Customer Reviews

Time-Saving Training for Multisport Athletes

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

 

 

I highly recommend this book to any athlete who 1. has limited time and/or 2. is new to multisport. This book is incredibly easy to understand and follow and will help you reap the maximum benefits from your training in less time, period.

As a mom, I don't have all day to train. But, last year was my first year in triathlon (and swimming/biking), and through this program I placed in my age group twice by the end of the summer, including a challenging 1/2 ironman course - on less than 10 hours/week of training.

If you are new to triathlon, or in desperate need of a break from ridiculous volumnes of training, get this book!

This is the training book I've been waiting for. Niles is very good at explaning the physiology and mechanics of multisport training without going overboard on technical jargon. As a recreational triathlete, I devoured this book in two days and can't wait to put some of it into practice. His sample workouts seem too aggressive for beginners or older athletes, but they do demonstrate how to balance training time and level of intensity to optimize performance gains. The book helps me understand what I did wrong during my last racing season and where I can focus for improvement.

If you're looking for a book to help get you from couch- potato
shape to triathlete, this probably isn't it. If, however, you're already
in decent shape and want information on helping fit a triathlon training program into your hectic life, then you won't go wrong with this book. It can even work for marathon runnners (like me) who need to cross- train
in order to keep from getting injured.

There are better books for beginners (I used Triathlon 101 by John Mora, which I found perfect for my first race), but when you're ready to focus on improving performance instead of simply finishing, this book can help you get to that next level. He explains the technical details, but then generally summarizes in layman's terms. He encourages technical training aids like heart rate monitoring, but also proposes lower-tech ways of estimating. At the end of the day, however, if you want to improve and have a limited time budget, you've got to be organized and be willing to structure your training for greater intensity. It's not easy and it's not going to hold your hand; it is focused on performance

After reading reviews that stated this book was simple to use and had specific examples, I couldn't wait to receive it. I really need time saving training methods and hoped this book would offer solutions. What I found was the usual confusing information on VO2 max, heart rate and other measurements that needed to be taken before you could move on to what you could do to train efficiently in less time. I tried to skip all that and move ahead to the meat of the book and found that pretty confusing too. If I had enough time to read and comprehend this book, I wouldn't need it...I would spend the time training. I am going to give Mark Allen's new book about the same topic a try.

This book essentially eliminates wasted training in favor of higher intensity, shorter and less frequent workouts. A shorter high intensity work out is the best way to improve actual performance and doing the "junk miles" or LSD just wastes time and energy. This allows more time for recovery and focuses your training time on the developing the speed and intensity you will use in racing. Makes a lot of sense and I'm integrating it in my training plans with good success. I liked his statement that a "recovery run" is an oxymoron - go for a bike ride or swim instead. A very worthwhile book for anyone serious about improving with increased efficiency.

While this material might not be ideal for most beginners, once you've been training for a while, it will be an invaluable addition to your training regimine.

The principles can be utilized and easily expanded to cover 1/2 and Full Ironman programs -- weekdays stay the same, just extend the long weekend workouts and you're all set!

After reading reviews that stated this book was simple to use and had specific examples, I couldn't wait to receive it. I really need time saving training methods and hoped this book would offer solutions. What I found was the usual confusing information on VO2 max, heart rate and other measurements that needed to be taken before you could move on to what you could do to train efficiently in less time. I tried to skip all that and move ahead to the meat of the book and found that pretty confusing too. If I had enough time to read and comprehend this book, I wouldn't need it...I would spend the time training. I am going to give Mark Allen's new book about the same topic a try.

Can you train 20-30 hours a week? If you are like most of us the desire to finish an Iron Man is complemented with the desire to succeceed at work and at home. This book provides you with basic ways to maximize the time you spend training.