Who Is The Super Duper?

Today was another day of smooth sailing, so to speak, on the indoor rowing machine.

Today was a steady and constant effort.

But first, a mention of that book I was reading yesterday, Iron War, by Matt Fitzgerald.  I'm still reading it but the suspense is over and the guy for whom I was cheering to win the race, Dave Scott, did not win.  In my opinion, Dave Scott actually DID win that 1989 race, in the true spirit of fair competition.  Because Mark Allen, the man who came in first ahead of Dave Scott, used some tactics that I consider dirty and/or cheating.

For example, Mark Allen drafted (swam immediately and extremely close behind) Dave Scott during the swim portion of the race and deliberately slapped Dave Scott's feet during the entire length of the swim.  That was dirty and he should have been disqualified for that alone.

Mark Allen did not draft or interfere with Dave Scott during the bicycle portion of the race, but not necessarily to Allen's credit because it was strictly against the rules to draft behind another cyclist.  And of course it would have been against the rules to deliberately bump or touch another cyclist or his bike.

During the marathon, Mark Allen ran beside Dave Scott but pushed him aside so as to switch places and so as to be the first one to get liquid refreshments at the official stations for that purpose.  At one of those water stands, Mark was first and got his water but the new volunteers were so shaken after giving water to Mark that they all failed to successfully get any water into the hands of Dave Scott.  So Dave Scott became more dehydrated than Mark Allen from that point and did not have any water for the rest of the marathon.  It was either do without water or lose time to Mark Allen.  It could be said that it was Dave Scott's choice to not slow down or delay at all in order to get water, but Mark Allen was well aware of what had happened and Mark Allen had caused it.

If Mark Allen had been anything other than a cheater, he would have paused and insisted that Dave receive as much water as he himself had.

The last thing I'll mention that impressed me as cheating on the part of Mark Allen was actually the first thing, before the race even began.  Mark Allen spent 45 minutes each day of the week before the race getting "doped" with oxygen in a hyperbaric chamber operated and supervised by a doctor.  He did it with the intention of giving himself the advantage of a boost in available cellular-level oxygen.

The higher-than-atmospheric-pressure oxygen treatment every day was something that Dave Scott did not have done to himself in those same days before that race.

Mark Allen went on to win 5 more Ironman Triathlons after that one in 1989 and I don't know anything about his behavior, tactics etc in those but in my opinion he did not deserve first place in  1989 and should have been totally disqualified that year.

I highly recommend the book, Iron War, as educational, entertaining and inspirating, but there is one other thing that greatly disappointed me and that is that the talented author of the book, Matt Fitzgerald, seems to be yet another person who has been duped into stating idiotic things in support of the religion of evolution.

The religion of evolution believes that there is no God and that all life came into being through random chance.  There are many variations of the theories held by believers in the religion of evolution, including some who while denying the existence of God say that life was started by extra-terrestrials who visited earth in flying saucers.  As long as they are going to be idiots... sure, why not believe such an illogical and idiotic explanation.   Don't get me started on that.

But I will say that anyone who believes in the religion of evolution and the non-existence of God is believing something which has no proof.  Belief in God and the account of the creation of man by God the Creator is something that has no absolute proof and is therefore loosely referred to as "religion." Because evolution cannot be proven it is in the same respect also a religion, but unlike faith and belief in Jesus, belief in evolution is a religion of darkness and despair, without hope or anything to look forward to after one's life on earth ends.  Sad, very sad at the very least and wicked, very wicked at the very worst.

So who is it that is duping so many otherwise intelligent people into believing something totally unproven like evolution?  Who is the super duper duping them?

As for today's rowing, it was another 10K with a target of staying as near as possible to a heart rate of precisely 133 bpm throughout.  Today's 133 bpm session burned 611 calories, the same as yesterday's 611 calories at the same heart rate target.

Today's finish screen

Today's session report