I have always trained how I feel and finally would like to see what I am capable of. So, I am reading through TTB and making a training program for me for an upcoming Half IM. Quick question, when scheduling hard days I know from my running days to never schedule two in a row. However, in the world of tri does it still hold true? Case in point, there’s a killer hill by my house I have used many times for running hill sprints, I could also use it for cycling hills. However, if I do those hard can they be done back to back days? Or does that seriously increase a risk of injury. Same for any type of speedwork. I have done ample speed work for the run but need to mix it up on my bike now.
Accept in tri training, in order to get three quality workouts in each discipline in you can’t avoid doing back to back. At least alternate running with swim, or bike at least.
Back to back hard days can be done and are fairly necessary if you are doing running and cycling. The key is finding the right effort on both days. You need to know your capabilities well and tailor your workout so that you can accomplish both days and then train the day after as well. For me, I’ve set up my week this way:
Mon run with threshold 2x15 minutes
Tues recovery run plus ride threshold 6x6 minutes at threshold
Wed recovery run
Thur run plus ride V02 6-7 x 3 minutes at V02 pace
Fri–long run plus 3x3 minutes fast pace
Sat run plus ride 2-3 x 20 min tempo/ 12 min threshold
The total riding is about 4 hours and the run is 6 hours. It has taken me quite a while to figure out what efforts are correct so that I can do each training day during the week and maintain it over the course of a long season and into the winter. In mid-Nov I went out on a Monday for my threshold run and got a little excited, running way too fast/hard. The next day I was unable to do my cycling workout and then by Thursday I was feeling sick. After that experience I went out and measured distances and spraypainted the road so that I could run my speed days at very specific paces. On the bike the power meter is very invaluable in maintaining a steady and progressive approach to training. Without it, I really overdid it in the past.
There are sort-of-hard workouts then there are REAL hard workouts.
The REAL hard workouts create a drain on your body systemically (central nervous system). There is probably no good reason to put 2 of those back to back.
The sort-of-hard workouts can be put together in 2 day blocks, but you need to make sure you recover sufficiently. So if 1 hard workout required 2-3 days of easy stuff to recover from, then your back to back hard days might require 3-4.
You can put back to back hard cycling days together for 2,3,4 days but you will want to be careful about running after that.
It’s harder to overtrain in swimming and cycling than in running. In the first 2 you end up getting a bit systemically drained. In running, you will become ‘fragile’ and prone to an injury. And lots of hard cycling without recovery can lead to running injury IMO.
I don’t think a hard swim workout is going to be an issue and you can do those even on the same day as a hard workout in the other sport. But that’s only true unless you are a stud swimmer and a ‘hard’ swim workout to you means 10k.
Sometimes volume itself can constitue a ‘hard’ workout. like a 15+ mile run or an 80+ mile ride… You don’t want to place workouts like those back to back with an intense workout.