The ULTIMATE Geelong Half Distance plan
The Geelong course, built into your training.
Evidence-based coaching from a sub-5-hour finisher who lives and trains on this course.
Not sure this is the right plan for you?
Book a free 15-minute call with Leighton and talk it through. No pressure and no sales pitch, just a straight answer on which plan fits the time you actually have. Book a free 15-minute call
60% off every Summit plan until 30 September. Use code 60PERCENTOFF at checkout.
Every session is a structured workout, so it pushes straight to your Garmin, Wahoo, Polar or Coros watch with the intervals and targets already built in.
Go to sample weeks and training-load structure ↓
The definitive 28-week plan for the Geelong half-distance triathlon, from a coach who has raced this course to a sub-5-hour finish and lives and trains here. You get the full Summit half-distance program, plus the things only a local can give you: the real Geelong course, built into your training. Corio Bay swim craft and the beach self-seed start, the Eastern Beach Road climb that opens each bike lap, the long exposed Point Henry and Portarlington crosswind straights, and the flat, multi-lap waterfront run rehearsed as an even, negative-split race. Not in Geelong? Every course session tells you how to train it on similar terrain near home.
THE GEELONG COURSE, IN YOUR TRAINING
The real course, rehearsed before race day.
Built from the real race GPS. The bike and run route files (GPX) are included with your plan, so you can ride and recce the actual course, or load them onto your head unit anywhere.
Swim – 1.9 km, Corio Bay A protected bay with a beach self-seed start. The plan builds your start craft and sighting so the bunched start never spikes you.
Bike – 90 km, two laps Do not spike the early Eastern Beach Road climb, hold an even aero effort through the exposed crosswind straights, and ride lap two with lap one discipline. The plan rehearses exactly this.
Run – 21.1 km, flat waterfront laps Fast and mostly flat, with a few small rises. The plan rehearses even splits, disciplined turnarounds and a stronger back half, so you do not go out too hard when the crowd tempts you.
YOUR SUMMIT GEELONG BONUS
A coach on the ground at your race.
Because Leighton is Geelong-based and on the start line, this plan includes two things no off-the-shelf plan can:
✓ Race-week email support Reach out with your race questions, and for the local rundown: parking, where to eat, getting around town.
✓ In-person race-day coaching Leighton is at this race, so connect in race week and talk through your strategy in person. Your local advantage, from a coach who has raced this course.
WHAT'S IN EVERY SUMMIT PLAN
Coaching built in, not just a list of workouts.
✓ HR-anchored to your own threshold Targets are set from your own heart rate, and swims from your own CSS pace, so they scale to you, not a generic chart.
✓ Mostly easy, with real race-specific work A big aerobic base, with a smaller, sharper dose of CSS swim, threshold, race-pace and brick work placed where the science says it belongs.
✓ Structured to your watch Every key bike and run interval downloads to your device and guides you in real time.
✓ A weekly coaching note Plain English, every Monday: what matters most and what to drop when life is loud.
✓ A full race-week and race-morning plan The race day mapped leg by leg, with a race-morning checklist, so nothing is left to chance.
✓ A day-one guide and workbook The reasoning behind every session, with every term defined in full.
THE INTENSITY THAT GETS YOU THERE
Most of your training, easy.
A big aerobic base carries the work, with a smaller, sharper dose of hard efforts placed where they earn their keep.
Easy ~80% Hard
Polarised training has the strongest evidence, so these plans are built that way. Pyramidal training is also effective, so in one-to-one coaching the balance is tailored to your stage of training and your life load.
Where your training load sits in the typical age-group triathlon population, from my own PhD research (the TrainingPeaks Coach Blog I wrote → ).
Dr Leighton Wells
PhD · MAppSpSci · TrainingPeaks Level 2 · 7× Ironman finisher · sub-5-hour finisher on the Geelong course · research on 34,731 training sessions
HOW IT IS BUILT
What it is built on
Built the way the evidence says a half distance is built: a broad aerobic base trained mostly easy, the bike carrying the aerobic load while the run is built carefully, and a limited, deliberate dose of harder work. It opens with an orientation week and a benchmark week, then progresses in absorbable steps with deload weeks along the way.
The build adds the Geelong-specific work: the Eastern Beach climb repeats, exposed-road aero and crosswind holds, the two-lap negative-split rehearsal, race-simulation bricks, and CSS and race-pace swim sets. Every session is anchored to your own threshold, your LTHR (Lactate Threshold Heart Rate), set in the benchmark week, so easy days are genuinely easy and the hard days count.
The plan progresses to a single peak, then tapers cleanly so you arrive sharp, and finishes with a full race-week and race-morning execution plan. It is built to the same standards behind every Summit plan .
THE SUMMIT COACHING CYCLE
Coach yourself the way we would.
This is the rhythm we run in one-to-one coaching, and we encourage you to run it yourself when self-coaching. The plan prescribes the training; you measure, monitor and manage, week to week, and each step feeds the next.
P Me Mo Ma P Prescribe The plan designs each week with intent, built on the method above.
Me Measure Capture every session, and just as important, how it actually felt.
Mo Monitor Watch the trends, your fatigue and your life load, not just one session.
Ma Manage Adjust, progress or back off, then it feeds into the next week.
THE AUTHORITY BEHIND YOUR PLAN
Peer-reviewed research Published in leading sport-science journals.
Invited presenter For AusTriathlon and TrainingPeaks.
European College of Sport Science Presented at its 30th Annual Congress in Rimini, Italy (July 2025), a leading international sport-science congress.
ENDURANCE RESULTS FROM SUMMIT ATHLETES
Real results, from real endurance athletes.
40 minutes off a half distance, on this course “Exceptional, personalised service. Leighton provides great insights and really knows what endurance training is all about. I reduced my Ironman 70.3 time by 40 minutes.”
Scott Hunter · on the Ironman 70.3 Geelong course 50-min half-distance PB, and a first full-distance finish “I reduced my Ironman 70.3 PB by 50 minutes in less than 12 months with Leighton, and he coached me to my first Ironman finish.”
Andrew Hyde · First full-distance finish Before you start
This is an intermediate plan. You should already be training consistently across swim, bike and run, with a base to sharpen rather than one to build from scratch. The plan opens with an orientation week to settle in and set up your devices, then a benchmark week that sets your zones from your own threshold, so nothing is guesswork. A heart-rate monitor is essential, and you will need pool or open-water access for the swims. Open-water sessions always carry the never-solo safety rule and a pool alternative.
FROM PLAN TO COACHING
A plan gives you the structure. Coaching adds the person reading the data.
Buy this plan, and if you later move to one-to-one coaching with Dr Leighton Wells, PhD (Sport Science), MAppSpSci, your first month is free. We pick up from where the plan has taken you, with your training built and adjusted around you, week to week.
Independently produced for athletes targeting the Geelong half-distance triathlon and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or associated with IRONMAN or the event organisers. Delivered through TrainingPeaks and loads into your calendar from your chosen start date. Train to your own limits and seek medical advice before starting a new program.
