Train on the evidence.
Evidence-based coaching, from a coach who helped build the evidence.
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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 ↓
You are building toward a full-distance triathlon from a general base, and you want the whole journey done properly, not crammed into the final weeks. This is a 25-week build from a general aerobic base to a genuine 16.5-hour peak: a 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and 42.2 km run is an aerobic event before it is anything else, so it rewards a base built patiently over months. Already have a half-distance base and want a shorter, race-specific peak? Point yourself at the day with the 14-week Final-Prep plan instead.
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, so they scale to you, not a generic chart.
✓About 80 percent easy
Most of your running kept genuinely easy, with a smaller, sharper share of hard work. Endurance research links the fastest marathon and half-marathon times to more easy running, not more hard.
✓Structured to your watch
Every 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.
✓Three doses every week
Full, reduced and minimum, so a hard work or family week never derails the plan.
✓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, mostly easy and bike-led, with a smaller, sharper dose of harder work as race day nears.
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 · research on 34,731 training sessions
HOW IT IS BUILT
What it is built on
Built the way a full-distance triathlon is actually built: a base developed in small, deliberate steps over months, mostly easy and bike-led, with deload weeks so the load turns into fitness rather than fatigue. The athletes who finish strong are the ones whose biggest weeks were absorbed, not survived.
The bike carries most of the aerobic load while the run is built carefully and protectively, because arriving at the start line healthy is the whole point. As the build progresses the long ride and long run extend into genuine full-distance territory, with race-pace and brick work, still anchored to your own zones.
It opens with an orientation week to settle in and set up your devices, then a benchmark week that sets your heart-rate zones from your own threshold, so every later session lands where it should. The plan peaks near 16.5 hours, then tapers cleanly to shed fatigue while holding fitness. 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.
PPrescribe
The plan designs each week with intent, built on the method above.
MeMeasure
Capture every session, and just as important, how it actually felt.
MoMonitor
Watch the trends, your fatigue and your life load, not just one session.
MaManage
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 the ECSS 2025 congress in Rimini, a leading global meeting.
ENDURANCE RESULTS FROM SUMMIT ATHLETES
Real results, from real endurance athletes.
50-min IRONMAN® 70.3® PB, and a first IRONMAN® 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 IRONMAN® finish 40 minutes off an IRONMAN® 70.3®“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 · IRONMAN® 70.3® athlete Before you start
You should be training across swim, bike and run with a general fitness base and the time to develop the aerobic base a full-distance day demands. A heart-rate monitor is essential, since everything is anchored to your own heart-rate threshold, and you will need pool access for the swims. The plan opens with an orientation week to settle in and set up your devices, then a benchmark week that calibrates your zones from your own threshold, so nothing in the build is guesswork. Already have a half-distance base and want a shorter, race-specific peak? The 14-week Final-Prep plan is the better fit.
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, 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.
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.
Summit Triathlon Coaching is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by World Triathlon Corporation (The Ironman Group) or Challenge Family. IRONMAN® is a registered trademark of World Triathlon Corporation.
I coach triathletes, runners and IRONMAN athletes who want training that fits real life, not just a race calendar. I’m a sport scientist with a PhD in Sport Science, a Master of Applied Sport Science and a seven-time IRONMAN finisher, so it’s evidence-based but lived-in. We read your data and how training is actually landing, keep most of it genuinely easy, and progress in steps you can absorb. If you want a coach who listens, adapts and explains the why, I’d love to work with you.
