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How Much Does it Cost to Train for an IRONMAN 70.3?
How much does it cost to train for an IRONMAN 70.3?
It’s more than it appears and it is more than most people want to admit.
While most endurance athletes are aware that triathlon is not an inexpensive sport to get into, the true cost of training for an IRONMAN 70.3 is high enough that most people shy away from the reality of how much it costs. It’s important for athletes to understand just what they’re getting into - emotionally, temporally, and financially - when they set the goal of training for and racing an IRONMAN 70.3.
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Hello, and welcome to the Full Circle Podcast, your source for insights into the science and art of endurance sports training and racing. I'm your host, coach Laura Henry. Today is coach tip Tuesday. How much does it cost to train for an Ironman 70.3? An Ironman 70.3 is a half distance triathlon and it is sometimes colloquially referred to as a half Ironman.
This race distance is 70.3 miles long and it consists of a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride, and a 13.1 mile run. While all Ironman 70.3 races are half distance triathlons, not all half distance triathlons are Ironman 70.3s. And Ironman 70.3 is a brand name for this distance of triathlon put on by a company called the Ironman Group. The Ironman Group owns the largest number of half distance triathlons in the world which is why so many people colloquially refer to this distance as Ironman 70.3 whether the race is actually a name brand Ironman 70.3 or not. Triathlon is not an inexpensive sport and most endurance athletes are aware of that.
However, I've seen so many athletes be shocked by the true cost of training for an Ironman 70.3. Here's a hard truth. While I do truly believe that anyone can complete an Ironman 70.3 and that anyone can become an Ironman, the reality is that some athletes might find the cost associated with training for and racing an Ironman 70.3 or an Ironman to be too steep. There are several factors that impact how much each athlete actually spend as they train for and race an Ironman 70.3. That being said, there are some base costs that all athletes can reasonably expect to incur if they set this as their goal.
For the purposes of the calculations in this episode, I am using 26 weeks or 6 months as the timeline to prepare for an Ironman 70.3. But to be honest, this is a very condensed timeline and it usually takes longer than 6 months for an athlete to fully prepare to do well at an Ironman 70.3. If I'm being honest, it takes at least a year and usually athletes benefit from a couple years of experience in triathlon before doing this distance. This week's coach tip Tuesday is the 4th and final episode in a series of episodes that are an effort to provide athletes with an accurate range of what they can expect to spend if they train for one of the foremost common long course endurance events, a marathon, a half marathon, an Ironman, or an Ironman 70.3. This week, we're focusing on Ironman 70.3.
All prices that I reference in this episode are current as of the time that I'm recording it, which is in August of 2024. I've seen over the years that the swim leg of a triathlon comes with the highest hassle factor. First of all, getting access to a place to train for the swim can be challenging to say the least. Additionally, a lot of triathletes are adult onset swimmers which means that they never learned how to swim proficiently until they were grown beyond being able to save their own life or play in the pool perhaps. No matter where you live, pool access is pretty limited.
This is especially true for athletes who live in remote or rural areas. Even places that have pools can be tricky because pool space is so coveted. Swim teams, swim lessons, recreational swimmers and athletes are all competing for the same space and need to divide the time on when they're using it. Since training for the swim involves at least a pool or a body of open water, this makes it very different from the bike and the run which can be trained from from an athlete's home indoors or outdoors in most circumstances. Athletes need to commit to traveling to a different place or location to conduct their swim training and access to these facilities almost always cost money.
The cost for pool access can vary widely. Access is usually given 1 of 2 ways, through a monthly membership or via charging an athlete a fee for each use of the pool. Most athletes that I've coached over the years have had monthly memberships at gyms or facilities that have pools. The current average monthly cost for pool access is around $50 There are a few pieces of gear that are either required or really useful for swim training. A bathing suit, a swim cap, goggles, a wet suit, and a swim safety buoy.
