I decided I am going to try and run 6-7x per week this offseason to improve my run. Just curious what others think of maintaining swim and bike. I was thinking of alternating weeks - where 1 week I would swim twice and bike once, and then bike twice and swim once the other week. Do you think 3 workouts every 2 weeks or so is enough to decently maintain a solid enough base in swim and bike? Or should I aim for 2 per week (or more) in each?
It depends on your current ability in those disciplines, and your goals.
I did this recently…used an offseason to focus hard on my weak leg (running) while parking an already FOP swim & bike firmly in maintenance mode. That meant 3 swims a week 'cos swimming (for me) still requires decent frequency, and up to 3 rides…the latter had always come easier for me, so if I could only pull off 1 or 2 sessions I wasn’t worried.
To answer your question, no I don’t think 3 sessions total (between swim/bike) per week is quite enough.
2 rides do some intervals in each ride once in the 3-5min range once in the 8-10 min range, keep each ride <60min.
2 swims one with intervals ~50-100 the other with 200-300 swim ~2000 each.
Run 7-10x instead of 6-7x.
6-7x is what most FOP Agers are already doing…lin season.
Great answer DD, and thanks! I’ll be doing the same thing … . . working on my run (want a BQ - 5 min) 7-10x week, but don’t wanna lose my swim and bike (AGAIN) this year lol. Having to rebuild my 2 strengths (swim/bike) each late winter is not working.
Over the past 5 years, I don’t bike or swim during the off season Oct-Mar. Running (x5) and resistance training (x2) only. I’ve noticed it takes me about 6-weeks to get them (swim & bike) back up to my standard. If I took 6 months off running, it would take me 3 months (~15 weeks) to ramp back up to my standard.
I would suggest fairly unstructured swim and bike workouts, say two each per week. Keep it fun and mix it up. You will have plenty of time once you ramp up your season to get more structure to your swimming and biking. I would be reluctant to only swim every other week, unless you are a very accomplished swimmer. Swimming requires so much feel and technique that I think needs to be maintained for most of the year. You could always dial back the the distance per workout, but I would stay in the water. If you feel that the biking is getting in the way of your running improvement you could cut that back a bit.
I plan on performing Jorge’s winter training plan for maintenance. It’s a 15 week program with 4 workouts per week. There are two key workouts per week ( workout 1 and 3 ). I plan on doing these two workouts each week. The writer of the workouts said to use these two if you’re just going for bike maintenance.
I did the 15 week plan last winter doing workout 1, 2, and 3 each week. Saw some good gains.
A lot of variety in the training plan which I think is good for the off season when I’ll be on the trainer. Just shooting out an option for you.
I plan on performing Jorge’s winter training plan for maintenance. It’s a 15 week program with 4 workouts per week. … The writer of the workouts said to use these two if you’re just going for bike maintenance.
I have done the plan and it is great. But it isn’t just maintenance, it will build your FTP. It’s usually 1 longish ride (2+ hours), 2 at threshold (4x10, 2x20…) and a 4th workout.
Is a weekly TSS score something that can be used to target ? Would a TSS of say 300 be reasonable for maintaining (no gain nor loss).
I have done the plan and it is great. But it isn’t just maintenance, it will build your FTP. It’s usually 1 longish ride (2+ hours), 2 at threshold (4x10, 2x20…) and a 4th workout.
Is a weekly TSS score something that can be used to target ? Would a TSS of say 300 be reasonable for maintaining (no gain nor loss).
The guy who put together the workout plan suggested only doing workout 1 and 3 for maintenance. That would keep you under a TSS of 200.