2008-05 Triathlete - 25th Anniversary Collector's Edition

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25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION GEAR >> TRAINING >> RACE SCENE >> LIFESTYLE

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11 STEPS TO A HEALTHY RACE WEIGHT

MOST INSANE WORKOUTS 4 ESSENTIALS FOR A PR THIS SEASON 5 TIPS FOR A PERFECT SWIM START

THE SPORT’S GREATEST RIVALRY (IT’S NOT WHO YOU’RE THINKING)

triathletemag.com Display until July 15, 2008

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THE FINISH HAS A

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NEW TOUR GUIDE

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MASTERS OF VISION VISIONARIES>CONRAD STOLTZ - TRIATHLON

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CONTENTS No. 289

MAY 2008

DEPARTMENTS

TRAINING

FIRST WAVE

LAB RABBIT | 177

“A SPORT FOR ALL SEASONS”

| 14

BY ROBERT MURPHY

“THE COMEBACK”

B Y M AT T F I T Z G E R A L D

LANE LINES | 182

BY BRAD CULP

| 16

THE BIG RING | 184

BY RICH CRUSE

BY JUSTIN PESCHKA

STARTING LINES | 18

204

ON THE RUN | 186

B Y M I T C H T H R OW E R

B Y M AT T F I T Z G E R A L D

EDITOR’S NOTE | 20 B Y T. J . M U R P H Y

MAIL CALL | 24

COLUMNS

CHECKING IN | 29

XTERRA ZONE | 200

BY ZACK SMITH

IndusTri; Medically speaking; Q&A; 70.3 series; Review; Selection; Beijing countdown; Life Time Fitness Series; Point-counterpoint; Pro bike; Gatorade athlete; On the Web; Cadence Kona Challenge; Club profile; Industry profile; NA Sports; Looking back

AT THE RACES | 210

TRIATHLETE’S GARAGE | 202

BY THE EDITORS

CUTTING EDGE | 204

BY BRAD CULP

GEAR BAG | 208

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BY BRAD CULP

RACE CALENDAR | 214 TINLEY TALKS | 224

BY SCOTT TINLEY COVER: TRIATHLETE’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY

186

SPEED LAB | 190

BY TIM MICKLEBOROUGH

TECH SUPPORT | 192

BY IAN BUCHANAN

DEAR COACH | 194 B Y R O C H F R E Y & PA U L H U D D L E

TRAINING FEATURE | 196 B Y L A N C E WAT S O N 4

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CONTENTS No. 289

MAY 2008

FEATURES THE LONG ROAD | 54

Triathlete celebrates its 25th by looking back at the evolution and revolution of the sport over the past quarter-century

BY THE EDITORS

TRAIN LIKE A PRO (SORT OF) | 123 Peak with perfection this season by breaking the rules B Y M AT T F I T Z G E R A L D

A RACE TO TRIM THE WAISTLINE? | 132 2008 buyer’s guide for weight-loss supplements

BY THE EDITORS

OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFE TIME | 143 The Life Time Fitness series has charted a new course for the sport B Y M AT T F I T Z G E R A L D

SLOW YOUR MIND, SPEED UP YOUR BODY | 150 11 mental-training techniques to put your mind at ease on race day B Y T O D D PA R K E R

ON THE COVER 25TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTOR’S EDITION | 54 11 STEPS TO A HEALTHY RACE WEIGHT | 132 MOST INSANE WORKOUTS | 115 4 ESSENTIALS FOR A PR THIS SEASON | 196 5 TIPS FOR A PERFECT SWIM START | 182 THE SPORT’S GREATEST RIVALRY | 94

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Pearl Izumi® Peak XC trail racer with Seamless Race Upper & SKYDEX® forefoot cushioning and protection. 9.0 oz / 255 grams. RunLikeAnAnimal.com

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FIRST WAVE

A sport for all seasons Photo by Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com Some 1300 hardy multisport fans showed up to contest the Quebec City Winter Pentathlon in and around historical Quebec City in eastern Canada in late February. The sold-out event involved skiing, running, biking, speed skating and snowshoeing, a total of five races over three days.

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The comeback Photo by Rich Cruse Motocross legend David Bailey charges toward the finish of the 2000 Hawaii Ironman, the third and final contest of one of the greatest rivalries in the history of triathlon. In 1998 and 1999, Bailey was beat by Carlos Moleda, a former Navy SEAL. In 2000, after being dropped by Moleda on the bike and losing as much as seven minutes after the Hawi turnaround, Bailey fought his way back into contention and on to victory.

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John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

STARTING LINES No.289 • May 2008 Publisher John Duke Associate Publisher Heather Gordon VP, Sales & Marketing Sean Watkins Editor-in-Chief T.J. Murphy, tjmurphy@triathletemag.com Managing Editor/Interactive Brand Manager Cameron Elford, cam@triathletemag.com Senior Editors Jay Prasuhn, jay@triathletemag.com; Matt Fitzgerald, matt@triathletemag.com Assistant Managing Editor Rebecca Roozen, rebecca@triathletemag.com Photo Editor John Segesta, johns@triathletemag.com Associate & Interactive Editor Brad Culp, brad@triathletemag.com International Editor Shane Smith, shane@triathletemag.com Graphic Designer Oliver Baker, oliver@triathletemag.com Contributing Writers Roch Frey, Paul Huddle, Tim Mickleborough, Scott Tinley Contributing Photographers Delly Carr Robert Murphy Medical Advisory Board Jordan Metzl, M.D., Krishna Polu, M.D., Jeff Sankoff, M.D. Production/Circulation Manager Heather Gordon, heather@triathletemag.com Customer Service Linda Marlowe

Surging forward

When Triathlete magazine was launched in 1983, few people knew what a triathlon was. I can remember reading the articles on Dave Scott in my college dorm and thinking he was superhuman for doing an Ironman. Ahh, how times change. Now, triathlon is in the dictionary and the encyclopedia and on the tip of the tongue of Americans who admire clean-living endurance athletes of all stripes. And the sport continues its explosive growth as thousands of people have completed an Ironman and thousands more have completed triathlons worldwide.

Even more compelling, however, are the dreams this sport has sparked around the world. Triathlon’s biggest impact is the millions of lives changed for the better with dreams of fitness and health, achievement and travel, friends and rivals gathering at the same finish lines. But the finish line for every athlete who takes up the challenge is not static. At every moment it’s being redefined and repositioned. Today, it could be a fivemile run, tomorrow a marathon, in a few years it could be a trip to Kona for the Hawaii Ironman or Europe for the ITU world championships.

Over the past 25 years, Triathlete has done its best to capture the essence of the sport and support athletes of all abilities in the pursuit of their dreams while providing a communal platform for triathletes to trade lies and tall tales, remember the legends and dream of the future. Indeed, the magazine has been and will always be a welcoming place for both the greats and the everyday heroes to sit for soul-searching interviews and join the rest of us in catching up on the latest in training, tech, gear and news.

Triathlete has chronicled a quarter-century of positive Train Smart, changes, one life at a time. And now the sport is rocketing into a future where, someday, the Internet, titanium and carbon fiber will be just a blur of archaic nostalgia, eclipsed Mitch Thrower many times over by an industry driven by growth and innomthrower@triathletemag.com vation. We hope you’ll join us for the ride.

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Senior Account Executive Sean Watkins, Cycling & Events seanw@triathletemag.com Senior Account Executive Lisa Bilotti, Nutrition, Apparel, Footwear & Auto lisab@triathletemag.com Marketplace Sales Laura Agcaoili, laura@triathletemag.com Office Assistant Shannon Frank, shannon@triathletemag.com Accounting Vicky Trapp vicky@triathletemag.com A publication of the Competitor Group Chairman David Moross President & CEO Peter Englehart Triathlete Magazine Offices 328 Encinitas Blvd., Suite 100, Encinitas, CA 92024 Phone: (760) 634-4100; Fax: (760) 634-4110 www.triathletemag.com Attention Retailers: To carry Triathlete in your store, call Retail Vision: (800) 381-1288 SUBSCRIPTIONS: Your satisfaction is important to us. For questions regarding your subscription call (800) 441-1666 or (760) 291-1562. Or, write to: Triathlete, P.O. Box 469055, Escondido, CA 92046. Or, e-mail: subs@triathletemag.com.

Back Issues available for $8 each. Send a check to Triathlete Magazine Back Issues, 328 Encinitas Blvd., Ste. 100, Encinitas, CA 92024 and specify issues requested, or visit www.triathletemag.com.

Publication Mail Agreement #40683563. Canadian mail distribution information: Express Messenger International, P.O. Box 25058, London BRC, Ontario, Canada N6C 6A8 Submission of material must carry the authors’/ photographers’ guarantees that the material may be published without additional approval and that it does not infringe upon the rights of others. No responsibility is assumed for loss or damage to unsolicited manuscripts, art work or photographs. All editorial contributions should be accompanied by self-addressed, stamped envelopes. Printed in the USA.

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” The Predator” Justin Daerr, Pro Triathlete

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THE LEADER IN POWER

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By TJ Murphy

I

It’s fitting that for the issue celebrating the magazine’s 25th birthday we mention Dave Scott’s career. Dave’s journey precedes the birth of the magazine by several years, when in 1980 he decided to take his penchant for training—as he described it to the media, he liked to “work out a lot”—and see where it took him in a new thing called the Hawaii Ironman. In 1979, Tom Warren won the race in 11:15:56. In 1980, Dave won in 9:24:33.

Dave was 26 at the time and a masters swim coach in Davis, Calif. 1980 was the first year network television followed the race, and ABC’s Wide World of Sports coverage would ignite a stampede into triathlon that grew through the decade.

A 9:24 was certainly impressive at the time, but Dave was just getting started. By 1987 he would win Kona six times. It was 1986 when he lowered the record below 8:30, clocking 8:28:37 and using a 2:49 marathon for punctuation. This overall time would have won two of the last six Ford Ironman World Championships.

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Scott’s domination of Kona would eventually be unclenched by the Grip himself, Mark Allen, in his sixth attempt. This was the epic 1989 battle that chopped the record down to 8:09:15. Although he would never win the Hawaii Ironman again, Dave continued to deliver breakthrough performances. In 1994, at the age of 40 and coming off of a five-year vacation from the race that defined him, Scott showed he had no interest in simply cruising the course and waving to fans. Rather, he gave Aussie Greg Welch a scare. Welch won by four minutes, but Dave’s second-place 8:24:32 almost stole the headlines. A shot from this race is on the left.

A few years ago I went to visit Dave in his hometown of Boulder, Colo. I asked him if he was still training. “No, no. Not so much anymore.” But by my calculation he logged at least four hours of swimming, running and weights on the day he said this. The next day was something more like five hours. His diet was as his legend suggests. The menu was comprised completely of smoothies, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and pasta. I knew Dave didn’t so much as enjoy a daily cup of coffee when he pointed to what he thought was a coffee maker but was in fact was only a coffee grinder.

Perhaps one reason behind Dave’s popularity is that within him we see the quintessential triathlete, an image he has had much to do with cultivating. He trains because he loves to train; he loves learning and practicing the science of nutrition, and racing becomes a place to test it all out against the competition. “I like making a game of it,” Scott says. One such game was the 1989 Ironman Japan, when, despite a full day of training two days before the race, including riding the course, Dave peeled off an 8:01.

And lucky for us, the race exploits of Dave Scott may continue. In race week at Kona last October, Dave announced his desire to return to Kona this fall. As he tells Triathlete’s Brad Culp in this month’s Checking In interview, injuries may sideline him, but should he overcome them, it will be fun to watch his return.

Dave is now in his mid-50s. The sport may get a chance to see what Dave Scott has in store of us. The game is still on.

T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

Rich Cruse

EDITOR’S NOTE

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MAIL CALL outs are in store for us once we have access to clean water and open roads.

Cheers to you and all the folks at your magazine who make things a little easier for us over here. Here is a picture of me and Diego. Diego is on the right and I’m on the left.

Semper Fi, Travis Henderson Fallujah, Iraq

For the record, Triathlete, while happily covering and corresponding with the men and women of the Armed Forces, takes no editorial position either for or against the Iraq conflict. —Ed.

Checking in from Iraq

My name is Travis Henderson, and this e-mail comes to you from a forward combat outpost, near Fallujah, Iraq. I am the Team Chief assigned to a four-man Marine Corps firepower-control team embedded with one of the Iraqi Army transition teams. We quietly work out here on our Iraqi Army base, far from the other coalition forces in an effort to help the Iraqis secure what is theirs.

I wanted to write and thank you for the stance you have taken on behalf of your magazine in regard to the war over here.

In the many months since I’ve been in Iraq, I’ve read several articles and seen many television broadcasts that claim to be above any sort of bias. However, that is rarely the case. An underlying theme of anti-war or some other form of political maneuvering is easily detected by even the most untrained eye.

While reading your editorial: “PowerBar, Gu, Gleukos swag the troops in Iraq,” [on triathletemag.com] I was surprised and delighted to find a truly supportive theme, without the all-toocommon holier-than-thou connotations. I stumbled upon your article online by chance. One of my younger team members and I have become extremely motivated to begin training for triathlon upon our return home. While he is an accomplished distance runner, and I come from a Southern Orange County lifeguard background, we are looking for a challenge when we get back to the States. Since we’re both reservists out of California, there will be no lack of sunshine or scenery to discourage us from training. In the civilian world I work as a sheriff ’s deputy in Southern California, and my teammate Diego is a student in the same area. Every day we encourage one another to run farther and work out harder, knowing full well what work24

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I recently read the article “Jumping In” (February 2008), which broke down training into basic, feasible workouts. The article provided information on tri terms, tactics and techniques for newcomers to the sport. As a newbie to the wonderful world of triathlons, I found it quite intimidating to effectively train, especially since I am by nature a swimmer, by necessity a runner and, up until a year ago, had never even ridden a street bike.

“Jumping In” really helped me understand the core principles of training and plan effective workouts so that I can stand at the beginning of my next run and not be terrified or preoccupied with how I should be training. Now I know I’ll be ready when race day comes.

Cynthia English San Diego, Calif.

A little perspective

I have been an avid triathlete for 25 years and, at 62 years old, I have begun to give some thought to giving it up. My reason is simple: I am just not as competitive as I was. Things are wearing out.

My reason for writing is in response to Scott Tinley’s article in the February issue, “Cut me doc, let me run.” I would like to thank him for a deeply emotional and poignant piece. I have read every article Scott has written for the last 15 years or so.

Some are very good, and some leave a question as to what the intent was. The February article was one of the best articles I have ever read from the standpoint that it put some very important things into perspective for me. The most important was the point about just being able to run again, competitive or not. If I am careful and don’t push it too hard I am still able to run pretty much pain-free, and I suddenly realized I should be grateful.

I would like to thank Mr. Tinley for putting some perspective, and purpose, back into my daily training.

Steve Simpson Via e-mail

As a frequent reader of Tinley Talks, the piece he wrote entitled “Cut me doc, let me run” really hit home with me. You see, I am 33 and began training for

Courtesy Travis Henderson

Breaking it down

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MAIL CALL Ironman races when I was 24, and have completed 14 Ironman-distance races (among others) since then. The thought of just how long my body will last has recently entered my mind, and Tinley’s article reminded me, and probably others, that we won’t run forever. I love this sport, and I love the training. For me it seems like the longer the workout, the better.

However, with every season that passes, with every long Sunday morning run that I log week after week, year after year, I just can’t help but think, “How long will this last?” No doubt that running is the most taxing on our bodies, but man, doesn’t it feel good to come home from a long, hard run simply knowing that it’s something we can do?

When Tinley writes, “I hope to God that I will run again,” that made me think how awful it would be if I ever had to succumb to those thoughts. Since triathlon is such a young sport compared to swimming, biking and running individually, we are not sure what the future holds for people who race and train from their early 20s to late 70s or even 80s. Long-distance triathlons simply haven’t been around that long. Can it be done? Can the body hold up?

I am not sure what the answer is, but I do know that for now we must live for the present day, enjoy our lives and create positive memories. And it doesn’t hurt to think about our future as athletes as we age and take care of our bodies now. I know I want to run for a long time, and I’m sure I speak for most, if not all of the people reading this right now. Thanks to Scott Tinley for giving us a little awareness for what might be

around the corner for us, and for now I do hope that Scott will run again. Keep the faith, make good decisions, and I know good things will come our way.

Tim Hola Highlands Ranch, Colo.

Thank You for the follow-up

Thank you David Wallach for following up on the M-Dot tattoo controversy, with “It’s all about Yu.” We all had to be wondering, “What does this guy have to say for himself now?” I had a serious problem with Yu’s statements, as clearly most everyone else did, and even though I still don’t subscribe to his thinking, I understand.

For example, I became an Ironman in Madison, but if I encounter a Kona finisher I still think, “Dude, you’re awesome.”

This doesn’t take anything away from my Ironman experience, but an added respect is given to the Kona finisher. If I meet any Ironman finisher I respect the heck out of him/her, and we may bring up Kona as a “someday” or “I wish” sentiment.

The aura of Kona has lost none of its luster as a result of more Ironman experiences; in fact, it more likely is heightened because it makes us respect the Kona opportunity even more, because even though we are Ironmen, there is still Kona. Charlie Yu, I disagree with your concept of what makes an Ironman, but I respect your desire to keep Kona the Holy Grail of Ironmandistance events. I forgive you, man. Rock on.

Sam Wilkinson Middleville, Mich.

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John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

CHECKING IN

INDUSTRI | MEDICALLY SPEAKING | Q & A | 70.3 SERIES | REVIEW | SELECTION BEIJING COUNTDOWN | CLUB PROFILE | POINT-COUNTERPOINT | PRO BIKE LIFE TIME FITNESS SERIES | GATORADE ATHLETE | CADENCE CYCLING | INDUSTRY PROFILE | ON THE WEB | NA SPORTS | LOOKING BACK T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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CHECKING IN

INDUSTRI

Argon 18 joins fight against juvenile diabetes

FINA approves TYR Tracer technology

Triabetes team takes on diabetes Twelve athletes with type 1 diabetes have their eyes set on Ironman Wisconsin in 2008 as they aim to change the way people view the disease. Team Triabetes is comprised of athletes from across America, elite coaches, clinical researchers and a troop of diabetic children preparing to cross the finish line with their Ironman training buddies. The project will demonstrate the positive effects of exercise on diabetes. For more information, go to triabetes.org.

Halifax to Vancouver. This odyssey, accomplished on Argon 18 bikes, was recorded in Guinness World Records and raised over a million dollars for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International.

Two members of H2V, Matt Young and Willie Cromack, wrote about the experience in, “The Principles of the Ride: How to Maximize what’s Inside You.” For each copy sold, $10 will be forwarded to the JDRF, and the authors hope to raise a further $250,000 to benefit the organization.

The book can be ordered directly from Vancouver's John Henry Bicycle Shop’s Web site at johnhenrybikes.com.

Last September, a group of accomplished cyclists formed Team H2V with the aim of riding across Canada, from

FINA (Federation Internationale de Natation), the international swimming governing body, has approved TYR’s newest version of Tracer technology, Tracer Rise. “This technology hasn’t been seen before in the sport of swimming. It’s an entirely new direction in the pool,” says Steve Furniss, TYR cofounder and 1972 Olympic swimming medalist. Tracer technology is designed for extreme water repellency and precision compression on key muscle groups to aid in reaction time, recovery and stamina.

MEDICALLY SPEAKING

Cycling and male fertility

By Jeffrey Sankoff, MD As triathlon season begins, many male triathletes find themselves spending more and more hours on the bike. This can, potentially, impact a male’s ability to reproduce in one of two ways: by causing erectile dysfunction or by impairing sperm production in the testicles.

Several small studies demonstrate an association between cycling and male impotence as a result of erectile dysfunction. The theory is that men who spend many hours on a narrow bicycle seat sustain damage to the arteries and nerves that are essential for sexual function. However, with the advent of split seats and

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center cutaways, that isn’t necessarily so.

The second concern relates to impaired sperm production.

One study found that cyclists who spent more than two hours per day mountain biking were twice as likely to have low functional sperm counts. This is likely because bicycle shorts constrict and raise the temperature of the testicles, while the repetitive vibration and friction from the seat may cause scarring and cellular dysfunction.

That said, it should be noted that maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle is one of the best things you can do for your reproductive, and overall, health, so while there are downsides to almost any activity, spending time in the saddle beats the pants off many other leisure activities.

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

Correction: In our 2008 North American Event Guide (March 2008) the information listed for the Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon was incorrect. The sprint triathlon will take place on June 21 and the Olympicdistance triathlon will be held on June 22.

Also, the SheROX Philadelphia Triathlon will be held on August 3 in 2008, with the addition of SheROX Tempe (May 10) and SheROX Charlotte (September 14). More information on all SheROX events can be found at sheroxtri.com.

Correction: Please note that incomplete text was included for the “Feed the Machine” article in the 2008 Road to Kona & Clearwater. Please go to triathletemag.com or ironman.com to view the complete article and download a PDF of the layout.

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Q & A letes who can truly run well after the bike. Craig is a brilliant runner. I think he has the potential to run 10 minutes faster than he did last year [in 2007 Alexander ran a 2:45:13 marathon in Kona].

Samantha is equally talented, plus she’s very strong on the bike. I think Sam and Chrissie [Wellington, the 2007 Kona champ] will be the women to beat for a few years.

Catching up with the original King of Kona

By Brad Culp

At the 1986 Hawaii Ironman, Dave Scott lowered the course record by an astounding 32 minutes en route to an 8:28:37 finish and his fifth Hawaii championship. The following year he earned his sixth and final win on the Big Island, but The Man, as many know him, didn’t disappear after the 1987 season.

Following a brief retirement, Scott returned to Kona in 1994, at the age of 40, and finished second behind Australia’s Greg Welch. Scott raced again in 1996 and managed a fifth-place finish. Since then, Scott has remained active and 32

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jumps in a few triathlons here and there, but he hasn’t raced on the Big Island.

Triathlete: Do you see any of the up-and coming Ironman athletes, like Sam McGlone or Craig Alexander, as having the potential to be the next King or Queen of Kona?

Dave Scott: Absolutely. Their biggest asset is that they’re both very versatile and they’re exceptional runners. It seems like there’s been an absence of Ironman ath-

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What kind of training are you doing?

Right now I’m wrestling with a heel injury, which has been around for about a year. It’s gotten so bad that I can feel it as soon as I get out of bed every morning. Plus I’m chronically tight. All this means that I just can’t run like I want to. Lately I’ve been swimming about five days a week, and I still do quite a bit of weight training.

Every season we hear rumors about you racing Hawaii again.

Are we just hearing rumors, or is it something you’re actually considering?

It’s definitely something I’m considering, but I’m not going to go back unless I can run. Historically, I’ve always been confident in my run, even though it has never looked that pretty. If I’m actually going to do Hawaii I have to be able to run without injury. If something were to come up at mile 20 of the run, then I could deal with it, but I won’t race if I can’t train. So right now I really don’t know what I’m going to do.

Rich Cruse

Do you expect 2007 champ Chris McCormack to win a few more titles in Kona?

Once you win you don’t want to let it go. I don’t want to take anything away from Craig [Alexander], but he’s only raced Kona once and he hasn’t won. He’s talented, but it could take him years to win. I expect Chris to be even hungrier for win number two, because he’ll want to prove his merit. Chris should be confident that he’s the guy to beat this year. Then again, if a big pack of four or five guys gets away on the bike it could change the race completely. If just one of those super-bikers like Lieto or Sindballe has a solid run they could steal the race.

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IRONMAN 70.3 SERIES

Overachiever’s Diary Ironman 70.3 $15 (paperback) training tips from Before Louis Tharp began swimming Simon Lessing he tipped the scales at almost 300 pounds. Tharp’s turnaround came when he was 45 years old and decided to dive into a pool and give swimming a try. After a few minutes of flailing around hopelessly, he was hooked, and 80 pounds later he was competing at the world masters championship.

Tharp’s passion for aquatics turned into a love of multisport, and before he knew it he was coaching the West Point Triathlon Team (better known as the Tri Cadets). With help from Terry Laughlin, founder of Total Immersion, Tharp compiled the Overachiever’s Diary, which provides insight into what it takes to build an elite tri team, as well as a detailed compilation of workouts and technique advice.

The 150-page paperback is by no means a page-turning novel, but rather a valuable guidebook, especially for those new to swimming or triathlon. The book is cleverly broken down into three sections, giving readers advice on mechanics (stroke tips and drills), math (establishing empirical goals) and motivation (a compilation of inspiring e-mails).

It’s worth a look if the swim is your Achilles’ heel, or if you are bored or doing the same old swim sets. The book is available at totalimmersion.net.

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By Brad Culp

Simon Lessing is one of the most versatile athletes in our sport’s history.

His resume include five ITU world titles, countless World Cup wins and a course record at Ford Ironman USA Lake Placid.

For the past three seasons Lessing has concentrated his efforts on Ironman 70.3 and has picked up numerous wins at that distance. This month, we bounced a few training questions off him.

70.3 is perhaps the most difficult distance to train for. You really can’t get away with just doing base training or only speed work. Where do you place most of the emphasis of your training (endurance or speed), and how does that change throughout the year?

I like to start the year off with a 12week base-training phase. Here, my focus is just about getting back into training on a daily basis. I avoid doing any structured interval workouts during this period and focus more on putting time into my legs.

After the base phase I start to incorporate structured workouts, which emphasize more strength-endurance than pure speed. I try to maintain this schedule throughout the season, as I am a firm believer that the key to effective training is a consistent routine.

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Among athletes who have only been training for Olympicdistance races in the past, the long rides are typically around two hours and the long runs are usually no longer than 90 minutes. If one of these athletes wants to begin training for a 70.3, how much extra volume do you suggest adding to their longer workouts?

I suggest not changing your regular Olympic-distance schedule other than building your weekly long ride and long run to a length that corresponds with the 70.3 race distances. For the run, build progressively to a 13- or 14-mile run and complete this six to eight times before your key event. For the bike, build progressively to a 60- or 70mile ride and complete this six to eight times before your key event.

Track workouts are very popular with short-course athletes but not so much for their long-course counterparts. Do you feel track workouts are beneficial for a 70.3 athlete? How often do you suggest hitting the track?

I must point out I have done many track workouts over the years, especially during my short-distance years. These were generally all-out efforts in a very controlled environment, which had a huge benefit for the type of intensity required for Olympic-distance racing. I believe track workouts are not imperative for 70.3 racing and I favor interval and fartlek workouts on a more natural terrain, like trails or grass.

Courtesy Simon Lessing

Courtesy the manufacturer

REVIEW

Most pro triathletes like to do a tune-up event before their A race each season. When would be an ideal time to do one last race before a 70.3 event, and what distances do you recommend?

I have always found that racing a shorter-distance race (Olympic distance or sprint) 14 days before a key race is a huge benefit. I don’t believe we can ever simulate the true multisport experience in training. With the right approach, racing gives us the opportunity to elevate our game and experience to a level of combined effort we never attain during our daily training routine.

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SELECTION

Re-pimp your ride with these bike-maintenance essentials

By Brad Culp

Make 2008 the year you stop shelling out hundreds of bucks to have your local mechanic fix every little issue with your bike. Sure, that may be the easy way out, but it’s not cheap and with the right tools, plus a little understanding of bike mechanics, you’ll be able to fix any squeak, creak or shady drive train.

Park Tool Super Lite Team Race Stand $260

Park Tool Home Mechanic Starter Kit

$100

Park’s new Starter Kit has all the essentials without the heavy price tag of the larger kit. It’s small enough to be portable and complete enough to perform most small repairs. The kit includes a y-hex wrench set, crank wrench, chain cleaner, chain tool, brush, pedal wrench, shop screwdriver, three-way spoke wrench, tire levers and a patch kit. parktool.com

If you’re serious about doing repairs yourself, you need a good stand, and Park’s new Super Lite Stand is the way to go. It’s completely collapsible, which means it fits easily in your backseat or trunk if you want to take it to an event, or you can stow it under a couch. It weighs less than your bike but is tough enough to handle any repair. parktool.com

SRAM Pit Stop Bike Cleaner $40 Enough bike cleaner to last for the entire season and then some. The versatile cleaner works on chains, gears, cranks, frames, forks, bars, saddles, wheels, spokes and hubs. Best of all it’s fully bio-degradable and solvent-free. If you prefer to be off-road, the cleaner will also take care of dirty disc brakes and suspension parts. sram.com

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SRAM Pit Stop Ultimate Cleaning Kit

$60

While Park has you covered for repairs, SRAM has a complete cleaning kit to keep you riding smooth.

The Ultimate Kit includes 500ml of bike protectant, one liter of bike cleaner, a storage tub, microcell sponge and four bike-specific brushes. sram.com

Courtesy the manufacturers

(5 liters)

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GO DEEP. COMING SOON YOU’VE DECIDED YOU’RE GOING TO SET A NEW BEST TIME, OR MAKE UP THAT DEFICIT IN THE BIKE SEGMENT. YOU DIG DEEPER. AND THEN A LITTLE DEEPER. YOU GO SO DEEP THAT THE PAIN IS LIKE A DEAFENING WHITE NOISE, AND IT KEEPS GETTING LOUDER, BUT THIS TIME, YOU WON’T LISTEN. AND YOU KNOW THAT YOUR EQUIPMENT ISN’T HOLDING YOU BACK; IT’S LETTING YOU SQUEEZE EVERY LAST OUNCE FROM YOUR EFFORT. Blackwell Research was the first to offer a commercially available 100mm carbon wheelset – the “Hundo.” Our engineers have spent as much (or more!) time in wind tunnels than you have training.

We’ve studied and tested every aspect of wheel performance – airflow relationships with different sidewall shapes, the effect of different spoke counts, textured surfaces, etc, etc. We’ve experimented with different carbon layups for the right combination of vertical compliance and lateral stiffness.

The “inner nose” of our rims was designed to perform better in cross-winds, including improved steering. And our famous “angel hair” finish was another Blackwell Research first.

Need components that can go as deep as you can? visit BLACKWELLRESEARCH.COM or call us at

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BEIJING COUNTDOWN

Look out for these women in Beijing Weighing in on the international contenders

Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes and Australia’s Emma Snowsill are as close to locks for the Olympic podium as two athletes can be. While we can’t guarantee these two women will take home any hardware from Beijing, we will say it’s a safe bet. American Laura Bennett certainly has a shot at accompanying Fernandes and Snowsill on the podium, but she’ll have to contend with a strong international field. Here are a few of the women who will be looking to steal some thunder (and some heavy metal) in August.

Emma Moffatt (AUS): 2007 was a career year for Moffatt, who quietly worked her way up to second place in the World Cup rankings (behind Fernandes).

She loves big races, as she demonstrated with an eighth-place finish at the Beijing World Cup and a fourth-place finish at the 2008 Hamburg ITU world championship. She’s got the legs to pull off a devastating final kick.

Samantha Warriner (NZL):

CLUB PROFILE

The Kiwi posted some big performances

Team Breakaway Training SAN DIEGO, CALIF. 38

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Annabel Luxford (AUS): The definition of an

all-or-nothing athlete, which certainly makes her someone to look out for. Luxford only has one speed and she hits the gas from the start, often taking the lead out of the water. She’ll likely be one of the first athletes out of T1 in Beijing and won’t have any trouble staying up front into T2.

Anja Dittmer (GER):

last summer, with wins in Vancouver and Hungary against stiff competition. She also showed she’s comfortable on the course in Beijing with a sixth-place finish there. She’ll be one of the most powerful bikers in the field, but she’ll have to shave a few seconds off her swim and run if she wants a medal.

San Diego’s Team Breakaway Training is a club that represents the entire triathlon spectrum. It is 130 members strong, and athletes range from couch potatoes getting set for their first spring triathlons to ultratri veterans. Threetime Brazilian national champion Felipe Louriero founded the team in 2006 and since then has assembled an elite team of coaches, including Olympian Luke Walton.

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Dittmer was one of the most consistent athletes on the ITU circuit last year, finishing in the top 10 at all seven races she entered. The highlight of her season came in Beijing, where she came back from a comparatively slow swim to finish fifth.

She’s steady on the bike and run, but she’ll need to stay closer to the leaders on the swim in Beijing if she wants to be in the podium mix.

popular Friday evening open-water swim at La Jolla Cove and some grueling weekend brick workouts. Many athletes train straight through the winter (courtesy of the mild San Diego weather) for the early-season races, including Ironman Brazil.

When Team Breakaway isn’t riding down Highway 101 or swimming in the Pacific, it’s busy organizing fundraisers for local charities. This year the team is the official training partner for the first annual Moores UCSD Cancer Center Triathlon, scheduled for May 4. Breakaway Training is also the official training partner for the San Diego Triathlon Race Series, one of the most popular series of multisport events on the West Coast.

For more information, please go to breakaway-training.com or feel free to contact Coach Felipe directly via e-mail at breakawaytraining@gmail.com.

Delly Carr/triathlon.org

By Brad Culp

Nicola Spirig (SWI): Spirig is one of the only women in the world who can run with Fernandes. At the Eilat World Cup in Israel last year she closed with a 34:42 10km, en route to picking up the win. If she can hang with the front group on the opening two legs, she’ll have a shot at the bronze, if not better.

Courtesy Stuart Fish

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POINT-COUNTERPOINT

At issue: If the legends of old went head-to-head with the triathletes of new, who would win? Triathlete mag publisher John Duke and associate editor Brad Culp duke it out.

The kids aren’t any quicker

By John Duke

It's lucky for Brad he got to make the case for the young folks’ side because Brad was 10 years old in 1995. Of course he is going to be myopic about the subject. Brad was just out of diapers when Mark Allen went two years without losing a race at any distance.

And that’s really the biggest difference between the two generations of racers.

Today’s pro triathletes don’t, as a rule, mix it up. You have your long-course athletes and your short-course athletes. Back in the day, when the true legends toed the line, it might be for an Olympic-distance race one month, a half-Ironman the next month and an Ironman the month after that. Guys like Greg Welch (world champion at all distances), Mark Allen (world champion at all distances) and Scott Molina (world champion at all distances) would race the Olympic-distance circuit all summer then pack up and head to Nice and on to Kona and race to win.

The old-timers were basically singlesport specialists who morphed into triathletes. At the 1981 Ironman, Kim Bushong and Mark Montgomery, two lifeguards from Los Angeles, smoked the field and enjoyed a healthy lead all the way to Hawi when world-class cyclist John Howard caught them, passed them and rode away with the victory.

In the early 1990s I met a young Simon Lessing and an equally fresh-faced Lothar Leder and witnessed the modern-day triathlete: not a crossover from another sport but a hybrid through and through.

An athlete built for the sport of triathlon.

At that moment I figured all bets were off and the old guard would be expunged from the record books. The new guard was going to undo everything done before them. Not only were these whippersnappers training as multisport athletes from grade school but they were also taking advantage of technological and nutritional advancements.

Yet the race times did not get faster, and the pioneers kept winning until they retired. I take nothing away from the guys racing today. They are brilliant triathletes.

