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Join us as we catch up with the hosts and their training and racing. We unpack Josh’s race this weekend, so close to the podium and attendance at the SuperTri event. As well as Fede’s trip to NYC to see a Yankees game and meet Josh in person, and Jenna-Caer taking the win in a Duathlon.
They highlight the Canadian domination at the 70.3 Mont-Tremblant race, with Lionel Sanders taking first place for the men and Paula Findlay winning for the women. They also mention the impressive performances of Ben Kanute and Matthew Marquardt in the men’s race, and Tamara Jewett and Ellie Salthouse in the women’s race. The hosts also discuss the challenges faced by Paula Findlay, including a lost bike and competing in the Canadian National Time Trial Championships before the race. In this conversation, the hosts discuss the upcoming Ironman Pro Series 70.3 race in Les Sables-d’Olonne, France. They also talk about the Super League Triathlon and its new franchise setup. They make predictions for the race winners and share their excitement for the New York City Marathon. They also mention the controversy surrounding the lack of air conditioning in the Olympic Village for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction and Weekend Recap
16:48 Canadian Domination at 70.3 Mont-Tremblant
23:56 Impressive Performances by Ben Kanute and Matthew Marquardt
24:52 Strong Showings by Tamara Jewett and Ellie Salthouse
26:16 Paula Findlay Overcomes Challenges to Win
27:23 Technical Aspects of the Races
28:38 Ironman Pro Series 70.3 in Les Sables-d’Olonne
48:21 Super League Triathlon and New York City Marathon
55:18 Controversy over Lack of Air Conditioning in Olympic Village
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Welcome to another Triathlon podcast. The podcast that brings the electrifying world of triathlons right into your headphones. Journey into captivating conversations, share the excitement of race recaps. Enjoy the humor only a triathlete would understand and join us as we debunk myths and bring you the bare thrilling truths of the triathlon world. So feel your heart pound, breathe in anticipation, and get ready to dive into the world of triathlon. This is another triathlon podcast. Enjoy the ride. Here we are with another triathlon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. As always, I’m joined by my co-host Fed and Josh. And we’re going to dive into everything going on this past week in the triathon world, including some fun in Canada. Few uh Maple Leaf flags waving through this weekend. We’ll also jump into some super try news and some updates on the Olympic picks for the triathon. There’s definitely been a lot of announcements the last little while. Some controversial, some less surprising, but we will dive into all of it. But let’s start with what’s going on in our world. First off, um I was feeling a little left out this weekend in New York City. I saw saw you Josh and Fede meeting up there without me. How did that weekend go, Josh? Oh, it was awesome. It was uh so if if you don’t know uh I was down in Pelaton for a big group event that I had organized to ride with Matt Wilpers. Uh so check out that Wilpers episode and kind of see what that was all about. But uh I had 39 bikes in the studio. So all of the bikes at the Pelaton studio brought people that had never been before. And then I saw that our buddy Fede was uh in New York trying to catch some Yankees games. So asked him where he was staying and he was literally like a couple blocks from where the Pelaton Studios were and where I was and I was in and out cuz I had to get back to to Boston for my race yesterday morning and we had a window where we could meet up. So I got to give Fed a quick tour of the Pelaton Studios and and got to meet his girlfriend and uh got to chat and hang out for a little bit and and finally meet each other in person. So, it was uh really cool. And uh we didn’t want to break up, but he had to get to the uh to Yankee Stadium and I had to get on the road cuz I had a 4-hour drive back. Oh, sounds like fun. Betty, what brought you up there? You said you’re going to see some baseball. Yeah. So, uh decided to do a little trip to uh New York, do a few a few things over there. And uh also it just happened that the Yankees were playing and uh you know grew up watching them, supporting them. So of course I needed to needed to catch a game and um yeah it was just amazing that Joshua’s in town. Uh and he was it was amazing. Got to meet him, his wife and uh he he seems like he runs uh the whole Pelaton company. Everybody’s high-fiving him, saying hello. So yeah, it was it was it was cool to watch. And those guys of Pelaton, they are doing an amazing job, huh? Just incredible how big they have uh become. And this is not a sponsor um ad or anything. just uh I tip my hat to those guys because they’re doing an amazing job and they are you know like Josh mentioned on that they they are creating triathletes out of nowhere really uh out of just indoor training systems and group classes and I think this is a very exciting avenue to explore for triathlon coaching and development that you don’t need to be you know 247 with a coach uh on site you could have like workouts recorded and uh as long as a person is willing and knows the metrics that they’re working with, they could become very good athletes. So yeah, it was amazing. And um of course now we started talking uh on that day and uh somebody just signed up for 70.3 Maine. Yes, we did it. So we’re gonna see each other again in a couple weeks. Yeah. There we go. That’s wicked. Oh, it sounds like lots of fun. But Josh, what else happened on your weekend? Sounds like you had lots going on. Yeah, so it was actually the the week started. Um I got to go into Boston for a kickoff event. We’ll talk a little bit more about it with with Super Try and and got to hang out with some cool athletes and and meet Tim Dunn and um some others in involved in Super League. And then uh had the big weekend Saturday at Pelaton. did a ride and then I did a a run and a hike um and then met Fed and then uh hopped back in the car and and hustled back up to Boston. I didn’t want to bring my bike to New York and have it sitting in the car overnight. So, I had to had to