[quote=“JoeX, post:429, topic:89606”]
think at the end of the month, or three or four week cycle would be a good time to review - maybe we can add that reminder into the roll call.
[/quote] and @Bbt67
So I’ve done a TR custom bike plan for five weeks, but it’s been interrupted by life events. Did a vo2 max session today as the first workout of the next block and AIFTP says no change.
I missed three of the short endurance, and one and a half of the hard sessions, so not great but not terrible imo. Realise I’m only talking about bike here but it does feel pretty easy, physically.
That’s on FTP builder, Demanding Approach recommending three hard and one short easy per week. So I’m going to up from the recommended four days to five:
Still asking myself the question if that approach is also not better for me. My runs are just simple build volume at normal pace so the only workouts I follow in my TR HIM plan are the bike workouts.
Bit those are not really challenging ( but maybe also not needed to ).
And when my run volume Will be higher it settles it self my plan.
First time entering this thread…looking forward to a great year. Two key races are IM Gulf Coast 70.3 in May, and either IM NC 70.3 or IM Florida 140.6 in fall. Interspersed are some local international distance trips throughout the summer. Given work demands I’m being more realistic with time and priorities and goals, and thus using TR’s LV plans and will add on volume when there is time.
That said, had a great January with some quality sessions done. Good balance of volume and recovering for this aging MOP’er. February looks OK too, though March and April will be less active due to work and travel.
YTD looking decent. Haven’t been hitting the bike nearly as much as I’d like but focused a bit more on running up through end of feb and I’ll switch gears.
I took the advice of people in this thread and joined a local masters group for swimming. The coaching and push from others has been amazing and I’m seeing improvement with every workout. Current crux is my legs dragging like an anchor. I’ve got pretty tight hip flexors so trying to stay straight is tricky.
I hope you can help me with this question, I know you receive hundreds; as I am 62 Y/O 63Kg, My FT according to TR is 231W now, I can hold 175 avg.P, 185 NP for 5 hrs during Ironman races but I cannot do even a level 2 threshold workout without stopping for some seconds, or more… any ideas?
Next events: 70.3 Monterrey March 3rd
IM Texas April 25
IM Ottawa August
Welcome to the thread, with Monterey only two weeks away good luck!
First, I think there is some confusion - we’re triathletes like you, some of us like me use TR a lot, so this is community advice, not TR staff.
I think threshold workouts are the hardest to progress but there’s a lot of factors to consider, so sharing your calendar or posting a pic of the last two week leading up to you struggling to do the threshold workout would help us advise.
Myself, I do my threshold workouts on a Saturday afternoon, sometimes I swim just before which doesn’t seem to affect my ability to execute. At the moment this is often in a warm gym which really does make it hard, compared to my icy pain cave with a fan where I have no problems. Last summer I’d find a hill that takes 10-12minutes and do my threshold as 4-5x hill repeats.
Generally, I don’t have a hard workout on Friday, maybe a bike commute or a swim. And often I’ll only do an hour or two endurance the following day.
The lowest threshold 2.0 I can see is an hour with three short intervals at 105%
Have you tried this?
Possible TR has overestimated your FTP? I was in a situation like you for years. I’m 46, 160lb. TH workouts would shatter me. A few months back I did a Kolie Moore test. My FTP was 10% lower than what TR was suggesting (203<220). Now TH workouts FEEL like TH. I recently did 3x18. The last few minutes of each interval were quite hard, but my breathing was reasonable. In the past, a 6 minute TH interval would have me gasping for air. That was a big sign that my TR TH was overestimated. I think I just fit outside the bell curve, as the model seems to work for many folks on here. Best of luck at Monterey!
