Olympic distance training
The Olympic distance is twice as long as a sprint: 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run. An age-grouper finishes it in about two and a half to three hours. Here it is no longer enough to just be able to do all three sports. You need to hold them together and not fall apart on the run.
How many weeks to train
TriCoo usually plans 16 weeks for an Olympic distance: 8 weeks of base, 6 weeks of build and 2 weeks of taper. The tightest window is 10 weeks.
The window assumes you already train in all three sports. If you have done a sprint, that is exactly your case. If not, see Your first triathlon season.
How TriCoo builds the plan
In the base phase the long sessions grow: the long ride and the long run. They grow a little at a time, from the length you have already done. In the build phase work around threshold and bricks appear. One week in 4 is a recovery week, one in 3 for beginners.
TriCoo calculates the load of every session and does not let it grow faster than the ceiling. If a week goes wrong, the next one is built from what you actually did, not from the plan.
Sample week
Sample week
Week 10 of preparation, build phase. Total 6 h 20 min.
- Mondayrest
- Tuesday
- Swim, 45 min, easy
- Wednesday
- Bike, 1 h 15 min, easy
- Thursday
- Run, 45 min, with threshold intervals
- Friday
- Swim, 45 min, easy
- Saturday
- Bike, 1 h 40 min, brick: bike
- Run, 15 min, brick: straight into an easy run
- Sunday
- Run, 55 min, long
A sample for the profile below, computed by TriCoo. Your plan will differ.
Who this week was computed for
A made-up athlete, 35 years old, intermediate, who swims, bikes and runs regularly. No strength training chosen. Thresholds are known: bike power, run pace and swim pace. One main race, a standard preparation window.
Time by day: Tue swim up to 60 min, Wed bike up to 75 min, Thu run up to 60 min, Fri swim up to 45 min, Sat bike and run up to 135 min, Sun run up to 105 min. Monday is a rest day. 8 h a week in total. This is a setting of the example, not a norm for the distance.
For four weeks before the preparation the athlete trained like this: Tue swim 45 min, Wed bike 60 min, Thu run 50 min, Fri swim 45 min, Sat bike 135 min, Sun run 75 min. Fitness at the start of preparation was 48. From there TriCoo computed week after week, and every week was done exactly as planned. There are no missed sessions, illness or bad days in the calculation.
Generator version: endurance-week-v26.
This build week has two key sessions. On Thursday, a run with threshold intervals. On Saturday, a brick: a ride and a run straight after. On Sunday, an easy long run. The rest is easy swimming and riding.
Bricks
For the Olympic distance a brick comes every second load week of the build. The run starts at 15 minutes. The bike part grows along with the long ride. More on the Brick workouts page.
Taper
The taper lasts 2 weeks. Volume is first 60%, then 40% of normal, and short familiar efforts stay. More on the Tapering page.
Pick a race
Olympic distance races are in the race calendar. Neighbouring pages: sprint and half.
TriCoo builds a plan around your schedule and recalculates it after every session, missed day and bad day.
About TriCooRead next
- Sprint triathlon trainingHow to train for a sprint: 750 m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. How many weeks, which phases and a sample week of a TriCoo plan.
- Ironman 70.3 trainingHalf distance: 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike and 21.1 km run. How many weeks to train, how long sessions grow and a sample week of a plan.
- Brick workouts: bike then runWhat a brick workout is, why you run straight off the bike, how often TriCoo schedules bricks and how long the run is for each distance.