Ironman Wales 16-week advanced triathlon training plan

With 16 weeks to go until Ironman Wales we are happy to release our brand new 16-week Ironman Wales advanced triathlon training plan!

The Ironman Wales 16-week advanced triathlon training plan is aimed at triathletes who have trained for a number of seasons, have completed an Ironman 70.3 distance triathlon and are already training 10-12 hours per week. The aim is to help you to achieve your triathlon goal with a clearly structured 16-week plan which avoids over-training and injury, whilst also providing a relatively high training load within a balanced and controlled environment. 

Why choose our plan? The coaches at WhittleFit know the Ironman Wales course intimately, we’ve trained and raced on the course many times, therefore we’re very well placed to advise on the training requirements to have a great day on the Ironman Wales course.

Because this plan is aimed at intermediate to advanced athletes, it progresses quite quickly from 12 hours a week of training up to 15.5 hours of training (averaging 13 hours a week over 16 weeks), building towards several 'big training days'.

If you have any questions about the Ironman Wales advanced triathlon training plan please CONTACT US or check out the plan HERE. 

#51fiver race report: Trevor Batey

The #51fiver was my third race of the season and a step up in intensity following the Inter Services Duathlon and Cotswold Sprint Tri, a week before.  My plan with coach Lawrence was to use this as another training race to get me ready for one of my main events – the Cotswold 113 Middle Distance on 10 June.

As with the Sprint Tri, the weather was once again kind with little cloud and wind, although the temperatures were cooler, which generated some windchill on the bike and so resulted in a loss of feeling in fingers and toes that played havoc in T2. 

Swim: With 13 general waves, I was not racing in an AG specific start and the waves themselves were closer to 150 in size.  Such a size made for a much more challenging start.  I went out hard and in this instance, probably too hard and close to Sprint speed, which was a mistake.  It was probably the most violent swim start I have been in and I ended up taking a foot and elbow to the face, which combined with the hard start caused my HR to spike way above what it should have so soon into the race – only 400m in.  The result was that I came very close to being overwhelmed and struggled to hold a swim stroke; I was forced to slow completely and reset.  However, such an action was right and I was able to relax, regain control and re-establish a good cruise speed.  After this I felt confident again and swam well to catch the back of the front pack coming into T1.

Inter-Services Duathlon race report: Trevor Batey

The Inter-Services Duathlon is a race I try to do each year when I can and is the first real season opening race on my calendar.  The standard is exceptionally high with some of the best triathletes in the military competing, making for some fierce racing. 

The weather was particularly poor, adding to the challenge.  A large number of storm cells were blowing through, bringing heavy squalls, low temperatures and high winds.

Run 1: For the first time I felt much more comfortable than normal going into run 1 and started at a quicker pace than I normally do but I wasn’t uncomfortable with this.  I went through the 2 laps in 18:13 at sub-6min/mile which is a pace I didn’t think I still had in me!

Bike: 7 laps of the airfield with a considerable rise and fall on each lap.  Airfields are designed to be exposed to wind to assist aircraft take-off and landing, which makes the bike a challenge.  A very strong cross/head wind, combined with heavy rain made cornering a bit twitchy and you weren’t able to steer hard through the corners, rather you had to enter wide and drift round.  A strong bike meant I was only overtaken by 2 other riders and I made every effort to keep them in sight and striking distance coming into run 2.

Ironman 70.3 Marbella race report - Johnny Phillips

Having decided to take on Ironman Wales in September I figured doing a couple of smaller (they aren’t small) 70.3 triathlons would give me an idea of what I was 

taking on. Ironman Marbella 70.3 was my first ever triathlon and I chose it because of the location, having been there several times and because timing wise it would give me a solid idea of how the training is going.

I have to say I was bricking it, I arrived Wednesday and checked out the site and maybe that’s what set the nerves off. By the time my mate arrived I was a bit of a wreck and moaning about everything. The swim was and is my biggest fear and the day before the event the winds had picked up and the swell was pretty heafty, not impressed. I did a short reccie with Gavin (see Gavin's race report HERE) but even then I felt sick and decided to just wait it out and see what happens the next day.