80/20 Triathlon

Engaging, scientific based and accessible.

You may have noticed that my last name is the same as one of the authors. If you did you may suspect first, that we are related and second, that I am here to shamelessly promote my husband‘s book. You would be right on both counts! Although, in truth, it needs no promoting by me. 80/20 Triathlon speaks for itself. Successful athletes of all ability levels the world over have seen their success rocket upward as they apply the principles laid out in this book. I have witnessed first hand not only David's personal triathlon success, but also the amazing athletes he has coached. David and Matt do an excellent job of breaking down the 80/20 principle for athletes of all experience levels. The science is sound, the material accessible and the narrative engaging. These two love what they do and want to help you find success and enjoyment achieving your best results. If you are looking for a book to help you on your triathlon journey, or take your training to the next level, this book is for you. It is based on 20 plus years of research, personal application and passion. What began as a weekend hobby (for David at least) grew into a quest for scientific accuracy and performance excellence. It has been amazing to see the heights to which each athlete excels when they follow the 80/20 plan. Thanks for another amazing offering David and Matt!

5 people found this helpful

Amazing and simple

Great informative book. Easy to follow and much cheaper than a coach. The pdf is a great tool

4 people found this helpful

Doesn’t work as audiobook, even with pdf and online materials

There’s nothing I hate more than wasting my time sitting down reading a physical book, but I just dont think this works as an audiobook. Most training books don’t but I thought I’d give it a shot.

3 people found this helpful

Great information for triathletes

This was a very informative and an interesting read. That being said, it was a little advanced for me. While I am preparing for a sprint as a means of weight loss, this is for the seasoned triathlete. While I am no where near the type of althalete that this book would beat bwnefit, I still found it interesting and helpful to what I am doing. While I wanted something that is more analogous to “triathlons for dummies,” I still found this informative, helpful and an excellent guide for training as I progress toward my goals. #newme #triordie #timetotrain #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

3 people found this helpful

How To Train 4 Any Triathlon Distance & Succeed!

A comprehensive tool to build your tailor-made success-driven training plan for any triathlon race without overtraining.

Using the intensities guide provided I was literally able to train the 3 sports modalities everyday for 6 months, injury-free, and reach my goals.

1 person found this helpful

Great book to help keep you from over-training

I am preparing for my first half ironman distance triathlon and am trying to follow the principles outlined in this book. It is early, but I can already see the benefits of "holding back" in my training. The concepts make sense and I look forward to applying the 80/20 rule in all of my training going forward. The book is excellent and lays out all of the science behind the approach as well, which is great.

1 person found this helpful

Great book, really opened my eyes!

I am sure this book was written for me personally because it describes me to a "T"! I push every ride and run to the max and blame getting injured or sick on just getting older. I can't wait to implement the strategies learned.

1 person found this helpful

Intriguing

I have definitely felt the "moderate intensity rut" and am guilty of biking with a group that competes on every hill, running with some friends that believe if it's not painful then you're not training. Hopefully I can learn how to apply the 80/20 principles and still enjoy the company of those I like to train with. That is going to be the challenge. Hopefully this book will convince them to make the change too and we will all be the better and faster for it.

1 person found this helpful

Provides building blocks for triathlete training.

The background information and scientific explanations seem clear and sound. To make practical use of the ideas, you must reference a lot of material (tables, training plans, etc) in a pdf that is automatically downloaded with the book. I believe that if you go through this information while listening to the book, you can either build your own training plan for any length of race/experience level/goal or customize plans that are provided. I think the authors tried to make things as easy as possible for triathletes to determine various thresholds and zones used in training. Unfortunately, you can't follow the references made extensively by the book unless you have printed out a copy of the pdf or have a large screen where the pdf can be viewed. Clearly, putting together a triathlon training plan can be complicated, but if you have the ability to understand some mathematical data, and some patience to make a detailed plan,, this book provides a road map and the pdf provides all the building blocks you should need. However, you will also need some technical equipment such as a heart rate monitor, garmin (or equivalent) with multisport capabilities, power meter, etc. If you don't have a range of measurement devices or are not willing to make a detailed plan, the main lessons you can learn from the book is that approximately 80% of time spent on each discipline (80% of distance in case of swimming) should not be hard. Most non-professional triathletes unconsciously spend too much time on workouts that are hard enough to hinder recovery and harm performance in subsequent hard workouts. In the end their race performances will stagnate and they will fail to meet their potential.

A must-listen (read) for all triathletes

I used to train based on different principles, such as always going hard to develop the top-end of my strength and speed and always trying to avoid the slow and boring workouts. This book gives you a different perspective on training, with lots of counterintuitive ideas that are backed up by the science. After listening the audiobook, I’ve decided to try the full IM plan from them for a race happening next November.