There is no doubt in my mind that the top guys in the world today possess the same skills as Welch, Allen, Molina, Mike Pigg, 40

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etc. But they just aren’t going as fast. The proof is in the record books.

The stars of the sport in the early days did not race for money. They raced for the same reason you and I do: for the love of the sport. And, in their case, for the love of winning. The guys today still want to win but they also realize their full-time job is to make as much money as possible as triathletes. “Why run 2:40 on the marathon if I can win with 2:49 or 2:52?” they ask themselves. “Clearwater is only three weeks later; why not save something for that?” It’s hard to argue against that train of thought, but you also need ask yourself: With all of the technological advancement in the past two decades, why aren’t these guys faster?

What about the women? I can make my case for the superiority of the old guard in just two words (three if you don’t count the hyphen): Paula NewbyFraser. Her 8:55 Ironman Hawaii course record has stood for 18 years.

I may want to revisit this part of my argument in a few years, as short-course racer Samantha McGlone stepped up to the IM distance in 2007 and had a phenomenal debut in Kona, going 9:14 in her rookie race, earning second overall.

When I mentioned to her how “slow” the post-’95 women have been, she mulled over my assertion and said she now has a new goal for Kona: 8:54.

No sport for old men

By Brad Culp

I didn’t even have to read Duke’s argument to know what he was going to say: something along the lines of “Mark Allen, Dave Scott and Paula NewbyFraser would kill any of today’s top triathletes, just look at their times in Kona.” This may be true to an extent, as that trio did post some impressive times on the Big Island (Van Lierde still holds the Kona course record of 8:04:08). But, even though Duke refuses to admit it, there is more to triathlon than Kona. In fact, Duke is so old-school that I think he’s still under the impression Kona is the only Ironman event.

While the studs of the ’80s and early ’90s may be top dogs when it comes to Kona, I like to look at the bigger picture.

Back when Duke and his cronies were

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racing there was only a pair of Ironmans, and 70.3s were still called half-Ironmans.

Nowadays there are more races and more sponsor dollars, which together mean athletes are racing more often to satisfy their sponsors and make a living. All this racing inevitably means they aren’t going to be in top form at every event.

Since I don’t really have any authority to speak on this topic, I solicited Greg Bennett, quite possibly the best shortcourse athlete on the planet, to back me up. According to Greg, “Before 1995 top triathletes could focus on short-course racing all year round and then show up at Hawaii with all that speed. Now athletes are obligated to do more than just one Ironman each year and they end up losing some of that speed.”

I couldn’t agree more.

The increased frequency of racing may account for some slower times in Kona, but at other races, the times have plummeted.

Big time. Just look at the ITU world championship. In 1989 Mark Allen won worlds in Avignon, France, with a time of 1:58:45.

Pretty impressive . . . for 1989. Last year Daniel Unger took home gold in Hamburg by posting a 1:43:18. Now, Hamburg may have been a fast course, but I have a hard time believing it was 15 minutes faster than the course at Avignon.

Need more proof? Look at the results from Clearwater this year. Eight men broke 3:50, with Andy Potts sprinting his way to a 3:42:33 finish. Bjorn Andersson even broke the elusive two-hour mark on the bike. On the women’s side, Mirinda Carfrae set a new mark of 4:07:25 for the distance.

It’s important to note all of these impressive times were posted on GPS-certified courses. In Duke’s day no one had even heard of the Global Positioning System, let alone used it to measure a course. Kiwi star Bryan Rhodes has his suspicions when it comes to course length.

“Back in the day courses were just thrown together and weren’t properly measured,” Rhodes says. “Nowadays, almost all courses are measured with GPS and are 100-percent accurate.” Now, I wasn’t racing when Duke was in the midst of his triathlon career (hell, I wasn’t even born yet), so I can’t say for certain that specific courses were off, but it’s a plausible theory.

Duke may be right when he claims his generation was the most dominant on the Big Island, but when you look across the board, my generation has a leg up.

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PRO BIKE

J I

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G

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Jay Prasuhn

E

Timo Bracht’s Cucuma Walser German Timo Bracht’s Cucuma is actually a co-branded product from Germany’s Cucuma and Swiss builder Walser (the same bike ridden by Ironman and former world champ time trialist Karin Thürig of Switzerland). The rig sports a comparatively slack 73-degree seat angle and is spec’d with a Xentis Mark 1 TT wheelset and SRM crankset. Additionally, Bracht has added a few unique elements, including a Fi:zi’k Aliante saddle (instead of the popular Arione) and a A Frame Cucuma Walser, size large Shimano Dura-Ace rear B Fork Easton EC 90, 1-inch steerer derailleur, retrofit with a C Aerobar Syntace F119, Syntace German-made Berner pulC3 clip-on/Syntace Stratos CX ley cage. The modification, basebar/SRAM carbon brake levers comprised of carbon fiber D Groupset Shimano Dura-Ace and complete with oversized alloy pulley wheels, is 10-speed claimed to reduce freeE Crankset SRM 53-39, 175mm wheel friction and increase crankarms/KMC X10SL Gold wattage.

F Wheels Xentis Mark 1 TT Find more Cucuma G Tires Continental Grand Prix info at cucuma.com, and 4000 S 700 x 19mm tubulars learn more about Bracht H Pedals Speedplay Zero Ti (especially if you speak I Hydration XLAB Carbon Wing German) at timobracht.de.

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By Jay Prasuhn

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LIFE TIME FITNESS SERIES

• July 12: Life Time Fitness Triathlon Minneapolis • July 20: Nautica New York City Triathlon • Aug. 24: Accenture Chicago Triathlon • Sept. 7: Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon • Oct. 5: Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon Dallas

As in 2007, there will be more than $1,000,000 in total prize money throughout the series, with the biggest checks being awarded to the winners of Minneapolis, Dallas and the points series champion ($60,000 in each of these categories). On top of the individual race awards, there will again be a $300,000 bonus for any athlete, male or female, who can sweep all five races.

Last year, Aussie Greg Bennett made the most out of those prize purses and cashed in $508,000 from the five events.

Even though 2008 is an Olympic year, Bennett has committed himself to the Life Time series and will look to continue his streak of perfection.

While the pros have the most to gain throughout the series, the folks at Life Time haven’t forgotten about the amateurs and will once again offer an eliteamateur division at all events. The top five male and female finishers from each series race will qualify for the elite amateur championship wave in Dallas. As an added incentive, those 40 athletes will also receive free entry into the Toyota U.S. Open, along with airfare and lodging. For more information on the series, please go to ltftriathlonseries.com.

Armstrong to complete the Tulsa Triathlon, Cheyenne demonstrates natural talent and a drive to compete.

Motivated by quotes from her favorite athlete, Steve Prefontaine, Cheyenne loves

running and enjoys hanging out with her high-school crosscountry teammates. As an all-conference runner, she hopes to break her mile PR of 6:14 and complete a marathon at the age of 16 (minimum age to enter a marathon).

She also enjoys soccer and basketball and holds a 4.0 GPA with all advanced classes.

As for her diabetes, Cheyenne keeps an open mind. “I have had to figure out what works for me at different distances and for different sports. Now that I have a pump rather than the shots, it is a lot easier to manage my diabetes at races,” she says. Cheyenne aspires to race on a college cross-country team, continue competing in triathlons and to someday be a pediatrician.

Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series gets set for its third year More than $1,000,000 on the line

By Brad Culp

2008 will mark year number three for the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series and the second year with a serieschampionship at the Toyota U.S. Open in Dallas. Like last year, the 2008 series will consist of five races from coast to coast in some of America’s largest cities:

GATORADE ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

Cheyenne Woods PRYOR, OKLA.

By Marni Rakes

As a passionate runner and enthusiastic triathlete, 14-year-old Cheyenne Woods struggles with more than just juggling her training and homework. Since experiencing rapid weight loss, extreme thirst and major lethargy at age 11, Cheyenne has been swimming, biking and running as a type-1 diabetic.

After her diagnosis, many people told Cheyenne her days of athletics were over.

But that didn’t stop her. After watching her dad race triathlons, Cheyenne decided to do one and completed her first triathlon in 2005. As the youngest person since Lance 44

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CADENCE CYCLING

workout recovery foods so I am ready for my afternoon or next day’s workout. It’s amazing how much and how often you eat when training for an Ironman.

Checking in with our six finalists By now, the six athletes we handselected for the Cadence Kona Challenge have no excuse not to be fit. For the past four months they’ve received the royal treatment from their coaches at Cadence Cycling and Multisport Centers, and as their bodies begin the inevitable transformation that comes with dedicated training, their spirits seem to be soaring. This month, in observance of our continuing nutrition guide, our athletes share the nutrition revelations they’ve had since beginning their training programs.

Randy Christofferson: Prior to triathlon I was a 225-pound hockey player. Last year at Ironman Florida I weighed in at 166 pounds. My shift from the weight room to swimming, biking and running had a lot to do with it, but so did a revolution in my dietary habits. Some of the key components of my approach include fairly large (500-800 calories each) meals at breakfast and lunch. My dinner portions are smaller, and I try to not eat after dinner. I have several small (150-200 calories) snacks during the day as well. I read the labels and tend to reject foods with more than four ingredients.

Scott Sharpe: In the past, I would do an early-morning workout without fueling up, and 30 to 40 minutes would be fine, but as my workouts are getting longer and more intense I really need those calories to get me through. I am also concentrating more on my post46

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James Pearson: I try eating lowfat options whenever possible, and I always try to cook with olive oil rather than butter. I do eat pizza and ice cream, but only once or twice a week. I still indulge in one or two alcoholic drinks a day, but my body fat is down at around 5 percent, which I am very happy with.

I recently went for a long run while I was back in the UK on a business trip and managed to get lost. Luckily I had a 20pound bill with me, so while I waited for a lift my recovery consisted of a couple pints of Guinness and a packet of peanuts in the village pub. Talk about bliss.

Probably one of the most important nutrition lessons I have learned is to get a good recovery drink in your system after each session. I’m not advocating Guinness, but it works well in a pinch (dark beer has more antioxidants).

Elizabeth Wittmaack: My secret to pounding out quality hours has been recovering with protein. You’ve got that window of about 30 minutes following a workout where your body will get the most out of your meal. I’ve learned to quickly replace my glycogen stores (with quality carbs) and fuel my body with protein to repair muscles. I’ve definitely begun to look at food as fuel. You eat to fuel your

body to recover and replace what was used so you are fresh for your next session.

Kate Conklin: I have learned I eat too much white sugar and unnecessary foods. I am trying to only eat foods that are beneficial to the body and can actually be used for energy instead of just taking in empty calories. I just moved to New York City from Nebraska and I have been eating terribly because of the travel and not working out as much as I should.

Nutrition is an important part of training and now that I’m situated in one place I’ll be able to focus on my food intake.

Mary Lou Hoffman: Entry in the Cadence Challenge meant a shift in my nutrition focus from weight loss to performance. The knowledge and support of nutrition therapist Mary Jo Parker MS, RD, CDN, has been essential to my success. According to Ms. Parker, “Food choices must be balanced to supply sufficient calories and nutrients to support optimal performance and weight loss, or maintenance, simultaneously.”

Sharing my food and nutritional journal helps her monitor my progress, and I’ve seen a healthy weight loss of about a half-pound per week since this began. Ms. Parker’s analysis here is invaluable. She advises, “Balancing the macronutrients (carbohydrate, protein and fat) is critical. You have to balance what you eat, how much and when, for optimal results.”

Coach’s Corner: Cadence TV

By Ryan Oelkers, director of performance Cadence Philadelphia When we opened up Cadence Cycling & Multisport in 2004, we quickly realized how valuable our indoor classes were for both athletes and coaches. The Cadence indoor sessions allowed the coach to see and communicate with his or her athletes on a regular basis and see the progression they were making. Although the classes helped with our local athletes, they did not assist our remote athletes spread around the world.

The solution? Cadence TV. Cadence TV is a Web browser-based video training program that allows access to our indoor training sessions. This Internet broadcast of our daily training classes in Philadelphia and New York reaches a worldwide audience of users who can participate in a live class or ride along with a prerecorded on-demand training session.

In order to participate in a live or on-demand session, athletes need a computer, an Internet connection (high-speed connection is necessary due to the video component of the workout) and, obviously, a bicycle. Having a trainer with the ability to measure power or having a power meter is ideal because the intensity of each workout will be based on watts, heart rate and perceived exertion.

Currently Cadence TV shows live sessions during the week and offers the on-demand sessions. Future plans include indoor training sessions, which will simulate outdoor rides with helmet-cam footage filmed by professional athletes and/or Cadence coaches.

For a free demonstration of Cadence TV, go to cadencecycling.com/cadencetv.aspx.

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ASIphoto.com

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Building a new carbohydrate After years of testing, GenR8 believes bigger is better

By Brad Culp

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INDUSTRY PROFILE

GenR8 USA CEO Anthony Almada may know a thing or two about sports nutrition. Almost 20 years ago, he helped jumpstart a little company named EAS, which as you may know turned into something more than just a little company.

While his former company remains committed to engineering the perfect recovery protein, Almada’s new venture, GenR8, has focused its efforts on building the most advanced carbohydrate on the market.

GenR8’s flagship product, Vitargo S2, delivers 70 grams of sugar-free carbs in each recommended serving, and the label encourages athletes to mix in electrolytes or protein if their training requires them to do so.

The Vitargo carb, patented by GenR8, is derived from barley starch and is unique in that it is a very large carbohydrate. According to Almada, “Vitargo is

like a sequoia tree. It has one very large strand, which is like a trunk, with plenty of smaller branches of carbs coming off of it.”

The reason for using such a large carb has to do with ingestion. The larger size, combined with the fact that it provides a single type of carbohydrate, allows the molecule to quickly be absorbed by the stomach and make its way into the small intestine. This can mean a shorter delay in providing energy to your muscles, brain and liver, as well decreased stomach discomfort.

All this sounds great, but where’s the verification? “We focus on proof before promises,” Almada said. “We won’t make any claims we can’t back with sound scientific proof.”

Vitargo was first tested at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, (famous for their carb-loading studies in the ’60s) in 1990 and has since undergone a litany of tests in everyone from endurance athletes to weight lifters.

The results are promising, but nothing compares to a first-hand test. It’s certainly worth a try for athletes who are prone to severe bonking or have had stomach ailments with their current nutrition plan.

GenR8 plans to have a presence at dozens of races in 2008, including St. Anthony’s at the end of April. Keep an eye out, or pay a visit to them on the Web at genr8speed.com.

Courtesy Anthony Almada

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A lot of cool stuff comes from Australia, like Foster’s and ACDC. Firstoffthebike.com is more proof that our distant neighbors to the south are pretty swell. Think of FOTB.com as xtri.com with a Down Under twist. Phil Wrochna founded the site last year as an extension of his popular radio show, dedicated entirely to cycling and triathlon.

FOTB.com offers everything from race coverage to athlete interviews and blogs. But what makes FOTB worth browsing is the depth of the content.

The site is updated on a daily basis, and on any given day of the week you’re sure to find a lengthy interview with topnotch Aussie triathletes like Emma Snowsill or Craig Alexander. Be sure to log on the next time there’s a big race in Australia, as FOTB offers rich race coverage and commentary during events such as Panthers Ironman Australia and Ironman Western Australia.

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ON THE WEB

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CHECKING IN

ARE YOU

North America Sports supports community projects with community fund One of the key goals of North America Sports is to contribute to the communities that host an Ironman event. And for that reason, the Ironman Community Fund was established in 2001, allowing Ironman to generate funds for local groups and non-profit organizations in each community. Since its inception the ICF has distributed over $1.5 million in grants. In 2007, NA Sports undertook long-term support of several significant projects through the ICF, one in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, one in Penticton, British Columbia, and one in Panama City, Florida. In Coeur d’Alene, the ICF will provide $50,000 over the next five years to the Kroc Center, a community center being built in northern Idaho. The Kroc Center will feature swimming facilities and athletic courts as well as programs in education, fitness and the arts. The center is expected to be one of 28 such facilities throughout the United States, all of which are or will be run by the Salvation Army. The partnership with Ironman helped bring Coeur d’Alene to the top of the list.

In Penticton, NA Sports has partnered with the South Okanagan Youth Soccer Association and the Penticton Soccer Club to build an indoor soccer facility at King’s Park, and thanks to the contribution from the ICF the building will feature an indoor running/walking track. Judy Sentes, president of the Ironman Canada Race Society, said Ironman wants to direct its $250,000 donation to a venue that supports healthy lifestyles for all residents as a gift to the people of Penticton in the 25thanniversary year of Subaru Ironman Canada.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Ford Ironman Florida, and as part of the celebration the ICF is working with

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HED Stinger 90 the Companions in Courage Foundation to create a Lion’s Den at the Bay Medical Pediatric Unit. Founded by NHL hall-offamer Pat LaFontaine, the CCF has built interactive playrooms in hospitals throughout North America. Using innovative communications tools, these playrooms replace the isolation of a hospital with a connection to friends and family during a child’s stay.

“We are an athletic event, and one of our mandates is to try and help people become more active and involved in sports,” says NA Sports CEO Graham Fraser. “The building of the Kroc Center and the indoor track in Penticton will fulfill this mission . . . and additionally we are pleased to be able to acknowledge the contribution that the community of Panama City Beach has made to our event by the contribution to Bay Medical.”

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CHECKING IN

Flashback: May 1987 In 1987, the sport of triathlon was celebrating 10 years of the Hawaii Ironman, an event that had grown from a field of 12 to over 1000 racers. The number of triathlons in general had more than tripled in four years, rising from around the 600 mark in 1982 to 2000 in 1986.

The expansion of the sport would, as we now know, continue mightily through the next two decades. There has been a parallel increase in the cost of triathlon equipment. Imagine your annual tri budget being what it was for the triathlete circa 1986, as revealed in a Triathlete marketing survey: swim purchases: $50; bike equipment: $357; race entry fees: $90.

This year, triathlon will be represented in the Olympics for the third time.

The following excerpt is from the May 1987 issue of Triathlete. The piece, called 52

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“The State of the Sport” and written by Bob Bright, the athletes’ liaison for the Ironman, offered a few thoughts on how triathlon might find its way onto the Olympic program.

“The governing bodies must solve problems dealing in rule violations—i.e., drafting or course aid. This should be taken out of the event manager’s area of concern—drafting violations make the sport hard to understand for the public.

The sport is in transition—the viewing public is aware of it, but isn’t sold on triathlons as a world-class sport. It’s still an odd-ball type of event. Time will solve this problem. New sponsors are needed.

New stars. And event professionalism.

Winners being DQ’d for rule violations that the public doesn’t understand will be a killer. Short-course events will not be an Olympic venture. The IOC [International Olympic Committee] needs sports it can market, and TV likes the Ironman distance. Don’t forget, sports is show biz.”

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The long road

Triathlete celebrates its 25th by looking back at the evolution and revolution of the sport over the past quarter-century By the editors When the first issue of Triathlete (then Tri-Athlete) was printed in Reno, Nev., in 1983, and distributed throughout California, it seemed unlikely that this tiny publication catering to a niche sport would survive much beyond an issue or two. But survive it did, and 25 years later Triathlete is the world’s largest triathlon magazine with a presence in 85 countries. In the following pages, we take a look back at the magazine and the sport over the past two and a half decades. If you have any specific memories you’d like to share—either in relation to Triathlete or to the wider sport—we’d love to hear from you. Please go to triathletemag.com and send us an e-mail. We’ll publish a selection of reader responses in Mail Call in a future issue. (Photo credits clockwise from the top left: Dave Epperson, Dave Epperson, Dave Epperson, Thierry Deketelaere, Thierry Deketelaere, Rich Graham, Dave Epperson, John Segesta, Thierry Deketelaere) 54

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The beginning A look back at triathlon as it was in 1983

By Jay Prasuhn

In 1983 Cabbage Patch Kids hit the market, Ronald Reagan started the Star Wars missiledefense system and Motorola’s first commercial cellular phone received FCC approval. A Canadian marathon runner developed the first energy bar to fuel athletes, calling it PowerBar. And Triathlete magazine was born.

It was 25 years ago that two separate multisport titles— Triathlon and Tri-Athlete magazines—merged to form Triathlete magazine, after Belgian investor Jean Claude Garot bought Tri-Athlete from founder William Katovsky.

Pretty impressive considering it had been just nine years since a group of athletes from the San Diego Track Club created the first triathlon. The Hawaii Ironman was just six years old. Triathlon had cut its teeth and was growing.

“There’s no way to describe it,” says longtime race director Jim Curl, “It was an absolute avalanche of growth.”

THE EVENTS Several races took their first steps in ’83. Wildflower made its debut, won by Dean Harper and Jennifer Hinshaw. What would become the Chicago Triathlon and the St. Anthony’s Triathlon debuted in ’83 as part of the USTS Series.

As a testament to the global growth of the sport the first mass-start triathlon was held, in England at the inaugural British Triathlon National Championships, with 200 starters.

And Mark Allen’s legendary 10-year winning streak at the Nice Triathlon in France? Allen took just his second win of that stillunfathomable string in 1983.

At the epicenter of North American triathlon event production was Jim Curl. And, as the San Diego native recalls, things didn’t always go according to plan. “I was running [the Bahamas Diamond Triathlon of the Stars] with Dave Horning and was thrown in jail,” Curl recalls. “The promoter of the race gave us checks and said we could write up to $10,000 with them for things like barricades, cones, signage.” But the promoter didn’t put any money in the bank, so Curl was unwittingly passing bad checks. Police caught up with Curl, removed him from his postrace flight out of the Bahamas and threw him in prison. “I rang 56

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my office and had my secretary call the ministry of tourism. It wasn’t long before the tourism board told the police to let me go.” The race wasn’t held again.

Pro triathlete Mark Montgomery recalled another one and done race: the King of the Hill Triathlon, at Big Bear, Calif. With Zales jewelers as the title sponsor, the top three received diamond rings, the jewel cut into a triangular shape.

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“They had a great format,” Montgomery recalls. “They got $100,000 in stuff—computers, bikes, mopeds, really nice stuff—and put them in a corral. The winning male and female in the long-course race got first choice. First and second in the Olympic-distance race then got to pick, and it went down the line. Mark Allen won the long-course race and I won the short race. It was a cool concept.”

Curl is largely known for piloting the Bud Light U.S. Triathlon series, helping grow the sport at a participant level across the United States. The USTS event series, governed by Triathlon Federation USA (today known as USA Triathlon), was in its sophomore year, expanding to 11 events from five in its inaugural year. “Every event we put on would break records,” Curl says. “Having 1,000 people was a record field in 1982. By 1983, we had three races larger than that.” One of the age groupers who would go on to pioneer the business of tri bikes and wetsuits, Dan Empfield, recalls the events. “I remember chafing at the $65 I had to pay for a USTS race entry,” he says.

“We still had nudity in transition area, and there was no difference between pros and age groupers.”

The growth of the Hawaii Ironman was, at that time, reaching critical mass, and event organizers launched two new initiatives in 1983. The first was setting a 17-hour time limit, with a midnight cutoff for finishers. The other was to create the first Hawaii Ironman qualifier system to restrict entries. The first Hawaii qualifier? The Ricoh Ironman U.S. Championships, held May 3 in Los Angeles at the Santa Monica Pier with a two-mile swim, 100-mile bike and 20-mile run. “It was freezing cold with no wetsuits,” Triathlete publisher [then an elite age grouper] John Duke recalls. “They had giant hot tubs for athletes to jump into after the swim to warm up before the bike.”

And the rest? Ironman included the luck of the everyman in the Kona dream, debuting the first Ironman lottery in 1983.

Then, at the 1983 Hawaii Ironman Dave Scott took the men’s title, his third, while Canadian Sylvaine Puntous beat twin sister Patricia for the win. There was no prize money for the pros (in fact, it wasn’t until 1986 that a pro prize purse was established for the top finishers in Kona).

The Ironman’s mystique continued to grow. The New York Times ran a March 1 article in 1983 focusing on what remains a truism today: Triathlon owes much of its broader appeal to television. In ’83, it was ABC’s Wide World of Sports highlighting the “grueling” Hawaii Ironman. “It makes me proud that we can have such an impact,” said Bob Iger, ABC’s director of programming, in the article. “With the triathlon, I think the growth was parallel to a tremendous interest in endurance events and physical fitness in general, but I think we helped it along.”

CRADLE OF TECH CIVILIZATION It would be another four years before triathlon wetsuits and aerobars would appear. Tri bikes didn’t have a foothold yet, so rides were performed on standard road bikes. In fact, there really was no specific triathlon market as we know it.

“The magazines had just come out, and the ads were sort-of reflective of the oddity that triathlon was,” Empfield recalls.

“Starting in ’83 and continuing forward, nothing was engineered for triathlon—it was from the three individual sports, marketed to triathletes. There would be a product with a triathlon model like a bike or a tire, but nothing specific to triathlon about it. And manufacturers thought triathletes would be mid-level customers and presented them with mid-level products.”

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While 1984 was witness to the first commercially produced clipless pedal, ’83 saw the pros testing prototypes. Hard-shell helmets, the first disc wheels and Shimano click shifting all came in a heavy wave in the early ’80s.

“That year, I had just ordered my new custom Della Santa bicycle for racing. It was steel Columbus SL tubing,” Empfield says. “Frame and fork: seven pounds. I still have it. It remains the best riding bike in my fleet. It also weighs more than four of my other bikes.”

THE ATHLETES Much of the lore of the early ’80s in triathlon revolves around the athletes, and 1983 marked the first year the pros could make an actual living at the sport. Prize purses fattened and sponsors put athletes on stipends. The storied J David Triathlon Team—Scott and Jeff Tinley, Mark Allen, Scott Molina, Julie and Bill Leach and John Howard, rose in ’83 before the team’s fall a year later when the sponsoring investment-brokerage firm collapsed.

But the team’s failure was an aberration. “The sport had finally taken off,” Montgomery recalls, one of the top pros of the era. “We were getting paid by sponsors—in 1983 I got my Nike contract, and back then it was all the travel, hotels and

Courtesy Mark Montgomery

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Among those athletes enjoying salaried positions as pro triathletes in 1983 were (from left) Mark Allen, Colleen Cannon, Jacqueline Shaw and Mark Montgomery.

meals. Everything was taken care of. It was the year I thought, ‘Hey, maybe I can make a living at this,’ and quit being a lifeguard.” Additional top names like Scott Tinley, Dean Harper, Liz Vitai, John Howard, Marc Suprenant, Colleen Cannon, Jan Girard, Scott Molina, the Puntous twins, Linda Buchanan, Julie Moss, Lynn Brooks and Sally Edwards made triathlon their careers.

But the relatively small size of the sport and the athletes’ propensity to race the same races, weekend after weekend, made them something other than competitors: They were friends. “We were drawn to each other and just became great friends, all of us,” Montgomery says. “We were together when we were making juuuust enough money to hang on, and we were together when we were in the heyday. It was just a lot of fun, doing something you love with good people.”

Triathlon in the year of this magazine’s inception was quite different, but in many ways very much the same. The fervor for the simple act of swimming, biking and running is a constant through our first quarter-century.

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Looking back

Triathlete founder Bill Katovsky revisits the past in this first-person memoir. “I had little idea what I was doing in the beginning,” he says today. “The learning curve was incredibly steep.”

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then, the term “triathlete” was seldom used. You were either an Ironman or a swimmer, cyclist or runner who took up triathlon.

Short-course races were commonly called “tinmen.” Any serious talk about a standardized Olympic-distance course was years off.

In fact, few even mentioned Olympics and triathlon in the same breath; the sport seemed like yet another oddball West Coast athletic phenomenon. You could even say that triathlon’s initial growth spurt mirrored the early days of mountain biking, which Bicycling’s editors originally wanted to call “all-terrain biking.”

One night, I roughed out my vision for Tri-Athlete using photos and articles from other sports magazines taped to blank pages. For the cover, I drew a smiling, jaunty triangle with arms and legs and running shoes. I originally was going to use a duck because it swims, flies and waddles. The finished 32-page product looked like the handiwork of an untalented third-grader, but it got the basic message across.

Shortly after completing this crude Tri-Athlete dummy for dummies, I learned that another triathlon magazine was scheduled to launch the following month. The four-color Triathlon was wellfunded, based in Los Angeles, boasted strong connections with companies and top-tier stars in the sport. In contrast, I planned on creating a 32-page newsprint tabloid. Tri-Athlete headquarters was the dining room of my cramped Berkeley duplex.

Since I was completely clueless about how to put together a magazine, I decided to visit various tabloid magazines in the Bay Area and ask editors for insight or advice. Most were busy or unhelpful, so I picked up a book on how to start your own magazine. I must have read and reread that guide three, four times.

Next up was seeing an expensive San Francisco trademark attorney to find out what kind of legal protection the magazine needed. I looked in the Yellow Pages and called up a firm with the biggest ad. One of the firm’s attorneys agreed to see me for a

Thierry Deketelaere

Three months after finishing the Hawaii Ironman in October 1982 I felt like I was floundering. I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.

I was 25 years old, indifferently marking time as a graduate student in political science at the University of California at Berkeley. I thought about moving to Israel, joining the Peace Corps or maybe opening up a bookstore/cafe in Sante Fe. I was looking for some kind of direction, meaning, a sign, anything, to reorient my life.

Inspiration came to me one afternoon while sitting on the steps of the Student Union on the Berkeley campus: How about creating a magazine for triathletes? If the Ironman represented a personal journey of soul-stirring transformation, why should it have to abruptly conclude at the finish line? My new destiny seemed crystal clear: to become an evangelist for the new, fastgrowing sport. And what better way to spread the gospel of triathlon than with a magazine?

When I got home, I told my girlfriend about my latest brainstorm. She shot me her usual look that suggested that I was, well, nuts. If I had told her I was planning to live in an igloo in the Arctic or row across the Atlantic, it would have resulted in that same “Oh, Bill” expression. I had zero journalism or business experience. I knew absolutely nothing about the mechanics of publishing. I had no friends in the sport to help me put together a publication. I had savings of only $16,000, and furthermore, I was busy taking and teaching classes at Berkeley.

I put the idea on hold for a few days, but I became more convinced than ever that I needed to start my own magazine and that it would come out in fewer than four months, debuting at the Ricoh Ironman in Los Angeles on May 2, 1983.

The first order of business was choosing a name for the magazine. I decided on Tri-Athlete. Yes, with a hyphen. Because back

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free one-hour consultation. He normally charged about $200 an hour. He was friendly and informative but cautioned me against calling it Tri-Athlete. He said the name was liable to become generic, like Kleenex is often used for tissue or Xerox for making copies. He suggested I come up with a name unrelated to either triathlon or tri-athlete. When my hour was up, I thanked him for his time and told him that I’d be in touch. We never spoke since. I kept the name Tri-Athlete.

I then found a graphic designer in Oakland who came up with a logo. It was distinctive, with horizontally ruled lines that gave a sense of motion, but as I soon came to regret it was hard to read from a distance. The logo reminded me of half-opened Venetian blinds.

Now, armed for battle with both name and logo, I was ready to place ads in national magazines. I contacted a Bicycling sales rep who sold me a 1/12page for $800, and I bought another one in VeloNews, which set me back $200.

(Bicycling had a circulation of 250,000 and VeloNews was then 11,000.)

While I had neither the luxury of a staff nor any firm notion about the magazine’s actual content, I wanted to get the word out and rake in subscription dollars. The magazine would be freely distributed at races and in sporting-goods stores in California, but people living outside the state would be required to pay $10 for an annual subscription of 12 issues.

The ads generated several hundred subscribers, but the first subscribers trickled in another way. I distributed bright orange subscription flyers at the Oakland marathon finish line. There I stood in the pouring rain thrusting flyers into the hands of exhausted runners who were too dazed to object as they stumbled through the chutes. Since I was getting soaked to the bone I gave up this fool’s mission and decided to stick the flyers under the windshield wipers of nearby parked cars. But the flyers were turning soggy and mulch-like in the driving rain, so I abandoned the crusade and went home. Still, over the next several weeks several dried-out, mangled flyers arrived in the mail with $10 checks.

The most intimidating part of Tri-Athlete’s launch was finding editorial content. I was hard-pressed where to begin my search. Once, in 11th grade, I wrote a short news brief on a boy’s cross-country meet for my high-school paper. The teacher advisor not only rejected the piece but told me, “This is the worst thing I have ever read. Don’t bother writing for us again.” I didn’t. Then, five years later, I submitted to Bicycling a longish, contemplative essay about my solo bike ride across the United States. It was a variation of a college philosophy paper on existentialism and identity which netted an A+. Bicycling handed me a different grade: a rejection form letter.

I even tried submitting political op-ed essays for the New York Times and the Berkeley student newspaper. But no one was biting. I was an unpublished grad student without a track record of any kind. I looked around for help. There was a student in my American Political Theory class who wrote for a Marin newsweekly. She was a mountain biker and volunteered to help out. I also sought the counsel of Peter Rich, who owned a

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Berkeley bike shop called Velo Sport and was well-regarded in the bike community. I contacted top local triathletes for either interviews or possible assistance. Dean Harper, who placed eighth at the 1982 October Ironman, agreed to be interviewed as well as pose for the cover of the premiere issue. He wasn’t a recognizable marquee name like Dave Scott or Scott Tinley, but I was too shy to approach either of these big Ironman guns. Call it fear of rejection.

The biggest triathlete name the Bay Area belonged to Dave Horning, who won the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. Back in 1982, only 100 people competed and wetsuits were not allowed.

He had recently appeared on the cover of Runner’s World with 1982 (February) Hawaii Ironman women’s winner Kathleen McCartney. Horning was loud, brash and had a P.T. Barnum knack for drawing attention to himself, like the time he had a tuxedo’d waiter serve him a catered lunch at the Hawi bike turnaround at the Ironman. The media loved following his antics.

Horning agreed to meet me at a Berkeley cafe to hear about my magazine plans.

Horning listened to my pitch for about 20 minutes before abruptly wishing me the best of luck with my publishing venture and then said he had another meeting. He issued a curt goodbye, climbed into his red Alfa Romeo convertible and roared off.

Even though he didn’t mention it out loud, it was apparent he thought I was going to fail and didn’t want any part of my magazine. (Still, attitudes can change over time. I later profiled him in the fourth issue, and two years later we became roommates.

His 1986 triathlon book is dedicated to me, though he misspelled my last name.)

Looking around for an article on diet, I contacted a doctoral student in nutritional science at U.C. Davis named Liz Applegate who had won the women’s division of the Sierra Nevada half-Ironman. She had never published anything before, but she said she was up to the challenge. Applegate would later become a popular sports-nutrition writer for Runner’s World.

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For a profile on Hawaii Ironman race my own checkbook. Although she worked full-time as the office director Valerie Silk I contacted the Ironman’s manager at a national management-training firm in San two-person Honolulu press office. A very helpful Francisco, she put in long hours at my side. On some nights, we Jeanette Foster agreed to write something. For an would use her office to make photocopies or take advantage of article on swimming, I found a top local master’s swimmer who the company’s postage machine.

