Terri Schneider - Triathlon Revolution: Training, Technique, and Inspiration

THE MOUNTAINEERS BOOKS
is the nonprofit publishing arm of The Mountaineers Club,
an organization founded in 1906 and dedicated to the exploration,
preservation, and enjoyment of outdoor and wilderness areas.

1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134

2008 by Terri Schneider

All rights reserved

First edition, 2008

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Manufactured in Canada

Copy Editor: Joeth Zucco
Book Design: The Mountaineers Books
Layout and Illustration: Jennifer Shontz, Red Shoe Design
Cover photograph: Triathletes ready for start of race. Robert Michael/Corbis
Back cover photograph: Virginia Tech graduate Phil Gregory crossing 2007 East Cooper Coastal Triathlon
finish line in South Carolina. Sarah Benson/Mount Pleasant Recreation Department

Photographs on pages 2, 41, 55, 74, 83, 116, 175, 203, 212, 213, 218, 234, 257 Shmuel Thaler; photograph on page 8 Kathy Wynn, Dreamstime.com; photograph on page 13 Serge Simo, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 21 Tarzoun, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 63 lelecorti, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 72 Anke Van Wyk/Dreamstime.com: photograph on page 77 Thomas Devard; photograph on page 99 Alan Phillips/Dreamstime; photograph on page 105 Rob Bouwman, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 106 RJ Grant/Dreamstime.com; photographs on pages 133, 143, 145, and 159 pouvrem, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 171 fotofimmel, Fotolio.com; photograph on page 239 Lori Langona; photograph on page 242 Norman Field.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Schneider, Terri.

Triathlon revolution: training, technique, and inspiration/Terri Schneider; foreword by Scott Tinley. 1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59485-096-7
ISBN-10: 1-59485-096-8

1. TriathlonTraining. 2. TriathlonPsychological aspects. I. Title.

GV1060.73.S38 2008
796.42'57dc22

2008018942

Printed on recycled paper

Foreword

It seems funny now to think that when I started competing in triathlons in the mid-1970s, the best way to learn how to do it was to make it up, but theres a bit of pathos in that realization as well. When youre talking about dragging your body through months and years of physical abuse, guesswork is never a good idea.

Who knew? is no longer an acceptable excuse. Common sense should have been a better coach, and a bit of self-discovery taken to heart and set down in some degree of rationality might have lengthened a few careers instead of shortening the soft tissue of youth. Everyone seems to know exactly how to train for a triathlon these days. There are hundreds of professional coaches, dozens of training camps, countless videos and books. But I sometimes think the myriad texts lining the Sports: How To section appear as leftovers from a weekend feast, filling hungry minds but mostly falling flat in their homogenized rehash of material that appeared as creative significance in a former iteration.

Once in awhile, though, a new title cannot be ignored for the power of its writing, or in this case, the history of its author. Terri Schneiders athletic resume may not include the requisites of a best-seller (there are no World Championships or Ironman wins included in her pedigree), but what you find layered in her book is that intangible insight gleaned from twenty-five years of just doing it. And that it, you will find, is highly inclusive. When Schneider dips into the wanderings of the mental processes experienced during an Ironman or a seven-day adventure race, she is offering the reader the rare combination of the experiential, the scholarly, and the insightful. Rare are the great endurance athletes who have taken on the great adventures, studied them at the graduate level, and combined the two perspectives in a cogent and clear narrative.

When this writer-athlete riffs on the notion of triathlon-as-athletic-revolution, you can trust hershe was there in the late 1970s and early 1980s, making the same brilliant mistakes that every triathlete did in their quests for a new kind of somatic experience. When Schneider muses on both the technical and psychological elements required to take your skills to another level, know that there is a synchronicity of having done it well and having coached many others to do it better than they otherwise would have.

Maybe Im too hard on sportswriters. Any book, if it tells an honest story, is worth at least a cursory look. But when a new title breaks through the choking weeds of so many surface texts, it requires our deeper attention. Triathlon Revolution is just such a book. Beneath the good advice, youll find a lot of nuggets that only a great athlete with the intuitive insight earned in both the heat of battle and the halls of higher education might possess.

Scott Tinley

Acknowledgments

Triathlon is indeed a community-oriented sport and this book is a testament to that truth. Im not very good at asking for help, but once I was able to put my feelers out, the support came on in droves!

A number of people not only read all or part of the manuscript-in-progress and enthusiastically offered invaluable comments, suggestions, and recommendations, they also listened patiently to my email banter while I completed the first draft. Thanks to Jane OConnor, Greg Brock, Michelle Cantor, and Julia Van der Wyk for their encouraging words, critical feedback, and intelligent comments. Huge appreciation to Tony Lillios, Sherri Goodman, and Lori Cartwright for their consistent and specific suggestions, many of which were incorporated into the manuscript. My niece Sarah Gales, a visually impaired non-triathlete, read the entire manuscript start to finish and offered invaluable perspective. Thanks for your love and encouragementyou continually amaze me!

Thanks to Karen Burgess for not only reading and editing the entire manuscript but contributing a piece and offering consistent warm support. Kudos to Penni Bengtson for not only contributing, but offering an enormous amount of time creating the Resources section.

Numerous people enriched my triathlon life in various ways back in the daymany of these people also contributed to this book. Special thanks and big respect go out to Mark Allen, Bob Babbit, Mickey Wender, Sally Edwards, Mike Reilly, Dave Scott, Pete Kain, Heather Fuhr, Dave Liotta, and Jerry Lynch. It was wonderful connecting with all of them once again through their stories and our correspondence. I was thrilled to receive contributions from Terry Storm, Gaylia Osterlund, Kim Mueller, and Ned OverendI enjoyed getting to know all of them a bit deeper through our interactions. Thanks to Robert Kunz at First Endurance for offering top notch products to the endurance world, and to the folks at Montrail for their continued support. Additional thanks to Jack Johnstone, Norman Field, Lori Langona, and Steve Goodman for their photos.

Kate Rogers, Mary Metz, and all at The Mountaineers Books could not have offered a more user-friendly environment in which to create this bookthanks for the opportunity and guidance.