Dr. Phils Book - "The Triathletes Guide to Training with Power"

I know he posts here and hopefully he will chime in but hoping to get feedback from others on the forum who have read this book. I’m curious if there is any information here that isn’t covered by the Coggan/Allen book. Any reason to pick it up if I already have Training and Racing with Power? I’m also curious if most of the examples in the book are using PhysFarm. I’m using WKO+ and have no desire to change or add another software program unless there is a pretty compelling reason for doing so. I’m wondering if the book is meant primarily for those utilizing PhysFarm or if their are examples using WKO+.

Just buy it… you wont be disappointed. :slight_smile:

Excellent book. I really enjoyed it and thought it was useful.

There’s been some discussion of the book here, which you may be able to find with the search function. Bottom line is that The Triathlete’s Guide To Training With Power addresses triathletes. It is written by a triathlon coach / sports physician (me), who also happens to help his athletes get pretty good results. Andy’s / Hunter’s book, while very good, is not necessarily targeted at triathletes. My book also addresses the thought process of training with power and how to apply it to swimming and running, which Andy’s / Hunter’s book does not.

The book does show examples from my software (RaceDay is the software, PhysFarm is the company). Some of them could very easily be demonstrated using WKO+, but some of them cannot. For instance, RaceDay will help you plan your taper, and place your most important training days in the perfect place. WKO+ will not allow you to do that. RaceDay will also allow you to quantitatively predict your performance, which WKO+ cannot. (i.e. RaceDay tells you “You can make X watts / run at X pace / swim at X pace on this day”, not, “You’ll have a TSB of Y on this day”.) You can imagine why that might be useful.

Lastly, it talks in significant depth about how to plan your training sessions (both short and long term), as well as periodization using power-based training. It includes a discussion of the main players / scientists who foisted various theories of periodization (Matveyev, Tschiene, Verkhoshansky), the theories themseves, and what you can take from each of them. Andy’s / Hunter’s book doesn’t really get into many of those things.

For the record, none of what I wrote above should be construed to be a dig at Andy’s book, or WKO+. Both are nice products, and serve their intended purposes well. I just come at things from a somewhat different angle.

Any questions, please ask away!

Phil

If you’re serious about training with power you’ll get the book. Full stop. Otherwise, … .