Running workouts in TR Tri plans

I’m planning my next tri season, and for a few years I’ve used the tri plans and subbed my own swim and run workouts and basically ignored the ones in the TR plans.

I just wanted to hear anyone’s experience on how good they have worked for you (or not). I’m comfortable subbing out the RPE instructions for pace/power on the run so that’s not a big hurdle. My main thought is that there doesn’t seem to be a lot of intensity on the run workouts and I’m use to running with more intensity… more intervals etc. but maybe that will be a good thing to change this year.

Would love to hear anyone’s thoughts and experience on it!

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Hi @ntdeck I think the TR swim as well as run workouts are spot on. I use training peaks and have built my yearly plans in the past around yearly and weekly TSS. I’ve had to calculate weekly TSS for each respective discipline as well as ramp rates for the correct build each week which took a ton of time and effort. The two training parameters that lead to an overall gain in fitness are volume and intensity. I will say that following the trainer road plans to a T, the intensity and volume are spot on to where it should be. Of course there is a constant debate on the methodology of training i.e periodization, reverse periodization, polarization and some may find some more beneficial than others. The TR plans have a great progressive build throughout the base, build and race specific phases. There is usually 1 V02, 1 tempo and 2-3 low aerobic sessions each week in each discipline. From a general training standpoint, the hard workouts should be hard and the easy workouts should be easy. The answer is usually never adding more intensity. People do not emphasis the importance of low aerobic zone work enough. The time spent swimming, running and riding at these low zone 2 paces are equally important at building fitness as other key sessions. I would say however, that there should be more muscular endurance workouts incorporated into the plan such as hill sprints. Anyway, that is just my 2 cents.

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Thanks for the detailed response!

I was really just getting at how well the run and swim plans work for people… I’ve been training for 5 years and using TR plans for the last 3 season so I get the progressive nature of the program and all with TSS and the ramp rates etc. I love the bike workouts… I’m just thinking about going all in on the TR tri plans and following the run and swim workouts as well instead of piecing my own together from other sources.

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