stop back at home. Um the race is about an hour hour and a half from my house, so we chose to get a hotel a little closer um with a I think we had to be in transition about 600 6:30 in the morning. So, we got uh got to the hotel around 10:00 that night and felt good and it was a sprint try. So, this was the first triathlon and there’s a post I just put up. Um this was the first triathon I ever did two years ago this weekend. Um so, it uh I dropped my time nine minutes last year. Um and then this year I dropped it another 433. And the this the A goal was podium and B goal was to to PR and and and get sub 110. and I got 10801. And then when I finally got on my phone and and had the guts to look at the results, I realized I was 17 seconds behind and had closed like a two-minute gap on the run to the third place guy off the bike. Yeah. And I didn’t puke at the finish line as my coach had asked me to do. So I probably had another 17 or 18 seconds in my legs. So it’s like ah that’s the worst when you’re so close and you know if you had known you you could have done it right when I think the the difference in our T1 was like 18 seconds like right there. Time to practice those transitions. I I made up for it in T2. I had a really fast T2 which was awesome. Um I went no socks, baby powder in the shoes and it was a pouring rainy day. It started pouring while we were in the in the water. So, um, stay away from me if you want to go to a dry race this year. Um, that’s the only race I’m doing is boring. Um, but I’m I’m getting pretty good at it and had a really good swim. Um, again, that D’vor mono wet suit is phenomenal. I I like night and day. I just knew I had had a good swim at in Springfield and I got to the water just confident, feeling good and I I looked at the pictures of the start shoot and I’m like in the back row two years ago and then I’m kind of in the middle last year and then this year I was like nudging people out of my way like no dude I’m getting to that buoy first and and sure enough I was like second or third to that first first buoy and got on some feet and came out of the water fourth or fifth in my age group. Um, which that’s huge for the three of us to be up there and and see the leaders. Um, and and then I fumbled with the transition getting the the wet suit off and um took a quick quick ketone shot, got on my bike and um just started running trains. We we were like the sixth wave so there were five waves we had to work through some of them being the office. So that made it a little tight on the roadways and it’s an open course. It’s not fully closed but some things I can clean up there. My bike computer didn’t turn on. Um, so apparently I charged it for like a day and a half, but when I unplugged the charger, it also turns the Garmin on and it completely drained itself. I forgot to actually power it off. Um, so lesson learned there. Um, but it was nice to go off of perceived exertion, too. Um, and even though we had some power targets, I think I got there and I definitely had to power up on a few moves to get by people going too slow or riding three wide, but felt good on the run and and negative splitted the run and and finished with a really strong finish past like five or six people in the in the final shoot. And there was one more I just didn’t get, I guess. Next year next year’s the podium. So, it’s uh it feels good to be that close and and do it all and and just kind of do that recap post and think about where I’ve come in in two years and being here and and all this stuff’s just crazy. And uh it it was a good weekend for sure. And then Janine raced the Janine raced the the um relay and she did the 5K and set uh her new 5K PR post ACL. So, it was a good day, good weekend for the family. That is wicked. And it’s so cool to have an event like that where you can just see year after year the time that goes in is paying off. You’re getting faster. You’re feeling better. You’re getting more confidence. So, you’re pushing up to the front, which is huge. But man, I know that that few seconds is tough when you’re that close. But you smashed your previous time new PR and it’s to see lots more PRs to come. I have a feeling over the next next while. Yeah, it’s nice to be in the running category now. Like that was like I think I was fifth in every one of in my age group but the run has come so far and it’s like and you can see where the people who are up in the top podium or in the top five. They’re all good runners and I’m putting myself in that category. That was the one that was like I’ve gone from like an 844 down to a I think this one was like almost sub seven. So it was like we’re getting there. Bike for show run for dope. That’s what they always say. That’s what they say. How about you Betty? What have you been up to? Uh well, besides uh getting to know the major of Boston in New York, um the holder of the Kiss of the City, um I uh I ran a 5K in Brooklyn just to test out the legs, see see where I’m at. And I’m happy to report that I was, you know, painfree. Uh nothing nothing hurt, nothing. I mean, uh, I had I had a goal in mind and I just didn’t want to run over in I just didn’t want to run over the teens. So, I was lo I was like, as long as I’m in the teens, I’m good to go. And, um, I think I ran off 1940 something, which is, yes, it’s okay to be back, but uh, a lot of work to do. A lot of work to do and, uh, gradually gradually picking up the the pace and the volume and everything. But yeah, it was it was amazing. I got to to run it with my partner and then she’s slowly getting into this running habit. So that was fun to to share with her. Uh but yeah. Yeah, it was it was cool. It was also it was also nice cuz it’s like a 700 p.m. race, so that meant no uh alarm clocks in the morning. Um yeah. Yeah, it was fun. Uh, and so the Yankees win. So Josh, we missed you, of course. So we need to get like a team reunion uh soon. Uh, but yeah, happy happy to to share that. Um, back again uh, you know, running pain-free. That’s good. That’s And he brought the heat to Mexico from Mexico to New York, too. So it was probably warmer in New York than it was in Mexico normally. Yeah. Yeah. It’s that’s Yeah, that’s so true. I think right now here in Mexico City we are at I don’t know 85ish degrees and New York was like 95. Oh