This 12-week training plan is designed for intermediate-level athletes who have experience at longer distances and who are looking to improve their 70.3 distance times.
The plan operates on a four-week cycle meaning there will be three weeks of progressive training load followed by an easier/adaptation week. The last four-week cycle (weeks 9-12) will see 2.5 weeks of progressive load followed by a 10-day recovery/taper phase.
Many of the workouts in this training plan are repetitive and progressive. This is by design. The goal is to establish a routine that
you can be consistent with. Often simplicity is the best course of action.
This training plan has been built using Rate of Perceive Exertion or RPE for short. The RPE scale is 1-10 whereby 1 is very easy and 10 is best effort. When designated for a workout, RPE ratings apply to the main set—please do warm-ups and cool downs easy. RPE 3-5 activation sets in the warm-up should be done with higher RPE to warm up for the set that is coming. A RPE of 8-8.5 can be roughly correlated to your Functional Threshold Power or FTP on the bike and your running threshold effort or pace.
The workouts, with some higher intensity on the bike and run, are designated to be done on hilly terrain. If you don’t have access to hills, the workouts can be done on flat terrain using the same RPE scale.
Where there are two workouts a day, these can be done at opposite ends of the day. The Saturday bike/run is a brick workout—do the run immediately after the bike. The easy swim on Saturday can be done either immediately after the brick or a little later.
On the Saturday before race day there are two options for the swim—one done in your normal setting/pool and the other is an open water option should you wish to use the race venue.
Photography credit: Harmony IRONMAN 70.3 Calgary
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