Technically, a bathing suit is the only piece of gear that is required for what I hope are obvious reasons, but the other things really can help make training for an Ironman 70.3 easier and more comfortable. When it comes to swim training, any bathing suit that you're comfortable in will suffice. That being said, I have found that bathing suits made for training and competitions such as those made by the company Speedo and Tier hold up better in the harsh chemicals of a pool environment and they withstand the rigors of training better than bathing suits that are designed for recreational use such as those that you can buy at Walmart or Target. The average price of a bathing suit is $60 and usually one bathing suit will last an entire Ironman 70.3 training cycle. A swim cap is worn over the top of the head and is a great piece of gear for athletes who don't have shaved heads or very short hair.
The cap will protect the hair from harsh chemicals in a pool and it will also help reduce the amount of tangling that the hair gets while swimming. In open water swimming environments, a brightly colored swim cap helps make an athlete more visible to others who are in the water such as boaters or other swimmers. The average price for a swim cap is $15 Goggles really make swimming more enjoyable and more comfortable since they allow the eyes to remain open while swimming. Like bathing suits, there are goggles designed for recreation and there are goggles designed for training and competition. I have found that the goggles that are designed for training and competition are better for athletes training for an Ironman 70.3 because they fit better, seal better, and overall they last longer.
The average price of a pair of goggles is $25. I do not think that it's necessary for athletes to always wear a wetsuit in a triathlon. That's kind of a controversial opinion, but it is my opinion. It's very nice, but it's not necessary. The warmth and the buoyancy properties of a wet suit often do make the 1.2 mile swim of an Ironman 70.3 race go smoother and feel better for athletes.
So for athletes who are doing Ironman 70 point threes, I do recommend that they get a wetsuit even though I don't think it's absolutely necessary. Prices of wetsuits that are designed for triathlon training and racing range from 300 to a $1,000 but the average price of a wetsuit is $400. A swim safety buoy is a must have item for any athlete who trains in the open water. Swim safety buoys help make swimmers more visible to others such as boaters or swimmers that are also in the water. Additionally, they can be used as flotation device as mid swim which can be very comforting if an athlete experiences anxiety in the open water.
These buoys often have a pouch that athletes can store things in such as an extra pair of goggles. The average cost of a swim safety buoy is $40. The bike leg of a triathlon is the most expensive leg of a triathlon to train for. This is true for many reasons but most notably because the initial purchase of a bicycle itself is so expensive. The bicycle is the most expensive item that triathletes will purchase.
While it's true that any style of bicycle technically will suffice to do a triathlon, the truth is that having a road bike or a triathlon bike is going to be much better than another style of bike such as a hybrid or a mountain bike. I have a somewhat controversial and unpopular opinion. I don't think that triathlon bikes or aero bars are necessary to do a triathlon. Many athletes strongly disagree with me on this, but I stand by what I believe. I believe that a road bike can be just as good at a triathlon as a triathlon bike especially if the athlete's handling skills are solid.
I do think that having at least a road bike is a tremendous benefit when training for an Ironman 70.3. This is especially true since Ironman 70.3 races have very strict timelines. A heavy mountain bike or a hybrid bike is going to increase the risk that an athlete won't make the bike course time cutoffs. Pricing for road bikes varies widely based on the materials that they're made out of, what their components are, and more. A new bike can cost as little as $1,000 and as much as $15,000.
The average price that most Ironman 70.3 athletes spend on a bike is about $3,000. So that's the number I'm using for these calculations in this episode. There are a number of bicycle accessories that are necessary to train for an Ironman 70.3. Most importantly, a helmet is required in all triathlon races. A helmet should also be worn every single time you get on a bicycle outdoors or off of an indoor cycling trainer.
All helmets sold in the United States of America have the same protection factor, meaning that a more expensive helmet is not a safer helmet. A $60 helmet will protect your head the same as a $300 helmet will. Any variance in pricing for helmets is due to the materials that the helmet itself is constructed out of, how well it is ventilated, and how aerodynamic it is. Prices range from 60 to $300, but the average price of a helmet is about $100. A bike pump, preferably a floor pump which can inflate to higher tire pressures than a hand pump can is a must in order to make sure that your tires are at a proper pressure to ride with.
