VELOARCHITECT

The bike leg of a triathlon is a discrete mechanical-work subsystem within a three-sport race. Off-the-shelf triathlon plans distribute training stress across swim-bike-run in fixed weekly ratios; Veloarchitect reads the bike leg as a standalone subsystem and dispatches the Adaptive Workout calibrated to the bike-leg duration and intensity profile, independent of the swim and run load. Protocol 15 (Indoor→Outdoor Translation) handles the brick-session transition; Protocol 8 (Fueling Window) handles the in-race carb target.

The triathlete-bike-leg segment is the segment where the closed-loop frame is most cleanly applied to a single subsystem. The Athlete’s bike-leg Mechanical Efficiency, FTP, and Execution Precision are tracked as a standalone longitudinal record, decoupled from run-mechanical-stress and swim-mechanical-stress. Adaptive Workout dispatches the bike block calibrated to the race-day bike-leg profile (40K Olympic, 90K Half-Ironman, 180K Full-Ironman), with brick-session handling for the run-leg handoff. The Athlete who trains the bike leg as part of a fixed weekly swim-bike-run ratio will not optimize any of the three.

Protocols: Protocol 10 — Adaptive Workout; Protocol 15 — Indoor→Outdoor Translation; Protocol 8 — Fueling Window

Worked Example — 20-week block for a Half-Ironman bike leg

Athlete: 35y/o, 268W FTP, 1.54 W/bpm, run and swim handled by separate coaches. Target: Half-Ironman in 22 weeks, 90K bike leg, expected temperature 24°C. Block 1 (weeks 1–6): 1 weekly Threshold Sustain at 92% FTP, 1 weekly Over-Unders 3×12, 2 weekly Z2 endurance (60→90 min), 1 weekly brick (bike→run). Block 2 (weeks 7–14): 1 weekly 3-hour Z2 with race-pace surges, 1 weekly Threshold at 95% FTP, weekly brick sessions increasing in duration. Block 3 (weeks 15–20): race-pace 90K simulation, taper, Protocol 15 brick optimization. Mechanical Efficiency: 1.54 → 1.65 W/bpm. Bike-leg Execution Precision on race day: 0.92. Run-leg handoff: clean negative-split transition.