Bring Your “A” Game

Triathlon season is upon us and that means it’s time to start training. But have you planned your “A” race? To help you prepare for the biggest race of your season, check out this three-step plan by coach Scott Berlinger, founder, president and head coach of the award-winning Twinlab – Full Throttle Endurance Racing team.

Scott is a USA Triathlon Level 2 coach and Elite Level trainer at the Chelsea Piers Sports Center in New York City. He was named one of America’s top five trainers by Men’s Journal magazine and previously appeared on the show American Gladiators as “Viper.”

3 Steps to Plan for Your "A" Race This Season
By Scott Berlinger

Your racing season should consist of at least two races to set up your “key” or “A” race of the season. Your main race is your “A” race. This is the race that you want to do your best – the race and distance that you are training for whether it is a Sprint, Olympic or Half-Ironman. The other races in the season are lead up races – race “B” and race “C”.

While you will compete in other races, only one will be your peak performance race. The other one or two races will be tune-up races that will be like a training day except you will have medical, food and water along the course available. Think of these races as dress rehearsals.

It is important that athletes not get discouraged with their performance in tune-up races as these are really training events that are to eliminate mistakes from the “A” race.

Step One
Pick an “A” race for the season. Things to consider are: distance of the race, location of the race (can you travel to compete), and weather leading up the race. A May race will require you to be training outside in the cold weather.

Step Two
Back out from the “A” race target 4 weeks and 8 weeks to find your two lead up races. These races can be the same distance or a shorter distance. You will be racing at full capacity, but you will not have “peaked” or tapered for these events. These are training races to get used to how a triathlon runs, how the distance feels.

Step Three
Join a team to train with for the season. This will give you people with whom to train and compete. Additionally a good coach will be able to pace your workouts for a season as opposed to simply gearing you up for a single race event. When interviewing your coach be sure to check that they are USA Triathlon certified and have experience coaching an athlete through multiple events in a season. Coaches should have different intensity zones for training. Training should involve increasing aerobic capacity, speed and threshold work, injury prevention, strength training and overall subject racing knowledge. For a successful racing season, you should plan to take at least one day off a week to let your body recover.

This article originally appeared on Active.com.