I'm fine with digital only. I have so many Triathlete and Lava Magazines in my house. I don't know what to do with all of them.

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Make Inside Out Sports your next online tri shop! http://www.insideoutsports.com/

I used to subscribe. Indeed, they had great photos and nice depth in the articles. I just didn't think the price of the paper issues were worth it.
I like the e-version.
Are paper subscriptions a thing of the past?

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Team Zoot So Cal

I've subscribed to all the tri magazines in the past. Dropped them all for Lava since the get-go. It's the best for those that want a true tri magazine without the fluff. I'll continue to subscribe. Been with their digital format for a while and love it. FYI, Rapp's article this month is spot on.

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I wake up in the morning and piss excellence. --Ricky Bobby

Lava is a lot better than triathlete magazine

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blog

I just wish that Running Times was still around - that was a good magazine.

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Blog: http://262toboylstonstreet.blogspot.com/
https://twitter.com/NateThomasTri
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I read my magazines at night before I turn the light off. I have no desire to read digital stuff only.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

The photography is excellent, the writing good. The format and build quality of the magazine is superb. But when it came time to renew, my interest level had dwindled, so I declined to renew it. It may be an indication of my passion for triathlon as a whole right now, but nothing at fault with Lava magazine.

I would still love to see quarterly issues printed- maybe using Rouleur magazine as sort of a template (who have 8 annual issues- but is CRAZY expensive).

I'm like old fart Dave above me who prefers print magazines to "digital magazines". Digital magazines seem to me more like websites with paywalls.

Get an iPad. iPad mini to be exact. Keep it on your beside table.

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Pink? Maybe. Maybe not. You decide.

I love that format.. a few years ago I subscribed to The Surfer's Journal - six pages of ads per issue, quarterly publication, high-quality stock, and first-rate photography and writing. Back issues actually used to go for more than face value on Ebay after they sold out. Lots of focus on the characters and heritage of the sport, even only tangentially-related topics like art and music, and virtually nothing in terms of the "marketing disguised as articles" that is the fodder of so many magazine (i.e. product "shootouts", "buyer's guides" etc). Great magazine worthy of cover-to-cover reading and I only stopped subscribing when triathlon stole all my leisure time from surfing.

Was given a bunch of Rouleur back issues a while back and it reminded me a lot of TSJ. Not sure if tri has the same depth of heritage etc yet as surfing and cycling but there must be plenty of similar subject matter out there in the tri world to dip into.

Not an "old fart" but still hate the digital format for magazines or books. Terrible. Will not be renewing my subscription.

I subscribed to LAVA and others. Sometimes wouldn't have time to read but would usually take a few issues when on plane for business and traveling to events to catch up and have something to occupy time. And yes, would like to see maybe quarterly issues......would still subscribe. Probably won't subscribe to digital offering.

Does your town do recycling?

Shredder? I've heard that shredded paper mixed in with mulch keeps bugs down [something to do with the toxins in the ink?]

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I think so. It'll take another 4-10 years but I think you'll see more and more niche magazines go to digital only formats. I think it digital only has a few benefits. I think cosmo or magazines like that will survive a bit longer, maybe.

You can go more in depth in digital. Write 2000 words vs 800 words about a subject like USAT's head in the sand approach to age group doping (zing)! You can have more pics and who doesn't like pics? Or video and/or interactive content. Books/mags are limited to scratch n sniff for interaction.

My first sales job was for a regional sports magazine. It was always a every other month publication. I just picked up a copy the other day and saw it was quarterly. Sure sign that either ad sales are down (maybe my sales records still stand since they were $3-8k > per issue than anyone before me in that position!), it's harder to get content, the (same) managing director needs to be changed (probably) or there is just less interest in paper mags.

On the other hand there is a used book store here that does a brisk business in used magazines. You can find all sorts of obscure stuff there. Mags from other countries and languages.

