Build your Columbus Triathlon plan
Your coach opens with the Columbus Triathlon set for August (an estimate until the date is announced), asks about your week and your fitness, then writes every session of your Olympic-distance triathlon plan. Free, and you can start as a guest. About 42 weeks to go.
Start your Columbus Triathlon plan- Formats
- Olympic, Sprint, 1/3 Iron, Beginner
- Sport
- Triathlon
Columbus Triathlon distances
- Olympic 0.9 mi swim, 24 mi bike, 6.2 mi run
- Sprint 0.5 mi swim, 12 mi bike, 3.1 mi run
- 1/3 Iron 0.9 mi swim, 36 mi bike, 9.3 mi run
- Beginner 0.2 mi swim, 7 mi bike, 1.5 mi run
Course
The Columbus Triathlon course
The Columbus Triathlon & Multisport Festival is held at the Deer Creek State Park beach near New Holland, south of Columbus, and calls itself a small race with a big race atmosphere. The swim is out and back along the beachfront: one 750 m counter-clockwise loop for the sprint and two for the Olympic and 1/3 Iron, while beginners swim 300 m one way down the beach in shallow water.
Read the full course notes
The water near shore is shallow enough to touch in most places, but you cannot touch bottom on the back side of the loop. The bike circles Deer Creek on a loop with all right turns and about 298 feet of climbing, on paved roads open to traffic: 12 miles for the sprint, 24 for the Olympic and 36 for the 1/3 Iron, with a 7-mile out-and-back for beginners. The run is a flat, paved out-and-back path inside the park, from 1.5 miles for beginners up to 15K for the 1/3 Iron.
- Formats
- Olympic, Sprint, 1/3 Iron, Beginner
- Race-day conditions
- Early August around Deer Creek is the heart of summer. Climate data for nearby Mount Sterling give an August average high of about 83 °F and a low of about 62 °F, with a dew point near 62 °F, which feels noticeably humid. August averages about 3.3 inches of rain. Wetsuits are optional and the swim is wetsuit legal when the water is below 78 °F, though mid-summer lake water is often warmer, so be ready to swim without one.
What to train for
The run path is flat and paved, so it is a great day to run steadily off the bike: practise a weekly brick with your race-pace run starting right after you rack your bike.
The bike has gentle climbing on every loop and no aid station, so train with two bottles and learn to drink and eat while riding.
Get comfortable swimming where you cannot touch bottom, with a few open-water sessions before August. The event also offers free training help, so make the most of it as race day approaches.
Sample week
A sample Columbus Triathlon 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
Taper
Tapering for the Columbus Triathlon
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.
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 Olympic-distance triathlon season for the Columbus Triathlon & Multisport Festival in August. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
Columbus Triathlon training questions
How long should I train for the Columbus Triathlon?
Most athletes give a Olympic-distance triathlon twelve to sixteen 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 Columbus Triathlon course like?
The Columbus Triathlon & Multisport Festival is held at the Deer Creek State Park beach near New Holland, south of Columbus, and calls itself a small race with a big race atmosphere.
How cold is the water at the Columbus Triathlon?
Early August around Deer Creek is the heart of summer. Climate data for nearby Mount Sterling give an August average high of about 83 °F and a low of about 62 °F, with a dew point near 62 °F, which feels noticeably humid. August averages about 3.3 inches of rain. Wetsuits are optional and the swim is wetsuit legal when the water is below 78 °F, though mid-summer lake water is often warmer, so be ready to swim without one.
When should I start tapering for the Columbus Triathlon?
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.
Do I need an account to get a Columbus Triathlon training plan?
Start as a guest and save a free account later. Your coach writes your Olympic-distance triathlon plan and adapts it every week as you log your training. No card.