The Biggest 4 Weeks Sprint Triathlon Build · For Andrew
Welcome to the business end. You come into this block off an easy stretch, with a thigh that's calming down and the biggest fitness base you've ever had underneath you. These 4 weeks are the biggest of the whole build: the swim reaches full race distance, the brick becomes a weekly fixture, and we rehearse race morning itself. The wave carries on, build, build, biggest, then pull back. After this block it's your enduro weekend, then race week. This is where the race gets made.
Your Week The shape changes a little
The brick is now every Saturday. The lifts drop from three to two, a touch heavier.
- The standalone Friday bike is gone. The bike now lives inside the Saturday brick, because riding then running is the exact skill the race asks for.
- Two lifts, not three. That's not going backwards, that's the strength holding its ground while the race work takes the front seat.
- Cardio in the morning where you can. Race day is still 6.45am, and this block we start using that clock for real.
Shift the days to fit your week as always. Just keep 48 hours between the two swims for the shoulder, and keep Sunday a true rest day.
Two Rules This Block Non-negotiable
Neither of these costs you the race if we catch them early. Pushing through them could.
Every run in this block unlocks its intensity only if the week before went silently. If the thigh so much as whispers mid-session: stop, walk it home, message me. We repeat the easier version next week and nothing is lost.
The swims are longer now, so fatigue builds up inside a session in a way it didn't before. If anything catches or feels loose, end the set there and message me.
Fuel Is Part of the Program Straight talk
The 1800 line is not a suggestion, it's a session.
- The logs keep telling the same story. Under-fuelled weeks slow the thigh, flatten the bike, and steal the exact gains this block is here to make.
- Anchor the morning: the shake plus a banana or oats, even with no appetite, especially before morning cardio.
- Build lunch and dinner off the 1800 line, rather than hoping the day adds up.
- Sitting under 1200 by mid-afternoon? Use the 500 calorie protein and carb backstop before dinner.
Hitting 1800 every day this block is as much a part of the program as any swim, bike or run.
The Weeks
Four weeks, each with its own character. Build, build, biggest, pull back.
Ease Back In Aug 3 – 9
Re-entry week on purpose. Four clean sessions with a quiet thigh unlocks week 10 properly.
You've done this before. It's a re-entry, not a test. Long strokes, relaxed.
Breathe every 3 strokes. Same technique session as always.
This run has one job: prove the thigh is quiet. Nothing to chase this week.
Same as the first brick you did. Conversational bike, very easy jog. Welcome the volume back gently.
Build Again Aug 10 – 16
First proper working brick. The steady bike blocks are the race pace we build on next week.
The longest continuous swimming of the build so far. Got an open-water spot lined up? This is the week to christen it. Practice sighting: every 8 strokes or so, eyes up for a quick look, then back down. No wall out there to save you, and that's the point. In the pool, practice the sighting anyway on the middle lengths.
We're weaning the stroke off the buoy. It doesn't come to the race.
If unlocked, finish with 4 x 30 second relaxed strides. Tall, smooth, quick. Not sprinting. Walk back between each.
15 easy first, then the steady blocks (short sentences only) with 4 min easy spin between, easy to finish. Rack it, jogging within 2 minutes.
Race Rehearsal Aug 17 – 23 · The biggest week
Biggest week of the entire build. Sleep and the 1800 line count double here.
Easy pace, long strokes. The whole job is proving you can just keep going. Open water if you have it. If the shoulder's been fine: take the first 20 strokes a little stronger then settle into your rhythm. That's exactly what the start will feel like on race day.
Same as week 10.
Start easy for 15 minutes. Single words only on the efforts, 2 minutes easy jogging between, easy to finish.
Alarm set, planned race breakfast, kit laid out the night before. The whole morning is the session. 2 x 10 min at race pace mid-bike (strong but controlled, short sentences at most), rack it, run 15 minutes with the first 5 at race feel. Legs will complain less than the first brick. That's the training working.
Message me before you start the session, not after. Big weeks only work if we respond to what the body says.
Easy Week Aug 24 – 30
The volume drops on purpose so the body banks the biggest block of work it's ever done. Don't add to it.
Relaxed.
Easy does it.
Nothing to prove this week.
The brick rests too.
With the year you've had on the illness front, this is the week that keeps you healthy through the peak. The final plan lands at the end of this week. It covers the last two: your enduro weekend, then race week.
A Few Things to Remember
Read once now, then again before week 11.
The Standards Same as ever
- The wave is still the wave. Build, build, biggest, pull back. Week 12 feeling easy is not a sign to do more, it's the plan working.
- The gates are non-negotiable. Run intensity only unlocks off a silent thigh. Swim sets end early if the shoulder catches. Caught early it's nothing. Pushed through, it's your race.
- Race morning is being rehearsed. The week 11 brick at 6.45am is a full dress rehearsal: alarm, breakfast, kit, clock, jelly legs. Treat it like the real thing and race day will feel familiar.
- 1800 every day. Same line, fourth block. The fittest version of you is the fuelled one, and this is the block where it counts double.
Your open-water spot, and whether the race lets you wear a wetsuit (check the race listing). Both change how we handle the swim and the shoulder, so message me the answers this week or next.
This is the block the race is won in. Any questions, hit me in the app. Let's get to work. Ryan
The Biggest 4 Weeks · Sprint Triathlon Build · Built for Andrew · SupraHuman Coaching