25 triathlon goals for the swim, the bike, the run and race day

Triathlon goals for beginners

A first triathlon goal is about getting all three sports into one normal week.

• Train 3 times a week for a month: one swim, one ride, one run.
• Swim 400 m without stopping.
• Ride 20 km, then run for 10 minutes straight after.
• Go from wet to riding in under 3 minutes, practised once a week.
• Do a mini triathlon alone: 200 m swim, 10 km bike, 2 km run.

Triathlon swim goals

The swim is the shortest leg and the one most people fear, so give it a goal of its own. There are more ideas in the full list of swimming goals.

• Swim 750 m without stopping.
• Swim 1,500 m without stopping.
• Swim in open water 5 times before race day.
• Look up to sight every 6 strokes for a full 400 m.
• Swim 2 times a week for 12 weeks.

Triathlon bike goals

The bike is the longest leg, so it is where steady training pays back the most time. For distance and climbing targets, see cycling goals.

• Ride 40 km without stopping.
• Hold one steady effort for 60 minutes.
• Ride 90 km once before a long race.
• Do one ride-then-run session a week for 8 weeks.
• Drink from a bottle without slowing down, 10 times in a ride.

Triathlon run goals

The run comes last, on tired legs, so run goals are about pacing more than speed.

• Run 5 km straight off the bike.
• Run 10 km without stopping.
• Run the first kilometre off the bike at your planned pace, 5 times.
• Run 3 times a week for 8 weeks.
• Run 21 km once before a half distance race.

Race goals and 90 day challenges

A race gives the three sports a date, and a day-count challenge gets you to it.

• Finish a sprint triathlon, about half the Olympic distance.
• Finish an Olympic distance race: 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike, 10 km run.
• Train on 60 days out of 90.
• Do a full race rehearsal 2 weeks before the day.
• Beat your last race time by 5 minutes.

What is a good triathlon goal?

A good triathlon goal names one sport and one number. "Get fit for a triathlon" hides three different jobs. "Swim 750 m without stopping by May" is one job you can finish.

Make most of your goals about how you race, not where you place. A review of 27 studies of goal setting in sport found that process goals, the ones about how you carry out a skill, had the largest effect on performance. Goals about beating other people had almost none. Pacing the first kilometre of the run is a process goal. A podium is not.

The Olympic distance gives you ready-made numbers: a 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike and a 10 km run. Three sports also means three logs, and a weekly review is where you notice the swim got all your time and the run got none.

How to track triathlon goals

Log each session the day you do it, with the sport and the number. A review of 138 studies found that people who monitored their progress reached their goals more often, and that writing it down worked better than remembering it.

Distance in each sport is an amount: metres swum, kilometres ridden, kilometres run. Sessions are a day count. Treat the run the same way you would a running distance goal, then do the same for the other two.

Keep the three totals side by side. One picture that fills up as you log shows at a glance which sport is behind.

Frequently asked questions

What is a good goal for a first triathlon?

To finish, at a pace you could hold a conversation at. Before that, set one small goal per sport: swim 400 m without stopping, ride 20 km, run 5 km. When you can do each on its own, you can do a sprint race.

What are the distances of an Olympic triathlon?

A 1.5 km swim, a 40 km bike and a 10 km run. World Triathlon has used that standard since it was founded in 1989.

How many sessions a week do I need?

Three is the least that covers all three sports: one swim, one ride and one run. Add a second session in your weakest sport before you add anything else.