The 5-Workout Week

Pick your track. Start this week.

The everyday guy who trains for races and crosses finish lines isn’t the one with the most time.

He’s the one with the clearest system.

Most training plans fail here.

Not because the workouts are wrong, but because the structure doesn’t account for kids getting sick, high pressure work sprints, and family life.

This leaves guys feeling behind and unclear where to pick back up when plans change.

This post fixes that.

• 5 workouts

• 30 to 60 minutes each

• Clear guardrails that keep you on track

• Enough flexibility to survive a real week - and feel progress daily

Here’s exactly how it works.

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Pick Your Track

The Endurance Builder: Run, bike, strength. Race goals on the horizon. Build fitness that compounds over years.

The Triathlete: Swim, bike, run, strength. 70.3 and beyond. Train smarter, race faster, recover better.

The Lifelong Athlete: Run, strength, outdoor movement. No race bibs required. Show up fully for yourself, your family, and your work.

Pick one. Your training framework is below.

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The Guardrails That Make It Work

The frameworks tell you what to do. These rules tell you how to use them.

#1: Select from a menu of workout options.

Every exercise type has three choices designed to help you develop across speed, strength, and endurance.

Select one intentionally. Go into each session with a plan.

#2: 20 minutes minimum counts.

A short session on a day that’s flipped upside down is worth more than a perfect one done tomorrow.

Never let perfection be the enemy of just showing up and giving your best.

Focus on not putting up zeroes.

#3: No two days off in a row.

One rest day is recovery. Two in a row is letting training become optional.

Keep the thread alive.

#4: Prove the week before you scale it.

Complete four consecutive weeks at the same structure before you add anything.

The goal is not to do huge weeks that risk burn out or injury.

The goal is to build a durable foundation that you can scale upon.

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The Endurance Builder

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The Triathlete

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The Lifelong Athlete

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Before You Start: Two Decisions That Will Make or Break Week 1

#1: Choose your rest day before the week begins.

Don’t plan to train every day and then call a missed session rest.

That’s not recovery. That’s drift and excuses.

Pick your rest day intentionally based on your life.

Some guys like Sunday for church and family. Others choose Monday if it’s their heaviest work day.

The day doesn’t matter. The decision does.

#2: Front-load the sessions that have the most resistance.

Every athlete has one session they avoid.

The pool. The weight room. The speed run.

Whatever yours is - put it in the first half of the week.

When you get the hard thing done early, you’re playing with a lead by Wednesday. Then the back half takes care of itself.

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Your Next Step

Pick your track. Print it out or log it in your notebook. Do week one.

That’s it.

Next post: most early stage athletes are training at the wrong intensity without knowing it.

Too hard on easy days. Too easy on hard days.

Always somewhere in the middle, leaning into resistance, working hard enough to feel tired, never hard enough to get faster.

I call this the 8:30/mile Strava Guy. And it stalls all progress.

That post is for paid subscribers.

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— Ryan