Masters Triathlon plans are alternate versions of the TrainerRoad triathlon plans. These plans are designed to prioritize recovery with a 2:1 ratio of load and recovery weeks. With a Masters Triathlon plan, you’ll get a recovery week every third week, as opposed to every fourth week in a non-Masters plan.
How Do Masters Triathlon Plans Work?
Masters Triathlon Plans are based on their standard non-Masters Triathlon Plan equivalents. Specifically, Masters Triathlon Plans include the same distribution of workouts each week as the non-Masters Triathlon plans but encompass more frequent rest with a recovery week every third week.
This distribution of rest allows your plan to preserve key workouts across all 3 sports, while still facilitating extra recovery throughout the training plan itself. Adding more frequent recovery weeks ensures an ideal distribution of workouts from week to week while affording plenty of extra rest for anyone who needs it.
Who are the Masters Triathlon Plans For?
When combined with Adaptive Training, Masters Triathlon Plans can provide an optimal training experience for anyone in need of some additional recuperation from their training.
While Masters training is typically associated with older athletes, the Masters Triathlon plans are designed for anyone who might need extra time to recover. This plan will be automatically recommended to you if you are older than 50, but we also think that if you have a high-stress job, are a new parent, shift worker, or someone dealing with an irregular sleep routine you might benefit from these plans.
How Can I Get a Masters Triathlon Plan?
Masters Plans are available for all triathlon Base Build, and Specialty plans. This includes Sprint, Olympic, Half, and Full distance categories.
When a Masters plan becomes available for your current Triathlon plan, you will automatically be prompted with a modal to adjust your plan.
Alternatively, you can manually add a Masters Triathlon plan to your Calendar via Plan Builder, the TrainerRoad training plan library, or by choosing to switch future phases of your triathlon plan to a Masters version.
Adding a Masters Triathlon Plan Through the Masters Triathlon Plan Modal
If you are already on a custom Triathlon plan with a Masters equivalent, a Masters plan announcement modal will automatically pop-up once a Masters version is available for your current training plan. If you are following a custom-built plan this modal will include a button giving you the option to switch your current plan to the Masters equivalent.
This pop-up will only appear once you reach the first week of a new training phase.
If you'd like to adjust your training plan sooner, you can follow the directions below to build a new plan with Plan Builder, or manually adjust your current plan by swapping out a training phase, deleting time off, or adding in a new event.
In most cases, though, we recommend waiting until you've finished your current training phase before making any adjustments, as this will help avoid disruptions to the plan itself.
Mobile Apps
How to get a Masters Triathlon Plan through Plan Builder
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad mobile app.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Choose Plan Builder.
Step 4: Follow Plan Builder's steps until you reach the Schedule step.
Step 5: If a Masters version is available a Masters toggle switch will appear on the Schedule step. Toggle this on to build out your triathlon plan with Masters phases.
Step 6: Finish building your plan.
How to get an Individual Masters Triathlon Plan through the TrainerRoad Plan Library
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad mobile app.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: In the Individual Training Phases section there are Masters options of each triathlon discipline for Base, Build and Specialty phases (below the standard training phases). Simply, choose the Masters triathlon phase type and volume you would like.
Step 4: Add to your Calendar.
How to Change Your Current Triathlon Plan to a Masters Plan
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad mobile app.
Step 2: Select the Calendar tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Select the title of your training plan in the upper left corner
Step 4: Select pencil shaped "edit" icon in the lower left corner.
Step 5: Select the Masters toggle and hit 'Update'
Important Notes: Your current training phase will remain unchanged. Only your future training phases will be adjusted to a Masters version. This will also reset any volume changes you’ve made to individual phases in your plan.
Desktop Apps
How to get a Masters Triathlon Plan through Plan Builder
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad desktop app.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Choose Plan Builder.
Step 4: Follow Plan Builder's steps until you reach the Schedule step.
Step 5: If a Masters version is available a Masters toggle switch will appear on the Schedule step. Toggle this on to build out your triathlon plan with Masters phases.
Step 6: Finish building your plan.
How to get an Individual Masters Triathlon Plan through the TrainerRoad Plan Library
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad desktop app.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: In the Individual Training Phases section, there will be Masters options of each triathlon discipline for Base, Build and Specialty phases. Simply choose the Masters Triathlon phase and volume that you would like to add.
