Nice training day! 
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…How did you handle fuelling?
Sorry I have been pretty inactive here… Swissman has obviously been cancelled and I’m negotiating with my boss at home if I can enter for 2021!
With no childcare at the moment, I resigned myself to minimum training and I’m going through ssb lv. Still hesitating between sustained power build or general build in 2weeks! (Any advice?)
I’m hoping to be able to resume running during the summer and will start again BarryP style.
If I don’t enter swissman for next year then I will target short course. Only problem is that I’ll need to o become fast 
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If long course is your ultimate aim then SPB, but if youve done it before then now is a good time to experiment with other plans especially if race day is a year or more away.
Perhaps do a little strengths/weaknesses self-analysis to help you decide?
The i gives some indication of what each plan aims to work on:
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Yip totally agree with you!
Feels like you can’t go wrong with either tbh. GB might improve slightly more that “top end” but they are not massively different. You are just missing out on Spanish needle in SPB 
Feels like it’s going to be a combination of when I can start running again, if I’m in for long course next year (seems highly unlikely atm), what I fancy doing.
If so then also consider carrying on as usual, an ironman (full or half) this year would set you up best for an ironman next year - after my first long course event I wanted to do better the second time, if you build endurance this season you have a better chance of building more overall before Swissman:
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Could do. Just feels like two cycles of full distance plan without an event in between would bore me and I’d end up being burned.
I’m less concerned about endurance right now since I’ve got a fair few years of long course training behind me even though I had 1.5y break and I’m coming off Swissman base training for this year where I built up to 65k running and 4 TR sessions.
I usually like to have blocks of training per discipline and winter is usually dedicated to running (UK weather) and just ticking off the bike sessions in order to just maintain fitness.
Maybe I could do GB until ~september (switch to MV when childcare becomes available again) then back to ssb LV with running as main discipline until Jan and then switch to proper Tri training.
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Thanx for the check in @JoeX.
I posted a training update about a week or so ago at the end of my previous block. But just a quick summary on what I’m busy with now:
- Bike: TR Sustained Power Build High Volume. Starting week 2 today.
- Running: BarryP, 6 days a week. I’m following this Advance Beyond Beginner Stage progression, as posted by @jdmccoskey previously (thanx once again). I’m currently on the week 8 durations; I skipped over one or two weeks.
- Swim: bleh. Pools closed, beaches closed, gyms closed; it’s going into winter here so I wouldn’t have done much swimming anyways. TBH, couldn’t be bothered less.
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How are you finding the mix of HV with BarryP?
Do you mind if I ask many questions?
On which days are you running the medium runs?
How do adjust your week for bricks over the weekend? (When I do a brick during the week I just do the short run as a brick but on a weekend I’ve been experimenting with reducing the long to medium if the brick is done at race pace etc…)
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Hi everyone, wanted to ask a question, i finished full IM build a couple of weeks ago with an FTP of 265 (first time through build cycle and understand it feels like a death spiral). As soon as i finished i had a massive drop in fTP… 33 watts to be exact. Its been unseasonably warm here so the garage i train in has gone from 5 degrees C to 15 degrees C over that weekend. Wondering if you guys had any advice / anecdotal experience on what else might have been going on? running has been just as good as before so seems to be just on the bike. Also have more muscle in my legs than before so find this even more confusing… appreciate any advice here!
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I haven’t battled at all. During the final “work” week of Trad Base 3, I did an IMVR race on the Sunday. That left me feeling a bit weak during the recovery week that followed. I skipped one medium run. Other than that, I don’t find it challenging or influencing my bike workouts. I’m running super easy so the TSS is quite low for the runs at the moment.
Not at all. That’s why we’re here; to share.
I’m doing the medium runs on my “hard days”. So Tuesdays and Thursdays. I try and do the runs in the morning and then TR workouts late afternoon/early evening.
Currently, my short runs (Wed, Fri, Sun) are all only 15 minutes. So I do them on the treadmill, straight off the bike. I’m not really in a “triathlon” training mindset; bike is my main focus with the running just to improve my aerobic base and increasing my weekly mileage so that I am in good shape when the harder, tri specific training starts.
I think the thing that I’m doing very well, is my recovery. I’m eating LOTS (both good and bad stuff). I take a recovery shake immediately post exercise with a healthy meal not too long after. Rest of the day I’m constantly snacking and drinking lots of water and the odd bottle of electrolyte. As my current work situation has allowed it, I spend plenty time lying down or sitting on the couch with my feet up. Nailing your recovery is key to combining a HV TR cycling program with running.
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That’s interesting! I need to experiment with that. When you’ll increase your weekly running mileage are you planning to keep the same schedule?
