Training Plans for Multisport Athetes

I have and read the book.  I started out with the 26 week HIM plan but got 10 weeks into it and trashed my knees.  It was at this time that I realized that between running, biking, and lifting I did not have any days without leg training.  I took a couple weeks off to heal, then switched to the 13 week HIM plan and it worked great.  I finished my first one in 5:38 and felt pretty good throughout the race. 

I got in the best shape I have been in since I was a teenager, maybe even better and I was able to go right from tri season into doing a couple half marathons.

Hope this helps.

 Just a general question for the group of guys/gals who buy training plans:

Why wouldn't you buy the plans on this site, and get the added benefit of coach support?

For a ridiculous amount of money you can download up to about 20 plans into your training log (more than you could ever use) and ask all the questions you want on the Gold Forum. Your questions will be answered by USAT Certified Coaches.

Nothing against getting free advice, but there is a good reason its free. ;-) Why not let the experts take the guess work out of your plan and have a plan with proven results?  

Lastly, the plans are written by a USAT Level III Coach, and there are literally about 10 Level 3 Coaches in the country.

There is no other opportunity anywhere on the web for this type of training plans, coaching advice and at such a low cost!

I'm interested in your thoughts!

Fixed it for you Mike.

I have this book as well as Friel's Triathlete's Bible.  Bernhardt's book almost never is opened, while I'm consistently refering back to Friel.  I'd recommend Friel's Triathlete's Bible over Training Plans for Multsport Athletes.  Friel arms you with the information you need to build your own plan.  The canned ones never seem to meet the bill for my needs.

Repsonding to Mike...  I like the plans on BT and used them to some degree, basically a starting point.  I always end up making so many adjustments (races mid plan, personal obligations, work, vacation, injury, etc...), that I end up creating my own version.  Thus, I've done my best to become educated on training so that at least my modifications have some basis.  I used the gold plan for my recent marathon and got quite a bit out of the forum.  Mike's right, the gold membership when one uses a plan and the support forum really is a tremendous value.

Friel's training bible, Daniel's Running Formula and Pfizinger and Douglas Advanced Marathoning along with the triathletes I respect here and in my community are my "coaches."  All that said, when I decide to tackle the big IM, I'll likely hire a coach to get me through it...

Thanks Rick!

I'll answer your question...... for me, $85 for 6 months is not a small investment. I can go buy a book (I use Matt Fitzgerald's 'Essential Week-By-Week Training Guide') for ~$20 and it's mine forever. I can look at it anytime I need it and take it with me everywhere. Combined with the book and the resources on this site, I can't justify buying another set of training plans.

Another thing to consider is the gear you purchase.  With a Gold membership you get access to the training plans and coaches.  However, you also get good discounts with various vendors.  I more than paid for my membership in 2008 in savings on discounts that I received by being a premium member.  Nevermind, that my membership just expired.  That will be remedied after my next paycheck

A book is great for general understanding, but it doesn't update overtime based on new info, you have to have it with you, and manually enter it if you want it in your log. Importing the plan on here is great! I had used TTB to build my own plans and still feel like the plans were okay, I just didn't stick to them well enough. I like that I understand more now and could adjust somewhat for multiple races. I checked the book out at the library a couple of times, so that was free.

I noticed the gold plan has a 6 race sprint series, I might try that someday. I have a suggestion for the gold plan. Allow users to enter constraints, like Sunday off, even if the result comes back as "Choose another plan or remove some constraints." I had to go through my bronze oly plan to switch my off day. Previously I used spreadsheets for my plans and could easily fill down changes.

I guess I could export it, manipulate it, and re-import it.

OP, check the library to see if its worth it.

May I make a suggestion??!

 Come up with plans based on distance. I like BT plans - but HATE that they are based on time. I'm a slow newbie. Much slower than your times. in 36 min I probably run 2 miles NOT 3-4 miles like most folks.

I don't want to have to adjust them. I just want to upload and be done with it.

 I was looking into not getting a coach and just going with the plans, but now I'm back to "I'm getting a coach" in January. PURELY because your plans are based on times not distances and I don't want to have to make the plan myself.

Are the paid plans based on time too? I thought you get more detail with those. Like distance and intervals, drills, etc.

I don't know because I haven't decided on a paid membership yet. I guess because I've only done and aspire to do sprints for the next year or so. I already have a running plan that works for me and I get free swim plans at swimplan.com. My Masters Team has a team workout as well. So it's only the bike that's missing. And I kind of wing it on that. My schedule is so full it's hard to fit in another thing. I guess that's why I haven't done a paid membership yet.

Either that or I'm just cheap.

