Originally Posted by awilki01 .
I've only been riding the bike for a year now. My main goals this year have been to compete in a few time trials. I still love the pain I feel from time trials - I know I may be a little odd there.
I like the idea of one day pushing my limits and going for a full Ironman sometime in the future. I know this would take a few more years. I'd like to try out some shorter triathlons as they seem to be very common - much more than time trials.
My big question is:
If I want to get better at time trialing - which I really love - would training for triathlons hurt that effort or possibly enhance it? Could I at least maintain my FTP while training for a triathlon?
Well, you have some decisions to make.
I think your FTP may suffer a little depending on the type of distance you're training for in triathlon. If you're training for say an Ironman (180km bike) you will be putting in a lot of time in say Zone 2 or 3 with interval work mixed in some weeks. If you're training for a sprint or olympic tri then you're looking at more interval work which will probably maintain your lactate threshold (your bike training mileage will decrease since there are two other disciplines to train for).
I'm guessing right now as a time trialist you're probably putting in a lot of time into Zone 5+ to maintain your lactate threshold, this would have to decrease. Since the object of the game is endurance (even a sprint tri can be as long as 3 hours for some people) you would have to dedicate some time in lower zones. As triathletes we still have to save some matches for the run, if we start hitting the lactate threshold and maintain it there for the duration of the bike leg the run will suffer and there wont be any matches left to burn, hence why you must train at lower intensities (which will affect your FTP).
As a perfect example, before I started training for my half ironman last year, my PB for a 5K run was sub 20 mins, I had to change my training regiment and now I can't imagine going sub 20 in a road race. I just can't maintain Zone 5+ for that long (triathlon is a different kind of suffering; I mean that literally, where short course racing is like spewing fire from your gut, triathlon is more like a long conversation with yourself, calculating numbers and risks, squeezing out just a little more kindle for the fire)
What I can tell you outright is that you should definitely do a sprint tri, with your kind of power as a time trialist you would rock the field, you will need to bring your run up to par though, and remember you're only given so many matches to burn in a race.
Sorry to ramble on.
