Scott Britton – our man in the trenches – is back at it again after successfully transitioning from full-time CrossFitter to Iron Man finisher. This time he’s tackling an even bigger hybrid challenge. This is exactly how he’s training for it.
After years spent training either to lift something very heavy or to complete a workout as fast as possible, I finally dipped a toe into endurance sport in 2024 with my first full Ironman.
The biggest lesson? It was hard – yes – but not impossible. And maybe, just maybe, it’s not impossible to still lift heavy, complete fast workouts, and train for endurance events at the same time.
That idea stayed with me throughout the year, as I kicked off 2025 with a Hyrox, a CrossFit competition, and a full marathon – all within the first three months. More and more, I enjoyed mixing up the disciplines and working out how to maintain all of them. So, I started planning the ultimate hybrid challenge:
Complete a full Ironman triathlon in JapanFly to the US to hit a 7x bodyweight powerlifting totalOne week later, head to the Canadian mountains to run a 100km ultra
With just three months to prepare, here’s exactly how I’m training for the biggest challenge of my life – and actually enjoying the process by embracing a version of fitness that lets me do everything I love.
My Weekly Training Split
Training splits have been the biggest learning curve. Here’s how I’m approaching my week:
Monday
Swim: Drills and intervals
Powerlifting: Squat focus
Olympic lifting: Snatch focus
Tuesday
Long bike: Turbo trainer sessions for high-impact, focused work
Run intervals: Speed-focused, including 400m–800m intervals over a 90-minute session
Wednesday
Short bike: High-watt work
Powerlifting: Bench press, plus upper-body bodybuilding accessory work
Run/Legs: 1-hour run followed by a 1-hour weighted ruck or stepper walk
Thursday
Swim: Endurance pool work, 2km+
Run: 10km zone 2
Friday
Powerlifting: Deadlift focus
Olympic lifting: Clean and jerk focus
CrossFit: Competition-style workout
Saturday
Long triathlon simulation: 3–6 hours of bike and run work
Sunday
Full rest day
I’m not aiming to break records or win races. But I do need the capacity to handle high volume – and especially for my legs to withstand the repeated load of lifting, cycling, and running.
Try My Squat & Snatch Session
Fancy testing one of my lifting and running sessions? Here’s a snapshot of a typical powerlifting day – inspired by legendary coach Boris Sheiko.
Warm-up
3 x 10 empty barbell squats
then…
Barbell Back Squat
1 x 5 @ 50% (of 1 rep max)
1 x 4 @ 60%
1 x 3 @ 70%
1 x 3 @ 75%
4 x 2 @ 80%
Box squats
5 x 5 @ 100% of 1RM (back squat weight)
Barbell reverse lunge
3 x 12
Power snatch
4 x 3
Hang snatch
5 x 1
Full snatch
10 x singles, building from 50% of 1RM
Try My Speed Run Session
My running work spans speed, long slow distance, and time-based sessions. Here’s a go-to speed session to try:
Drills
A-skip (20m): Video
Heel walk (10m): Video
Walking lunge (10m): Video
Butt kicks (10m): Video
Warm-up
800m walk
800m jog (Zone 2)
Main sets
2 rounds of: 800m as fast as possible, rest 3 minutes
3 rounds of: 400m as fast as possible, rest 2 minutes
4 rounds of: 200m as fast as possible, rest 1 minute
Cool down
800m jog (Zone 2)
800m walk