How We Adjust Your Training as the Season Unfolds

How plans usually adjust, and where that runs out

Most athletes adjust a plan in one of two ways. They follow it as written and push through the weeks that feel wrong, or they adjust by feel day to day. Both are understandable.

Pushing through ignores the signals that matter most. The weeks that feel wrong are often the weeks where fatigue is building past what the body can absorb, and the cost arrives a few weeks later as a missed week or worse. Adjusting by feel alone swings the other way. A hard day feels hard, the athlete backs off, and the block never asks enough to change anything.

Our approach sits between the two. The adjustments are deliberate, made on a set rhythm and from a set of inputs, so the plan stays steady when nothing meaningful has changed and moves when something has.

Ben: two races, three weeks apart

Ben Creswick joined ANC in late August with two races coming fast: IRONMAN 70.3 Tri Cities on September 20 and the Victoria Marathon on October 11. Two A races three weeks apart is a hard puzzle. The first race adds fatigue the second has to absorb, and the two races ask for different fitness.

Ben's fitness, fatigue and form from July to November

What it measures. Ben's overall training fitness, fatigue and form across all his sports from July to early November 2026. The dotted lines mark when he joined ANC, his 70.3 and his marathon.

The story at this point. Ben came to ANC with a very large training load. Through July his form spent much of the time below zero. After he joined, his weeks were set to what he could absorb and race on, and his form stayed above zero through most of the fall. It peaked going into each race. His fitness drifted down slowly as his training moved into race specific work and then recovery after the marathon.

How to read it. Navy is fitness, grey is fatigue and orange is form. Form above the zero line means you are fresher than usual. Look for the orange line rising into each dotted race line.

You might see this in your own training if you train a lot and still feel flat on race day. Arriving fresh can matter as much as the size of your training.

His fitness drifting down slightly through the fall could look like lost ground. It was a choice. Fitness that can't be expressed on race day doesn't help, and Ben's form rising into each race is what let him race both well.

Before Tri Cities. His limiter was execution. He was fit and he had plenty of drive, so the work was teaching him to hold back. On a hilly route, Angela told him, "the main thing is not letting the rises turn the whole ride into a hard day." He placed third in his age group in 4:20:01.

Between the races. Right after Tri Cities, we split his sports. His run stayed race specific for the marathon. His bike went back to base work, because his next bike race was eight months away. Two days after the 70.3 he wrote that his "legs seemingly have bounced back well," and the marathon build carried on. On September 27 he ran a 34 km long run with race pace intervals. "Intervals were tough at the end legs were feeling it but still felt in control," he wrote. Angela's reply: "That's exactly the kind of long practice."

The marathon. Ben ran 2:46:42 at Victoria, third of 299 in his age group and 33rd of 3,817 overall.

After the marathon. The week after Victoria was a Big Pull Back. When he came back, his heart rate sat a little high, and we read it as normal after a week off. His first full week back was 15 hours across 19 sessions. "Bike fitness is feeling GREAT," Ben wrote. Angela's answer: "WE might need to retest! Strong!" He is now in Base and Durability for both sports, with a retest in mid November and 70.3 Victoria next May about 30 weeks out. In his own words, the winter is for "a bigger engine, more durability, and a higher ceiling for the hard work later."

Each of those steps was decided in the week it was needed, from what Ben's training and comments showed at the time. None of them could have been written in August.

Katy: from winter base to Boston

Katy Walmsley's build ran from December 2025 to Boston on April 20, 2026. It shows adjusting across a whole season.

Katy's fitness, fatigue and form from December to Boston

What it measures. Katy's overall training fitness, fatigue and form across run, bike and swim from December 2025 to Boston, with her half marathon best in late March marked.

The story at this point. Katy came to ANC wanting to make her running count. Her fitness rose through December and early January, from the mid 80s to about 100, then held around 105 through February and March. In early January she moved from base into a bigger block, and her form dipped deep for a short stretch while her body absorbed the jump. From then on we kept her form close to zero for weeks at a time, which is where steady building happens. After her half marathon best on March 29, her form climbed steadily to about plus 35 on Boston race morning.

How to read it. Navy is fitness, grey is fatigue and orange is form. The dip in early January is the hardest stretch of the build. The climb at the far right is her taper.

You might see this in your own training if your fitness holds level for a few months while your racing gets better. Holding a high level of fitness lets the quality of your training rise on top of it.

Here are the decisions behind that picture.

• Base to January 4. Katy built her engine while her bike and swim carried much of the aerobic work.
• A bridge block. Aerobic Expansion linked her base to harder running.
• Build in February. Her threshold came up.
• VO2 Max from March 1 to 22. We raised her ceiling, then ended the block when it had done its work.
• Marathon specific to Boston. Her race specific long runs came in this block, including a 27.6 km run on April 6.

The deep dip in early January is a good example of reading a number in context. Very low form can be a warning. Right after a planned step into a bigger block, it was the expected cost of the step, so we watched it closely and kept her form near zero once she had absorbed it. Her bike stayed in base until March, separate from her running. As race week came close, the focus moved to freshness. "Let's focus on recovery and readiness," Angela wrote on April 14.

Katy ran a half marathon best of 1:34:09 three weeks out. "That was hard but I felt really strong!" she wrote. Then she ran Boston in 3:28:46, a marathon PR. Her next limiter, from the race, is late race durability, and that shapes her current training.

When there is no race on the calendar

Adjusting also covers the quiet parts of a season. After the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championship in Nice on September 13, Graham Lloyd had no race booked. His run was still rebuilding, so it went back to Base and Durability, and his walk run sessions kept progressing inside that block. His bike came down from its summer peak while he recovered.

With no race to aim for, the questions changed. What should the winter build? What race would suit him next? Graham was open about it: "What half marathon time would we be aiming for? I'm certainly willing to experiment." A note like that tells us what excites the athlete, and we choose the next block with that in mind. His retest in mid November will give the next block its numbers.

A season without a race still needs direction. Without one, training tends to drift into the same comfortable week on repeat. We keep the block purposeful, keep the load steady and use the time to build the things a race build won't have room for.

How what we learn changes the decision

You raced two weeks ago, recovered well and your sessions are sharp

We usually keep building, often with a Small Push in the sport that is ready.

Your sessions that were hard now feel controlled and your short checks are rising

The block has likely done its job. We plan the test for the following week and choose the next block from it.

Your form drops deep right after a planned step up

We expect some of that and watch it closely, as with Katy in January. If it stays deep or your comments turn, we pull back.

There is no race on your calendar

We choose a block that builds what a race build has no room for, and use your goals to shape it, as with Graham this fall.

What this means for you