The Waterproof Triathlete is the second book from Thomas Denes. As with his first book, The Waterproof Coach, Denes has teamed up with an expert, in this case pro multisport athlete Desiree Ficker, to craft an innovative book full of swim-bike-run workouts.
After a very brief but humorous introduction to some training terms, Denes goes straight into the workout section, where the book's real value lies. The center 18 pages are die-cut from the page edge to the spiral binding, divining each page into three flip cards.
Each of the three stacks lists a workout for one of the triathlon disciplines plus a mantra-like workout tip. Printed double-sided, this gives the reader 36 unique workouts in each of the three disciplines. Flip the cards at random, Denes writes, and the book offers "over 10,000 possible workout combinations."
The book assumes that the reader has a fair amount of fitness and experience, and the workouts are aimed at the advanced novice to intermediate athlete in complexity and duration.
It's a refreshing and humorous book that will blow the cobwebs out of any fitness plan. At $29.95, it may help your racing better than any titanium bike parts or fancy running shoes.
Waterproof Coach is an Ideal Training Partner
Inside Triathlon
December 1997
The Waterproof Coach by Thomas Denes is the perfect training companion for both the beginning swimmer and the seasoned triathlete looking to jazz up a workout.
The first few pages introduce you, the reader, to The Waterproof Coach, a.k.a., the book. This Q&A section is almost like a new, patient training partner swimming alongside you. Denes defines terms every new swimmer needs to know, and questions such as "What's a main set?", "How long do I cool down?" and "Must I sing my favorite Carpenters' song while flip-turning?" are not only answered, but anticipated.
The second section, "Workouts," is perhaps the most creative and user friendly component of the book. Denes has turned his book sideways, dividing three flip-page compartments into "Warm Up," "Main Set," and "Cool down." Goggle icons tell you at a glance whether a workout is basic (one goggle), intermediate (two goggles) or advanced (three goggles). And, because each page is independent of the other two, you can mix and match workouts for more than 6,700 different combinations.
The Waterproof Coach helps you keep track of how far you've swum with a yard tally at the bottom of each workout. Denes provides hints about stroke technique, and a closing epilogue has helpful tips about lap swimming and lane etiquette. And, with 54 waterproof, easy-to-flip pages, WPC can go with you anywhere.
The Waterproof Coach is fun to read and flip through. More important, with so many workout choices, it's never boring. Denes, an international and national masters competitor, brings humor and enthusiasm to his book, making The Water Coach the perfect training partner.
6,700 Workouts to Flip For
Fitness Swimmer
October/November 1997
The Waterproof Coach is not a life-size, inflatable doll with a whistle and stopwatch. It's a spiral-bound workout book with waterproof pages cut into three segments, like a children's picture flip book. Each third of a page is either a warm-up, a main set, or a warm-down, ranging from easy to advanced. You can swim the workout on a whole page or mix up the thirds, doing an easy warm-up and warm-down and a tough main set, for example. The whole workouts total anywhere from 80 to 2,500 yards, with suggested intervals and rest. And you'll never run out of workouts. It would take you 19 years, swimming one workout a day, to swim all of the 6,700 possible variations.
The Waterproof Coach
Swim Magazine
September/October 1997
Finally--a swimming book you can take to the pool. What a great idea!
The Waterproof Coach is a book of workout that can be used on the pool deck-- or even in the water. It is printed on waterproof paper in workout segments with each segment on its own set of side-by-side flip cards. Divided into warm-up, main wet and cool-down, the book enables you to create literally thousands of workouts by flipping through the cards.
The swimmer is alerted to each set's difficulty by a cute code using different numbers of goggles. About 25 percent of the sets are easy, 50 percent are of medium difficulty and 25 percent are advanced. The easy workouts total about 800 to 1,200 yards; a medium workout is 1,700 to 2,200 yards, and an advanced workout is 3,000 to 3,300 yards. Of course, you could swim an easy warm-up, a medium main set and an advanced cool-down!
If you're a swimmer without a coach and swim a certain number of minutes, this book would be a great way to enter the much-more-interesting world of interval swimming. Also, coached swimmers can use the book for workout ideas when training alone or away from home.
The Waterproof Coach , which offers freestyle as the dominant stroke, starts with a non-technical introduction to workout technology. The major departure from most Masters workouts is that a long cool-down rather than a sprint set follows the main set.
The author provides recommended rest intervals between each swim, a necessity since the workouts need to fit swimmers of many speeds.
Book Reviews: The Waterproof Coach
Transition Times
October 1997
I was recently given the opportunity to try out a very interesting new concept in swim workouts. A waterproof coach. Unlike swimming with my regular coach who, when splashed, became wet and irritated, this one didn't mind at all. That is because this coach, 'The Waterproof Coach,' is a coated workout book designed for pool side use. You can splash it, dunk it and soak it and you can just dry it off with a towel.
The first section of the book carefully explains the different sets of the swim workout. This is done in a fun but informational dialogue between The Waterproof coach (WPC) and the Skeptical Swimmer (SS).
The second section is the real meat of the book. Each page is physically cut into three flipping sections. The left flap is all your warm up sets. The middle is your main sets and the right one is your cool down sets. So basically you can pick from 30 warm up sets, 30 main sets and 30 cool down sets. The best part of this book is that since each section flips independently you pick your individual sets and look all them at once. The book finishes up with some final notes, a lane etiquette section and a
more info page.
I do recommend this book since it helps motivate you into finishing your workouts.
