Speaker 1: Hi and welcome back to the uncomf- uncomf- let me start that again. Or shall I just carry on? Speaker 2: Keep going mate, keep rolling with it. Speaker 1: Back to the young comfortable triathlon podcast. is late on a Sunday evening and I think my brain is left the chat. But anyway, I am joined with my co-host Harry Palmer, who is ⁓ sitting in a very well lit room in somewhere near Bath. How are you doing Harry? Speaker 2: Yeah mate, I'm good. I'm also currently sat in my bib shorts ⁓ and I'm very sweaty and it's, what is it, eight on a Sunday evening. I should have had a shower by now, I should have had dinner by now. I haven't done any of those things because I'm looking after Florian Leon's dog and we had a bit of an accident. Speaker 1: You had nice another dog. Speaker 2: I... it's safe to say I did not have an accident. The dog has had an accident and I mean she's feeling a bit sorry for herself. She's basically thrown up while I was on the turbo and yeah not so good so I've been dealing with that and I'm not very good with dealing with chunder. Speaker 1: The joys of having a pet. I hear it's like half like having a child, but not quite as much. Speaker 2: I mean, I guess so, I would have no idea. mean, I wouldn't trust myself being a parent, that's for sure, because I could hardly look after this bloody thing. I ⁓ mean, yeah, maybe I should not be allowed to have kids. Speaker 1: But better question, why are you on the turbo so late on a Sunday afternoon? Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question as well. ⁓ Today, what did I do today? I kind of, wanted to make use of ⁓ the fact that I'm not doing as much training at the minute with the fact that I'm not running as much or while I'm not running at all now. ⁓ And I didn't want to overload the cycling too much as well, because obviously if it's an ITB issue, like you can't just go, ⁓ well, I'm just going to pepper the riding because it's still... It will still flare up. So I was like, oh, well, I'll do a bike session later on the day and I'll use the early part of the day to do what a lot of boring, uh, grownups do on a Sunday, which is go to the recycling center. Speaker 1: I tell you what mate, in the UK it's a culture thing, people love... Speaker 2: people love it. It's so good but it's also like so busy on a Sunday it's crazy and I just always forget how long these bloody like these trips take like loading up the car waiting for a park and space a recycling center unloading everything. Speaker 1: Chatting to the guys there for 45 minutes about putting a piece of plastic. Speaker 2: Yeah exactly, it's like where do I put this bit of fucking concrete? So I did that today and then I did some bits around the garden because I'm an absolute loser and then it got to about 5 6 o'clock I was like well I'll have a cup of tea and a bit of toast and then I was like right I should probably do a turbo. Love that. Yeah that was my day, how was your day? Speaker 1: Yeah, actually not too dissimilar. I would say my day was pretty productive. But I had both the kids today because my wife had planned to see a friend who lives in Bristol. So it meant that she was pretty much gone the whole day because she drove to Bristol. So I actually did my long run first thing this morning. got up. I was running by like half seven. So pretty early. Yeah, it was an early. So I got up like six coffee, slice of toast, toilets, you know, two, three times to make sure everything's, you know, And then, um, and then got myself out, but yeah, I had a really good long run. And then I had kids, other kids between, I don't know, say like what half nine, 10 ish till pretty much they went to bed and then, um, I then nipped out and I had a three K recovery swim. So Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: I also was training late tonight, so I think that's why my brain feels a bit scrambled because it's just from the moment I woke up this morning to now, it's kind of been like non-stop, even though like playing with kids isn't that hard, it's still... Speaker 2: Yeah You've still got to just keep them alive, haven't you? Speaker 1: Yeah, gotta feed them, gotta make sure they're drinking. pool. Actually, anyone is anyone in Swansea if you want to go for a nice quiet swim 630 645 Sunday evening, you get in the fins and paddles lane at the national pool empty had a 50 meter lane to myself, mate. Speaker 2: That is what dreams are made of. Speaker 1: It was, and I was swimming so badly that I needed the whole lane to myself. Speaker 2: Yeah, some of those days where you're like, yeah, you just want arm in front of the other, you're like, right, just got to crank it out. Speaker 1: I was just yeah, was literally all I was thinking about was like floating and then just like trying not to lose count because like my brain was just like, I am finished this week. just need to finish this week. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly mate. Yeah. It sounds like you're going well. Speaker 1: Yeah, they're pretty, pretty good week actually. I'm what five weeks out today. ⁓ Sunday. and I think like this week and next week are pretty, meaty kind of weeks. ⁓ I'm not doing anything like heroic, I don't think in terms of like sessions or anything. ⁓ but kind of like the way that the sessions are programmed, like day to day means that like, By the time you get to certain workouts, they're like pretty weighted already. So I had like basically like quite hard intensity on the bike Wednesday, hard intensity on the run Thursday. And then I went threshold swim Friday into like a four hour ride straight into like a four hour ride Saturday morning, like durability. So like four by 15 at 330 Watts. Nice. A run in the afternoon, which was like Ironman kind of tempo. and then straight into my long run this morning. So I started the long run and like, you know, when you're like not stra- I I don't like to do like too much like static stretching, but you know when you go like to bend your like leg and you can't get your heel to your bum? Speaker 2: I can never get my heel to my bum. ⁓ Speaker 1: Mate, you've got some issues. ⁓ Speaker 2: ⁓ That's a regular, that's just a normal Tuesday. Anyway, I've never been able to get my heels to my bum. Speaker 1: Maybe this is why you've got some IT band. