[Ajohnston10]

I purchased your “80/20 Triathlon: 2020 Edition IRONMAN® Level 3 (Pace and Power, 7 to 19 Hours per Week)” 23 week program at the start of the year to build into the LAKESMAN event held on 21st June 2020. As you can expect, this event has now been postponed due to the evolving COVID19 situation.

I am trying to identify an event later in the year to enter and have found a possible alternative event which is due to be held on 23rd August 2020 (at the moment the event is going ahead as planned).

I’m currently finishing week 10 of the program as normal but wanted to reach out to you to get your recommendations and feedback as to how I should continue the training if the event date is pushed out to 23rd August.

My initial though are:

Option 1) After this 3 week cycle I am currently in the middle of ends (05 April), move into a “maintenance” phase for 9 weeks before picking up the current training plan where I left off to build into the event (11 weeks). What sort of volume would you expect in the maintenance phase?

Option 2) Complete the remainder of this program (excluding the x2 taper weeks), have a couple weeks rest/recovery then build into an additional smaller 9 week program?

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[David Warden]

A.

Thanks for posting on the forums.

Both options are reasonable, but I have a third option I expect will work best.

Start your Maintenance phase now, cut your losses, and take a couple of week easy. Could be the formal 80/20 Maintenance plan (~7-8 hours a week), or, just a couple of weeks of 2-4 hours a week. Let your body reset, build a recovery firewall. Then, start the Level 3 plan again, as you’ll be about 20 weeks out from August 27.

Yes, your volume will be lower than what you were doing in Week 10, and it might feel like a step backwards. But, the thing about fitness is that it can’t build indefinitely. Inevitably, you have to reset just a bit. Use the lower-volume part of the first 10 weeks of the plan to destroy those intervals, aim for the upper end of all zones, and you’ll gain new base speed as a result of the reset which will propel you into the more endurance-focused specific phase of the second half of the plan.

David

[Ajohnston10]

Hi David,

Appreciate the feedback! I like the sound of this option. I guess we need to look at the positive with cancelled races as it gives us more time to improve! Onwards and upwards!!

If i re-set the end date for the 23 week program to Aug 23rd and I take the next two weeks off, the first week back into the program lands on a recover week (Week 4 of the program). should I just pick up there and re-do my FTP testing to reset my zones or extend the first week to make the first block a 5 week cycle?

Thanks,
Ally

[David Warden]

Ally, I recommend picking right up on Week 4, in the rest week and do the testing. It’s advantageous to know your current zones right away anyway. Additionally, the Maintenance plan will provide more than enough to prepare you to jump into Week 4 of any plan.

David

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