An Olympic triathlon is a short-distance triathlon consisting of a 1500-meter swim, 40k-bike, and a 10k-run. Learn more about this distance and our top tips on how to ace your race!
Olympic triathlon training combines the three classic triathlon disciplines of swim, bike, and run. It’s twice as long as its shorter companion, the sprint distance triathlon. However, it’s still a popular distance for first-timers, given that each discipline is manageable in terms of technique and time out in the field on race day.
If you’re an experienced triathlete or already have a background in either of the three disciplines (swim, bike, run), the Olympic distance is a logical step along your endurance journey.
What is an Olympic distance Triathlon?
The Olympic triathlon consists of a 1500-meter swim, followed by a 40k bike, finishing with a 10k run.
| Olympic distance Triathlon | Distances |
| Swim | 1,500-meters (1640 yards) |
| Bike | 40k (25 miles) |
| Run | 10k (6.2 miles) |
Like the sprint distance, this is a popular entry point into the sport of triathlon because it isn’t overly long, doesn’t require copious amounts of training to complete, and makes for a fun morning of racing with friends. The top racers will cross the finish line in about two hours, with weekend warriors finishing in three hours and those still building their fitness taking longer than that.
A general rule of thumb is that as you progress through your triathlon journey and desire to challenge yourself further, the distances will more or less double from sprint, to Olympic distance, to half Ironman (70.3), to full distance (140.6).
Olympic Triathlon Training: General Program Components
As you begin your Olympic triathlon training, you should follow several principles to help you finish the race in good shape and support your longevity in the sport of triathlon. Our goal here is to create a positive experience in this sport, including many years of enjoyment!
Of course, you'll need to complete training sessions in swimming, cycling, and running to train for your first Olympic distance event. You can get away with doing about 8 weeks of solid training to complete your first race. Depending on your time availability and how long it is until your race, an Olympic triathlon training plan spanning 12, 16, or even 24 weeks will almost always yield more fitness. And with more fitness comes more enjoyment on race day as you’re not excessively pushing yourself all the time!
How much do I need to train to finish an Olympic distance triathlon?
If you thought training for triathlons is terribly time-consuming, lucky for you, that doesn’t need to be the case. Triathlon doesn't require training for a million hours per week, especially for competing in an Olympic distance event. The truth is that you need to train for 5-8 hours per week if you want to simply finish the Olympic distance triathlon. Training 8-10 hours per week will have you finishing strong, while more than 10 hours, and you’ll soon be recognized as one of the faster local triathletes.
How should I train for an Olympic distance triathlon?
In terms of structuring your training, more isn’t always better.
- Studies have shown that for optimal performance, your training should include about 80% low-intensity work and 20% high-intensity work.
- A lot of low-intensity training to build your base during the off-season will allow you to hit it hard during race season.
- The key is to develop a more extensive base during the off-season, performing low-intensity sessions to acclimate your body to the long endurance day of a triathlon.
We advise you to use these training zones as you approach Olympic triathlon training:
| Training Zones | Rate of Perceived Exertion |
| Recovery | 1-2 |
| cardio | 3-4 |
| TEMPO | 5-6 |
| vo2 max | 7-8 |
| speed & power | 9 |
| neuro-muscular power | 10 |
If you’d like a deeper dive on the training zones, see the Beginner Guide to Sprint Triathlon where I explain, in detail, what’s happening as you train in each zone.
Recovery
Race pace effort during training is essential so that people get comfortable with their race intensity. Generally speaking, more is more until it's not, and the “until it's not” is very important. More training is better until you start breaking down. And this is why recovery is a crucial part of your training.
There are a variety of ways to recover between workouts. The ones you should prioritize are:
- Sleep;
- Low intensity or total rest days; and
- Quality nutrition.
Besides setting time aside for recovery and creating a balance between workouts and recovery periods, you also need to pay attention to stressors - i.e., any outside pressures and time commitments in your life outside of training. Recognize when they prevent you from recovering enough to improve your fitness.
Several indications of improper recovery include sore muscles, disturbed sleep, or lack of motivation for a second workout in the day. If you’re experiencing these symptoms often, you may have gone too far. At this point, you should consider scaling back the training load.
Mental Fitness
Triathlon is a challenge. That’s why many people seek them out - because they are hard. At the same time, though, stepping outside of our comfort zone, even forcing ourselves there, is unnatural. Your ability to do so is called mental toughness.
