Courtesy Simon & Schuster

T-Dot is thrilled to be able to share an excerpt from Floyd Landis new book. Thank you to our friends at Simon & Schuster and of course to Floyd.

Breaking Away

I have nothing to hide.

As far as I'm concerned, people can know everything about me if they want: how much money I've made, when I've been a fool or felt regret or shed tears. I don't care. There's no reason to hold anything back. I don't feel the need to be selective in order to create some image of a person who isn't me. I'm me. That's it.

I ended up making a living in a sport where a bunch of men wear spandex and shave their legs -- and that's not even the funny part. The funny part is that cycling and its anti-doping program are run by people so incompetent they couldn't even run a Ralphs grocery store. I couldn't always laugh about it, because they wrecked my life. But I don't ask for sympathy. I take what I'm given in life and try to make some good out of it, always.

 In late 1963, at age 12, I tried out for a swim team for the first time. Though this was as grassroots as swimming gets – an elementary school squad put together to practice perhaps four times then compete in an annual Catholic schools meet – I didn't make the cut. In fact, my tryout lap prompted one coach to attempt a rescue. (I out swam him to the wall.)

Two years later I tried out for my high school team and made it – not because my swimming had progressed much; our first-year team was accepting all comers. I fell deeply in love with swimming from that moment and was undiscouraged when, as a senior, I qualified only for the "novice" championship, racing mostly against freshmen. (I won my first medal there and still have it.) As a college distance swimmer I managed to win a few races in dual meets against minor rivals, but nothing in my early years suggested any great swimming promise.

Yet this year, on the verge of turning 55, I set three goals that can only be called audacious for someone with such an unremarkable history: (1) to win a National Masters Long Distance Championship, (2) to break a National Masters Long Distance record and, (3) to win a medal at the World Masters Championship. Between June and August, I accomplished all three, winning two national titles (at 3K and 2-Miles) and breaking two national records (for the 1-Mile and 2-Mile Cable Swims) for good measure.

There.

Solace marches in synch,

Independently.

Beaten and bladed though folded still

within this want

unvanquished liberty’s William,

a resolve to till the earth

pray the clouds,

his curing rain softening

a shovel’s duty.

There is much work to do above

I’ve practiced yoga on and off for 15 years, more regularly since turning 50, receiving countless valuable insights in the bargain. On May 1st, as a May Day observation, our teacher suggested an intention, based on the Celtic festival Beltane, to merge the “male and female nature” in ourselves. As Carrie explained, the male nature is Doing while the female nature is Receiving. Being habitually a Do-er, I decided to Do Less and Receive More during class.

Because I’d been traveling most of the previous two months, and had attended only two classes in that time, I felt a distinct lack of “yoga fitness.” Two days earlier I attended a similar class led by the same teacher. After 75 minutes I was whipped. But after focusing on Receiving, I felt fresh, indeed energized!

I may have done some triathlons, but by no means am I a swimmer.  Like many other age-group triathletes, I do not have the background of having grown up in a pool or swimming laps.  Before triathlon, I did not have experience in using goggles, masks or other swim products.  So, when it came time to swim, I tried cheaper goggles.   The only thing they taught me is my eyes are highly sensitive to chlorine, which is why I avoided the pool when I was younger.  Thus, as most triathletes without a swimming background, I ended up with a mask.  After all, what could seal better than a mask around your eyes and face?

The Basics

In comes the Blue Seventy Vision.   The goggles retail for about $19.95, about two-thirds the price of a mask.  I have the  blue lenses which are used for indoor conditions and cloudy, outdoor conditions.   They offer a range of lenses from clear to smoke for the brightest of conditions.  Blue Seventy claims their goggles will fit most faces.  Based on my past experience with goggles, I figured I was not most faces and they would leak, so I was skeptical to give up my mask to try these things out.  I kept my mask on the deck, just in case.

Faris Al-Sultan

Despite an insane training schedule which can include 450 miles of biking every week, 40 miles of running,
and then 10-15 miles in the pool.

Faris Al-Sultan took time to show his T-Dot pride and support by sending us this great picture.
Athlete's from around the world are rallying around the idea of T-Dot by sending us great pictures, e-mails and well wishes.

Thank You!!! Keep them coming.

With your well wishes and support we will change the T-Dot from being the unofficial/offical symbol of triathlon to the official symbol of triathlon.

Here's a great letter we wanted to share with all of you.

I would like apologize to everyone out there that I offended with my email to triathlete. I re-read my email and I was a complete jerk and I am so very sorry. My intention was not to belittle anyone that has completed an Ironman distance race. I truly do respect anyone that completes one.

I have only been able to do one myself and I am amazed by some of you out there that do them over and over again. I just feel that the Ironman is special and when I read it that someone working out in a gym or health club was the same thing as finishing the Ironman well I could not believe it and before I could collect my thoughts I fired off a stupid e-mail and put in there allot of thing I really don’t believe.

Dear Charlie Yu:

I am really sorry you feel the way you do, but how dare you make a claim about my Ironman performance without first checking your facts.  Not only have I 'finished' Kona 8x, but I believe my sub 9 hour performance from last year, fastest US amateur and 4th American overall allows me to claim to have 'finished Ironman'. 

I do not wear a tattoo of the Mdot on my body, but I applaud anybody that has finished or even attempted an Ironman distance.  If they want to put an Mdot tattoo on their body, so be it since they are part of what Ironman calls 'the family'. 

I am quite proud to be associated with ANY triathlete - whether a complete beginner attempting a Sprint or the Professional winning the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.  If you are insulted about how you perceive the title 'Ironman', then you are participating in this sport and endurance events for completely the wrong reasons.