I wrote this piece wearing my “athlete” hat rather than my “doctor” hat. I wanted to write something short and sweet to help keep people going, especially in Australia.
While many countries have managed accelerated vaccine programs and are fast forgetting about their days in lockdown, others like us are still having to check websites for how far they can travel from home and how many of their mates they can meet for a run.
For those people, seeing their international triathlete friends riding in pelotons and putting on swimsuits brings about feelings of nostalgia and envy (even for those of us who hate swimming). So in the interests of instilling a bit of positivity in the locked down, here are a few tips on how to keep your chin up.
(As always, please be mindful of the health guidelines in your locality. Some regions will have stricter movement restrictions than others.)
Get outside. Most of us are still allowed to go outside for exercise, albeit in a restricted radius from home. Starting the day with a walk outside reminds you that there is so much for which we can be grateful, and exposes you to a good dose of sunshine and fresh air.
Grab a coffee. While you’re outside for a walk, stop by your local café for your caffeine (or decaf?) hit. Besides the benefits of coffee, you will also be supporting local businesses that are doing it tough at the moment.
Be productive. Set one goal to achieve for the day. Working from home can be distracting and many people have home-schooling duties to add to their list as well. There’s no need to be overly ambitious now – be kind to yourself and aim for one target (any more is a bonus).
Get your training in. With so many races being cancelled, it is easy to get despondent and throw in the towel on your training. Remind yourself why you started this sport and shift your training to what you enjoy. It’s a good time to keep ticking over and clock up those “base” miles. If you’re allowed to, meet up with your one buddy for training to keep each other motivated.
Check up on a mate. We are all in the same storm; just with different boats. So check in with a family member or friend each day. This period is taking its psychological toll on everyone, albeit to different degrees. So remember to throw a lifeline out – you’ll be surprised how much it helps you too.
Medical disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your own doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
Fresh off the back of Super League Triathlon success where the triathlon world has come to love shorter, faster racing, World Triathlon sought to introduce this exciting new format into their world series for the first time in Montreal last weekend.
It should have been a weekend full of excitement and exhilaration… And yet, World Triathlon managed to make the event dull and uninspiring.
The initial concept was a great idea: two days of racing, with qualifying events on Day 1, then three elimination-style rounds on Day 2. All racing would be held over a 300m swim / 7.2k bike / 2k Run.
There were 3 main mistakes made though. (But while I say “mistakes” these can be also “opportunities for improvement”…)
Firstly, the course itself. There were no hills, no bike features to help shake things up, no real opportunities to make the race seem exciting for the viewers.
Secondly, the viewing was turned into a woeful experience thanks to a combination of extremely bland commentary, no race splits showing who was about to be eliminated, and really poor camera direction.
During the heats and knockout races, the cameras were only ever focused on the race leaders. As the event was designed to knock off the back athletes, once onto the run the leaders were able to comfortably jog to the end. Meanwhile the back makers were involved in sprints and were digging deep to make the cut — yet the audience got to see VERY LITTLE of this action.
The timing didn’t ever identify who were the athletes at risk, it was left to the commentators team to casually mention them in their dull, uninspiring conversation with little to no enthusiasm.
Thirdly, the package released to the triathlon community was an overwhelming 8 HOURS of video. I completely understand the low budget of the production means the video feed gets no basic editing (e.g. just cutting out the non-action between the heats). So next time to make the package more relevant, perhaps the format needs to shift slightly to just feature either a heats and a final ORT a knock out, not both. With less breaks between events, and at least a count down timer on screen as to when the next race will get underway.
But don’t worry, MX: as your most passionate diehard WTCS fan boy, I took one for the team and watched all 8 hours of content.
As expected in both men’s and women’s, the cream rose to the top, and the final round in the last race to crown the champions had all the expected big names.
For the women’s, in the final, the remaining 10 came out of the water all together. However, Spivey & Knibb used their raw power to open up a tiny gap. A few of the others were taken off guard and just couldn’t hold on. Duffy was the only one who saw what was happening and instantly jumped across.
It was a really excellent and exciting piece of race analysis and reaction timing from Duffy. You wouldn’t know it from listening to the commentary team though; they might as well have been explaining what it would be like to sit and watch paint dry.
With three athletes now up front and a decent gap opening up, it looked like the medals would surely get sorted from this trio. For once though, it wasn’t Duffy on the front driving the break: Knibb was absolutely drilling it like a woman possessed, and Spivey was there from sheer stubbornness and anger at being left out of the USA women’s Olympic team a few weeks prior. So Duffy was able to just suck wheel and conserve some energy for a change.
Out of T2 for the final time, and it was Spivey with Knibb who went out hard to begin with, though it would prove to be a case of too hard too soon. The master tactician Flora Duffy, executing a perfect run once again on the world stage, was able to pace herself and comfortably run past the two Americans to take the win.
Over to the Men’s racing and into the final, the only big name to miss out was Jelle Geens from Belgium who didn’t make the cut past the 2nd round in the final.
Though with the likes of Vincent Luis, Jake Birtwhistle, and Hayden Wilde toeing the start line the stage was set for an exciting conclusion!
Luis took the swim out super hard, though over the shorter 300m distance and a loooooong run to the bikes there was only 6 seconds separating first to last out of T1. A few sneaky bike breakaway attempts were all closed down pretty quickly, so the entire weekend was going to come down to the final 2k run.
Dorian Coninx quickly made his way to the front, and was shortly joined by Leo Bergere and Luis. It came down to a three-way Frenchman sprint finish. Bergere was the first to take the lead, though in the final 100m was overcome by his countryman. Coninx was able to take the tape one second in front of Luis for his second individual win in a WTCS event.
Sadly, the weekend of stellar athletic performances were overshadowed by the poor planning to produce a quality broadcast package by World Triathlon, who over regular sprint and Olympic distances actually do a pretty good job.
So in 2022 and beyond, maybe just let Super League look after the supersprint events, and do your fans a favour.
This is the dreaded O word that no athlete who loves their sport wants to hear.
What is overtraining? What are the signs? How can it happen? And how can we avoid it?
What is overtraining?
Overtraining happens when more training is done than an individual’s body can recover from, to the point where performance declines.
Signs of overtraining include fatigue, poor sleep, low mood or depression, muscle soreness, loss of motivation, irritability, change to heart rate (abnormally slow or fast), heavy/sore/stiff feeling in muscles, inability to concentrate and increased incidence of illness or injury.
How can overtraining occur?
Overtraining can easily happen when training hard for events — when there’s a heavy training load, doing more than your body is able to recover from.
However, it is also important to remember that training isn’t the only thing that can cause stress for our bodies. Work, study, relationships, family life, pressure to perform (from self, and from external sources, such as teammates and sponsors) can all play a varying role in how stressed we feel on a day-to-day basis.
If you are doing similar training to what you would usually do but struggling to cope, it may very well be due to something that is happening outside of your training that is impacting your performance.
How do I avoid and manage overtraining?
Overtraining can be avoided by ensuring you incorporate adequate recovery into your training plan.
Poor nutrition while you’re putting your body under large workloads can also contribute to overtraining. The greater the demands on your body, the more precise you should be with how and when you should fuel. Underfuelling is also a stressor that impacts recovery.
Lastly, be mindful of where other stress may be coming from in your life, and deal with it accordingly. That might mean de-prioritising training or doing softer sessions instead when you’re pulling successive late nights at the office or dealing with family issues. Because these are stressors beyond your control, pulling back on the training can help you manage the load on your entire body and mind.
Work with your coach to determine this, especially if you suspect you’re close to or have already gone over the edge into overtraining: how much and how intense your training is in a week, how quickly or gradually you ramp up the training load, and knowing when to back off.
If you’re self-coached, then taking note of including rest days, listening to your body, and taking it easy is even more imperative. Talking about your training with a like-minded friend can also help you find perspective and balance.
The key thought to avoiding overtraining: training and engaging in sport should always add to and enrich your life and health.
If you are a first time reader, I want to give you the cheat notes version of my story in triathlon. I was overweight, I did a triathlon. It took me a VERY long time. I kept doing triathlons, I lost weight and now I go much faster.
If you have read anything that I have written before you are probably aware of my story. So you won’t be amazed to hear that the most common reason people reach out to me isn’t how to make bike photos look good. It is: “How do I improve as much as you did?”
I have been asked this question probably hundreds of times and over time I think my answer has changed a lot.
Spoiler alert (so all of you who thought “This is the quick way for me to improve,” I’m sorry): there is no quick fix. But what I have learned through lots of trial and error is that the secret, if that’s what you want to call it, is actually quite simple.
Now before I lay it all out for you, I am writing this with full knowledge that there are outliers. Those beautiful freaks who just get good quickly. Maybe it is their background in another sport, maybe it is their genes or maybe just god-given talents. But for the vast majority of us, that’s not the case.
It is going to take time. I have spent the last 5 years working closely with a range of age group athletes and I can hand on heart tell you that the ones who have improved the most are the ones who are still putting in the work day after day.
Last year I wrote an article about the problem that triathlon as a sport has is that so many triathletes burn out and don’t stay triathletes for long. I get it. Training to become the best athlete you can be takes time. Lots of time because the best way to get better is to consistently train.
But here is where I mix things up a bit this time. I don’t actually think that consistency is the secret to success. Consistency is the objective, black and white, what you need to do thing to improve.
The reality though is that it ain’t a secret.
If you are reading this and you have just had a light bulb moment going ‘wow I didn’t realise!’ – what have you been doing!!! But I think that more likely people are going ‘yeah Tim, I know! But I came here for the secret.’ So this is where I think I have had my own lightbulb moment. The secret to improving as an athlete isn’t being consistent; it’s having fun.
Even as I typed that I can sense my readers’ eyes rolling. Yeah yeah, it’s a massive cliche and no I don’t mean I want you circled round the fire holding hands while you do your trainer session singing Kumbaya. I am talking about making your triathlon lifestyle fun so that it is easy to be consistent.
In the last few months I have seen a number of athletes announce that they are ‘done with the sport’ and others saying that they need a break. While I think a break is something that all endurance athletes need to take, there should never be the need to take a break that is more than a few weeks.
So why does this happen?
Because people have lost the fun. Be it their own goals to win their age group, qualify for Kona, smash a PB — eventually, if an athlete doesn’t get there it stops being fun. I’ve had athletes tell me of the guilt they feel because of the time they spend training because of their family, social life, work or the pressure that their training puts on them. That doesn’t sound like much fun either.
Whatever it is, at some point they stop having fun and decide to take a break. They realise how much easier things are. Maybe they decide to come back but aren’t at the same level they thought they were and try to push what they used to do. It doesn’t work, and they’re gone forever.
Now this isn’t meant to be me judging anyone. Everyone has their own priorities. Swimming, biking and running doesn’t need to be on the top of everyone’s list of things they need to do.
It should be on their list because they want to do it. When I talk about fun, what I mean is that we need to find ways to encourage people who love the sport to stay in the sport. Triathlon is our hobby and we do hobbies to add to our life, not make it harder.
“So Tim, how do I make it fun?”
I mean I could easily say just take the pressure off yourself, do it for the enjoyment or the social element. For some of you reading that will be enough. But for lots of you, you will still want to improve, be your best and get to Kona etc. The two are not mutually exclusive.
Instead, I will say, patience. Patience is not something many athletes have but it will ultimately mean you have more fun and keep going. Give yourself longer to reach your goals. Do less each week for longer to maintain balance and prevent burnout. Stop overdoing it every session and understand that you need to recover to improve.
Focus on what the sport can give you. If you train properly, you will be fitter, you will probably maintain a healthier weight and you will have more confidence. You will have more balance which means you are able to perform better at work, be more present with your family and enjoy the time you spend with your friends.
Be realistic with what you can achieve. This doesn’t mean you can’t get better, but it means if you are struggling to fit in training because of your personal life, maybe don’t aim for an Ironman. If you only have a limited amount of time, focus on some shorter races. Or mix up all distances so that you can face most distances at different times depending on your lifestyle.
Another big one that I will strongly recommend is that you should follow the professional racing and no I don’t just mean Ironman. I cannot tell you how much fun I have watching the World Triathlon or Super League events. Doing a 2-hour trainer ride while watching the London Olympics made the session feel like it was 10 minutes. Following the sport means that even if you can’t train 20 hours a week, you can still have fun with it and this will ultimately mean you are still part of it.
There was some incredibly exciting races in Tokyo!
I think at some point I started rambling because this is about twice as long as I meant it to be. But my point is, no matter what you are doing in triathlon, always remember to maintain the fun. I promise you if you keep the enjoyment up, you will be much less likely to burn out. You will keep training and ultimately you will get better.
It worked for me, so why wouldn’t it work for you?
Have fun 😉
Tim Ford is a member of our team of coaches. He has gone from being a complete novice weighing well over 120kg to a top athlete with a 4:06 PB for a 70.3. Through his time in the sport he has learned skills which help him to assist athletes of all levels and abilities.
With so many mixed messages about nutrition before training sessions, it is not surprising that it can be confusing knowing what the best plan of attack is. So, is training fasted a good idea? Here are the ins and outs.
The short answer to this question is a resounding ‘yes’, however it does come with a great big ‘but’ attached. The ‘but’ relating to ‘but it depends on which session’.
The most recent research shows that completing some training sessions fasted, or with low carbohydrate availability, improves the body’s ability to use fat as a source of fuel, store glycogen, along with increased development of mitochondria in the cells. Mitochondria are often referred to as the ‘powerhouse’ of our cells, so more of them can mean better performance.
However, it is not wise to complete all sessions this way, as we need to also be able to use carbohydrates well as a source for fuel; if we do all sessions fasted, this may blunt the body’s ability to do this. Mixing up our sessions between fueled and fasted results in best performance.
So which sessions or what kind of sessions should we need to eat before?
When to Train Fed
Our muscles store carbohydrates as a substance called glycogen. There is enough of this in well-fueled muscles to last for approximately one and a half hours, depending on intensity of session and fitness level. The fitter you are, the more you will likely find you can do without fueling beforehand.
This doesn’t mean you don’t need to fuel; it just means that your body is more efficient, and if you do fuel well, it is likely you will perform even better.
As a general rule of thumb, fueling up before training sessions is recommended in the following situations:
Long (more than 1.5hrs) endurance session that includes efforts
Higher-intensity sessions more than 1 hour
Resistance training sessions
When to Train Fasted
Fasted sessions, or those completed with low carbohydrate availability, are best completed for low- or moderate-intensity sessions. Including some higher intensity sessions fasted is a good idea.
As an example:
Training day 1: 1 hour run, easy pace in morning + 2 hour hill session bike in the afternoon – morning session do fasted, afternoon session do fed.
Training day 2: 4 hour bike + 1 hour run in morning – do this long session fed
It is important you listen to your body, and individualize how this is incorporated into your training plan due to differences in how well each individual responds to fasted sessions.
As always, you can ensure better outcomes by consulting with the experts you can access with your Pho3nix Club membership.
Chloe McLeod is an Advanced Sports Dietitian for Pho3nix Club.
My fellow triathletes, we have new Olympic champions!
Do yourself a favor and watch the men’s and women’s individual races, if you haven’t yet. (Or if you don’t have access to Olympic streams and replays, check out these recaps: Men’s race | Women’s race)
To be honest, after the year’s delay of the Games due to COVID-19 I had my doubts about whether they would be held at all, or if we would have to wait until Paris 2024 for new champions to be crowned. That would have meant limbo for older athletes, who would age one Olympic cycle and miss their athletic prime.
