During the season, about 10 hrs per week but seven or eight of that is on the bike. My training is way out of balance, but I love the bike and hate running.

Today, with a big snowstorm happening and later to be followed by freezing rain, my only work out will be digging out.

Right now I'm at 12 to 13hrs but 2 hrs of that is hockey. When it gets warmer outside I'll add 3 or 4 hrs to the bike and drop the skating. I have so much fun training, it's like an addiction.

Yes, I'm single and have no other life.

Maybe I'll see you at Eagleman.

jaretj

If it's not on fire, it's a software problem.

14-20 hrs/week pretty much year 'round. This includes about 1 hr strength work and 2 hrs yoga per week.......but as a Masters woman, those are critical parts of my training.

FWIW, my Olympic PR is 2:25, 1/2 IM PR is 5:12.

G

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It's a little like wrestling a gorilla.........you don't stop when you're tired.........you stop when the gorilla is tired.

One can get good results training with the amount of time you train. Just make sure you make every hour of training quality. Make sure you give adequate recovery, and make sure you balance your training and you will be fine.

A coach may not be a bad idea.

Right now 10-12 h/wk .... I would love to train more, but at this point it's about it. I don't really seeing it increasing. The good thing is that as time goes on I'll get more done in the same block of time.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

Still very early in the season, and I'm not planning on peaking until September, so around 6 hours a week now. All on the bike, I was having major issues with recovery from run training, so put tris on the back burner for '04.

Throughout this month, I'll be ramping up the volume to approximately 15 hours a week by the end of Feb. (2-2.5 hours per day, plus long ride on Sundays of 4-5 hours, and one day off or easy 1/2 hour spin). This will include 2 quality sessions per week (Tues and Thurs) plus racing or a hard group ride on Sunday.

right now 10-15 hours....depending on weather...this summer when Ironmans approach, 20-24....I dont think there is any magic number, but even at 24 hours I feel underprepared for an ironman...mental.

These days I am training 13-17 hrs/wk and I'll ramp up to a max of ~21 hrs/wk. Key races are 2 -1/2IMs in June/July. This is my 3rd year of tri-training - I started from scratch in all 3 sports. Hoping to move up to a MOPer this year.

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put the mettle to the pedal

I've been told I'm obsessive compulsive for training 8 hours a week. Eight hours a week is a short recovery week for many people on this forum. But for me, it's about all I can muster right now. I'm also not getting that long weekend ride in due to the weather. So when the weather gets nice, I should be able to get in 10 fairly easily, with the max being 12.

I have a maximum of about 90 minutes per day during the week to train. But I usually don't get that in -- it's more like an hour, maybe an hour and a quarter a day (but sometimes less than that). If I can make it to Saturday with five hours in the training bank, I can usually make 10-12 for the week by picking up the other 5-7 hours on Saturday and Sunday (2 hour run, 3-5 hour bike).

I try to focus on quality sessions during the week, then up the miles and back off the pace on the weekend. Fairly standard approach for many, I would imagine.

RP

8-12 right now, but ramping up for a late May IM. Definitely going with higher volume this year over prior years.

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

Robert,

Your schedule sounds a lot like mine; I can get about 1.5 hours weekday and the rest on weekends. What kind of times are you getting in races and do you mind me asking how old you are? I'm 35, so I'm in a pretty competitive division. It sounds like what I expected, people are putting in a pretty large number of hours.

Tom

I'm probably the only duathlete on this board so all of my training is obviously running and cycling. I normally average between 12 to 15 hours per week all year. For me it definately is a "habit/addiction."

Right now only about 7 or 8 but when it gets warmer I hope to hit 10 to 12. It's going to be fun this year, I'm signing up to coach soccer for under 5 girls. Thank God they know less about soccer than me!

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jimmyk

I have 8 to 9 hours on my planned schedule, but my actual hours are around 6 to 7 right now. I can't remember the last time I had a week where a workout wasn't missed for some reason or another.

