Ok. Please be honest. You have NOT done 8 months of dedicated training the way anyone in ST would define that. It has been haphazard, sporatic, and poorly planned. It's been interrupted by illness and injury for 4-6 weeks at a time.

All of this means that, yes, you are in roughly the same shape that you were last year. It's not a mystery, and it shouldn't be a surprise.

Part of training and racing is the honest, objective analysis of your prior training. Please be fair and honest when you characterize your training.

If you want to go faster, then in the next 14 months... you will need to train 90% of the days between now and then. You can't miss 4 weeks or 6 weeks at a time, and you can't train for 4 hours a week and then 8 hours and then jump to 14 hours for a few weeks and think it's going to go fabulous. Triathlon is pretty brutal that way. You can't fake your way through a 70.3.

Even my strava shows constant training. But OK... U do u boo

Tbh... If this is actually the case. I'm wondering if it'll be more fun to not train....

I want to do the 70.3 in taupo every year.

I wonder if I just keep enjoying my running. Then quickly do 7 weeks of training on bike and a couple of swims and enjoy my 7 hours

Roi... Is Roi... Is roi

I read about half this thread and saw it touched on, but just to explicitly state it:

You said you've done many hours in Zone 2 HR; you also need to put some hours into high effort. Zone 2 is great, and more people should spend more time in it, but (estimating) a ton of hours spent at 125w isn't going to magically result in a 310 FTP. I understand how you could be left feeling it wasn't fully explained, and that's true: A lot of people just say stuff like "run slow to run fast," but they don't really mention that you also need to put 10-20% of time in working hard. If you exclusively run or bike slowly, you'll just be a slow runner or cyclist. The trap that a lot of people fall into is working like.. upper Z3, low Z4 and either never really recovering right, never building long endurance, or never pushing their upper end.

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JustinDoesTriathlon

Owner, FuelRodz Endurance.

Yes, I think this is the main bit I either didn't read or was assumed I would know

More high internal stuff at 200w coming up

...and patience in yourself and the process...an endurance sport like triathlons rewards those who look for the long term...8 months in this sport is nothing...it's a start, but that is all it is. It takes years for most of us to achieve our potential if we ever do.

The Fascat charts have it pegged that you could in theory almost do endless SS work and recover fine. I think most people over estimate test results amd their zones are actually too high for SS.

You should be able to do Z4 almost daily as 3x15’s, 2x20’s, etc....

But if your test id bunk, you won’t.

You didn't read it. Specifically, you didn't read all of the recommendations in your previous threads (and in other newbies' how-do-I-improve threads) to get a subscription to a service like Zwift, TrainerRoad, Sufferfest, or others, and to follow one of their training plans. You will learn, by doing it, how to become a faster cyclist. You will see lots of work near your FTP level, and many short intervals at 150%, 200%, or even a higher percentage of your FTP. You need a certain percentage of recovery (and time off the bike) but you need to have time above your FTP as well. Following a plan will help to ensure that you don't overdo it in either direction.

Since you're on Zwift now, you could start their "build me up" series, with your FTP initially set to about 170. That will help to make sure you don't burn out in the lead-up to your race, but it will likely still give you more quality time on the bike than you've been giving yourself.

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Less is more.

Do we have any science as to why?

Running, almost every fat guy like me I know has gone from 2:30 to 1:50 half marathon quite quickly.

Swimming. Almost everyone with stroke training can do 38mins

Endurance and overall fitness should mean with 6 months training
40min swim
2hr 5 half marathon
But the cycle?????

Why is cycling the exception? Is it a certain muscle In the front quad? The density? The balance of muscle variance with the run?

I believe u guys but I am still searching for the reason 😅

I am still one of the worst cyclists I know. Haven't got any better from when I first got on the bike. As u heard in this forum, newbies go faster than me 😂🤣😅

Zwift requires a power metre. A power metre required money. I spent 11 months waiting for a 2nd hand one. The first one that came up... I bought last week.