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, this is a problem. I went to the physio the other day and she was like, fuck me, your calves are so tight. I was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, sort me out then. Yeah, exactly. When it's good, it's good. When it's bad, it's bad. Speaker 1: When they're working, they're working. But yeah, normally my flexibility is pretty good because I think I've got pretty good Flexibility, I guess from swimming And I think for me that was like a bit of it like a telltale that I had like My mouth like I could feel the soreness in my quads before even starting like a two-hour run and it was like a proper build run as well where like You do like four I basically like 40 minutes at like four minute K's or just over 30 minutes at like 350 or Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah, 352 I think it was and then like 30 minutes at like 338 but it's like progressive through so it's like Speaker 2: That is pretty, that's pretty punchy, yeah. Speaker 1: Pretty meaty and by the time you get to the last 30, it's not like you're not running like threshold. You're definitely like, it's like hard, comfortable, but your legs are just smashed. Speaker 2: Yeah, your legs are so cooked, you're just like... The effort is just high. Speaker 1: Yeah, like I was having to like, I always find that like, I don't know if you feel this as well, like when you're doing a session and like, it's not, you know, you can do it. It's not like, ⁓ no, I'm going to fail this, but you still have to like work really hard mentally to like kind of keep yourself in it. Speaker 2: Yeah, you can't switch off. Speaker 1: And this is really good because it's the name of our podcast, but it's bloody uncomfortable. put it that way. You're literally like that last 30 minutes you start it you're like, I know I can do this. And like two minutes in you look at your watch like, fuck, I've got 28 minutes left. Speaker 2: Lipschitz Right, brilliant, time to lock in. ⁓ Speaker 1: I was like, I was, cause I, I run with my phone for music on some of those long runs just cause I need like, not I don't need it, but I just didn't, find it, the time passes so much better. though that was the funny thing. I like, basically, well, cause I got a daughter who's almost three years old. ⁓ I tend to play some music on my phone, like if she wants a certain song or Speaker 2: What's the go-to? What's the song? Couldn't find anything. ⁓ So your suggested playlists are just kids songs? Speaker 1: Mate, was... For some reason my wife's got her into Taylor Swift. Speaker 2: ⁓ no, that's the word. Speaker 1: So I had about 20 minutes into this effort I had like fate of Ophelia pop up. I don't know if you Speaker 2: I don't know what that is, but I mean, I can imagine. Speaker 1: I'm sure people do. let's just say it did not get like, was not like, it wasn't like that like rap from a bass kind of, I don't know. Speaker 2: uses flow Get the hype around Taylor Swift, man. Like, I know so many people that rave about her. I'm like, I've never listened to one of her songs and thought, yeah, that's good. Like, I can appreciate that she works hard and she's obviously built like an incredible career, but I'm also like, I would never listen to one of her songs and think, yeah, banging. Speaker 1: I don't know, that era, what was it when she did... I can't remember the song. There was a PO when I was at uni where she brought out a few bangers, I'll give her that. But not running, locking in music, let's just put it that way. Speaker 2: Bye. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, need something a bit more hardcore, a bit more aggressive. Speaker 1: But then mate, as I was running, I had my phone in my hand, because my pocket in my back was annoying me. So I had my phone in my hand. I got up a 2016 Summer Hits playlist. And mate, there was absolute bangers. There was, we had a bit of like, what's it called? Chain smokers. We had ⁓ Fetty Wap. Wap? Wap? Fetty Wap? Fetty Wap? Wap? Wap? I don't know. Speaker 2: ⁓ yeah. I mean, you tell me. Speaker 1: But yeah mate, literally that last 10 minutes flew by. I had a few bangers pop up and yeah, it was a good day at the end. Speaker 2: Hey, sweet ass, so I you smashed it. Speaker 1: funniest thing is I'm listening to all this music and it's like half seven in the morning. ⁓ Speaker 2: People having a chilled Sunday and you're just there, just churning it out. Speaker 1: I know and it was mate it was pissing it down as well, soaked. Anyway. Yeah it does. I'm not sure the heat acclimatization is going very well. Speaker 2: She's strong for race day, so... Okay, that's good point. Would it be that hot in South Africa? I mean, hot-ish. Speaker 1: Warm, when I raced it last year it was March and it was like, I would say like mid 20s but like the sun, the UV is quite strong down there. But I think you raced it in April and it was definitely a bit cooler when you raced it wasn't it? Speaker 2: Right. Yeah, I can't remember it being crazy hot. mean, I can just remember being really shit on race days. I remember much about the heat, Speaker 1: Can I only focus on one thing at a time? Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a man, I can't multitask, alright? Speaker 1: But no, they're coming into their autumn now. So it should be a month later than last year. hopefully be warmer than like UK. I probably, I haven't actually discussed this with my coach yet, but I'll probably do some sort of like heat acclimation before. So I've got like a little greenhouse tent that goes in my shed. So I'll probably a couple of weeks out from the race, probably do a bit ⁓ of heat work just ⁓ in Speaker 2: Really who? Yeah. Speaker 1: Well, there's like performance benefits anyway, even without like the actual heat. Yeah. Speaker 2: Definitely. I mean it's like a, what do they say, it's like a poor man's altitude isn't it? Speaker 1: Four man's altitude and I literally just saw Jack Kelly put up a podcast like a few hours ago about like heat training and like how it's like becoming more popular than altitude training basically. Speaker 2: I definitely see a lot of people doing it now. Speaker 1: It's more, I think it's more enjoyable. Speaker 2: I would, I tell you what, if my garden was a bit bigger and I had a bit more money, I would definitely, I would definitely buy a sauna and a cold plunge. How cool would that be? Speaker 1: ⁓ mate. That's like, that's gotta be like a little carrot. It's like when you win your next race, you're gonna buy yourself a little sauna. Speaker 2: ⁓ man, I'd love that. That would be so nice. Get the neighbour looking at me, sweating my tits off in the garden. Yeah, yeah. Come on Doris, there's room for two. Yeah, yeah. Word gets about there'll be a queue at the door. Speaker 1: Butt naked, what? in your lovely little village. Mate, you can start charging ⁓ To use a sauna that is, not to look at it. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no one's gonna pay for that shit man. Speaker 1: Right, anyway, this is going to be a bit of a different episode, I guess, because let's just put it out there, we haven't really planned and after last week being such a hit, we were just like, I so many good comments about the Rosie episode. Speaker 2: This week went so well, people, not to say I'm surprised because I know that Rosie would be really good, but it was like really, really good. People just loved it. Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. So I was listening to it back when I like was uploading it and there was so many good little like bits about just like mental resilience. And just like, I guess like some of it was maybe some of it was environmental being, you know, being part of the army and that sort of thing. But I think a lot of it was just kind of, ⁓ just how, how may, maybe Rosie's like mental, I don't know, being works, but there's definitely some things that I listened to. during that episode and I'm like, shit, I need to do that. Like, I need to be more like that. Speaker 2: I need to stop being a pussy. Speaker 1: Literally just man the fuck Speaker 2: I was like, ⁓ I cry every day, but I guess I need to grow up a little bit. Speaker 1: But no, it was really good and I think that's what we'll try and do is try and get another episode out next week with another guest and see if they can Yeah, they got some big shoes to fill after Rosie. That's for sure Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. I feel like we've topped them. ⁓ I don't know if there's going be many people that can top that, to be honest. Speaker 1: So yeah, anyway, we were just basically gonna chat a little bit this week because both of us watched well I didn't stay up all night to watch it. I stayed up for a little bit to watch Ironman New Zealand on ⁓ Friday night, which was Saturday morning in New Zealand. So we thought it might be interesting just to kind of maybe talk a little bit about like not necessarily like step by step or blow by blow of the race but maybe just like some like I guess outsider thoughts of like people who race pro and things that were interesting and yeah mate, do you wanna take it? Speaker 2: Yeah, I can also confirm I didn't stay up for the whole thing. ⁓ Speaker 1: Did watch it back afterwards or did you like obviously seen what's happened now? Speaker 2: Yeah, I just watched like just highlights on Instagram, know, people's stories or whatever. ⁓ So I've kind of got a good idea of what happened. ⁓ But yeah, really cool because it was also, I guess, the main topic or one something that we're going to talk about is the fact that it was the first race where you've got that 20 meter draft rule. So for anyone who doesn't know, Ironman has been 12 meters for as long as I remember. No, I don't. It's been forever, I guess. Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. And then recently, Ironman have been doing tests with a couple of the American guys. And because of all the developments in speed and obviously the faster you go, the more velocity and everything like that. So there's more of a draft benefit at 12 meters now than there ever has been in the past. So there's been a decision to move it to 20 meters. Speaker 1: Forever in our eyes. Speaker 2: and Taupo was the first race where that was in place. ⁓ I guess like, because it wasn't a crazy, it was a stacked field, like there was really good names there, but it wasn't like crazy busy. So I wonder if there will be- Speaker 1: That will, yeah, how much that will play an effect in the future. Speaker 2: I guess at Texas, you'll be able to see what it looks like at a flatter course with more people. ⁓ I think the rolling kind of terrain of Taupo favored someone who's obviously going to be a good solo rider. So the fact that Trevor Foley won is like, you know, he's obviously an absolute weapon on the bike. Speaker 1: Yeah, it surprise. think. Yeah. Well, I kind of had him as a, I had him as a podium pick. I think I, when I was chatting to people, I kind of thought that he might finish sort of second. you