From last year’s truncated racing season, we already saw younger athletes begin stepping up and into the limelight. While they didn’t quite yet retire reigning favourites like Alistair Brownlee or Vincent Luis, it was a warning sign that for them winning it was now or never.
Speaking of which, Brownlee is the longest-reigning Olympic champion: nine years! That’s just two years shy of how long I’ve been in this sport; the great man along with contemporaries like his brother Jonathan and rival Javier Gomez have always figured in my conversations with fellow triathlon fans about who’s going to win a gold medal and who’s going to be world champion.
I got quite sentimental reading these three write about formally leaving short-course racing after Tokyo. A new era in Olympic triathlon has come.
Tokyo 2020 Men’s Individual Triathlon
Held in conditions just slightly cooler than the 2019 test event thanks to an earlier start time, the race unfolded the way Macca analysed it would.
(You’d think the false start — the first in Olympic history — would have rattled some of these competitors, but in the end the entire men’s podium were positioned on the left, among the athletes who had to be called back after jumping in.)
The entire field came together on the bike with Kristian Blummenfelt and the Norwegian squad driving the charge to bridge up, which allowed the race to turn into a run shootout.
Just like he did in Yokohama and Lisbon, Blummenfelt got into the front group straight away but let other athletes lead out the pacing until halfway through the run. Then he attacked, and attacked again until only Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde could stay with him. He put on a surge with one kilometer to go. People asked: did he go too early? But he did what he had to do to avoid a sprint finish, to make sure he got the win. He collapsed across the finish line and had to be taken away in a wheelchair — but job done.
Last year, Blummenfelt had said he was going to win both the Olympics and the Ironman World Championship in the same year. Many laughed at him for making such a bold statement. But here we are, and now he’s got 1 out of 2.
Yee and Wilde weren’t even on the Olympic radar in 2019 and 2020, but the extra year allowed them to mature and really come into their own. Yee in particular with that resounding win in Leeds announced: “Here is Great Britain’s next generation of champions.” I can’t wait to see more of these two on the top steps of a World Triathlon podium.
Tokyo 2020 Women’s Individual Triathlon
We have short memories. And when there’s been a year of limited racing, we forget the caliber of an athlete especially when they start doing badly.
That was the case for Katie Zaferes, who dominated racing in 2018 and 2019 and seemed on track for Olympic gold. Then the majority of the World Triathlon series was cancelled in 2020. When she came back to racing in Hamburg, she was like a different person: poor positioning in the swim, average performances on the bike, never in contention on the run. I have to admit I did not expect her to pull herself together and perform as she did. Ultimately she proved USA selectors right with swimming in the front pack, taking turns and keeping the pace up on the bike, and holding on for the bronze medal finish.
Flora Duffy was the obvious favourite for the gold, but knowing that she would win didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment of how she did it. Commentators said she worked specifically on her swim so she could put herself in the front swim group she had missed in Leeds. And then Macca was right again: Duffy out front on the bike would set up anyone else in her group for good chances at a podium. On the run, she was peerless and relegated everyone else to battling for second and third.
Many considered Georgia Taylor-Brown winning the 2020 world championship over the sprint distance in Hamburg as sheer luck, but I’m so happy she showed she absolutely can race and be one of the best in the world over Olympic distance. Riding on a punctured tire through the last lap on the bike, she gave up a bit of ground hitting T2. But she masterfully kept composure and ran herself into silver.
It’s been such a great two days of racing and I was almost sad it was over until I reminded myself there’s still the mixed relay on Saturday.
While the French go in as world champions, expect the US, Great Britain, and Australian teams to put up plenty of resistance. I’m also excited to see the Swiss team with Nicola Spirig on it. Unfortunately, South Africa will not be able to start because Henri Schoeman sustained a stress fracture during the men’s individual race, which was a disappointment especially for Richard Murray who skipped the individual race in favor of doing the relay.
Don’t miss the Olympic debut of this format. Whatever happens, triathlon will be making history.
Triathlon is an individual pursuit, but sometimes you need a team.
I have long been told that there are two types of cyclist: those who have crashed, and those that will. Some of us pride ourselves on being the former — resilient to the dangers of the road, and so passionate about the discipline that we want to get back on the bike, even when it may not be sensible to do so.
Watching the Tour De France, this type of cyclist epitomises the race: Marc Soler, finishing Stage 1 with two broken arms, Geraint Thomas having a dislocated shoulder popped back into place, and Primoz Roglic, one of the favourites, having to retire early after sustaining injuries. In each case these individuals got back on their bikes and battled through to complete the stage.
However, sometimes we are not so lucky. Sometimes it’s not possible to get back on the bike. In some instances the injuries sustained are too severe. We end up whisked away in an ambulance, to seek treatment. In other instances it may be that our bike is broken or unsafe to ride. Thus, however much we may want to get back on, it’s not possible. We can’t all be followed around by a team car with ‘spares’ of everything in the eventuality of an accident.
Unlike cycling, triathlon isn’t a team sport. It’s a personal, individual pursuit. Triathlon training can be a lonely journey. When we can, we may attend the local club run, or meet fellow athletes for a session. However we often don’t have the luxury of a regular training partner who is aiming to peak at exactly the same time, or whose ability is similar to our own. Many of us also race ‘alone’. We pick races that inspire or push us towards our goals, even if it means nobody else we know is doing them.
As such, when accidents happen or we may need a bit of extra help, we need to be prepared.
It is always sensible to ride with ICE (in case of emergency) contact details. There is also now a deluge of technology which will help us notify others in the eventuality of an accident. Garmin or Strava can ping our location to selected friends. Some helmets have ANGi crash sensors in them which will, according to the manufacturer, protect you before, during and after a crash.
When the stakes are high, such as on race day, having a friendly face around to help calm the nerves and manage logistics is also sensible. Those are the days when we will also not be riding with a mobile phone in our back pocket and we may take extra risks with all of the race-day adrenaline.
So who do we use as our emergency contact?
For some of us, we are lucky enough to have a fellow athlete as a partner and ICE contact. They may or may not be a triathlete, but they will understand the drive to train and race. With shared passions, it may be inevitable that as a couple you argue over who consumed all of the gels, or used the last spare inner tube. But, it goes without saying that you will support each other on race day and throughout training. Through shared experience and a love for sport, you will be happy to Sherpa for one another, helping to carry bags, acquire post-race food, or drive home after a long day in the saddle. You will both understand that accidents happen, that sport can be dangerous, and sometimes things go wrong, especially when you’re pushing the limits on race day.
However, for those of us that are single or don’t have the benefit of a supportive partner, finding a willing Sherpa for race day or somebody to pick up the pieces when things go awry can be challenging. We don’t want to call on the same friends time and time again to come and support us. We also don’t want to limit our race or training choices based on who else is ‘around’. There often isn’t one single person that we may ask, when we need a bit of extra help.
Nine times out of ten everything is okay. But the extended support network is important. It is also important to not become complacent, as I recently discovered.
Within the past two weeks both myself and a very good friend have crashed.
My crash occurred while racing. I was only a couple of hours from home. I’d traveled by myself and didn’t really know anybody else at the race, which is not an unusual scenario. I had completed the pre-registration forms months ago, and the event organisers had ICE contact details.
I had provided my sister’s number. She is my go-to. When I’ve landed up in hospital, she’s the person that will bail me out and won’t have a full blown panic attack over the prospect that I’ve done something silly (again). There isn’t much that she wouldn’t do in an actual emergency. But on this occasion I knew she was going to be four hours away. And, this was not a full scale emergency. This was me, sat at the side of the road, bruised and battered, with a broken bike and a bit of concussion. And I didn’t have any other phone numbers.
There was literally nothing I could do until the sweeper van picked me up and took me back to transition. It was hammering it down with rain. I was cold, wet, tired, hungry and stranded for over two hours with a sore head.
On this occasion I was lucky enough to have a friend in close proximity. They were out riding their bike, and once I was returned to transition they were able to rescue me. They drove me home, made sure I was fed and that my road rash and trashed tri-suit was documented with photographic evidence, in order to post across social media platforms for future mocking when the cuts had healed. I knew they would be in the area, but it never crossed my mind to add them as my ICE contact, or take their mobile number with me on the race as a ‘Plan B’.
When my friend crashed a week or two later, he was escorted home by friends. He rode 7 miles with a broken collar bone. Once at home and unable to get his jersey off, it was as much as he could do to send a ‘help’ text message to a couple of close friends. But nobody knew he was going to be riding out, much less be in an accident; the sun was shining and phones had been put away for the afternoon. He was eventually taken to the local Accident and Emergency Department by a neighbour. But this isn’t the end of his story. He now has six weeks of trying to look after himself, while in pain, and without the use of his dominant arm. Friends can, and will, help. This is a different kind of ‘emergency’ now.
These things happen. When we take up cycling we know what we are getting ourselves into, and what the risks are. But we must not become complacent. We can’t take safety and security for granted.
Keeping ICE details up to date is important. One reason is to ensure that we have somebody who can come to our rescue when we are incapacitated and unable to call for help ourselves. Avoiding a scenario when our most hated ex is called may also be a good reason to double check who we have listed. We all also need to have a back up plan for when our closest friends and relatives are unable to come to the rescue.
As an epilogue; this is a shout-out to all of the willing, and less than willing, emergency contacts and Sherpas who support athletes. We wouldn’t be able to train and race without you. Sometimes it may not seem that we are appreciative, but knowing that you’re on speed dial, knowing that we have friends and family that will drop everything and come and help, is important. Thank you.
The last few years we have seen a lot of innovation in triathlon. Some things are brand new concepts like the Collins Cup (taken from golf). Others are returns to older styles of racing like Super League Triathlon (taken from the old F1 races). And others were born out of necessity during the pandemic like the Arena Games (taken from… eSports?).
The ‘purists’ have rightfully pointed out though that it isn’t the same as racing under ironman rules. Enter: the Tri Battle Royale.
Check my Twitter mentions and you will see I am either called a Jan Frodeno fanboy or a Lionel Sanders hater. So when it was announced that the two athletes that I am mentioned in relation to the most (because they are actually my two favourite long-course athletes) in a face-to-face, winner takes all race, I was beyond excited to see another new format of racing be developed and launched. The best part? I only had to wait a month!
The Performances from Lionel and Jan
Now before I take a look at my thoughts around this new format it is imperative that we talk about the performances. I really want to start with Lionel Sanders.
Lionel has been plagued in recent years by a number of poor iron distance performances. From when he first exploded onto the long-course scene, it has been a long time since we have seen him deliver a well-executed swim, bike and run over 140.6 miles. This isn’t news. He knows it, you know it. We all know it.
I never expected Lionel to beat Jan, and in a lot of ways the actual Tri Battle went how many of us expected: Jan dropped him in the swim and they were never together again.
Who cares?
I think that when you look at Lionel’s performance within the context of this event it is even more impressive. Imagine having the race of your life (how amazing was that swim?!?) and you are still minutes behind your only other competitor every time. I have to think Lionel knew what he was up against and to go into it knowing this, knowing that he could break the previous world record and still lose… Nothing I have seen him do demonstrates the guts and strength this man has more.
Lionel may have lost the Tri Battle Royale, but I think he won big in Germany. He fell apart a bit on the run but still finished his fastest-ever iron distance race. Plus that swim was such a breakthrough for Lionel, which I think could completely change the way he has to approach races in the future.
Then there is Jan Frodeno…
The greatest triathlete to ever do the sport and in my opinion, one of the greatest athletes in the world.
It was a masterclass. A masterclass delivered solo. All day, forcing himself to just keep going faster. He swam and ran slower than he did when he set the previous record but when you are riding a 3:55 bike split (Andrew Starykowicz’s ‘world record’ is only 23 seconds faster) it doesn’t matter.
I could write pages about Jan’s performance but I think it is just testament to the caliber of the man that he absolutely crushed his own world record and my thoughts immediately went to ‘how much faster can he go?’
If you are a fan of the sport, be grateful that you are getting to live through a period with this guy at the top.
A Review of the Tri Battle
Now, onto the actual event. I have done this sort of ‘review’ for both the PTO Championship and Arena Games and this may have been my attempt to write about the race without just writing about the race, but I will never admit it.
What I liked
The Format
Straight away, the head-to-head nature of this event appealed to me a lot. There is no hiding, there is no wondering what is going on further back in the field. It is very easy to understand who is who and what they are doing.
The inspiration they took from boxing with the pre-race conference, the robes and the designated colours for each athlete also added to the event.
The way they selected the course for this format of racing was also great. Having a line they could follow under the water and the ITU-style rounded corners on the swim and the layout of the course made sense. It also made it easy to quantify how far the athletes were apart. Maybe some distance markers on the buoy so you could measure the distance by sight?
Onto the bike and as soon as they started going through the ‘aid stations’ I immediately thought to myself, ‘every race needs this!’ Having the athletes be able to get their fuel on the move without even needing to slow down contributed to the extremely fast bike splits.
Even the velodrome style u-turn. I will admit, I nearly had a heart attack the first time Lionel went though and my heart rate spiked everytime they took the turn. It was exciting and a little scary and it was great.
The Coverage
This one is going to come up again in the things that I think can be improved but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a lot of positives.
Having the guests jump in throughout the coverage was a highlight and having Emma talk about watching Jan do what he does best was a real highlight. Cam Wurf as well — every triathlon that Cam Wurf isn’t racing needs to have Cam Wurf commentating. Make it so, internet!
Paul Kaye and Helle Frederiksen did an excellent job keeping the energy up for nearly 8 hours in a race where there wasn’t actually a whole lot to talk about.
Even the broadcast: the footage was good and the inclusion of power, speed, and heart rate made it very easy for me to know exactly what was happening in the race. For an event put on for two people without the budget (I assume) of something like the PTO Championship, I think it was exceptional.
(I really think we have to give the PTO a fair bit of credit for this. Whether it is because of them or not, coverage has improved at long-distance racing a lot in the last 12 months.)
The Hype
One thing that I think might get overlooked about this event is the masterclass in promotion that we saw. I think we can all accept that this event was not pulled off in a month and that there was a lot going on behind the scenes before Lionel called out Jan. But again, who cares? It was engaging! Exciting and gave us all a lot to talk about. This is the sort of water cooler moment we need more of.
I think back to Kona 2019: you had Lange, the defending champion, having to face Jan who wanted his title back… yet there was little to no hype in the pre-race build up. Having the athletes as characters who help to create conversations is critical to getting people excited. Add in the whispers about a world record attempt, how this might impact Sub7 Sub8 and the discussions I think that will follow about how fast a person can go… This is all critical to the growth of the sport.
Picking Lionel to be the one to go up against Jan was a stroke of genius for building that hype too as he has an extremely loyal (I get their messages) fanbase that helped take this event to another level.
What I think can be improved
The Outcome
I can already sense people getting ready to abuse me for this, but put down your pitchforks and read what I have to say. Look at the statistics: objective statistics will show you that when these two race, Jan wins. I saw so many people saying that it will be a battle for a few minutes in the swim and then it will be the Jan show. I was one of them and love it or hate it, we were right.
I want to see these two battle it out, and I know Macca suggested breaking it up with different events on different days. My idea is simple: still have it as a battle. Still have it as a world record attempt. But make it a pursuit race.
Using the statistics, you could have worked out a rough handicap that Lionel would need to make this a true battle. Then… Let him go first. In hindsight there would have needed to be a 16-minute handicap, but imagine the way the dynamic changes. Lionel knows Jan is coming for him. Jan wants to catch him and at some point on that run they come together. Both results are legitimate times and can count for records, but the dynamic and the story would have changed.
