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Learning how to appropriately increase training volume as a triathlete is a tricky scale to balance. The combination of multiple sports into one exponentially increases the likelihood of overtraining. On top of that, we have to find time for our supplementary strength, stretching, and mobility work. This article will give you some helpful tips on how to do it right.

Let’s Define Training Volume…

Training volume refers to the total amount of work you perform in your training sessions, usually measured over the course of a week. For triathletes, this means the time spent (duration + frequency) and distance covered in all three disciplines; swimming, cycling, and running. It also includes the intensity of these workouts, plus any other training outside your triathlon-specific work.

Components of Training Volume

There are four main components of training volume…

1. Duration
2. Frequency
3. Intensity
4. Distance

Duration

Duration refers to the total time you spend training in each discipline. It’s important to correlate the time you invest in swimming, cycling, and running with the specific demands of the triathlon(s) you are training for.

Frequency

Frequency refers to how often you do a workout and/or train each discipline during the week. Balancing the frequency of each workout type ensures consistent progress and appropriate recovery times.

Intensity

Intensity measures the effort level of your workouts, often measured by RPE (rate of perceived exertion). This includes everything from low intensity aerobic sessions to high intensity intervals, and everything in between.

Distance

Distance is the total mileage or kilometers covered. Tracking your swimming, cycling, and running distances helps gauge overall training volume and should (in one way or another) coincide with your race distances.

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Guidelines for Increasing Training Volume

Increasing your training volume must be done thoughtfully in order to avoid burnout, injury, and frustration with your training schedule. Use these simple guidelines for each of the training volume components we detailed above.

Duration - Guidelines

• Follow the 10% rule: Limit your increase in training volume to ≤10% per week. This gives your body time to adapt to the increased load while mitigating injury risk.
• Even distribution: Balance your training accordingly across each discipline based on the demands of your goal and/or upcoming race(s).
• Schedule rest: Intentionally put rest/recovery days into your training plan; this helps to avoid overtraining and prioritize taking care of yourself in ways that aren’t exertive.

Frequency - Guidelines

• Consistency: Build consistency in your schedule in order to intelligently increase training volume; allows you to accurately assess what you’ve done so you can add to it proportionally.
• Incremental increase: If you’re increasing training volume by whole sessions, add one extra session per week in one discipline, then gradually do the same for the others.
• Personalization: Every body is different—listen to yours when adjusting the frequency of your training volume to always prioritize injury prevention (because if you’re injured, you can’t train!).

Intensity - Guidelines

• Mix it up: Vary your intensity levels by combining workout styles throughout the week; things like HIIT and LSD (long slow distance) training for each sport.
• Monitoring: Use tools like smartwatches, heart rate monitors, and power meters to get an objective indication of your intensity levels as opposed to anecdotal measures.
• Balance: Avoid increasing intensity, frequency, and duration at the same time—it’s too stressful and can start to blur the lines between these distinct, yet highly correlated components.

Distance - Guidelines

• Race targets: Gradually increase your distances, adhering to the other guidelines set out above, until you can comfortably meet or exceed your race distances for upcoming events.
• Use tapers: Prior to competition, yes, but you can also use tapers following heavy training weeks to prioritize recovery and adjust to the new training volume.
• Brick training: Be sure to occasionally combine two disciplines to imitate a real triathlon; teaches your body to deal with the combined volume you’ll be subject to on race day.

(Credit: Adobe Stock)

Adding In Strength & Mobility

A surefire way to increase your training volume without overloading your system is to incorporate the use of strength, stretch, and mobility training. These workouts can add to your total work and training output while at the same time correcting for the pitfalls and shortcomings of triathlon training alone—if it’s done properly, that is.

We’ve designed the programming here at Dynamic Triathlete to be complementary to any type of triathlon training schedule. You can easily increase your training volume by adding in one of the thousands of high quality routines we have available for you to try and select based on your current needs. Here is how you can easily program them into your training!

Strength Training

The kind of strength training we offer helps build up and balance our muscle groups to unwind any dysfunction caused by triathlon training. We recommend performing these sessions on non-triathlon days, or, prior to triathlon training if swimming, cycling, or running on a given day. Strength training has a higher risk of injury, so you want to do it before tiring yourself out in any way.

Stretching & Mobility Training

Our stretching and mobility program is designed to be done daily. Whether you’re training or not that day, it’s important to stay on top of your flexibility and joint mobility, especially as endurance athletes, who tend to have a much higher training volume than other athletes. If you’re training that day, position these routines post-workout/triathlon training to act as a cool down + your daily stretch.

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Written by Eric Lister – Certified Personal Trainer & Corrective Exercise Specialist