Different folks come off the bike with different kinds of legs. Even if you feel great the first mile, i’d go a bit slower than your target pace and make sure you get fluids/nutrition in and get loose. Some folks need a few miles to get their legs and dial in their target pace. Forcing it right out of transition has more downside than upside for most age groupers.
I’m late to the party this year guys.
Managed to qualify for Kona yesterday in my first full distance race at Ironman Penghu. Pretty similar Kona-like wind and heat making it an honest course.
Lots of slot hunters made the trip with the smaller field it’s a popular one for those unable to qualify at bigger more competitive events. I live in Thailand so not so far of a trek for me and I was pretty heat acclimated despite my Canadian blood.
I was stung by a jellyfish in the swim, but the biggest challenge was a slow leak which had me stopped and limping the bike into transition the last 30KM, bleeding around 20 minutes or so. I think I may be done with tubeless tires. Was happy to back a decent run to snag one of the final 10 slots in the performance pool.
Training was a mix of the Trainerroad high volume build, with a pre packaged 16 week training plan.
Next race will be 70.3 Desaru Coast then the final 12 week build to Hawaii. Hope to see some of you on the big island!
Congrats!!! Which High Volume Build plan did you use?
Welcome back Bretsky! Well done, sounds like you suffered for your spot 
Hi Guys,
Can I throw my name in on this one? I’m signed up for IM Cascais (Portugal) in October. Potentially thinking of a 70.3 somewhere in the mix.
I’m struggling for motivation with training so this might just give me little nudge to keep on track 
I’ll be sure to chime in at the next roll call
Hi all. I wanted to see how other triathletes are liking or disliking the new updates. I am trying to be not be to numbers based and linear and not be to attached to the expected FTP changes. I am feeling a certain way about how running/swimming seems to be interacting the AIFTP detection. For my example, on Sunday, 2 days prior to new FTP detection, I had an estimated +1.5%ish (230-234) with only 1 run workout left prior to getting a new FTP today. After completing my scheduled run on Sunday it dropped me to 229 
. Ultimately, this isn’t the end of the world or realistically that dramatic of a change. But it is frustrating to to me after 4 weeks to see a decline in FTP. I’m accepting the results, and I’m inclined to trust the system, just wanting to see if any other multisporters are seeing similar results with their running and swimming effecting AIFTP detection.
I didn’t do much, to be honest. It started flaring up at the very end of my last race of the season in September, and after that I took a break from running for the rest of the year. I mostly did some basic strength work (split squats, single-leg RDLs, etc.) and mobility work, and by the time I started running again in January it was gone. If you have Strava premium, the Recover app that comes with it has a decent IT band routine that’s helped me in the past.
For me the key is to think of AI FTP primarily as a number to set my bike workouts to, so when I see a decrease I don’t see it as “my performance went down after all this work” but as “this is the number TR is setting my FTP to to keep me productive,” so I try not to get discouraged by it. It’s also not reflective of improvements in swimming and running, so even if my FTP did go down, it doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m getting slower overall.
That said, the disadvantage of the new updates is that it doesn’t adapt swimming or running workouts, only the cycling ones, which annoys me a little bit when I see the cycling workouts get easier on yellow days while the running and swimming ones stay the same. My workaround for that is to leave RLGL on but turn off the automatic adaptations so I can decide on my own if I want to do the original workouts or swap to the easier endurance ones (or to an easier alternate) if I feel like I need to. It’s less autopilot and requires listening to my body more closely but it seems to be working out well for me so far.
Primary
It gives better workouts.
FTP Detection is still good.
Secondary
Fatigue management took a few months to settle down, but also made me reassess my plan to something more sustainable. It’s made me realise my swim workouts were much harder on me than I’d though, verified with Garmin load too.
Tertiary
FTP Prediction needs more time, but this shouldn’t be a focus for triathletes anyway, in my opinion. Use as guidance or a warning sign like Fatigue Management, not a North Star.
Thanks dude! Tri full build/specialty leading into the race.
i’m not finding the Custom Masters plan to be suitable and having to change the cycling workout schedule quite a bit to start. I’ve contacted support already about my concern and incongruity of the Custom Masters tri plan compared to Masters Sustained Power build plan. i’m in a ‘watch this space’ mode for the next few months as i customize the training plan myself. Could very well be i’m just not he right customer anymore. TR certainly seems to be working hard.
Late to the party too, but I’m having a bit of a Tri comeback this year with the Olympic distance Altriman in July. Really looking forward to this as it’s a great location and course that I know pretty well, but I’ve never done the race. The start lake is at 1600m, just next to the forest and dam that loads of people on traininig camp in Font Romeu use for runs.
But… I have a big problem with the TR plan. I also have quite fluid plans for other gravel/trail/road events, so I add and remove things. This leads to the plan adapting twice and deleting all the bike and half the run/swim workouts… TR Support think it’s because I’ve added non-tri events but I’m still having the same problem with not much on the calendar. Waiting for Support to come back to me for a second time, but interested if anyone else has had similar problems, or has found a way to make TR take into account a mixed calendar of running races, gravel/road events and triathlons?
