Caught the Ironman Wales buzz and thinking about doing one next summer? It’s okay to feel overwhelmed about starting your training. We have some straightforward tips to help you focus your training efforts and get your Ironman training plan started right up to Christmas. Take the plunge, and let’s get you ready for the challenge!
Current Fitness
Begin by assessing your endurance. Can you swim front crawl for 30-45 minutes, run for 60 minutes twice a week, and bike for 1.5-2 hours without a break? If not, no worries! Gradually build up your stamina by increasing your activity time or distance by just 10% each week. This approach helps you avoid injuries and keeps you training consistently. Remember, slow and steady wins the race!
If you’re not yet at this fitness level, no worries! Just slowly build up by adding about 10% more time or distance each week. For instance, if you’re currently running 2 sessions of 40 minutes each week, why not add 5-10 minutes to each run? Remember, staying patient and consistent helps you train without injuries or illnesses, and it truly pays off in the long run!
Ironman Training Plan – Sample Training Week
When planning your training week, try to alternate between the 3 sports. This way, you’ll engage different muscles and ensure they have time to recover. For example avoid running on consecutive days to keep things balanced!
A sample week looks like this:
- Monday: Swim (30-45minutes easy)
- Tuesday: Run (30-60minutes easy)
- Wednesday: Swim (30-45minutes easy)
- Thursday: Ride (45-60minutes easy)
- Friday: Rest (no training)
- Saturday: Run (45-60minutes easy)
- Sunday: Ride (1.5-2hrs easy)
Intermediate and Advanced Sessions
Feeling comfortable with these basics? Then you can progress straight to a more intermediate Ironman training plan, featuring longer runs and intervals for enhanced strength and speed!
A sample week looks like this
- Monday: Swim (45-60minutes, easy endurance and technique focus)
- Tuesday: Run (60minutes, hard interval run)
- Wednesday: Swim (45-60minutes, hard to build speed and endurance)
- Thursday: Ride (60minutes, hard interval ride)
- Friday: Rest
- Saturday: Endurance Run: (1-2hrs, easy pace)
- Sunday: Endurance Ride: (2hrs-3.5hrs, easy pace)
Sample Interval Sessions
For interval sessions you could begin with manageable 1-minute intervals and gradually increase the fun each week. By the end of the 12 weeks, you’ll be tackling 10-minute challenges just in time for Christmas!
Example sessions
- Week 1: Warm Up, 10minutes easy, Main set: 10 x 1min hard, 1minutes easy, Cool down 10minutes easy
- Week 2: Warm Up ,10minutes easy, Main Set: 8 x 2min hard, 2minutes easy, cool down, 10minutes easy.
- Week 6: Warm Up, 10minutes easy, Main set 3 x 8minutes hard, 4minutes easy, cool down, 10minutes easy
Next Steps
There are plenty of ways to mix things up an Ironman training plan and keep it interesting! If you’re already training at this level, maybe it’s time to kick it up a notch and add some variety to your training. A coach could really help guide you to the next level!
These are some simple suggestions to kickstart your Ironman training plan! Many clients I coach do a lot more training than this. But I also have many who do less than this and still make it round an Ironman. It really depends on your own goals, time availability and your fitness background.
Whether you’re looking to train hard or just enough to cross the finish line why not book a free no obligation Lets Chat with me to find out how I could help.
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