Road and triathlon tires will lose their pressure within a day or 2 so it's really important to get into the habit of checking the tire pressure of your tires before each ride that you go on. The average price of a floor bike pump is $40. If you ride outside, you will get a flat tire. You will. Not that you might.
You will. It may be a long time before you experience this, but one day you will absolutely get a flat tire. And when you do, you need to be able to change it where it happens so you can get back on the road and get back to riding. Spare inner tubes, c 02, carbon dioxide cartridges, and a hand pump are good supplies to carry with you while you're riding for when this happens. Again, when, not if.
The total cost of these supplies is about $60. And if you do get a flat, you'll need to replace the supplies. So you'll need to replace the tube or replace the c 02 cartridges, but the base cost to just get one round of these supplies is about $60. Your bicycle will absolutely require maintenance over the course of an Ironman 70.3 training cycle. If you get lucky, you'll only need a basic tune up.
However, due to the amount of miles that are covered in an average Ironman 70.3 training cycle which is usually at least a 1000 miles, it's very probable that you'll need more than a basic tune up. Parts will wear out and potentially need replacing. And so you'll want to be sure you have the funds on hand to cover those expenses. I recommend budgeting at least $300 a year for repairs and maintenance for your bicycle. A bike fit is appropriate for anyone who rides a bicycle, but it's very necessary for athletes who are training for an Ironman 70.3 due to how much time they spend on the bike.
The purpose of a bike fit is to make a person as comfortable and efficient as possible on a bicycle. A bike fitter takes body measurements of an athlete, observes the athlete riding their bike, and makes adjustments to the bike to help make the rider as comfortable as possible. All athletes who train for triathlons or cycling events should get a bike fit at least once a year, and the average price of a bike fit is $200. Most fitters will give you time after the initial bike fit to test out the fit and come back. And that's great because there are different things that can cause changes in bike fit.
A plus or minus of £10 in body composition may necessitate changes to your bike fit. If you get more fit over the course of a season, you might be able to handle a different position. Or if you get injured, you might need to adjust the position. So a bike fit is $200 which is expensive at face value. But when you consider that it also includes the follow-up fits to that, it's actually a good deal.
Another item that athletes training for Ironman 70.3 races benefit from are cycling specific shoes. Yes. There are cycling specific shoes. A lot of athletes and especially athletes who are new to the sport don't realize this. And I myself was one of these athletes.
I saw cycling shoes for the first time when I first started training for triathlons. And I thought they looked so weird and funky that I vowed that I would never wear them. To put it mildly, boy, was I wrong about that. It is completely possible to ride a bicycle with flat pedals and regular shoes or sneakers. However, I've absolutely seen that riding with cycling specific shoes is immensely helpful for athletes who are doing long course events such as Ironman 70.3.
Most athletes pick shoes based on their price and they end up spending too little on cycling shoes because they don't understand what makes a cycling shoe different from other cycling shoes and how important they are to the riding experience. There are several important features that athletes should consider when buying cycling shoes. Shoes represent 1 of the 3 contact points that an athlete has with the bicycle itself. The 3 points of contact are the feet, the hands or the arms, and the butt. The interface between your foot and the pedal of the bicycle determines how powerfully and therefore how fast you can move that bicycle.
This means that shoes are vitally important for getting you to transfer as much power and energy as possible from your legs into the bicycle itself to propel it forward. Cycling shoes are stiffer than normal shoes or sneakers. Stiffer is better in cycling because we want to reduce how much the foot is bending or flexing around the pedal. Less flexion in the foot means that there is a better power transfer from the foot into the pedal and into the bicycle. And additionally, too much flexing, which is what happens when you wear sneakers or running shoes to ride a bike, can cause the foot's muscles to become fatigued and that can lead to numbness or even cramping.
