Here’s why I ask: this is my second year in triathlon. Last year, at age 44, I had CTS train me for Escape. Great experience! Did one more Olympic-distance tri last fall, took a winter break, and then landed a slot in Escape again. Decided to self-coach. Used Friel’s book, the one called Your Best Triathlon, Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes, with about a five-month lead time. Got in the best shape of my life but overdid it–like, grossly overdid it. Not Joe’s fault: looking back, I see that I made all kinds of classic mistakes. Tried to “win every workout.” Overdosed on intensity because I didn’t trust the value of the easy/moderate session. Etc … Cratered about five weeks back. HARD. Only crawling out of my over-trained fog now. I’ve clearly blown my whole build/peak/taper for Escape–but that’s all spilt milk. I’ll muddle through the race and have fun. But I’m looking ahead now, sights set on an Olympic distance triathlon in late September. I’m thinking of using the same book but with more caution/intelligence, better understanding of my own limits, etc … but I’m wondering about the collective experience with this and other books. Anybody got any perspective on this book? A sense of where Joe’s program fits into a larger scheme of things? Is this book crazy for an endurance-sports novice? Or is it just a matter of scaling it to my individual capacities? Are there other books that make more sense for the hungry novice? I’m interested in learning about training systems/theories, so I’m a little reluctant to use a cookie-cutter program. But …
Some people are going to flame away with this, but I’ve been using it this season. The biggest thing you need to do is take a rest day if you notice that your body is craving it, take easy days easy. Don’t try to overrace with this plan, if so make sure you are taking a light day or so going into a race.
Also since this is your second year doing this can be a lot for someone new to the sport. He talks about how this is for you “best” triathlon, so its not just a lot of easy training to get to the finish line. You need to be careful/aware of this.
I cant - I cant - I cant - I cant
Well, I cant wait for Smartasscoach to come back…
Yeah, I guess that’s the part I’ve been curious about–whether “Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes” means this book is inappropriate for an endurance-sports novice. Or if it’s just a matter of scaling. All his workouts give pretty broad ranges: AE run, say, for 1-1.5 hrs. I tended just to do as long and hard a session as I could possibly manage. Plus, when he prescribed intervals, I wasn’t great at sticking to the prescribed pace ranges–pretty strong tendency toward short-term over-achievement. (which, I’ve come to understand, leads to long-term underachievement, in endurance training).
I cant - I cant - I cant - I cant
Well, I cant wait for Smartasscoach to come back…
meaning?
Just that most of the real coaches out there have on this forum had it out with the Friel deal, and proven over and over again that there are some serious flaws in the plans. But, if it works for you and you enjoy it then it is the best book ever.
Just that most of the real coaches out there have on this forum had it out with the Friel deal, and proven over and over again that there are some serious flaws in the plans. But, if it works for you and you enjoy it then it is the best book ever.
ah! interesting. any common themes in the critiques?
I have read so many training books I can’t keep track anymore. I think the important thing to remember, is to use all the information provided and apply it to your training. There is no magical workout/training program or diet that works for everyone. I’m sure the people that have broken 9 or 10 hours at Kona using Friels’s training methods, don’t believe them to be “flawed”…
ah! interesting. any common themes in the critiques?
First of all, the main problem with the Friel plans would be the fact that thy are in a book. Not meaning they are bad plans, but anything in a book can be taken too far or other things not far enough. I think that is the topic here. When you follow a book, you can overdo this or that part or go down dead ends that if you had more experience you wouldn’t do or if you were working with someone in person they could kinda say - “No hold back on that and don’t overdo it.”
That’s not Joe Friel’s fault but rather a limitation of the medium.
As for specific issues with Friel’s work, I find several aspects of the way he suggests developing plans to be sub-optimal. Not wrong by any means, just not the best way to do things.
For instance, one thing would be the yearly volume numbers. In some ways it is good but in other ways I find for working men and women the yearly volume numbers to have little bearing. Most of the time a person has a reasonably hard weekly time limit that they can exceed just a few times in a year and other than that you have a given time frame to work with. But the yearly volume plans he uses tend to have a lot more week to week variation than a typical working man or woman has to work with. Most folks seem to have a pretty hard number and you modify the training mix in terms of intensity and maybe sport but not as much volume changes as he uses.
Another thing that was in the triathlete’s training bible (TTB) was that everything was what might be called the classical training model. The high volume was 12 or more weeks out from the A race. For many people, a half iron or iron distance race is when they start to look for serious planning and that model, in my opinion and the opinion of many others, is not the b est way to proceed. For these long races, many folks are using what some call reverse periodization where the intensity is earlier in the macrocycle the high volume is later. The reasoning for that is simply that the high volume is more race specific so you put it later.
IIRC the TTB does say that for new people you can keep doing base blocks the whole way through. But in practice I think most people gloss over that section.
Now, the “Your Best Triathlon” book’s biggest difference is that it introduces the reverse periodization for long races. So that part is already handled, although I think some people who make comments may not realize that the reverse periodization is included in the newer book.
So in the end, in my opinion the so called problem with the “Your best triathlon” book mostly revolves around the limitations of the medium it is delivered in.
But like others say, if you want to put together the best plan for you, try to get am overview of the different ways of training and figure out your on best plan.
There are lots of training books and many of them are similar. Since you started with the best triathlon book, you might consider going back to the TTB and looking to see what is different between the two.
But also, look into the George Dallam book “Championship Triathlon Training” and Rick Niles’ book Time Saving Training for Multisport Athletes. These two books more than any others I have seen present methods of training significantly different from the TTB and other Friel work which for the moment I’ll call the conventional wisdom. So those three books will give you the ends of the spectrum and kind of the in between. I think that would be the best way to proceed if you want to educate yourself on training planning applied to long distance tris.
Good luck
Another thing that was in the triathlete’s training bible (TTB) was that everything was what might be called the classical training model.
“Classical training models” and cliches exist for the same reason. They have been shown to be true for a large majority over a long period of time. Dismissing something simply because it is derivative and not completely new is flawed logic.
I do agree with some of what you say about TTB though but I don’t think that the flaw lies in the format. It’s in the fact that people take it and consider it a “how to” manual rather than just a starting point.
A: Not everyone can afford coaching
B: There is such a thing as scaling
Very good insight though, and you make some very cogent observations.
I’ve used “Your best triathlon” and to be honest I think is a good way to start if you’re new to the sport. I think is a good way to learn what a structural plan is and things like that. I think that if u follow the plans he has laid out u can have a good race but that’s really subjective because who’s to say that u could’ve had a better race with a different program. So just for the sake of getting familiar with a plan and getting started, is pretty good. This is the only book I’ve followed so I’m curious about other books mentioned here.