jeez. Not often you hear that reversal. Yeah. Wild. That’s awesome. How about you Jenna? How was your weekend? Yeah. So this weekend was pretty quiet but I had a pretty good weekend the one before. We didn’t get a chance to catch up last week, but uh got my first multisport race of the season in last weekend. And this one’s fun. It’s a kind of a grassroots race here that I do every year. Um so, one of the few races that I’ll do more than once. Usually I like to find new locations, new horses, just keep it interesting. But went to the Schnook Multisport Festival and yeah, came away with a win in the duathlon. So, that’s always fun. Um, yeah, it’s just great to be out there in that race energy again. You kind of forget about it and how much fun it is to be around other people who are just as crazy as you to go out and do something like this on a Sunday morning and get after it. Although, so initially I was planning on racing the dwathon on Saturday and then there was the gravel Canadian champs on the Sunday. I missed the registration deadline. I’m so used to like these races. Usually you can register up until like the last minute and stuff, but no, apparently it closed significantly earlier than that. And I so would won the master’s category. So I was like, what do I get? And it was totally a day that I would love. It was cold. It was rainy. It was windy. It was just one of those gritty days. I’m like, oh, I think one of the few people sitting inside where it’s warming I wish I was rather I’d rather be out there. But now here’s the disclaimer, everyone. Jenna’s been doing this for a long time. You can’t just show up and win races like she does. It does. Most of us, it takes a little bit more work, but this this athlete can just show up and win. And oh, wait. I could have won that race if I registered in time. Yeah, I’ve been doing this for a little while. Actually, it was funny. I just got a um a Facebook reminder. My first triathon or Yeah, first triathlon was like, what was it now? It’d be 12 years ago. Yeah, 12 years ago. Uh, my first race was Iron Man Buffalo Springs 70.3 and I’ve got all the the memories and pictures from that along with some pictures of some pretty nasty blisters on my feet. But that was my my first open water swim in a wet suit and my first triathlon. So, another case of do as I say, not as I do, but after suffering in 95 degree heat in Texas, I was absolutely hooked on this sport. And then apparently the same weekend was Iron Man Ireland where I was battling in the rain and the wind just loving it. Something about that weekend in rain, I guess. Apparently just everything is that weekend. And weirdly my it was funny because I was seeing the pictures back toback and it was my race number in the first one was 53. My race number at Ireland was 531. It’s kind of cool. Yeah. My number this weekend was 25. I was like everyone’s like, “What did you do? Are you like in the elite field? You Yeah, low number. I was like, “No, I think I just hit registration cuz I’m not missing that.” There you go. I think my number this weekend was 135. It was really weird. Just the same numbers over and over again. But, you know, it was a lot of fun just getting back in that race atmosphere. I I love it just being around people and seeing, you know, athletes of all ability levels from doing their first events to, you know, trying to compete from podiums and all that. It’s just just fun to be back there. So, it’s really, really good. It is. We talk about the community aspect of it all, like the vibe at races and it’s I mean, running races and and mountain bike races, anything. A lot of these communities are so small. You see the same people over and over again like you’ve been to this race every year and and having that apples to apples. I have always talked about that. I love that aspect of triathlon because you don’t get it going from 70.3 to 70.3. The courses are all different. Um, but when you go to the same place and you see the same people and it was cool. Cool. I mean, I got to race with Nick yesterday, too. Um, which was awesome. So, that was the first time sharing a course with him. And then I saw he’s done the race before and like two years ago, like 28-year-old Nick Lamb, like stud Nick Lamb had his his time two years ago was only 13 seconds faster than my time this year. I was like, “Wow, look at this old man.” That was another Yeah, Nick’s another one of our teammates at the uh Mona Endurance team. So, check it out. We’ve got a pretty awesome group there. He did it on a road bike this year though. So, and he still finished like And he he finished fourth as well. Oh, no. P4 is all over the place. Oh man, that’s always brutal. Yeah. But yeah, and that nothing else too crazy going on. Training away. I have to sadly I’m going to list my factor Hanzo this afternoon. It’s time to let it go. Now that I’ve raced on my my new Argon E119, I am absolutely obsessed with it. So, I have got like five bikes at the moment and need to get rid of a few cuz it’s just starting to get ridiculous at this point. But, let’s get into some racing that’s a little bit faster than ours. There were a few pro races this weekend and like I said, a bit of Canadian domination, which I’m never upset to hear about. But Fed, why don’t you tell us what was going on this weekend? Yeah, so this weekend we have just won uh pro race at 70.3 Montramland and this is a very iconic race on the on the calendar. However, it has been, you know, struggling the past few years. I don’t know if you guys remember, but uh last year they had a few issues with fires. Uh I think I or like mods or something like that that were were like there was wildfire smokes and then you saw like this apocalyptic view of all these like bugs and moths just dead which is weird. Yeah, that was very weird. And this year it wasn’t um like no fire. It wasn’t Yeah, it wasn’t fire. It wasn’t smooth smooth sailing either. It was a complete opposite. just downpouring rain 24/7. They had to shorten the swim to I believe it was just like a K or like under a K. Uh God knows what was the exact uh distance because they just took out a couple of buoys and they said just swim and they just yeah they rounded it up at like a K or a bit under a K. Uh we had the likes of Lionel Sanders, Ben Canoot, uh