You nailed it on the head. When training every day recovery is so important!
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Its over 20°C in my garage and I have no loss in FTP since it was -4°C
Hmm, why do you say you have more muscle in your legs?
So a standard checklist would be; youre using the same kit/environment, calibrate your turbo again, you have enough fans, youre sleeping well, eating well…How do you actually feel on the bike, and during TR sessions? Whats your plan completion/compliance like?
And how did you feel going into and during the FTP test - losing a few watts sometimes is normal, losing 15% isnt, and its likely something wrong, not a decline in fitness.
TBH I haven’t given it that much thought. More than likely I’ll stick to it; Keep the hard days hard, easy days easy philosophy.
Something else that I’m also going to be doing, that I don’t recall seeing on the BarryP threads I’ve read, is to cut my run time/duration/volume down during my TR recovery weeks. I’ll make all my runs “short runs” during that week and then ramp up again the following week.
Thanks @JoeX. Training has been going well considering I am no longer aiming for anything - my last paid event was the North Norfolk Triathlon in September which was cancelled this week. I am averaging 12 hours a week of bike, run and strength and last week I managed over 15 hours. My FTP has risen from 275 to 287, however I have definitely put a couple of KG’s on in lockdown.
Now that my Holkham Half has been deffered to next year, I am working on my FTP and I am in week 2 of sustained power build.
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What I’ve been doing during the recovery weeks of TR is no tempo during the medium runs, only do strides if I feel like it and the long run is cut to a medium run or even skipped altogether if not recovered by the end of the week.
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Thanks for getting back to me really appreciate it. Was doing full distance plan for an event end of july. I destroyed base phase and the build phase destroyed me (my first time doing vo2 max and threshold work. I really enjoyed the over unders and always finished them easily (relatively) compared to the 3 minute efforts. Legs have been feeling pretty much shot to hell for about 3 months but the quads are significantly larger and more defined than during the base phase. it was the last ‘recovery week’ of build when i got the email saying my event was cancelled and i had been switched to a 70.3 in the end of September. Up until that point i was feeling great and decided to switch to a 70.3 plan via plan builder. The ramp test 3 days later was bad, reached max heart rate at minute 15. I calibrate my smart trainer (direto X) before every workout and have checked them against my vector 3 dual and its running accurate. I did Shasta this morning on the new lower FTP and my heart rate seemed unusually high. Sleep / nutrition is no worse than during base and build (have a 2 year old and do all my rides at 5am)
Well, Im not sure I ever hit maxHR during a ramp test on the bike…even if thats your Bike maxHR could be a sign of fatigue or illness, with the leg statement Id favour it being fatigue. Id be thinking of a full recovery week - see the SSB week 6s rather than triplan week4/8s, and then retesting.
The phrase “no worse than” could be a flag that toure not getting good enough sleep and nutrition - and maybe that cant be changed, and if so a lower volume plan might get you higher gains.
ok thanks… i took 4 days completely off and all of last week as ‘ride how i feel’ days going really easy outside. I retested yesterday at 232 and plan builder has me on 3 weeks of base before starting build (low volume). Looking at my ride history for this mornings ride, HR did not budge between the 20 second intervals… might stick to the plan + add a mid week day of complete rest and see how i get on over these 3 weeks…
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The race (Challenge the Championship - a 70.3) was tentatively moved to mid-August, then cancelled aka moved to the usual date but in 2021. This means that my A race for 2020, if it happens, is another half on the 6th of September.
Averaged 7 hrs per week, bike and run only. A little less than intended but a decent amount of intensity on the bike. Trainerroad’s low volume plan (Build phase) is really really hard in terms of getting through some of the workouts, but when a workout is ridiculous (like Givens), instead of ditching it I choose a -1 or -2 version. Plus some aerobic work on top. Also, no bricks. Some longer easy rides in place of some of the tempo work like Phoenix.
What was great is doing Base in the spring. I always aimed for an early A race in June or early July, so when time came for outside rides, it was build already. This time around I repeated Base after the June race was moved. Pretty awesome feeling, also not feeling the pressure of “having to race” soon. I always thought that race pressure was the only thing ultimately keeping me going. Not so anymore. Just went out and enjoyed the efforts.
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I designed the route with 3 hydration stops in different cities(gas stations). It was a two loop course as well, 130+70miles so I left a cooler with supplies in my car for the final part. In total I stopped 4 times.
Bike had 2x 24oz +1x 20oz bottles and I had another 20oz in the back pocket. I carried enough gels, salt pills and hydration mix(endurox + carbopro portioned on small zip locks) in the jersey pockets and on the bike as well.
Total was a 12l water + 4500cal day.
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