Book: “Not Normal Behaviour”
As part of my serious reflection (Ha!) on IronMan, I read Stuart Staples’ book, Not Normal Behaviour over the weekend.
This tells the story of Stuart’s year from sitting in the garden admiring his new landscaping (and realising that there must be more to life that this), to taking part in the 2001 Lake Placid IronMan. I won’t spoil the end for you by revealing whether or not he finished . . .
I really enjoyed this as a good easy read, with lots of surprisingly useful tips on equipment, bike setup handling the crowds in the water, nutrition & fluids, etc. What I particularly liked was the way he got over the level of dedication that the training took, and how this affected his family life, but also how he still fitted in his fair share of heavy metal concerts & other party stuff. The lesson here seems to be that you needn’t throw out all of what ‘normal’ people do with their time, but you need to be disciplined with it.
Reading this was a good way to spend a few hours, and is more “grist to the mill” for my big ‘decision’ at the end of the month.
This sounds like a great book. I think a lot of people view life as a zero sum game. If they want to take on their fitness, or go crazy and try an ironman - then they think they have to give something else up. I’m committed to having it all in my life - an interesting job, my health, my adventures, and great relationships with Lisa and the kids.
Phil
It looks like the key word here is dicipline. I’ve found that with a bit of planning I can train for ten hours each week and still enjoy almost everything I normally do. I now go to fewer mid-week gigs that end with a 3am curry but almost nothing else has changed.