I’m going to be starting a cycle of Build / Specialty phase Full Distance Triathlon plans. Handling this TSS hasn’t been an issue for me in the past so I was looking to add in a workout to the weekly schedule. My first thought would be to add something with a bit more intensity in the 1h-1.5h range. Interval lengths of 3 min and below since the plan already offers lots of lower intensity riding.
With a weekly schedule of:
Tues: ~1.25h ~.9 IF
Thurs: ~1.75h ~.8IF
Fri: ~1h Recovery
Sat: ~4h Long ride
What workout would you recommend slotting in and where? Would there be some reshuffling of the workout days?
You absolutely cannot go wrong with more Z2. I’m high volume as well (10-15hrs on bike, plus 30-40 miles running, plus 10-20k pool and Vasa — a g 20-22hrs/wk), and an extra 2 hours before or after your Sunday long run will do a ton for you. If you still feel good after adding the additional volume, id err more towards giving it a little more on your actual hard workout days (+1 or +2 options, or adding a few %) rather than dropping in a VO2 that has a much higher likelihood of running you into the ground.
It largely depends on what other run and to some extent swimming and strength workouts you are doing, what you need to work on as a triathlete, and what the race looks like. All things to consider.
I regret that I have little advice to give, but you sir are a machine
Personally I’d slot it in on Monday so you avoid four or five consecutive bike days. If only because it gives you more opportunity to wash and dry your kit.
High volume is for such a small proportion and when we listened to the 4 kona qualifiers none of them were doing high volume plus extras, even a lot of pros who get to dedicate much more time to rest wouldn’t be doing upwards of 25 hours a week training.
If you are sure you can take the training stress I wouldn’t necessarily add in an extra ride I’d think about extending the existing ones if that fits your schedule.
Similar to some of the workouts in the high volume cycling plans like Wilhelm+5 or Dade+5 I’d add in a period of endurance/tempo after the main objective of the original session has been achieved. You could use the workout creator to create your own versions, add a ride like Volunteer after the original workout or better still, hopefully the apps will enable the extend workout feature over the current 200% limit and we’ll be able to extend the workout manually.
I wouldn’t add more VO2 work, but more Z2 work if you HAVE to add something. I would probably just focus on doing the best you can with your current work outs. Sounds like you need to raise your FTP and run a little faster if you are still feeling frisky.
Thanks for all your feedback! Extending workouts would be difficult time wise but may be able to do it every couple weeks. Will be adding some Z2 work to Mondays.
. I’d add some endurance with Whorl or Pettit at most.
