Cycling and swimming training plan

Training
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Hi guys,

So here are my questions.

I am a TrainerRoad user since Nov 2020. I have found my way around it and I am very happy with my training plan at the moment.
Additionally, I have been swimming on and off since sept 2018. I have had long breaks of no swimming at all (the corona pandemic played a part in it as well). Since this summer I started to get serious with swimming again and I would really like it to improve my 500m’s time in a 25m pool. I have to tried out several swimming plans but up until this moment I am not content about them since they are too short/ rest week are not incorporated/ it feels like there’s no structure in them on a monthly/ yearly basis.

Since the internet is very scarce in year trainingplans for swimming (except for when you have a personal coach) I would like to make my own one.

I was a bit struggling on how I would get cycling and swimming in one year plan.

I cycle on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday (easy ride) and Sunday. I swim on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday of which two are endurance sessions and one is focused on technique. This works well for me.

My TrainerRoad year plan started again from the 1st of Nov this year. Currently I’m in a rest week and next week I will be starting base ll of Gran Fondo Low Volume.

How should I plan my swimming schedule? I was planning to start a base phase with swimming as well. Should I make the swimming structure parallel to the TrainerRoads’ structure? If so, then the build phase of cycling and swimming will be at the same time. The same applies to specialty. Won’t this be too much of a trainingload in one week? Or could I make it more bearable for my body to do only one relatively intense session of swimming instead of two in the building block?

I also need to see what my trainingsessions of swimming will be like each week and what the focus is. I would like to have one session focused on technique and the other two…? I don’t know yet. I guess that depends on the training block (base, build, specialty). Do you have any ideas about that as well?

I hope some of you can help me answer these questions!

Thanks in advance!
Hannah

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Why not pick a triathlon plan and remove the runs?

2 Likes
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This is what I do, only I replace the runs with weight lifting workouts… or at least I say that’s what I’ll do.

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Hi Hannah, sounds like you have all the right concerns.

To address progression and periodicity you could select one of the triathlon plans or use plan builder and delete the run workouts.

Sprint distance is more shorter efforts, but full distance will have greater volume of swimming - or just use your own workouts in the same slots as the plan

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Ahh right that may help indeed! I will definitely look at the triathlon plans. I will be focusing more on the long distance plans. Maybe I might add some extra strength training instead of the runs! Now I only do strength training once a week besides swimming and cycling.

Thank you all for your input!

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55 y/o. mostly racing gravel these days, w/ some aquabike (swim/bike portion of a triathlon). currently on a high volume gravel plan. Schedule is:

Mon am core and weights
Mon pm 30-60 min recovery/endurance spin on rollers. this gives me about 10 hours btw the weights and the aerobic components

Tue am swim (~1500m right now, will bump up in spring depending on race schedule),
hard TR workout (threshold etc)

Wed am core/weights
Wed pm recovery/endurance ride

Thurs same as Tue

Fri same as Wed

Sat hard TR workout

Sun swim 1500-2000
3-4 hours road bike (50-60 miles w/ ~3,000 ft climbing) or gravel race

Totals around 10 hours +/- cycling, ~450-550 TSS (cycling portion only)

In the spring, I’ll cut the weights to 1-2 x/week but keep the core part at 3x