Triathlon
& Ironman.

Training for every triathlon distance

Triathlon racing spans four primary distances, each demanding a different balance of speed and endurance. The Sprint triathlon — typically a 750m swim, 20km bike, and 5km run — rewards raw speed and the ability to hold high intensity across a short race. Total finish time for competitive athletes is 60-80 minutes. The Olympic distance doubles the volume to 1.5km, 40km, and 10km, introducing pacing strategy and on-bike nutrition timing; finish times typically 2:00-3:30. The Half Ironman (70.3) at 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21.1km run is a true endurance test where fueling and mental resilience become as important as fitness — competitive finish times 4:00-6:30. And the full Ironman — 3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42.2km marathon — is one of the most demanding single-day endurance events in sport, with finish times between 8 and 17 hours.

What makes triathlon training unique is the brick workout: sessions that stack two disciplines back-to-back to simulate race conditions. Running immediately after a long bike ride is a fundamentally different experience than running fresh — your legs feel heavy, your heart rate is elevated, and your proprioception is off. The only way to prepare for that sensation is to practice it. The workouts in this collection include bike-to-run bricks (the canonical triathlon brick), swim-to-bike bricks, and full multi-discipline simulations designed to build the specific adaptations that race day demands.

The brick workout — the core of triathlon training

Brick workouts are the single most important training session in triathlon. The bike-to-run brick — a sustained bike effort followed immediately by a run — teaches your neuromuscular system to switch between cycling and running without the dead-leg collapse that breaks most first-time triathletes. The mechanism: cycling recruits the quads and glutes through a closed hip-knee pattern, while running demands hip flexion and quick foot-strike turnover. Without practiced transitions, the first 1-2km of every triathlon run feels disastrous.

Programming bricks: at least one bike-to-run brick per training week during a focused block, and every long bike ride should end with a 10-20 minute run "tag" to maintain the adaptation. The transition itself — T2 — should be drilled as a single-minute changeover: rack bike, swap to running shoes, helmet off, hat on, grab fuel, go. The T1/T2 Practice session is a 30-minute drill focused entirely on transition speed.

Open water swim training — the most-skipped session

Pool swimming and open water swimming are fundamentally different. There are no lane lines, no black line on the bottom, no walls to push off. Open water demands skills the pool does not teach: sighting buoys without losing momentum, drafting off other swimmers to conserve energy, handling contact in a pack, swimming in a straight line in murky or choppy water, and managing the panic that often hits in the first 200 meters of a race start.

The single most common reason for poor triathlon swim times is not lack of swim fitness — it is poor open water skills. A swimmer who holds a 1:30/100m pool pace will often swim a 1:50-2:00/100m race pace because they zigzag, slow down to sight, and lose body position. The Open Water Swim Prep session drills sighting (every 6 strokes), drafting (swimming on a partner's feet or hip), and contact (swimming in a tight pack) so race day feels rehearsed.

Bike power intervals — FTP, threshold, and race-pace work

The bike leg is where the most time is gained or lost in a triathlon. For Ironman racing, sustained bike power for 180km determines whether your marathon goes well or implodes. The key metric is Functional Threshold Power (FTP) — the highest power output you can sustain for one hour. Most Ironman athletes race at 65-75% of FTP for the bike; 70.3 athletes race at 78-85%; Olympic and sprint go higher.

The Ironman Bike Power Intervals session structures threshold and above-threshold efforts to build sustained power output. Common interval prescriptions: 4× 8-12 minutes at FTP with 4 minutes easy spin between, or 3× 20 minutes at sweet spot (88-94% FTP). The goal is not max power — it is the ability to hold race power for hours.

The four-discipline training week

A balanced triathlon training week for a 70.3 or Ironman athlete typically includes:

• 2-3 swim sessions: one technique-focused, one threshold/intervals, one open water if accessible.
• 2-3 bike sessions: one long endurance ride (3-6 hours), one threshold/interval session, one easy recovery spin.
• 3-4 run sessions: one long run (90-180 min), one tempo or threshold run, one easy aerobic run, often a short brick run off the bike.
• 1-2 brick sessions: typically bike-to-run, scaled to your target distance.
• 1-2 strength sessions: general functional strength and mobility — not bodybuilding, but injury prevention and force production.

Total weekly hours range from 8-12 for first-time 70.3 athletes to 18-25 for competitive Ironman training. Recovery is non-negotiable — one full rest day per week and one easy day per hard day.

Race-pace nutrition and fueling

Nothing wrecks an Ironman race like poor nutrition. The general framework: 60-90g of carbohydrate per hour on the bike, 30-60g per hour on the run, electrolytes hourly. Practice every nutrition product you plan to race with in your long training sessions. The Half Ironman Brick and 70.3 Race Simulation sessions are explicitly designed to rehearse fueling at race intensity.

Tapering — the last 14 days

Tapering reduces training volume by 30-50% in the final two weeks before a race while maintaining intensity. The classic taper pattern: 50% volume in week -2, 35% in week -1, plus the Race Week Sharpener session 2-3 days before race day to keep the neuromuscular system primed. Resist the urge to "fit in one more long workout" — the fitness is already there; you are now banking recovery.

Where triathlon fits in functional fitness

Triathlon training pairs well with multiple other training disciplines. Hybrid athletes blend triathlon with Hyrox racing — the aerobic engine and station fitness reinforce each other. Strength-focused triathletes integrate functional fitness sessions: 2K row tests, kettlebell flows, and barbell complexes build force production and resilience without compromising aerobic adaptation. And the long-time-domain endurance built for an Ironman directly transfers to long Hero WODs like Murph, Luce, and Chad — the same aerobic base, applied to a different format.

Log every brick, every swim, every interval on Fiz. Fiz Pro analytics chart your splits across disciplines, week over week, race over race — the kind of longitudinal view that GPS apps and spreadsheets can't quite achieve.