Anyone want to share any stories of less is more race training and then results?
I just ask, as I just came off a block of lowish training volume for myself at avg 7.5hrs/wk for 4 months where I also did the least amount of volume and quality work I've ever done in triathlon training, yet just set small PRs at Oly distance. I'm well past the point of easy gains having been doing tri for 10 years now and being pretty stable in performance for the past few years.
My prior PRs were set on averaging 11-12hrs/wk tri training; not a lot by ST standards, but a lot more than 7.5hrs/wk, and I trained a LOT harder for those 11-12 hrs.
In contrast, this time, I did zero bike rides over 80 mins, no runs over 60 mins, and intentionally capped my hardest effort at 7.5/10, or just about steady-state pace, and I only did that for ONE workout per week. The rest was easy effort, except for swimming which I'd say I swam mostly slightly slower than race pace, so moderate effort there. And I had no training plan this time - the main thing that guided me was "avoid going hard, keep it almost all easy, and rest well!" since I had no expectations to even come close to PR on such training - this was supposed to be strictly a recovery and fun/enjoyment season for me with zero training plan and zero training goal for once!
It's making me rethink how hard I should train in the future for sure.
Anyone else with unexpected good races after intentionally undertraining for race day?
I just ask, as I just came off a block of lowish training volume for myself at avg 7.5hrs/wk for 4 months where I also did the least amount of volume and quality work I've ever done in triathlon training, yet just set small PRs at Oly distance. I'm well past the point of easy gains having been doing tri for 10 years now and being pretty stable in performance for the past few years.
My prior PRs were set on averaging 11-12hrs/wk tri training; not a lot by ST standards, but a lot more than 7.5hrs/wk, and I trained a LOT harder for those 11-12 hrs.
In contrast, this time, I did zero bike rides over 80 mins, no runs over 60 mins, and intentionally capped my hardest effort at 7.5/10, or just about steady-state pace, and I only did that for ONE workout per week. The rest was easy effort, except for swimming which I'd say I swam mostly slightly slower than race pace, so moderate effort there. And I had no training plan this time - the main thing that guided me was "avoid going hard, keep it almost all easy, and rest well!" since I had no expectations to even come close to PR on such training - this was supposed to be strictly a recovery and fun/enjoyment season for me with zero training plan and zero training goal for once!
It's making me rethink how hard I should train in the future for sure.
Anyone else with unexpected good races after intentionally undertraining for race day?