The more familiar you become with challenging physical and mental situations, the better you’ll be able to push through them. And, on race day, the more likely you are to keep pushing to the end.
Olympic Triathlon Training
Let’s move on to the specifics of your triathlon distance and the relevant training for your 1500-meter swim, 40k bike ride, and 10k run.
Assuming another good off-season of base building, your race preparation should focus on intense workouts. The longer bike and run workouts become very important because a fair bit of endurance is required for an Olympic distance event. After all, the average time for finishing an event is just shy of three hours… not negligible!
Swim
First and foremost, I recommend you focus on comfort and basic capabilities in the water. Only after that should you work on fitness and speed.
That said, let’s assume, since you’re reading about Olympic distance triathlon, that you’re capable of already swimming 1500 meters in one go. When it comes to building fitness and speed in the water, you’ll want to focus on two things:
- Time; and
- Purpose
It will take time to improve in the pool. If this is a weak spot for you, understand that it will require attention and consistency to improve. To get the most out of those swim sessions each week, you need to swim with purpose. Do not swim mindlessly without paying attention to your form, effort levels, or workout structure.
One of the most common complaints from triathletes who struggle in the water is that they have “sinky legs.” This slows them down because it increases the drag and burns more energy as they are forced to pull themselves through the water.
Common faults that lead to sinking legs include:
- Lifting our heads to breathe, thus driving our legs down
- Kicking aggressively and wildly, burning up a huge amount of oxygen, and initiating a panic response
- Kicking wide or spreading our legs apart as we kick, creating drag outside the body line.
What’s the correct technique to create a floating body position? Here are a few easy tips:
- Gently press the chest downward into the water to counteract buoyancy.
- Slightly tense the core from the belly button all the way down and around to the butt cheeks to allow the legs to seesaw upward as a result of pressing the chest downward.
- Kick as lightly as possible so that the heels just break the surface of the water.
- Kick in a narrow channel, keeping the legs right in behind the body, reducing drag.
- Point the toes gently, keeping them right in behind the body, further reducing drag.
So, when you get these points nailed down, you’ll look like this: The back of your head, butt cheeks, and heels will be at the surface of the water. You’ll look straight down at the bottom of the pool. Your legs will be in a channel only about 1.5 feet wide. You’ll turn your head ever so slightly to breathe that it barely looks like you’re catching a breath (kind of like when a dolphin surfaces to breathe).
TRIATHLON SWIMMING FOUNDATIONS is our top-rated book that has the exact method we recommend new triathletes take to develop comfort and capability in the swim.
Bike
When you prepare for an Olympic triathlon, you can get started with just two bike workouts per week:
- One long bike workout should build up to a distance of 60-70 km.
- One intense workout should focus on intervals building up from 30 seconds to 2.5 minutes. Once you get comfortable there, you can begin to build from 2.5-minute intervals up to 25-minute race pace efforts during your longer rides.
TRIATHLON BIKE FOUNDATIONS outlines in great detail these two bike workouts per week and what gear you should get in what order for your bike (along with pages and pages of other awesome tips).
Run
Run training is hard, but it's crucial because running is where you can undo all of your good training by having a terrible time on race day.
Since it’s a weight-bearing exercise, running drives your heart rate up more than biking or swimming. When your heart rate increases too often, stress hormones build up, which increases the risk of injury, getting sick, and overtraining. Stress hormones also make it difficult to perform well during your fast training, preventing you from pushing hard enough to actually generate a positive training response.
All of this means that a lot of your run training needs to be done at low intensity; it doesn't really matter what the pace is. People might say, “Well, what happens if I'm walking? How is that building any fitness?” You're still doing weight-bearing exercise. You're still teaching your body to endure that weight.
The goal of low-intensity running is not to make you that much faster; it's to build a lot of mitochondria, which you do by staying in the correct zone. The goal is also to build durability, enabling you to continue in that upright running or walking fashion for an extended period of time.
While most of your runs should be low intensity, that doesn’t mean you should ignore the hard stuff either. Early on in your training, you should include sprints so that you can develop the neuromuscular ability to turn your legs over quickly and unlock that ability to run fast.
During the first few weeks of an Olympic triathlon training plan, you can include several 10 to 30-second bursts to recruit a lot of muscle fibers. Then you can transition into short intervals of upwards of 2 minutes, then longer intervals of 7 minutes at your race pace.
