The bigger the volume, the bigger the taper. Classic know-what-works-best-for-you scenario.

Long tapers never worked well for me. When I've done big volume, I've done bigger reductions over shorter times, like 10 days.

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

Keep it rolling until at least 2 weeks out.

I am really curious what a 28 hour week looks like.

S:14,000yards
B:360 miles
R: 53 miles

I think my sweet spot is 22-23hrs. I don't think I will do that kind of volume for a long time. It beat me up pretty good.

Job or Family?

Yes

This is too much. Please for your own good, calm down. Unless you have consistently raced like multiple sub 9 IM's, you need to take it down a notch.

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

Is the OP in your age group or something? :)

Seriously though, why would you say that unless you know him, his background, and his goals?

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Eliot
blog thing - strava thing

+1

I looked back at a previous thread. He is something like a 4:42 HIM racer. This is simply too much volume.

Sorry, Im just putting it how it is. Too many damn amateur triathletes are pounding themselves into the ground. It's about training smart, not pumping out crazy high volume. There is no possible way that you can get quality work in with those numbers.

If you are a top tier professional on the other hand, then those numbers could be reasonable.

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

 Thoughts?[/quote]



Shut it down and go to Louisville ;-)

(per your other thread, if you haven't picked yet)

Maurice

Taper is function of the distance you will be racing. For a ironman, if dont text book and properly, 95% of individual will react about the same and feel amazing if they stick to scientific litterature and do the proper taper.

I have coach now 100s of athlete to the ironman distance and taper is a very simple period of the training. Rarely ever had a athlete not feeling great on race day so i m not sure why people think they are ''special'' or react differently, my experience show it s not the case. But many do it wrong and add up....susbtitue, change plan and that is when things go wrong!

For you, you seems like you are training at a level that is not substainable for yourself. In this case, its not the perfect scenario as you hit peak training too early. you will have no choice but to reduce your volume or overtrain. I suggest you just focus on putting solid consistant training until 3 weeks out and start to gradually reduce the training load at that time. Gradual meaning that the first 2 weeks of taper are no holiday...still lots of hard work happening!

good luck!

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

On the other hand, high volume is an excellent predictor of who will perform better long term. He may or may not be doing to much for this race, but if he keeps it up, he will achieve something closer to his true potential than someone who is maxing out at 15h.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Brian... I value your expertise here. Just curious - Is there ever a point where an athlete could be doing too much volume where it could actually be slowing them down?

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

yes, it s call overtraining. when training load is too much for the body to make proper adaptation. Then, the slowing down process start. Desert dude as witness this a few times..in his career of coach and athlete. i m sure he as good storys!

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Jonathan Caron / Professional Coach / ironman champions / age group world champions
Jonnyo Coaching
Instargram

Thanks for all the input everyone. My original plan was to train hard till 3 weeks out and cut the run volume a bit, 2 weeks out cut the bike just a little and reduce run a little bit more, then race week is just keeping sharp. But I've never trained at such high volume before so this is why I brought up the question. Last year before my "A" race HIM I hit 20-21 hrs a few times before the race but the last few months I've been in the 20+hr range consistently.

I did about the same two weeks ago.....13K swim, 335 on the bike and 45 running. Was definitely spent at the end of the week.

Most of my big volume weeks had been in the 17-19 hour range, but I wanted one, final big volume week before IMMOO. Would have preferred it to be last week (which would have ended w/ me 4 weeks out form Madison), but I was participating in Nationals so didn't want to go into it over-tired. Had planned for last week to go back to about 18 hours, but a friend's mom passed and I lost a couple days of training as a result.

This week is my final rest week, then a two week taper and finally race week.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Thats largely ignoring the rest of his life. Which we already know includes a family. And potentially a job. And even if a very flexible job - theres plenty of life stress added to the mix with what can only be classified as "pro-like" training hours. Enough life stress + not enough recovery and all of the sudden those 25+ hour training weeks don't become as helpful.

To answer the following posters question about is it possible for volume to be hurtful - of course it is. And theres a handful of reasons why that could/can happen. And they're all interrelated. One of the primary reasons it makes sense for even an "average" age grouper to hire a coach. A true coach. Not a plan pusher.

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"One Line Robert"

28.5 hours?? I would suggest taking an ez week immediately, I bet dollars to doughnuts you are not progressing if you are training that much. Recover and then see where you are at.

Better off a lot recovered than a tiny bit over-trained.

If you have been putting in that volume, a week recovery now will not lead to loss of fitness. Relax dude.

Google:

Inigo Mujika

Tapering for Triathlon Competition

agree, i do 12 - 15 a week, usually closer to 12 and go 4:30 half, unless that was some untapered B race, that is pretty slow for someone going nearly 30 hours, what is being done with those 360 miles a week of biking?

That's exactly what I was thinking. How much quality is going on there if you're training that much and going 4:42? Not that 4:42 isn't a time he shouldn't be proud of by any stretch, but on 20-22hours a week? Interested to see what his training looks like (if he has time to post it!).

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Long Chile was a silly place.

High volume needs to be put in perspective. What is the average? What kind of periodization... 2 on 1 off? 3 on 1 off? My last build was just 2 weeks and I liked it better than my 3 week blocks where I was destroyed by week 3. I also felt like I didnt have to go as light on the recovery week.

I think you have to experiment and 24hrs in a base period is not the same and could be less training load than 19 or 20 in a build period. That whay you need to tack training load not distance or time. A 90 minute ride could be a tss of 65 (z2 ecovery ride) or 100... wih a mix of intervals and mostly z3 to 5. The mileage difference might only be 3 or 4 miles if your fairly aero.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com