At Working Triathlete, we are proud of our successful track record helping athletes maximize their potential. Last year, dozens of WT athletes qualified for various World Championships events, including the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii, and the 70.3 World Championships in St. George, Utah. At the risk of giving away all of our secrets at Working Triathlete (hint: it mainly involves nailing fundamentals and having the privilege of working with incredibly motivated and disciplined athletes), the purpose of this article is to shed some light on the Working Triathlete training methodology. Specifically, we’ll pull back the curtain and give you an idea of the type of training required to break nine hours in an Ironman on a legitimate course.
How Hard is it to Qualify for Kona?
Ten years ago, breaking ten hours in an Ironman gave a middle-aged male a solid chance of qualifying for the Ironman World Championships. On the women’s side, a performance of around 11 hours could qualify. Nowadays, with advances in technology, evidence-based training methods, and much faster bike splits, just sneaking under 10 hours (for males) rarely cuts it. For men between 25 and 44 years old, a ~sub-9:30 is typically required. And with growing frequency, a sub-9 performance is needed. On the women’s side, the most competitive age groups require a performance in the low- to mid-ten hour range. It has never been tougher to qualify for Kona.
Last year (2021), I was fortunate enough to remain healthy and string together a solid training block for my A-race of the year: Ironman Indiana. My goal was to break nine hours and qualify for Kona, which I was grateful to achieve. I finished fifth overall and second in the male 30-34 age group with a time of 8:58. I swam 67 minutes, rode 4:37, and ran 3:07.
We released a podcast on the race a few months ago, however many listeners emailed asking for more detail on the training leading up to the race, which inspired this article.
My training for the race was consistent with that of many long-course athletes I coach, including other World Championships qualifiers. However, I want to caveat that Ironman training is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. The type of training described below works for me and many others; however, it may not be optimal for everyone. Athletes respond differently to intensity and volume. Certain athletes require more run mileage, while others may risk injury on half the volume described. Ironman training requires a roadmap that is uniquely yours, which is why we recommend that you work with an experienced coach.
Four Core Working Triathlete Principles that Helped Me Break 9 Hours in an Ironman and Qualify for Kona
Although we can analyze training from many different angles, the following are four core principles enabling the performance:
Consistency over time and injury mitigation is vital. Deep, Ironman-specific fitness takes years of consistent training to develop. Big breaks in training stifle progress. In the two years leading up to the race, I averaged 10 hours and 24 minutes of swim-bike-run training per week, including rest weeks. The prior decade of training was similar. Approximately 50% of this time was spent cycling, 35% was spent running, and 15% was spent swimming (including Vasa training). I typically enjoyed two full weeks of complete rest each year. Apart from that, my training was VERY consistent.
Most of my high-intensity work (upper Zone 3 and above) occurred on the bike. With some nuance, it’s safe to say that long-course racing is all about the bike. It’s the longest discipline by duration and, if you’re a strong cyclist and can pace yourself well, you will run closer to your standalone running race potential. The likelihood of overuse injuries is also lower in cycling training vs run training, so it’s generally “safer” to allocate most of the “20” of the 80-20 principle to the bike. (Note: the 80-20 training principle holds that 20% of your workouts should be high- intensity and 80% should be easy, which is more or less the ideal distribution assuming you’re recovering well between key intensity sessions). It is the case, however, that a bit over 20% of my cycling workouts contained intensity (you’ll see why in principle #3).
The vast majority of my run training was easy. Like, REALLY easy. Most of my supporting runs were 1-2 minutes per mile slower than Ironman race pace. I averaged less than one high-intensity run workout per week. If we look at my run training through the 80-20 lens, less than 20% of my run workouts contained intensity. If we combine cycling and running workouts, it was the case that approximately 80% of my workouts were easy (Z2 or under) and ~20% were higher intensity, with higher intensity being defined as sweet spot (upper Z3 of the five-zone training model) and above. By keeping my runs easy, I was able to develop a strong aerobic base, nail key intensity cycling sessions and mitigate overtraining. I’ll elaborate more on run training below…
I pay close attention to nutrition and strive for body composition reflective of an elite athlete’s. Especially during the season, I make sure to eat well for recovery and to toe the starting line lean and strong with a diet that fuels not only performance, but also recovery. Endurance racing is about power-to-weight: watts to kilos. It doesn’t matter how optimized your engine is if you’re carrying needless weight OR can’t generate power. Achieving good body composition can be difficult, and many athletes struggle with this discipline. Disordered eating is rampant in endurance sports, so this concept of nutrition and body composition requires delicate introduction and discussion. Nevertheless, not addressing these concepts within the context of strength-building, injury prevention, and training enablement is a disservice to serious athletes with big goals.
