One long workout per week - run or bike?

May 7, 20 16:12

Post #1 of 25 (3557 views)

Most weeks I only have time for one long workout (@3 hours or so). I'm training for my first IM 70.3.

Should I do run/bike every other week? run/run/bike? bike/bike/run? (all at z2)

Mondays are 20-25mile bike with 20min tempo or 4 1-2 min max, Tues - 6 mile run with 3 - 10 min 10k pace, Wed - 24 mile bike, 1,000 ft hill climbing with 6 miles at "max", Thurs - 5-6 mile run with 2 sets of 5 one min vo2max/1 min recovery and last mile moderate. Friday I can spend an 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Saturday is when I can do long workout. If Sat is run, I'd bike on Fri and vice-a-versa.

I've never had a workout related injury (probably because I'm so slow).

I realize this won't get me to the top of my age group, but my goal is to finish with a secondary goal of < 7:30. I'm basically not good at either bike or run (60yo bottom of the age grouper). My goal is 16.5mph on the bike portion and 11:30 pace on run (standalone pace is 10:50).

Planning for Augusta in Sept.
Thanks

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 17:45

Post #2 of 25 (3505 views)

All things being equal I’d probably opt for a long run over a long ride for race prep

the world's still turning? >>>>>>> the world's still turning

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 18:02

Post #3 of 25 (3479 views)

I would prioritize the long run. The run is what breaks you in a race. The stronger your run, the more confidence you have.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 18:04

Post #4 of 25 (3476 views)

Not sure what you consider long but looks like you have time for what I would consider a long run Friday (90 minutes) and 3 hour bike on Saturday.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [DFW_Tri] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 18:19

Post #5 of 25 (3453 views)

DFW_Tri wrote:

Not sure what you consider long but looks like you have time for what I would consider a long run Friday (90 minutes) and 3 hour bike on Saturday.

Thanks for the ideas.

My "long" training is z2, so 90 minutes is only about 7 miles unless I throw in a couple or three faster pace miles. My half marathon race pace is only 10:50 at @155-157hr (max hr is 177, resting 50). So z2 at @135hr is only a 14:00 or so pace. That's assuming it's not 85+ degrees and 85+ humidity (which is has already been and will be all the time soon).

Biking would only be about 23-25 miles at z2 for 90 minutes. Which is basically my planned race pace (z2 for the bike to save some legs and energy for the run).

I'm happy doing either way. Since I'm new, I'm was just trying to figure what might work "best" for me. Of course it may be that since I'm new and not really fast, either way might work. I have 5 months, so if I'm training at least 8-10 hours (not counting swimming when we finally get to do that again) a week, I'll at least be able to finish :)

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 18:26

Post #6 of 25 (3446 views)

I am relatively new to triathlons and have competed in the Augusta 70.3 last year and in 2017. I am a pretty good AG runner and my recommendation is to spend as much time on your bike, and train in the heat, as possible. The heat for the run portion has been 90-95 degrees both times for me. You may end up in some form of a run/walk for the 13.1 regardless. I do agree with making Friday's 90 min workout you run day. Not knowing your pace, that could easily be a 8-10 mile training run. Again, do some in the heat to acclimate yourself.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 19:16

Post #7 of 25 (3375 views)

I would say if you have 3 hrs Saturday, do a 2.5 hr bike and a 30 min run off the bike one week, and a 3 hr bike the next. Alternate that. The better you are at the bike, the fresher you come off, and the faster you can run. So bike fitness can help both bike and run splits. I would run long most Fridays. While having strong run fitness is great to a faster finish, with your limited time to workout, you'll get better bang for your time by biking long Saturday. Just my 2 cents.

Also, you shouldn't really ever do anything "MAX", especially weekly. Everything should be controlled, no matter the workout.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [dhinkle] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 19:21

Post #8 of 25 (3365 views)

dhinkle wrote:

I am relatively new to triathlons and have competed in the Augusta 70.3 last year and in 2017. I am a pretty good AG runner and my recommendation is to spend as much time on your bike, and train in the heat, as possible. The heat for the run portion has been 90-95 degrees both times for me. You may end up in some form of a run/walk for the 13.1 regardless. I do agree with making Friday's 90 min workout you run day. Not knowing your pace, that could easily be a 8-10 mile training run. Again, do some in the heat to acclimate yourself.

Heat shouldn't be a problem. I live (and train) in west Houston and generally start my workouts between 3pm and 4pm. It's not uncommon to be running in 100+ degrees with heat index of 115. My Saturday long work out is generally in the morning.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [Conky] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 19:34

Post #9 of 25 (3348 views)

Conky wrote:

I would say if you have 3 hrs Saturday, do a 2.5 hr bike and a 30 min run off the bike one week, and a 3 hr bike the next. Alternate that. The better you are at the bike, the fresher you come off, and the faster you can run. So bike fitness can help both bike and run splits. I would run long most Fridays. While having strong run fitness is great to a faster finish, with your limited time to workout, you'll get better bang for your time by biking long Saturday. Just my 2 cents.
Also, you shouldn't really ever do anything "MAX", especially weekly. Everything should be controlled, no matter the workout.

