Triathlete Quotes

A novelist is similar to a triathlete. Train hard every day. You will be timed and measured. Budget to promote, grow, and be without fear.

Are you an experienced scuba diver? Great, shed your gear, take a deep breath and become a one-hundred-foot free diver. Are you a badass triathlete? Cool, learn how to rock climb. Are you enjoying a wildly successful career? Wonderful, learn a new language or skill. Get a second degree. Always be willing to embrace ignorance and become the dumb fuck in the classroom again, because that is the only way to expand your body of knowledge and body of work. It’s the only way to expand your mind.

It’s better to be under-trained and rested than to be overtrained and tired.     ~

It is not a matter of how much you train, but of how you train. —RICK NILES, TRIATHLON COACH

In his book the triathlete Dave Scott wrote that of all the sports man has invented, cycling has got to be the most unpleasant of all. I totally agree.

Novices need to focus only on the frequency of training by getting into the pool and onto the road often. If they do this with no concern for how long the workout is—short is fine—or how hard it should be—easy is best—they will make great improvement in their first year in the sport. The intermediate triathlete in the second and third years in the sport should focus on increasing the durations of swims, bike rides, and runs. Year 4 is the time when a triathlete should begin to give greater emphasis to workout intensity.

He has so little energy in his body that he can only walk to the bathroom on the other side of the hallway twice a day. After a few meters he is worn out, much worse than after the marathons he used to run. He was a triathlete, he earned a brown belt in judo, became Dutch champion in hockey, until he contracted pneumonia in 2005 and never recovered. Ever since, he has a headache, vertigo, and insomnia, but worst of all the fatigue: after minimal effort his muscles would lose all their strength and take days to recover. Only after a few years did he get a diagnosis: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

It's been said that the Ironman marathon is the place where you meet yourself - inner voices that never existed before suddenly roar, weaknesses neglected in training become painfully clear, and new reserves of strength manifest in awe-inspiring ways. I met myself at mile 10. And let me tell you: I'm a real asshole.

There are only three things to measure in your training: frequency, duration, and intensity.

It is important to be totally prepared, though it is equally important to make sure that you don’t overtrain.

Keep your hands on the break hoods or about a thumb's length from the stem on either side of the bar. You will have more control, breathe easier, and stay loose.

No amount of fitness is worth an injury.

the three most important mental skills for success in endurance sports: commitment, confidence, and patience. Taken together, they form what we typically call mental toughness. Mentally tough athletes are hard to beat.

But there always have been, and probably always will be, five ingredients for success in sport: Purpose: Know exactly what your goal is. Passion: Have a burning desire to achieve it. Planning: Determine how you’ll go about achieving it. Perspiration: Work hard, following your plan to achieve it. Perseverance: Don’t let anything get in the way of achieving it.

Mark Vink is a physician in the Netherlands who suddenly fell ill with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). He wasn’t just your typical physician; he also happened to have a brown belt in judo, was the former captain of a Dutch national field hockey championship team and was a marathoner and triathlete. In other words, the guy was a stud who loved to test himself physically – the last person anyone would ever expect to get ME/CFS. Or end up bed bound. Or end up using a six yard tramp from his bed to the bathroom to test his exercise capacity. But that’s what happened. Mark Vink’s ME/CFS story – like many stories – is so striking in its suddenness and so devastating in its comprehensive that it beggars the mind to think that anyone could believe his downfall could have other than a physiological cause.

The magnitude of the satisfaction that a triathlete experiences upon crossing a finish line is directly proportional to the amount of suffering he has overcome to to get there. This reward knows no ability. Even the slowest of the slow can push themselves beyond existing limits and finish with tremendous satisfaction. But winning often demands and inspires the greatest suffering and thus confers the greatest sense of pride. Often, because of the nature of competition, it is precisely he who has the most guts who is the fastest and experiences the most intense fulfillment at the finish line. Theoretically, then, the most deeply satisfying experience a triathlete could have in the sport (and among the best in life) would occur at the finish line of a race in which he has overcome as much suffering as he could possibly ever endure, and knows it.

Tim Tigner began his career in Soviet Counterintelligence with the US Army Special Forces, the Green Berets. That was back in the Cold War days when, “We learned Russian so you didn't have to,” something he did at the Presidio of Monterey alongside Recon Marines and Navy SEALs. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tim switched from espionage to arbitrage. Armed with a Wharton MBA rather than a Colt M16, he moved to Moscow in the midst of Perestroika. There, he led prominent multinational medical companies, worked with cosmonauts on the MIR Space Station (from Earth, alas), chaired the Association of International Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, and helped write Russia’s first law on healthcare. Moving to Brussels during the formation of the EU, Tim ran Europe, Middle East, and Africa for a Johnson & Johnson company and traveled like a character in a Robert Ludlum novel. He eventually landed in Silicon Valley, where he launched new medical technologies as a startup CEO. In his free time, Tim has climbed the peaks of Mount Olympus, hang glided from the cliffs of Rio de Janeiro, and ballooned over Belgium. He earned scuba certification in Turkey, learned to ski in Slovenia, and ran the Serengeti with a Maasai warrior. He acted on stage in Portugal, taught negotiations in Germany, and chaired a healthcare conference in Holland. Tim studied psychology in France, radiology in England, and philosophy in Greece. He has enjoyed ballet at the Bolshoi, the opera on Lake Como, and the symphony in Vienna. He’s been a marathoner, paratrooper, triathlete, and yogi.  Intent on combining his creativity with his experience, Tim began writing thrillers in 1996 from an apartment overlooking Moscow’s Gorky Park. Decades later, his passion for creative writing continues to grow every day. His home office now overlooks a vineyard in Northern California, where he lives with his wife Elena and their two daughters. Tim grew up in the Midwest, and graduated from Hanover College with a BA in Philosophy and Mathematics. After military service and work as a financial analyst and foreign-exchange trader, he earned an MBA in Finance and an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton and Lauder Schools.  Thank you for taking the time to read about the author. Tim is most grateful for his loyal fans, and loves to correspond with readers like you. You are welcome to reach him directly at tim@timtigner.com.

