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Home > Forum > Triathlon Forum > 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts?

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6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts?
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Tri.Tony
Aug 1, 19 17:51
Post #1 of 7 (1142 views)
I'm 6 weeks from a first 1/2 IM. Started out sort of in shape (5-7 hrs a week run and cross-fit - could run 10 miles) and have been training (avg 15 hrs) since December. I have a background in all 3 (college swim / cat 4 road bike / hobby jogger (45 mpw most recent of the 3 sports for a couple years). At this point, I can easily cover each distance individually. Swim 10k meters per week in 3 sessions of less than an hour. Built to 40 mpw on the run by February and have stayed there with a long run of 15 for the past 5 weeks. Long ride of 55m (4 sessions a week 3 trainer and long outside). Long brick 2 hrs trainer and 6 miles bike. I have a pretty good handle on nutrition.

I am going to build the brick to 2:30 and 8 (maybe 7?). ]

Should I build the long run to 17? Long bike to ??. The bike is my weakest discipline based on background / progress (ftp 236 @ 125# but can't hold the intensity like I should according to you guys)

Is there anything else I should be doing? Are there any key workouts that i'm missing? For bike indoor workouts, I'm using trainer road (I assume the intensity etc is right :)).

In short, I haven't raced anything in a while and am a bit jittery now that it's crunch time. That said, I have enjoyed the planning, strategy and progress.
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [2tri2] [ In reply to ]
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jimatbeyond
Aug 1, 19 18:05
Post #2 of 7 (1135 views)
I like to do some 80 mile bike rides for confidence.

I wouldn't run longer than around 14 miles.
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [2tri2] [ In reply to ]
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TriStart
Aug 2, 19 4:37
Post #3 of 7 (1058 views)
I like to do some 100+ km rides to build some confidence.
Also like to do a few runs longer (in time, not necessarily in mileage) than I intend to run during the race.

A key workout I like to test nutrition and race pace is: 3 hour bike ride with last 2 hours at race intensity (either by HR or power meter) followed by a brick run of 15km. First 10k at intended race intensity, then I usually slow down a bit for the last 5k. During the workout I eat and drink as I plan to eat and drink during the race. I do this workout about 2-3 weeks out, and then to finetune another one 1 week out (but if running feels good I shorten the run to 10k). I've noticed that this gives me a pretty good idea where I'm at and what I can handle during the race.
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [TriStart] [ In reply to ]
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mgreer
Aug 2, 19 5:27
Post #4 of 7 (1034 views)
Is that for a 70.3 or a 140.6? For a 70.3 that seems excessive to me, but not for a 140.6. If 70.3, you're talking about a workout that's pushing the same duration as the race with some pretty significant amount of effort. That's going to take a good bit of recovery time, especially when you're fatigued coming into the workout. For a 70.3, I think if you cut the duration by about half (especially for the run), you'd get the same feedback on nutrition. If for a 140.6, this doesn't seem too far out there since the race is much longer and the power/pace is going to be much lower.

For the OP, I like the idea of some race pace efforts, particularly race simulation bricks like TriStart suggested, just a bit shorter in length so that I'm not fried for days afterwards.
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [2tri2] [ In reply to ]
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TriJayhawkRyan
Aug 2, 19 6:58
Post #5 of 7 (976 views)
So, working backwards from race day with your 6 weeks...

Week 6 should be taper/race prep. Tempo/race effort/race speed work (different terms, same meaning - Z3-Z4 interval work, nothing extreme. Keep race speed while lowering volume to keep fitness and max recovery).
Week 5 is race prep.
Week 4 is build to race prep.
Weeks 3, 2 and 1 are builds with week 3 being the largest work week (volume + intensity).

So, from that perspective you should be building working speed, tempo and long rides/runs for the next 3 weeks.
Then weeks 4 to 5 level off to allow recovery to set in.
Week 6 is all about recovery to be fresh for race day.

Whatever distances you want to do, that's how I would apply it.
Your max long could be 17, so that's the longest run at week 4.
Most of my athletes I max out at 13 miles for the long run, but if they are looking to be competitive, 17 to 18 max long. Going much past that, recovery becomes a bigger factor and impedes on the next week of work.

IMO
Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [2tri2] [ In reply to ]
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jaretj
Aug 2, 19 7:15
Post #6 of 7 (960 views)
Since you appear to have had good base and threshold training, I would work on your pacing for 3 to 4 weeks then go into taper.
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Re: 6 weeks from 1st 1/2 IM - key workouts? [mgreer] [ In reply to ]
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TriStart
Aug 2, 19 9:39
Post #7 of 7 (911 views)
mgreer wrote:
Is that for a 70.3 or a 140.6? For a 70.3 that seems excessive to me, but not for a 140.6. If 70.3, you're talking about a workout that's pushing the same duration as the race with some pretty significant amount of effort. That's going to take a good bit of recovery time, especially when you're fatigued coming into the workout. For a 70.3, I think if you cut the duration by about half (especially for the run), you'd get the same feedback on nutrition. If for a 140.6, this doesn't seem too far out there since the race is much longer and the power/pace is going to be much lower.

For the OP, I like the idea of some race pace efforts, particularly race simulation bricks like TriStart suggested, just a bit shorter in length so that I'm not fried for days afterwards.

For 70.3's. Admittedly it might be a bit much for a 70.3 prep, but I've done them a number of times and if they go well and I recover well from them, then I know I'm in good shape (not that that is very good compared to others). I've had no problems doing this workout (15k run reduced to 10k) a week out from a 70.3 race.
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