The Ironman Training 2021 Thread

BenSwimsBikesRuns · April 2, 2021, 4:18pm

Thanks for the roll call! I’m glad to see things are going well for most of us.

March was a pretty good training month for me. I took it easy one week when I was worried an old hamstring injury was flaring back up, but that seems to have gone away.

With the weather getting better, I’ve been able to get outside for a few rides which was a nice change of pace. I need to tweak my bike a little. The muscle about 3 inches directly below my left hip was really tight after Wednesday nights ride.

My two kids have started baseball season so I’m having to juggle my workouts around a little, but so far have been able to get everything done.

Less than a month till a few of us will be at the St. George 70.3!

Good luck with your training everyone!

JustinDoesTriathlon · April 2, 2021, 8:18pm

So Ironman 70.3 Oregon is official, registration open in a couple days.

https://www.ironman.com/im703-oregon

I’m actually kicking it around! Would be a month before the maybe-Canada. And honestly, I just wanna have fun this year.

Watts4bfast · April 2, 2021, 8:30pm

Do it! Obviously it is impossible to predict what will happen with races this year but I would bet you your registration fee that Canada does not happen🤷🏼‍♂️. I know I’ll be signing up on Monday for this race and I’ve already booked the lodging. I am guessing this will sell out really fast.

RyanGutenkunst · April 2, 2021, 10:09pm

Thanks for the callout. This has been a month of upheaval. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my plans for St. George 70.3 (so I won’t get to see @BenSwimsBikesRuns). I just couldn’t justify four days away from my family with the kids stuck at home. Happily, Ironman let me transfer my registration to 70.3 Arizona with only a $50 transfer fee. So instead of St. George, I signed up for an Olympic-distance race that’s only a couple hours from my home on the same weekend, and I switched to an 80/20 Olympic plan. That’s going well so far.

I did take the opportunity to plan the rest of my year’s events and training. It works out pretty nicely that I’ll do the Olympic, take a week off, then start the 80/20 Ironman plan. That leaves enough time for a two week taper/recovery block around 70.3 Arizona, plus 4 weeks of unstructured exercise during summer vacation/travels.

Jeesh · April 3, 2021, 1:36am

Training is going well! One hiccup though. I just got a TT bike, but my RPE for sub threshold efforts is so high I have to bail on workouts. My idea is to keep riding my road bike and do longer outdoor rides to get accustomed to the new position rather than do a new ramp test. That way I can keep training at a higher level and slowly integrate TT riding before my race in June.

Anyone have a different suggestion?

IceBear · April 3, 2021, 1:37am

Definitely do it. If there is a risk with your other races go and get one done and in the bank.

Nothing like racing with no pressure

IceBear · April 3, 2021, 1:45am

That is what I do. I watched a video with Cam Wurth who said he does most of his training on his road bike and does 1 maybe 2 sessions a week on his TT.

I know there are those who have their tt on their trainer and do everything on the tt bike. There are strong opinions.

For me I did a big block on the TT to get comfortable and dial it in. Then I went back to doing most rides in the road bike. Three months before racing I change my long Sunday ride to the TT bike, and during my taper I do everything on the TT.

Hope that helps, I’m sure there will be other views

JoeX · April 3, 2021, 5:33am

You should test you FTP in the aero position - this likely would give you an FTP up to 10% lower, then start doing all your training with parts in the aero position until you can comfortably hold the position for fifteen minutes at a time and output the same power as you can currently in the upright position.

That’s what I try to do anyway, I’m switching to TT bike this weekend so I will let you know how next week goes

PersistentPhil · April 3, 2021, 8:01am

I’m hoping to do Ironman WA in December (if international flights are allowed then).

Saw this in the news and thought “I wonder how close that is to Busselton”,

Turns out it’s the same bay as the swim! I’ll add that to the stray elbows and sharks to avoid.

Anyone know how to simulate an octopus attack in training?