The longer the ride, the more likely this fatigue and numbness is to occur. The stiffness index of a shoe does impact its price. The stiffer the shoe is, the more expensive it will be. Cycling shoes range in price from a 120 to $450 but the average price of a pair of cycling shoes is around $300. A lot of athletes have sticker shock when they see this price and that's especially true if they compare this price to the price of a pair of running shoes.
But it's important to bear in mind that cycling shoes last far longer than other types of footwear. If cycling shoes are well cared for, they'll last at least 8,000 to 10000 miles. As such, it's worth spending the money on a good pair of cycling shoes that fits and functions well. The return on the investment per mile for the time you'll be using them is actually excellent when you calculate this math. Alongside cycling shoes, I recommend that athletes training for Ironman 70.3 events ride with clipless pedals.
Clipless pedals are where your shoe and the pedal actually connect together and become like one entity. There are various styles, lakyo, s p d, s p a d s l, and speed play are the most common. There are many reasons why clipless pedals are a great choice for Ironman 70.3 athletes, but one of the main reasons is that they help to keep the foot locked into the optimal position for pedaling which is where the metatarsal heads or the long bones of the foot bisect the pedal spindle. Contrary to popular opinion, the ability to pull up on the pedals is not a reason why clipless pedals are advantageous. Clipless pedals range widely in pricing, and they start around $70 for basic pedals and they go all the way up to $1200 for clipless pedals that have an integrated power meter.
That being said, the average amount of money that most athletes will spend on clipless pedals is around a $100. You can ride a bike wearing any type of clothing, but you will be much, much, much more comfortable if you wear clothing that is designed specifically for cycling. Cycling specific clothing is made using technical moisture wicking fabrics that are designed to reduce friction, keep you cool, and be functional throughout your ride. Cycling jerseys and even some cycling shorts have pockets that can be used to store tools, fuel, and more. Cycling shorts have a chamois which is a padded insert that is sewn into the shorts themselves and it's thick.
A chamois diverts seams away from the areas of the body that will be in contact with the saddle and it also provides a cushion barrier between the bones and the soft tissues that are making contact with the saddle. All of this, the reduction of seams and the increase in padding increases rider comfort. Depending on where you live and the season that you're riding in, you may find that additional clothing items such as gloves, long sleeve jerseys, cycling jackets, and full length cycling tights might be really beneficial to you. The average price of common cycling clothing items is as follows. A cycling jersey, $110, cycling shorts, $90, cycling socks, $17, a sports bra $65, cycling gloves $35, a cycling jacket $150.
Since Ironman 70.3 races take place outdoors, I always recommend that athletes train with that specificity that they will encounter on race day which in this case means training outside. That being said, there are circumstances that may make it so that training outside isn't possible or practical. So no matter where you live, if you're training for an Ironman 70.3, you will likely benefit from having an indoor cycling trainer. An indoor cycling trainer allows you to ride your own bicycle indoors and this can be advantageous in seasons when the weather does not allow outside riding. It can also be a benefit to athletes who need to do their workouts at times of day when it's dark and not safe to ride outside such as before work or after work during the winter time or in the fall or the early spring.
A lot of athletes make the mistake of thinking that any indoor stationary bike or spin bike especially the Peloton is sufficient when athletes need to train indoors for cycling. This is not true. Indoor stationary bikes, spin bikes, and Peloton bikes are not the same bike that you will be riding in your race so they lack that specificity. There's a lot of things about these indoor bikes that are different than your own bicycle. 2 of the main ones are the fit position and the stance width.
Meaning, how far apart your feet are when they're touching the pedals. I think a lot of athletes underestimate how important these things are, but I like to tell folks millimeters matter in bike fit. And so subtle changes like that, while they may seem innocuous at the time are actually quite deceptive because they do add up and they will make it really challenging to ride a bike outside and just sustain a particular fit position outdoors if you don't train that position. So it's vitally important to train the position that you'll be riding in your race. This is not popular advice and people get pretty defensive when I bring it up sometimes, but this is honest advice.
