One KEY part that I left out of my previous "Faking the bike leg" was how hard I was working in the short amount of time that I had after deciding to race the Music City Tri.
One method of training that I swore against as a beginner triathlete was anything that was indoors. I hated the treadmill and hated the trainer. I even found an outdoor lap pool after 2 years in the sport and that made me not like my regular swimming pool for a while. But I soon realized that most outdoor pool's water temperature is much warmer and increase my suffering during a hard swim.
Sometimes, I still feel like I am being "weak" when I resort to the treadmill during the summer on a hot day but have been able to accept it more than I could 10 years ago. I realized earlier this summer that my easy days were no longer easy. I would jog for 30-45 minutes @ 9 min/mile pace and my HR was North of 150. For an easier run, I like my HR to stay in the low 130's or lower if possible. On a treadmill, I was able to run a little closer to my "regular" pace and maintain a lower HR. On my workout days, I could run hard in a cool 72-75 degree gym as opposed to the 90+ degree heat with 98% humidity that was waiting for me outside. My water bottle and phone could sit on the treadmill in front of me and I could actually hydrate a little better compared to my running outside.
On the bike, the trainer is my main tool. I ride outside every once in a while just to make sure I remember how to, but 9 out of 10 rides is on the trainer. I own a computrainer and use Zwift with my computrainer. This allows me to virtually compete against anyone else that is online at the time on a virtual course. My "smart" trainer will make it harder on uphills and easier on downhills. It is still a trainer in the sense that I cannot coast, but it does get easy on some of those downhills.
Here are a few of the key workouts that I did leading into the MCT. Keep in mind these are not my only bike rides, these are just a few of the key workouts. I was doing at least 2x ez rides and a few other workouts that weren't as crucial.
Here was my initial ride to get a feel for my HR vs Power and see what I was capable of. This was just a 1 hour ride on Zwift pushing some of the hills but otherwise just riding in high zone 2. Test ride
-Here I did a Mountain climb on Zwift averaging roughly 250 watts for 35 ish minutes Climb
-This was a 1 lap @ HR around 147-150 then another mountain climb. Hot lap + Mountain
-Here is my 2x25@RP that I do every once in a while. 1 lap on this Zwift course was right around a 25 min effort for me so I just did that twice. I did both hard @ about my current "race pace" with only 5 minutes easy between. This ride made it difficult to walk the rest of the day. I was barely able to turn the pedals over at 140 watts for a cooldown.
-This was my final Race Week Prep workout where I rode above race pace effort/wattage just to make race pace feel easier. I didn't go too long or try to push too hard. I could have gone harder, but that would have only taken away from Race day only 6 days later.
Some days I'll make sure to stay off of Zwift if I'm riding easy. I find myself racing other athletes when I'm supposed to be going easy. So I just use the "erg" mode on the computrainer and put in on a low zone 2 power and spin at 85-95 cadence as that helps flush out my legs. This kind of ride was great on an afternoon where I had performed a hard run that morning. Really helped me with recovery. I would typically feel much better the next morning.
Hope this helps give you an idea of the kind of stuff that needs to be done when you are strapped for time. I wasn't riding 10+ hours a week like I know a lot of people do. I was riding at least 3 times a week and making sure that 2x a week had some HARD efforts included.
T
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