Customised Training Plans

Testimonials

Well-balanced, positively challenging plan adapted to my objectives, opportunities and experience

I got a customised plan from coach David Dhooge in preparation for my first half distance triathlon. I'm new to triathlon and swimming and cycling were totally new to me. The fact that I at 53 years old managed to transition from running to triathlon is largely credited to the plan. David made a comprehensive, well balanced and positively challenging plan, adapted to my declared objectives and adjusted to my training possibilities and experience in the disciplines in which I had no experience. If your goals include performing well while staying injury-free, I would seriously recommend considering a customised plan from Scientific Triathlon.

Pablo Zapata - 53, Tirana, Albania

"Achieved my sub-5 goal for the 70.3 distance with a customised plan and consultations!"

I hired Mikael to create a customised training plan in multiple 8-12-week blocks with the end goal being finishing my first half distance race, and do it in under 5 hours. I also signed up for a few phone consultations throughout this period as support for the customised program.

The customised plan improved my training and its progression and periodisation. Mikael took my fitness level, goals, and time constraints into account and made it a truly individualised plan.

The consultations helped me execute the program even better and get answers to any questions I may have around training or training prioritisation, nutrition, race planning etc.

This approach was a great alternative for somebody who cannot commit to ongoing individual coaching. I achieved my goal and finished my half distance race in 4:54, and also set a new Olympic distance PB in the process. Great investment in my training that achieved the outcomes I wanted. I would highly recommend Mikael's customised training plans and consultation with him to others!

Olli Etelämäki - 50, Finland

How Do Customised Plans Work?

It's a completely individualised plan. The plan is built completely from scratch by one of our coaches based on an in-depth questionnaire that asks about your goals, current training and training history, injury history, time constraints, current ability, and so on. Once you get your plan, you can review it, ask for clarifications, ask for adjustments if needed, and your coach will provide answers and adjustments until youare both hppy with the final version of the plan.
But it's not coaching. The difference compared to coaching is that once you have the plan, it is entirely up to you to go out and execute it. There's no ongoing communication with your coach about your training or daily monitoring the way there is in coaching.
It can be delivered in blocks of various durations. If you are training for a race six months away, we don't believe building a massive six month plans is the most effective strategy. Instead, we will suggest breaking it up into smaller chunks, normally 8-week blocks. This has a couple of big advantages. First, you only commit to and pay for one block at a time. And second, your coach can get and take into account your feedback and what you did in the previous block once it's time to plan the next block of training. Note that evven though the plan may be delivered in shorter blocks, your coach will look at the big picture and the end goal from the very beginning, and plan your training with that in mind.
Delivered in Training Peaks. Our customised plans are delivered on the Training Peaks platform. You can use the plan either with a Free or a Premium account.

Who Is Customised Plans For?

Age-group athletes of all levels, that know the basics of how to swim, bike and run. Beginners benefit incredibly from customised plans, so don't 'wait until you get faster'. But if you don't know e.g. how to swim, a local coach is your best option.
Advanced age-group athletes. We have a great success rate in qualifying athletes for World Championships and other major events, as well as taking podium finishes and age-group wins.
Athletes around the world in all time zones.
Motivated athletes. We can create a fantastic plan for you, but if you are not motivated to put in the work, then not even the best training plan in the world can make a difference.

Pricing

Instance 1

€ / week

Simple, transparent pricing. See current currency conversion here.

Completely individualised training planning based on detailed information form
Commit to and pay for only one block (typically 8 weeks) at a time.
Top-quality coaches that know the art and the science of coaching, and are always learning and working to improve

Why Choose Us?

The coaches at Scientific Triathlon are hand-picked very carefully to ensure that we can live up to our goal - to provide world class coaching for any athlete, from beginner to professional.
Great knowledge of physiology, exercise science, and the scientific underpinnings of endurance training and racing.
Great knowledge and practical application of the art of coaching and training, which is equally important.
Pragmatism, no dogma, no hype. We adapt our coaching to the real world scenarios our athletes live in. We don't get too attached to any given training methodology - we only get attached to getting YOU the results you want. And we don't engage in extremisim, black-and-white-thinking, or hype.
Continual self-improvement, individually and as a team. All of our coaches spend a lot of time, energy and money on learning, education, and improving their coaching. In addition, as a team we get together and learn from and with each other with the same end goal, and chat about training on prtty much a daily basis for the benefits of everybody's continued development.

Coaches

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Is there a minimum commitment time?

No. You pay for one block at a time (e.g. 8 x 25€ = 200€ for an 8-week block). You are not billed automatically. Rather, you need to confirm with your coach that you want to sign up for another block, and will then be sent a new invoice.

Am I billed automatically on a recurring basis?

No. Once a training block is coming to an end, you need to confirm with your coach that you want to sign up for another block, and will then be sent a new invoice.

