SwimFit 24 – Efficient Training for Time-Crunched Athletes 🏊♀️🏊♂️
Are you a triathlete or swimmer looking to improve your swim performance without spending countless hours in the pool? SwimFit 24 is a 24-week structured training plan designed to help you swim stronger, faster, and more efficiently – all in just two focused sessions per week.
View More Tuesday Training Plan: SwimFit 24 – Efficient Training for Time-Crunched Athletes
A demanding brick workout that develops transition efficiency and the ability to sustain race intensity under fatigue — ideal for Sprint and Olympic distance triathletes.
View More Monday’s Brick: Dermott Hayes Speed Brick #6
Tempo training sits in the “comfortably uncomfortable” zone — and it’s where most endurance races are actually won.
Too many athletes train either too easy or too hard, missing the intensity that builds sustainable speed, aerobic strength, and race-day confidence. In this article, Coach Ray explains what tempo training really is, why it matters for triathletes, runners, and cyclists, and how mastering this middle ground leads to smarter pacing and stronger finishes.
I needed a sequence of challenging hill sessions for an athlete wanting to improve their time up Alpe du Zwift. This is the third in the series and over the coming weeks following these sessions, you will boost your FTP and your ability to sustain your effort up a climb. These sessions are not just useful for Alpe du Zwift, but also hilly events like the Lake Taupo Cycle Classic or Five Passes Tour here in New Zealand.
View More Sunday Smart-Trainer Session: Ray’s Sustained Hill Reps C
Build the endurance, confidence, and open-water skills needed to conquer the Ruby5 Lake Wanaka Swim. These structured swim sessions target technique, pacing, and long-distance resilience for 5 km success.
View More Saturday Swim Session: Ruby5 Swim Success Formula – Week 11
This is a hard VO2 Max workout that develops your ability to sustain your top-end intensity and enhances your ability to develop power (especially on hills). Hill Reps are an important training session for all runners, as well as triathletes.
View More Friday Fartlek Run: 6x 5min Hill Rep Runs
Challenge Wanaka is not a standard 70.3 triathlon. Cold morning conditions, a deceptively demanding bike course, and an honest, exposed run mean that small pacing mistakes quickly become big problems. In this article, I break down what makes the Wanaka course different, where athletes commonly go wrong, and how a smarter race plan can help you arrive at the run ready to perform — not just survive.
View More Challenge Wanaka: What Makes This Course Different (and Why That Matters for Your Race Plan)
Although you are unlikely to race an Ironman 70.3 or Ironman at Threshold intensity (by definition it is impossible). Training sessions can use Threshold intensity to build you fitness, and in the same method as a rising tide lifts all ships an increase in your threshold intensity will also lift your overall fitness allowing you to race at a faster pace or higher intensity; or at the same pace or power for less effort. This is a perfect session for triathletes competing in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 distance events.
View More Monday’s Brick: Coach Ray’s Ironman 70.3 Threshold Brick B
Your ability to ride at Threshold will have direct influence on how fast your bike leg of any Olympic Distance or Ironman 70.3 triathlon will be. It is also of benefit for anyone racing a Zwift, road or Mountain Bike race. Although you won’t spend the entire event at Threshold, having the ability to sustain your effort at Threshold and recover qwikly from efforts at Threshold will see you in good stead. This session is perfect for road cyclists, mountain bikers or triathlons (from Olympic distance to Ironman 70.3) especially a month or two out from your event.
View More Sunday Smart-Trainer Session: Emma Snowsill’s Threshold Bike Intervals B
Build the endurance, confidence, and open-water skills needed to conquer the Ruby5 Lake Wanaka Swim. These structured swim sessions target technique, pacing, and long-distance resilience for 5 km success.
View More Saturday Swim Session: Ruby5 Swim Success Formula – Week 10