Hey I am in need of some advice. I have never been particularly good at my bike leg in triathlon and am looking at getting faster this season. One of my main goals is to break 30 minutes in a 20k bike leg of a triathlon I am doing late in the season. I am looking for advice as to how to train for this. What kind of base do I need? Weekly long bike (distance)? Weekly milage? What kind of workouts? Rides per week? Please keep in mind I’ll be running and swimming as well. Last year on very inconsistent bike training I split 1:16 in an oly and the year before that (my first year on a bike) I went 15 and change in a 10k time trial, that year I also split a 2:55 in a half im. So hopefully I can get some tips, key workouts, and advice from you guys.
How far, how often, and how intense? I was thinking 75 miles weekly easy-moderate? I did about 4 100milers last year…should I do those again? If so when in the season?
2.Hilly rides or hill repeats. I think I can find some pretty challenging stuff around here, although not very hilly high elevaion stuff. So does this mean doing my 30-40 mile rides just along a hilly route? hammer up hills or keep an even effort throughout the ride?
ok
4.ok, I should be able to get to the course a couple of times over the summer.
The amount of training required to get you a 25mph average over 20k will depend a lot on your current ability on the bike. It will also depend a lot on the course, if its a hilly technical course in windy conditions you would need to be able to ride a 26-27mph or better average on the flat.
For olympic distances training at your target pace you can probably get away with 3-4 rides per week with a total 4-6 hours on the bike. In that time I like to mix it up with tempo, strength, long and steady.
Assuming you’re not including T1 and T2, one or both of which are usually included in the bike time, there’s a few things you can do:
Bag the swim and run. Use the swim to warm up your muscles, go balls out on the bike, leaving nothing for the run. You may not want to do this, but it makes it a lot easier to go fast on the bike.
Hills, hills and more hills. Even if it’s a flat course, hills build up the strength you need to push big gears.
Longer rides. 20k is long enough that you need a good recruitment of slow twitch muscles.
Interval sessions. Same as running, builds up speed and stamina.
Increase your cadence. Aim for 90rpm or higher.
Other tips that may or may not apply include buying time by buying technology (tri bike, disc wheel, etc.) and losing some weight, while maintaining power. You may already be set-up in this way, in which case, focus on the other tips.
The course is advertised as “flat and very fast- in the park area.” It is seaside so it may be windy. Can you elaborate in “my current ability”? I have been doing about 3 rides a week of 30-60 mins. I actually just started with this for 2 weeks so far. I’m just trying to get the muscles used to biking again. long and steady…so is this moderate pace and how far? tempo…how long 5k, 10k? rest? strength…hills?speed work?
Split will not include transition times. I need a pretty good swim, but I’ve never been taxed from a good swim. I’m confident I will run good off of any effort on the bike. Can you give specifics on interval stuff? I will be renting race wheels and will be on a roadbike, but that is the best I can do.
thanks joonya
unfortunately I have to go to practice and can’t reply for a little but so far thank you everyone and keep the tips coming.
You need to raise the power you are capable of putting out at your functional anaerobic threshold. The best workouts to do this typically involve long intervals at ~90% of your maximum capabilities. For example, I do 2 20-minute intervals with 5 minute rest at slightly below my maximum capabilities. I also like to do hour long intervals in the 85-90% of maximum range. Do you train with a HR monitor or Power Meter? If so, the first type of workout would be a Zone 4 according to Friel and the second would be Zone 3.
You need to get aero. I assume you already have at least a decent bike with aerobar. Buy/beg/borrow/steal a set or aero wheels that includes a disc wheel, and an aero helmet if possible. Make sure you are low if you aren’t there already. This may take a gradual approach, a lot of stretching, and changing stems/spacers/etc on your bike.
Do not overtrain. This is the biggest mistake that everyone makes. Every year I train less, and every year I gain ~5% power at AT/VO2. Your body has to recover from hard workouts. If you are doing more than 3 interval-type workouts/week total, you are probably doing too much. You can do a lot of endurance/Z2 though. Make sure to take rest weeks. Read Friel for details.
