Very happy to hear about your progress. It's certainly rewarding to see real progress in your efforts.

What you've discovered more or less is block periodization training. It's not unusual for athletes to forgo one sport to focus on the other 1 or 2. I know Cam Wurf didn't bike for 5 weeks to focus on his run and improved dramatically. After that it's just a matter of reintroducing the other sports

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Strava

It gets you dropped from the gruppetto.

Congrats.

That's an interesting drop from 5min to 20min on the duration curve. Percentage wise, that's like 2x more drop in that time period than I'd expect to see. 130 out of 350 is like 33%. Is that due to what you're focusing on?

Agree. That was the first thing I noticed. I can do 355-360ish for 20min but my peak 5 min is 400 I think haha. Just a different type of rider than OP I guess.

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I did a lot of sport-focused blocks when I was triathlete. With varying results. I tried many times to really focus on my swimming (3-4months or more), and I made huge progress ... that always reverted once my bike and run volume returned to normal. Ultimately, a lot of my improvement as a swimmer came from having a more dynamic kick, which improved body position, glide, and everything else. But with legs that were tired from "normal" bike and run volume, those technique improvements didn't stick around. I did well over 5,000yds for the USMS hour and did a PB of 18:19 for the 1650. Easily fast enough to be a front-pack Ironman swimmer. And yet I never actually swam front pack in any meaningful race.

Running, on the other hand, those improvements did stick. I ran a sub-2:50 in Texas in 2012 after a serious winter run focus and became a consistent low-2:50s marathoner off the bike and recorded one of only three ever (at the time) sub-3:50 marathons on the Norseman course right before I retired, again off of a big run focus.

Biking was more of a mixed bag. Big bike volume paid off, but it did "cost" me too much in terms of overall fatigue. However, when I switched to single-sport focus after retiring for gravel, I did see pretty remarkable improvements in my peak power across the board. But I consider this less relevant *for triathletes* because I wasn't really doing a "focus"; I changed sports.

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Not really sure why it is - I may have more power in my for a longer effort, I haven't tested it. I did hold 415 or so for 10 minutes, so I'd probably be closer to 380 or so. But my sweet spot is definitely that 3-6 minute range - in swimming, I was a 4:34 in the 500, and in running a 4:34 for the mile, both being my best distances. My power curve shows that that time duration is my strongest for cycling as well.

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Matt Guenter

You did not go 4:34 in the 500 free

You went 4:34.08 :)

Either a quick google search on CollegeSwimming or that's a bit creepy... haha

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Matt Guenter

Actually I googled your name and 500 free, I literally had nothing to do for that 5 min period :)

As others have said, that drop from 5 minutes to 20 minutes is pretty dramatic. You definitely have found that sweet spot for efforts across all sports in that 4-6 minute time range! I'm around 410 watts for 5 and did 377 for 20 earlier this year, which I guess is a bit more balanced. I also did a bike focus - starting around mid March - getting up to 19 hours of biking in my biggest week and just under 400 miles. I got in around 6000 miles on the bike (a lot Zwift based) over around 5 months. After many years of pretty much plateauing my FTP at around 4.6 w/kg I was able to get up to around 4.85 w/kg. The focus over this biking period was targeting KOM's to replace my racing, and I've been able to get over 130 from May-August. Some are small segments with only a handful of folks, but some have been pretty legit with several thousand athletes. It's been fun to see the increase in fitness, and most of the riding was pretty easy. I'm switching the focus to running for the next eight or so weeks with the target of a solo 50k trail run some time at the end of October.

Congrats on the bike focus - keep it up!!!

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I focused on my bike for a few months and got SLOWER!

Id sit there and look at it, and focus super hard on it...then get up and get a beer because it was exhausting. I did this for a few months. Finally just decided to ride it one day and found I was slower. I was like well damn that didnt work. My beer drinking was exceptional though. Could down a 6 pack and still text people without saying stupid sh*t! lets call that a win

Hmmm i may have to try this. I've always been a strong runner but not so great on the bike (didn't help i used to do it all on a MTB). this summer once i got a road bike ive been loving it and riding far more than i expected. perhaps i should do like a month or two of just cycling and then reintroduce running after a bit.

swimming i may keep around but very minimally as my pool has reservations and they fill up very quickly

I'm thinking if it is worthwhile for me to put 6 months (November to April the coming winter) focus into swimming, or I should still train for both swimming and running in the 6 months in attempt to run my first marathon. That 4-6 months will be my key training season if I am going to swim the Channel next year.

It's not fair that you put in the work and got faster. You should go Pro and stop racing AG.


Great improvements. I wish I could have put in a focus but with Covid my work place got crazy and they pushed harder for Production Increases while executing a RIF. I actually worked more and trained less to ensure a paycheck. I liked that video though and subscribed. I'd be interested in seeing some swimming and running as well. That route reminds me of a NC gravel route I was riding while on vacation and I wish I had recorded it now. What overlay software/app are you using to get the HR, Power and Incline?

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Interesting.. My 20min is 331W and 5min is 375W :)

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What's your CdA?