Triathlon Quotes

Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren't involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It's precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive--or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself.

People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can bench-press a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it. This is not about willpower or grit. This is not another admonishment of “no pain, no gain.” This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes.

Some sessions are stars and some sessions are stones, but in the end they are all rocks and we build upon them.

I was stunned. I pulled the phone away and looked quizzically at the hole-punched speaker. Aside from the blood obligation to be my sister's maid of honor, it had never occured to me that I would get asked to be in anyone's wedding. I thought we had reached an understanding, the institution of marriage and I. Weddings are the like the triathlon of female friendship: the Shower, the Bachelorette Party, and the Main Event. It's the Iron Woman and most people never make it through. They fall off their bikes or choke on ocean water. I figured if I valued my life, I'd stay away from weddings and they'd stay away from me.

Starting your book is only the first five miles of a twenty-six-mile marathon that’s one-third of a triathlon (authoring, publishing, and entrepreneuring).

Walking five miles a day or more provides the type of low-intensity exercise that yields all the cardiovascular benefits you might expect, but it also has a positive effect on muscles and bones - without the joint-pounding damage caused by running marathons or triathlons.

Usually when people hear my parents are scientists, they assume they're awkward, unathletic nerds whose idea of fun is doing long division. That drives me nuts. My parents are the least nerdy people you've ever met. Mom swam competitively in college and competed in triathlons up until we left earth. Dad is a rugged outdoorsman; he's summited dozens of mountains and once free-climbed El Capitan in Yosemite in a day. They met on a Class 5 rafting trip down the Snake River. But more importantly, my parents aren't unusual. I've met hundreds of scientists, and most are almost as athletic and adventurous as my parents. I'm not sure how the whole idea that scientists are nerds ever got started.

and—most suspicious of all if you ask me—she’s training for a triathlon. I mean, you can’t do that level of physical exercise without having deep psychological problems.

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

athletic is that you can’t do a serious swim in a string bikini or a bandeau top. We know that our customer doesn’t necessarily do triathlons. But she thinks she might train for one soon. And she’s buying our products for her workouts, as you

I don’t want to live my life, like it’s a triathlon, and all that matters is getting to some imaginary ribbon. I want my life to be like— like making poetry. I want to enjoy it while it’s happening, not just for where it might get me eventually.

Of course, competition is part of the mix -it's a race, after all- but for most of the people participating triathlon the competitive aspect is less important than the sense of a triathlon as a sort of ceremony by which we can affirm this shared bond

Starting today, you’re retired. The way you look at this sport and the pressure you put on yourself are just all wrong. You started doing triathlon because you loved it. Let’s go back to that. Let’s just see how fit, how fast, and how strong Siri Lindley can be—and have fun doing it.

Seattle. I’ve never seen a city so overrun with runaways, drug addicts, and bums. Pike Place Market: they’re everywhere. Pioneer Square: teeming with them. The flagship Nordstrom: have to step over them on your way in. The first Starbucks: one of them hogging the milk counter because he’s sprinkling free cinnamon on his head. Oh, and they all have pit bulls, many of them wearing handwritten signs with witticisms such as I BET YOU A DOLLAR YOU’LL READ THIS SIGN. Why does every beggar have a pit bull? Really, you don’t know? It’s because they’re badasses, and don’t you forget it. I was downtown early one morning and I noticed the streets were full of people pulling wheelie suitcases. And I thought, Wow, here’s a city full of go-getters. Then I realized, no, these are all homeless bums who have spent the night in doorways and are packing up before they get kicked out. Seattle is the only city where you step in shit and you pray, Please God, let this be dog shit. Anytime you express consternation as to how the U.S. city with more millionaires per capita than any other would allow itself to be overtaken by bums, the same reply always comes back. “Seattle is a compassionate city.” A guy named the Tuba Man, a beloved institution who’d play his tuba at Mariners games, was brutally murdered by a street gang near the Gates Foundation. The response? Not to crack down on gangs or anything. That wouldn’t be compassionate. Instead, the people in the neighborhood redoubled their efforts to “get to the root of gang violence.” They arranged a “Race for the Root,” to raise money for this dunderheaded effort. Of course, the “Race for the Root” was a triathlon, because God forbid you should ask one of these athletic do-gooders to partake in only one sport per Sunday.

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.

Who you are is defined by what you're willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can benchpress a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it.This is not about willpower or grit. This is not another admonishment of "no pain, no gain." This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. Our problems birth our happiness, along with slightly better, slight upgraded problems.