98% of my bike training is on the trainer, unfortunately riding the bike outside by myself is very dangerous down here and group rides are not suited for interval training, so all Vo2, LT intervals are made indoor. I did 1 Tempo outside ride 177avg.P, 184 NP to test the legs for march 70.3, This is 0.8IF so might be FTP is correct. Here is my calendar screenshot of the last 2 weeks
Star -1 is only LT 1.5 and I did stop more than 1 time during the third interval and rated very hard, Vo2 up to 3 min not that bad, can have less recovery than indicated between intervals.
My wife and I had our first child 4 months ago (we are both 38 so it was time to put up or shut up!). So I am trying to take the year as it comes.
Eagleman 70.3 in June (I’ve been doing it every year for the past few years). Not locking myself into any fixed schedule after that. I do want to race more, but just want to feel out how the summer works post-baby here in the north east states.
1 week after the baby, my alarm got set for 3:30am, and that’s when ive been running/cycling ever since. Super rough for a month. Pretty rough for the next 2 months. Now it just seems normal lol. I used to be an evening workout guy…and would inevitably miss workouts here and there. But on this super early schedule, I pretty much never miss a session, which has led my bike fitness to be at an all time high for myself.
Buuuuut I havnt swam a yard since last June! So thats not good lol. Hoping to get back to the pool next week. That’ll give me 15 weeks to drill in some kind of swim shape. Im not fast in the water. Usually 35-38min. The only real goal will be: have enough swim fitness that it doesnt hurt the bike/run too much.
Bike Plan: I’ve been doing high volume middle distance (which is 4 rides per week). But where I changed this season is rather than going base-build-specialty, I’m going base-build-base. And I love it so far. A reoccurring hip/back injury is usually aggravated by the 16 weeks of higher power efforts that come from build-specialty. I’m finding that 8 weeks of build is just enough for me to raise my ceiling, start to feel on the edge of too fatigued, then i get back to base and really let my system adapt to the new fitness.
Cant see anything terribly wrong, and looks like you weren’t feeling good the next day either.
Is it the same power meter inside and outside?
You’ve got high endurance PLs but low bo2 and threshold, plus you missed the previous week’s threshold workout so I’m going to guess you’re only recently starting these high intensity sessions and stick with my original recommendation - drop the workout to ‘achievable’, make sure you have had a good nights sleep, a good breakfast and/or lunch, and energy drink during the ride, maybe have a rest day the day before. I’m being super cautious, but I think it’s low energy availability, and you’ve tanked on sugars after a couple of intervals.
It’s only one workout so I would worry too much yet.
I think its also possible that you’re just currently “stronger” in your endurance fitness than threshold fitness. My FTP is around 255, I can hit all my TR threshold workouts (although tough), but holding 175 for 5 hours would be a struggle for me! I think I could do it, but I would not be running well after that. But 175 for 5 hours on 235 seems like REALLY solid endurance fitness.
This is true, I have years training for IM following mostly TR training plan long distance base and some build but not that much to catch with LT workouts.
Welcome back I became a triathlete after becoming a parent, so I had years of experience being exhausted all the time which turn out to be perfect prep for the long hours of suffering we need - see it as assistive training
I am hesitating over entering for races and pretty much all 70.3s in my time zone are sold out, I’m looking at local events at the moment, But I entered a half marathon last night for the end of September so I have a marker on the table…
haha as I’m sure you know, while my wife was pregnant everyone was very eager to tell me how exhausted I’m going to be once I become a dad. My answer was always, “I’m a long course triathlete…I’m used to it.”
And wow I’m surprised all the 70.3s are sold out. I need to keep that in mind. I may be going the same route as you and look to do some local tris. I used to love them so much before getting fully sucked into the ironman ecosystem. But with the baby, I like the idea of being more flexible to commit or decommit to a race last minute, without losing hundreds/thousands of dollars.
and rated very hard, Vo2 up to 3 min not that bad, can have less recovery than indicated between intervals.
I became a triathlete after becoming a parent, so I had years of experience being exhausted all the time which turn out to be perfect prep for the long hours of suffering we need - see it as assistive training 