Product Description

In one handy, easily referenced guide, TRIATHLETE MAGAZINE'S COMPLETE TRIATHLON BOOK offers the best advice, stories, and tips from the top coaches and athletes who have contributed to the magazine over the years. Appealing to both novices and the most seasoned athlete, the book strikes a balance between technical depth and beginner-friendliness by getting right down to the guidelines that all triathletes can use. In addition, the book offers advice for the various categories of triathletes: beginners, veterans, short-course specialists, Ironman specialists, and others. Bearing the name of the most popular source for information on the sport, this book is sure to become a classic among triathlon enthusiasts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #27403 in Books
• Published on: 2003-03
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780446679282
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
For those ambitious enough to voluntarily agree to swim, bike and run their way through a triathlon, Triathlete contributor Fitzgerald proposes this impressive, wide-ranging guide. Triathlon training is fairly standardized, says the author, with established principles and proven methods. Among the rules are "train for endurance" (even the shortest triathlons take at least an hour for the fastest athletes to compete), "train specifically" (compartmentalize to become efficient) and "rest and recover sufficiently" (after a body system's been overloaded, it needs to return to a state of balance). Fitzgerald follows these conventions with chapters on equipment, including hydrodynamic swimsuits and road bikes with clip-on aerobars; swim training, with in-depth explanations of freestyle techniques; maintaining a healthy lifestyle, describing various stretches and how to deal with injuries; and more. He even discusses mental training, reminding readers to keep a playful attitude. They'll need it, especially in the grueling final stretches.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
Bearing the name of the most popular and extensive source for triathlon information, this "triathlon bible" covers everything anyone, from beginner to expert, would want to know about competing in the phenomenally popular swimming, bicycling, and running races.

About the Author
Matt Fitzgerald is a highly regarded sports and fitness journalist whose articles have appeared in Men's Health and Outside. He is a frequent contributor to Triathlete magazine. He lives in San Diego, California.

Customer Reviews

Great book for beginners
I am a beginner triathlete and I really thought this book covered the basics and then some. I am a marathoner so I didn't really go over the running section but the bike and swim sections were great for learning basics and getting some drill and cycling advice.
However, the one obvious thing missing in this book for me was training schedules. Not one in the whole book! That is really what I was looking for as a beginner because I didn't quite know how to structure my workouts on a daily basis. I did find quite a few training schedules on the internet though, and I recently bought a book with training schedules in it, so it wasn't a big deal. I found this book to be very complete in all other aspects of the triathlon so far.

Excellent Intro to multisport
I've run numerous races (including marathons) but I was new to the world of cycling and swimming. This book had just what I needed to get started and get going. I found the swim section especially useful and learned a great deal about what my stroke should look and feel like. The simple leasons took 3 minutes off my 750m pace (in the pool).
Some of the off beat advice (matching clothes) for example seemed a bit silly and directed to those jonesing. But in the end, this was a very useful book and got me through the Chicago Triathlon with out too much difficulty. Some of the lessons just have to be applied to be realized however (read here: Open water swimming!).
If this book would have had some serious training schedules in it, I would have given it 5 stars. It does contain a weak training bit right in the middle of the text, but it isn't all that helpful or informative.

Very useful
This is one of the few books that really gives you some guidelines in how to put a training routine together. It explains in detail what to do according to the distance that you will be doing. It divides it according to your current fitness level, and according to the triathlon's distance. I reviewed several books in order to "get help" on as how to put a routine together, this was the best one by far. So, I really think this is a very useful book.