For the best results and as long as you have the time before your target race, start with Base. Base > Build > Specialty is the ideal progression for the most fitness gains and adaptations. Here's the specific layout I'd recommend for someone training for an IM:

Sweet Spot Base 1 - 6 weeks
Sweet Spot Base 2 - 6 weeks
Sustained Power Build - 8 weeks
IM Specialty - 8 weeks

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Professional Mountain Biker and Community Manager at TrainerRoad - Cycling's Most Effective Training Tool

After spending all winter just running while preparing for a marathon, and then taking a few weeks off of structured training to recharge and deal with some medical stuff, I raced a sprint tri with a 20 mile bike leg and averaged a hair under 19 MPH. Admittedly, that was my first time on a bike in roughly six months, and also 18 days post-vasectomy, so I was nowhere near "trained" for that race.

I started following the TrainerRoad plan for a half-Ironman to prepare for Augusta, and last weekend raced the Jellyfish, I mean Sandestin Tri. Bike split was 21 MPH over the same distance and similar elevation. And I ran stronger in Destin than I did back in May.

I'm hoping to see a similar improvement in Augusta this year.

TR works.

"would you suggest trainer road plan or sufferfest plan? if you had to pick one?"


The Trainer Road plans are way more detailed and varied and, if you string together the base, build and specialty of your choice, you have a progressive holistic plan that lasts 20+ weeks.


While I love the Sufferfest videos and use them, one has to admit that the best way to come up with a great training plan is not "hey, I have 15 or so individual workout videos people love laying around here, so how to I put these together into some training plans?"


Also, unless you already own all the videos in the plans you want to do, the Sufferfest route is kind of expensive whereas all the Trainer Road plans are included in the basic subscription (which you are going to have to get anyway to really get max benefit out of the Sufferfest plans since you'll want virtual power).

I'm still waiting for my dongle to arrive. Could I go ahead and start the base training plan while I wait or will the program not allow me to run workouts if I don't have everything synced up? I haven't bought/download the program yet

Yep, you could get started, but TR just wouldn't be recording any of it. Also, the first workout of the Base plan is an FTP test, which is then used to scale the rest of the workouts to your fitness level. Even if you have a good idea of your FTP, it'd be best to wait until your dongle arrives and test on TR so you can be sure your numbers are accurate.

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Professional Mountain Biker and Community Manager at TrainerRoad - Cycling's Most Effective Training Tool