Closer to your race and especially within the final 6 to 8 weeks, your longer sustained tempo runs should include higher-intensity efforts anywhere between 20 minutes to 40 minutes in length, at above race pace.
As for your longer runs, make sure to gradually increase the distance by 10% each week until you reach 14-16 km. This over-distance training will make that 10k race finish seem easy!
TRIATHLON RUNNING FOUNDATIONS is one of the best-rated triathlon training books in the world with a 4.62/5-star rating on Goodreads.
Strength training
Strength training is a critical part of any endurance training plan. It should be included throughout the entire program. Studies repeatedly support cutting back on your total amount of endurance training (swim, bike, run) and substituting it with strength training. You’re more likely to perform better than if you had done nothing but endurance training.
For example, strength training has been proven to increase runners’ speed and VO2 Max. Moreover, strength exercises help prevent injury by giving you the tools to better support your joints during weight-bearing workouts such as running. Other studies looking at endurance triathletes show the importance of strength training for developing exercise economy - i.e., making you more efficient, so you’re expending less energy when you’re racing.
Strength training makes you:
- stronger;
- more explosive; and
- more stable.
It’s especially important for adult amateur endurance athletes because it prevents muscle loss, which is a major contributor to aging and poor hormones.
Strength training should be intense and frequent outside of race-specific training. In the My Mottiv app, we provide 30-minute sessions up to 3 times per week. These are intense and will leave you feeling fit, confident, and accomplished.
We back off to just one strength workout per week during race-specific training, focusing more on muscle activation with lighter weights and more mobility.
Mobility
Triathletes travel in a straight line, but we still need to be mobile. Incorporating something like yoga can have a profound effect on your fitness and stave off the aging process. Moreover, without mobility and agility training, we’re more susceptible to falls and broken bones as we get older. It sounds crazy, but a fall could not only take you out of your fitness but also worsen your quality of life going forward.
Endurance training, believe it or not, is a detriment to mobility because we're repeatedly in a single range of motion. Falling into that pattern of only traveling in a straight line makes us very one-dimensional.
To combat the adverse effects of the repeated motions of swim, bike, and run training, we need to test ourselves laterally, side to side, or in different ranges of motion, along with our balance and quick ground reaction time. This improves our mobility to maintain a high quality of life without risking injury as we age.
So, add some stretching and mobility work to your Olympic triathlon training plan to stay as mobile as possible.
Olympic Triathlon Training Plan
As I mentioned earlier, with a good off-season and base-building that features plenty of low-intensity training, your in-season Olympic triathlon preparation should focus on high-intensity workouts.
Pacing for an Olympic triathlon is an 8 to 9 out of 10. You’re really pushing just below your absolute max. You certainly don’t need to and should not train near your maximum capacity at all times, but it’s worth noting just how intense these shorter distance races can be.
Race nutrition is more of a factor as you step up from sprint to Olympic distance racing. Considering that you’ll be racing for longer than 90 minutes at high intensity, you need to develop a nutrition strategy. Two general rules of thumb to consider as you calculate and build your race nutrition:
- Take in roughly 240 calories from carbs per hour; and
- One bottle of light electrolytes per hour
To look and feel your best, you’ll want to maintain good nutritional habits while you're training, so here are some tips:
- Eat before workouts
- Eat carbs before the hard workouts
- Eat carbs plus protein within 30 minutes of a workout
- Drink fluid with electrolytes at a rate of one bottle per hour
I strongly encourage eating before your workouts and avoiding fasted workouts because of the risk of developing relative energy deficiency syndrome (RED-S). You mostly hear about RED-S occurring in female athletes; however, males have trouble with this as well. Not consuming enough calories is one of the most significant issues that cause endurance athletes to have poor hormone issues, sleep issues, bone loss, muscle loss, poor performance, and a poor quality of life.
Therefore, I can’t stress enough how important it is to fuel appropriately.
Training scheduling
When building out your weekly training schedule, I recommend integrating it with your life and work commitments.
For example, if this fits, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are your key, very intense, and solid training days.
Then, move shorter workouts of an hour or less to Mondays and Fridays. These can be done at a lower intensity and frame the weekend nicely, providing a break from the hard training you've done from Tuesday to Thursday. Think of active recovery and lower intensity swims, bikes, and even runs. The weekend typically is where you focus on the longer workouts.
For your swims, as you get into specific race prep, workouts can last anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes, a few times per week.
