Minimalist Ironman Training, by Matt Fitzgerald

You can prepare for a successful Ironman triathlon with a program that has an average training volume of only 12 hours per week and a briefly-maintained peak training volume of 16 hours.  And by “successful” I don’t mean finishing alive. I mean covering the distance as fast as your genetic potential allows. In fact, I believe that many triathletes can race a faster Ironman by following a well-constructed 12-hours-a-week program than they could with a higher-volume approach.

There are five specific reasons a minimalist approach to Ironman training can work just as well as, if not better than, a higher-volume approach.

1. Swimming performance is all about technique, not fitness

Very little improvement in swimming performance comes from building swim fitness through hours of training. Almost all swimming improvement comes from technique refinements that often occur instantaneously. You should swim-train for an Ironman in a way that encourages and accelerates technique refinements instead of in a way that concentrates on building fitness.  Get one-on-one stroke coaching from a qualified swim coach, study freestyle technique (youtube.com is a good source of technique videos), fiddle with your stroke, use swim aids that encourage technique development and perform technique drills for body position, rotation, efficient breathing, a strong pull and efficient kicking. Use intervals and sustained swimming primarily to ingrain technique and secondarily to develop fitness.

2. The swim just isn’t that important

To complete the swim leg of a Hawaii Ironman as fast as your inner talent allows, you would have to train in the pool two hours a day, six days a week, or thereabouts.  That’s what it would take to shave off every second possible.  But the swim accounts for only about 10 percent of the time it takes to complete an Ironman.  And you can get at least 90 percent of the way toward your fastest possible Ironman swim split by swimming just one hour a day, three times per week.  So why not do that?

Read more in the full article about the other three reasons why the minimalist approach to Ironman training can work just as well as a higher-volume approach.

Comments

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[Adam]

This is a great work done by you
I am really impresed.
Adam
http://www.trainwithmeonline.com" rel="nofollow">workouts

[Lisa de Lusignan]

Hi Brad, i just bought your book run faster. I just moved to the Bahamas and have organized a running group here, called the Ripped ChiX. We just finished a Sprint triathlon, it was their first my 4th. We are all over 40, i am 46, and have run 2 marathons, one last year in NY were i ran 4 hours 1minute.

So i bought your book because i want to run faster, we are running a half Feb 14th in nassau. Its their first my 5th or 6th.
This is the problem, the beginner training is way to hard for the new runners. So thats ok we saw that you have a Masters program, but what the heck not for the half!! I do not have the skills to feel confident putting together training for them or me, i have kinda done it but really its hard and requires more skill then i have thats for sure. Your book is hard but i love it.

So where can i find a training guide for a half for masters? I feel kinda ripped off, i bought the book its says it has guides for all major runs,but alas it does not.

I have sort of put together a schedule for our team but i am a bit fuzzy around peak weeks etc, its confusing and i have run my whole life. Not competetively ever, although i am a good runner.

I really want to run the half in 1. 45, my fastest is 1.37 and i was not following any training guide at all. But i was 10 years younger.

this is the only place i could find to send a note to you, i have searched all kinds of places, including signing up for trainingpeaks, but there is no place to ask a question.

thanks for your help, training is really hard here, i am from Vancouver, running paradise. I would really really appreciate your help, we cant even buy a book here we have to get it sent, and thats not easy either.

thanks again
Lisa