How Often Should You Swim, Bike and Run | Triathlon Training

Knowing where to start when balancing training for three separate sports can be daunting. How often should you swim, bike & run, and when? 🤔 There's a lot to take into consideration when you want to tailor your training to suit you, so Heather & Mark are here to help with some example training weeks & a few tips and tricks along the way! 👀

0:00 - Intro
0:45 - Starting with the minimum
1:55 - The swim
2:34 - Example minimum schedule
3:31 - Double days
3:55 - Brick sessions
4:31 - Identifying what needs work
5:10 - Using swimming to recover
5:37 - Second example schedule
6:38 - Personalising your sessions

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How do you structure your training plans? Let us know below 👇

[StanleyShmia]

I’m a “weekend warrior” triathlete, having competed in sprint and Olympic distance races for 27 years and counting. I generally train 6 days a week, 2 disciplines per week, as recommended in the video, but not always. Some seasons, some months, some weeks I can be more focused than others. And while I may not always be at my fittest for every race, the key element for me is to enjoy each race no matter how I perform. For me, Triathlon is so much more than my race results. It’s the prep work, the people, the culture, the overall experience. I recommend that everyone try a tri, provided they feel safe, especially in open water, no matter how much they have trained.

[DaveStecker]

My “structure” involves pulling up my training calendar and my family calendar side by side. My wife works night shift and I work two jobs (full-time second shift, and a part time job early in the morning 4:45-7:45). On the days following my wife’s shift I know I have to stay home and either Zwift, lift, or Zwift and Lift (my version of a brick workout in Wisconsin in the winter 😆). On the other days I can get to the pool as she’ll be home with the kids. So it’s a lot of forward planning and sometimes being flexible if my “structure” doesn’t go as planned. I also actually really enjoy the art of planning my training into a tight window. Speaking of a tight window, it’s time for a swim ✌🏼.

[joyyboyy]

Gave myself 25 weeks before my first Olympic tri to build in 4 travel weeks! I'm using those as my blocks to build length or intensity and reevaluate. I schedule it on my calendar like a work event so I show up for myself before planning with friends and family. I'm glad I'm still finding time for the important things!!

[mikeflanagan]

This is my 34th year of triathlon. My earlier life was training approx 8 hours, working full time, University by correspondence, plus a family with 2 young kids. It can be done but it gets down to time management. As Uni stopped, training and race distance increased. Nowadays, it is a lot easier.

[oldmandice]

My Sprint Tri workout schedule:

U - 1.5 mile Run, 1 hr Bike (spin class), 1.5 mile Run
M - 8 mile run
T - Rest and Recovery
W - Run (Intervals)
R - 5 mile recovery Run /split/ 1.5 mile Swim (tempo)
F - Rest and Recovery
S - .5 mile Run, Strength and Conditioning, 45 minute Bike (stationary) /split/ 1.5 mile Swim (intervals)

Currently have a 1:18/100m swim pace, average 22 mph on the bike and have a 8 min/mile run pace. I compete in the 60-64 age group (I'm 60).

[marcuswills]

I experimented a bit over the years with the "rest day". Whilst rest is as important as the training itself, I found that active recovery benefitted me more in my weekly training. So effectively I train 7days a week, that active recovery day may include a drills/technique swim or a 45min easy spin (never a run though).

[thestreakpodcast]

No performance expectations here. And only local sprints and Olympic. But I do one thing per day. Swim * 2, bike * 2, run *2, big lift *1. You can actually have quite a lot of fun with that. And have time for other hobbies!

