Andrew Horsfall-Turner: Welcome back to the Uncomfortable Triathlon podcast. I almost forgot the name because we missed a couple of weeks. I am It's a great start that. ⁓ I'm one of your hosts. Yeah, I know. I am ⁓ one of your hosts, Andrew Horstwalter Turner, and I'm joined by my co host, Harry Palmer. How you doing, mate? Yeah. What intro. Good mate, good. I think, well, as people are probably aware, when things don't go right on this podcast, it is normally my fault. So I think people listening to this will probably understand they'll be like, yeah, if there's not been a few episodes, it's probably because Harry's just being a fucking loser and yeah, doing other things. Because we were meant to record, what was it, last week? And I was like Nah, I'm just gonna go for a barbecue, mate, and have some drinks. Well yeah, and we I think we actually were gonna try and do one the week, ⁓ between Yonkaping and Swansea, but like I felt bad because you were obviously coming off a race and like it's just chaotic, isn't it? So I was like, Screw it, we'll miss a week and then one's turned into two, which is turned into three but ⁓ yeah, here we are mate. Yeah. Here we are with actually hopefully quite an interesting podcast because both of us have some well, some updates, don't we? I mean, we we haven't talked about ⁓ the few races that we've done. So really this is probably just gonna be like a bit of an in depth chat about the last few weeks because we've both been pretty busy. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I think probably I guess the best way to go about it is if you are a regular listener, you might have listened to our pre Yonkoping, Jonkoping episode with ⁓ Harry and Finn. So it's probably best we go back a couple of weekends, start chronologically, ⁓ chat about, you know, each weekend back to back and then I guess we can also talk about the in betweens because ⁓ yeah, it's it's some c I I know we spoke about tapering and stuff like that, but You raced obviously Yon Kaping and then Swansea, and then I did Swansea and then ⁓ Gadinha. So like we both did back to back weekends. So I'm quite interested to hear like how that how that went for you, like the sensations midweek, that sort of thing. ⁓ so yeah, mate, let's go all the way back. How how how obviously we know how it came. So how he came third in the Euro Champs. ⁓ mate, how'd it go? This this is the problem because I've got a short-term memory, mate. So I'm gonna have to probably just bullshit my way through this. But ultimately it was a very it was a good race. and I was really happy with with the result because the guys in front of me, you know, you can sometimes have like a third or a fourth or whatever, and you're like, ⁓ I could have could have gone better. I could have beaten those guys if I paced it better or if I had A better nutrition plan or whatever for whatever reason you're like, ⁓ it could have gone a little bit better. But I I honestly don't think I could have beaten the guys in front of me. So it's quite a satisfying feeling to like finish the race and be like, ⁓ that was actually probably the best. That was exactly where I was at. And obviously it's it's Yeah, like it's it's a bit it's motivating to think, ⁓ well, there are, you know, I really obviously want to beat those guys in the future. Yeah. You actually had a good performance on that day, ⁓ But it is also something that you're like, well, you gotta be content with where you're at. You can't always you can't always strive to win, unfortunately. ⁓ and it's like the guys the guys who were in front of me were rapid. Like Fabian Kraft came second, and then I am gonna butcher his name, but Lassie Priest is it Priester, Prester? ⁓ You say Priester, yeah. So I mean he was just on another level that day. Unbelievable athlete. So that was really it was a really cool day. I'd say I'd I think I'd say Priester, but yeah, I don't know if that's right or wrong. Yeah. ⁓ and I did really enjoy it. And I feel like I got the best out of myself in on that day. And then because I So how so how did that ⁓ sorry, Karen. No, no, go on. I was just gonna say so to how did that actually like I know we I know we've discussed it kind of just over message and I know that you were chasing down Robert Callan, I think, who was in third until kind of like the the closing moments. But talk us quickly through about maybe like swim bike run, where you were in the race, like how you executed, what you were happy about, maybe what ⁓ you know, if there was a few things that you did wrong, like what were they sort of thing? Yeah, so ⁓ the main thing I think I was happy about was the fact that the start time was about nine in the morning. So it was so chill. ⁓ so I think every other race should take notes because Sweden just have it right. Starting at nine in the morning is so chill. and then yeah, so the swim, I knew there was some pretty good firepower in the swim. You had the likes of Mark Dubrick, came over from the States. Nice. ⁓ you got Yon Yannick Shofflo is a good swimmer, ⁓ obviously Priester, ⁓ Fabian Kraft, like there were there were maybe five or six really good swimmers. And so I positioned myself close to those guys, and I was like, look, I'm I'm not gonna compete with them for water. I'm just gonna sit on feet and hopefully I've got the minerals to get dragged around. unfortunately. Yeah. I need to work on my swimming because I didn't have the minerals to get dragged around. I got to, I think I probably got to about 800 meters. and the pace just it just went up a notch and I just didn't have I didn't have I I just couldn't go with it. And I I think by the sounds of it, there were like three guys at the front that were just like not willing to take the lead. And then I think Dubrick was just like, ⁓ fuck it, I'll take the lead. And he just put the hammer down. And so that really split up. Yeah. Yes, yeah. front of the swim. So I think I came out I came out of T ⁓ well, I came out of the swim 40 seconds down from the front, and I think I was probably in seventh place, maybe. and I came out with I came out with Robert Callan and I was a bit like, ⁓ shit, like that's not ideal because he is an Uber biker. So I was I was like, I'm gonna have to have a quick T1 and just get away from him as quick as I can. Okay. Yeah. ⁓ and so it's yeah. Exactly, exactly that. And he ⁓ well yeah, I I managed to have a quick run to T1. You think the run in Swansea's long? Jesus Christ, this is such a long run. It's ridiculous. ⁓ I'm talking probably 800 meters. Yeah, give yourself give yourself a five minute like warm up before he tries to rip your legs off. How long are we talking? ⁓ man. Maybe maybe close to a K. Like ⁓ it is it is fucking long way. So you get on the bike and you're just already gassed. and and yeah, I got on the bike and power was fairly good, but unfortunately, ⁓ Callan just came through really early on and I I I knew that he was gonna get the front of the race. And so I was like, okay, that's my ticket to the front. So bad. Like I just need to ride with him. And genuinely I was pushing ⁓ he he passed me at the bottom of the first climb. and I I genuinely was ⁓ my normalized at that point after dropping off from him was probably four hundred and twelve watts. ⁓ and I was like, This is too hot. This is way too hot for me. And and he was just riding away from me. I like, unbelievable. So I was like, Well, he's gonna get to the front and break it up. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ my god. ⁓ which is not I which is not ideal, but I couldn't go with it. So that's like I had to make a decision to pull back, otherwise, I was just gonna ruin my race. And then Thor Bendix Madsen comes through, maybe 20k in. And again, he's riding like an absolute machine. but I did find that because Thor has experienced a few crashes in the last like year or so, so I I think. Yes, yeah. Yes, yeah. And I think he's he I think he's quite open about this. Like technically he's a little bit on the the slow side because it which is fairly understandable because he's had those crashes and so he doesn't feel that confident sending it round corners. So what I found was on all the flat sections he would he would gap me and then I would have to rip it round the corners just to like catch back on. and yeah. So we did that for a little bit, but Get back on. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. We ended up just picking up bodies the rest of the ride because Callan had clearly ridden through the front of the group. And as as people people have just gradually like dropped off one by one when the when the pace was just a bit hot. So like Yeah, so it was it was it was quite a funny ride because it was quite a solo effort, ⁓ because Thor eventually got away from me. And you end up just picking up bodies along the way, like past Mark Dubrick, the pace was really hot. The shelves, yeah, yeah, yeah. Parked past Yannick Schoffler, past ⁓ I can't remember the the other chap's name. ⁓ but yeah there were like it was just it was just ⁓ Did they did did anyone jump on or like or were you just like straight passing and like riding away? No one I I think so I think that was actually the funny thing is clearly everyone had tried to hold on for just a little bit too long. So it was just fucked. So every time I rode past, I rode past Peter Heemerick and he was just absolutely balled. So it was actually quite funny. but I I think overall I I think I came into T2 in fifth and Yeah. Ha ha ha. Yeah. My normalized power, I want to say it was a b it was low three thirties. I'd I like to say it was three thirty three, something like that. ⁓ so not outrageous, but it was very front heavy and so I did fade quite a lot towards the back end. and then I thought Nice. Yeah, yeah. Was it like did you feel like you were ta tactically fading or like just just like you were still pushing as hard as you could or? Okay, fair. Fair, fair. nah, that was everything I had, mate. Yeah, that was that was just everything I had. and then yeah, come into T2, and I was like, poor legs don't feel so good, but ⁓ we'll just have to we'll have to give it a go. And was like, I I want to get on the podium because I got fourth last year, but these guys are pretty good. I was like in front of me, I've got Robert Callan, who I feel like I can run faster than, but he was so far off the bike in front of me, I was like, oof, maybe a bit, maybe a bit punchy. And then these other boys are are pretty rapid. ⁓ like I'm pretty sure Fabian Kraft, whether