Can You Tri an Ironman on No More Than 10 Hours Training a Week?

Ironman on 10 Hours a Week

One question I’m regularly asked is how can I train for an Ironman Triathlon on limited time. Can it be done, or do you need at least 20 hours a week?

There’s no doubt about it, an Ironman distance event is a huge undertaking, and requires athletes to be committed to their training. But can it be done on a meagre 10 hours a week? I believe that it’s possible for most people to get through an Ironman distance event with limited training time, however, it will help if you’ve been training for a while either in one or more of the sports and aren’t doing this from a beginner. In fact I’ll go so far as to say that jumping from the couch to these ideas would be too much. You’ll need to build into it.

Who are these training ideas for?
Maybe you’ve been a cyclist and fancy a new challenge, or perhaps you’ve been a runner and want to change. Maybe you’re already a triathlete but have been competing in shorter duration events. Whatever the situation so long as you’re not starting from scratch or a very low level then you should be able to use these ideas to build up to the requisite fitness needed to complete an Ironman distance event. Note, that I’m saying complete. With training being limited it’ll be unlikely you’re competing at the front of the pack.

How to use the training
If you’ve never properly trained in all 3 of the sports then jumping straight to Ironman on 10-hours a week, will be a tough ask. I’m expecting that you have done some very basic training in all 3 sports.

Three sports
Triathlon consists of 3 sports - swim, bike and run. The swimming aspect is the shortest aspect of the Ironman, while the cycling is the longest (mileage or time), and running is the most impactful. This means that as a time limited athlete you’ll have to apportion session frequency and time in this order
least amount of training - swimming
moderate amount of training - running
most amount of training - cycling

Swimming
We’ll keep things easy with the swimming — you’ll need to two, 45-min sessions each week. Depending on your fitness, and ability level these could be two continuous sessions of 45-mins while swimming at a steady pace. If you have sufficient experience, you could swap out one of the sessions for a threshold session. Here you could complete 3 x 8-mins as hard as you can with a couple minutes easy between the threshold work, and with a short warm up and cool down.

Cycling
Aim for 3 sessions a week so that you can get comfortable with the big distance required for an Ironman. Although cycling is the longest component of the Ironman, given that you’re body is generally supported at all times (by sitting on the bike) you’ll need to do your cycling at the most intense levels you can manage. Indoor turbo training will certainly help you make the most of the training for the shorter sessions
Session 1 10-mins warm up, 3 x 8-mins at FTP, 2-mins easy, 5-mins cool down. For the eagle eyed, it’s the same as the intense swim session!
Session 2 5 to 10-mins warm up, 45-mins at tempo MIET, and 5-mins cool down
Session 3 Up to 4 hours at a steady effort completing a long ride.

Running
Aim for 2 to 3 sessions a week. Many of the weeks will just be two sessions a week of running, where you complete one TTI session over 45-mins, this time running at the same intensity as the swim and cycle versions. You should also complete one long run each week, running up to 2 hours. However, once every few weeks you should also practice a brick session where you complete a steady 30-mins run straight off the bike. To remain within the 10 hours you could shorten the long bike ride by 30-mins. Have your running shoes somewhere easy to access so that you can get off the bike, change quickly and then go for a run.

Putting it all together
Obviously, it’ll very much depend on how your availability is but one option could be
Monday — 45-mins Swim
Tuesday — 45-mins threshold run
Wednesday —45-mins Swim
Thursday — 45-mins threshold cycle
Friday — REST
Saturday — 60-mins MIET cycle, 2-hour Long run
Sunday — Up to 4 hours cycling, occasional brick run

This of course gives you one day off each week. It might be worth changing the day off, or moving sessions around so that you get extra recovery between some of the more intense sessions. It’s obviously not going to be easy getting an Ironman done on such limited time availability, so you will need to work, and you will need to build in recovery weeks where the volume and some of the intensity is scrubbed off. Nutrition will also be a big factor, you’ll need plenty of quality carbohydrates and proteins.

If you have any questions just shoot me a message here, or take a look at our Triathlon Coaching where we can take the hassle out of planning your best year yet, here for our one to one coaching, and here for our Group Coaching. What’s Group Coaching, click here.