140.6 training plan

Thanks for all of the advice! I've actually taken a couple of lessons with a swim coach, and plan to meet with her again this winter, since the discrepancies between my swim performance versus my bike and run are fairly ridiculous.

I'm also considering hiring an all around coach, which I suppose would negate the need for me to find a plan, since presumably they would provide me with one, but I'll make that decision a bit down the road...

Nah, the people there are all jerks.

This is still my favorite free training program for 140.6.   It gives a lot of detail to the workouts and they all tend to be enough different to keep it interesting.

http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/ironman-workouts/

I have used the training plans from this book, twice.

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

This book is great because there are multiple plans/levels; from beginner Sprint to advanced Ironman.  I followed the Full Ironman level 3 (IMFL) and level 7 (IMLOU) and was happy with my training for both.  It is very detailed and takes some "decoding" so to speak, but it is definately worth the time.

I followed the Don Fink Be Iron Fit Plan (Competitive plan) and will do it again for my next race.  IM Louisville in 11:58

you can get the book online or at any bookstore.

I think this was a great program as well. I used in the my first IM Louisville! Loved how detailed all the workouts were.

I'll be using this book for my offeseason this year and 70.3 next year. So far, it's taken some time to decode it, but I'm doing it now to get it out of the way. Glad someone else has used it and liked it!

The plans seem good by I have a major issue with this book - the "CODE" he uses to describe the workouts is maddening. It would be bad enough for 10 different codes, but he has upwards of 20, like SCD, etc. and a ginormous chart for each of them.

WHen you're trying to integrade his workouts into your calendar, it gets nuts. 

Those codes absolutely killed any value of that book for me, unfortunately. (And I know many others who feel the same way.) Still, he's a reputable coach and the content seems excellent. 

I used this for my half IM and my first full IM this year. I liked it because of the levels. I actually did a little mixing and matching. Two things, I found though: the recovery weeks was not enough recovery, so I would do the recovery for the level below what I was doing. Also, I felt that there should be at least one or two longer bricks (I did levels 2/3 for my IM). Other than that, I really liked it and will use it again next season.