How To Train For An Olympic Distance Triathlon

You've signed up for your first Olympic Distance Triathlon. How much do you need to train? How long should you spend on each sport? How can you make sure you're ready when the day of the event comes? Heather's here to help you prepare.

0:00 - Intro
0:27 - What exactly have you signed up for?
2:15 - How to divide up your week
3:20 - Swim
4:10 - Bike
5:24 - Run
7:09 - Strength & Conditioning
7:35 - Transition

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Do you feel ready for your first Olympic Distance Triathlon

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Photos: © Triathlon / Getty Images

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[gtn]

Do you feel ready for your first Olympic Distance Triathlon?

[socialgelo]

First Olympic triathlon in 3 weeks. I've been following this channel for a year and training for it. I'm 41. Hoping to get it done with no injuries.Thanks for all the tips!

[morganhaynes]

Broke my neck in 2010....the year I signed up for my first full Iron Distance. Fast forward thru life and all that happens and here I am....signed up for 2 Oly's. 5 June and 11 June. Needless to say, in my opinion, I am way behind on my training! Love you guys.

[tiree]

I’m training for my very first sprint triathlon in November 2022. I’m one year from open heart surgery and I’m building up to competition with the support of my cardiologist, sports physiologist and nutritionist. Currently struggling with the swim technique, bike 20km is steady at 28’s to 30’s and 5km run PB is 22:06 I’m really finding your videos useful. Thank you very much keep up the good work. Bryan

[vanehupa]

Just did my first triathlon today, an olympic one!!!! This video is spot on. I blame #GTN for the inspiration!!

[tinyrunner]

I did my first Olympic last year and finished in 2:41:02. Hoping for sub 2:30 this year!

[derspen]

I did my first sprint triathlon in June 2022. I want to do the Olympic distance in June 2023. Just got some motivation from this video. Thank you.

[ahrenek]

Thanks for all this amazing triathlon content :) I'm a newbie and I'm training for my first triathlon - olympic length - and your videos have been hugely educational! So much to learn!

[Nessunego]

You basically gave every good advice that does exist for an olympic triathlon. Thank you very much! I'm going to race my first olympic triathlon in 1 month. The past season I raced sprint distance. Now I can clearly see that I'm improved a lot because I can complete sprint distances with extreme ease, while I'm still struggling a bit with olympic distances. I could have chosen to race other sprint triathlons this season, but I really wanted something longer, so here I am. Wish me goog luck ;)

[geoffwalker]

Love that you give really succinct pithy advice in a short segment, in a world where there is so much foam. Thanks you guys x

[danielnava]

Have my first Olympic Triathlon on 20APR2024 and just did a mock sprint triathlon 3 days ago of 400m breastroke in a pool without touching the walls, 11mi bike inside, and 4.1mi run outside in 01:40:09. Gonna amp up the training a bit more after this recovery week and definitely using your tips for it. Also, have a sprint triathlon scheduled on 06APR2024. Plan on doing one more mock sprint triathlon before 06APR2024 too.

[TheCrowdedPlanet]

My wife and I just signed up for our first olympic yesterday so this video is timed perfectly 😸 we did a few sprints last season and decided to up the distance, I’m still a little nervous about the swim but after watching countless GTN videos and getting lessons from Italian triathlete Michele Sarzilla (shameless name drop there😹😹) I know deep down there’s nothing to worry about. Thanks for the great content guys, I look forward to all your videos and you’ve helped ease some of the concerns that a journey into the world of triathlon presents

[ljantz]

Signing up for my first race. July 2023. 51 yrs old this year so it’s gonna be a challenge. State swimmer in HS (years ago😂). Buying a bike soon. Running 800-1000 miles over the past 5 years.

[jackmccann]

That's one of the best videos ye put out, so simple and informative, I really enjoyed it Heather 👍

[notmyrealname]

I just did my first ever triathlon (sprint) and want to do Olympic next. Just for your amusement…:I forgot to start ‘courses’ on my bike computer in T1 and proceeded to get completely lost (missed a crucial turn/they were short of marshals) so I ended up cycling more than an Olympic distance haha before I found the start again and still had to do the run. Exhausted! Lesson learnt:don’t rely on technology or race marshals -learn the course properly beforehand if you don’t want to end up on the opposite coast of the country in a wet tri suit… yeah.. still enjoyed it though!! First of many I hope. :)

[DaveStecker]

I’ve done a number of sprints and have thought about upping to an Olympic. My struggle is the extra swim distance. Where I live a lot of sprints are set at 400m swim and they up the bike to 15-16 miles. I would really have to embrace training more for the swim because 3x-ing the distance is a big jump for me.

[dc]

Hahahahah just finished my very first Olympic Tri last Sunday! Only saw this vid now! 🤣 🤣 🤣

[SBoots]

I was to do my first Oly Tri this year. Then find out my work schedule changed and can not go. Training plan out the window because I do not want to peak to early for a later one. I will regroup, keep training and search another one. Thank you for all your tips and coaching. Training is still fun.

[tabbyroberts]

I don't understand why I am torturing myself with this video. I've recently completely torn my ACL and won't be running for probably 5 months, haven't even had my surgery ffs.

Still going to watch GTN to gain the knowledge and live vicariously through other people

[FALCONZAMORA]

Super useful. Thank you. Have my first in 4 mo