24 Weeks to an Endurance Triathlon

Okay, you’ve finished your first short-distance triathlon, maybe even an Olympic distance triathlon or an Ironman 70.3. Now it’s time to up the ante and go further and faster. Paul Huddle and Roch Frey are up to the challenge. Longer workouts, balancing work, family and training, adding speed work, recovery and the mental game are all essential when you decide to move up to the Ironman distance.

No one has more training or racing experience than Roch and Paul. They will get you to your target race healthy, happy and ready for more. Guaranteed.

The 24-week training program is laid out in four six-week increments. This represents the day-by-day, week-by-week work to be done in preparing for a successful Ironman.

The 10 Ironman Fundamentals

1 Be honest about what your’re getting yourself into and make your world right for it.
2 Use a heart rate monitor to properly gauge your training intensitiy.
3 Treat triathlon as a sport in itself, not a collection ­ of three single sports.
4 When it’s convenient, don’t hesitate to do back-to-back workouts.
5 Never do a long and/or hard bike workout on the same day you do a long and/or hard run.
6 Plan recovery into your training schedule.
7 Gains in athletic performance come from consistent training over a long period of time.
8 Develop your technique in all three disciplines.
9 Save racing for race day.
10 Remember to enjoy the ride.

ROCH FREY has run triathlons for over twenty years. After winning the Canadian Long Course National Championships 1993, he turned to full-time coaching and co-creator of multisports.com.

PAUL HUDDLE finished well over 300 triathlons, including Ironman-distance events. As a partner in multisports.com, Huddle is involved in instruction at triathlon camps and clinics.

T.J. MURPHY is now editor of CitySports Magazine in San Francisco and a regular contributor to Ironmanalive.com. He finished four Iron-man events, including the Ironman Hawaii in 2000.