Gran Fondo plan for offseason Ironman training

[minte0407]

Basically the title, how does it sound?

I’m planning to have my first Ironman in August 2023 and I was thinking of doing a Gran Fondo plan for winter (I have my run and swim workouts outside of TR) and then switch to an Ironman training in march or April, any thoughts? Maybe I should just stick with Train Now?

I have to say that I have done time trial plans during the offseason a few previous years and I’m getting burnt out and injured around February - March so I’m thinking of taking it easier than usual this winter.

Thanks!

[JoeX]

Hi @minte0407

Anthony had a similar question on the IM Training thread:

The Ironman Training 2022 Thread

Hi, welcome back to the forum and welcome to the thread One of the things we tend to warn people of is structure fatigue - following an FD plan consistently for 28 weeks is no mean feat, it takes a toll. That doesn’t mean don’t train at all, or don’t train with structure, but it does lend itself to picking a different goal before starting FD. For example, I’m focussed on swimming right now, and picked LV general build for some structure and variety in the background. …

[DanF]

I had almost the exact same question! I ended up adding a “fake” race in plan builder, allowing enough time out for me to get through SSB and General build the week before I start my IM training. When I get to that week I will add in the IM, and delete out the fake race, re-build the plan. It took a while to figure that all out, but looks like it should work well!