What is the minimum training time needed to be ready for a Sprint, Olympic, or Half Ironman?
The minimum time required is the time you have available. By this, I mean your training plan fits within YOUR lifestyle and time budget, not the other way around. Within this thought, don’t focus on overall weekly volume but rather the volume of your long training events. For Sprint and Olympic I’d say you should work yourself up to a 1hr long run and 2hr long bike. Then within this requirement schedule an additional 2-3 runs, 2 bikes, and 2-3 runs. The length of these additional, non-long sessions is ENTIRELY a function of your time available to train. In other words, your Wednesday morning run is 40′ because you have 40′ to run, not because a training schedule says it needs to be 40′. This logistics-dictated scheduling is what I use with every athlete, Sprint to Ironman. For Half Ironman, these long event volumes scale up to a 1.5-2hr long run and 3hr long ride. That said, the two most valuable weekly training sessions you can build to, regardless of race distance, are regular 1.5hr