I have the silver plan which was pretty reasonable for 6 months. The plan I used was mostly time-based, except for the swim workouts, where they gave you actual yardage too, specific workouts for each day, and used heart rate zones. Some use RPE instead.

 yes they are. 

 and I'm just broke right now which is  why I'm not a paid member yet

I don't see any "base building" plans on this site, only plans that lead up to some race or other. And this I find very surprising since everybody here is speaking of the importance of building a base, yet there are no plans for that.

If this is a site for Beginning Triathletes I would expect plans that are dedicated to effecient base building. Once that is done, then you can continue with any one of the "race plans", no?

Otherwise I dont think that US$85 for six month is a lot at all, just the advice on this site is well worth it!

Good to know. I had no idea the paid plans were time based and that they don't include base building. Kinda answers my question about what to do...

I personally am looking forward to the Mentoring program. I hope to learn a lot about base building once that program starts up. I hope I get in. I hope I hope!

What about feedback on your training? Do you get that from friends or how does that work for you? The $85 is about a lot more than just the training plans - its the feedback and asking a certified coach for help when you are in a bind. When your A race is coming up and you found yourself in a glitch, I would think $85 would be well worh the money to ask some what you should do. You spend thousands on equipment, hundreds on race entries, and hundred of hours training - not sure that a book can give you the same help a real person can. You can have the book forever, yes,but chances are in six months the information is 30% old news. There are new studies done all the time on training and a book is great. but I wouldn't bet my entire season on it. Maybe that's just me...

keyone - 2008-11-20 7:11 AM I used Gale Bernhardt's book my 2nd and 3rd season and did very well with her plans. I liked some of her workouts, specifically the bike workouts. I think they are very well rounded training plans to prepare you for a specific race distance. Not so much for base building. Some of her workouts were vague in what exactly to do, and she had no hill repeats at all, so I went looking for a new book... My 4th season, I used a plan from Matt Fitzergald's Triathlete Magazine Essential Week by Week Training Guide. The plans in that book are superb, better than Gales. He has a plan level 1-10 for each distance, and also an off season transition plan. I used the level 7 olympic plan, and slashed my goals and did better than I ever thought possible in my 'A' race. My only issue with his plans is that the tapers are not nearly easy enough. That was very easy to fix by just doing less during the last 10 days! I have not looked at the silver and gold plans on this site because I just signed up for bronze after starting my training this year, so I could log my workouts. I did look at the workouts available to me as a bronze user, and they are good basic beginner plans, but not good performance plans. Since I already have a book full of plans that I love, I don't see upgrading to Gold. Tho, it was a pain inputting my training plan into the BT system, so that automated task would be nice. Then again, now that I have one plan input, I can export it and re-import it for another season. I will follow this plan again. Does anyone know how the Gold plans compare to Matt's plans? I just really love the specific detail Matt gives for each and every workout. Check out August of my plan to see some of the details. PS: the other issue I have with Matt's plans (beside lack of easy tapers) is the workouts do not specify HR zones. That was another easy fix. On page 9 he has a chart of perceived effort, which he uses in his workout descriptions. There are 6 levels, which correspond exactly to zones 1-5a. So, whereever he says Recovery, it means Zone 1; Moderate means Zone 2; High Aerobic means Zone 3 (which he uses very infrequently - hahaha not much "grey zone"; Threshold means zone 4 (kinda obvious); VO2 max means Zone 5; Speed - Zone 5a. PSS: Friels Bible is a great book to have for basic understanding of training concepts. BUT, there are no specific plans in it. I don't feel confident enough to make up my own plan based on his theories. I'd rather use a plan someone else has already made up. I do feel confident enough to adapt the plans to work around B races.

Matt's has some experience as a writer and has certainly sold a few books - I didn't see your actual plan in the link but I did see your workouts. It would be interesting to see the actual workouts. I can tell you that we've had people qualify for world's, IM Hawaii, and even medal at AG worlds on our plans - so I don't think plans need to be complicated, they just have to be effective. I can say without a hint of doubt that our plans are effective!

Ralph

Thanks for the comments - all plans have base building built into them and really its how you define base building. For a newbie it might be doing 4 hours a week - using the Winter Maintenance Plan, and if the athlete does that then they would progress to a sprint plan - and so on. All those plans take into account the fitness level of the athlete.
The term itself, 'base building' is just too broad to define in my opinion.

I can't see creating a plan for people to ride their bikes for up to 2 hours on a trainer in the winter. I like the idea of working on limiters like in our Sport Focus Plans - and I am the only coach I know of who has created plans like this. How will you get better at your weakest sport if you don't spend time addressing it for a good chunk of the training time?

Like I said above, all plans have base building built in, but we don't define it as 'base building'. Its kind of an old term and its doesn't address anything specific. The way I coach we address certain limiters and improve each cycle.