sweet, I think you'll have a lot of fun focusing on this distance. That race up in Chicago is a good one. Now when you say crush, you mean crush your PR or crush the competition, going for AG podium (whats your AG?), or overall podium?

swim and run a lot.

Aside from that, FOP Oly, half, and IM training is all the same from a volume perspective. Just differs in the specificity. It's not any easier to train for OD races.

---

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

“You are experiencing the criminal coverup of a foreign backed fascist hostile takeover of a mafia shakedown of an authoritarian religious slow motion coup. Persuade people to vote for Democracy.”

If what you seek to "CRUSH" is your PR, Chicago is not the best option. For one, the transitions are huge. It's 450 yards from the swim exit to the entrance of T1 where there are something like 7,000 bikes. Two, it is crowded. Unless you happen to be in an early wave, expect a lot of people around you on a bike course that tightens the last 5-6 miles. That being said, it is a wonderful race and a lot of fun. Best of luck!

Great question and I think why I subconsciously chose the vague word "crush". I want to do more than survive and finish the race and explore my potential. I'm not sure what that potential is.

Last year I ran the Chicago Tri in 2:40:11 and got 86/304 in my AG. I swam 32:22, biked 1:13:31, and ran 43:38. I had been training for the Chicago marathon and devoted very very little to bike/swim training. I don't think I will compete for AG podium within a year, but I'd like to close that gap as much as possible and answer whether AG podium is even in my realm of possibility.

As to why Chicago - it is my backyard race and too easy to pass up. I'm not 100% set on it being my A-race if there is something better nearby, but I will for sure do Chicago. The bike course is so much fun and I can easily practice swimming in the lake.

For the person that said it was the same training volume as training for 70.3 or 140.6 - I don't see how that's possible. One reason I'm looking to focus on the Olympic distance is because doing 6+ hour training rides on a weekend makes living life with others difficult. I assume (perhaps incorrectly) that Olympic will be higher intensity, lower volume/time.

TLDR; What is the "best" training plan for becoming serious about training for the Olympic distance and not merely training to finish?

The nice thing about Olys and Sprints is that you can do them pretty regularly---I've had pretty good luck this season doing them every two weeks. Every weekend is tough for me, but every 2 seemed like it went well, although I was probably relying on the base-building I did in the offseason and spring, as all I could do was maintain / short taper for the in-between weeks.

So, with that said, I'd recommend doing more events and getting used to the flow...you were 2:29ish with the S/B/R, so approximately 10 minutes in transition, and I'm seeing where quite a few people at that event spent less than 5 minutes total there (despite the length of T1). Dropping 5 minutes with no real energy penalty is huge. Doing more events will help. Heck, even a couple of minutes would move you up quite a ways on the results board.

As for a schedule, I'm a moderately competitive Oly person. I swim 3-4x per week, bike 3 and run 3-4. If I could do more, I would, but I'm limited to about 5-7 hours per week.

I'd be willing to bet that increased swim fitness will help your T1 dramatically as well...hard to jump out of the water and sprint up to transition if you're beat up already.

Apollo:

For the off-season build to maintain a base. Some "Do's:" Swim 1-3 times a week. Bike 3-4/week. Run 3-4/week. Want to get in a steady routine of workouts. Go short and go long somedays. Mix it up so when you get into training race mode early next summer, you want to train to CRUSH it and be totally interested for the intense training work to get race ready. Suggested weights would be: step ups and lunges with 25-50#'s in 3 sets of 7, leg presses with similar sets at about 60-70% of max. Test your max monthly to determine if the weight should changed. Build your core. Ball exercises for stomach and lower back Work up to light weights on the ball. Yoga for flexibility (and no it's not wimpy for a triathlete to include in training). Do some lats with 25-70#'s of 3 sets of 7 for building up stroke power. Swim with masters for your workouts. At a 32 minute 1500M, you may benefit from learning new tips from the team for speed and/or efficiency. Five to 10 hours a week for Oly base is ideal. Flex as you need to for family, work, mental, and physical.

