My 2020 season was planned around attempting to qualify for Kona 2020
I’ve had a Kona/Data specialist analysis all of the Ironman races globally comparing the qualification times to my previous years times and my bike time needs serious improvement of around 30mins on 180k ironman
So I’m considering not going for a qualification this year and spend the year focusing on bike strength and performance.
My questions are which trainer road plan would I choose or would it be using the plan builder where there is a large emphasis on bike but equally I don’t want to go backwards on the swimming or the running???
I’ve not put this in the Ironman thread as I’m keen to get opinion from the cycling experts
This excerpt from our Help Center may prove useful for you:
Off-Season
A great way to use your off-season is to focus on cycling-specific training to improve your bike-leg. This time spent with a singular focus will allow you to progress much faster than when your efforts are split three ways. When taking the time to focus on cycling in the off-season, we recommend choosing one of our cycling Build Phases.
Sustained Power Build is the plan that will offer the most direct improvements for your triathlon performance. It focuses solely on raising your threshold and your ability to maintain steady, consistent power.
General Build If you are looking to increase your general cycling fitness and keep up on spirited group rides or try your hand at local cycling races, this plan is a great choice. Also, if your events have climbs or undulating terrain, this plan will help broaden your range of capabilities, which may increase your comfort level on race day. But remember, even if the course profile is varied, a steadily paced effort is a faster and more sustainable approach.
Short-Power Build is not a great choice for improving your triathlon performance, however, if you like to participate in criteriums, or just want to improve your burst power for other reasons, then Short Power Build could be a good way to mix things up in the off-season.
Since you have more than just the off-season to focus on the bike, you could do a full sustained cycling progression that would look like:
Base: Sweet Spot Base
Build: Sustained Power Build
Specialty: Century
Hmm, if you’re not racing anything running or swimming in 2020, I’d be tempted to be casual about the running and swimming, ie do it when you want and keep it relatively easy. Then reintroduce structured SBR in October or whenever suits your 2021 plans.
Then you could invest 5/6days a week in cycling.
Maybe have a look at what Joe Skipper did last year in building to his amazing TT performance in 2019?