Allen’s training approach was to divide his year into three phases (Allen 1996 table 6.27). The first phase would begin in January after two months of rest in November and December following the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon, which is contested on the first Saturday in October closest to the appearance of the new moon During the first phase, his Patience Phase, Allen combined aerobic training with weight training. This period would last three months. During this time, he would not train at a heart rate in excess of that allowed by the Maffetone formula, which was about 150 beats per minute during the last five years of his career. During this period of training, he was swimming 21 km per week, cycling 500 km per week, and running for 6 hours (approximately 90 km) per week. Thus, his total endurance training time was about 27 hours per week during this period. Allen would also undertake two strength training workouts each week but would always leave at least two clays between sessions.
I won’t even touch the whole Maffetone formula (not worth it) but I can’t help to ask how many AGers train as much as Allen did? If you can achieved that much load via volume I think it makes perfect sense limiting intensity but if you can’t do so you have to bring up it up by adding some intensity. How much or how intense it will depend on each athlete fitness level, needs, goals, limiters, etc. but IMO to assume all AGers should follow this ‘base phase’ (“patience phase”) because it worked for Allen is misleading at best and a poor ROI for AGers in general…