For some Don'ts: Don't get bored, don't get injured running/biking in the cold weather in the Chicago area, don't gain weight, and don't get burnt out from wanting to achieve your goals over the grey days of winter. Also, on weights, you don't want to build bulk but convert to a lean triathlete.

Come June you can do some sprint races and do a half tri if interested. At the start of July get into eight weeks of race-ready training: 3 week build, 1 week recover, 3 weeks of speed focus, and a week of taper before showing up on the breakwater at the Lake Front. Drop the weights when you pick up the speed. You'll probably want to be closer to 10-12 hours a week on workouts in the 3 week build and then feather back as speed is introduced. Finally get bored during taper week to want to race on the last Sunday in August.

Chicago is tough to PR because of the transition size and distance. However, it's a great race to pass people and know what it's like to race fast. With the wave starts you get some space in the swim. Once you catch others in front, find your stretch for cleaner water so as to not get bogged down. Catching the feet of a fast swimmer will help as he will clear a path for you. On the bike, there's lot of people but once you know your tactic is to keep passing people, it's surprising to realize how much open space there is on LSD. Then on the run even more so. Lots of people and lots of space. The 10K goes fast. You get motivated so much because your passing so many people. And the views aren't too bad either. Remember you're racing on the edge of post card views in the 3rd largest city in America. Nothing if not way cool! Maybe you can CRUSH it in spite of the long transitions.

https://www.palmtreesahead.com/
https://www.palmtreesahead.com/tactical-learning

Edit: keep in mind this is from Frodo’s days on the Oly circuit.

So the last year I was pretty competitive in oly races was 2016 (went under 2:10 at Chicago Oly). without looking at the training logs, I think my longest runs were 90 minutes and longest planned rides were 3.5 hours, and was doing 12-20 hours a week. I did a lot of group rides that went 4+ hours though, but they were totally fun, and a lot of variable intensity with peaky short hills and stuff. So the main benefit to oly over 70.3 is the long stuff doesn't need to be as long. That being said, more is more and as long as you dont get hurt, the more time you spend training effectively the faster you will be.

It looks like swimming and biking (and transitions!!!!) are where you will make the most gains at first. Are you racing on a TT? have a good fit? Using a power meter?


T1+T2 in that race is hard to get under 5 minutes, but you should be able to do 6 pretty easily.

From the experience - marathon training does not make me faster in the OD racing.
Last year - a dedicated build for a popular local OD race, 3rd out of 113.
This year, I got talked into last minute taking a spot of someone who was unable to race... although I have been exclusively building for the Chicago marathon for the last 10 weeks. I have not ridden since early July, and have not swam since June. End result - 20/110. The bike was a struggle and the run was slower by 2 mins despite me actually being in a much better running shape this year.

---

Next races on the schedule: none at the moment

Also remember - in sprints and olys, if you are contending for a podium spot, whether it is AG or overall, you gotta nail those transitions. Fast, efficient, and you gotta RUN to the transition, no post-swim walk-rest like 80% of them folks seem to do. You also have to scope the entry/exit of the transition and know where your bike is even when a million people are racked around you.

In HIM/IM you can take your time and get set for the long effort, but in sprint/oly (and ESPECIALLY in sprints!), you gotta know what you are doing.

Especially in sprints - you lose a minute there and there goes your #1 spot in a lot of cases.

Transitions for AGers are definitely far and away the easiest, free-est speed you can absolutely get. And you don't need to be nuts about it - watch the videos of Frodeno and others doing transitions - no frenzied activity, just no wasted motions, and calm. It always amazes me that folks who can def contend for #1-3 in the AG or even the OA will spend months busting tail and drop $3k on aero wheels, helmet, everything to get 60sec on their bike split, then bungle their transition to the point that even someone like me who doesn't even practice them anymore can drop 45-60 sec on them in transition just by being aware and organized.