AJBotha · April 3, 2021, 10:31am

Start of March was quiet. Still battled with the gallstones. My gallbladder removal surgery (it’s got some fancy name; I’m fkd for knowing how to spell it) has been booked for 15 April. Found that running aggravated things, so I stopped running and have just focussed on the bike.

The past 2 weeks I haven’t had any issues and with Tour of Watopia offering double XP, I got on Zwift and been smashing it hard and long.

This past week on the bike:
Time: 17h52m
Distance (zwift): 553km
TSS: 887

For the next two weeks that’ll be the plan. Just crank out as much time doing AE rides on Zwift as possible.

Surgeon told me that after a week I’ll feel ok, after 2 weeks I’ll feel 100%, but I’m not to do any vigorous activity for 4 weeks. Told him, let’s split the diffs doc, I get back on the bike after 3 weeks? So I don’t mind doing massive volume up till 15 April as I’ll have 3 weeks off after to recovery properly. Assuming all goes well, I’ll officially get back on track for the year on 10 May. Plenty of time until Challenge Cape Town in November.

Bioteknik · April 3, 2021, 11:33am

Thanks for the rollcall joe, not sure i should be in this thread any more as i have no plans for an iron distance race this year. I’m basically doing a super long base period until next year since the plantar fasciitis issue i had last year threw off my consistency. In my experience, a strong winter is necessary to be competitive but i will still be playing around with a few things this year to see how my body reacts.

About to do a ramp test after doing nothing more than 80-85% of my old ftp all winter, then will confirm by a 30 minute lactate test to see if the ramp estimate is really ftp, then work to increase tte. Aerobic efficiency is close to where i was late last year, so it appears that this easy aerobic work is good at least for maintaining fitness.

AlGray · April 3, 2021, 12:30pm

Thanks @JoeX. I missed the roll call last month (but would have reported a solid months training).

At the end of March, things are continuing well to the point where I’m enjoying my fitness. Went out for a 24k trail run yesterday with 600m of elevation gain, which is the furthest I’ve ran since my Ironman in 2017. A little sore afterwards, but it’s less than 24hrs later and I’m feeling good and about to jump on the bike for a 2hr Z2 ride.

Pools reopened on Monday and have managed to get two swims in so far. Both went better than expected, although keeping the sets short and low intensity to ease back into it. Looking to swim 2000m on Monday.

Wish I could also be riding outdoors, but a damaged bike, and a wait until the end of April for my new one isn’t helping, but it’s something to look forward to, and the thought of blasting up some climbs motivates me to push harder on the trainer sessions.

In terms of indoor bike sessions, I’ve deviated from the prescribed trainer road plan as there was too much intensity considering the amount of run volume I want to do. So a typical biking week now looks like 1 vo2 max workout, 1 longer Z2 workout and then 1 over/under workout (really enjoying the over/unders and it’s getting me used to riding at FTP for longer periods. Psychological that’s also beneficial as my background is mainly Z2, with most experience riding at or near FTP being in 20min FTP tests, which aren’t the most pleasant sessions). If I feel the stress getting too high, I’ll drop one of the harder workouts and swap in more Z2. Could be doing more on the bike, but I have no desire to do long Z2 work in doors, so at the moment I’m ticking over and will build the bike endurance moving into the summer outdoors.

Have also been supplementing the bike/run training with some long distance hikes. 20km typically once every couple of weeks, with a 30km hike a few weeks ago. Normally do an hour of Z3 work on the bike before these hikes so longs aren’t completely fresh. Finding the hikes good for general strength/muscle recruitment and for helping with endurance.

In summary, I’m keeping things consistent, with a slow but steady increase in TSS as the weeks go on. I could be doing more for sure, but I’ve settled at a point where life seems to be balancing quite well. Will add more volume once my new bike arrives, and try and add swimming on top of what I’m already doing. Currently at between 7-9hrs per week, so with a longer weekend ride and swims should be pushing this up to 12hrs per week at the start of May.

