Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'm going to be harsh, because frankly I just didn't like this book. I found it boring, albeit I did read the book in it's entirety, probably because it actually starts out well in the first page or two and so I guess I kept hoping it'd get better; however it actually just kept getting worse. To begin with, (I could be wrong) but I believe that one main premise of this book is that the author starts out in "middle age" being fat and out of shape and then through a miraculous transformation becomes an elite endurance athlete. Or in other words, he was once just an average Joe down on his luck who found endurance sports and then "beat the odds" to become a racing pro. I would argue that this just isn't true. For one, the author tells you about how in college he was a world class swimmer, almost beating some of the best in the world, only to then "fall from grace" because of alcoholism. Now... > 90% of all triathletes will tell you that they suck at swimming, "it's my worst event", they'll tell you. So, anybody who can go out in the open water on any day and swim 2.4 miles in 50 minutes (which will get you out of the water in 1st to 3rd place in any Ironman in the world) just doesn't get credit in my book as someone who is an "average guy". In addition to this, the author tells about how he went out on his first run and just kept going for 2 hours or something like that. So, he's lucky to have either good genetics or natural form to allow him to run long without injury unlike most people. Again, this isn't a story that an "average joe triathlete" will tell you. Some people are blessed with excellent recovery times, it's obvious that the author is one of those people; this makes a world of difference. And then, on top of all of that, he's a lawyer. Albeit, he describes some financial difficulties, but one of the biggest obstacles in triathlon (or at least cycling) is cost; this guy is going to have some extra cash to spend for gear that other people wouldn't have access to. Oh, and he apparently is able to afford a WORLD CLASS coach... find me an 'average joe' with that. A few years ago and really nobody in triathlon even had coaches. There are a few other bits that bug me, for instance I highly doubt he would have completed EPIC5 if it wasnt for his friend, Jason Lester, who in my opinion was the true star of this book and deserved much more attention than he got in the book. Something else is that the author is far from a pro or elite endurance athlete (in my book) and just doesn't deserve the ego driven credit that is the basis of this book. I'm not aware of him winning anything. Finishing first in the first stage of his second Ultraman is not surprising given his swimming background. Lastly, two items: 1. This book is a long string of product placements. Think about those movies where every shot has the star holding a Coca Cola can in the middle of the screen and that's how I felt reading this book. I actually checked the website for his own line of products which he is obviously trying to sell in this book and find it very underwhelming. 2. A good chunk of the end of the book is the author's rant on nutrition. As someone who is a physician and with a degree in nutrition science and an endurance athlete, I found half of this to be plain bizarre and misleading. There was nothing 'scientific' about this section (despite the author's attempt), rather, I found this to be consistent with how I could imagine a lawyer approaching this topic with anecdotes and trying to make a case solely on testimony and a firm presentation rather than real clinical evidence, research, and data. To the author's credit, I do think he made a statement to the effect "try this yourself and see if it works for you" and also I don't necessarily disagree with some of his underlying claims (i.e., I, too, am a vegetarian), I just strongly disagree with the info-mercial style of presentation. Anyway, if you're bored and have nothing else to read, then get the book, if for no other reason then skip to about halfway through and just read about EPIC5 and become a Jason Lester fan too. Otherwise, read something much, much better like Eat and Run or Born to Run.