it was Valencia this year or last year, he ran like a 66 or something or 67. So like absolute rapid run. ⁓ but I just got to work and I I didn't I didn't feel good for the first 10k. And then I got like a little, I got a little T Fire Yeah. Yeah. There's a little out and back section. I got like a a little sniff of Callan and I was like, I'm fucking having him. And he was he was a third. And I was like, I'm just gonna run like an absolute dog. And if I get there, I get there. And if I don't, I don't. I did feel quite sorry for him because I like, Is this home race? But I was like, I'm fucking having you, mate. Let's go. ⁓ Yeah, yeah, no, no, for sure. No, no, well, every man for themselves, isn't it, you know? Ex yeah, exactly. It's just taking chunks out of each other out there. So that was ⁓ that was really good. I was really, really happy with that race. Like it was a it was a good performance for me. And ⁓ still like lessons learned, like obviously the the big thing for me, similar to in Swansea, the takeaway is I just need to work on the swim. Like the swim is is not is not good enough and it it needs to be addressed. but everything else was like coming together and and then coming off the back of that. Mm-hmm. Claro. It was very much like quite a relaxed week because it was just all about keeping the body moving, recovering from from the race. and I'd also picked up a world champs slot. So I guess coming into Swansea, there was a little bit less pressure qualifying for Chattanooga next year because it's like, well, I've already qualified. Obviously, I'm coming into Swansea thinking there is a it's funny, like there obviously there was pressure. Yeah, yeah. having done well there before, but I didn't let it affect me negatively. I was just like, ⁓ well, you know, people Yeah. Yeah, like I don't wanna I don't wanna sit here and be arrogant and be like, no, I didn't feel any pressure, but it I didn't allow it to I didn't allow it to get to me at all. ⁓ I think I'd just like coped fairly well there. But it was good it was good pressure, yeah. th I think you I think we kinda mentioned it as well. I think we kinda mentioned as well like after challenge champs, like getting a good win there, kind of setting up the first part of that season first part of this season, sorry. And I kind of I think I may I may made the comment to you being like, well, 'cause you've kind of had that one result this year now, you know, it's kind of almost like it's almost like relax in terms of like, you know, you've got a validating result which, you know made some of the sponsors happy, you know, ⁓ you know, validated for you which you're like, you know, I'm on g I'm in good form. So then kind of I guess relieves even going into Yonk ping that you kinda like, well, I've already had a good result this year, so like anything now is just like icing on the cake kind of thing. Yeah. Hundred percent. It's actually funny. I think people get this the wrong way around, or maybe maybe this is just my attitude towards it, but I always find once you get a good result, and every good result you get, there's less pressure as you go through the season. It's not more pressure. I think people think, ⁓ there's more pressure because people think you are gonna get a good result again. And it's like, I guess there is a little bit of that, but for me personally, I'm like, Well Yeah. I went into Yongping with a win at Challenge Champ. So I was like, like you've just said, you please the sponsors, you think, okay, well, I've had a good result, and then I had a good result at Yongk Ping, and then I had a good result at Swansea. And now it's like everything everything else is just gravy. Everything else is like, I can't it's not that I take my foot off the gas, but it's just the fact that this year's already been a success. So anything else is just perfect. Happy days. Yeah. I was gonna say y y you could stop the year now. ⁓ you could literally stop your season now and be like, Right, how is your season? Yeah, I got ⁓ two wins and a third, like that sounds like a good year, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Like it is like it this is this is already the best year I've ever had. And so like anything else is just is just a little bit better. ⁓ and so I think that's yeah, obviously a nice place to be. and so yeah, going into Swansea, I was very much like I didn't want to think about the last few races or the last few races in Swansea, because as you know, like Yeah, mate. Happy days, yeah. Every race you do, every time you go back to the same race. The dynamics are always different. So there's no point in thinking, ⁓ well, I attacked here last year, so I'll attack there this year, or that's what happened last year, so I'm gonna do that again. Because it it just doesn't work like that. And I think that that narrow mindedness actually is the worst place to be. Because if you think a race is going to go a certain way, I guarantee it doesn't. ⁓ so you have to be like open to the opportunities and whatever comes up. But yeah, Swansea was ⁓ Swansea was really interesting because ⁓ my sw again, my swim's just not yeah. Well me we ended up swimming together actually, which is funny. ⁓ to say if i if if you're saying you had a badge for me fuck me I mean there was there was a I did I just I remember looking over and thinking, fucking hell, it's Andy There was a small part of me. I I remember I literally turned to my left and I think it was you. And then I let lifted my head and the guy in front was like Ruben Sepunk. And I literally just went to myself, I like, ⁓ shit 'Cause like again, like you guys like both you guys aren't like like no one in our group was necessarily a bad sort of like we had Freddie in our group, ⁓ I can't remember exactly who else is there, but like we had a decent Yeah. Shit. What have I done? To be fair. ⁓ Yeah. And even like Simon Vyan Vienne Vane, he's like a good swimmer as well. So like yeah, so like we had a good swim group. I was just like not to be mean, I I shouldn't have ⁓ I shouldn't have been there. I'm in Vienna is is good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no, a hundred percent. Like that's why I was a bit like if if this is a bad swim for me, so Andy's fucked it. ⁓ man. But I I di I did actually. obviously I I kinda like I personally I kinda chilled out when we got to about seven, eight hundred metres in and I realised I was where I was kind of thing and I realised that that front little group had got away. Yeah, and I but I guess I I kinda looked to you in a in a I guess using you as a bit of hope, being like, Well I know Harry wants to try and win here You were just like, ⁓ it is what it is. Yeah. And I know he's willing to ride really hard. I'm also willing to ride really hard as well. So I was like I try obviously from that moment I was like, Well, don't don't like give up on the race right now 'cause like there's there's it's like still it's still open, you know, it's it's you the swim I the swim is important, but it still doesn't you know, you don't the first guy out of the water doesn't win the race, you know, not always. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And it is one of those where it's like if you're surrounded by people that are really gunning to get to the front, you're like, okay, well, maybe if I make the swim a little bit more chilled for me, then I'll just be able to tap into my bike leg straight away. ⁓ so yeah, but I'll be honest, when I saw Ruben out of the swim I like, ⁓ fuck, this is gonna be really hard. Yeah. He is such a good cyclist. Yeah. He's he's gonna rip it he's gonna rip our legs, yeah. ⁓ so so yeah, that was that was quite funny. And then I remember ⁓ I remember riding past Fred, l similar to what I did last year, and I always say the same thing. I always come past him. I'm like, mate, the train's leaving the station. Get on. And I wasn't expecting I I was not expecting to see him again. And then fuck me, an hour later he's still in the group pulling turns. I'm like, Jesus mate, fair play. Ha ha F Fred was on a good day. He was on a good day to be fair to him. let's ⁓ let's let's let's ⁓ let's quickly rewind. How did obviously you mentioned the run across in Yunkerping being like long. How did you find the run in Swansea across to T one? Yeah, he absolutely ripped it. Aw, mate, it was it was absolutely fine until we got to the bridge and we were together and I was like, fucking hell, have they relaid this? It's disgusting. It was so horrible. Go on. Yeah. Do you want to know what's funny? During that run I've somehow ⁓ managed to step on glass. So I've I've currently still got a bit of glass in my foot, so I'm actually gonna go to minor injuries tomorrow to try and get it out. ⁓ So I went so I I so I at some point during that run, I was like, you know, because your feet were hurting so much anyway, like treading on a little bit of glass was like I didn't really notice it at the time. ⁓ but then ⁓ shit. Seriously, they're still stuck in there. Yeah, cool. after the race I was like, ⁓ no, this doesn't feel right. So I went to minor injuries last week on like the Tuesday and ⁓ they did an X ray and they could see that the glass was in there. And they're like, well I told the lady the nurse I was with that I was racing again at the weekend and she said, Well I can go in there now, like cut it open a little bit, try and get the glass out but she's like, But there's a good chance you might not be racing this weekend if it gets infected or anything like that. So Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's like she's like I she's like, if I was you I would leave it, hope for the hope it's okay by the weekend and if it's not come back and we'll sort out. So I was like, Yep, screw it and ⁓ yeah. So Yeah. Okay. And you just raced. You've got I mean, we'll talk about your result, obviously, but it's like you've just done that with a bit of fucking glass in your foot. Yeah. And do you know what the funny thing is? Like people are probably thinking now, like who are listening to this this this bit of glass is like you know, like three inches big, like a massive like dagger. mate, it's literally like two millimeters. It's like tiny. But every time I put my foot on the floor, I feel like there's a bit of gravel stuck to my foot. It's like ⁓ it's Yeah, yeah. Yeah, okay. That feels that sound I mean that sounds disgusting. Yeah. But yeah, so ⁓ yeah, run to T one is interesting, let's just put it that way. It's it's just it's got worse over the