Once you have CSS, FTP, and FT set (Threshold Testing, training zones) and your Race Pacing Targets, the next question is how to structure the months before race day.
Race-day fitness is rarely accidental. It comes from structured planning and discipline: varied training, load that builds over time, planned recovery weeks, a three-week peak block, then taper and race week so you arrive fresh.
A race plan should not be a flat calendar of kind-of-hard sessions. Periodisation gives each block a job; without it, athletes repeat the same week until something breaks.
Season structure
Season Structure
Your training plan is the full arc from plan start date to race day. The plan is split into phases (mesocycles) and weeks (microcycles).
Its length is set by the race date you enter.
Sessions map to workout intensities and training zones. Brick sessions get longer and more race-specific as race day approaches.
Recovery weeks
Recovery Weeks
Every fourth week is a planned de-load — not random easy days. Without that rhythm, fatigue outruns adaptation.
On WattX
What Your Race Plan Includes on WattX
When you use your WattX Race Plan PRO, you answer questions about your A-race — distance, race date, your average training volume over the past four weeks, and either your race target time or maximum weekly availability. WattX builds the plan backward from race day and fills your plan page with real weeks and sessions.
If you choose max weekly hours and enter less than recommended for your distance, calibration warns you and may suggest a shorter distance. You can continue anyway — but peak volume in the plan uses a minimum so long rides and brick progressions stay coherent. Goal finish time mode derives peak volume from your target; the same minimum applies, without a warning.
Once your training plan is live, you access your dedicated Plan Page. You see where you are in the block (phase and week), what to train this week, and structured swim, bike, and run sessions with targets in min/100m, watts, or min/km. Recovery weeks, brick sessions, and test protocols are placed in your session feed. You log results on Threshold Testing so your training zones always reflect your current fitness.
Pricing is a one-off payment by plan length — see Race Plan Pricing below.
Phases
What Each Phase Does
Aerobic engine — easy volume, technique, durability.
No bricks — swim, bike, and run stay separate while you stack easy volume and durability. Sets the ceiling for threshold work and Race Pacing Targets in build.
Add quality — threshold, sweet spot, VO₂, progressive bricks.
This is where base fitness turns into race fitness. Bike–run bricks start here — see Brick Sessions Explained.
Three weeks — highest load, race-specific bricks.
Volume ramps across the block and peaks on the last peak week. Every peak week includes a simulation brick; session quality shifts toward race-specific work — VO₂ and speed on short-course, threshold and sweet spot on long-course. This is the time to rehearse your race nutrition.
Shed fatigue; short openers only.
Sprint: race week only · Olympic: 1 taper week + race week · 70.3: 2 taper weeks + race week · Ironman: 3 taper weeks + race week. See Race Week Explained.
Feedback loops
Thresholds and Feedback Loops
Each six-week cycle in base and build staggers field tests in your plan feed — bike, then run, then swim on different weeks (not three tests in one week). Log results on Threshold Testing. Protocols are in how to test.
After each race, log the race: Race Analysis compares execution to your plan, proposes threshold updates when the result is trustworthy, and lets you sync proposed thresholds so your profile stays up to date.
The WattX Race Plan PRO turns your race date and calibration into phased weeks, recovery rhythm, and a session feed on your Plan Page.
If an injury stops you swimming, cycling or running, it’s handled differently from illness or travel. See Returning From Injury.
Pricing
Race Plan Pricing
No subscription. One-time payment based on plan duration, whatever the distance.
| Plan length | Price |
|---|---|
| Up to 12 weeks | CHF 49 |
| 13 weeks – 6 months | CHF 89 |
| 6 months – 12 months | CHF 149 |