I’m new to TheSufferfest and “smart” bike training. I have completed about 7 Sprint Triathlons over the past 3-4 years and my Mt. Sufferlandria is for Olympic Tri next spring, with hopefully Half Ironman next fall. My training in the past swam 2days/week, stationary bike with intervals 2 days a week with longer outside group rides on weekends, treadmill drills 2x/week with long slow (even my fast runs are slow!) weekend runs, and strength training 1 day/week.
2020 has blown all this up. I was unable to train due to illness for 4 months. Now Covid has wrecked my routine. I have higher risk factors for Covid so I don’t go to the pool, no group rides on the weekends. Since the Triathlon Plans of course have a lot of swimming which I cannot do for now, I signed up for All-Purpose Road. My biking has always sucked as my weakest event, so I thought if I used the ALL PURPOSE ROAD plan I could train this hard, and just add in my running on the “rest” days. Well I typically run 2-3 days a week. Should I do that on my “rest” /spin days or is it better to run on the harder days so I get true rest days. Now I’m wondering if I should switch to the Tri Plan and just leave off the swim? I read on one of these threads about doing that and just rescheduling all the swims for 100 years from now!?
Any guidance?
Hello Daniel (@doublejack). Welcome to the forum!
I’m sorry to hear that your plans are not working out as expected so far. We will find something fitting for you, for sure.
Please read through this thread to get an idea of some of the solutions for a duathlon plan that other user already came up with, me included. In the second post I explain my use of the triathlon plan for a very similar scenario. Maybe this is even the topic you were talking about.
It’s very important to consider strength training and your flexibility on your way to a well rounded athlete. The training plans give you an awesome variety in this regard (strength and yoga).
An even better option would be to go with a custom plan from one of the talented SUF coaches.
Just squeezing in your running between the All Road Plan doesn’t sound like a good option. Without enough rest and with too high a training load you risk injury and won’t see the progress you desire. It’s just my personal opinion. Maybe one of the coaches here will chime in.
Another option you could consider is looking at the “All In” Plans, even though they are a bit shorter and won’t offer you a progression over a long period of time.
Please tell us what you will decide.
I would recommend checking out the multisport “All In” plans. We have designed a number of those plans to accommodate multisport athletes who don’t have access to a pool. We actually filmed a few new strength videos in March designed for triathletes who could not make it to a pool for an extended period.
You should also look into SUF Coaching to see if that might be a viable option for you. Given the time commitment required by multisport athletes, the extra cost of more personalized training is almost always worth it. You get the added benefit of talking to an experienced coach, a plan tailored towards your goals, and modified to fit your unique situation.
Thank you gentlemen for you quick and useful responses. Given all the extraordinary circumstances the custom plan is likely my best bet. Since that takes some Q&A time to set up, I will plan to complete my 2 sessions scheduled for this weekend on my All Purpose Road plan then begin the “All In” plan next week using the Multisport/Triathlon with No Pool, Yes Running, and continue the Yoga and Strength Training which I have found very useful in my short experience thus far. This might be all I need but it is only 4 weeks, and I’m thinking 12-16 week plan would be better. I should be about half way through this new All In plan before time to launch any custom plan which should have me in good shape in time for what we all hope will be a muted Covid if not a Covid-free spring 2021 race season.
Great, this sounds like an awesome plan. 
Did you already do a Full Frontal Fitness Test? You can even slot in a FF Prep Week before going the custom route. This way you will start with fresh numbers, which will give you an even better training stimulus and a good idea about your progress.
Yes, I completed the FF on September 8, so don’t think I would want to repeat that until I’m “trained up”.