Combining SS1 LV with Australian Football

Hi guys
First time poster , long time reader
Recently I jumped in the deep end and trained for 12 weeks to complete an Ironman 70.3 and whilst I was successful in completing it I really struggled getting my bike fitness up to scratch in time. I definitely under trained on the bike as I assumed being a natural runner that it would translate easily to the bike but I found I just had no legs after 90kms and flunked on the run. But I’m as keen as ever to go again and have decided to invest in a trainer and begin using trainer road. In my winter over here I play Australian Football which to those unaware is basically the Same amount of running as soccer with much more physicality and tackling etc
I’d like to begin a program of SS1 LV and to my belief it is 3 sessions per week. Was just wondering how people would assume I would feel by Saturday if I did a session Monday , Tuesday and Thursday. Would I be feeling fresh by Saturday if kept up a solid nutrition plan and sleep or do you think it may be too much and I would benefit from maybe just two sessions on a Monday and Wednesday ?
Football Trainings during the week are pretty low volume so I don’t think they will play much of a factor . Basically my question is do you think I’ll be cooked by Saturday or is having the rest day on Friday going to be enough to feel fresh? Any advice appreciated

I used to play rugby so I can imagine what sort of load you’ll be experiencing on a weekly basis.

I didn’t combine that with structured cycling training though so this is only going off of my separate experiences of both.

What level of activity does a normal week have for you? You mentioned tri & running in the past, did this overlap with your aussie rules training/playing or was it periodised? Worth considering that you may be adding 3 days of relatively high intensity training to your normal.

If that’s the case you might cope for a while but in the end something will give. That said, you’ve clearly done some multi-sport training in the past.

I’d say try it and see how you go. If it comes to a point where training isn’t productive and you’re too cooked to perform, you might have to dial something back and consider your priorities.

Beat of luck!

4 x 20-30 min quarters means a pretty big load on Saturdays. You say your training sessions are pretty low intensity, and if they are more skills-focussed, that is probably true. I am assuming you will work some running into your week somewhere to keep this up for footy. SSB may be low volume, but it is a fair bit of intensity.

With Fridays off, (and Sundays as a recovery day?) you will probably be OK on a week-by-week basis.

BUT I am seeing that this is a lot of volume and intensity overall, and you could find yourself buried after a few weeks/months.

My suggestion would be to use the minus variants of the SSB workouts, at least until you get a feel for what this means together with your footy training commitments. The minus variants will give you the same physiological adaptations, but with lower training load. An alternative approach would be to pick up the cycling components some of the Tri training plans, which of course are designed around the idea that you are training in other sports as well.

Never thought I saw this one passing by, having played footy myself. I was always cooked after training :slight_smile: Simply I was just a princess.

If you follow the plan, TSS goes up little by little, so you will get used to it week by week. If you feel toast still at SSB LV 2, drop down the work out intensities.

The longest sessions with the most fatigue is 1.5 hour in duration, so I would schedule that one midweek (NOT Friday) or Mo./Tue. This will give you time to properly recover.

So if your footy training is Tue/Thu and depending on how you feel on Sunday after a match (sometimes riding your bike helps recovery, personal experience)… I would say the following:

Mo. 1 hour
Tue: Footy
Wed: 1.5
Thu: Footy
Fri: 1 hour (directly a warm up for Saturday’smatch)
Sat. AFL grand final
Sun pizza & beers.

I used to play rugby, and can’t imagine being able to train much for cycling in addition to rugby training. That said, I played rugby pretty seriously for years. 2 training sessions during the week with the club, 1-2 weights sessions, 1 run, game (sometimes 2 during playoffs) on the weekend.

No way I could have added cycling training.

Also, the physiological demands and training for cycling (and Ironman) is very different than rugby - and I’d imagine Aussie rules - especially if you are a fast, explosive sprinter type. Ironman is all about steady state, no hard efforts. So another reason it’s hard to combine training for both at the same time.

Do you have the option to separate your seasons for cycling and Aussie rules?

I reckon I will hold off additional running sessions until after the season as I probably get enough of it in general training and it is a strength of mine . So it would only be 2-3 sessions of trainerroad , 2 x light skills sessions and 1 x game. Maybe some weights thrown in there. I won’t be competing in any more triathlons until next summer but I don’t want to waste 6 months of no cycling , would like to give myself a head start for next summer

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I am planning to seperate my seasons , I would not expect to compete in any more triathlons until probably December but I am just a lot further behind most on the bike for whatever reason and don’t want to waste 6 months and then have to start again in October . I would ideally complete a few low volume programs during winter and spring (australian seasons) and then attack a more high volume program once football is over

Seems like a reasonable plan. I would probably move the Friday session which if possible I would choose the lightest recovery session of the 3 and move it to Thursday morning so I get a full day on Friday of recovery before game day

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I used to play AFL (Monash Gryphons) and trained for triathlons simultaneously.

While YMMV, I found the two totally incompatible if you plan on being any good at either.

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