years. I don't know how they've managed to do that, but yeah, I I feel like I Well the f the first the first year we did it, or might be the first or the second year we did it, they had the WTCS like para the day before. And for that they put down loads of like blue carpets and stuff for the like the transition zone. So the first year we did it, we had like loads of blue carpet to run along. And then ever since that year, we've just had like tarmac road and then obviously this year they've resurfaced that bridge, which was absolutely yeah. Yes. Mm Yeah. Yeah. was so painful. It was horrible. I like to think that I've got fairly like thick skin on the bottom of my feet from just walking around barefoot. But that was that was disgusting. Yeah. So that was not yeah. Not good. Mm. Yeah. Mate, mate. Anyway, right, we'll jump for we'll jump forward back on we're back on the bike. So you, me and Freddie were like together on that seafront section. And as you said to it, like Freddie had some good legs. I think I think Fred was leading, I was following, you then came through, and then I guess through like mumbles and section, we had like ⁓ Simon Yeah. Yeah. Mate, I tell you what, I do just need to I do just need to jump in and say how funny that it was when up the first climb, I think you were I think you were ahead of me at this point. And I was riding I was riding hard and Matt Collins comes through like a fucking rocket. Okay. ⁓ fuck, yeah. Mate, he flew up that I was going like four hundred and fifty watts when he came past. Yeah. Mate, I remember thinking that's gonna hurt. What i he he popped himself then like literally five minutes later, he like he got absolutely like ⁓ man. I know. He wonders why wonders why he was tired later in the day. I was like, You've just done a five minute fucking power pee, you Muppet. I w I actually might message him after this and ask him what his what's up that first little kicker 'cause he flew. I would love to know. It was so funny. I remember watching it thinking that's not the not a clever move. But ⁓ mate, it was it was a bit like that because there was like you, me, Fred, Simon, obviously yeah, ⁓ Matt, and then Ruben, then he Reuben was like hanging at the back of our group and then up the climb out of Caswell Bay down at the beach, Ruben like I was leading at the time and Ruben flew past me and I again I was pushing like well over five hundred watts. Fuck knows what he was doing. And he just like he literally just flew past us and kept going. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. He He was ripping up the climbs. Yeah. so that was it was very it was basically just guys taking chunks out of each other. Like I felt like none of us were riding like it was a seventy point three. We were all just going full hat. Yeah. It it felt like super and it's really s it's really annoying as well 'cause of like the twenty metre race range as well, I was trying to be like and I I I think I think you were the same with this, like I was trying to be super diligent with like as we rolled into a climb, if I was following someone, I would like stop pedaling to make sure that I didn't like even if the light flashed red for a second so that it like almost dropped straight out. ⁓ or Mm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. If I like knew I was gonna roll straight in, I would just send it for a bit to get round. ⁓ but I know that, you know, I obviously we'll go back on we'll go on to like later in the race in second, but like my undoing earlier in the bike when I lost you guys was going up out of mails, ⁓ the nice part of the course had just been resurfaced. I was riding, I think, just beh I think you came round me and I was riding twenty metres behind you. And then a lot of athletes then obviously bunched up behind me. Yeah. And instead of them like giving the space and like, you know, seeing Race Ranger flash red and go like, well, I back out and w because they they were gonna give us some leniency, which they kind of said in in the briefing. ⁓ they all kind of all decided to come round at the same time and all then just slot in slot in a gap that wasn't there. which really pissed me off and I think I think maybe I mentally I think I pi ⁓ I got pissed off and I was arguing with well not arguing, I was Yeah. Yeah. No. having a heated discussion with the ref, because the ref was there doing fuck all. ⁓ and I was like, well are you gonna do anything? And they were a bit like, ⁓ and I was like, well either ref or don't sort of thing. ⁓ and then after af after that kind of heated discussion, that like it's probably my fault for having like for getting too kind of invested in that situation. But I was then I then pulled back because I was flat in the flashing red. And then we went over the top of that and I just got slightly distanced. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And unfortunately the guy who I was riding behind was Ollie Turner and he then got popped like just after that. So like he kind of he he was kind of my elastic band popper as well, but you know, it it that's tactics and you know ⁓ no. 'Cause then you're like, you know, you're at that point you're forty, fifty meters back, or maybe more, and you're like, fuck, like closing that gap is gonna be very, very hard. Yeah. I'm gone, yeah, basically, yeah. Yeah. And ⁓ that's that was pro what what were we? Probably like thirty, thirty five K in at that point. And ⁓ yeah, unfortunately that was that was then me done. ⁓ and I basically rode the last yeah, six fifty five, sixty K solo. ⁓ which was pretty like yeah, mate. I I I saw the guy from Uruguay, Scabby something. Yeah. Yeah, We really you were just on throne. Something Fabio, maybe I think it his name is. ⁓ I caught him. I think he got dropped out of your group a little bit later, and I caught him at maybe like 70k, and then he then just slotted in behind me and followed me for the last 20. ⁓ But yeah, it was pretty lonely right. I guess the only good thing after that was that like I just like just rode the race, but I think I was pretty like mentally not in a good race. Not in Okay. Yeah, okay. Okay. Yeah, I think mentally I kinda like Yeah, 'cause it's just it's you know what it's like. When you're when you feel like you're in the race, it's exciting, it's motivating. And then I was like fucking I was like the race is up the road, what the fuck am I doing? ⁓ It checks out. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It is it is one of those that is fucking annoying. Like that's that kind of course with Race Ranger and with the dynamics are just it's so difficult. Like you can just get lucky with your positioning, I think, and who you're riding with. And unfortunately, I think you were just like wrong place, wrong time, you know. Mm. Yeah, and and that happened and I'm I'm to be fair, like I afterwards I like it was just a tactical tactical mistake from my perspective. Like a pro I was a little bit like unhappy with how they were refereeing, but I don't if I obviously don't know you what your group was like at later in the race. Like they may have been a little bit more on it later, but I didn't hear of any penalties. ⁓ but yeah No, I don't think I heard about any penalties and I do know I mean I'm not gonna name names, but I know there are su a few people that I know definitely should have been done for drafting. Let's just put it that way. Yeah, that Yeah, I and I yeah, again, we're not gonna like name and shame, but ⁓ yeah, I felt I felt the same way. ⁓ but yeah, ⁓ ultimately we're not the refs, we just gotta, you know it's nice I I kinda like it when refs aren't afraid to you know from time to time refs get things wrong and they will give an unfair penalty, I think. Like, you know, for example, ⁓ the s the person who's not in the wrong, if someone slots in front of them they might say, Well you're drafting and it like they may have not completely understood the situation. Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ but I would always rather a ref that is willing to observe and maybe give like one you know, one side they might see an athlete and go, Well, I'll give them the benefit of doubt now, but then the second time round or the third time round, like not have any re reservations about just grabbing a card because ultimately that's what we kind of need 'cause if s if they'd pulled out a card on one athlete at some point in the first like thirty, forty K And then you best believe that everyone else in that group will behave themselves after that, you know? Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Or even like a verbal warning, because I'm pretty sure we've had it before where we've been racing, I think it like in Florida or something, and the ref comes through and goes, like, guys, it's twenty meters. Like, if you don't ride at twenty meters, I will give out penalties. And if the ref says that to all the athletes, like all athletes are like, shit, okay, like we better we better be sp you know, vigilant. Yes. Yeah, I'm a Yeah. I rem I think that was Jim that was Jimmy Ricatello was actually on the bike and I think we were going around like a a ninety degree turn and I think it was one of those situations where like the race range of flash red for like half a second. And I think he said the same thing to me, you and some and ⁓ Sven Weiss, I think it was as well. He was like, I'm giving you guys the benefit of the doubt said next time I see red, if you don't pass penalty and w I like, Fair, that's fair. So ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I remember thinking like, you know what? Fair enough. Like I'll just not lose concentration now. So it it is one of those like you kind of it's it's a difficult one. It is a difficult one. But yeah. Yeah, yeah. So after after after I ⁓ ex exit exited the group, how was how did the back half of the bike go? 