Dawn

I'm pretty new to the sport and have only done 1 sprint tri late last fall. I'm on month 6 of triathlon training. :)

This week has me at 14 hours (base1, week two). I'm on the 600 annual hours plan in Friel's bible and I think I'll max out somewhere at 18 hours during base 3?

My next race will be a half-IM in May. Thinking about doing a full IM distance this year. I'm probably insane for considering that distance in my first year out. I figure if I'm doing all the hours for a half-IM though, I might as well just ramp up a little and do a full one. *shrug*

You're not alone - I have been training/racing as a duathlete for the last 2 years. However, I have started swimming this winter and I may even get the nerve to race a sprint tri in late season. I noticed that there is a definite lack of long course races for duathletes - so I pretty much have to pick up the swimming if I want to do any ironman distance. I'm told duathlons are tougher than tris - so this tri thing should be a piece of cake ;)

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put the mettle to the pedal

I have 1/2IM in June and IM USA in July. I'm currently training about 11 hours a week (2 swim/4 bike/3r run/2 weights). As my big races get closer I'll ramp up the hours until I peak in late June at about 20.
If I wasn't doing a full IM this year, I would probably max out at about 15. But 10-11 is probably an average.

This is my second season. I'm at 10-12 hours/week now, in Base 3. I do 3 x swim, 3 x run, and 4 x bike every week. I'm actually trying to do proper periodization this year, rather than endless slow miles. I'll probably get up to around 15 hours/week by June, with my target race being Lake Placid.

I'm no expert, but based on what I've seen, you can do pretty well on 10 hours/week, if, as others have said, you train correctly. I'm still trying to figure that one out myself.

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i started training for ralphs in the end of october, trying to follow a very nice but ambitious plan i paid markallen.com to put together for me. My first half was last year (5:04) so Im shooting for sub-5 at ralphs. also want a slot to IM Moo. Ive done 9-15 hours per week excluding strength and flexibility, except for christmas week when I only did 4 hours of running (no pool or bike at my dads & plus its christmas!) (seriously – all you guys who said you do 15-20+/week, does that include thanksgiving and christmas week?!?) My average s/b/r over these 15 weeks is 10:20; average total time is 11:20. 90% of my bike time was trainer time. (As you can tell I have a nifty excel spreadsheet. I'd cut and paste a pie chart or two but can't figure out how.) Also, I am very stingy about what "counts" as time. No extra credit for my mountain bike commute or time in changing room getting ready to swim!



Right now in depths of winter and working full time I think 15 is all I can do. At first when I saw some people say they regularly do 15-20+ per week I was like – these guys must be friends of joe bonness or not have jobs or something but i think i can see how my 12-15 could become 20 in the spring when its possible to get out and do some rides!



Also, FWIW, some guy on gordo’s forum said that traininglog.com (related to ironcoach.com) – a place where people can share and compare their logs - will soon be up and running

I train between 10-15 hrs per week. Some weeks life gets in the way.

Lone racer and Duman your not alone. I only do du's as well

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Many will and have tossed out what are likley average hours/week that they are training, which is really only half the story, if that.

The key information is the dynamic range in the weekly training ie What are the big and really big weeks like? When do they come? What are the easy weeks like? When and how often do they come up? Also, what is the percentage of time spent at race-pace or faster?

Big volume numbers look impressive in print, but often don't tell the whole story.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I train around 12-13 hours. 4 swims, 3 runs, 1 long bike.

In the summer I usually add another bike, and near big races we'll start doing transition practices (bike-run-bike-run sort of stuff).

Never done OD, best for Sprint (half Oly) is 1:08. Right now I'm starting my second season.

There is an impressive amount of training going on out there. I am 8-14hr/wk with typically two 45 min workouts/day M-F. (Powercranks at lunch, swim or run either morning or night) then the obligatory long run and bike (if family agrees) on the weekend. I will keep this through August with only Half IMs up to that point but crank up the bike the last 2 months before IM FL.

