Train to Standard

All of us have been in this situation (yes, even you, Blink)...be it in school, a work training program, in the military, etc. The lesson is done, the points were made, the mission is accomplished - but the block of time allotted for this instruction has not yet expired. The bell hasn't rung yet.

The instructor, or leader of the group, in all their infinite wisdom and time-honored toe-the-line glory, either babbles on with one eye on the clock, the other on his or her sleeping students, or simply states, "we still have 15 minutes - are there any questions?". Train to time. Paid by the hour. One of the most inefficient systems the world has ever seen. How much time have you wasted waiting unproductively for a bell to ring?

This is why the concept of Training to Time, and not to distance, bothers me so. I know, deep down, that it's all the same, really. Anyone can look at their training schedule and see a planned hour run, knowing their training pace, and say to themselves, "ok, lets do that nice, flat 6 mile route...". Feeling slow today? That 6 miler may take 1:02. Or - and perhaps more likely, you'll run for exactly 1 hr, and walk in the remaining distance.

But if you are feeling good - if you worked hard and are enjoying the benefits of a series of awesome training days, your reward is, well, you get to look forward to tacking on some distance to your run or bike to make up for your greatness.

Being uncoached, I have the luxury of doing or training however I damn well please. If I ever do get fortunate enough to be able to afford some needed help and advise with my training, I'm sure it will come in the form of training blocks disbursed in time increments, not distance. Except for swimming, of course. Somehow the "train to time" standard has not yet been found to be important in the pool. You don't see too many, "do 8 sets of 2 minutes, followed by 4 sets of 1 minute and then finish up with 4 sets of 30 seconds going all out..." - no, it's still distance and pace in the pool.

Hey...it works. I know it works - the "train to time" standard that is. Hundreds if not thousands of athletes each and every day wake up looking forward to a 2.5 hr bike with a 45 min run off. Those athletes are successful and so are their coaches. My angst boils down to the "mindset" - the frame of mind that is being ingrained every day with each training session.

With very few exceptions, the mission parameters of a race are set by distance, not by time. 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 26.4 mile run. Not a 1.5 hr swim, 6 hr bike, 5 hr run. Your reward comes at the completion of distance, not when the clock strikes hour X. I have no evidence to suggest that athletes coached in "training to time" perform any better or worse when they race compared to folks training to a distance standard. Somehow, it just makes sense to me that mentally, when you get to that time goal in a race, and you are still miles from the finish line, the person who, in training, is used to making up that distance will have an advantage over the person used to stopping at an arbitrary time.

Perhaps this is a minor point, hardly worthy of this many words and paragraphs in my already hectic day. I don't even hope to accomplish any sweeping changes or influence any of you reading this, be you athlete, coach or both. Maybe I just don't want you to think me "unread" or "behind the times" when I lament of my last 10 mile run, awesome century ride or brick denoted in miles instead of hrs. Crap! I just realized that I'm turning into "Mr. Super Elitist Old School Triathlon Guy"...please don't pee in my water bottles.

Perspective

So what the heck has been going on in the Bigun house, you ask? Crazy insaneness, I tell ya! Last weekend we held a Birthday party for Diana...she's over 30 and waaay under 50...it was a success! We had cake, presents, and loads of local friends to party the night away. No, Di didn't make mojitos...I think she made some sort of Pineapple Martini - I didn't hear too many complaints. All the Corona's got drunk, and even some of the canned Bud Light, which always amazes me.

As is customary with parties, the house is clean. Yea! We now have a Gold Room. One of the guest bathrooms is now gold. It looks pretty cool - I take notice from time to time when I look up from the latest Inside Tri magazine. I think the spare bedroom is also done now, save some parts we are still waiting on for the bed. Headboard stuff - the details are complicated girly things. Bottom line - we can have friends over, and things are getting done at the Bigun house. I'll let Di, aka Mrs. Bigun blog about all her doings on the home front.