I interviewed. I rounded up an article on biking for beginners She was indispensable in helping me get the magazine off and other miscellany. the ground, but we still had no full-time employees. It was just Yet I had little confidence in my own ability to write for the the two of us and Rockee, our unruly one-year-old golden magazine. I was the publisher and editor, but that didn’t mean I retriever. He was incorrigible and impossible to train, so I had to bang out something on my Selectric typewriter. But, as I found the perfect job for him: staff receptionist. His name and soon realized with the launch date quickly approaching, if I title appeared on the masthead. He got paid in beef jerky and wanted to get the magazine out in time I needed to look to dog biscuits. myself for producing content.

Things went moderately smoothly as I put together all the This represented a significant turning point in my life. It pieces of the magazine jigsaw puzzle. All throughout this intense meant going from someone who wrote dense, clunky grad-school period, I was on fire with non-caffeinated manic energy. It was papers that were usually read by a professor to someone whose also a tremendous learning experience, marked by rookie misless encumbered writing would now be read by thousands. takes, hard work, sleepless nights and a bit of good fortune. I can Peering back in time, I remain proud of my inaugural essay, remember the initial flush of excitement when I had sent off my “Sporting Around with Triathlons,” which kicked off the premiere first official business letter to a guy in San Diego named Murphy Reinschreiber, who was a top triathlete and mover and shaker in issue. In it, I mused about the sport’s place in the athletic world: trying to start a new triathlon association. After he responded to Back when triathlons were primarily identified with the Hawaii Ironman, it was generally accepted to laugh my letter with a long phone call, I felt like I had arrived. I was off the sport as one of those ridiculous physical feats being marginally noticed by the triathlon community. whose notoriety was based on the athletically absurd.

Finding advertisers, however, proved difficult. I clipped out Only fanatics participated in the Ironman; it was the ads from the various running and bike magazines and phoned sporting equivalent of a Ripley’s Believe-It-Or-Not the companies. I even went on a two-day sales trip to Los adventure . . . [But] today, the Ironman is no longer the Angeles and San Diego. For sales tools, I had produced a rate physical challenge for a minority of hardcore athletes. The card and oversized four-page glossy brochure.

Ironman has become one race among many. Even though Many of the companies which I approached had already it is the Superbowl of triathlons, the committed their scarce advertising dolHawaii Ironman has forever lost its lars to Triathlon or had adopted a waitADVERTISERS IN idiosyncratic flair. Can you imagine and-see approach with my magazine, THE FIRST ISSUE OF having witnessed those first Ironmen, or with the sport itself. I approached TRI-ATHLETE those 15 crazy lunkheads swimming, local ad agencies that represented cycling, and running to prove who Mizuno and Canterbury. Specialized Ten Speed Drive Imports was the most fit? never returned my calls. The Bud Light Jitensha Bike Studio Now that the Ironman must Triathlon Series people were chilly and Richard Sachs Cycles restrict the number of entrants who rude, though I persuaded them to take Mighty Hamptons Triathlon can compete, the race has fallen victim out a full-page four-color ad for $400, Phoenix Vitamins to its own success: The desire to which was about one-third of its actual Sorbothane become an Ironman is now not always cost. Nike and Campagnolo got free Bianchi matched by opportunity. . . . The ads in an effort to impress future Turbo Trainer Ironman might have been the unaladvertisers.

Neel & Katz Distributors loyed father of the multisport craze, Several weeks before the first issue Bonne Bell 1st Triathlon for Women but the era of the Ironman as an allwas scheduled for production I had Pedal Pushers Mail Order comers’ event is sadly over. snared just over a dozen paying ads. This Forte Clothing Because I was still teaching two didn’t give me much hope for commerHeath Science Publishing cial success, but I was confident that classes a week at Berkeley as well as Gookinaid ERG Drink once the magazine was printed and cirattending lectures, my daylight hours Michael’s Cyclery culated advertisers would take the publiwere spent in the land of political sciThe Finals Swimwear cation more seriously. Furthermore, Trience; my nights and weekends were conBud Light U.S. Triathlon Series Athlete was going to come out monthly, sumed by the nitty-gritty details of pubCampagnolo (free) whereas Triathlon was a quarterly. I lishing. My then-girlfriend Terri Taylor Swim-See Prescription goggles would chip away at the competition came through heroically. Blessed with Bikecology Mail Order through issue frequency and build those hyper-efficient administrative MLO Protein Supplememt brand loyalty with newer, livelier conskills I deliberately shunned and would Ultimate Endurance Triathlon tent. I used to tell advertisers that “Trinever possess even if I wanted to, she Al Kreitler Rollers Athlete is the Rolling Stone of triathlon.” assembled a race directors’ database of Mizuno Running Shoes In the end, the first issue took in just over 150 triathlons, supervised advertisNike (free) $6,700 in paid advertising, which didn’t er mailings and set up the subscriber Centaurian Triathlon and Panda even cover the printing bill of $9,500 for system. She kept the financial books, Marathon (World Wildlife Fund) 20,000 copies. since I never even bothered balancing 66

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When it came time to design and lay out the magazine, I needed to find more spacious quarters than my living room. I contacted a local typesetting firm, and for two weeks Tri-Athlete shared office space with a local music publication. Our typesetter was a former rock singer who went by the name of Judy July.

She had to re-key all the articles into a typesetting machine, which then spewed out long, thin shiny ribbons of paper that had type only on one side. The backs would be coated with hot wax and then placed on layout boards, using an X-ACTO knife to line up the type. I recruited a part-time art director who supervised three part-time graphic artists who were each paid $7 per hour to perform this meticulous, time-consuming task. I knew better than to employ my own clumsy fingers for this operation.

Miraculously, the magazine was going to be printed in time for Ricoh. Like expectant parents, Terri and I drove up to Reno, Nev., where the printer was located. It was exciting to be in the noisy press room, with the large machines feeding giant rolls of newsprint into a series of inky rollers. The entire job took only about five hours of press time.

I arranged for the printer to ship 18,000 copies to our Berkeley duplex. We loaded up the other 2000 copies into the bed of my Toyota pickup, and on the way back to Berkeley we stopped off at dozens of bike, running and sporting-goods stores in Sacramento and Davis. I would carry a stack of magazines into a shop and tell the owner or manager, “Hi, here’s a brandnew magazine on triathlon. And it’s free! Where can I leave them?” Most of them seemed annoyed or indifferent to my cheeriness, and they’d lethargically motion to a place by the front door where I could leave copies.

As the semi pulled up in front of our home, I had underestimated how much room 18,000 copies take up. All available floor space in our living and dining room was consumed by tall, bound stacks of Tri-Athlete. It felt like we were residing inside a newsprint cave. Rockee liked the new arrangement. He’d climb up on the stacks, his claws sometimes ripping apart the magazine covers.

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Two days later, we loaded up the Toyota with 2,500 copies and headed down to Los Angeles for the Ricoh Ironman. We arrived the night before the race and attended the athlete press briefing in a Santa Monica hotel. I didn’t hand out any copies of the magazine there. I didn’t know the correct protocol, thinking it might be inappropriate. Nor did I talk to any of the athletes. The following morning, Terri and I took 200 copies to the Santa Monica pier where hundreds of spectators had gathered to watch about 150 triathletes brave the tough Pacific surf that initially knocked a third of them back to shore.

As these battered and buffeted swimmers finally managed to stroke out of sight, I shifted my attention to the spectators. Some had picked up Tri-Athlete and were reading the articles. I wanted to go up to these strangers and say, “Hey, that’s my magazine you’re reading!” Of course, I didn’t. But this experience was nearly euphoric, not quite on the same level as crossing the Hawaii Ironman finish line, but there was a definite connection between both events. You set a goal, you work for months toward achieving it and then you reap the psychological and emotional rewards of being successful.

We didn’t even stay around to see the Ricoh winners come in. We had a more time-sensitive job: dropping off magazines at bike, running and sporting-goods stores all over Los Angeles and Orange County, then ducking south to San Diego before heading back to the Bay Area. We hit Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Jose, Oakland, Marin and San Francisco. Terri drove and I was the designated magazine dropoff guy. And Rockee’s role? He spent the entire time sitting on my lap. He was hot, restless and uncomfortable, constantly panting from the heat and drooling all over my shirt and pants like a leaky faucet. When we finally got back to Berkeley, we had little time to unwind and relax. The next issue was due at the printer in three weeks.

EPILOGUE After publishing seven more issues, I sold Tri-Athlete to a European-based sports publisher in February of 1983 and stayed on as editor-in-chief for several years. After I left the magazine in mid-1986, Tri-Athlete merged with Triathlon, and the new title became Triathlete. In 1993, I came back to the sport and completed the Hawaii Ironman again, then soon returned to Triathlete as editor-in-chief, where I met a young La Jolla triathlete named Mitch Thrower at a multisport training camp cofounded and run by San Diego sports-marketing impresario John Duke. In time, I persuaded both to get involved, and they are still involved with the magazine today as it continues to surge in size and popularity worldwide.

Bill Katovsky currently lives in Northern California and is the author of Patriots Act: Voices of Dissent and the Risk of Speaking Out, co-author of Embedded: The Media at War in Iraq, which won a national book prize, editor of The World According to Gore: The Incredible Vision of the Man Who Should Be President, and co-author of Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100.

Thierry Deketelaere

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Top shots

Triathlon’s most talented photographers show the emotion and evolution of the sport over the last 25 years The following pages unfold the legends of triathlon, from the 1989 Ironwar between Mark Allen and Dave Scott to Aussie Greg Welch’s 1994 win to present-day stars who continue to energize the sport. Beyond the guts and raw emotion, you’ll see how triathlon gear and attire have progressed (for the better, we’d suggest) over the past 25 years.

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A long look back

A former editor recalls the highlights of covering triathlon in the early days Story and photos by Richard Graham

After two hours already came the first controls, big lamps shine on the river. Little boats were on the left and right side for the soldiers, if they want to catch anyone . . . I feared very strong if I saw the soldiers with their guns and heard them speaking and playing with the light. —“Triathlon Glasnost,” Triathlete, April 1990 For many people, triathlon is a way to push their physical limits to the extreme. For others, it is an attempt to prove themselves against their peers. Back in early 1988, the attraction of triathlon for East Germany’s Harald Lange was freedom. Harald had written a letter to Triathlete requesting training information, and I responded. Our correspondence over the next two years was eye-opening, but his letter from October 1989 was jaw dropping. Before the Berlin Wall came down, Harald had escaped East Germany.

He traveled to Hungary and then swam 15 kilometers down the Tisza River, under the eyes of the border guards, into Yugoslavia and freedom. It was an honor to be able to share Harald’s story with Triathlete’s readers. (Harald’s now a doctor, and he produces Germany’s Bad Emser Therme Triathlon.)

It was a character-shaping and wonderfully exciting time.

Here are a few more of my memories from those early years.

DELUSIONS OF GLAMOUR Ten minutes into my flight from Miami to Grenada for the third-annual Grenada Triathlon, the right rear engine of the McDonnell Douglass DC-9 failed dramatically. The plane shook like a boxer staggered by a left to the jaw, leaving stunned passengers exchanging frightened glances. I would have seen my life flash before my eyes, but I was too afraid to look. —“Grenada, Caribbean Adventure,” Triathlete, April 1989 Though I took the next available flight to Grenada, I missed the race, arriving in Grenada 12 hours after the last triathlete had crossed the finish line.

While the flight to Grenada was the most life-threatening experience I had while covering triathlons, I was similarly at risk when I tried a few triathlons myself. As a triathlete, I’m an excellent hockey player. My three attempts at triathlons included a near drowning, a finish that was nothing to brag about and a humiliation on the bike course. In 1988, during the bike leg at Bend, Oregon’s Pole, Pedal, Paddle, I was passed by a racer on a mountain bike who was wearing a very wide pair of flowered cycling shorts. I resolved then to cover triathlons as a journalist and leave the race course to the real triathletes.

TRIATHLON’S HOLY GRAIL The Bud Light Ironman Triathlon World Championship is a carnival, a drama, a multinational liars’ convention. — “Ironman,” Triathlete, January 1989 88

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The author, on the edge of the bike course at Ironman Lanzarote.

The Hawaii Ironman was the race that everyone at Triathlete looked forward to attending every year. Flying into Kona from Honolulu on an air-conditioned Hawaiian Airlines jet, walking off the back of the plane onto the tarmac, you were immediately hit with a wave of heat and humidity. Just as familiar were the frequent rain squalls; driving through the Kona streets in an open-air Jeep you knew not to worry, because the rain would soon pass and the wind from the Jeep’s speed would dry you in no time. Other memories of Kona include the deep-blue ocean, the crash of white spray on the rocky shore, the fresh scent of tropical flowers, Aloha and Mahalo, and the grumbling by some of the locals about the invasion of triathlon tourists, whom they called Haoles.

The Hawaii Ironman was definitely the Holy Grail, the event of the year, the standard for all other races to match.

Valerie Silk, the woman behind the Ironman at that time, was a classy lady who fussed over the race like the mother of any child prodigy, and she was one of the nicest people in the triathlon world.

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OTHER FAVORITE RACES Like anyone who distrusts hype might, two of the spectators at the World’s Toughest Triathlon in South Lake Tahoe took issue with its name. “This isn’t the world’s toughest triathlon,” said one, as he watched the 121 individual triathletes and 32 relay swimmers prepare to enter the 66-degree waters of Lake Tahoe. “In the world’s toughest triathlon, the swim would be mined and the bikes wouldn’t have brakes.” — “World’s Toughest,” Triathlete, November/December 1987 While I loved the Hawaii Ironman, my favorite race was the World’s Toughest Triathlon in Lake Tahoe, California. The beauty, the difficulty of the climb on Monitor Pass and the run course that wound its way through the woods; what was not to like? We waited late into the evening for the final finishers, just like at Hawaii, but under trees instead of surrounded by lava.

Some races became favorites because of the people involved— including New Mexico’s Mount Taylor Winter Quadrathlon; the Lanzarote Ironman; Louisiana’s Crawfishman Challenge; and Tennessee’s Music City Triathlon, where race director Pat Walsh, when he couldn’t find the starter’s pistol, walked to his car, pulled a .22-caliber pistol out of the glove compartment and fired the gun to start the race.

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THE MALE CONTENDERS Finnish triathlete Pauli Kiuru . . . had bypassed the Pepsi, dodged the water, thrown the cup of water on the ground in anger and continued on, spluttering angrily, the volunteers and bystanders were still perplexed. Later, it was learned that Kiuru had been shouting “Replace! Replace!” the name of a replenishment drink. One spectator who’d witnessed the scene couldn’t believe it. “I thought he wanted a biscuit,” he said, bemusedly. — “Racing Down Under,” Triathlete, July 1989 Kiuru was one of the many European triathletes, along with Holland’s Rob Barel and Wolfgang Dittrich and Jürgen Zäck of Germany, who competed with an accent and flair.

My claim to fame as a triathlon journalist was probably my January 1988 Hotshot piece on Lance Armstrong, when he was a 16-year-old triathlon phenom out of Waco, Texas. “Junior” Armstrong was brash and cocky, thoughtful and disarming.

THE TOP WOMEN An oncoming truck speeds up to make a left turn in front of Laiti. She hits the truck’s bed on the passenger side, ripping open her hip on one of its tie-down loops.

Hearing the impact, Jacobs looks back to see Laiti’s bike fly into the air. Laiti’s momentum carries her over the top of the truck; she lands on her head with a sickening thud. The impact fractures her skull, breaks her left hand and sends her skidding 50 feet along the roadway.

“Against All Odds,” —Triathlete, September 1988 Lisa Laiti was a shy beauty whose looks masked fearless determination. Despite several horrendous crashes that would have given most any other athlete pause, Laiti kept competing.

Erin Baker was an acquired taste; you had to get past her defenses. Once she trusted you, she was as warm and friendly as anyone. I had great respect for her and still do.

Colleen Cannon was another one of those triathletes with a winning personality to go with her winning record. She was friendly and warm and quick to jump to the defense of her friends.

With Julie Moss, if I had any delusions of grandeur of being of any importance in the triathlon world as a writer and editor, those were quickly deflated when I jokingly told her that I was disappointed that she hadn’t searched out any skeletons in my closet: “That’s because I’m not interested,” she said.

Paula Newby-Fraser was the Queen of Kona for many years, but her long dynasty was just in its beginning stages when I left Triathlete in 1991. She was a ferocious competitor, whether in the lead or coming from behind.

And then there’s Karen Smyers, who would drink a beer the night before every race. “I didn’t have one before the President’s [triathlon],” she said, “And I think that’s why I didn’t do so well there.”

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A buff Lance Armstrong finishes the swim at the 1988 Bud Light USTS Miami Triathlon. Armstrong is now a seven-time winner of the Tour de France. Talk about successful cross-training.

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training aids.” —“Informer,” Triathlete, September 1987 The Para-Shirt was an extremely silly idea, but there were many serious technical innovations made during my time at Triathlete, including Quintana Roo wetsuits, designed solely for speed; Giro helmets; Grip Shift, a front and rear index-shifting system; and DH high-performance bike handlebars designed by Boone Lennon, a former coach for the U.S. Ski Team.

Top pro Brad Kearns used a set of aerobars to great advantage at the Desert Princess Biathlon Champs, Andrew MacNaughton surprised Mike Pigg at the 1997 Crawfishman Challenge and Greg LeMond used aerobars to win the 1989 Tour de France by erasing a 50-second deficit to Laurent Fignon in the final time trial.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE OFFICE After trying my hand at photographing a local triathlon, Leslie Fedon (left) and Janet Hatfield put Tony Richardson (below left) and I was proud of my effort and Todd Jacobs (below right) in their place after the 1989 Cancun Triathlon. laid out my slides on the light table in the office. Art director Before one triathlon, Armstrong was being housed by young and Triathlete co-founder Harald Johnson looked at them . . . and newlyweds whose house had thin walls. “I didn’t get a wink of began throwing them into the trash, one by one. “What are you sleep,” he told me. At 16 and in the 11th grade, he was 5’11” and doing,” I asked him, shocked. “Look through the loupe, Rich,” he weighed 150 pounds. He had a world-class VO2 max of 79.5, said. “This one’s out of focus. In this photo, there’s a pole coming and he became a top cyclist. You may have heard of him. out of this guy’s head.” It was a painful lesson, but one I’ll always At the Powerman Duathlon in Zofingen, Switzerland, I beat appreciate.

Ken Glah handily. I matched Glah move for move; he’d pull Editor Terry Mulgannon was tough to please, but he was a ahead, and then I’d make a completely unexpected move and damn good editor and someone I’ll never forget. Ever-present leave him in the dust. We were playing chess on large outdoor cigarette in hand, dressed in Soldier-of-Fortune green khaki chessboard, but still, I beat him. Ken had long, curly red hair; pants, a bit jittery, Terry seemed to stand on his toes when he you couldn’t miss him. He married Australia’s Jan Wanklyn, talked to you, and he punctuated his words with a stabbing of another friendly triathlete. Ken was a demon on the run. his rapidly shrinking cigarette. Terry was quite a contrast from Hanging around with Kenny Souza back in the day was like the laid-back surfer Harald Johnson. Later an editor at Sport being a rock star. Sit in a hot tub with Kenny and two hot and Men’s Fitness magazines, Mulgannon, I hear, is now holed blondes after a race and learn what it’s like to be a fly on the wall. up in a secluded house in Northern California, sharpening up Neither of those women saw me nor heard a word I said. a novel. I’d buy it.

Other favorite athletes included Australians Brad “Croc” Triathlete’s erstwhile advertising director Daemon Filson Beven and the irrepressible Greg Welch, and Americans Jeff was always enthusiastic and passionate, even though his ideas Devlin, Brad Kearns, Andrew MacNaughton, George Pierce (with were often shot down in editorial meetings—partly because his ungainly running style and Mohawk haircut), Ray Browning, they were advertising-related—but he had some great ideas Tom “Lumpy” Gallagher, Tony Richardson and Jimmy Riccitello nonetheless. Former editor C.J. Olivares, a clever and hip (I gave him my surfboard after USTS Solana Beach). dude, is now rocking and rolling as an executive with Fuel TV, and associate Gary Newkirk, an excellent photographer, was a HIGH-TECH TOYS whiz on bike technology.

“Jumpin’ Jackrabbits, Batman, what’s that you’re wearing instead of your cape?” “It’s Para-Shirt Advance Training Apparel, Robin, and Richard Graham is now the owner and editor of the Web site it’s designed to provide significant training advantages over other inlinehockeycentral.com, which covers the sport of roller hockey.

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Rich Cruse

Lois Schwartz

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Through their epic three-year rivalry, David Bailey (left) and Carlos Moleda (right) transcended not only the PC division, but the sport itself.

Collision course Why the destinies and clashes of Carlos Moleda and David Bailey made for the greatest rivalry in triathlon history

By T.J. Murphy

Spinal-cord injuries usually result from a traumatic impact that fractures a vertebra. When discs or bone fragments rupture spinal-cord tissue, the initial wave of damage can shred neural cells and crush axons (the wires that connect neurons to one another). Heavy bleeding can swell the tissues within the spinal canal, cutting off blood and oxygen flow to other regions of the cord. The drop in blood pressure can impede self-regulation systems and lead to a condition known as spinal shock. Neurologists believe this happens in half of all spinal-cord injuries. Spinal shock disrupts communication between the brain and the body.

Essentially, the first blow of the accident initiates a cascade of damage, and in the hours, days and weeks that follow, the damage spreads. In all too many cases the end result is paralysis.

Despite how tough it is to rebound from spinal-cord injuries—in addition to enormous physical limitations, doctors list denial, grief and depression as common obstacles to recovery—wheelchair athletes have thrived in sports since shortly after World War II, when the Stoke Mandeville Games were held on the opening day of the 1948 London Olympics. This event 94

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was the brainchild of Dr. Ludwig Guttman, the first director of the National Spinal Injuries Centre in Britain. Guttman used athletics because traditional methods of rehabilitation were falling short. The Stoke Mandeville Games evolved into the Paralympic Games that exist today.

After being paralyzed, an athlete’s journey to the starting line of an endurance event can be long, painful and complicated. It can take months of healing and rehabilitation to simply develop the strength to make it through a basic life routine. In the early to the mid-1990s, the question of whether a wheelchair triathlete could finish the Hawaii Ironman was tested and resolved affirmatively. In 1996, John Maclean became the first wheelchair triathlete to complete the Ironman in regulation time, and in doing so he paved the way for a Kona rivalry between two determined competitors.

David Bailey was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident in 1987.

Carlos Moleda was shot in 1989. They would meet for the first time in a half-Ironman in 1997, a precursor to their three-year rivalry at the Hawaii Ironman, a rivalry that transcended the disabilities that originally defined them. From the first cannon

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blast, the question of whether they could finish the race was dismissed. The sport has seen legendary rivalries before: Dave Scott and Mark Allen, Paula Newby-Fraser and Erin Baker. But a strong case can be made that Bailey versus Moleda was the greatest one of all.

Having started out at the age of 10 on a 60cc Yamaha, David Bailey revealed his motocross potential when he won the 1978 250cc amateur national championship at age 17. As he tells the story, a crucial moment in his first years of struggling to break into motocross as a pro occurred in 1981. He borrowed his mom’s Toyota Celica and, lacking a trailer, took the front wheel off his motorbike so he could bolt the fork to the car’s hitch and drive from his home in Virginia to a race in Denver, where he hoped to qualify for pro nationals.

In the race, Bailey was leading when a competitor’s crash on another stretch of the track plowed through hay bales and centerpunched him, breaking a rib and ending his race. “I drove all that way to race three laps,” says Bailey. Despite the pain, he piled everything back into the car, hitched up his motorcycle and began driving back to the East Coast that night.

While driving, something in the night caught Bailey’s eye. “It looked like a cloud,” he recalled in an interview with competitor.com. “I pulled over and just stared at it. It was the Milky Way.” Under the starry sweep of sky, Bailey examined his motocross dream. “I made up my mind,” he said. “This is what I want to do. This is what I’m willing to do. I’m going to do whatever it takes.” In fewer than two years he would sign a coveted deal with Honda to join its factory team. Not only had he made it, he soared. In his eight-year career, Bailey collected 30 AMA victories and was eventually inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

Held on dirt courses erected within major sports arenas, supercross races are known for their steep jumps and demanding obstacles. In a 1986 supercross event, held in Anaheim, Calif., Bailey got into a dogfight with Ricky Johnson, a Honda teammate, in a race that is considered one of the greatest in motocross history. Bailey and Johnson exploited slim tangents and openings as they lapped other riders, repeatedly stealing the lead from one another. The tension of the duel lit up the fans, and Bailey says he gauged Johnson’s moves by crowd reaction. Endurance became a factor after 10 laps of the 19-lap race. Johnson later said he went anaerobic at about lap 12, and hung on for five more laps, before giving in to Bailey’s pressure. “My lungs were bleeding,” Johnson recalled in an interview with the web site racerxill.com on the 20th anniversary of the race. “I was seeing dots at the end. I gave it everything I had. And I knew I was going to have to do that every single weekend for the whole series. I was just thinking about what it was going to take to beat him.”

The race displayed the essence of Bailey’s talent. A good dirtbike racer knows the intricacies of a course and breaks each lap into concise segments, mustering complete concentration on each increment before moving on to the next increment.

According to his longtime trainer and best friend, former professional triathlete Todd Jacobs, Bailey brought to motocross an exceptional intelligence in seeing and handling a course. “David used a natural genius he possessed for finding the cleanest, most

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efficient lines,” Jacobs says. For instance, Bailey pioneered a technique to use the brake while airborne during a jump to tip the front wheel and sweeten the landing, reducing impact and retaining speed. Jacobs, now a trainer for motocross riders, says Bailey could plumb a course during the few minutes allowed for warm-up at a level well beyond his competition. In the duel between Bailey and Johnson, Bailey showed an uncanny ability to guide a motorcycle on the finest angles and lines, and when Johnson’s final two stabs at the lead were instantly reversed, the crowd got a sense of not only Bailey’s skill but also his raw desire to win—to do, as he had declared, “Whatever it takes.”

“It wasn’t Ricky Johnson” motivating him that day, Bailey says. “It was the idea of someone being able to dominate me. I hated it.”

In 1987, at a preseason event in Lake Huron, Calif., at a time when Bailey was riding at speeds experts in the sport believed were unprecedented, Bailey’s life took the severe turn that would ultimately guide him into triathlon. The weather was overcast and Bailey, as he tells it, didn’t want to race. “It was a lousy day,” he says. As part of an overall bid to just get it over with, Bailey attempted to clear two jumps in a single flight. It didn’t work; he went over the handlebars, and the bike followed him to the ground. The crash would leave Bailey a paraplegic.

Well before the accident, Bailey had become a rabid fan of triathlon. On his honeymoon with his wife, Gina, in Hawaii, in 1986, he was in Kona to watch the Ironman in person. In addition to pioneering technique in motocross, he was also one of the first to use triathlon as an ancillary form of training to improve performance. Outlasting Ricky Johnson was one example of how this strategy paid off.

In the two years following the injury, Bailey obsessed on finding a way to walk again. Whether it was word of experimental surgery, mental imagery or medicinal herbs, he pursued it. While he received warm encouragement and support from friends and loved ones, Bailey says it was straight talk from Jeff Spencer, a former Olympic cyclist working as a fitness consultant for the Honda racing team, that helped him. As Bailey ticked off the various methods he was chasing to regain use of his legs, Spencer asked the question, “What if it doesn’t work?” Bailey says this woke him up.

“I realized I was going to have to deal with it, now, head-on,” he explains. “I had never asked myself, ‘What can I learn from this?’ I had been so busy trying to get back on my feet. In life, we all have our time when we have to deal with problems. They can shape us, teach us patience, resolve, purpose and faith.”

Bailey’s journey back into athletic competition began in his wheelchair, with circuits up and down his driveway. In the early 1990s, he would meet another straight talker, Jacobs, and the two would develop a lifelong friendship through which they shared knowledge. From Bailey, Jacobs received an education in the art of motocross and the art of patience; from Jacobs, Bailey was able to learn from the depths and experiences of a former professional triathlete who had trained with and competed against the best, including Mark Allen, Dave Scott, Scott Tinley and Scott Molina.

“He kept pestering me about triathlons,” Jacobs says. “He wanted to know all about the Ironman. He’d followed it for a long time and could recite the ABC telecasts. One day I said, ‘Let’s just do one.’”

When he’s going to start to train for a race, he’ll say, ‘Monday is doomsday.’

And when he starts training, that’s it.

That’s what he’s going to do every day until he makes his goal.

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Jacobs, shown here carrying Bailey to transition, once rode a handcycle for 20 miles to see what it was like. “My arms were so tired I couldn’t brush my teeth.”

They picked a relatively low-key event, the Carlsbad triathlon. “It grew to be an obsession,” Jacobs says. “I realized the process was helping him save his life. It was his re-entry into being a man.”

While able-bodied triathletes have the luxury of using different muscle groups in the three disciplines, wheelchair triathletes are restricted to using their arm and back muscles in the swim, handcycle and wheelchair segments. Often, a wheelchair triathlete—and Bailey is a good example of this—has no stomach muscles to use, an issue that affects power and balance. Without a kick, the swim stroke demands greater work from the arms and shoulders to stabilize the body and counter drag. The equipment itself provides another set of problems. For one, the lightest handcycles can be in the range of 35 pounds (“We called the first ones Lincoln Town cars,” Jacobs says), twice the weight of a typical tri-bike, and instead of being propelled by the largest muscle groups of the body, such as the quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals and core muscles, the handcycle is powered by the arms and back. The same is true for the wheelchair used in the run, although wheelchair racers can take better advantage of descents and flats than runners can (ascents are another story). Finally, whatever stress an able-bodied triathlete attributes to air travel 96

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with a bike, imagine having to travel as wheelchair triathletes do: They need to get from their home, to the airport, to the hotel, to the race, with a handcycle, racing wheelchair and regular wheelchair in tow.

This collection of challenges was the dramatic backdrop for Dr. Jon Franks, the first wheelchair triathlete to attempt the Hawaii Ironman in 1994. Franks didn’t make the bike cut-off, but he did complete the 112-mile leg on a handcycle.

In 1997, John Maclean became the next wheelchair triathlete to take up the goal. Jacobs suggested to Bailey that they observe the 1997 Hawaii Ironman in person. “We went over on purpose,” Jacobs says, “to watch MacLean, to see if it could be done.”

MacLean made the bike cut-off and went on to successfully complete the race in the year that debuted the physically challenged division. The fire was ignited in Bailey. “After the race, David wasn’t home a week before he quit his job and started training,” says Jacobs. “I think I got blamed for that one.”

The qualifying event was in Lubbock, Texas, at the Buffalo Springs Lake Half-Ironman in west Texas. Three Kona slots were up for grabs. It was a legitimate test. In 1998, race-day temperatures climbed to 114 degrees. Bailey raced not only to win a slot but also to be the first wheelchair triathlete across the line.

During the bike portion of the race, Bailey looked over his shoulder and saw a competitor behind him, maintaining contact. “David hammered, trying to drop this guy,” Jacobs says. “I remember saying to David from the road, ‘Uh, he’s still back there.’”

Early in the run, Bailey used a steep, long uphill to his advantage, with Jacobs telling him that the man who got to the top of the hill first was going to win the race. Bailey attacked and used the fast decline to make what would be the deciding breakaway of the day, going on to win. Finishing second was the man who Bailey spent the day trying to shake, Carlos Moleda. But second is second, and in

I said to David,‘Do you understand who it is you’re messing with here? If you want to beat this guy, you’re going to have to get bloody.’ rendering his new rival second, Bailey had taken a big step toward claiming the win in Kona. In the metaphysics of dominating an opponent, Bailey had set the flow of energy and expectation to his advantage.

At the 1998 Hawaii Ironman, the spotlight followed Bailey.

Not only was he a superstar from the motocross world but he was also deeply networked into San Diego’s pro triathlon culture. Moleda recalls being witness to this phenomenon. “He knew everybody.”

In the race, however, it was all about the man not from San Diego. Although Bailey led him out of the Kailua Bay, 1:17 to 1:22, Moleda biked nearly an hour faster, 7:46 to 8:42, and picked up even more time on the run. Finishing times: Moleda 11:25:55, Bailey 12:34:43.

Courtesy of Todd Jacobs

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“Carlos was gnarly,” Jacobs says with awe, remembering the utter shock of the upset. “He made sure David understood he was gnarly.

Bailey beat the shit out of him in Lubbock, but in Kona, Dave got whacked. I told David, ‘You didn’t let this happen. It wasn’t about you letting something happen. He did it. He did it to you.’”

During his years as a pro, Jacobs had seen this brand of competitive ferocity in the likes of Mark Allen and Dave Scott. “They hated to lose and would do anything to make sure they didn’t lose,” Jacobs says. “And that was Carlos. Carlos was a former Navy SEAL, and a complete badass. He was someone who didn’t seek out the cleanest lines, like David did, but who went right through the darkness. He didn’t avoid fear; he went straight for it. I guess a day at Ironman isn’t so bad once you’ve been shot at with machine guns.”

“I said to David,” Jacobs continues, “‘Do you understand who it is you’re messing with here? If you want to beat this guy, you’re going to have to get bloody.’”

Being defeated was painful for Bailey. It harked back to his sentiment concerning the Ricky Johnson duel: It was the idea of someone being able to dominate me. I hated it.

Carlos Moleda was born in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1962, a year after Bailey was born. A professional skateboarder in his teens who visited California in 1979, he decided at 18 to move to the United States.

“My family thought I’d only last a month in the U.S., then turn around and come home,” Moleda recalls.

Instead, Moleda enlisted in the U.S. Navy, securing his citizenship and volunteering to join the SEALs, arguably the most demanding of the Armed Forces elite units. During SEAL training Moleda opened a door to the dark powers Jacobs refers to.

“It was during the drown-proofing test, one of the tests you have to pass to qualify as a SEAL,” Moleda explains. “They showed us

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what we were going to have to do. A lot of guys said, ‘I’m out of here.’”

“After they tie your hands behind your back and your feet together, you jump into the deep end of a 50-meter pool. First you have to perform an underwater flip so that you’re forced to start out with no momentum; no push off the wall or anything.

You start from zero. Then you have to swim the length of the pool underwater, dolphin style.”

On the weekend prior to the test, Moleda tried it out. He jumped in, flipped and started swimming toward the other end, repeatedly. “Every time I tried, I’d get to about three-quarters of the way there and I’d have to come up for air,” he says. During the actual test, Moleda reached the point where he had given up.

“I could see the wall,” he recalls. “Right then, I made the decision I was going to make it.” This time, Moleda touched the wall before coming up for air.

“I knew then what was possible when you reached deep for it,” he adds. “I think everyone has the capacity for that kind of strength. They just don’t know they have it. They haven’t been put in a situation where they were forced to reach in and find it.”

In December of 1989, serving as a petty officer on SEAL Team Four, Moleda was deployed in a mission to oust Manuel Noriega, the military dictator ruling Panama at the time.

