I used athletica for the last 7 months in preparation for my 70.3 that I recently did. I liked the structure of the training but wondering if there is an option to focus in on one sport in particular while maintaining the other three. My swim is solid. My run is slowly improving. However, I feel like I have a lot of room for improving my bike. However, in the program, it seemed like most of my rides were geared at building endurance based on the testing I did at the beginning so it kept me dialed in at the same power levels, just increasing the time of the workouts (and I understand the reasoning behind that). Going forward, it would be nice to focus on improving my bike while continuing to mix in swimming and running. How would I best go about doing this? Do I just keep up my tri training routine and just try to increase the bike power zones ever so often? Is there another option within athletica?
Hello, and congratulations on finishing the 70.3!
That’s a great question. I’d say to keep up your tri program, and add volume and sets to your training. So if you have a 3x7 30/30 session, you might do four or five sets. And if you have an hour aerobic endurance session, you might make it 90 minutes. Obviously, you should build up slowly to increased volumes; don’t go from hour-long aerobic rides to three in one week! But I’m sure you know that already.
Another option is to occasionally substitute a ride for a run since both target aerobic fitness. You might do a tempo ride in place of cruise intervals or whatever kind of workout is given to you that day.
What’s your next event?
Hi @raven1462 … I echo @SimpleEnduranceCoach 's comments and would also encourage you to see whether there is a GranFondo type event within striking distance. Then do the cycling all-rounder one day event program for this and also schedule a few run and swim sessions each week to keep you ticking over. In my experience and probably @SimpleEnduranceCoach’s, you really make gains with lots and lots of riding that will stay with you the rest of your triathlon career. Its also fairly low impact relative to running so you can maintain the higher load/volume if you have the time to put into it.
Replace Aerobic Run with Bike, increase the volume of individual bike rides (ATHLETICA will understand that you support more volume on the bike and adapt it!) and
Set a higher volume in Bike!
Thanks, appreciate the suggestions. This was my 3rd 70.3 but first using athletica and my main race for the year because of life schedule (probably just a sprint towards the end of summer for fun). I am aiming for another 70.3 next year with outside hopes of grabbing a slot for worlds as I age into the 50 yo group. I think my best chance of that is improving my bike portion. @SimpleEnduranceCoach - appreciate the suggestion. I think working on sets within bike workouts is a good option. When I was hitting the longer weeks, my long ride would often have an hour warm up and then 3 or 4 main sets which were never overly taxing so maybe cutting back some on warm up to add a set is one thing to look at. This was my third year of dedicated middle distance training so have been pretty comfortable getting up to about 16 hr weeks max in my last build with about 50% of that bike.
@Prof I should probably also consider working toward a bike event, in addition to building my ability to hold higher power for longer, I need to work on my outdoor riding skills. I manage, but on a weekend like this past with 90degree heat and 15-20 mph winds with gusts, I spent a lot of energy trying to stay upright. Unfortunately, the weather and lack of safe bike paths near me is a big limiting factor, so mostly confined to trainer.
@Giuseppe85 Thanks for pointing out the slider, had not come across that yet so I will play around with it in my off season to help focus a little more on the bike.
Sounds like all good plans, @raven1462. I would make sure you keep those long rides easy. As we heard from Dr. Phil Maffetone on the Athlete’s Compass podcast, doing zone 1 and 2 easy workouts are gold. I’d do all of your non-interval days as long easy rides to build your aerobic capacity and endurance.