The silly thing is that 99% of people would probably say that “fat” gordo looks ridiculously fit.
-C
Didn’t think you were a jackass, thus the 
on the end.
Hey Aztec, go f*** yourself. :^) .
But don’t get offended, there is a smiley at the end.
Of course I won’t. Enough, Mr. Sensitive.
Re: the point about 99% of people thinking the “before” Gordo looked incredibly fit… I’m sure that’s true. Might be higher than 99%!
Gordo’s was the first tri website I read. very down to earth. I wrote and thanked him and he wrote right back… now that’s class.
Lauren
Now, that’s hot.
Hey. Thanks for posting the link Trevor. That was just a temp link for Gordo to get some thoughts on paper, so to speak…
We’ve now installed a true blog here: http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/index.html
If your browser has News Reader support (Like Firefox or Safari) or if you have a standalone News Reader like the ones found here (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/guide/rss.mspx) you can subscribe to Gordo’s GBlog Site Feed. Once subscribed you will get alerts as to when there are new postings.
Cheers,
'Buckle
Hey. Thanks for posting the link Trevor. That was just a temp link for Gordo to get some thoughts on paper, so to speak…
We’ve now installed a true blog here: http://www.gordoworld.com/gblog/index.html
If your browser has News Reader support (Like Firefox or Safari) or if you have a standalone News Reader like the ones found here (http://www.microsoft.com/communities/guide/rss.mspx) you can subscribe to Gordo’s GBlog Site Feed. Once subscribed you will get alerts as to when there are new postings.
Cheers,
'Buckle
Are ya’ll gonna turn on comments?
You know I’m not sure. I thought I would keep them off for now in hopes of stimulating the conversation in Gordo’s Forum (http://www.coachgordo.com/forum2/upload/index.php).
'Buckle
Some people out there if ever saw gordo ride a cervelo would have spontaneous orgasms…
(As a side note, the word “orgasms” is not on spell checker… what gives Mr. Burns???)
re: limits
KestrelK – No we don’t! Limits are hard-coded in us.
That’s pretty much a guarantee that you’ll never find yours. And I say that as a dedicated BOPer.
Indeed, Gordo’s story is a great one:
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It’s a rare athlete that starts as late as he had and moves onto international class competition. Most athletes who are on international caliber in an endurance sport started training seriously in the mid teens in one endurance sport or another.
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His story should be an inspiration to people that it’s never too late. That we all have some potential in there.
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However, his other key message -the one I really like - and the one people don’t really get is that it takes TIME ie 4 - 5 year chunks of time to really move the fitness needle. The good news on this front is that once that big fitness base is established it takes years for it to really go away.
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Another key message is simplicity: Figure out a straight forward program that works for you, that you can repeat regularly, read #3 a few times and then start repeating that program over, and over and over and . . . . . It’s not rocket science!
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After time seek diversity inside and outside your routine tri training: Inside - do a single sport focus( ie just run for 6 months or just bike for 4 months etc . .). Outside - Take some time off and do something else for awhile. Again if you adopt and believe #3, you will be OK - you won’t panic because you have not ridden your bike in 2, 3, 4 weeks and so on.
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Race strategy: G is one of the few top people in the sport who has clearly defined in words and in actions what IM racing is all about, if you care about performance: HOWEVER you do it, HOWEVER you arrive at it, it’s about running strong and steady ALL the way to the end. If you do this you will almost ALWAYS have a great race!
Fleck
re: limits
KestrelK – No we don’t! Limits are hard-coded in us.
That’s pretty much a guarantee that you’ll never find yours. And I say that as a dedicated BOPer.
Puh-lease. I come from an athletic background (and always had to work/dedicate 2x as hard as everyone else to be competitive), and learned plenty about sports psychology via academics and real life observation. Positive attitude has surprisingly little to do with success (over the short- to medium-run, but a bit more over the long run simply from attrition). There are always exceptions, but generally speaking, genetic quality is by far the strongest factor.
