A reflection on sporting lessons learned from the past year.

Christopher Keiser shot images of US Cyclocross Nationals held in Reno, NV, over the weekend.

US age group athlete Kevin Moats has been hit with his second ban, this time for 8 years. He’s announced his retirement.

Tons of people make New Year’s resolutions – you know the type of people that I’m talking about, it’s usually the same person in your office who asks you, “What’s the secret to staying in shape?” When you reply that there is no secret, it’s just a long-term commitment to exercise and a healthy diet, they usually storm off in a huff because you won’t reveal what they are convinced is “the big secret.”

No more thought experiments. Now it’s just practicing the drills and themes that we learned during the first half of this challenge.

Lionel Sanders repeated as men’s champion and Barbara Riveros took her 4th women’s title at Ironman 70.3 Pucon.

Aussie Chris Legh won 2 IRONMAN titles but is likely best remembered for his scary collapse 50 meters before the finish in Kona. But this retired professional will soon be known as race director Chris Legh.

16 high achieving college triathletes from around the US take part in an intensive triathlon summit produced by Angela Naeth and Red Bull.

Jeremy Kain ran a world best mile for a 12-year-old last summer, carefully nurtured by his talented parents.

For those who think anything over 300 word is tl;dr: It’ll be up in the aggregate, but the median race will be flat or down.

For the Butterfields, John Denver is on the iPod. Horses, llamas, goats, chickens, guinea fowl, and a peacock. But Bermuda is not forgotten.

A terrible accident a few days before the 2017 IRONMAN World Championships took Brit Tim Don out of the race. The Halo finally came off, but he is still a long way from being fully recovered.

For your consideration, Timothy Carlson presents his some of his favorite triathlon photographs of the 2017 season.

Slowtwitch is lucky to have superswimmers in the community. One is Tim Liebhold, and he shares his tips for Adult Onset Swimmers

Are you able to perform one-arm pulls as described? If so, you are swimming hip-driven freestyle! Now let’s begin to focus on how you pull.

With all the visual excitement of triathlon, sometimes the well spoken word can have a lasting impact worth a thousand pictures.

The power of the training enclave is huge; it’s how most of the world’s best athletes got to be good, and remain good.

Genetics wins when you’re 11. But the older you get the more genetics falls to the point of being an inconsequential factor.

I tend to travelogue our family Slowcations here, and here is our latest: open water swimming in Bermuda.

From the sublime to the absurd in 2017, records were set, hopes dashed, some arrived and others bade farewell.

You retain the vestigial behaviors from the time you were still struggling with learning to breathe to the side. Let’s deal with those.

It’s not just about learning good technique. A lot of late-onset triathletes quit because they never understand the Big Idea.

We’re in the home stretch. Only a few more days to go. But lots of amazing offerings in this year’s Annual Charity Challenge for World Bicycle Relief!

I have less confidence in today’s installment than any I’ve already written, or any that I’m going to write. But I rank this rather high.