Athletes who have disregarded my recommendations about this have struggled when it comes to improving their cycling. They wonder why they're not seeing gains in their outdoor riding and it's because they lack this specificity. So it's really important to ride your own bike indoors if you have to train indoors. Indoor cycling trainers can be dumb quote unquote, meaning that they don't have any connected electronic features. And there are versions of indoor cycling trainers that are called smart trainers that do have connectivity to allow athletes to simulate the feeling of riding real courses while they're riding inside.
Indoor cycling trainers can also be wheel on, meaning that you connect your entire bike to the trainer or direct drive which means that you take off your back wheel and you connect the drive train of your bike to a cassette that's on the trainer itself rather than riding your own wheel. The style and features of indoor cycling trainers determines their pricing. Indoor cycling trainers range in price from 300 to $1,200. The average amount that athletes will spend on an indoor cycling trainer is usually around $500. There are a few costs specifically associated with training for the run leg of a triathlon.
The 2 most notable are running shoes and running clothing. When it comes to training for the run portion of a triathlon, running shoes are the most important piece of gear that athletes will need. Most athletes will cover 200 to 400 miles in their training runs as they train for an Ironman 70.3. And this means that they will need at least one pair of running shoes in training and possibly more. Failing to replace running shoes on time is one of the most common reasons that runners and triathletes sustain training related injuries.
On average, running shoes last for 350 to 500 miles. How long shoes last is a matter of physics. Running shoes absorb 5 to 7 times the body weight of the athlete who is wearing them. So the heavier an athlete is, the faster their shoes are going to break down and the more frequently they will need to be replaced. It's important to note that I'm not fat shaming anybody for what their body composition or their weight is, but the reality here is that more mass means that the shoes break down faster.
And it's important to be truthful about that. The average pair of running shoes cost about a $150 now, but prices of running shoes can range from 120 to $300 depending on the shoes features. Because they do have a relatively short lifespan, I've seen athletes try and get the most miles out of their running shoes time and time again over the years. However, when you compare the cost of a pair of running shoes to the cost, the financial, temporal, or emotional cost of an injury, the cost of running shoes is honestly relatively insignificant. I encourage all athletes to track the mileage on their shoes using the platform such as spinal surge, Strava, or Garmin Connect and to replace them on time when their life expectancy is up.
What you wear while you're running has a big impact on how comfortable you are which in turn impacts how much you enjoy the experience of running. It's true that you can technically run-in any clothing but running in garments that are specifically designed to be run-in is a good practice. Running specific garments are moisture wicking, technical, and are designed specifically to be run-in. Common clothing items for running include tops, bottoms, socks, sports bras, and headgear. Depending on the time of year, you may also benefit from items such as gloves, jackets, or sunglasses.
The average price of common running clothing items is as follows. A running shirt is $60. Running bottoms are $90. Running socks, $17. A sports bra, $65.
A running visor, $30. Gloves, $20. A running jacket, $100. Non prescriptions on glasses are $30. Most races charge entry fees and all Ironman 70.3 races charge entry fees.
I've discussed in the past how race entry fees reflect the costs that are incurred by the race organizers. Race organizers need to pass along these costs to the customer, the athlete, in order to make these events sustainable and profitable. The profits that they make from the races allows them to continue offering additional races and improving the quality of the races that they already put on. Triathlons are very expensive to organize and to put on. The nature of having 3 disciplines all in one event adds layers of complexity which in turn adds costs to operating the race.
In particular, water support and water safety is very expensive, and the insurance to cover triathlons is also very expensive. Ironman 70.3 races are even more expensive to put on due to their scale, the level of organization, and the level of support that they provide to athletes that are on course. The current average price for an Ironman 70.3 entry is $425. In many cases, travel is required to participate in an Ironman 70.3 race. There are more Ironman 70.3 events than Ironman worldwide.
There are 143 Ironman 70.3's as of August 2024 versus just 42 Ironman races worldwide. And there are more non Ironman branded half distance triathlons than this. However, this is still a relatively low number. By comparison, there are more than 800 marathons and thousands of half marathons held worldwide each year. As a result, the chances of having an Ironman 70.3 race that is in your own backyard that you don't need to travel to is somewhat unlikely.