Moleda’s unit arrived in fast-attack boats with the objective of disabling Noriega’s Lear Jet. The unit received heavy fire— Moleda describes it as like being in front of a firing squad—and a bullet lodged into his back. His legs went numb. He crawled through crossfire and was also shot in the leg. The team successfully blew up the jet and Noriega was apprehended. (Noriega was sentenced to 30 years in a federal prison in Miami for cocaine trafficking and money laundering. After serving 18 years of the sentence, it is expected he will be extradited to France to serve more prison time on French charges against the former dictator.)

Lois Schwartz

Moleda’s race strategy had little to do with subtlety or pacing: After T1, he routinely tried to break Bailey’s spirit with an all-out effort.

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When Moleda woke up, he told the nurse he would return to duty in a week. He only realized the extent of his injuries when he heard her say, “They have sports programs for paraplegics.”

The next year would be spent in treatment and rehab. Whatever trauma he faced during this time, he made quick work of becoming an athlete again. In 1991 he made a statement when he pushed his wheelchair from Miami to his hometown of Virginia Beach, Va., a 1200mile trip.

After racing marathons for a while, Moleda read about the attempt by Franks to finish Hawaii. He thought, “I can do that.”

Sarah Moleda, Carlos’ wife (and a Hawaii Ironman finisher herself), has been witness to the unwavering intent Carlos brings to any goal he chooses to undertake. “He’s hyper-focused on every single thing he does,” she says. “Nothing or no one is going to get between him and the goal. If he says he’s going to do something, he does it. Unless it’s something he can’t control, like his body.”

Sarah describes how, for example, two years ago they decided to build their dream home in Hilton Head, S.C. “We physically built it ourselves,” she says.

“We used subcontractors for the framing and foundation, but pretty much everything else was on our own. If there was something we wanted but couldn’t buy, Carlos designed it and made it. It took 18 months. There was no day off. We were here every single day. This is how Carlos is: ‘Building this house is now our job.

This is what we’re going to do.’ It can be frustrating. There are times I like to put things off; he’s like, ‘Let’s do it yesterday.’”

Originally from Australia, Andrew Chafer, a landscaper, is one of Moleda’s neighbors. He is also a triathlete and finisher of seven Ironmans. When word of the Moledas’ house-building plans spread through the community, says Chafer, he heard people saying, “They’re crazy. They’ll never be able to do it.”

Chafer had been a friend and training partner of Moleda for years. “I told them, ‘Just watch.’”

“One day I was in the back yard,” Chafer says, “and I looked over and saw Carlos in his chair trying to plant a 300-

pound palm tree. I said, ‘Hey Carlos, can you use a hand?’ He said, ‘No, I got it.’”

Sarah says her husband’s sense of commitment and tenacity is on full display when it comes to his sport. “When he’s going to start training for a race, he’ll say, ‘Monday is doomsday.’ And when he starts training, that’s it. That’s what he’s going to do every day until he makes his goal.”

The first time Moleda started training for the Ironman, he pushed himself through a long ride to the point of physical breakdown. “He came back from the ride and his eyes were literally sunk into his head,” Sarah says. “I tried to tell him he looked awful, that he looked like he was about to die. He finally admitted, ‘Yeah, I don’t feel too good.’”

“He’s a crazy man,” Chafer says. “He will go out on a seven-hour ride, purposefully forcing himself to bonk.”

Like many able-bodied triathletes do, Moleda pinned his strategy on the 112mile bike section of the race. “You have to focus on the bike,” he says. “Don’t worry

After he passed me, he looked back. You could see it in his eyes: ‘I got him.’ His arms were just flailing.

He was gone.

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about the swim or the run. The bike is the key.” Using the old-school endurancetraining formula of the more the body endures, the more it will endure, Moleda has cranked his handcycle through all manner of pain and cramping, tempering his muscles to sustain a fast pace even when fatigued.

In the 1999 Hawaii Ironman, this mindset again catapulted Moleda to victory. Although Bailey swam 1:14 to Moleda’s 1:17, Bailey again lost time on the bike, 7:28 to 7:14. For the second year in a row Bailey lost and had to suffer through the five-hour flight back to his home in San Diego with the demon of defeat haunting his mind.

“I wanted something bad,” Bailey says.

“But there was one other guy on the planet who wanted the same thing. His strength was that he always [went] hard.

He never played it safe. He beat me and I gave up. I was the better athlete, but he was the better man. Carlos ultimately made me better. There was always something more I could give, and he forced me to dig it up. I was like, ‘Damn it. Why does this guy have to be so tough?’ But looking back, I was grateful.”

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The drama before their 2000 Kona rematch was heightened by Bailey’s all-ornothing commitment to it. He had decided that, win or lose, 2000 would be his last Hawaii Ironman.

Bailey’s agonizing desire to win fueled the emotional urgency not only for him but also for Jacobs.

Jacobs believed the training and racing of ’98 and ’99 were prerequisites for Bailey’s true bid to realize his full potential. “He needed the base from those two years to be able to do the kind of training necessary to beat Carlos,” he says. “Carlos was like Steve Prefontaine. If you don’t go with him when he goes off the front, he’s going to beat you. You can’t think that any amount of pacing will give you a chance. You can’t hope he blows up. Carlos was willing to go hard early in the day and blast through his reserves. David was going to have to go with him.”

On the psychological front, Jacobs spent many hours talking and training with Bailey. They would ride six and seven hours together at 17-18 mph. A great deal of soul searching occurred, for both of them. For Bailey it was about giving his absolute all to the pursuit of a goal in a sport that, unlike motocross, he wasn’t born to do, and for Jacobs it was about coming to terms with professional regret.

“I consider my professional triathlon career a failure,” Jacobs confesses. “In the years of working with David, I learned a great deal about myself and about sport, more than I did when I was actually a pro triathlete. The reason I didn’t succeed when I was in it wasn’t because I lacked talent or didn’t work hard enough.

It was about appreciation. It was about patience. I didn’t enjoy it

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as much as I should have. I didn’t understand what a gift it was.

Ultimately I didn’t have it mentally back then. These are things David has taught me.”

Bailey was not fully ready to make the absolute commitment needed to rise to Moleda’s challenge until he’d had a mental and physical break, however. “I checked out after the 1999 race,” he says. “I ate donuts and got fat. But then I launched into the strictest regimen I’d ever been in.” Bailey nailed a photo of Moleda to the wall. He’d heard that his competitor believed a 10:30 finishing time in Kona was possible and was training for it. Bailey bolstered his training to aim for the same target. He took up his rival’s bonk-on-purpose training philosophy. After 40-mile rides he would tack on an additional five-mile time trial at 23 mph. Once on a long ride he rode straight into the deep cavern of a premium bonk.

Desperate for fuel, he turned into a McDonald’s drive-through and ordered the works. Pulling into a parking space, in full view of the mystified diners inside wondering what this guy was doing in his space-age human-powered contraption, he spilled his Coke and fries onto the blacktop. He looked down at the mess, shrugged, and began feasting on them. Bailey’s weekly training volume hit 5000 yards of swimming, 240 miles of cycling and 90 miles in his racing wheelchair.

At times, the punishing workload wore Bailey down. He recalls, “I would tell Todd how hard the training was and he’d say, ‘David, this isn’t hard. Hard is welding or driving a cab. Hard is trying to take care of a family of four on $35,000 a year. That’s hard. Training, Dave, is awesome.’”

photo: © Bakke-Svensson/WTC

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Round three of the greatest rivalry in Ironman history was reminiscent of the 1989 Ironwar pitting a victory-starved Mark Allen against six-time winner Dave Scott. Bailey worked at replicating what Allen did to Scott: He locked onto Moleda’s tail and endeavored to stay there. Swim split: David Bailey 1:16:33, Moleda 1:16:32.

Awaiting the competitors on the bike course were some of the fiercest winds recorded in Kona, Moleda used the handcycle like a buzzsaw. “Carlos smoked me on the first hill,” Bailey says.

“Out on the highway, he was still getting away. I began thinking, ‘No way can he go this fast all day.’ And then the wind started hitting, and I swear, it didn’t slow him down at all.”

Bailey fought to maintain contact and concentration. “It’s a long race, and if you let your mind drift from the task, all of a sudden you’ve slowed down a mile or two per hour for 10 to 20 minutes,” he says.

Regardless, Moleda had established a huge gap. When Jacobs saw Moleda ride by after the Hawi turnaround, he didn’t see Bailey for nearly seven minutes.

By his own account, Jacobs nearly lost it, screaming at Bailey when he came by to get back in it. “This is your life right here!

This is critical! This is everything. You have to pour everything into it! All of your disappointments, all of your pity, all of your anger, you have to lay it out right now!”

On the ride back to Kona, Bailey clawed his way back into contact. Heading into T2, Moleda’s gap had withered to two minutes. The race was going to come down to the marathon.

BIKE

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Once again, Moleda started off with a burst of speed. “I pounded as hard as I could,” Moleda recalls. Bailey chose to focus on eating and drinking and not wasting energy going through town. Out of the village and onto the Queen K again, Bailey began to push. At the turnoff into the Natural Energy Lab, Moleda held a 95-second lead.

For the first time in the three years of racing together, Bailey sensed Moleda was cracking. By the end of the lab’s three-mile out-and-back stretch, Bailey had caught up to Moleda. Bailey took a moment to fix his gloves and then attacked, flying by him.

“The bear had jumped on my back,” Moleda says. “After he passed me, he looked back. You could see it in his eyes: ‘I got him.’ His arms were just flailing. He was gone.’”

In the final stretch on Ali’i Drive, Bailey says he looked back over his shoulder, again and again, terrified Moleda had recovered his seemingly supernatural ability to overcome physical limitations. He hadn’t. When Bailey crossed the line, you could read his lips. He said, “Finally.” Bailey’s time was 11:05, 24 minutes faster than he had raced in 1999.

“It was an honor for me to lose to him,” Moleda says now.

“He proved to everyone his grit. I dropped him on the bike.

When I passed him I thought, ‘He’s gone.’ But he was the better man.”

“Those two gave as much as Dave and Mark did in ’89,” Jacobs says. “The race between them transcended the pro race that day. You hear about the sportsmanship between Carlos and David. Maybe outside of the race, but during it, it was personal.”

RUN

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Bailey made good on his promise to leave In addition to an assortment of causes the pair contributes to, Kona behind him. Although forever connected Bailey and Moleda continue to work for the Challenged Athletes to the sport of triathlon, he is now an expert Foundation and similar organizations. To learn more about the commentator for ESPN’s motocross coverage. He foundation and to see how you can help, visit caf.org. For more has also become a passionate advocate of the use of a protective information on spinal-cord research, visit the National Institute of brace—called a Leatt-Brace—to reduce the possibility of spinal- Neurological Disorders and Stroke Web site, ninds.nih.gov. cord injury (he makes a moving plea to riders in a YouTube video to adopt the brace in the way seatbelts Andrew Chafer says Moleda’s way of were adopted in cars). living and carrying himself is excepMoleda did return, in 2005, after struggling through tional. “He’s a true leader.” complications following an accident on his chair that necessitated a series of surgeries and recoveries. Sitting down as much as paraplegics and quadriplegics do, pressure sores and infections are a constant threat, and they are potentially fatal. Moleda had three surgeries, each followed by more than half a year of recovery. “I got through it by telling myself that once it was all over, I would begin training again,” he says. “I would spend my time thinking up training plans in my head.”

Moleda’s comeback, when you think about what he survived to even attempt it, is perhaps the most stunning of his many accomplishments.

In 2005, tested by the talented and tough Marc Herremans, Moleda strung together a 1:17 swim, a 6:43 bike and a 2:23 run to do what he long ago believed was possible: cross the finish line in 10:30. Now that his house is finished, Moleda has again resumed training. Not for Kona, but for another goal: the Race Across America.

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Evolution The 10 most significant covers from 25 years of Triathlete

By Brad Culp

In 25 years we’ve published 289 covers. We scoured the archives, reaching all the way back to 1983, to pick the 10 we feel capture the most significant moments from the last quarter-century of triathlon. Shown chronologically, these 10 covers tell the story of our sport, from the domination of Dave Scott to the rise of Chris McCormack.

1. ISSUE 17, JANUARY 1985.

PHOTO BY DAVID EPPERSON 1984 Ironman Hawaii champion Dave Scott looks strong, wearing bib No. 1, en route to an 8:54:20 finish and his fourth win in Kona.

2. ISSUE 27, NOVEMBER 1985.

PHOTO BY ROGER ALLYN LEE Triathlon’s material girl, Julie Moss, displays the fashion of the time, in what was a pretty scandalous cover for 1985.

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4. ISSUE 128, DECEMBER 1994.

PHOTO BY MIKU At the 1994 Ironman World Championship Paula Newby-Fraser earned her seventh title, but even lucky No. 7 couldn’t match the excitement of Aussie Greg Welch finally winning on the Big Island.

3. ISSUE 75, JANUARY/FEBRUARY 1990.

PHOTO BY GARY NEWKIRK Mark Allen finally achieves a goal that eluded him for seven years: winning Ironman Hawaii. In the Ironwar of 1989, Allen crossed the line in 8:09:15, shattering Dave Scott’s Kona record by more than 19 minutes.

6. ISSUE 187, NOVEMBER 1999.

PHOTO BY ROBERT OLIVER The cover says it all. Paula Newby-Fraser, the greatest triathlete of all time, shows off her classy side shortly after retiring from professional racing in 1999.

5. ISSUE 173, SEPTEMBER 1998.

PHOTO (AND BODY-PAINTING) BY TONY DI ZINNO It may not be Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue, but two-time Ironman world champ Lori Bowden looks pretty hot sporting a tri suit made entirely of paint.

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8. ISSUE 219, JULY 2002.

PHOTO BY ROBERT OLIVER XTERRA hits the world stage as world champ Conrad Stoltz demonstrates his thundering bike power on the cover of our first off-road issue.

7. ISSUE 200, DECEMBER 2000.

PHOTO BY ROBERT OLIVER Triathlon makes its Olympic debut,and SimonWhitfield is overcome with emotion as he takes the honor of being our sport’s first men’s Olympic champion.

10. ISSUE 285, JANUARY 2008.

PHOTO BY JOHN SEGESTA Chris “Macca” McCormack knows exactly how Mark Allen felt 18 years ago. After six years of struggles and near misses on the Big Island, Macca finally earns the title of Ironman world champion.

9. ISSUE 225, JANUARY 2003.

PHOTO BY ROBERT OLIVER The past, the present and the future of Ironman Hawaii. In 2002 Tim DeBoom earned a repeat win in Kona. The following year, Peter Reid would capture his third title. Cam Brown proved he was ready to race with the big boys in 2002 and remains a perennial podium contender today.

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Mark Sisson, 54 2:18 marathon, 4th Hawaii Ironman Author, coach, ITU anti-doping exec Master Formula designer

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Mark Sisson's Message Damage Control Master Formula is the ultimate expression of my passion for health, nutritional science and pushing the limits of human endurance as an elite athlete and coach for three decades. Perhaps the most profound discovery of my journey - a journey that has meandered through lava fields, laboratories, winner's circles, orthopedist's offices and ten years with the Olympic antidoping commission - is this:

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Over the top

Triathlon’s workhorses share their most brutal training sessions By the editors We often hear age-group triathletes lament about how they wish they could train like a pro. If only they had more time and fewer commitments they’d spend all day training and be able to roll with German super-star biker Normann Stadler on the Big Island. If you’ve ever had such ambitions, check out some of these brutal workouts and you’ll probably have second thoughts about living the glamorous life. We’ve listed the workouts in a roughly chronological order to give you a sense of how training methods have evolved throughout the first three decades of our sport.

SCOTT TINLEY (USA)

Killing brain cells Most of the capacious athletic feats in my career had nothing to do with improving my skill as an athlete. Instead they were for reasons either deeply personal or completely trivial. I rode my bike 150 miles in the rain and over a local mountain range to get home because I was mad at my wife and didn’t want to be in the car. I swam 100 x 100 yards because it was a friend’s birthday and that’s how he wanted to celebrate. I ran three hours on a treadmill because I didn’t have a choice. But the most over-the-top workout I’ve ever completed was 82 yards in the pool. That’s right. Down, T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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Scott Tinley believes he may have killed off a few brain cells with his underwater-swimming stunt. Who are we to argue with photographic evidence. back, down and not quite back. When I stopped I nearly fainted, climbed out onto the deck and stayed there for 20 minutes waiting for the stars to fade. I’d swum underwater further than anyone I knew. I’d lost a lot of brain cells but won the bet.

Stupid. And I’d do it again.

THOMAS HELLRIEGEL (GER)

Hell on wheels There are some pretty crazy things I’ve done in the 20 years I’ve been doing triathlon. One of the craziest things that comes to mind was about 10 years ago. I was training in Tenerife (one of the Canary Islands), which is home to the highest mountain in all of Spain (3700 meters). I was there with my friend Holger Lorenz.

We always stayed in a hotel called Playa de las Americas.

From there, we did the 40km climb up Teide nearly every day during our two-week stay. The wind is usually pretty brutal on the top, but if things looked good, we would ride back to the coast and then back over a pass on the west side of the island. All told, we’d end up doing 180km and 4500m climbing. If the weather was not so nice, we usually went east. This route only had 3800m climbing.

But our hardest day ever on the island started off with the climb up Teide. It was cloudy and very cold. We decided to finish the day on the loop with less climbing. During the descent it started to rain and got very, very cold. When we got down, we reached the point where we had to choose between the 180km loop or the 210km ride to La Laguna. We looked at each other, completely wet and cold, didn’t say one word and started going toward La Laguna. By the end of the day we had ridden for eight hours with a ton of climbing.

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The ultimate brick workout In 1982 I was training for my first Ironman Hawaii. I was 22 and living in Monterey, Calif., with my family for the summer. I was signed up for the San Francisco Marathon that year. I thought it would be cool to see what a marathon felt like after a long bike ride to simulate an Ironman, so I left my house just before midnight and rode up Highway 1 from Monterey through Santa Cruz, through Half Moon Bay and finally to San Francisco. It was about 120 miles. Back then the lights on a bicycle were generator lights, so instead I wore a mountaineering head lamp with a battery pack that used four C batteries (yes, the big ones).

It was dark for the first six hours of the ride. It was cool, but I had a slight tail wind the whole way, which helped big time. I brought along a bag with my running shoes, a change of clothing, a cable-lock and some food.

I got to the race start with about 10 minutes to spare, changed, ditched my stuff in some bushes, locked my bike and ran a 2:57 marathon. I then took the train from San Francisco to Salinas and road 20 miles back home to Monterey. I was in pain for weeks after that.

I would like to take credit for dreaming up this workout, but I can’t. Back then, the only other triathlete living in Monterey was a guy named Les Waddell (father of pro triathlete Alexis Waddell). Les owned a running store there at the time. I had heard a rumor that he did the same trek once. I never asked him if it was true. It was such a ridiculous adventure, and for a long time I was embarrassed to admit that I had done it. I never did it again.

Thierry Deketelaere

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MARK MONTGOMERY (USA)

Mid-life crisis I’ll start off with a little background behind this workout. It was just about 12 years ago, on February 29, 1996.

I’m a leap-year baby and I was turning 40. I had just retired from a 15-year pro career in triathlon and cycling and I was having a mid-life crisis. I decided I needed to do something to put it all behind me and be able to move on with the rest of my life.

As a career lifeguard and pro triathlete I had mastered many different sports, so my plan was to take all the sports I had done in my life and assign a certain number to each sport. I chose 40, 10, and 4 (my real age, my leap year age and 40 divided by 10). I set specific time and distance goals for each sport (using the aforementioned numbers) and then attempted to do it all in a 40-hour period. My plan was to do an event that no one in the world had attempted before so I could claim that for one day I was world champ at something.

The 40-hour adventure began with 40 waves of surfing alongside my buddy Paul Huddle, which took about three hours.

Then it was off to the pool to swim 40 times 100 meters on a 1:15 base, with Simon Lessing, Wolfgang Dittrich and a few other world-class swimmers. Next, I went to the Velodrome with Jürgen Zäck, Simon and John Howard to ride 40km at 30mph, with a 40mph sprint at the end.

As a kid, I had worked in a bowling alley and came close to going pro in the early ’70s, so 40 games of bowling was on the adventure menu as my evening workout. I only made it through

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20 games that night. After about four hours of sleep, I got up at five o’clock and did four miles of ocean kayaking in under 40 minutes. From there, I went to the track and did 40 times 400 meters on 5:20 pace with a 110 jog between each repeat. Along with the other pros I mentioned, Kenny Souza, Scott Tinley and about 10 others joined me for this event.

I then went back to the bowling alley and finished the other 20 games, averaging 191. All told, the bowling took over seven hours, and let me tell you, all that lunging after a bunch of 400s on the track was quite a challenge. Throughout the bowling, I did 400 pushups and 400 sit-ups, I then went to the gym and did my body weight (155 pounds) on the bench press 40 times in four minutes.

This turned out to be the hardest event of all to complete.

I finished off the 40-hour training session with a big party, where I drank 40 two-ounce shots of my favorite beer, Guinness, and ate 40 ribs in 40 minutes.

SIMON LESSING (GBR)

Descending 150s This set may not seem insane, but when you do it right it can really hurt. I typically do these a few times each month. It’s a good way to test my fitness.

Main set: 15 x 150 meters in a 50m long-course pool as: • 3 x (5 x 150m on a decreasing send-off time) Send-off times: • 150m freestyle with a 2:05 send off • 150m freestyle with a 2:00 send off • 150m freestyle with a 1:55 send off

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• 150m freestyle with a 1:50 send off • 150m freestyle with a 2:00 active-swim recovery The objective to this workout is to try and swim all the intervals at the same speed without blowing up during the last set. For me, this would typically equate to maintaining a 1:40 per 150 pace through the entire set. This is a great workout to develop my strength and endurance and I use it periodically as a marker to evaluate my fitness. If I started out swimming too hard, I would undoubtedly struggle to make the last few intervals. It was always fun to swim this workout with a few ego-driven young triathletes. Especially as the “I am going to kick your ass” banter would start before we even got in the pool. More often than not, a few triathletes with a lack of pace-setting experience would discretely disappear into the public lane and prepare themselves for some very non-constructive criticism.

MICHAEL LOVATO (USA)

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

Swim, bike, run, booze Thinking back to the craziest workouts I’ve done, I always seem to come back to the training I did back in Austin, Texas, in the late ’90s. I was training with a great group of friends who truly embraced the philosophy that training should be fun, challenging, and memorable. Many of my fondest triathlon memories come from Austin between 1992 and 2001.

I remember the first time I did the Fools’ Run, a workout that definitely falls in the category of crazy, if not quite to the level of insanity. This run took place every April 1, and it required that we, the willing few, ran four extremely hilly four-

No worse for wear, Michael Lovato’s beer-based recovery diet doesn’t seem to have hurt his form.

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mile loops consecutively (and fairly fast). As soon as this 16-miler was complete, we, the foolish few, would head directly to a local brewpub to drink four pints of beer, one for each loop we ran. It never sounded too challenging until you tried to force half a gallon of beer down the gullet shortly after an intense run without having showered, eaten, stretched, relaxed or consumed a proper recovery drink.

Another favorite of mine was a week-long workout called Hell Week. We decided that we were not real men if we could not swim 10 miles, bike 400 miles, run 50 miles, do 1000 push-ups and drink 24 beers in a week’s time. Turns out we were real men.

The absolute most insane workout I ever did was the day I attempted to complete the cycling portion of the above Hell Week in five days instead of seven. I was a bit behind starting out, so on day five I notched a 185-mile ride that lasted over 10 hours. Without a headlamp, flashing lights, three Snickers and two PB & J sandwiches, I would not have made it. Today’s GPS technology tells me the ride had over 11,000 feet of climbing.

GREG BENNETT (AUS)

Terror on the treadmill At the beginning of 2000 I was at a training camp in Christchurch, New Zealand, with my coach at the time, Brett Sutton. We were in the lead-up to the Sydney Olympic trial events. I had been doing most of my runs as 200-meter repeats. Some runs had fewer repeats but were faster and some had more intervals and were a little slower. It was working pretty well for me, as I was feeling strong in all the 5K events I entered, clocking times around 14 minutes consistently. This workout was toward the end of the camp, and I believe I may have overdone it a bit.

It was a treadmill workout on two treadmills placed side by side (I had to swap treadmills so one could dry Torbjorn Sindballe’s more-is-better bike-training program gave him the off from the sweat). Due to the fact that we believe the horsepower to set a new Kona bike-course record in 2005. treadmill assists with the tempo, we always put the treadmill up at a one-degree pitch.

The workout consisted of 35 seconds all-out at 22km per sible average watts, followed by a short brick run. There were hour with 25 seconds of rest between work intervals. I was told several athletes on the ride, including super-bikers like Steffen to keep doing them until I dropped. After every five repeats, I Liebetrau, Thomas Hellriegel, Cyrille Neveu, together with my coach Michael Kryger and teammate Jimmy Johnsen. would take an extra 30 seconds off so Brett could keep count.

We headed out and I basically started riding fast from the Brett had two newspapers and made himself comfortable as I started the workout. To be honest, I felt terrible for the first 70 gun. I was in front for the entire ride. Thomas called it a day after repeats, after which point I just went into a robotic trance. After the climb up to Mirador del Rio. A few minutes later Cyrille number 150 (roughly 30km and two-and-a-half hours), I felt I dropped off on the descent, leaving only us Danes and could keep going, but Brett decided that it was enough and Liebetrau. After racing across the island and over all the mounmade me get off. It was an incredible experience, but unfortu- tains, the rest of the crew started dropping off. Steffen hung on for about five-and-a-half hours total, and then I was on my own nately it wasn’t enough to make the Olympic team. for the last 90 minutes. The ride turned out to be seven hours at an average of 279 watts. We did over 3,000 meters of climbing TORBJORN SINDBALLE (DEN) and averaged about 33km per hour on the very rough roads and The King Stage This specific workout was done on the island of Lanzarote strong winds of Lanzarote.

After the ride I ran for a half-hour with a pretty fast clip for prior to the 2005 Ford Ironman World Championship. At the time I had an injury that hampered my running, so I only ran the first 15 minutes. Straight after the run I headed to the pool about three hours each week but added three or four hours of and did another half-hour of aqua-jogging and then 2km of aqua-jogging and elliptical training to this. On the final day of swimming to loosen up. All told, it wound up being a nine-hour the camp in Lanzarote we had planned to do the King Stage, training day. That year I ended up breaking the bike-course which is basically a seven-hour ride trying to hit the highest pos- record in Hawaii.

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Peak with perfection this season by breaking the rules

By Matt F itzgerald

(SORT OF)

TRAIN LIKE A PRO

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

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IT SEEMS TRAINING PLANS ARE EVERYWHERE THESE DAYS. YOU’RE CERTAIN TO FIND AT LEAST ONE IN EACH ISSUE OF TRIATHLETE. You’ll also find them in the large—and growing— number of triathlon books on the market and on the Internet.

Training plans help triathletes avoid all kinds of common errors, such as failing to vary their training adequately, increasing their training workload too quickly and not incorporating adequate recovery. Regardless of which plan is chosen, triathletes who have never previously followed a formal, expertdesigned program almost always improve markedly when they 124

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make the commitment to use one for the first time.

There is, however, at least one key limitation restricting the real-world usefulness of many prefab training plans. The typical schedule is focused on a single peak race, and the plan is just long enough to develop the athlete’s fitness from a modest offseason level to the peak level, or roughly 12 weeks in the case of sprint triathlon-focused plans and roughly 24 weeks in the case of Ironman-focused plans. The problem, however, is most triathletes do not approach the sport in the manner assumed by this structure. Whereas the program assumes a single-event

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focus, the average triathlete takes a seasonal approach to the sport. Joe or Jane age grouper might compete in five triathlons between June and September and may want to perform at or near peak level in most or all of them. Most prefabricated schedules cannot accommodate such objectives.

Not a week goes by that I don’t receive at least one e-mail message from an athlete who is using or intends to use one of my plans and has questions about how to adapt it to his or her seasonal racing agenda. My advice is always the same: To effectively practice a seasonal approach to triathlon, you need to do what most professional triathletes do— namely, scrap the linear method of periodization (or sequencing workouts) associated with most ready-made training plans and replace it with a nonlinear method or periodization.

The linear approach to periodization is necessary to build your fitness from a relatively low level to a nearly race-ready level. Its chief disadvantage, however, is when you rely on this method you’re not ready to race at your peak level until the very end of the process. Consequently, this approach doesn’t work well when you want to race—and race well—more often than once every 12 to 24 weeks.

Nonlinear periodization gives you more flexibility to race to your full potential whenever you feel like toeing the line. Its chief disadvantage is it requires a lot more thought and individual decisionmaking than a ready-made training plan.

LINEAR VS. NON-LINEAR PERIODIZATION The classic approach to developing fitness incrementally toward peak performance is linear periodization, which was developed by the Romanian exercise physiologist Tudor Bompa and the legendary New Zealand coach Arthur Lydiard, among others, in the 1950s and ’60s. In this system, the training process is divided into distinct phases with a different fitness objective and associated type of training prioritized in each phase. Lydiard’s periodization model begins with a base phase focused on building aerobic fitness and raw endurance, followed by a strength phase, a speed phase and a tapering period. A typical week of workouts looks quite different in each phase.

Linear periodization works far better than the intuitive approaches to workout sequencing that preceded it, and that’s

why it became and remains highly influential today. More recently, however, elite endurance athletes have begun to move away from linear periodization due to practical pressures. It is not uncommon for a pro to race at least once in nine different months of the year. Because prize money and sponsor expectations are on the line at each event, the athlete must be at or near peak fitness for each of them.

Linear periodization does not bend to such constraints, because race-specific training is emphasized in only the last of several phases with each preceding phase establishing a needed piece of the foundation. An athlete who has just completed a race at peak fitness and wants to race again at the same level in six weeks cannot possibly squeeze a complete, four-phase linear periodization cycle between these events.

Nonlinear periodization evolved as a solution to this problem. In this method the various fitness objectives and types of workouts are blended more evenly throughout the training cycle. No piece of the peak performance puzzle—aerobic fitness, endurance, strength, speed or anaerobic threshold—is ever neglected.

Consequently, athletes who practice this approach are seldom far away from being able to pop off a good race. All they need is a few weeks of sharpening.

The risk associated with nonlinear periodization is that, if you’re not careful, you might lose the directionality of training that is the great virtue of the linear models. If you train too consistently throughout the training cycle you will never truly peak. Either you will consistently train at the level required to achieve peak fitness and burn out well before your target race or you will train at a sustainable workload and wind up no fitter at the end of the training cycle than you were at the beginning. But you can avoid both of these scenarios by incorporating a little bit of the linear into your nonlinear periodization—specifically, by changing your primary training emphasis as you approach each race and by saving your hardest training for the last few weeks before your taper.

PRACTICING NONLINEAR PERIODIZATION The first step toward practicing nonlinear periodization effectively is to create a menu of workouts that collectively deliver all of the various types of training stimulus you need to develop peak fitness; then create a basic weekly training cycle incorporating all of them. Your typical training

Schedule subject to change. As of 2/16/08.

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ailua-Kona this past October was home to top-rate athletes, incredible performances, and…..outstanding coffee! Our traditional outrigger sailing canoe served iced espresso on the swim course in the days before the race and gave hundreds of athletes the opportunity to “Sip the ‘aina.” Coffees of Hawaii, located on our 500 acre plantation on the tiny island of Moloka‘i, produces extraordinary premium coffees. From our 100% Moloka‘i coffees, to our new 100% “Kona Nightingale”, to our “Island Style Blends”, there is something for every coffee connoisseur. Order online today at www.coffeesofhawaii.com and discover for yourself why Coffees of Hawaii was the talk of Kona. week should include some balance of sustained, moderate aerobic work, extensive endurance work, specific strength work (e.g. hill climbs), anaerobic-threshold efforts and high-intensity intervals in all three disciplines. It sounds like a lot to squeeze into seven days, but you will only do small doses of certain types of training in any given week. For example, in the spring your anaerobic-threshold work in 128

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running might consist of nothing more than a 10-minute progression at the end of an otherwise moderate-pace run. As with linear periodization, the specific types of training you emphasize will vary depending on where you are in the training process. The difference is that with nonlinear periodization you will never truly marginalize any particular type of training.

Following are three examples of train-

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ing weeks in an Olympic-distance program that serve to illustrate the process I’ve just described. The first week is appropriate to the base phase of training. It emphasizes moderate aerobic efforts and very short, very high-intensity intervals, but includes all of the training stimuli named above. The second week is appropriate to what I typically call the build phase. It has the same basic structure as

the first week but puts more emphasis on longer intervals, specific strength and more challenging endurance efforts. It’s a good formula to use when your next race is four to 10 weeks away. The third week is a peak training week and therefore emphasizes race-specific workouts such as long threshold sessions and aggressive endurance sessions. It’s appropriate for the last four to six weeks before a race.

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EXAMPLE WEEK 1 Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

Sat

Sun

Swim Main set: 8 x 50 sprints

Bike 1 hour easy with 8 x 1min. power intervals (max. effort, high gear)

Run 30 min. easy + 10-min. @ AT

Swim Main set: 8 x (75 easy/25 @ AT) Bike 1 hour moderate on hilly route, attack hills

Run 40 min. with 8 x 30-sec. fast

Bike 40 min. easy; 10 min @ AT; 40 min. easy

Swim Main set: 2,000 yards steady Run 80 min. easy

Swim Main set: 4 x 300 @ AT Bike 20 min. easy; 3 x 5 min. very hard; 20 min. easy

Run 10 min. easy; 5 x 3 min. very hard; 10 min. easy

Bike 30 min. easy; 1 hour @ Ironman race pace; 30 min. easy

Swim Main set: 1,500 @ Ironman race pace Run 80 min. easy + 20 min. @ marathon pace

Swim Main set: 4 x 400 @ AT Bike 20 min. easy; 2 x 20 min. @ AT; 20 min. easy

Run 10 min. easy; 6 x 5 min. @ AT minus 10 sec./mile; 10 min. easy

Bike 20 min. easy; 1 hour @ halfIronman race pace; 20 min. easy

Swim Main set: 10 x (100 easy/100 @ half-Ironman race pace) Run 10 min. easy; 5 x (5 min. easy/5 min. @ marathon pace); 10 min. easy

EXAMPLE WEEK 2

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Swim Main set: 6 x 100 @ sprint-tri race pace

Bike 20 min. easy; 3 x 10-min. hard hill climbs; 10 min. easy

Run 10 min. easy; 20 min. @ AT; 10 min. easy

EXAMPLE WEEK 3

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Swim Main set: 4 x 100 @ sprint-tri race pace + 4 x 50 sprint

Bike 10 min. easy; 40 min. @ Ironman race pace with 6 x 30sec. jumps; 10 min. easy

Run 10 min. easy; 30 min. @ AT; 10 min. easy

PEAKING FOR EVERY RACE The key to being able to peak for every race is to use your balanced weekly training cycle to develop a high level of fitness onto which you can layer a performance peak, as in example week 3 above. If you’re beginning at a relatively modest level of fitness after an off-season break, you’ll need to concentrate on developing this high level of well-rounded fitness (which is different from traditional base fitness precisely because it is well-rounded) by doing many consecutive weeks of increasingly challenging training with a workout mix like the one in example week 1. As you draw within 10 or 12 weeks of your first race of the season, shift the balance of this mix toward what you see in example week 2 while holding the overall workload relatively steady to avoid triggering an early peak.