BenSwimsBikesRuns · April 3, 2021, 7:48pm

That’s great that they let you transfer to 70.3 Arizona like that! Good luck with your training and your races!

JP77 · April 3, 2021, 9:19pm

I had a… Hidascan(?) about a year ago that said my Gblad needs to come out, but I haven’t had any real problematic symptoms. I guess the data from the test says it will need to go at some point. Hoping it’ll hold out through my first IM in September.

I’m Interested to hear what affects the running had on you. Just increased pain on that side?

And hope the surgery goes well. Sounds like recovery isn’t going to be terrible all things considered!!

Michael_Tate · April 4, 2021, 4:54am

I have my TT bike on my trainer and do my outdoor riding on my road bike. Road bike for me is more fun outside and on the trainer I’ll try to stay aero for chunks of the workout at a time but I’ll always sit up when I need to.

marmar · April 4, 2021, 8:30am

Cheers @JoeX

Reasonable March for me. Hit the sessions in the Oly Base MV well enough and then 2 weeks of HD LV. Run speed coming back with a couple of easy feeling but faster runs after months of keeping it Z2. FTP up to 300 on the bike which feels like a good place to be at again. I’m in the adaptive training beta which has switched out a few bike efforts. Some seriously long sweet spot efforts with minimal rest in between. Was going ok with those until the FTP bump - I blame that on progression levels not dropping after a bump as they’re supposed to. Resulted in my first failed workout this year. Pleased to see my VO2 efforts have been switched out for more of a polarised looking bunch of efforts. Give me longer at 108% as opposed to 2/3min repeats any day of the week.
Really looking forward to the indoor pools opening next week…

WildWill · April 4, 2021, 8:31am

WooHoo
1st swim of the year done

teetopmlp · April 4, 2021, 11:58pm

February

Total Time: 40:34:04
Running Time: 10:44:03
Bike Time: 32:42:28
Swim Time: 3:11:10

March

Total Time: 45:47:35
Running Time: 9:27:54
Bike Time: 32:42:28
Swim Time: 3:37:12

Work has picked up in February and March so time wasn’t quite what was planned, but still great overall. Got my vaccine so now feel comfortable going to pool at the local YMCA…plenty of open lanes.

Have signed up for Augusta 70.3 in Sept, Florida 140.6 in November, and will probably do Daytona Challenge 70.3 in December. A few international distance over the summer.
Currently doing the Sustained Power Build as I’ve got a 25K TT in mid-May, with a modified BarryP running plan (2 short runs, 2 mid runs, 1 long run), and 1-2 TR swim workouts per week.

Need to fit a gym/core session at least 1x per week more consistently.

Great to read about everyone else’s training!

WildWill · April 5, 2021, 11:13am

Still in BASE-1, but now the norm target is to average around 14hrs/week for non-recovery weeks. The month started well but week 2 ended up being an enforced recovery week (again) due to work commitments. Week 3 was my first bike focused week of the year (not a big week by some - but it was for me). Then I had my COVID JAB so in week 4 I had to dial back on intensity.
The final week was a good one with a 20k long run, 120k long ride and my first swim of the year.

Gnome · April 5, 2021, 3:33pm

I had a great month of March I think.
Week 1 was recovery and ramp test.
Week2 - 4 SS progression and Running threshold time progression.
Was able to ride outside for 3 weekends which for 90,100,and 105 miles

SS progression currently at 105min at 90% and I;ve also now started adding in 20s 120% overs into these intervals. I also very successfully completed what I like to call a condensed IM workout. 2hrs total. Riding at 75% with 3x20min at just under FTP.

Running progression has gone well too. Threshold pace is ~15s faster than it was in October. things seem to be coming together. This week I have learned I am butting up against a fatigue/recovery wall. I will be dropping the hard interval workouts to 1 per week for bike and run. This will allow me to bring in more volume, add in bricks, and allow me to stay sharper for weekend racing. And these races can double as quality workouts too.

Weekend racing has returned! Sprint duathlon this weekend