Obviously, travel costs vary widely depending on many factors including the destination, the accommodations, the method of travel, and more. Over the years, the athletes I've coached have spent an average of $2,000 on travel related to their Ironman 70.3 race. So that's the number I'll use for the purposes of our calculations here. A triathlon kit, more commonly referred to as a tri kit or a tri suit, is a special type of apparel specifically designed to be worn for all three legs of a triathlon. It is constructed of fabrics that dry quickly, that they have a chamois to make riding more comfortable, and it has pockets that can be used to store fuel or other things such as tools.
A tri kit makes it possible for an athlete to swim, bike, and run without having to change clothing in between each discipline of the triathlon. Pricing on tri kits varies widely based on several factors, but it is really a worthwhile investment. It actually does make the process of transitioning from one leg to the next in a triathlon much easier. The average price for 1 tri kit is $230. A GPS device designed specifically for training for triathlons is a very worthwhile investment for athletes who are training for an Ironman 70.3.
This device allows athletes to track their workouts, to follow structured workouts, to measure their progress over time, to follow turn by turn directions on courses during the workouts, and more. While it's technically not necessary to have a GPS device to train for an Ironman 70.3, I have learned that having one really enhances an athlete's experience in training since the device can take over a lot of the thinking, calculating, and measuring that an athlete would otherwise have to do if they didn't have one. There are cycling specific computers that some athletes train with and I'm one of these athletes. But for athletes who are getting into the sport, I recommend a device that can track multiple sports such as a Garmin 4 Runner. Other devices such as a cycling computer can be acquired later on if the athlete decides that they want to have them.
But having a single device that can track all 3 disciplines including the triathlon itself on race day is the way to go if you're new or if funds are limited. The average price of a GPS device that can be used to train for all three disciplines of a triathlon is $600. One of the most underappreciated and neglected aspects of triathlon training is hydration. Despite the fact that managing hydration is one of the three most important things that endurance athletes can do to help their training and performance. There have been extensive longitudinal studies that show that 50% of people in the world are not sufficiently hydrated.
So this means that if you're sitting with another person, one of the 2 of you is not sufficiently hydrated. Yes, water is free if you can get it from a municipal water supply but there are costs associated with hydration vessels that enable you to carry water with you while you're training and with hydrating beverages AKA sports drinks. On the bike, bike bottles are the most common way to hydrate. When it comes to the run, handhelds, waist belts, and running vests are the 3 most common types of running vessels that are used. The prices of these items varies widely depending on a few factors.
Their capacity and how they are constructed are the main things that drive their pricing. Bike bottles are usually around $20 each and prices range from $30 to $200 for a running specific hydration vessel. Handhelds tend to be the cheapest and running vests tend to be the most expensive. While this price range might seem broad and expensive, hydration vessels that are designed for running are really, really, really worth the investment. Dehydration impacts performance severely and carrying regular bottles in your hands while you are running gets old very quickly.
My anecdotal experience over the years as a coach backs up the studies that show that 50% of people are insufficiently hydrated. I've seen that most athletes will default to carrying nothing with them as far as hydration goes during workouts. If we're lucky, they might carry a little bit with them but I've seen time and time again that people severely underestimate and underappreciate how much hydration they actually need in a given day, let alone during a workout. Hydrating with plain water would absolutely be better than not hydrating at all but plain water on its own does not replace the electrolytes that are lost during exercise and thus it's not truly a hydrating in workout beverage. I recommend consuming something that does actually hydrate the body during exercise such as a sports drink.
Sports drinks are formulated to replace the electrolytes lost during exercise to balance the osmolality in the body's gastrointestinal system for good nutrient absorption during exercise and to help the body perform better in training and to recover after a training session. All of this means that the body adapts to and recovers from training better when it is sufficiently hydrated and this leads to enhanced performance over time. Simply put, if you neglect hydration during your training and on race day, you will never reach your full potential in an Ironman 70.3. You should be hydrating every single workout. Yes.