Finally, with four to six weeks remaining before your first race, shift to peak training and crank up the training workload to the maximum you can handle.

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sensibly modify the workload and/or the balance of workout types from week to week as you go. What’s most important is you make the workouts provide the type of training stimulus you’re emphasizing at any given time a little harder from week to week, except when you need recovery.

After you’ve completed your first race of the season, simply revert back to challenging yet manageable training until it’s time to trigger another peak. You don’t necessarily have to do multi-week blocks of training such as the types illustrated in the three example weeks. Suppose you have six weeks between your first and second races. You might do one week of base training, two weeks of build training and three weeks of peak training (including taper) between the two events.

Continue using the nonlinear periodization guidelines I’ve illustrated here plus your own common sense and body awareness to steer your training through the remainder of the season. If you’ve relied on training plans heavily in the past, it might be a little scary at first, but you will quickly develop a feeling of mastery over your training.

T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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Nutrition guide:Part II Boost your power-to-weight ratio this spring

By Brad Culp

When it comes to weight loss—and boosting your power-to-weight ratio— there’s a right way and, well, a not-so-right way. Either way, it’s important to note that you need to approach any weight-loss program intelligently, and don’t allow yourself to get bamboozled by all the marketing and body-image nonsense that typically obfuscates the issue. And remember that triathlon is all about living a healthy, balanced lifestyle, not about starving yourself so you can look like an Italian runway model. That said, there’s nothing wrong with slimming down a bit if done the right way and for the right reasons. To that end, we present here a few tips and products to help you achieve a better power-to-weight ratio this season.

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A race

to trim the waistline?

11 tips to merge weight loss and triathlon

By Mary Ellen Bingham, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. and Walter F. DeNino Triathlon is a sport that offers those who are committed to getting in shape an opportunity to join a unique community focused on living a healthy, balanced lifestyle. This is a powerful draw, as we know people who attempt to lose weight are typically more successful if they have the support of others.

Furthermore, clinical research in weight loss shows that exercise is an effective way to maintain long-term weight loss induced by diet (sounds like common sense, right?). Below are a few surefire tips designed to help anyone maintain both a healthy weight and achieve peak performance.

Nutrition guide: Part II

Give your weight-loss goals a kick in the you-know-what

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physician before taking any of these supplements as they can affect people differently and can interact with existing medical conditions and medications.

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Slow and steady wins the race. While cutting calories may lead to weight loss, cutting too many calories will compromise your workout performance and postworkout recovery. The challenge is eating enough to fuel your body adequately for exercise while still losing weight at a healthy rate. The recommended rate of weight loss for long-term success is about one pound per week. Aim for a reasonable goal weight in late spring or early summer, then weigh yourself just once per week to track your progress.

Jot it down. Do not make any changes to your diet during your first week. Simply record when, what and how much you eat. Be honest with yourself as this will give you a clear picture of what you are really eating.

Take a closer look. After five days, analyze your food journal to identify potential problems. Perhaps you are eating very healthy foods but your portions are much too large. You may discover you are eating fast food several times a week or realize you are drinking all of your excess calories, sipping on juices and sodas throughout the day and on wine in the evening. Be careful because liquid calories add up very quickly. Drink plenty of water for adequate hydration with zero calories.

Remember: food is our fuel. One of the most common dieting mistakes is skimping on calories in the morning and then overeating in the evening. This approach will leave you under-fueled going into your training sessions and probably starving when finished. If you’re a morning faster, redistribute your calories toward the early part of the day and spread them out more consistently to fuel your body throughout the day.

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

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Notes: The two servings of the a.m. formula contain a combined 400mg of caffeine, which is enough to keep most people wired throughout the day, so it’s best to lay off coffee while you’re taking it. While the p.m. formula does keep your thyroid stimulated, it actually relaxes the rest of your body and causes a bit of drowsiness. maxperformance.com

Activeingredients:Caffeine,L-5Hydroxytryptophan, Beta Methoxphenylethylamine,Yohimbine HCl Purpose: Dren (short for Drenbuterol) is designed to work on two levels. The mix of a hefty dose of caffeine and Yohimbine trigger a spike in your metabolism and accelerate the conversion of fat to energy (lipolysis). Secondarily, MHP has added L-5 Hydroxytryptophan, an amino acid that is a precursor to the neurotransmitter serotonin, designed to trigger a feel-good sensation.

Notes: Dren produces a noticeable buzz for those who are sensitive to caffeine, with a slightly muted sensation for avid coffee drinkers. Do not take Dren more than once daily. It’s best to avoid other stimulants while you’re using it. As for the feel-good sensation, our testers noticed this effect on varying levels, but it’s certainly helpful on days when you’re struggling to get the cranks turning. maxperformance.com 136

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Images courtesy the manufacturers

MHP DREN $40 (30 servings)

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Try the book-ending technique. For workouts lasting longer than 60 minutes, employ the following technique. Approximately 30 minutes to one hour before your workout, eat a small carbohydratebased snack. Approximately 30 minutes after your workout, eat another small snack consisting primarily of carbohydrates but also with some protein to aid in your recovery.

Appropriate pre- and post-workout snacks include a banana, an English muffin with peanut butter or hummus, yogurt, a granola bar, a smoothie, nuts and low-fat chocolate milk.

Small changes equal big results. Once you have identified

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

where your excess calories come from, make small changes. Practice portion control and start with a healthy, well-balanced breakfast.

Instead of bacon, eggs and cheese on a croissant, order egg whites with cheese and tomato on a wholewheat English muffin. Substitute whole-wheat toast for a corn muffin, drink a small skim latte instead of a large whole milk latte with whipped cream, or eat one slice of veggie

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Max Muscle Max CLA $31 (45 servings) Active ingredients: CLA (Conjungated Linoleic Acid from Safflower oil) Purpose: Max CLA works on three levels. First, it supports the stimulation and breakdown of stored body fat. Second, it acts to block the transfer of new fat into fat cells. Lastly, it supports an increase in the activity of the muscle enzyme carnitine palmitoyl transferase (CPT), which moves fat into the mitochondria, where it can be used as energy.

Notes: The unique property of Max CLA is that it’s a non-stimulant fat burner. Instead of increasing your heart rate and constricting blood vessels (like caffeine), the linoleic acid makes fat a more accessible fuel for your workouts. maxmuscle.com

Images courtesy the manufacturers

Active ingredients: L-Taurine, Citrulline Malate, Quercetin, DiMethyl Amino Ethanol, Caffeine Anhydrous, Metabromine, Catechin, Malic Acid Purpose: PreRace was not designed specifically as a fat-burner but rather as a pre-workout/race stimulant. However, the ingredients in PreRace no doubt have a thermogenic effect (i.e., they stimulate the body to burn fat). Each 1.5tsp serving contains 200mg of caffeine, which acts as the primary stimulant.

When mixed with PreRace’s other ingredients (like DiMethyl Amino Ethanol), caffeine has been shown to have neurostimulant properties, which can provide heightened mental focus.

Notes: Because it is ingested in liquid form (it’s a mixable powder), PreRace is absorbed very quickly, and you should start to feel the effects within 30 minutes of taking it.The powder has a bitter taste if it’s taken by itself, so it’s best to mix with a flavored drink (orange sports drink works well). firstendurance.com

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pizza with a side salad instead of two slices of meat-lover’s pizza with extra cheese.

A healthy diet includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat dairy or soy products and lean protein sources (beans, nuts, seeds, legumes, turkey, chicken, fish and lean meat). Abandon the all-or-nothing mentality. Trying to adhere to strict rules and rigid dieting approaches will most likely set you up to fail. Recognize that almost every food can fit into a healthy diet. Portion control and variety are critical to your success.

Keep writing. Start a training journal (in addition to your diet log) to document your adventures and other important information like training time (volume), intensity, aches and pains and sleep quality. You’ll find it helpful to be able to look back at your progress and to identify problems.

Don’t just train, stay active. Remain physically active even when you’re not training. This advice may seem surprising, but research shows that when people engage in an exercise program, they actually perform less activity outside their training.

Look at the big picture. Your goal should be to increase your fitness by increasing your total weekly training volume gradually. Your total weekly training volume should not increase by more than 5 percent per week. Don’t skip rest days even if you feel great. A regular rest day will defend you against mental and physical burnout and give you a chance to give other parts of your life their due attention.

Change it up. Avoid swimming, biking and running consistently at the same speed and intensity. Instead, for example, try breaking up a swim workout into a warm-up, drills, main set,

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sprints and cool-down. When tight on time, consider riding indoors on the trainer and focusing more on seated power or intervals to raise your heart rate without having to worry about traffic lights, cars and other hazards. Variety is key to staying enthused and improving your overall fitness and abilities.

Keep it soft and flat. When it comes to running, focus on preventing injury and maintaining consistency. Avoid hard surfaces as much as possible and steer clear of undulating terrain in the first few weeks of any training program. While running uphill significantly raises running intensity, running downhill increases impact forces and can cause harmful stress on joints that are still adapting to increased activity levels.

Establish realistic weight-loss goals and devise a sensible plan to both eat more healthfully and train intelligently. Give yourself plenty of time to accomplish these goals. Map out a plan and outline some SMART goals: They should be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and they should include a Timeframe. With sound nutrition and training recommendations, you are on your way to trimming that waistline and taking on your first triathlon.

Mary Ellen Bingham, M.S., R.D., C.D.N., is a sports-nutrition associate with trismarter.com and has worked with athletes of all abilities in their personal quests to improve performance and overall health. Walter F. DeNino is the president and founder of trismarter.com and the Tri2Lose Program. Check out trismarter.com or e-mail info@trismarter.com for more information on such innovative services as the Tri2Lose Program, Weight Management for Peak Performance and Menu Planning Solutions.

BSN Atro-Phex $65 (98 servings)

Zenergize Burn $7 (10 servings)

Active ingredients (not all listed): B-Phenyethylamine, Hordenine HCL, Methylxanthine (caffeine), Green Tea, Yohimbine HCL, 7-Keto, DHEA, Dicana, Vinca Alkaloids, iFAS-50 Purpose: The complex blend of ingredients in Atro-Phex works to increase energy, sharpen focus and suppress appetite. Beta-Phenylethylamine Malate breaks down extremely slowly, which keeps the buzz burning longer.

Notes: Atro-Phex is an extremely powerful fat burner, and the effects will be especially noticeable for those who are sensitive to caffeine. The effect of the stimulants is similar to most weight-loss products, but Atro-Phex’s unique property is that the combination of ingredients makes it difficult for your body to become immune to the stimulation; you can take Atro-Phex for months without worrying about it losing its effects. bsnonline.net

Active ingredients: Green Tea Extract, Caffeine, Chromium Purpose: Zenergize has created a line of seven different effervescent tablets to give your body a healthy boost of energy. Burn is made with all-natural ingredients, including green-tea extract (a natural antioxidant), caffeine to stimulate your metabolism and chromium, which assists in metabolizing carbs and fat, and it helps maintain normal blood-sugar levels.

Notes: Burn is the most mild of all the stimulants we reviewed and provides a buzz similar to a strong cup of coffee. The easy-to-carry effervescent tablets make it a very convenient way to get a little preworkout kick. It’s best for those who prefer a simple, allnatural means of stimulation, as opposed to a complex supplement concocted in a lab.

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What goes through my mind out here? Stay focused.

Don’t look back. When I hit a wall, I bear down and find something extra. There’s a place deep inside reserved for times like this. Gotta find that place. Tap into its power.

The rest is automatic.

I set my own pace.

I control my own destiny.

The Life Time Fitness Triathlon — This is my race.

Register at ltftriathlon.com Race day – July 12, 2008 Minneapolis

Scott Penticoff 2007 Life Time Fitness Triathlon Elite Amateur Men’s Participant

PART OF THE RACE TO THE TOYOTA CUP Qualifying event of

©2008 LIFE TIME FITNESS, INC. All rights reserved.

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Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com

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More than one major national triathlon race series has come and gone in the United States over the sport’s 30-year history. In fact, the

Opportunity of a

United States Triathlon Series came and went twice. The first incarnation of the series, which established the Olympic distance, began in 1982. It grew steadily throughout the remainder of the decade, but in the early ’90s the series lost its title sponsor, Bud Light, and a large percentage of its participants, as the sport unexpected- The Life Time Fitness series has charted a new course for the sport ly contracted for a few years, possibly due to By Matt F itzgerald the concurrent economic recession. In 1997, the USTS was reborn as the North American Triathlon Series. It never really built momentum, hoped to use the team’s high profile to make Dubai an endurancesports tourism destination. The team’s creation did indeed create a however, and fizzled four years later.

The triathlon industry has also seen more than one deep- large media splash. One early online report on the phenomenon pocketed corporation make a sudden, multimillion-dollar invest- gushed, “Poised to become the world leader in this growing sport, ment in the sport, only to pull out with baffling fickleness a short Tri-Dubai is breaking all barriers in terms of establishing new stanwhile later. Among the most recent examples of this phenomenon dards in the business of long distance triathlon events . . .”After two is Tri-Dubai, created in 2005. The deep pockets behind this all-star seasons the team was disbanded.

And now along comes the Life Time Fitness Triathlon team of professional triathletes (including Peter Reid, Tim DeBoom, Heather Fuhr, Simon Lessing, Kate Major and others) Series—a major national series of events backed by the deep belonged to the City of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, which pockets of its eponymous corporate sponsor, which operates a

LIFE TIME

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ning and triathlon clubs operating at many of its 71 health clubs in 15 states. And in its bold scale and lavish spending, the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is right in line with the way this company has always done business, with great success.

As the director of the Los Angeles Triathlon and past cofounder of two other triathlon series (the TriAmerica Series and the Triathlon Pro Series), Jack Caress has a clear perspective on the difference that the involvement of Life Time Fitness makes. “The problem with TriAmerica [which is still active] and the Triathlon Pro Series was that they lacked someone to really drive it,” he says. “Those of us who were involved in those series had our own events to run and other things to worry about. It takes a lot of time and energy to make something like this work, and Life Time Fitness is willing to put in the time and energy to make this thing work.”

chain of upscale fitness clubs. The new series shook up U.S. triathlon at the professional level by offering a $1 million prize purse in its first year, 2006, and increasing it to $1.5 million in 2007. That’s big money. But is it perhaps too big? Is the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series destined for the same fate as USTS and Tri-Dubai? History suggests so, but some key differences between the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series and past major happenings in the sport provide reason to believe that it will have a long life and a lasting impact.

The first key difference is the fact that, unlike previous national race series, which created new events, the Life Time Fitness series is anchored by some of the biggest and most successful preexisting U.S. triathlons: namely, the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Triathlon, the Accenture Chicago Triathlon, the Life Time Fitness Triathlon in Minneapolis and the Nautica New York City Triathlon. These four events comprised the entire series in its inaugural year. A series championship, the Toyota U.S. Open Triathlon in Dallas, was added last year.

What’s also different about the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is Life Time Fitness. While at first blush the entry of Life Time Fitness into triathlon might appear to be a classic case of corporate dilettantism, a closer inspection reveals that it’s anything but. Chanhassen, Minnesota-based Life Time Fitness entered the sport by creating the triathlon that bears its name in 2002. Triathlon has since become deeply integrated into the company’s programming, with popular swimming, cycling, run144

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The Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is the brainchild of Life Time Fitness founder and CEO Bahram Akradi. Born and raised in Iran, Akradi emigrated to the United States at age 17, one year before the fall of the Shah in 1979. While studying electrical engineering at the University of Colorado, Akradi took a job cleaning the pool at a local health club. A man of great ambition and instinctive business savvy, he quickly worked his way up to managing the club.

When the club’s owners decided to open a new franchise in Minneapolis, Minn., they tapped the prodigal Akradi to lead the project. The club was immediately successful and Akradi was rewarded with a partnership in the company, which was bought

by Bally’s after further expansion under the young executive’s direction. A couple of years into a five-year contract with Bally’s, Akradi got the itch to strike out on his own. His vision was to create the Rolls Royce of health clubs: huge, luxurious and offering every service and amenity the well-heeled exerciser could possibly want in such a facility.

The first Life Time Fitness center opened in Brooklyn Park, Minn., in 1990. Akradi liquidated all of his personal assets to fund his dream. Fortunately for him, the local community immediately embraced the ultra-upscale gym concept and Akradi was able to embark upon a course of aggressive expansion. He took the company public in 2004. Its initial stock price was $18.50 per share. It has since risen as high as $65.09 per share. Life Time Fitness now employs more than 4,000 workers and raked in $655 million of revenue in 2007.

Bahram Akradi likes to do business in a big way. So when he decided to latch onto triathlon to build the Life Time Fitness brand, he created a big splash by incorporating an attention-grabbing battle of the sexes—pro men racing head-to-head against pro women, who were given an equitable head start—into the Life Time Fitness Triathlon, and by bestowing upon it the biggest prize purse in the sport. No sooner had Akradi launched this event, which received unprecedented same-day television coverage on the Outdoor Life Network, than he began to look at ways of expanding the company’s involvement in triathlon.

This brainstorming effort led to a January 2006 phone call to Jack Caress from Kevin Steele, Ph.D., vice-president of research and development at Life Time Fitness. Caress recalls the conversation.

“What do you think of the concept of trying to bring together some of the major events into a national series?” Steele asked.

“Is it viable?”

“Absolutely,” replied Caress. “It all depends on how you do it.”

Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com

THE AMERICAN DREAM

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The next month Caress visited Life Time Fitness corporate headquarters, then located in Eden Prairie, Minn., along with New York City Triathlon race director John Korff. “I’ll never forget it,” says Caress. “I had never met Bahram Akradi. We walked into his office and he introduced himself to us. We sat down on the other side of this big desk of his and the first thing he said was, ‘Gentlemen, we’re going to change the sport of triathlon today.’”

Tennis has the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Golf has the Masters Tournament, the U.S. Open, the British Open and the Player’s Championship.

Now triathlon has something very similar.

“We’ve essentially created the major championships for triathlon,” says Caress. “We’ve gone outside of anything triathlon has been able to do in my experience.”

From within the sport of triathlon, the linking of the four premier Olympic-distance events in the U.S. and the addition of a championship event might seem like a small thing, but it’s enough to give sports fans and corporations outside the sport a whole new perspective

Field Tested By Greg Bennett

1st New York 1st Los Angeles 1st Chicago 1st Minneapolis 1st Dallas

Triathlon Triathlon Triathlon Triathlon Triathlon

“First Endurance allows me to be at my best on race day.”

– Greg Bennett

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First Endurance triathlete Greg Bennett rewrote the record books several times in 2007 by winning an unprecedented five Olympic Distance races in a single year. Greg understands what it takes to win in the most challenging triathlon events in the world. That’s why he relies on the First Endurance system to help him train harder and recover faster than ever before. Shouldn’t you?

firstendurance.com • 866.347.7811

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

A VERY SIGNIFICANT MINOR SPORT

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on triathlon. It gives the sport a format that these entities can relate to from their experience with other sports—NASCAR’s Sprint Cup, soccer’s World Cup and so forth.

The proof of this point is in the corporate world’s response to the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series. “Our toughest challenge historically has been to get the non-endemic sponsors involved,” says Caress. “It’s one thing to get the Accelerades and the PowerBars and all these other companies whose products are directly relevant to the event, but now we’re getting brands like Accenture and Jennie-O Turkey Store.”

The biggest sponsorship coup has been Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, which stepped forward to brand the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series championship as the Toyota Cup. What does such a corporate behemoth see in our little sport? “We view triathletes as people who are always looking to improve, and that’s an attitude that resonates with Toyota,” says Keith Dahl, national marketing manager for Toyota.

“Whether it is in their athletic performance, their communities or their lives in general, these individuals strive to make positive changes, much as we do when it comes to our products. Our sponsorship of the new Toyota Cup gives us a great opportunity to interact with this influential audience and educate them on our efficient, high-performing hybrid vehicles.” Translation: We see many thousands of potential Toyota customers in this sport.

There is perhaps no one who is more sanguine about the prospects of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series and its potential impact on the sport than Australian short-course star Greg

Bennett, who placed fourth at the 2004 Olympic triathlon then, in 2007, won all five Life Time series events and more than half a million dollars along the way. “I believe that triathlon truly can become 100 times bigger than it already is,” he says. “With its large prize money, great media exposure and the greatest athletes in the world competing in the USA, the Life Time Fitness Series can make this happen.”

While Caress does not foresee 100-fold growth potential for triathlon, he believes there’s no reason why a sport built on three activities that every kid participates in during the summer cannot become as big as, say, ice hockey or boxing.

“Triathlon is never going to be a major sport, but it could be a very significant minor sport,” he says.

Both Caress and Bennett see potential for the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series to go global, and hope that it eventually does. “We’ve already seen interest from overseas events, and I think it’s something we should seriously consider,” says Caress.

WHAT’S IN IT FOR YOU? It’s not just the participating event directors and the professional athletes who are benefitting from the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series. With the creation of an elite agegroup competition, the series also has something special to offer top-tier amateur competitors. The top five overall agegroup finishers at the Minneapolis, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles events earn all-expenses-paid trips to the series championship in Dallas.

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to the finish area downtown by a professional valet. Series bike sponsor Orbea has developed a new program to make 100 bikes available for use by participants traveling long distances to series events, sparing them the expense and hassle of transporting their own bikes. If the pilot program goes well this season, they will likely expand it for next year.

Top age-group competitors have already begun to rearrange their race schedules to take part in this unique opportunity. Among them is Loren Uscilowski, 37, of Los Angeles, who qualified for the U.S. Open Triathlon at her hometown event last year. “They treated us first-class all the way,” she says of her trip to Dallas. “They paid for everything: our race entries, flights and our hotel rooms. There was a welcoming dinner with the pros that we got to go to, which was really fun. We got to ride the bus to the race with the pros and we got to start right after they did, before the rest of the field.”

Even if you’re not fast enough to compete in the elite amateur division, there are reasons to consider racing a Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series event. According to Caress, the additional sponsorship involvement is enabling the individual event directors to host bigger, higher-quality events with more perks and amenities. “Participants and spectators are seeing much more of a festival atmosphere, where this thing is extending three or four days,” he says. “It’s much more like a pro tennis or golf tour event. It’s what you’d expect if you went to a major championship event in any sport—not only for the participants but for their families, too.”

Among the new amenities is a Toyota-sponsored valet program in which a limited number of participants in the Los Angeles Triathlon (which features a point-to-point course) have their cars delivered from the starting area at Venice Beach 148

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A skeptical analysis of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series reveals at least two possible Achilles heels. The first is possible tension between Life Time Fitness and the companies that manage its constituent events. The two sides of the partnership need each other, but they have different interests and perspectives. “There have been battles back and forth,” Caress admits. “One of the things we learned very early is that each of us really had to swallow his ego and compromise. For guys like [Chicago Triathlon race director] Jan [Caille] and John [Korff ] and me, not being able to make our own decision and go with it is kind of hard.” Perhaps one or more of them will eventually decide it’s too hard.

Another concern is that the health of the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series is dependent on the health of Life Time Fitness, and lately there have been signs of wear on the company’s cloak of invincibility. Bahram Akradi’s business carries a high debt—more than $470 million worth—accrued from loans taken to finance its aggressive growth strategy. The same credit crunch that is now hurting so many individual homeowners is also putting the squeeze on Life Time Fitness with higher borrowing costs.

The current recession has slowed membership growth and increased the cost of acquiring new members. Fancy health-club memberships are considered a discretionary expense and are therefore among the first expenses that consumers cut when they feel the need for fiscal belt tightening. Similarly, the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series represents a large discretionary expense for its corporate namesake.

Life Time Fitness is far from that point, however. They’ve made a five-year commitment to the triathlon series that extends through 2010, by which time the company may well have regained its momentum—not unlike a triathlete who suffers through a bad patch on the bike and says, “I’ll just get through the bike and then decide whether to quit,” and subsequently gets a second wind and runs strong all the way to the finish line.

Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com

ONLY TIME WILL TELL

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Slow your mind, SPEED UP YOUR BODY

11 mental training techniques to put your mind at ease on race day

By Todd Parker // Photos by John Segesta

WE’VE ALL KNOWN A FEW TRIATHLETES WHO FIT THE MOLD OF A SO-CALLED HEAD CASE. THEY SPEND 20 HOURS PER WEEK TRAINING AND ARE AS FIT AS CAN BE, BUT ON RACE DAY THEY BECOME CONSUMED BY ANXIETY THAT THINGS MIGHT NOT GO ENTIRELY AS PLANNED. If you fit this description, or even if you’re just the victim of minor pre-race anxiety, try some of the following techniques to quell your fears and put your mind in a happy place. These techniques can be used immediately before an event or training session or whenever you need to squeeze a little stress out of your life.

Anxiety management. Try to identify common sources of anxiety and develop a protocol to mitigate anxiety and stress.

Here are some suggested steps to reduce and manage anxiety: Establish challenging, realistic and quantifiable performance goals, ranging from daily goals to long-term objectives.

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find your anxiety increases, your motivation declines and your performance is suboptimal.

As an athlete, identify what boosts your anxiety levels and think through to the root cause. Imagery (discussed below) is often very effective in mitigating root causes of anxiety.

By visualizing successful outcomes to what were previously stressful situations you will feel more relaxed.

Remind yourself that you are in control of your emotions, and do not worry needlessly about factors outside your control, such as weather or your competition.

Remind yourself that every day is a learning experience and that each day of training or racing is a chance to improve.

Breath-control training. Breath-control training is essentially a way to promote relaxation through conscious breath control. It is important to learn how to use deep (diaphragmatic) breathing to remind yourself to breathe

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whenever you notice that your breathing has become rapid and shallow (a sign of anxiety). Incorporating breath control into your warm-up routine will aide in easing the daily tension buildup that can often accompany you into training and races.

Here is a commonly used breathing technique that may be performed lying down, sitting or standing: Focus on the lower abdomen, and imagine a small balloon inside it.

Take in a slow, long, deep breath through your nostrils, imagining the balloon inflating slowly. You will fill the lower lungs first, and then your shoulders will rise as you begin to fill your upper lungs.

Hold the breath for a few seconds, then slowly exhale through the mouth (with pursed lips) and imagine the balloon gently deflating.

Repeat at least 10 times.

Practice this technique throughout day, especially when you catch yourself feeling stressed or anxious.

Focus. Attentional focus is an athlete’s ability to pay attention to varying internal and external stimuli during exercise. It is critical that an athlete learns to focus on relevant cues and ignore irrelevant ones in order to optimize performance potential.

Paying excess attention to spectators is an example of an irrelevant external cue that athletes need to learn to ignore. Picking up on a tactical move from a competitor is an example of a relevant external cue that needs attending to. Methods that help to improve focus include: Learning to distinguish between internal stimuli and cues, which originate from within yourself, and external stimuli and cues, which originate from your environment.

Recognizing that you are in control of your thoughts and can learn to focus your attention on performance-relevant cues, while ignoring irrelevant ones.

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yourself successfully coping within a stressful environment (i.e. competition) and to visualize optimal performance.

Research has indicated that imagery results in neural-activation patterns that are identical to (although much less intense than) those that occur when one is actually performing the exercise. In effect, imagery gives the body and mind a rehearsal of proper form and desired performance outside of actual physical training or competition. Imagery can be externally or internally oriented. External orientation is comparable to watching yourself perform by viewing a video, while internal orientation is your normal embodied perspective (looking outward from inside yourself). Here are some suggested steps to begin performing mental imagery: Find a quiet place where you won’t be interrupted.

Assume a comfortable position that will easily allow you to let go and relax.

To become more relaxed, first perform some relaxation breathing exercises.

Before getting to the sport images, practice visualizing a specific object such as a stop sign. A stop sign is a good choice and is often an image used to initiate negative thought stopping (discussed below). Once you can readily visualize the stop sign you can then move on to sport-specific imagery.

Visualize yourself running. Depending on your present phase of training (pre-season, preparation phase, competition phase, etc.), you may choose to imagine yourself in a familiar upcoming race, on a particularly challenging training route or perhaps successfully coping with the stress and anxiety of race day. See yourself successfully performing and feel the enjoyment that it brings.

Goal setting. Establishing goals requires more than just writing them down. Effective goal setting entails making a commitment to the vision and laying out strategies to realize it. Here are some guidelines for effective goal setting: Develop a series of short-term goals that lead toward achieving long-term seasonal goals. Make sure your goals are event-specific. Event-specific goals focus training on improving particular aspects of performance as well as overall performance in the event(s) in which you compete.

Ensure your goals are realistic and quantifiable. Goals such as, “I want to drop my Olympic-distance time from four hours to under two hours this season,” or, “I want to improve this year,” are not realistic or quantifiable, respectively.

Put your goals in writing so you may continually monitor progress toward them.

Capture quantitative performance data (times, distances, etc.) throughout the training process so you can measure your incremental progress. Otherwise, you’re just winging it and hoping you’ll improve.

Establish an overall goal-support network so others are aware of and can encourage your goals. A typical network may include coaches, spouses, parents and teammates.

Imagery. Sometimes called mental practice or visualization, imagery is a systematic process of using your imagination to guide your thinking in a positive way. Specifically, you use your mind like a video-playback device to correct technique, to see T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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When a negative image enters your visualization, stop, rewind the tape, and see yourself performing successfully.

End each session with a few slow, deep breaths and open your eyes before getting up.

Start with five-minute visualizations or imagery segments with small breaks between them.

Once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re proficient, you can quickly relax and get into a 20- to 30-minute imagery session. A good session of this length can allow you to review successful past performances, correct negative trends in technique or coping skills, prepare more thoroughly for an upcoming important race or even maintain technical skill proficiency while injured.

Lastly, once youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re proficient at imagery you can easily enter a visualization state and perform a short session prior to a race.

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Mistakes management. Mistakes management is the process of identifying, understanding and managing mistakes through a constructive means to improve performance. Every athlete makes mistakes whether technically, tactically or personally. Your future progress as an athlete depends largely on how you manage these mistakes. Oftentimes we try so hard to focus on the positive and successful aspects of performance that we fail to recognize mistakes made and miss opportunities to incorporate changes that will enable us to improve. To get a handle on the mistakes you make as an athlete, ask the following three questions: What are the size and scope of my mistakes? How great is their impact on my performance?

What is the frequency of occurrence?

What are the root causes?

Once you can adequately answer the three questions above, then you can figure out how you’re going to manage the mistakes by initiating strategies to overcome them.

Negative-thought stopping. Negative-thought stopping is a technique to replace negative thoughts with positive affirmations, cue words and positive thinking. Negative thoughts only perpetuate a downward spiral of psychological and physical performance. Here are some tips for negative-thought stopping: Focus on the intensity and excitement of race day and not your fears.

Use simple cue words, such as “relax,” which may be useful at the onset of negative thinking, internal criticism or self-doubt.

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When you start to feel anxious, just remind yourself that you’re ready for the event.

Progressive relaxation. Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique of stress management developed by American physician Edmund Jacobson in the early 1920s. Jacobson argued that since muscular tension accompanies anxiety, one could reduce anxiety by learning how to relax the muscles. Progressive-relaxation techniques are still widely used today in everything from sports to clinical settings. The following techniques are simple to learn and practice and are best suited for a quiet, comfortable environment: Begin by tensing and releasing each part of the body. Start with either your head or your feet and then work your way down or up the body.

To begin with your lower body, firmly tense your toes as tightly as possible and hold the tension. After a few seconds, slowly release the toes.

Move up to your feet. Firmly tense them, hold the tension, then slowly release the feet.

Next, move on to your calves, hamstrings, quads, abdominals, etc., tensing and releasing, until you reach the top of your head.

Depending on how much time you have, you can tense and relax both sides simultaneously, one side at a time, or entire muscle groups (and limbs).

If you’re really short on time, tense and release the entire body several times to reach a more relaxed state.

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A word of caution: If you have any pulled or strained muscles, tendons, ligaments, or any other injuries for that matter, forego that area of the body to avoid exacerbating the injury.

Routines. Routines are a fundamental step in reducing the uncertainty and stress that often leads to anxiety. By establishing consistent habits or steps that bring familiarity to pre-race environments, routines allow the athlete to focus on relevant stimuli and necessary actions. One of the best ways to build effective routines for training and competition is to develop a checklist of the items and equipment required, as well as those that may add personal comfort.

In the off-season, develop routines that facilitate timesaving, efficiency, confidence and comfort. Lastly, build flexibility and alternatives into your routines so you’re prepared to deal with unexpected circumstances that arise. Below are some practices that are commonly incorporated into the pre-race routines of triathletes: Fuel and pack the travel vehicle the night before departure.

Plan a primary and an alternative route to the race site.

Carry important contact numbers (for example, the race director’s) and means of communication (cell phone).

Create a race-gear checklist and lay our all of your gear the night before the race.

Set two alarm clocks (at least one being battery operated).

Pack and consume tried-and-true meals and fluids.

Pack backup equipment items (e.g. goggles, shoes, shoelaces, tires, tubes).

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Take your own fluids and bottled water to the race site (don’t assume they’ll have it).

Self-talk. Self-talk is an important part of our lives. We do it all the time and in various situations. Self-talk can be guided, beneficial, healthy and performance-enhancing, or it can be just the opposite. Below are some suggestions for controlling your self-talk in ways that make it work for you instead of against you: Teach yourself to be more conscious of your self-talk, to use techniques to stop negative thoughts and to regain control through positive self-talk and thinking.

To calm yourself, use calming cue words and phrases, such as “easy does it.”

If you want to get psyched up, use cue words and phrases that motivate and inspire, such as “Fired up!”

It will take some time for you to master all of the techniques discussed in this article. More important than any of the individual techniques, however, is that you simply recognize your ability to identify mental disruptions and overcome them with consist effort and practice.

Todd Parker is a former professional triathlete and holds a master’s degree in exercise physiology and human performance from San Jose State University. Todd is a multisport coach at Cadence Cycling & Multisport Centers in Philadelphia and can be reached at 650-353-6094 or tparker@cadencecycling.com.

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RACING AROUND THE GLOBE

International editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s note International editor Lisa Pringle writes about finding your focus | 158

News Triathlete magazine takes a look at all the tri news from Australia and New Zealand | 160

The forgotten Aussie Roger Vaughan catches up with Austriaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kate Allen to talk about training for the Olympics, Kona and being a former Aussie | 162

At the races A round up of the race scene Down Under | 168

Courtesy Bling Photography

Training A look at the favorite workouts of a few of the top Aussies | 170

Off the back The gang at First off the Bike interviews Aussie stalwart Craig McKenzie | 172 T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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By Lisa Pringle

What does peace of mind really mean? How on earth do you find it? And could it help you get more out of training and racing? Everyone has experienced a friend offering this advice: Don’t worry about it. Did you miraculously stop worrying? Of course not. The phrase reminds me of that annoying song by Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.” I’m not anti the goodlove message, but I’m a Capricorn and we’re practical people.

