My Entire Week Of Training for an Ironman While Working Full-Time

IMany people have been intrigued to pursue the coveted Ironman triathlon. One of the hardest things about earning a finisher medal (aside from the seemingly never-ending 140-mile distance) is the time-commitment of training. How can someone who is working a full-time job and has other life commitments also dedicate the time and energy toward swimming, biking, and running enough to complete such a long race? Is it even possible? I’m here to share my experience training for my first Ironman race and what a week of training may look like.

• Important Note — I, like many of you who may be reading, am not an expert or elite-level athlete in the sport of triathlon. Training for this race is merely a personal goal of mine to test my own limits, and I imagine many of you are in the same boat. So I am simply sharing the things I have learned through my journey, not expert-level insight on how to train.

I am currently two weeks out from race day and my weekly training time just peaked at 14 hours last week. The majority of weeks consisted of around 7–10 hours in total training time.

Before getting into the swim, bike, and run portion of training, I must say that lifting weights is still a part of my fitness routine that I am not willing to give up. I began doing 3 lifting sessions per week of about an hour each, consisting of 1 lower body day, & 2 upper body days. I have recently cut that down to two days, one being a full body session, and the other upper body only.

Strength training is highly important for Ironman, as your body must withstand a tremendous amount of stress, not to mention you will be more powerful and resilient with stronger muscles. If you’re interested in learning more about the importance of strength training for triathlon, you can check out this article I wrote.

Now for the bulk of the training: the swim, bike, and run.

As a self-coached athlete working full-time, I have kept a simple approach to structuring my training, which is as follows: 2 swims, 2–3 runs, and 3 bike rides every week. I typically allow a full rest day every week, so those 7–8 workouts are spread across 6 days.

The majority of the race is spent on the bike, so I make sure to get 3 biking sessions for every 2 swim and running sessions. If enough time allows me to get an additional run in I will do that also.

As a personal trainer, I work a split-shift most days, meaning the first half of my work day starts early in the morning, and the second half is in the evening. This allows me to get most of my training done during the middle of the day, so that way I can spend the last few hours of the day with my girlfriend, and my training isn’t cutting into that time.

I typically have been scheduling my longest session of the week on Saturday mornings in order to be done by the afternoon, and take Sunday off, so I still have a weekend with free time.

Training for an Ironman while working full-time takes a lot of planning, good time management, and dedication to stick with it. Having said that, I believe most people are capable of making the time for reaching such a goal.

Good luck training! You can do it!