Offroad Triathlon Training Plans

Following a structured training plan can improve your chances of success by up to 100%

Training Plans for Off-road Triathlon

What are the off-road triathlon race distances?

Off-road triathlon is a multi-disciplinary endurance sport consisting of swimming, mountain biking and trail running sections.
The accepted format is to swim first, then cycle, then run, but there are races that vary the sequence and also the standardised distances of each.

The 4 most common race distances are: (from shortest to longest)

Xterra Lite
Xterra Standard

Off-road triathlon races can centre around a central venue, with athletes return to the transition area between completing each discipline, or be point-to-point, where athletes start at one point and end at a different venue.

Choosing the correct Xterra training plan

In order to make it easier it choose the correct training plan for you, we categorise along 3 variables:

Training hours,
Race Distance, and
Preferred training measure

Training Hours

We split our training plans based on training hours available to the athlete.
The categories are Novice, Intermediate and Advanced.

Novice – 4 to 8 hours of training per week

Intermediate – 9 to 13 hours of training per week

Advanced – 14 or more hours of training per week

Race Distance

The second variable is race distance:

Xterra Sprint Distance – 500m swim, 15km mountain bike and 5km trail run

Xterra Standard Distance – 1.5km swim, 30km mountain bike and 11km trail run

Preferred Training Measure

Swim training zones are expressed in send-off times or paces.

Cycling training zones are expressed in percentage of max heart rate (%MHR), percentage of threshold heart rate (%THR) and % of functional threshold power (%FTP).

Running training zones are expressed in percentage of max heart rate (%MHR), percentage of threshold heart rate (%THR) and percentage of threshold pace (%TPace).

3 Most Popular Xterra Base Training Plans

Our 10km Road Running base training plans include sport-specific Core Strength and Flexibility training.

You also get access to our FREE training tools that will help you accurately calculate your training zones.

The training plan can, therefore, be adapted to your current fitness levels.

Athlete	Description	Training Peaks Link
Novice	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Intermediate	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Advanced	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link

3 Most Popular Xterra Build & Peak Training Plans

TrainingPeaks based plans for athletes who have completed a base training period and want to increase their volume and intensity in anticipation of peaking for a race.

Athlete	Description	Training Peaks Link
Novice	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Intermediate	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Advanced	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link

3 Most Popular Xterra Combination Training Plans

“All-In-One” TrainingPeaks training plans.
These training plans are a combination of the Base, Build and Peak training phases that will take you from the off season to your race day.

Athlete	Description	Training Peaks Link
Novice	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Intermediate	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link
Advanced	10 Week Base	Training Peaks Link