There is a build me up series? Wow that's cool. Yeah, zwift looks cool. 20 bucks kiwi a month thou.... Geee whizz

You don’t need a power meter to train on Zwift or TrainerRoad. Look up their virtual power equipment requirements. If you have one of the trainers they recognize then you can train with virtual power if you have a speed and cadence sensor and heart rate monitor (don’t think you need the HRM but I would use one for monitoring efforts).

It's not. Your training isn't good. People make massive cycling gains in relatively short periods of time all the time.

Pick a plan. Stick to it. Stop trying to wing it as that's obviously not working out for you. You seem to have information overload at this point and need to focus. So let somebody else who knows what they're doing do all the work for you, and just do a plan that's already laid out.

Having said all that, your race is not far away, so you may have to just wing it until then.

If only you'd asked about all this earlier this year............

I have got a plan. I also posted the plan. Its from a 70.3 website.

I'm now using toms plan.

And yet you just posted this.

"More high internal stuff at 200w coming up"

So you'll have to pardon me if I'm a bit skeptical that you're adhering to any plan.

As others have noted, you could have used Zwift without a power meter - all you need is a rear wheel speed sensor. Other training programs such as Sufferfest give you perceived-exertion guidance that works pretty well (you'll quickly learn what they mean by "8 / 10" once you overdo it a few times)

Anyway - you have a PM now. Learn how to use it (eg. make sure you do a zero offset calibration regularly) and you can then count on it to give an objective assessment of how you are doing on any ride, indoors or out.

This is just my opinion, but I think that the various training tools such as Zwift, Trainer Road, the Sufferfest, Rouvy etc. give tremendous bang for the buck. I can think of a bunch of stuff that I spent $240 on this year, that did not improve or maintain my cycling ability nearly as much, as regular quality workouts (or virtual races) on the trainer.
- New helmet(s) since I crashed on one
- new tires
- new shoes
- other assorted kit
- tools
- etc.

For someone new to the sport like yoursef, the potential improvement is substantially greater.

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Less is more.

Because my plans have all have heart rate... Not power.

So then where is 200w coming from? You're proving my point. If it's heart rate based, then do that. If it were power based, then do that. Since you just got a power meter and your race is so soon, just stick to your plan and record power for future use.

Sounds good to me! I don't buy anything tbh, I pick up second hand everything or make do.

I have a feeling this zwift is going to be a worth while amount. It cost 150nzd for pm, 180 for shimano 105 crankset (new) and I installed it myself... Super happy about that

More appropriate cranks now

Because.... The responses from this forum said.... Do more power than ftp for short intervals to go faster. Hence, I need to do more 200w. This was subsequently updated to 2 x 20mins and then again to zwift sessions

Not sure why you look for holes. The other guys put a simple plan. I'm going to do another ftp test to lock zwift in properly at a number and then use that getting better system

So you're not sticking to a plan. 200w is an arbitrary number at this point. This isn't poking holes. It's pointing out the obvious when you've asked for advice.

Do the FTP test, then STICK TO THE PLAN YOU PICK based on that result.

Coool. No idea what u mean. But thanks 😂

He’s asking where you came up with 200 watts as your number for your workout.

Zwift has a few FTP tests that you can now do with your power meter. After you take the test, you can select one of their training plans that will set the intensity of the workout based on your FTP.

I think you’re best bet is to do what you are confident in for this race. Next year, sell out to training with power and I’m sure you will make some good gains.

That's quite cool and well worth the money tbh!

Assume you are working in Wellington given that drive time from Whanganui.

Have you given any consideration to relocating to be closer to the job?

Moreso, for saving time in the commute and spending time with your pregnant wife/new kid? Obviously would free up some time to train also...

Most others have given you some good ideas on actual training so hopefully some of it might sink in..

I'm a consultant, it's hard to know where I'll be needed next. Whanganui allows me to be within 3 hours of most clients and have a 300k house 🤣

Taking 6 months off next year for new bubs, but that's next year 😢