The Triathlete's Training Bible
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2004-03-24 2:46 PM |
Expert 649 Palm Coast, FL | Subject: The Triathlete's Training Bible Im using Joe Friels book The Triathletes Training Bible Second Edition to attempt to create a more personalized regimen. As expected Im finding some of the methods and language complex and hard to understand. And just the number of acronymns is enough to give me a headache (VO2, RPE, VT,CP,LT, BPM etc.) I know what all of those are so you dont have to tell me but you get the idea. Im only on page 50 the "Assessing Fitness" portion where he's adressing using CompuTrainers (something I've no idea where to find for use without purchasing) and I feel like I'm in over my head. I came to use this book after having read Triathlon 101 and browsing other Triathlon training books and knowing I wanted to be a little more diciplined than the 10% rule. Wanted help creating specific workouts and working them into my periodization like Fartleks etc.. Figured since Friel is the standard might as well learn Friel. I'm looking for more people who are using this book that I can shoot questions to occasionally. I'm two pages away from having my wife read the book for me and having her explain it to me. Anybody out there? |
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2004-03-24 2:56 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Veteran 112 , Zurich | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I'm glad to help you with TTB as much as I can. I'm familiar with the concepts he uses. On the main BT site, there's a 1/2 ironman plan which uses periodization. Even if you're doing a sprint race, the same concepts apply, just shorter hours per week. |
2004-03-24 3:09 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Veteran 285 Keller, TX | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I'd be glad to help as well. I attended a tricamp where Joe spoke. His lecture cleared a number of things up. He spent one whole session on periodization. You might also try the training bible.com web site. I do agree with you though - understanding everything from the book is pretty tough. Having Joe explain it helped me a lot. TB |
2004-03-24 5:06 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Expert 751 Texarkana, TX | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I have the book as well, and used it to understand some basic concepts and also to set an annual plan, with hours, workouts, etc. However, I have found myself mostly just doing stuff off the top of my head. I figure that this is my first year training, so just by building the miles and taking scheduled recovery weeks will get me where I want to go this year. Maybe next year, I will work on his specific workouts, which I think will be very valuable. It is just a little beyond my reckoning right now. |
2004-03-24 5:31 PM in reply to: #14110 |
NW Suburbs of Chicago | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I can totally relate soupa..... I borrowed the book looking for the brass ring and finished it with my head spinning. I was looking for something more structured, like "run 5 miles on Tuesday", but realized that the book was focusing on overall concepts for training and not a daily training plan. I took several things from the book and put them in my plan: 1) Broke my training into different phases [Base, Build, etc.] 2) Suggestions on weight training [e.g. ME, PW, etc] ... I like the idea that the workout focus changes throughout training. 3) Broke down my realistic annual training hours by week.... I think this will help eliminate the risk of overtraining. Also will make sure I spend 50% of those hours on the bike each week. 4) Appendixed workouts . . . has some good suggestions. But where the book says "start with 6 to 8 of X...". I start out with about 4. To find my zones in each sport.... 1) Swim - 1000yd time trial. Got overall time and found zones on table. 2) Run - Took best 10K time and used that time, found zones on chart. I like tracking zones by pace then correlate that pace to my HRM. 3) Bike...... this one was definately the toughest. I took a recommendation from a local coach on how to test this. 10 min warm up, then 10 min @ 95-100 rpm HARD [hold ~90-100 rpm]- took HR @ 10min - then at next 5 min - then at next 5 min - then at next 5 min - then at next 5 min, then 10 min cool down. I averaged the last 4 X 5min heart rates (mine were 160/162/164/164) and came up with my LT of 162. Plugged that into the table. Afterwards, of course, I slithered off the bike in pure exhaustion. Not sure if that helps (or just adds to your confusion). If you want more advice, email me. I'd be glad to give you my experiences or help you in any way I can. |
2004-03-24 5:42 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Expert 948 Mount Vernon, Iowa | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I agree about that book. I set it down a few times and came back to it before I really used it. What worked (sort of) was starting with the training schedules in the back and dipping into the rest of the book for reference about what sort of weight circuit to do at the gym, what PE means, etc. It's not a great cover-to-cover read. Whoever said that it makes more sense in the context of a long-term, periodized training plan is right. I appreciate getting the tools to figure all that out for myself, and I'm working at it slowly. Carrie |
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2004-03-24 6:23 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Resident Matriarch N 43° 32.927 W 071° 24.431 | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible sold mine on eBay. Geeeez....I just wanna have some fun, not like I'm gonna win the race or anything! |
2004-03-24 8:26 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I am sure with you Ellen -- I actually bought the book, tried opening it and closed it immediately. Way too much for me. I guess I'll have to learn how to do e-bay!! |
2004-03-24 9:24 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Expert 649 Palm Coast, FL | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible Lori your comments are very helpful (as are others) I agree that it seems the bike is the hardest to track. He constantly refers to a "CompuTrainer" that provides watts. Is this something I can get the same result from a stationary bike that provides watts? I have no idea where to find a CompuTrainer and this being my first season I wont be spending money on one for certain. Also as far as the periodization goes. I've already been doing what I would consider base and I've scheduled my first race for the end of May. Should I be moving into Build now? Or waiting until the beginning of April? |
2004-03-25 12:02 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Veteran 285 Keller, TX | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible As far as your periodization goes, you don't have to have a plan to get through all phases for each race. You can do a race when you are in the build phase or the peak phase. You want to schedule your phases around your A-priority races. Pick that race date and work backwards. If your June race is an A-race, I think Joe would tell you you should have started planning sooner. He'd probably also tell you just to adjust the phases as best as you can so that you are close to peaking at race time. One of the things he told us at tricamp is that if you cannot run a 10K, you should spend ALL of your time on building endurance - laying down base. Until you can do a 10K, he did not recommend working on building muscular endurance, etc. Don't know if that helps or just muddies the waters . . . TB |
2004-03-25 12:34 PM in reply to: #14110 |
Expert 649 Palm Coast, FL | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible I plan to do a sprint Distance in May, June, July, and an Olympic/International Distance in September for my first season. The only one I would consider an 'A' race is the September one. As far as the endurance goes Im to the point now where I can do a 10k at a Zone 3 or RPE of 13 pace consistantly. As of last week I'm covering about 10 miles at Zone 2/3 and RPE of 11-12 in my long run on Sundays. Id really like to start working on my intensive endurance to get faster. The problem I've been running into is that with my training as it was increasing 10% time per week I'm at an hour and a half run and 10 miles. If I keep going up by mid summer I think I'll be doing marathons every sunday . You get the idea. So I think after I've done the "Grade Exercise Tests" this week when I begin laying out my schedule I will start in the Build period |
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2004-03-25 1:40 PM in reply to: #14110 |
NW Suburbs of Chicago | Subject: RE: The Triathlete's Training Bible soupa, You and I are on the same track. My A race, an Olympic Tri, is at the end of August. So you should still be in Base I training according to Friel. As far as the Computrainer, I don't own one as I hear they are somewhere in the neighborhood of $1300. I need to know my commitment to this Tri stuff for a bit longer to justify the purchase. Although, they do sound pretty kewl.... |