Training guide
How many workouts a week?
There is no right number for everyone. What counts is that your training holds week after week, and that it fits the life you have.
Updated
It depends on your goal
- You can train for a first 5K with a few runs a week.
- A marathon and longer triathlons need more time, above all for the long sessions.
- A triathlon splits your time across three sports, so each sport gets fewer sessions than if you trained only that one.
Regular beats a lot
Three sessions every week for three months build more fitness than six one week and none the next. Start with what you can keep up, and add more when your body and your calendar allow.
Easy and hard
- Most sessions should be easy. They build endurance and you can recover from them.
- One or two harder sessions a week are enough for most people, with easier days in between.
- Two sessions a day are for those who have the time, not a requirement.
What TriQuest does
- You set the days you can train and how much time you have each day, and the plan stays within that.
- Hard sessions get easier days in between, and two sessions in a day only when the day's time fits both.
- When your week changes, you move a session, shorten it or switch sport, and the plan takes it into account.
Common questions
Common questions about how many workouts
Are three runs a week enough for a marathon?
Many people run a marathon on three to four runs a week. The plan fits the long runs and sessions to the time you have.
Does strength training count as a workout?
Yes, if you want. Strength is part of the plan if you choose it, and there is less of it as the race gets close.
More about TriQuest
Training guides
Heart rate zones, tests, long runs, tapering and race fuelling.
Easy training
Why most sessions should feel easy, and how easy is easy.
Heart rate zones
What the zones are, how to work them out and how they guide workouts.
Tapering before a race
Less volume, the same sharpness: arrive at the start rested.
Ready to train smarter?
Let TriQuest bring the plan, the workouts, the analysis and the coaching together in one place.