I love the care and mutual aid we give each other in queer, trans, sick and disabled and working class and queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and people of color (QTBIPOC) communities. As a sick and disabled, working-class, brown femme, I wouldn’t be alive without communities of care, and neither would most people I love. Some of my fiercest love is reserved for how femmes and sick and disabled queers show up for each other when every able-bodied person “forgets” about us. Sick and disabled folks will get up from where we’ve been projectile vomiting for the past eight hours to drive a spare Effexor to their friend’s house who just ran out. We do this because we love each other, and because we often have a sacred trust not to forget about each other. Able-bodied people who think we are “weak” have no idea; every day of our disabled lives is like an Ironman triathlon. Disabled, sick, poor, working-class, sex-working and Black and brown femmes are some of the toughest and most resilient folks I know. You have to develop complex strengths to survive this world as us.

As your training moves from base training to more intense work, to tapering, your nutrition needs to change.

Oh, hey Cyrus! Nice tentacles you’ve got there. Wanna shove them up my ass?

You’d have to be out of your gods damn mind not to want what they have. Man or monster, who gives a fuck. Love is love.

On walks, he had to stop and pet every dog,

As long as you give it your all, that’s what matters. That’s something to be proud of.

Man or monster, who gives a fuck. Love is love.

Never in my life did I think I’d be out to lunch with a tentacle monster, hearing him talk about how good his tongues were for sucking dick.

She is asked to speak at a pre-triathlon dinner in Washington, DC, for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and tells a ballroom of stricken-looking athletes: Sometimes the most important thing is knowing when to quit. Sometimes being heroic is knowing when to say enough is enough. They don’t ask her to come back next year. Maybe they know she won’t be here anymore.

A compulsory safety briefing. Did the organizers know something I didn't? Was it really that unsafe that they had to warn us? Would there be a solicitor present checking that my will was up to date? Was triathlon secretly a government scheme to reduce the population by having those of a less than full mental capacity willing go to their depths in mass suicide disguised as a sporting challenge?

Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can bench-press a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it.

In fact, after his accident, Moki went on to be an accomplished painter. He fathered a beautiful young girl. He founded and continues to oversee the Super Frog Triathlon that is held every year in Coronado. It is easy to blame your lot in life on some outside force, to stop trying because you believe fate is against you. It is easy to think that where you were raised, how your parents treated you, or what school you went to is all that determines your future. Nothing could be further from the truth. The common people and the great men and women are all defined by how they deal with life’s unfairness: Helen Keller, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Malala Yousafzai, and—Moki Martin. Sometimes no matter how hard you try, no matter how good you are, you still end up as a sugar cookie. Don’t complain. Don’t blame it on your misfortune. Stand tall, look to the future, and drive on!

I privately refer to this attitude in my clients as the “dramatic narrative fallacy”—the notion that we have to spice up our day by accepting more, if not all, challenges, as if our life resembled a TV drama where the script says we overcome seemingly insurmountable odds rather than avoid them. That’s okay for recreational pursuits, like training for a triathlon. But life becomes exhaustingly risky if we apply that attitude to everything. Sometimes the better part of valor—and common sense—is saying, “I’ll pass.” Golfers

The world, with its commonsensical viewpoint, thinks their lifestyle is peculiar. And it would be hard to argue with anyone who labeled them eccentrics and oddballs. But there’s something we share, not something as exaggerated as solidarity, perhaps, but at least a warm emotion, like a vague, faintly colored mist over a late-spring peak. Of course, competition is part of the mix -it's a race, after all- but for most of the people participating triathlon the competitive aspect is less important than the sense of a triathlon as a sort of ceremony by which we can affirm this shared bond.

But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren’t involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It’s precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive—or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself.

Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren’t involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It’s precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive—or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself. If

The happiest thing for me about this day’s race was that I was able, on a personal level, to truly enjoy the event. The overall time I posted wasn’t anything to brag about, and I made a lot of little mistakes along the way. But I did give it my best, and I felt a nice, tangible afterglow. I also think I’ve improved in a lot of areas since the previous race, which is an important point to consider. In a triathlon the transition from one event to the next is difficult, and experience counts for everything. Through experience you learn how to compensate for your physical shortcomings. To put it another way, learning from experience is what makes the triathlon so much fun. Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren’t involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It’s precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive — or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself. If things go well, that is.

