I had a new athlete start with me two weeks ago who for the past few years have done nothing in regards to training. In fact, he charged his Garmin three weeks ago and the data that came up on his screen was from a DFN Ironman three years prior. From my understanding, this was his last activity he has done.
He wants to celebrate his retirement with a comeback to triathlons and has gone so far to and booked in for an Ironman that is just under a year away.
He was worried about when and how to start and going from doing nothing into a full training schedule. He mentioned he may start in a month or two. I explained that I was keen to only start him off week one with one swim, one bike and one run and we will slowly build from there. Now this sparked his interest and he was ready to get started training right away.
Over the next three months, all I am doing with this athlete is getting his body ready to train consistently trying to limit the risk of injury and most of all build his confidence through the training. He has had three full years off so the next six months needs to be handled with care.
To give an insight to his first week:
Tuesday – Swim 900m
Warm Up:
- 2 x 50 freestyle
- 2 x 50 freestyle with fins
- 2 x 50 pull buoy and paddles
- 2 x 50 freestyle
Main Set:
Multiple sink downs in deep end – until you’re really comfortable exhaling (e.g. 3 x 3)
- 4 x 25
- 2 x 50 easy freestyle B3s
- 100 freestyle with pull buoy breathing every 3/5/3/5 strokes
- 100 freestyle breathing every 3 strokes
Cool down:
- 100m choice
Thursday – Run 30min
Run 3min at a moderate effort, walk 1min
Saturday – Bike – 30min
All moderate effort
This is it. A very achievable week of training. This will be his first step to finishing an Ironman in 49 weeks.
TRAIN SMOOTH 
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