I’m not sure what you consider “prepared”, but I’m a 200lbs non-runner (former hockey player), and dropped a 5 hour result in St.G 70.3 on three times a week and 80/20. I thought I was in great shape for it, and could have dropped more time had I done a little more here or there but it was my first time and I wanted to be conservative (heard it’s brutal).

I'm only running 3 days and my running PRs are dropping frequently. I'm getting close to matching my running PRs from 26 years ago when I all I did was run.

• "How" you train is much more important that "how much" you train.
• It is not Quality beats Quantity
• It is get the right Quality and the right Quantity

Note, I was stuck at the same slow speeds for years. It was Mike Plumb who got me into the right quality and the right quantity.

I'm currently using the Oly-advanced one just because it fits into the way I normally train.

I do find that at least for me (I have a running background), the 80/20 run volume isn't as much as I'd like for my run performance. Don't get me wrong, it'll be fine for race day, but compared to what I'm used to ,it feels on the 'risky' side in terms of my leg of run leg endurance.

I just swapped one of the midweek bikes for a midweek run, and things work out better. I suspect a lot of folks would be like me as well, where the lack of run volume could potentially cost you a fair amount on race day if you push slightly too hard, whereas the cost of pushing too hard on the bike is not as much due to the lack of pounding.

FWIW, I also find the swim volume in their book plan on the sad side, despite being the 'advanced' plan. They never get even to 8000yd/wk, are for a while are even in the 5-6000yd/wk range which I'd consider almost the bare minimum for just finishing an Oly swim let alone racing it. And I'm not a big volume swimmer - during balanced tri training I'm lucky if I crack 10k/wk, but I do try and hit that more than a few times at key points in my typical buildups, so it's very weird to not even come close on the 80/20.

I usually do three runs for sprints or olympics. One tempo workout, one easy off the bike, and one "long" run. The longest being 8 miles or so. Any more than this I find my legs are to beat up to do any quality intervals on the bike.

However, I'm a heaver, taller guy 6'2/190lb and I have a tendency to push the pace on all my runs.

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Strava

I used the 80/20 plan in 2018 when I completed my first 70.3. It prepared me to complete the distance at the best of my ability at that time with the amount of hours I was training. Since then I have found a coach that customizes things for my weaknesses and I have improved considerably.

There is nothing wrong with those canned 80/20 plans, in fact they are good. I would just maybe add another day of running in there and within a month or two of the race add in a swim.