Starting in a few weeks I will have a sabbatical and be able to train for a 70.3 anytime M-F from 8-5 (and probably an hour or two on Sundays). This will be taking place from Aug-Jan. Currently I am not in great shape as I just had a second kid and he doesn’t believe in sleeping without me holding him through the night, so my current training is about 5-6 hours/week (thankfully they will both be in daycare in a few weeks). I intend to do Michigan 70.3 in September of 2025 (or Traverse City if they move it).
Currently am planning to eventually get to two light weight sessions, four swim, four bikes, and four runs in per week (which will take some time to reach that point without injuring myself) and have that makeup about 20 hrs/week as I have been able to maintain that type of load prior to having kids. After January though I would only be able to do closer to 15 hrs/week. I was considering doing the Active Offseason plan on Zwift just to change it up as I’ve never tried it before but I’m open to suggestions. If not that probably do a modified metric century plan through Garmin during my 6 month break. I’ve tried TR about a decade ago and wasn’t impressed, however I am open to any suggestions.
A little about me: 39M, MOP for longer races but have won a few AG awards for local smaller races. Most recently I would say the bike is my strength but after kids its all been kind of a wash. I have done 3 HIMs prior, two IMs, and been doing tris for over a decade now, so I know 70.3s are my primary goal for the foreseeable future.
Sounds like fun! Just get into good habits and patterns and the fitness will come.
I don’t know if you’ve had kids in daycare before, but expect to be sick a lot for the first several months… which obviously throws a wrench into your plans when it happens.
I’d reset your goals. Training with a second kid (first 6 months) has been incredibly hard for me. I have a pretty flexible schedule but my recovery has been significantly hampered. With that said, I’d focus on building volume and keeping intensity low. Increase intensity when your volume has to decrease. Good luck!
Regardless of your tri goals or the sabbatical training camp that you set up for yourself, cherish every moment of being able to rock your child to sleep in your arms – even to hold him while he sleeps all night long. I say that as a 56 year old who was absolulety consumed with all things tri – and still love it – but my kids are almost grown, and I would give anything to have them that age again. Now, it’s awesome having them at my side on a long bike ride, or being able to coach them in the pool, but there is something about right where you are – don’t miss a moment.
Maximize volume on the run and bike, don’t worry about too much intensity, and it’s really important to be intelligent about endurance rides/runs while building volume. What you think is an appropriate “z2” pace on the bike during a 12 hour week will have you on your knees in a 20 hour week. Z1, z2, z3 have the same adaptation, just exponentially more fatigue so you’ll benefit far more from sticking to z1/z2 as opposed to z2/z3 as many try to do. RPE is king.
Getting four swims in is good. I’d worry more about frequency and freshness with your swims than doing crazy volume, focus on quality and see if you can build some speed.
Sounds like fun! Just get into good habits and patterns and the fitness will come.
I don’t know if you’ve had kids in daycare before, but expect to be sick a lot for the first several months… which obviously throws a wrench into your plans when it happens.
And by first several months they mean a never ending cycle of getting whatever sickness is currently rampaging through the daycare.
I appreciate your response as I do my best to enjoy the moments I have with my two kids, who are 2.5 and almost 0.5 years old. However, I am very much looking forward to sleeping at night again!
Good to know about Z2 volumes. I know historically people say not to increase run volume by more than 10% per week, but cycling I feel like one could increase a bit more, likely 15-20% (obviously to a certain point)? Any thoughts on the latter? And for the record I usually do 3 week builds with a one week recovery.
I think triathletes tend to decouple the sports a bit too much. Better to not increase total volume more than 10%-15%/week. Always good to assess at the end of a week how it went and use that to determine how to move forward, if you need to repeat that volume or to increase an hour or two. For what you’re trying to do, always going to be better to err on the conservative side.
Starting in a few weeks I will have a sabbatical and be able to train for a 70.3 anytime M-F from 8-5 (and probably an hour or two on Sundays). This will be taking place from Aug-Jan. Currently I am not in great shape as I just had a second kid and he doesn’t believe in sleeping without me holding him through the night, so my current training is about 5-6 hours/week (thankfully they will both be in daycare in a few weeks). I intend to do Michigan 70.3 in September of 2025 (or Traverse City if they move it).
Currently am planning to eventually get to two light weight sessions, four swim, four bikes, and four runs in per week (which will take some time to reach that point without injuring myself) and have that makeup about 20 hrs/week as I have been able to maintain that type of load prior to having kids. After January though I would only be able to do closer to 15 hrs/week. I was considering doing the Active Offseason plan on Zwift just to change it up as I’ve never tried it before but I’m open to suggestions. If not that probably do a modified metric century plan through Garmin during my 6 month break. I’ve tried TR about a decade ago and wasn’t impressed, however I am open to any suggestions.
A little about me: 39M, MOP for longer races but have won a few AG awards for local smaller races. Most recently I would say the bike is my strength but after kids its all been kind of a wash. I have done 3 HIMs prior, two IMs, and been doing tris for over a decade now, so I know 70.3s are my primary goal for the foreseeable future.
cycle more and do at least 5 bikes a week ** sleep more **
dont change the run too much