'Cause I know that obviously ⁓ I forgot his name right now, Mika Newt was like up the road and I think Josh was hanging for a bit and then got popped. So how did the rest of that dynamic of of the race ⁓ the bike leg go for you? Yeah. Yeah. So I remember passing your coach, Sam Proctor, and he was like, Mika is I think the first lap the first time I saw him, he was like, ⁓ I want to say three minutes up the road. So I was like, oof, okay, that's a fairly big cat. but I knew Josh had dropped off, so I was like, that is the that is what I'm chasing now. So I think it was me, Ruben's a punctor, ⁓ Simon Vane, Wow, yeah. Okay. I really basically my whole mentality was trying to go into the run, having dropped Pierre Lecour, because on paper he was the fastest runner by far. So and i exactly that, yes. I was like, I want to shell these two Frenchies as quick as I can. ⁓ what I found a bit and this is just obviously the style of athlete that that is there, but what I found about people like Yeah. And Simon Vienne is Simon Vienne's Simon Vane's got some legs well. Pierre LeCour and Simon Vienne is they're strong enough to stay with the group, but they're not necessarily strong enough to pull any useful turns. So as soon as I don't know that sounds savage for people listening, but it is like, you know, you you try and get rid of them and you can't because they're really good at covering moves. But as soon as they go on the front, the pace slows up and the pace is quite soft. And so you then come past again, and then it's like, Yeah, okay. No, no, no, no, not at all. a really frustrating dynamic where you're basically always keeping the chain tight and they're just there. And so it it becomes fairly difficult. And basically the only way to drop people like that is to become so good on the bike you can just ride them off your wheel. or or put in just such a big attack and get away from them. But they were they're obviously very good cyclists, just not like crazy strong at pulling turns, I guess. Yeah. I I always think though that did like in that situation, did they did they just believe that maybe Mika was gonna win the race and they're like, right, so now we're racing for second place here. and actually like maybe they are stronger than they were letting on and they were just like, Well, you know, if you're attacking them they'll hang on, but then if you kind of wave them through and let them come through for a turn they're quite happy just to spin at two hundred and fifty watts for like a minute or two. And they're maybe just like almost like fucking with you guys thinking, you know, might like Pierre, for example, might be thinking, Well, my best ticket to second place here is just getting in getting into T two with these guys. Yeah. Yeah, no, exactly. It probably probably was their mentality is that they w they were probably thinking, look, we're the next fastest runners, so why would we do any work on the bike? Which makes a lot of sense, you know. If I was in their if if I was in their shoes, I'd probably do exactly the same thing. but I also just love racing, you know, like I love racing hard. I'm like, even if I'm a good runner, I'm still gonna go balls to the wall on the bike. and so Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah, anyway, I end up ⁓ spotting Josh in the distance. And I'm like, as soon as you've got that little carrot, it's so easy to then chase it. and I then was like, I'm gonna go past Josh pretty hard, and I'm gonna say, I I I noticed we had a bit of a gap, and I was like, let's fucking go. But that I didn't necessarily account for the fact that as soon as I pass Josh, he then needs to drop back 20 meters. So actually, we then don't have a gap. So I Yes. It kind of I basically fucked it because I was working really hard for a gap that then wasn't there anymore. and so So you're yeah, you almost needed you needed a bigger gap or you need a Josh to have like looked over his shoulder and kind of worked up that's what's gonna happen? Mm. Basically needed Josh to draft me for a little bit. That's all I wanted. yeah, yeah. Use the full forty-five seconds. but but yeah, so I think the group then came back together. we then passed. Yes, slowly, slowly, slowly drop out of the draft. Yeah. And where was where was ⁓ sorry, Karen, I was gonna say where was Kieran Linders at this point? ⁓ Well, this is the thing. I didn't realise Kieran was in the group. I thought we would have shelled him a while ago. And this is massive kudos to K Mate, Kieran's got so good on the bike. Like he is now a very dangerous athlete because he doesn't have a weakness. ⁓ so it's Yeah. Yeah, a hundred percent. He's becoming like he's always been a yeah, as you said, he's always been an Uber swimmer and a and a crazy good runner. So it's like it's scary that he's now like over the last couple of years his bike 'cause you know, you look a couple of years back and he was able to kind of float near the back of the group in like Kona on the bike. So he's he's you know, he's not he's not he's not been a bad cyclist. ⁓ but I think like the years of of that are coming through even more because like I guess Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, but I I don't know exactly what his power numbers are like, but he's he's got some Watson now, hasn't he? 100%. Like, it's one of those where even being in the group in Swansea, like, you still have to ride really flipping hard up these hills. So, like, just to stay with the group, you have to be a very, very good cyclist. So I didn't actually realise he was he was in the group ⁓ until coming into T2. And I I heard ⁓ them call out Kieran's name. I was like, ⁓ for fuck's sake. Yeah, you've done it again. so Mm. ⁓ no. Here we go. But yeah, we passed we passed the ambulance on the side of the road with like five K to ten K to go. And I didn't know at that point it was Mika. And then the motorbike comes up next to me and goes, ⁓ by the way, like you're in the lead now because the leader was involved in that crash. And in my head I was thinking, like, fuck, that's obviously like, okay, cool, I'm in the lead, but all I was thinking was, shit, I hope he's okay. Like, I you know, if there's two ambulances there, that could be very, very bad. Mm. ⁓ okay. So I didn't really know how to react to that. I was like, okay, well I'm still gonna just ride the pace that I'm riding, but that doesn't feel that good. so anyway, come in come into T Two ⁓ with the likes, yeah, Josh, Kieran, Yeah, yeah. Don't know who else was in that group at the time. I'm not too sure there were many others. Because I think Ruben and a few of the other boys like Simon Vienne and Pierre Lecour were a little bit off the back. They dropp ⁓ they they dropped by like forty five seconds to a minute, didn't they, at the end? Or something like that. Yeah. I think that was it. Yeah. I think that was it. So anyway, I come into T two and Kieran has a quick T two and he runs out a little bit ahead of me, but not not by much, like maybe like ten meters or something. And I think, okay, well, I want to close that gap as quick as I can, get on his shoulder, because you know what it's like, you just hold the pace with someone, it's just a little bit easier when you're with them. ⁓ but Kieran ran out hot. Like he I think the first few pails, it was running like Yeah. three twelves, three thirteens. And I remember thinking like, ⁓ this is a little bit spicy. and I I did I'm just gonna I'm just gonna drop a sixty seven here. Yeah, yeah. I was like I I jet in my head I like, if he holds this, fair fucking play. He deserves the win, to be honest. and I I remember getting on a shoulder and then I just had to drop straight off. I was like, nah, too much. It's too hot. ⁓ and so in my head I was like, I'm still running well, I'm just not running as well as Kieran. But I was just hoping it would come good. and then at the turn of Ha Yeah. round point in mumbles, I saw Simon Vienne running like an absolute weapon, ⁓ as well as Pierre Lecour. And they must have been, yeah, like a minute back at that point, maybe less, maybe 45 seconds. And I was thinking, fuck, that's then if Kieran keeps running the way he's running, that's one, two, three. So that's that's fourth. And there were some other boys running pretty well. I was like, maybe a top five actually is gonna be very hard today. ⁓ so I I went into a pretty like Yeah, yeah. Negative space. I was like, fuck this. This is not so good. and I remember ⁓ I ran past Fred and he tapped it, he tapped his finger on his head. He was like, mate, it's all in the head, it's all in the head. And he like, he he definitely knows how to fucking rev rev me up. And so I was like, Yeah, let's let's get back get the head back in the game. ⁓ and I ran past Matt Collins' dad, who was like Yeah. He was shouting off sidelines and he was basically saying, Simon and Pierre are running like absolute trains. They're gonna pass you. ⁓ and even Rob, my coach, was like, mate, they they're gonna run through you. Like, just hold on. And I remember thinking, like in my head, I just switched and I was like, Fucking let them. Like, they can do what they want, they are not gonna pass me. and so I just put in a bit of a dig. I caught Kieran again before the turnaround point, and I like, Let's go, mate. The boys are coming, we gotta go. Yes. Ha And I just ran as fast as I could for the rest of it. And Kieran didn't slow up that much. Like I knew that I would have to just keep running as hard as I could to the finish line because Kieran is such a good athlete. Like I didn't enjoy the last few K. Like I didn't even think about the spectators, giving people high fives, like cheering people until I got on the red carpet and I could see there was a gap. Because I was like, Kieran could come back at any moment. and so Yeah. Yes. Mate, once I crossed the finish line, I was like, thank fuck, because there is no way I had a kick in me. It's so funny though, 'cause I I saw you guys running back in. So I was I was passing you on as you guys were on the your last ⁓ your last leg back towards town. And again the gap wasn't big then. I I it seemed to me that it like, you know, twenty, thirty seconds. ⁓ and to be fair to you both, you both look really good. ⁓ but also like I I guess being a fan of Traton as well, I'm just like I love a good battle. So like I I I sh Yeah. You wanted it to beat me. ⁓ Well no no I di I didn't but I shouted to you I I shouted to you like something like our mate finish I was running with an age group ⁓ I think it was age group or pro someone was stuck starting their first lap and I shouted to you being like ⁓ come on mate finish it off or something like that and then I run past Kieran like fifteen seconds later because obviously we're running opposite directions and I'm like he looks like he's fading Kieran go get him ⁓ Yeah. He's like, Harry's fucked, you got him And then I'm like in my head, I'm like, the the HP was like, I like, well, I'm out of the race, I might as well enjoy it. And I ⁓ in my head then I was running out and I like, if Kieran like bridges up now and they have like this epic last like two or three K is like, I'm taking credit for that. That's fucking hilarious, mate. That is so funny. Yeah, that's that's mate. If I was Kieran, that would fire me up so much. I'd be like, let's go to battle. But to be fair, like you both looked like you both look like you were running like really, really well, but you also both look fucked. Do you know what I mean? Like you facially you're both like gurning, like you're like you're like the pain is like intense, but you still both look like you're running well. