I also had a great race! It was my 7th half Ironman, but my first with Mark Allen Online. After research and a few email exchanges with Luis, I decided commit to a whole year to get me through California 70.3 and IM Mont-Tremblant. After my race experience a few days ago, I am absolutely thrilled with my decision and to have a full year commitment.
I followed a 19-week traditional peak schedule pretty diligently. I PR'ed for this race by over 40 mins and finished in 6:02 (previous PR for this course 6:44). I feel like I still have a long way to go and lots of room for improvement, but with MAO I finally feel like I'm on the right track for getting where I want to be.
I agree with the previous post - the biggest difference was in the run. While I normally enjoy the run, out of T2 I felt not only excited but also solid. I was able to hold a good pace - hard but manageable. With the HR monitor there was less guessing on whether I could sustain my effort. I felt so good that I even PR'ed my half marathon time in an open, standalone half marathon by a few seconds (nuts!). I never thought I had that in me.
Throughout the program I had questions as many others did:
* why so seemingly much swimming
* why so seemingly few transition runs (compared to other programs)
* am I really working hard enough
All the answers are easily accessible in the forums, which squashed any doubts. I trusted the experts, and it worked. Now onto IM-MT. :)
Thanks, MAO Team!!!
Treven