A 140lb low testo count guy who struggles to squat 185lbs just isn’t going to build to a 400lb squat. Conversely, a 220lb mesomorphic kid has a much better shot. Same thing here. Someone with small lungs and heart can’t just decide to set his/her limits as high as Gordo’s. Well, he/she can set them there, but he/she can’t reach them. 
You’re probably right; I won’t reach my limits. I’m starting much too old and gain fitness much too slowly to get there.
We set our own limits!!!
With all the testing, writing, coaching, etc… that Gordo has done over the years I find it odd that he’s never posted his VO2Max. Surely he’s had his tested.
I wonder if the “Gordo Story” would be a lot less inspirational if it turned out that he had a very high VO2Max, say of 80. In fact, with those numbers you might even expect his results.
If VO2Max is like a business plan, and knowing that Gordo is a VC guy, can you imagine him investing all that time without knowledge of the business plan?
Limits
I was at a social function the other night and fell into conversation with a top coach in my country who has coached athletes right up to the Olympic Games and World Championships. He’s come to the conclusion over the years that to get to this level you have to have certain physical gifts( ie choose your parents well) and you have to have the mental gift to keep at it - but that to is in part, part of your hard-wiring and can be linked back to genetics. They are both important - one can’t override the other because you are deficient in one or the other. The absolute best in the world have both in spades!
Fleck
Limits
I was at a social function the other night and fell into conversation with a** top coach in my country who has coached athletes right up to the Olympic Games **and World Championships. He’s come to the conclusion over the years that to get to this level you have to have certain physical gifts( ie choose your parents well) and you have to have the mental gift to keep at it - but that to is in part, part of your hard-wiring and can be linked back to genetics. They are both important - one can’t override the other because you are deficient in one or the other. The absolute best in the world have both in spades!
Fleck
Charlie Francis?
No, it was not Charlie Francis, but ironically Charlie’s name came up in conversation I had with another coach that evening. I learned that apart from Francis’s involvement with PED’s and his virtual banishment from coaching, many people still regard him as one of the absolute best biomechanics experts around for explosive sports events(sprinting, football etc). He as an extraordinarily keen eye and feeling for what he sees and he is routinely seeked out by many athletes on the side to help them with their biomechanics.
Fleck
You nail it nicely Fleck, but there is one other thing I take from the gordo narrative, and it is this - it doesn’t really matter how ‘good’ you get, because ‘good’, for most of us, is measured against other people.
It has taken me three years of tris (nothing, I know…) to work out that what other people do in a race is no concern of mine. My only job is to get as fit as I can, race as hard as I can, and see what happens. If I do that then I attain satisfaction. I may be first (lol), or last, but if I have raced with honour, that is the key.
The other thing is the total joy of movement, of being fit, of feeling my body respond to training and proper nutrition and rest. That is gold.
It’s not good for sponsership to be involved with Charlie. Especially, if you’re involved in the the BALCO case. Marion Jones found that out. LOL
“The other thing is the total joy of movement, of being fit, of feeling my body respond to training and proper nutrition and rest. That is gold.”
That’s it! . . and racing in the moment, going as hard as you can for as long as you can and being happy with it. You know it’s like the great African runners talk. They may have just lost the world championship or the Olympic Gold medal by a second or less, but they are all praise for the guy that beat them and say simply that they went as hard as they could on the day and leave it at that!
Fleck
Limits
I was at a social function the other night and fell into conversation with a top coach in my country who has coached athletes right up to the Olympic Games and World Championships. He’s come to the conclusion over the years that to get to this level you have to have certain physical gifts( ie choose your parents well) and you have to have the mental gift to keep at it - but that to is in part, part of your hard-wiring and can be linked back to genetics. They are both important - one can’t override the other because you are deficient in one or the other. The absolute best in the world have both in spades!
Fleck
Yes. And what Objectivious said as well. You can probably get pretty far with just one or the other, but eventually you need it all!
Fleck,
Although I would ten to agree that genetics may have a bit to do with it…there are alot of examples of professionals in differents sports competing at the TOP levels purly because they worked harder than everyone else…If you have the heart, you can accomplish the goals…this includes competing at the top of the food chain in triathlons
.