Are triathletes stupid customers?

The definition of a stupid customer is a person that buy everything in hope that it will solve a problem. A typical customer will buy some item that solve no problem, but it looked like a really good buy 3.30 at night on TV after too many beers, or even worse, anything from the Skymall catalog.

What about a fat burning creme.....



Then, what about triathletes. Are triathletes stupid customers? To use a line from the movie Singles, "Sometimes". How can I say that? I can say that after watching triathletes in action. But here you have some products that have been in the triathlon spotlight over the last years, compression socks, Vibram fivefingers, mid/front foot shoes, no gluten, no carbohydrates, ice baths, solid food on the bike, magic bracelets etc. These are just some of the fabs the last years.

But one thing is true about the sport of triathlon. It is a first adapter sport. Nothing gets untested. But not all things should be tested at all and that is my point.

For anything related to the body, trust science. If the product has claims, how can the claims be proven. Do not trust anyone saying; test it and find out. You can say that science does not know everything, and that is true. If science knew everything it could stop. But claims should be backed up by verifiable facts, not stories.

There are no shortcuts or secrets to success. No magic blue pill (doping is cheating, remember), no hidden secret that will make you to a speed machine. A good example is the result of the fictional book Born to run. Many got caught in the wave of minimalistic shoes and had to find out that they were not 10 years old, 80 pounds Kenyans running to schools. Sorry, the running without cushioning is just stupid.

But on thing actual can improve your training and make you go faster. It is also free. Get more sleep :-)