You don't even have to do that in a run focus. 1x will do it. I've even done zero for weeks at a time, and come back to the bike to set new ftp max within weeks of getting back on it.

There is significant crossover between run and bike.

The bike is largely a waste of fitness time if you are time constrained. It is super easy to ramp bike fitness with enough weeks if you already have high ability in the other two


Agreed! Back when I was training for triathlons seriously, I would ride sparingly from Nov - mid-March. Maybe 1 - 2 high intensity trainer session per-week or just some roller time. Winter for me was - about more running and more XC-Skiing. The XC-Ski sessions either Skate or Classic could stretch as long as 5 - 6 hours, done at about the same intensity as a bike ride of the same duration.

Then in mid-March the skis would be put away, ramp up with more trainer session on the bike, and in a few weeks, I was riding 100km rides, at the same pace and intensity as the previous year. Despite limited actual riding through the winter - zero loss in bike fitness!

There was a strong correlation between the winters that I put in the most volume of XC skiing and lifted my XC ski fitness to a high level, and my Best Ever summers of triathlon racing! But you REALLY need to commit to the skiing to make this work! Obviously not for everyone.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I’m opposite way. If I’m at home and have a 60 minute hole in my schedule I can accomplish a lot on the trainer with 60 minutes of sweet spot work. On the other hand I’d I decide to swim, I’d need to subtract maybe 15 minutes of travel time leaving at most 45 minutes of actual swimming

Two years ago I doubled my swimming (doing 10-15k most weeks) and dropped 4 minutes off my 2100 yd time. After looking back it would've been more bang for my buck to put that extra time towards the bike. This year instead I doubled my time on the bike (basically moving swimming time over to biking) and took myself from 4 to 4.7 w/kg

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Matt

You're original title of "Burned Out" makes me suggest shying away from intensity. Typically, people get burnt out from too much intensity, not necessarily too much training.

This second post suggests maybe it's more just needing another goal, in which case working the "top end" as others have suggested could definitely be beneficial. Be careful with Zwift racing as it can definitely zap you pretty good. Most Zwift racing isn't actually that stochastic in nature. It's a hard start with mostly steady-state sub-threshold riding.

Depending on where you live, a few other ideas:
-Cyclocross, mountain bike, fat bike, or other. Work on technical skill and creating power at difference cadence ranges. Plus it's freaking fun.
-Switching to a running, xc-skiing, or snoeshowing block as others have suggested can allow you to continue progressing aerobically. Get in the gym and lift in addition and I think you'll be surprised at how quickly the bike comes back. I was actually shocked myself by that this year. I spent 10 weeks ONLY running, 60-70 miles a week, but also lifting regularly. I started riding again when the virus hit and was hitting all-time best power numbers 8-12 weeks after I started back.

Triathletes love to spend hours on the training pedaling at 75-90% FTP. Use this season to become a better ATHLETE, not just a sweetspot/FTP triathlete guy.

The key to endurance sport is doing it a long time. The key to doing it a long time is to have fun. Go have fun.

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Mark Saroni
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COACHING | TRAINING PLANS
MS Kinesiology | USAT LII | USAC L3