Spring Into Action: Pre-Season Triathlon Threshold Testing

The idea of summer events may seem far away, but race day will be here before you know it. Now is the time to evaluate your fitness level and plan for the upcoming race season. Here are some ideas on how to determine your baseline fitness and how to build your spring training.

1. Assess Your Fitness

Threshold tests are a benchmark of training programs and allow you to gauge your starting level of fitness. There are several ways to perform these tests. Commonly, you will need a stopwatch for the pool, a bike that can measure power, and a watch to measure distance and speed. Here are simple examples of swimming, biking, and running testing that can be completed.

Swim test: A critical swim speed fitness test is comprised of a brief warm-up of 300 to 400 yards of light intensity mixed with a few moderate intensity intervals. The test is typically structured as follows:

• 1 x 400 freestyle maximal effort time trial (record time)
• 5 minutes of active recovery, such as walking
• 1 x 200 freestyle maximal effort time trial (record time)
• Followed by a cooldown set

Bike test: Similarly, the bike Threshold test starts with a 10 to 15-minute warm-up that is mostly easy with short moderate intervals that ideally last 15-20 secs. The main portion of the test is 20 minutes of maximal steady state time trial, with an all-out effort of 20 minutes continuously. Record your average power during this segment; your Functional Threshold Power will be 95% of this short cool down.

Run test: A threshold pace run test starts with a 5-minute warm-up followed by short acceleration intervals and recoveries for another 4-5 minutes. The main set runs at your fastest sustainable speed for 30 minutes, on a treadmill or a flat terrain. Record the average pace during this time. End with a short cool down.

2. Utilize Pace Training Zone Calculators

Once you’ve completed your threshold tests for each discipline, several online resources help calculate your training zones based on your pace/power data. This will help to guide effort during various workouts. Longer endurance efforts may fall into Zone 2. Speed effort may be timed intervals at Zone 4 with recovery times at Zone 1 and 2. Swim set drills for form at Zone 2 and race pace efforts at Zone 3-4.

An example of Running Pace Training Zone Calculator^1*:

• During the 30 minutes of max effort, the average pace obtained is 8:00/mile pace
• This would translate into running pace training zones below

3. Address your Weakness

Once you have finished your self-assessments and calculated your training zones, you may find one or more areas that cause discomfort or demonstrate lower performance. This is a great time to address weaker areas by adding another training session in that discipline into your schedule or performing targeted strengthening exercises or drills to improve efficiency and performance. If you need help identifying the source of your aches/discomforts, take advantage of our free assessment, where a licensed physical therapist can assess your areas of concern and get you springing into action this season.

Schedule a Free Assessment

*Per federal guidelines, beneficiaries of plans such as Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VHA and other federally funded plans are not eligible for free assessments.

The Athletico blog is an educational resource written by Athletico employees. Athletico bloggers are licensed professionals who abide by the code of ethics outlined by their respective professional associations. The content published in blog posts represents the opinion of the individual author based on their expertise and experience. The content provided in this blog is for informational purposes only, does not constitute medical advice and should not be relied on for making personal health decisions.

References:
1. My Pro Coach Training Calculators: https://www.myprocoach.net/calculators/