For the bike and run, we’re targeting an over-distance goal of 60k to 70k on the bike and 14k to 16k on the run. You’ll reach this by starting wherever you are -- whatever a long bike and a long run are to you is fine. Start there and build up by 10% each week. Every third week, take a rest week where you do roughly 60% of your previous high and then build up by 10% the next two weeks from your last highs.
Beginner Olympic Triathlon Training Plan
8 average hours training per week. One workout per day, besides one day that has two. First option to reach the goal of "Finish feeling strong"; more training hours will be required to compete, less will be required if you just want to finish. Starting from scratch, with a modest athletic background, we recommend taking nine months to prepare for a sprint race to have the goal of finishing feeling strong; if your goal is to compete it or if you have zero athletic background it'll take longer, if your goal is just to finish or you have excellent athletic background it'll take less time. Of course, you can race at any level of preparation, just make sure your expectations are in line with your total amount of training.
The longer duration plans here of 12, 16, and 24 weeks can be used as Olympic triathlon training plan intermediate and Olympic triathlon training plan advanced.
8 weeks 12 weeks 16 weeks 24 weeks
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK 1 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3, 2mins easy spin rest between: 2mins 80 cadence, 2mins 70 cadence, 2mins 60 cadence, 2mins 50 cadence | Intense Run 55 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 2mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10x30sec Zone 5, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 80% effort. | Main Bike 80 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run for up to 30mins immediately after a bike. | Main Run 55 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 10mins close to your target race pace. |
| WEEK 2 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3: 1mins 80 cadence, 1mins 70 cadence, 3mins 60 cadence, 3mins 50 cadence, 2mins easy spin rest. | Intense Run 52 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 16x25 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins. 4x2mins high Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 5x100 at 90-75% effort with 10sec rest. | Main Bike 85 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first 15mins at race pace. | Main Run 60 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 3x5mins above target race pace, 3mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 3 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat the following 5min exiting T1 sequence six times:30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 3 pedaling NOT IN AEROBARS preventing a spiked heart rate, 90sec Zone 2 in aerobars at race cadence to keep heart rate from spiking and simulate getting up to speed, 2min in aerobars at race effort and cadence, 1min easy recovery | Intense Run 40 mins total. 20mins at tempo pace | Main Swim 40 mins. Main Set: 6x100 at 85% effort with 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10min leg strength sequence all in low Zone 4: 4mins at 50rpm, 3mins at 60rpm, 2mins at 70rpm, 1min at 80rpm. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x200 at 80% effort with 15sec rest. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 4 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x3.5mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x500 at 70-75% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to mid Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 85% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 90 mins total. 3x10min at race effort, with 5min easy rest intervals in between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Start off easy and build to very gradually to race pace by the final third of the run. | Main Run 65 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 3x7mins above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 5 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x4mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 600 at 80% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 70-90% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 95 mins total. 3x12min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run 30 mins immediately after the bike | Main Run 70 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 2x10mins at or above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 6 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 7 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 8 TAPER | Steady Bike 25 mins total. 20min Zone 2 all in aerobars, include 5x1min building to just above race effort | Intense Run 20 mins total. 6x30sec fast pick ups spread throughout. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 increasing effort every 25 as 75-80-85-90% | Intense Bike 25 mins total. Repeat the following 5min sequence four times all in aerobars: 2min Zone 2, 30sec building up to high Zone 4 for final 10sec, 2min Zone 2, 30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 4 | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x100, 15sec rest between | Race Day Eve Swim 10 mins Race Day Eve Bike 20 mins Race Day Eve Run 10 mins | RACE DAY! |
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK 1 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3, 2mins easy spin rest between: 2mins 80 cadence, 2mins 70 cadence, 2mins 60 cadence, 2mins 50 cadence | Intense Run 55 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 2mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10x30sec Zone 5, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 80% effort. | Main Bike 80 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run for up to 30mins immediately after a bike. | Main Run 55 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 10mins close to your target race pace. |
| WEEK 2 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3: 1mins 80 cadence, 1mins 70 cadence, 3mins 60 cadence, 3mins 50 cadence, 2mins easy spin rest. | Intense Run 52 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 16x25 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins. 4x2mins high Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 5x100 at 90-75% effort with 10sec rest. | Main Bike 85 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first 15mins at race pace. | Main Run 60 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 3x5mins above target race pace, 3mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 3 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat the following 5min exiting T1 sequence six times:30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 3 pedaling NOT IN AEROBARS preventing a spiked heart rate, 90sec Zone 2 in aerobars at race cadence to keep heart rate from spiking and simulate getting up to speed, 2min in aerobars at race effort and cadence, 1min easy recovery | Intense Run 40 mins total. 20mins at tempo pace | Main Swim 40 mins. Main Set: 6x100 at 85% effort with 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10min leg strength sequence all in low Zone 4: 4mins at 50rpm, 3mins at 60rpm, 2mins at 70rpm, 1min at 80rpm. