Multiple ‘A Races’ In A Season

Preparing For A Multiple ‘A Race’ Season

As athletes we are capable of doing lots of different events. We are fit. We are strong. We mostly believe that ‘anything is possible’.

We want to experience events and races that look interesting or exciting or challenging.

And of course, unexpected opportunities arise. 

One of our athletes ran a marathon recently after a friend pulled out three weeks before the race and there was a number going spare. He needed no more encouragement than that.

• Our friends suddenly enter an event so we decide to join them.
• A new race is added onto the local race calendar.
• Something fun-looking or particularly challenging is dangled in our direction.
• Or more simply, the key events that we want to do in a year happen to be scheduled closely together.

Nothing wrong with any of the above scenarios.

Planning & Scheduling

We have multiple big races and events in the calendar, how do we prepare for them?

What should training look like?

How do we get the best out of ourselves for each of them?

Here are a few of my thoughts.

To help illustrate, I’ve included five athletes that I currently coach, and their key races this year.

Five Athletes

I am working with a lot of athletes who have multiple A-Races and A-Race Goals this year. Take these five athletes and their key races (they have other races in their schedules too) that I’m working with this year, as an example.

Athlete One – a marathon, the Mallorca 312k ride and an Ironman. Events are spread out over five months (March to July).

Athlete Two – a GB Age Group European Duathlon (first time representing the GB Team) followed by an Ironman. Six weeks apart.

Athlete Three – A marathon and then an Ironman. Six months apart.

Athlete Four – A GB Age Group sprint triathlon qualifier, followed by an Ironman five weeks later, followed by another Ironman three months later.

Athlete Five – The Fred Whitton Challenge before Ullswater End To End Swim, followed by the World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Malaga.

As their coach, there is not much straight-line, linear planning for these athletes!

When thinking about season planning, what do we need to think about?

How can we prepare for some very different events with some tight timescales and scheduling?

For me, we need to look at a few things.

Similarity

How similar are the events we are preparing for?

If we take Athlete One as an example, for me all of the events are related – incredibly difficult – but related. All of them fit within the overall training programme and we can be quite linear in our approach to training. We are building towards a first Ironman triathlon – and we have five months to take account of the different events.

In simple terms, we had a strategy to build the run for the marathon, then we build the bike for the 312k bike and then we prepare for the Ironman. None of the events require a significant change in our overall training methodology.

The training programme does require some changes to the training week (consecutive Saturday / Sunday long rides for example), but these sessions will prepare the athlete effectively for the Ironman in July. We didn’t need to factor intensity shifts.

Athlete Two, on the other hand, has a key race (duathlon) where there is a need to be fast and sharp, six weeks before an Ironman. The training approaches for each event are different. 

Athlete Four has the same issue, preparing to be fast over short distances whilst also developing Ironman specific skills and abilities.

Timescale

The longer the time we have to prepare – and peak – for the different events, the ‘easier’ or should I say ‘more straightforward’ the planning and the training process is.

For example, Athlete One has three events spread over five months, but Athlete Four has five weeks for two very different races. 

Athlete Five has very different events – a long, hilly bike followed by a 12k open water swim followed by a short, fast triathlon. However, these events are all spread over six months, allowing specific focus for each event.

Athlete Three – a marathon and then an Ironman six months later – can arguably have two separate seasons within one. The marathon, a short break and then specific work towards the Ironman. 

Athlete Four needs to navigate the five week period of the early season sprint triathlon and Ironman, before a reset and a longer, dedicated prep period for the second Ironman of the season.

Priority

I was going to put this at the beginning, before Similarity, but typically, we want to prioritise them all and perform to our maximum in all of the events don’t we?

Sometimes, we do need to think about which matters most. Which events would we be ‘happy’ to turn up at 90% for and perform well, and which events do we want to be 100% and perform brilliantly. Not easy, because we want to be 100% for all don’t we?

Athlete Four, for example, wants to perform better in the Ironman than in the sprint triathlon, so training focus has been on the longer distance race, with some faster work included in the programme to support the shorter race.

Athlete Five wants to perform well in the World Championships in October, so the overall training programme focus is on developing the fast triathlete, with some training sessions aimed towards the other events.

Starting Point

Of course, the other consideration for us is the athlete starting point and current abilities.

How ready is the athlete for each of the challenges / events in the year.

Take Athlete Five. In my view (and my planning) has little to worry about the 12k swim, so the main focus has been the other two events (there will obviously be some focus on swim endurance as we get closer to the event).

Athlete One is taking on a first Ironman, so the overall focus of the programme has been developing an Ironman triathlete, with some key sessions and periods set aside to specifically prepare for the other events.

Food For Thought?

I hope this post has given you some food for thought when planning your season, prioritising your races and organising your training.