I underestimated the race and got totally obliterated. Run by far the worst but I was humbled by the bike portion as well. Also had about half the amount of nutrition on the bike according to the expenditure estimation from Garmin.
The next 15 weeks I’m going to be focusing on the run. Planning on running 4-5 days per week. 1 Long run, 1 tempo run and the other 2-3 runs being easy shorter runs. I’m planning 2 bike workouts per week and curious about peoples thoughts about those two.
2 sweet spot base? 1 SSB 1 tempo? 1 SSB 1 Vo2? Leaning towards 1 SSB and 1 Vo2 workout to add 1 extra day of intensity.
The goal is really to build a running base before spring so don’t know if i need to add a bunch of intensity. That being said, too much endurance is a bit boring.
Google the BarryP Running Plan….or a 3-2-1 running plan (similar concept). Consistency is critical when it comes to running.
And while I am loathe to direct anyone over to Slowtwitch, they have an annual 100 Runs in 100 Days competition. Get through that and your running will get jumpstarted. Use the time between now and the contest to get ready for it (BarryP plan is great prep).
You should dig a bit more into this. Why was the run the worst? Most horrific triathlon runs are caused by going too hard for what you’re capable of on the bike. Generally if you’ve trained it well, you’re going to run in the neighborhood of 30s/mi slower on the run coming off the bike at those kinds of distances than you would in a straight half- or full-marathon. (That’s a general rule, YMMV).
How was your fueling? What was your run pace relative to what you can typically run a half-marathon in or vs. what you trained for? If it’s way, way off from that 30s/mi vs your fresh time, odds are pretty good you overpaced the bike for your present fitness or bombed the fueling.
Focusing on the run may be a mistake, particularly in the offseason, and not addressing the real issue that caused your run to be horrific in the first place. You might be surprised how little running you need to do to be a good triathlon runner.
I’ve heard that idea expressed before, you don’t need to do that much running to be a good triathlon runner. I wonder if it is only true for people whose background is running.
I have been a cyclist almost all my life, but until starting triathlon 18 months ago could barely run 10 minutes. My muscles and joints were totally unused to the impact and action of running. My feeling is that regular frequent running is important in “becoming a runner”.
Don’t get me wrong, you need to run frequently. Most triathletes don’t need as much running volume as they think though. My personal approach was to spend 3-4 sessions each week swimming because swim frequency is huge. I made a big jump just going from 3 to 4 each week. If you’re looking to build aerobic fitness, cycling translates well to running, but you still need to run to be able to handle the impact, and my personal adage is that if you want to run faster you need to run faster. So a lot of the run prep I would do would be short bricks following bike workouts, and I would make sure some of those focus on race-pace type running. In season, it was extremely rare that I would do a bunch of threshold running or anything like that.
Now, to be fair, my background was as a runner. So yeah, run frequently, run faster. But I rarely focus blocks on strictly running in the offseason.
There’s no easy way out, but I really don’t like seeing triathletes come out of a race where their run was disappointing and just jump into a big running block or half/full marathon training to try to fix it. Usually, the issue lies somewhere else and deserves some more thought or analysis.
I’m a terrible runner, but before I drag you down that route - and as others have said - there are loads of factors. Plus a hard winter training can demoralise or injure you for spring.
So can we tease a few elements out; standalone 5k and half marathon times, other tri results and splits, and (race result aside) where you think your weaknesses are?
On the whole if you’re planning on running hard twice a week then biking hard as well will undermine it. A 2-3hr ride with hills in it should be a low IF but can have some fun sections.
Depends on the athlete and their goals. Some athletes need just enough running to be used to the impact. Others need more to hone technique or develop running muscle memory. Not exactly swimming, but frequency helps a lot with running. I would say “4” as the median if you’re following that “short brick” type approach. That might be three shorter runs off the bike and one dedicated run session. And I would usually have someone training ultra distance stuff make sure they have a long run every other week. But again, tons of factors with triathlon training. There really is no one size fits all for it.
Again though, in this 70.3+ distance, the issue is as likely fueling or pacing on the bike as it is actual running.
