Annual Training Plan Part #3: Annual Hours and Race Priorities

With goals and training objectives set, time to plan out the year.

Step #1: Set Annual Hours
Friel’s Triathlete Training Bible has a set of suggested training hours:

Ironman Distant:  600-1200 hours
Half-Ironman: 500-700 hours
Olympic: 400-600 hours
Sprint: 300-500 hours.

To translate this to strictly mountain bike racing, I’d put Expert category the same as Olympic and Sport as Sprint.

Step #2: Prioritize Your Races
Priority A Races: The most important races.  No more than two or three races a season.  It’s best these races be clumped together (2-3 week blocks) or widely separated.  My priority ‘A’ races are as follows:

Grand Rapids Triathlon – Half Ironman June 2012

Whirlpool Ironman – August 2012

Iceman Cometh – November 2012

Priority B Races: Select as many as 6 of these races.  With these races you will not build to a ‘peak’.  My priority ‘B’ races are as follows:

Yankee Springs Time Trial – April 2012

Fort Custer Stampede – May 2012

Fort Custer Xterra – May 2012

Brighton Torn Shirt Xterra – June 2012

Tri Del Sol Triathlon – July 2012

Reeds Lake Triathlon – September 2012

Pando Classic – September 2012

Priority C Races: These are training races used to gain experience or as hard workouts.  It would not be unusual to cancel one of these races at the last moment (without feeling guilty about it).  Be careful with C races since they could result in a bad experience, thus hurt your motivation.  They can also cause you to go into overtraining.  Every C race should have a clear goal on what you want to accomplish.  Entering these races with no goal can end badly.  My priority ‘C’ races are as follows:

Hanson Hills – June 2012 (depends on Xterra date)
State Games of Michigan – June 2012
Boyne Mountain Marathon – July 2012
Ruby Campground – August 2012
Millennium Park Triathlon – August 2012
Peak2Peak – October 2012