How does payment work?

There are two options for how to manage payments:

1) Pay by credit card. This is the convenient option, as you can decide to set up an automatic, monthly payment. There is a small (1.5-3.0%) additional processing fee with this option.

2) Pay by bank transfer. If you are in Europe, this can be done as a simple IBAN to IBAN transfer. Outside of Europe, you can use a service like Transferwise. This is the cheapest option (generally no additional fees in Europe, and a very minimal fee using Transferwise).

Can I pay in a different currency?

The fee is fixed to euros, but regardless of what currency you are using, the current exchange rate will be used when your credit card is charged or you handle the payment on Transferwise.

For whom do you recommend getting a local coach or club instead of signing up for a customised plan?

If you are completely new to the technical aspects of e.g. swimming or cycling, then you are better off training with a local coach or club that can help you by providing in-person technique tips.

If you are motivated primarily by the social aspect of the sport or pure enjoyment of being active rather than achieving specific goals or looking to improve improve performance, then joining a local club is probably the best option for you.

What equipment do I need?

This is something we can discuss on a case-by-case basis, but generally speaking:

-A place to swim and some basic swim gear (your coach can make recommendations for swim tools needed)
-A bike, helmet, and bike shoes.
-Running shoes
-A GPS-watch and heart rate monitor are highly recommended, although it is possible (but not ideal) to do your training based on perceived effort only.

I am a beginner triathlete - will I benefit from a customised plan?

First, see the question above on when it might make sense to join a local club/coach.

Second, note that for beginners in particular, it would be the most beneficial to go for coaching. As a beginner, you have so much more to learn and gain from the continuous interactions with your coach that you would miss out on if you were to go for a customised plan. The workouts and the plan is just one aspect of how you could improve as an athlete.

But, if your budget prevents you from signing up for coaching, then getting a customised plan would be an excellent option, and yes, you will benefit a lot.

I want to qualify for/win Kona (or insert major event of your choice here) - is a customised plan a good option?

Just as for the beginner athlete, you would benefit the most from individual coaching. The continuous monitoring, communication, and having somebody to hold you accountable are invaluable aspects of coaching that you would not get on a customised plan.

But, if budget prevents you from going for coaching and a customised plan is your best option, the answer to this questions is: potentially, depending on your talent level.

If we were to coach you, we can with time get you close to your potential. With a customised plan missing some of the very important elements of coaching (continuous monitoring and communication, and so on), we can help you improve a lot, but not quite to the same extent as with coaching.

So, if your talent level is good enough, then yes, you can achieve high-performance goals like the above on a customised plan, even though you're not going to quite reach your potential the way you could with coaching. If your talent level is such that you really need to reach your full potential to have a shot of qualifying (or winning), then coaching is probably your only option of achieving that.

My life schedule is very unpredictable - does this make me an unsuitable candidate for a customised plan?

No, it doesn't, but you need to be aware that you are the one responsible for making adjustments to your program when life happens.

In a coaching relationship you could ask your coach and they could help you decide what to do. On a customised plan, that responsibility is on you.

Note that the more information you provide in the onboarding questionnaire in response to certain questions (e.g. "Wednesdays often get very busy and I tend to miss sessions then") the better the coach can design the plan in the first place to minimise the impact that things coming up will have on it.

I am a woman - are you experienced with coaching women?

Yes, we are. In our onboarding, we make sure we cover how any female-specific issues might or might not affect your training. We are also constantly following the developments in academia on differences, where they exist, between men and women when it comes to training, nutrition, recovery and so on.

It is important to note however, that regardless of gender, age and so on, we focus on coaching the individual. We don't believe in applying template models on any given demographic, because the variance within the demographic of females is just as great or greater than the average difference between men and women at a population-level.

So rest assured that we will give you the best coaching for you - not for the average person of your age and gender.

I am an older athlete - are you experienced with coaching this demographic?

Yes, we are. In fact, the 50-60 age-bracket is one of our biggest, and we even have athletes in the 60-70 bracket. We do of course adapt our coaching to account for age (when it makes sense to do so), and we are constantly following the developments in academia on differences, where they exist, between older and younger athletes when it comes to training, nutrition, recovery and so on.

It is important to note however, that regardless of gender, age and so on, we focus on coaching the individual. We don't believe in applying template models on any given demographic, because the variance within any given age-bracket is just as great or greater than the average difference between different age-brackets at a population-level.

So rest assured that we will give you the best coaching for you - not for the average person of your age and gender.

I am not very fit at the moment, or I am recovering from an injury at the moment. Should I wait to start with a customised plan?

First, as somebody coming back from an injury, it would be highly beneficial for you to go for coaching, where your coach would be able to get daily updates on how you feel and how the rehabilitation is progressing, and make adjustments as needed.