Having that gap slowly getting smaller and smaller all day would mean that Lionel wasn’t behind all day.
Again, this doesn’t mean that the race was bad. I think it was epic but this would have added a whole new aspect to it that I personally would have loved to see.
The Coverage
I said it would come up again and I only have some minor points to make about the coverage. I heard the term “kings” 56,000 times and even joked about it being a drinking game on Twitter.
Any event has its struggles and to execute this in a pandemic was amazing. I know they had some issues which meant we didn’t get to see Lionel too much. Again, I know they had the intention to do it so it feels a bit pointless to say it, but yeah, I wish we saw more Lionel in the coverage.
I also think that having the graphics on screen were excellent and I know how hard and expensive this part of a broadcast is, but I wish there was a deficit being displayed at all times. Speed, watts, HR is great but show me the gap between them. Makes it much easier to follow.
Again, a small detail but one I think lots of people would have liked to see. Call it an item on my wishlist.
Perspective
This is not a Tri Battle Royale problem. It is a long-distance triathlon problem and one that I keep talking about (I mentioned the same thing in my PTO Championship review).
When you watch Jan and Lionel running, it looks like they are jogging. Just like Gustav Iden looked like he was winning in Daytona. With the two athletes being so far apart it is hard to understand just how fast they are moving. It happens nearly every time Jan races. He looks so comfortable. I mean, they literally had his speed on the screen and I know how fast he is running but I watch him and I think he is going slow.
The problem is, I don’t know how to fix it. Watch an ITU race. They look like they are flying. But they come off the bike in a big pack. So maybe that’s what I want? Closer racing? It doesn’t seem to be an issue in the swim or on the bike. They both looked like they were flying (because they were.)
That’s it, to be honest.
In Conclusion
I think that this race/exhibition/event was a huge positive. I loved so much about it, with some small criticisms. Did I find it edge of my seat viewing? Nup. Did I watch the whole thing? Yes. Did I enjoy it? Very much!
I think the struggle that this event faces is that it is still a long-course triathlon and I don’t think anyone has worked out how to make an 8-hour event exciting the whole time. But that doesn’t mean this is bad. This is a very, very good thing for triathlon. I want to see more of this format of racing or more athletes chasing times or goals. It is one of the main reasons I am excited about Sub7 Sub8. That time just keeps ticking no matter how an athlete is feeling.
I think the Tri Battle Royale has put some pressure onto the Sub7 Sub8 event next year because they did such a good job with it. Just like we have heard the Collins Cup will be this huge thing, we expect Sub7 Sub8 to be big too.
That isn’t a bad thing though, either. Competition is good for the consumer, and seeing one of the greatest triathletes in the world race one of the greatest athletes in the world was a recipe for success. I think they nailed it.
Jan may have won the Battle, but triathlon and its fans are the real winners.
It’s back! Racing in the Northern Hemisphere is back! After a few more delays and cancellations, I finally got to line up at the start line of a half ironman (minus a cancelled swim) and race against other people again. Oh how I’ve missed it!
About Great White North
Great White North, for those outside of Canada, is an event in Alberta that has been running for 30 years and has become recognized as a bucket list race in the region which has even attracted the likes of Nathan Killam, Rachel McBride and other local pros to come and compete amongst the hundred or so age groupers.
Situated just east of the provincial capital Edmonton, the racecourse certainly lacks some of the rocky mountain vistas that other Alberta races can boast about. But this does mean a flat and fast course and a great opportunity to set some personal bests.
Pre-race
This race ended up being almost exactly two years after my last race and would be my first in Canada after leaving the UK in 2019.
My nerves for the event were surprisingly low; the fact that the swim got cancelled (due to water quality) certainly helped as I had barely strung three swim sessions together in the previous eight months. But I also felt like I had no hopes or expectations going into the race. It was just a chance to get to the start line and test myself.
For me, it felt much more like a race at the start of my triathlon adventure when I did not care too much about the result. I just wanted to finish and have a bit of fun.
The race
With no swim we were set off at five-second intervals on the bike (self-seeded). There was a lot of standing around not wanting to be next, so I threw myself in at the deep end heading off about fifth. I was confident in my bike leg above all else, particularly on what was a fairly flat and fast course. My confidence paid off as I rode within myself but managed to catch a couple of riders ahead within the first 20 minutes.
After the initial excitement everything quietened down and it was a pretty muted affair. The top bikers broke away from the rest, and I ended up in and around a few others as we changed spots over the second 40 kilometers or so.
My thoughts quickly changed to the run and I backed off the power over the final quarter of the bike, dropping a couple of spots but feeling good enough that I could take the time back on the run.
Well that turned out to not be so easy.
Over the course of the bike, I foolishly didn’t drink anywhere close to what I should have. It wasn’t a hot day and as I drank my drink mix it just made feel off and uncomfortable, so I just drank from my water instead. I didn’t feel thirsty so in my head I told myself I would be ok.
That wasn’t the case.
The first 4K of the run felt great. I overtook one athlete in transition (don’t forget to practice transitions!) and caught up to another just before the turnaround point of the first lap.
Then the cramps started.
It wasn’t terrible at first; just a side stitch. I walked it off thinking that would be it. Then the hip flexors went, then the quads, then the calves. I still had 11km of this run to go at this point and every muscle in my body was telling me to stop.
I don’t know how but I managed to make it to the finish line before collapsing on a bench and having the world spin around inside my head.
I forgot how much triathlon could hurt. But I wanted to go again the next day (once my legs started working again).
Somehow, I ended up winning my age group and finishing eighth overall. It’s frustrating, as I believe I could have ended up much higher up if I had just executed my nutrition correctly. But after two years I can forgive myself for this little hiccup!
Overall it was a fantastic event that was really well organized by the team, particularly considering the late alterations that had to be made after the swim cancellation. Great atmosphere and support on the course.
Many elite athletes when preparing for a hot-weather race will choose a training location that’s as close to the conditions of the target event. For instance, Javier Gomez is preparing for the Tokyo Olympics by training in Cozumel, Mexico. Many athletes are also flying into Japan in the lead-up to do training camps and acclimate.
For many age-group athletes though, we’ve had to deal with directly coming from more temperate climates or out of a Southern Hemisphere winter and racing in rice-cooker temperatures in Asia. There is usually limited time to acclimate depending on how much time one had allocated for the racing holiday.
So what’s the right way to shake off long flights but still stay fresh for your race? (Assuming there are no quarantine requirements…)
Our member Lucy Richardson once asked about flying in from the UK to do Ironman 70.3 Langkawi. Belinda Granger recommended:
“When you get to Langkawi don’t rush things: settle into your accommodation and then I would try and do a bit of a swim in the pool, if you have one where you are staying. It’s not so much a swim session but more a “roll-the-arms over, do a bit of kick and even just walking” in the water. Don’t think of it as a session but more to get the circulation moving and wake up some sleepy muscles and nerves. Go for a walk and get your bearings. But definitely no ‘training session’ as such. Try and sleep as much as you can that night and the next day.
“Eat well and then try and do some easy sessions: a 30-minute run, put your bike together and go for a very easy spin.
“I have a little story for you. A very good pro athlete who is a good friend of mine recently came to Malaysia with me to race a half. On paper she was by far the best athlete on the start list. She had travelled all the way from the USA and she literally got off the plane and straight into some hard sessions. Long story short, come race day she led off the bike and then finished as last pro female. It was an eye opener for her.
“The next week she raced IM Taiwan. I told her not to do any real training sessions — just little bits of everything. She won! This is a woman who is full-time, crazy fit and very good; she just didn’t respect the elements and they kicked her arse. She learnt the hard way but came back with a vengeance.”
The hard work has already been done during the past few months of training. Consider any sessions you do on site leading shortly into the race as part of your taper. Aim to help you get your mind around racing in conditions different from what you’re used to, without over-tiring your body.
To sum up: when flying in to do a hot and humid race, skip the intensity and just “keep the engine turning over” so you can gun it when it really matters.
While the northern hemisphere basks in the summer sun and revels in return of sporting events, the battlers in the south are heading into the darker depths of winter. Seasonal changes make the thought of long runs and rides outdoors far less appealing, and in some cases, downright dangerous.
As I write this in my tiny house on Canterbury, New Zealand, I am watching the first snowfall for the season out the window. It is not settling, but it is a white sign that winter is only just getting started here. I want to be out there. I want to be running the roads and hitting the hills on my bike. I have a trainer in the garage that I can jump on, but I just cannot seem to overcome the slump that I find myself in! I am generally good at nailing down an answer to a quandary, but when it comes to my own training, I’m drawing a blank.
Yes, we all know that the ‘offseason’ is that time to knuckle down and get stuck into the nitty gritty stuff like strength and conditioning, technique, prehab and so on. But I for one am really finding it hard to break out of the funk. What is going on?
In seasons past I have been a big advocate for ‘getting it done’ while others hibernate and await warmer weather. I would take pride in getting out there on a rainy day and dropping big sessions, coming home, and feeling good about overcoming the urge to stay inside. I liked this part of my identity and the more that people looked at me funny for being a ‘madman’, the more it fuelled my determination and commitment to my work. As a coach I would coerce my athletes into blocks of training to keep them interested and focused while the temperatures plummeted, and the rain tumbled.
Two things come to mind.
I might need a coach. I might be coaching, but I am not being coached. I know what works for me, and I know what buttons to push to draw nice graphs on Training Peaks. But in the absence of someone looking over my shoulder I find it difficult to self-motivate. This seems a little counterintuitive coming from someone that makes a living by drumming up enthusiasm and providing motivation to athletes as a coach. Sometimes the coach needs coaching, too.
I might be burnt out. I have loaded myself up too much. I work full time, I am a triathlon coach, I am studying, I have a family, I have responsibilities that I need to attend to in other areas of life.
We are all busy people, and that is part of the triathlon journey. When the pieces of the puzzle come together it is immensely satisfying. Being able to train effectively while balancing a busy life is challenging and requires constant tweaking and compromise in all areas. But sometimes the hardest thing for the busy triathlete to do is recognise that they might be overdoing it. Looking at myself objectively, perhaps I have put myself in this category right now.
So, what do I make of this? What can be done to break out of the funk that I find myself in? Some of us will splash out on new gear to make ourselves feel good about getting out there. Perhaps I can try to slow down a bit and go with the seasons; readjust my expectations to align with what is possible, not what a theoretical training plan says is possible.
It is also a chance to declutter over winter and clear out all the life admin that slows down training progress. A ‘life audit’ might make things a little clearer. Getting in touch with a coach might help, having a bit of external motivation filtered my way?
As I watch the white snowy blanket fall outside, I acknowledge the metaphor that is happening right in front of me; don’t be a snowflake and fall on the ground in a watery mess. Just get out there, and get something done.
“I always feel like I can be better as an athlete. As I progressed I thought nutrition would elevate my performance.”
For many triathletes, getting to race the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii is the pinnacle of achievement in the sport. Those who qualify into the Big Dance are driven, committed, and at the top of their game.
Evelyn Salama set her sights on Kona in 2010, about two years after she started the sport and started hitting the age group podium at sprint races. She was able to access two-time Ironman World Champion Chris McCormack and his team of experts for valuable advice about how to develop as an athlete and eventually qualify.
Finally, she got her slot into the 2017 Ironman World Championship. But even though she had qualified, Evelyn knew there was still more work up ahead, more improvements to be made.
Post-qualifying, Evelyn had gained weight. She also had experienced gut issues while racing (oddly, never in training). So she sought my help as as sports dietitian.
“I had previously tried other nutritionists who, for whatever reasons, philosophies, my lifestyle, etc. just didn’t work for me, but I was always willing to try,” said Evelyn. “Everyone says that nutrition is the fourth discipline, so I thought I should give finding someone a try.”
I took note of Evelyn’s lifestyle as a wife and mother of two. Due to limited time, Evelyn did nearly all of her training in the morning, usually as multiple back-to-back sessions. Meal preparation would also need to be easy and something her family would also eat.
Evelyn said, “I needed someone who could make a plan for the athlete, wife and mother with ‘real’ food.
“I am a mother of two and a wife of one so kale and quinoa for dinner isn’t going to work for me.”
Name: Evelyn Salama
Age: 43
Location: USA
Initial Eating Habits: Not eating enough before/during/after training sessions resulted in more hunger later in the day.
I saw that Evelyn needed to improve her nutrition around her training sessions, as she was not eating enough. For example, on Swim + Cycle days, Evelyn would eat a banana pre-swim. Between sessions she would fuel with eggs and rice, and after the bike ride she would have rice, chicken, and veggies.
The meal plan also included strategies for different types of days for both training and life — for instance, when Evelyn had double sessions and also had to drop off her kids at school (AKA insane day). Recipe ideas were also appropriate for kids.
But more importantly, Evelyn learned about general day-to-day nutrition. She said, “Tweaking my nutrition helped me understand a lot about portion control. I’d always been thin and able to eat whatever I wanted, not really knowing too much about food. What different foods do for the body, what kind of foods to eat after big efforts for maximum recovery, what’s a carbohydrate… etc.”
Focus/Outcomes of Further Sessions:
improved body composition
managing increased nutrition needs with increased training load
incorporation of fasted and well-fed sessions
better energy for training through better planning and knowledge of nutrition
ability to tweak meals to suit both her own and her family’s needs
experiment with different strategies to manage bowels
race-day nutrition and hydration plan that is tried and tested
Working with me in the year leading up to her race in Kona, Evelyn shed body fat even while increasing her food input alongside her training load. She also tested and tweaked her race-day nutrition plan over several races so that she would have the best shot at remaining well-fueled in Kona.
After finishing her maiden Ironman World Championship well-supported by her friends who had flown down to cheer her on, Evelyn set her sights on qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
She concluded, “I think anyone and everyone can benefit from nutrition consulting. In my opinion, the key is finding someone who can cater to your lifestyle.”
Chloe McLeod is an Advanced Sports Dietitian for Pho3nix Club.
No one’s ever been able to predict the winner of an Olympic triathlon, the exception being Alistair Brownlee defending his gold in Rio. Tokyo is also a very different Olympic Games, with no international crowds and a more restrained and restricted way of going about things with all the quarantine and testing required of the athletes. So with this whole disruption, we don’t know how it’s going to go.
Thanks to the year’s delay, nothing is a foregone conclusion and whoever would have been the favorite in 2020 will not necessarily be the one to beat in 2021. Already the results from this year’s World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) and World Cup races are showing a changing of the guard. The younger ones are stepping into the spotlight, while the ones who would have been at the end of their short-course career or would be transitioning into long-course have been put into a holding pattern.
Individual Men
If you look at the statistics on the men’s side, Kristian Blummenfelt is the best standard distance triathlete in probably the last three years of racing. He’s very solid. Of course, you can’t go past two-time world champion Vincent Luis as well.
With Tokyo you need to take the heat into consideration. I’m going to go with a smaller athlete who handles heat well, like Tyler Mislawchuk, Hayden Wilde, or Alex Yee. Maybe throw the Belgian Jelle Geens in the mix, and of course Rio bronze medalist Henri Schoeman has that big swim and bike to keep him in contention.
Watch out for Yee if his swim is there on the day, which he seems to have improved based on his performance in Leeds. The best-performing athlete in heat in my opinion is Tyler Mislawchuk who won the test event in 2019.
The main question is whether the bike leg will be aggressive enough to keep the pack split and give the frontrunners enough road to avoid being chased down. If they all come together, then it’s a shootout and the fast runners like Mario Mola, Jake Birtwhistle, Yee, and Wilde can make their move. Look at them to pull off a Simon Whitfield-type performance staying in the mix on the swim and bike, then running into the lead as the other athletes struggle to handle the temperatures.
