Hey guys,
I used to be relatively fast as a pure runner. Not a world beater, but competitive in most races from the mile up to about 10k. After some injury problems, I took up Tri as a means to get back into shape and have a little more fun with my sport of choice. Fun for me is being competitive, mixing it up and racing to my ability. I don’t have the money for a coach, so I have been trying to go it alone, and I am having a little bit of trouble finding balance in my workouts.
I have been having trouble working running into my plan, so I was wondering what kind of experiences you all have had in terms of working relatively high level running into a triathlon schedule. Also, I have two ideas floating around in my head that I am curious what you all think.
First, I have been doing most of my running as brick workouts. Generally, I’ll swim 2-3 days per week, and run afterwards. I have a weekly Run Bike Run with my local tri club that I have started doing. Is there value in doing solo runs, or does it make sense to do all of my running in conjunction with other training?
Second, if I do a solo run with no other workout, does it make sense to make those runs my “quality” runs? I am relatively weak on the bike, so I try to spend my recovery days on two wheels, and just spend more time on the bike in general. If I’m doing most of my volume on the bike, do I really need easy solo runs? I suppose a long run once in a while makes sense, but all of those easy maintenance miles I used to run are now hours on the bike. Am I hurting myself by skipping those easy run only days?
Thanks for any feedback you can provide, I appreciate it.
My advice is to just run…mix it up, start building up your endurance. Sign up for a 10k or half mary… Running after your swim workouts would not be my first choice, but hay, whatever floats das boot.
I do easy runs right after swimming 2 days a week just from a time savings perspective…so for me I run 3 easy 3-4 milers, a tempo run (20-25 mins inside a 5-6 mile run) and a long run every other week of about 90-100 minutes. So 4-5 runs a week with only one with any pace. The conventional wisdom on running is in triathlon is don’t put all your eggs in a lot of long runs and increase the frequency.
For many years I only ran 3 days a week, this was OK for sprints and Olympic but always under performed on the run segment in long course racing, so I am riding a lot harder and putting in more runs.
In my experience I found got the most out of doing the quality runs on their own and only sticking easier runs after bike workouts. On these brick days, feel free to push the pace a bit immediately off the bike, but once that initial transition period where your legs feel their worst has passed I don’t think you’re getting much benefit going fast anymore. This might only be 10 minutes of tempo or less. Whatever feels right.
On the other hand, I think it would be a bad idea not to have solid race simulation brick days every once in a while. If you race a lot, just use these. If not, pretend you have a race or something once every couple of weeks maybe? I’m trying this out for myself now.
I think sticking easy runs after other workouts can be a good time efficient way of simulating high milage from a speed perspective, but it won’t help you get used to the pounding of actually running long distance… So it’s a trade-off I guess? This is all more or less trial and error stuff that’s worked for me so far. I only do sprint and olympic triathlons, I would guess some of this would be transferable to long course.
I also do 2 easy runs following swim workouts and it has worked out great for me in terms of increasing my running frequency and weekly volume.
**blueraider_mike **
May 10, 14 12:58
Post #3 of 4 (60 views)
Re: Gazelles, how do you work your run into your overall Tri training? - NEWIn reply to]Quote |Reply
I do easy runs right after swimming 2 days a week just from a time savings perspective…so for me I run 3 easy 3-4 milers, a tempo run (20-25 mins inside a 5-6 mile run) and a long run every other week of about 90-100 minutes. So 4-5 runs a week with only one with any pace. The conventional wisdom on running is in triathlon is don’t put all your eggs in a lot of long runs and increase the frequency.
For many years I only ran 3 days a week, this was OK for sprints and Olympic but always under performed on the run segment in long course racing, so I am riding a lot harder and putting in more runs.
How many workouts can you do in a week? If you can workout 2x day, then 4 swim, 4 bike (including one or two long rides) and 5-6 runs works well. Probably only one “speed” workout especially with your background. You run more because a higher percent is “easy” running. Nearly every swim and bike has some to a lot of quality.