We were stereotyped the way many athletes with disabilities or illnesses are, particularly in participatory sports such as biking, running, and triathlon. After a while I could pretty much fill in the thought balloons over these people's heads. "Oh, look at these heroic young people, courageously struggling to get themselves across the finish line, in order to raise money for thier cause. How inspiring!" Don't get me wrong; while we appreciate the good wishes and realized that they were usually genuine, something in that attitude rankled me, and still does. We're athletes, dammit, and we want to be accorded the same respect as other competitors. That's how you treat somebody with illness or disability, in my opinion. Not as a special-needs person, but as a person.

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.

The whole asshole facade is a front. He’s actually quite sensitive.

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

the harbour was being

Since I introduced the Russian kettlebell to the West in 1998, it has become a mainstay in the training of champions in sports ranging from powerlifting to MMA to triathlon. Elite special operations units have made the kettlebell an integral part of their training. They have discovered that kettlebells deliver extreme all-around fitness—and no single other tool does it better.

He pursed his lips, his mustache curling down over his mouth. It was adorable. Like a grumpy walrus.

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.

Michael Robinson is a Utah real estate investor. He graduated from Brigham Young University, and he has a degree in business and psychology with an emphasis in organizational behavior. Michael is athletic and enjoys running. He has completed X-Terra triathlons and regularly snow skis. He has used his real estate expertise and business acumen to serve the needs of homeless populations in third world countries, providing basic housing needs and resources.

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

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

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

I want to give thanks to my wonderful mum and dad, my brother and sister-in-law, my grandparents, my aunt and uncle and cousins for providing me with a family cocoon of love, support and encouragement; to Tom for teaching me the meaning of true love; to my friends around the world, most of whom have known me long before triathlon, and whose support means more to me than they could ever know.

Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can bench-press a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it. This

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.

Just because you went to a seminar about how to be a more efficient swimmer, your swim stroke won’t improve without practice. Likewise, a bike-riding video can’t improve your balance until you practice. And you certainly can’t wake up tomorrow and do an Ironman Triathlon if you haven’t been training.

But all of that silent, solitary time running, riding, or swimming—becoming comfortable with discomfort, persisting despite all of his biological impulses telling him to slow down or tap out—had remodeled his psyche. “Endurance sports gave me some understanding of what it was to push to deeper levels and find new layers within myself,” he told me. “When I stopped doing triathlons, I still had this sense of adventure. This need to explore those edges where I’d find a new, better part of myself.

Of course, water is a generally good element to consume, but he said that since I’m training for my triathlon plus, it’ll only slow me down. If you just have ice, it kind of eats itself as it evaporates in your body.” “You’re doing a triathlon?” “Plus. Oh, it’s the regular three sports, but then a combat sport, then an additional brain challenge.” He counted them out. “Biking, running, swimming, like a triathlon, but then a quick jousting match, then a chess match. Body and mind.

The history includes a life built together travelling, touring, competing in Ironman triathlons and marathons, seeing friends and new places. Most of all, it has been time enjoying each other’s company.

David Goggins is a retired Navy SEAL and the only member of the U.S. Armed Forces ever to complete SEAL training, U.S. Army Ranger School, and Air Force Tactical Air Controller training. Goggins has competed in more than sixty ultra-marathons, triathlons, and ultra-triathlons, setting new course records and regularly placing in the top five. A former Guinness World Record holder for completing 4,030 pull-ups in seventeen hours, he’s a much-sought-after public speaker who’s shared his story with the staffs of Fortune 500 companies, professional sports teams, and hundreds of thousands of students across the country.

The night before the first long-distance triathlon in my life, I stood with my mother on the deck of a sprawling, seven-million-dollar beach house in Kona watching the moonlight play on the water. Most people know Kona, a gorgeous town on the west coast of the island of Hawaii, and triathlons in general, thanks to the Ironman World Championships.

And life doesn’t work that way. Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can bench-press a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it. This is not about willpower or grit. This is not another admonishment of “no pain, no gain.” This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. Our problems birth our happiness, along with slightly better, slightly upgraded problems.

Like most of us, Shane Niemeyer likes to test his limits. THE HURT ARTIST gave me an entirely different perspective on just how far he fell before becoming an Ironman. His life story deserves to be told and demonstrates what perseverance can do for anyone no matter how hopeless they may feel their situation is. You may never compete in an Ironman Triathlon, but Shane shows how anyone can overcome any obstacle and pursue their dream with passion.