Individual Women
I think this will be a race suited for aggressive frontrunners.
Fast swimmers up front with aggressive tactics on the bike will shape the race, driven by Jess Learmonth, Maya Kingma, Flora Duffy — and if she finds her form again, Katie Zaferes.
A small group on this course will move more effectively. An organised pack with a good patron like Duffy to lead the charge with her bike prowess and balance of disciplines could set the race up in their favour, like we saw in the test event and more recently in Leeds.
You can’t discount the British team because they will all be up the front in that swim group: Jess Learmonth, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Vicky Holland. And you’ve got to look for those athletes that are currently shining and performing over the standard distance: Kingma, Taylor Knibb and Summer Rappaport. Knibb has shown she’s in amazing form, and she’s still young.
Obviously, Duffy is very hard to beat and potentially will be battling for the gold alongside Learmonth and Taylor-Brown. Looking at her results over the last few races, I’m going to go with Kingma also snatching up a medal.
But if it comes down to a running race, look for an Ashleigh Gentle. Whether the fact that she hasn’t raced in two years may be detrimental to her, we’ll find out. I think Duffy is the only one with the experience to be able to put that time aside.
My heart will always tend to back Nicola Spirig who is not only the best in the field at preparing for Olympic cycles, but has followed the same preparation coming into Tokyo as she did for Rio. She nearly took down Gwen Jorgenson to grab her silver medal in Rio, backing up her Gold from London. It was the most Jorgenson had been pushed in a race for three years.
Spirig is a no-fuss, strong, down-to-business racer with a huge experience base that dwarfs everyone in the field. In my opinion you would be crazy not to pick her for a medal. If the race rolls in her favour she will turn the lights out on this field and take the gold. She is tough to take down in a running match race, especially in tough conditions. I have immense respect and admiration for her. I think she could end her racing career in Tokyo with a medal of any color (it will come down to the day’s racing) but she will be in this mix and is on my gold medal athlete short list.
Mixed Relay
In my opinion, a nation’s performance in the mixed relay hinges on the depth of a nation across their men and women. Additionally, I think the women’s racing takes up 60 to 65% of the value of that race. The men’s legs are a lot closer in terms of pace, so it is the women’s legs that determine way more which teams win or lose. That’s why the mixed relay is a true test of the depth of a nation’s high performance programs.
The perfect example is Norway: they have such strong men, but as seen last year in Hamburg as well as in the mixed relay qualification event in Valencia, the combined performances were only enough to get them to fourth place.
So, look at those nations with strong women.
The best nation to do that in the last Olympic cycle have been the French because of their French Grand Prix and their continued focus on this. And they have also prioritised selecting athletes based on mixed relay performance rather than for the individual races. Over that distance, Cassandra Beaugrand and Leonie Periault are amazing and strong and that provides a strong foundation for the French to secure the win.
The British system is still so strong from the Brownlee era with so much depth in the women: Olympic bronze medalist Holland and now Learmonth and Taylor-Brown. And you’ve got Yee and Jonny Brownlee. The English can win the event.
The Americans are always so strong on their female side, and they’ve qualified three so they’re spoilt for choice. Will they take Knibb and Rappaport, or does Zaferes get a start? And now they’ve got big running prowess on the men’s side that puts them right in the hunt.
The Australians are very strong as well, with the advantage of experience having been on the podium of the Mixed Relay world championships from 2015 to 2019, winning in 2017. All six of the athletes selected also have done their fair share of mixed relay racing for the nation. Look out for Ashleigh Gentle who can ride solo, so she can close gaps even on her own. If Birtwhistle gets a start, he’s got a devastating back-end finish. Matt Hauser could be the fastest ever relay racer.
Mixed Relay vs. Individual Race
Most nations have picked athletes focusing on individual gold medal potential, and if they’ve qualified four or five athletes they’ll just make up a relay from those. The French have focused on the relay in their selection. Australia is the only nation to have qualified the maximum of three male and three female athletes.
We assumed that all the athletes would have to start the individual race, whether they were selected for individual or relay performance. But the World Triathlon Athlete Committee statement asks that the choice be left up to the athlete amid rumours that some nations plan on sitting out athletes to keep them fresh for the relay.
There’s some time between the individual races and the mixed relay event. Unlike on the World Triathlon circuit where the mixed relay takes place a day or two after the individual races, the Olympics has 72 hours between events. While that’s still not a lot of time to recover, and no one wants to race the standard distance triathlon in 40-degree Celsius heat three days before another event, it’s part and parcel of racing.
It will be interesting to see how it pans out. This is the first time the mixed relay is part of the Olympic Games, so anything that happens will be historic and will set precedent. I’m glad we all will get to see this finally happen.
Chris “Macca” McCormack is a four-time triathlon world champion with the biggest winning percentage in the history of the sport. He is a co-founder and partner in Super League Triathlon, CEO of the Bahrain Victorious 13 team, board member of the Pho3nix Foundation, and CEO of MANA Sports & Entertainment Group.
(PRESS RELEASE) Three-time Ironman® World Champion Jan Frodeno and multiple Ironman® Champion Lionel Sanders to go head-to-head in ZWIFT TRI BATTLE Royale.
Germany, June 18, 2021 – German triathlete Jan Frodeno has challenged his Canadian counterpart Lionel Sanders to a head-to-head showdown in an in real life race over the long distance of 3.8km Swim; 180km Bike; and 42.2km Run. The duel, set to be held in Allgäu, Germany on July 18, 2021, will epitomise the pure essence of the sport – one man against another.
With international triathlon races still affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, Frodeno, the current Ironman® World Champion, was keen to test himself ahead of his planned world championship defence in Kona, Hawaii in October 2021.
The idea of this one-of-a-kind triathlon battle was created to showcase THE PERFECT Race and THE PERFECT duel. The event will be broadcast globally, with a production level you would expect of any large sporting event. The live broadcast of this unique event will last over eight hours and will be a showcase of these two great athletes in action. The broadcast will also feature the unique imagery and picturesque surroundings of this ‘postcard’ German region as well as esteemed guests, expert panellists, first class analytics and, of course, virtual components. Further details will be announced in the next four weeks.
“This no distractions head-to-head battle is what sport is about,” says Frodeno. “I have the highest respect for Lionel and the idea of racing him motivates me to get up every day and continue to improve; take myself to the next level. He is the rising star of our sport, but I am not willing to step down just yet. Lionel is an incredible athlete and one of my fiercest competitors. He was more than up for the challenge.” Frodeno continues: “Allgäu has always represented a happy place for me. I raced here on my birthday previously, and I am extremely grateful for the assistance they have already provided us in making this event possible.”
In this first-of-its-kind sporting event, these two fierce rivals will battle it out in 3.8km, four lap swim in Grossen Alpsee Lake; followed by a 180km closed and fast time trial bike leg made up of five loops. This incredible head-to-head battle will culminate with a 42.2km marathon made up of four 10.55km circuits around the scenic landscape of Allgäu. All long distance international triathlon rules will be adhered to – no drafting, no illegal tactics, no outside support or pacemakers. That said, the intention of the race is not only to inspire the endurance community, but to reach a much wider audience.
“This event is the opportunity of a lifetime,” says Sanders. “I have spent 10 years honing my head-to-head racing abilities. I don’t think anyone has as much experience as I do in mano-a-mano type racing. So to get the opportunity to showcase my biggest strength against the best guy in the world is truly an opportunity I cannot pass up. A victory over Jan would likely be the highlight of my entire career.”
The venue of Allgäu, Germany was chosen because of its picturesque backdrop, the huge support and interest we’ve already received from the community and authorities and its low population density. It is also an extremely fast course and spectacular location, providing the perfect contrast of pure performance in one of the most beautiful areas Germany has to offer.
“We are proud to get this idea off the ground and we have a vision we are working on day and night from now until the event,” says race organiser Felix Rüdiger. “We had many race organisers and brand partners reach out, excited about the potential of an event,” adds Rüdiger, who is also Frodeno’s manager. “We have chosen to partner with ZWIFT to put together a stand alone race, free of distractions and other competitors so that we can focus solely on the IRL battle between Jan and Lionel. We will announce more great partnerships and details soon.”
About Jan Frodeno
Jan Frodeno is a professional German triathlete who lives and trains in Girona, Spain. Frodeno is 3 x Ironman® World Champion (Kona) 2019, 2016 and 2015 and 2008 an Olympic gold medalist. In 2016, Frodeno broke the Iron distance World Record by 6 minutes, setting a new record time of 7:35:39. He is also the current Kona course record holder with a time of 7:51:13.
About Lionel Sanders
Lionel Sanders is a four time Ironman® Champion and 30 time Ironman® 70.3 Champion. He has won the ITU Long Course World Championships and has finished 2nd at the Ironman World Championships. In 2016 he broke the Ironman® World Record in Arizona with a time of 7:44:29. Lionel uses triathlon as an outlet to test and explore his physical and mental limits, and his mission is to inspire others to do the same.
About ZWIFT
Zwift is the fitness company born from gaming. The app connects wirelessly to exercise equipment: bike trainers, treadmills, and more, so your real world effort powers your avatar in the game. Both Jan and Lionel incorporate indoor training on Zwift, both ride and run, for many of their key sessions throughout the year.
I have always heard of the benefits of training camps; how great it is to go away somewhere awesome and get in 7 days of solid training under the watchful eyes of a coach before coming back in the form of your life.
The barrier to me has always been time and expense. Triathlon is an expensive enough sport as it is: between race entry fees, the gear and travel to said races, it’s not cheap and so I’ve always thought a training camp would be fun, but I’d survive without.
This year, through a combination of needing to kick training into a higher gear and pure happenstance of having a perfect long weekend of good weather, free time and days not working, I decided to throw myself in the deep end and plan a 3-day intense training camp. Through this blog I’ll explain why I planned it the way I did (caveat I am a self-coached athlete and what I say below is just my opinion on the subject), my experience during it and what I’d change if I did it again.
How did I pick when to do a camp?
I decided to do a mini training camp about a week out from it happening. My fiancée was going away for a long weekend, the weather was going to be perfect, and I would be coming out of a recovery week.
To me all these elements need to come together for a solid at-home camp:
1. You need to have a free schedule with no distractions. If you want to get the most out of the experience you need to not only be able to train a lot, but also recover. You can’t be coming back from a 4-hour session and then need to run errands the rest of the day.
2. Without the luxury of heading to an exotic location with guaranteed good weather, it’s best to try and pick a time when the weather should cooperate as much as possible so you can be outside as you would on race day.
3. Don’t decide to do one after a massive week of training. Going into it as fresh as possible will help you get the most out of it and more importantly reduce the risk of injury.
How did I plan out my days/sessions?
After deciding how many days I could commit to heavy training (three) I then looked back over my previous block of training and allocated the same amount of average weekly hours to those three days. This gave me approximately 11 hours of training to play with.
Unfortunately with swimming still impossible in Canada, it was all going to be focused on the bike and run with some added strength work thrown in. The focus of most sessions was all endurance; I didn’t want to ruin my legs with a track session and so limited the minimal intervals to tempo work. In the end my sessions panned out as below:
Day 1: Long 4-hour bike in the morning. Evening run with two 16-minute intervals at half ironman pace.
Day 2: 1 hour 45 minute run in the morning. Recovery spin on the bike for 45 minutes to flush the legs.
Day 3: Long brick including a 40km bike interval at half ironman pace followed by an easy 30 minute run. 30 minutes of strength work in the evening.
The key sessions for me were the tempo run and bike sessions. Completing both these on pretty fatigued legs gave me a solid indication of how my form was holding up with race season only 6 weeks out.
What I learned from the experience & what I would change
The main thing I took away from the experience was the confidence that I was seeing gains from my training. Putting myself through what for me was a tough three days of training — and not only surviving but performing well — did a lot to boost my morale.
The biggest lesson I took from the whole thing was to eat way more than I did! In between sessions, especially on day one, I wasn’t refueling enough. This definitely made some of the workouts harder than they needed to be. We often forget the importance of recovery, and this goes for eating as well as sleeping.
Overall, it is definitely something I would do again and recommend to others. Even if you only have three days you can gain a lot not only in endurance but being able to mentally assess where you are at.
What is swimming like post pandemic pool closures?
Slow.
I have, in previous years, started the year off with 100 kilometers of swimming in the month of January, getting ready for the year with a solid commitment to myself and the sport I love. This year started differently. No swimming.
There are options to stay fit, but nothing compares to swimming. No matter how many swim cords you own, it’s not the same. Resistance training only does so much. Flexibility goes away when not in streamline every 30-40 seconds for a few hours a day. Canal waters are too fast to be safe right now. The nearest lakes are 40 minutes away and maybe up to 8 degrees Celsius. Swimming just doesn’t happen in Canada without pools at this time of the year.
You may be excited, worried, or even scared. The best thing to do is to hop in, push off and let your body remember what swimming is and the order of neural pathway firing and muscle recruitment.
My 1st swim back (June 10th): I had set my alarm for 4:50 the previous day to get ready for the abrupt awakening. It worked; I only hit snooze once.
My pre-swim apple and water were ready and I even had my swim bag out for two nights waiting for this occasion. I thought I had everything set up the night before, but not my gym pass, so I spent a few minutes running around looking for it. It was where I remembered it was, so no time lost.
At the university (one of two pools open now), I had my mask on through the building and on deck. Will the goggles fit still? Will they break? The water was cold, but not as cold as I remember it. I dropped in and the initial shock was not bad, so I pushed off into a familiar position.
Streamline was good, the breathing went well, even bilaterally. The first 30 meters felt amazing (the pool was set at 50m length), I even remembered how to flip turn without getting water up my nose. Then the return. The shoulders got tight (deltoids), the chest felt crampy (pectoralis major and minor) — and then I remembered there is a race in 3 weeks.
2:00/100m. This is, for me and my goals, a horrific starting point. I know it will come back, muscle memory and the various substrates that influence endurance will soon flood the muscles involved in swimming, but this… this is trouble.
Getting to put in a few 400-meter efforts with 100-meter laps thrown in between made the swim manageable. A nice round 2000 meters for the first swim back was farther than expected, and I swam 40 minutes of the 60 allotted by the re-opening policy.
I am thrilled to be back in the water and able to complete all three sports of triathlon. I am not able or willing to wake up early for running, cycling or strength training; swimming is the only one that gets me out of bed. Maybe it’s the schedule and the payment to a facility, or just the feeling post-swim of accomplishment. Starting your day, waking up surrounded by the feeling of being supported and also resisted from forward motion. It is a love-hate relationship, but one that forces me to face the day early and push past my limits.
The next three weeks will be filled with swimming every day that the pool is open (supplemented with long drives for open water on Sundays). It’s my effort to regain lost fitness and feel for the water. Almost all these days will be slow/easy swimming. Faster intervals will be added at the start of week 3 to reduce the chance of overuse injury.
Detraining is a fact of life, especially pandemic life. Do not be hard on yourself when getting back to it. Regain the lost relationship with the water and allow for slower times, knowing that faster times are ahead. Be patient and connect with the feeling of the water, focusing on flexibility through the next few weeks.
Pho3nix and the PTO share a common goal to support and elevate professional triathletes, placing them on the world stage, along with providing new and creative formats and events to capture global attention. Through the Sub7 Sub8 Project, the Pho3nix Foundation aims to inspire young people to challenge themselves through sport by showing that all goals are worth chasing. As the not-for-profit representative body for non-drafting professional triathletes, the PTO will provide invaluable support as Pho3nix strives to connect fans and supporters with these incredible athletes, as they attempt to #DefyTheImpossible.