[madshansson]

What is your goal? Do you just want to enjoy the sport and complete the race? Or do you want to compete in a more competitive fashion? In my experience you can do with a lot less training than 6 days a week for a OLY distance if your aim is to just complete the race. I do 4-5 trainingsessions pr week for an oly distance, and i’m doing just fine. At 46 years old, 3 kids and a work/life balance to consider, 6 days would not work for me

[pieterkesteleyn]

What is not mentioned in this video is the core/stability training. This is something I didn't liked until I got 1 injury after the other one. Now I do one core/stability training per week and my overall posture is way better then before which has a great influence on my running technique. What I do is when I feel the need to skip a session (bike, swim or run) I just skip it and instead I go to the gym and work out for 1h. So I use my gym workout as somesort of backup. I find it double effective because I don't need to do a training I don't want to but I still keep training but in other condition

[spencerbuksh]

I do 20km a day cycling which is my daily commute (Mon-Fri). I will stop off halfway on the way home at the pool on Tuesdays. I do a track running session on Wednesday evenings. I like to do Parkrun on Saturdays and, when it gets a bit lighter/warmer, will do a longer cycle beforehand to get a brick session complete before 10am on a Saturday (the family will only just be getting out of bed at that point!). Sunday I will swim again. I have started to take the train on occasional days to/from work if I feel my body needs the rest or I get the train in and run home if I'm struggling to find time to run otherwise. It takes a bit of organisation, but doesn't dominate my week. I also find my motivation is quite high and any drop is usually just an indication to rest. I did nothing on a weekend in mid-Jan and felt much better thereafter.

[bravesirmick]

Monday - run
Tuesday - swim/ride
Weds - swim
Thurs - ride/run
Fri - Beer
Sat - longer swim/long slow run
Sun - big ride.

Add in using commute to work on bike on random days. Very hilly.

All that and I'm still terrible at these damn triathlon things.

Maybe I need more beer days.

[HeroesFanXL]

Monday: Easy morning swim (2K) + Hard evening run (5K)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Easy morning swim (2K) + Hard evening bike (30mins)
Thursday: Tempo run (currently 7.5K, building to 10K)
Friday: Hard morning swim (1.5K) + Tempo evening bike (60mins)
Saturday: Easy run (currently 7.5K, building to 20K)
Sunday: Easy bike (90mins)

[stevencargill]

I'm new to triathlon and doing my first triathlon this year (Straight in at Ironman distance). I have limited time through the week and stick to gym work and take my recovery day on a Wednesday normally. I have only doing 1 session a week for each discipline over the weekends so far (will up this as I go and get fitter) but been getting on ok. I done a pool/gym sprint triathlon comfortably at the weekend to see how I get on transitioning through the disciplines. Starting to believe I can do this, still got over 7 months till event. Love the videos, been helping me loads.

[GeorgEberle]

Ahh, T3 pool in Teneriffa. I love that swimming facility. Especially the little swimmsuit dryer in the changing room.

[blrun]

Think for every newbie the S&C part should be part of the routine, I see far too many athletes who start out triathlon get hooked, increase distance but neglect S&C and get badly injured

[andreg]

This is always a great topic and love to see how others train... I do more hybrid training where 4 days a week I do crossfit and Olympic lifting and 2 sessions of each tri sport per week. 1 for speed and 1 for endurance, Fridays are my Rest days...

[geraldinelilly]

I agree with the too little swimming comment. I quickly lose the feel of the water. I cycle to/from work, do 1 brick session (30min cycle 30min run) and 1 longer run (20k) and 1 longer cycle (1.5 hours) per week. I joined a swim club, swim all strokes 3 times a week and freestyle 2 additional times a week - all swims an hour long. I do half an hour of yoga on waking every day and always stretch after exercise. I work more than full time and that’s all I can fit in without training becoming a chore and starting to hate it. I used to cycle 3 to 4 hours on the weekend and started to hate it so cut it down.

[yijuntey]

Coming from a swimming background, im preparing for my first sprint distance triathlon thats coming up in march. Thanks for all ur videos i found them rlly helpful and informative

[mackenzieusher]

I am training for my first triathlon in September (Olympic), and currently I am swimming three times a week, because swimming is by far my weakest sport. I am still a ways off from being able to swim 1.5km without a break. It's quite wintry here, so I am only biking short distances to get to the pool. Have been running two times a week, but going to push that up to three until spring comes, then I will cut back on the swimming and running to get more biking in.