BUILD PERIOD

Ron Saetermoe

Last week I discussed the Base Period of your training year, this week we move on to the next period, which is the Build Period.

Once you’ve finished with the Base Period your fitness should be quite good. Now you’re going to continue building your endurance and speed. Your training load increases and missed workouts should be avoided unless sick or injured.

You should still be hitting the gym during this period and increasing the effort in your resistance training. I generally do 10 different exercises in my resistance training – two sets of each exercise. You may be increasing your sets, reps, weight or all three.

Be sure you’re incorporating speed, power and endurance workouts in all three sports during this period, and don’t forget to continue doing bricks (swim/bike and/or bike/run).

During your long rides and runs be sure to test your nutrition and get it completely dialed in so you know what you’ll need to complete your race (if you’re doing the long stuff).

The key things about the Build Period are:

- Don’t miss workouts unless sick or injured
- You continue to increase your training volume and intensity
- Resistance (strength) training increases
- “Brick” workouts should be getting longer in distance
- Don’t forget to incorporate recovery days and weeks in your plan (your fitness takes hold when your body is at rest)

Here’s what the ideal Triathica year looks like:

Again, we feel that three, three-week cycles within each period is optimal for building fitness and recovery. The time to build strength, speed and endurance is upon you. Make the best of it!

Cheers!

Ron