It actually worked!   Back in November, I came up with the idea that I wanted to try to qualify for Kona on a 10 hours per week training plan.  Fast forward to May… and I won my age group at Ironman Santa Rosa with a time of 9:26 and qualified for Kona.

The goal was never to show that lower volume training is the best way to train. It’s not.   And it is DEFINITELY not a “how to qualify for Kona” post– if you have never qualified for Kona, your best bet will be with a higher volume plan.   (TriForcer Tom Glynn just took 3rd in his AG and qualified for Kona at Ironman Texas, and he did 16-20 hours for most of his training weeks, a more “typical” KQ plan)   The goal is to show you how you can be almost as fast as if you did a “full” training plan if you are on a smart lower volume plan.

Here’s the full saga:

Part 1: The 10 Hours Per Week Plan.  This is where I lay out some of the basic concepts, tools and workouts that can be useful for busy athletes in creating a lower volume training plan for Ironman.

Part 2: Notes on the first half of my IMSR training.   This is the first half of the build or so where I was strictly under 10 hours every week.    If you are a busy triathlete looking to train for Ironman I hope you’ll get some useful ideas from the article.

Part 3: The Second Half of my IMSR training.   My training had a physical and emotional dip due to injury then I got into “phase 2” of my Ironman training – the final push where I had 5 bigger weeks of over 10 hours, followed by the taper.

Part 4: It Worked!  Ironman Santa Rosa Race Report- 1st AG, Kona Qualification 9:26 finish time on 9 hours 50 minutes / week average over the course of the build!   Mission accomplished- I think I was almost as fast as if I had done a “full” plan, which was the goal.

Download a free sample week of “10 Hours Per Week” Ironman Training similar to what I used to win my AG at IM Santa Rosa 2019.