Triathletes have different approaches to Christmas holidays, with some liking to take a full break and spending every possible minute with family, and others cramming in huge bike miles in challenges like the Rapha Festive 500 on Zwift (a 500k challenge on Zwift between Christmas and NYE).
I stand firmly somewhere in the balanced middle. I enjoy a week of less structured training, some ad-hoc sessions with my sporty friends or family – my dad always enjoying a trail run together, my mum eager to come swim with me in a 50m pool. At the same time, I like to do some key sessions that on a busy workday would take me a lot of time to recover, like a long-run with some hard efforts. And when family and Christmas commitments get a bit much, I enjoy a bit of an easy bike by myself to clear my head.
I did a dive back into the last three years of my Strava and picked a few sessions for you to stay active and happy during the Christmas holidays, including the real Strava evidence! Whether you fancy some raw short intensity work outs, or some easy sessions, I've got you covered with 5 festive workouts for triathletes across swim-bike-run:
#1 Jingle Miles & Marathon Smiles (courtesy of Paul Laslett)
Type of session: Long & Knackering
Suitable for: advanced runners training for longer distances, with advanced running skills who have done a half marathon before, or can confidently do 90min long runs.
Christmas warning: this session needs good fuelling (put some mince pies in your pockets!), ideally a running backpack to carry some fluids, and a recovery day after with a good old stretch!
Duration: 1-hour 15 mins or 1-hour 45min
Session design:
Start with 15min easy warm up, slowly building pace to your endurance pace (zone 2)
Then alternate your pace every 15 mins between: your marathon pace and your recovery run pace
Make sure to end on a 15min easy block as a cool down
#2 Frosty’s Festive Spin
Type of session: Easy Session
Suitable for: anyone with a bike, no matter how shabby the bike.
Christmas warning: this session can’t be easy enough and is not meant for speed or Strava prowess. Bakery/coffee stop recommended. Layer up!
Duration: 1hour
Session design:
Take whatever winter proof bike your got and ride it as slow as you like for up to an hour. It’s to shake out your legs, clear your mind and maybe explore a nearby place at a slow pace. You should feel like you’ve barely done a session afterwards.
I used my dad’s old commuter bike with downtube shifters (yes they still exist!) and headed for the local woods, without a GPS on me and avoided spending time on busy roads.
#3 Jon’s jolly tempo build
Type of session: Running tempo session.
This one was a staple in my first pro season to prepare for middle distance triathlons, and I would run the tempo build every other week of so up to a length of 50mins, but for Christmas we’re keeping it shorter,
Suitable for: anyone who’s done some running intervals before, and can judge what their tempo pace is
Christmas warning: Plan an easy going and uninterrupted route so you can crack on with minimal disruption (a river path or some long forest tracks do the job!)
Duration: 50mins, option to reduce it to 40min
Session design:
10minutes warm up, starting at an easy pace and building to Zone 2. Add a couple of accelerations or strides to get proper fired up.
Then into a 30min continuous build, starting at your half marathon pace, and increasing your speed every 7.5minutes by 10sec/km.
You should end around your 10k pace, and in doing so run through your tempo zone and into a slightly faster pace.
Then a 5-10min easy jog back home.
To give you a sense of what this looked like for me. I started the build at a reasonably comfortable 4:30min/km, and took it down to a controlled 3:50min/km.
#4 Rudolph’s Rocket Ride (courtesy of Jon Cowell)
Type of session: Indoor bike session with some spice! I remember struggling on this, but feeling a sense of elation to finish and master it in the end.
Suitable for: anyone with an indoor set up and a vague idea of their FTP or a willingness to try something hard. For an easier or shorter option finish on the 6min interval
Christmas warning: Start this session fresh and make it your key session. This session starts off hard and might seem unmanageable in the first few reps, but the hard intervals will get shorter and soon you’re done with the set.
Duration: 60-70min
Session design:
10min warm up ramp to your zone 3
2min easy spin
Main set:
12min at 90-95% of your FTP
3min very easy spinning
1min at maximum power
1min very easy spin
8min at 90-95% of your FTP
2min very easy spinning
1min at maximum power
1min very easy spin
6min at 90-95% of your FTP
1min very easy spin
1min at maximum power
1min very easy spin
4min at 90-95% of your FTP
1min very easy spin
10min cool down
#5 Kickin’ Bells and Paddle Joy
Type of session: A varied swim set which while working your kick and pull in an alternated way makes time fly by.
Suitable for: Anyone who’s got access to a pool, a pull buoy and paddles
Christmas warning: if you’re not used to swimming with paddles for that long, use them only for every other set, and try to generate the same purchase and hold against the water even when swimming without paddles.
Duration: 40-50min. Shorter option in brackets.
Session design:
Warm up:
300m easy freestyle
4 x150m [2x150] as 100m pull buoy, 50m kick (on your back or front)
8x25m [4x25] freestyle with good form, build your pace between the 1st and 8th rep
Main set (1400m): [for shorter option start on the 300m]
400m pull and paddles with 25m fast every 4th length, 30sec rest
100m kick, last 25m fast, 1min rest
300m pull and paddles, with 25m fast every 3rd length, 30sec rest
100m kick, last 25m fast, 1min rest
200m pull and paddles, with 25m fast every 2nd length, 30sec rest
100m kick, last 25m fast, 1min rest
100m pull and paddles, all fast, 30sec rest
100m kick, last 25m fast, 1min rest
Cool down:
100m social kick (take a kickboard and with your friend kick next to each other and chat about your Christmas plans)
Or if you’re sick of kick, then a 200m of alternating freestyle and back will do too!
No Strava link as I don’t record my swimming!
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