know, I don't think anyone was voting against Christian still taking the winning, even with the 20 meter draft in Speaker 2: Yeah, I know, I know, I thought I was going to basically put money on Christian to be honest, but the whole Aero bar thing is pretty crazy. Speaker 1: I mean, he had no issues when he was using other products. Speaker 2: No, but I just also was I was like getting irritated at the TV because The comment was like what is that? Is that his Garmin? I was like have you ever fucking seen a Garmin mount look like that? It's his aerobar obviously and they're like no it can't be his aerobar. like Sorry, like I'm nearly blind and I can bloody see that it's his aerobar Speaker 1: They couldn't, And they're in a studio with like, I'm assuming people can, they're feeding them some information. They're not just like literally just looking at a screen. Surely not. Yeah. Yeah. But, yeah, I think let's stick on the 20 meter rule for, for a second before we kind of talk into the race a bit more. ⁓ I think there was a lot of like, as you said that, I think it's going be interesting to see how it really pans out on a flat route, ⁓ flat course because Speaker 2: come on open your eyes here Yeah Speaker 1: don't know how that's going to work. I think completely opposite end of that. It's going to be really interesting to see when we race 70.3 Swansea later in the summer, how a 20 meter rule is going to work on a course like, like here, because so technical, so like many ups and downs and that kind of Constantinia effect is going to be ridiculous. So I'm assuming there's going to need to be a level of leniency of that kind of like, ⁓ you know, hitting a bottom of a climb. Speaker 2: Yeah. Speaker 1: giving people an opportunity to kind of sort their shit out for a few seconds because every time you hit the bottom of a crime if you're doing 20 meter gaps people are just gonna fuck it up every time. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they're just going to come together on there. It was interesting actually, I did see on Jack Kelly's story, he posted about Trevor Foley winning and he was like, oh, interesting to see the 20 meter draft rule is now proved now more than ever. The swim doesn't matter as much as it has in the past. See, that's the thing. like, I actually think it's the opposite. Speaker 1: Just wait. Speaker 2: I think the swim probably is more important than ever, especially for a flatter course, because you're leaving 20 meters now between guys. It means overtaking is going to be not impossible, but you're to have to burn so many matches to get past a group of people at 20 meters. So actually, I almost think it's the opposite, don't you? Speaker 1: I don't think it's necessarily the opposite. I think athletes are good Regardless, and I think Jack Kelly jumped on the fact that Trevor Foley is a is a bike runner and he won the race So it's like ⁓ it's easy to be like, ⁓ it's the age of the bike runners You know you go I don't know. I don't know where he's racing but say Sam Laidlow turns up to Texas for example Swims in the front group fucking goes on the bike Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah. Speaker 1: and then wins the race, then Jack Kelly will be like, it's the age of the swim bikers. like, yeah, literally I make the site like, and that's the thing is like, you think about how many good swim bikers there are, like a Martin Van Rieu, a Jonas Strongberg. There's so many guys that if you threw them in that race in Taupo, like not to say that Foley couldn't and wouldn't have still won, but they would have made it a hell of a lot harder. Speaker 2: Yeah ⁓ Speaker 1: I don't think it's so textbook as saying like well cuz one guy who's a good bike runner Won a race now. It's the of the bike runners like yeah Speaker 2: Yeah, no, exactly. think he's got like jumps on that pretty quick. I think you probably need a few races, a few different style courses to actually make an informed decision of whether it actually affects things or not. Speaker 1: Also you have to put into account as well when you're looking at Taupo, I know we're kind of jumping around a bit but Foley had his best ever swim like 3 minutes 45 down from the front. That's the best he's ever swam in an Ironman. I don't think he's ever been out the water more, sorry, less than 5 minutes down from the front. Speaker 2: Yeah, normally he's like five, six minutes. So like to be three something is actually insane. Speaker 1: So I'd almost contradict that again and be like, no, no, Trevor had an insane performance because he learned how to swim or got better at Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly, yeah. Speaker 1: So if he was six minutes down, for example, then ⁓ Hanson and, ⁓ my God, I forgot the French guy's name now. Who came second? Come on, mate. Speaker 2: It's Le Cor. Speaker 1: Yes. They were like a minute and a minute 30 behind him. Yeah. Speaker 2: It was close right? was tight so if he was his six minutes like he'd be off the boat well he'd... Yeah. Speaker 1: Yeah, and then all of a sudden it's Lekor who was swam first out of water. ⁓ Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, It changes the narrative completely. Speaker 1: ⁓ So, Jack's comment, I guess, was correct, but his comment was incorrect because I think the reason Foley had a great race was because he got better at something. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, exactly. So Jack, if you're listening to this, you're wrong. Get it right. Idiot. So yeah, I mean, we have jumped around a little bit there, but ⁓ the 20 meter draft rule, I think it will be interesting to see how that pans out the rest of the season. Different ratings. Speaker 1: Get it right next time. Yeah, I think there was a bit of, I think in the, the women's race, there was a little bit of kind of cat and mousing with like overtaking. Like I saw like people doing some slow overtaking. think, ⁓ come on, it was either Lottie or, my God, mate, my brain is not working tonight. Someone came around to the front of the race and basically did like, did an effort to get kind of get around to the front of the race. I'm guessing, cause they went into the red zone in the Speaker 2: You are, you're cooked. Speaker 1: Race Ranger and then obviously as they got to the front, kind of eased up a little bit. And I think that kind of they're like, oh, that's because like the 20 meter effects, blah, blah, blah, like my effect that dynamic. But again, I would say that like from my own experience, I did that to you at not intentionally obviously, but I did that to you at 70.3 Swansea this year or last year where I fell into the red zone at the bottom of a climb and I was Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: fourth wheel maybe and you were leading and I had to do this kind of surge and there was no space to kind of slot in anywhere. So I had to surge and I think I did 90 seconds at like over 500 Watts and I got around you and I literally was like, ah, and I was like, there's nothing I could do. I literally just like slotted in front of you, dropped my power down to like 350, had to recover and I knew fully well if someone was going to come and overtake me again. like legally. There's nothing else you can do. I don't know. I'm not sure. I'm not sure if it's a bad thing because there needs to be a level of game and ship. Like, obviously if you're doing that, just like to fuck over people, then it's there's something wrong. And if you're doing it like again and again and again, then there's an issue. There's an issue there. Um, but if you are racing to the rules and the race range of rules and that happens, as soon as you get your wheel in front of the other person's wheel, Speaker 2: B Technically, you're in front, so it's like... Speaker 1: Yeah, no, let them drop out. then if they want to come back around you, then, you know. Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a good way to make enemies. No, you definitely did. And I also like I've been in that situation before as well. Like I actually it was funny that the Swansea last year. ⁓ remember when Leon was catching up with our group who was we hadn't quite caught you guys ⁓ and we're climbing up the hill that nearly then goes over the moor over the gaur. Speaker 1: I mean, I think I did apologize. Speaker 2: ⁓ And Leon just shouts behind me, goes, Harry, ease up. And I said that I ease up to let him slot in because he was so tired from catching up. So yeah, it's one of Speaker 1: think that's all fair and gay and like, you know, ultimately I think there needs to be like, you know, if you're everyone's trying to race fair with the draft zone, et cetera, et cetera. And someone I found really like, ⁓ legit about this was actually, ⁓ my God, I forgot his name again. Speaker 2: He's just calling mate. Whenever I forget someone's name I'm just like, alright mate. Speaker 1: Nick Thompson, so the Australian guy. I've raced him a few times and he's super sound about it. Not sound about like dropping in or anything, but you know when you're racing with a race ranger, you're the blue and the orange light and you're kind of flicking between the two. And as I was passing him, he was, I think he was on the orange light in front of him. And as I was going past him, I literally said to him, was like, mind if I jump in? And he's like, yeah, mate, go for it. Speaker 2: Okay. Speaker 1: Yeah, like he just eases up ever so slightly allows you to jump in because like there is theoretically space and then like 10 minutes later I returned the favor I was like, you know when you're riding in a group dynamic with other people that you know at the time he wasn't trying to attack the group at any point then until he did attack us later but like at that point everyone's riding fairly and everyone's just like, you know, ultimately we're trying to keep people behind away. Speaker 2: Dickhead. Yeah, so yeah Speaker 1: There's got to be a little bit of gamemanship of like, yeah, like not breaking rules, but like, yeah, like if, if you let someone in and it's kind of like, like you kind of get that like allies within the field. people know that you're a legit racer, you're not trying to get an advantage. If you're going to, you know, if someone else fucks up a little bit and you're going to kind of help them a little bit, then, you know, they might return the favor. think that is all fairs in love and war. think like, it depends as part of the race. If it's the first 50 K of the race. Speaker 2: Yeah, of course, yeah. Speaker 1: people are going to be much more friendly than the last sort of 50k, especially in an Ironman where the gloves come off a little bit more. Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly. I think they're all good points. But yeah, talking back about New Zealand, do you think like from your perspective, was there anything surprising from the race or pan out as you thought you would? I mean, obviously Christian. Speaker 1: I guess, let's go for the men's race first. think the biggest, obviously, yeah, the biggest thing was Christian. I think it's that kind of element of showing that he's a little bit more human than we always think of him. And he obviously plays into it and wants to have that persona of I'm kind of unbeatable. ⁓ But I think sometimes, every so often, it's nice to be reassured that, yeah, people do have bad days and... That's kind of, you know, we're in a pretty hard sport. Um, but I guess for me, the other kind of thing that stood out was, was Matt Hansen. Just, yeah, third place, um, great swim, really