BT's GOLD Custom Training Plan Creator

Take the guesswork out of choosing a training plan

You no longer need a coach to create a specific training plan to your background.  There is now no reason to buy individual stock plans from other sites. 

       Be your own coach! Our custom plan creator was developed by our own USAT Level III coach  

Up until now, training plans have been inflexible, static and designed for a certain 'type' of person.  Unless you have a coach, your training plan was not necessarily created 'for you'.

Create your personal plan within minutes

With our easy, guided interface, we will ask you the important questions needed to create your plan.  As you follow the instructions, if you need more information, articles will be available to answer your question.

                   Create your perfect, individual plan in less than 5 minutes!

Why should you choose BT's GOLD Custom Training Plan Creator vs any other training plan?

SCHEDULE YOUR WORKOUTS ON THE DAYS THAT YOU CAN DO THEM

OTHERS - Workouts are set on specific days not necessarily fitting into YOUR schedule

OURS - You choose the days that you can do the workouts.  Face it, you probably have a job, family and kids.  How can a stock training plan best schedule your workouts?

Don't worry, we have plenty of examples on how best to setup your weekly schedule

IS YOUR BACKGROUND BEING CONSIDERED?

OTHERS - You specific background is most definitely NOT being considered.  When you purchase a book or stock training plan, do they ask you your pace?  How many years have you been in the sport?  Are you a new swimmer? Do they ask if you want a balanced plan or a focused plan?

OURS - We ask you all of the above question and more to create a plan specific to your background and abilities.

CAN YOU CHANGE THE LENGTH OF YOUR PLAN?

OTHERS - Stock plan from other sites are very specific in length.  They can range from 8 to 12 to 20 weeks.

OURS - You can create a Race Plan from 6-28 weeks or a Maintenance Plan from 4-28 weeks.  This will leave you no gaps leaving you otherwise guessing as to what to do before you start a stock plan.

RECOVERY WEEKS

OTHERS - Many plans have you building in volume for X weeks and then having a recovery week.  X is usually 2-3 weeks and is set in stone for that plan.

OURS - We give you the option to set your recovery weeks AND EVEN CHANGE THEM!  For example, you create a plan with us that uses the standard 3 week build and 1 week recovery cycle.  After being on the plan for a month you find out that it leaves you just too tired.  With our custom training plan creator your can simply create the same plan but with a 2 week build, 1 week recovery cycle offering you more rest.

What exactly does my custom training plan come with?

Your training plan comes with specific workouts tailored to your background that you inputed when you created the plan.  Many training plans are divided into 5 types of workouts:  Base, Build 1, Build 2, Peak, Taper (then your race). Our workouts are customized into these 5 periods of your training plan.

Your workouts will also change as you progress from 'Beginner' to 'Intermediate' to 'Advanced'.

Your training plan will also come with:

• Tutorials on choosing a distance and creating your plan

• Video drills for form and efficiency

• Race day plan

• Race day checklist

• Our fully-featured training log to log your training and analyze it against your training plan

                     
Typical Beginner Plan showing training plan volume and structure

This is our typical training progression of building for three weeks followed by a rest week of approximately 50-60% reduction in volume. You can also choose a two week build and one week rest cycle for more rest overall.

Typical Intermediate Plan showing training plan volume and structure

Depending on the your race distance, you will have from 1-3 'Taper' weeks after your peak week.  The longer your race distance is, the longer the taper period is. Depending on your training plan, you may have both Builds or just one.

How will I know how to create the best custom plan that I can?  I am new and know nothing about the sport.

We give you all of the information that you need.  As you go through our plan creation interface, you will have access to these tutorials:

• Choosing a Training Plan Distance

• Creating a Safe, Workable Training Plan with Examples

• Scheduling Two Workout in One Day

Can I choose the number of workouts per sport per week?

Of course, that is one of the main benefits to our custom plans. Whether you want a maintenance plan with 2 runs, 2 bikes and 2 swims or a bike focused plan with 5 bikes, 2 swims and 2 runs to just a basic triathlon plan with 3 bikes, 3 runs and 3 swims - we can do any variation to suit your goals.

What kind of workouts does my plan come with?

If you are a beginner, you will have technique drills included with your workouts.  As you progress from Beginner to Advanced, you will also have interval workouts to help you get faster.  We do not include speed or interval workouts if you are a beginner as you will have not built up enough endurance to safely add speed without getting injured.

SWIM drills included in your plan:

Swim training is all about technique and reducing drag.  The beginning of your swim workouts will include several of these drills after your warmup.  Each Drill in your training plan is linked directly to a video drill on how to best perform the drill. 

BIKE drills included in your plan:

Bike training involves getting as smooth a pedal stroke as you can while also pedaling in a cadence range most appropriate for you.  We include the following bike drills in your training plan.

Isolated Leg Training VIDEO

High RPM Spinning VIDEO

RUN drills included in your plan:

Run training also involves a smooth cadence and good posture. We include the following run drills in your training plan.

Standing Activation Drills VIDEO       

Tempo, Track and Stride Warmup Drills VIDEO

Kenyan and 'Pretty' Running VIDEO

Strides/Pickups VIDEO

Know exactly how fast and at what effort to do your workouts
 
Our workouts are given with heart-rate training zones and also RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) zones.  If you have a heart-rate monitor, you can perform simple test that will allow you to follow the heart-rate zones in your training plan.  If you don't have a heart-rate monitor, you will have RPE charts to tell you approximately how you should feel when training at that zone.
 

If you have your heart-rate zone numbers from performing a simple field test, you will have corresponding Heart-rate zone ranges for your heart-rate.  HR zones are more accurate than training by RPE.  You would simply put on your heart-rate monitor for your workout and try to stay within the workout heart-rate zones that you established.


These tutorials will help you setup your heart-rate zones and also answer many questions on your workouts.

• Training Plan Questions
  

• Terms and Definitions
  

• Setting up your heart rate zones
  

• New triathletes: What to use instead of lactate threshold training to find your heart-rate zones
  

Race Plans

We also have race plans for each distance.  These race plans will give you race strategies and target heart-rate zones for your race.

• Racing an Sprint Distance Triathlon
  

• Racing an Olympic Distance Triathlon

• Half Iron Distance Racing and Pace Zones

• Ideal Heart Rates for Ironman Racing
  

What about NUTRITION?  How should I be eating when I am training and racing?

Do you have these questions:

"How do I safely loose weight and still have energy while triathlon training?"

"How do I recover after my workouts?"

"What do I eat before my race?"

"I am a woman, are there any special nutritional considerations?"

"What are the best carbohydrate foods?"

"What should I be eating for breakfast?  How important is it?"

If you have any of these questions, we have a special 21 article series by renown sports nutrition author 'Nancy Clark'.  You will not find these articles on the free part of the site.

Besides the website, are there any other ways that I can access my plan?

We give you several options on accessing your plan - you don't have to be at your desktop to view your next workout!

• Iphone/Android App

• iCal, Google Calendar, Outlook

• Nightly Emails

CREATE YOUR PERFECT, CUSTOM TRAINING PLAN IN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES!

Do you know how long it takes to sit on Google Earth and map you most recent training run to see how far you went? Instead, try our easy Route Manager or upload your route from your GPS.