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think it was it was an interesting one. I think we just both had bad moments at different times. And so like Kieran felt good coming out of transition. I didn't. Then I felt good in the middle and Kieran didn't. And then we both felt probably the same in the last five K, but the gap was already like established. Mm. hor horrendous the last like three K Yeah, shit. Yeah. That last mate, the last three K just drags so much. It's horrible. Mm-hmm. I was speaking to a few people and I don't know if you did this. ⁓ that section, I I remember when I ⁓ two years ago when I was getting chased down by Skipper, 'cause obviously on the second ⁓ so as you going towards the finish, you instead of taking the loop ⁓ on like that hot corner, you go straight on. But because we've then got like eight like a lot more people on course on the second laps, you've got age group and stuff, it's really hard to kind of see who's behind you. So you go Mm. Yeah. It very hard, yeah. Yes, you kinda go past that hot corner, you're heading for town, and I was like, You've got to run like a hundred, two hundred, even three hundred metres before taking a look over your shoulder to see if there's anyone coming up behind you, if that makes sense. So I remember doing it with Skipper and like you kinda you've like you're trying to run like as fast as you can while trying to like turn your head like a hundred and eighty degrees behind you. And you're like, Is there anyone there? So I I'm assuming Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's not a good look. Did ⁓ yeah, I guess ha ⁓ did you do the same thing and in between that like that turnaround to the finish is probably about a mile, how many times did you look over your shoulder? So this is actually funny. I didn't look over my shoulder once because I actually was like, mate, I just wanted to have my head down. I was like, I I know that if if I look over my shoulder, Kieran will smell weakness and he'll probably put in a dig. Whereas I was like, if I just put my head down and I run as hard as I can, I just believed that he wouldn't be able to run quicker. And I know I joke about not being able to have a kick, but I feel like no matter how shit I feel. Fuck. Fair play. Yeah. Ha ha I'll always be able to have a kick. So if he did come through, I was so prepared to be like, nah, fuck this. I'm having this win. But what but what if like he'd like I dunno, in my head I'm like, what if he catches you off guard? Like what if you're like just about to go into like that turn that right hand turn into where the finishing action all of a sudden he just pops past you like fuck I mean, I'd like to think I could probably hear him coming. Let's be honest. At that point, at that point, you're not silent, you're gurning and you're you're like, Yeah true. I guess if he's catching you Well you're not he's not like jogging past on his tip toe being like shh Yeah, exactly it's definitely not a silent assassin kind of move. It's so yeah, that was that was quite funny. ⁓ man. But yeah, how how did how did that ⁓ obviously obviously you did take that little look on the red carpet. ⁓ third third win in Swansea in three years. Like what were the what were the feelings then? Mm. Mate, the it was pretty wild actually, like and again, like it probably hasn't like sunk in yet. That it's it's a cool thing to say that you've done, but it it's always thinking about like, ⁓ yeah, what's the next thing and the next thing? But actually it's nice to sit down, take five minutes and think, actually that is quite cool. Like it was quite special because I had my mum and dad were there, my brother and his girlfriend who they rarely get to come and watch the races, or it was his first his girlfriend's first time watching a race, which is pretty cool. Mm. it was my girlfriend's first time watching me race as well. And I did have to I did have to say to her, I was like, they don't all end like this, by the way. So ⁓ just want to I just want to make sure we're clear. I don't always win these races. Ha ha Mm. But I mean so wha what you're basically telling all the listeners right now is that you're not on dating apps anymore. What a shame. I mate, I I've yeah, hinge has been deleted, mate. so not that there were any interested women out there listening to this podcast, but ⁓ yeah, I think she had a good day, which was cool. So that was that was pretty awesome to have her. Ha ha ⁓ Yeah. No, no, it's cool. If if that's her if that her if that if that's her introduction into, you know, what Iron Man Traff's like, she's ⁓ she's had a pretty good intro. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. So that was pretty special. And then I've just had a week of not doing too much before now ⁓ getting my teeth stuck into yeah, the next block of training towards towards Iron Man Wales. But mate, I feel like I've just been talking forever now. We need to we need to talk about you and your races because because you've had some fucking good races. Or you've had a fucking good race. What did ⁓ ⁓ well well I've I've had one good race and one ⁓ complete disaster. ⁓ I guess like let's let's stay on the chronological. So obviously, yeah, last time you heard from me I got absolutely dropped by Harry's group on the bike. ⁓ yeah, so I I rode in on Swansea and I think I was like four minutes or so back from like you guys. ⁓ which knowing Come on, come on. Okay. Yeah. what these pro series races are like and knowing kind of like who was up the road with like with you or like just behind you. Like it's definitely not race over. And I think ⁓ kind of like doing the maths, if I'd ran anywhere near potential, like I probably could have still ran myself up to like a top six or seven. ⁓ but yeah, so I I got I got off the bike with ⁓ as I said the the Uruguay guy, guy called Fab Yeah. Bio, I think his name is, sorry. ⁓ and then just behind us in transition, sort of like forty five seconds to a minute back, was Matty Collins who had completely rallied after that first minute PB up the climb. ⁓ and then we also had ⁓ Liam Lloyd who just gapped, I think, Simon Davis and maybe Matt Kaminer or he might have been just behind that even. Yeah, okay. Yeah. ⁓ so like there was a few good guys around. I went out on the run and did like maybe a kilometre of half decent running and then instantly I was like, Ooh, my stomach doesn't feel very good. And I'm like, ⁓ not not a good not a good way to start. ⁓ so I kept like I kept my head down. I was just like trying to run best I could, but I was yeah, I was in a pretty defeatist mentality, let's just say. On Did you ⁓ did you not like do you reckon that was down to fueling on the bike or was that just a random like stomach issue? ⁓ and then I got I think I d ⁓ it's hard. I I think it's a combination of a lot of things. I think I maybe overc over carbed a little bit. I think I under under drank water or just y pure liquid. Like I just don't think I took enough of pure liquid. I had I had like flow gels on the bike, but I think because I had flow gels they took a lot of my bottle space up. Yeah, I can't. Yeah, yeah, yeah. A lot of good state, yeah. And yeah, so I think I I drunk a decent amount, but I was not actually drinking enough fluid. I probably then overcarbed a little bit because I think I hit about 150 grams an hour. ⁓ and Yeah. And then ⁓ and then maybe, yeah, maybe something I'd ate in the day before or even yeah. So I I don't think it was necessarily one thing. I think it was probably a just c combo of all those things together. ⁓ but Yeah. ⁓ fuck me in the big. Yeah. I had Simon come past me. There was actually a picture that pro Chinese put up of Simon, me and the Uruguayan guy, Fabio, ⁓ running kind of step in step to step together. ⁓ and Simon had come past me and I I guess like my brain just suddenly went, Fuck, I'm gonna run with this guy. Like I can run with this guy, like fuck it. So I jumped on his shoulder and I instantly went from running like terrible, like three forty-five, three fifty b'K ⁓ yeah, I saw that. It's so funny. instantly dropped down to like 325, 330. And I I sat on his shoulder for like a mile and I was like, This feels this feels really good. I'm like, here we go. Like this is my ticket back into like a half decent race. ⁓ and then I got literally about a mile with him and all of a sudden my stomach started cramping. I'm like, ⁓ no. and so I so so like I eased up ever so slightly Nice. Yeah. You're like, ⁓ no. And I literally eased up and before I knew it he was like a hundred metres ahead of me. I was like, ⁓ what the fuck happened there? ⁓ so yeah, mate. A ⁓ after that it was pretty ⁓ yeah, not fun. It's first time I've ever taken a Portaloo stop on a 70 point three. So yeah. So Portaloo about eleven and a half K. that was fun. It was quite fun. Well Yes. ⁓ my Really? ⁓ interesting. It was funny 'cause ⁓ Steph Cutterbuck was racing and she she wasn't having a good day. ⁓ and she actually unfortunately DNS'd not long not too long after it, but I ran past her and I gave her some words of encouragement. I was like, Go on, Steph, keep it going. Anyway, ran past her. I shot into the Portaloo. She came past me while I was in the Portaloo, and then I then I ran back her ran back past her again, giving her some encouragement again while I was doing my tri suit up. And I think her I think she was like Yeah. ⁓ What the fuck's just happened here? She must have been like, and he's done the fastest lap ever, or he's just gone for a shit in the portalo. Option two ⁓ but ⁓ yeah mate, I ⁓ after that I I had a very slow last ten K to the finish. ⁓ and then Yeah, finished finished and yeah, obviously was nice to then hear about like how the race actually transpired up front with you guys. ⁓ Yeah. But mate, I was I think I said this to you actually after the this race this weekend, but my head was in the bin after that to honest. ⁓ the I think the thing I think I found like really difficult was like it's a home race and like you obviously want to have a good day when you're like racing in front of like your friends and family. ⁓ so to then to then have a bad day I was like, ⁓ and also I think it was like a knock on effect 'cause Yeah. Course. I had a bad day in South Africa starting the year. I then had a bad day in Gdanks like a month and a bit ago. And then I was like, ⁓ no, like here's another bad race. ⁓ and like on Monday I was literally like not and I kinda s I I said this like jokingly to you and I said this jokingly to a couple of other people, but like I I genuinely had like the thoughts of like, hmm, like am I wasting my time doing this? ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And like and this it's it's it's interesting 'cause like you obviously I I do a lot of I do a lot of training, I invest a lot into it like emotionally, physically, etc. ⁓ and I obviously appreciate that my life has been pretty hectic the last few years, obviously starting family, having two kids and I I know I give myself a lot to do, ⁓ but also I'm also know that I've got a lot Yeah. Yeah. more physically I can do in terms of racing. ⁓ but because that's that wasn't happening starting this year, I'm a bit like, well I kinda said to I I was chatting to my dad and I was like, well, like I'm not even good enough to be a pro yet next year because I haven't hit the criteria. And then I actually checked and I actually have hit I had already hit the criteria. I'd already done it in Gadang. So I was like, okay, well actually I am still good enough, but it's still shit. And then my my lowest of lows is always when I Mm-hmm. Yeah. Ha ha ha ha. I realise I've had a really bad race and I I go on the tracker just to make sure I'm like, Well maybe I just I should be a really good age grouper and then I look at the age group race and I go, ⁓ fuck's sake, I would have still won the age group race by like five minutes. So I'm like, Okay, yeah, I should be a pro, alright, mate and then from like Monday onwards was basically just like, right, get your head out of the fucking bin and like get yourself into a place where like Yeah, yeah. you're giving yourself an opportunity to have a good one this weekend. ⁓ because like, you know, I and we we kinda mentioned it before, like I felt I feel or felt like I deserved a good race. But unfortunately every unfortunately everyone who trains hard yeah, but ⁓ everyone who does traph, everyone who trains hard for an event, like they deserve a good outcome. But it it's not a g it's never it's never a given. ⁓ Yeah, yeah. Yes, it just didn't happen on the bad. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. I think it's one of those where it's like, you know, everyone everyone we're racing is training. ⁓ everyone sort of trains as hard as as anyone else. Like it's and everyone obviously wants to do well and everyone's capable of doing well. It's just some days come together for some people and some some days unfortunately don't. But I am actually quite intrigued to know, and I think the listeners probably be intrigued to know as well from you. Like obviously 'cause I went So yeah, so that's I guess So we both did back-to-back races. ⁓ and I I actually felt I always find that the second race I race better. And obviously you've you've found that as well. But for me, obviously I went from Yong Kping and had you know, I I came out of that thinking that's the best that that's the best performance that could have had, and it was fair it was pretty positive. And so I found it quite an easy transition to go into Swansea being in a fairly Hmm. Yeah, a hundred percent, yeah. Just carrying that positivity forward. Like, how did you go from the Swansea result where you're like, I'm better than that, but it just didn't happen on the day, and all those negative thoughts? How did you get yourself out of the gutter and get yourself ready to race and have a good race like seven days later? ⁓ I don't really know. ⁓ and I guess like I get I d I don't know it I guess I don't know how deep like people like take triath on but like I find like I find myself like quite emotionally attached and I I guess like anyone who does it a lot like I felt just very like emotional Monday, Tuesday, like I'm not embarrassed to say like there was a few times where like I just like randomly started like tearing up and I'm like, Why the fuck are you crying, mate? Like just No. Yeah. It's only sport, like it's only sport, but like it obviously means enough to like make you feel like pr Yeah yeah. But yeah So ⁓ like I was obviously like pretty emotionally like drained or like felt pretty down about it and I think I guess like there's an element of like well there's still a lot of opportunities left in the year. I know I knew that That's all right, mate, you're allowed to you're allowed to cry. I cry all the time. Mm. Actually what I had done in Swansea and to the point at the end of the bike, like, yeah, I I should have hopefully you know, I I could have swam better, yes. I could have been tactically better, and I think if I was slightly tactically better, I would have been, you know, maybe not with you all the way to the end of the bike, but I would have been in that group for longer. ⁓ and then actually then you you put a half de not even like a fast run, but you put like a half decent run at the end of that, and then actually it's like, well, actually, that is a decent result then. Yeah. Yes. ⁓ so in my head it's like well actually you know the swim is the swim, like I'm always gonna be roughly near the front. So I've just got to do that again. Bike wise, if I just push similar watts, like ride pretty strong, again I should be near the front of the race, and especially with a a sm a slightly smaller field, there's not gonna be ⁓ like pack dynamics. And then I was like, and then I know I can run, you know, one fourteen, one fifteen. ⁓ but obviously I've just got to do that. Mm. So I think I probably I probably went quite because I was quite emotionally ⁓ upset about my result, I think I then probably flipped middle of the week to like the opposite of being like so unemotionally involved in it and just being like very like methodical of like, well, all I've got to do is X, Y, and Z and that should give me, you know, you know, a good result. And again, a good result for me this weekend. I I literally said to my dad, like, I like, I looking at the thing, looking at the field, I was like Even ⁓ Yeah. Top five, get me some cash, you know, have a de have a decent output on swim, bike, and run. Again, I I in my head I was even thinking like if I ran like I don't know, after the last couple of races, if I ran like a one nineteen even, it's a step in the right direction. So my my my level of success this weekend I set very low. which I think then enabled me to kind of relax and actually then outperform Yeah. Not outperform my ability 'cause I still think I could have performed even better than I did, but outperformed what I was expecting after having such a shitter the week before. I've lost our yeah. I'm just gonna take a little brief moment. Are you back, mate? It's alright, you're back. There's two there's two of you. There's two of you now. Wait, I've no idea what happened there. I have no idea what happened there. Sorry. No worries. ⁓ Yeah, so I can't well I was literally no So yeah, I guess I I think I just mentioned that like I basically set the barrier of success pretty low. ⁓ So then yeah, I think going into the race, it was nice to do a a race for once 'cause over the last couple of years fields have started to get a bit crazy in terms of like size of like how many people are on a start line. So it was nice to do a race where the field was a little bit less. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. There were still like a few good quality athletes there, like Maximilian Spell who who won the race in the end. Robert Wilkowecki, I I've raced a few times, Lars Lumbert Day Denmark, like there was like there was a few good boys there and I knew that I knew well, I knew that the top five got paid, so like that was like, you know, I want to get top five at least. ⁓ I knew that I haven't been on a podium since Swansea two years ago, so I was like, if I have a good day, a podium would be great. Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then I also knew that there was two slots for Worlds next year. So I was like, well, if I'm gonna get on the podium, I might as well get second. So ⁓ I actually yeah, I think by the weekend it was great 'cause I I my dad came out to watch again. ⁓ my I I did another trip with Dan Anderbury, Rebecca's partner, ⁓ and he's always a good laugh. ⁓ so like I was pretty chilled, like I was I was going there But yeah, well I like that. I like that. Nice. going into the race with good kind of good vibes, which was nice. ⁓ and then yeah, race day just kind of played out how I wanted it to. So the swim was pretty good. ⁓ there was a group like five of us, but basically the main bulk of work was ⁓ Max led for a bit. Max I is it Max Maximilian Sparrow? ⁓ he led for a bit. ⁓ and then Wilkie led for a little bit. Question. Yeah. And then I kind of came round for the last sort of like eight, nine hundred metres, ⁓ and led like the last half of it maybe. ⁓ but we kind of just like it was pretty chill, like there was not much fighting 'cause the groups like there was there wasn't a massive group. ⁓ swim f swim felt easy and you know, obviously I got out of the water first and it was nice getting out of the water, feeling like you'd done an easy swim, running through transition and feeling like quite fresh, like starting the bike. ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. We got on the bikes and then there was instantly was me, Robert and Max. And then I knew that Max came four for Axe and Provence earlier this year. So he's a bit of an axe on the bike. Like he he's got like he's got the watts to be able to like hold that front group on a pretty hard hilly course. So I knew that he was gonna kinda be the the guy to follow. So I made sure that I got around Robert Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. was in second place and I kinda just followed him and within about five K we've we dropped Robert. So it was literally just me and him straight away. ⁓ which was for me was like ideal. So I was like, right, let's let's keep going. ⁓ we hit a climb about ten K in and it's then for about eight or nine K it's basically climbing up but it's like flat, climbs a bit, flat, climbs a bit. So it's like rolling up. ⁓ and I was scared that Max was gonna take off. Noise. