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

No amount of fitness is worth an injury.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

New Mexico Governor Gary E. Johnson, a Republican and tri-athlete, has stated publicly that “Our present course is not working. Our War on Drugs is a real failure.

The Hurt Artist is a riveting memoir by Shane Niemeyer that takes us on a raw, unedited life journey that includes the struggles of an addict trying to find peace and the joy and journey to every triathlete’s promised land: Kona, Hawaii!

the key to going faster is to learn “to be comfortable being uncomfortable.

Remember, climbing is about establishing a pace and a rhythm that will get you to the top. You do not want to be in oxygen debt as it will be hard to come back from that.  

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

Wishes are important; they’re the start of great feats. Wishes grow into dreams when you are able to mentally “see” yourself accomplish the wish. Dreams turn into goals when a plan for attaining them is defined. Goals become a mission when unwavering self-belief and purposeful zeal are realized. Big challenges require mission status. The difference between a goal and a mission is attitude. Passionate commitment is self-evident in successful missions. With the proper attitude, almost anything is possible. What you believe, you will achieve.

When it comes to achieving high goals, the greatest limiter you face is not the many miles you train, but rather the few inches between your ears.

Dr. Jones discovered that unlike the nonmedalists, 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

I’VE MADE A BOLD CLAIM that pull mechanics and a feel for the water are the vital elements in our sport.

To master a feel for the water, the key is to be patient at the beginning of the propulsive action so you can build speed for the finish. The back half is

High-performance training means becoming the best triathlete possible. But that isn’t revealed only in race results. High performance is more than simply where you finish in your races. It’s also an attitude grounded in the belief that you can always get better.

Every day, every sunrise is an opportunity to do something toward your goals. Make sure that you have done something toward those goals before the sun sets.

The power meter is a powerful tool for training, one that can potentially make you fitter and faster than any other piece of equipment you could get for your bike.

Optimizing your available hours is the secret to a sustainable training program.

Maximize your training load within your realistic amount of training time in a way that achieves a positive life/sport balance in any given week.

Real success is built on the consistent layering of months and months of specific work on a platform of healthy sustainability.

Most triathletes fail to recognize that their run performance is influenced by their swimming preparation and ability, their cycling position and pacing, and their nutrition and fueling.

If you want to succeed, start thinking of triathlon as one sport.

The mission of training is to arrive at your race ready to perform your best.

Athletes also need to detach themselves mentally and emotionally from outside stressors for the duration of the training session.

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.

The pillars of performance include not only endurance training but also functional strength, nutrition and fueling, and recovery.

The only way to shift a culture is to change behaviors. As you know from any shift you’ve made in your own life, it comes down to one behavior at a time. You can decide you want to be an Ironman triathlete, but if you’ve never run a 5K, you start by lacing up your shoes and going for a short run. If, on your first weekend, you tried to take swimming lessons to improve your stroke, weight training to build endurance, and ride your bike over Vail Pass, you’d end up discouraged, sore, and not much fun to be around.

Shortly after Range came out, Ruth Brennan Morrey—a former college soccer co-captain and pro triathlete, Olympic Trials marathon qualifier, and psychology PhD—tagged me in an apt tweet: “Listening to @DavidEpstein ‘Range’ in the car with 12 year old daughter. ‘Mom, why do we make “What I want to be when I grow up” signs on the first day of school? We should make “Top 5 things I want to learn about this year” signs.’ Smart cookie. :-)” I think I’ll borrow the twelve-year-old’s idea.

