Very true. We’re all experiments of one. We’re all unique. My buddy had a coach, and taking coaching advice indirectly through another athlete is probably pointless and a recipe for disaster. This is a big reason why I wish the plan offered a pacing strategy. It’s probably why I wish the plan offers more than it does; but alas it’s just a cookie cutter plan.
But as said above pacing is a function of both intensity and time.
If they said do a 70.3 at 0.85 and you’re still out there 4 hrs later you’ll be lucky to walk let alone run. But if you’re in T2 after just 2hrs 0.85 could mean you’re good to go as a strong runner.
Ive been around the race day pacing loop a few times myself, I’m in a similar ball park to you 2h40-2h50 which is off 0.72 intensity but my run is still to weak and like you I think that’s my run training not my bike.
I think the charts I linked above and the TR advice are good ball parks, but you have to divide your own strategy.
There’s some more TR material here and a link to a podcast:
I understand your point, but still disagree…if riding at 80% FTP gets you a 3’30" bike split, it should be obvious this is not a realistic goal. There are plenty of tools out there for athletes to get a reasonable expectation of their time based on their power history. Best Bike Split being the most obvious, but even Triathlon Time Calculators are a huge benefit.
If a 3’30" split is a target result, then odds are pretty high that the athlete knows the bike is not their strength and will not be out there riding at .8 IF.
What exactly is it that you are disagreeing with? The pacing is different because of the duration. The actual time it takes is a consequence of many more factors than your pacing, but successful pacing depends on duration. For a more refined example, someone who is capable of a 2h20m bike split at .9 IF should probably ride slightly easier and target 2h25m or so; but if that same .9 IF might enable a 2h3m bike split, then it’s a lot more plausible.
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One thing to keep in mind, if you do a weekend ride trying to simulate race day power, remember that’s being done on tired legs and race day should be coming off a nice restorative taper period. Rested legs can make a big difference where 85% might feel too aggressive when in the middle of a training block. But race day might be perfect. Trust the numbers.
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I raced a 70.3 yesterday. My NP for the ride was 211 (FTP 272 - 74.2 kgs) for the bike leg which gave me a 2:35 split (427m of gain). That placed me in the 20th percentile of my age group - 21st overall. Ran 1:40 off the bike which was not what I was aiming for but 24th percentile in both age group and overall.
211 is approx. 78% of FTP. Have seen recommendations of anywhere between 78% to 81% based on my watts/kg.
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Just curious…is that a ramp test determined ftp?
Yes - ramp test determined FTP. I think my last ramp test was about 5 weeks ago.
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My 2 cents worth, I’ve raced twice in the past 3 months. Both bike legs raced around .75 IF. 2:29 and 2:39 respectively. The later is a harder bike course with worse surface conditions.
I’ve done a simulation at .85 IF in training. I ran a strong 5k following that; but had nothing left after 5k. I’m pretty sure the small gains on the bike would blow apart on the run for me anyway!
In the last race I came off the bike feeling fresh, and moving freely - that’s all I can ask for.
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Great job! So happy to hear there is 70.3 racing!! What race did you do?
I did the Geelong 70.3 (Victoria, Australia - home town 
). Was good to be back racing that’s for sure.
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I agree. I went 2:26 at 75%.
From all the reading I’ve done race pace on 70.3 race day is around 80-85% of FTP.
Going off that there are a lot of 80-85% 60-90 minute workouts in every week of the base plan. These prepare you well for race day riding at a continuous pace and then running after. Most other workouts are shorter intervals above race pace. I’ve never seen another training plan that includes a lot of race pace workouts.
Same thing in Build except they go from 90-120 minutes.
In specialty these workouts kick up a notch by the looks either 80-90 or 85-95%.
Training at that pace is a bit of a grey hence why its only one workout a week. The main workouts in base work out your muscular endurance for up to 20 minutes at ~90%. Build raises your FTP and specialist puts the icing on the cake.
You wont get much guidance on running and swimming paces with TR. Race day swim pace would be around your CSS. Running would be your open half time +3-5 minutes depending on running experience and speed.
Input some numbers into best bike split and will give you a rough guide of your finish time based on a % off FTP. So you can adjust whether you think you can hold 80% or 85 etc.
I was doing the Ironman New Zealand 70.3 bike leg this past weekend as part of a team, so was confident I could hold 90%. Best bike split told me I’d finish in 2:20.
Ending up holding 0.94 IF and finishing in 2:18 but I haven’t retested FTP since the end of November so it may have been closer to 0.90. I looked at the hills on the course, strava segment times and built my own plan, using average speed and HR from last year during a full 70.3 as a guide.
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Hi, I’m not sure if this is the best place to ask this but here goes. i have 2 x half IM in 2022. Due to time available I have to do 5-9 hrs so low volume, they are on June 26th and 18 Sept. That’s 25 weeks and then 12 weeks to the second. most of the 70.3 plans that I have seen are 12 to 32 weeks. I have used 80/20 endurance plan before as I like the concept.
I’m unsure whether to go for using two different plans, the same plan twice or go for a very long plan ending at 703 Weymouth or work it out myself.
i’m confused, any advice is welcome.
My guess is msot people will say let Plan Builder figure it out….12 weeks between the two races should allow you to put them both in as A races.
Plug them into PB, choose the hours you have available to train and let it do its thing.
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