“I’m a big supporter of the PTO as an organisation and how it has given professional triathletes a sense of ownership over the direction of their sport,” says Chris McCormack, Pho3nix Foundation board member and CEO of Mana Sports and Entertainment. “The PTO and the Pho3nix Sub7 Sub8 Project share a desire to elevate the sport and create a new standard for the next generation. Along with adding depth to the opportunities for the top echelon of athletes who give up so much to compete on this level, it will also drive engagement among younger people. It’s what gets them into sport, seeing and aspiring to be like these great athletes.”
Professional Triathletes Organisation CEO Sam Renouf said, “The PTO fully support the Sub7 and Sub8 Project by the Pho3nix Foundation which will help not only highlight the amazing accomplishments of our professional athletes but raise awareness to a wider fan base. Compelling storytelling which showcases the personalities, as well as the accomplishments of our amazing PTO athletes, will help leverage the excitement and drama of our sport to attract a wider and younger audience. We wish all our PTO Professionals the best of luck.”
Apart from putting money towards prize pots in races and running their own events like the Collins Cup, the PTO itself has some formidable media resources beginning with the content they’ve produced around the PTO Championship, the Collins Cup, and promotional material around the professional athletes.
Also, if you haven’t scoped it out yet, the new PTO stats website seeks to be an all-encompassing resource for long-course professional start lists and results, basic athlete info (such as biography and sponsors), world rankings, and up-to-date statistics. Did you know they’ve actually compiled data to produce athlete head-to-head results? As someone who used to follow tennis obsessively this was an amazing feature on the ATP and WTA websites, and I’m so happy it’s something that’s finally a thing in triathlon.
The PTO supporting the SUB7 SUB8 can only make following this journey richer. It’s great to see them recognise how the project can and will absolutely put triathlon in front of a wider audience, something that both PTO and Pho3nix want to do.
I have always been of the opinion that a sport has entered the big league when it is able to support its professional athletes with the means to make a living from competing. While triathlon was built on mass participation, there is a need to add some depth to the opportunities for the top echelon of professional athletes, who dedicate themselves full time to compete at that level.
A lot of people — myself included — thought the Professional Triathletes Organisation at its outset was an audacious undertaking, but I think the direction is the right one to go in.
Our alignment with the PTO is in building the professional arm of the sport and shift it from a participation sport to a spectator sport, to make it interesting and give it more commercial viability. That requires new formats for races, and initiatives like Sub7 Sub8 for the professionals that can be packaged in an entertaining way for broadcast. Equally important is the long-form storytelling of our athletes journey’s to get the public engaged as fans and inspire the next wave of elite athletes.
World Triathlon is an Olympic, federation-driven model, and they do a great job in keeping kids on an Olympic path. But beyond that and prior to Super League Triathlon on the short-course side and the PTO on the long-course side, there just wasn’t much growth in the way of supporting professional athletes.
So we are completing the circle from a high-performance perspective. Pho3nix Foundation aims to inspire and sow the seeds for the next generation of young, talented stars to come through. They feed into World Triathlon and Super League Triathlon racing, and they can age into a long-course career with the opportunities the PTO presents.
The SUB7 SUB8 is shaping up to be an even more tantalising story to watch unfold. As a triathlon fan, I am HERE. FOR. IT.
Within the world of triathlon, we love to talk numbers. Cycling conversations have become synonymous with FTP (Functional Threshold Power) and watts per kilogram. This is a great way to measure effort regardless of other variables. Even if we don’t have power metres on all of our bikes, apps such as Strava will give us a rudimentary estimated power number, so that can be considered aside from our rating of perceived exertion.
However, when it comes to running it’s more difficult to gauge how hard we have been working. Treadmills are much larger than turbo trainers, and as such, most of us don’t have the space to accommodate one. Thus we do our running outdoors and therefore can’t control external variables in order to complete our training. As such we are left with traditional run metrics; pace, heart rate (HR) and RPE (or feel).
Running based on ‘feel’ is the least scientific of the measures. One day we may feel great and another day we may feel crap, while putting out the same effort. It is important to be aware of RPE and how our body is responding to sessions, but it is the least objective piece of data we tend to use.
Pace is a notoriously blunt metric: intervals don’t take into consideration hills or headwinds. This impacts the quality of our sessions and/or ability to track progress. We may be working a lot harder than intended, or our pace drops off. Working entirely on pace can therefore overstretch us. When racing we want to have something left in the tank for the end of the course, because ‘blowing up’ in the final few kilometres is never a good idea!
Heart rate zones as a measure of intensity are also somewhat unreliable. Having a big cup of coffee or being stressed (or ill) will impact our HR. When completing track intervals or hill repeats it’s easy to see that HR lags behind our efforts. We may be working at the wrong intensity before our all-telling smart watch sends us a notification that we’re in the wrong zone. There are also a host of arguments around how we derive HR zones; 220-age? Percentage of max HR? Tested lactate threshold?
So is there a metric that is more stable and reliable? Enter run power.
David Starr of Eat Drink Win recently lent me a Stryd Power Meter to demonstrate the benefits of training with more objective data.
Living in a notoriously hilly part of the UK, I have always found it challenging to manage pace and effort. The Stryd power meter takes into consideration hills, wind, form and fatigue, so you can train at the ‘right’ intensity regardless of where you are. Real-time power data is displayed on your watch and you can set alerts to ensure that consistent power is maintained, or that you get to a desired intensity quickly when completing intervals. This helps to manage training loads and minimise the risk of overtraining.
When it comes to race day, that power data can be used to manage effort and ensure that, like with the bike, you don’t overcook the initial sections when you’re still feeling fresh. On a more long-term basis, power can be used in conjunction with HR and pace to identify efficiency gains at certain power outputs.
In addition to power data the Stryd can also provide a host of information about run form efficiency. Cadence, ground contact time, vertical oscillation and leg spring stiffness can all be measured through the foot pod. With this data, your coach will be able to set specific drills to help improve run dynamics, helping you to use less energy while moving at optimum speeds. Pace and distance calculations also appear to be more accurate than some GPS devices.
Running with power is still a relatively niche area, despite the tech being a few years old now. However, with more and more of us engaging with the vast array of data available through indoor training, it seems that we are more open to using hard numbers versus traditional methods of monitoring effort and performance.
Run power is certainly one way of using technology to help improve training. And who doesn’t want to have another set of numbers to analyse while sipping a protein shake after track?
I like to ride my bike. I really like to ride my bike fast. I have spent so many hours on my time trial bike that I don’t even have to think about it — hours spent working on holding the most aerodynamic position, money spent on optimising my gear to maximise my performance, all done to make sure when I line up on race day, I get to the run as fast as possible.
All of that work meant that riding my TT bike felt as natural as walking or running. It was like the bike was a part of me.
Until it wasn’t.
The Crash
In October last year, while doing a TT effort I hit a bump that I just didn’t see and before I knew it I was on the ground. My kit was ripped, I couldn’t see and my wrist was throbbing. I had come off my bike at about 42 km/h, and in the process broken my wrist and taken off what felt like half of the skin on my body. I didn’t get back on my TT bike for six months.
In Australia we are lucky to have races happening this year, and I entered a few. I was back riding my road bike and was riding really well. As my first race got closer I would say ‘I know how to ride a TT’ and ‘I will get back on soon… she’ll be right’ and then before I realised it, it was the Friday before my race and I HAD to get on the TT.
I was so scared about that first race for a number of reasons. It was my first event in nearly 18 months, I wasn’t in the best shape and I was worried about riding my TT bike. I got through the event and felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. In the lead up to the race I had signed a deal with a new bike brand for the first time in a decade and I convinced myself that a new bike will solve all of my problems.
And Another One
My second race, knowing that I could ride a TT bike, I wasn’t nervous. I came onto the bike and was ripping that bike course apart. I had one little near crash going over a speed bump early but saved it and even patted myself on the back for managing to avoid a crash. I guess my run of bad luck was over.
Then I crashed.
It happened one kilometre from transition and I still can’t work out what happened. I hit the deck hard, got up, checked myself and the bike and carefully rode back to transition then finished the race. I thought it was good that I didn’t spend too much time dwelling on it, and apart from some decent road rash (on the other side of my body this time) I thought I had done well to not be too badly hurt.
The bike was cursed. I would not ride that TT bike again. EVER.
It was fine though. My new bike would arrive weeks before my first 70.3 so I would have plenty of time to get used to it and be comfortable and ready to race.
It didn’t.
One of the problems with COVID-19 is the delays it is causing with bikes and parts. My bike was almost ready seven days before my race and not all of the parts I needed for the optimal position arrived in time. But still, new bike, no problem.
I know all about setting myself up for success. I went to a local velodrome where I knew I would be as safe as possible and genuinely nearly had a panic attack getting on the bike. I forced myself to do the session but could not hold my proper aero position because I was too scared to keep my head down and aero. I am not talking ‘I would prefer to see where I am going’. I mean ‘NO FUCKING WAY AM I NOT LOOKING WHERE I AM GOING!!!” My mind and body were at war.
So this is probably the world’s longest way of getting to the point of what I wanted to talk about.
Can cyclists get PTSD?
Over the last few weeks I have suffered from anxiety about getting back on the bike. The thought of riding my TT bike is keeping me awake at night, quite literally. I have overwhelming feelings of panic when I think about riding on my aero bars and nightmares about my crashes. If my mind wanders to the crash I feel an overwhelming feeling of panic which makes me do whatever I can to not think about it. My heart rate spikes, I start sweating and feel absolutely horrible.
Enter Dr. Google. I started to google my symptoms because I have crashed before and crashed badly before (I nearly got hit by a truck when I crashed in Thailand), but have never been like this before.
Scared.
I found an article about post-traumatic stress disorder for cyclists and I read through the symptoms which included:
Anxiety or panic attacks about getting back on a bike.
Fear of a crash happening again.
Flashbacks of the crash occurring.
Depression following the crash.
Insomnia or inability to fall asleep.
Irritability towards friends or family members trying to help.
But PTSD isn’t something that a 35-year-old white guy who rides a bike and lives in Australia suffers from, right? Isn’t it something that victims of abuse or soldiers who have been to war deal with?
Apparently not. While there are many different forms of PTSD, this definitely sounds like exactly what I am suffering from. I admit I am not a psychologist, medical doctor or psychiatrist but even if it isn’t PTSD there is definitely something wrong in my head.
I have seen a Lance Armstrong quote saying, “If you’re worried about falling off the bike, you’d never get on,” and that is the struggle I am having at the moment. I am worried about falling off the bike but I am also desperate to get back on.
I decided to pull out of my race. Not because I didn’t think I was going to go as fast as I wanted or because my body wasn’t ready. I actually think I am in red-hot shape. But the way I am thinking of it is that if I had a shoulder, knee or foot injury I wouldn’t be racing. I have an injury. It might not leave a scar or be treated by massage or taping it up, but it is stopping me from performing – much like a physical injury would.
Some injuries are visible. Trauma is invisible.
Making this decision has been so hard for me. It makes me feel like I am being ‘soft’ or ‘weak’ with some people saying to me, ‘You just need to get back on the bike and tough it out’. I don’t think I can do that. As much as I love this sport and how racing makes me feel, it is a hobby. Something that I do for fun and at the moment, the thought of forcing myself to race isn’t too much fun.
So you can call me weak, or a coward or tell me to harden up. I guarantee you someone will. But just because you can’t see an injury someone has doesn’t mean it isn’t just as real. Maybe it is your friend who is scared of putting their head under water because they nearly drowned as a child, or your friend who is self-conscious about wearing skin-tight Lycra because of how it makes their body look.
Mental wounds leave deep scars that if untreated can become big big problems in the future.
Moving Forward
I want to get better and think the whole point of what I wanted to write about was to give some advice (so maybe I will follow it myself) as to how to make sure I do.
I am seeing a psychologist about my issues and working with him on trying to overcome my fears and anxieties. If you are suffering from an invisible injury, you should consider reaching out to someone too.
I am taking small steps with my TT bike. I am currently riding in a closed velodrome; I will do this until I am comfortable. Then I will go to a local regatta centre (where I had my big crash in October) and ride until I am comfortable and then I will take the bike out onto the road.
I am talking with other people about my problem and taking their advice on board. My natural instinct is to pretend like it isn’t a big issue and that I can figure it out myself. The reality is that one of the hardest parts is acknowledging you have a problem.
I am doing things on my own time frame. I am not going to be rushed. I am not going to put myself into a position that could potentially cause more harm than good. When I crashed a few weeks ago the first thought that went through my head was ‘I don’t want to do this anymore’ and I want to make sure I don’t have those thoughts again.
In writing this article I reached out to a number of people in our community for their advice and support and have been blown away by not only the support I have received but also the incredibly sophisticated and nuanced responses I have received. To all of you who I have spoken to or reached out to about my issues, thank you for being in my corner.
Invisible injuries are hard because so often people will just tell you to harden up or get over it. I am here to tell you all that it isn’t that easy. Trust me, I have tried. So take your time when you are fighting a battle no one else can see. Remember that working through your issues and resolving them will always be better than simply avoiding them altogether.
Good luck!
A Note about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
From Dr. Nikita Fensham MBChB (UCT)
Trauma in mental health terms refers to damage to psychological or emotional well-being as a result of an event. These events pose an actual or perceived threat to one’s life or safety or to those in one’s life. Importantly, what constitutes a threat to one person may not be the same for the next.
In order to classify as a traumatic event in terms of a diagnosed disorder, the threat must have a physical element; thus, retrenchment or relationship termination, for example, would not be included.
Early after an event, it is normal to experience symptoms of psychological stress, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and change in appetite. If this persists longer than two days and interferes with daily functioning, a diagnosis of acute stress disorder would be considered; after a month, this would fall into post-traumatic stress disorder territory.
Acute stress disorder is diagnosed if a person meets the criteria outlined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-5 (DSM-5), which includes having nine or more symptoms in total, such as intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, sleep disturbance, negative mood, and avoiding reminders of the event.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (also diagnosed using the DSM-5), where symptoms persist after a month, requires one to have a certain number of symptoms in each of four distinct categories, namely:
Re-experiencing or intrusion (e.g. flashbacks, nightmares, physiological reactivity on stimuli exposure)
Avoidance of reminders or thoughts
Negative cognition/mood (e.g. unable to recall aspects of event not due to head injury, distorted blame, feelings of shame or anger, diminished interest in activities)
Following a thorough clinical assessment and consideration of other potential diagnoses, further management would be advised. Psychological treatment and/or pharmacological treatment (e.g. selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) are in line with current evidence-based recommendations.
Medical disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your own doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
Phuket is a frequent tropical holiday destination with its plethora of beaches, resorts, and easy international access from Europe and Australia. In recent years it’s also become a beloved training destination for endurance athletes of the swim, bike, and run persuasion. It’s been the site of many of our training camps, so we’re kicking off our City Guide series with it!
If you’re planning a training getaway at this island paradise, here are some tips from our member Lucy Richardson who has made Phuket her home away from home for quite a number of winters.
Climate
Be prepared for hot and humid all year round. Winter for the Northern Hemisphere is the best time (late October to March) which sees less to no rain and slightly cooler temperatures, but this is also peak season so it is busier and prices are higher. Humidity and rain can really ramp up in summer time from June to August, but it is a lot quieter and cheaper.
Transport and Getting Around
Phuket is quite a large island; getting to parts of it (like the infamous Patong Beach) can take over an hour from the airport!