Yes, to compete at Olympic distance you will be putting in about the same amount of time as for a half. You won't be needing 6 hour rides though. You will need to work on your swim. With your time right now you will never get back up into contention. Also, run as many 5k races as you can this winter. It's the easiest way to build speed.

---

---------------------------
''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Thank you everyone for your help! Both Per and djmsbr recommend swimming about 3x a week, biking 3-4, and running 3-4. Using that as a guideline, is there a training program anyone would recommend for "advanced" Olympic training?

What about for off-season? base?

TrainerRoad has a "heavy" volume Olympic training I could use for my race-specific training, but how is the quality of the swim/run portions of those plans?

Is there a training plan out there that is highly recommended for advanced Olympic training, or am I best to make my own pulling from a variety of sources?

How much time do you think you have for training?

I'd like to devote 1-1.5 hours during weekdays and up to 3 hrs on each weekend day. It is really the 5+ hour blocks, which make weekend trips and socalizi g laregly impossible, that I am looking to avoid.

Ok, that's plenty of time (IMHO)

In big, rough, round numbers, I'd swim 4x per week, about 30-45m per session. I'd also either bike or run 45m on the days that I swam. Swimming is good for double days and at first, I don't think it's good to just slog away at the pool for an hour straight. That said, the packaging of two 45minute workouts might be easier or harder for you than just doing 1-1.5 hours straight.

One long run day (you don't need much more than 10-12 miles),

One long bike day (here's where the 3 hour block might help).

Take one day off.

I think your swim needs the most work, so that's why I'm advocating doing it more often rather than having longer sessions on the bike or run during the week. If the weather is crappy and you don't want to do anything outside...swim longer on those days as you get your pace down and you're able to maintain it over longer intervals.

If the above-mentioned double 45minute days during the week don't work, you can use some of your time on the weekend to swim-bike or swim-run.

Later in the spring, you can do some specific bricks to get used to running after biking and that can trade out some time on your long weekend days. I don't really see the need for that until April or May.

I am not a coach--just a fellow competitor that's also focusing on the same distance.

Focusing on OD is also my plan for next year.
Found a pretty solid 13week plan from Roland Knoll who coached Jan Frodeno to his Olympic Gold.

http://www.movescount.com/...ro_(Olympic_distance)

Any feedback is welcomed.

Find a coach.
Don't use "free" plans, cause you get what you pay for.

---

Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

Never specified it had to be free. Even though low cost, TrainerRoad isn't free. I've used a coach for Ironman, but think there is probably a middle ground between free and $240/mo.

Am I missing the workout structure? Seems pretty vague.

---

Human Person

are you using mobile a device or laptop/desktop mac/pc?
i know it‘s there but can‘t access via mobile device (iPad).

On the bike, do 5*5 intervals.
Every interval with the highest speed you can do. It is hard and not funny. To start, you can do 3 minute intervals.

Yep. Mobile.

---

Human Person

Very true! Hopefully $240/mo gets you a GREAT COACH!

---

Ryan
http://www.SetThePaceTriathlon.com
http://www.TriathlonTrainingDaddy.com
I got plans - https://www.trainingpeaks.com/...dotcom#trainingplans

I'm in a similar boat as you - growing family wants me to focus on being competitive in the OD vs. working up to decency in HIM / IM.

Currently battle for OA podiums in local races with <=500 people

my plan is as follows:

Swimming: Consistency - by far my strength in triathlons - but get 2-3 sessions in the pool for 10-15k a week - no off-season this year! (usually swim May-August)
Running: Get away from being a "distance queen" - at least: 1 session / week of speed work, 1 session / week of tempo, 1 longer run; 2-3 5ks, 1-2 10ks, and 1 HIM in "off season"
Biking: Consistency with mileage / week - ~75 miles per week with intervals, etc.

Running feels to be the game changer in the OD; if you can get <=1:30 / 100 on the swim, >=22mph on the bike, its all about the run - getting it as close to 35-36min as possible will get you some great results