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, yeah. So I went around him right at the bottom right just before we hit the bottom of it to like cut try What Well and and I was like, if I get to the front and control it, like ride re like ride hard so that he feels like he doesn't want to go any harder, but not let him dictate how hard he wants to go because Yeah. That's a that's an alpha male move right there. Just to be like, fuck you, I'm getting on the front. Yeah. If he went if he went at the front and I was following twenty metres behind and he was going ten, fifteen, twenty watts higher than I actually wanted to push, like he could probably you know, spake because it's just the two of us as well, like there's the potential where he could gap me. Whereas I was riding up the climb in T T like it was a it was a fast climb. So we were going like thirty-five K an hour in T T position up the climb. But like I was like going like three Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Okay. 350, 360, 370, like, you know, fluctuating up and down. ⁓ so it was like hard enough that I think he was like happy with the pace. ⁓ he then came past like just before the top, and then yeah, we basically rode together then for about fifty ish K. and ⁓ my coach had told me like the day before basically he wanted to see me roughly ride three ten Yeah. Yeah, sure. three twenty at the absolute limit in terms of watts. ⁓ 'cause he's like, I actually want to like almost like underbike slightly to try and like overrun a little bit for once. Okay. Yeah. Giving you the best opportunity to run well, yeah. Yeah. So I ⁓ Max took a little like three forty normalized So Max then ⁓ Max came round again and he pi came round on a far section and ⁓ kind of like that twenty metre gap like went to thirty straight away and I was like, ⁓ no What was your power at fifty K? Was it was it pretty high? ⁓ that's so good. And I could tell he was putting a dig in because he kinda like put a dig in for like 30, 40 seconds, and then like we went round a slight bend and you could see like did like a little look over the shoulder. And so you could see that he was trying to gap me, and I was like, I kind of tried to follow a bit. I kind of kept him to 30, 40 meters for like a few minutes, and then instantly I had like Sam Proctor's voice in the head being like, I could just imagine Sam messaging me after the race being like, You're a twat kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yes. Yeah, yeah, it's like I told you so. So I instantly was like, right, you know what? Most because we did most of the climbing on the first half of the course, there's like some rollers, like a little bit more climbing, but the last twenty K is mostly downhill and flat. So I was like, right, if he drops me now, I've got forty K solo. I I can't lose that much. So that was my goal then was just like, right, let him go. Let him go. He yeah he obviously dropped me, but let him go is in like I didn't chase it. I think I could have got back on if I really wanted to. Mm-hmm. Y yeah. Yeah. So I he went and on the rest of the ride I basically made a concertive effort to get my average power 'cause my average power is still like t three two eight, maybe, three through nine at that point. So my aim was to get the average power under three twenty by the end. And just to ride it as ⁓ yeah, basically. But ride it as smooth as I could, try not to like try not to work too hard and then just like Okay. Yeah, to keep the coach happy. Yeah. Let the numbers kind of like slowly creep down. So like don't like don't like fucking take it easy and then it drop down and then get back on it. Just like kind of let that average and then normalize like over the over ten minutes you lose like another what another what sort of thing. ⁓ so yeah, I got down to I think I averaged 315 at the end, normalized like 326, 327 maybe. ⁓ so like good numbers, and it was it's funny because I pushed Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay, cool. better numbers than I did in Swansea but in Swansea I felt like I was fucked and I get obviously it was quite surgy etc but this weekend I felt like I was nose breathing. It was like the weirdest sensation. It just felt easy. Like my legs were obviously working but like the sensations were like ⁓ this is this is quite like light work sort of thing. ⁓ yeah yeah ⁓ but yeah got off the bike Max had No it's Yeah, yeah. This is pretty good. Yeah. ⁓ sorry, one fifty five, I think. So he pulled like a little gap out going into T two. ⁓ the gap behind me was then like two forty five to like a group of three guys. So and then behind them there was another gap of like three minutes or so. So when I got out of T two, I had the information like, right, Max is a little up the road. I've got three guys chasing me down. I felt like if I could just run Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Even if I had like a a shittish run, I should still finish my top fi get in my top five, get some money. You know, that's but then I also thought to myself, like, well I've got a s I've got an opportunity here. Like the guys behind me can run between like one twelve and one sixteen, you know, they quite consistently in that sort of range. So I just said to myself, like, I'm gonna run three thirty per K for this first loop and it's it's basically like the loop is Yeah, yeah. Dia a 2% drag up a up a like a high street, like a quite a sharp downhill, and then flat along the seafront. ⁓ we do that four times. So I basically just lock yeah, I locked into like 330 per K. ⁓ just basically said to myself, like right, I'll get to five K, assess where I'm at and go from there. ⁓ and I basically went I basically held the gap to max or like I think I lost like five, ten seconds. Okay. Oof, okay. Yeah. ⁓ but I'd actually stretched the gap behind for three minutes. So I was like, ⁓ okay, cool, this is a good start. ⁓ Yeah. At at that point you're like, you know, with fifteen K to go, it's unlikely peop people are gonna run three minutes into you. Well that and that's the thing, I was like, Well, I sa I was like thinking to myself, I like, Well, that's a good gap still. If I commit again for another five K, really like just keep hanging on to this. Like I was I was working pretty hard, but was like, like, keep hanging on. If I could still have a decent gap with halfway, then that will give me a lot of confidence. So I did another loop and it was still like same gap to ⁓ to the lead, same gap to to third, and I like, What this is great, like I'm in a really nice place here. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, right, same again. Try and like nail this next lap. And if I get to the last lap with with a three minute lead, even if I explode, I can still hang on to this. ⁓ so I did another lap. Max had like gained a little bit, so he like pulling away ever so slightly, and the gap was still three minutes. I was like, fucking hell, this is this is ideal. And then I got to I but unfortunately on that during that third lap, a couple of times I did like Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you can still hold on, yeah. Fucking here we go. ⁓ You know like saliva voms? Like the like a little mouthful of like barely yuck? ⁓ yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did a couple of those and I was like, ⁓ no. So I tried to take a gel in, just just just just couldn't. Just like just struggled to take a gel in. ⁓ and I was like, ⁓ no. So I've still got like 20 this is like eleven or twelve K in. So I was like, I've still got like 30 something minutes of running here. I'm not feeling too great now. but I felt I kept I kept running well until about 17 16, 17k. Yeah, here it comes. ⁓ ⁓ my For a while, yeah. Yeah it's And then all of a sudden my legs just fell off. And I was like, ⁓ no. ⁓ but I I basically just like nursed it to the last like out and back section on the seafront where I could see where the guys were, and I could see that Lars, the Danish guy, was was coming, was catching, and he was like running really, really well then. ⁓ but I knew I had about a mile, so about a K and a half, and I knew the gap was still a couple of minutes. So ⁓ I was kind of like Yeah. Yeah. ⁓ god. Yeah. i in this situation I was like the win is the winner's gone. Third place is two minutes behind. Like I wanna keep running super hard to the finish. But also I don't want to like cramp. I don't want to like part Yeah, I didn't want to pass out either because I felt a bit bonky. Like I was a like, ⁓ I feel a bit like not great. ⁓ so I was like, right, I'm just gonna keep trying to like run solid. And I was like, and if I Yeah. Yeah. You know you don't have to. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was thinking I was trying to do the maths and obviously trying to do maths when you're running like when you're like that late in a race is just like worth ⁓ like so I was like I was like if I run a four minute K on this last K, he's gotta run like two two twenty for a K? ⁓ like he could do that Yeah, it's not good. