Download the plan that your current readiness can support
This free tool turns an existing 16, 20, 24 or 26-week IRONMAN 70.3 plan into a printable PDF or editable CSV. Choose a runway, optionally enter your race date, and use the calculated start date as a planning anchor.
The download is a week-by-week map, not a promise that a particular schedule is safe or sufficient. It cannot see your swim safety, bike handling, injury history, available time, recovery or response to training. Those facts should decide the plan length before the calendar does.
Choose 16, 20, 24 or 26 weeks
| Download | A reasonable fit when | Choose more time when |
|---|---|---|
| 16 weeks | Swim, bike and run training are already consistent; long rides recover predictably; the main job is connecting the disciplines | A discipline is new, open-water or bike skills are not safe and repeatable, or the week regularly collapses after long sessions |
| 20 weeks | You have an endurance base but want more room for bricks, fueling practice and recovery | Work, travel or family demands make a shorter build fragile |
| 24 weeks | You are establishing triathlon consistency and want gradual progression across all three disciplines | Long-ride durability, run frequency or fueling still needs a foundation phase |
| 26 weeks | The longest runway will help you establish habits before race-specific work | Symptoms, unsafe skills or persistent recovery problems need qualified help rather than merely more calendar weeks |
Longer does not mean harder. Extra weeks are useful when they create skill practice, recovery margin and repeatable training. The IRONMAN 70.3 training hub explains the full readiness decision; this page owns the download and printable-plan intent.
Five checks before you generate the file
Mark each area green, amber or red. Green means repeatable, amber means inconsistent, and red means unsafe, unavailable or currently symptomatic.
- Swim: Can you train consistently and practise open water with appropriate supervision, conditions and an exit plan?
- Bike: Can you ride, handle, brake and fuel safely while maintaining attention?
- Run: Is easy running repeatable without pain changing your movement or erasing the following days?
- Schedule: Can your real week support all three disciplines plus recovery without relying on constant make-up sessions?
- Fuel and recovery: Have you practised intake during longer sessions, and do sleep and fatigue remain manageable?
The first red area owns the next decision. A longer PDF cannot make unsafe swimming safe, diagnose symptoms or solve a schedule that has no recovery margin.
What the PDF and CSV contain
Both files use the same canonical plan data. The PDF is designed for printing; the CSV is easier to edit or annotate in a spreadsheet. Each week includes:
- the phase: base, build, peak or taper;
- the week's main focus;
- a longer-session purpose;
- key workout prompts; and
- cutback markers where the plan reduces load.
If you add a race date, the tool also calculates the recommended start date by counting the selected number of weeks backward. Recheck the current official event date before arranging training or travel because race details can change.
Use the download as a decision system
- Read the linked plan before printing. Understand the session jobs, not just the weekly labels.
- Place recovery first. Protect sleep, rest and easy work before adding intensity.
- Practise one race question at a time. Use a short brick workout for transition, pacing or fueling evidence rather than treating every brick as a race.
- Record what actually happened. Completed work, symptoms, conditions and recovery matter more than unchecked boxes.
- Review each week before advancing. If the next week repeatedly becomes impossible, reduce load, extend the runway or reconsider the event.
Use the 70.3 fueling planner to make explicit practice assumptions. It cannot prescribe an individually safe intake, so test one change at a time during training rather than introducing an untested plan in race week.
If training is interrupted
- One missed session: leave it missed; do not double the next day.
- Several missed days: resume with easy consistency and recovery spacing intact.
- A lost discipline during travel: substitute only when the replacement serves the same purpose and remains safe.
- Illness or injury: return according to symptoms and qualified guidance, not the old spreadsheet date.
- Several lost weeks: choose a longer runway or later event rather than compressing the same work.
A static file does not know when the evidence changed. Re-download after deliberately choosing a new canonical plan; do not silently stretch or compress weeks until the session sequence loses meaning.
Safety and evidence boundaries
IRONMAN's official material establishes the 70.3 format and provides general first-event context. Transition research explains why cycling can change subsequent running, but the response varies and does not dictate your personal brick frequency or training load.
Stop and seek appropriate care for chest pain, fainting, confusion, severe or unusual breathlessness, acute injury or symptoms that feel dangerous. Follow traffic rules, venue rules and appropriate open-water safety practices. This tool does not replace medical, coaching or event-specific advice.
PDF plan or adaptive coaching?
Use the free PDF when you want a stable printable map. Use the CSV when you want to annotate that map. Use Start training now when you want one coaching flow to keep the finish line visible while accounting for completed work, recovery and real-life disruption.