"Your Best Triathlon" by Joe Friel

I just bought Joe Friel's latest book, "Your Best Triathlon: Advanced Training for Serious Triathletes", and I LOVE it!

As the subtitle suggests, it is intended for experienced triathletes who are looking to improve past performances and PR that next "A" race. The book is an excellent companion to The Triathlete's Training Bible, which he refers to often, but in my opinion, it could also be used alone.

Your Best Triathlon is well organized and easy to read. I especially like the highlighting of important points and the coloured icons for the various kinds of workouts.

It contains new, updated information, in the ever-changing science of endurance training, but is still built on the basic tenets of periodization. It is definitely a book for an experienced athlete however, and I think that unless you are a experienced endurance athlete of some kind, a first timer would find most of the workouts and training schedules too demanding.

The book is written in sections, (Prep, Base 1, 2, & 3, Build 1 & 2, Peak), each with suggested training plans for all four race distances (Sprint, Olympic, Half Iron, and Full Iron). Each period has a Training Week plan (which you would repeat several times), as well as a Rest and Test Week plan. Joe outlines detailed workouts for each training cycle, some of which I have not seen in his previous books, and he also offers lots of hints and suggestions for athletes who are either older or younger than the norm.

I think this is another reason why the book is more suited to experienced triathletes - you need to have a good understanding of your own body and what it can do, in order to adjust the training schedules to suit your own unique needs. The training times suggested for each plan are pretty heavy from my point of view - even the sprint program relies on 8-10 hours of training per week at the minimum - but that's to be expected if you want to race "Your Best Triathlon".

I think this is one of the best books I've seen so far, for the experienced, self-coached triathlete. And no, Joe isn't paying me to sell his books for him - I wish! Hey Joe - how about a little free coaching for all the good press I give you! ;)

Anyway - I have included Your Best Triathlon in my "recommended books list" at the Amazon.ca or Amazon.com links on the side --->, but I'm sure you can also buy them at your local book store as well.

Enjoy!