Now that everyone can afford status items like designer jeans, conspicuous consumption gives way to conspicuous exertion. Sheer exhilarating length becomes a value in itself. And the triathlon comes to represent, to quote a winner of the Hawaiian Ironman race, "the ultimate expression of the Southern California life-style." Which is why, outside a cluster of easeful lands, the recreational ordeal is not wildly popular. In America, people run for fun. In Beirut, they run for their lives. People there listen not for the starter's gun, but for the sniper's. In some parts of the world, when a man runs 26 miles it's because he's come from Marathon and he's strictly on business.

The same drive that makes someone want to run a company can also make them want to complete an Ironman triathlon. But all that exercise on top of a stressful job will drive up your cortisol levels. This causes weight gain, muscle loss, a decline in testosterone, and burnout.

In a hilly, long-course race, your focus must be on “smoothing” the course. The power on uphills must be restricted by gearing down and keeping your power output below your functional threshold power (FTP) (or even lower on longer climbs). The typical newcomer to Ironman-distance racing pushes far too hard on hills, especially early in the race, and pays the price later as high fatigue sets in. •  For short climbs of up to 5 min. duration, athletes should consider an effort ceiling of 90–100 percent of FTP. •  For longer climbs, consider an effort ceiling of 80–90 percent of FTP. •  For all climbs, it is very important to “save some watts” for cresting the apex of the climb. Novices tend to have their highest watts at the base of a climb. The intelligent athlete will have his or her highest watts over the top of a climb and accelerate down the backside. Experienced power users know that higher lactate levels can be cleared during the descent and after the rider has returned to cruising speed. •  On the downhill side, stop pedaling and coast in the aero position when your pedaling cadence becomes so high that you begin to breathe more heavily. If in doubt, coast the downhills so long as your speed is well above your average for the race.

it is best if strength training is the first workout of the day in order to get the full benefit from your session. If this timing is not possible, you should try to get as much rest as possible between your morning aerobic session and your evening strength session.

In the Base period, when training volume is relatively high and intensity is low, eating a diet rich in “good” fats is beneficial to improving your ability to burn fat for fuel while conserving glycogen stores—a physiological goal of training at this time of the season.

One thing for sure is that most working athletes would go faster if they managed to get an extra hour of sleep every night. Sleep is a natural performance enhancer, and a lack of it is probably the single greatest challenge facing most working athletes.

remember that an Ironman-distance triathlon involves a lot more “waiting” than “pushing.” Successful long-course athletes practice a combination of patience and fortitude.

This has been the secret to many athletes’ best races—a sharp focus on the present. The past is gone, and the future will take care of itself.

After sixteen hours straight, she felt as if she had run two triathlons and given birth all in the same day. Mind,

Instead determine your lactate threshold heart rate by doing a hard 30-minute running time trial all by yourself (not in a race). Try to have the same race pace all the way through. Start your heart rate monitor when you have 20 minutes left to go. Your average heart rate for the last 20 minutes is approximately your lactate threshold heart rate. Here

Make sure you re-do your zone tests every 6 weeks as your fitness changes to keep them accurate.

The question is no longer whether there is a genetic component to athletic potential and endurance and strength trainability, but exactly which genes are involved and by which mechanisms and pathways they exert their effect.

Low body fat is an important predictor variable for total time performance in triathlon.

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

Evan looked tired and miserable, his shoulders slumped in the chair, his eyes sullen and searching for the ground. “I regret inviting him to my house. I regret spending that time with him at my house. I regret giving him so many chances. He exploited my attempts at generosity … the generosity was giving Reggie an opportunity to work on something like this … for experience that he didn’t have.” “Do you regret Reggie sharing his idea with you?” There was no pause this time. “No.” These depositions did significant damage to Snapchat, both in the case and in the court of public opinion. Someone leaked videos of the depositions to Business Insider, making Evan and Bobby look bad for cutting Reggie out of the company and initially lying in response to deposition questions about Reggie’s level of involvement. After these disastrous depositions, Evan and Bobby replaced Cooley with David Quinn and the team at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, the same firm where Lee and his partners got their start. It was also the firm that represented the Winklevoss twins in their infamous suit against Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. David Quinn was tenacious in and out of the courtroom, running Ironman triathlons in his free time. Evan and Bobby were convinced Quinn Emanuel could use their experience from the most infamous startup lawsuit of all time to help them defeat Reggie. Quinn Emmanuel was much more aggressive than Cooley had been. They filed a sea of requests for documents, depositions, and subpoenas. They tried to dismiss the case and remove it to federal court, and they sought contempt sanctions and a restraining order against Reggie and Lee Tran & Liang.

