I have to say that I started saving a shitton of time once I obtained a Vasa bench and figured out how to maximize Zwift. If you are time crunched, this is the way to go.

1. I figure that I save at least 3-4 hrs a week by only swimming in a pool 1x. In terms of results - I have gotten WAY faster for shorter swims (as in 23 min olympic, 35 mins HIM) but my IM times have not budged yet.
2. Zwift saves me a good 1.5 hrs by riding indoors all but the Sunday long day.

Just 2 my 2 cents.

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Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Maybe this is not an alternative to you but think it over.

I also used to do the long ride in the weekend. I got up at 5 such that from noon on I was there for the family. Not ideal.

Nowdays I do the long ride on Tuesday. I sometimes take e.g. 2 flexi hours from work and I start the ride from work directly. In summer I change at home on my tt to do the rest. In winter I stay on my commute bike also in the dark. When it rains I finish the session on the trainer. The session is over at around 8 pm such that the family hardly notices. By the way I do my long run Mondays as a commute from work.

So I have all of the long work done on Tuesday, the rest of the week being reserved for intensive sessions and the weekend is relaxed.

What exactly are your concerned about? 1.000 miles/month is a sh** load of training. That is 12~13 hours per week on the bike only. Assuming that you also swim and run from time to time, you probably end up with around 20 hours/week, right? What more do you need?

Regarding family life: Similar here, two kids, training almost only in morning hours. Glad to do 10~12 hours per week. Just a hand full rides with more than four hours before July. Was enough to be happy with my Challenge Roth result last year. Will have to be enough to finish strong at IM Frankfurt in four weeks...

I think that is the key. "Enough to be happy with". What is that point where we will be happy with our performance in relation to the time we are putting in. This may sound silly, but I am attempting to train myself to detach from the result. I am pretty new to the sport only really picking it up late last summer. Since then I have completed 5 triathlons (one of them was a 70.3). In my first four triathlons I was able to podium for my age group (30-34). Granted, these were smaller triathlons with 200-700 athletes in total. I had a big wake up call in that 70.3...26th place in my age group. I was super stoked for a few days and am going through the ups and downs of a chance lost to perform better. But I need to detach from that result and, for the most part, I have.

Anyway, its about finding that "enough to be happy with" regardless of what that means to you. To me, its being there to teach my children how to swim, bike (my oldest just nailed down riding a bike without assistance a few days ago), run, etc. Being around and supporting my wife in what she wants to do. Being happy with what I am doing in general. Work is largely just that...work. I like who I work with and what I do is fine. I know I have asked many of you to reveal your secrets of squeezing in your workouts...and I greatly appreciate the time you put into your responses. It helps create a mosaic view of how the average Joe Triathlon makes it work.

BTW, people are talking about that missing millennial generation. I think we have a good group of young mom's and dad's talking about a sport we all enjoy right here. I don't see a lack of interest from the millennials that i know.

Exactly! And congratulations! Btw: My older daughter (4 yrs) just said to me yesterday while riding her bike: "Dad, look, I can ride my bike almost as fast as you did in your race on Sunday". I hope, the "almost" will still be valid at IM Frankfurt. Otherwise it will be a very long day ;-)

But anyway, while the question about long rides certainly is somehow valid, one should be happy with the result if you put in as much as you want and can. Will more help? Typically yes. Will more help if you are already at ~20 hours/week? Probably not, unless you want to go pro...

Don’t forget that you’re not a pro and are doing this for a hobby. Of course we all want to do the best we can but at the pointy end where you are, the ROI gets lower. For example, if you were to do 800 miles for the month instead of 1000+, I doubt your race time would be slower by more than 5-10 min but you would save a couple hours a week. You can train 1000+ miles if you like but just think about the opportunity cost that it comes with. Just a little perspective.

Now, I hate long slow rides so even if I have time, I usually don’t do them. What I like to do is 20min intervals at 80% with 5 min recoveries. 10 intervals is about 4 hour ride with a 250TSS, roughly the same TSS as an IM bike ride. That’s probably a good option for you.

He may not be a pro...but hes pretty close


Sorry for the USAT stalking...