It's officially "Save the Tata's" month! I make light...I tend to do that with important, sensitive subjects - sorry if I offend. Doesn't mean I don't take breast cancer seriously. It could be argued that it's always Tata month here at the house of Bigun...and I like it that way.

Week 38 was NOT an Iron week by any means. In fact, I took the week off. Just wasn't into it last week. I feel fat now. I'm afraid to step on the scale. Week 37 will be an epic training week for me. It's actually already started. Nice 50 miler today; pedaled hard for just under 2 and half hours, then ran for 40 minutes. Good Brick. Gotta love it.

Bolder is still unpublished. We all wait patiently for his manifesto. His Declaration of Intent. That gets me thinking. Should the Bigun have a Declaration of Intent too? Iron Benny did one. What about me? It's easy, I guess. Ironman Coeur d'Alene....finish!

Why?

Because it's hard. Doing hard things, succeeding at hard things, changes people. Usually for the better. I'm all for becoming better, and it's been a while since I've done something really hard. Ironman is perspective altering. Even if you've done one before, your perspective changes over time based on recent memories and events. You can be Iron-fit. You can also have an Iron-perspective. Both need to be maintained with time, sweat and attitude.

Wish me luck on this epic training week. The Florida Challenge Half Iron-Distance is right around the corner, and I'd like to have the last race of the season be a good one. Mrs Bigun and I are heading out to Panama City Beach in a month to cheer for bloggy peeps in IMFL. It will be awesome to meet up with Taconite Man and Trimama, Moonpie is heading up that way, plus Iron Jenny may still be racing, as well as our resident Trifeist! Excel Man and GEL will be up to sign up for '08 - I'm just looking forward to a day of cowbells and cameras (and a beer or three) with good friends.

Character, Culture and Tri-Ethics

Character.

Iron Shane wrote of it in his emerging website, www.allthingstriathlon.com as part of his "Word of the Week" e-mail post. It really got me to thinking - go figure, the Bigun, thinking again - everyone stand back. I wrote this as a response to his e-mail...

I think our culture focuses far too much on the deeds of an individual without looking at the motives or the methods in which those deeds were accomplished. In many cases, once the character flaws are exposed, the individual once idolized fails to lose their heroic stature. This sends the message throughout our culture loud and clear - "the ends justify the means".

Before long we WILL see our sport become more and more infused with folks with great deeds but of low character. As sponsorship and prize purses become more lucrative, as Triathlon Teams become more popular with salaries that approach professional cycling, as Ironman slots become harder and harder to obtain, making qualifying that much more difficult - people will cheat to capture these prizes. Our Professional and Age Group heroes alike.

The triathlon culture (edit...what I should have wrote here is, The triathlon community...) is still small enough to be less effected by other sports and other facets of the world's cultures. With leadership and dialog, education and a strict adherence to the rules of the sport and ethics of the community, we have the opportunity to positively influence OUR culture, and perhaps set an example for others to follow. It's good to see, of all the topics, information, marketing, politics or just plain B.S. that COULD come from the Word of the Week, you choose the word Character. Bravo

Shane used some of my writing in his follow-on e-mail about Character yet again. I'm loving it! Again I wrote him back:

Thanks Shane - all this is important to me...I'd like to think that Triathlon is an Honor Oasis in the Character-flawed culture that is the world in which we live.

Just like it seems the stage winners from the TDF are the tested in that sport, your suggestion of Kona participants being tested is a valid one. Some percentage that is reasonable and that targets not necessarily the top age groupers, but maybe ones that have shown an uncharacteristic jump in fitness from one year to the next. Who know's what the answer is as far as testing goes....

I read a recent article in Slowtwitch in which a leading Bio-ethicist, Thomas Murry, PhD takes an alarming stand on the use of performance enhancing drugs. The problem is this: Should aging athletes have, with doctor's prescriptions, the ability to take otherwise prohibited drugs to cure or help their ailments brought on by the years and still compete? I think Dr. Murry uses Aging athletes as an example, but carries his argument over to all athletes with a prescription.