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x200 at 80% effort with 15sec rest. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 4 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x3.5mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x500 at 70-75% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to mid Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 85% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 90 mins total. 3x10min at race effort, with 5min easy rest intervals in between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Start off easy and build to very gradually to race pace by the final third of the run. | Main Run 65 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 3x7mins above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 5 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x4mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 600 at 80% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 70-90% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 95 mins total. 3x12min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run 30 mins immediately after the bike | Main Run 70 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 2x10mins at or above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 6 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 7 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 8 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. Repeat three times: 4.5mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins easy spin. | Intense Run 59 mins total. 5x5.5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 3mins Zone 5, 1min easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 2x100 at 90% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 115 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 80 mins total. Run the final 30mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 9 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 10 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 15mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 58 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1.5min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins. 4x25 at race take out effort 2x sights/25 and 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2min at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2.5min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 85% effort with 2mins rest. | Main Bike 125 mins total. 2x25min above race effort with 10min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 30mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 11 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 20mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2:30 at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 8x50 at 80-90% effort with 5 - 15sec rest. | Main Bike 135 mins total. 50 mins above race effort. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 40mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 12 TAPER | Steady Bike 25 mins total. 20min Zone 2 all in aerobars, include 5x1min building to just above race effort | Intense Run 20 mins total. 6x30sec fast pick ups spread throughout. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 increasing effort every 25 as 75-80-85-90% | Intense Bike 25 mins total. Repeat the following 5min sequence four times all in aerobars: 2min Zone 2, 30sec building up to high Zone 4 for final 10sec, 2min Zone 2, 30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 4 | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x100, 15sec rest between | Race Day Eve Swim 10 mins Race Day Eve Bike 20 mins Race Day Eve Run 10 mins | RACE DAY! |
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK 1 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3, 2mins easy spin rest between: 2mins 80 cadence, 2mins 70 cadence, 2mins 60 cadence, 2mins 50 cadence | Intense Run 55 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 2mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10x30sec Zone 5, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 80% effort. | Main Bike 80 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run for up to 30mins immediately after a bike. | Main Run 55 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 10mins close to your target race pace. |
| WEEK 2 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3: 1mins 80 cadence, 1mins 70 cadence, 3mins 60 cadence, 3mins 50 cadence, 2mins easy spin rest. | Intense Run 52 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 16x25 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins. 4x2mins high Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 5x100 at 90-75% effort with 10sec rest. | Main Bike 85 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first 15mins at race pace. | Main Run 60 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 3x5mins above target race pace, 3mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 3 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat the following 5min exiting T1 sequence six times:30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 3 pedaling NOT IN AEROBARS preventing a spiked heart rate, 90sec Zone 2 in aerobars at race cadence to keep heart rate from spiking and simulate getting up to speed, 2min in aerobars at race effort and cadence, 1min easy recovery | Intense Run 40 mins total. 20mins at tempo pace | Main Swim 40 mins. Main Set: 6x100 at 85% effort with 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10min leg strength sequence all in low Zone 4: 4mins at 50rpm, 3mins at 60rpm, 2mins at 70rpm, 1min at 80rpm. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x200 at 80% effort with 15sec rest. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 4 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x3.5mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x500 at 70-75% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to mid Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 85% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 90 mins total. 3x10min at race effort, with 5min easy rest intervals in between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Start off easy and build to very gradually to race pace by the final third of the run. | Main Run 65 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 3x7mins above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 5 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x4mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 600 at 80% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 70-90% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 95 mins total. 3x12min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run 30 mins immediately after the bike | Main Run 70 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 2x10mins at or above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 6 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 7 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 8 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 9 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 10 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. Repeat three times: 4.5mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins easy spin. | Intense Run 59 mins total. 