All that being said, make sure your goal is realistic . . . sub 30-min 20k is not something typically achieved by novices to cycling, let alone triathletes in the middle of a race. If you did a 1:16 for a 40k last year without extenuating circumstances (mountain on the course, 40mph winds, etc) the amount of improvement you need to do sub-30min is probably not feasible unless you are remarkably talented.
i agree with the posts about aerobic threshold workouts. i went 2:30 for the HIM, but cannot break 30 mins for 20k. the average speed over both distances is the same, but i don’t have the anaerobic power and threshold endurance to push the higher speeds for the needed time.
the long riding is needed to build the base for the threshold workouts, then ride those ones and throw in some hill work for power.
craig walton wrote an article a couple years ago in tri mag about riding his long ride at 25km/h, but his 30 min tt’s during the week at 50km/h. lots of threshold work.
i agree with the posts about aerobic threshold workouts. i went 2:30 for the HIM, but cannot break 30 mins for 20k. the average speed over both distances is the same
2:30 for 56 miles is 22.4mph; 30:00 for 20K is 24.8mph. That might explain some of it…
yes…what i meant is that i hold 36km for the HIM split, but have problems getting above 37-38 for even 20-30k. can’t get it over 40 and sustain it for 30 minutes.
Miles, miles and more miles. At least, that worked for me last year when I did exactly what you mentioned and averaged 25 mph on a 14-mile bike split. I managed to increase my miles significantly over the winter of 04-05 and in the spring I was stronger than ever before. I didn’t do any intervals. If you have hills, ride them often and practice spinning over the top in smaller gears rather than hammering out of the seat. Long rides are good–I went up to six hours last spring–even when your race will only last 30 minutes on the bike. Long climbs are good as well since they help you to ride a high-end aerobic pace for long periods.
Be careful of intervals, if you do decide to do them because they can wipe you out for the more important aerobic volume. They also have a very finite time frame that you will improve before plateauing. Not so with lots of aerobic volume. You can keep building for years.
I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, or be a jerk…
But I am reading a lot of “Volume.” “Miles.” “Go Long…” type advice here.
I’m calling BS. The dude want’s to go (moderately) fast for 1/2 hour. How on God’s green earth does that call for lots and lots of mileage?
Specificity, folks. You will not get fast at a 20k TT effort by futzing out the 6 hour centuries.
Go with the 2x20’s, and given the shortness of your intended goal, bust out regularly scheduled 30 min. TT efforts. You want to get good at this, so get good at this.
If you want to ride long for fun, well hell - ride long. But don’t make it a mainstay of your training. Spend your time developing the ability to ride at the intensity and duration you want to excel at.
There is a very good argument to be made that you can develop significant endurance for very long efforts just through the “classic” 2x20 and similar “tempo” excercises. Given this, it seems a no-brainer that for an event duration as short as 20k, you can’t go too far wrong working largely in this range of duration, and certainly it isn’t necessary to do much, if any, work on really long or century type efforts.
I don’t want to rain on anybody’s parade, or be a jerk…
But I am reading a lot of “Volume.” “Miles.” “Go Long…” type advice here.
I’m calling BS. The dude want’s to go (moderately) fast for 1/2 hour. How on God’s green earth does that call for lots and lots of mileage?
Why do you hate mileage? Oh, sorry, wrong forum. Carry on.
(by the way, I agree 100%. I broke an hour for 40K in 2004 by doing intervals; probably didn’t go over 100 miles per week more than a couple of times.)
Sounds good. I like the 2x20min. I do not train by HR or have a power meter…My capabilities do not extend beyond cadence and speed/dist.
I plan to rent wheels for this race.
3.Interesting here. No more then 3 hard workouts/week. Is this just biking or all three sports together? Say 2 hard bikes and 2 hard runs. Or possibly 2 hard bikes with a run workout after and 1 run workout after an easier bike per week?
I am in much better shape and have a different attitude toward training this year.(not to say i’m going to be exceptionally better this year, but I plan on vast improvements )