What’s everybody’s favorite full Ironman training plan? I’ve done one 70.3, loved it, and want to do a full now. I’m signing up for an IM in November (not sure which one yet). Give me some of y’all’s favorite plans
Hey congrats on starting the journey!
FWIW, I’ve been in triathlon 20 years and my favorite plan incorporates Trainer Road, but I modify it pretty heavily.
Training Peaks has lots of options.
Then there’s other coaching services and plans out there like Sansego, Dave Scott, Mark Allen, etc…
Best of luck!
Full disclosure - co-founder of the company…
Please check out athletica.ai for full distance adaptive plans… no shortage of success stories…
Best of luck,
Paul
If you can dig up an old copy of Serious Training for Endurance Athletes, it’s worth consideration. Not sure if any of the old Excel tools are still floating some for it, though.
Athletica.ai is what I’m using for longer stuff now. (And I have no connection with them,))
What’s everybody’s favorite full Ironman training plan? I’ve done one 70.3, loved it, and want to do a full now. I’m signing up for an IM in November (not sure which one yet). Give me some of y’all’s favorite plans
Swim when I feel like it, or more when really close to race day
Bike when i want to spend a lot of time away from my family
Run. Repeat as much as my knees will allow
Here is the free one that I have used and liked. Its based on hours per week vs miles per week.
Beginner Ironman - 20 Weeks - HR (beginnertriathlete.com)
I used this simple 20-week plan for my first three IMs. I modified a little, and used TrainerRoad for the weekday rides, but the scheduled and general format worked great for me. I’ve never showed up to the start line unprepared using this plan.
https://cdn.triathlete.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Super-Simple-Ironman-Training-Plan.pdf
Early on I used a plan like this one with a good deal of success. I would move some stuff around and create an off day though.
I had a solid start with the Wahoo Systm 140.6 plan. Highly enjoyable 16-week in which you select the volume and the work-to-rest week ratio. Runs and swims were intelligently written with their 4DP bike fitness testing and follow-along-at-my-FTP Sufferfest videos. I used their strength and stretching/mobility videos as I think it helped. Solid choice. Good results for my first 140.6. Hey, your race is in November- Wahoo Systm has a 16-week 140.6 plan. Free 14-day trial. I’d say check it out.
Trainer Road program. It left me feeling wiped out every week. I gotta believe that there is not enough rest incorporated. All variables controlled, I experienced not enough gas on race day/ just glad I finished the race. Not a good fit, searched elsewhere…
I tried a program from SANS EGO. Well written, but to be upfront I was torched. I looked at the next work week’s assignment like, “Are you serious?†I am not a quitter by nature, but I had to bail out of that burning balloon after a month. Being middle-aged, I believe that kind of volume is for the young, advanced or semi-pro AG crowd because, man, it was like drinking from the fire hose.
I immediately dialed it down to an 80/20 long course plan. Much Better. It was really well written and didn’t leave me crushed and got noticeably faster. PR’d.
To date, and in my opinion, I have had my best results with my plan from Purple Patch out of SF. Counterintuitively, I am getting my best results by doing less. Very knowledgeable and professionally done. I’m not looking back, but I still enjoy the Wahoo SYSTM rides!
What’s everybody’s favorite full Ironman training plan? I’ve done one 70.3, loved it, and want to do a full now. I’m signing up for an IM in November (not sure which one yet). Give me some of y’all’s favorite plans
Swim when I feel like it, or more when really close to race day
Bike when i want to spend a lot of time away from my family
Run. Repeat as much as my knees will allow
Sounds like my IM training plan these days! 
Sorry to piggy back this. Has anyone found a more engaging training plan out there? I’m starting my 5th season and am looking for some fresh workouts. I’ve used 80/20 mostly. Last year I tried scientific triathlons semi coaching option. I’ve looked at some on trainingpeaks and nothing is jumping out at me. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, just gotten bored with the workouts in 80/20. Can’t really afford coaching at the moment.
Sorry to piggy back this. Has anyone found a more engaging training plan out there? I’m starting my 5th season and am looking for some fresh workouts. I’ve used 80/20 mostly. Last year I tried scientific triathlons semi coaching option. I’ve looked at some on trainingpeaks and nothing is jumping out at me. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, just gotten bored with the workouts in 80/20. Can’t really afford coaching at the moment.
Are you looking for performance or fun? For performance it’s pretty straightforward and repetitive (I wouldn’t call it boring but I can see why some might). If you’re looking for fun just get appropriate-ish volume and intensity in each sport and do whatever seems fun to you.
