This is your bare-bones Olympic distance training plan – the minimal training you need to do to complete such as race without suffering inordinately.

It is well suited to beginning triathletes who want to start with an Olympic distance race, and to any triathlete who wants or needs to prepare for such a race with a low-volume training plan. There are only 6 scheduled workouts a typical week: 2 swims, 2 rides, and 2 runs. In weeks 2, 4, 6, and 8, a 10-minute transition run is tacked onto the end of Saturday’s bike ride. In weeks 10 and 14 a bike-run brick workout takes the place of Sunday’s run.

The plan is 16 weeks in length and includes an optional sprint distance tune-up race at the end of Week 12. The base phase is six weeks long and the build and peak phases five weeks apiece. Weeks 4, 8, and 12 are recovery weeks and the final one is a taper week. An optional tune-up sprint triathlon is scheduled for week 12. If you don’t have the opportunity to do one, do a brick workout instead.

It begins with 1,600 yards of swimming, 1 hour of cycling, and 50 minutes of running in Week 1. It peaks with 3,000 yards of swimming, 3 hours and 5 minutes of cycling, and 1 hour and 41 minutes of running in Week 15.