Customer Reviews

Going Long: Training for Ironman-Distance Triathlons (Ultrafit Multisport Training Series)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

AFTER THE RACE: THIS BOOK WORKS! I offered the below review before my first "official" ironman triathlon. I followed the advice and completed an Ironman in 11:51 (not blazing, but good enough for the first time). My longest training week was a 18 hour crash week, but none of my other weeks was longer than 10 hours. I focused on key workouts, made sure they were of the highest quality, and let the rest go. My time is even better, when you consider that I was out for 9 weeks in the early summer due to a broken arm (I couldn't do any of the sports and walked about three times a week). So I put together a sub 12 hour performance in 13 weeks, with only one week being over 10 hours. Next time I will do more, and hopefully race better, but overall I am very pleased with the results this book yielded. It gave me a means for spending Sundays with my children rather than my running shoes, let me know that my swimming was not going to get much better without 10000 more yards a week, and helped me learn to be patient on the bike. If you have a life, but want to do an Ironman (yes!!! you can have both) purchase this book.


ORIGNAL REVIEW:
At first a lot of the information in this book seemed to be a rehash of "The Triathlete's Training Bible" as stated in my original review. But after reading the book carefully and really pondering what the authors have to say, there does appear to be a lot dedicated toward the art of completing an ironman triathlon. In all fiarness, I must change my review. And if some of the information has been printed in "The Triathlete's Training Bible," at least in this book it is all arranged with one purpose--to finish a full ironman.

First, I must applaud the authors for their inclusion in the introduction. They admit that anyone can finish an Ironman triathlon if they have one thing: will. The down-to-earth tone permiates throughout the entire book.

There are excellent lists for pacing on the bike, mental condition, getting the most from nutrition and the common sense notion that endurance on the bike leg is the most important portion of a successful ironman seems so simple that one does need to constantly remind oneself about it.

Too often triathletes train, train, train, and then train some more. I get sick of hearing about macho-style workouts, and triathlon is just one portion of my life. If you work, have a family, practice other hobbies, actually give yourself to others, and don't spend every dime you make on triathlon, the philosophies in this book will suit your lifestyle. The authors make a very convincing argument for having three major endurance workouts a week--75 to 100 minutes for the swim, 5 to 6 hours on the bike, and 90 to 150 minutes for the run. Instead of the megablock weekend torture fests that most triathletes brag about, they suggest doing runs in the middle of the week, and the bike on the weekends. All other workouts are secondary to these three. They also suggest that if you cannot find a purpose to a workout, simply leave it out and get more sleep.

If you are preparing to embark on your first ironman or if you are a repeat customer, buy the book. 20 dollars now, might save you hours of wasted training time and minutes (if not hours), and personal suffering in your big race.

First of all, Going Long is not a rehash of Triathlete's Training Bible. TTB gives you everything you need to prepare yourself physically to get to the starting line. Going Long gives you what you need to get to the finish line.

The book addresses psychological and emotional issues during races, nutrition issues specific to ironman racing, not ironman training, as TTB does, and provides a lot of other useful information, such as race strategies.

Compared to the other offerings available, this is one of the few that provides long distance racers the wisdom and experience of the author's years racing, and can be put to immediate use.

First of all let me say that this is about the best ironman training book out there. However, there are several severe flaws. First, the authors are confused about their audience. It is never clear when they are talking to novices and when they are addressing elites. They float around willy-nilly first addressing one then the other. Warnings are given to beginners right in the middle of long spiels obviously addressed only to pros. I believe this book is probably meant for novice to intermmediate triatheletes. But the authors are inconsistent in their approach to this. Second, most of the equipment information is very shallow but nevertheless useful to novices. However, once again the intended audience is unclear. Thirdly, the training bricks, many workout, and much of the advice are clearly geared to triatheletes who are very advanced. Any first-timer is going to overtrain and many advanced atheletes will as well if they utilize some of these workouts. They authors recommend no more than two breakthough workouts per week!! Is anybody else reading this? So once again the audience is unclear. If the authors are going to address novices then they need to do so in a consistent way throughout the book. The same with elites and intermmediates etc. Despite these flaws I managed to extract a great deal of useful information from this book and will continue to use it.

I've been in search of the right Ironman training book for a while. Most regular tri books devote little time to IM training, and others are so complicated they're intimidating (The Triathlete's Training Bible has great information, but I find it really complex.) This gets it right. If you're a nerd like me who likes to understand the logic behind a training program, you can get it here. You can also skim for tips or workouts if you just want to know what to do and when. Especially great is the nutrition section -- Gordo has some very logical, no-hype tips that really work.

After reading Joe Friel's Triathlete's Bible, this book looks like a puzzle. The information in it is very good, but is given in a so unstructured way, that the reader have to go back and forth to put the pieces together. It's a book that one who is getting prepared for Ironman should read, but not really needed if you have read the Bible from Friel.

This book is very informative and helpful to those making the transition to Half and Ironman distance tri's. I would have given this book a five star if I didn't already have Gale Bernhardt's training plans for multisport athletes. All the info in Going long is in Gale's book. They obviously consulted one another when writing their respective books. I recommend Gale's book if you plan on doing different distance Tri's. Joe's book is more specific to the Ironman distance athlete. Good luck and always ride with a tailwind.

This is the best book on triathlon that I have read. I am training for an ironman and I refer to the book almost every day. Also, I used tips and workouts from the book for a 1/2 ironman last year and improved my time from by 2 hours.

This is essential reading for anyone attempting their first IM or long-distance event. Unlike some of Friel's previous publications, this book is quite easy to follow and does not get too bogged down on technical aspects of training (lactate threshold, Power wattages etc). Some of the technical information is still contained in this book but it is not as overbearing. There are also useful snippets for newbies. This is a book that I periodically pick up and read a few pages. It was also useful in putting together a training plan leading up to the big event. Overall, a must-have for newcomers to this distance and a useful reference book for more experienced triathletes.

I had done 5 Ironman before reading this book and my time were always around 12:15. Following the principle I broke my 12hrs barrier advanced 45min from my personal best. I will recommend this book to any intermediate to advance Ironman athlete.

This book is great! I got it with 6 weeks left until race day and I wish I had it before I even thought about doing an ironman!! It doesn't tell you an Iron distance race is easy, it just guides you on how it is possible to do! From very basics to detailed information. It still gave me plenty of information that I incorporated the last 6 weeks, so I was very happy to have it clear some questions. I plan on lending to anyone that says, "I don't know if I could do one." or "That's crazy, I could never do an iron distance race!"

I recommend it for folks thinking about doing one or someone just starting to train or someone who hasn't done one in quite some time. Someone who is a multi-time ironman finisher would not benefit.