I mean that. Every single workout, even the short ones. You need to train your gastrointestinal system the way you train your muscular system, your cardiovascular system, and your respiratory system in training frequently and consistently. Depending on your sweat rate, if you are properly hydrating all of your workouts, you will use an average of 7 servings of sports drink per week as you train for an Ironman 70.3, which means that you can expect to go through at least 182 servings of sports drink in a 26 week training cycle. The cost for this number of servings is approximately a $160.
In addition to consuming hydration, athletes who are training for an Ironman 70.3 need to be consuming fuel at regular intervals during workouts that last longer than 90 minutes. It's important to note that workout fueling is separate from and distinct from an athlete's daily nutrition. Daily nutrition needs and requirements will increase with an athlete's training volume. This means the athletes will need to consume more food because they need more nutritious food as they're training more and that increase the costs associated with that daily nutrition. That being said, putting a cost on that is actually pretty hard to do.
It's hard to quantify. Workout fuel, however, can be quantified a bit easier. When it comes to workout fuel, athletes have so many options to choose from. Right now, athletes have more options than ever before. There are items such as bars, gels, waffles, and chews that are designed specifically to be made easy to consume while riding and running.
An athlete's pacing and the duration of their workouts in training will significantly impact how much workout fuel costs over the course of a training cycle. What type of fuel the athlete chooses will also impact the total cost. That being said, based on an average Ironman 70.3 finish time which is about 6 hours and on an average price per serving, the average cost of workout fuel for 26 weeks of Ironman 70.3 training is $220. A lot of athletes who train for an Ironman 70.3 follow a training plan or they hire a coach. Both of these options have costs associated with them and the costs vary widely.
There are a wide variety of Ironman 70.3 training plans available for athletes to purchase that are pre written and ready to go. Meaning that these plans are available for an athlete to start using literally as soon as they purchase them. Plans like these are specifically designed to help athletes train for the Ironman 70.3 distance. They are often written and sold based on an athlete's experience level such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced and on the type of metrics that an athlete wants to leverage during their training such as effort, heart rate, power, or pace. It's not uncommon to see Ironman 70.3 training plans that are written with a specific race in mind.
Race course profiles do change how athletes should be preparing in training. So for instance, an athlete training for Ironman 70.3 main, which has a downriver swim and a very hilly bike course, will need to train a lot differently than an athlete who is training for Ironman 70.3 Eagleman, which has a brackish water swim and a flat course for the bike and the run. Beyond these base elements, there isn't any individualization in these types of training plans. Ironman 70.3 training plans are generic and they're not personalized for an individual athlete and their specific goals. Because of this, these kinds of training plans are the cheapest way that athletes can get guidance for Ironman 70.3 training.
The average price of an Ironman 70.3 training plan that covers 26 weeks of training is $80. Custom built Ironman 70.3 training plans are designed, written, and personalized specifically for an individual athlete. Custom built Ironman 70.3 training plans account for so many things including the athlete's goal race, the athlete's experience level, the athlete's training preferences, the athlete's goals, the athlete's personal schedule, the athlete's injury history, and more. A coach meets with an athlete to discuss their goals and what things they want accounted for in their custom built Ironman 70.3 training plan. Then the custom built Ironman 70.3 training plan is written for and delivered to an athlete.
Once they've received their custom built Ironman 70.3 training plan, the athlete goes and follows the custom built Ironman 70.3 training plan on their own. There isn't any feedback or guidance given to the athlete once that plan is delivered. Custom built Ironman 70.3 training plans are nice options for athletes who are self motivated and who don't need or want to work with a coach on a daily or weekly basis, but who still want to have customized training to follow to help them reach their goals. Because they are customized and individualized for each individual athlete, custom built Ironman 70.3 training plans are more expensive than the generic training plans we were talking about earlier. The average cost of a custom built Ironman 70.3 training plan that covers 26 weeks of training is $700.
