The 80-Minute Training Plan

Updated OnJanuary 8, 2016
Written by
Marty Gaal
The table below illustrates a week sample for the motivated and experienced athlete. This example represents a motivated 40-year-old female with 10 years of experience (distances will vary depending on your skill level, time is the same):

Table I. Advanced / motivated hour-twenty example training plan:

Monday

Swim 30 Minutes
muscular endurance

 

 


Run 45 Minutes
aerobic endurance


5-Minute Transition

Swim

  • 400 easy swim
  • 100 easy kick
  • 8 x 100 mod-hard on :15 rest
  • 100 cool down

Run

  • 15 minutes easy warm up
  • 25 minutes comfortable fast
  • 5 minutes easy

Tuesday

Bike 80 Minutes
bike endurance/ muscular endurance / anaerobic endurance

Bike

  • 30 minutes easy
  • 5 x 6 minutes hard (lactate threshold effort) with 3 minutes easy between each
  • 5 minutes very easy cool down

Wednesday

Strength 20 Minutes
power/balance

 

 

Swim 55 Minutes
swim endurance and muscular endurance

 

5-Minute Transition

Core Strength Workout

  • standing or jump squats
  • push ups
  • planks
  • pull ups
  • crunches or sit ups

Swim

  • 600 easy
  • 6 x 300 descend 1-3 and 4-6 so 3 and 6 are fast on :45 rest
  • 6 x 50 drills on :15
  • 100 easy cool down

 

Thursday

Bike 60 Minutes
bike muscular endurance

 

Run 15 Minutes
specific running

5-Minute Transition

Bike

  • 20 minutes easy
  • 30 minutes moderate hard steady
  • 10 minutes easy

Run 15 minute steady effort off the bike

Friday

Run 50 Minutes
run anaerobic endurance

Swim 25 Minutes
swim endurance

5-Minute Transition

Run – 15 minutes easy / 10 x 400 on track (or 1:30 on road) at 5K pace with 200 jog easy between / 10 minutes easy

Swim 25 minutes easy continuous

Saturday

Day Off

 

Sunday

Bike 120 Minutes
endurance

Run 20 Minutes
endurance

Ride 90 minutes to 2 hours solo or with a group, steady moderate effort

Run 20 minutes off the bike steady effort
 

The total amount of training time for the example above is about 8.5 hours. Depending who you talk to, this is either quite a bit or a piece of cake. This sort of plan is effective and works well. The Sunday workout could be a longer run and a shorter ride every couple of weeks.