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Joe Friel - Training bible

after living and sleeping with my 2 beginner tri books for last 6 months i ordered Joe Friel triathlon training bible - WTF!...would take me a year to read/understand...so have gone back to my pieced together training plan and forum lists ...anyone recommend a 'beginner to improver' book ?

Comments

  • jamescarojamescaro Posts: 4
    Take your time and read through his training bible - I have read a number of his books and found the combination of the science and practice really top drawer.

    Use the forums to ask questions if you do not understand something.

    It will make you a better triathlete in the long run - just be patient!
  • clv101clv101 Posts: 45
    Which two beginner books do you have? Would you recommend them? I've only read Triathlon Training for Dummies which I wasn't that impressed with.
  • PC_67PC_67 Posts: 196
    I actually don't like the "Training Bible" book. OK, it does what it says on the tin, but for me it lacks "feel" and is too long on the science. Following this book as your main instruction manual would take all the joy out of training for me.

    I'm sure my performance would improve if I took a more scientific approach to training but as I'm a recreational triathlete, albeit one intent on getting better, I think there's a better balance to be had between structure & intuition.

    In fairness, the whole point of a "bible" is that it's not a rigid prescription to follow the book from page 1 to the last page, it's there for ongoing reference and in many areas it hits the spot. For example, when I refer to intuition above, I think most self-trained athletes would be potentially prone to overtraining and the section dealing with how to recognise overtraining is very good.
  • jacjac Posts: 452
    I quite like the Training Bible..
    I was out of action last November so spent a couple of weeks reading it cover to cover. It helped me plan the season ahead - and understand a bit more about why I'm doing what I'm doing. Now I find it a really useful reference book.
    "Triathlon Start To Finish" by Sam Murphy is quite good. It's very simple to follow.
  • diddsdidds Posts: 655
    Its a great book... but I felt felt down by the planning your schedule sections (which are almost 50% of the book after all). Great for the annual hours splits, and the periodisation etc but it really leaves you high and dry when it comes dopwn to the nitty gritty of how to split up your training week...

    maybe it works better of you've 600 hours a year to train with, but at 350 hours a year some weeks were 5 hours training, including weights. I know its intended as a guide rather a strict plan in itself, but I had no idea where to go from the skeleton that does get (excellently) explained and led to.

    didds
  • aoneill69aoneill69 Posts: 206
    Conehead - ordered yours and Joes at the same time so neck and neck at amazon from me ...yours was a lot easier to read..
  • aoneill69aoneill69 Posts: 206
    clv101 - couple of books i used constantly for my first 3-4 months training - (in bed/at work/on road) and for different purposes where
    Eric Harr - Triathlon Training in Four Hours a Week - this is very 'american' however gives you a very good intro to the basics, some training plans, nutrition and also adds stretch/weights examples to add to the mix....if your lacking motivation at all it has a load of 'reasons to do a tri and motivational stuff'...surprised me because it does help when you feel you are going backwards or the world is against you...i.e. crap run/swim/punctures/ etc..

    2nd book was Joe Beer - Need to Know Triathlon - far more british - factual but also a great source of info...(and some extended training plans to follow)
  • transittransit Posts: 163
    Another vote for the 'Training Bible' being far too 'heavy'. It is well worth a read but seems to waste a hell of a lot of time achieving a pretty basic training plan in the end when I feel it should have more on the specific sessions...but that's just my opinion.

    I too have Coneheads book, girlfriends reading it at the moment, I maybe should have mader her buy her own copy!
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