RaceDateFinish TimeScore
IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships Male[/url]9/10/201704:38:52.0099.769
Cranberry Trifest Olympic[/url]8/20/201702:02:03.4096.193
Nantucket Triathlon[/url]7/15/201701:05:13.4092.444
Cohasset Triathlon[/url]6/25/201700:59:38.2095.283
IRONMAN 70.3 Eagleman[/url]6/10/201704:30:50.0098.403
Pumpkinman triathlon festival 2016 Half[/url]9/11/201602:43:42.3097.56
Nantucket Triathlon[/url]7/16/201601:09:47.2093.63
2016 Patriot Half Triathlon[/url]6/18/201604:21:31.0097.781
IRONMAN 70.3 Florida[/url]4/10/201604:26:03.0097.783

I am fully aware who he is but my point stands. It doesn’t pay any of his bills. He alone can decide if that 5-10 min is worth the time investment.

Definitely not anything near pro, but humbled.

I guess what I'm hoping to accomplish by getting in a lot of bike miles is coming off the bike at IMLP feeling pretty fresh and ready to have a good run. In my last two IM's I've gone from a good spot for a KQ to not so great on the run. I could write a lot about what happened (details are in my blog), but I feel I've under-performed in my two previous IM's and want to nail this one.

I also really enjoy biking, and the majority is on the trainer and pretty quick to do - compared to getting to the pool, change, swim, change, then get home. Maybe I'm in the minority in that I enjoy the training and wouldn't mind doing even more - if there were 26 hours in the day I'd be all for it to fit more training in.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

I averaged 133 miles per week and 420 TSS per week on the bike from Jan-1 through Apr-28 (IMTX) and had a great performance (0.75 IF, 248 TSS bike and ran well off of it). I'm about the same speed as you. 1,000 miles per month is almost double that! (most of these were Zwift miles but I think they're pretty close in my case)

What is your intensity like on these rides? I had the luxury of a few long/hard rides because I don't have kids (one which was 6 hrs and 360 TSS) but I also did a few trainer rides that hit 250 TSS in 4 hours with some 30 min-60 min intervals at HIM pace or above, which SHOULD be sufficient for a strong IM performance if you're time limited.

Is a coach in the equation? The greatest benefit for me getting a coach was his ability to help me manage my time better without me worrying about sacrificing fitness/race readiness.

Just my 2c.

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Strava

Nate (you're probably sick of me chiming in, but I can't help it...)

There is some data on 'critical volume'. Although I think there is a line of diminishing returns, being able to handle to wear and tear of the IM distance is important. You are a veteran on intermediate distance races and have years of volume in you, but still Kropelnick believes that you should do: 9/3 x the distance (of the race) for the S; 8/3 x the distance for the B and 7/3 x the distance for the run. Those are peak weeks. It proves durability more than anything else. And very few of us mortals can get that kind of volume in so compromises need to me made.

http://kropelnicki.com/critical-volume-again/

Your B and R volume, like most non-pro IM triathletes are a tad light, but not much. Pretty hard to hold 300 miles/week on the bike and 60 miles/week on the run for several weeks. I'm a little worried for you regarding the run volume you've held and how it may affect you late in the IM race.


You can get in higher quality with less time (a la EN) with improved efficiency by adding in some intensity. Same TSS doing a 4 hr bike with long periods of HIM pace than a Z2 6 hr ride. Time on your feet for the run is important for those who don't have cumulative miles in their feet, IMO. It's pretty hard to maintain 40/50+ miles/week running when putting in all the other training-oh and trying to keep the family unit together.

I always laugh and still use their 'SAU' theme. My spousal approval units are spent in the few months closer to race day when you need to up the volume-especially that last training block prior to taper.

There are lots of different thoughts on training methods and strategies and a coach might well be the best thing for you. The nutrition/BR thing needs to be figured out and timing the taper and deciding how to best peak and which workouts you like and respond best to. The IM run is all about not slowing down and holding that best pace right until the end. Racing with power helps to avoid 'overbiking' but doesn't suggest why your run has not been optimal.

You are only 6 weeks away from IMLP so I'm not sure much change can be made at this point.

What will you peak at for bike and run volume (for at least 2 weeks) this year?
Why do you think you did not perform well on the last few IM runs?

edited to add congrats on the nice progression in your USAT ranking from 88>97 over the past few years. Wow. Very solid improvement.

Two of my 4-5 rides a week I'd classify as 'quality.'

Wednesday morning I ride 1:45-2:00 on Zwift, doing a race in the middle. I won the B race last week and had a w/kg of 4.33 for the ~50 min race. AP for these rides ends up being around 85% at the end.