Thomas Murry writes: So, what does all this mean for the aging athlete? If someone has a clear medical need for a drug that could also serve a performance enhancing purpose, the ethical case for permitting that athlete to use that drug at a therapeutically appropriate level is strong. If someone needs insulin to manage their diabetes, or as in one case I saw while serving on a USOC committee, testosterone to prevent feminization of secondary sexual characteristics after having both testes removed as treatment for bilateral testicular cancer, then, under proper medical supervision, they should be permitted to take the drugs they need.

I want to say, "clearly" here, but there is nothing really clear...still, treatment that includes otherwise prohibited performance enhancing drugs most likely will enhance the athletic performance of the individual taking those drugs. Sure, it will cure what ails him or her, but just because it was prescribed, does that give that person the right to circumvent the rules?

Thomas Murry goes on to write: Let me stop being, for the moment, a two-handed ethicist (“on the one hand, on the other hand…) and propose a rough principle here: If the drug proposed for use by a particular aging athlete is medically indicated to treat a disease, then the athlete should be permitted to use a therapeutic level of that drug; if the drug is meant to preserve the athlete’s health and well-being, and there is compelling scientific evidence that its benefits outweigh its risks for that population, then again the athlete should be permitted to use a medically sound dose. But, if there are no clear clinical indications or compelling scientific evidence, then athletes competing in masters’ level competitions should not use the drug. In this last instance, the risk is that flimsy science could be used to back drug use whose primary purpose and effect is sports performance enhancement.


Aging athletes have the same right to a level playing field as young athletes. A sensible policy towards dual-use drugs—drugs that have both legitimate medical uses but can also enhance performance—can help to keep that field as level as our years allow.

I completely disagree with his last paragraph - Aging athletes do NOT have the same rights, in the context of prescribed prohibited performance enhancers, as young athletes. Reworded, HEALTHY Aging athletes have the same rights as healthy young athletes to a level playing field. Is it too bad that a person is forced to be treated with a drug to maintain their health? Of course it is - it's too bad. But, once cured or relieved of the symptoms of the illness, that athlete, aged or otherwise, now has an advantage over everyone else. The prohibited drugs also enhanced that person's athleticism - and that's not fair - that's not a level playing field.

Athletes, aged or young, pro or amateur, taking prescribed prohibited performance enhancing drugs should be allowed to participate - Triathlon is all about overcoming obstacles and triumph over hardship - those people should, however, not be allowed to compete.

I feel it extremely important to discuss ethics and character from the refrence point of the Age Group Triathlete - we alone can postively effect our culture...left to it's own accords, culture of any kind tends be...less than ideal.

Crusty too?

Last night's function went exactly like I thought it would. Old graduates talked of how it was, younger grads talked of things new and exciting, and the Superintendent dove right into his "State of the Union - West Point Style" speech, complete with Power Point slides and pictures. Unlike my prediction of the evenings activities, I was impressed.

I quickly found myself caught up in the Supe's talk. It was very different than stuff I'd heard in the past. The Corps has changed, but I really like the way it's different than when I was there, and in the direction it's going. USMA will always be about getting a great education - and in that regard I never found my experience there lacking (if only I had taken it more seriously...). I truly felt, looking back after being in the Army for a while, that I graduated clueless as to what being a leader in the Army was to be "all about". To be fair, the nuts and bolts of leading a platoon is taught once in the Army - the transition from Academy life to the military was a hard one for me - and it probably shouldn't have been. I doubt it is anymore for Cadets graduating these days. The "M" in USMA stands for MILITARY - it seems, from the Supe's speech, that the military is more a part of the West Point experience now.

