Book: The Time Crunched Triathlete

After researching it myself I discovered that this book is directed at people who want to "complete" a sprint or olympic not "compete" in one and it isn't really directed towards 1/2 or full distance racing at all. There is a 1/2 program in there but it is very bare-bones. Depends on your goals.

Just finished reading through it a while ago.  I'll have to disagree with the poster above.  The book is very specific in saying that it is not for the beginner that is simply looking to complete their first tri.  The fitness programs are tailored to Age Groupers who want to win or be on the podium at local/regional events in Sprint and Olympic distances.  As mentioned there is a HIM plan as well, but it comes with the disclaimer that 8 hours a week isn't enough time to be competitive at that distance.  Chris Carmichael is certainly well known as a coach who produces results and while there doesn't appear to be anything revolutionary in there, it's got some very well planned routines.  Each plan is based around 8 hours of training per week with the vast majority of workouts being bricks.

I didn't get my act together enough to follow one of the plans before my first tri on the 2nd of July.  Maybe I'll get on the plan in August for a fall Olympic distance.

I own it and have (mostly) followed the "intermediate" plan for an olympic I just did. Disclaimer: I'm an utter noob (this was my second tri ever).

I strongly disagree with the reviewer above who said it's for people who want to 'complete' rather than 'compete'; that is explicitly *not* its stated goal [1]. The workouts are tough - most workouts are bricks and nearly all of them include some form of intervals. You should be able to do more than just survive by the end.

There are some very annoying inconsistencies (like how the heck is a "pace swim set" meant to done at be a relative effort of 8/10, yet at over 100% of your best pace?). There's a lot of filler in the book - it could probably have been boiled down to something not much bigger than a pamphlet.

However,  I really like having a structured plan provided for me, and I felt like I got a lot more bang out of the bricks / intervals than I did out of my homebrew "grind it out" plan. Swimming in particular was helped significantly - I went from worst in my age group (by far) to second (admittedly in a small group - seven) in a time I wasn't ashamed of.

I give it a thumbs up; it was well worth what I paid for it.

[1] half-distance plan excluded; he explicitly says it's barely enough to get you through the race. But the sprint / olympic plans are intended to be competitive.

All,

Appreciated on the responses. I will definitely give it a try.  With family, friends, work, and simply other things I'm interested in, this sounds like the plan for me!    

I bought and used the book for my first HIM in Galveston April.  Like others, I am a very busy person with a time consuming job, young family, and many other obligations. I do not have the time to commit most of my days to triathlon training.  I found that this book is perfect for someone that is looking to finish there race strong and feel good about themselves.  Let's be honest, not too many of us out there are really racing for the podium? The biggest key to the book is that it was very light training during the week which allowed me to keep up with my daily activites (1-hour commute, dinner time w/ family, bath time, etc).  I did struggle in my HIM but it was my own fault because I "half-assed" the trianing program at about 75%.  I feel if someone was to follow these plans 100%, they could have a heck of a race and be pround of themselves.

Review of the book that I posted a while back...

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/discussion/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=241271&posts=4&mid=3341912&highlight=crunched&highlightmode=1&action=search#M3341912

Indeed. If you work 60-70 hours a week and have a family and other things you like to do, 8 hours a week is a luxury. 

8 hours a week is also pretty close to the average week for the 15-20 people I coach full time.  I consider my 5-6 hour/week folks the time crunched ones. And they can still improve.

dp, again.  What's up with that?

That's funny.  Of course, thanks to triathlon training I only get to see SNL when I DVR it, since most Saturday nights I can't make it past 10.

I was going off of others reviews of the book when making my decision. I didn't intend to give the wrong info. It sounds like many people feel differently about it.