Example Analysis of an Ironman Athlete’s Training Schedule

One value that a coach provide even an experienced athlete is objective feedback via a consultation.

A friend of a friend of mine (let's call him Jim) is training for Ironman Utah (St. George) on May 1st.  Jim's concern is that because of the recent weather we've been having in Maryland that he has not had the opportunity to do enough riding outside. He recalled that when he was training for a previous summer Ironman, he was able to complete 2-3 hour bike rides outdoors during the week in the spring and summer. He's pessimistic that building an indoor base on the bike will transfer to outdoor success.

He emailed me his "typical" training schedule for feedback:

Sunday:

• Sleep-in
• Strength train 45 minutes
• Lifefitness Upright Bike Level 16 @ 60 rps for 3:30-5:30 hours

Monday:

• Strength train for 45-60 minutes in AM
• Spinning Bike for 2-3:30 hours

Tuesday:

• Strength train for 30 minutes, followed by 30 minutes on Cybex Step Mill (looks like revolving stairs)
• Swim 3,000-3,500 yards then 30 minutes on Cybex Step Mill

Wednesday:

• Strength train for 60 minutes
• Spinning Bike for 3-3:30 hours

Thursday:

• Swim for 2,000 yards
• Cybex Step Mill for 2 hours

Friday:

• Swim for 3,000-4,500 yards
• Run 8-16 miles (out and back hilly loop)

Saturday:

• Swim for 3,000-4,000 yards
• Bike @ home on indoor trainer or Lifefitness Upright Bike @ Merritt Fort Ave.

Drawing on my own experiences with 26 Ironman finishes and having coached dozens of athletes at all different levels for the Ironman distance, here's how I responded:

It's hard for me to make too much of an assessment without knowing a lot of additional information like your background, goals, past results, whether or not you use intensity training zones, etc. - I have all my clients fill out an exhaustive questionnaire before we meet - but I can give you some quick thoughts.

I would agree that riding too much indoors is not ideal but you have to do what you have to do. I think to the extent that you can mix up your rides – include some lower rpm, higher intensity (but not too high) to mimic the outdoors that would be ideal. Even if you can only get in one ride a week outdoors on the weekend that would be better to none.

I can't tell from the one week schedule how the weeks vary from week to week, but you'll want to mix in easier weeks with harder weeks.  A classic progression is 2-3 weeks that build on each other followed by an easier recover week then repeating the cycle.  You can play around with workout frequency, intensity and time to make weeks harder or easier.  The cycles can be structured around your personal schedule.  For example, if you plan to go skiing for a week in February then make that an easy week.

You have about 12-13 weeks to go so training should become more race specific to prepare for specific demands of race:

• Add a short BRICK run (20-30 min) after your long ride every week.
• Back off a little of the strength training (non-specific) and substitute with some moderate intensity efforts on the bike and run (e.g. hills, Z3 tempo efforts) for more sport-specific strength.
• Utah looks like it has both a hilly bike and run course so you'll want to practice both riding and running up and down hills (especially to ensure adaptation to eccentric contractions of downhill running – otherwise, you're going to be really, really sore).
• Substitute runs back in for the step mill (non-specific).

Finally, consider taking a complete rest day off as needed each week.

Good luck!

BTW, If you need help with your own triathlon training, I do offer triathlon consulting on an hourly basis, which includes a much more detailed review of your training schedule and the detailed questionnaire that I send you.  Visit enduranceworks.net for more information and to schedule a consult.

Happy training!

David

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David B. Glover
Author of Full Time and Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Every Day Life
Triathlon Coach, Athlete and Writer
Web: enduranceworks.net

© 2010 David B. Glover