Build your Challenge Salou plan
Your coach opens with the Challenge Salou set for May 9, 2027, asks about your week and your fitness, then writes every session of your triathlon plan. Free, and you can start as a guest. About 28 weeks to go.
Start your Challenge Salou plan- Formats
- T100, Short
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Taper starts
- April 30, 2027
Challenge Salou distances
- T100 2 km swim, 80 km bike, 18 km run
- Short 1 km swim, 54 km bike, 9 km run
Course
The Challenge Salou course
Challenge Salou Costa Daurada holds its 12th edition on Sunday 9 May 2027, with every wave starting from Platja de Llevant. The T100 swims 2 km in two laps of shallow water, with views towards the Ebro Delta and the Serra de la Mussara.
Read the full course notes
The bike is three laps for 80 km on a motorway closed to traffic and divided with cones, with about 588 m of climbing and a reputation for high average speeds. The run is four laps for 18 km through the Costa Daurada with crowd support all the way. The Short Distance uses the same circuits: one 1 km swim lap, two bike laps for 54 km and about 390 m of climbing, then two run laps for 9 km.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Formats
- T100, Short
- Race-day conditions
- Early May on the Costa Daurada is pleasant for racing: average highs are about 22 °C and lows about 14 °C. The sea is still cool at around 17 °C, so expect a wetsuit swim; wetsuits are banned above 23 °C and mandatory below 16 °C, and the call is made the day before. Days average about 8 hours of sunshine and winds around 12 km/h. Wear sunscreen for the run laps and drink steadily on the bike.
What to train for
The fast, closed bike course rewards steady power on the aero bars, so build long rides with blocks of 20 to 40 minutes at race effort and practise holding your position on gentle rises.
Drafting is not allowed: age groupers must keep 12 m behind and pass within 25 seconds, so rehearse clean overtakes.
Lap courses make pacing easy to check, so set a target split for each bike and run lap and train to hit it. Add weekly bricks that go straight from the bike into 20 to 30 minutes at run goal pace. Overall cut-offs are 1:10 for the swim, 5:15 to finish the bike and 7:30 at the finish line.
Sample week
A sample Challenge Salou training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Swim, 45 min: drills and technique
- Tuesday Key session
- Bike, 1 h with threshold intervals
- Wednesday
- Swim, 45 min: steady intervals at race effort
- Easy run, 40 min
- Thursday Key session
- Run, 40 min with tempo segments
- Friday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Saturday Key session
- Long ride, 1 h 30 min, then a 20 min run off the bike
- Sunday
- Long run, 1 h easy
Your build to race day
Taper
Tapering for the Challenge Salou
Start the taper seven to ten days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on May 9, 2027, your taper starts around April 30, 2027.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a triathlon season for the Challenge Salou Costa Daurada on May 9, 2027. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
Challenge Salou training questions
How long should I train for the Challenge Salou?
Most athletes give a triathlon sixteen to twenty weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The coach counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
What is the Challenge Salou course like?
Rolling. Challenge Salou Costa Daurada holds its 12th edition on Sunday 9 May 2027, with every wave starting from Platja de Llevant.
How cold is the water at the Challenge Salou?
Early May on the Costa Daurada is pleasant for racing: average highs are about 22 °C and lows about 14 °C. The sea is still cool at around 17 °C, so expect a wetsuit swim; wetsuits are banned above 23 °C and mandatory below 16 °C, and the call is made the day before. Days average about 8 hours of sunshine and winds around 12 km/h. Wear sunscreen for the run laps and drink steadily on the bike.
When should I start tapering for the Challenge Salou?
Start the taper seven to ten days before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week. With the race on May 9, 2027, your taper starts around April 30, 2027.
Do I need an account to get a Challenge Salou training plan?
Start as a guest and save a free account later. Your coach writes your triathlon plan and adapts it every week as you log your training. No card.