Renting a car is easy and cheap and can give you access to other parts of the island for great swimming off beaches, exploring, etc. Driving can be a little crazy there, so it can take some getting used to.
A lot of people rent scooters/motorbikes as that is the way most locals get around; this is perfect if you are staying local and have had experience on a motorcycle, but too many people think it’s easy and then end up bandaged up a day later with road rash (the locals call it “the Thailand tattoo”) so please think carefully about that.
Waze and Google Maps are great resources for finding the best (and alternative) routes to arrive at your destination. As Phuket has become more built up, the roads can get congested during peak hours.
Location and Training
If you want good facilities, people to train with, food and accommodation close together, and a triathlon community, the best location is Cherngtalay, near the beaches of Bangtao, Surin, and Layan. It is where the Laguna group of resorts are located, as well as commercial/residential development Boat Avenue. The international airport is about 20 minutes from the area with good connections.
This is where Z Coaching (and coach Jurgen Zack) have set up their base. Z Coaching has twice-daily sessions you can drop in and out of, caters for all abilities and is very good if you want to train with others especially if you do not know the area.
In Cherngtalay itself there is a great pool at the sports centre (and very cheap), a field running track at the school, beautiful beaches for open water swimming, perfect roads for cycle training, and good areas on- and off- road for running.
It’s also not far from Thanyapura Resort where there is a huge complex with amazing training facilities — but these will come at more of a cost and are more remote. Thanyapura does have a hotel attached to it with packages for health and wellbeing as well as sport, or you can simply purchase daily/monthly membership to access the facilities.
A new development that has opened, Blue Tree has a huge swimming lagoon where an open water-style swim session is held. You can then stay for the day and play on the slides, do SUP boarding, relax on their ‘beach’ and eat in the restaurants there. It also has running and exercise trails around the site in the rubber plantations free to use (just watch out for stray dogs!).
Training is very, very safe even if you want to do it alone (Lucy’s note: as a woman this is the one place I never have to worry about solo training). Cycling is good, but you do have to go on a busy main road if you want to get to some of the best cycling routes. It’s best to have some experience riding on Thai roads before you do this solo, as rules can be very different there with the lanes for bikes/motorbikes. Once you have ridden on the roads and familiarised yourself with them it is extremely safe to do so alone.
Running is great in this area. It is quiet and beautiful and there are lots of flat areas to do loops of next to the beach and resort areas. Also nearby is a dam area which has a wonderful rolling road around it and is good for hill training, also some trail running at different spots — but those I would recommend going with a local!
Food and Accommodation
There’s a wide variety and price range for food. From market stalls costing next to nothing to luxury dining at a resort, there is a mix of everything so everyone is happy. There is a great Friday night market with food, live music and stalls for shopping.
If you’re inclined to do some cooking, you can get to a number of well-stocked groceries where you can find anything you need.
It is also the same variety for accommodation. There are a lot of long-stay apartments available, and it is becoming known as a sports training destination so you can get great deals on monthly stays. There are also many 5-star resorts (the aforementioned Laguna Phuket area has the Banyan Tree, Dusit Thani, and Outrigger resorts) if you are mixing a holiday with the family in with your training.
Racing
The famous Laguna Phuket Triathlon is big for racing; it also has other events around it and is a good weekend of fun. There are other running races staged in the area at different times of the year too (the Laguna Phuket Marathon is usually held in June), as well as cycling events and Oceanman swim events. There is always something going on!
Olympian triathlete Richard Murray recently announced his diagnosis of atrial fibrillation on his social media platforms. This subsequently sparked some criticism of his continuing to exercise, but also got a few followers concerned and interested to hear how he knew something was wrong.
It’s difficult to discuss the complexities around when you should and should not exercise with a heart condition, and that is not the purpose of this article. But what is more helpful is knowing when you might need to book for a check-up with your doc in the first place.
There are various estimates of the incidence of sudden cardiac arrest or death, but it is about 1 in 50,000 to 80,000 athletes per year. However, there is limited data to compare this to that in non-athletes. Further, this risk varies depending on sex, age, sport, and level of play.
Cardiovascular screening prior to sport participation is recommended by most sporting bodies who oversee athletes. This consists of a thorough history and physical examination, and possibly an electrocardiogram (ECG) as well, depending on the situation. From there, if any abnormalities are detected or there is cause for further concern, further investigations may be required to look at both the structure and electrical activity of the heart.
This work-up process would apply as well to recreational or competitive athletes who do not fall under sporting bodies. But since we are not automatically screened prior to deciding to take on our best 10k or first full distance triathlon, how do we know that our heart is “a-OK”?
The primary goal of screening is to identify those at risk of sudden cardiac arrest or death, as exercise is both a trigger and an unmasker of occult disease. But this screening also has a number of limitations. It relies on athlete honesty, knowledge of family history, presence of symptoms at the time of screening, the use of standard questionnaires by physicians, and the expertise of the physician interpreting the ECG. Certainly, an ECG that is interpreted by an experienced physician increases the chance of detecting an underlying abnormality, as 60% of disorders associated with arrest or death may have ECG aberrations.
As with any screening procedure, there is balance between the risk of over-diagnosis and benefit of preventing an adverse outcome. Notably, up to 44% of athletes who suffered sudden cardiac death had no structural heart abnormalities, and up to 80% of athletes had no symptoms at the time of screening (this is important as they may have had symptoms at a later date).
It all sounds very complicated, but a lot of the hard yards is up to the doc you consult as to which tests may or may not be appropriate. If a diagnosis is made, a shared-decision making approach has been increasingly favoured on both treatment options and return to sport and competition.
Given the complexities discussed above, it is important that you are seen by a sports physician and/or cardiologist who can interpret the ECG (and other investigations as appropriate) correctly, but also that you offer up as much information and history as you can.
With that said, the following circumstances are flags to see your doctor:
You have been inactive and are now planning on starting exercise (you might benefit from a supervised program to start and your doc could refer you to the right service)
You’re a smoker or take drugs
Your heart has fluttered, skipped beats, or felt like it’s racing during or after exercise
You have struggled to breathe during exercise out of proportion to the intensity
You have experienced chest pain, discomfort, pressure, or tightness during exercise
You have had a fit/seizure (and are not known with epilepsy)
You have felt dizzy or light-headed during exercise
You have passed out or nearly passed out during exercise
You have a current medical condition or are taking medication that you have not previously discussed with your doc about with regards to sport
You are diabetic, have high blood pressure or high cholesterol (or you do not know what your blood pressure, glucose, or cholesterol levels are)
A family member has or had a heart condition
A family member died suddenly and unexpectedly
A family member has a pacemaker or an implanted defibrillator
Obviously, if you have any other concerns, it’s always worth checking in with the doc in case. There are certainly more benefits than risks of exercise, but sometimes athletes push themselves too far into the red zone too often, resulting in a J-shaped curve on how much exercise is beneficial for heart health.
Richard Murray is being a true role model in his approach to his current diagnosis, putting his health first. We should, too.
Medical disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your own doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
Reference: Drezner JA, O’Connor FG, Harmon KG, Fields KB, Asplund CA, Asif IM, Price DE, Dimeff RJ, Bernhardt DT, Roberts WO. AMSSM Position Statement on Cardiovascular Preparticipation Screening in Athletes: Current evidence, knowledge gaps, recommendations and future directions. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Feb;51(3):153-167. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2016-096781. Epub 2016 Sep 22. Erratum in: Br J Sports Med. 2018 Mar 6;: PMID: 27660369.
By using positive, productive and powerful language you can enhance your performance on race day, giving you a competitive edge.
Adelaide Goodeve specialises in neuro-linguistic programming and brain endurance training, helping athletes raise the bar, and excel in their chosen sport.
She recently ran a week long ‘bootcamp’ focusing on the use of language in performance. Her goal: to 10x your performance through the language that you use, and the mind power you can harness. The underlying principle is, “You can be the best physically prepared athlete on the start-line, and still lose to the competitor with the better prepared brain.”
My initial thought was: how can 10 minutes a day for five days have such a big impact on my performance?
But it’s true; our brains can be ‘rewired’ in a split second. We can re-train our thought processes and therefore the neural pathways that are engaged when we talk to ourselves. The science around neuro-plasticity supports this.
So… how does it work?
Step 1: Visualisation
You can’t tell your brain not to think about something. Don’t think about your burning quads? Don’t think about how much it hurts as you push up a hill? Immediately our brains pick up on those states. While sitting at our laptops, we can visualise those scenarios. As athletes, we all know how to go to the hurt locker.
But what if it’s not called the “hurt locker”? That feeling isn’t pain; it’s just “not-comfortable”. The connotations associated with being comfortable (or not comfortable) are very different to all-out pain and hurt.
In utilising the synonyms in our language, we can change our modality in a given instant. So, instead of feeling stressed and anxious about race day, we can re-frame the visualisation as, “I’m not feeling calm.”
Step 2: Positive, Productive and Powerful Language
In a similar vein to using visualisations, the integration of ‘life-enhancing language’ into our everyday forms Step Two in the process of enhancing our mental game. Athletes that can do this will direct their mind towards thoughts which will be positive and helpful.
We have all looked at our Garmin and thought, “Sh*t, my pace isn’t fast enough, I need to speed up.” When we’re not hitting our intervals or that PB is slipping away it becomes easy to fixate on the numbers — to keep checking that pace / time. But this is neither helpful or productive. That inner voice can sabotage our performance.
So you can change the self-talk to: What will make me faster? Is my core engaged? How is my cadence? Have I eaten enough? What can I do to improve my form, which will make me faster in this moment?
In actively reflecting and integrating positive and productive language, you can make changes to what you are doing — and that will improve performance. You will stop stressing about how you could fail, and start thinking about how well you are doing. How you are doing everything in your power to make progress, and be the best version of you, in that moment. The language that you use to talk to yourself stops being a stick that you are beating yourself with. It becomes a tool in the arsenal for high performance.
So, how easy is it to integrate this language into your life? Can we change the way that we talk to ourselves?
In the past I have notoriously self-sabotaged my efforts. I am my own biggest critic. But this weekend when I went out to race the local TT district championship, I didn’t set out to “try my best.” I wasn’t thinking about how “I can’t compete with the UCI-sponsored athletes who regularly appear at these events.” Instead, I was going to go as fast as possible. I was going to learn as much as I could from racing X distance on X course.
And I did. As soon as my brain started to say “F@&k this hurts!” I had another voice say “This is not comfortable, but I’m going fast.”
And what was the result? Well, it was a time trial, I went bloody fast for 26 minutes in some typically grim UK weather. I picked up a handful of points. But more importantly, I put in the best possible performance I could on the day.
There is still a little voice deep inside of me that says “you should be faster,” but that voice is quieter than it has been previously. Because I’m making progress, and every day that I show up and stop myself from engaging in negative self-talk is a step towards enhancing my performance and winning the mental game.
A question I get asked a lot is when and how do you make the transition from sprint and Olympic distance racing up to long-distance racing.
It’s a common thought among age-group athletes. We’ve done a few Olympic distance races and we think, “When is it time to go up in distance?”
To me, it’s a very easy question to answer: you can always get yourself ready to do a long-distance event. It just comes down to how much time and commitment you have to do the training you need to get to that finish line.
(To be competitive in a long-distance event is a whole different conversation!)
The biggest changes you’re going to have when you compare an Olympic distance race to that of a half distance or a full distance is the time on the bike and the time spent running. Especially for the amateur athlete, getting in that volume of work over a long period of time to prepare for an event is key. You need to be able to at least ride and run the distance once in training just to have that confidence.
Time spent swimming becomes less of an important issue, although if you’re an adult-onset swimmer it can take a bit of time to get your head wrapped around swimming nearly 4 kilometers in one go. If you learned swimming as a kid and were on a school squad, that swim anxiety is less of an issue because you know you can survive a long-distance swim with no problems at all.
Now, it’s important to involve those important in your life in the decision to go long, because you will need to make some sacrifices and compromises. We all only have 24 hours in a day, and if you’re devoting a big chunk of those hours to your training, something else will have to give.
At the end of the day, being able to get fit enough to finish a long-distance event comes down to volume and consistency of work. Believe me, you can do it. The best way to believe is to enter. Get yourself a training program, and give yourself some time — 12 to 16 weeks prior to the event — to complete that program. You will get there.
Thousands of people around the world complete one of these every year, so the question is: why shouldn’t you?
So when do you step up? I say, whenever you’re ready to.
Chris “Macca” McCormack is a four-time triathlon world champion with the biggest winning percentage in the history of the sport. He is a co-founder and partner in Super League Triathlon, CEO of the Bahrain Victorious 13 team, board member of the Pho3nix Foundation, and CEO of MANA Sports & Entertainment Group.
We know a lot more about COVID-19 now than at this same point last year. At the same time, a lot more athletes have survived infection. So our question turns from “What is COVID-19?” toward “How do I safely return to physical activity after recovering from COVID-19?”
Olympic bronze medalist Henri Schoeman was one of the more prominent triathletes to get COVID-19 and recover from it to log some respectable results towards the end of 2020, while Ironman world champion Anne Haug tested positive before she was set to compete at the PTO Championships at Challenge Daytona. Competitive elite athletes will have a team of medical professionals evaluating their condition and assessing their return to sport.
However, many recreational athletes are left to their own devices. One of our members said: “I had COVID at Christmas… Symptoms were flu-like but lasted a bit longer, say a month. I have been struggling to get back to the top end ever since. Realistically I’ve lost about 10% off my top end, but more frustratingly I just need much more rest than ever before. And I’ve had to take 4- to 5-day breaks thrice because I’ve overdone it, despite taking it relatively steady compared to previous. I haven’t had any medical advice… I reckon now, 5 months on I’m starting to feel better again, though in fairness I’ve learned not to do any speed work so as not to need too much rest.”
(Please note that this document must not be considered a substitute for medical advice. It’s always good practice to consult with a medical professional prior to partaking in strenuous physical activity, regardless of but also considering any history of infection with COVID-19.)
What parts of our bodies does COVID-19 affect?
COVID-19 most visibly affects the pulmonary system (lungs), and due to the strain it puts on the body also the cardiac system (heart and circulation). But it can actually leave a mark even on your musculoskeletal (muscles and bones), gastrointestinal (stomach and intestines), hematologic (blood), phrenic (kidney), and even nervous (brain, spinal, and peripheral nerves) systems. It can leave not only severe acute damage, but also chronic damage. Even in asymptomatic patients there is a risk of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and sudden cardiac death.
Due to this wide range of how the disease affects the body and the broad scope of severity, it’s recommended that a medical doctor should oversee or sign off on the return of an athlete to training. In particular, those who have recovered from more severe COVID-19 must take a more gradual return to activity.
When can I return to exercise?
Most of us are used to trying to exercise through a cold or a mild cough but strictly speaking, return to exercise after recovering from any viral illness should be gradual.
The severity of COVID-19 disease, particularly fatigue, can affect the duration of recovery. World Triathlon recommends the athlete must be evaluated by a medical professional when returning to activity and competitive sport.
If you’re still symptomatic (experiencing symptoms such as but not limited to: persistent fever, shortness of breath at rest, cough, chest pain, or palpitations), you should not resume exercising.
Here are some key considerations from the UK Home Countries Institutes of Sport guidance for healthcare professionals for a Graduated Return to Play:
Athletes should not start to return until at least 10 days following onset of symptom and should be 7 days symptom-free. (Some athletes take over 3 weeks to recover and a few take many weeks, even after mild symptoms.)
In most cases, 7 days is the minimum time to progress to full training, especially in sports of an aerobic nature. Less physically intense sports, like golf or lawn bowls, may progress quicker.