5x5.5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 3mins Zone 5, 1min easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 2x100 at 90% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 115 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 80 mins total. Run the final 30mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 11 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. Repeat three times: 4.5mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins easy spin. | Intense Run 59 mins total. 5x5.5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 3mins Zone 5, 1min easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 2x100 at 90% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 115 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 80 mins total. Run the final 30mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 12 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 13 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 15mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 58 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1.5min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins. 4x25 at race take out effort 2x sights/25 and 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2min at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2.5min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 85% effort with 2mins rest. | Main Bike 125 mins total. 2x25min above race effort with 10min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 30mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 14 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 20mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2:30 at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 8x50 at 80-90% effort with 5 - 15sec rest. | Main Bike 135 mins total. 50 mins above race effort. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 40mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 15 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 20mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2:30 at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 8x50 at 80-90% effort with 5 - 15sec rest. | Main Bike 135 mins total. 50 mins above race effort. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 40mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 16 TAPER | Steady Bike 25 mins total. 20min Zone 2 all in aerobars, include 5x1min building to just above race effort | Intense Run 20 mins total. 6x30sec fast pick ups spread throughout. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 increasing effort every 25 as 75-80-85-90% | Intense Bike 25 mins total. Repeat the following 5min sequence four times all in aerobars: 2min Zone 2, 30sec building up to high Zone 4 for final 10sec, 2min Zone 2, 30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 4 | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x100, 15sec rest between | Race Day Eve Swim 10 mins Race Day Eve Bike 20 mins Race Day Eve Run 10 mins | RACE DAY! |
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY | SUNDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WEEK 1 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3, 2mins easy spin rest between: 2mins 80 cadence, 2mins 70 cadence, 2mins 60 cadence, 2mins 50 cadence | Intense Run 55 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 2mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10x30sec Zone 5, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 80% effort. | Main Bike 80 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run for up to 30mins immediately after a bike. | Main Run 55 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 10mins close to your target race pace. |
| WEEK 2 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3, 2mins easy spin rest between: 2mins 80 cadence, 2mins 70 cadence, 2mins 60 cadence, 2mins 50 cadence | Intense Run 55 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 2mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins total. 10x30sec Zone 5, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 80% effort. | Main Bike 80 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run for up to 30mins immediately after a bike. | Main Run 55 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 10mins close to your target race pace. |
| WEEK 3 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 4 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3: 1mins 80 cadence, 1mins 70 cadence, 3mins 60 cadence, 3mins 50 cadence, 2mins easy spin rest. | Intense Run 52 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 16x25 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins. 4x2mins high Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 5x100 at 90-75% effort with 10sec rest. | Main Bike 85 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first 15mins at race pace. | Main Run 60 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 3x5mins above target race pace, 3mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 5 | Steady Bike 55 mins total. Repeat the following 10min sequence four times, all at high Zone 3: 1mins 80 cadence, 1mins 70 cadence, 3mins 60 cadence, 3mins 50 cadence, 2mins easy spin rest. | Intense Run 52 mins total. 7x3mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 16x25 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 56 mins. 4x2mins high Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 30sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 5x100 at 90-75% effort with 10sec rest. | Main Bike 85 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2 for the majority of the ride. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first 15mins at race pace. | Main Run 60 mins total. Towards the end of this run perform 3x5mins above target race pace, 3mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 6 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 7 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x3.5mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x500 at 70-75% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to mid Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 85% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 90 mins total. 3x10min at race effort, with 5min easy rest intervals in between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Start off easy and build to very gradually to race pace by the final third of the run. | Main Run 65 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 3x7mins above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 8 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x3.5mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1.5mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x500 at 70-75% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to mid Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 85% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 90 mins total. 