Imagine starting training sessions with a clear mind on the task ahead and standing at the start line with a single focus: exacting your race plan without the relentless distracting thoughts or doubts that creep in. Could it enhance your performance? Of course it could. Positive messages are overwhelmingly more empowering than negative ones.

We invest a lot of time, effort and money into streamlining our bodies and equipment to be the best they can be. The countless hours poured into training; the painstaking time and practice of fueling our bodies for optimum performance; and the thousands of dollars on entry fees, travelling and equipment.

But how many of us bother to invest time into developing the most powerful weapon we have: our mind.

So what can you do to eliminate worry and develop greater peace of mind? To stop the worry, you first have to be aware of how often it drifts into your thoughts. Then you have to make a conscious decision to tell that negative pessimist to shut up.

Sounds ridiculous, talking to ourselves that way, but it is even more ludicrous to think we let a negative internal dialogue put us down on such a regular basis and take what that voice says as gospel. If your coach spoke to you that way you’d soon be looking for a new one.

Quieting the mind is a sophisticated process, but with time and patience it can be one of the most valued skills you may ever learn, and it typically involves cultivating simple thoughts or feelings that engender a sense of stillness and peace.

To that end, find a quiet place to sit or lie where you will be undisturbed for about 20 minutes. Take in a few long, slow, deep breaths, and as you exhale feel your body relax. Choose an object as a point of focus, something simple like an apple. At first your mind won’t be able to stay with that apple during the 20 minutes, but if you challenge yourself to stay with images that relate to the apple, you can make it work.

You may find your mind wandering to things related: slicing the apple, orchards and apple pies. Every time you find this happening, bring your mind back to something simple like peeling the apple. Initial attempts to quiet your mind will be challenging, but if you stick with this simple concept three times a week you will find it increasingly easy to stay with the apple for longer periods. Over time you’ll find you need to do less and less with the apple in order to stay with it.

A quiet mind is a mind that carries with it but a simple thought. In this simplicity you no longer switch into doubt and worry, turning off the stress switch to the rest of your body.

Imagine the power of such a skill and how you could use it to accomplish your triathlon goals.

Not only will you be able to relax more between competition and training, conserving energy, but you will also be training yourself to focus on the task at hand rather than drifting into self-doubt or negative thoughts that detract from your performance.

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Emma up close Australia’s triathlon darling, Emma Snowsill, is now beaming down from 3m x 12m billboards. She is featured in a national snack-food advertising campaign for Sanitarium, Snowsill’s new sponsor. They are making the most of their partnership by showcasing the fleet-footed pro on billboards across the country.

Triathletes of the year Emma Moffatt, Brad Kahlefeldt, Emma Snowsill and Brendan Sexton were recently named Triathlon Australia award winners. Athlete of the Year, as voted by her peers, has been awarded to 23-year-old Moffatt of New South Wales. 2007 saw Moffatt achieve her first World Cup victory, at the Edmonton, Canada, ITU World Cup, and she placed second at the ITU World Cup in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, and claimed fourth place in the 2007 ITU world championships in Hamburg, Germany.

Snowsill has been given the Female Performance of the Year Award for her 2007 race in Hamburg. After trailing by over a minute going into the 10km run, Snowsill was able to

run herself into second place behind Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes.

2006 Athlete of the Year, Brad Kahlefeldt, has been given the Male Performance of the Year Award for his Hamburg race: In a sprint finish, Kahlefeldt took out the bronze just behind Spain’s Javier Gomez and Daniel Unger of Germany.

Brendan Sexton of Wollongong was awarded the Chris Hewitt Emerging Athlete Award for his 2007 performances, including his silver-medal finish in the under 23s at Hamburg.

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ITU gives coaching endorsement The International Triathlon Union took a big step in establishing a universal level of coaching education worldwide. For the first time, the ITU has accredited the coaching-education programs of two national federations: Triathlon Australia and the British Triathlon Federation.

At the start of 2007, the ITU introduced the National Federation Accreditation Program, whereby federations could apply to have their national coaching-education programs endorsed by the ITU. “Coaches are the critical element to high levels of performance and the development of the sport worldwide,” says ITU coaching education manager Alan Ley. “The British Triathlon Federation and Triathlon Australia have demonstrated high standards of excellence, and their programs will benefit the coaches and athletes from the grassroots to the high-performance level.”

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John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

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The forgotten Aussie Kate Allen on the Olympics, improving her swim and the lure of Kona

By Roger Vaughan 162

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Up until about a decade ago, triathlon would have enabled a professional athlete to seriously consider following both an Ironman and Olympic-distance training program simultaneously. Six-time Hawaii Ironman winner Mark Allen famously won the first official Olympic-distance world championship, in Avignon, France, in 1989, the same year he had his breakthrough

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Hawaii triumph over Kona rival Dave Scott. New Zealand’s Erin Baker also won at Avignon in ’89, while at the same time going long and maintaining her keen Ironman rivalry with the great Paula Newby-Fraser. Greg Welch was focused on triathlon’s 2000 Olympic debut in his home city of Sydney, while still a world-class Ironman competitor, before a heart condition dramatically ended his racing career. American star Karen Smyers won at Kona and at ITU short-course worlds in ’95, only a few weeks apart.

Then, of course, triathlon actually went to the Olympics and the entire game changed. Now, Australian native Kate Allen (who currently lives in and races for Austria) may wish she had a time machine. Allen’s sole focus this year is to defend her Olympic gold medal, which she won in Athens in 2004, but she’s also a top Ironman-distance athlete and could do some damage in Kona if she decides to combine her Olympic quest with a Kona bid.

“I don’t want to think about it,” says Allen of Kona 2008, however. “If I’m thinking about that now, I shouldn’t really be going to the Olympics because I’m not focused enough.” But start Allen talking about Ironman, specifically Hawaii, and the intense Olympics focus slips. When asked if Hawaii still holds an allure, the 37-year-old replies, “Terribly! I wish I were younger.

It’s still a big thorn in my side. It doesn’t let me go. To get top three in Hawaii would just be the ultimate.

“My biggest problem is I’m never happy with what I’m doing,” she continues. “When I’m [focused] on the short distance, I want to be doing long distance; and when I’m [focused] on the long distance, I want to be doing the short distance. It’s

been a huge problem in my whole career. I want to be able to do the two, but it doesn’t work. It’s been a bit of a dilemma with me,” she says.

When reminded that Aussie great Michellie Jones won Hawaii at the age of 38, and Allen will turn 38 this April, her face lights up. “That’s what I figure! She’s kind of my idol at the moment,” Allen admits with a chuckle. But a return to Kona, where Allen was seventh in 2002 and fifth in ’05 and ’06, is somewhere potentially over the horizon.

Crafting a new Olympic strategy There are two well-known aspects of Allen’s Athens triumph. The first is that she won the gold there in the name of Austria, not Australia. She was born and raised in Australia and still loves going back to her native country. But Allen also loves Marcel Diechtler, and after they were married she adopted his Austrian nationality.

The second thing to note about Allen’s seemingly perfect day in Athens is that it didn’t start perfectly at all. Allen was among the last 10 out of the water. She then clawed her way back into contention during the bike before unleashing her main weapon: a withering run. She blasted past Australian Loretta Harrop within the last kilometer of the race.

It was a dramatic win, but Allen knows that following a similar race strategy will likely guarantee a low finish in Beijing in August—and as a result she’s resolved to craft her swim into a strength, or at least not an Achilles’ Heel. Helping to convince Allen of the importance of a strong swim was her performance

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

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at the Mooloolaba World Cup last year, Allen’s first serious return to Olympic-distance racing after two years of concentrating on Hawaii.

“I just got absolutely smashed there last year,” Allen says. “A lot of the girls who swim up at the very front can run. Not all of them, but a lot of them. You just don’t have a chance anymore. So if I’m not up there with them, then I can forget the whole race.”

Allen comes from Geelong, a satellite city within 100km of Melbourne in southern Australia. She and Marcel base themselves there during the Australian summer. Swim coach John Beckworth also lives in Geelong, and he has coached Allen in the pool for the last five years.

Allen is so serious about her pre-Olympic swim emphasis that Beckworth will go to Europe with Kate and Marcel this year to help with her Olympic preparation. Allen has been doing more than double her previous swim yardage, and during the southern summer, she tried to work up to a stunning 60km per week in the pool. Before Athens it was five swim sessions a week, now it’s nine-plus. Rather than compete in local triathlons through the Australian summer, she has been a regular fixture at the ocean swims near Geelong that attract thousands of entrants. “I just feel like a swimmer at the moment; not that I am, but I’m definitely putting the time in,” she says.

The danger in all this, of course, is that Allen will lose the edge off her bike and her run. “I’ve really let off on the biking and running. I’m doing what I can,” Allen says. “But my whole idea is that it doesn’t matter what I do on the bike and run; if I’m not up there in the swim, the race is irrelevant. I have to get there in the swim, and I have to do everything I possibly can and then try to get out what I can in the other disciplines.”

Allen faces a similar balancing act just to make it to the start line in Beijing. Being two years out of Olympic-distance racing cost her precious international-ranking points, and she will carefully choose her pre-Beijing racing program to give her the best chance of consolidating her position. One big boost was finishing second last year in the European championships. “I have to show some solid performances, like any athlete in the world has to in the Olympic year,” she says.

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“But Australia gets such a huge promotion in Austria. Australians don’t see it from another point of view; Austrians absolutely idolize this mentality. It’s that hard mentality where you go out and train and nothing is too much and you never give up. The Austrian mentality is a little bit less; you don’t go out of your comfort zone, whereas in Australia, you give everything you’ve got.”

Clearly, a lot of the Austrian interest in Australian sport comes from Allen’s stunning success. She was hailed as a hero when she returned to Austria from the 2004 Olympics.

Now Allen is again carefully plotting that hazardous path through preparation, qualification and then finally competition at the Games. And all the while, somewhere in the back of her mind, lurks the lure of that big Kona M-Dot.

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

Assuming she makes Beijing, Allen will have to defy history and statistics for a repeat gold medal. In the two editions of Olympic triathlon thus far, it has proved near-impossible to predict the goldmedal winners. For example, none of the four Olympic gold medallists has won a world title, before or since.

A big result in Beijing for Allen would regenerate all the talk in Australia about the one who got away. But it is worth noting Allen did not start in the sport until she had gone overseas on a holiday in the mid-’90s and met Diechtler, who suggested she compete in a triathlon. She hears very little negative comment when she is in Geelong, but every now and again someone points it out.

“It’s not negative, but you just hear maybe they’re not 100-percent happy you’ve done it for Austria and not Australia,” Allen says.

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World champion wins Snap Ironman 70.3 Geelong World 70.3 champion Snap Ironman Mirinda Carfrae dominated 70.3 Geelong the women’s event at the

Geelong, Australia Snap Ironman 70.3 Geelong.

Feb. 10, 2008 Carfrae, of Underwood, 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike, Queensland, left the water 13.1-mile run with fourth-place Amelia Pearson before breaking away WOMEN on the bike to eventually win 1. Mirinda Carfrae 4:24:27 by more than three minutes 2. Rebekah Keat 4:27:14 in a time of 4:24:27. The 3. Kate Major 4:29:21 men’s event was a much clos4. Amelia Pearson 4:35:10 er race with fewer than six 5. Tara Norton 4:38:59 minutes separating the top MEN five finishers. Again it was the 1. Leon Griffin 3:56:49 bike leg that proved crucial, 2. Mitchell Anderson 3:58:13 with former world duathlon 3. David Dellow 4:01:01 champion Leon Griffin of 4. Joe Gambles 4:02:11 Richmond, Victoria, making 5. Boyd Conrick 4:02:45 a break at the 30km mark and holding on to win over fellow Victorian and one of the race favourites, Mitchell Anderson.

“It just shows what happens when you are given the number-one [bib] and told to go out there and race,” Carfrae said.

Atkinson, Sharp claim 2008 Australian Triathlon Championships It was a depleted elite field that lined up for the national Olympic-distance championships on Feb. 3 after a long-running dispute within the governing body about the timing of the event. Our top athletes are in the midst of Olympic selection and preparation, and are therefore not in race shape in early February. Despite this, Queenslanders Courtney Atkinson and Alee Sharp were crowned the 2008 Australian triathlon champions after securing their wins in searing conditions in Perth, Western Australia. For Atkinson it was his third Australian title, for Sharp her first following an extended break away from racing.

Rising star David Dellow secured second place with threetime world champion Peter Robertson third 2008 Australian across the line.

Triathlon It was a day of Championships upsets for the women.

Perth, Australia International competiFeb. 3, 2008 tors Carolyn Murray of 1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run Canada and Lisa Norden of Sweden WOMEN crossed the line ahead 1. Carolyn Murray (CAN) 2:01:32 of Australian Sharp; 2. Lisa Norden (SWE) 2:01:49 however, with interna3.

Alee Sharp (QLD) 2:03:07 tional licenses not per4. Erin Densham (VIC) 2:04:06 mitted to contend for 5. Sarah Crowley (SA) 2:09:02 the national title, the MEN championship was 1. Courtney Atkinson (QLD) 1:48:20 awarded to Sharp.

2. David Dellow (QLD) 1:51:36 “This is my first 3. Peter Robertson (WA) 1:53:11 Australian title. I can’t 4. Clayton Fettell (NSW) 1:53:57 believe it, and I am 5.

David Matthews (NSW) 1:54:37 thrilled,” said Sharp.

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Swim: “2km time trial. This is Coach Col Stewart’s regular Sunday session, and it will quickly allow you to find out how fit you are (or aren’t). When you can do this set strong and fast, then 1500m feels like a breeze in a race.”

Bike: “Trainer interval session. After a 15- to 20-minute warm-up, complete 20 x 3 minutes @ race pace/race-day target wattage. Spin easily for 30 seconds after each 3-minute work interval. I find this an easy way to break up an hour time trial after work or if you have to be indoors because of the weather.”

Run: “12km fartlek session. After a warm-up, run 12km at a pace that alternates between 3 minutes at slightly above race pace/3 minutes at slightly below race pace. This is a great session to get your legs ready to run at race-day speeds, all while going a few extra kilometers to know you can make the distance strong.”

Brad Kahlefeldt: You get a bit of an insight into Brad’s psyche when he gives us this as his favorite run-training session.

“After a warm-up, the main set consists of 5 x 4:30 hill repeats. Ideally, the hill should start off steep then flatten out so you are able to hit a quick pace (in Brad’s case, this will be just under 3-minute-per-kilometer pace), before kicking up again in the last 400m.”

“We have all our times recorded every time we do this workout, and I hold the record by two seconds. I’m usually totally spent after this, so I have a rest day the next day.”

Tough going made easy 5 top triathletes share their favorite training sessions

By Lisa Pringle

We all have our favorite training sessions, and we caught up with a couple of top Aussie athletes to find out theirs. Now before diving into any of the below sessions, however, be sure to tweak the time and/or distances to ensure they are compatible with your goals and current fitness level. Nothing will blow the doors off a training program more quickly than a poorly timed or ill-conceived workout.

Courtney Atkinson:

The ultimate professional, Courtney has a favorite workout for each leg.

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Greg Bennett: Greg works hard, but he also keeps his training innovative and fun, as we can see from his open-water training session, which consists of a surf swim in Noosa, Australia.

“Up to 100 people come down to the beach. Max, our swim coach here in Noosa, puts out the buoys just behind the wave breaks. We do about an hour’s worth of work going in and out of the waves, and it is really tough. It is training without feeling like training.”

Laura Bennett:

Saturday bike group in Noosa, Australia.

“A 90km ride up and down the coast road, with the first 35km easy and very social, then it’s all on for about 15 to 20km.

After this effort it’s back to being social. Belinda Granger makes this ride go by very fast.”

Courtesy EPIX

Felicity Abram: More affectionately known as Fliss, she gives us her favorite run session. No surprises here, considering her run is her weapon.

“Begin with a 15-minute run warm-up followed by:” • 6 x run-throughs/activation drills • 20 x 400 on the track on 2 minutes, holding best average pace but hard • Swap direction every 5 x 400 (if you can) • 10-minute jogging cool-down and drills Drill suggestions: • Kicking your butt • High knees • Side cross-overs • Lunging “My coach normally tries to organize ice baths after track sessions, as it helps the legs to recover. For me this is just a good, hard track session that’s accurate in distance and time, so it’s a good session to see how your fitness is coming.”

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hear about how exciting it is to live there and experience life as an athlete there. I was just lucky enough to have the opportunity, and for my wife Georgia to give me permission.

Boulder sounds like an awesome environment to train in. Give us a rundown of an average day there.

You tend to work training around some pretty predictable weather patterns. Pretty much every day [during the spring and summer months] there’s a [thunder and lightning] storm at the same time, so a lot of people tend to get their ride and run done early morning, leaving middle of the day to swim practice.

Then mid-afternoon, you tend to get a thunderstorm rolling in, so it’s not the best conditions to be out in.

Catching up with Craig McKenzie Aussie star chats about his switch to long-course racing, in addition to training and racing in the U.S.

As transcribed from firstoffthebike.com

Known as a sprint athlete until the last few seasons, Craig McKenzie recently turned his attention to longer distances after nearly 10 years in multisport. Like many Australian triathletes, he beat a path to Boulder, Colo., to take advantage of the terrain and get into shape for his 2008 target races: Ironman Louisville, in the U.S. in August—where he took second in 2007—and Ironman WA in Busselton.

First off the Bike: How big is the change from short course to Ironman?

Craig McKenzie: Competing in short course was great and has really held me in good stead for the longer races. Being used to racing often and doing the hard work, it almost makes the transition to longer distances easier . . . almost!

After being in the sport for a few years, what made you decide to make the move to Boulder?

I thought, “The clock is ticking and time’s running out.” I really wanted to get over there and do at least three or four months just to experience what it was like. So many of my friends have gone over, and you 172

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It does, though it took some getting used to because I’m used to swimming first thing in the morning when you’re usually pretty fresh.

But in Boulder, swim training tends to be the middle of the day after you’ve already trained.

Swimming at altitude [Boulder sits on the high plains at about 5300 feet, or 1600 meters, above sea level] is one of the hardest things you can possibly do. It feels like you haven’t swum for a year every time you get into the water. It’s pretty tough, especially when you’re up against some of the best triathletes in the world, which just makes it even harder.

Boulder’s a popular spot amongst the triathlon crowd. How about some name-dropping?

The day I arrived, I wanted to nick out and get myself a notebook to get autographs from all of these people: six-time Ironman world champ Dave Scott and German triathlon great Wolfgang Dietrich taking swim squad, Simon Lessing, Craig Walton, Emma Snowsill, Craig Alexander, Chris McCormack, Chris Lieto. It’s almost a who’s who of triathlon. It’s a great environment to train in, and you don’t have as much pressure as some of the big names. Having the opportunity to train with the calibre of these guys is amazing; it certainly lifts you to another level.

What were your expectations going into Louisville this year?

I wanted a win, but I wouldn’t say I expected it. There were some pretty good athletes getting around, but that was the one where I definitely thought I could walk away with a victory, and that’s what I went into it thinking. Unfortunately, I had a pretty average swim, and I think the first 30 kilometers of the bike is where I lost the race. I just didn’t find my legs until a little later on and lost a lot of time to TJ [Tollakson] and Chris McDonald.

Courtesy Sport Shoot Photography

Does that consistency help your training schedule?

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“If God invented marathons to keep people from doing anything more stupid, the triathlon must have taken Him completely by surprise.”

[Sports med doctor and Ford Ironman Coeur d’Alene medical director P.Z. Pearce]

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Don’t run amok this season Weeks 9-12 of your 12-week run-focus phase

By Matt F itzgerald

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To help boost your running in time for spring racing, we’ve developed a 12-week run-focus phase. The first four weeks were covered in the March issue, and weeks five through eight were in the April issue. (If you missed these articles, please visit triathletemag.com and click the link on the left-hand menu to order a back issue.) It’s now time to prepare for the final four weeks of the run-focus period.

The primary objective of the entire 12-week run-focus period is, again, to elevate your running performance to a higher T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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level. Improving as a runner is a long-term process for each athlete, regardless of his or her natural talent level. A run-focus period serves to briefly accelerate this process for those who feel the need to do so, and at a strategically sensible time—the late off-season and early base period of training, when it’s not nec178

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essary to balance your swim, bike and run training as evenly as you must do during the racing season.

The accelerated development that is yielded by a run-focus period comes as a result of a higher-thannormal training workload.

There’s just no other way to get the job done. The risk you run in training especially hard in one discipline early in the season is triggering an early peak in that discipline, such that you do your best running in May, possibly before you’ve even done your first triathlon of the year. I’ve taken pains to design this run-focus period in a way that minimizes this risk while still aggressively pursuing the primary objective of enhanced running performance. How is this balance attained?

There are two keys to preventing an early fitness peak while still training intensively. The first key is simply to hold yourself back just a little.

The second key is to train very generally instead of training very specifically for your peak race.

Elite endurance athletes—the wiser ones, anyway—are adept at restraining their effort output in their harder workouts during the early part of the season and saving their true, 100-percent workout efforts for the last several weeks before a peak race. Your body can only absorb so many exhaustive training efforts before it adapts as much as it can possibly adapt in response to them.

Once this has happened, you must immediately taper and race to enjoy the full performance fruits of these efforts. By putting out “only” an 85- to 95-percent effort in your hard workouts in the early and middle parts of the training process (e.g. running 7 hard intervals when you could do 8) you can develop a

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very high fitness foundation atop which you can then layer a perfectly timed peak by pulling out the stops and performing some killer peak workouts in the final weeks before your race.

The four-week training schedule presented below is informed by this concept.

The workouts are challenging, but manageable. Heck, it’s early spring. Your vomit-inducing track workouts can wait.

A performance peak also tends to occur when an athlete focuses on a specific type of training. Loading your training schedule with challenging workouts that closely simulate the specific demands of racing is exactly what you want to do in the peak phase of training, to ensure that your body is maximally adapted to the distance and intensity of your peak race. But prior to the peak phase your training should be more diverse and general. Like holding back in hard workouts, developing wellrounded fitness with a highly varied workout schedule also serves to build a tall, solid foundation that you can stack peak-level fitness upon with specific training when the time is right.

The four-week training schedule presented below includes a diverse selection of workouts to help you build that foundation. Include the three weekly sessions below in your training schedule.

Run-focus workouts for weeks 9-12 SESSION 1

SESSION 2

SESSION 3

Week

Base Run + Hill Sprints • 8 miles easy • 8 x 10-second hill sprints with full recovery

Tempo Run • 2 miles easy • 3 miles @ half-marathon race pace • 2 miles easy

Long Run • 14 miles easy

Week

Base Run + Hill Sprints • 7 miles easy • 9 x 10-second hill sprints with full recovery

Speed Intervals • 2 miles easy • 8 x 400m @ 3km race effort with jog-back recoveries • 2 miles easy

Long Progression Run • 10 miles easy • 2 miles @ half-marathon race pace

Week

Base Run + Hill Sprints • 9 miles easy • 10 x 10-second hill sprints with full recovery

Tempo Run • 2 miles easy • 3 miles @ half-marathon race pace • 2 miles easy

Long Fartlek Run • 13 miles easy • with 8 x 1 minute @ 5km race pace sprinkled throughout

Week

Base Run + Hill Sprints • 6 miles easy • 6 x 10-second hill sprints with full recovery

Ladder Intervals • 1-2 miles easy • 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins, 2 mins, 1 min, 2 mins, 3 mins @ 5K-1500m pace with equal duration active recoveries • 1-2 miles easy

Long Progression Run • 7 miles easy • 2 miles @ half-marathon race pace

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Easy does it 5 tips to boost your swim starts

By Brad Culp

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We’ve all had the feeling at least once. Your heart rate is already sky-high as you stand and wait to take the plunge and start your race. The moment you hear the cannon you take off for the water’s edge like a sprinter going for gold in the 100meter dash. By the time you lift your head to take your first breath you’re too flushed to take in any air, and now real panic sets in. You had planned on setting a new swim PR, but now you’re just struggling to stay afloat and fend off elbows and feet.

If you grew up as an elite swimmer you’re probably unfamiliar with this sensation, but the other 99 percent of us have some work to do if we want to avoid going anaerobic 20 seconds into our next race. There are five different drills and exercises you can practice each week to help keep your breathing under control and make the start of your next race a little more enjoyable.

1. GET IN SOME OPEN-WATER TIME You don’t have to swear off pools completely, but as a triathlete you’re not getting the most out of all those hours of swimming if every one of them is spent in a 25-yard tank. No 182

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LANE LINES matter where you live there has to be a lake, pond or a large puddle nearby. Zip up that wetsuit, dive in and get used to swimming in open water. You don’t need to spend an hour out there every time, just enough time to get accustomed to swimming in your wetsuit and spotting buoys. Twenty minutes should do the trick (a little longer if you’re training for Ironman). Bring along a few friends and practice a few swim starts while you’re out there. You’ll be glad you did.

2. STOP KICKING Believe it or not, your legs don’t help you that much in the water. In fact, they can hurt you. At top speeds, your legs can consume almost 60 percent of your body’s oxygen supply. The problem is they only contribute about 20 percent of your speed. I was never very good at math, but I know that’s not a balanced equation. Just kick enough to balance your body, but be sure to save your legs for the rest of the race, where you’ll really need them.

3. PRACTICE BREATH CONTROL You can work breath control into just about any swim set, but it’s most useful during longer intervals. Breath control simply means breathing at a pre-determined count (every five to nine strokes works best). For example, try doing six 150-yard repeats, breathing every five strokes for the first 50, every seven strokes for the second 50 and every nine strokes for the last 50 yards. Performing sets like this expands your lung capacity and helps you control your breathing throughout the swim.

4. PRACTICE SWIMMING AT SWIMSTART INTENSITY Most triathletes work through their weekly swim sessions at the same pace—they never go anaerobic and they never practice sprinting. While the majority of your swimming should be done in the upper-aerobic zone, you need some high-intensity anaerobic work to prepare your body for the start of the race. Practice this set once or twice per week: After a long warm-up, perform 5 x 300 freestyle. During the first 100, swim all-out as you would at the start of a triathlon. After 100 yards, you should settle into you normal, comfortable triathlon pace for the last 200.

5. DON’T SPRINT WITH THE PACK Look at the start of most races: Almost half the field goes out at an all-out sprint, but after two minutes there’s only a small pack at the front and everyone else is already strung out.

If you come from a swimming background and you’re comfortable taking a few blows, then place yourself in the front of your group at the start. If not, don’t sweat it. Your next PR isn’t going to be based on how hard you swim in the first 200 meters. Give yourself some room, settle into your own pace and enjoy the first leg.

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE Relax at the start of the swim. If your mind is at ease, your body will follow and you won’t be gasping for air.

Work a few drills into your swim training each week and your fears of the starting gun will diminish.

Resist the urge to start each race with an all-out sprint. No matter the distance, triathlon is an endurance sport and you can’t win or lose a race in the first 100 meters.

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Drilling it in Forget the recession, boost your own economy

By Justin Peschka, CTS Exper t Coach

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Think of cycling economy as net power.

That is, when you improve your cycling economy (specifically, the efficiency of your pedal stroke), more of the work you’re doing gets translated into watts on your power meter. Below, we include a couple of cycling drills designed to help you get the most bang for your pedaling buck. They are short enough to sneak into your warm-up before more intense intervals, and by incorporating these drills into the start of just one or two of your weekly rides, you can add quality to your existing training instead of adding more workouts into your already crowded life.

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tom. It is a low-intensity drill, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Give it a try and see where the hitches are in your stroke.

After a warm-up period (either on a trainer or on a flat, open stretch of road), unclip one foot and begin to pedal with one leg only. Start this drill at a slow cadence so you can concentrate on correct form. Gradually increase your cadence while maintaining this form, and continue the interval for only as long as your form holds. Start with four 30-second intervals and work up to six 60-second intervals per leg. After you have worked both legs, recover for one minute with some easy spinning.

As you do the drill, imagine scraping your toes through the bottom of the pedal stroke, as though you are trying to rub mud off your shoes. Over the top of the pedal stroke, kick your foot forward before you reach the 12 o’clock position.

You can tell when your pedal stroke is even by feeling and listening to the tension on the chain. When you are less than smooth, you will hear and see the chain as it snaps taught under power and loses tension through your dead spots. When the chain tension remains even throughout your pedal circle, you know you are making progress.

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FAST-PEDAL DRILLS: Highspeed pedaling drills improve the economy of your pedal stroke by helping your nervous system and musculature adapt to a faster turnover. A higher cadence means you can apply less force to the pedals more frequently to generate the same amount of total power. The upside to this is less stress applied to the musculature of your legs, leaving more strength in reserve for the difficult parts of the bike leg, and ultimately leaving you fresher for the run. Of course, you could also apply the same force as before, with a higher cadence, to achieve a higher average speed as well.

For this drill, use a low gear that keeps the resistance low, and start with two intervals of two to four minutes apiece at as high a cadence as you can maintain without bouncing in the saddle. Relax your upper body and feet, and be smooth and supple with your legs.

Remember, your focus is on foot speed, not force, so the force you apply to the pedals should be low to moderate. After each work interval, recover for two to three minutes by spinning at a lower cadence. Do these drills both in and out of your aerobars to ensure you can use a fast cadence no matter how your body is positioned on your bike. The ultimate goal is to entrench this faster pedaling style into your neuromuscular system so it becomes a subconscious part of all your rides. As you get more proficient, work up to three intervals of three to four minutes.

Since the bike leg is almost always the longest leg of a triathlon, it makes sense that improved economy on the bike should warrant some serious consideration in your training plan. Think of these drills as a great way to improve your bike leg and leave you with fresher legs for the run without adding any more time or intensity to your training.

Justin Peschka is an Expert Coach at Carmichael Training Systems’ training center in Tucson, Ariz. An ultra-endurance athlete at heart, he’s won the Furnace Creek 508 and 12 Arizona State Championships in his 17 years as a competitor. To find more information about CTS coaching, camps and testing, visit trainright.com.

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TAKE-HOME MESSAGE Cycling-technique drill sessions are the cycling equivalent of the swim drills you do to improve your freestyle efficiency and the strides and running drills you do to improve your running economy and increase your turnover rate When you improve your cycling economy (specifically, the efficiency of your pedal stroke), more of the work you’re doing gets translated into watts on your power meter, and cycling-technique drills are a great way to boost your net power By incorporating these drills into the start of just one or two of your weekly rides, you can add quality to your existing training instead of adding more workouts into your already crowded life T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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The great foot-strike controversy Can tweaking your form boost your running performance?

By Matt F itzgerald

In running and triathlon, the notion that heel striking is a natural element of running form has become an article of faith among many experts. But there is a substantial and growing body of evidence suggesting that heel striking is not, in fact, a natural element of running form but is instead a correctable technique flaw. Despite this evidence, many running authorities continue to advocate a heel-first landing, thereby inhibiting the performance and increasing the risk of injury in those who heed this advice.

Consider the case of a recent study on running form in elite runners. Researchers from Ryukoku University in Japan placed a 186

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high-tech video camera at the 15km point of an elite halfmarathon race and videotaped 415 runners as they passed it.

They later analyzed the stride of each runner and categorized each as a forefoot striker, a midfoot striker or a heel striker and correlated the three strike patterns against performance.

Overall, the researchers categorized 74.9 percent of the runners as heel strikers, 23.7 percent as midfoot strikers and only 1.4 percent as forefoot strikers. However, among the top 50 runners, 62 percent were classified as heel strikers, while 36 percent were considered midfoot strikers and the remaining 2 percent were labeled forefoot strikers. Among the 151st through 200th

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finishers, the corresponding percentages were 79, 19, and 2 percent. Thus, runners placing among the top 50 were almost twice as likely to be midfoot or forefoot strikers (36 percent versus 19 percent) as runners placing between 151st and 200th.

Okay, but what about the fact that even the majority of faster runners in this study were heel strikers? Well, all heel strikers are not equal. Distributing the full spectrum of footstriking patterns among just three categories—heel strikers, midfoot strikers and forefoot strikers—is a bit like classifying every human as either short, medium or tall, since there are infinite gradations in foot-strike points between the very back of the heel and the very front of the forefoot, such that categorizing runners into just three groups tends to obfuscate their more nuanced differences.

Indeed, the study under discussion shows sample images of foot landings from each category, and the example they provide of heel striking is barely distinguishable from that of midfoot striking.

WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD As Frans Bosch and Ronald Klomp observe in their book, Running: Biomechanics and Exercise Physiology in Practice, what matters is not which part of the foot first touches the ground but, rather, the position of the foot when it actually becomes weighted by the body. If you sink your full body weight (multiplied by downward momentum) into your foot when only the heel is in contact with the ground, the result will be a strong braking effect. But many runners whose heel is the first part of the foot to touch the ground actually have their full midfoot in contact with the

ground by the time the foot actually becomes fully weighted, thus minimizing the braking effect of landing. And you can bet that those elite runners in the Ryukoku University study who exhibited a less pronounced heel-first landing were more likely to become fully weighted in a flat-footed position than more pronounced heel strikers

are—and therefore really belonged in the midfoot strikers category.

The Ryukoku University study did not seek to determine the position of the foot at the time of its weighting (which would have required the researchers to place force plates on the racecourse).

The study did, however, include measurements of ground contact time for

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each runner. Predictably, the study’s authors observed a strong negative correlation between ground-contact time and speed (that is, the feet of the fastest runners spent the least time in contact with the ground) as well as a significant correlation between foot-strike position and ground-contact time: The average ground-contact time for heel strikers was 199 milliseconds versus 183 milliseconds for midfoot and forefoot strikers.

Still, couldn’t it be that heel striking just happens to be the optimal foot-strike pattern for all but the fastest runners? In a word: no. Previous research has shown that when barefoot—as all runners were for 99.9 percent of human history—there is simply no such thing as a heel striker. It would appear that heel striking is a running-technique flaw that is introduced into the stride of most runners with the addition of footwear to the foot. And other studies have demonstrated that this error is reversible.

ankles (not the waist) as though you’re running downhill.

This will force your foot to land underneath your hips, where it’s supposed to land, rather than out front, where it must hit heel first.

4.If you’re a pronounced heel striker, try retracting your forward leg back toward your body in the moment before your foot makes contact with the ground. In other words, instead of allowing your foot to passively drop to the ground in front of your body, activate your glutes and hamstrings to pull your leg toward your body as your foot approaches the road, much as you do when running in deep water.

By using these techniques to transform myself from a pronounced heel striker to a heel/midfoot striker, I not only became a faster runner than ever in my mid-30s, but I also broke free from a long series of overuse injuries. But that’s a topic for another article.

CHANGING COURSE If you are currently a heel striker, I encourage you to train yourself to adopt a more forward landing position when you run. This is easy to do. I know so because I did it myself a few years ago. Here are some specific suggestions: 1.Switch to the lightest, least-cushioned running shoe that’s comfortable for you. Less fluff between your heel and the road will encourage you to land more flat-footed.