Jackson Laundry, Chris Liferman, Mar Matthew Marquart who has been doing amazing amazing stuff coming from the age group ranks as well as Justin Riley. And uh we saw the Cornell Lionel taking the win with an impressive 11347 run and finishing in 33511. Uh second place was Ben Canananut in 33729. So, two minutes behind Lionel and on third place and very surprisingly Matthew Marquart. Not to say that he’s not a good athlete, but I mean he he he um he was faster than Jackson Laundry and Chris Liferman. So, for somebody who came up the age group ranks, he knows what he’s doing on the uh on the pro field. That’s Yeah. And he looked like strong. He looked very strong on the run. He really did. and he really it was um great to see everyone kind of pushing and Ben kind of passed him at one point and he tried to hang on like he just didn’t let Ben go and end up just being seconds behind him. So that was really fun to see cuz that is not easy to do near the end of a race when you’re suffering when you get past to try to stick on them for a while. That takes some mental grit for sure. But it was great to see Ben Canoot have a great race out there and see Lionel beat back. Can we say Yeah, I I guess Yeah, I guess he’s never away, huh, Lionel? He He says he’s back, but he Yeah. Yeah, he’s good. I think Yeah, I think he’s in a good place. Yeah, with a with a very with a very special advisor. That’s I I told you guys la a couple weeks ago that uh Yan is the only one that Lionel was going to be able to listen to. So maybe maybe he’s listening to Yan’s advice and taking it as God’s spell because he definitely executed a very well well um planned out race. Definitely. Especially like No, it was I I mean you said it too, Jenna. I mean to see Ben like who struggled like he’s out right said this season and to to see him come out. I don’t think anyone would have picked him for the podium in this race based on the year he’s had and and we probably all would have had Jackson up there and it and and Matthew Marquat’s more of the the longer full distance and to have him and the two of them like that was a crazy run that they had and back and forth and back and forth and pushing each other and and then Justin man that kid throws down power on the bike for a former age group. He’s hanging with Lionel on the bike no problem for the most part Lionel with shaped legs. Yeah. 10 watts. 10 watts. Yeah. You know what though with the form Lionel’s in with this race and stuff. Um like it was a solid field out there, but I would have loved to see how he would have gone at the T100 in San Francisco. Like just kind of the way he’s getting things dialed in and with the same situation with the swim where he would have been up there with like Sam Long and stuff. That would have been fun to see how it go down. Now, the technical bike, he’s definitely talked a lot about how he’s indoors all the time, but would have been fun to see. Yeah, I think it certainly helped him. Like Oceanside, we know he had a phenomenal swim and there’s no like there’s no breaks in the Oceanside swim. He got a break in the swim this time and the one thing he hasn’t been able to do was maintain some of that swim training he had been doing because of the injury, too. So, he’s been biking and running. He probably cut a little bit of a break with the swim shortened. Um, but you never know. I think he’s just he’s just way above and beyond anyone else on the bike and and his run’s phenomenal right now. No, it was really fun to watch. Definitely good race except for the whole I don’t know if it happened for you guys, but watching out out on outside all of a sudden there’s a bunch of guys on a boat talking about fishing and I’m like what is happening here? I like cut the feed partway through and started playing some other random fishing show. So, it um yeah, missed a bit of the race with that. End up having to like get a BBN and go see the Iron Man stream because we can’t see that Canada in the US um otherwise. But that was random. And I I just kind of like I I saw people commenting. I just kind of chocked it up to maybe it was like weather problems or whatever cuz it was nasty there. I mean it it poured. It turns out so when I put the BPN on I could still see the rays just Iron Man feed. It was Yeah. outside like screwed up the programming somewhere. I guess they should really like it was nice when I was just on YouTube and Facebook live and stuff. At least we got to see the race. I feel like there’s been a lot of screw-ups with Outside. Like it just it seems like it comes up pretty regularly. It’s not a oneoff. Yeah. Yeah. And I mean I do get that it’s a free streaming service that they offer for Iron Man, but that does not mean that they need to cram like a gazillion ads in between. So many Iron Man was bad. My god. Yeah. Especially a 70.3 race. I mean, it’s not Lionel did this in three and a half hours. All right, so you’ve got four and a half hours of legit coverage that we need in the men’s, five hours in the women’s. Come on, we don’t need that many ads. Makes me appreciate the T100 even more when I’m like sitting there for a two-minute ad break every 10 minutes. Yep. Anyways, so uh what about the women’s race? We had some fun over there as well. We had a lot of fun on the women’s race. We saw Canadian domination like in the likes of Paula Finley who she’s been on a high roll especially with her titing ability winning the Canadian National Championship and um yeah she was just away from everyone uh clocking a 401. So just almost cracked the 4-hour barrier. I mean, yes, it was a shortened swim, but it was amazing what Paula did uh on second place. Yeah. I mean, you could you can see uh Paula’s strength on the bike because Tamara Jwit is a very fast runner and she ran a 11613 and that wasn’t enough to catch Paula. And that that’s like that was almost 4 minutes uh slower than Paula’s finishing time. So, you could you could see that Paula was riding on a different level. And uh on third place we had from Australia Ellie Salt House who who she’s been very consistent throughout this whole pro series. I think she podium as well in um 70.3 Boulder fourth place from Australia as well. We had Grace uh Tech and yeah it was a very exciting race but uh I mean kudos to Tamara for that run 116 and then the