I know that's hard to believe. Sure, we did military stuff while I was there. It was just so basic. The Supe talked of advanced training at a place called Camp Buckner - it sounded realistic and awesome - something we were lacking. Our Camp Buckner was, for lack of a better word, social. We got to know each other with lots of off time and group activity that was hardly military in nature. We did do Army training - again, in my horrible memory it just seemed so insignificant. These kids, this past summer, did a non-stop, no break, like-it-was-for-real "Forward Operating Base" - and thought it was the greatest thing. What, no Camp Buckner Cotillion?

These days, Cadets can volunteer for spring break and summer training abroad with host nation armed services - the program is huge and a large percentage of Cadets take advantage of it. I have fond memories of going to San Fransisco and Hawaii for a couple of spring breaks while I was there. They've now got a Commandant's program that is more about weapons training than marching and drill and ceremony, all participated in a Cadet's spare time. Do I sound jealous? I am.

It's hard to say what my attitude would have been if this had been the way of West Point when I was there. Without hindsight, I might have resented any infringement on my personal time, however, if unexpected, the loss of social time wouldn't really matter, would it? Times are different now - well, we had the Iron Curtain and they have the War on Terrorism. Mine was a cold war, and this one now most certainly is anything but cold. These kids volunteered in the face of 9-11, knowing full well what they were getting into. I was just a stupid high school kid with very little understanding about the USSR and Communist Aggression. I really, really like and admire these young men and women!

My hat's off to the current leadership of West Point. I'm confident - albeit from an hour chat with the head honcho - that they are producing the finest Army officers that have ever been produced from the Academy - and there have been some good ones (Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton and Schwartzkoff quickly come to mind)! They've got some awesome incentive programs to keep these great folks in the ranks serving our country for years to come - incentives that I'm sure would have kept me in (guaranteed Grad School for a 3 year extension of mandatory service time - from 5 years to 8 years - an unbelievable opportunity!). They keep a conduit open with the regular Army with lessons learned in the field that are relayed in real time back to the 'Point. Awesome stuff!

And, they have a triathlon team - very cool - which was used as an example a few times in the Supe's discussion. I guess I'm hooked on these Founder's Day functions, and looking forward to hear of next years' accomplishments by my Alma Mater. Not only am I a plodder, I'm also now a crusty old grad. Good grief, what's next? Grey hair? Can I get a "take-back" on my last post?

Hot Steel on Fabric

"There's nothing that makes me feel quite like a man as hot steel on fabric" - ever since I saw that clip from Will and Grace, I think of it every time I iron. I get up every morning and press my clothes for the day, and that 15 minutes it takes to iron up a tie, shirt and pants (I don't dry clean) gets me to thinking about...stuff.

Lately, there's been lots of chatter about why we do what we do. Folks have goals that they've set for the year, people are fighting with finding the time to train vs. time with family and work, and there are blogs with lists that explain a few things about their authors. It seems to be a time to reflect and try and figure out why we endure the pain and suffering. So I've been doing some introspection myself, and this morning I finally hit the nail on the head when it comes to explaining this part of ME - I don't get satisfaction from my job.

Some people complain that they hate their job. I don't hate my job. Some folks hate the people they work with or for - not me. I have moments where I like my job a lot. There are many things about my job that I really like. I just don't get satisfaction from it. It does not define me, like it does many people, especially those who gain deep satisfaction from their career. I used to have that, years ago, when I was in the Army.

By having a job define them, I'm not implying that it's the only thing that defines them. A Doctor can be a doctor and a parent and a spouse, in fact anyone who loves what they do can have their career or job be an integral part of who they are. I think one major test of your feelings about your job is when you are at a party and folks start talking about work, do you actively participate, or do you just say, "I'm an RV salesman" and leave it at that?

