Yes agreed! I’m newish to running (after years of back pain) and the run leg never goes as well as I think it should!
I wish I was a strong runner! It would be so nice to finish the tri strongly, passing people and feeling good!
TBH I “do” go better than many/most of my age group peers, but that seems to be because middle aged guys are far better on their bikes than runners. I am still a beginner runner.
Love this! Ok I am starting to get it… There’s another tri 2 weeks from today and I will try this different approach. It’s hard to monitor power anyway because the watch is on my wrist and not sitting nicely visible on the handlebars.
I’ve taken the learning about not trying to race to a power target.
However, I guess the OP question could still stand, I could just rearrange it to say “after going all out in a tri bike leg, what NP should I be happy with?” or something like that. And from some of the other replies, it looks like 95-105% FTP is the (slightly intimidating) range to aim for.
The hardest part I’ve found (still quite new to this) is that you want to train all three properly, e.g. 4-5 sessions a week, but you don’t have time and your body probably couldn’t take the training load. You end up a jack of all trades, master of none.
So it’s a compromise. Where is it most effective to focus your training efforts? Where are the most minutes going to be saved?
I find this amazing. Assuming it is reliable data, it could make sense because the hard swim shouldn’t really be taxing your legs too much anyway.
I am ok on a hard swim, done enough OW swim races to be able to judge the pace, but it’s running up the beach and into transition in a wetsuit that spikes the HR and makes me feel sick!
You need to build volume and you need to do through consistency. IOW, you should be running almost every day. Not necessarily long, but every day. Like some days you may only run a mile (or less), but the consistency will build volume.
Check out the BarryP plan and follow it….
http://forum.slowtwitch.com/gforum.cgi?post=1612485;search_string=runtraining;#1612485
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everyone has their strengths and areas to work on…it helps weighing 61kg and having a 2:47 marathon pb…but the fact I never swam competitively as a kid always held me back from winning triathlons.
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Adult Onset Swimming definitely makes it hard for many to be competitive. I was, at best, a mediocre swimmer. Don’t think I ever got much below 2:00/100m in any of my races…maybe 1:50 if I round a good pair of feet.
That said, I was a FOP cyclist and a decent enough runner that I managed to take my fair share of age group wins, albeit it at local races, and a a couple of AG podiums at 70.3 races.
No doubt though that the bigger the race, the harder it was to be competitive when you are lacking in one discipline. When I did 70.3 Worlds, I finished well down in the bottom third of the field!! 
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Im a big believer in the T26 process.
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Never used their services but Rodriguez’ principles of open water swimming have stood up well since I first heard them years ago. Would be good if he did a deal with Form Goggles or took over as head coach.
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I just cycle, I have the same problem outside but not inside
Yes that’s a big thing here in Australia too. The “kiddy swimmers” can do negligible training and still be FOP.
Having a 2:47 marathon would be nice though…
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Yes me too. I never subscribed but have built up quite a library of workouts from the podcasts over the years and I still structure my year around Gerry’s 5 phases, etc.
This is really interesting thanks and I think I might start this in April after the last tri race of the season.
A key takeaway I noted was that for a 5k tri run leg, you should train as for a standalone 10k run…
It sounds like at its core though, the Barry P program is essentially:
- You need to increase weekly running volume to run faster.
- Most of your running can be at an easy pace.
I was hoping to avoid point 1… 
That said - coaching is all. I went to a one day swimming clinic 30 years ago with a UK ex Olympic swimmer and former pro triathlete (Robin Brew) and in one day I was given (along with 30 others) lots of advice and a short 60s video of my swim stroke with an audio commentary. Was full of great advice and when I implemented it my 800m swim time went down from 13 mins 30s to 11 mins 40s - so small changes make a big difference. Mind you I was still behind the 9:30 - 10 mins being knocked out by the guys who swam in their teens!
I think it’s generally accepted that standalone training plans for individual sports are a bad idea for triathlon, you need a triathlon plan.
A running plan expects you to run too much and have no other exercise stress. Piling a bike and a swim plan on top will not be optimal.
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Its not just the volume, its the progression timing too. You cant be doing threshold bike intervals the day after 800’s on the track the day after 100 repeats in the pool. A good tri plan will map progressions out so that they are sustainable and logical
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Totally.
The problem is if you treat them individually, individual plans, on top of each other, you end up doing Tempo/Threshold (1 or 2), VO2MAX (1) in each sport and end up doing high intensity everyday (6 - 9 sessions), its not long before you dig a hole.
High Intensity… I like x2 on the bike and x1 on the run (but sometimes / weeks zero on the run pre/early base.)
I cant swim well enough to get any high intestity on the swim if I could I probably use that for VO2MAX or threshold. I suppose and can get a bit of anaerobic work in on the swim some 25s, but I’d rather do some strides (run) or neuromuscular work on the bike for efficiency in each discipline.
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Everyday day an intensity day 
, yeah dont do that.
Personally I do some double threshold days occasionally, it gives more easy days between hard days.
Theshold bike early AM followed by Run 3x 1 mile or 400 - 800s PM (plenty of food between) Works really well, the bike seems to act like openers for the run later in the day, but maybe thats just me.
The next day can then just be easy and a day or two later then some more intensity (probably bike as its the safer option for me but if I was a swimmer it might be a swim), but the point is as you say thinking about the progression and you implied not going hard everyday.
Yeah those double days can be really really good they just need to be within a thoughtful overall plan for managing intensity. My favorite days were threshold morning bike then 4 min VO2max run later in afternoon. Felt like superman lol
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