Triathlon training guides
Guides for every distance from sprint to full: how many hours a week each one takes, plans for a first triathlon and for the half distance, brick workouts, cut-off times and typical finish times. Each guide says which numbers come from published sources and which are our own recommendation. The triathlon finish time calculator turns your paces into a finish time.
Guides in this topic
How many hours a week do you need to train for a triathlon?
Hours a week to train for a sprint, Olympic, half or full distance triathlon, how many weeks you need and how to split the time across swim, bike and run.
Updated · 8 min readFirst triathlon training plan: 12 weeks to a sprint or olympic finish
A 12-week plan for your first sprint or olympic triathlon: phases, a week-by-week table, swim confidence, brick sessions, taper and race day basics.
Updated · 12 min readBrick workouts for triathlon: how long, how often and sample sessions
What bike-run brick workouts are, why running off the bike feels hard, how long and how often to do them, and sample sessions for sprint to half distance.
Updated · 9 min readHalf-distance (70.3®) triathlon training plan: 18 weeks
An 18-week half-distance triathlon plan: four phases, weekly hours, long ride, long run and brick progression, recovery weeks and a three-step taper.
Updated · 11 min readTriathlon cut-off times: half-distance (70.3®) and full-distance (IRONMAN®)
Swim, bike and finish cut-off times for half and full-distance triathlons, read from 2026 race pages, how rolling starts work and how to make them.
Updated · 9 min readWhat is a good triathlon finish time? Averages by distance, age and gender
Average and good finish times for sprint, Olympic, half and full distance triathlons by age group and gender, from published data with years and caveats.
Updated · 11 min read