Before considering a return to training, the athlete must be able to complete all activities of daily living without excessive fatigue and/or breathlessness and walk a minimum of 500 m on the flat without getting breathless.
The athlete must have stopped all treatments that may mask symptoms, e.g. paracetamol.
How do I “Return to Play” after COVID-19?
Much of the current guidance on return to activity after COVID-19 has been developed on the basis of mild to moderate symptoms. If your experience with COVID-19 required hospitalisation, your Return to Play should be managed by a multi-disciplinary team including medical specialists who will be better able to judge what you need to help you progress back into normal activity.
Mild symptoms: anosmia (loss of or impairment of sense of smell), ageusia (loss of or impairment of sense of taste), headache, mild fatigue, mild upper respiratory tract illness, and mild gastrointestinal illness.
Moderate symptoms: persistent fever greater than 38°C, chills, cough, myalgia (body pain), lethargy, dyspnea (shortness of breath) and chest tightness, SpO2 (blood oxygen saturation) greater than 94%
The following infographic was created by the UK Home Countries Institutes of Sport, showing a six-stage protocol for a graduated return to play. Progression should be based on the response to training at each stage. Any negative response necessitates a return to the previous symptom-free level of activity. Ongoing symptoms or failure to progress through the rehabilitation programme should trigger a medical review and further investigation.
Monitoring the following may help to assess response:
Where relevant, monitoring using specific medical tests such as oxygen saturations, blood and lung function tests may be necessary. Other allied disciplines such as nutrition, physiology and technical coaches should also usually be involved.
Here are World Triathlon’s guidelines for return to competitive sport after recovery from COVID-19 infection. While this is for elite athletes to accomplish to return to competing on the world circuit, you can use this information in consultation with your medical doctor guiding your return to activity.
1. Athlete with positive COVID-19 test, but asymptomatic:
10 days self-isolation, rest and no exercise for two weeks after first positive test result
Diagnostics required: medical history, physical examination, resting electrocardiogram (ECG) without abnormalities
2. Athlete with positive COVID-19 test, mild/moderate symptoms but without pneumonia:
10 days self-isolation, rest/recovery with no exercise while symptomatic; 2 weeks of convalescence without resumption of exercise
Return to play can begin only after symptoms resolve.
Diagnostics required: medical history, physical examination, laboratory (differential blood count, PCR, CK, CK MB, hs-cTn, D-dimer), resting and exercise ECG with O2 saturation, echocardiography, spirometry without abnormalities
3. Athlete with positive COVID-19 test with pneumonia:
No sport for at least 4 weeks.
Return to training only after symptoms resolution, under doctor’s supervision.
Diagnostics required: medical history, physical examination, laboratory, resting and exercise ECG, cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPX) with BGA, echocardiography, spirometry without abnormalities. Consider adding CMRI (cardiac magnetic resonance imaging).
4. Athletes with positive COVID-19 test with myocarditis (suspected/confirmed) with or without pulmonary involvement:
No sport for at least 3-6 months.
Return to training under supervision of a cardiologist.
Diagnostics required: according to “Guidelines myocarditis”, consider adding CMRI. In case of pneumonia, perform all exams under point 3.
While these guidelines may continue to evolve as we learn more about COVID-19 and how our bodies recover from infection, the common refrain is: take your time, listen to your body, and let it heal. Sport is only one part of your life, and you want to make sure you can continue to enjoy it long-term.
Drawing from his experience re-entering the world of ITU racing in his attempt to qualify for the 2012 Olympics, Macca gives us the lowdown on how the sport has progressed — and who Jan should watch out for.
There’s two ways of looking at it. Jan is always ridiculously fit. He lives, eats, breathes, sleeps health and fitness. He’sone o f the most talented that have ever done the sport. There is a lot of talent floating around at the moment, but none within the space of Jan Frodeno. So it’s not a matter of Jan getting any better; I just think he’s maintaining his place and the other athletes are the same or have semi-plateaued.
For instance, I think you’ve seen the best of Patrick Lange. I hope he proves me wrong; he’s a fantastic athlete and winning Kona twice, he’s amazing. But I just think mentally Jan’s got his measure. I think Lionel Sanders has succumbed to the fact that he’ll never beat Jan Frodeno and that that really leaves only athletes who believe they can.
We’ve talked about Alistair Brownlee before, Javier Gomez potentially, but there’s not a lot of new talent coming that that Jan has to deal with. So it’s, it could be a semi vacuum and not a vacuum because of lack of talent, but a vacuum potentially because Jan is so far ahead of the curve. And he’s just going to ride this wave until age takes him out of the game. At 39, 40 this year, he’s still showing he can do great things.
And I think the fact that there’s a pandemic suits him a lot better cause he wasn’t a heavy racer. He didn’t usually have heavy work, heavy race volumes, race loads. So he’s used to preparing for and executing an event.
The only thing that tends to stop him is he does tend to break a little bit because he runs so lean and so fit and active all the time.
If you follow the history of the sport, during the Mark Allen days, the Greg Welches, a lot of athletes who were successful and able to be competitive tended to have a single weakness. You know, they migrated from different sports: “She wasn’t a very good swimmer, but a great runner and good rider.” Mark Allen, he was an okay swimmer.
Then the next evolution came, which was Spencer Smith, Simon Lessing, and my generation where that gap was closed. We tended to be able to do everything pretty well, but we weren’t exceptional on anything, just quite balanced across.
Then you had the next wave of talent, which was Javier Gomez that were strong swimmers and more. That was brought on by that ITU draft legal racing. They come from a high performance program, starting triathlon as 10-year-olds. They’re not only weakness-free across the three disciplines, but they’re very, very close to the top in the breed of the individual disciplines. So that was that evolution and Jan Frodeno is of that ilk.
A lot of athletes during my time in ITU racing, when the drafting came in they migrated across to Ironman racing because they couldn’t swim. What you’re seeing now in long-course, there’s still a migration of a lot of the German athletes or the European athletes that can’t make those high performance programs within their native countries. When they move across to ironman racing, they still hold a weakness.
But what you see with Jan Frodeno is an ITU athlete who’s been at the top of the world of that sport and the Olympic gold medalist, who’s now put some endurance base on him and opted to move across to ironman. And he has no weakness. Jan has just moved across at the perfect time. In 2014 or 13, when he came over, he made Sebastian Kienle obsolete overnight. Kienle is still a remarkable athlete, but can no longer overhaul his swim. Technique, flexibility, all these things come into play. If you haven’t done it since you were young, it’s very hard to continually see improvement in it.
Lionel Sanders could never do an ITU race. He’s a bit like Normann Stadler back in my day, who had a big bike and needed a big bike to make up the deficit. Unfortunately, when you’re giving Jan Frodeno three minutes out of the swim, he can ride a bike just as good as you. And he can run just as good as if not better. So that time given up (including transitions) starts to matter.
Normann Stadler couldn’t make the German Olympic program which had massive German talent back then. He went to Ironman at 24. And if you follow Stadler’s career in Kona, he was remarkable. He was in that top 10 so many times.
So when an ITU athlete moves across to ironman, it’s not discrediting those athletes that are there, because they do a marvelous job. The athletes that come from ITU aren’t inferior. Once they improve their disciplines, which they’re capable of doing because they have the engine capacity to do it, they’re going to become more and more difficult to beat.
Take it from me, a guy that came from ironman and tried to make it to the Olympics in 2012. The biggest thing that really took me back was just how much swim pace had increased. You know, when I was racing there were outliers who swam very well: Craig Walton and Benjamin Sanson and a lot of the French were very good. They used to have 30, 40 seconds on us. And then the main group, which was, you know, most of the guys, Greg Bennet, myself, Miles Stewart, Tim Don, Simon Lessing. Everyone is that outlier at the front now. I was swimming the house down, 50, 60K a week — the best I’ve ever swum. And I was fifth last out of the water!
These athletes who have been super dominant the past decade or so, they all hail from the ITU. On the women’s side there’s Annie Haug, Daniela Ryf, even Mirinda Carfrae. There is that complete changing of the guard in the way ironman racing is raced, with more swim talent that can also bike up the front and run.
Everyone says Josh Amberger is the best swimmer in the sport. Jan Frodeno is on his feet. Everyone says Cameron Wurf is the best bike rider in the sport. Jan Frodeno is riding with him and/or dropping him. And everyone says Lange is the best runner in sport. Jan’s matching the run speed. So how do you beat that?
I keep saying Alistair Brownlee is the only person that doesn’t buy into that, who thinks he can beat him and will have a crack at it. Gustav Iden and Kristian Blummenfelt bring that youthful exuberance to the game because they haven’t been beaten up and bruised by this guy yet. I believe that sort of athlete can dislodge him over time.
Chris “Macca” McCormack is a four-time triathlon world champion with the biggest winning percentage in the history of the sport. He is a co-founder and partner in Super League Triathlon, CEO of the Bahrain Victorious 13 team, board member of the Pho3nix Foundation, and CEO of MANA Sports & Entertainment Group.
Super League Triathlon will move into major cities for the first time with stops in London, Munich and Malibu, as well as a return to Jersey.
The 2021 championship series will take place back-to-back across four weekends in September, making for a more compelling race series for audiences to follow and be engaged in. Coming off the back of the Tokyo Olympics, these athletes will be in peak form for some fast and furious racing!
Super League Triathlon’s 2021 Championship Series race calendar is:
September 5: London, UK
September 12: Munich, Germany
September 18: Jersey, Channel Islands
September 25: Malibu, USA
There will be 20 female and 20 male athletes competing at each event on a single day of racing over Super League’s exciting formats, unlike previously where racing was split over two days in the weekend. We’re definitely looking forward to more pain faces, thrills and spills as the fatigue builds up through this month of non-stop travel and racing for the athletes!
As well as the athletes contracted across the Series, the start list for each event will include a small allocation of Wildcard slots to be filled nearer the time.
Racing in London will take place at West India Quay, at the Olympiapark in Munich and at Zuma Beach as part of the Malibu Triathlon, with Jersey’s event set to feature at St. Helier for the fourth time. Individual event details and announcements around global broadcast deals will be made in the coming months.
When Belinda Granger announced her retirement from triathlon at the end of 2014, she had spent a total of 20 years in the sport both as age grouper and as pro, racing a total of 50 iron-distance triathlons and winning a vast majority of them.
Post-retirement, she’s continued to sign up for marathons and ultra-marathons. After coming back from Challenge Family commentating stints in Dayton and Miami she followed a run training plan on a treadmill in two-week hotel quarantine.
Check out our archival interview with her and find out why she’s been able to enjoy endurance sport long-term. The key concepts are: setting goals, taking her time, and allowing herself to enjoy things.
(This interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
When did you start participating in triathlons (as an age grouper)? What drew you to them? I started racing back when I was in University way, way back in 1991. I was studying Human Movement at Sydney University and I needed a new goal. I wasn’t happy with my level of fitness. I had always been so active and competitive throughout High School and I just felt I had let myself slip when I entered uni.
I was introduced to the sport by a friend who had read about it. Straight away I was drawn to it because of the simple fact that it involved 3 different sports… no chance of getting bored! I started with an aquathon (swim/run) and then moved up to the tris. I was absolutely hooked from my very first race and became obsessed with the sport from then. I started with sprint distance races and then very quickly moved up to Olympic Distance and then Half IM distance. I was quite happy to stick with these distances and not move up to the crazy distance of IM.
What led you to the decision to turn pro? I set myself goals from the moment I got my first ‘proper’ race bike. I wanted to make the Australian team for the World Olympic Distance champs (I achieved this back in 1993 in Manchester, England). I then wanted to finish top 5 in my age-group at Worlds (I achieved this in 1994 in Wellington). Next goal was to win my age-group at Worlds (I was 2nd in Cleveland, USA in 1996).
This made me even more determined the next year to not only win my age-group but to win the age-group race outright (I achieved this in Perth, WA in 1997). I had also set myself a goal that once I had won my age-group at a WC then I would look at racing pro.
I was lucky that I was in a job (teacher) that allowed me not only a lot of time to train but also gave me plenty of time off so I could head overseas and race. So even though I was racing as a pro I still worked full-time which gave me financial security and allowed me the freedom of racing the way I wanted to race…..like a crazy woman. I just went for it every race I did as I had nothing to lose. It was a nice way to race.
Then finally in 2003 Justin and I decided together that it was time for me to resign from my job and become a full-time athlete. I have to admit it was soooo much better being able to devote 100% of my time and energy to my training. In 2004 Justin also resigned from his job and we moved up to Noosa to officially become full-time professional athletes. We have never looked back!
How different is training for triathlon as an age grouper, and training for it as a pro? Of course we have more time and energy to devote to training. We obviously train longer hours but more importantly, we get much more recovery time than an age-grouper- I think this is the biggest difference. Whereas an age-group athlete has to rush off to work after their morning session, we get to go home, having a relaxing breakfast and head back to bed if we want to. This extra recovery makes a huge difference as it allows us to back up and smash the next session and then the next session after that.
I have always admired age-groupers who work full time and are still able to devote a good chunk of their time to training. I have been there and it is not easy. You have to be so organised and very motivated. Age-groupers get most of their mileage done over the weekend (we call it the weekend warrior) whereas we get to spread it out across the week.
But it is not all smooth sailing for a pro. It sounds awesome but if you are not self-motivated and don’t stick to your set routine, you can very easily become the world’s best procrastinator. You have to change your mindset as now training is your job. so no matter what the weather or your mood or how you feel you must go out there and do your job every single day of every single week.
How did you overcome or prevent being burnt out (physically as well as mentally)? There have been times, usually towards the end of the season, when I do start to feel the wheels are falling off, but usually if I take a couple of easy days or even a few days off completely, I refresh and am able to get back into it again. Most of the time it is mental and not physical for me personally. I am definitely a diesel engine… could keep chugging along all year long. Mentally I do get tired… just the constant pressure you put on yourself every day to perform and to improve.
I have always been very balanced — I train hard and I race a lot but I also enjoy life and have no problem letting my hair down after races and during big training blocks. I don’t ever not allow myself certain foods or alcohol. Like a lot of young girls I suffered a bit of an eating disorder when I was younger, but I got through it. I promised myself that I would never again restrict myself from the things I really enjoy. I honestly believe that my longevity in the sport is a result of this balance I have had throughout my entire career.
Of course I am not telling you all to go out and get on the drink every night and eat everything you see… My favourite motto is still ‘everything in moderation’. Because of this I still love the sport just as much as I did when I first started.
You took your time before doing your first iron distance race. What advice would you give age groupers who plan on doing an ironman in their first year in the sport? Ahhh now this is a tricky one. Back in my day you started short and worked your way up to the IM distance, but I know plenty of people who have started with IM. Now personally I would not start with an ironman. I liked working my way up the distances. Sprint distance… tick, Olympic Distance… tick, Half IM… tick.
I have to admit though I did stall a bit when it came to ticking the IM box. I just wasn’t convinced it was something I wanted to do. I watched Justin compete at Kona in 1996 and then again in 1997… I loved spectating, but if anything, it turned me off wanting to do one even more. Seeing the absolute suffering on people’s faces did not make me think ‘wow I have got to do one of these’.
It took me a few more years before I changed my mind. Finally in 1999 I lined up for my very first IM.
Completing an IM is an amazing journey and I say journey as it is not just about race day, it is the hours of training that goes into it in the months leading up to the big day. I can tell you that I have never regretted doing any of the IM races I have lined up for… The only regrets I have are for the two that I recorded a DNF for. Not too many people know this but I actually didn’t finish my very first IM (Ironman Australia) in 1999 and then again at Kona in 2009.
