The Basic Plan

I am starting to look at a few training plan options out there, and it looks like a 20-24 week plan is going to be the time frame we are looking at. I have a book that I have enjoyed a lot linked on the side of the page, The Perfect Distance by Tom Rodgers. There are tons of triathlon books out there but I have really enjoyed this read. Less for the specific skills and training info, but more for the philosophy of how to tackle this while being a person with 50+ hours of commitments already each week. One of the first and most important points of the book is that unlike sprint and even Olympic Distance you can’t fake your way through a Half-Iron. It will take a plan physically, mentally, and nutritionally.
That being said I am looking at Nov-March totally about running and getting ready for ING, with cross-training on the bike and pool at least once a week to maintain some basic levels there. ING Georgia will be March 29th. I have Spring Break for the family on April 6-10, and then the official training begins.
I am looking at extending a 20 week plan to 24 total weeks by adding a 4 week “easier” base program before the real 8 week base begins May12. That will follow with 5 weeks of Build, and then 6 weeks of Peak to finish ready to go Sunday September 27th, 2009. Next step is to find a good plan that gets me to an easy marathon distance over a 16-20 week plan.