Reddit reviews Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide: Plans, Scheduling Tips, and Workout Goals for Triathletes of All Levels

A little bit of background first .. I grew up on a bike, caved into peer pressure to join high school cross country, and never did any sort of lap swimming until a college intermediate swim class (even though my dad was a near Olympics alternate for backstroke in the early 60's). I've been a runner since, picked up triathlon at age 35 for three years when our first was 4mo old. Then went on hiatus for three years until our second was 18mo old with some running stints mixed in. Now I'm 44 and just finished my third straight season. I started back three years ago with focusing on a half Ironman in August of 2016.

Training Plan - A 20 week training plan is just right, and you will do fine to just finish. I recommend the Matt Fitzgerald Essential Week-By-Week Training Guide as it has a ton of training plans for beginners to near pros for each of the four triathlon distances. I have exclusively used this for training since my second year in 2011. He has a new book out called 80/20 Traithlon that I picked up and may use for the 2019 season. His reason for 80/20 is that you spend at least 80% of your time training at easy to aerobic capacity and no more than 20% of your time at higher intensity. This helps reduce injury risk. I also follow the 10% rule of not increasing consecutive weeks in time/distance by more than 10% (with the exception of a one-off week every 4+ weeks depending on training peaks/valleys).

Triathlon Club - Find and get into a local triathlon club. You will gain a world of experience being around those people. I joined the Ann Arbor Triathlon Club in 2014 just to do open water swimming during the summer, and I wasn't even racing in triathlons for another two years! Now I'm the mentor program leader.

Time - I am a family guy as well with a full time job and wife who also works. We have maintained alternate schedules since 2010 so that we do not have the need for third party daycare. School has been a relief that the kids are in 3rd grade and preschool, and their grandparents pick up the preschooler for a few hours a couple times a week so that we can maintain a somewhat healthy schedule. What I've done for training is include the kids! I think I pushed the youngest in the baby jogger over 100 miles each the 2016 and 2017 seasons. I'll sometimes do that while the older child rides her bike on a paved trail. Get a smart trainer! I have a Tacx Vortex Smart trainer I picked up in February of 2016, and it has made a world of difference! It allows me to ride any time (usually after "bedtime"), be safe off the roads (important as a dad!), and do specific interval training.

Training Volume - You should first build up your base for at least three months prior to your 20 week ramp-up schedule. Most of these schedules expect you to be able to jump right in. Otherwise, you'll risk injury and/or disappointment. Getting up to 6-8hrs per week before this ramp-up is good. You can achieve that with 2/discipline workouts per week (6 total). The max you'll reach with a "just finish" schedule is in the 10-12hr/wk range, and that is pretty tough. I think I've only crossed the 12hr mark once, and that was because of having a long workout delayed to the next day into the start of the next week. Three hours is about the max you'll do in a workout, and that would be on the bike. You'll hit around 2hr max run and 1hr max swim.

Nutrition - I swear by Hammer Nutrition products. I use their HEED electrolyte drink several times a week for workouts and Perpetuem for workouts over 2hrs. Their Endurolytes Fizz is great for on-the-go to carry with you in case you need to squeeze in a workout and don't want to pack ziplocs of HEED powder. Keep snacks handy! You will be burning 4000+ extra calories per week! Quick snacks like fruit, figs/dates, crackers with peanut butter or hummus, dry cereal, oatmeal, veggies, and more will help stave off the between meal hunger. At peak training, I think I eat five meals per day with snacking between and am on a 4000+ per day calorie need. Make sure to up your protein and water intake as well. Keep water around at all times. This article by Hammer Nutrition is good for figuring protein need.

Have Fun - You will have ups and downs along the way. Don't let a bad day or even bad week get to you. These will happen! Just remember to stay the course and focus on the goal. And, most importantly, have fun!

​

Happy Training!

Adrian

​

​

​

​

​

https://smile.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1481295174&sr=8-3&keywords=triathlon+training

$6 used. Has 10 different plan levels for HIM. I'm using it for my 70.3 next summer. I suppose you can pay much more if you want, but this is a decently detailed set of plans and, IMHO, much better than the free options I've found.

I am currently using the "Triathlete Magazine's Essential Week-by-Week Training Guide" for my first HIM. Less than 3 weeks to the race and I think it has prepared me very well. It has 10 plans that range from beginner to advanced for each distance.

As a newbie you should be concentrating on your basic week and completing easy workouts consistently.

Elements to a basic week for newbies.

Swim 3 to 4 days a week
Bike 3 times a week for an hour each
Run 4 days of 40 minutes

If I was to recommend cookie cutter plans I would say use this:

https://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1482614751&sr=8-1&keywords=matt+fitzgerald+triathlon+training

Others have already mentioned Friel's "Triathlete's Training Bible", which I highly recommend. Would also recommend checking out Matt Fitzgerald's Essential Week-by-week training book - a good friend of mine used it exclusively and ran a 5:08 HIM.


I, too, am stuck on an indoor trainer and I also no longer have the option of spin classes. So I use the Sufferfest and Spinervals to get me through. They're fun and keep you working. Spinervals usually has a defined goal, and the Sufferfest has gotten a lot better in terms of structure over the past while.

