Hallo I was wondering why the workouts are all 1 to 1 1/2 hours and only like two 1:45? In the baseplan there was one longer. I have never done a race but I will do more than 3 hours for sure on raceday?
The running workouts are much closer to the racetime.
Thanks for help!
TR approach is that a turbo session is worth 1.5-2x the time elapsed on the road. Broadly speaking.
If you’ve never raced 70.3 before I’d advise getting out for an easy 90km outdoors followed by a 5-10km run during Speciality.
So if I aim to go a bit under 4hours the plan still fits me?
I have never raced any triathlon before 
but that seems a great advice - thanks!!!
Sub 4 for your first 70.3? Either low key pro or typo I assume
Not sub 4 on the whole triathlon of course - on the bike
Ahh. My bad. Sorry.
As @JoeX mentioned, I think getting a long ride outdoors or on the trainer will be a big boost to your confidence.
If you’re unable to do that, I’m of the opinion that you don’t need that just to finish.
The low volume half distance tri can be thought of as a “complete” rather than “compete” plan, but you can get surprisingly good results on it.
Which plan are you on, and are you doing all three phases, Base, Build and Speciality?
I am on the low volume and yes I am doing all three phases directly after each other.
I agree with @JoeX that if you haven’t done the distance before, doing a 90k outdoor ride followed by a 5-10k run is a good idea. It’s also a good chance to try out your nutrition and dial in your set-up on the bike.
thanks I will do it in the speciality phase! At the moment I am in the last week of base. And I sometimes mix in longer easy outdoor rides with some friends
Nutrition will play a big role in how much you enjoy the experience even if your goal is to complete vs compete
I used infinit nutrition last year and loved it. Using again this year. They allow you to customize the formula based on a simple questionnaire and have sample packs that you can use on your long bricks to see how your stomach handles it.
Not to throw this discussion off topic, but are the swim/run workouts the same in the low/mid/high volume plans or do those also change/add more volume as you step up in plan?
I did a quick look and it looks like they are all the same–but I did not look at every week. Just curious. If they are all the same then it would seem the only difference in training volume is coming from time spent on the bike (which admittedly will make the other workouts harder to complete…)
Thanks for the great input - but unfortunately it seems they do not deliver to germany. But nutrition is something I have to read about until the race
No, the swim/run workouts are different. They might have the same basic structure but the higher the volume of the plan the longer they are; comparing week 3 of build low and mid volume it’s 6800m vs 7175m and 170min vs 195min.
Red flag there! Any nutrition will do, but you must look at fuelling your workouts to get the most from them. You can have high5, powerbar, 226er amongst others delivered in Germany and I’m sure there are others.
Otherwise there are always bananas, cereal bars, milk, oats, chicken, fish…natural foods that you need to be consuming before, during and after workouts.
Is there a need to fuel me during workouts <=1,5h ?
There are some harder workouts where I will fuel during the workout if it’s under 90 minutes (e.g. over-unders). I’ve learnt the hard way that I NEED to fuel during them. For less intense workouts I find I am more fat adapted but I will still fuel before/after.
The reality is that if you are doing a 4 hour bike ride and then a 2-3 hour run, you will need to eat. And you could suffer if you just wait until race day and grab what’s on the aid station table. Maybe you have an iron stomach, maybe you don’t. Some people say nutrition is the 4th discipline of triathlon and they’re not entirely wrong.
But you’re not doing only one workout are you?
You have a week with something like nine sessions, that adds up.
That exercise won’t “burn off” a bad diet though, the best approach is a healthy diet, topped up with your extra need for fuel and protein. The best time to get that extra fuel, is when you need it so it gets used.
So in looking at the Half Iron plans (low or mid volume) the long rides aren’t very long. Not the typical 3-4 hours rides. Does this work? Anyone with experience on how the race went doing these relatively “short” long bike rides.
I think it depends on the volume plan you select. If you select the high volume there are 3+ hour rides. I’ve never used one of the triathlon plans, but you can always switch out the rides in your calendar for longer rides.