"Big volume numbers look impressive in print, but often don't tell the whole story. "

Yeah, I'm sure there's a whole lot more to it with specific training plans but I run with a marathoner whose won the Harrisburg marathon a few times and reading articles about Mark Allan and some top triathletes, they all stress the big weeks with long bikes and runs. They seem to stress the consistency of substantial hours every week. It appears to me that numbers of hours actually swimming, biking, and running is the foundation for any training plan (duh). Plus, I was reading the article about rethinking base training on ironmanlive.com and there seems to be some evidence for limited hours and great results. There was a recent thread about base training and HR training which was very helpful but not too many people mentioned how many total hours they put in a week.

I´m averaging between 14 to 16 hours per week... and this is my third season on Tri´s.... This year I decided to do my first IM in may, so my volume is increasing up to 20 hours per week.....

My PR´s are : sprint ( 1:06 ) , Oly ( 2:21 ) and 1/2 IM ( 5:07 ) ... I hope to broke the OLY PR this weekend .... but is gonna be a surprise since is a B type race ... and so far none speed work.....

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Luiz Eng

I mostly do Du's also, I've only done 2 sprint tri's. My swim and run are both terrible so this year I'm working on improving my run. Only Du's this year mixed with some basic flailing at the pool.

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jimmyk

Scott Tinley used to say that one of the head games of the pros was exaggerating (by a huge amount) hours of training. When you take out the time getting dressed, driving to the pool, yakking before and after training, etc. I bet many folk's real number would significantly drop. I have been doing tris, road races, mtn bike races, track (running) races, etc. for 20 years and I have rarely trained more than 5-6 hours per week. I train year round (except for windsurfing in the summer) and because I live in Arizona also race year round.

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Andrew Inkpen

10-15 hours until mid-March or so, 15-20 from then 'till October, with the occasional off week and the occasional ~25 hr week. Have it logged back to '99 if you ever get bored.

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Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

background and planning count for a lot more than weekly hours. I train about 3 hours/week, for Oly and sprint. My best Oly is 2:21, in the smaller races I can podium or get close in my AG. But, I've been running seriously (6day/week) since 1974, hiatus in the early 90's for a few years of relative sloth (work, illness, etc), then started up this merciless regime of intense training (Hah hah ha).

7-10 hours should be plenty for everything short of an IM. Just make sure you know exactly what you're trying to achieve in each workout - every workout should have a purpose within the annual plan.

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

I'm 31 with a wife and 14-month old son, so my training time is pretty limited. But a couple of things have taken place recently that have freed up a little time in the morning for me. First of all, we changed sitters for our son, and now my wife takes him on her way to work. Secondly, our local junior college finally got an indoor pool; it opened to the public on Jan. 20. It's open for lap swim 12 hours a week Tuesday through Friday. So what I usually do is go to the pool for 1500 three or four days a week (I shoot for all four, but I've yet to get there four days in a row). Then I either bike or run for about an hour in the afternoons. Saturday is long run day, Sunday afternoon is reserved for a long ride. In a perfect week, I should be able to log about seven hours Monday through Friday, with another seven on Saturday and Sunday. But that seldom works out. I'm doing good to have five hours Monday-Friday, with another five on the weekends.

My race times are pretty poor. I'm either in the back of the mid pack or front of the back of the pack, if that makes any sense. In smaller local races, I can slide up into the middle of my age group. My strength is actually swimming, and in one local race last year, I posted the 11th fastest swim overall (but that says more about the lack of depth in the field than my swimming ability). I'm not a particularly fast biker, posting between 21 and 22 mph in sprints (closer to 21). I run 8:30-9:00 in sprint tri's, 9:00+ in longer races.

I don't think my problem is not enough training time; I think it's that I just don't know how to train. I'm still working on that. If I can ever figure out how to put the pieces together, I'll see some improvements. I can be faster, and I want to be faster, but I haven't put it all together. What I'm working on this year is rotating sports to concentrate more on each sport in different weeks, and to make better use of my training time. I can train a pretty good amount, but it's not very efficient. I want to maximize my training time in order to get the most out of it. I'll never be able to train 20 hours a week, and I'm not sure I would if I could. But I do have 10-12 hours, and I need to figure out how to make the most of the time available.

