Planning out a short course season
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This season starting in the spring, I'm probably going to be focusing on doing a bunch of short course races for a few months. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with plenty of sprint/oly races almost year-round, so logistically it's not much of a problem. My motivations for doing so:
- Lots of local opportunities for quality SC racing, and I feel silly for not taking greater advantage of that. I think I would benefit a lot just by racing more frequently, as I find I'm still learning a lot every time about my strengths/weaknesses, etc. every time I do a tri.
- I find I don't always like being focused on a long course race (say, an HIM) for ~8 weeks, and missing out on cool race opportunities in fear of punching a hole in my training schedule, etc.
- I think I still have a lot of potential in how much faster I can get (in all three disciplines), and spending time building up volume/distance during a race prep phase kinda gets in the way of that. I think I'd prefer less volume-oriented sessions and more focus on developing speed.
- This is my last year in the 20-24 age group, which tends to be pretty small and not hard to podium at times. I guess I wouldn't mind relishing a few victories while I can, cuz I'm totally going to get my ass kicked when I move up to the 25-30 AG next year.
I don't doubt that I'll probably race more HIMs in the future (maybe even another once this season after Oceanside 70.3), but I'll make a decision about that after I actually do my first one in two weeks. 
Basically, there are opportunities for racing every 2-3 weeks (say a sprint/oly tri, or a 10k/half-marathon). I don't want to burn myself out (physically or financially) by racing too much, too often, but I think I would have a lot of B and C level races. I'm not sure exactly what I want to do as an A race yet, but maybe AG nationals if I can qualify for a spot...
So what would be the best way to put a training plan in all of this? I'm thinking maybe do iterations of the GF plan, but maybe that might get a bit stale over time?
Comments
Or, given you're starting to be experienced with self-coaching, perhaps you may want to do some modifications to zero in on improving the things you really want to improve upon. Frankly I think the weekend rides in the HIM plans (3 hr Sat plus 2 hr Sun) are great prep for SC and that sort of volume on the bike, along with all the FTP work at the front end of the workouts, is great stuff. I also personally like the ROI/SAU implications of doing long runs on Thursdays.
In my personal experience, I raced my fastest short course races after an IM build and race(May 1 st IMSG 2010). That fitness carried me for the rest of the year. After the IM, I transitioned into the HIM plan and carried that through the summer where I did lots of short course and the HIM. Being trained to go far and fast with the HIM plan made racing short and fast a breeze. I loved it. only 25 miles on the bike? I got this!! 16 miles on the bike?? HOW FUN> Just put your foot on the gas pedal and GO since you have so much fitness and endurance stored up.
Everyone is different, but my season plan looks like this:
- Jan OS
- SC plan (jumping in around week 14 of 20 week INT plan) for June 1 Oly
- Run focused plan for about 6 weeks
- Get faster plan til Sept.8 race.
Rich put this together for me based on the timing of my A races and my goals. (June 1 and Sept. 8 are the A's)
When I've done this in the past, I would pick about 3-5 races in a 6 week period, and make that my focus. Then, 8 weeks before the first race, I would start doing something similar to the SC plan. During the racing phase, I needed to remember two things: each race counted as THREE interval sessions for that week (one in each of the disciplines), and the day after the race was mandatory off from cycling and running; swimming easy was OK. Then, Mon & Tues, I would do a hard run and bike session, Wed swim, Thurs and Fri easier running & biking, then race again.
It's possible to sustain a peak for 3-6 weeks (as Carrie implies), but requires some subtle management during time. It's fun while it lasts. Usaully the third race was my fastest (even f I was doing more).
One other thing: I once asked a local racer, an AG lower than me who has now won at the nat'l or Internat'l level in Olympic dist racing, how much running he did. "Apart from racing, 8 miles a week."
Now that's something I can get excited about!
Thanks all, this is really helpful.
@ Matt: Yeah, I was trying to decide between the GF and SC plans, but I think the former a little more suitable if I'm just doing a slew of races without any intention of prepping and tapering for any particular one. That's a good point about the HIM bike rides. I think I might keep those elements, without the guilt of having to cut them short if races or anything else comes up.
@ Carrie: Ahhh, I totally forgot about the fitness carry-over from a HIM/IM build. I guess I should have raced more after finishing Vineman last year
. Glad to know that I'll be in good shape in the next few months...
@ Kim: Glad to know we're on the same page!
@ Al: That sounds like a really good training routine, thanks for sharing. I think this will be a fun way of getting my interval workouts out of the way every few weeks.