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How Triathlon Ruined My Life | 
 enlarge | Author: Darren Roberts
Publisher: Upfront Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: £9.99
Buy New: £8.19
You Save: £1.80 (18%)
New (12) Used (1) from £8.19
Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 31244
Media: Paperback
Pages: 216
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 4.7 x 0.7
ISBN: 1844264696
Dewey Decimal Number: 796
EAN: 9781844264698
ASIN: 1844264696
Publication Date: November 8, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW and IN STOCK - dispatched within 48 hours from the UK
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| Customer Reviews:
 Tri247.com review by John Levinson July 29, 2008
John Levinson
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Review: How Triathlon Ruined My Life
Posted by: John Levison
Posted on: Tuesday 29th April 2008
John Levison has had his head in a book again. Here are his thoughts on his latest read...........
Having recently reviewed another real-life triathlon story, I was fortunate to bump into Darren Roberts, author of How Triathlon Ruined My Life at this year's TCR Show. He enthusiastically offered me a copy of his book to review. We've mentioned the book before on the site, but, to date, none of the team had read it. So, how was it?
Now, Darren describes himself as "fat, bald and ugly", and his book as "55,000 words of illiterate drivel", so probably fair to say he doesn't take himself or his literary prowess too seriously! While I'm not going to comment on the former, I can confidently say I didn't find the book drivel at all - it's a cracking read, laugh-out-loud funny at times, which gave rise to a few strange looks as I chuckled to myself on the Tube going to work.
The book is a story; no, it's Darren's story, of going from scratch, to finishing an Ironman in six months, with all the impacts that has on home, work, life and family. This wasn't the initial plan, which involved a more pragmatic/balanced approach to building up to an Ironman event over 18 months. However, as is often the case, life events, in this case the birth of a child and the death of a young colleague, changed that plan and Ironman became "something I had to do, not talk about". So plans for a half-Ironman in 2006, then a full Ironman in 2007 became "just do the full Charlie and stop messing about! So I did".
Fair to say that Darren didn't arrive in triathlon from a couch potato background, having spent nine years in the forces; the Parachute Squadron of the RAF Regiment, no less. He also works in the sports industry in strength and conditioning with Red Bull, Reading Football Club and a number of professional athletes such as Paul Casey and Lee McConnell. All that said 100kgs of muscle, the ability to bench press small houses combined with an aerobic exercise regime of "breathing in and out" possibly wasn't the best start point for a potential Ironman.
What I like about the book is its honesty - it's 100% Darren. I met him for barely two minutes, but imagine that I've got a pretty good insight into him as a person simply by reading his book. Nothing feels contrived, or put in because it will read well. It's just the good, the bad and the ugly of preparing to spend the best part of 13 hours swimming, biking and running to get that Ironman finish. It's also very observant - his description of the typical pre-race portaloo is a classic, as are the characterisations of typical triathlete stereotypes: 'alpha-male', 'swim nemesis' and 'other triathlete'...
So, from me it's a clear recommendation. If you are a triathlon fan, and like the sound of an honest, easy reading and funny book, this is for you.
Any profits from the sale of the book are donated to the Chris Jones Riders Fund, Chris was a 14-year old motor bike racer who died in a racing accident in 2005, whom Darren worked with as part of the Red Bull team. The fund was set up in Chris' memory to raise money within the motorcycle industry to provide vital medical equipment to help the future of British Racing. Chris' death was one of the primary inspirations for Darren to do the Ironman.
 Very poor July 24, 2008
Woody (Northern England)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Sorry but this is a very badly written book, the jokes are excrutiating and the main character very egotistical.
He slags off his fellow competitors, slags off the races and er slags off Ironman UK. In fact as he enjoys triathlons so little you wonder why he does them.
"Not Normal Behaviour" is a far better read.
I thought it was only me! December 1, 2007
daverave
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
My wife got me this book as she's a long suffering triathlon widow who is having to put up with a husband training for Ironman New Zealand. I don't think she actually saw what the book was about and bought it because of the title! I'm glad she did because this book is very funny, and I thought it was only me that got the post race 'fear', didn't know what race shirt to wear to registration and suffered from horrendous 'bike envy' in transition. It's worth it alone for the 'always take loo roll with you for the portaloos'. ha ha!
Made me laugh out loud December 1, 2007
cheesburger
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
As someone who is thinking of doing an Ironman next year I got this book on the strength of the synopsis that made me laugh. Basically the whole book is like this and any book that makes you laigh out loud on the train to work is got to be worth buying. And don't be fooled by the 'no tips' thing, there were plenty in here and I'm now not so scared of the big bad IM! A bit pricey, but what isn't in triathlon?
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