way Paula is riding a bike right now is very very scary. Yeah, it was wicked. If um if anyone didn’t hear, Paula had her fair share of controversy going into the event. So, the plan was to do the Canadian National Trial Championships on the Friday. It was Friday. Yeah, it was two days before. Yeah. And then to go race 70.3 Mont Trlant and her bike got lost in transit. She’s like the day before the race trying to hunt down anyone who can find her bike for her and get it over there. and they end up getting it the day before the event and having to drive four hours to the location to do the time trial championships. She gets up, does the time trial nationals and wins that for the third time in a row, which is crazy impressive. And then goes on her merry way to 70.3 Trevolant and wins that as well. So, it’s funny. I do I put out the press releases for cycling Canada and I still wanted to put in there um Paul Finley wins the TT and then wins the 70.3 but yeah that apparently the cyclists aren’t as interested in that. I thought it was pretty badass. One of the other things I saw too and she did all this without Eric there with her. Like usually like a lot of her good performances he’s there and actually it seems like recently a lot of her good performances he hasn’t been there. So maybe a change of guard there, but um he did send with her two different chains, one for the TT and one for the 70.3 race. Do you guys want to kind of explain to the listeners like why they might have done that? That’s a good question. Actually, I will say the bike tech to that degree I’m not as informed on. Unless she was changing out uh gearing between the two races, I’m not sure if she did anything there. Yeah, I would I would imagine it was probably a different chain ring as well too with the the flat typically TT course as opposed to Mont Trumblon. It’s got a little bit of elevation in it. Mhm. Definitely. Yeah, I’m guessing that would probably be the reason, but yeah, I’m not too sure on that one. Otherwise, interesting. So, no, it was great to see um that run with Tamara Juw. It’s like she hasn’t been kind of in the ranks for the last little while here. So, great to see that run coming back. She was I think she was like over eight minutes down on the bike. Um so she definitely ran her way up into the podium which is awesome to see. And even Ellie tried to stay with her kind of like Matthew with Ben. And like you got Tamar and Ben both having awful seasons in their books and both of them having phenomenal runs and and and second place finishes Canada out of nowhere. And yeah and Canada won too on the the women’s side. And yeah, like Fetty said, Ellie Salt House has had a pretty good season. I think that moved her up to ninth in the overall standings. Um there was one one tough um I saw Alice Alberts is having a hard time dealing. She got a a fiveminute drafting penalty and she said it was was her fault and so you take away five minutes and she was probably I don’t know one of the top two or three bike splits anyways without that and then that puts her in contention and she still moved up to eighth in the overall standings. But that’s huge for somebody who’s just trying to drop in another 70.3 when they’re again another full distance focused athlete. So tough tough for her, but I think she’s trying to take the lessons learned out of it. Yeah, there’s some talk too if um Ellie could possibly end up in the top 10 of the Iron Man Pro Series just to accept 7.3s. So be really curious to see um if that works out there, keep performing consistently. Makes sense that she could. She absolutely could if somebody misses. I mean I mean look what happened to Cat. She did a full but had to drop out, right? So that could happen to people that are maybe in the top 10. Um and then you get somebody like Ellie doing like 8,70.3s and having five good results. She’s good to go. Yeah, it was fun to see some good racing, too. It was the front runners were definitely off the front and running away with it, but it was nice to see we got a little bit of coverage of what was going on behind so that we could see some of those podium lacings and what actually happened back there. So, kudos to them for showing a little bit more of that because yeah, right now it just seems like we have a few races where there’s someone just going off the front. You never see them again. So, keeps it interesting if we got something else to watch in there. Yeah, absolutely. Definitely definitely a good weekend of what we hadn’t really expected to be that big of a race, but we knew Lionel was coming back, but uh they made it entertaining for sure. They did. It was good to see. Well, let’s go into our social media and what the f post of the week here. Josh, we’ll start with you. What do you got? What’s going on in socials? Well, mine’s going to kind of preempt one of the Olympic results that or trial teams that we’re we’re going to talk about, but I don’t know if anyone saw Taylor Reed’s post from New Zealand um earlier today and it was we’ve seen some upset and disappointed post and results. He didn’t let anything hold back. He didn’t hold anything back on this post. He literally has no clue how he didn’t make the New Zealand team. Um, and I definitely recommend checking out the post and and giving it a read and and giving him some kudos or support or your feedback. Um, let us know how you guys all feel. But yeah, check that post out. Taylor Reed, NZ, and uh, tough tough way for him. He’s had a good go at it, but we’ll talk a little bit more about that on on the the Olympic discussion of the pod. Yeah, disappointing for sure. He did a lot of um a lot of work for the team to get those spots to make sure that they were up in the rankings to not get that and have it be left down to discretionary choices. It’s got to be hard especially like he’s had such he mentions in his post that he had some of the fastest splits in the mixed relay which you would have thought for sure he’s a lock in there. Um yeah unfortunately they have decided to go a different way which is really unfortunate but you know there’s It’s a good bad problem when you got some talent and have to pick between people, but it was Yeah, would have been good to see him win there. Well, let’s move on to what the f and this has to do with