TRAINING PLAN

Never raced before? No problem. This beginners’ plan will get you over the finish line and enjoying some serious bragging rights!

Tell most folk down the gym that you’re considering a triathlon and they’ll tell you how hard it is. Or how they had a mate who entered one, only to end up lost in a lake and eaten by a killer shark (or something). The truth of it is that provided you can swim, bike and run a little already, taking on a supersprint (the shortest tri distance) is within your grasp.

This 400m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km format is a perfect way to begin, and the really good news? You don’t have to train every day for hours and hours. This training plan from Dermott Hayes of London’s RG Active is designed to allow you to carry on with real life and gradually builds until you’re able to complete the full race distance in each discipline, which will give you the confidence come race day to know you can complete it. We’ve also included some interval training sessions that help to focus on improving your speed and making the longer sessions more comfortable.

The second half of the plan includes some brick sessions, which get you to practise the feeling of going from swim to bike or bike to run. Don’t skip on these – they’re essential training unless you want jelly legs !

If you find that you’re not quite ready for some of the sessions then you can reduce either the duration or intensity to begin with and then build up, and if you feel that you would like to add more time or intensity to the sessions in order to make them harder, that’s okay too. Plus, if you have a race time in mind, go ahead and be more analytical with timed targets each session.

For most of you, though, this plan will be about completing not competing – so make it fun and focus on finishing your first race feeling strong!

TRAINING PLAN NOTES

Within this plan you’ll find aerobic sessions, which promote long-term base fitness. There are also interval swims, which you can add drills to if you have some that you want to work on. Always do a short warm-up and cooldown (200m) before and after each swim and rest for 10-30secs in between intervals

Similarly, interval bike and run sessions will see you working at different levels of intensity.