Which workouts/plans to cut out from a 20 week training plan?

Training
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Hi fellow Trainerroaders,

I was hoping to receive some feedback on which plan I should shorten to reach my goal race. As of Monday Feb 18, there will be 20 weeks until my A race, and adding the training plans require exactly 20 weeks to complete. I will be travelling for and 1 week in March and I would like an easy week prior to the race.

Do you have any recommendations on which plan / week to cut short/omit?

Here is what I have scheduled currently:

  • start week 3 of 6 weeks of sweet spot base training low V session 2 on Mon Feb 18 (4 weeks left)
  • 1 week of travel March 9-17 (which would be the last week of the SS base training plan)
  • start Half IM build Low V on Monday March 18 (8 weeks)
  • start half IM specialty low V on Mon May 13 (8 weeks)

A few notes:

  • my goal race is a 5K run - 95K bike - 21 K run (no swimming); this means I would omit the swim workouts are prescribed in the IM training plans
  • I incorporate 3-4 shorter injury prevention sessions per week

Thank you for taking the time to read my question and providing feedback!

2

Hey there!

This would be my recommendation:

SSB II (Weeks 3-5)
Travel (One Week)
HIM Build (Weeks 1-8)
HIM Specialty (Weeks 1-8)

In other words, you will omit week 8 of SSB (the rest week) and replace that with your travel week :slight_smile: This is assuming that your travels will not be high energy/stress, allowing you to return fairly well rested and ready to train.

If your travels are going to be high-stress, then maybe spend the first half of your week back doing low intensity endurance work before jumping into the Latter half of Week 1 Build.

Weeks 7 and 8 of Specialty are designed as Taper Weeks, meaning that they reduce the volume while helping you retain the “snap” you will need to be primed and ready on race day :muscle:. So there’s no need to add an extra easy week leading into your race because these weeks are designed specifically for that purpose.

I hope this helps!

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3

Thank you for your valuable feedback Bryce.
You made very good points, and I appreciate your explanations.
Thanks for helping me out!

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