Hi guys I’m following a plan High Volume Triathlon Middle distance (despite not being a top age group…) being able to train about 17 hours a week.
I noticed that there is not much difference in the Intensity workouts between mid and High; (only Bike/Run/swim aerobic sessions are added).
However, I notice that if I do Mid Volume many suggestions appear on at least 2 sports to switch to High.
What are you doing? Do you prefer to add low aerobic sessions at mid volume or “risk” High volume even if you are not from the “Top Age Group” (like me) as recommended in the settings?
Hey @Giuseppe85
I hope I understand your question.
You have a lot of time to train (17hrs) and you want to know what is the difference between mid and high volume plan. Am I somewhat correct?
I think there is nothing wrong to train so much (17 hrs is a good junk of time!) and not being an elite athlete if you enjoy and love what you are doing. More kudos to you to being able to, and having the time to do it! If you can follow the plan consistently and staying healthy, awesome!
If you change to high volume plan, you’ll find yourself deleting some sessions. If you are comfortable and confident to pick the right session to delete, change to high volume. Alternatively, just either add some time to your longer rides / runs on mid volume plan- or add a session or two. Are you strength training? I would definitely add regular sessions if you are currently not strength training.
Don’t forget to reflect on your A race day demands. What is your A race? What do you need to be able to do? Then implement some of the training to imitate race day demands. You’ll need to tweak your plan and trust the process. More is not necessarily always better if you can’t stay healthy and motivation starts to wane.
I assume you are a triathlete and that’s your main race, so I would also reflect on which discipline (swim/bike/run) is your weakest and strongest. Where do you have most to gain? How is your a race profile? Hilly? Flat and fast? Add some time into that discipline, work more on the hills, etc. If your weakest discipline is swim; add one more swim into your week on mid volume plan.
Honestly there are no right or wrong answers here and only you know the context of your life. I would say though, don’t overthink the plan. Pick the plan, do your strengths & weaknesses reflection, add a bit of duration or another session if you have time and energy, and stick to it. Fully commit and have confidence in what you are doing. You NEED to give the plan a good amount of time to work before changing it again, I would say at least 2 months before tweaking it.
You’ve got this!
Best of luck 
!
MJ
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Wow fantastic considerations! I m a triathlete Middle distance (race a on 21 October) and in 2025 IM FULL Klagenfurt (or Cervia…). I love training and I respond better to volume than to intensities; I’m a diesel and I need to feel that “overreaching limit” to evaluate the training process. I noticed that the difference with High volume is only the addition of 3/4 aerobic sessions for each discipline and this for me would be feasible also because I believe that the consistency is the
Key and train almost daily all three disciplines is right. In any case, I really care about aerobic sessions at the low limit of the Z2 and I manage to maintain the target powers in the high intensity ones. When HRV sleep quality is lowered I eliminate some bike sessions where I have a high fitness…
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Marjaana And tell me a little about yourself…what approach do you use for 70.3 or full? I also saw that you do many “Walk sessions” make sense…like
Recovery or putting volume “on the legs” or are they simply work/family commissions? 
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Hey !
Walks are a big part of my training. They are mostly with my dog Oslo. But I started using walking even before we had him. This is all @Prof ’s recommendation. Walking helps to recover, stimulates parasympathetic NS. Walking in fresh air has health benefits and as we know it all plays into staying healthy and being able to train without breaks. Consistency!
I try to walk in nature as much as possible, by a lake or in forest. I’ve always enjoyed walking but making a commitment to it wasn’t always easy. Enter Oslo: 
It’s been too hot to run with him in the mornings but as the weather cools we will do a short run instead of walk.
I follow athletica plan and make my own tweaks to make it work in my life and to match event demands to best of my ability (I don’t have hills- did all training on the trainer (bike). I put in a lot of training this summer using high volume long distance plan. Had a family vacation for 10 days in there too. I try swimming twice a week but luckily water is my friend and I can take long breaks without it setting me back too much. Swimming alone can get a bit boring sometimes though. Running is my weakest discipline and as I approach menopause I have to be careful not to overdo it as plantar fasciitis is something I struggle with. I do need to work on my running speed as I don’t want to slow down - yet!
First principle: stay healthy and that includes nutrition, sleep, strength training, mental health. With all those boxes ticked, I can focus on the details of Ironman training.
The most challenging aspect is not the training, but knowing when to back off and let my mind/body recover. Back to walking- sometimes when I feel like I’m too fatigued, a walk is low enough intensity that I can still do something - and I typically listen to meditations to maximize the impact of some ME time.
let me know if you want to double tap into anything I said.
Isn’t Oslo cute?
MJ
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I love Oslo! La
Her quality of life is very high and even though she lives in southern Italy I love
The northern European capitals!
I also prefer to train high
Volume because staying “free” without training would create more stress for me! However, I also believe that when the
Body and mind are healthy and rested respond better to me every workout! If I’m tired rather than 1 hour on the rollers or a swim I take a walk maybe listening to a podcast… Low HRV + little desire means ONLY Z1! 
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