The Nitty Gritty Training Details on How to Perform a Successful Ironman
Volume Over the Long Term
Volume is the most common training factor tossed about when discussing Ironman training, and for good reason. Ironman races are long slogs. If you don’t have an optimized, efficient engine and the ability to withstand the pounding of 8-17 hours of exercise, you’re going to have a bad time. However, I am a huge advocate of deliberate efficiency and would wager I got by on less volume than the typical Kona Qualifier.
In the 56 weeks leading into the race, I averaged approximately 11 hours of training per week, broken down as follows (in hours):
56 Weeks Leading Into Race
Bike: 5:37 (65% of time in Z2 or under, 15% Z3, 16% Z4, 5% Z5 and above)
Run: 3:06 (94% of duration was in Z2 or below; notably, I was faced with an injury early in the year which brought down the overall average. The “mode” was around four hours per week)
Swim: 2:19 (This is active swimming. Prior years was ~1:30 per week)
Run Avg: 21.9 Miles per Week (MPW), which is 8-10 miles lower than my decade-long average
Avg Training Stress Score (TSS): 714
Bike and run combined Intensity Factor (IF): .70
As you can see above, 45% of my time spent on the bike was above Zone 2; however, only 6% of my time spent running was above Zone 2. I am a big believer in this type of allocation for most low-volume age groupers (say, under 12 hours per week). Disproportionately allocating intensity to the bike is a smart way to optimize your engine with a lower risk of injury. And, it works – nearly all athletes I work with can hit the traditional “targets” for long-course racing. (For 70.3s, upper middle-of-the-pack Working Triathlete athletes hold ~80% FTP on the bike and 90-95% of threshold pace for the run; for 140.6s, they successfully hold 70-73% of FTP and 75-80% of threshold pace.) This intensity allocation is a bit different for our higher-volume elite athletes, where there is more Z2 cycling and typically a greater number of high-intensity run workouts. That said, the general concept of prioritizing cycling fitness for most long-course athletes is sound.
The Race-Specific Ironman Build
As an Ironman approaches, volume and race-specific training become more important. This means more volume (My peak weekly volume was ~18 hours per week, with an average of 14.5 hours over the last 10 weeks) and more time spent building efficiency at race-intensity. Below are my training metrics over the last 20 and last 10 weeks of the build:
20 Weeks Leading Into Race
Avg Weekly Volume: 13:51
Bike: 6:31 (60% Z2 or under, 21.3% in Z3, 15% Z4, 3.31% Z5)
Run: 4:05
Swim: 3:15 (Avg of 12, 738 yards. Peak of 19,876)
Run Avg: 29.1 MPW
Peak MPW: 41 MPW
Longest Run: 17 miles
Longest Ride: 100 miles
Duration breakdown: 47.6% cycling; 29.4% running; 23% swimming
Average Weekly TSS: 916
Average IF: Bike, .70; Run, .72
10 Weeks Leading Into Race
Avg Weekly Volume: 14:37
Bike: 7:17
Run: 4:09
Swim: 3:08
Average IF: Bike .69, Run .72,
Average Weekly TSS: 957 TSS
As you can see, my weekly volume increased during the race-specific build, with the distribution of cycling, running, and swim training remaining constant at 50%-30%-20%, respectively.
Cycling Training
Before the race-specific build, I performed a more polarized training block with more Z5 work to hone high-end fitness (my peak FTP was in the 330 range). I had some fun working on speed and polished racing tactics at shorter Olympic and Sprint distance races in the summer. I’m an advocate of building a big engine first (increase aerobic capacity/FTP) and then teaching it to be efficient at race pace.
