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2014-09-17 6:30 PM


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Subject: Time Crunched Triathlete
Has anyone tried HIIT (high intensity interval training) as endorsed by Chris Carmichael and Ben Greenfield?

What this basically involves is doing shorter, faster workouts such as a 45min ride including max speed intervals instead of a 90min stready ride.

I'm a bit time crunched myself and want to get the most value for time but I find when ever I do intervals on the bike or run above race pace it leaves me tired for several days afterwards and I generally don't train consistently well doing blocks of high intensity training.

Anyone tried it?

Was it successful?


2014-09-18 12:45 AM
in reply to: elliot.power


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Subject: RE: Time Crunched Triathlete
Originally posted by elliot.power

Has anyone tried HIIT (high intensity interval training) as endorsed by Chris Carmichael and Ben Greenfield?

What this basically involves is doing shorter, faster workouts such as a 45min ride including max speed intervals instead of a 90min stready ride.

I'm a bit time crunched myself and want to get the most value for time but I find when ever I do intervals on the bike or run above race pace it leaves me tired for several days afterwards and I generally don't train consistently well doing blocks of high intensity training.

Anyone tried it?

Was it successful?



Well not quite. I do this for running sometimes when time poor - 10 x 1km flat out. It makes sense with a bike that a 45 min ride short and fast ride would be effective. It's so easy to do a long ride and get away with not pushing it or only push it for a third of the way.
2014-09-18 5:54 AM
in reply to: elliot.power

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Minneapolis, MN
Subject: RE: Time Crunched Triathlete
You have to take into account the level of fitness or base that they start with.

It also depends on your goals.
2014-09-18 6:28 AM
in reply to: elliot.power

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Champion
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Montague Gold Mines, Nova Scotia
Subject: RE: Time Crunched Triathlete
Originally posted by elliot.power

Has anyone tried HIIT (high intensity interval training) as endorsed by Chris Carmichael and Ben Greenfield?


While Carmichael and Greenfield may endorse this protocol, I would aim to read other sources than these two.

What this basically involves is doing shorter, faster workouts such as a 45min ride including max speed intervals instead of a 90min stready ride.

I'm a bit time crunched myself and want to get the most value for time but I find when ever I do intervals on the bike or run above race pace it leaves me tired for several days afterwards and I generally don't train consistently well doing blocks of high intensity training.


Training stress is the product of volume and intensity - to achieve the desired result, you can manipulate either of these in order to create a progressive overload that leads to the adaptations that you want. The trick is to find the right combination for your current fitness and goals as well as take into account your overall training schedule and the demands of the individual sports.

Swimming and cycling are typically easier for an athlete to increase training load with a shift toward higher intensity; these activities are not load bearing and therefore do not result in the same stresses on the body so most people can tolerate higher intensity without a huge increase in injury risk. Further, since pace/power at threshold (about what you could sustain for an hour) is a great indicator of triathlon performance across all distances, working on improving pace/power at threshold is very beneficial to build fitness. Running is load bearing so it is much safer to go with higher duration at a lower intensity (and frequency works exceptionally well for running in most athletes) with the occasional dose of higher intensity. Again, pace at threshold is a key indicator but with running it tends to be better to push it up with lots of easier efforts than pull it up with lots of harder efforts.

For the overall training plan, most athletes should be looking at three hard workouts (or, if already quite fit and with good recovery ability) three hard days per week with easy days between. So even if you are looking at HIIT as part of your program, it should not be everyday and you want to ensure that what you are doing is allowing you to recover and not spend days unable to train or only train at a very easy effort.

Shane
2014-09-18 7:32 AM
in reply to: elliot.power


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Subject: RE: Time Crunched Triathlete

I've tried  it. It works fairly well for Oly distance racing where distances are short, but honestly, that's less about the time efficient trainign and more about the Oly race distances being short.

 

I'm fairly certain for long races like IM, marathons, and even HIM, you will suffer big time no matter what if you cut out the long rides and just do all HIIT. 

 

If you look at Carmichaels plans in that book for century rides, you still end up riding around 8-10 hours per week, which is still a decent training load for completing centuries, and he still recommends you get out for a longer weekend ride even if it's not a 5-hour ride; 3 hr weekend rides are long enough I consider it much closer to traditional training methods that using HIIT to really compress training.

 

THe HIIT training in that book honestly doesn't save much time compared to a balanced triathlon plan, as I saw it - you train less, expect less, and try and choose shorter race distances to better target the HIIT training. And the time savings is <20% of time saved per week of what you'd do on a normal plan for most folks.

2014-09-18 2:54 PM
in reply to: yazmaster

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Subject: RE: Time Crunched Triathlete
Short intervals are used in all three sports to various degrees-- I'm not sure when calling them "HIIT" led people to believe that these workouts could replace long endurance workouts. They are simply a part of the overall picture.

I know there are studies that show that HIIT training can lead to the same gains as longer endurance workouts, but those gains are mostly for people that start at lower fitness levels. You need to mix it up to reach optimal potential.


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