Step 4: Select 'Add to your Calendar'
How to Change Your Current Triathlon Plan
Step 1: Make sure you are on the latest version of the TrainerRoad desktop app.
Step 2: Select the Calendar tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Select the title of your training plan in the upper left corner
Step 4: Select the pencil shaped "edit" icon in the lower left corner, then select the Masters toggle
Step 5: Hit 'Update'
Important Notes: Your current training phase will remain unchanged. Only future training phases will be updated to a Masters version. This will also reset any volume changes you’ve made to individual phases in your plan.
Web
How to get a Masters Triathlon Plan through Plan Builder
Step 1: Make sure you are logged in to www.trainerroad.com.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Choose Plan Builder.
Step 4: Follow Plan Builder's steps until you reach the Schedule step.
Step 5: If a Masters version is available a Masters toggle switch will appear on the Schedule step. Toggle this on to build your triathlon plan with Masters phases.
Step 6: Finish building your plan.
How to get an Individual Masters Triathlon Plan through the TrainerRoad Plan Library
Step 1: Make sure you are logged in to www.trainerroad.com.
Step 2: Select the Training Plans tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: In the Individual Training Phases section there will be Masters options of each triathlon discipline for Base, Build and Specialty phases. Simply choose the Masters triathlon phase and volume you would like to add to your Calendar.
Step 4: Select 'Add to your Calendar'
How to Change Your Current Triathlon Plan to a Masters Plan
Step 1: Make sure you are logged in to www.trainerroad.com.
Step 2: Select the Calendar tab from the left-hand navigation menu.
Step 3: Scroll to the Calendar annotation containing the name of your Triathlon training plan.
Step 4: Select the Masters toggle.
Step 5: Hit 'Update'
Important Notes: Your current training phase will remain unchanged. Only future training phases will be updated to a Masters version. This will also reset any volume changes you’ve made to individual phases in your plan.
FAQ
Why did TrainerRoad create Masters Triathlon Plans?
Masters plans have been a long-standing request from our athletes. Our initial release of Masters cycling plans was warmly received, but did not include triathlon plans. This release adds Masters plans for multisport athletes.
We believe that Masters Triathlon plans, especially when combined with Adaptive Training, can offer a highly effective training experience for our athletes by prioritizing recovery and encouraging sustainable progress and consistency.
I changed to a Masters Triathlon Plan and now I have two recovery weeks in a row. Why?
Plan updates are automatically applied following a recovery week, before the start of a new training phase. This is done to avoid losing recovery weeks overall when the plan's structure is modified. Although rare a double rest week may occur when these changes are implemented. If you have any concerns about changes to your training plan, please reach out to support@trainerroad.com.
How will I know if my Triathlon plan is a Masters Plan?
Masters plans can be recognized in your TrainerRoad Calendar by the addition of “Masters” to the plan name. For example, a Mid Volume, Olympic Distance Masters Base plan will display as "Masters Olympic Triathlon Base- Mid Volume".
Can I convert individual Triathlon training phases to Masters versions?
Unfortunately, you cannot convert individual Masters phases to Triathlon phases. This is because of the way that the load and recovery weeks in Masters triathlon plans are distributed versus how they are distributed in Non-Masters Triathlon plans.
Important Note: when changing to a Masters triathlon plan, all individual phase changes will be reset. Once your plan is set to a Masters version, though, you will then be free to reapply any desired changes to training phase volume or workout schedules.
If Masters phases can't be individually swapped, what phases are available via the swap dropdown menus?
All Triathlon phase lengths are now standardized. This means that athletes with Masters Triathlon phases will be able to swap between different triathlon discipline types (Sprint, Olympic, Half Distance and Full Distance) for their current Masters training phase.
For example, you can swap a Masters Sprint Build phase for a Masters Olympic Build phase.
Why don't Masters Cycling Plans have a 2:1 Load and Recovery schedule?
There are many approaches to Masters Training. We’re confident in both approaches we’ve implemented in our Masters plans and feel that each works well for the specific discipline targeted. Like all TrainerRoad features, though, we will continually refine and improve these plans to ensure that training is optimized based on current science.
Why can't I change my plan to a Masters Plan?
If you aren't able to swap your training plan to a Masters plan or add a Masters plan to your Calendar you might be trying to add a phase or plan that doesn't have a Masters alternative. Master plans are not currently available for Maintenance plans, Time Crunch plans, Polarized plans, or Traditional Base plans.