Adding a ride to the Triathlon Half LV PLan

Training
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I am about to start the half distance low volume build after just completing the low volume base. I chose low volume there as I haven’t ridden in 5 years. I only missed one ride, a few swims (due to pool closure over christmas) and a few runs were shortened due to a niggling foot injury. I am very pleased and a little surprised with my compliance.

I considered moving up to mid volume after the base however decided not to. I have always preferred shorter, more intense workouts, AND at the moment I am enjoying it so much, why change it and risk losing motivation.

If I were to add one ride to the low volume plan per week as an optional bonus, are there any that come recommended? Obviously not too hard to jeopardise my other rides and swim/run, but also beneficial to do if I can.

I notice the mid-volume plan has ‘pettit’ once a week

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I do always do low volume and add in something like pettit or baxter every week.

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Thanks! I’ll take a look at Baxter

4

Hi there,

First of all I’d look at my strengths and weaknesses as a triathlete.

When you weren’t riding these last five years were you running and swimming at all?

What were your recent splits like?

This should give you an idea of which sport would give you the most benefit of extra time.

How are you feeling week in, week out?

I like @lpmelli suggestions but you may find an Active Recovery ride helps more than an Endurance ride.

Also, when was your last FTP test?

Low Volume is plenty of work, so it may be that you’re not working as hard as you could be.

Good luck and come say hi on the Ironman 2020 thread :+1:

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Hey, thanks for the reply.

I was pretty sedentary over the past 5 years. I ran a little on and off but I would say, based on how I felt 6 months ago, that I’m building from nothing.

In 2015 my IMNZ spits were 59, 5.50, 4.00 (for just over 11 hours, slow transitions). I would say at my bike has always been the worst and probably effected my run. However, now my run is bad too! But I seem to be a bit fragile and no matter what would like to stick with low volume running for the time being, build that up very slow. My swim just seems to happen, back in 2015 I swam in a squad but right now and in the foreseeable future, I am happy to roughly follow the TR swim plans and swim consistently over focusing on quality.

My goal is the Busselton 70.3 in May and come out of it with three things:

  1. A finishers medal
  2. Satisfied the work I put in has put me in better shape than October 2019
  3. Motivated to look ahead to the next goal - not just stop for another 5 years.
    (Trying not to focus on a time goal, rather building something sustainable)

My current FTP is 150, but I have my next ramp test this evening and hope to see some improvement. I am using a Tacx Vortex and VirtualPower, so while the number is low I’m not too worried and just want to see consistent improvement over the next 4 months and beyond.

The reason I want to add a ride is that sometimes I can fit it into my week, and the bike is what scares me. Especially being on low volume, I don’t want to go into the 70.3 worried I could have ridden more (It’s how I felt in 2015). Week-in, week-out I have mildly tired legs most of the time but everything so far has left me satisfyingly fatigued but also not compromising following sessions. On the weeks that there are only 3 rides, I think I could do another. Maybe that will change after my ramp test.

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Cool, good results at IMNZ too - sounds like an additional ride is the way forward then :+1:

Strength is in vogue at the moment so you might want to dabble in that too.

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Thanks!

By strength do you mean weights and exercises, or strength focused bike sessions?

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Yeah weights - most coaches recommend it now including TR. There some articles on the TR blog about it, and a few threads on this forum.

I’m doing 2x 30min sessions per week at the moment (StrongLifts 5x5 a beginner lifting program). Felt strange at first but hasn’t harmed my swim/bike/run sessions yet.

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