Level: Advanced age group
Duration: 16 weeks 
Hours: Builds to 20 hours per week 
 
The 20 hours per week iron distance training plan has been used with enormous success by pros and age-groupers alike. It incorporates the trisutto training principles (which are explained in the plan introduction section). 

Program duration is 16 weeks, structured into 4 x 4 week blocks, with each block building on the one before.
 
Most week days have morning and evening workouts. Longer bike and run workouts are scheduled on weekends. Race week taper and advice on post race recovery are included. 
 
Assumptions:
This '16 Week Iron Distance Training Plan' is provided under the assumption that the participant has a basic level of fitness, has been actively training recently, is injury free and can accomplish the following:
Swim: Complete 2000m of swimming without stopping.
Bike: Complete 2 hours of cycling without stopping.
Run: Complete 90 minutes of running without stopping.
 
 
For the following questions, and to watch explaination videos by Brett please see our Frequently Asked Questions page  https://www.trisutto.com/faq
 
Do training plans use power, heart rate or other data?
The plans do not use heart rate, power and make scarce use of the stop watch. Instead we encourage the athlete to learn to listen to their body, which is a very important training ability.
 
How are plans structured?
Most plans have 4 week blocks with workout variations and increases in training load between blocks. However, the weekly structure stays relatively the same throughout the plan. We find this best for scheduling workouts around work and family as well as observing progress.
 
Each week there is a variety of workouts to cover the main areas of training (strength, speed, endurance, strength endurance). The workouts and the combination of the workouts is designed to give the best return (race results) on training time invested.
 
All of the workouts are used in Brett Sutton’s own training of athletes, simply modified to make them suitable for the specific training plan. We aim for the best return on training investment, not to see how many hours we can log in our diary.
 
Do plans include strength training / gym work?
Trisutto plans do include strength training. It is built into the swim, the bike and the run – not with additional gym workouts on top. In the swim we work with paddles and pull buoy, on the bike it is big gear on the turbo trainer or in the hills, and on the run it is fartlek, hills and tempo running.
 
Can I upload training plans into Training Peaks, Todays Plan or other training software?
The training plans are in pdf format, and can not be 'uploaded'. However you can manually enter (type) your workouts into any training software that you usually use.