It’s official, the Endurance Nation Full and Half distance Triathlon plans are now ready for the 2022 season. With new structure to factor in recovery and minimize the impact of training on your weekday life, these macro changes are some of our biggest yet.
Shout out to the folks on the Team who offered feedback and suggestions. We work to improve our plans every single season — and 2022 is no exception.
Endurance Nation plans are available to members only; you can join us online here: www.endurancenation.us/join
Swim Edits
We upped the ante to a third swim a week, recognizing the importance of consistent swimming across the final 12 weeks to race day. Additionally, we reduced the repetitive nature of swim workouts to alleviate some of the “mist” workout doldrums. For those of you looking for the extra edge, you can add another swim on Sunday evening as your fourth session.
Bike Edits
No individual workout edits this year, but we did reorganize how the workouts flowed in our most critical week – the first race rehearsal. We changed to Saturday+Sunday long ride options (vs Friday+Saturday of old). In addition, we changed the parameters around the Sunday ride by ability level, giving Level 1 and Level 2 athletes more wiggle room with regards to the “recommended” amount of work.
Run Edits
The general feedback here was really positive. Some requested that we merge our run-focus workouts into the bike-focus plan, but we decided that would be too risky for most of our teammates.
The biggest delta on the running side was spreading out long run on race rehearsal with the subsequent week’s long run. We opted to turn that second run into a split session to reduce the impact.
We also added nutrition and strategic guidance to the long run sessions. These can be the most costly session when under-fueled / under-hydrated. We recommend loop courses for these runs so that you’ll always have a guaranteed pit stop.
Other Edits
2022 sees the return of the Swim+Bike brick, with an alternating format. A large part of our Return on Investment approach is connecting the quality of our training with the rigors of race day. One of the most vexing challenges remains the early fatigue and discomfort associated with cycling after a quality swim. Your Perceived Exertion is off, as is your Heart Rate, and these factors often combine to distract you from executing your pacing and nutritional plans. Our hope here is to reduce the costs associated with this friction by removing the unknown.
Introducing a new Absorb Week onto the plans for weeks five and eight. The fatigue of the Race Prep plan is meant to be challenging, not overwhelming. To help strike a balance between the work you do and the work you can absorb, we built in an additional light day after the consistent Monday of rest.
Yes, Rest Days are back! Saving the best for last with this one. Seriously though, having a consistent day off not only allows you to rest, it gives you room to swap sessions around if needed.
Also, a new Strength Training Race Prep Edition. Built on the successful OutSeason strength plan, this 12-week supplement lives in Final Surge (go to “S” for Strength!). You can overlay this plan on top of your existing Full or Half plan, dropping the twice weekly workouts on Mondays and Fridays. . Being able to maintain your form when fatigued is completely solvable with strength training. Look for these sessions to prepare you for those long rides, runs, and races!
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