MWSA Book Review

Full Time & Sub-Nine

Author: David Glover

Publisher:  Rainmaker Publishing LLC

Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA

More Than Fighting Cancer and Winning Races!

Author David Glover’s book “Full Time & Sub-Nine: Fitting Iron Distance Training into Everyday Life” is more than just an accounting about physical fitness and Iron man competitions. His battle with cancer also weigh-in on what motivates his life journey. We get a glimpse of him from childhood and his parent’s divorce, through his education at the US Naval Academy and onward to submarine duty. Of course, all his career planning is altered when he is discharged because of his cancer.

The reader will get only small pieces of his emotional state between his narratives about the races and his training programs. It is enough, however, that you can see how these races became a much greater focus in his life than even his own personal relationships. It results in break-ups and divorce. There is something inside him that continues to push him. There are personal costs for this passion to race that he may never fully realize until much later in his life. But Glover comes across as dedicated and driven to achieve success, at least in his physical world.

The book would be a great reading experience for any runners, swimmers or bicyclists but an even better one if you were into Iron Man races. There is a wealth of knowledge about how to prepare emotionally and physically inside these pages. It is interesting enough to hold your attention even if you are not a runner or into sports. His story is inspiring at times and certainly entertaining.

Reviewer: Joe Fabel – MWSA Review Board

This is a story of a Naval Academy graduate who faced a tormenting personal battle with cancer. Further it is a recounting of a determined individual who gathered inner strength deep within to overcome his physical malady.

Many trying days, months and years lay between the diagnosis and the recovery. Success would not have been possible without his willingness to battle wholeheartedly.

There were moments when doubt assailed him, moments of questioning whether he would find surcease.

David’s strength of will as displayed in his approach to Iron Distance training and accomplishment was the deciding factor. Besides achieving independence from cancer, he developed into an outstanding achiever in this most physically demanding individual sport.

Not everyone has the ability to accomplish high standards in the sport of Iron Distance Training. David is among the select few who have been willing to submit to its demands.

And the sport’s insatiable appetite made him pay the price in his personal relationships a number of times.

Reviewer: Rob Ballister – MWSA Review Board

Not being a tri-athlete or a distance runner, I wasn't sure what to expect when I reviewed David Glover's Full Time and Sub-Nine. Every sub-culture has its own language and expressions, and I was worried that I would be lost and miss the best parts of what David had to offer.

Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself immersed not in a training manual, but in a story about one man's struggle for balance in a life full of promise but also long on adversity. David is an excellent story-teller, and this well written work pulls you in to his life early on, when he wasn't yet a superior athlete at the top of his game, and describes his life's journey from Idaho Falls to the Naval Academy and beyond, including his successful battle with cancer.

The author does an excellent job of relaying what was going through his mind when he was diagnosed with cancer, and how he channeled the frustration at his loss of fitness into a burning desire to complete in Iron distance triathlons, one of the most grueling sports in all of athletics. He also gives a painful glimpse into how his desire to be the best led him to almost obsessive training, resulting in bouts with burnout and two failed personal relationships.

Through all the adversity, David pushes through, becoming a better athlete and a better person after each challenge. Along the way, he gives advice specifically about training for endurance races and generally about finding balance in life. Established tri-athletes and couch potatoes alike will find his writing style well organized and easy to follow, and for those not in the sport, he teaches you everything you need to know to keep up with the story.

David's resume backs up the technical portions of his book; he's competed in 19 Iron distance triathlons and won four of them. Experienced tri-athletes and novices will both find important training information they can use. But this book is also a good news story to those facing cancer or similar afflictions, and David's comfortable style makes it an easy read for athlete and patient alike.