Personally I like books, the feel of paper in my hand, but only for books. I don't mind digital books though. I prefer to read magazines and research digitally. I'm already a fast reader but in digital format I blow away my paper reading speed.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

I hope so, cosmo is my favourite

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I read that as well

The excellent, crisp, glossy stock + the alluringly acrid aroma of fresh ink = nothing better

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

The Surfers Journal is the only magazine I still pay for and read. Well I flip through others in waiting rooms, but the ads to article ratio is just crazy, and I cannot wade through it anymore. I suspect that Lava will flounder in cyberspace of a bit, then be gone forever. I just don't see the interest or numbers from our sport to support a paid online subscription. But perhaps an ad based model could work, but just don't see the click through rate to support really good and paid writers.

I hope I'm wrong about this, but doesn't look good.

yea i loved the print and not a fan of digital but they had to keep the doors open some how

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Follow me on Twitter @CK21TRHC
I use what I love: ISM, Blue70, Trek, FLO

I work for the largest magazine publisher in Canada and I can tell you that the main reason that paper magazines are going to a digital only model is to gain readership with millennials. I for one think it's a bad approach (as a data analyst in the industry) because keeping the attention of millennials for any duration of time is proving to be difficult. The numbers show they have a drastically lower attention span and reading a magazine from cover to cover isn't how they consume content. They prefer to seek out the content they want to consume not have it dictated through traditional channels. The rest of the population as a rule prefers the tactile feel of the paper magazine.

From a business perspective they are attempting to get the next generation of consumers to bolster their pitches to advertisers. Print is finite and you only have X amount of pages you can print ads in. Digital however is a dynamic environment where they can individually target readers based on their browsing history, or other demographic/geographic identifiers. You also have the cost savings of having no physical circulation, distribution and overhead such as paper, ink, and postage become profits. With this however comes the loss of journalism because the profits being lost from switching to digital only do not offset the readership lost from the paper model. When those profits are lost the finances needed to hire and keep good journalists is also lost. The long investigative stories that really matter are no longer feasible and the brand looses itself.

In the end the best model is proving to be 1 subscription with choice of format without any physical newsstand presence. Cross promote your magazine on the various channels (Website/Youtube/Social Media) and allow readers to pick their format or switch between both.

If you want to see an interesting (and funny) video on this check out John Oliver's rant on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/...bq2_wSsDwkQ&t=5s

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"Train so you have no regrets @ the finish line"

Maybe digital is better for fixing their mistakes? Their cover story was "Are Keytones the New SUPERFUEL?" for the last two days. Who on Earth literally read the research and then proceeded to refer to ketones as keytones?

Yup. Triathlete is essentially the same issue now, month after month. It used to be a lot more race coverage, in depth interviews with athletes, etc. Now even Kona coverage is pretty limited. I stopped getting Triathlete over a year ago. I liked Lava much better, but I really don't like digital only. Would love to see a tri magazine with more focused race coverage and less training articles covering the same ground over and over and over again.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Funny you mention this. I brought this up. It was a mistake that was caught very early on but the correction just got lost because everyone on staff at LAVA is trying to juggle a host of new responsibilities and also because they are still adjusting to the change from being a print publication to a digital one, which still requires some sort of "publishing" that the folks there are still getting their heads around.

I'd love to see a TSJ or Roleur for triathlon. And I think a lot of folks would. But does wanting it actually translate to paying for it? I don't know...

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Yeah, I'm sure it's a pretty wild shift!

Wrong place for it, but I really appreciated your technical explanation on 1x chain length, jockey wheels, etc. a day or two ago. Very well written. It seems a lot of people newer to 1x keep having difficulties and I don't think the manufacturers are too good about mentioning how jockey wheels affect that stuff too. Great work!

Just wait... I've got an extremely in-depth review of 1X friction profiles coming. I'd bet that - at least on the road side - I've got more time on 1X than any other pro athlete. There's just a lot that you learn by running it - and nothing else. I don't think it's that manufacturers are bad about this stuff. I think it's just that they often don't think about it outside of MTB or CX (for right now), just because road 1X is still quite new.

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

Idk. Triathlete has an article this month about upping your soctal networking game!!!!