The month started well but week 2 ended up being an enforced recovery week due to work commitments. Though that did set me up for week 3 where I transitioned from PREP to BASE 1, with increases in my long ride (3hrs) and my long run (2hrs). I felt good over the 2nd half of the month, so happy with that. 
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Best wishes with that 
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Pools still closed here but due to open April 2nd. Have been dealing with some shin problems hence the low run volume but decided to spend the time I would be running on the bike. Given the likelihood of IM Hamburg being reschceduled I decided to just have fun for this 4 week mini block and thought I’d benchmark where I am at on very short AC type efforts (i.e. 15s, 30s, 1 min, 2 min) while working out the race calendar for this season. Pathetic as expected for a LD Triathlete.
Got some nice weather over the weekend so got out on the race rig to test out the position on a 3hr ride; 20-25w down on IM power and only ~1mph down on race speed. Didn’t take in any fluid or nutrition either. Confidence boost that a 4:45 split is achievable.
| WC | Bike | BikeTSS | Run Hours | RunTSS | Swim | Total Hrs | Total TSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/02/2021 | 20hrs 35mins | 990 | 0 hrs 40 mins | 41 | 0 | 21 hrs 15 mins | 1030 |
| 08/02/2021 | 19 hrs | 950 | 1 hr 15 mins | 81 | 0 | 20 hrs 15 mins | 1041 |
| 15/02/2021 | 20 hrs 30 mins | 906 | 2 hrs | 152 | 0 | 22 hrs 30 mins | 1058 |
| 22/02/2021 | 21 hrs 20 mins | 931 | 2 hrs 40 mins | 146 | 0 | 24 hrs | 1077 |
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Haven’t skipped any sessions, ftp up 25w
No swimming ( although not bothered)
Starting to get some knee grumbles as the distance is going up.
Timber is coming off now I have cleaned up the eating/reduced snacking.
First outside ride yesterday since october
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Hope things goes well and you have a speedy recovery.
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I just finished my first TR block: Half Distance Base LV. Brought my FTP back up to last season’s high of 347W from my off season FTP of 320W. I’m back to running after some December calf strains and swimming 2-3 x week. So I managed to get into the form I usually have at this time of year. March is my typical start of the build phase as I usually target an early June race that won’t be happening this year(70.3 Victoria). I’m going to build anyways to see how I respond to the TR plan.
More exciting: I am getting my new gravel bike later this week which means my TR workout compliance is going to suffer while I ride all the junk miles 
I think I’ll swap my weekend TR ride for an long outdoor Z2. New bike will have a PM so maybe I’ll give TR outdoor workouts a go.
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Thanks for the rollcall. It’s nice seeing what everyone else is up to!
I’m still training as though St. George 70.3 is going to happen on May 1. Who has done that race before? The bike is pretty hilly, right? Is it worth putting aerobars on my newer bike? I have some decent ones on my old Cannondale CAAD3 (2001) that I could move to my new bike (2020 Cervelo R3) if that would be worthwhile doing. I’ve been using the CAAD3 on my trainer and saving the R3 for outside rides.
This week is the last week of my current base phase of the MV Half plan with it switching to Specialty next week. I’ve upped my swimming from 3 x 45 minute sessions to 2 x 1:15 sessions and 1 x45 per week. Even though I don’t have a swimming background it’s what I enjoy most, so I’m grateful to have the pool access when I know that is not the case for everyone.
I hope everyone is staying healthy and enjoying their training!
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Thanks for the rollcall @JoeX! I’m still on track with my training for a local 70.3 on 7/31. I’m confident that it will happen as it was one of the only tri’s in the area that wasn’t cancelled last year and our covid rates are trending much better now. This will be half iron #3 for me. I’ve got a Half Iron training plan built out in plan builder, but have been utilizing my own programming most recently—Vasa SwimErg 3x/week, 1 pool swim/week, following BarryP running format, and most recently following a WKO5 bike progression (extensive FTP block, about to move to intensive FTP block and then VO2 max block). I just worked up to 105min straight @ 90% FTP, so feeling good about the progress I’ve made with extending SS work.
Not sure when I’ll get access to TR’s adaptive training, but will likely jump back to adhering to my plan builder plan (for biking) at some point shortly after gaining access—likely after completing those WKO5 intensive FTP and VO2 max blocks.
Hope training is going well and folks get to do their planned races this year!
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AWESOME! Congrats. What are you getting? Give us the details.
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I ordered a Ventum GS1 with SRAM Force mech build. This is my first new complete bike in many years since I usually prefer to build my own. I have a Power2Max NGeco ready to slap on it and my Hope CX wheels plus my preferred cockpit pieces. This bike will be called into gravel, CX, and bikepacking duties.
I’ll be sure to post a pic somewhere on the TR forums once I get it. There’s not a lot of them out in the wild yet 
Now, back to obsessively refreshing the fedex tracking page…
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Thanks @JoeX !
