I’ve had to cut down on my training time significantly due to a busy stretch at work and a new baby at home. I’m only able to get in 4-6 hours a week right now. I feel like trying to get in one or two workouts in each sport is really doing nothing for that particular sport. I’ve been afraid of losing my running base, so I been concentrating more on my run and have gone sometimes two weeks in a row without even swimming. I’m racing an IM in July. With limited time, should I be focusing on one sport more than another? Is taking a long break in one sport more costly than in another? Help!
No help at all??? Let me ask it another way. If you had to completely eliminate all training in one sport for 4 weeks and all training in another sport for 2 weeks which would you choose?
I can’t speak for you, but when I take time off of running that suffers more than time off of the bike or time out of the pool. As little as 2-3 weeks from running makes it very tough to get running again, whereas a couple weeks off of the bike or out of the pool isn’t as penalizing.
But, that’s just me. I don’t know if there is any science behind it, but FWIW running is also my weakest leg of the tri.
I think running definately suffers more, both cycling and swimming you can ramp up your fitness in a relatively short amount of time with high volume early. Running fitness has to be gained more slowly due to risk of injury and overtraining.
MC
Your asking a tough question.
Personally for me I would concentrate on the Bike and Run. I think a 4 week break from running is way to long. You can probably maintain most of your biking thru 20 - 30 mins of leg stregnth training and IMHO your biking probably comes back the fastest…but you probably have most to gain from biking.
Without any knowledge of your fitness level and strengths in these area’s it will be really hard to make a recommendation.
Now, on a side note. I’m assuming from your screen name that you have celiac…or at least have someone close that does. Does your diet affect your training…do you need to take iron supplements. My dad has it.
I guess this may be one of questions that is best answered: “it depends” I would think that there is probably some absolute truths out there about this for most all people. I have been sticking with the running, because I agree with most that this would be harder to get back after a long break.
I actuallydo not have Celiac disease, but my wife and daughter do. We ahve been very active in supporting the University of Chicago Celiac disease program by using triathlon as a means to promote awareness and raise funds. PM me if you want to chat more about it, i enjoy hearing from others who know something about CD. BTW, neither of them take iron supplements.
Is IM in July a great idea with limited training time? Maybe you would be happier training for something shorter?
If you’ve got a decent swim background, you can pretty much half ass or eliminate pool time entirely for it, and bluff your way through race day on technique alone.
I think it would be the one that you are least efficient/effective at.
For me I can take time off from swimming and catch back up but I need to run regularly to be any good at it.
Andrew
for me swimming comes back very quickly, biking almost as fast. Running is the one that suffers most from a break in training, in my experience. It’s convenient that running is also the easiest workout to get in…
One or two workouts/week in a sport can maintain fitness, but there’s not much chance of building fitness. I’ve been racing on one workout/week in each sport for some time, but it’s caught up with me now…
Yes, that’s a thought, but while I’m not fast, I’ve got a decent base and this limited training time will soon get better. Work will slow down inthe next week or two and by May and June I should be able to get back to 12-18 hrs/wk. Besides, at this point in time giving up a slot for IMLP is out of the question!!!
Try this, don’t take away that much training time in any of the 3. Try workouts whenever you can get them in and make them as efficient as possible, at lunchtime, early mornings, evenings and even in the middle of the night. Sure you’ll get less sleep, but it’s a trade off. How important is it to do well at your Half?
I would try to keep your run frequency up as high as possible.
You can probably maintain most of your biking thru 20 - 30 mins of leg stregnth training and IMHO your biking probably comes back the fastest…but you probably have most to gain from biking.
Interesting theory. What kind of leg strength training are you talking about that will maintain bike fitness? And how often would one have to do this 20-30 mins of "leg strength training" to maintain said bike fitness?
You can alternate.
Here is a very basic to give an idea example assuming 6 hours/week
Week 1: 1h swimming. 1h biking. 4h running
Week 2: 1h swimming. 3h biking. 2h running
Week 3: 2h running. 1.5h biking. 2.5h running
Then repeat.
Fred.
I know… find the time. Believe me, I’m pretty maxed out. My 3 month old is having some health problems and I’m usually up with her a couple times a night, then get up around 4:30 to get a short workout in. Leave for work around 6:15 and get home around 6:30pm. Eat, play with my 4 year old and off to bed early because we’ll all so exhausted. I’m not trying to lay out a sob story, but I’m not going to give up the few minutes I have with my family inthe evening. I have been trying to get up early and squeeze something in during the day. Just wanted to hear from others about how I should be spending this limited time. Sounds like the consensus is stick withthe running because it seems to be the hardest to get back. Thanks for the advice.