RP

I'm probaly Always on the edge of overtraining but thats where I like to be. Last year was a great year had 550 hours total training time. My ranking for last year was top 7% of my age group (m-30-34). This is my second year of Tri's and racing and I'm shooing for 24+ hours a week. I did do 28 hours last week and burned out. But thats okay its all a great learning experience and Its what I love to do. Oh ya I do 1/2 ironman and a 24 hour MTB 2-man team and alot others.

Good point Fleck, you gotta include the rest weeks.

I've been pretty consistent the last 2 years with 3 week cycles of approximately 10, 10 and 6 hrs. That just works well with my life, so I plan to continue it.

I'm a 38 y/o male and did a 2:12 oly off that last year.

I am just pointing out that my 10-12 hours is time alloted for training. That includes everything that goes into training ... driving, changing, etc.

So, if I say "I have an hour to swim" that means 0:15 to change and 0:45 to actually swim.

sorta like saying I work 8 hours a day. I don't actually *work* literally 480 minutes.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

No more than 8-10 hours/week including my long weekends. I don't have time like I used to. But having a coach has totally helped me optomize my training. I probably train much less than most people in my age group and I do much better. Having a coach is key. I would highly recommend.

On occassion, I will try to get in a 15-18 hour training week. Keep in mind that I train to be competative and but not to go out and set the world on fire. At 28, I've come to the reality that I will NEVER be a pro and I am no longer obsessed with triathlon and training like I once was. I am happy with just placing in my age group and having fun at races. Also, spending more time at work to better my career is my main interest at this time. Otherwise, I would probably be training much more. I work 10 hour days so I get in my training in the morning and then I sneak off during lunch.

I'm putting in around 10 hours a week right now with very little focus or structure which may have to change quickly if I decide to slip in an early race on the March break. Usually at the beginning of March I'll increase to the 14 hour/week range and by June be around 18. Last year I averaged 21 hours/week from mid-June until early October since I was prepping for IMFL. This year I'll be prepping for Kona so I'll probably do the same (maybe more if my family will put up with it:)

martygaal---

I'd be interested in seeing your plans/logs...I find that at 12-14 hours/week, I am exhausted, starving, can't fit anything else in my life...and only hang out with friends and family if they are willing to swim, bike or run with me. :) Of course, I work quite a bit too, so that's a major timesucker.

How do you break out a 25 hour week? Are you getting a lot of those hours in on the weekends? I have a hard time getting in any more than 2 hours on weekdays (consistently anyway). This year, I'm starting to do my long runs on Wednesdays instead of weekends, so those days will be longer and will open up more bike/swim time on weekends hopefully.

I love reading other people's plans....helps motivate me and I always learn something new.

sheri

14-16 hours right now, 2 of which are yoga to help my back on the bike. Will ramp to 16-18 for Ironman Brazil. Also work 50+ hours/week, which doesn't leave much time for my wife, but (un)fortunately she's a consultant and often out of town. Key to squeezing in the training is the 2-hour routine every morning, before work, with no other mid-day or evening workouts:

M,F: 1 hour swim, 1 easy stretch yoga ("rest" days)
Tu,Th: 1 hour bike, 1 run
W: 1 hour swim, 1 bike
Sat: 3-6 hour bike, 2-3 mile run
Sun: Long run

This is my third year of tris. Still don't really know what I'm doing, but hoping to break 10 hours in Brazil.

A friend of mine one said that “There are 24 hours in a day” and training was figuring out how to use all of them. That attitude taught me how to work and now I do more training in the off season that I used to do during the summer. Some days I swear I can’t get out of bed, but after a while you get used to it. My week goes something like this:

Monday-Wednesday a.m. 5:30-7:30-Indoor bike p.m. lunchtime runs every day. 8-12 miles

Tuesday-Thursday a.m. at the pool by 6:30 swim until 8:00

Friday-a.m. 1-2 hours indoor ride p.m. short run 4-6 miles

Saturday-swim from 7am to 8:30 make breakfast for the wife and kids. Run long at 10:00 usually 16-24 miles.