I was talking recently with a good friend from college, Roger, who's at a huge crossroads in his life and career right now, and he has one last opportunity to do something special that he feels he was meant to do. He's lucky in that not only does he truly KNOW what it is but he also has the opportunity to do it. This road definitely defines him, and in taking it, he'll forever be able to say, "I'm Roger C., and I'm a United States Army Special Forces Officer and I served in Iraq, etc, etc (stuff I can't talk about...)". He'd be turning down huge financial opportunities to follow this path, spending time away from his family and friends, and risking his life in the service of others - but it defines him.

Being an RV salesman in no way defines me. With few exceptions, I don't trust the people I work with and for, I'm tired of letting down my customers with inferior products and incomplete service, and most of my attempts to make this work environment better have been thwarted or abandoned at some point by my leaders. Its pretty frustrating at times, yet there are some good things.

Even in a down market (the RV industry as a whole has been "off" 15 - 20% for 2 years now) I can make the money I need to do what I want and pay my bills. The hours are long, but they are easy hours. I have NO responsibilities other than my sales quotas, so my work stress is, compared to my Army days, pretty low. I come home and sleep in my own bed every night, and I am supervised very little - I can sneak out of here pretty much at will. I've been a salesman going on 9 years now in varying industries selling different stuff - so it is what I do. And for you other salesman out there - I'm not knocking the career, just how I, personally relate to it.

Thankfully, Triathlon found me. The physical challenges, the discipline of it, learning about training and physiology, the gear - it all was new yet familiar. Being in the Army and especially Special Forces was very much physical - and I missed that. There's a camaraderie in Triathlon that is similar to the trust formed in the Service that's based in sweat and purpose - and I missed that too. There's honor in Triathlon - it's very much about doing your own work, and it's difficult to corrupt what Triathlon is. It's unique and select - there's a right of passage in Triathlon that few people commit to. I've found something, again, that can help to define me. It gives me a sense of worth - I'm proud of being a Triathlete, and at parties, I can talk for hours about it (to the chagrin of my wife...).

I'm approaching my own crossroads in the realm of Triathlon, the thing that helps define me. Ironman. One word says so much. Commitment. Pain. Suffering. Pride. Honor. Of course I mean the distance, not necessarily the brand. Becoming an Ironman. Joining the exclusive club - club's the wrong word - joining the brotherhood of Ironman finishers. Sharing that moment and moments with the special people who also find meaning in the accomplishment - my wife, my family, my friends, my fellow triathletes.

I'm jealous of my friend Roger and any of you who can find definition, satisfaction and/or meaning in what you do for hours and hours five or six days a week. For now, every stride, every stroke and every cycle gives that feeling to me. Very easily, one or two changes at work could change the way I feel about my job - it's funny how it happens that way - but for now, I'm thankful for the way things are. Hi, nice to meet you, I'm Marc - let me tell you about Triathlon!

Stay Hungry

I've been seeing a lot of posting about goals for '07 and many of them revolve around weight. How to lose weight. What happens if I lose the weight. Why it's so hard to lose weight. Folks, it's time to embrace the weight. Relish in it. Be the weight. Feel the weight.

OK, not! I want to lose this inner tube as much as the next guy and gal. I ran my first 1/2 at 244 in November, and on Monday I tipped the scales at 258 - good grief!!!! I've been putting in these 10 hr weeks and still put on 14 lbs over the silly season. What is up with that? I'll tell you - cookies, brownies, chocolate, sweets, coke, beer, repeat. Add to all that ginormous portions at every meal, and I can truly say that I let myself go.

I have a skinny friend and athlete that told me a long time ago that the key for him was to "stay hungry". Stay hungry. Not an easy thing to do - but it's a feeling you can get used to. I'm not talking about Ethiopia hungry - it's just a mild hunger. Persistent - it almost gets satisfied at a meal. I started down this path again on Monday - and I'm embracing the hunger - it's going to become comforting. I'll know that when I'm feeling a little hungry, I'm probably burning off a few fat cells. I was hungry when I started my run last night, and was even hungrier when I sat down to dinner afterward. Good stuff.