someone that we talk about quite often on the podcast. Uh, last year it was mostly because he was on every start list everywhere regardless of distance. Um, but this time it could be because we might not see him on many more triathlon start lists in the future. But Christian Blumenfeld, there is a lot of rumors going around that he is close to signing a threeyear or three-year contract with the world tour cycling team, Jacob Alula. So, is Blumenfelt moving out of triathlon after the Olympics? Is that why he’s trying to get this last Kona spot to see what he can do at the Iron Man World Championships? Will he go entirely to cycling and be done with triathlon? or will he try to do a camp work where he kind of has a a foot in both camps at the end of the day? Really curious to see where this goes. But what do you guys think? Is he going to go all in on cycling or try to do both? I don’t know. I think it’s a case of uh let’s see how it goes and we’ll decide from there. Uh probably he’s going to enter a couple of one-day races and see what happens. Maybe some titting. Uh but uh the way uh Christian’s physique is uh built, he wouldn’t have a lot of chance when it comes with the smaller lighter guys. Not because he’s a very muscular guy and we know in cycling watts per kilo and going uphill is where the where they make their money. So maybe it’s a case of they’re using him as a domestic uh and maybe you know he loves to push himself. Uh probably the uh amount of races or victories he’s going to have cycling is not going to be compared to what he does in triathlon. But I believe this is like a win-win because Christian loves to push himself and uh cycling teams are well now Jacob is going to use that massive massive V2 to pull their guys up front and then have them fresh for for for the big big climbs. So yeah, we’ll see. Definitely exciting. I, you know, personally I think Gustaf more of a cyclist than Christian, but uh yeah, it’s definitely going to be interesting to see what happens. I don’t know what what Josh and you think about it. My initial reaction is there’s a lot of ties to um his current team, the technology with the Santara um technology. So the the cycling team’s already tied in with them. They all train up in Andor together. Um, so there was a natural overlap there, which at the level he’s at in triathlon, it would be weird to see him just drop it and go cycling full-time. In fact, they brought up a lot of good points. But we also know that when the Norwegians get specific for an event or they get specific for for one big race, they they dial it in. So maybe they want to see where they can take him and what can they do with the human body and human performance and and and he’s certainly been willing to learn it all. He’s a I mean he’s he’s a brainiac when it comes to this stuff, too. It’s not like he’s just the guinea pig. He wants to know everything that’s going on and and be involved and and help make a lot of the decisions that are being made by Gust or with Gustaf and and Olaf and and and the whole team. So, I wouldn’t push it past him, but my guess is he’s still going to balance it and and maybe go the cam war for Yeah, that’s what I’d assume in there, too. And while he’s definitely not a World Tour GC contender for by any means, um you could definitely see him on some of the classics and some of those one day hard races where it’s just about gritting through and having that engine that he does have, which is absolutely incredible. But I could see him as the lead out for some of those um some of those bigger stage races. Uh just pulling everyone along. But still has to make it around. I’m curious to see I guess basically what his bike handling skills are cuz riding in a pelon is a whole different beast than riding on your own on a TT bike. Like those guys are close. And I know he does it but that’s like 40 guys altogether. You’re talking like a couple hundred together, all closely packed and riding even tighter with some technical courses and stages, not some um parking lots and streets uh made technical by cones. So, I’d be curious to see how he does in some of those races, but you know what? You never know with Blue Belt and it’s always an adventure just to watch and see what happens. Yeah. I mean, and like Josh mentioned, like these guys are very scientific, so maybe Olaf was like, “Wait a minute, Taylor N is going to two uh disciplines in the Olympics. Why can’t we?” So maybe this is his way of saying, “Come on, we can do better than this. We in 2028, we’re going to do the triathlon and cycling and maybe some other random events.” So maybe this is his way of of testing things out and start um you know mapping the road for 2028. Yeah. You know, he saw Taylor’s doing four, he wants five or six in the next Olympics. But that’s something else we had um talked about was Taylor Nano is saying she’s going to be in the cycling road race as well. So, she’ll be starting the the time trial, the individual triath Olympic triathlon, the mixed team relay, and the cycling road race all casual one Olympic go just because why not? Why not? But I think that’s along the lines of the same reason why um with Paul Finley winning the time trial in Canada, um they’ve got two spots for the time trial and for road. So they’re going to be taking athletes more tailored towards the road race for the Canadian team. So unfortunately that means Paula will not be doing the time trial at the Olympics, but it sounds like they’re going for the time trial with Taylor in the US and then also having her maybe be as a domestic or be involved in the road race. And again, it’ll it’ll be interesting to see see how her bike handling skills are in a massive pelaton like that and if she even finishes it because I think Josh, you’re saying it’s before the mix team relay. So, is that the reason the US chose the athletes they did? So, maybe they keep her out of the mix team relay. I can’t it’s hard to imagine they’re going to let her do the road the individual the road race and then the mix team relay right afterwards. Like he got to be cooked at that point. I guess it really comes down to her decision and her team’s decision and her coach’s decision on what they want to do. But triathlon’s her sport. We just I mean we just had this Christian conversation. So