At home, the training program was arranged differently: cycling on Monday;

running on Tuesday; swimming on Wednesday; cycling on Thursday; running on Friday; swimming on Saturday;

the Sunday is a day of rest.

While being in Russia, with all work, family and other chores, it is not always possible to stick to the training schedule, so there are some deviations.

There are different types of training, such as endurance and speed. At the initial stage, it is better to train endurance.

It is optimal to train at a half of the competitive distance, i.e. to swim 2 km, to ride a bicycle 90 km and to run 15 km.

Once a week or two weeks, a single long training is necessary: swim from 3 to 4 km, cycle from 120 to 150 km and run from 20 to 30 km.

If you are working on your speed, interval training sessions will help. Interval training means alternation of intensive physical exercise with short rest periods or light (recovery) loads.

For example, you swim 25 meters at maximum speed and then rest for the next 75 meters (you swim in a relaxed way, probably in a different style).

On a bicycle, you cycle at full speed for 3-4 minutes at most and then you rest for the same amount of time.

On the run you accelerate at a maximum speed of 300-500 meters and then relax for 1 km, reducing the running pace, but not slowing down to walking.

The higher your fitness is, the less time you need to rest and recover.

Please do not treat my proposed

options as a dogmatic statement to blindly follow. There is a lot of possible options, and the choice depends primarily on your level of training.

The higher your fitness is, the less time you need to rest and recover.

You should do some speed training to improve your performance as well,

You should do some speed training to improve your performance as well, but proceed to it only after having

enough endurance to withstand the load.

but proceed to it only after having enough endurance to withstand the load. That speed training can be like this: 4 km swimming on Monday, 140 km cycling on Tuesday and 25 to 30 km running on Wednesday.

If you feel okay after that, you can include interval training in your plan and work consistently on increasing your power and speed.

If there is enough time and you feel strong enough, you can add swimming to your training program on cycling/running training days. For example, if you were cycling or running in the morning, you can swim in the evening.

If you are in good shape, you can do a double training set by combining cycling and running training. This is very useful,

as it teaches muscles to quickly adapt to the load change and switch from cycling to running without any trouble.

In a double training, you shouldn’t get yourself exhausted with a long running distance. To develop “muscle memory”, it will be enough to run from 3 to 5 km after the cycling.

The main thing is not to overdo it, not to overtrain. Rest and recovery are just as important as training. This is why you must rest and keep an eye for your condition. Working out must be something you enjoy, or you’ll fizzle out before long.

Remember that you must test yourself before Ironman: run a marathon, do an Olympic-distance triathlon and beat a Half Ironman.

The main thing is not to overdo it, not to overtrain. Rest and recovery are just as important as training.

Only after that, when you’ll have at least some sort of understanding what awaits you, you can try your hand at Ironman.

NUTRITION

An important factor in successful completion of Ironman is eating right.