Saturday I've recently been splitting the long ride (3-4 hours) into two hours on Zwift and the rest outside. Similar to Wednesday I've been doing a race in the middle. AP for these rides ends up close to 80%. I've found that in an IM I'll need to be around 70-72% to have a good run, so I'm doing these rides a bit harder on purpose.

I had a coach (two different ones) over a three year period, and feel like I have a pretty good handle of what to do and how to manage myself. The funny thing I got injured two of those three years, and haven't been injured in the two plus I've been racing without a coach. I feel like I can listen to my body now and train based on how I feel. I sometimes felt like I had to stick to 'the plan,' even though I was in touch with the coaches and sometimes modifying things.

I am using some of the workouts in Matt Dixon's Fast Track Athlete on a weekly basis as a rough guide when they can fit in.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

So you have 2-3 rides per week that are not 'quality'? This could be low hanging fruit for reclaiming some of your lost time. Your quality sessions seem pretty similar to mine (although mine were more prescriptive, and I haven't tried a Zwift race yet). At peak volume I had 2 quality sessions (long ride + tempo), plus maybe 1 or 2 short recovery rides. What is the objective of your non-quality sessions? Do you think you are obtaining more benefit from them than you would from recovery/sleep or spending more quality time with the family?

These are honest questions by the way (not inferring anything), I'm not a coach and don't presume to know what's best for you. Just my 2c from experience and working with my coach and listening to others.

Along the same line, I think any endurance ride above 250 TSS is going to prepare you pretty well given your endurance background. You could do this all inside if you want but it sounds like you like riding outdoors too much for that.

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Strava

Just out of curiousity, what's your work and home life/shedule look like with this? Married, kids, 40+ hr week job, etc?

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💀 Fxck Cancer Endurance Team 💀
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Married with two kids - 5 years old and 20 months. I'm a teacher, as is my wife, so we are out the door with the kids pretty early. Workouts need to be done by 6-6:30 am weekdays, and on three of those mornings my wife is getting in a run on the treadmill. I'm at school for around eight hours a day, but there is grading and other school work to be done at home once the kids are asleep.

I used to think eight hours of sleep wasn't much, but that was before kids. With one kid it went down to seven hours, now I hope to get 6+ hours of sleep a night. I still seem to function fine and my race results are still pretty decent, but I know it's not ideal. However there are probably a lot of people who choose to watch TV for several hours a day and get the same amount of sleep as me - I feel I'm in a much better position and probably much happier than them!

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
Coaching: https://bybtricoaching.com/ - accepting athletes for 2023

I aim for 3-5x at 100-115 miles per ride at the "big" volume weeks. Typically averaging in the 21-22.5 mph range steady for the duration depending on the course--which is rolling mostly, race nutrition, ful aero position. However, I don't do a long run the same week as a long ride. Long runs are usually only every other week or every 3rd week. In between weeks will have varying focus goals such as maybe run frequency & pace, or swim volume or pace week. Non-long ride weeks will have shorter maintenance rides or some climbing involved to switch it up.

That’s similar to what I am doing this year! I alternate bike focus week with run focus week. In the bike focus week, I’ll do 10+ hrs biking with a long ride while running is about 30mpw. The following week bike volume drops to about 7-8 hrs but run volume goes up to 40-50 mpw with a long run. Swim stays constant. So far I like it. Results to be determined but I feel good about it and most importantly haven’t been injured in 18 months now.

I would be careful about getting enough sleep. I know you function now but this can come back to haunt you later in life or even now out of no where.

That's exactly what 've done last year and it works...

On this september i'll race in IM Italy and it ll be my 4th IM. At the moment my longest ride was 135km (not miles ) but that ride and all my rides longer than 3 hours have been perfomed at about 80% FTP. I live in a really flat country here in italy so when i need to climb i use zwift and i train indoor even for quality sessions.

So my goal is to do a lot of 4hours rides quite over IM pace (80% ftp or more) and only 2 or 3 rides of about 160km at about 75% FTP (i think that if u can train indoor for 4 or 5 hours your mind will be strong enough for the IM bike leg).

I train a lot in Z3 and once per week i do FTP intervals to maintain some speed in the legs).

With my family 9/10 bike hours per week (and 50/55km run) in the month before tapering, is the max i can do