February saw me jump into half distance MV Build. Like for the last few months tough, it’s been cycling and running only 
On the bright side, I finally started riding outside and it’s been an unpleasant but well due discovery: my brand new TT bike is waaay different to ride than my old road bike. Also, riding tons of hours on my trainer did not really help as far as positioning and riding skills
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Cheers @JoeX
Another nice consistent month for me. Coming to the back end of Oly Base MV and the runs are feeling MUCH more comfortable and the bike workouts also feel good. FTP up a touch to 290 which was a pleasant surprise after a winter of no intensity at all. And the sweet spot efforts feel almost too easy. Continuing with strength and mobility whilst the pools are closed.
Got my eye on a local 70.3 as a sub for Copenhagen, 6 weeks after my target Oly so need to work out how to prep for it. Switch to a half distance build and spec now or rebuild for a half after the Oly. 
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Consistency is a good headline at this time of year
You may have dodged a bullet switching to the half plan. I’m taking a gamble on Oly MV Build while doing a heavy strength block…there are no easy workouts(!)
How did you find mv base?
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Yeah, I’ve been flicking through the plans tonight and Oly Build definitely looks more challenging for the bike efforts, though think I’ll need the additional run volume from the Half Build plan which drops some bike intensity to not kill you I presume.
Oly MV base has felt pretty easy to be honest, have thrown in a good few 30min Taku rides to add more volume. Have been doing some 5x5 lifts 3 times a week alongside this (bench press, squats, dead lifts, OH press, pull ups and curls), split into 2 sessions of 3 of the movements and a third containing all of them. Something will need to give when the pools reopen though.
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It’s back on 
Ok, I’ve been eating everything under the sun for the past 3 days! Back to the pain cave tonight!
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Thanks for the check in @JoeX. My year’s goal is still Ironman Arizona in November (my first full), with 70.3 St. George in May next up. But in the past month, I’ve completely turned my training upside down.
Coming out of TR LV Half Base, I was pretty beat down, partially due to some personal life challenges. I was also motivated to spend some of the triathlon budget I saved due to no new race entries. So based on the forum advice, I bought a nearly new Garmin 935 off eBay (Thanks @Jitse), which lets me do more structured run and swim workouts than TR offers. Combined with my burnout, this motivated me to jump to the 80/20 Level 1 Half Ironman Plan on TrainingPeaks. I’m only one week in, but I’m enjoying the change of pace and learning a lot.
Biggest lessons/changes so far:
- I was swimming way too hard! Following the 80/20 testing protocol and zones, I was doing even my base swim intervals well above my lactate threshold. I guess I was just blind to the intensity since it wasn’t hitting my legs. But I think this contributed hugely to my fatigue.
- Non-TR rides on the trainer are boring and make me miss Chad’s drills and minor intensity variations. So when it’s straightforward I’m planning to complete the 80/20 rides using similar TR workouts.
- Juggling weeks in a TrainingPeaks plan is a major hassle, which makes me appreciate Plan Builder, even given its imperfections.
- Frustratingly, the wrist-based heart rate on the 935 isn’t as good for me running as it was on my older and cheaper Garmin 35. I suspect this is because the larger watch wiggles more. I’ve got a Scosche Rhythm+ arm monitor, but that won’t cover a full distance race, so I’ll need to upgrade that before November.
- Based on advice from @Dr_Alex_Harrison, I’ve started mixing my own sports drink from ⅓ Gatorade, ⅔ sugar, and some sodium citrate. Seems just as effective as the Gatorade Endurance I was using, but much cheaper.
It seems a little crazy to change so much two months before a race, but St. George is a B race for me, which I’m in because of how deferrals worked out. So I’ll be racing to enjoy the challenge, the scenery, and the NA Championship atmosphere (Maybe I’ll see you there @BenSwimsBikesRuns), and I’ll still have many months to work out the kinds before my goal full distance race.
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I’ve never raced it before, but I’m doing so this year. The bike course is very hilly. But the locals in the relevant Facebook group are all saying that aerobars or TT bike is worth it for the race. Aerobars on a road bike might be the ideal setup, to get the comfortable climbing and descending, but also be faster on the flat parts. (Much like Gustav Iden at the 70.3 Championships in Nice.)
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You definitely need to snug it down when you’re using it during activities (but can be looser during normal wear). I’ve also found that it does much better during steady state work and struggles at times with interval work, especially on the recoveries where it gets hung up sometimes. It was actually better when it first came out, then in subsequent updates it got worse and worse before slightly getting better again. I do still use my old trusty hard Garmin strap I got with my Forerunner 305 for measuring HR with the least amount of headache though. 
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Agreed, if you have the option of a TT bike go with that, but if you don’t have one TT bars on the roadie are a definitely must. This course isn’t really comparable to the Nice course though - - I ended up doing that one on a road bike mainly because I was renting a bike since I didn’t want to haul my bike around for the 2 weeks we were on vacation across France and Spain. The TT bike option was also a Ventum… 
I definitely appreciated the handling of the road bike though, but more for the crazy descent than the climbing. Once off the climb/descent I missed a more aero setup.
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