Hi, first time poster here though been using TR about 3 years with this year being my most consistant. Just entered my first tri - the 70.3 in Weymouth (UK) September 2020.
Needed to have something next year to aim for that is a big push, seemed to fit the bill! Have read a lot of this thread, great to see so many other folks with experience and some first timers too. I don’t have a bike racing background, but have done a fair bit of long distance stuff the last few years (1200k audax last year, some long gravel and MTB rides this year). I used to be a good runner many years ago (1:21 half, 33 min 10k) but that was in my 20’s, I’m now 44 and haven’t run for 20 years! My swimming is ok, have been going for 3 weeks and can do 20 mins crawl and I’m swimming 3 times a week. Will be looking to get coaching early next year to improve.
Will probably be on here asking for advice but right now I’ve added the LV Olympic plan to my calendar to keep me busy for the next 6 weeks. Got much more than the 28 week full cycle so might go to Olympic Build LV then start the Half IM LV plan from Base - seem a good idea?
Also contemplating buying a true road bike but not sure… I have a nice ti gravel bike which I love but it’s very upright (or at least I am). Wondering what sort of ave. speed increase I might be looking at if I went for an aero road bike with tri bars. Then again I’m not very flexible (working on it) so maybe I should just gradually lose the 2" of spacers on the current bike and see how it goes… Any thoughs on bike strategy/new bike justification welcome
You’ve got the right idea in my opinion. A few tweaks maybe - there’s no need to do TR plans continuously, starting 24wks out on the half plan is fine. In your place I’d give the base sprint plan (only four weeks) a go just to see what it’s like scheduling the three sports in a week, or sweet spot base to get used to TR and structured training.
On the bike, I would book into a spring sprint tri, even a GOTri event, and see how you feel about the race and racing on that bike. Gravel bikes on gp5000 tyres won’t be that different to a roadie, but heck I did my first tri on a Halfords full suspension MTB and still finished (just!).
I’ve got two short off-road duathlons in November (Cirencester and Afan) so that should be fun! I’m happy with the TR structured training, did full SS base and 1.5x Build plans this year. If I don’t have a plan to follow I’ll just drift along and I like the idea of practicising a tri plan this year while I’m all excited about Weymouth! I’ll see how I feel about the next plan after the next 6 weeks is up.
I’m sure you’re right about the bike but aero road bikes look so cool! Actually I think I have an awful lot to work on in terms of my position. I have a respectable FTP but it doesn’t translate to on-road speed so will be interesting to see what getting lower does for that.
I’ll jump in here. Long time lurker infrequent poster. I’m targeting Ironman Austria in 2020 and aiming for a 9:30. I’ve done a few IMs before: Austria (x2), Germany-Frankfurt, Lanzarote, France-Nice, and the Celtman in 2013 being my last one before kids.
I’ll be 40 next year, so need to get on with it if I’m ever to go sub-10. Previous efforts on easy courses like Austria and Germany have all been 10:2x. Back then I just messed around on the bike outside at the weekend, and did a week in Mallorca each year for the fitness boost. So no structured training whatsoever.
I’m in SSB2 LV now and enjoying it. Balancing hard SSB workouts with running and getting recovery is proving a challenge, but then I’m starting back into running after a lazy period.
I might also pop over to IM Copenhagen 2020, but part of me feels like that’s a waste of time/cash with it being only a month after IM Austria.
I will probably race myself fit in the spring-summer with quite a few Sprints and Olympic distances, plus a HIM at 85% effort, all with only a 1 day taper. Probably a week in Mallorca after the Mallorca 312 sportive. This has worked well in the past for me.
Long post. Summary: heading to IM Austria’20. New to TR. New to structured training. Will be reading this thread daily for motivation!
I expect I’ll be the only one in Austria rocking a tricked-out 2006 Cervelo P2C (22 mm tubs!). Cervelo peaked with the P2C
First time using TR was last year when I needed a few indoor workouts. I felt like I gained an immense amount of fitness from two rides so I decided TR was going to be my coach!
Plan for now is SSB into SPB then start a Half iron base into full iron base,build and specialty. My plan is to modify the plan slightly, skipping one swim per week. VERY excited to start training.
Thanks. Lately I have put the hr field on my 6x on the last screen and going by rpe. Been very interesting for me and have been getting faster splits due to it. After the fact I look at the data to validate.
Been going by distance though and not by time on the runs at least. For biking I go by time since 85% of my workouts are TR
I did Lanzarote this year, 16 hours and 7 minutes. A long old day!
Going back again may 2020 hoping to improve considerably!
Starting full distance plan this week, my current ftp is 200, should i expect to see much of an increase? Bike took me 8h40m this year, so would like to go somewhat quicker next year!
Wheels fell off this year after 17-18km on the run when it became a run walk…
That sounds like a really long day, kudos on hanging in there!
Improvements depends on a number of factors, but unless you are already maxed out in terms of training structure, nutrition, recovery and volume you can expect improvements. If this is your first venture into structured training you can expect significant gains. FTP gains can be huge in the first year!
Any of you guys do a marathon in prep for your ironman, I’ve never ran a stand alone marathon but thinking if I entered one 5 months out from my event it would give me a good running base to build on later in the year.
It’s not ideal, but I confess I did this last year, and many people do it. Normally I’d say take it easy, perhaps run/walk it, but five months out is probably enough to recover and train well for the IM.
I say ‘probably’ because you never quite know what kind of injury you might pick up in marathon training, and it might not surface until much later. I had shin splints appear about 4 months later, for example.
Whether it is good for your run training at all is subject of much debate; if you’re a terrible runner like me, it gives you some run focus, but then again a marathon is absolutely nothing like an Ironman marathon, so shorter distances are probably a better target.
Welcome @PhatNinja and good luck, I’d start swim training as soon as, as it takes much longer to improve swim than run, or bike and is injury-risk-free cardio.
I did, not strictly as prep but for fun with my mates to have something to do during winter. Not minding the results it was a fun project and the mileage surely helped the rest of the season. However I don’t think it would have any significant impact on a triathlon 5 months later. The IM run is completely different to a marathon. It might help with the mental aspects though, it can be beneficial to know you can go the distance. Depending on how terrible your race goes it can also help to have been in some of the dark places an IM run takes you to.
So, 2020 was to be a non-IM year to focus on cycling. In that spirit, I signed up for IM Barcelona as a workout and bike fitness test to prep for 2021.
The current event schedule for 2020 is currently:
April 11 - Malteni Bootlegger (waitlist) 250km gravel
July 3-5 - Long Course Weekend Wales
July 26 - Gravel Rally Black Forest 125km
October 4 - IM Barcelona
There are other gravel and cycling events on the radar, but their 2020 dates aren’t set yet.