Combine iron intake with vitamin C. Research has established that the absorption of non-heme (plant-based) iron is significantly enhanced when it’s ingested in conjunction with foods high in vitamin C—up to sixfold, in fact. Accordingly, I combine red pepper or citrus fruits such as oranges or grapefruit (all high in vitamin C) with dark leafy greens or pumpkin seeds (high in iron) in my daily blended smoothies. And as an extra step, I always keep a bag of pumpkin seeds in my car, along with some fruit to munch while I drive—a tip I picked up on the friendly advice of former pro triathlete and plant-based pioneer Brendan Brazier. Avoid coffee and tea at mealtime. The tannins contained in coffee or tea (irrespective of caffeine content) impede the body’s ability to absorb iron, up to 50 to 60 percent. So if you’re concerned about your iron stores, it’s best to avoid these drinks an hour or so both before and after meals. Vitamin B12 supplementation. Vitamin B12 is another compound required to generate red blood cells. So a deficiency in this vitamin can also lead to anemia. And vitamin B12 is the one essential nutrient that simply cannot be found in the plant kingdom. But again, there is no need to be alarmed, run out to the grocery, and start gorging on steaks. The fix is easy. You can simply take a B12 supplement, available in capsule form at any health food store. Alternatively, many meal supplements contain the RDA of B12. Furthermore, nutritional yeast, which we use in a variety of our recipes in our cookbook The Plantpower Way, such as Cashew Cheese, is also high in B12

Dr. Esselstyn’s son Rip, a former swimmer and professional triathlete, and later an Austin, Texas–based fireman, authored a New York Times bestseller called The Engine 2 Diet, which, in plain English, demonstrates the power of a plant-based diet by chronicling the astounding health improvements of his Engine 2 firehouse colleagues who undertook his regime. And yet another influence on me was former pro triathlete and ultra-runner Brendan Brazier’s Thrive—a go-to primer that details all the hows and whys of plant-based nutrition for both athletic performance and optimum health.

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

Commitment is simply doing what you said you’d do well after the mood you were in when you said it has passed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 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.

But success in life is more about aiming high, overcoming lots of setbacks along the way, and never taking your eyes off your target. In the end, it’s a lot more satisfying than settling into a job that is not fulfilling but pays the bills.

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.

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

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.

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.

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 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.

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

For your fitness to improve steadily over time, your training load must gradually increase.

The bottom line is that what you do in any given workout must be specific to the intended purpose of that workout if you are to reap the planned benefits.

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

Self-tracking and self-experimentation—the core of neurohacking—are easier to do now than they have been at any other time in history. We have smartphones with apps that can log your data automatically. We have free spreadsheet tools to document our experiments. You can order many tests and interventions from the comfort of your own home. Even if you prefer pencil and paper for tracking, you can still find online communities in which to get tips and troubleshoot. Doctors are more open to self-tracking than they were a decade ago, when I first began the research for this book. That means that you can (and should!) share your findings with your doctor as you track yourself and run your self-experiments. You can provide data that can help them personalize their care for you. CASE STUDY #3: CLEARING BRAIN FOG In the late summer of 2014, Mark Drangsholt, a clinician-scientist and triathlete, gave a talk at a Quantified Self conference.8 He explained that he had complained to his doctor that he was suffering from brain fog—periods when he couldn’t remember words, forgot key information, and couldn’t concentrate. Because brain fog can have many causes and because Drangsholt seemed generally healthy, the doctor was unsure how to help. Drangsholt decided to take matters into

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

Dreams can become realities, but the definition of a dream is that it is so big it will take longer than one season to accomplish. If you reasonably can achieve it this season, no matter how big it may seem, it’s no longer a dream—it’s a goal.

plyometrics movements. This is when you are getting the hang of doing the movements that are involved in both types of training and refining them. Following AA, as you move into the MT and MS periods, gradually increase both the weight loads and the plyometric intensities. For example, move from rope skipping to low-box jumping to high-box jumping. The MS period is when you will

* 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.

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.

Frequency is one of the best ways to improve your technique and, ultimately, your efficiency. This holds true even if each session is very brief. For example, if you have only two hours a week to devote to becoming a more efficient swimmer, swim four times a week for 30 minutes each time. More frequent, short sessions will improve your efficiency faster than a few longer workouts. Plyometric exercises have also been shown to improve economy in both runners and cyclists. These exercises

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.)

In reviewing massive data sets of hundreds of thousands of 70.3 and IRONMAN finish times, I found that fast bike times were very strongly correlated with fast overall times, run times were just slightly less correlated with overall triathlon times, and swim times were significantly less correlated with overall triathlon finish times.