Training Program Effectiveness

These are AWESOME training programs. Some are awesomer than others but you can't go wrong with any of them.

In my opinion, the training plans alone (much less all the other amazing features and info on this site, and no, nobody pays me ) make the paid memberships way more than worth it.

The thing to remember for an Xterra (or any tri) is make your training specific to what your race will be. In other words, you should be trying to do as much of your training off-road as you can.

Good luck ... and welcome to BT and triathlon!

I've got 4 more weeks left of the 20 week half ironman plan and can't say enough good things about it.  As a newbie, a plan will give you automatic structure to your workouts and will guide you down a path that will be less fraught with rookie mistakes.  It is up to you to bring the discipline and hard work.  Also, the training groups are a real resource as you get the benefit of others' perspectives and advice. 

I gotta give 'em props! Disclaimer though, I'm a novice to - my first race is next month.  I started with the Sprint 2x balanced 20 wk program back in January - i'm embarrassed to admit I couldn't run a mile (12+ min pace), could freestyle 100 yds, and could only manage abt 13 mph on the bike.  Now running 4.5 miles sub-10 min pace, swimming 1600 yds straight at around 2.4'/100 and got my bike pace up to almost 16 mph (on a hybrid).  I've followed the plan pretty closely - moving workouts around just a little but striving for planned volume. 

Just a few weeks ago, I signed up for the Silver membership to access more plans cause I felt like i was hitting a plateu and have jumped in abt half-way thru the Sprint-Basic 12 week - RPE based plan. It calls for 3x each discipline per week and more strength training.  Just 2 wks in, and already seeing some progress, so far so good!

My only complaint: some of the details of the plans are lacking or appear to me a bit screwy, or you have to dig to find more details - like the core workouts.  But that not too bad, and the plans are reasonably customizable.

I HIGHLY recommend using the training log, for me its easy and rewarding to put your #'s in and track results!