Outside's Guide to Triathlon

Why triathlon is booming, why you should do it, and how to get started. Outside Magazine's comprehensive guide, complete with celebrity endorsements, training plans, and a triathlon in Aspen. (Written by yours truly!) Find it in the February issue, on newsstands now. Look for the incredibly hot hurdler Lolo Jones on the cover. Also online here:

TRANSITION TIME

Photo of me on the Ultraman Canada 2011 run. Courtesy of Rick Kent.

Strange encounters of the Ironman kind: IMAZ 2011

It’s somewhere around 5 p.m. on Nov. 20. The sun is low and it’s getting chilly in the shadow of a tall condo complex where coachubby and I stand. We’re next to the elevated dirt road that serves as miles four-ish, 13-ish, and 22-ish on the Ironman Arizona course, and we’re on the lookout for green calf sleeves, a blue tank top, a pink shirt, and a hot couple.

The blue tank top, covering a buff 27-year old blonde, should be approaching. Instead, a dude in his 50s wearing a baggy grey shirt runs straight at me. His face is contorted in either pain or anger or both, and although he’s surely tired, he looks like he still has enough energy to rip my face off.

He stops an inch from my nose, raises his left eyebrow, and stares into my brain with his big, sweaty, creepy left eye.

“Is there a bug in my eye?” he says. I can’t tell if there’s a right answer—he might punch me either way.

“No? I don’t see one?”

He blinks and rolls his eye around.

“There’s nothing there?”

A tiny black dot reveals itself when he looks up. “Oh yeah, there’s a speck. I see it.” 

“Get it out!” he demands.

Get it out? I’m supposed to shove my finger into this angry stranger's eye? No way. “You get it, Jimmy!” I pass him on.

The guy blinks a few times in the trade to coachubby.

“Look up,” coachubby says.

The guy rolls his eyes up as the vein in his forehead bulges.

“Mmm nope, don’t see it anymore,” coachubby says. I can’t tell if it’s true or if coachubby is saving his finger a trip into the guy’s eyeball.

The guy grunts then runs away.

Cue Twilight Zone music. 

This has been a presentation of strange encounters of the Ironman kind.

Triathlon Swim Safety Reviewed and a Killer 10K Training Plan

My latest for Outside Magazine online:
THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER

IMAZ '09

Last August, two athletes died during the swim leg of the New York City 
Triathlon. Since then, articles on event safety have piled up—and two 
more athletes have lost their lives. Is it time for USA Triathlon to 
rethink its rules?

OFFICE CRUSH

Want to make next year memorable? Start training now and destroy 

your office mates in a New Year’s Day 10K.

A Totally Tri Reading List

Hi Trilovers! Because you like things in threes, here's a trio of new triathlon stories to read, written by yours truly:

1. Pro Dede Griesbauer gave up a lucrative career on Wall Street to race the Ironman circuit. Could you do that?
2. I raced Ultraman Canada at the end of July. WTF is UMC? Here's what you need to know.

Photo by Rachel Eads. I = Purple hat on left.

3. Pick up the latest issue of Triathlete Magazine (October) for a fun story on Kona hopeful and Biggest Loser graduate, Tara Costa, whose first Ironman was foiled by a fat suit.

Happy Tuesday!
-Erin

Coconut Chocolate Chip Clif Bars-Come and Get 'Em

If you like sweet and coconutty things, this is the Clif Bar for you. Finally, after months of impatiently waiting, I've been alerted that the Coconut Chocolate Clif bar is available in stores. Note: May also be used as dessert. Double note: Clif Bar says they've changed their Apricot and Peanut Toffee Buzz recipes to include more of the namesake ingredients. If you're into fruity or toffee bars and were previously disappointed by a lack of frutiness or toffeeness, try them out to see how they stack up against the older versions.

Enjoy!