Has anyone here read/used the book "Qualifying for Kona: The Road to Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii "?? What did you think of it?
I want to qualify for Kona, I would love a coach but can't afford one, I would realistically need to take 1 - 1.5 hours off of my first IM time in order to do so (in the reasonable ballpark, I'd say), and am looking at this book and wondering if anyone has found it helpful.
I haven't read it yet, but
I haven't read it yet, but did check out the excerpts on Amazon. Based on what I read I would say it is a 'inspiration book" on how a common Joe made it to Kona. I would probably read it during the offseason to help keep my motivation going to gear up for season.
I love this article, because
I love this article, because it eliminates the "I'm not born to do this mentality". Kona doesn't reward the gifted, it rewards those that are patient, consistent and sacrifice the most. It can happen for you, you just need to be realistic that it may be a journey that will take years. This is my third year on that journey and I'm going to be very close this year, but realistically 2011 will be my Kona year. I just need on more year of volume under my belt. You can do it, but you just need to want it more than any other thing in your life, and that is a tough decision to make. Good Luck.
http://kropelnicki.com/?p=177
Vincenzo, would like to see
Vincenzo, would like to see that article but the link is broken
Good read Vincenzo. The
Good read Vincenzo. The link worked for me, but if you still can't bring it up, search for jesse kropelnicki and it's the 3rd entry on his blog.
I'm confident that I could make the sacrifices, or at least I would be willing to try. However, at this point I'm not sure I could ask my family to do the same. If I was one year away it would be different. My journey would likely be more like 3-5 years. Maybe only 2 if I qualified on the first chance. Robin is a whole lot closer than me. :)
I got the link this time,
I got the link this time, thanks!
Very interesting stuff.
I know for a fact that my family sacrifices are the single biggest limiter to triathlon performance at this time. Sigh, it's hard! I don't even think hubby knows yet what I mean by "I want to try to qualify for Kona", that this doesn't mean 8 - 15 hour weeks like the last time I trained for IM, but more like 15 - 30 hour weeks. Then again, my kids are much older now. Still, I foresee a lot of trainer time in my future. How much homeschooling can I do by popping in documentaries to the DVD player while I ride my trainer?? ;-)
Ironmom wrote: How much
[quote=Ironmom] How much homeschooling can I do by popping in documentaries to the DVD player while I ride my trainer?? ;-)[/quote]
Answer: A lot! : ) Do you have NetFlix? I can't believe the great stuff they have available. This week we are studying Great Britain and we watched a documentary on The Tower of London, a Passport to London travel dvd and Sense and Sensibility by J. Austen. Not a normal week for us, but I can't believe how much the girls (and I) learned this week. I say go for it Robin.
TonisTri wrote:Ironmom
[quote=TonisTri][quote=Ironmom] How much homeschooling can I do by popping in documentaries to the DVD player while I ride my trainer?? ;-)[/quote]
Answer: A lot! : ) Do you have NetFlix? I can't believe the great stuff they have available. This week we are studying Great Britain and we watched a documentary on The Tower of London, a Passport to London travel dvd and Sense and Sensibility by J. Austen. Not a normal week for us, but I can't believe how much the girls (and I) learned this week. I say go for it Robin.
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Definitely Netflix movie viewer is great, that sounds like a fun week's studying! Our library also has tons and tons of good stuff on DVD, so we're very lucky there. We just worked our way through "Guns, Germs, and Steel"
Ironmom wrote:TonisTri
[quote=Ironmom][quote=TonisTri][quote=Ironmom] How much homeschooling can I do by popping in documentaries to the DVD player while I ride my trainer?? ;-)[/quote]
Answer: A lot! : ) Do you have NetFlix? I can't believe the great stuff they have available. This week we are studying Great Britain and we watched a documentary on The Tower of London, a Passport to London travel dvd and Sense and Sensibility by J. Austen. Not a normal week for us, but I can't believe how much the girls (and I) learned this week. I say go for it Robin.
[/quote]
Definitely Netflix movie viewer is great, that sounds like a fun week's studying! Our library also has tons and tons of good stuff on DVD, so we're very lucky there. We just worked our way through "Guns, Germs, and Steel"
[/quote]
Awesome! Guess what my younger two watched at public school last week? Finding Nemo and Curious George. Argh! Okay, better stop before I'm on a soapbox that I know you are already standing on as well. Keep us posted on whether or not you decide to go for Kona!