Yea, I need to stop with the sweets. I've been soda and sweet-tea free since the 1st. No candy bars since the 1st. I've stopped going in for seconds ("he's going in!!!"). The mental key with the physical chaser is the reminder - the Mantra - to "Stay Hungry". Of course the adage works for many things in life. We can become complacent with work, family, friends, house, and even our physical performance or levels of success. We can become complacent with life. We get comfortable - its like that constant feeling of being full - having a full belly. It's a great feeling, but it really doesn't lead to anything good.

Staying Hungry always meant to me to be constantly looking to improve - even if you were doing good to start with. I'm going to stay hungry this season - this year. I'm going to be uncomfortable for a while - I'll work harder, train harder and live harder than I have in the past ("living harder" is my way of not getting sappy about relationships...). I'll be looking for that feeling - that hungry feeling - and when I don't feel it, than I'll know I'm not trying hard enough - I'm getting too comfortable again - and it's time, then to start up the mantra, "Stay Hungry"...."Stay Hungry".

Litter-bugs

I was fuming today on the way back to work from my noon-er (that's a noon swim...). Driving impossibly slow behind Mr. and Mrs. Old, I see it happening. It's almost in slow motion. The passenger window comes down, her hand raises up to the glass, and a blue wrapper - like a bag of chips or something, goes screaming by my truck, lost in the wind. They had to see my gestures as I scolded them thoroughly from the front seat of my truck. I was only inches from their bumper as my arms flailed about telling my passenger how much I hate littering. I've got a feeling, though, that they continued about their day, blissfully and uncaring of an act they've probably repeated innumerable times in their 60+ years.

Conversely, the inside of my truck looks like a trash heap today. Not only does nothing go out the window, but it takes days - even weeks sometimes for garbage to leave my truck and make it to the trash can. I've still got the folding chairs from the race this weekend - heck, the goodie bag from registration is still on the back seat. Sweaty clothes, now dry, but not smelling very good, are on the rubber mats - it's a mess. I need to do something about that and tomorrow is a day off work - in addition to doing bills, laundry, cleaning up the house and going on a longish bike ride and swim - I'll clean the truck too. So much for sleeping in....

What it takes

I'm not trying to be a whiner here, but I found out tonight at my 2nd of 30 swim workouts in 30 days that my primary pool will be closed for 2 weeks for resurfacing (I was informed while getting out tonight that I had the dubious distinction of being the last swimmer to use the pool until the refurbished one is unveiled). Now I haven't seen the movie, probably because of the mixed reviews, mostly bad, that complain of the movie being a sob fest about Reid's broken marriage. Still, the review I read explained that the title "What it Takes" comes from doing whatever it takes to reach your goals.

So now I'm forced into applying that same axiom - and I shouldn't complain as I have 2 other options for YMCAs within a 20 mile radius from my home. The one that closed, however, was just 3 miles away. After December 4th they all go to winter hours, which makes the goal even tougher. I've already planned to modify the goal slightly since a swim on Sunday, due to pool hours and my work schedule, is next to impossible. In keeping within the spirit of 30 in 30, I just have to double up one day during the week.

Even after 2 of these swims in a row, I'm already noticing a difference in my swimming. I seem to be finding a rhythm faster, and am able to keep it longer. My pace is purposefully slow and steady so that I can keep my HR and breathing under control, and to make sure that the workout is repeatable! I don't want to get fried 4 days into this. Don't laugh - day one's swim was 2100 yards continuous in 46:05 and tonight's was the same distance in 47:56. I honestly am not 100% on the distance - I noticed tonight especially that I lost count a few times and probably swam more than the 42 laps I was counting. I miss the long lanes of the pool 20 miles away - less counting!