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah in your head you're like, possible ⁓ Well that's why I even got to the finish line and I like I looked over my shoulder a couple of times and I'm like, he's not there but like he could be there So ⁓ yeah no I ha ⁓ Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mate, so good. What were then ⁓ coming into the finish, like what were sensations like? ⁓ yeah, mate, really good. Just a lot of relief, to be honest. ⁓ I think a bit like I was saying, like my head was kind of in the bin Monday. There was kind of like a lot of validation of like, okay, cool, like you are still like you can still do this. There is like, you know, especially like having a half decent run, I was like, right, I know my run's still better than that, but it's not a complete disaster a ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And there was just a lot of like, yeah, I guess, yeah, I I'd say relief. ⁓ but yeah, happiness as well. And I think the biggest one as well was like getting the slot for worlds next year. It's like, okay, yeah, like I'm I've got this already, I've got an opportunity next year to go and race a world champs, which is like the pinnacle of our sport. I it's obviously like we'd say the pinnacle the real pinnacle is obviously Kona, but like a a world champs is the world champs. And I think getting that slot is like giving me a lot of like hunger to like Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, I've got a couple of opportunities to race later the year and hopefully get some good results, but I guess my mindset is gone f in the in the last week from maybe I should retire to like like I guess more more optimistic of like let's fucking get on it kind of thing. Mm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is so funny how like it's a job where emotions are so high because your value is very directly linked to your results. And so you can so, so quickly go from being on top of the world to being rock bottom and vice versa as well. Like it is like you can literally have one good result and suddenly it just brings you out the shitter and you're like, ⁓ you know, I I suddenly you just get a bit of self-belief and a bit of bit of like Mm. bit of a kick up the arse. So it is mate, it was really good to see actually. I was so happy to see you actually get the result. ⁓ and it yeah. Mate, no, it was it was so good. And then go on. No no, I've just I appreciate that mate. I think No, I was just gonna say like overall it's I guess like it's a it's a crazy few weeks if you think about like the last time we chat like last time we did a a recording was when we had Finn here and ⁓ a lot's happened in three weeks in three weeks of time and like I think obviously your two like mega outputs in terms of like a third and a first, ⁓ like obviously showing that your form through this year has been super good and like continuing, which is lovely to see. And then I guess from my perspective it's like, right, yeah. Yeah. nice some validation, some motivation moving forward. ⁓ and I guess just like Yeah, it's as you said there, it's it's nice it's nice to have success and I'm very appreciative that I'm very appreciative that you can go from being like hero to zero and zero to hero like in such a short space of time. ⁓ and like I was I don't know if you I I think you have 'cause obviously we spoke a little bit and you had like some barbecues and stuff last week but ⁓ ⁓ Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I I had some good few beers after the race and like I'm definitely I'm definitely gonna enjoy it and I'm I'm under no illusion that I I wasn't racing a pro series kind of Iron Man seventy point three race and I under no illusions standard Yeah, yeah, I don't know I know and and and and and that's the way I kinda looked it is like, you know, ultimately the Ironman calendar was set out, everyone in the world had an opportunity to come and race in Poland and Good. ⁓ Mate ⁓ mate, ⁓ a podium's a podium. Doesn't bloody matter. Yeah. Yeah. I I mean I'm I'm appreciative that not everyone came, but also, you know, you can only race who's there on the day and Exactly that, mate. Exactly that. Yeah. No, I think ⁓ And yeah, and I I guess it's just it for me there's a lot of per I don't know if you ever get it as well, like there's lot of personal like satisfaction in like yes, the outcome of like a position is great, but also just like some like validation in terms of like, you know, power output on the bike, or you know, for me, I've just been running like a donkey in races for the last few months. So it's like to like start running again, clipping away at three thirty to be like, okay, actually Yeah. Yeah. I can still run and like yeah, I know there's more capacity there to run faster, but I've I had kinda w almost had to get over that like hump of like running like shit. Yeah. It is literally all down to just being patient. I think. Like I've come to realise like it's so easy to be like, ⁓ I'm not where I want to be right now, or ⁓ I've you know, you have short term memory, you're like, ⁓ I'm just not good at this anymore, or blah de blah. It's like if you could just be patient and just like just keep putting one foot in front of the other, like you've proved it. Like it's like you could have easily last week been, ⁓ I'm gonna bin off this race because Swansea didn't go well and then you never would have known Yeah. that you'd get on the podium and that you'd get a world champ slot and you'd you know, you'd mentally be in a way better place. Like you could have easily I don't like I I would yeah, you could have easily just been like, ⁓ fuck this, I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to Poland. I'm it I mean I think i it would have been easy as well. And as you said there, like I think ⁓ it's so it's so easy to to kind of be like when things aren't going your way, just like I guess like bin things off, close the door, you know. ⁓ and and I and you know, I I even know like well you probably know as well, athletes in the past, people who do retire too soon because they go through a bad patch and they just like they're like, Well Yeah. I was good or I you know, this was fun, but you know, it's not for me anymore kind of thing. And ⁓ yeah, I know obviously you posted the the reel on Instagram about like the the patience of like how many years it takes to get there. ⁓ or like I guess get there, but like get to kind of success and and obviously you're by no means done. ⁓ but also I I guess a great listener at the moment, I don't know if you listen to them yet, but Joe Skipper's podcast about his retirement. ⁓ Yeah. not actually given it a listen but I would quite like to see what it's like. But he he's basically gone through and anyone who's listened to this go and have a listen to his Junkyard Dogs ⁓ podcast. ⁓ but it's basically he goes through his whole career from like twenty eleven and like talks about the build up through like the good races, the bad races, this and that, and then kind of how he hit his golden years, you know, where he won like a load of Ironmans and that whole kind of process. And when you when he when he sets it out and like almost like Yeah. puts like a timeline on it, you're fucking hell, like you look at like someone like Joe who's had like, I don't know, I think he's had like seven or eight Iron Man victories and full distance ones. And you just like you look at him you think, ⁓ that's just Joe. But actually it took a long time to get there and even when he was winning those Ironmans, he would he would then mention that ⁓ I went to this race, I had a shit race finish whatever, you know t 15th or whatever. And he's like Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. You you don't see that, you just see like the the success real, I guess, in the long term. Yeah, exactly. No, exactly that. I definitely I'd give that a listen. but moving on, 'cause I appreciate that people are probably bored of listening to us by now. But what is what is Yeah we are. We're locked in. ⁓ what's next for you? Is it is it Tenbi or are you racing before Tenbi? Mate, this is a long one. We're we're lo we're we're in in for a long one today. No mate, I think we're we're on the same timeline now. We've got eight weeks, I think, or just under eight weeks, ⁓ to ⁓ Sweep as me, you and Josh are all just going full hand for Tembi then. Ready to slay the dragon. Yes, cause that motherfucker needs to get slang. No, I think it's gonna be a good one, mate. I think ⁓ it's gonna be the unofficial British champs of Iron Man, I think. ⁓ But we'll ⁓ we'll we've obviously we've got loads of time now to to talk about some training, talk about you know the build up to that. ⁓ be good to yeah. ⁓ g I guess quick shout out is ⁓ in the women's field in G in Gadinya at the weekend, ⁓ Brit British Yeah. lady called Mimi came second. ⁓ but on the start on the start line just before the race we I I we kind of introduced ourselves and ⁓ she said she listened to the podcast and I thought that was pretty cool because I thought it was just our parents, mate. Yeah, yeah, I know. So ⁓ no, it's not it was cool to ⁓ it's cool to hear that people are actually enjoying the pod and she says she like just enjoys us chatting ⁓ fair play. What fucking legend. Mate, I thought it was just your mum and my mum. Shit, so ⁓ I guess we'll just carry on doing that for a few more shall we? Yeah, what an absolute legend. All right, big shout out to her. no, that's cool. and yeah, mate, just enjoy having a few more beers this week. ⁓ and if you can extend maybe just having a few beers for the next few weeks so I get a head start on Tembi Prep, that'd be brilliant. Yeah. Mate, I'm ⁓ I'm back on it. Well, I say back on it, I'm I'm gonna keep moving this week 'cause I think I'm aware that like I don't know if you found this, but like two back to back racing weeks, two taper weeks, some travel, like I feel like I haven't but also feel like I haven't trained in like a month now. Yeah, it's just a lot. I literally d said the same to my dad. He was like, ⁓ yesterday he was like, ⁓ you're not racing until Tenbi. Like it's quite a big gap. I was like, Yeah, 'cause I've not fucking trained properly for four weeks, mate. ⁓ so yeah. ⁓ all right, well, yeah, we can both look forward to that and we can chat more about our prep for Tenbi, maybe do a little series prep for Tenbi. and we'll we'll give people an update on that in the next one. Man, yeah, yeah, hundred percent. Right. Yes. And then road to twenty twenty seven after ⁓ w I don't not sure are you racing after you're gonna race after what tenbi or is that the year done do you think? Don't actually know to be honest, mate. A part of me actually likes the idea of taking a slightly early off season and just enjoying it a little bit. Cause I I'm like, I could quite easily end up chasing it and be I I don't I want to avoid what I did last year, which was chase it, and then you just end up getting burnt out and just wanting to throw yourself out in front of traffic. so I I'll see if I get an opportunity to race T 100, but Mm. I actually think I'm quite keen on throwing all my eggs in the Tenbi basket and then calling it a year and just enjoying a bit of an extended off season. What about you? Yes, yeah. Nice. Tentative see tentative idea is to race Florida. ⁓ but yeah, I need to yeah, chat chat that through with my coach and and family and stuff. But yeah, tentative idea is to race Florida as well. But ⁓ I feel like now I've had like a decent race, it's like I I kind of wanna get at least one or two more in, but we'll see. Ooh, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, good idea, mate. All right, well we'll chat about that in the in the next podcast, mate. Right. Right. Cheers everyone for listening and ⁓ I'll catch you next week, Harry. We're doing one. Let's get let's get it weekly again. We we're gonna do one next week, I promise. I'll be ready. Cheers, mate. Bye.