2.Start paying attention to where impact force is concentrated on the bottom of your foot. Start fiddling around with your stride to make that impact zone move slightly forward.

3.Try tilting your whole body very slightly forward from the

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE There is a substantial and growing body of evidence suggesting that heel striking is not, in fact, a natural element of running form but is instead a correctable technique flaw.

Top runners included in a recent Japanese study were almost twice as likely to be midfoot or forefoot strikers.

The feet of the fastest runners in the study spent the least time in contact with the ground: The average ground-contact time for heel strikers was 199 milliseconds versus 183 milliseconds for midfoot and forefoot strikers.

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Going overboard

cise every day and if they don’t they might become frustrated and/or depressed.

Regards, Melisa Davis, Calif.

How much is too much when it comes to exercise and altitude?

By Tim Mickleborough, Ph.D. DEAR SPEED LAB,

Could you please explain whether someone can become addicted to exercise? In other words, they feel they have to exer-

DEAR MELISA,

Thanks for the interesting question. Since there is evidence that vigorous exercise can lead to changes in brain levels of peptides such as endorphin, dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, and since these peptides and neurotransmitters are known to influence mood states, it is understandable that exercise might become a matter of dependency.

The concept of exercise addiction was first introduced by Morgan in 1979 and was based largely on a qualitative analysis of selected exercisers who reported an inability to function without daily exercise. These individuals appeared to be addicted to exercise since they regarded it as being more important than jobs or careers, significant others and personal health. When the options of running or losing a job were given, running received a higher priority; when a choice of running versus interacting with a spouse, children or friends were presented, running was regarded as being more important; and when given the choice of running versus resting at the recommendation of his/her physician, the runner would elect to run through the pain.

A common criticism Morgan’s study was the runners were not addicted per se to running, but motivated, committed, dependent or compulsive. The question arises: Does it really matter whether the runner is addicted, dependent, motivated, committed if he/she elects to exercise even though his/her physician recommends rest in order for the body to heal? It is known, for example, that the behavior of mice addicted to exercise and then deprived of it is the same as those addicted to morphine and then deprived of the drug. Both groups undergo behavioral changes that are viewed as withdrawal symptoms. Still the epidemiology of exercise addiction and dependence has never been addressed in an adequate manner and more research needs to be conducted.

References: 1. Morgan, W.P. (1979). “Negative addiction in runners.” Phys Sportsmed, 7, 57-70.

2. Morgan, W.P. (1985). “Affective beneficence of vigorous physical exercise.”

Med Sci Sports Exerc, 17, 94-100.

DEAR SPEED LAB, I am a triathlete who lives year-round at altitude, but I generally compete at sea level. Is this an advantage or disadvantage? I ask because I recently read that to gain the full benefits of altitude training an athlete should only reside at altitude for a brief time and then compete at sea level. Are there any strategies you can recommend to enhance my performance at sea level?

DEAR TRENT,

Current research suggests the optimal time to spend at altitude in order to optimize sea-level performance is approximately four weeks. Periods longer than four weeks spent at altitude can result in a de-training effect, due to a decrease in the partial pressure of oxygen compared to sea level. In order to better under190

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Thanks, Trent Prescott, Ariz.

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stand why there is a reduction in performance and in maximal oxygen consumption (VO2 max) with increasing altitude, it is important to discuss the concept of the partial pressure of oxygen and how this decreases as we ascend.

Why is it harder to breathe at altitude as compared to sea level? It has to do with the lower density of O2 molecules, lower barometric pressure and different relative contributions of the inspired gases (O2, CO2, N2) at high altitude. At sea level, the barometric pressure of the air is ~ 760 mmHg. In Boulder, Colo., (5260 feet above sea level) it is 560 mmHg. The concentration of the three main gases (oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen) in the air does not change, regardless of the altitude.

The concentration of O2 in the air is ~ 21 percent and remains at that percentage, whether you are at sea level or on Mt. Everest. It is the partial pressure of oxygen (PO2) in the air that determines the ease with which you can breathe. At sea level, the PO2 equals the barometric pressure (760 mmHg) x O2 content of the air (0.21) = 160 mmHg. In Boulder, the PO2 is 560 mmHg x 0.21 = 118 mmHg. Getting oxygen into the lungs requires that a partial pressure gradient exists between the PO2 of inspired air and the PO2 in the lungs. Gases move down their partial-pressure gradients from high to low. Thus, when the PO2 of the air is lower than that of the lungs, air tends to move into the lungs without active work by the breathing muscles.

The consequence for the athlete training at altitude is a state called hypoxia, or decreased availability of O2 for the working musclesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; notably cardiac (heart) and skeletal muscle.

VO2 max, or the maximum amount of oxygen your muscles can consume during exercise, is related to how much O2 we can get to the working muscles. Obviously, the less O2 we can actually get into the lungs, the lower our VO2 max will be. The extent to which increasing altitude, with its decreasing available inspired O2, reduces VO2 max has been heavily researched. The data suggest a linear reduction in VO2 max of 8 percent for each 1000-meter rise in altitude above 700 meters.

Exposure to altitudes greater than 2300 meters (7563 feet) makes it nearly impossible for athletes to train at the same intensity as those undertaken at sea level or lower elevations.

Thus, use the mountains around your area to do more long/endurance/aerobic workouts. However, for interval and tempo/anaerobic workouts, stay at a comparatively lower elevation to maximize the performance-boosting effect of increased oxygen availability. This will also lessen lacticacid buildup and reduce delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS).

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If you are native to altitude, then arriving at sea level one to two days before racing is fine. You donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want your body to adjust metabolically to sea level because these changes will undo your bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adaptations to mountain living that have enabled it to draw more oxygen out of the air. This can result in you feeling tired and sluggish. However, if you are

using altitude training for a short period of time and normally reside at sea level, then I recommend returning to sea level from altitude one to two weeks before an important race. In this case, you do want your body to adjust physiologically to sea level but retain the increased red blood cell number in order to improve oxygencarrying capacity to the muscles.

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TRAINING

TECH SUPPORT

Join th Most Spi e Nation’s #1 rited Tria thlon Fam ily

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

GO LA!

Membership in the LA Tri Club means that you’ll never be alone again on the race course, as cries of “GO LA” at the site of the Club’s distinctive red, white, and blue uniforms can be heard at major races in every corner of the globe.

Carbon unwound

Stay connected with the LA Tri Club family off the course through our online community which provides: access to the knowledge and support of the Club’s over 1,500 members + answers to your tri questions + online, instore, race, and training clinic discounts + Podium Program (cash if you’re fast) + Race Rewards (cash for participation & flying the colors).

Part one of our series on carbon fiber (in the March issue) examined the most common manufacturing processes used in composite-component and bicycle-frame fabrication.

In part two, we discussed the raw materials that go into making the carbon-fiber prepreg and how it relates to some of the common terms used in marketing. This final part discusses the four basic categories of bike companies offering composite bikes and how these companies approach the design, manufacturing and marketing of their carbon-fiber products.

As with most products, consumer pricing is informed in large part by engineering/manufacturing costs and the cost of raw materials. And the manner in which a company markets its products to consumers (builder of uncompromising quality, cheaper than the competition, the custom resource, etc.) often reflects the approach it takes to production. While companies sometimes use multiple production techniques, most fall into one of the following four categories.

Join the LA Tri Club!

LATriClub.com Columbia Multisport - See you in Vegas! photos by BrooklinPictures.com

The final component of a three-part series

By Ian Buchanan

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ALL-IN-ONE MASS-PRODUCTION COMPANIES. There aren’t many of these companies, but they tend to be some of the biggest and best-known brands in the industry. All-in-one mass producers almost always use bladder molding to produce bikes and do everything from their engineering and design through actual carbon molding and finish work in-house. Trek and Giant are among the few that mass-produce composite bikes this way, as the start-up costs are significant.

ALL-IN-ONE SPECIALTY MANUFACTURERS. Like the mass-production companies, these companies do as much of their own engineering, design, frame production and finish-work as possible. Specialty builders tend to focus on maximizing fit, ride tunability and quality, durability and finish options by using top-quality materials in combination with the workmanship and quality control only a handcrafted approach can provide.

When properly matched to the rider, bikes made by these companies are some of the best-fitting, best-riding and longest-lasting available. All-in-one specialty builders most frequently employ roll-wrapped and filament-wound carbon-fabrication techniques. This said, some of these companies are integrating molded structures into their designs as well. Guru, Serotta and Parlee are good examples of all-in-one specialty manufacturers.

DESIGN AND ENGINEERING COMPANIES. These companies design, engineer and market their own products but have them built by a sub-contractor (usually in Asia) to their specifications. These frames are almost always bladder molded. Cervélo, Kuota, Felt, Orbea and Specialized are examples of companies that rely on this approach. The level of quality control and attention to detail is determined by the factory the company sub-contracts with, how much the company invests in supervising the production of their frames and the quality of their engineering and processes. The best companies in this category have invested heavily in their engineering (about 25 percent of Cervélo’s employees are engineers, for example) and have a close relationship with their production factory in Asia. These factors help them produce innovative designs quickly and with top quality.

MARKETING AND DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES. The majority of the carbon bikes come out of a relatively small number of mass-production factories in Asia. In addition to building frames for the design and engineering companies, these companies also have deep catalogs of the frame designs they have sketched out or prototyped. A marketing or distribution company may purchase or license these designs and market them under their name. These firms often have little to nothing to do with the design, production, materials, manufacturing or testing of the product; they are responsible for distribution, marketing and sales of the product only. In some cases, the same frame design can be found under two or more brand names. The frames that are offered this way are typically built using standard (the most basic level) modulus carbon or a prepreg of another fiber (like fiberglass) altogether. The combination of inexpensive materials and avoidance of engineering and associated manufacturing expenses results in some of the least-expensive composite frames available.

Ian Buchanan is co-owner of Fit Werx, a road- and triathloncycling company that offers specialty fitting and analysis services, individualized consultation, technology research and top cycling and triathlon products. Information and locations for Fit Werx can be found online at fitwerx.com or by calling 866833-4FIT. T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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DEAR COACH

Shake it up

Injecting a bit of interval training can help you break through

By Paul Huddle and Roch Frey DEAR COACHES,

I am a 51-year-old male and have been doing triathlons for a year (training for two years). I train an average of six hours on the bike, three to four hours on the run and four hours swimming each week. However, I seem to have reached an impasse in terms of my performance. If I push too hard on the swim I start out slow on the bike; if I hammer on the bike my legs are shot for the run. If I am going to get faster (my goal is to be competitive in my age group), how should I change my training? I don’t really do many brick workouts, as the long bike rides on the weekend seem enough. Am I shortchanging myself? I do most of the bike work in zones 2 and 3 with some sprints in zone 4. Runs and swims are mostly in zone 2.

Thanks, Roger

You’re not at an impasse. You’re old. You’re 51 and stilltraining 13 to 14 hours a week and, on top of that, you want improved event performance? Shouldn’t you be thanking your lucky stars and celebrating the fact that you’re now eligible for AARP discounts?

After all, only in the past couple of centuries have average human life spans climbed above 40 or so years. If this was medieval Europe, you might be the oldest man alive!

Think of the celebrity you’d enjoy.

As it is, you’re solidly in the 21st century and, as such, just one of many healthy, middle-aged fitness enthusiasts providing yet another example that exercise can be the best and least expensive preventive prescription for heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes. For guys, what used to be considered the start of the golden years has become the perfect time to buy expensive foreign convertibles, or to plunk down $6000 to $10,000 for the latest, lightest, fastest bike.

There’s no question that, past the age of 40, endurance athletic performance generally declines, but there’s another factor you need to consider besides chronological age: athletic age. If you’ve only been training for two years, we believe you might still have your best performances ahead of you as your experience and skill as an endurance athlete improve.

You say you’re training up to 14 hours a week, but from what you tell us it sounds like you’re in a rut with the duration and intensity of your sessions. You didn’t mention a distance you’re training for, but based on your week-to-week volume, we’d guess you’re doing sprint- to Olympic-distance events, yes? It sounds like you’re doing some specific, structured work on the bike but spending all of your swimming and running time in a relatively easy, aerobic zone. And you’re not doing many, if any, transition rides or runs. The latter, especially, are important if you’re to become the best triathlete you can be.

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ROGER,

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Also consider doing at least one higherintensity swim and run workout each week.

These higher-intensity sessions should include intervals that are shorter than the distance you’re preparing for, and you should perform these intervals at your goal race pace or even significantly faster, with enough recovery following each work interval to allow you to do the next effort at the same pace or faster.

Using swimming as an example, try a simple main set like 10 x 100 meters. How do you decide how fast you should swim a set like this? Well, what’s your best open-water swim time? Let’s say you’ve done an Olympic distance event and your best 1500 swim is 35 minutes. That’s 2:20 per 100 pace. That means you can probably swim between 2:00 and 2:10 per 100 during the 10 x 100 main set, taking 20 seconds rest after each 100 for a turnover, or send-off, time of between 2:20 and 2:30.

The goal is to do all 10 at the same pace, say 2:00 (known as even splitting the set)—or get slightly faster on each 100 (2:00, 1:58, 1:57, 1:55 etc.—known as descending the set).

However, if it’s the first time you’ve ever done a set like this, chances are good that you’ll actually ascend the set (i.e., get slower as you progress through the 100s) and swim, say, 2:00 for the first, 2:03 for the second, 2:08 for the third and continue to get incrementally slower as you slog your way through the 10 x 100 main set. But that’s okay, because this set will teach you pacing and, more importantly, will push you to swim at a faster pace than you could sustain were you to swim the entire distance without any rests; this will push your cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems to adapt to this faster pace. You’ll find that doing this type of workout once or twice a week in the pool will slowly but surely give you the specific fitness to go faster. Be sure to warm up and cool down for at least 300 to 500 meters before and after your main set.

And the same concept applies to running and cycling. You need to spend one workout a week in each discipline training at or slightly harder than the intensity/duration for which you’re preparing to race. That’s a simple explanation and there are varying lengths and intensities of interval workouts you can do for each discipline, but the basic message is this: If all of your swim and run training is in zone 2, you’re going to race in zone 2.

That’s what you’ve been training specifically to do, so your body has become efficient at it.

As far as brick workouts go, we’d like you to consider doing these so-called transition workouts. Since transitions (i.e., switching from one sport to the next) are the nature of what we do as triathletes, make them a part of your day-to-day training as much as you can.

The bike-to-run transition tends to be the

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more difficult of the two. For this reason, we suggest that if you have a run planned on the same day as a ride, do the run immediately following the bike.

The only exceptions would be your long run or hard run: These workouts should get the priority on their respective days and be first so you can give them maximum energy and focus. For the rest of

your runs, however, do them after riding.

You’ll become a much better runner in triathlons, and you won’t look like you’re trying to run in a seated position anymore. Let’s face it, that’s been a huge source of embarrassment lately, hasn’t it?

See you at the races! Don’t embarrass us.

Paul and Roch

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TRAINING This is still good basic advice, particularly for single-sport endurance athletes and experienced triathletes who are strong in all three disciplines. The picture becomes slightly more clouded, however, when you consider that triathletes train for three sports rather than just one. As a triathlete, you should give individual consideration to each sport, and to your unique strengths and weaknesses within each sport. For example, you may need to work on your hill climbing on the bike, your ability to hold a flat threshold rhythm on the run or comfort and speed in open water. Thus, as you prepare your spring training program, consider spending six to eight weeks on your identified areas for improvement, or limiters. This is where you are going to achieve your biggest gains in your overall performance.

1. IDENTIFY YOUR LIMITERS: You can decide

2. WRITE IT OUT: Write out your goals for improvement and identify the steps it will take to get there. For some this might be to finish your first triathlon. Rank your skills and then rank the importance of the various skills in relation to achieving the goals you’ve established. This exercise can help you decide when and where to race and how to prepare for races already chosen. Turn to page 198 for sample chart.

Spring-training strategies

4 steps to setting up a top performance this season

By Lance Watson

I

In the 1960s, Russian physiologist Leo Metveyev and Czech sport scientist Tudor Bompa, regarded as the fathers of modern periodization, organized the basic sport-training periodization model that remains standard practice in many sports. In triathlon, conventional training wisdom has allocated the winter months as a phase of base and strength training, transitioning into a slightly sub-threshold focus in the spring and, finally, shifting to threshold training during the competitive season (summer or early fall for most triathletes).

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3. BUILD YOUR WEEKLY SCHEDULE: Many triathletes are creatures of habit, but you have to break the mould if you want to impact your performance. If you want to become a better hill climber on the bike, then spend a lot of time riding hills for two months, and don’t water down your pursuit of this objective by simultaneously pursuing competing goals. It is hard to become a better sprinter, endurance rider, hill climber and flat time-trialer in the same two-month block. If you have an area of need, then build your training schedule around that need. Make sure you hit your key workouts fresh and as the toppriority sessions of the week. Fit in your other sessions and your rest days to complement your key sessions.

4. WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER DISCIPLINES?: Obviously, you don’t want to be four to six weeks out from your key event and suddenly realize you haven’t trained meaningfully in your non-emphasis sports and energy systems for two months. Instead, you want to arrive at that point with your strengths still strong and ready to capitalize on your newly improved areas.

To that end, consider the frequency of sport-specific movement. What this means is that instead of going easy all the time, or tearing yourself down with exhaustive high-intensity ses-

John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

where to focus your energies by doing a triathlon self-assessment.

Look a little deeper than just your swim, bike and run, although this surface inspection is a great place to start. For the bike and run, contemplate how you do relative to your peers on the flats and hills. In the swim, consider your rough-water swimming, flat swimming and wetsuit and non-wetsuit performances. If you are racing long, assess your sprint speed, your maximum pace for 20 to 30 minutes (which indicates your threshold ability) and your maximum pace over 45 minutes in the swim, one hour on the run and two hours on the bike (which indicates your aerobic power). Also think about how you do in the heat or cold plus other environmental considerations such as altitude.

Finally, match up your skills to the demands of your goal races this season. This should give you a clear picture of what you want to focus on this spring.

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sions, you do smaller pieces of work at racespecific speed and full, efficient range of motion. The point is to move biomechanically as you would on race day and to touch on the energy systems necessary to be successful at your chosen distance and event. In fact, it is good to do this sort of training year-round, only adjusting the volume of sport-specific movement according to the time of year. Your winter training should not consist entirely of long, slow miles. While basic aerobic work is the primary focus of the period, interspersing your workouts with short intervals at race pace and race-specific movement keeps your body within shouting distance of race fitness by recruiting muscle fibers and firing your muscles in the right sequence and by imposing metabolic and cardiorespiratory stresses that keep your anaerobic threshold from sagging.

By doing 10 to 20 minutes at your race pace, divided into intervals separated by ample recovery periods, you will maintain biomechanical efficiency and an element of threshold fitness. Additionally, short accelerations or sprints of fewer than 10 seconds allow for significant sport-specific musclefiber recruitment without an accumulation of lactic acid.

Here are three sets (one in each discipline) to help you build into three-sport fitness despite your focus on your specific limiters. Perform these sets after a good warm-up and follow them by a thorough cool-down.

SWIM • 1-2 x 200m on 1-2 minutes rest; 2-4 x 100m on 30 seconds rest; 4-8 x 50m on 20 seconds rest. These efforts should be performed at your threshold pace or 1500m time-trial pace • Swim 100m recovery • 8-12 x 50m on 30 seconds rest as 15m sprint followed by 35 meters easy

BIKE • Perform 6-10 sprints of 15 pedal strokes in length (counting one leg only) on 90 seconds rest. Start from almost a standstill and pick a gear that is large enough so you don’t have to shift. It will take a few pedal strokes to get going • 2-3 x 4 minutes on 2 minutes rest; 2-4 x 2 minutes on 1 minute rest. Perform the work intervals at your threshold pace or 40km time-trial pace

• 5 minutes on 2.5 minutes easy-jogging recovery; 4-8 x 2 minutes on 1 minute easy-jogging recovery.

Perform the work intervals at anaerobic-threshold or your 10K race pace

RUN • Perform 4-8 building strides of about 5060 yards. You should be at 90 percent of full-sprint speed by the end. Take 1 minute rest after each work interval

This spring, analyze your skills and focus your training on your areas for improvement while maintaining your strengths. A good plan will leave you in a

great position for personal-best triathlon performances this summer.

LifeSport coach Lance Watson is the official coach of Ironman and has been coaching triathletes of all levels for more than 20 years. To learn more about LifeSport, or to start on a great coaching journey, contact coach@lifesport.ca or visit lifesport.ca.

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TRAINING SAMPLE SKILLS-DEVELOPMENT TABLE FOR KEY EVENT

BIKE

SWIM

Sport

Name: Jane Hammertime Goal race: 70.3/Half Ironman Date: August 2008 Conditions: Choppy wetsuit swim; hilly bike, flat run. Hot and humid

RUN

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Skills to consider

Personal ranking 1-10*

Importance to goal event**

Tactics for race-specific preparation

Speed, starting speed

4

4

Will do minimal speed work

Threshold ability

8

8

Will do maintenance threshold sessions

Endurance

8

8

Will continue base swimming, but on tired arms on days after key strength swims

Strength for wetsuit swim and rough conditions

5

8

Will do more wetsuit swimming and pulling with paddles swimming for shoulderstrength adaptation and getting used to higher body position

Ability to swim comfortably in a group

5

9

Will swim with friends in open water and side by side with friends in my pool lane

Open-water tactical savvy

4

7

Will consult my coach or experienced athletes. Will practice new ideas

Speed, sprint ability

5

2

Will do minimal sprint work

Time-trial ability, flat

5

5

Will do limited maintenance threshold sessions on the flats to reinforce pace and rhythm

Time-trial ability, hilly

6

9

Will create a hill-interval progression and make these the focus workout session of the week

Long climbs

8

8

Will continue doing long climbs but on tired legs or as the second set after a hard shorter hill-interval set

Endurance

8

9

Will continue base running but on tired legs on days after key hill intervals

Group-riding comfort

8

1

Will do some group riding for fun on base days but avoid the hammer fest

Heat adaptation

7

8

Will regularly bike indoors on the trainer and dress warmly outdoors for heat acclimation

Cold adaptation

3

1

N/A

Speed, sprint ability

5

3

Will do minimal sprint work

Threshold pace, flat

8

9

Will do maintenance threshold sessions on the flats to reinforce pace and rhythm

Hill-climbing ability

7

3

Will mostly run flat runs

Long climbs

7

3

Will mostly run flat runs

Endurance

8

9

Will continue base running but on tired legs on days after key bike hill intervals

Running off the bike (relative to pure running ability)

5

9

Will add one additional short run off bike each week and run threshold-maintenance intervals after the bike hill-interval workouts

Heat adaptation

5

9

Will run two times a week indoors closer to race week. Will run in the heat of the day on warm days. Will refine hydration strategy

Cold adaptation

2

1

N/A

Personal ranking: *1 = poor skill development; 10 = advanced skill development Importance to goal event: **1 = low importance; 10 = high importance 198

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XTERRA ZONE

Rich Cruse

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Gearing up for off-road

Lightweight XTERRA shoes designed to help athletes stalk their on-course prey

By Zack Smith

T

TJ Gray and Ashley Brown, designers of XTERRA’s new line of footwear and apparel, stood at the finish line of the XTERRA World Championship in Maui last October. While many of the competitors lay in bed the night before counting sheep in anticipation of the race, that afternoon Gray and Brown were counting shoes.

Road shoe, road shoe, road shoe. As athletes poured down from the lower slopes of Mount Haleakala from their nearly seven-mile trail run over roots, rocks and ravines, Gray and Brown couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Maybe one in 100 was a trail runner,” said Brown, who along with partner Gray have developed shoes for Nike, Adidas and Salomon. “They were all sacrificing stability for less weight.”

So Brown and Gray returned to the drawing board determined to make XTERRA the lightest, but still the most stable, trail-running shoe on the market. With four months to go before the launch of the shoes at the Outdoor Retailer show last winter in Salt Lake City, designs were tweaked, materials tested—including a unique combination of lighter blown rubber in the forefoot and a heavier high-abrasion carbon rubber in the heel.

But their biggest discovery was yet to come.

After much trial and error in their New Hampshire lab, a concept never before seen in the category was developed: They replaced the traditional glued-together midsole with a dualinjected, dual-density EVA cushion made of two layers, with the top soft, the bottom harder, providing comfort and stability while taking away weight.

The result: an eco-friendly design that’s one of the lightest 200

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Courtesy XTERRA

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trail runners ever, weighing in at less than 10.5 ounces for men, 9.5 for women.

With the weight issue solved, multisport competitors Gray and Brown began to research every movement taken on a trail: the footplant and lateral pushoff around a 90-degree directional path change, the flexed-footed jump over water, the balancing toe-gripping run across a log. As Gray and Brown were going for a timed run in the woods near their studios—furiously passing each other, taking turns in the lead—the bigpicture design inspiration for XTERRA’s new footwear line came: a big-cat paw.

“Chasing its prey, a big cat grips into the earth, digging into loose gravel, dirt, gaining time and distance on every step, every leap,” says Gray, a former collegiate decathlete at Syracuse.

“The outer part of their foot acts like a traction pad,” he continued. “It’s from there that we came up with XTERRA’s unique outsole lug concept.”

The concept’s name: WILDTred. According to Gray and Brown, its carved claw-like perimeter lug design forms independent touch pads from forefoot to heel with deep flex zones for controlled, wraparound grip. They also noted the lugs are higher than the shoe bottom’s concave center, helping it act as its front and rear suspension while creating a larger surface area.

“With the cat’s paw, we liked the symbolism of man’s

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co-existence with all things found in the environment,” says Brown. “We adapt to our surroundings, whether it be animal, plant or any of nature’s elements. The thought behind XTERRA’s new line is that the outdoors are no longer to be conquered; they’re to be connected with.”

XTERRA’s fall 2008 footwear launch includes five styles: trail runner, trail trainer (each $115), ultra trainer ($95), performance sandal ($75) and performance slide ($55). They hit retail stores in July and will be available at outdoor-specialty, running, tri and independent sporting-goods stores.

The line includes a wide selection of race- and training-specific apparel and accessories as well, among them jackets, singlets, speedsuits and shorts.

For more information on the product—or which retailers are carrying XTERRA—multisport athletes can go to xterraouteractive.com or xterragear.com.

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TRIATHLETE’S GARAGE

Argon will build the bike however you’d like, but for $7,850 you get the E-114 as shown here.

By Brad Culp

W

We get a chance to see and test tons of bikes, so it’s not often we come across a ride and exclaim, “We have to ride that thing.” Such was the case with the new E-114 by distinguished Canadian builder Argon 18. This rig caught our eye at Interbike in Las Vegas last year, and we immediately told the boys at Argon we had to have one. The E-114 went into full production late last year, and we got our hands on one of the first off the assembly line.

We didn’t even need to take the bike for a test ride to know it’s scary fast. Super-biker Torbjorn Sindballe had the honor of being the first to ride the E-114 in Kona last year, and the result was the fastest overall bike split (4:25:26).

It doesn’t take a wind tunnel to tell you this ship is almost aerodynamically flawless (although it did test extremely well in the San Diego Wind Tunnel), but the E-114 was built for much more than just cheating wind. Argon 18 engineer Gervais Rioux built the bike with his ONEness concept in mind—an attempt to bring about the ultimate merger of man and machine.

Nowhere is the ONEness concept better manifested than in the E-114’s unique front end. Argon’s new aerobar system is installed directly onto the fork fairing, completely eliminating the need for a stem and smoothing airflow over the entire front of the bike. We thought it might feel a bit awkward to ride a bike with no stem, but surprisingly it was an easy adjustment and the stem-less design makes for a very stable ride. When in the aerobars, the rider has the sensation of being balanced over the front end of the bike.

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The back end of the frame proved to be equally impressive.

The stays and seat tube are built with monster-deep tubing, and at first glance it’s easy to assume the cost of all that carbon is extra weight. Using only unidirectional, 6006 Nano-Tech carbon, Argon was able to keep the weight to a minimum while optimizing rigidity in the rear triangle. Our test bike tipped the scales at 17.5 pounds, with a Zipp 404 clincher wheelset and Speedplay Zero pedals. The burly rear triangle and feathery weight pay huge dividends when the E-114 is pointed uphill, as power transfers extremely well, especially when climbing in bigger gears.

While we enjoyed climbing on the E-114, the ultimate test of any triathlon bike is how it rides on a straight and flat stretch of road. This was where the bike really shined. The frame is built with Argon’s AFS Extra Stable Geometry concept in mind, which, apart from keeping you nice and steep (78 degrees with the seatpost in the forward position), also keeps you stable. The overall wheelbase measures a lengthy 1007mm, which diminishes the slightest twitch, even when you’re steering with the extensions.

Fitting the E-114 can be a bit tricky, as most bike fitters are accustomed to manipulating stem length to provide the desired aerobar placement. Argon solved the dilemma by making the aerobar system extremely adjustable. The extensions are left long and can be cut from either end to achieve proper hand position.

Additionally, the armrests can be placed in any of three fore/aft positions, with two width options available.

The E-114 is available in four sizes (XS, S, M, L) and is offered as a frameset only for $3,750. Argon offers four different build options for a complete bike, with prices starting around $6,000.

Learn more at argon18bike.com.

Courtesy the manufacturer

ARGON 18 E-114

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Courtesy the manufacturer

TRIATHLETE’S GARAGE

TREK MADONE 6.9 PRO The Madone 6.9 Pro, spec’d with Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 Carbon tubulars and Shimano Dura-Ace, retails at $8,249

By Jay Prasuhn

T

Triathlete recently had the opportunity to see Trek’s Madone line being made by hand at the factory in Waterloo, Wis. During our visit we learned about the new color-coded hierarchy of Trek OCLV carbon: red signifies the top-end of the spectrum, a spot occupied by the overhauled Madone 6.9 Pro, a carbon-fiber bike that this year boasts a new seatmast that is actually a height-adjustable carbon-fiber cap secured over a short, solid mast integrated within the frame. Sure, the new design helps the 6.9 drop weight, but the big benefit is that the seat-tube mast flexes more naturally fore to aft, improving vertical compliance by 39 percent.

On our test ride of the 6.9, we launched from Madison’s Monona Terrace and headed over parts of the Ironman Wisconsin course, directed by ride partner and Trek media liaison Scott Daubert. The bike was set up with Race XXX Lite clinchers, putting the bike at just a hair over 15 pounds.

Part of the Madone’s overhaul focused on improving frame stiffness, starting at the bottom bracket. In lieu of conventional bottom-bracket shells, Trek created a precision-fit shell that allows the bearings to rest not within threaded-in cups, but instead directly on the carbon of the frame. Eliminating the cups shaves 40 grams. Our first question, however, was: Won’t wear degradation (dirt, rainwater) cause the metal bearings to wear down the carbon-fiber shell? Nope. Trek’s bottom-bracket testing (which we witnessed in Trek’s stress-testing facility) showed a weight-loaded crankset splash water and grit into a revolving BB. The ultra-high pressure used in creating the BB shells saw

zero wear, regardless of the thousands of miles and revolutions.

Surprisingly, it was the bearings that simply exploded, breaking into smaller pieces. So rest assured, the BB will be strong; the frame will last. Trek backs it with a limited lifetime warranty.

Trek says the design increases BB stiffness by 48 percent, and it’s noticeable. Paired with an oversized 1-1/2-inch lower steerer tube, the Madone 6.9 returns what your legs give it on climbs.

Over seam gaps and on rough, pitted roads, the new seatmast design really works, flexing to take up high-frequency road vibration. It’s trite to observe that carbon-fiber bikes provide exceptional comfort, but the design of the 6.9 simply cubed that comfort through the seat tube. Athletes doing high miles and getting off the bike looking for either a massage or Jacuzzi to uncoil from the day’s rigors will appreciate this feature of the Madone.

As a triathlon race bike, the Madone 6.9 is fairly specialized as the ideal Alcatraz/70.3 Monaco (think hilly and technical courses) race rig: stiff out of saddle and light. Perhaps more pointedly for triathletes, however, the bike shines as a high-mileage training rig. The new Madone is ideal for the long-course triathlete trying to save his or her body for race day, and will surely be popular among triathletes looking at a training bike that will perform as you’d expect and provide comfort you’d never expect.

The price may cause trepidation, but fear not; the Madone may be had in lower-hierarchy carbon iterations and lesser component specs for as little as $3,019, as well as in a performance fit, with a 30mm-taller head tube for a less aggressive bar reach for even more comfort. A women’s-specific version (with femalefriendly geometry in sizes as small as 43cm) exists as well.

Learn more at trekbikes.com.

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triathletemag.com •News •Training Tips •Race Events Triathlete Online will get you there faster.

Redesigned for speed and ease of use.

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The pursuit of the perfect ride Half a world away, Shimano reinvents the wheel

By Brad Culp

T

The tagline “Made in Malaysia” doesn’t exactly exude notions of masterful engineering and flawless design, but don’t tell that to Shinpei Okajima, chief wheel engineer for Shimano Components. Shimano’s wheel factory is located in the Malaysian town of Pekan Nanas (Malay for “Pineapple Town”), about 45 minutes from the neighboring city state of Singapore. While many Asian and Western companies have outsourced production to Malaysia to cut costs, Shimano chose the region for its geographic location. Being so close to the bustling Port of Singapore means they can get a set of wheels from the assembly line to your bike in about a week.

The enormous Shimano facility stands in stark contrast to other factories in the area. It’s immaculate, and the main lobby has the feel of a five-star resort. While bicycles are the preferred mode of transportation for most Malay factory workers, nowhere is this more prevalent than at the endless bike rack in front of the building (each bike pow-

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ered by Shimano components, of course). And not far from the bike rack sits an enormous steel fridge housing over 2,000 square meters of the carbonfiber sheets used in the production of Shimano’s top-of-the-line Dura-Ace wheels.

One step inside the adjacent main factory building and it’s clear that the more than 2,000 workers have wheel building down to a science. In a matter of minutes an aluminum rod is transformed into a ready-to-ride wheel. However, while each employee works swiftly, precision and quality always trump speed.

Producing each wheel is an eight-step process with quality-assurance testing after each step: rim extrusion, cutting, bending, jointing, spoke-hole drilling, flash-butt jointing, spoke assembling and decaling. Then, once a wheel is ready to ride, it is carefully catalogued before leaving the factory so it can be traced back to a particular batch of raw materials, date of assembly and even every worker who laid a hand on it. And before a wheel is

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shipped the spoke tension is recorded and any wheel with even the slightest flaw is scrapped.

Shimano believes that in wheel building one should strive to create a balance between stiffness and compliance, torsional and lateral rigidity, weight and aerodynamics. Nowhere are these precepts demonstrated more clearly than in the ultra-high-tech Dura-Ace room: Dura-Ace wheel builders are hand-selected by Shimano executives and then flown to the headquarters in Tokyo, where they undergo weeks of training. Shimano’s factory staff is paid significantly better than most Malaysian factory workers, and getting into the DA room means a worker will be catapulted well into the Malaysian middle class.

