Build your Pumpkinman plan
Your coach opens with the Pumpkinman set for September (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 46 weeks to go.
Start your Pumpkinman plan- Formats
- Olympic, Sprint, Olympic Aquabike
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Field
- About 650 multisport athletes: 400 in the Sprint and 300 in the Olympic, plus relay teams
Pumpkinman distances
- Olympic 0.9 mi swim, 25 mi bike, 6.2 mi run
- Sprint 0.3 mi swim, 15 mi bike, 3.1 mi run
- Olympic Aquabike 25.9 mi, 1,200 ft of climbing
Course
The Pumpkinman course
Everything happens at Spring Hill, 117 Pond Road in South Berwick, with a 7:00 a.m. Olympic start followed by the Sprint.
Read the full course notes
The swim is a counterclockwise triangle in Knights Pond: one third of a mile for the Sprint and two loops of 0.9 mile for the Olympic, with a time-trial start of two athletes every few seconds. Out of the water comes the signature Powderhouse Hill Climb, a timed 250-meter run up a replica of the local ski hill to transition. The bike is a rolling 15-mile loop on the back roads of South Berwick (Knights Pond Road, Hooper Sands Road, Emerys Bridge Road, Bennett Lot Road, Ogunquit Road, Thurrell Road and Great Hill Road), open to traffic, with the Olympic adding a second lap of the eastern section for about 25 miles and roughly 1,200 feet of climbing. The run is a 2.9-mile loop on Pond Road, Knights Pond Road and Junction Road that opens downhill and gains only about 90 feet, run once by the Sprint and twice by the Olympic.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Formats
- Olympic, Sprint, Olympic Aquabike
- Field
- About 650 multisport athletes: 400 in the Sprint and 300 in the Olympic, plus relay teams
- Race-day conditions
- The organizers list average September water temperatures of about 65–70 °F in Knights Pond, and wetsuits are allowed, so most athletes swim in one. Mid-September mornings on the Maine seacoast usually start around 50–58 °F and warm toward the low 70s °F, so pack a warm layer for setup and arm warmers for an early bike.
What to train for
The transition is unlike any other race: practice exiting open water and running hard uphill for a minute or two before getting on the bike, ideally in your wetsuit.
The bike is rolling rather than steep, so ride 2 x 20 minutes at Olympic effort on undulating roads, keeping power steady over short rises, and stay alert because the roads are open.
Add weekly bricks with 15 to 25 minutes of running straight off the bike, starting with a downhill to learn to keep your stride smooth. Get several open-water swims in during August so the time-trial start and triangle course feel familiar.
Sample week
A sample Pumpkinman 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 Pumpkinman
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.
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 Pumpkinman Triathlon Festival in September. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
Pumpkinman training questions
How long should I train for the Pumpkinman?
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 Pumpkinman course like?
Rolling. Everything happens at Spring Hill, 117 Pond Road in South Berwick, with a 7:00 a.m.
How cold is the water at the Pumpkinman?
The organizers list average September water temperatures of about 65–70 °F in Knights Pond, and wetsuits are allowed, so most athletes swim in one. Mid-September mornings on the Maine seacoast usually start around 50–58 °F and warm toward the low 70s °F, so pack a warm layer for setup and arm warmers for an early bike.
When should I start tapering for the Pumpkinman?
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.
Do I need an account to get a Pumpkinman 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.