In the 10 or 12 weeks leading up to the race, my riding became more race-specific. The purpose of this race-specific block was to hone the aerobic engine, build endurance/resiliency, enhance metabolic efficiency at race pace, and get VERY comfortable in the aero position. Although the plan varied week-to-week, I would typically complete one or two short (relatively speaking) sweet spot sessions or a sweet spot session and moderately long structured ride during the week along with a weekend long ride. The other rides usually focused on building efficiency at or just above Ironman race pace. I spent a lot of time at 75-80% of threshold during main sets and would always integrate above-race-pace intervals into my long rides, including 70.3 pace and sweet spot work. Also important: most of my riding was indoors in aero on an Omnium Overdrive trainer (I don’t advocate erg mode).
Run Training
As I mentioned, easy run volume is the key to running well. Until an athlete is running 20-25 miles per week, their running should be almost exclusively easy Z1/2 work (along with strides + pick-ups for the neuromuscular benefit). In this build, I dealt with a chronic ankle injury and missed quite a few weeks of running throughout 2020 and 2021 (over 10 weeks in total). Because of this, my run volume was lower than in typical years and I performed fewer high-intensity run sessions. As the race approached, my average IF for run training actually increased as I spent more time at Ironman race pace and overcame an ankle injury, enabling me to develop more high-end run fitness. However, I never did more than one high-intensity run workout per week all year, and the average IF of all running was solidly Zone 2. Many of my runs were glacially slow (2 minutes slower than Ironman race pace). Remember, you don’t have to run fast to reap the foundational aerobic benefits of run training, such as mitochondria development and heart stroke volume. As little as 60% of max HR will do it. A foundation of easy running topped off with relatively few, albeit well-structured, high-intensity sessions, is a wise approach for safely optimizing long-course run fitness.
Swim Training
If you’ve followed Working Triathlete for any period of time, you’ve heard us talk about scaling swim training for severely time-strapped athletes. This principle is valid, albeit with caveats I’ll briefly describe below. Personally, as an inflexible adult-learned swimmer who, like many triathletes, has had to work very hard to improve my swim, I purposely increased my swim volume in the six months heading into Ironman Indiana. In prior years, due to time constraints, I would typically average about 6,000 yards of swimming per week, which is typical for most triathletes looking to be “proficient.” However, going into Ironman Indiana, which had a legitimate lake swim, I more than doubled my average swim volume to 12-15K per week. Doing so improved my cruise pace by about 5-8 seconds per 100 compared to lower volume swim training while ALSO increasing general swim fitness. As I wanted to break 9 hours on a legitimate course (actual 140.6 distance, no downstream swim), this adjustment was necessary. This doubling of swim volume led to a five or so minute improvement in the swim and enabled me to feel fresh exiting the water. The impact of the latter is difficult to quantify. However, based on my prior Ironman performances (and this is going contrary to what many coaches say), my lack of swim fitness in prior races did not impact the rest of the race because I actually held back during long-course swims when I was less swim-fit. Those who blow up and blame the swim, I would argue, should have adjusted their target IF in the water. Doing this, of course, requires discipline. For severely time-strapped Ironman athletes, the analysis of doubling swim volume (which probably added four hours of additional “lost time” per week to my schedule, considering both training time and travel time to the pool) to save five minutes during a race may not be worth it. It depends on goals, aspirations, what one is willing to sacrifice, and whether the additional time would be better spent running or cycling. For me (and for anyone looking to KQ), it is a worthwhile investment to increase swim volume to at least 10-12K per week. This, I should note, is still laughably little volume to most pure swimmers.
Other Factors
Other factors I would be remiss not to mention include sleep, nutrition, and strength work. I won’t go into detail on these here lest this article turn into a book, but it is essential to focus on these items if you want to maximize your potential. As part of Working Triathlete, we discuss these concepts often through Working Triathlete University (webinars, seminars, camps, articles) and 1:1 discussions with coached athletes.
Conclusion
Although training is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor, the above principles serve as a good general guide for what it took for one athlete to break nine hours and qualify for Kona. Perhaps you can take some nuggets and apply them to your own training. If you want more detail about race execution, check out the Working Triathlete Podcast Episode where we discuss it. And of course, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or another Working Triathlete coach who can help you reach your goals.
Conrad Goeringer is an Ironman Certified Coach based out of Nashville, TN. He is the founder of Working Triathlete and author of the book The Working Triathlete. His passion is helping athletes of all levels and with all schedules achieve their endurance goals. Reach out to learn more about coaching packages and for a free consultation.