More and more races are off, seeing races in June now being cancelled. So looks like the whole of 2020 will be no racing.
on the bright side, I may now be in better shape in 2021 
outlaw pretty much called everything off. I wonder how many of these midsized race organisers will survive.
yep, I have friends who work in the race industry … it must be horrendous
I originally entered the Swartberg 100 due to take place on 25 April. A 171km race with over 3000m of elevation (90km road, 3 gravel sectors totalling 80km). Then I discovered a road bike event (Tour of Durban) taking place on 26 April. Decided I’d prefer that, so entered that too and would then just forfeit my entry to the gravel event.
As it happened, the Tour of Durban got postponed last week, so I was cool with that as I could fall back and do the Swartberg instead. Only for that to be postponed today too.
Both of these were C races so not a train smash in the big scheme of things. After 70.3 SA, I decided to focus on cycling only for the next few months. So I’ve hardly ran (did 2 or 3 parkruns and a half marathon as an easy run) or swam (400m in pool and 260m open water during holiday).
I’ve been following the Traditional Base 1, High Volume plan; extended from 4 to 6 weeks by repeating week 2 and 3. (wk1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4). I’d like to just give my feedback on that:
The time commitment hasn’t been an issue for me. Biggest week was 11 hours IIRC. The longest workout was 2:45. I just woke up at 4am twice a week (Tue & Thu) and got it done before work. This also allowed me to do it fasted which I think I’ve benefited from.
Mentally it’s been like a holiday. I’ve gone from managing and scheduling 11 workouts per week (Half distance, mid vol) down to 4/week. And every week, it was just the same workout for every session of that week. It made it super easy for me to plan. I did not even have to look at my calendar. It was very simple to prep for and mentally I knew exactly what was coming.
Physically it wasn’t taxing at all. The only issue was my a$$ developing a little ruff patch. But this also got better by changing the shorts I used and applying copious amounts of chamois cream. If anything, I wish I could’ve added a bit more volume. I was tempted a few times to add in an extra 1 hour AE ride on an off day, but decided against that and just trust the program and stick to the prescribed workouts.
I completed the final (recovery) week on Sunday, which meant that tonight was the first day of Traditional Base 2, High Volume. Off course that meant a Ramp test and I was super excited to see how 6 weeks of purely aerobic endurance rides has affected mt FTP.
I was at 249W previously and after tonight that went up to 265W. I think this is partly due to me gaining about 4.5kg over the last 7 weeks or so. So my W/kg has only gone up marginally (from 2.96 to 2.99). Nonetheless, I’m happy with that as I was expecting a slight drop.
It must also be noted that I have only done structured training (using TR) for just about 12 months now. So I’m relatively new and hence I suspect some gains would still be expected irrespective of the type of plan I’ve followed.
During this training block, I also took part in two sportives, The Herald Cycle Tour and then Cape Town Cycle Tour which was absolutely amazing. I think there were close to 23 000 finishers.
Plan for the next 6 weeks: Traditional Base 2, High Volume. No running. No swimming (we have water restrictions over here so pools are not allowed to be filled by any means other than rain water; indoor gym pool level has dropped severely).
Final note: wife has really appreciated the reduction in number of workouts per week as well as the fact that I’m only training indoors on TR. I’m banking the points for later this year when my triathlon training blocks begin.
With so many pool closures, dry land training can help many of us maintain some semblance of swim preparation. There is some good content in this video.
Another “what do I do with my training plan” question, haha!
With my event cancelled and currently no way to swim, I think i’m going to revert to a base phase (I’m a newer athlete so that’s probably worth working on.) Not sure whether to do a SSB plan and add in running/dryland strength sessions, or just do one of the tri plans again? I have a pretty strong bike focus at the moment so would like to improve there as much as possible.
Yeah, I think you need to just make a best guess at when you’ll be able to race/train again and pick a plan accordingly. I can still SBR so I’m using a Tri plan, but in isolation mode I’ll go for SSB > sustained power build probably mid vol and switch to easy running.
I don’t know if you have kids but Jesus it’s so hard to get through the day juggling working at home with three kids any me time is a godsend,
I’m not recommending it because I haven’t done it; but there is the option of the self-supported Ironman…I first heard about this years ago on the Zen and the Art of Triathlon podcast:
http://www.zentriathlon.com/ironbaby/
I think most of us have too much other stuff to worry about, but it’s a possibility if you’re race fit and have no other concerns?
I think he’s in Texas too for our IM Texas entrants.
What do you think would happen to Outlaw X due end of September? It’s my first 70.3. One of my mates reckons it’s a possibility the half and full get moved towards the end of the year and I guess that means postponing X too
There is a few, a South African colleague of mine has had to cancel his flight home this week (with the added worry of being able to return in two weeks for work)
We’re up to 116 confirmed cases now. With 8 being local transmissions.
still no training for me after the weekend’s food poisoning.
Apparently the gym is still open tho.
Not being cynical, but its probably so they can still charge membership fees 
our gym and pool is still open but I feel it is inappropriate to go with the idea of social distancing so just running and biking for me
I don’t think there’s any wiggle room for September events, postponing any open water tri into October would run a serious risk of cancelling the swim due to water temperature in the case of lake/river swims and rough seas for those. I did a tri in the Lake District in September last year and it was 13.5 degrees, which was legal but absolutely horrible 
my first reaction, this is madness.
now you’re getting me thinking…
Outlaw X was in mid sept and it really wasn’t that bad but its so dependent, Clumber Park Duathlon has been pushed back to October now and that is run by OSB’s sister company
I strongly considered it last year just for fun, and will publicly commit to one the end of this year if Canada is cancelled. I’ve done a solo self supported marathon in training before. Kinda fun.
Where have you seen this? Just checked their website and do not see anything and have also had no email from them.
Facebook yesterday they said that they were looking at cancelling half and the new one, Holkham was more up in the air and the sprints have gone
If nothing else it distracts from the daily bad news !
I thought about it myself when funds were short , use a local pool, find a 30k bike loop past my house x6, plus 4x my 10.5k regular run route…put a table on my drive with gels and water…sounds simple when you out it like that…
What could go wrong? 