This is how I have been trying to rationalize everything. My ego though, my goodness lol. I have done the same thing with RLGL as that is what has made most sense to me.
I like the idea of using this as another fatigue management idea. Thanks for the concepts!
Yeah, this is happening to me too… some events of cycling in the middle of triathlon events B, but I cannot add the bike events anymore to have a specific 2,3 weeks bike increase without stopping swim and running events… If this not change will be a big RED flag for me…
Hey folks. Ironman Wales (Sept 13th) again for me this year. Completed it in 2024 (think I did a write-up on the 2024 thread) with a time of 13:10. Hoping to go sub-12 this year and hopefully closer to 11 than 12.
Spent a lot of last year trail running and doing shorter triathlons and then ended up with tendinitis in my ankle around September. So decided to hammer the turbo from September to January with the aim of achieving 4w/kg. Managed to get it from 3.6 to around 3.9 doing TR’s Base and Build programs.
Once I could run again going into February, I switched over to the Triathlon High Volume plan. Just finished a Base block and now into a Build with sights set on a 70.3 early June (Fishguard 70.3).
Not following the run section of the TR Plan. I’ve pieced together my own running plan that is a bit more tougher as I feel my run is weaker than my bike. Therefore, I adjust a bike workout to be easier if necessary following a midweek run workout.
Doesn’t feel like my swim has improved loads since 2024, but I have ditched my reliance on the pull bouy, so I won’t really be able to reliably tell until I get in the sea. Too early for that though 
Current CSS is 1:42 and usually lose a load of pace in the sea. Hopefully different this year with no pull buoy in the pool. If not, then im just a cold-water wimp.
CSS = 1:42
Run Threshold Pace 04:20/km
FTP 282w - 70kg - 4.03w/kg
I’m always right at 2 hours for the half run. I do my best, but always come off the bike running a bit fast, feeling great, then mile 9 pops up. Lol. Like JoeX said, if you’ve never run an open half I would just go by feel and see how things end up.
Does anyone else have the problem with run tss not updating in the graph up top? If I go into the completed workout, edit it, and update the intensity (usually just keeping it at the pre-described value) then the graph up top will update. It’s not that big of a deal, but without the graph updating it constantly looks like I’m missing workouts (no green, just the gray color of missed tss). I emailed TR about this over a year ago and they said they were working on it. I wish the graph could be switched over to hours rather than tss. I would prefer that for triathlon specific.
This is really interesting. I’m doing a sprint tri plan with just 2 rides per week, but I’m also happy to swap the recommended ones for easier ones because I’m focusing on running this off season (I’m in Australia). I’ve noticed my predicted FTP go up after a decent run, but hadn’t realised TR was using that data as part of the new AIFTP.
On the whole I feel my FTP is still about 20W (6-7%) higher than it should be. I thought one of the great things about sweet spot workouts was that you get great training stimulus without burning the next day. But that’s no longer the case for me because the wattages TR wants me to hold in SS workouts is more like threshold (HR data supports this too) - and that does make the next day harder.
I think it probably works well if you’re focused on cycling and will get more balanced if you keep responding “Very Hard” in the survey, but TR doesn’t know that I’m prioritising running for the next ~6 months so is tending to give me harder bike workouts than I need.
I don’t mind though, I just scale back the workouts when needed and that all said, my AI FTP is still inching up each month, somehow.
Lost 20 mins on the bike and still qualified for Kona. Amazing! 
March was good for me, all aimed at my final race of the season around the end of the month. It was a sprint tri, but with a 26.7km bike leg.
I thought I had a chance of an AG podium, but there were some fast people who only registered at the last minute so I got 5th in the end. Still, it was a 1-min PB for me on that course and plenty of things to be happy about.
Here’s a quick report:
Swim - I went off mid pack but passed quite a few people on the run into the water. One guy was way faster than me and quickly out of reach. I was a bit faster than a few others so I ended up swimming in no man’s land most of the time, hoping I wasn’t dragging any rivals along with me. Low sun meant on the way back in I could barely see the buoys, had to stop a couple of times to check I was on track. 2nd out of the water.
Bike - I was happiest with this leg. For the first time ever, I didn’t get passed by anyone. I found it hard to get the power down as much as I’d hoped to, but I was more efficient (I’ve been working on my aero position) and got a 20km PB. I was 3rd on the bike leg but happy with the efficiency. For those that like the data I got 38.6km/h for 215W AP which is good for me. That includes 6x hairpin turnarounds too where you nearly slow to a stop.
Run - the run is always the hardest for me. It was getting warm (maybe 23-24C by now) and I probably should have tried drinking at the water stations - but I haven’t cracked the technique of drinking while running yet. 5th on the run but felt I paced it well and it was a solid effort.
So what’s next? Big focus on running, while keeping riding and swimming ticking along. I’m looking at 1 swim, 2 rides and 4 runs a week (with 2 of those runs being quality sessions) + 1-2 strength sessions. Probably a few Parkruns to see how I’m tracking and I’d like to do a couple of 10k races too.