3x10min at race effort, with 5min easy rest intervals in between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Start off easy and build to very gradually to race pace by the final third of the run. | Main Run 65 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 3x7mins above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 9 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 10 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x4mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 600 at 80% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 70-90% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 95 mins total. 3x12min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run 30 mins immediately after the bike | Main Run 70 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 2x10mins at or above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 11 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. 2x20mins at top of Zone 3/bottom of Zone 4 | Intense Run 60 mins total. 8x4mins at Zone 4 effort, with 1mins easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 600 at 80% effort. | Intense Bike 58 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 2min easy spin between: 6min building effort every 2mins from low to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 70-90% effort with 60sec rest. | Main Bike 95 mins total. 3x12min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run 30 mins immediately after the bike | Main Run 70 mins. Towards the end of this run perform 2x10mins at or above target race pace, 5mins easy jog between. |
| WEEK 12 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 13 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 14 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 15 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 16 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 17 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. Repeat four times: 3mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 3mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 3mins easy spin. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x250 at 80% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 2.5mins Zone 5, 90sec easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 80% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 105 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 75 mins. Run the final 20mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 18 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 19 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. Repeat three times: 4.5mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins easy spin. | Intense Run 59 mins total. 5x5.5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 3mins Zone 5, 1min easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 2x100 at 90% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 115 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 80 mins total. Run the final 30mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 20 | Steady Bike 62 mins total. Repeat three times: 4.5mins Zone 3 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 3 with +100 cadence, 4.5mins Zone 4 with 60-70 cadence, 4.5mins easy spin. | Intense Run 59 mins total. 5x5.5min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following four times: 3mins Zone 5, 1min easy spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. Main Set: 2x100 at 90% effort with 30sec rest. | Main Bike 115 mins total. 3x15min at race effort with 3min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 45 mins total. Run the first 15mins at easy Zone 2 pace, then 15mins at target race pace, then 15mins above target race pace. | Main Run 80 mins total. Run the final 30mins at race pace. |
| WEEK 21 REST | Steady Bike 40 mins total. Repeat twice with 5mins easy spin between: 10mins with HR right at top of Zone 2, lower 55-75 cadence. | Intense Run 40 mins total. 6x30sec fast effort with 2min easy jog between. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 2x400 at 70-75% effort with 2mins rest. | Intense Bike 57 mins total. Repeat the following sequence five times with a 3min easy spin between: 5min effort in mid to high Zone 4. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 400 at 85% effort. | Main Bike 50 mins total. Ride easy zones 1 or 2. Brick Run 15 mins total. | Main Run 45 mins all Zone 2 |
| WEEK 22 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 15mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 58 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1.5min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins. 4x25 at race take out effort 2x sights/25 and 20sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2min at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2.5min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x300 at 85% effort with 2mins rest. | Main Bike 125 mins total. 2x25min above race effort with 10min easy rest intervals between. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 30mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 23 | Steady Bike 60 mins total. 20mins low 70-80 cadence with HR right at the top of Zone 2, in the aerobars. | Intense Run 56 mins total. 5x6min at hard Zone 4 effort, with 1min easy jog between intervals. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 8x100 at 85% effort with 10sec rest. | Intense Bike 53 mins total. Repeat the following sequence seven times: 2:30 at high Zone 4, 15sec building to even stronger Zone 5 effort, then jump into 15sec of absolute MAX effort, 2min easy recovery spin. | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 8x50 at 80-90% effort with 5 - 15sec rest. | Main Bike 135 mins total. 50 mins above race effort. Brick Run 30 mins total. Run the first half at target race pace the remainder of the run at Zone 2 | Main Run 75 mins total. Run the final 40mins slightly above race pace. |
| WEEK 24 TAPER | Steady Bike 25 mins total. 20min Zone 2 all in aerobars, include 5x1min building to just above race effort | Intense Run 20 mins total. 6x30sec fast pick ups spread throughout. | Main Swim 40 mins total. 4x100 increasing effort every 25 as 75-80-85-90% | Intense Bike 25 mins total. Repeat the following 5min sequence four times all in aerobars: 2min Zone 2, 30sec building up to high Zone 4 for final 10sec, 2min Zone 2, 30sec low 50-60 cadence Zone 4 | Steady Swim 40 mins total. 2x100, 15sec rest between | Race Day Eve Swim 10 mins Race Day Eve Bike 20 mins Race Day Eve Run 10 mins | RACE DAY! |
Ace Your Olympic Distance Race
Building off your successful foray into sprint triathlon, there’s no reason why you can’t continue to develop the required endurance and fitness to complete an Olympic distance race in good order. With a few nuances to training, nutrition, and racing, you now have the knowledge and the training plan to cross the line of your first Olympic distance event.
Read more
- Never forget another item on race day with The Ultimate Triathlon Race Day Checklist
- Not yet ready for an Olympic distance race? Check out our Beginners Guide to Sprint Triathlon Training
- Develop swimming strength for triathlon.
Sources/Links
Written on:
2021-09-01
Table of contents
"Triathlon Taren" Gesell is founder of MOTTIV and one of the world's top experts on helping adults become endurance athletes later in life. Best known for his YouTube channel and podcast, Taren is the author of the Triathlon Foundations series of books and has been published featured in endurance publications around the world.
