As long as it’s my first touch to the world of IM I didn’t knew a lot about the training process, equipment etc. The best and simplest way to stop to walk around and to start training I found was to start with 12 month training program that I downloaded from IM site.
At the moment I am finishing my 6th month of the program and I feel that there are not enough cycle trainings in the proposed program. It brought me to indoor trainer and question about upgrading of the training program.
Looks like TR plan is what I’m looking for but I don’t want to start from the beginning. It seems to me that at this stage of the training it will waste the time on the Base phase at the expense Build and Specialty phases. This is an unwanted side effect, obviously…
So, the question is: can I build a Tri plan starting from today and focused on desired event date but exclude the Base phase from it?
Using Plan Builder you can set the start date of a plan in the past. Add your IM as an ‘A’ event/race and play around with the inputs to see what PB gives you.
Generally the more experience in structured training you tell it then the emphasis moves from Base towards Speciality. You’ll still get some Base, usually to avoid consecutive Build->Speciality->Build->Speciality type sequences which will just tire you out. You only really need one Speciality block just prior to your event.
Note that Base is in two parts: Pt 1 is definitely Base but Pt 2 could be considered as Build Pt 1 so if PB gives you a block that is Base Pt 2 don’t dismiss it out of hand.
Fellow triathlete here. First, my view is that for IM, you can never have enough base! BUT I see where you’re coming from so you can do what is suggested ^ and jig plan-builder to give you more build. 6 months is just about enough time to do a full base/build/specialty cycle and if you’re coming from less cycling training, base might not be a bad idea.
Thanks to all for the answers and tips
I’ll be glad to join the thread of cause.
Desired IM is UKIM. I red about its bike course. It’s going to challenge me.
By the way, taking about IM plan, it there any way to make the plan more specific for some elements of course like climbing or endurance?
When you use plan builder when it asks for your starting date of the plan, back date it to 6 months ago. Then it will give you less base and more build.
By the IM plan are you referring to TR’s Full Distance Triathalon plans or something else? If you are then those are Speciality plans so will be the final weeks of training before your event and deliberately taper you. If you are doing the mid volume plan then there’s nothing stopping you substituting one of the workouts for a threshold or VO2max workout of roughly the same TSS.
Bolton is about an hour away from where I live and those hills aren’t particularly steep but of course that depends on what you are used to - a bit of a shock if you live in Cambridge or East Anglia for example! The climb up from Darwen averages around 7% but there’s a few flats and short steeper ramps, nothing that causes the OS (UK’s national mapping agency for those not from the UK) to use their chevron for steep grades which kicks in at 14%.
Yes, I referring to full distance tri plans.
What factors should I take into consideration choosing the volume of the plan beside the time I have?
It’s great to get an opinion from someone familiar with actual terrain instead of maps :), thanks
I got and investigated GPX of the track and found the hills with 16-24% gradient. Made me to think about training aimed more to climbing…
Look at the Low Volume plans first - after all you have swimming and running to train for as well and you need to build in some recovery time. Possibly the Mid Volume if you feel you can handle the volume.
I’d see what Plan Builder throws at you first though rather than thinking about altering things.
Re volume: go with the lower end of what you think you can do. You can always add more if you’re feeling good & recovering well. Before we got locked down this year I was doing the full distance low volume and it’s a decent amount of work!