Yes, a brick is probably good every other week. I do typically do a brick after the first weekly bike ride for 15 minutes. A longer one would be good.

I wondered about whether bike fitness is better than run fitness. That's probably the basis of my question. It doesn't "feel" like an hour on my bike at 135hr is as "hard" as an hour running with 135hr. But a HR of 160-165 does "feel" the same on both.

When I say "max", I basically mean the speed at which I think I can do the assigned intervals. The first intervals "feel" easier than the last ones. I'm not actually every at HR max or "sprinting". So, "max" was a bad term. (Again, I'm new at this.)

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 19:42

Post #10 of 25 (3335 views)

I'm with DHF Tri. The long ride would get my vote, with a 90 minute run during the week.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 20:12

Post #11 of 25 (3306 views)

I’m the same age as you. Based on my experience at the 70.3 distance, and keeping in mind your current paces, I would prioritize my swim fitness first, bike fitness second and run fitness third. I’m not discounting the run but you’ve got to get to the run with enough energy reserves to actually execute the run.

I know you can’t swim in a pool right now so you need to hit the open water a lot.

You’ll need several 60 mile rides to build your endurance, understand pacing and practice nutrition. If you don’t have good swim/bike fitness you’ll be walking the run from the get go regardless of your run fitness. A short run off the bike after those rides is not a bad idea.

Finally, it would be preferable to have a longish run day after a long bike day. You first need to build the endurance to handle those on back to back days...you don’t get that luxury on race day. :)

Good luck! Augusta has a fast swim so with a bit of swim training you’ll feel as fresh as a daisy coming out of the water.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [JoelO] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 20:34

Post #12 of 25 (3290 views)

JoelO wrote:

I’m the same age as you. Based on my experience at the 70.3 distance, and keeping in mind your current paces, I would prioritize my swim fitness first, bike fitness second and run fitness third. I’m not discounting the run but you’ve got to get to the run with enough energy reserves to actually execute the run.

I know you can’t swim in a pool right now so you need to hit the open water a lot.

You’ll need several 60 mile rides to build your endurance, understand pacing and practice nutrition. If you don’t have good swim/bike fitness you’ll be walking the run from the get go regardless of your run fitness. A short run off the bike after those rides is not a bad idea.

Finally, it would be preferable to have a longish run day after a long bike day. You first need to build the endurance to handle those on back to back days...you don’t get that luxury on race day. :)

Good luck! Augusta has a fast swim so with a bit of swim training you’ll feel as fresh as a daisy coming out of the water.

Yes, I was building my swim fitness, swimming three times a week. I was not including that time in my available time. My goal in the swim was just to beat the 2:00 min/100y pace, which is not a problem. When our pool closed I was doing 2500m at 1:50/100y. I will need to build back up (our pools are supposed to open again this week or next).

As my paces are great, my goals are to do z2 swim and bike, putting me about five hours to the run. I have a nutrition plan that seems to work on my 50-60 mile bike rides and half M runs.

So far, the advice is almost 50/50 between the long run or the long bike. - This is why I'm so confused and asked the question :) :) :)

But I do appreciate everyone's input.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 20:39

Post #13 of 25 (3285 views)

LEBoyd wrote:

DFW_Tri wrote:

Not sure what you consider long but looks like you have time for what I would consider a long run Friday (90 minutes) and 3 hour bike on Saturday.

Thanks for the ideas.

My "long" training is z2, so 90 minutes is only about 7 miles unless I throw in a couple or three faster pace miles. My half marathon race pace is only 10:50 at @155-157hr (max hr is 177, resting 50). So z2 at @135hr is only a 14:00 or so pace. That's assuming it's not 85+ degrees and 85+ humidity (which is has already been and will be all the time soon).

Biking would only be about 23-25 miles at z2 for 90 minutes. Which is basically my planned race pace (z2 for the bike to save some legs and energy for the run).

I'm happy doing either way. Since I'm new, I'm was just trying to figure what might work "best" for me. Of course it may be that since I'm new and not really fast, either way might work. I have 5 months, so if I'm training at least 8-10 hours (not counting swimming when we finally get to do that again) a week, I'll at least be able to finish :)

I would replace one of your higher intensity runs during the week with a Z2 run, and treat the Friday 90mins as your long run and do it at slightly faster pace (Daniel's marathon pace) to cover slightly more ground. Then Saturday is your 'long' bike ride.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 7, 20 22:23

Post #14 of 25 (3242 views)

You need both. Look at doing a long ride (3hr) one week and a long run (2hr) the next. Don't run for over 2hr, the recovery required is too high; even a 2hr run every week is too much at your training load so alternating works well. Keep the runs easy, but as your fitness improves you can go a bit more aggressive on the bike. As other have mentioned, you need to get off the bike with legs that can still run 13.1.

On the bike, practice eating/drinking at your planned race consumption to get you body used to it. You need to take in more during a 3hr bike leg of a 70.3 than you do for a 3hr solo ride.

ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 2:44

Post #15 of 25 (3138 views)

LEBoyd wrote:

Most weeks I only have time for one long workout (@3 hours or so). I'm training for my first IM 70.3.

Should I do run/bike every other week? run/run/bike? bike/bike/run? (all at z2)

Mondays are 20-25mile bike with 20min tempo or 4 1-2 min max, Tues - 6 mile run with 3 - 10 min 10k pace, Wed - 24 mile bike, 1,000 ft hill climbing with 6 miles at "max", Thurs - 5-6 mile run with 2 sets of 5 one min vo2max/1 min recovery and last mile moderate. Friday I can spend an 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Saturday is when I can do long workout. If Sat is run, I'd bike on Fri and vice-a-versa.

I've never had a workout related injury (probably because I'm so slow).

I realize this won't get me to the top of my age group, but my goal is to finish with a secondary goal of < 7:30. I'm basically not good at either bike or run (60yo bottom of the age grouper). My goal is 16.5mph on the bike portion and 11:30 pace on run (standalone pace is 10:50).

Planning for Augusta in Sept.
Thanks

You have the time. Do your long run on a weekday morning.

Long = 90min for run
Long = 3hr for bike

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Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [ericMPro] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 5:27

Post #16 of 25 (3024 views)

I really appreciate the community here.

I have been practicing my fueling on my 3hr bike rides. Every 1/2 hr I take 30g carbs/130 calories bar and 7oz of liquid such as PowerAid or water. If hotter, I take more fluids. I'm still clumsy on the bike and have to slow down because I can't drink in the aero position. :)

It sounds like more people are leaning towards the 90 min run maybe a little faster pace (13/mi ?) and the bike on Saturday.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 5:42

Post #17 of 25 (2999 views)

FANTASTIC and helpful thread

Do a second I forgot where I was

Threads like this would help expand the membership here

Cudos to 2 members, in this thread who gave good kind advice, who can be the two biggest a-holes on the entire site giving good helpful advice

You can guess who you are 😂

BTW like you much better when you Post like this

Feels good doesn’t it?

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [MrTri123] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 6:50

Post #18 of 25 (2955 views)

I'm new on the forum, so I'll just say it.

The first three statements were great. The rest was at best unnecessary and at worst hurts the community.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 8:31

Post #19 of 25 (2870 views)

I did my first 70.3 last year and am an older athlete although not 60. Congrats on a great goal and wishing u luck for Augusta.

The bike sets up the run and the long runs will wear u out more, so I'd, with knowing not much about training, suggest consulting a coach. But failing that bike the longer sat session day most of the time, do the Friday longer run 90min most of the time and just have at least a couple of 2 hour runs in the next few months so u know u can do it plus know about chaffing nutrition etc etc. See if u cramp etc know about socks whatever u need to feel confident. The 3 hour cycle days are really great for setting up a good day.

I'd talk to someone more knowledgeable about setting up a strategy to walk the aid stations and probably walk 200 or 500m every 2km or some other alternative since ur aim is to finish, enjoy and not wear yourself. With such a goal the run will be fun as u will walk as u earn each aid stop.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 8:55

Post #20 of 25 (2852 views)

I think 90 is plenty long for a weekly long run. Your mileage is what it is for that time and hopefully increase a bit over time during training. Maybe add in a couple longer ones closer to race date. 3 should also be long enough for ride but I would suggest including some hard work with that ride, not just pure zone 2.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 9:27

Post #21 of 25 (2830 views)

My first vote would be a long brick session. If that is not possible, and it has to be 1 activity. I would vote a long ride.

- Jordan

My Strava

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 12:59

Post #22 of 25 (2755 views)

I do one long workout each week, alternating run or bike, and do my long swim(usually) every Friday. Has kept me healthy for decades. That schedule also gives you wiggle room in case of an injury, illness, or schedule snafu. Good luck!

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 15:14

Post #23 of 25 (2677 views)

As others have mentioned, trying to fit a 90 min run during the week and using the . Bike is the most time consuming of the three, so it makes sense.

I would also modify the workout a bit, maybe add some quality intervals in the middle, go for a 2 + 1 h brick some days, or 2.5 + 0.5 h bricks another weekend.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [Engner66] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 19:48

Post #24 of 25 (2621 views)

Really appreciate getting all the ideas. The good news, assuming Augusta isn't cancelled, I do have four months to continue to build fitness.

Not a coach. Not a FOP Tri/swimmer/biker/runner. Barely a MOP AGer.
But I'm learning and making progress.

Re: One long workout per week - run or bike? [LEBoyd] [ In reply to ]

May 8, 20 19:54

Post #25 of 25 (2616 views)

LEBoyd wrote:

Really appreciate getting all the ideas. The good news, assuming Augusta isn't cancelled, I do have four months to continue to build fitness.

Cycle as much as you can! :)

I’ll be racing at Augusta too if they have it! Cheers.

Edit: a 2h30 ride + 30min run brick as someone stated above would be good training.

https://www.strava.com/...tes/zachary_mckinney

Last edited by: plant_based: May 8, 20 20:08

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