T-Minus Race Planner

Your race

Units

Your name

Race name (optional)

Start time

Expected conditions

Swim

Your current paces

Your baseline. Type paces as 2:05, 2.05 or 205. Target and cutoff plans speed these up or slow them down evenly.

Swim pace per 100 m

Bike speed (km/h)

Run pace per km

T1 time

T2 time

Your goal

Pick which plan drives the splits, fuelling and timeline below.

Target finish (h:mm:ss)

Cutoffs time from race start (h:mm), leave blank if none

Swim cutoff

Bike cutoff (into T2)

Finish cutoff

Safety buffer (min)Spare time kept at every cutoff.

70.3 and Ironman fill in typical cutoffs. Check your race's athlete guide, as they vary.

Your fuel

Add what you'll actually race with, using the numbers on the packet. The plan rotates through them, saves caffeine for the second half and tops up sodium with capsules if you add some.

Bike bottle size (ml)Drink mix values are per full bottle.

Predicted race

Target finish

–

Fuelling plan

Carry list

Race morning & supporter timeline

Send the race part to whoever's cheering, so they know when you'll come past.

Kit checklists

Race Pack

£4

Printable plan (A4 PDF) with splits, fuel cues, timeline and kit list
Top-tube sticker: your bike fuel cues as long, narrow strips, printed true to size on A4 or Letter
Run wristband: your time at each km marker, with your gels flagged
Garmin workouts: your watch beeps and tells you when to take each gel, chew or bottle, with your pace targets built in (bike and run, plus pool swims)
Lock-screen wallpaper with your splits and first fuel cues

Bike sticker size

Paper

The sticker prints at true size. Print at 100% (Actual size), then check the 50 mm bar on the sheet before cutting.

Your watch tells you when to fuel

No more doing sums on the bike or forgetting a gel. At each fuel point your Garmin beeps or vibrates and shows what to take, e.g. Gel, Bottle 1, Caffeine gel, while keeping you on your target speed or pace.

Good to know: alerts use your watch's GPS distance, which can drift a few hundred metres from the course markers on a long ride. Alerts only work while the workout is running, so they're ideal for rehearsing your race in training. Whether you can use them on race day inside a triathlon activity depends on your watch.

What's in your Garmin workouts

How to get the Garmin workouts onto your watch

Garmin Connect can't import workout files directly, so use one of these two ways. Both are free. These are separate workouts for each leg: bike and run, plus the swim for pool races (Garmin watches don't load open-water swim workouts). Only the newest Garmins, such as the Fenix 8 and Forerunner 970, can run a single triathlon workout. Every watch that runs structured workouts can use these.

Option 1: through Garmin Connect (recommended, no cable)

Tested on a Fenix 7X Pro. You need a computer with Chrome once, to import. After that, Garmin Connect sends the workouts to your watch like any other. The download's garmin-connect-import folder also has one combined triathlon workout for watches that support them (e.g. Fenix 8, Forerunner 970). This uses a free third-party Chrome extension, not made by Garmin, so it could stop working if Garmin changes things. Options 2 and 3 are the backups.

Download Garmin workouts and unzip it.
On a computer, install the Share your Garmin Connect workout extension in Chrome.
Go to connect.garmin.com → Training & Planning → Workouts and click the extension's Import button.
Pick a file from the garmin-connect-import folder: connect-bike.json, connect-run.json, or connect-triathlon.json if your watch runs triathlon workouts.
Open the workout in Connect, press Send to Device, and sync your watch with the Garmin Connect app.

Option 2: with a cable

Download Garmin workouts and unzip it. Use the .fit files: 2-bike.fit and 3-run.fit, plus 1-swim.fit for pool races.
Plug your watch into the computer with its charging cable.
Windows: open File Explorer and click your watch's name. Mac: newer watches don't appear in Finder, so install the free OpenMTP app first and open the watch there.
Open the GARMIN folder, then NewFiles.
Drag the .fit files into NewFiles.
Eject or close the watch, then unplug it.
On the watch, go to your activity (e.g. Bike), then Training → Workouts. Your T-Minus workouts are listed by race name.

Option 3: through Intervals.icu

Intervals.icu is a free training site that can send planned workouts to Garmin Connect, which then syncs them to your watch like any other workout.

Make a free account at intervals.icu.
In its Settings, connect Garmin Connect and switch on Upload planned workouts.
Open its Calendar and drag each .fit file onto the day you want it (or use the upload option on that day).
Open the Garmin Connect app and sync your watch. The workouts appear in your Garmin calendar and on the watch.

