Build your IRONMAN Australia plan
Your coach opens with the IRONMAN Australia set for October (an estimate until the date is announced), asks about your week and your fitness, then writes every session of your full-distance (140.6) triathlon plan. Free, and you can start as a guest. About 51 weeks to go.
Start your IRONMAN Australia plan- Formats
- Full
- Terrain
- Rolling
IRONMAN Australia distances
- Full 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42.2 km run
Course
The IRONMAN Australia course
The original IRONMAN on Australian shores, raced in Port Macquarie on one of the most varied courses on the circuit. The 3.8 km single-lap swim starts at Westport Park in the calm Hastings River, passes under the Park Street bridge and crosses the famous weir before turning back to the boat ramp.
Read the full course notes
The 180 km bike rides two laps north through rolling countryside on Telegraph Point and Pembrooke Roads, then two southern laps of Ocean Drive with coastal rollers, a loop to Tacking Point Lighthouse and a turn at Lake Cathie, before the infamous Matthew Flinders Drive climb back into town. The four-lap run is flat, taking in Town Beach, the breakwall and the Kooloonbung Creek path, and finishes on the red carpet at Town Green. The race now runs in October, having moved from its traditional May date.
- Terrain
- Rolling
- Formats
- Full
- Race-day conditions
- IRONMAN lists an average water temperature of 23 °C, recorded at past editions held in May, and wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C, with a preliminary call the day before and the final call on race morning. October air in Port Macquarie usually runs from about 12–15 °C at dawn to around 24 °C in the afternoon. Expect sun and some humidity on the run, and plan fluids and electrolytes for a long, warm day.
What to train for
The bike is rolling rather than mountainous, so build sustained aerobic power with 4–6 hour rides over undulating roads, including repeated 1–3 minute climbs at steady power.
Save something for Matthew Flinders Drive at the end: finish your longest rides with a short, steep climb.
The four-lap run is flat and well supported, so practise even pacing and fuelling every 20–30 minutes in brick sessions off long rides. In open water, practise sighting and getting back into your stroke quickly after the weir crossing.
Sample week
A sample IRONMAN Australia training week
A week from the middle of the build, about six weeks out. Your plan sets the real distances and paces from your own fitness and adjusts them every week as you train.
- Monday
- Swim, 1 h 15 min: drills and technique
- Tuesday Key session
- Bike, 1 h 30 min with threshold intervals
- Wednesday
- Swim, 1 h 15 min: steady intervals at race effort
- Easy run, 1 h
- Thursday Key session
- Run, 1 h with tempo segments
- Friday
- Rest, or 20 minutes of mobility
- Saturday Key session
- Long ride, 5 h, then a 45 min run off the bike
- Sunday
- Long run, 2 h 15 min easy
Taper
Tapering for the IRONMAN Australia
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
Also in Claude
Ask Claude for this plan
Add AthleteSpace to Claude once, then paste this prompt and put in your own numbers.
Build me a full-distance (140.6) triathlon season for the IRONMAN Australia in October. I train about [hours] hours a week, [days] days a week.
IRONMAN Australia training questions
How long should I train for the IRONMAN Australia?
Most athletes give a full-distance (140.6) triathlon twenty-four to thirty weeks of focused training on top of an existing base. The coach counts back from your actual race date, so if you have less time than that it builds the best plan the remaining weeks allow rather than pretending you have longer.
What is the IRONMAN Australia course like?
Rolling. The original IRONMAN on Australian shores, raced in Port Macquarie on one of the most varied courses on the circuit.
How cold is the water at the IRONMAN Australia?
IRONMAN lists an average water temperature of 23 °C, recorded at past editions held in May, and wetsuits are allowed up to and including 24.5 °C, with a preliminary call the day before and the final call on race morning. October air in Port Macquarie usually runs from about 12–15 °C at dawn to around 24 °C in the afternoon. Expect sun and some humidity on the run, and plan fluids and electrolytes for a long, warm day.
When should I start tapering for the IRONMAN Australia?
Start the taper two to three weeks before race day. Trim the volume in all three sports, keep short race-pace efforts in each, and do one last short brick so running off the bike still feels familiar. The course rolls, so keep one short session on undulating ground in the first taper week.
Do I need an account to get a IRONMAN Australia training plan?
Start as a guest and save a free account later. Your coach writes your full-distance (140.6) triathlon plan and adapts it every week as you log your training. No card.