a small study of triathletes in their fifties showing that rates of muscle protein synthesis in these masters athletes were lower than those of athletes in their twenties.1 His research suggests that older athletes may have an “anabolic resistance” to protein that makes it harder for their bodies to convert protein into muscle, and that may help explain why it takes longer for them to repair exercise-induced muscle damage. (It’s also an argument for keeping your protein intake up as you age.)

all you'll need to do is one intense work out a week and one less intense but longer work out each week.

For any given workout, you need to have presence, understand the purpose of the workout, have your resources and energy available, and make a habit of executing the intentions of that workout.

Take your dream to the next level by setting a goal.

The more challenging the goal, the more you must focus your life on it.

The more challenging the mission, the more your life must be focused on it. That means not only your training, but also your eating and sleeping, the support of your family and friends, and much more.

As you learn to be your own coach, be aware of your impatience. Keep it in check. Remind yourself before a hard workout or race that you must contain your emotions early on in order to finish strongly.

check of how training went that day. Review your workouts. Find one thing you did well. It does not need to be a big deal.

Relive today’s successful moment repeatedly until you fall asleep.

Fake it ’til you make it. The second thing you can do to boost confidence is to “act as if.

Act as if you are confident even if you don’t feel that way.

the Olympic podium-placers did these things: ​Paid meticulous attention to their goals ​Had a strong inner drive to stay ahead of the competition ​Concentrated on excellence ​Were not distracted by other people or athletes ​Shrugged off their own failures ​Rebounded from defeat easily ​Never self-flagellated ​Celebrated their wins ​Analyzed the reasons for their success ​Were very confident of their abilities

if triathlons were easy, would we even be interested in doing them?

Moderation in training means that you seldom explore your physical limits. Athletes often attempt the hardest workouts they can do. Long workouts are much too long, and intensity is often way too high. Most seem to believe that peak fitness comes from pushing their limits several times each week, and rest is viewed as something for sissies. That way of thinking is a sure way to derail your training frequently. Moderation in workout duration and intensity is what you should seek.

Before starting any training session, always ask yourself the key question: What is the purpose of this workout?

The key question you should always be seeking the answer to is, Did I accomplish the purpose of the workout?

If you’re coming along as planned, then continue to the next workout. Otherwise, if you’re seeing a trend where things aren’t going as planned, you may need to reconsider your goal and adjust your training strategy appropriately.

Lack of time is the most commonly cited excuse for not exercising. But surveys suggest that those who exercise regularly are just as busy with their jobs, families, and other responsibilities as those who don’t work out. So the time excuse is just that: an excuse. We’re all pressed for time, yet we all have time for our highest priorities. If exercise is important to you, you will find the time to do it. Consider the case of David Morken, an age-group triathlete whom

* Use sitting for most climbs, especially when in a group   Sitting is the most efficient way to climb and the most common climbing position. Sitting is good for economy and endurance.   When you stand you use about 12% more oxygen and spike your heart rate by about 8% so it makes sense to stay seated as often as you can.

Use sitting for most climbs, especially when in a group   Sitting is the most efficient way to climb and the most common climbing position. Sitting is good for economy and endurance.   When you stand you use about 12% more oxygen and spike your heart rate by about 8% so it makes sense to stay seated as often as you can.

HIP EXTENSION: SQUAT QUADRICEPS, GLUTEUS, HAMSTRINGS Improves force delivery to the pedals in cycling. For the novice, the squat is one of the most dangerous exercises in this routine. Great care is necessary to protect the back and knees. If you are concerned about injury, use a machine to perform an assisted squat. Wear a weight belt during the MT and MS phases. Stand with the feet pedal-width apart, about 10 inches (25 cm), center to center, with toes pointed straight ahead. Keep the head up and the back straight. Squat until the upper thighs are just short of parallel to floor—about the same knee bend as at the top of the pedal stroke. The knees point straight ahead, staying over your feet at all times. Return to the starting position. Stretches: Stork Stand and Triangle. FIGURE 13.1a Squat FIGURE 13.1b Squat with Machine

One breathing trick used by the pros to get great oxygen transfer is to push your stomach out as you inhale. This takes practice. Most of us naturally pull our stomachs in when we inhale.