Real Performance
Matt Ison - Endurance Coach
Sample Training Plans
Scroll through example weeks from some of my athletes and click images to enlarge
Phil Royston
4 and 5 Weeks out from Spring goal race - Galveston 70.3
Result - 4:31 70.3 PR
Average hours per week - 12
Swims per week - 2 or 3
Bikes per week - 2 or 3
Run per week - 2 or 3
Monday - off
Tuesday - High intensity 60-90min bike
Wednesday - Strength and High Intensity Swim
Thursday - High Intensity Run
Friday - Lighter Swim
Saturday - Longer Bike or High Intenisty Run
Sunday - Longer Bike or High Intenisty Run
Key takeaways - Consistency. Phil has a long history on running injuries, so we placed a high priority on shorter race pace runs and on spending time running faster than his half ironman pace to maximizing his gains in a limited amount of miles. Phil's longest run leading to the race was 9.27 miles and his averaged weekly running miles was kept under 20. We were able to keep him injury free and at Galveston he ran a 95min half marathon off the bike for a personal best.
Fritz Reimers
7 and 8 Weeks out from Spring goal race - Oceanside 70.3
Result - 4:58 70.3 PR, 5th 55-59
Average hours per week - 10
Swims per week - 1 or 2
Bikes per week -3 or 4
Run per week - 2 or 3
Monday - Lighter Swim
Tuesday - High intensity group ride
Wednesday - High intensity run
Thursday - Solo Bike Intervals
Friday - Lighter Swim
Saturday - Long group ride
Sunday - Longer run
Key takeaways - Flexibility. Fritz is part of a great community of triathletes in the Southern California area and enjoys his group rides. Group rides are a great way to get high intensity training, but it's difficult to specialize in half iron training constantly doing them. We decided that 7 weeks out from his goal 70.3, we would stop doing one of the group rides and focus specifically on his half iron. For the rest of the season, however, the intense group training does a great job of improving his fitness and keeping the sport fun.
Elizabeth - Cyclist and former triathlete
The Middle of Spring Road Cycling Season
Average hours per week - 14
Swims per week - 1
Bikes per week -5 or 6
Monday - Lighter Swim/ Strength
Tuesday - High intensity group ride or High Intensity intervals
Wednesday - Recovery ride
Thursday - High intensity group ride or High Intensity intervals
Friday - Recovery ride
Saturday - Long group ride
Sunday - Long steady endurance
Key takeaways - Specificity. As an un-coached triathlete turned cyclist, Elizabeth was the queen on riding at a long steady pace. All of her training was done with the idea that more miles is better. She spent years not seeing improvement and getting dropped in Cat 4 road races. We started training her the way cycling races are raced, periods of very high intensity and then periods of very easy riding with a premium placed on bike handling skills. After 4 weeks of top end work, she was able to increase her category license to cat 3, something that she had failed to do during her first 6 years of cycling.
Maria
The Middle of Summer Tri Season
Average hours per week - 7
Swims per week - 1 or 2
Bikes per week - 2 or 3
Runs per week - 2 or 3
Monday - Lighter Swim
Tuesday - High Intensity Run Intervals
Wednesday - Harder Swim
Thursday - High Intensity Bike Intervals
Friday - Easy Swim, Bike, or Run
Saturday - Longer Endurance Ride
Sunday - Longer Run
Key takeaways - Time Management. Maria is a full time working mother of 3. She realistically has at most one hour per day during the week to train and she does it early in the morning. We could do more hours, but the cost of lack of sleep and the addition of extra family/work stress would negate any benefits. She would probably always be too tired to do solid workouts and adapt to the training load. We set u a plan thapt maximizes the time she has available, and although she won't be doing an Ironman anytime soon, she does place regularly in her age group in spints and olympics.
Corey - Ironman Lake Placid Champion
6 and 5 weeks out from Ironman Lake Placid
Average hours per week - 16.5
Swims per week - 2 or 3
Bikes per week - 3 or 4
Runs per week - 3 or 4
Training is not specifically built around a 7 day schedule, instead we are flexible with his fatigue.
Key takeaways - Priorities. Corey worked as a 2nd grade school teacher and had just gotten out for summer break. Although we did not focus his training into doing a lot once he was off school and instead built his fitness over the course of months, having him off from work allowed us to not be fixed into a 7 day training schedule. We could do big hours any day of the week, and Corey could focus more on resting between sessions. Winning an Ironman take s a lot of focus, hard work and a lifestyle that allows for 16-18 hours of quality training a week for several weeks on end while still being able to recover and adapt to the load. It's imorptant to note, that even with Corey off from work, we still did not train more than 18 hours in any one week. Quality work and adatpation to that work will always win out over big hours without specificity.