Coach Troy's fitness empire

In the New York Times Magazine's Play section, Dimity McDowell on spending a week at Troy Jacobson's Arizona triathlon academy (Al, this post is for you!):

Now in its sixth year, the Tucson camp is just one slice of the fitness empire founded by Jacobson, who started training clients at a Gold’s Gym as a high school junior, then created a series of DVDs known as Spinervals, a cycling workout for fanatics who train indoors during the winter. With volumes like “HILLacious!” and “Have Mercy: ‘The Sequel,’ ” his company’s DVDs now number over 50. A handful of the 25 campers came to Tucson solely because they’re Spinervals devotees. “He grunts all winter long in the basement to those things,” said the wife of 38-year-old Jimmy Monopoli, an accountant from Montreal.