The advice I would give anyone — age-groupers and pros, who are thinking about doing their first IM Distance race — make sure it is something that YOU really want to do and make sure you prepare for it properly. You need to be 100% committed and not just do it because you think you should or because someone else told you to do it.
It seems to have become a badge of honour among endurance athletes to be so tired day after day, week after week. If you’re not training “x” number of hours per week, or doing “x” number of interval sessions per sport, or getting up at some ungodly hour for that squad swim, then you’re just “not doing enough”.
Sound familiar? Thought so. But is this really a feeling we should expect, or is it something we need to address?
There are many causes of fatigue – it is such a non-specific symptom that it is often the exam question that medical students detest. But if we pool categories together, it makes it easier to figure out. It’s impossible to cover everything of course, but a few of the more common conditions will be discussed in this article.
(If you have any other emergent and concerning symptoms — e.g. chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, fever, weakness, recent head injury — then it’s important to seek medical care as soon as possible to rule out more serious diseases.)
Empty and exhausted
Successful training requires periods of intense physical and mental stress coupled with adequate recovery to achieve adaptation. Think of it as a scale: if you increase the load, you need to increase your capacity to deal with it… otherwise you need to decrease the load. But too often we focus on the turning the blocks green or on how the Strava account looks, and neglect the other two components of the “training programme”.
Firstly, the stress response also includes mental/emotional aspects, such as work, family life, relationships, finances. Failing to account for the deadlines you are pushing to meet or the disagreement with your partner in your recovery plan may just be the factor pushing you into the exhausted zone, despite your thinking that you really aren’t training “that hard”. Secondly, the two biggest rocks of recovery are sleep and nutrition, not your compression gear or strange muscle gun. And yet, how many athletes cut an hour or two off sleep to get an extra training session in… or go hours after their session without fuel? Again, this probably sounds familiar. It’s like leaving your car to overheat AND without petrol… not a good look.
What to do? Take a good honest look at your training programme. Are you doing too much volume or intensity? Are you juggling too many balls? Are you sleeping subjectively well for 7-9 hours a night? Are you fueling before, during, and after your training? Are you eating enough to account for your exercise but also for all the organs in your body that need energy to function too? And then put your health first and make the changes, with some advice from a coach or dietitian as well.
Low and slow
As I wrote about previously, iron deficiency is common in athletes, whether from reduced intake, increased requirements, or that silly hormone called hepcidin that rises after exercise and blocks iron absorption. So this is something worth getting tested regularly (~6 monthly), especially if you have been diagnosed with iron deficiency in the past. This might be associated with anemia where your hemoglobin, which carries the oxygen in your blood, also becomes low. Or you might have normal hemoglobin levels but the stores of iron, known as ferritin, drop. In this case, you might need an infusion of iron into the vein or you might be prescribed iron tablets, or you might just need some dietary advice. Either way, test don’t guess.
Down and out
Finally, there may be an underlying medical condition, which is why you should seek out a doctor to get assessed if you are experiencing ongoing fatigue that doesn’t resolve with rest and recovery. Conditions in this category include hypothyroidism, diabetes, viral illnesses such as Epstein-Barr, malabsorption, polycystic ovarian syndrome, and eating disorders, to name a few.
Bottom line
Ongoing fatigue is not normal, not required, and certainly not something to which to aspire in order to “prove” yourself as an athlete. I encourage you to visit your friendly doctor to rule out conditions that require medical treatment, and then get your coach, dietitian, and family involved to make sure your overall energy equation favours surplus rather than deficit.
Medical disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your own doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
Which of the three disciplines (swim, bike, run) enhances your cardiovascular fitness the most?
Short answer: The discipline you can do most often without injury, consistency is key. Also, nutrition plays a huge role in building endurance along with proper recovery including sleep.
Long answer:
Looking at VO2max as an indicator of aerobic endurance is limiting, but I will use it as an indicator of cardiovascular fitness.
VO2max is the total amount of oxygen that your muscles can utilize before uptake ceases, even with an increase in work/effort. It is measured as millilitres per kilogram per min or ##ml/kg/min.
Working at VO2max will force the body to adapt in these ways: Increased blood plasma, increased muscle capillarization, and increased stroke volume of the heart. All this combines for more blood volume, more blood getting to the muscles, and a heart that pumps more blood per beat = better oxygen utilization. This effort level is sustainable for 3 to 8 minutes.
(But, you’ll notice, if you have a Garmin or other watch that estimates your VO2max, it is different for running and cycling, YOU haven’t changed, but there are different values. This is a result of the amount of muscles used that are utilizing that oxygen, and we use more during running activities than cycling.)
How high can you go? Let’s look at the professionals:
Cycling – 70-80 with the upper limits in the 90s (Greg LeMond)
Running – 85 for Males, 77 for Females
Swimming – 66-80
Based on the pro numbers, the higher values are all in the 80s for men and 70s for females. Looking at this info, they are all the same. Back to the short answer, which discipline can you consistently complete with the greatest frequency while avoiding injury/illness?
One caveat with VO2max is this: it doesn’t account for efficiency/economy. If you are running with your arms flailing around or cycling using more than just your leg and core muscles (with some arms to hold the bike), your VO2max goes up because you are delivering more oxygen to more muscles. Those muscles though are not aiding in your progress towards your goal to be faster or more efficient.
Also, people with more muscle will have an increased VO2 and will make those metrics useless for comparison’s sake.
In Jack Daniels’ (yes, his real name) book Daniels Running Formula (PHD), he also points to vVO2max or Velocity at VO2max, which is relatively more important.
Two runners with the same VO2max should be the same speed… but they aren’t. A comparison between 3 elite female runners whose VO2max are different but still post similar times:
Best 3k time: 9:07 | 9:06 | 9:06
VO2max (ml/kg/min): 60.4 | 73.3 | 69.6
vVO2max (metres per min): 328 | 335 | 336
Conclusion:
In my opinion, I would mix all of the disciplines. This reduces the risk for impact-related injury and will provide you with an incredibly versatile base to work from. Work in the VO2max zone two times (total, not for each discipline) per week to reap the benefits.
How do you overcome a disappointing race result? As an athlete who made his living off winning, it was always quite personal to me when I didn’t. But even age-group athletes can be disappointed by their performances when they don’t hit their targets, set new PRs, or live up to their expectations of themselves. Everybody faces disappointment when they don’t get the result they’re after.
Before the Ironman World Championships 2012, I was expecting to have a great day. I’d had a great build-up, I’d come off a world championship win earlier in the year, training was exceptional, I thought I was ready to win my third title in Kona — and I didn’t even get to the finish line.
Coming back after that race, sitting in my house, my daughter Tahlia could tell I was very down. I was trying to be brave and she gave me the kick I needed. She said to me, “Dad, don’t be disappointed. You did the best you could today, and that doesn’t mean you can’t be better tomorrow. As long as you did the best you can today, just try and be better tomorrow.”
I’ve had bad Konas, and I’ve stood up and come back the next year to win a world championship. Had I stayed down and never got over it, I wouldn’t have had many of the results I now have. I stood back up after Kona 2012, picked a few more races, took the form I had and turned what could have been a terrible back end of a season into a big positive one.
So here’s what I do: Reset, Reassess, and Chase Again.
Reset
When you “reset” you return to the previous state; in chess, it means you put the pieces back on the board as if you were starting anew.
Applied to sport, it means bringing yourself back to a mental and physical state from which you can go again. After a disappointing race, resetting may mean taking some time off to process your thoughts and emotions and let the fatigue wash out of your muscles, to a point where you feel refreshed.
Reassess
This is the time to talk things over with your coach or trusted friend/teammate to figure out what you did right, and what could use some adjusting so you can do better. It could be race tactics, it could be training, it could be recovery, it could be nutrition.
When you do this, you can identify waypoints and short-term goals to approach and achieve on the way to your main goal. Focus on the process, and the results will come.
Chase Again
Some people may have plenty of races to choose from. Others might only have that one race every year in their area. But the point I’m trying to make is, don’t let yourself be put off from trying again.
We all have bad days. It’s how we stand up from those bad days, how we rise up from the ashes, that will ultimately define us.
Chris “Macca” McCormack is a four-time triathlon world champion with the biggest winning percentage in the history of the sport. He is a co-founder and partner in Super League Triathlon, CEO of the Bahrain Victorious 13 team, board member of the Pho3nix Foundation, and CEO of MANA Sports & Entertainment Group.
As we roll into the second quarter of 2021 and the odd race is starting to pop up in various locations around the world, many athletes are getting excited again about the prospect of testing their personal limits.
My motivation to specialize in the area of sports medicine was born out of personally experiencing and witnessing how sport changes lives. There is something immensely inspiring about pushing our mental and physical boundaries, which translates into how we conduct our daily lives at work, at home, and with our friends and family.
However, there is also a “pathological” side of sport where we pursue performance goals at the sacrifice of health. Although this may be tolerated in the short-term, continuously going to the well ultimately results in an unhealthy athlete in both body and mind. And because I have been in this place, my career ambition is to prevent other athletes from doing the same.
Over a few blog posts, I hope to explore various elements of this paradigm to help you be more mindful of your athletic pursuits, and keep you on a path of healthy performance.
What’s Your Why?
Before you embark on a journey to achieving a sporting goal, it is incredibly helpful to ask yourself your “why”. What are you trying to achieve? Beyond the numbers, what meaning does that provide for you? Because when you achieve it, will you be happy? And if you don’t, how will you feel about yourself?
This doesn’t have to have a profound or philosophical answer, but I fear that all too many of us blindly pursue “meaningless” goals in pursuit of a happiness we think it will result in.. and then doesn’t.
A Focus on Wellbeing
Dr. Martin Seligman, best known for his theory on positive psychology, introduced the PERMA model, which outlines five components he believed contribute to wellbeing:
Positive emotion: this describes emotions such as joy, love, and gratitude that are experienced in daily life. So whether that’s being grateful for the sun rising on your run that may not be going so well, or smiling at the wonderful barista who makes your coffee after your ride, find moments in your daily life that uplift you.
Engagement: mindfulness is quite the buzzword but it is probably something that athletes can really identify with and probably experience without true awareness. Another way of describing this is being in “flow” where one is completely absorbed in the activity at hand without other thoughts invading. I am sure we have all experienced this before during a training session or race where suddenly everything feels easy. But this can also be experienced in nature or savoring a good meal.
Relationships: we can all attest to how great it feels to be loved and supported by others. This doesn’t mean you need a crowd of friends, but just having social connections with your training group, family, work mates, or local café owners. Even taking a class outside of your comfort zone (I recently signed up for one in alcohol ink art!) can lead to connections that you never imagined you would have.
Meaning: your purpose in life will be different to your neighbour, but having a sense of something greater than yourself provides you with an anchor when things don’t go as planned in life. This may be a religion or faith, serving your community, volunteering for a cause, or even your career. For me, hitting my own health issues has inspired my pursuit of creating a career to help others.
Achievement/accomplishment: this is probably the one that Type A triathletes will tick off most readily, but it’s important to focus on the journey here as opposed to the finish line. Setting goals is important but being proud of the small wins along the way is what truly gives one motivation.
So I encourage you to reflect on your current circumstance and see where you could make small changes that target these elements.
Taking Stock, Taking Charge
In the current environment of Zoom, sometimes we need to zoom out and take stock. And when there’s something you find that is probably leading you down a path of pursuing unhealthy performance, perhaps step back.
Social media, Instagram “influencers”, Strava kudos tend to push us towards doing more. And sometimes you need to be brave and buck the trend… to do less and be more.
P.S. The MX community are truly wonderful. Please reach out if you need a helping hand. I’m paying it forward for the incredible support I have received.
Medical disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice. Always seek the guidance of your own doctor or other qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard the advice of a medical professional, or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here.
Our community is full of stories about transformed lives thanks to triathlon. Gavin Borg from Bathurst NSW Australia is working towards doing his first ironman in 2021, the 10th year since he first wanted to be an ironman.
“I know it’s taken a while with hurdles over the years, but I believe my journey has now only just begun,” he says.
As a youngster he was involved in a lot of sports and got quite good at swimming, winning school and regional events. He also moved into motocross where again he became quite competitive. Then like so many turning 18 he found partying, pubs, and alcohol. After high school, he stopped sports completely.
Eight years on he had ballooned to 115kg. Hungover one Sunday morning, he came across a rerun of the Ironman World Championship, one which coincidentally Chris McCormack had won.
“Something inside me stirred; I wanted to do that. The next day I pulled my $200 mountain bike out of the shed and went for a ride. I think I made it a couple of blocks before turning home disgusted in how unfit I was. But I stuck with it, jumping back in the pool (which again disgusted me from being school swimming champion to now unable to make 50 meters) and even started running (something I always hated).”
He got active, lost over 20kg of weight, and started doing adventure races — even winning a Kathmandu adventure round with a friend.
Just as he was about to embark on doing the local triathlon series, he was offered a Fly In Fly Out role as an electrician in a Western Australia mine.
“I would leave home for 4 weeks and come home for one week living in a mining camp whilst away. I still thought I would train and keep myself in shape, and I did for a few months and then I just stopped. I don’t really know why; I think I’d met new mates and long days on site meant it was easier and more relaxing to go to the wet mess for a few beers instead.”
His weight yoyo-ed over the next six years as he went through bouts of inactivity and motivation to train. At his largest, he was just under 133kg, drinking a bottle of whisky a night. He says, “I would lose my breath bending down to tie my work boots in the morning; it was a dark time.”
However, he did find the love of his life during this time, and changed his life. He quit FIFO work and moved back home to spend more time with his fiancee and get married.
“In January 2019 I did the swim portion as part of a team in the local tri series. I was slow, I was out of breath (it was 250m) but I was hooked once again,” Gavin reveals. “The next month I competed again in the local series but this time as an individual. Training was going well and I was actually really enjoying running which is something I never really did, and so I signed up for a local half marathon trail race.”
Unfortunately, during the race with six kilometers left to go he snapped his ankle ligaments during a creek crossing. He still finished, but had to stop training to recover.
He did put on some weight again, but found it in himself to train for and race the end-of-year tri series, which he loved. Riding that momentum, he signed up for Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie and Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney in 2020. Then those races were deferred due to COVID-19.
But he had been through this before. When he started putting together some consistent training through the second half of last year, he dropped over 20kg in 12 weeks.
As racing has returned to Australia, Gavin has steadily been ticking off events. He reveals, “I did Husky [Huskisson Triathlon] standard distance a few weeks ago. My times were pretty good and if I went in the Clydesdale category (>100kgs) I would have won both events, but I opted for age group (dammit!).”
He will race his deferred slot at Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie in May and will build into his first ironman in Busselton in December. Looking beyond those, he has a few more goals to check off. “I would love to represent Australia as an age grouper. I would love to qualify for 70.3 worlds, I would love to qualify for Kona, hell, I want to get that black T-shirt at Norseman.” Challenge Roth is another race on his bucket list.
“I may never get any of the above but above all else I want to see how far I can really go for me. What can I achieve when I put my mind to it? I want my wife to be proud of me, and I want to be a good role model for my future kids and not be that guy who would lose his breath tying his bloody shoelaces.”
The Pho3nix Foundation assists and inspires children worldwide to achieve their dreams and live healthy, inspired lives through sport.
From kids triathlons and workshops to teen sports camps and assistance for aspiring Olympians, Pho3nix projects create a pathway from participation to professionalism. Pho3nix Club memberships and donations support every step on that pathway.
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