I’m looking for feedback from those that have used one of Rich’s training plans. I’m considering purchasing the Iron Distance Advanced Hilly plan to guide my preparation for IMWI 07. Any thoughts on these plans would be appreciated. Thanks.
Nothing against Rich Strauss, I have heard good things about hims as a coach. However, my problem is with purchased training plans. The problem with these “Plans” is that life get’s in the way. Work, family, weather, injuries, aches/pains. I have seen people get these plans and then continue to flail away at them until they are injured, or burn out or having serious problems at work or at home. What is needed for those that have not been involved with the sport for that long or who have no back-ground in organized or individual competitive sports is an advisor or coach to oversee what you are doing and how you are feeling on a week to week or even day to day basis. This will yield better overall results.
Fleck
I respectfully disagree with Fleck. For those of us who aren’t willing to dish out the money for a good coach, I think these types of training plans are fine. You still need to be knowledgable about training, nutrition, overtraining, etc, but these plans give you a base to work with.
I purchased the Intermediate IM plan from Rich based on responses I read here a few months ago (using it for my first IM next year). Do a search and you’ll see those posts. I remember Murphy’s Law in particular posted that he thought the plan worked well for him and I believe there were others.
Dawn
I have the Iron Distance Intermediate with Power, and I think it’s great. The plan itself is well written and I found value in reading over the support docs that are included with the plan.
I think both DawnT and Fleck are correct…and not in disagreement with each other. Fleck simply stated that individual coaching would be a more effective route, especially for inexperienced athletes that might not be able to adjust a standard plan on the fly as “life happens”. I agree, if you can afford it then direct coaching takes the guess work out of planning for the athlete. But, if the finances don’t alklow for coaching then a “standard” training plan from someone like Rich or Mike Ricci are great options as long as you understand the limitations and stay within your personal limits. I’m not sure, but I believe Rich provides a limited amount of “support” through his forums so you might be able to get some guidance if you need to make some adjustments to the plan.
Dawn,
I agree, that for those WITH some knowledge and experience, they can be a good fit. However, I have seen more than a few people trying to use these plans and they don’t have a clue what is going on. For them, it’s better to be one-on-one with a coach/advisor or go to some training seminars to at least get some of the basics down. I have also seen people aho have coaches and I wonder what they are doing to, so I guess it goes both ways.
Fleck
Fleck,
Your point is valid for athletes who follow any type of plan with minimal or no outside influence.
I don’t see it limited to 'purchased training plans". That includes self coached athletes.
Yes, there are overtraining pitfalls and priorty issues, but in my opinon, on the whole, if someone is new to the sport it probably makes more sense for them to follow a plan laid out by a “professional” rather than flail away on thier own.
After 11 years of self coaching, I bought Rich’s off-season with power and I’ve got to say that its a spectacular deal.
Yes you may not hit all the workouts, but I’m pushing myself far more than I thought was possible, and doing all the things I should (like hills, test sets) if for no other reason than I spent the $ and I want my money’s worth. I’m now 8 weeks in, I’ve taken a minute off my 1000 yd swim test, my FT test on the bike has gone up by 15 watts and my 4mile run test pace has gone from 7:45 to 6:36.
It is easily the most impact per/$ I’ve spent on this sport as it works out to less than 1$ per work out.
I have not used one of his plans for Ironman yet but I will definitely be doing so this summer.
My 2c
Bob
For someone buying a template plan, my question would be why? There are tons of plans online, in magazines, etc. all for free. I can’t imagine paying for a cookie-cutter plan. A personalized plan sure where a coach changes things up based on what’s going on and how everything is going, but not something that just comes from a general template.
I’ve taken a look at many online plans and I also have Gale Bernhardt’s book of training plans. It just comes down to the fact that I think Rich’s plan is worth the money. I’m willing to pay for his experience. This is the 2nd or 3rd generation of these plans. He improves them almost every year. He also has a message board to answer questions, an e-book of swim instruction and a training document that outlines the general approach to the plan. It was worth the money, in my mind.
I’m thinking seriously of getting one of his plans too but am confused on which one. I notice his 1/2 IM plans do not have a 2nd generation which is what I want. IMO he should delete his 1st generation plans as all that does is confuse people. Also, it seems his off season plan (16 weeks) would overlap w/ a 1/2 or full IM plan so I don’t know if I should get the off season or the other.
I think if he cleaned them up a bit it might take out some of the confusion and help people make a more informed decision.
That being said—everyone I know really likes his plans a lot. He is very “real world” in the sense that he understands that life and family don’t revole around “my training plan” and tri training has to fit into a real life experience.
Take a look at the forum on his site. There’s quite a few posts about the off-season plans and how they work/which one is right for you. I didn’t look at his 1/2 IM plans, but I found that his explanation about which IM plan is right for me was easy to follow (info provided in the training plans section of his website).
I don’t think he’s had enough time to spend on his 1/2 IM plans as his IM ones. If you’re still not sure which one is right, post a message on his message board.
For me a slef coached guy for a while, the amount i learned on how to schedule a basic ironman week as well as the swim DOC. and all the other info was worth it. And now i am HOOKED on www.trainingpeaks.com where the plans are hosted.
I think the plans are great for the 9-5 working athlete up to the top age groupers, there clean and simple just like ironman training should be.
I paid the man twice already and as his plans evolve and develop i will continue. Of course that being said the most important think about your coach is that you trust and follow what they are teaching.