Before we were allowed to step foot into the DA room we had to pull cloth covers over our shoes, as the room is a completely dust-free environment. The room appears sterile enough to perform brain surgery in, and the sharp-eyed focus of the builders makes it look as though that is exactly what they’re doing. The relatively small room is where every set of C50 deep-section carbon wheels is created, including those ridden by Australia’s Chris McCormack at last year’s Ford Ironman World Championship.

Okajima is very happy with what he’s helped produce so far, but that doesn’t mean the wheels in his head will stop turning anytime soon. The former pro cyclist still rides about 50 miles a day: “Even when I’m on my bike my brain never stops working,” Okajima said. “I’m always thinking about what I can do to achieve the perfect ride.”

Dustin Brady

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T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

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TRIATHLONS • DUATHLONS • MARATHONS • ULTRAS • ADVENTURE RACES • CYCLING EVENTS • WINTER SPORTS

U.S. MULTI-SPORT DIRECTORY

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GEAR BAG

Grab bag

Seven products perfect for spring training

By Brad Culp

In the multisport world, new products are released on an almost daily basis. There’s truly something for everyone.

This month, we played guinea pig and gave seven new items a turn in the spotlight.

RacerMate Real Ironman Course Video $100; $160 for a package of 2

During the 2007 Ironman season, RacerMate, manufacturers of the CompuTrainer, filmed 16 different Ironman and 70.3 courses on race day. The videos will give athletes the invaluable experience of previewing the bike course prior to their event. Currently, videos for Coeur d’Alene and Hawaii are available, with additional videos rolling out each month. racermateinc.com

MBT Physiological Footwear $240-$270

The MBT shoe is the ultimate stealth-training tool. Using a Masai Sensor inside the sole, the shoes create instability and force your body to react with increased muscle activity. Studies in both Canada and the UK demonstrated the shoes produce an almost 20percent increase in muscle activity in the hamstrings and calves in addition to improved posture and gait. swissmasius.com

5-Hour Energy $3 (per serving)

By now, chances are you’ve heard of 5Hour Energy or seen it at your local convenience store. If you’re not overly sensitive to caffeine, it’s definitely worth a try. The two-ounce, four-calorie shot uses a blend of caffeine, enzymes and B vitamins to provide a steady dose of energy without much of a crash. While it’s great for a little kick before a long ride, we liked it best for the long drive home from an event.

5hourenergy.com

Muscletrac $45

SPIbelt $20

Perfect for both training and racing. The SPIbelt securely holds anything from an iPod, Blackberry, cell phone, keys or up to five packs of GU. We also found it’s a convenient place to stash salt tabs during a race or long run. spibelt.com

The tiny stick (about the size of your forearm) will fit in any bag and is a great way to soothe your muscles after a race or hard workout. Just roll the device up and down your quads and calves for instant relaxation and relief of muscle tension. muscletrac.com

Who ever thought a bag could have more features than a bike? The Rocket Bag is made for multisport.

Aside from being enormous and comfortable to wear, there’s a compartment for everything from your heart-rate monitor to eyeglasses. There’s even a transition mat that rolls right out of the bag. rocketsciencesports.com

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MHP Secretagogue-One $75 (30 servings)

Secretagogue-One is a legal HGH-boosting supplement. Each serving provides amino acids and minerals proven to support natural HGH production, like L-Tyrosin, L-Glutamine and Glycine. We took it for 30 days, before bed and noticed increased recovery from hard workouts and improved sleep patterns. maxperformance.com

Images courtesy the manufacturers

Rocket Science Sports Rocket Bag $150

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AT THE RACES

Cam Brown powered to another win in Taupo to become the first man to win the same Ironman race seven times.

Brown, Lawn on top in Taupo Story and photo by Cour tney Johnson

Not even pouring rain could damper the Kiwi spirit as thousands cheered into the night to bring the athletes home at the 24th Bonita Ironman New Zealand, in Taupo on March 1.

First to cross the line, and enjoying every minute of it, was Kiwi star Cameron Brown, in 8:24:49. With his win, Brown became the first man to win the same Ironman race seven times. On the women’s side, New Zealand’s Jo Lawn set a new course record by almost two minutes and became the first woman to win the same Ironman race six times in a row.

Brown overcame a seven-minute deficit off the bike to take the win over Belgium’s Frederik Van Lierde, the 2007 European long-course champion. “People think in triathlon you’re over the hill at 35. I’m not over the hill,” said Brown, who turns 36 later this year. “Things keep getting better for me.”

As predicted, top swimmers Kieran Doe, Bryan Rhodes and Pete Jacobs led the men’s pack in the water with Doe putting in a surge at the end to exit the water first. “I turned on my back and did some backstroke to see where they were,” said Doe. “I was surprised and happy to not have them on my feet.”

It didn’t take long for Doe to make his move on the bike.

Although he said he couldn’t find his rhythm on the first lap, Doe surged over lap two and came off the bike seven minutes up on Brown, a strong runner and patient Ironman racer who often makes up considerable time on the marathon.

By the 12km mark on the run, Doe’s advantage had been trimmed to under four minutes, and by halfway Brown had run his way into the lead. From there, he cruised to a nearly sevenminute victory over Van Lierde. Doe finished third.

Brown was able to enjoy the finish line and spent time thanking the crowd and slapping hands in the finish chute. “I tried to really enjoy the last few kilometers. The next two weeks will be even more enjoyable when I spend time with family on the Gold Coast. I’ve had grumpy-dad syndrome, and now it’s all about my kids.”

RACING IRONMAN AND LOVING IT “I’m not a great athlete, I am just me,” said Lawn after winning her sixth contest in Taupo. “I am Jo Lawn who does Ironman and 210

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loves it.” Fellow Kiwi Gina Ferguson exited the water first, only 20 seconds up on Lawn. But Lawn, a powerful cyclist, had ridden herself into a four-minute lead by T2. Still, the relatively slim margin meant Lawn would have to dig deep on the run, especially as Australia’s Kate Bevilaqua began to charge hard on the marathon after serving a drafting penalty on the bike.

With 14km to go, Bevilaqua caught Lawn, and the two ran silently side by side. Lawn put in a couple surges but was unable to drop the Aussie.“I’ve never BONITA IRONMAN run with someone like that NEW ZEALAND before,” said Lawn. “I kept Taupo, New Zealand asking myself the question, March 1, 2008 ‘When should I surge? Was 2.4-mi swim, 112-mi bike, 26.2-mi run that a surge?’ Well if it was, I Women didn’t get anywhere.” But at 1. Joanna Lawn (NZL). . . . . 9:16:00 the 38km mark Lawn made a 2. Kate Bevilaqua (AUS). . . 9:20:06 decisive move and was able to 3. Emi Shiono (JPN) . . . . . . 9:23:26 finally pull away to a four- 4. Bella Comerford (GBR) . . 9:25:33 minute margin of victory and 5. Gina Ferguson (NZL). . . . 9:33:29 a new women’s course record.

“I didn’t enjoy it until I Men hit the tape,” said Lawn. 1. Cameron Brown (NZL) . . 8:24:49 “Winning six in a row 2. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 8:31:35 means so much now. And 3. Kieran Doe (NZL) . . . . . . 8:33:35 setting a new course record, 4. Steven Bayliss (GBR) . . . 8:37:03 5. Pete Jacobs (AUS) . . . . . 8:47:03 that was a nice surprise.”

Al-Sultan wins by 30 minutes in Malaysian heat Granger sets new course record in women’s race

By Brad Culp

After a disappointing season in 2007, Germany’s Faris AlSultan proved he’s back on track with a dominating performance at Lotto Ironman Malaysia on Feb. 23. After a solid swim, Al-Sultan stormed away from the field with a 4:34:44 bike split, the best of the day by 15 minutes. The former Ironman world champion battled the scorching sun on the run course to finish in LOTTO IRONMAN 8:34:42, with a 30-minute MALAYSIA advantage over the Czech Langkawi, Malaysia Feb. 23, 2008 Republic’s Petr Vabrousek.

2.4-mi swim, 112-mi bike, 26.2-mi run In the women’s event, Aussie Belinda Granger shat- Women tered the previous course 1. Belinda Granger (AUS) . .9:29:21 record by over 13 minutes, 2. Yvonne Van Vlerken (NED) 9:35:45 crossing the line in 9:29:21. 3. Yasuko Miyazaki (JPN) . .10:14:01 Granger had put eight min- 4. Hillary Biscay (USA) . . .10:18:11 utes into the Netherland’s 5. Ute Streiter (GER) . . . . .10:50:30 Yvonne Van Vlerken by the Men end of the bike and managed 1. Faris Al-Sultan (GER) . . . .8:34:42 to hold off the former duath2. Petr Vabrousek (CZE) . . . .9:04:54 lete with a 3:24:11 marathon.

3. Elmar Schuberth (GER) . .9:06:03 Van Vlerken finished six min4. Matthieu O’Halloran (CAN)9:10:44 utes behind Granger, and then 5. Luke Dragstra (CAN) . . . .9:17:49 the pair had to wait nearly 40 minutes to see who would Amateur women join them on the podium. 1. Diana Riesler (GER) . . . .10:18:50 Japan’s Yasuko Miyazaki fin- Amateur men ished third in 10:14:01.

1. Thomas Vonach (AUT) . . .9:26:55

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AT THE RACES

Five winter sports, one majestic city The Quebec City Winter Pentathlon

Norway’s Arne Post captured his fourth ITU winter worlds title in Germany in February.

Post, Mutscheller continue to dominate winter triathlon

By Brad Culp

Germany’s Sigrid Mutscheller and Norway’s Arne Post are the Paula Newby-Fraser and Dave Scott of the winter triathlon world. At the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championship on Feb. 23 in Freudenstadt, Germany, Mutscheller took home her record sixth world championship, while the 25-year-old Post scored his fourth title.

ITU WINTER Both champions took TRIATHLON WORLD advantage of their unpar- CHAMPIONSHIP alleled cross-country ski- Freudenstadt, Germany ing speed to secure victo- Feb. 23, 2008 ry. Mutscheller spent 7.5km run, 12km mountain bike, 10km cross-country ski most of the race in a head-to-head battle with Women Austrian Carina Wasle 1. Sigrid Mutscheller (GER) . . . .1:51:04 before she pulled away on 2. Anke Kullman (GER) . . . . . . .1:52:25 the ski course to win by 3. Carina Wasle (AUT) . . . . . . . .1:53:20 4. Camilla Hott Johansen (NOR) 1:54:01 almost 90 seconds.

In the men’s race, 5. Pia Sundstedt (FIN) . . . . . . . .1:54:16 Post spent the early stages Men in a chase pack behind 1. Arne Post (NOR) . . . . . . . . . .1:37:30 Germany’s Florian 2. Nicolas Lebrun (FRA) . . . . . .1:39:16 Holzinger before he flew 3. Andreas Svanebo (SWE) . . . .1:39:16 away from the field on 4. Heinz Planitzer (AUT) . . . . . . .1:40:09 the 10km cross-country 5. Alessandro De Gasperi (ITA) .1:40:44 ski course. Post finished in 1:37:30, almost two Under-23 women minutes ahead of XTER- 1. Marthe Myhre (NOR) . . . . .1:58:17 RA standout Nico Lebrun Under-23 men 1. Peter Viana (ITA) . . . . . . . . .1:44:40 of France.

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Just because there’s a foot of snow on the ground doesn’t mean that the multisport world needs to come to a standstill, just ask the people of Quebec City, Canada.

Winter is primetime for multisport in the province of Athletes of all ages and abiliQuebec’s capital city. From ties raced in Quebec City.

February 22-24 the city of about 500,000 people played host to a series of winter pentathlon events, including a family relay race and a competition for children only.

While the atmosphere for most of the weekend was fun and laid back, some of Quebec’s more serious winter-sports athletes came to town for the fourth annual Audi Winter Pentathlon on the final day of competition, and the atmosphere was anything but relaxed. The weekend’s marquee event combined five different sports (mountain biking, running, cross-country skiing, speed skating and snowshoeing) over a 45-kilometer course.

Raphael Gagne was in attendance to defend his title in the men’s race, and he did not disappoint, winning by two minutes over Sebastien LaFlamme.

Gagne took advantage of his unrivaled speed- QUEBEC CITY WINTER skating ability to open PENTATHLON up a huge gap on the Quebec City, Quebec, Canada field and then hang on Feb. 24, 2008 through the snowshoe- 14km mountain bike, 6km run, 10km crosscountry ski, 9km speed skate, 6km snowshoe ing section to secure the win.

Women The women’s race 1. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) . . . . . . . 1:56:18 wasn’t so much of a race 2. Julie Sanders (CAN) . . . . . . . . 2:09:28 as it was a winter-sports 3. Marie-Pierre Raymond (CAN). . 2:15:11 clinic put on by Magali 4. Marie-Claude Paquette (CAN) . 2:21:51 Tisseyre. The Quebec 5. Geneviev Blais (CAN) . . . . . . . 2:26:27 native dominated the Men rest of the women’s field 1. Raphael Gagne (CAN). . . . . . . 1:43:28 on the run and snow- 2. Sebastien LaFlamme (CAN) . . 1:45:43 shoe sections en route 3. Charles Perreault (CAN) . . . . . 1:46:29 to a decisive 13-minute 4. Benoit Leveille (CAN) . . . . . . . 1:48:18 win.

5. Pascal Bussiare (CAN) . . . . . . 1:49:12

Robert Murphy/bluecreekphotography.com

Frank Wechsel/ITU

By Brad Culp

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INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON & DUATHLON RACE CALENDAR

XTERRA TV SCHEDULE (APRIL/MAY 2008) MARKET

STATION

DATE

TIME

SHOW

Washington, DC

WJAL

4/12

12:00pm

XTERRA USA Championship

Washington, DC

WJAL

4/12

1:00pm

XTERRA World Championship

Anchorage, Alaska

KTVA

4/13

2:30pm

Nevada Passage

Rapid City, SD

KEVN

4/13

11:00am

XTERRA USA Championship

Rapid City, SD

KEVN

4/13

12:00pm

XTERRA World Championship

Anchorage, AK

KTVA

4/20

2:30pm

XTERRA USA Championship

San Diego, CA

KNSD

4/26

11:00am

XTERRA USA Championship

Anchorage, AK

KTVA

4/27

2:30pm

XTERRA World Championship

Watertown, NY

WWTI

5/1

5pm

Nevada Passage

In 2008 the XTERRA USA and World Championship will each air in more than 80 markets across the U.S., reaching more than 4 million viewers. Check your local listings to see when the shows are on in your area, or visit xterraplanet.com for an updated broadcast schedule for all the award-winning TEAM Unlimited TV productions.

Triathlete endeavors to present the most comprehensive calendar of tris and dus. However, because event dates are subject to change, please check with race directors to confirm event information before making plans.

See Multi-Event Contacts for contact information for promoters that have multiple listings. Listings printed in red indicate Triathlete-sponsored races. USA Triathlon-sanctioned races are designated with a #. Register at active.com for events designated with @.

RACE DIRECTORS: For online race listings,please go to triathletemag.com and post your races under our Calendar link. Allow one week for your events to become live.

For listing in our print calendar, e-mail your information to rebecca@triathletemag.com or fax it to (760) 634-4110.

Entries submitted before Feb. 29 have been included in the May issue. All entries that were submitted after that date will be in the June issue.

Please note that most XTERRA global tour events consist of approximately a 1.5K swim, 30K mountain bike and 10K trail run.

SOUTH ATLANTIC

05/03- Orange Beach, AL—Alabama Coastal Triathlon.

Team Magic, Inc. 1000y S, 19.5mi B, 4.5mi R. 05/11- Orlando, FL—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Walt Disney World. 400yd S, 9mi B, 2mi R. 05/24- Birmingham, AL—YTRI Triathlon. Team Magic, Inc. 200y S, 8.5mi B, 2mi R. 05/26- Nashville, TN—GJCC Memorial Day Triathlon. Team Magic, Inc. 200m S, 8.5mi B, 2mi R. 06/14- Pelham, AL—JRAG Buster Britton Memorial Tri. Triathlon. Team Magic, Inc. 400y S,312mi B, 2mi R. 06/28- McMinnville, TN—McMinnville City Triathlon.

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Team Magic, Inc. 350m S, 15.25mi B, 3.1mi R. 07/13- Chattanooga, TN—Chattanooga Waterfront Triathlon. Team Magic, Inc. 1.5K S, 42K B, 10K R. 07/26- Lebanon, TN—Cedars of Lebanon Triathlon.

Team Magic, Inc. 300y S, 16.5mi B, 3mi R. 08/09- Guntersville, AL—Mountain Lakes Triathlon.

Team Magic, Inc. 600y S, 16.2mi B, 3mi R. 09/06- Hendersonville, TN—Old Hickory Lake Triathlon.

Team Magic, Inc. 400y S, 1.5mi R, 12.5mi B, 1.5mi R. 09/14- Nashville, TN—Music City Triathlon. Team Magic, Inc. 1.5K S, 37K B, 10K R.

NORTH ATLANTIC

06/01- Poconos Mts., PA—Black Bear Triathlon. CGI Racing. 750m S, 18-mile B, 3.1-mile run. #06/08- Keuka Park, NY—Keuka Lake-NE Region Intermediate Distance Championship. Score This!!!

1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R; .75K S, 22K B, 5K R; 5K R, 22K B, 5K R; .75K S, 22K B. 06/22- Salisbury, VT—Vermont Sun Triathlon. Vermont Sun Triathlon Series. 600y S, 14mi B, 3.1mi R. 07/06- Philadelphia, PA—Philadelphia Women’s Triathlon. CGI Racing. 750m S, 17-mile B, 3.1-mile R. #07/06- Buffalo, NY—Clark Companies A Tri in the Buff. Score This!!! 1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R; 750m S, 20K B, 5K R; 5K R, 20K B, 5K R; 200m S, 10K B, 2K R. 07/13- Salisbury, VT—Vermont Sun Triathlon. Vermont Sun Triathlon Series. 600y S, 14mi B, 3.1mi R. 07/26- Johnstown, PA—Johnstown YMCA Triathlon.

400m S, 20.8mi B, 3.1mi R. 07/27- West Windsor, NJ—New Jersey State Triathlon.

CGI Racing. 1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R; 500m S, 13.5-mile B, 5K R. 07/27- Webster, MA—Danskin Women’s Triathlon New England. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. 08/02- Salisbury, VT—Lake Dunmore Triathlon.

Vermont Sun Triathlon Series. .9mi S, 28mi B, 6.2mi R. #08/09- Grand Island, NY—Riverside Federal Credit Union Summer Sizzle. Score This!!! 400m S, 17K B,

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4.4K R, 400m S, 17K B, 4.4K R; 400m S, 17K B, 4.4K R; 4.4K R, 17K B, 4.4K R. 08/17- North East, MD—North East Maryland Triathlon. CGI Racing. 1.5K S, 23.2-mile B, 10K R; 750m S, 15.5-mile B, 3.5-mile R. 08/23- Salisbury, VT—Half Vermont Journey. Vermont Sun Triathlon Series. 1.2mi S, 56mi B, 13.1mi R. 09/14- Sandy Hook, NJ—Danskin Women’s Triathlon NY Metro. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. #09/21- Canandaigua, NY—Finger Lakes Triathlon. Score This!!! 1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R; 750m S, 21K B, 5K R.

SOUTH CENTRAL

06/08- Austin, TX—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Austin. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R.

NORTH CENTRAL

06/07- Findlay, IL—Wolf Creek Sprint Triathlon.

MattoonMulti Sport. .25K S, 10mi B, 3mi R. 06/08- Batavia, IL—Batavia Sprint Distance Triathlon/Duathlon. 400m S, 14.7mi B, 4.1mi R; 2mi R, 14.7mi B, 4.1mi R. 07/13- Pleasant Prairie, WI—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Chicagoland. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. 08/03- Neoga, IL—MattoonMan. MattoonMulti Sport. .9mi S, 24.8mi B, 6.2mi R; 3.1mi R, 24.8mi B, 6.2mi R.

MOUNTAIN PACIFIC

05/24- Rigby, ID—Triathlon at Rigby Lake. PERSONAL BEST Performance. Olympic and sprint.

06/07- Dexter, NM—Milkman Triathlon. .5K S, 20K B, 5K R. 06/08- Makena, HI—Kings Trail Triathlon. Maui Multi Sports Club. 1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R. 06/14- Midway, UT—Battle at Midway Triathlon.

Wasatch Area Race Productions. 1.5K S, 40K B, 10K R. 06/15- Los Angeles, CA—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Southern California. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. 06/29- Aurora, CO—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Denver. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. 07/12- Idaho Falls, ID—Blacktail Triathlon. PERSONAL BEST Performance. Olympic and sprint.

07/20- Oxnard, CA—Strawberry Fields Triathlon.

Olympic, sprint and duathlon distances. #08/10- Santa Cruz, CA—Santa Cruz Sprint Triathlon.

Finish Line Productions. .25mi S, 12mi B, 5K R. 08/17- Seattle, WA—Danskin Women’s Triathlon Seattle. .75K S, 20K B, 5K R. #10/12- Santa Cruz, CA—SuperKid Triathlon. Finish Line Productions. Distances vary.

Reminder: If a race’s contact information is not listed with the event in the preceding section, refer to the Multi-Event Contacts listings below. There, you will find a list of race organizers who put on either multiple races or series events.

For more events and online race registration, be sure to check out triathletemag.com and active.com. Both sites offer up-to-date racing and training information,as well as the most recent news and coverage of triathlon’s most popular events. To list your event in our online calendar,please go to triathletemag.com.

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MULTI-EVENT CONTACTS 3 Discliplines Racing: www.3disciplines.com; 866.820.6036 5430 Sports: Barry Siff, 1507 North St., Boulder, CO, barry@5430sports.com, www.5430sports.com; 303.442.0041.

AA Sports: 503.644.6822; www.racecenter.com; events@ racecenter.com.

Blue Sky Sports, LLC: 678.237.0308; director@ tribluesky.com; www.tribluesky.com.

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Bradventures LLC.Producer ofAuburn InternationalTriathlon. www.auburntriathlon.com; 530-888-9911; info@bradventures.com.

By the Beach Productions: 5153 Soquel Dr., Soquel, CA, 831.465.6517; www.bythebeachproductions.com; info@ bythebeachproductions.com.

Capri Events: 773.404.2372; www.caprievents. com.

CFT Sommer Sports: 838W.DeSoto St.,P.O.Box 121236, Clermont,FL 34712; 352.394.1320 (p); 352.394.1702 (f); info@triflorida.com; http://greatfloridian.com.

CGI Racing: 856-308-7522; www.cgiracing.com.

T R I AT H L E T E M A G . C O M

Cutting Edge Events: 217.347.3739; www.cutingedgeevents.net, beccakoester@yahoo.com, www.sign meup.com.

Danskin Women’s Triathlon Series: 800.452.9526, www.danskin.com, triathlon@ danskin.com.

Elite Endeavors: Jim & Joyce Donaldson, 8963 Stoneybrook Blvd., Sylvania, OH 43560; 419.829.2398, jdjp@sev.org.

Emerald Coast Events Commission: 850.784.9542; www.emeraldcoasstevents.com; jlynch@knology.net.

EndorFUN Sports: 603.293.8353, 512.535.5224; www.endorfunsports.com, keith@timbermantri.com.

Envirosports: P.O. Box 1040, Stinson Beach, CA 94970, 415.868.1829 (p),415.868.2611 (f),info@envirosports.com, www.envirosports.com.

Event Power: 22 Jagger Ln., Southampton, NY 11968; 631.283.7400; eventpower@aol.com; www.swimpower. com.

Exclusive Sports Marketing & Nestle Sprintkids Series: 1060 Holland Dr., Ste. 3-L, Boca Raton, FL 33487; 561.241.3801; 888.ESMSPORTS (376-7767); tjcesarz@ exclusivesports.com; www.familyfitnessweekend.com.

Fat Rabbit Racing: Craig Thompson, 614.424.7990, 614.306.1996; craigthompson@fatrabbitracing.com; www.fatrabbitracing.com.

Finish Line Productions: 475 Tinker’s Trail, Boulder Creek, CA. 831.419.0883; info@finishlineproduction.com; finishlineproduction.com.

FIRM Racing: 66 Bruce Rd., Marlboro, MA 01732; P: 508.485.5855, F: 508.229.8394; bill@firm-racing.com, www.firm-racing.com.

Firstwave Events: P.O. Box 321269, Los Gatos, CA 95032; P: 408.356.0518; F: 408.356.0534; www.firstwave-events.com..

Georgia Multisport Productions: Jim Rainey, 4180 Liberty Trace, Marietta, GA 30066; 770.926.6993, 770. 928.

9292 (F); jim@gamultisports.com, www.gamultisports.com.

Great Smokey Mountains Triathlon Club: www.gsmtc.com; tri2000@dnet.net.

Greater Knoxville Triathlon Club: Kevin Mahan, 205 Cross Creek Private Ln., Lenoir City, TN 37771, 865.675.BIKE (2453) (p), 865.988.9250 (f),www.knoxtri.org; kevinmahan@char tertn.net.

Green Brook Racing LLC: Joe Patanella, P.O. Box 825, Green Brook, NJ 08812-825, 732.841.2558; greenbrookracing@aol.com, www.greenbrookracing.com.

HFP Racing: P.O. Box 375,Thornville, OH 43076; shannon@hfpracing.com, 740.743.2418; scott@ hfpracing.com, 440.350.1708; www.hfpracing.com Ironhead Race Productions: Jack Weiss, P.O. Box 1113, Euless, TX 76039-1113; 817.355.1279; ironjack@ironheadrp.com; www.ironheadrp.com.

HMA Promotions: 216.752.5151; www.hmapromotions.net Ironman NorthAmerica: 4999 Pearl East Circle Suite 301,Boulder, CO, 80301; 518.523.2665; 518.523.7542; imanusa@capital. net.

J&A Productions: www.japroductions.com; info@japroduc tions.com.

JMS Racing Services: P.O. Box 582, Marion, IN 52302, 319.373.0741; www.pigmantri.com/ jmsracing.html; jim@ pigmantri.com; john@pig mantri.com.

KOZ Enterprises: San DiegoTriathlon Series.P.O.Box 421052,San Diego, CA 92142; 858.268.1250; www.kozenter prises.com; info@ kozenterprises.com.

Lake Geneva Extreme Sports: P.O. Box 1134, Lake Geneva, WI 53147, www.lakegenevasports.com; lgsports@lake genevasports.com; 262.275.3577.

Lakeshore Athletic Services: 847.673.4100,

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lakeshoreinfo@aol.com.

Mattoon Multi-sport: mattoonbeachtri.com; ltgarrett@hughes.net.

Maui Multi Sports Club: P.O.Box 1991,Kihei,Maui,HI 96753; trimaui.org.

MESP, Inc. Racing Series: 29395 Agoura Rd., Ste. 102, Agoura Hills,CA 91301; 818.707.8867 (p); 818.707.8868 (f); www. mesp.com.

Mountain Man Events: P.O. Box 255, Flagstaff,AZ 86002; www.mountainmanevents.com; admin@mountainmanevents.com.

NewYorkTriathlon: P.O.Box 50,Saugerties,NY 12477-0050; 845.247.0271; www.nytc.org.

North Coast Multisports, Inc: P.O. Box 2512, Stow, Ohio 44224; 330-686-0993; NCMultisports@aol.com; www.NCMultisports.com.

On Your Mark Events: 209.795.7832; info@onyourmarkevents.com; www.onyourmark events.com.

Pacific Sports, LLC: 1500 S. Sunkist St., Ste. E, Anaheim, CA 92806; 714.978.1528 (p); 714.978.1505 (f); www.pacificsportsllc.com.

Palmetto Race & Event Production: P.O.Box 1634,Bluffton, SC 29910; 843.815.5267 (p); 843.785.2734 (f); andy5267@ aol.com; www.palmettorace.com.

Personal Best Performance: Michael Hays,808 SaturnAve.,

Idaho Falls, ID, 83402-2658. 208.521.2243; Michael@PB-Performance.com.

PCH Sports: www.pchsports.com; 2079 Cambridge Ave., Cardiff by the Sea, CA 92007; 760.944.7261.

Piranha Sports, LLC/ Greater Atlantic Multisport Series/GreaterAtlantic Club Challenge/Escape from School YouthTriahtlon Series: Neil Semmel,P.O.Box 150,Kirkwood, DE 19708; nsemmel@piranha-sports.com; www.piranha-sports.com.

PR Racing, Inc., P.O. Box 56-1081, Miami, FL, 33256; 305.278.8668. trimiami.com, trimiami@gmail.com.

Premier Event Management: P.O. Box 8764, Metairie, La. 70011. 504.454.6561. www.pem-usa.com.

Race Day Events: P.O. Box 31333, Knoxville, TN 37930; 865.250.5948; www.racedayevents.net; Kevin@racedayevents.net Score This!!!, Inc.: 15 Ranch Trail Ct., Orchard Park, NY 14127; 716.662.9379; www.score-this.com; info@score-this.com.

Set-Up, Inc.: P.O. Box 15144, Wilmington, NC 28408; 910.458.0299; set-upinc.com; billscott@set-upinc. com.

Shelburne Athletic Club: 802.985.2229; www.shelburneathletic.com.

TBF Racing: Bill Driskell,5209 Blaze Ct.,Rocklin,CA 95677; 916.202.3006; bill@totalbodyfitness.com; tbfracing.com.

Team Magic,Inc.:Therese Bynum,FayeYates; 205.595.8633;

www.team-magic.com; races@ team-magic.com.

Team Unlimited: XTERRA Series; 877.751.8880; www.xterraplanet.com; info@xterraplanet.com.

Time Out! Productions: Rich Havens, P.O. Box 543, Forestdale, MA 02644; 508.477.6311 (p); 508.477.6334 (f); timeout@ capecod.net; www.timeoutproductions.com.

TriAthlantic Association: 410.593.9662; www.triath.com.

Triathlon Canada: 1185 Eglington Ave., East Suite 704, Toronto, Ontario M3C 3C6; www.triathloncanada.com; 416.426. 7430 Tri-California Events,Inc.Terry Davis,1284Adobe Ln.,Pacific Grove,CA 93950; 831.373.0678,www.tricalifornia.com.

Tuxedo Brothers Event Management: Don Carr, 317.733.3300; tuxbro@indy.rr.com; www.tuxbro.com.

UltraFit/USA: P.O. Box 06358, Columbus OH 43206, 614.481.9077, www.ultrafit-usa.com.

Updog Sports LLC. www.updogsports.com, info@updogsports.com.

Vermont SunTriathlon Series: 812 Exchange St.,Middlebury, VT 05753; 802.388.6888; www.vermontsun.com/triathlon. html, vtsun@together.net.

YellowJacket Racing: 6 Regent St., Rochester, NY 14607; 585.244.5181; www.yellowjacketracing.com, yellowjacketracing@hotmail.com.

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Walking in truth

By Scott Tinley

T

Triathlon is a sport laden with beautiful and healthy people challenging themselves in precocious events. It is a sport rife with titanium dreams and second-skin focus. Body fat comes in single digits, glutes are ball-peen hammered and bottles are opened in the spaces between abs. The multisport media feature sock ads touting carbon threads, and magnetic Caribbean races with magenta-sunset spreads invite readers in, sit them down and pour them a rum drink.

The word Kona is now more of a prayer than a place. And it’s not for the peace it provides but the enticing social power connected to those words, “Done it.” Some days I think we’ve moved too close to the ’80s Canon commercial featuring a young Andre Agassi where “Image is everything.”

But, like the older Agassi, we don’t really believe it. When we’re young and fit and hot stuff it’s just fun to dream about five-pound bike frames, four-figure fantasy camps and threedigit Ironman times. Still, we might release in a sigh what we can’t in the mirror—two simple notions: there is quest and there is illusion. And somehow, amidst our own athletic image shape shifting, we cling to both.

It’s not the real world, of course. The real world of sport is not in making it big or simply making do but somewhere in between, where dreams and realities shake hands across the Great Divide. It’s not just surviving when the world kicks your ass but dragging yourself up, out and beyond that functional disenchantment when sport and life get stale and you wake up hung over from a blended miasma of regularity.

Even the most observant can start to take things for granted—like smooth, wide bike lanes rolling past a SoCal coastline, sunshine on the back of your neck, training partners who’ll listen to your same boring stories . . . walking, breathing.

This morning I was preparing for my walk. That’s right, my walk. But it started to rain and I couldn’t find an umbrella.

That’s right, an umbrella. Before I kicked the dog and swore that my wife had brewed de-caf and generally became again that rock upon which I’d broken myself, and before I sabotaged a joyful hour tramping around in the mud, I reminded myself that it is good to be beset with the ironies of life.

Somewhere, I convinced myself, Sisyphus must be happy.

I never thought I’d be happy walking in the rain. But back then, the Quest and the Illusion had denied a brokered climate of glasnost and joined forces to confuse me. This wasn’t sweet irony, it was orchestrated self-subversion.

I’d like to blame it on Scott Molina, or at least his ex-wife, but that’s just further delusion. Scott and Mark Allen developed The Program that became the template that begat a thousand personal-triathlon coaches sailing their way to online riches if not real-job avoidance.

To strive for something, to really go after it is to be organically honest with yourself. That kind of mythic-rooted quest has sustained personal and spiritual campaigns since the Grail was more than the subject of a popular play. And Illusion, well, that’s the malleable, incongruous entity that can sneak up on us and commit determination’s perfect murder. Most of us endurance athletes have taught ourselves the difference between the map and the territory; we know how to lie to our souls when it counts in the race standings but bend over the fence when it doesn’t.

I’m going for that walk now, not because the rain has stopped but because something inside me has rolled over. I hope that some photographer from Sports Illustrated happens by while researching an article called, “From the Top Down.”

I’ll tell him that it’s not about who you were or what you might be. I’ll tell him that Steinbeck nailed sport in describing Cannery Row. I’d tell the young reporter that it’s the, “tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots,” that define the triathlete’s terrain. Not the politics of the body or the drone of peloton. Quadriceps and mammary glands wax and wane. Momentary bliss is forever.

—ST

Triathlete (ISSN08983410) is published monthly by Triathlon Group North America LLC, 328 Encinitas Blvd., Encinitas, CA 92024; (760) 634-4100. Subscription rates: U.S., one year (12 issues) $29.95 (12 issues); two years (24 issues) $49.95. Canada $51.95 per year; all other countries $61.95 per year, U.S. currency only. Periodicals postage paid at Encinitas, CA, and additional mailing offices. Single copy price $3.99. Triathlete is copyright 2003 by Triathlon Group North America, LLC. All rights reserved.

Postmaster: Send address changes to Triathlete, P.O. Box 469055, Escondido, CA 92046-9513. Ride-along enclosed in all book region 2 copies.

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John Segesta/wahoomedia.com

Publication Mail Agreement #40683563: Return Undeliverable Canadian Addresses to Triathlete Magazine, 328 Encinitas Blvd Suite 100, Encinitas, CA 92024

TINLEY TALKS

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