I’m a newbie to trainerroad and looking to get some advice on the best training plans for me over the next year (or just under).
A bit about me…I only started cycling (and triathlon) in July last year when I set myself a goal on completing an Ironman. It was a bit of a lofty goal given I’d never done a triathlon before but I had a decent running base and thought it was achievable. Over the past ten months I had a coach who guided me through the journey and I completed Ironman NZ (which ended up being my third ever triathlon) in March in just over 12 hrs. Along the way I completed a 70.3 and somehow secured a spot to the 70.3 world champs in France in September this year - which I have committed to. Unfortunately post the Ironman in March I lost motivation and have had a decent month of not much exercise (other than a 50km charity run) but am now ready to get back into things.
Due to finances I can’t afford to continue with my coach so have made the decision to go it on my own with trainerroad guiding me.
My question - given my shortish cycling history, any residual fitness post Ironman NZ that was 4 weeks ago (but I’ve not really done much since then) and the 70.3 World Champs which are now only 22 weeks away how should I structure my training on trainerroad and what plans should I follow in what order? I also plan on completing the NZ 70.3 in December this year which is another 13 weeks post France (35 weeks from now) and then Ironman NZ in March 2020 (48 weeks from now).
Cycling is definitely my weakest triathlon leg and the area I think I can make the most significant gains.
Congratulations and bear in mind it takes a long time to physically and mentally recover from an Ironman triathlon. I wouldn’t call out the last month as losing fitness, but as rebuilding your damaged body.
One thing I’ve often heard is that people train for a race, qualify for the champs, then change their whole training strategy…the one that got them there! In your place, I would tweak rather than completely change my training.
With 22 weeks, and 24 required for a normal Base->Build->Speciality, assuming you’re fully recovered now, I would go with the Half Distance Training Plan and skip weeks 5 and 6 of Speciality.
Choose a Volume that suits your lifestyle and ability to absorb training. Don’t assume Mid or High Volume will give you the best results.
You must be over the moon to have qualified first go?
First off, congratulations on all you’ve accomplished! Those were amazing goals beautifully executed.
As for training plan, I think that @JoeX is spot on. Especially about choosing the appropriate volume plan: the best training plan is the one that you’ll actually do. It’s better to choose a plan with less time investment but knock those workouts out of the park than to overreach, choose a more time intensive plan and miss or skip workouts.
Here is an article from the TrainerRoad website about what to do when you don’t have enough time before your race for the full training cycle. You’ll see that it is exactly what JoeX recommended.