$100 for a well thought out plan is a bargain, compared to ALL the other stuff trigeeks buy.
t~
Thanks for the feedback Bob–this is what I was looking for.
I certainly understand the point of view that says “don’t buy an out of the box plan, get a coach”, but I don’t want to shell out the cash for a coach which is why I’m looking at pre-fixed plans.
I’m fairly experienced and have successfully coached myself the past two seasons. However, given that I’m stepping up to an IM this coming season I’m looking for a tested plan designed by an expert to provide that additional layer of rigor and structure to my training.
You can’t go wrong with Rich’s plans, especially if you train with a powermeter or computrainer. For a cookie cutter plan, he offers a ton of support and reference material. Well worth the money if you don’t or can’t go with a coach. It helped me get to a Half-IM PR after 15 years of racing.
I’m looking for feedback from those that have used one of Rich’s training plans. I’m considering purchasing the Iron Distance Advanced Hilly plan to guide my preparation for IMWI 07. Any thoughts on these plans would be appreciated. Thanks.
Hi Folks,
Gear Fisher from TrainingPeaks.com channeled me in to the thread. If you have an specific questions for me you can find me on my own message board at CrucibleFitness.com. My notes:
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I think of these training plans as “affordable solutions for the self-coached athlete.” I know that not everyone needs, wants or can afford one-on-one coaching. All I’ve tried to do is imagine who is the typical Beginner, Intermediate, or Advanced athlete, what are their typical strengths/weaknesses/time constraints, what is the best plan I could write for this 90% person? What additional documentation and support can I give to help them? What else can I do to increase the value of their purchase and encourage them to refer me to their friends and training partners?
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V2, V3, etc. I’ll make it very simple: I’m rewriting everything to be “2007” training plans
The Off-Season stuff is done and current. The IM plans are V2, written in April of this year. I’m making tweaks to the Advanced plans and these will form the template for the downstream plans. The HIM plans are V1 and I REALLY need to rework these. I’ve changed my thinking quite a bit since I wrote them and I simply missed the publication window this year. -
Enhancements for 2007: I’m writing a lot more, the training plan support forum is becoming more active, and I’ll do my best to publish an internal “team” newsletter every 1-2 weeks. Oh, FYI, once you buy a plan from me you’re always on that list cuz I’m not organized enough or can’t be bothered to keep track of when someone bought a plan from me. So once you’re in the clubhouse you’re in until you take yourself out. Next year I will be at CaliHalf, IMAZ, WF, IMCDA, IMLP, and IMWI to ride a motorcycle for race support…and also deliver a pre-race talk to all of my peeps and their friends. Working on a big uniform outlay so you can race in TC togs if you like.
I plan to rewrite the Uber Doc, Swim Clinic e-Book, and Training with Power doc. I’ll likely throw in a copy of “Training and Racing with a Powermeter,” for the power folks, and sell a CF RaceReady training shirt at my cost. Anything I can think of to move the price point from $99 (a tire and a box of clifbars?) to about…something more in line with the gear I see everyone talking about all the time
Again, any q’s, post in my message board or call me at:
626-203-3278 c
626-301-7849 h
Thanks for the response Rich. I think a lot of folks (including myself) are looking for good “affordable solutions for the self-coached athlete.” When do you expect to have the updated Advanced IM plans ready?
Thanks for the response Rich. I think a lot of folks (including myself) are looking for good “affordable solutions for the self-coached athlete.” When do you expect to have the updated Advanced IM plans ready?
I’m making a big push today, tomorrow and next week to have them all done by the end of this month.
Something you should know about Rich’s approach if you haven’t read his stuff enough to picked this up already; he doesn’t use the “3-weeks hard, 1-week recovery approach.” Rich correct me if I’m wrong, but he comes from the Gordo philosophy of continuous / consistent training. If you are used to going hard (maybe a little over the top) and then using a week to regroup and recover, Rich’s/Gordo’s approach is going to be a bit of adjustment. With no easy week, you have to be very disciplined and not go too hard. In my case I think I slowly put myself in a hole. Many people think continuous training is the way to go in preparing for an Ironman, but I think the human body responds better to extra hard training with recovery; at least I do.
On the other hand, any plan is probably going to be an improvement over “seat of the pants” as long as you don’t over train. It’s a lot of time and work organizing a training plan yourself and only after you truly get into it do you realize the value in a canned plan.
If you have a power meter, then having some guidance as to the kind of workouts to do can make a big difference in your cycling performance in my opinion. This is something Rich has really figured out.
Thanks Rich. What are your thoughts on triteach’s post?
"Something you should know about Rich’s approach if you haven’t read his stuff enough to picked this up already; he doesn’t use the “3-weeks hard, 1-week recovery approach.” Rich correct me if I’m wrong, but he comes from the Gordo philosophy of continuous / consistent training. If you are used to going hard (maybe a little over the top) and then using a week to regroup and recover, Rich’s/Gordo’s approach is going to be a bit of adjustment. With no easy week, you have to be very disciplined and not go too hard. In my case I think I slowly put myself in a hole. Many people think continuous training is the way to go in preparing for an Ironman, but I think the human body responds better to extra hard training with recovery; at least I do.
On the other hand, any plan is probably going to be an improvement over “seat of the pants” as long as you don’t over train. It’s a lot of time and work organizing a training plan yourself and only after you truly get into it do you realize the value in a canned plan.
If you have a power meter, then having some guidance as to the kind of workouts to do can make a big difference in your cycling performance in my opinion. This is something Rich has really figured out."