Tonight I was vexed by a dude who shows up about 15 laps into my workout and jumps in the lane next to me - up until then I had the pool to myself (go figure on a Saturday night...). He proceeds to lap me continuously and soundly. Granted, he was long gone by the time I was finished, but I was tempted to pick up the pace, thus ruining my "base" type workout plan, thus proving the theory that base training is best conducted alone. Fighting that urge distracted my lap counting, but who really knows how many laps you swim?

I'll test that theory again tomorrow morning when I meet up with Greg for a casual 50 miler out at Flatwoods before work. Depending on how work goes, my plan is to finish out the week with a run of some distance, hopefully 8 miles or more. All base miles. All dreadfully dull. All according to the plan. Trust the plan.

Mac Attack

Ok, I’ll admit it – when Stadler blew up last year after not being able to change a flat, throwing his bike while on camera and having a hissy-fit, I decided I didn’t much like the guy. I’m of a mind that a Professional anyone – lawyer, doctor, soldier or ATHLETE – should set an example of behavior for the rest of us to follow. While I understand the emotional aspect of Stadler’s plight in ’05, I would have hoped for more from him. No, I’m not going to bow to the “you would have done the same thing if your year of training would have amounted to nothing….” argument, not because I know for sure what I would have done in that situation, but because I have an expectation of behavior of Professionals. As a Professional soldier, I experienced similar stresses and physical excursions (things like Ranger School, Special Forces Selection, etc…), and suffered a few defeats as well, and managed to maintain a professional image to my subordinates and peers as was expected of an Officer. I’m in no way comparing my level of fitness then to his now – just the level of stress in physically and mentally challenging situations.

This year, he raced the perfect race, and is crowned a champion of champions. Good for him – I respect him as one of the best athletes in the world. But yet again, he’s shown his lack of Professionalism in his actions and comments – from the throwing of the wreath, to use of profanity on the ramp, to his after-race comments. Now I swear like sailor sometimes (but not on national TV), and after 8hrs, I can understand not wanting a pointy, leafy crown on my head (but have been required to wear uncomfortable protective gear after some pretty long days and weeks). But what I don’t understand or condone is an attack of integrity on a fellow athlete that was competing on the same playing field and by the same rules.

Yes, he won. He proved that he could lead out and keep that lead and be the best in the world – and if he wants to rub it in, so be it. If he’s a poor sport, or if his personality is one, like many professional athletes today, that shows it’s backside more often than not, than there will be folks that are drawn to that and he’ll have his fans and people who are not his fans. Talking trash is all the rage and boosts TV ratings. Blasting a guy’s abilities that you just beat may be acceptable in some folks eyes – it’s poor form, but there’s some truth to it – on that day, you were better than him. Calling a man a cheater – questioning his integrity – is a totally different animal.

Clearly, Macca played within the rules of the race, rules derived from a scientific study where it was proven that a 7-meter draft zone provides negligable advantage to the drafter – the officials shadowed them for much of the race, as did the media, and if a violation had taken place, he would have been penalized. But that’s not good enough for the champ. Because he chose to play by leading out the entire race, and knowingly submitting himself to a harder bike leg without the pacing of other competitors, playing to his strengths, he has the right to question first the rules and second the strategy and integrity of fellow competitors? Physically, this guy is tough – but even with the win, Peter Reid was right, mentally, this guy is a wimp – a whiner and a cry-baby (and when confronted by Macca, denied his statements until a blackberry was thrust in his face - hmmm, add liar to the list?)

Accusing someone of cheating is huge. Cheating is normally defined as taking an unfair advantage. Cheating is taking banned substances. Cheating is cutting out part of the course. Cheating is drafting – breaking the 7 meter rule. Thing is, once you are found to have cheated, you are forever a Cheater. A level of trust with your fellow man dwindles to a point where people look at you differently, deal with you differently, and think less of you and your integrity. In a professional environment where cheating is becoming prolific and true professionals must take extreme measures to ensure they are in keeping with the rules – the flippant use of the term by a fellow athlete is, well, inexcusable.