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Special Events - General Ironman A + A training

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shmiggins

Level 5 Valued Member
Hello all,

I have been toying with the idea of commencing half Ironman training again after nearly 1 year off. I am going to start with a 3 month block of strength building with kettlebells and low heart rate base building aerobic exercise. Tapering off the strength as the volume on the aerobic work increases, but recovery will determine this.

My question is, has anyone experimented with A +A style sprints with running and cycling? And any effect they have had on your overall training? I was thinking a 5-10 second sprint and recover with talk test in between, once a week for both running and cycling. I wanted to load In the volume slowly up to a peak 4 weeks before the race then do 2 or 3 all out workout sessions to get lactic acid buffering at maximum. This is all a general overview and I don't have a date set for a race, more than likely over a year out.

Any feedback on the A + A sprints would be much appreciated.

Thank you all
 
I've played around with short sprints OTM. I think I did a couple 2x10min. Found them enjoyable but can't speak for how effective they would be for a Half.

Few questions... Have you done much sprinting the bike? You plan on using a TT/Tri bike for these sessions? And do you have a power meter?

Depending on your size and power you might wear out your drive chain pretty quickly.
 
I've played around with short sprints OTM. I think I did a couple 2x10min. Found them enjoyable but can't speak for how effective they would be for a Half.

Few questions... Have you done much sprinting the bike? You plan on using a TT/Tri bike for these sessions? And do you have a power meter?

Depending on your size and power you might wear out your drive chain pretty quickly.
Hey man,

Yes I have done sprinting on my bike with power meters before but they have always been longer sprints of 30 to 60 seconds which doesn't fit in with my values anymore. My power would get to around 450 watts for a sprint. I was planning on doing 10 second sprints uphill in medium gearing and not using the power meter, but may be beneficial.

I don't have a tri bike and am not planning on getting one at this stage, but saying this I want to use the drop bars in a sitting position with my sprints to develop power. The reason behind the hill training is that the ironman I want to complete has the highest elevation on the ocean circuit, so need to build my power up with muscular endurance also.
 
I have messed around with sprints as a form of A&A training; I rotate through three main sessions with respect to strength work based on how I feel:

A: A&A type work; KB Swings alt. Pushups
B: A&A/Q&D type work; Hill Sprints
C: Grind type work; Pull-ups alt. Ab Wheel Rollouts

The road I live on has a few percent grade which makes sprinting a bit lower impact; I don't necessarily sprint for time but I have a 50m section laid out where I sprint the 50m section, slowly decelerate as to not cause too much braking impact to the lower limbs, walk back down to the start point and wait until HR hits a baseline, then repeat.

I personally like it quite a bit and I think its worked well in conjunction with the aerobic work I've been doing.
 
I have messed around with sprints as a form of A&A training; I rotate through three main sessions with respect to strength work based on how I feel:

A: A&A type work; KB Swings alt. Pushups
B: A&A/Q&D type work; Hill Sprints
C: Grind type work; Pull-ups alt. Ab Wheel Rollouts

The road I live on has a few percent grade which makes sprinting a bit lower impact; I don't necessarily sprint for time but I have a 50m section laid out where I sprint the 50m section, slowly decelerate as to not cause too much braking impact to the lower limbs, walk back down to the start point and wait until HR hits a baseline, then repeat.

I personally like it quite a bit and I think its worked well in conjunction with the aerobic work I've been doing.
This sounds very good. I think I will do roughly the same as this and note my progress. I think it will add value to a 21km run.
 
Hey man,

Yes I have done sprinting on my bike with power meters before but they have always been longer sprints of 30 to 60 seconds which doesn't fit in with my values anymore. My power would get to around 450 watts for a sprint. I was planning on doing 10 second sprints uphill in medium gearing and not using the power meter, but may be beneficial.

I don't have a tri bike and am not planning on getting one at this stage, but saying this I want to use the drop bars in a sitting position with my sprints to develop power. The reason behind the hill training is that the ironman I want to complete has the highest elevation on the ocean circuit, so need to build my power up with muscular endurance also.
Road bike will be better and safer for sprints. Power meter is not necessary but can be helpful to let you know when power starts dropping.

You could also try something like this

 
Road bike will be better and safer for sprints. Power meter is not necessary but can be helpful to let you know when power starts dropping.
Yes on both counts!

(i don’t use a power meter because I’m cheap…)
 
Road bike will be better and safer for sprints. Power meter is not necessary but can be helpful to let you know when power starts dropping.

You could also try something like this

Sorry my power meter is on my road bike.
 
I wish Pavel would design a program for Ironman athletes on training peaks, people would pay big money for it.
 
Even I have limits… (or Mrs. Offwidth does…)
A half decent power crank is about $2,500 +/-. Wahoo Power Pedals…$1,000 +/-
I’ll stick with my HRM
Haha to be honest I think they are a waste, a HRM and RPE works well enough
 
Haha to be honest I think they are a waste, a HRM and RPE works well enough

For it to be worth the investment it needs to be used properly. Otherwise it's just an expensive gadget that won't add much value to your training.

- test FTP (ramp, 20min ect..)
- set up power zones
- follow something that resembles a plan
- retest regularly
 
People that I know that use them find great value, and in a couple of cases has greatly elevated their cycling performance.
They also have coaches that utilise the data and help formulate long term and daily training plans.

But they also at times become a slave to it as well…
 
People that I know that use them find great value, and in a couple of cases has greatly elevated their cycling performance.
They also have coaches that utilise the data and help formulate long term and daily training plans.

But they also at times become a slave to it as well…
I found that it was information overload for me, but 100% provided a steady constant to train to and set my weekly training schedule. I can do without the information as I'm an amateur mid pack at best, found I enjoyed myself just riding around and enjoying the scenery.
 
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