This means that evenings when I get home at 6 p.m., I spend with the family and Saturday afternoons and all day Sunday are family time as well. My wife supports me and figures that as long as I am willing to get up so early, she can live with it. I expect as spring and summer roll around that Saturday training will start about 6 a.m. and last until noon or 1 p.m and then I’ll be done for the weekend. I’m doing about 16-18 hours a week in the dead of winter, so I hope to carve out a few more hours by replacing my commute by car with a commute by bike. That should push me up to 25 hours, which is about the minimum I think would be necessary for me to be competitive at half-iron man.

In the end I think it comes back to time management and your goals and willingness to sacrifice other things you enjoy. I group God, family and church into my biggest time slot, then sleep, then training. That doesn’t leave any extra time for anything else, but that’s fine with me. I love to compete.

Chad

I train this much...

http://www.trainingbible.com/johna

log is at www.martygaal.com/training1.html. An over 20 hour week is usually 2+ hours during the work week with one longish ride, then ~4 hrs Saturday and 6 or so Sunday. I think I did that twice this past season.

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Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

Not nearly enough and sometimes way too much. Last week 17 hours.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

wow...everyone trains so much...:P



im currently around 6.5hours/week (although, i just started training again 2 weeks ago)...im assuming once i finish school in late april, it will be ramped up to between 12-20 hours/week, as it was last summer.

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"Anyone can work hard when they want to; Champions do it when they don't."

I'm training 16 hours every week.! 13 hours in the pool. Only 16 years old, wow 75 hours at the age of 75!! kidding..!! But if we add all the dressing, warmup, stretching, camps, competetions and so on.. Well then around 30-35 hours are spend on my sport. But it's a great sport, with not enough youths..!!



Schmidt, Denmark...

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Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri

This says it all.
If you take in account that I work to pay for my riding, that I have moved to a different country to pursue better training/racing opportunities, and my site used to be www.LIVE2RIDE.tk - no longer however - then yes, 24 hours a day are "training".
Unfortunately coming from tropical Brazil to temperate Germany just before winter wasn't exactly great in terms of training outside, which means my average hours on the bike decreased from just over 20 to just over 10 (can't do more than 2hr on the rollers in a single run). Plan to get those numbers at least back to the original point, however, by the time Spring is full on.
Cheers

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Ricardo Wickert | Team Magnesium Pur - Germany | My sporadically updated blog: The Thin Grad Line | My team-issued TT bike: Trek Speed Concept 9

2015 Sponsors & Partners: Magnesium Pur | Ullmax | B&W Bike Cases | Ristorante La Dolce Vita | Trek Bikes via Bici-Sport Binder

Hey irongeek

If you are working then the only way to get in the really big weeks is to have huge weekends. When I am doing ironman training a typical weekend for me is a Saturday with a 45 minute minute swim followed by a 5-6 hour bike ride followed by a 45 minute run then a Sunday with a 1.5 - 2 hour ride followed by a 2.5 hour run which gives me 10-12 hours in just 2 days. If the rest of the week averages 2 hours each day (I usually do less on Monday and Friday and more on Tuesday-Thursday) then you're into the 22-25 range. Of course, when you do this you are hungry constantly and tired constantly but if you avoid injury, you'll get really fit.

Allan - Thanks - that is helpful. I don't have an excuse because I am rarely injured - just hungry and tired. So this year, I'll have to ramp up my hours and see how it goes. My problem is typically overscheduling everything - like thinking I can do yardwork and laundry and have friends over for dinner after my long ride, when in reality, I'll probably be so pooped after my long ride, I'll eat like a demon, throw a load in the wash, and take a nap. ;)

I took a chunk of time off this winter and am just getting rolling this year...just looked and this week I did 7 hours of training....now I just have to work up to over triple that. Piece of cake, right?