good swim, really good bike as well. I think like, was kind of semi surprised about that. And as I was on the bike yesterday, Joe Skipper phoned me and, We were talking about Hanson and he was basically saying that like, it's, he's not super surprised. Like I think Matt Hanson has always been a solid rider. ⁓ and actually he thinks that the 20 meter rule has now allowed Hanson to ride the way he always has, but a bit more freely. Whereas when he gets caught up in 12 meter draft groups, maybe he races too fairly, gets slotted in in front, gets pushed back. ⁓ It's much more surgy. I obviously we haven't raised a 20 meter gap yet, but I'm assuming the 12 meter is much more like on off, on off, on off. So it might just be that like when there's 20 meter gap, you, the gaps do fluctuate a little bit, but instead of like you having to like go like 450 Watts, nothing, maybe you are able to ride a bit more consistently and that maybe works for Matt. Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He's he's like, he's like wine. He's just getting better with age, Speaker 1: He is, how old is he now? Speaker 2: I actually have no idea, but I he's definitely not young. Speaker 1: Definitely over 40. No, no, no. But again, I think it's cool to see as well. I think I always think as well, we like your, I know you're a few years younger than me anyway, but you know, I'm in my thirties now, very early thirties. I definitely have that feeling of like, well, I'm not like that young 25 year old, 26 year old that like, you know, we raised quite a few of those young bucks. Speaker 2: I think it's mega, yeah. Bye. ⁓ Speaker 1: Then it's also nice to see the other end of the spectrum where you've got like a Matt who's over 40. I Cam Wurf's like 42, is he? 43? Speaker 2: Yeah, and he's absolutely ripping it, yeah. Speaker 1: So like for me, it's like, ⁓ it's nice to know that there's people far older than me still racing. And also in that like longevity aspect of like, well, if I keep my body healthy, if I can keep the ticking away, like there's years left, you know, it's not the end soon. Speaker 2: No, exactly, exactly. I was like, I did say that I know as soon as I get to 30, I'm going to question my life choices and what I'm going to have like a little crisis or something. I'm like, oh, I'm too old for this game now. But the thing that I was going to actually ask you about the whole Christian thing is do you think so? Obviously you can't put anything down your front anymore. But given the situation, surely there should be some sort of rule where if something breaks off your bike or if something is broken and you have to hold it in your hand and then you're putting yourself in more danger because you can't control the bike, surely there should be a rule that's like, then you can put it down your front. Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, no, I agree. The issue is, obviously it's like you either toss it and you get disqualified for littering. You put it down your front, you get disqualified for putting it down your front or you hold it in your hand and you might crash your bike. It's like three really good options. Speaker 2: It's tricky one. Yeah, exactly. Speaker 1: I think I've been in a couple of pro briefings and this is probably just after they brought the rule in about like stuffing stuff down your race suit. the official, can't remember, I don't, it wasn't like Jimmy Ricotello. don't know. was pro, I think was it Germany? I can't remember what country it was. But we, asked a question and they basically said, you can't have anything down your front, but if it's urgent and you need to put somewhere, something somewhere. You can put it down your back. Speaker 2: Okay, alright. could have just up and stuffed it down his back. Speaker 1: Maybe if he stuffed it like in the back of his neck, I don't know, but it's gotta be so uncomfortable. can't just be horrible. Yeah. But yeah, stupid rule, but it looks like he managed to hand it off to a mechanic or something ⁓ or get rid of it. And aid station. I'm not sure, he Speaker 2: Fair play for keeping going because that would throw a lot of people off. like although it's like, ⁓ yeah, Christian is, you know, it shows that he's human and it does, but it's also like most people would probably DNF because of that. So actually it shows that he's got that mental resilience as well. Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. And it was interesting as well. Like I definitely, like when I was on the bike on Saturday morning was like, what happened if like one of my cups, like obviously I've got a slightly different setup, but like kind of thinking of like lapping your hand over and like you do, you're definitely on like a slight wonk, like to be honest, your hand over. ⁓ So yeah, it definitely can't have been comfortable. ⁓ But yeah, he's a trooper and I think, yeah, bad day, I'm I'm pretty confident he's gonna have some vengeance in the next part. Yeah, he's not the type of person who likes to lose, so let's watch that space, I'm sure. Speaker 2: It'll come good. Yeah. What about me? Well, no, I was just going to say actually a couple of shout outs in the women's Hannah Berry coming second. That was really cool to see. Like she's on fire. Obviously like Kat Matthews winning is not surprising. Speaker 1: Go on, go on, go on. Yes. Yeah, really good. She's like very, very consistent and it's one of those things a bit like Christian has started to develop. It's a bit like you saw the start list and you're like, well, Kat's going to win and then who's finishing second? it's not, it's a... Speaker 2: Yeah. It's not a guarantee, but it's tough to bet against these kind of people. Speaker 1: And Kat as an athlete is so consistent and I think that's like, know that like, she's not like, ⁓ I personally haven't seen other than like when she's had injuries, I haven't really seen her falter in like races. Like I know she's had like, you know, bad bikes or things have gone like not a hundred percent to plan, but she's so resilient on the run that she always just like, she can pull it into a good race. Speaker 2: Yeah, no, she's like, she's a bit formidable, isn't she? Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want to be racist. Speaker 2: No, no, exactly. And then the other shout out was actually ⁓ Rianne Hughes, our first Ironman. And she came ninth. What an absolute ripper. ⁓ Speaker 1: Yes. Night and- Like that's mega. That's and she's been out, I think she's been out trading with Sam and that over in Australia. Speaker 2: Sure they were over in Australia, aren't they? Because is he training for the T100? Speaker 1: No, I think they were training for, they were training to go to Abu Dhabi to race the WTS. I think they went and did an Australia camp and they were going to go to Abu Dhabi on the way back. ⁓ but obviously that's now being postponed. I, I'm assuming they, I'm assuming they've just gone on a training camp to Australia then. Cause, ⁓ doesn't look like they're going to be racing. Yeah. Well, it's not a bad place to train this time of year, I guess. Speaker 2: Right. ⁓ This is one. No, exactly. There are worse places to be. Speaker 1: What else in the women's race ⁓ did you find interesting? Straight away, of the big ones for me was just Tamara Jewett's run is an act. Speaker 2: She's very good. I mean, did she, so she did challenge when I'm going to pronounce it. Is it Wanaka or Wanaka? Wanaka. Yeah, she was on the podium there. Okay, she won it. There you go. I'm very well informed. Yeah, she's got a hell of a run. Speaker 1: wanna One o' I think. She won that race, yeah. ⁓ 242? 242 I think it was. And like if you look at, I always look at them against like the men's run splits and like I think she was still like fifth or sixth fastest run of the day, which is like nuts if you think about unbelievable. Yeah. Speaker 2: Yeah, really unbelievable. like, yeah, fair play to her. think in the women's field as well, like there was a bit of a shock with Steph having, I don't really know the ins and outs of it, so I'm not going to comment too much on it, but ⁓ obviously some sort of, whether it's a panic attack or something ⁓ where she was unable to finish the race, basically. So that was very unfortunate for her. Speaker 1: I think she had the same issue in Arizona end of last year. Yeah. It's got to be, you know, I've DNF'd a few races. You've DNF'd a few races. It's not, it's not. And obviously she's got kind of something that's going on in the background. And again, I don't know the ins and outs of it, but I think it's pots. that how you say it? Pots? Speaker 2: Yeah, so... think that's what it is, I don't know... I actually don't know what Pops is. But I mean, I've heard her talk about it on her social media and it doesn't sound very nice. Speaker 1: No, So yeah, I'm really, yeah, hopefully she can get that under control, I'm assuming. Speaker 2: I so. I don't really know what you'd do to go about that. I'm sure she's obviously on top of it and she knows the way to combat it or to try and combat it. Speaker 1: think she's obviously got to a position where she's able to train like to a very good level again. So hopefully, hopefully that's a good sign that it will start clicking again in races. Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I hope so, hope so. And yeah, was just, well, it was just enjoyable to watch the first race, like proper race of the year. Speaker 1: Yeah. Speaker 2: It kind of gets the juices flowing, doesn't it? Speaker 1: I was, I don't know if you ⁓ saw the Instagram reel, it's the, US office of Michael Scott holding the, the holding like the massive speaker and it had like the Iron Man pro series like song playing and he's just over the top like holding the speaker. I thought, I know that Aaron Wynn was definitely on that. But yeah, I love that. I don't know what sort of sound bite it is. It's, I'm not even sure I like it, but it's just like, you hear, it's one of those things that like. You associate a noise or a song or a sound with something and Iron Man are cultivating that kind of intro music with the pro series. definitely, you hear it you're like, oh, pro series is Here we go. Speaker 2: Yeah, I enjoyed it. ⁓ Speaker 1: Thank And I think we got only got like a week or two to wait until it's When's Josh racing in America? Dallas is on mental health Speaker 2: I'm meant to be going out tomorrow with him. next weekend. It's a week today. Speaker 1: Read today, okay. that's not televised, so is it? weeks. Speaker 2: I don't think so. ⁓ then it'll be two weeks and then Oceanside. Speaker 1: I think Geelong is the weekend between them as well. Speaker 2: Pretty sure Yellow Gains is gonna do Geelong and then surely he'll do Oceanside as Speaker 1: Yeah, I he's doing Texas. But someone said, someone said Geelong is like, was it basically him versus Hayden Wild versus Matt Hauser maybe or someone like that? Like Speaker 2: That's gonna be pretty crazy ⁓ Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's gonna be a big race. So, ⁓ yeah, it's gonna be interesting to watch. ⁓ Speaker 2: Okay that would be cool to watch. ⁓ the other thing actually to chat about with New Zealand was Kyle Smith. the hell? He raced it like an absolute legend and just it's just unfortunate he ⁓ Speaker 1: Hey, what a weapon. ⁓ He raced it how everyone wants to race an Ironman. Yeah. Like, and I think Laidlow said this before when he won in Nice, it's like the dream is always to lead out the swim, ride away into the sunset on the bike and then just win it, you know, just win the race. Like a