Also spending a lot of time at Z3+ may make it harder to complete all of your workouts.ДЇor me I was getting to the point where I did not look forward to the run training. Z3 works, just not nearly as well as the easy/hard approach. Instead they spend a lot of time at Z3 type levels. The problem most age grouper have is they donвЂ™t go easy enough on the easy runs and then they donвЂ™t go hard enough on the hard runs. Then a small portion 20% or less at fast hard levels Z5. The research that I have read at PubMed indicates that the best training gains come from spending a majority of time at easy or Z1 type levels. Notice the huge difference in the amount of time spent running at slower paces in my prior run training. They cover the same period of days 2 years apart. Specifically what bothered me was my run training. Additionally I was not enjoying my training as much. What happened next is not so exciting, 2 months of additional training yielded virtually no change. I thought this was great and was impressed. In a period of one month, my next test results pegged my speeds at my previous best in race shape times. My paces for training were dictated by the test results. Did a 800 yard swim, a 15 mile time trial, and a 5K run. My training began 10/7 after I had completed a timed test in each of the disciplines. The result of the decision was that while I was in decent shape, I was nowhere near race shape. I had decided to go easy on myself and wait until I aged up to the 60-64 bracket in 2014 to work hard.

I did continue to train but at a reduced volume for the year. I had stopped normal training after my late April half IM race. I took coaching from a firm that believes in the Train fast in the off-season and then add far in the race season.

Recently I thought I would try the alternative approach. If you read through my running pages you can see that I advocate a lot of zone 1 zone 2 run training. It was a good deal warmer during the run. The weather was a little warmer in 2014 that 2012. I never got into that zone where my breathing gets labored/panting. i have developed a pretty good sense of my heart rate while biking/running. I went completely by perceived exertion and perceived heart rate. I had no idea of my speed or distance while riding. My Garmin died during the swim so I had to bike without any feedback on pace (donвЂ™t own a power meter). I had trained вЂњharderвЂќ for 2012 than 2014 but the results show 2014 was a better ride. I think comparing 2012 to 2014 provides a pretty good comparison.

The temperature at the end of my ride was about 56. Even with that the first half of the ride was pretty miserable. The 2013 event started the swim at 40 degrees and the bike leg began at about 44 degrees.В I took the time top do thoroughly, put on arm warmers, gloves, socks, and a wind vest. The results from 2013 are out of norm due to the extreme cold on that day. My times for the biking leg of the 3 events were The key issue is вЂњdid the plan improve my performanceвЂќ. I went with a 2 week taper and could probably have done a 1 week taper. The plan has a 3 week taper that i think is a little bit excessive. Weekly volume ranges from 4 to 5 hours for the non rest weeks. The plan covers 12 weeks andВ follows a 3 hard week 1 easy week format. Later sessions are more endurance around FTP. The earlier sessions involve a good deal of work above FTP. I found the training sessions to be challenging. This would be my third year participating in this event so I would be able to compare the bike results with my prior attempts. I decided to use this plan for my preparations for the Chattahoochee challenge in Columbus, GA that took place recently on 4/26/14. Trainer Road recently added a training plan for the half iron man distance. I use it in conjunction with my Computrainer and do most of my training in my basement. I have been a Trainer Road subscriber since January 2012.