Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals
Deciding to enter your first triathlon is a heady moment--you're ready for the challenge of a swim-bike-run race and pumped to get your body training. Chances are, though, that you're experienced in only one, maybe two of the sports. How do you incorporate the others? What kind of equipment do you need? How often should you be practicing each sport? And what if you're a complete novice, a wanna-be athlete who has not doneanyof the sports, and you want to enter a triathlon to motivate yourself to get into shape and improve your outlook? Steven Jones, M.D., a professor of preventive medicine and a successful triathlete, has all the answers and reassurances you'll need in his down-to-earth book, updated in 1999,Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals.As he says in his preface, his book is for the person "who wants to engage in a new and different athletic experience without turning the rest of his or her life upside down in the process and wants to have fun doing so." Focusing on the "marathon-equivalent" triathlon, which is a 1.5-kilometer swim, a 40-kilometer bike, and a 10-kilometer run (although he does have a brief chapter called "Doing the Duathlon and Going Long"), Jonas helps you decide if a triathlon is right for you, gives his own personal history of how he went from a nonathlete to a racer, and advises on how to pick your first race.From there, he discusses techniques, the basic principles of training, and how to establish your "aerobic base," the basic level of fitness (especially important for nonexercisers) you need before approaching his "Triathloning for Ordinary Mortals Training Program," a five-hour-a-week, 13-week program to train you for your race. Also covered in the manual is equipment and nutrition. Jonas's style of writing is accessible to the layperson--he doesn't burden you with technical terms or complicated zones or training levels. He even goes through an entire race with you, from the night before to putting air in your bike tires through the actual events right up to the aftermath of the race. The terrific appendix includes diagrams of stretches. While this isn't the book for a seasoned runner looking to improve his overall time, this is the ideal book to provide guidance and encouragement for newbies to the sport. Reading just a few chapters will have you itching to start racing.--Jenny Brown