This book was first published twenty years ago in the early days of the sport. It has continued to sell to beginners and recreational multisport athletes by showing them how, starting as a fitness novice, they can cross the finish line happily and healthily, and have fun doing so, without turning their lives upside down along the way. Steven Jonas, a former nonathlete who began racing in middle age, now has over 160 multisport races—and two decades' worth of evidence that his training program works—to his credit. This twentieth-anniversary edition features a friendly, wider format; the latest advice on equipment, race choice, and preparation; and Jonas's programs that will train you for standard-distance duathlons and triathlons on 3½ to 5 hours per week for 13 weeks. It even shows you how you can do the ironman distance.