So I’ve been running for a few years and have played sport most of my life on and off (and also been a waste of skin for many years too). I recently decided to get into triathlon as I live in Bolton and have been inspired by the Ironman event and friends who have done it.
Im 44 next month and I’m reasonably fit and ran many half’s and 1 full marathon.
During lockdown I bought a decent road bike and a turbo trainer and swimming stuff. Obviously swimming is not available right now although there are some icy open water venues near by I may brave in the coming months.
I’m looking for training advice in terms of improvement. What sorts of distances, intensity, balance of bike, running and strength etc etc. I can easily carve out an hour a day and more on some days. Or do I need to spend more time training?
I did a plan last night that looks like this:
Mon - Easy run 45 mins
Tuesday - turbo trainer 1 hr
Weds - easy run 1 hr
Thurs - 5k run race pace
Friday - easy cycle 1 hr
Sat - brick session 20k bike 10k run
Sun - rest day, family walk.
I’m currently flitting around between running and Zwift. I’m enjoying the bike more as I’ve defo got fitter on it in the 4 months I’ve had it. I’ve only been out on the road 3 or so times as I got it in October ish.
Any tips greatly appreciated. I do like running further to be honest but is this needed? I’m looking at standard Tri training for now and maybe some longer focussed stuff later. I also like trail running and am lucky to have some great trails over Rivington.
I think the general consensus is functional strength / conditioning work becomes more important the older you get. An hour of circuit training and stretching wound be a good addition even at the expense of an existing run/bike session.
Thank you all. I had been working with PT at the gym before the latest lock down, doing functional stuff and core work which was great. Got a bit of kit in the garage but low motivation to use time doing it for some reason. I’ll squeeze a session of that in somewhere and stretch as much as possible as I realised this is beneficial for staving off injuries in general.
Urghhh! Is that the segment from the reservoir to the top? I’ve only done from Belmont side a couple of times. I’ll get out and tackle that soon as I hear its much harder. Looks horrible.
As I’m a novice at the hills. Do you recommend High gear unseated or low gear high cadence? (if I got that right?!) Or is it purely preference?
I’d say that the main thing is so find the training opportunities in your schedule and build the habit of doing the sessions, getting consistency has been very hard for me but it is one of the main factors in improving.
For now in winter the type of sessions aren’t that important but I would not try to run a 5k race every week. If you’ve built up to it I’d say intervals at 5k pace maybe or hill repeats instead.
There’s lots of different approaches to planning but pretty much all either increase intensity or time week by week, so maybe cut back to your average hours for the last six weeks and build from there.
Thank you, yes I’d put that in there as I thought I should be doing some higher intensity work. I’m going to try the intervals this week as I’ve since read a bit more.
I suppose I’ve just been “running” and “cycling” with no plan really.
Does anyone have any recommendations for Zwift? I’ve been doing bits and bobs and managed to up my ftp about 15% in last couple months (if that even matters).
Also are there any swimming opportunities anywhere at the moment. I have a wetsuit.
Crit Races - typically under 30 minutes, full on, try to push over your FTP, with a sprint at the end
Longer races - 70-100km+ at your race pace, these are great for nutrition and hydration practice, while under race condition, Ideally try to run a short run straight off these races. The reason I like them is that you will invariably overcook the effort, over time you get much better at adjusting to a proper race pace
KISS Base Build - Marvelous training sessions, Choose the right category for your Zone 2 effort. There are longer rides, zone 2 effort, with lots of chat going on. Do this every week during the winter and it will make you a stronger rider
Hilly races - Alpe De Zwift, Ven-Top, La Reine, Innsruck climb: This is where you develop your diesel engine, Some of these races, like Ven-Top will take you 1h15m or more, its a real test to see how long you can push max power.
You should climb up through the levels pretty quickly at the start. The XP increments between the levels are quite small to start with and there’s plenty of bonus XPs to be had for riding routes for the first time and other fairly easy achievements. You only need to be level 6 to unlock the Alpe, don’t you?