My brief review of the new book by Don Fink entitled IronFit Secrets for Half Iron-Distance Triathlon Success: Time-Efficient Training for Triathlon’s Most Popular Distance.
I pre-ordered this book based on recommendations from friends who used his full IM book. It arrived last week and I read it pretty quickly. I have to say I am disappointed as far as the 3 included plans are concerned because they are very rigid and require what are for me ridiculous marathon sessions on the weekend even under the middle of the road plan. There is useful advice and information regarding nutrition, pacing, race day, etc., however the rigidity of the plans makes it difficult if you can’t fit in 4-5 hour Saturday bricks followed by 1.5 - 2.5 hour Sunday runs. Even on weeks of 12 hours of total volume, over 7 of it is on Sat/Sunday. I was really hoping the book would provide something I could simply follow like a lemming, however my life commitments do not allow for marathon days and there is no recommendations or adjustments provided by the book to spread the workouts around more evenly throughout the week.
As said above, I found other aspects of the book informative and in general appreciated the fact they made everything rather simple. After all, if you wanted to figure it all out you would not be reading the book – you would be using the Triathletes Training Bible or a more detailed do it yourself guide. If you have a schedule permitting two back to back long days a week, this book would be a simple one to follow and you should check it out. If you are not simply looking to finish and have to cap weekend sessions to 3-4 hours, you will have a hard time following this plan without heavy modification - at that point, you are back to building your own plan.
Alter his plan so it fits into your time schedule. If you get the results you’re looking
for, fantastic! If you don’t get the results, perhaps you need to add some time back
into your plan.
I was honestly a bit horrified by the 4-5hr bikes and brick workouts on Saturdays. Seemed like he was trying to pack in all the workuts into the weekend. I don’t think I did a single 5 hr bike or brick in my last HIM, and it went great.
If I alter it, it is no longer his plan. You can’t simply cut the hours on the weekend and sprinkle the time throughout the week without further modification and get the same intended result. Based on the absence of any recommendations or guides on how to manipulate it (outside of moving the long days to another part of the week - the “Mom Plan” I think he calls it), I don’t think he intends for their to be major modifications. My current annual plan calls for the same or greater weekly volume, its just more evenly distributed.
I am not critical of the plan itself, it may work, just not for my schedule which I would assume is similar to many with young children and weekend activities.
He doesn’t intend for their to be major modifications. But if the weekends don’t work for you and
you can’t put the long workouts somewhere during the week, then you need to change it.
Make the weekends work for you and follow the workouts during the week.
I have three children. Two of them are in HS and run winter track.
My weekends right now consist of 4 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday.
I’m up sometimes at 4 am on Saturday so I can be done by 9 am to see my kids run.
I don’t have to do that. I want to do that.
If the plans do not work for you and it would not work for me either, you just need to look further for a plan that will. I have wasted $20 on many book that really has not told me anything I did not already know or would not work for me. I thought as I got older and the kids were gone life would be simpler. But aging parents can be more time consuming than children.
I think his plans are geared toward people with heavy commitments during the week. If that’s not you, then you may not be his target audience, and you should adjust it to fit your own needs.
Anyway, I’ve been putting in 4-5 hour bricks most weekends. The other weekend day isn’t a long run, but it’s a swim workout that can easily last 1.5 hour or longer. After I retire this fall, I may do things a little differently, but I expect I’ll still be doing the long bricks prior to a half or a full IM.