You can find Matt on Facebook and message him. He is usually pretty responsive.

I definitely would not pay $74.95 for the training peaks version.

For some people (in their own mind), an hour of their time is worth a lot more/less than others. For some, it depends on how the hour is being used. Do you like data entry? Ask yourself how long it would take you to self enter every workout in the detail you want on Training Peaks prior to doing it, and then ask yourself if that amount of time is worth the cost for you. I have not done this plan, so I don't know what "extra" there is, but I doubt it's much beyond the convenience of not entering it yourself. Also if you really like it, you can just use it again, without entering it yourself all over.

I have the book as well, and took the time to convert the level 7 HIM plan into excel and uploaded it into Google Calendars. I did move some of the workouts around based on my schedule, but kept the weeks consistent.

I am sure each level is similar and would only require minor edits to convert from the 7 to the one you are using. If you are interested I can send the spreadsheet to you. I would only do this since you said you own the book and just want to save the time of starting from scratch.

I have used and am using Matt's training plans from Training Peaks, I have not read the book. But in 14 I used his Level 6 Ironman plan and in 15 and this year using his Level 7 Half Ironman plan. I set PRs both years.

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All I Wanted Was A Pepsi, Just One Pepsi

Team Zoot, Team Zoot Mid-Atlantic

Thanks, that's what I was weighing, my time value of the data entry versus just having it entered automatically. The "extra" i was referring too was perhaps the codes used in the book being translated in the TP version and also whether a narrative of the plan is presented in TP as the weeks go by. Overlaying the plan in my Google calendar from TP would also help plan my days moving forward.

Being 56 years old, I've trained for marathons using training plans from books successfully. Now having the option of digital plans with more complex plans for triathlons I'm just trying to make a decision. Thanks for the help

Great thanks, glad to hear you did well with the plans. Appreciate the reply.

Thanks, can you send as an attachment into the forum? I'm an Excel guy so I'm curious as to what your plan looks like in a spreadsheet. Thanks.

Sure, i am attaching. I have each sport on a separate tab, and then one summary tab with it all together. I am planning on using this starting after NJ marathon leading up to IMAC70.3 in September.

I used this and uploaded the summary into Google Calendars. Worked very well.

I have moved the activities around a bit, and added a couple of optional thing in. Hope this helps.

Buy it once, use it over and over. Over time it becomes a great deal.

I have used this book for my first 2 70.3 and using it now for my 3rd. I did what others have mentioned went through each one and put it into google calendar. I can wake up that day look at what I need to do and execute, only change I made is all my swimming is done with a masters team and I use his program for Swim distance only to make sure I am hitting the volume. Also I have been altering workouts on trainerroad using the workout creator to have them match some of the interval sessions etc.

Thanks for sharing, impressive training plan and nice use of Excel with multiple worksheets. Good luck at the NJ marathon and IM AC, appreciate again your advice.

That's where I am heading too, Trainer Road...........just need to get a trainer. Thanks for your input.

I used his level 5 plan for my first 70.3 and had pretty good success (not enough bike for my fitness level, I was under prepared there). Now I modify it by using BarryP for the run, TR for the bike, and Matt's book for the swim. When I got out of the water during the half, I was barely winded, which was great.

I have the book and enter the workouts manually into Training Peaks. I don't mind so much but the coding does make it a bit of a PITA, just because you are flipping back and fourth from the workout to the code legend, especially with up to eight codes per swim workout. But I'm cheap, so I don't mind!

I would be very interested in using what you created in Excel, if you would not mind sharing!

I've used plans from paperback books a few times now, starting with 80/20 Tri from Matt F for my olympic races and then moving to the plans in Fast-track Triathlete from Matt Dixon when I started racing 70.3+. (I hadn't even noticed the Matt-pattern until I typed this!)

In both cases, I ended up cutting the plans out of the book with an Xacto knife and then scanned them into PDF. Loaded that into Books on my iPhone and then each day I look at the plan for the session and execute. Matt F's plans were simple enough that I could just remember them while executing, but it took me a bit after shifting to Matt D plans to be able to figure out the patterns in a session and commit it to memory. (For example, he re-uses one interval bike session through the season that starts 10sec-max->50sec-spin and changes in 10 second increments each interval e.g. 20s-max->40s spin, 30s-max->30s-spin) up to 60s max and then back down. I now picture that as a mountain with the spins on the "outside" of the mountain and the max's on the inside, with 60s at the top). The swims are a little more complex than the runs or bikes, but after two cycles through Matt D's 70.3 plan I can now commit most swims to memory too at the beginning of the session and then pull out my phone to refresh if needed (usually between switching from big pre-mains to big mains).

For this last season I also got a TrainingPeaks account and just feed my post-workout data into it via Garmin. I don't have any digital planned/structured workouts loaded into TP or Garmin. For me this allows me to be free from my devices, other than keeping an occasional eye on HR to be sure that I'm within the limits/bounds of what the session or particular interval calls for - although after 2 years of this I now have a pretty solid idea of my rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and can generally call my HR within ~5% especially around aerobic, LTHR, and anaerobic thresholds. -> aka "proprioception," something I see as advocated for by many of the top endurance coaches (including both Matts) as well as those I've seen on ST.

Edited to add: I also cut the strength training section out of Matt D's book and just take it straight into the home gym when I do those sessions. Also, one thing I like about Matt D's plans are that each day have a short framing sentence or two that lay out the goal of the session - so what I do is focus my mind on the goal of the session and work toward that outcome, rather than achieving the outcome of hitting the e.g. HR targets or interval lengths. IMHO hitting every exact interval to the second across every single workout will not in and of itself harm race my performance - so I've really enjoyed shifting my focus from micro-micro (e.g. interval seconds) to the macro-micro (achieving the session's goals to the best of the ability I have that day, and feeling mentally fresh enough to go harder when I know my body can adapt b/c I'm listening to it closely [rather to listening to my devices primarily]).

If you've bought the Fast-track Triathlete book I don't mind sharing the PDFs I've scanned in, which I understand would fall within copyright boundaries but experts can correct me on this.

Travis

+1

I bought a McMillan running plan which also feeds into Final Surge so I can plan my workouts ahead of time (and it's free, unlike TP where you pay for that feature). It was not too expensive, but I also plan on doing the 16 week program 3 times in a row so I get 1 year of run training planned out which makes it a better deal.