Hey irongeek

Depending on when your big race is 7 hours a week is not a bad thing at this time of year. I just finished a week where I managed 11 hours and know that I need to start cranking it up. The key to working up to double or triple the time quantity is to make sure that you are very gradual with the increases and take a few easy weeks after building up. For example, if you did 7 this week try for 9 next week, then 10 or 11, then in the third week drop back down to 7 to give your body some rest. Then move back up to 10, then 12, then an easy 8 or 9, etc. until you can consistently keep the volume up high. As for being totalled for the rest of the day ... it is a foregone conclusion around my household (I have a saint for a wife who understands this) and in the summer I usually start around 5:30am and get home around 1:30 -2:00 so my afternoon task is usually to watch my kids as they swim in our pool which doesn't take too much energy :)

in the last 12 weeks, smallest week was the current one at 22hrs. Biggest was 36hrs.
so I probably train more but definitely have the lowest return on investment...
oh well, as long as I enjoy training...

Allan - thanks again. My big races this year are Alcatraz and IMCDA - first and last weekends of June. I'm just getting started...trying to get a good base back and lose the extra weight I gained taking it easy and drinking too much wine and beer this winter. :) Come March...I'll be banking a lot more hours...but still not sure I'll hit 22-24 - will probably max out around 20 I think.

Those are impressive totals Francois. When is your next IM race? I can't get anywhere near 20 until the snow goes away since I need big rides to take up that much time and I can do up to 3 on my trainer (did 2 yesterday) it is rare that I do more than an hour and a half at a time when I'm inside. Fortunately, I don't have to be fit for a few months although I may do my 1st outdoor ride of the year as a 50k (talk about shaking off the rusty legs and trying to hammer) in the March Mauler du during spring break.

right now, I am just training because I enjoy it...
we had a few cold days (for us) at 25-26 with 30-40mph winds...in the am...stuck on the trainer for 3h isn't fun!

LOL. I rode my 14 mile hilly route on a day that matched that desription ... like 28 degrees, with 30+mph winds. I'm full of braggadocio, so I wore shorts and a sweatshirt.

The wind was at my back on a smooth interstate on the way out. Riding at 38kph(24mph) for 2 miles is pretty fun. Even hit 45kph(28mph) for a bit without much exertion.

10 miles was with the wind from the side (from the left on the way out, from the right on the way back), which isn't much fun (and it cut right through my clothes). I felt as if I was riding on a tilt. Going up 2 large hills I was hitting 11kph(~7mph). On the 2 miles back I was pedalling straight into the wind. It was so rough, I just shook my head and laughed. I kicked it down to granny gear and did some spinning to see my counter reading 8kph (5mph). It was laughable.

I realized that wind resistance to a cyclist is what gravity is to a mountain climber. They have a saying "Gravity sucks" ... yeah ... well so does wind resistance.

Being outside on almost any day is better than the trainer. I think the term indoor trainer is Latin for "test of man's tolerance of boredom". There I am in the aero position for 2 hours, playing Madden on XBox. Hey, we do what we must to get the job done.

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-- Every morning brings opportunity;
Each evening offers judgement. --

someone called treadmill, the dreadmill...
I suggest the term Drainer instead of trainer :-)

but TT one piece of advice:our cycling coach once told us: below 20c, noone wears shorts, or you are out of the team...(that's about 65f). Now, I wear long bibs and sleeves until 70f...

your knees and other joints will thank you.

The worst time to be on a trainer is when it is really nice outside. I used to ride indoors with my daughter sitting in her high chair next to me ..... quality time with my child until the sound of the rollers put her to sleep. It was a good thing it was in the basement so I couldn't look outside and see the nice sunny days :)

Hey Triplethreat .....Riding in shorts when it is below freezing.....you must have gotten some interesting looks :) My cutoff is 10 Celsius. Anything above that is shorts and a cycling jersey.