If you are considering participating in a IronManthen you know that this demanding competition requires a sharp workout.
There is a lot of content on the Internet that mentions at least 15 hours weekly preparation.
However, between work, family, outings or shopping at the supermarket, the pace of life does not necessarily leave as much time…
Here we will give a programme intended for those who only 10 hours per week to spend on their training.
The importance of organization and optimization
10 hours per week can be considered a relatively minimal amount of time to prepare for the tests.
In this context, it remains essential to organize yourself wellof work efficiently and of target workouts to arrive confidently at the starting line on the big day.
Remember that to complete this extreme triathlon, you will have to go through:
Swimming: 3.8 km; Cycling: 180 km; Running: (a little more than) 42 km.
Swimming
This discipline, much feared by many athletes, actually represents only a small part of IronMan.
To improve the swimming trainingthe important thing is to focus on a particular objective in each session.
As part of a program of 10 hours of weekly preparation, the ideal remains to not not do more than 1 hour 30 minutes swimming, broken down into 2 sessions of 45 minutes.
First workout
A 45 minute session (let’s say, Monday morning), to develop the force, l’endurance and the aerobic base.
During this session, you must alternate swimming and short recovery periods between segments, for example:
5 minutes of easy swimming; 4 × 8 minutes of more vigorous swimming, interspersed with only 2 minutes of rest. Then you can move on to 3 × 12 minutes and reduce the recovery phases to 1 minute, then opt for 2 × 18 minutes of swimming with 2 minutes of rest.
Second workout
For the second session weekly swimming session (always 45 minutes) which will take place at the end of the week, it is necessary to work more vitesse with some threshold sessions.
This can take the following form: 400 meters of 4 segments broken down into 75 meters swimming and 25 meters drill, namely exercises where you seek to improve your technique above all (movement of the arms or legs and breathing).
Ideally, you should do between 12 and 15 repetitionsinterspersed by 15 second recovery. Once you’re comfortable, go for segments of 150 meters (for example 100 m of swimming followed by 50 m of drill) over ten or twelve repetitions, interspersed with 25 seconds of rest.
Then, aim for 8 to 10 repetitions of 200 meters with 35 seconds of recovery.
If you have extra time or the previous exercises are easy to learn, don’t hesitate to swim 30 minutes more each week doing drill or sculling type exercises.
Cycling
THE 180 km of cycling constitute a test which requires solid preparation.
However, it is not necessary to cycle countless hours to progress.
Here again we will go through 2 weekly workouts separate to improve performance.
First workout
Firstly, make a threshold exercise. The beginning of the week seems more appropriate, because this type of exercise remains quite difficult.
The advantage is that it also helps considerably to gain power and in endurance.
This session can be structured as follows:
10 to 15 minutes to warm up including 4 to 5 sessions of 30 seconds at the end, forcing more; 6 × 5 minutes at a difficulty in zone 4 (approximately 80% of heart rate) or even in zone 5, interspersed by 2.5 minute recoveries; Then you can move on to 3 × 10 minutes (still in zone 4 to 5) with 5 minute recovery phases.
You can also adopt a type of “hill training” with 4 to 5 × 2 minutes going up, then 2 minutes of recovery on the way down.
After that, it is possible to increase the difficulty with 5 to 7 × 3 minutes, then 3 minutes of recovery.
As with the previous exercise, we will aim here for a difficulty of 4 to 5 which can result in a slope inclined at 5% or 8%.
Read also: It’s blowing this month of April 8 valuable tips for cycling with the wind
Second workout
Secondly, preferably on the weekend, you must do an exercise requiring a greater effort.
For better preparation, try to find a route with race-like conditions and consider your nutritional strategy.
You do not need to choose a particularly long route and this workout should not exceed 3 h 30even 4 hours.
This session can take the form of 4 reps of 30 minutes in zone 3, interspersed with 15 minutes of recovery. Subsequently, you will be able to cycle 4 x 45 minutes (in zone 3) with always 15 minutes of recovery between these segments.
The race
Before we begin, let’s point out that you can run a thirty minutes just After your second workout bike.
This will not only get you used to the race conditions, but will build your endurance even more.
To amplify your running skills, we will rely on a program of 3 workouts to alternate every week in more than one basic training to endurance.
Stay vigilant during these, because the race puts a lot more strain on the joints and it’s about taking care of your body to be in perfect shape on the day of the event.
Workouts to alternate
First workout
For the first week for example, you can make a threshold training with :
15 minutes of jogging at an easy level, picking up the pace for the last 80 meters; 14 x 5 minutes (at an RPE of 6 or 7) with breaks in easy jogging of 2 min to 3 min. Second workout
The week afterconsider a hill workout (i.e. on a coast) with:
15 minutes of gentle running to warm up; 12 to 15 repetitions of 45 seconds (at an RPE of 7 or 8 depending on the slope), then jog back down the hill at an easy pace to recover.
Remember to choose a fairly steep slope, but not too steep either, so as to balance the difficulty. As you become more efficient, increase the duration of repetitions to:
12 to 15 reps of 60 seconds (RPE at 7 or 8), always with a recovery time going back down the hill. Third workout
Finally, finish your third week preparation for running with one or two repetitions of fartlek workout (at 8 RPE) that is to say a training including equal effort and recovery times. This session may look like this:
30 seconds of fast running, 30 seconds of recovery by running slowly; 45 seconds of fast running, 45 seconds of recovery running slowly; 60 seconds of fast running, 60 seconds of recovery running slowly; 90 seconds of fast running, 90 seconds of recovery running slowly; 60 seconds of fast running, 60 seconds of recovery running slowly; 45 seconds of fast running, 45 seconds of recovery running slowly; 30 seconds of fast running, 30 seconds of cool down running slowly.
Endurance training
For your second session weekly running session, train yourself to l’endurance. Try to run as long as possible without going too hard at the start.
At the beginning, adapt the time to your level, then gradually increase petit about fifteen minutes, approximately every 4 weeks, to gradually reach 2 hours 30 minutes.
To sum up
We have 2 training sessions of 45 minutes each: 1 hour 30 minutes of swimmingenviron 5 hours of cycling and approximately 3 hours 30 minutes of racing walkthe account is good.
If your week allows it, don’t hesitate to work additionally on the aspects that cause you problems.
Updated by Manon on: 04/30/2024
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