Performance coaching is the highest level of coaching, communication, and personalization that an athlete can get while training for an Ironman 70.3. All of the same things, the athlete's goal race, the athlete's experience level, the athlete's training preferences, the athlete's goals, the athlete's personal schedule, the athlete's injury history, and more are taken into account for an athlete on performance coaching. But there's even more specificity in detail with this training option because athletes have unlimited communication with their coach throughout all of their training. Additionally, training is designed and written 1 week at a time versus several months at a time and can be adjusted on a very granular level, even daily, depending on how things are going in training and what things are happening in an athlete's life. Because this service has such a high level of personalization and communication, it is the most expensive coaching or training plan option that an athlete can select.
The average cost of 26 weeks of performance coaching is $1,600. As you can see, once you list out everything that you either need or that is very helpful to train for an Ironman 70.3, the costs add up very quickly. Here is the total average amount you can expect to spend while training for an Ironman 70.3 broken down by category. For the swim, a bathing suit is $60, a swim cap is $15, goggles are $25, a wetsuit is $400, a swim safety buoy is $40. For the bike, a bicycle is $3,000, a helmet $100 a bike pump $40 flat repair supplies are $60 bicycle maintenance $300 a bike fit $200 cycling shoes $300 clipless pedals $100, cycling clothing for one outfit is $497, an indoor cycling trainer is $500, for the run running shoes are a $150 and one outfit of running clothing is $412 and then there's everything else.
The race entry is $425, race travel $2,000 a tri kit $230 a GPS device $600 hydration vessels $140 hydration beverages, $160 workout fuel, $220 Coaching and training plans are a range of 80 to $1,600 but the average price that most people spend is about $700 This means the total average cost to train for an Ironman 70.3 is $10,674. If you take out some of the more expensive items and reduce some of the cost down, the low average cost to train for an Ironman 70.3 is $8,054. And then if you add in the most expensive options for things such as coaching, the high average cost to train for an Ironman 70.3 is $11,574. All of these calculations are averages and it's honestly been my experience that most athletes will spend more than what I've listed out here. Between wanting extra gear, more than one outfit to train in, needing bike repairs, wanting to get strength and conditioning training, and more, athletes will end up incurring additional costs throughout their training.
The total cost of training for a race like this is one of the reasons that I urge athletes not to rush into doing this distance of triathlon. If athletes wait a year or 2 or more to see if they like the sport and to take on this distance, they can work on establishing a strong foundation of training. This means that they will not only be stronger when they decide to train for an Ironman 70.3, but they will also incur less expenses right before the Ironman 70.3 because they will have acquired some of the necessary gear items and tools slowly over a course of several years along the way dispersing that cost out versus incurring it all in a single year. The truth of the matter is this. Training for an Ironman 70.3 is expensive.
There isn't any other way to say it, or there isn't any other way to sugarcoat it. Training for an Ironman 70.3 is absolutely a wonderful and worthwhile goal. It's always been my favorite distance of triathlon to train for personally. At the same time, it's so important to fully understand what it takes emotionally, temporally, and logistically to train for a race like this before you set a goal to do one. By seeing and understanding the true total financial costs of training for an Ironman 70.3 before you sign up for 1, you can make wiser, more thoughtful choices about how to spend your money and about what timing in your life is right to take on a goal of this magnitude.
These informed and thoughtful choices will give you a higher probability of successfully and joyfully achieving your goals at an Ironman 70.3 race. That was another episode of the Full Circle Podcast. Subscribe to the Full Circle Podcast wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. If you like what you listen to, please be sure to leave us a rating and review as this goes a long way in helping us reach others. The thoughts and opinions expressed on the Full Circle Podcast are those of the individual.
As always, we'd love to hear from you and we value your feedback. Please send us an email at podcast at full circle endurance.com or visit us at full circle endurance.com backslash podcast. To find training plans, see what other coaching services we offer, or to join our community, please visit full circle endurance.com. I'm coach Laura Henry. Thanks for listening.