Lucy Charles. Yeah. The year that she won Kona, the, ⁓ literally like that is the textbook. Like every pro athlete would just, just wants that. ⁓ Speaker 2: Exactly like a solar weapon Just do a Lucy Charles, yeah. 10, 20 meters into the swim, she just led the whole thing. Speaker 1: But to be fair, like Carl looked super dived on the bike, looked super smooth. And he actually was running, I think pretty solid until he had some pretty bad cramps. ⁓ Speaker 2: So I thought it was actually like as soon as he came out of transition, but actually I think it was it was like halfway into the marathon so he clearly Speaker 1: I don't think Trevor caught him till the third lap, so like 25, 26 K maybe or so. So like he was, he was deep into the marathon and I've seen the reel of him cramping up and it was very reminiscent. Obviously I wasn't leading the race in Texas last year, but it was very reminiscent of me at Texas last year with the hamstring just going and this. I had like a, I had a. Speaker 2: There's nothing you can do, is there? Speaker 1: lady probably like in her 50s, this was on my last loop, she was on her first lap of the run and she saw me cramping, she runs past me and she offers me some salt pills and I'm like yeah, I was like yes give me anything please. Speaker 2: And a new hamstring, please. Speaker 1: And I'll admit, it's ⁓ so when I saw that and there's kind of, there's no coming back. That's the problem. You can't really, once it happens, it keeps happening. Yeah. ⁓ so yeah, but I think it shows these really on really good form and, ⁓ yeah, dangerous for whatever race he turns up to next. Speaker 2: for sure. Yeah, I did also quite like the fact that his Instagram post, he was like, I don't regret anything. That's like fair play because a lot of people would be like, ⁓ man, like I went too hard on the bike and I cramped or I'm like, I didn't drink enough or whatever. Like the fact that he's just, he holds his hands up and he's like, no, I fucking, went for it. I tried to win. yeah, like that's sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. Speaker 1: No, no. When everything's said and done, obviously some of these guys win the world championship and there's some big memories, but when everything's said and done and you're retired in 15, 20 years time, you're look back at these epic memories. And I always say this to like, my first pro Ironman race was in 2022 and I did Ironman Frankfurt. And I came out the swim in the front group and I just absolutely sent it on the bike. don't know, I still, I have no idea why. Speaker 2: This has been your go-to for a bit there. Speaker 1: But I sent it and about 100k into the bike is European champs 100k into the bike they come up with a whiteboard next to me and they say you're leading by three and a half minutes and I'm ⁓ shit I mean I kept leading to 130, 140k. Speaker 2: Didn't you the first year you did Swansea didn't you come off the bike 10 minutes ahead of everyone else? Speaker 1: No, no, that was the second year. The second year we did it. I got off the bike five minutes ahead of everyone. Oh, okay. And it was, you got off the bike with Antonio Lopez and few, and Jack Moody and a others. And I remember running out and about a one kilometer into the race, into the run. Um, cause we knew Lopez can run 110. So we were like, everyone thought he was going to, you know, he's the guy. Speaker 2: Dominate, yeah. ⁓ Speaker 1: I remember Mark Matthews shouting to me, goes, if you can run a 115, you're going to win this thing. And I looked down at my Garmin and I see 350 per kilometer and I go, well, that's not 150, base. Speaker 2: Yes, that's a ⁓ slow 115. Speaker 1: I you almost caught me on the line on that. ⁓ Speaker 2: I remember seeing you towards the end. Speaker 1: But again, zero regrets. Zero regrets. Speaker 2: You're like, if it pays off, people think you're an absolute li- Speaker 1: And like, you know, there's, yes, we want results, but we also like, we do this as much as age groupers do it for the experience. like, I had a, yeah, like I knew, I found out that day that I can go bloody hard on the bike. I also found out that it's not very fucking sensible. Speaker 2: You've gotta test your limits, haven't Yeah, I found out I could push 360 watts for two hours. I also found out I shouldn't. Speaker 1: I'm not gonna say I'm not gonna make that mistake ever again but... ⁓ Speaker 2: It is funny though. Speaker 1: It's funny and also just like yeah, just yeah, you gotta you gotta do these things sometimes Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely, definitely. I think, hats off to Kyle for sure. But yeah, any other thoughts on the race? Speaker 1: No mate, that's about it. Speaker 2: I keep having to look down and make sure that Poppy's not dying on me. Speaker 1: You're gonna be the worst house sitter ever. Or dog sitter. Speaker 2: I'm actually considering sleeping with her tonight to make sure she doesn't die in the night. I feel so bad. I'm sure I'm just overthinking it. Speaker 1: Nightmare. Hopefully that doesn't happen because I think then we should probably delete this episode. Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely. Okay. Poppy, don't die on me, please. Speaker 1: Right, ⁓ and then yeah, we'll see everyone next week with a guest, which Harry is gonna organize, aren't you Harry? Speaker 2: I can't promise anything, but yes, I just want everyone to really appreciate the fact that I have zero input in this podcast. This is all Andy. You listen to the podcast, Andy's ⁓ organized absolutely everything. He's the better speaker. I don't even know why I'm here to be honest, but ⁓ Speaker 1: I'm just a journeyman. Speaker 2: I am and sucks to be you guys. Speaker 1: And on that note, we'll catch you next week. Speaker 2: Next time!