Hi I just subscribed to TR today and was looking for some guidance.
My question is Tri specific, I was curious how one would setup their programming when there are a set of known race dates that are starting 4 months from now. Sprint Tris, Oly Tris and two IM 70.3’s in 2019. I see that most of the programming is setup for shorter time periods than my race dates. Looking for suggestions for workouts and how to set them up knowing that the dates are pretty far out. I would’t want to be peaking before any of the dates and also not want to lose any sort of progress by not working out. I like the idea of constantly having a set schedule for accountability reasons.
I’m in the same boat. got a longer “off season” before getting back into my legit Base-build-spec. progression. Obviously you want to set your “A” race which I’m assuming is one of your 70.3’s. work back from the earliest 70.3 doing the Half iron distance tri plans then see how much time you have.
For the extra time I’d throw in a sprint or Oly Base or Build plan… I personally am working through SSB1 but doing the 30 or 45min versions of them to keep things lighter early on and then build through the planned progression later.
In essence I am just making it a long base period, but you could also focus on your limiters… maybe try a short power build or sustained power build… or a crit plan… or just the time crunched 30 or 45 plans. Really the extra flex time is up to you and I’d try to keep it fun Since that’s what we’re all doing this for anyway right?
So Race A would be the Furthest IM 70.3 out September 2019? and B would be the Next Closest one April 2019 and C would be the Oly / Sprints in March 2019 ?
I think I got that turned around? I just confused myself I think hahaha
That might be the ideal opportunity to work on a swim or run focus. I race IM’s with my last being a few weeks ago and have a good while until the next.
I’ve started to do the 12 weeks of traditional base mid volume which should take me until Christmas or so when I’ll start base in the Sweet Spot Base Plans. These 12 weeks I’ve started a 12 week 5k plan from the Pfitiznger Faster Road Racing book and am trying to swim as much as possible.
I tried last year to work on limiters after the season finished but as it turned out I was more ready for a rest than to cope with a VO2 Max block!
Without working it out exactly if you’re races are as far apart as April and September you may have enough time for the full Base, Build and Speciality plans between the two 70.3 races.
I’d do what @JulianM suggested. Both 70.3’s can be A races with a full peak and pic some more important ones as B’s and then the rest C’s…
The guys have some good info on the podcasts on peaking twice… I think the most recent one on planning a season they hit on that point a bit.
Also… the swim or run focus @JulianM mentioned is not a bad idea either… just pick some bike workouts from a low volume plan (I’d suggest a build plan) and then really get your run or swim up… it’s easier stress wise to do a swim focus… just keep that in mind
Awesome. Yeah today I noticed I have a 50min run, not an issue. And 1200m or 1500m continuous swim… not a chance I can do that right now non stop. How do you guys generally do those workouts when you are first starting. I can probably do 500m nonstop. Do you take it and break it down into smaller portions ? How long of a rest ?
I’d just take breaks. That’s what is described in the runs too. The purpose is the same, build up to a continuous stretch, but a short break every 250-500m won’t matter too much this early in the game.
A common way to swim sessions like that is to break them into smaller chunks and swim them ‘off’ a time using the pace clock giving yourself 15-20 seconds rest.
Obviously I’ve no idea how fast you can swim atm but if for example you are swimming the 100’s in about 1:55 for example you could swim them off a 2:15 interval leaving each time the pace clock hits the next 15 mark. You can break the swim up into chucks as long or short as you want this way. Or you can just time 20 seconds rest before then next 100.
Rest can really define the session type. Swimming off a time that gives you 5 seconds rest will be much more of an aerobic session and almost you’ll almost certainly be swimming slower than if take a longer rest or full recovery and can therefore swim faster.
Given that you say you can swim 500m before having to stop I’d say that you want to keep the intervals on the shorter side and get a good amount of rest at the wall because if you try to swim longer distances than your swim form can cope with you can begin to reinforce poor swim habits.
If you can get somebody who knows what they are talking about to watch you swim all the better.
Wow again… thanks! This has been super helpful. Just finished the first swim in base. It was 1554m I think. I did 1400 due to work time constraints. I broke it up into intervals and that makes it much less intimidating.
Since that’s what we’re all doing this for anyway right?