[Marius T]

Hi all,

Need advice, please!

I want to implement a DYI reverse periodization for this off season.

And I’m thinking to do the firsts weeks (general phase) of an 80/20 triathlon plan, for e.g.:
– choose level 1 full ironman program
– choose weeks 1-3 and repeat them twice
– choose weeks 4-6 and repeat them twice
and so on .. till is time to ramp up the volume for competition and do the “race specific phase” of the program.

Any advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you,
Marius

[David Warden]

Marius, it’s a reasonable solution. The risk is training on a formal IM plan for more than 24 weeks, which is the upper end of our recommendation for non-stop training. I think an equally good or better solution is to train less formally (using our Maintenance, Goal Focused plans) and then 22 weeks out start the IM Level 1 plan.

But, that’s me being conservative. Your approach also works.

Another solution is to choose the Level 0 plan for your repeat of weeks 1-6, which is less stressful, then move to Level 1 for the specific phase. I’d feel better about that than 30+ weeks of the Level 1 plan.

David

[Bstarr]

David,

Are you saying that you shouldn’t train formally for more than 24 weeks without a break?

I just started a L1 tri maintenance plan and was going to roll into a level 1 tri plan for a late May race. That looks to be 30 straight weeks of training. How should I combine these? Are the maintenance plans designed such that this is not a problem.

[David Warden]

B, yes, we recommend no more than 24 weeks of formal event training at time. So things like IM, 70.3 Marathon, 10K… etc would fall into this category. Plans like Maintenance, Goal Focused, Racing Weight would not be considered a “formal” event plan. Therefore, I’d not count your Maintenance plan towards that 24-week recommendation.

But, that’s just a recommendation. For some athletes, it’s 20 weeks, for others it’s 30 weeks. The bottom line is that there needs to be an upper limit for each athlete before a conscious, structured break is added to the season.

David

[gmp]

Good evening. That sort of segues into a question I had. I just came off a half-m plan and put a maintenance plan in my calendar. The half plan maxes out at 2 hour endurance runs. The maintenance drops all the way back to 40 minutes (the level I have, anyway). It seems a little discouraging to not have the one long run in there. Would it be wrong to eliminate one of the other foundation runs during the week and keep the weekend long run longer so as not to possibly lose that endurance gained in the half training? Put differently, would you consider total weekly TSS to be the important thing about going into a maintenance phase and not overdoing it? Thanks.

[David Warden]

G,

That’s a reasonable solution to maintain a higher longest run. You’re trading a bit of Frequency (from 6 to 5 runs a week) for Specificity (fitness for longer distances). Another solution is to just add 30 minutes to your “long” run to ensure you’re getting the long workout you want/need. Sort of like taking a Level 1 plan and making it a Level 1.3 plan.

Total weekly TSS is an acceptable measure, but of course, it can’t measure things like Frequency and Specificity. You could perform 200 TSS a day for 3 days in a row for a weekly average of 600 TSS and on paper be amazing but in reality be fried and out of shape.

See https://www.8020endurance.com/performance-management-chart-is-lying-to-you/ for a complete review of how to interpret and use your PMC.

David

[Author]

Posts