Race date mid July and I just started Base High vol - half distance plan. Looking ahead I would finish this plan at end April. My question is should I jump into the build phase and if so what level? I’m assuming there a natural progression base>build>specialty but I’m afraid of the drop off from High level Base to low level base build. Looking at the workouts and TSS there a drop off in bike but a big up tick in running…any help would be appreciated!
Yes, there is a progression of base, build, specialty. Starting w/your race date, count backwards. IIRC, if you do HV for base, build, specialty, you end up w/24wks. That said, looking at a calendar, there are not 24wks between now and then.
Have you been training? What’s your current fitness like? Did you do anything during the “off season” or did you hibernate?
Assuming you have been active and are fit, I would do the following. Count up the number of weeks between now and your race (X weeks till race). Build and specialty will be 16wks. X-16=Y Start with the last Y weeks of base. Then move on to the HV build and specialty.
1 Like
Thanks for that! I have been active the past 6 months - I stuck to the plan >90% of the time, a few days at Christmas and Feb due to a small injury. I always been on a “plan” with TR on and off past 2 years…basing off your calculation from the end of my next block I wont have any base left so it will be straight into build and specialty.
Not sure if I understand you correctly. Are you considering skipping base (for lack of time until the race) and going straight to build right now?
If so, I would advise you against it. You may struggle to complete workouts in the Build phase without completing Base first (bike especially - it’s easier to “slow down” on the run). Second of all, the TR guys are always talking about Base being a universal period in which you can very well race. Note that it even includes bricks with a race-pace bike component. It’s just so far removed from traditional base approach.
If you need to cut 8 weeks, I’d probably skip the second half of the Build period and just do the first half, then do the initial 2 weeks of Specialty, then the final 2 weeks (taper). Some of weeks 3-6 of Specialty might be doable - you be the judge - so you might sub in 3-4 or 5-6 for weeks 1-2 of Specialty (just do the ramp test).
I’ve responded because I’m now in the final week of Middle Distance Build and I can totally see how it follows from what has been done in Base. Also I’m an ACC podcast junkie… It’ll be my fourth triathlon season and I find the TR plan extremely well calibrated in terms of some workouts being “just barely doable but doable”.
1 Like
Sorry i didn’t make it clearer…I have completed Low Vol Base, Mid Vol Base and am currently doing High Vol base for half distance. My main concern was dropping down to Low Build starting May 1st(that leaves about 10 weeks from race)…there is a drop off in many things but I do see the run time intervals increase dramatically - The longest run so far and looking ahead on the High Vol Base is about 1hr 20mins.
Hi Johnny, that’s an interesting progression you’ve used!
The usual progression would be Base → Build → Specialty at whatever volume works for you. I’m currently doing Mid volume base and planning on doing mid volume build and specialty to lead me up to my A-race. So if you can handle the high volume plans, the next step after high volume base would be high volume build…
Did I not follow the plan as required?
Half distance…
BASE>Low vol=Completed
BASE>Mid Vol = Completed,
BASE High Vol= In progress
1 Like
The usual recommended progression is Base>Build>Specialty (see below). Having a big base won’t be a problem, but you might want to move on to Build & Specialty now so that you have enough time to fit it all in before your race.
1 Like
That’s a very sufficient base! You can never have to much base. But, as @Scheherazade pointed out, the typical progression is Base > Build > Specialty. For example, Tri HV Base 8wks → Tri - HV Build 8wks → Tri HV Specialty 8wks.
Again, count back from race day to set your Build and Specialty start dates. If you have extra weeks, use them for the last weeks of Base.
1 Like
I get it now. The idea is to choose whatever volume matches your time needs. But choose just one and don’t do low volume just because you think you must - it doesn’t “follow” the high volume base; any Build version folows any Base version 
the higher volume versions are not significantly more advanced than the lower volume ones. They’re just higher volume.
No reason why you can’t do mid-volume Build or high-volume Build if you have the time. The additional time is mostly low to moderate intensity. The difference between low and mid volume is that the mid volume plan has an hour of Pettit added, and the other workouts are slightly longer. The vast majority of the difference is Pettit. I personally chose mid volume but I don’t do the Pettit. I just wanted the longer versions of the low volume workouts (plus more running than in low volume).
As for the run time intervals, do you mean that the long runs get longer? It’s all manageable.
1 Like
Ok @kajet @Scheherazade @KickrLin thanks for the feedback, you all gave me food for thought but more importantly I now realize that I followed the plan incorrectly! I should have been starting off with Half Dist LV Base, then Half Dist LV Build and finally Half Dist LV Specialty. Once completed move on to Half Dist Mid Vol… But as you pointed out @KickrLin I believe the Base will stand to me somewhat and theres no going back now!
After some more thought and looking at the time I have left starting May 1st which is exactly 11 weeks out from race I think Ill select either the MV Build or HV Build and use last 2-3 weeks of MV\HV plan to taper.
Okay, just to be clear - my understanding of the progression is:
- Low volume base OR medium volume base OR high volume base
- Low volume build OR medium volume build OR high volume build, regardless of which volume base you did
- Low volume specialty OR medium volume specialty OR high volume specialty, regardless of which volumes base and build you did
That’s it! It’s a 24-week program. For a re-start, you don’t have to go from low volume to mid volume. You can start with high volume base-build-specialty, then you become a father and realise that the build-specialty before your next race will have to be low volume. Trainerroad is flexible.
1 Like