This plan follows the proven successful "Spiral system" of reverse periodisation by the world´s most successful coach Brett Sutton. We build strong athletes, the strongest they can be and stronger than they think they can be.
You have successfully completed Cycle I - the entry phase. "Successfully" means that you completed all key sessions, practiced technique in all 3 disciplined, did most of your training in your slow aerobic pace and also competed some short speed interval sessions.
This plans covers the next 8 weeks and represents Cycle II, the Consolidation phase, of Ironman or Half-Ironman preparation. Both volume and intensity increase progressively: in 3 cycles of 2 "load" weeks, followed by an easier week. Each load week has a similar structure and some sessions do not change at all: such as the MMM swim on Monday and Power 40x50 paddles/pull buoy swim on Friday - but we aim to improve our times from week to week. These swim sessions are key sessions not to be missed. The key running sessions are the Tuesday Track sessions, where intervals become progressively more and more challenging and the Long run on Thur - we want to build it out to 2hr by the end of this cycle. On the bike, the key sessions are the power endurance/hill repeats on Wed and the longer ride on Sunday. The remaining sessions are key if your want to go sub 11hrs on Ironman and sub 5.5hr on Half-Ironman, so do them if this is your goal!
The indicated split times for swim and run intervals orientate themselves on ca. 70min Ironman swimmers and ca. 4hrs Ironman marathoners. Please adjust them accordingly if you are a better swimmer/runner - but please keep in mind that the time should be challenging while sustainable for all intervals without slowing down.
As always, quality of each session matters! Have fun training! We do it because we love it!