it’s it’s kind of interesting to see how this plays out. Doing all four is crazy. And we had that conversation with Tommy on a previous podcast. It’s Yeah, we didn’t expect it. And if she does throw it in, does that mean that’s Kirsten Casper’s way into the mix team relay? Um, so I don’t know. I mean, Taylor earned the automatic bid, so USA Triathlon had no option that she was on the team, which we wanted anyways, but it doesn’t mean she’s on the mix team reload. Yeah, exactly. That’ll still be up to USA triathlon. Yeah, it’ be interesting. She would be an asset to have in the mixed team relay. Like she can do some attacks in there and make up some distance. So it’ be really a shame if she’s not doing the mixed team relay. Or is it a case of with USA cycling she has to start because they brought her out there? Yeah, I’m not too sure. Well, we’ll have to wait and see how it all rolls out at the Olympics here. It is definitely going to be an interesting one just even seeing who’s going to be out there. But um speaking of the Olympics, we did have a few more team announcements and there have been some upsets. We’ll say one of the ones everyone was kind of waiting for and we kind of alluded to some of the issues was uh team GB. We finally got the list of names and for the first time in four Olympics, there’s no Brownley on the start list this year. So, Team GB, they’ve got on the women’s side, Beth Potter, uh Georgia Taylor Brown, and Kate Wit Kate W, which that was another um bit of drama there too. I think it was it Sophie Caldwell um was trying to get this spot in there and they decided to go for Kate W and there was some um yeah they had to go to arbitration figure out uh if who they were going to pick for the Olympic team and they ended up sticking with Kate Wa and then on the men’s side we have Alex E which is a surprise to no one and Sam Dickinson instead of Johnny Brownley. What do you guys think about uh no Brownleys for the first time in so long? I think it was time. I mean, I think we were all kind of expecting this would be the year that it might not happen and this is this was going to be the end of the regime. Um now, Brother Brownley’s still out there trying to crush T 100 and he’s trying to figure out how to put one of those races fully together. So, they’re not done in triathlon. Um, but for the Olympic cycle, it looks like that is the end of it. Um, unless they need an alternate or uh or whatnot, but I I’m not surprised. I I I really wasn’t surprised. It didn’t sound like he was too surprised either. Um, and at the end of the day, they they went with what they thought was the best. It sounds like on the female side, it was a little tougher of a decision. Although, you know what? I’m kind of surprised because you wouldn’t like Alexi doesn’t really need a domestic in there. He’s been able to hold on to these bikes. And if you’re going to have anyone who’s going to pull out a surprise performance on one of the big days, it’s not going to be Sam Dickinson. It’s kind of those things where you have that Olympic experience and kind of have been there like there was the chance of something cool happening and especially so strong in the mix. I I was kind of surprised. Yeah. No. And and I we definitely have a vibe on the podcast too where you guys love the veterans and and the people with the you got the nuke that’s like always pushing for the the upset. I I like I like how Josh says you guys. So wait calling us the veterans. Um yeah. Yeah. It’s funny. You always seem to remember Yeah. You always seem to remember the people who were like when you got into the sport and honestly that was a problem for a long time with the uh the Iron Man broadcast. What was it was uh they talked about all the people they knew from the days that they were racing pro with kind of thing and we can definitely be guilty of that as well. Those the people that when you’re in the thick of it and so excited about training, you definitely tend to root for even though they’re getting older just as much as you are. Yeah, I definitely had a little bit of that imposttor syndrome when I was talking to Tim Dawn this week, too. I mean, that was just like speak of the old guard and he was reminiscing about his awful Boston Marathon experience and it was uh it was it was a really neat conversation. But again, like seeing some of the people that they’re talking about and and him specifically, it’s like it’s just really cool to be around that type of experience level in this sport. Um, the knowledge that he has is is crazy. And he he definitely got asked a lot about the short. So, Oh, yes. I can imagine. So, um, did we talk about Team USA? I can never even remember. We spend so much time chatting outside of this. I can’t remember what we talk about on the podcast and what we don’t. Um, I think we did, did we? We did touch on it. Yeah. Let’s see what else came out here. There’s a ton of controversy around uh I think it was team Italy. um seems to be there were some people resigning from the Italian Federation and some drama going around over a bunch of politics for who was chosen for the team even though there were much higher ranked athletes in the standings. So, sounds like there’s some drama there as well. Um team Canada got to give it a shout out there. But the first time we are not going to have a mixed team relay cuz we don’t have enough female athletes, which is very disappointing to see. We haven’t had the best last few years here when it came to racing after being on, you know, a hopeful high for a while with Tyler Mistlechuk having some good results in the um race ahead of the previous Olympics. But what else do we have going on here? Forget team Australia was also announced. Um, I don’t think there is any drama there. Did you guys hear of any? No. No, no drama there. Team South Africa, we’ve got Vicky Vandermir, and on the men’s side, Henry Skumman, Jamie Riddle. Uh, nothing too crazy there. And then team New Zealand, I think, is the last one that has been announced. On the women’s side, we have Anley Thorp and Nicole Vander. And on the men’s side, Hayden Wild and Dylan Mulla. So, of course, no surprise with uh Hidden Wild being up there. It’ll be really interesting to see how this goes down. Are we going to have another uh uh Hayden and