But, if you're budget prevents you from signing up for coaching, you could still benefit from getting on a customised plan sooner rather than later. If you can do two of the sports (e.g. swimming and cycling), even if not at full intensity yet, our recommendation is that you can start right away, there is no reason to wait.

Your plan will be designed with the objective of getting you back to full fitness more quickly, with a reduced risk of injury setbacks, and making the most of your training in the disciplines that you can train fully.

With regard to simply poor fitness at the moment (as opposed to recovering from injury), the best cure for that poor fitness is to get a good training plan as soon as possible, so please just get on board!

If you are recovering from a serious injury or illness, and your current training options are very limited (e.g. you can only swim at the moment) then it might make sense to wait a little bit until you can do slightly more (e.g. swim and bike) to get more out of the customised plan.

I have a race in the near future - should I wait to start with a customised plan?

If you are a very experienced and knowledgeable athlete, then yes, it might be best to start on a customised plan only after your race.

If you are less experienced, however, the better option would be to start right away. We have started working with athletes as late as 2-3 weeks out from an IRONMAN, and the athletes have ended up very happy we started before, not after the race.

To be clear, we are not going to be able to do any magic to your fitness in a short time before your race. But we can design a plan that will keep you from doing too much (or in some cases not enough) in the last few weeks before the race, both in terms of volume and intensity, to make sure you are both fit and fresh on the startline.

And it is incredible how many athletes stand on the startline not being fresh (in particular), thus having suboptimal performances. You can avoid this common mistake by starting sooner rather than later.

What happens when I sign up for a customised plan?

You will fill out an in-depth questionnaire with information about you, your sporting background, goals, life outside of training and training constraints, and so on.

An invoice will be sent to you that you should pay to officially be signed up.

You will be added to your coach's Training Peaks account (you will be prompted to create an account if you don't have one) where your training plan will reside.

Your coach will then get to work and create the plan for your training block. Once it's done, they will let you know so you can have a look and ask for clarifications or adjustments if needed. Your coach will answer your questions and take care of the adjustments.

You are then on your own when it comes to training. With 1-2 weeks left of the block at latest,you should confirm with your coach if you want to proceed with another block. If you do, you will be sent another invoice, the coach will ask for any feedback or information they may need for training planning purposes, and the process starts over again (except you don't need to fill out the questionnaire again in most cases).

What training software/platform do you use?

We use Training Peaks, a software and mobile app where your coach will plan your training in an intuitive calendar. You can use a free account, or upgrade (not required) to a Premium account for additional functionality for a cost of (at the moment of writing) $9.92 per month (paid annually).

Scientific Triathlon Coaching - Training Peaks Plan

Can I keep going to my swim squad/group rides?

Generally speaking, yes you can. There is a question in the in-depth questionnaire where you should mention if you have group workouts like this that you'd like to participate in.

In some cases the coach may need to tell you that participating in a certain group workout is counterproductive for your goals and you will have to decide if participating is worth the tradeoff.

But generally, there is a lot of flexibility to make room for group workouts, and in many cases we as coaches are very glad to see our athletes participate in them as they can have many great benefits.

Can I get help with things like technique (e.g. swim technique) in a customised plan setting?

To some extent, yes. If you during the planning/onboarding phase send videos of yourself swimming, biking or running (swimming in particular) to your coach, they can use the video to inform how they prescrive workouts (e.g. "focus on your catch here") and drills ("10 x 25 m/yds sculling").

Can I get help with things like lab testing in a customised plan setting?

In a sense, yes. While you would have to go to a lab somewhere where you live (or can travel to), your coach can help you by recommending if it makes sense for you to do lab testing in the first place, by planning it into your schedule, and importantly, by making the results of testing actionable and using them to inform training decisions going forward.

Note that this implementation of test results would only happen from the start of your next block of training.

Not all athletes need to do lab testing. It is up to you as a athlete at the end of the day. Field testing is of course a decent option for most athletes, and there are even very affordable remote testing options like Aerotune (bike only) available that can give you lab-grade data with just a power meter.

What happens when something comes up and I can't do the planned training?

This is a situation where in a customised plan setting you have to take the decision for what you do and how to adjust things yourself (unlike in a coching setting where your coach is available to help).

Contact Us to Discuss Customised Plans

If you are interested in customised plans or want to learn more, please send us a message and let's discuss!

