Ironman Tips: Training

Bryan’s Ironman Tips

Training

• Relax, it is not that hard. If you can do a marathon, you can do an Ironman.
• Be consistent and train a little year round. Running is the most important. You need to keep your body accustomed to the pounding.
• “Train where your fitness is right now, not where you want it to be.” - Scott Jurek. In other words, don’t increase intensity or volume too quickly.
• Increase frequency before increasing volume. Volume is more taxing on the body.
• Frequent workouts also stimulate more testosterone, insulin like growth factor, and other beneficial products than fewer longer workouts.
• Break your training into 2 weeks relatively hard, then 5 days easy, cutting volume down by 50% with no intensity & no lifting. This will prevent over-training and help your body become stronger.
• Take one day completely off each week.
• If you miss a workout, don’t overexert yourself to make it up. Skip it, you will be doing plenty of training.
• Most all of your training should be aerobic. The Ironman is a long, relatively slow race.
• Sleep as much as possible. Training will break down your muscles, sleep will help them grow stronger.
• Weeks 19-24: aerobic, high cadence, mix in some hills
• Weeks 13-18: heavy weights
• Weeks 4-12: running intervals, long runs
• Weeks 1-3: Taper
• After an Ironman, take 2 weeks completely off.
• At the end of the season take 3-4 weeks off, then 3-4 weeks unstructured fun training.