If they don't show up

Restart the watch. It sorts new files on start-up.
No NewFiles folder, or still nothing after a restart? Put the files in GARMIN/Workouts instead. Which folder works varies by model and software version rather than by age, so try NewFiles first.
Check you're looking under the right activity: the swim under Pool Swim, the bike under Bike, the run under Run.

Test build: payment isn't connected yet, so downloads are free.

I've read the . I understand T-Minus is a planning tool, not medical, nutrition or coaching advice, and that I'm responsible for my own health and safety.

Help shape T-Minus

Got an idea, spotted a bug, or want your race added? Send it straight to the team.

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Your idea

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Safety, privacy and terms

Important safety information

T-Minus is a planning tool, not professional advice. It is not made by, reviewed by or endorsed by a doctor, dietitian, sports nutritionist, physiotherapist or qualified coach, and nothing in it is medical, nutritional or coaching advice.

The numbers are general estimates. Fuel and fluid figures come from published general guidance for endurance sport (roughly 30–60 g of carbohydrate an hour for 1–2.5 hour events and 60–90 g for longer ones). They are not tailored to your body, health, sweat rate, the weather on the day or the course.
Everyone is different. Too little fuel or fluid can cause exhaustion, dehydration or heat illness. Too much fluid, especially plain water without enough sodium, can cause hyponatraemia (low blood sodium), which can be serious. Caffeine affects people very differently.
Listen to your body, not the plan. Drink and eat to your needs on the day, follow race officials and medical staff, and stop if you feel unwell. Dizziness, confusion, chest pain, severe headache, vomiting or stopping sweating in the heat are reasons to stop and get help.
Practise everything in training first. Never try a new product, amount or caffeine dose for the first time on race day.
Check with a professional before following any plan if you have a medical condition (for example diabetes, a heart or kidney condition, or high blood pressure), take medication, are pregnant, or are new to endurance sport.
No promises about results. Predicted times, paces and cutoff margins are estimates from the numbers you enter. T-Minus does not guarantee a finish time, a result or that you will make a cutoff.
Watch and GPS alerts can be wrong or missed. Workout files and fuel alerts depend on your device, its settings and GPS accuracy. Keep track of your fuelling yourself as well.

By using T-Minus you accept that you are responsible for your own health and safety, and for the decisions you make in training and racing.

Privacy

No accounts. T-Minus doesn't ask you to sign up and doesn't store your plan on a server.
Your plan stays on your device. What you enter (including your name) is saved in your browser's local storage so it's there next time. Clearing your browser data removes it.
Plan links contain your plan. If you copy a plan link, everything in the plan, including your name, is inside the link. Anyone you send it to can see it.
Downloads are made on your device. Your Race Pack files are created in your browser, not on our side.
Feedback. If you email an idea to tminusracing@gmail.com, we use your email only to read and reply, and to improve T-Minus.
Visitor counts. We may use a cookie-free, privacy-friendly analytics service (Cloudflare Web Analytics) to count visits and popular features. It doesn't track you across sites.
Payments. When paid Race Packs launch, payments are handled by Stripe. We never see your card details.
Fonts and libraries load from Google Fonts and cdnjs, which see your IP address when your browser fetches them.
Questions or deletion requests: tminusracing@gmail.com.

Terms of use

T-Minus is provided as a planning aid, as is, for personal use. Read the safety information above before using any plan.
We work to keep the calculations accurate but can't guarantee the site, its files or any watch workout will be error-free or always available.
You're responsible for checking your plan, your race's rules (wetsuits, aid stations, outside assistance, cutoffs) and that any workout file behaves as expected on your device before relying on it.
Paid Race Packs (when launched): the Race Pack is digital content made for you straight away. You'll be asked to agree that you lose the 14-day right to cancel once the download starts. If a file is faulty, contact us and we'll fix it or refund you.
Your Race Pack is personal to you. Please don't share or resell it.
Garmin, Garmin Connect, Fenix and Forerunner are trademarks of Garmin Ltd. T-Minus isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Garmin, Strava, Intervals.icu or any product or brand named here.
To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for any loss, injury or illness arising from using T-Minus or following a plan. Nothing in these terms limits liability that can't be limited by law, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, or your statutory rights as a consumer.
These terms are governed by the law of Northern Ireland. We may update them, and the date below will change.

Last updated 15 November 2026. Contact: tminusracing@gmail.com