Has anyone ever bought this triathlon training package and used it? The website seems a bit goofy and low quality to me, like a lot of scam websites, but just because it looks like a scam and smells like a scam doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a scam. Maybe the proprietor Ben Greenfield designed it all himself, and if so, then it’s about what I would expect from someone selling their own triathlon training plan. But some of the claims, or implied claims, seem a bit hard to swallow.
Sure, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that, as the site claims “the majority of current training methods for an ultra-endurance event like an Ironman are derived from the training schedules, calendars, and lifestyles of professional Ironman triathletes who compete in the sport of triathlon for a living.” But can anyone’s body be prepared for a full Ironman without doing workouts that come close to or exceed those distances in an Ironman? Can you do a 112-mile bike ride without having done one before? Can you run a marathon without having run a marathon before? And if you’re going to do those two things, is there any way to get there without training at least 20 hours per week?
Now, perhaps Ben isn’t saying you don’t bike or run that far in his training package–but he does claim that you’ll be able to do an Ironman with “50% of the average training time”. But maybe this is just spin. 50% of the average training time of who? The average participant, or the average professional participant? I would guess the average pro spends around 40 hours per week training, and the average participant spends around 20 hours per week. Ben seems to imply that his training takes something on the order of 10 hours per week, since he claims in bold type that “…it is pure myth that completing the Ironman triathlon takes 15, 18 or 20 hours of training every week.” So obviously his plan must only take 14 hours or less. If nothing else is hard to believe on the webpage, that claim is. But hey, I’m not an expert, so I’m going to ask my coach what he thinks and I’ll get back to you.
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My email to my coach:
To me this reeks of a total scam, but I’m no expert. What do you make of the claim that someone can do a full Ironman with 14 hours or less of training per week?
Response from coach:
No scam, this is very possible. Notice that he does not give a guarantee to the time you will finish it in, just the fact that you will finish.
If you went out next week I bet you could do a 70.3 right now based on your 6 hour training weeks. It would take you 9 hours, but you could do it.
Ben is a friend of mine as well, so I am slightly biased. He’s obviously promoting this to individuals who just want to finish, not finish top 25%.
Unless you are genetically gifted, most 14-hour weeks for a 30-something male will cap out at a 12-hour IM finish.
David
Diagnosis: Poorly designed and marketed website (since it got me thinking it was a total scam–of course I’ve done web design for a living for 10 years so I’m slightly biased that way), but apparently a perfectly legit product.
And hey, if it’s any consolation, it’s the EXACT program I followed to race a 9:46 at Ironman Coeur D’ Alene last year, except I added two extra century rides!
Average training time will be 8-12 hours if you’ve got an Ironman under your belt already, 10-14 hours if you’re a rookie.
Ben
I’ve looked the plan over and it seems to make a great deal of sense to me. Is it for everyone, maybe not, but, I believe the quality of work you put into the time allowed makes sense and will provide positive results.
Another thing, in long endurance sports you don’t go the full distance or beyond while training for a lot of good, sound reasons, to not get burned out, over-trained or injured.
I feel like Ben is focused on the large group of “non-prefeesionals” out there. I am going to give it a try.
I have never done an Ironman, only a few sprint and olympic distance races. I am going to give an Ironman a shot next year and have purchased Ben’s package. I have looked through it and it looks like it is going to be a challenging ride. I can not tell you that I will be able to finish an Ironman next year by doing this plan, but after completing my second week into the program, I feel confident that I will get there.
I don’t want to give the details from Ben’s program away because he has a great operation going and he needs to fund it, but if you are thinking that doing this program is just going to be 8-12 hours a week of training at your planned Ironman pace, you will be in for a surprise. His plan is well thought out and takes you to peaks that you would have never expected in such a short time, or at least for me.
Ben also goes the extra step and defines swim drills to perform, strength training exercises and diet and supplement plans. I believe this is the complete package and I know I am going to be successful next year. I am thinking about Ironman Arizona and I have a hectic job that will not allow me to train more that 8-12 hours per week.
Does anyone know how the plan fits age groupers? I’m 54 and have done 4 -5 Olympic and a couple of half Extremes. My last half was in 5 – 1/2 hours so I’m looking for a training plan that fits my AG and time commitments.
Does anyone know how long has this product been out?
Sam Zeller you mentioned the program was not for everyone can you provide any insight. Do you mean it’s not for you if are trying to win a IM or something else.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.