Coach, Mike Ricci of D3 Multisport.  See all of the plans.
    INCLUDES:
     

    - 3 New 'Focused' Intermediate/Advanced Winter Maintenance Plans

    - 2 Winter Maintenance Plans
    - 1 'No Fluff' plan
    - 20 Race Plans: Sprints to Ironman, Marathon and Duathlon plans
     
    Access to all of these plans gives you the flexibility you need throughout your season.
                  

  • Extra Training Log Features including more graphs, a plan customizer and a training plan analyzer.  Lots more!  See complete features.

  • Performance Member Articles.  Exclusive articles written by coaches and our affiliates.  See entire list.

 

"I just finished my 1st triathlon on Sunday at Buck Creek Sprint in Springfield. I ended up 93 out of 256 - not bad for a mountain bike! Got a medal for being 2nd in the mountain bikes! 
 
Clearly I was able to do it due to your excellent site here with the training plans and all the support. In January, I was 210 lbs and completely out of shape, I've been at 165 now since late July and feeling great! I started with the Beginner Exercise Program for a few months, but when I was doing more than what that plan called for, I switched to the 12 Week Sprint Balanced plan. 
 
The key for me was keeping consistent, and that was easy to do with all the help from everyone here."

-Willie05, Silver Member

 

"When I finally upgraded my membership and started accessing more than just the "minutes" information in the plans, my training improved immensely. Highly recommended."

-ScottoNM

 

"I want to thank BT for the wonderful training plans. Since I started following my current plan, I have seen significant improvements in my endurance level, technique and pace times. I've noticed that I go faster and with less effort and I'm only 5 weeks into it."

-Kristen

 

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date: October 23, 2006