Periodize your triathlon training for peak race day performance

A winning training program involves a progressive approach to your next race. Planning out the base, build, peak and taper phases of your program ensures you focus on all the key components of training that will get you race ready. Periodizing your program in this way identifies how many weeks you should spend doing different types of training sessions during each phase.

Winter is a typical time for triathletes to be in the base phase. With race season usually wrapping up in late summer or fall, and a recovery month to follow, winter is the time to get back to increasing endurance. Base training can last anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. The focus should be relatively easy endurance and moderately intense sessions. Once a solid base has been established its time to ramp up the volume and intensity during the build phase.

Building it up with volume and intensity

The build phase is often the longest period in a training program. This is a time of progressive overload, when volume and intensity ramp up week after week as the training builds to the peak phase and the workouts get longer and harder. Overall training load increases and race specific sessions are introduced.  It is recommended that this phase includes a variety of one-to-two hard sessions per week. If you are training for a longer distance triathlon, this is where the long rides, runs and swims will build to distances close to race day. In the final months or weeks of the build phase there should be structured sessions at race pace in order to adapt to, and get a feel for, race effort. It is also a crucial time to practice your race day fuelling strategy and gear choices.

Breaking it down to plan your training season

Working backwards from your first race, break your training weeks into each period. Generally, two weeks before a race will be the taper. Prior to the taper will be a two-week peak period in which your total training load will be at its highest. At this beginning of the peak phase you are about four weeks out from your race.

Leading into the peak and taper phase is the build phase, which comprises the main building blocks of the program. Depending on how much time between now and your first race, the build phase could be as short as eight weeks or as long as several months. By counting back the weeks from the start of the peak phase, determine how many weeks you can dedicate to the build phase. Be sure to leave a few weeks between now and when the build phase begins to focus on the base phase, if you have not already been training consistently. For many athletes, the base phase begins in the winter, after a short break from the previous season. A triathlete can spend a few short weeks in the build phase if they are returning to training shortly after a season break, or many months if  returning after a longer hiatus.

Putting it all together

A typical scenario could include a race season that begins in July. Applying a periodized approach would mean the taper phase would be the last two weeks in June, and the peak phase the first two weeks in June. The build phase could run from March to the end of May, leaving the months of January and February to build back your endurance in the base phase. Following this plan outline, now would be the time to focus on training sessions that build endurance, and prime the body for more intense interval sessions and longer workouts beginning in March. Come spring, add hard sessions that continue to improve strength and speed. Plan to hit your hardest and longest sessions in early June, and begin the taper a couple of weeks out from race day.

Be mindful that depending on the race distance, time spent in each phase can vary. The length of the taper phase may also vary as it depends on the specific demands of the race and the individual needs of the triathlete. Equally important is recovery time, which must be built into every phase in order to ensure adaptation and injury prevention. With a periodized approach, the correct type of training in each phase, and effective pacing, fuelling and recovery strategies, you will be set up to have your best season in 2025.