Elliot: How's it goin'? J.D.: Well, my bike is rusty, I haven't been able to feel my genitals since they first touched water, and the only thing I've had to eat all day is a half a jellyfish. Why are you here? Elliot: Can I talk to you about Jake? J.D.: It's a dangerous topic. Talk to Carla. Elliot: Yeah, anytime I talk to Carla about a guy, she tells me to marry him so the four of us can go to dinner together. Elliot: This Jake thing is still really bothering me. J.D.: Elliot, you know our rules. Elliot: Yeah, I've been thinking about that. Who wants to have a superficial friendship? I mean, God, do you remember how close we used to be? Dealing with Dr. Cox, dealing with our screwed-up families, talking about everything? I miss that. J.D.: This is working. Elliot: Not for me! I wanna be able to tell you that my boyfriend really freaked me out. J.D.: Well, if he freaked you out, why don't you go talk to him? J.D.: All right, fine, Elliot. You wanna know why? You're just like me. You're scared because you feel like you haven't accomplished anything with your life. But instead of running a triathlon, you're pushing forward with a guy you don't belong with. And you know as well as I do, one of these days he's gonna open up a bottle of white wine for you when you really prefer red, except you never told him that; and you wanna know why? It's because he's not right for you, Elliot. Are you happy now? Elliot: You're pretty smart for a guy running in bike shoes.

The aim of the taper is to minimise accumulated fatigue and fill up the fuel stores to arrive at the start line fresh.

while i may have been strong, i was not particularly goat like.

I promised myself I would never do the Ironman Shuffle.’ ‘It’s the walk of kings,’ I said. ‘Ok,

Of course it was painful, and there were times when, emotionally, I just wanted to chuck it all. But pain seems to be a precondition for this kind of sport. If pain weren't involved, who in the world would ever go to the trouble of taking part in sports like the triathlon or the marathon, which demand such an investment of time and energy? It's precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling, through this process, of really being alive--or at least a partial sense of it. Your quality of experience is based not on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself.” ― Haruki Murakami, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

A well-trained marathoner will select a stride length that is somewhere between 75 and 90 percent of her total height. This means that she has less of a vertical displacement requirement.

Total Immersion: The Revolutionary Way to Swim Better, Faster, and Easier.

You can't learn what to do with your arms and legs if you're afraid you might not live.

I was in love with the result—the image of me on stage, people cheering, me rocking out, pouring my heart into what I was playing—but I wasn’t in love with the process. And because of that, I failed at it. Repeatedly. Hell, I didn’t even try hard enough to fail at it. I hardly tried at all. The daily drudgery of practicing, the logistics of finding a group and rehearsing, the pain of finding gigs and actually getting people to show up and give a shit, the broken strings, the blown tube amp, hauling forty pounds of gear to and from rehearsals with no car. It’s a mountain of a dream and a mile-high climb to the top. And what it took me a long time to discover is that I didn’t like to climb much. I just liked to imagine the summit. The common cultural narratives would tell me that I somehow failed myself, that I’m a quitter or a loser, that I just didn’t “have it,” that I gave up on my dream and that maybe I let myself succumb to the pressures of society. But the truth is far less interesting than any of these explanations. The truth is, I thought I wanted something, but it turns out I didn’t. End of story. I wanted the reward and not the struggle. I wanted the result and not the process. I was in love with not the fight but only the victory. And life doesn’t work that way. Who you are is defined by what you’re willing to struggle for. People who enjoy the struggles of a gym are the ones who run triathlons and have chiseled abs and can bench-press a small house. People who enjoy long workweeks and the politics of the corporate ladder are the ones who fly to the top of it. People who enjoy the stresses and uncertainties of the starving artist lifestyle are ultimately the ones who live it and make it. This is not about willpower or grit. This is not another admonishment of “no pain, no gain.” This is the most simple and basic component of life: our struggles determine our successes. Our problems birth our happiness, along with slightly better, slightly upgraded problems. See: it’s a never-ending upward spiral. And if you think at any point you’re allowed to stop climbing, I’m afraid you’re missing the point. Because the joy is in the climb itself.

