I’ve been contemplating starting Athletica for duathlon plans (not a paying member yet) but noticed that there isn’t a single R/B/R session in the plan. It’s only planning some runs off the bike. Are they just triathlon plans without the swim?
Hi @jonathan.naim,
While the triathlon plans form the foundation for the duathlon plans, the duathlon plans are separate to the triathlon plans. The purpose of the plan should be to enhance the neuromuscular control to enable you to expose your potential in both running and cycling. Both the running workouts (strength endurance, hill reps) and the strength training sessions work towards enhancing your neuromuscular control (running economy) and lower ‘jelly legs’ perception typically experienced when running after cycling. Likewise, the greater your neuromuscular control during running the better off you’ll be during cycling. Whether performing neuromuscular demanding eccentric exercises (running and plyometrics) before concentric based cycling exercise enhances duathlon performance is not clear cut. To me, and this in line with our HIIT Science philosophy, we want to isolate the key targets of training. For cycling, its the metabolic conditioning that’s key - let’s not jeopardize that. For running, its more the neuromuscular issue (stretch shortening cycle, stiffness, muscle damage) that we want to limit - hence the structure. Happy to be proven wrong and always more than one way to skin the cat but that’s our currently line of thinking. Happy to hear other’s thoughts.
Best,
Paul
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