The Triathlon Planning View

 

Last week I wrote about matching triathlon planning to the Marine Corps Planning Process. I showed equivalents of strategic, campaign, operational, and tactical planning levels. If the descriptions were difficult to grasp, I’ve tried to make a picture of how the different levels tie into each other

Below is a picture of how it all fits together.

· The large circle is the Strategic Level that answers why you do triathlon and what you hope to accomplish each year.

· The vertical oblong circles with dashed borders represent campaigns of two consecutive years that have a goal that takes a couple of years to reach, such as moving from beginner-level and just finishing races to the intermediate level and competing for age-group podium finishes. In this case, the goals build on each and take a longer time to attain.

· The medium circles represent each year as a single operation that encompasses at a minimum the training aspect and races. In this case, the goals are specific to a training routine (why do you bike hard for 75 minutes instead of easy for four hours?) or a race (want to finish a 40k bike in 75 minutes or a 112 mile bike in 7 hours?).

· The smallest bubbles represent the tactical level of individual events such as races. Overall annual training is one circle for each year. Other things that could be included in each year are equipment purchases or training camps. Or, you are attempt a specific skill for the first time, like starting the bike with your shoes clipped in.

· Not shown are the individual Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) that are used in each race and may be updated each year.