Steven Cole says that the best cure for loneliness or disconnection is to combine a sense of mission and purpose in your life with community engagement. Spending time in service marries connection with deep fulfillment, and the result is a boost in health. Prosocial behavior, including volunteering, has also been shown to boost our immune system, combat the physical stress caused by loneliness, and extend our longevity. Sadly, says Cole, these days too many of us have actually dialed back our engagement with others to pursue individual health-enhancing goals, like training for a triathlon, taking yoga classes, or trying to find our “one true love.” Those things are all great, but the biggest benefit for all comes when, as Cole describes it, your health is a “means to an end, which is, essentially, to make some meaningful stuff happen, not just for you but for others.” What

Act Like a Champion YOU'RE A CHAMPION. Here's proof: You're alive. You were conceived in the womb of your mother as a result of the most exhausting, gruesome race in the universe. There were 180 million human sperms running, swimming, cycling towards one solitary egg waiting in the fallopian tube of the female body. It was a triathlon of epic proportions where there would be only one champion. And you won. You came out the champion. You defeated 180 million competitors. I repeat: You're already a champion. So act like one. God created you for a sacred mission. So live life every day with purpose and passion.

Unless you are training to be competitive in elite endurance sports like cycling, swimming, running, triathlon, or cross-country skiing, a single workout per week in this zone will generally suffice.

It’s not that I don’t want to make the most of the day, or that I don’t care about getting home. It’s that I want those things so badly that I feel paralyzed. I know it doesn’t make sense. It’s just the way I’ve always been. Alyssa used to get on my case about procrastinating on stuff, but the truth is, I don’t think that what I do counts as procrastination. Procrastinating is telling yourself, I’ll do it later. What I do is tell myself, I’ll do it now, and then I just . . . don’t. When I’m on my medication, it’s better, but still hard. When I’m off it . . . well. You may as well ask me to run a triathlon as do my homework. Beginning either seems equally daunting.

End first, then beginning and middle. That’s your startup, that’s your plan for competing in a triathlon, that’s your ballet.

Read a hundred libraries worth of self-help books. Train for triathlons and learn breathing techniques. Listen to the right life coaches and eat kale every day. Whatever you wish. All it takes is a lump in the breast, a drunk teen behind the wheel, or a short in the wires of your attic, to bring your little ideal world crashing

Winners set a plan of action then execute the plan. Simple. Do not over think it. Do not ask yourself if you feel like training today. Do not wake up and wonder what you should do today. You should already know. It should be set out weeks or months in advance. You wake up and do it.

Aerobic training actually causes muscle wasting because the body is programmed to adapt to whatever demands we place on it. Long low-intensity aerobic training only requires the smallest and weakest, “slow-twitch” muscle fibers to fire off again and again. The other, stronger and larger, “fast-twitch” muscle fibers are not necessary for the task and become a burden to carry and supply with oxygen. The body has no demand for extra muscle beyond what is needed to perform a relatively easy movement over and over. So your body adapts by actually burning muscle. Even if you perform steady state training in conjunction with strength training, it will diminish any potential increase in lean body mass, especially in your legs. Aerobic training should only be used to develop movement proficiency when you are training for a specific sport or event, such as a 5k run, triathlon, or particular military fitness assessment. I address these needs on MarkLauren.com.

Ah, yeah. The tongues freak people out a bit, but they’re actually quite helpful. Especially for certain things.

As if by its own accord, one of my tentacles unraveled and snaked around his forearm. It was one of my breeding tentacles, my hectocotylus, and the moment it made contact with his skin—I almost came. Oh, gods no. That was a male kraken’s mate bond response.

Of course a man like him would find a monster like me repulsive. And of course, out of all the beings I’d met in my long life, that man was my mate.

And as much as I hated that monster, I hated my father more.

A Piece of Heaven Just For You by Maisie Aletha Smikle Just for you I will climb To the mountain peak Just for you I will dive in the ocean deep For you My love The valley is never too wide I will tread plateaus and plains And ride camels on their reins Just for you My beloved Just for you I will swim and thread rivers and seas Paddle through the frosty snow and icy breeze Just for you My darling I will do triathlons around the circumference of the globe Trek rocky grounds And slippery slopes Just for you My darling I will zipline from the north pole to the south pole I will swing from the treetops And parachute from the backdrop Just for you My darling Just for you I will sing And cook a pot of stew Just for you my love I will climb the stairs of heaven To reach the clouds And bring back a piece of heaven Just for you my beloved

I don't want to live my life like it's a triathlon and all that matters is getting to some imaginary ribbon.

Come here, my little monster fucker.

Fought with my trainer. Kissed him. Got tentacle fucked. You know, a typical Wednesday. Nothing too crazy.