Ready-Made Training Plans vs. Customised Plans vs. Coaching

Ready-Made Training Plans	Customised Plans	Coaching
Structured plan of specific duration (e.g. 16 weeks) leading up to specific goal (e.g. 70.3).	Completely individualised training plan (or series of training blocks, minimum duration 8 weeks) created by one of our expert coaches for your specific goal or goals.	Completely individualised, ongoing coaching. Way more than just a training plan, this includes ongoing communication, monitoring, adjustments, all to maximise your performance.
Available as PDF-file and as Training Peaks plan.	Plan delivered in Training Peaks (you can use a Free or Premium account).	Plan delivered in Training Peaks (you can use a Free or Premium account).
Choose a plan according to your goal events or training objectives (Sprint, Olympic, Half, and Full distance, Strength Training) and your experience and ability level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced).	Based on an in-depth questionnaire that asks about your goals, current training and training history, injury history, time constraints, current ability, and so on.	The onboarding phase includes completing an in-depth questionnaire, communicating with your coach on phone/video calls and email/text-based messaging, and day-to-day interaction and adjustments around your workouts.
The plan leads you through a period of training (from 8 weeks to 26 weeks, depending on the plan) leading up to the goal event. You can reuse the plan whenever you want and however you want, an infinite number of times.	Can be used on a block-by-block basis: e.g. if you have 32 weeks to your goal race, get a customised plan consisting of 4 x 8-week blocks. You only commit to one block at a time.	No minimum commitment time (but a 14-day notice period for cancellation of the service). Our athletes typically stay with us for at least one season, but often they stay for many years.
Customer support available (support does not include customisation, coaching, or consultation-like services): (support@scientifictriathlon.com).	The coach providing the plan answers questions if something about it is unclear, and can make adjustments when it's still in "draft-mode". After you have accepted and received the plan, no further adjustments or changes are included.	Unlimited communication. Any questions, comments or suggestions, just email/text your coach. Communication also occurs around specific workouts, in Training Peaks post-workout comments. You will also have regular (typically weekly or biweekly) coaching calls.
Ongoing training monitoring, adjustments, and communication with coach are NOT included.	Ongoing training monitoring, adjustments, and communication with coach are NOT included.	Your coach monitors your training on a daily basis and makes adjustments as needed (whether identified by the coach themselves or as requested by you).
Cost: varies depending on plan and format. From 29 to 75 €, around 3-4 € per week.	Cost: 30 € per week.	Cost: 250 € or 300 € per month.

Ready-Made Training Plans	Customised Plans	Coaching
Overview: Structured plan of specific duration (e.g. 16 weeks) leading up to specific goal (e.g. 70.3).	Overview: Completely individualised training plan (or series of training blocks, minimum duration 8 weeks) created by one of our expert coaches for your specific goal or goals.	Overview: Completely individualised, ongoing coaching. Way more than just a training plan, this includes ongoing communication, monitoring, adjustments, all to maximise your performance.
Delivery: Available as PDF-file and as Training Peaks plan.	Delivery: Plan delivered in Training Peaks (you can use a Free or Premium account).	Delivery: Plan delivered in Training Peaks (you can use a Free or Premium account).
Goals and onboarding: Choose a plan according to your goal events or training objectives (Sprint, Olympic, Half, and Full distance, Strength Training) and your experience and ability level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced).	Goals and onboarding: Based on an in-depth questionnaire that asks about your goals, current training and training history, injury history, time constraints, current ability, and so on.	Goals and onboarding: The onboarding phase includes completing an in-depth questionnaire, communicating with your coach on phone/video calls and email/text-based messaging, and day-to-day interaction and adjustments around your workouts.
Commitment and duration: The plan leads you through a period of training (from 8 weeks to 26 weeks, depending on the plan) leading up to the goal event. You can reuse the plan whenever you want and however you want, an infinite number of times.	Commitment and duration: Can be used on a block-by-block basis: e.g. if you have 32 weeks to your goal race, get a customised plan consisting of 4 x 8-week blocks. You only commit to one block at a time.	Commitment and duration: No minimum commitment time (but a 14-day notice period for cancellation of the service). Our athletes typically stay with us for at least one season, but often they stay for many years.
Coach interaction: Customer support available (support does not include customisation, coaching, or consultation-like services): (support@scientifictriathlon.com).	Coach interaction: The coach providing the plan answers questions if something about it is unclear, and can make adjustments when it's still in "draft-mode". After you have accepted and received the plan, no further adjustments or changes are included.	Coach interaction: Unlimited communication. Any questions, comments or suggestions, just email/text your coach. Communication also occurs around specific workouts, in Training Peaks post-workout comments. You will also have regular (typically weekly or biweekly) coaching calls.
Training monitoring and adjustments: Ongoing training monitoring, adjustments, and communication with coach are NOT included.	Training monitoring and adjustments: Ongoing training monitoring, adjustments, and communication with coach are NOT included.	Training monitoring and adjustments: Your coach monitors your training on a daily basis and makes adjustments as needed (whether identified by the coach themselves or as requested by you).
Cost: Varies depending on plan and format. From 29 to 75 €, around 3-4 € per week.	Cost: 25 € per week.	Cost: 250 € per month.