2021: what worked for you, what didn’t

Training
44

Sounds like you’ve had a great year. How did you implement block periodisation?

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45

Yeah it went really well. 3rd in my age group at the national champs (A-race) so I´m happy.

The initial plan for the block periodisation in build was to start 10w ahead of my A-race. And all high intensity (HI) days structured with the purpose to prepare myself for the demands of my A-race:

Block 1: 4 weeks with 5 HI days in 1st week, then 1-2 HI days during 2nd, 3rd, 4th week. Fill up the weeks with active recovery rides, some easy long Z2 rides (incl. sprint training) and strength training.
Block 2: (same as above)
Peak: 2 weeks.

Of course “life happend” both before and during Build so I had to modify the weeks a bit, still luckily no dramatic changes. I will definately do this again this year and can recommend to someone who is able to “quickly get into race shape” and can carry high fatigue for several days.

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46

Great thread to reflect on the past year!

Started using TR just after Xmas 2020, initial FTP 170 (2.6w/kg).
Perspective: 2-3 years triathlon from sprint to 70.3 distance prior to this, without any formal ‘structured’ training plan.

What worked:

  • consistency and following a training plan - FTP peaked at 227 in late October (3.5w/kg), which was taken from an uphill time trial effort where I held 240 for 24 mins. I then went on to finish 10th in a 50km hilly road race that same afternoon in a super competitive field.
    I was absolutely stoked with this compared to where I started
  • trying lots of different types of road racing to find what I enjoy and where my strengths lie - first year racing bikes rather than triathlon
  • taking a break from triathlon - made my preferences quite clear to me about going forward: I like triathlon, particularly sprint and olympic, but I LOVE cycling.

What didn’t work:

  • lack of strength training consistency - fizzled out when life got busy and cycling took precedence. Resulted in niggling injury in October that I’m still dealing with
  • Too many race weekends in a row - went to 4 races in a row, most involving 2-3 hours travel, the 4th race I bombed hard and was super fatigued.

Focus on for 2022:

  • Strength training at least 2x/week consistently - Dialed Health is very helpful for this so far!
  • Season planning - better build and focus on a few ‘A’ races rather than so many races without one particular focus
  • Improve bike handling and confidence riding in the bunch - to do this am going to drive 1hr Saturday mornings to race in a bigger local crit series than I have here.

Good luck to all for the year ahead!

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