Others have suggested watching TV or Netflix, etc.,. while on the trainer but I disagree. Every workout should have a purpose and sitting in front of a TV mindlessly spinning your legs only serves to make you a slow rider IMHO. And on this note, I strongly believe that you should take your cadence up to around 95 rpm or higher on the trainer, and always practice good form on the trainer as it really gives you a jump on the road. An Ironman might be a long grind, but it definitely shouldn't be seen as a casual ride.

I currently XC ski on the days that are nice to get off the trainer or treadmill, if that is an option for you I'd say go for it!


Running, well you are trying to get your body used to running after a swim and bike so incorporate some brick workouts. I will fully admit my ignorance on running, and I just follow my training plan. It worked last time, though this year I plan on incorporating more speed workouts than last year. I will also include more trail runs, rather than all road runs as I finished the season running XC 10kms and each one beat the hell out of my legs - I see great cross training benefit and potential mental refreshers. Again, though, I am a 3:45 marathoner on the best days, so I don't expect to carry a lot of sway in this area...


Swim lots, with various tempos including 400-600m interval speed sets. /r/swimming has had some ironman training questions in it recently, and it is a great resource for that end of things.


I think an underused resource is the training peaks plans as a lot of them are available in book form or other places -so you don't need a TP account to get them. And it lets you preview the training plan and get an idea of what is out there.


Other great resources include Joe Friel's Blog, USAT, and even the Ironman site.

If you're a podcast listener, try searching for triathlon podcasts - there are a bunch out there. Lastly, I like to thumb through issues of Lava Magazine and Runner's World to get some neat training ideas to spice things up.


The most important things are to stick with a training plan once you've made one - it can be hard to keep faith in it sometimes and we all experience lows and highs in the training periods. And, stay consistent!

Good luck, hope you make it to the finish line ;)


EDIT: formatting

I love my tri book by matt fitzgerald

http://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_9

I'm just over half way through one of Matt Fitzgerald's plans to get me ready for Austin in October. It's going great so far. Weekly load is anywhere from 6-11 hours, 8-9 workouts per week. It takes you through base phases of long, low intensity workouts, as well as build phases of some intense intervals. The plan I'm on was published in the Feb (I think) issue of Triathlete magazine, but he also has a very comprehensive book I'll be using one of the more intensive plans from this next year to improve my time.

As for using a trainer, I'm a big fan for two reasons: 1) If you're doing intervals, you can be sure to hit them when you need to, and make every minute of your workout count. 2) I live in a city, so it takes me 20 minutes just to get to some reasonable cycling roads. If I only have a one hour ride, I'd much prefer to do a more focused indoor workout.

Got my 4:43 in Augusta with an average of 15 hours/week of training (starting off from 3:08 marathon / 5:10 70.3 shape), but 5.5 shouldn't require anywhere near that level (guessing 7-10 hours/week build before final taper).

Your plan (attached) w. the first 10 weeks of data looks OK, but run a few times after your bikes (even for 10 min). Not sure what you mean by swim 5 (as 5000m is a bit absurd to start at). Otherwise, seems like realistic distances/frequencies to start a ramp up.

The few free ones I've seen online (triathlete magazine, or just combine garmin connect olympic + garmin connect HM if you own a garmin watch), are pretty decent.

The fitzgerald/triathlon magazine book is pretty solid as well ($15 on amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765/) as I've been using elements of it for my first full IM.

I think I can help you as I'm in a similar situation. I train BJJ on the side of my endurance sports. Before triathlons I used to bike on the side of my BJJ with an occasional run.


Last year I made the jump to triathlons. I signed up and did a sprint with no training beyond what I was already doing. I figured I can do a 5k pretty fast and 10 miles of biking was peanuts compared to what I was doing weekly. The only issue was the swim. I had taken lots of swim lessons as a kid and will swim a mile a year in a pool when I get a chance, so I didn't think anything of it...Big mistake. I got 200 yards into the 600 yard open water swim when I realized there was no pool wall to rest on (duh!). I ended up having a minor panic attack but got through it by doing a combo of front crawl, side, and back stroke. I aced the bike and run for a decent time once out of the water.


Fast forward to this year and my advice to you. I signed up for a half ironman in September. I ordered Matt Fitzgerald’s Essential Week by Week training guide. This book has 42 tri plans inside of it. 10 per distance (sprint, oly, half, full). I am using this book for the half but you would get just as much use out of it for the sprint. The 10 plans for each distance are in order of how much volume you want to do (1 = low, 10 = high).

https://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week-Training/dp/0446696765/ref=sr_1_11?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1551116595&sr=1-11&keywords=matt+fitzgerald

Buy the book, pick a plan # that has enough rest days for you to still do muay thai or simply replace one or two of the workouts per week with Muay thai.

edit: my half plan will require me to put bjj on hold for the training duration but I'm guessing the sprints wouldn't require you to

https://www.amazon.com/Triathlete-Magazines-Essential-Week--Training/dp/0446696765/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474549019&sr=8-1&keywords=week+by+week+triathlon+training+plan

This book has training plans from sprint level up to full distance. It goes from absolute beginner level to elite. The book can be difficult to understand as there are a lot of abbreviations, but for $15, it should last you indefinitely.

Buy a training plan off amazon and follow it rigorously.

Something like
this
or this