There’s only so many way to do a workout. Short/hard intervals, easier/longer intervals, long days, short days. All of the plans you find online are going to have the same things, longer efforts like 20-60min at 70.3-IM pace, shorter efforts like 4-8x5ish min at VO2. (tangent- one of the benefits of repeating workouts exactly is to get a measurement of progress to determine if a different training intervention is needed)
FWIW I find appropriately difficult efforts don’t just hold my attention but actively require my attention in order to keep up. So maybe just go harder? (halfway pink).
“Be Iron Fit” by Don Fink may be a little dated on equipment and race info, but the 15-week training plans at various experience levels are pretty comprehensive. I had some good success with the base level planning and then pieced together some of the other training sessions to extend time and intensity.
Sorry to piggy back this. Has anyone found a more engaging training plan out there? I’m starting my 5th season and am looking for some fresh workouts. I’ve used 80/20 mostly. Last year I tried scientific triathlons semi coaching option. I’ve looked at some on trainingpeaks and nothing is jumping out at me. I’m not sure what I’m looking for, just gotten bored with the workouts in 80/20. Can’t really afford coaching at the moment.
I am currently training for a spint tri using a plan from Mikael at Scietific Triathon and have been blow away with the plan, this is for experienced athletes and I cant recommend his plan enough, what did you not like about the plans?
Can’t I have both? Hah. I think I ended up In a rut. For the first three seasons I saw improvements. But after that I stopped getting faster. I’m not sure if theres a limitation to the 80/20 principle in terms of growth, or if the 20 side of things just didn’t push me enough. The hardest weeks in that plan were actually recovery weeks, Where you preformed all of your FTP tests. Either I wouldn’t hit them hard because I was in need of break, or I would hit them hard and be exhausted leading into the following high volume sessions.
What’s everybody’s favorite full Ironman training plan? I’ve done one 70.3, loved it, and want to do a full now. I’m signing up for an IM in November (not sure which one yet). Give me some of y’all’s favorite plans
Swim when I feel like it, or more when really close to race day
Bike when i want to spend a lot of time away from my family
Run. Repeat as much as my knees will allow
As a man with a young family, this is basically my plan. I can’t stick to most plans. Especially when the fam is sick all the time.
Majority of training is on the bike, building volume first then power. Run training must be consistent. A few long runs for sure followed by recovery runs the next day. Not a ton of volume but consistent. So 3 or 4 days per week. And then make sure you can swim 2.4 miles without stopping, then go as much as you can fit in. Something like that will be sufficient.
In practice, you should have a few 5+ hour rides, 20+ mile runs, and 2.4+ mile swims to know you’re good. And run a mile plus after some bike rides to get used to the feeling.
Can’t I have both? Hah. I think I ended up In a rut. For the first three seasons I saw improvements. But after that I stopped getting faster. I’m not sure if theres a limitation to the 80/20 principle in terms of growth, or if the 20 side of things just didn’t push me enough. The hardest weeks in that plan were actually recovery weeks, Where you preformed all of your FTP tests. Either I wouldn’t hit them hard because I was in need of break, or I would hit them hard and be exhausted leading into the following high volume sessions.
Well, yes, if you do the same thing for several seasons eventually you’ll plateau. The 80/20 thing was never meant to be prescriptive, it was an observation that the best endurance athletes typically end up at around 80/20 under/over threshold.
My 2 cents is that if the FTP test were the hardest part of training then the rest of it was not nearly hard enough. A true 60 minute all out TT is really hard. A 20 minute isn’t that bad and a ramp test is nothing terrible. Going harder in training (during hard sessions) is going to get you better results than most off-the-shelf plans, even if you go a little bit too hard.
You could do worse than swimming, cycling, and running 3 times/week, with 1 session of each being ‘very hard’ efforts of whatever duration/repetition you feel like. It’s not perfect but will get you 80% of the best plan at the same volume.
Remember Seiler’s hierarchy of training needs and build out your own plan from there:
Great points.
I think I’m going to start incorporating more short races into my training. For 1, they are fun. And secondly I will probably push myself a good deal. I’ll still do plenty of zone 2 work, but I will probably find some fresh motivation in the process. I also found that I really enjoy hill repeats. Which was missing from the canned plans I’ve seen.
Is there an opinion out there on who one of the top level coaches for Triathlon on TrainingPeaks is currently?
I’m looking for a TrainingPeaks compatible coach for an elite level triathlete looking to go pro.
Generally 70.3 distance but eventually full……
Thanks!