Training for shorter races after having done an Ironman

Triathlon Forum
1

How do you do it? I mean, does anyone else just get the sense that you aren’t doing enough? The past 2 years I have done a marathon and an Ironman, so there was a long, slow buildup over several months working up to ~3 hour run and a ~6 hour ride.

This coming year I am planning on doing just Olympic and Sprint distance races. Do you just do more shorter workouts? Roughly the same number of workouts when training for an IM but replace the increased duration with increased intensity? My available training hours will be roughly the same as I had available when training for IM, I’ll be able to workout twice most days and get a good long ride in each weekend.

Any suggestions for making this transition? I have decent speed (~17min 5k) but want to avoid burning out while also avoiding the feeling that I am not doing enough because my workouts aren’t as long as they used to be.

2

more speedwork?

don’t know, just guessing

3

The early season workouts between IM and Oly racing are very similair. The difference lies in the specificity now and as your racing season approaches.

4

I understand the theory of what you are saying, but could you elaborate a little bit?

As specificity approaches, should I be looking towards a small number of workouts each week with significant time spent at high intensity or more workouts with smaller amounts of time spent at a higher intensity as a part of a longer overall workout?

5

Look to the predicted paces of the legs of your sprint and Olympic distance triathlons. That should give you a place to start. You need to be abel to swim/bike/run comfortably at those paces, so your workouts need to reflect that.