«Great book»
I met John at this year's Carpinteria race (the one mentioned in his book). I can say from meeting him personally that he is anything but egotistical. What I did gather is that he is proud of his accomplishment and believes that others could benefit from his story. That accomplishment is getting out of the corporate rut and into a healthy lifestyle. I have a similar job to John's in that I spend a lot of time traveling for work. His insights and drive have inspired me in my training plans and goals that I can also complete an Ironman race. Successful completion of a triathlon or anything that tests your own personal boundaries be it physical or mental is something to be proud of and brag about. Every month magazines like Men's Health have articles or comments from people who have appeared on "The Biggest Loser". Are we to assume that all of these people are egotistical maniacs as well?
As for the reviews that point out that he has "unlimited resources" I would challenge that even with those resources his times were not record breaking. To quote he finished in the "bottom 25%" While some of those items helped his training they did not give him any significant advantage. The excess in the book did show me many of the options that are available to triathletes and from that information I can make my own decisions. From the Author's Dedication in the book it is obvious he did not intend for the book to be a recipe for anyone else on how to complete an Ironman. His intention was to show busy Americans that change is possible. In fact, during the book he highlights many other resources that offer more scientific and organized approaches to training in podcasts and other books. I know many Ironman athletes that have completed these races without these luxuries, but being aware that they are even available was helpful information.
I will agree that I found mistakes in the editing and the writing isn't going to win any awards, but he is not a writer. He is a CEO and an Ironman triathlete. To grade him simply on his writing skills as WonderWmn does is to ignore the amount of effort it takes to maintain his two primary lifestyles. (Not to mention that he took on the UltraMan challenge probably at the same time he was writing this book.) I think the book does a great job showing that a "prosperous" corporate exec can change their lifestyle and become healthier.
[Thursday, November 05, 2009]
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«This author is missing the wisdom Gene!»
John Callos (the author) makes it appear that Ironman training is so very injurious and dangerous but quite frankly he heightened all the underlying risks of the event and training by making myriad bone-headed decisions throughout his endeavor. His judgement is highly questionable; immature and impulsive decisions and remarkably dim-witted at others. His aches, pains and injuries are a direct result of his bad judgement. Taking his advice and following any part of his training program or nutrition strategy is dim-witted by any user who should be questioning this guy's strength as an advisor on any level. Although, I enjoyed the book for its humor... but not in a laughing with you kind of way; I laughed at this guy throughout the duration and the mere drama he brought to this endeavor. This is more a book on not what to do for Ironman training than its positive contrast. His prescription drug use was ridiculus as well as his need to spend money constantly on his lavish Ironman lifestyle. His dropping of brand name vehicles and the money he has was almost sickening. This guy lacks the wisdon gene... read only if you know what you're doing already so as not to cloud your Ironman judgement.
[Tuesday, October 13, 2009]
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«Not sure quite what to think...»
OK, so in the end while I did enjoy parts of this book potential buyers beware! This was not a tale of an average 40+ father & executive's "struggles" to successfully complete an Iron Man event.
I bought this book because like the author John Callos, I'm an older athlete and a mid-life weekend warrior with aspirations of re-capturing my youth through a triathon. While I'm not a CEO, I am a fairly senior level executive in at a SoCal based company and my wife and teenage son support me wholeheartedly. But here the similarities end. John has the benefits of great wealth and access to (almost) unlimited resources. Whatever he needs he gets, be it bikes, coaches, tests, expensive off insurance medical treatment, nutritional aids and so on.
At no point is John constrained by budget. Far from it, at what seems like every opportunity he celebrates his ability to throw whatever cash he needs around to solve a problem. Personally I was looking for guidance & advice on how to manage family, work and training but what I actually got was an ode to gratuitous self indulgence. His description of his home training set up is priceless (I doubt if Chris McCormack has access to home facilities like this and he's a past Kona winner) and his constant mentions of his expensively acquired possessions start to drag, such as his bike set up that makes the boys in the bike shop drool and his top of the line BMW. It just never ends....
All to often this book feels like a hastily thrown together combination of you incredibly self obsessed emails (where John whines on & on to his world famous coach about either his lack of self confidence, vast array of injuries, ever present fear of failure, and long diatribes on over & under training), dubious self motivation statements and the previously mentioned lists of money is no object purchases. Around page 5 I realized that this story was not reflective of the 99.999% of 40+ executive athletes I know and race against. Was this book a self publishing exercise, another vanity project? It certainly feels that way.
John, at least to this reader, does not outwardly appear to be humble man, and I guess that the point he's really trying to make. The sport of Triathlon is by nature self obsessive, something John illustrates splendidly.
My personal reservations aside, this book absolutely reinforced what I think it must be like to complete an Iron Man event and the toll it takes on all participants. Since reading "Iron Ambition" I've stepped up my training and that's solely down to John Callos. If he can finish an Iron Man with all that he has at his disposal then I feel compelled to do it on my shoe string budget. If John's aim in this book is to motivate me then he's succeeded.
In conclusion, John seems to have achieved a great deal in life and my hat is off to him on all fronts. He's a winner and he's done something I only dream of right now. But you cannot help but come away from reading this book without thinking that with all that money, support and access to whatever he needed to succeed, he should maybe have achieved more than just comfortably finishing the event. To be fair John recognizes that. Like John's Iron Man, this book could of and should have been better.
[Wednesday, September 30, 2009]
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