Alex showdown for the medals without a Well, will we have another Blumenfeld up there? Yeah, man. Who knows what they’re going to lock in for this race? He we’ve talked about it. I mean, he has and I I’ve listened to his most recent episode, too, where he just things went wrong in Yokohama. um he didn’t have the race he won and then Kaggler had the mechanicals. Um so I think he was in a better spot already for Kaggler and now they are so race Olympic specific now that who knows what what Christian’s going to show up. I mean I think I think we all expect the best one and and that distance specific ready to go. But Alex and Hayden certainly are out there. Christian talks a lot about don’t don’t forget about Morgan too. I mean, the the year he’s been having, he’s been on fire for sure. And have you guys heard about the latest um controversy with the Olympics that they’re not going to be providing air conditioners? So, several countries are bringing their own air conditioners to the Olympic Village. Oh, it’s a whole thing now. Yeah. Apparently, they’re just they’re not going to include it. Like Europe hot if it’s like hot hot is different than the US. It’s like everyone has air conditioning in the US. So at least you get a reprieve of it. Yeah. You get a heat wave going through France and there’s no air conditioning and they’re not built to stay cool. That that’s going to be unpleasant. Sounds like a potential advertisement for like an ice bathtub or something like that. One of those sponsor the entire athletes village. Yeah, portable air conditioning coming soon. There we go. Get it done. But, you know, it speaks to another thing though, like that definitely puts some of the less wellunded countries at a disadvantage. If you have the uh the big first world countries coming in, they’ve all got their air conditioning, everything dialed in, and then, you know, some countries may not be able to afford providing that for their athletes. So, yeah, it just it seems like an odd choice. I know France is feeling like they’ve spent a lot of money on this, which is fair, but air conditioning that seems like it should be a given. Yeah, especially in the middle of summer. Yeah, it gets warm. Time. Yeah. Well, we have had some fun kind of talking about the Olympics and we’re definitely looking forward to see how those races shake out. But Josh, you had some fun going into an even shorter distance um with uh Super Try and some announcements going on there. Do you want to tell us about it? Yeah, so Super Try officially had their kickoff for the upcoming season, which starts here in Boston on August 18th and then goes from here to Chicago. So, I think it was Wednesday night, they had a kickoff party in Boston. Um, and we had the event organizer, which is called Boston Triathlon. It’s a a long-standing sprint and Olympic distance race here in just south of Boston, and you get to race off an awesome bay and then bike through the city and some of the suburbs and and then an awesome little coastal run. And that event’s been going on for years. he was able to connect with the Super Try uh ownership and and now with the new team partnership franchise uh setup which I believe that fourth team is about to be announced any day now. Um, and they they did announce that um that that would be coming. So, it would have all four teams, but Tim Dawn was there representing uh Podium Racing Team and was they had a nice Q&A panel with with the members. Um, and he was just really excited about the opportunity to come to these bigger cities like Boston and Chicago, the the the athletes who are under contract and and all of these athletes are already under contract. They know who these teams are are consist of. Um, I did get some information that was four of the five US athletes are under contract for Super League. Um, what four, we don’t know yet. And I believe it’s like over 85 90% of the contracted athletes are going to be coming from Paris to Boston to do that first race. So, you want to talk about being in shape and being ready to go, they’re they’re they’re going to be ready to ready to go. Um, and it’s really cool because it’s a it’s a sprint and Olympic already existing. And this is one of the things I think they’re going to do throughout the the local races is the sprint’s going to go, the Olympics going to go and use their normal courses and then they have a little bit separate transition area set up and the whole super try look and feel is in a different area. So that race will start after the sprint in the Olympic. Um, so all of the age group athletes will actually get to come out, participate, have some post-race refreshments and and watch and be at uh the Super Try event. Way to do it. Yeah. Yeah. So, that’s going to be really cool to bring the crowd in with people who care and about the sport alone. Um, and they’ve partnered with some of the local uh tourist boards and and companies that are going to help promote it. So, those campaigns are going to start to kick off. Um and and some bibs will go to some local triathletes. I’m going to be getting a a bib to the Olympic which will be really cool. Um be my first Olympic distance on August 18th. And uh yeah, it’s just it was a really well-run event. They had some great food. It was hosted at one of these new uh F1 arcade facilities. So I don’t know if you guys have ever seen that. So Jenny, it’s literally a facility of like maybe a thousand F1 simulators that So the whole place is packed with just people from Boston being there as an activity to do on a Wednesday night. And then we had a little private room in the back that maybe had like 10 simulators um in a bar and stuff for private events. So really cool facility. I guess they’re popping up all over the place. This one just opened a couple weeks ago. That is my kind of bar to go to. That’d be so much fun. Oh, that sounds wicked. Yeah, it’ll be fun to see uh the next team announced in there and get that get them rolling. Really? Yeah, Super League seems to change things up every year and this thing’s no different. Uh did they happen to mention if they’ll have continue to have the short? So, it is going to be the enduro style. So, um swim by grunt, swim by grunt, swim by run. Um we will have the the cut offs um and then obviously there’s no cut off if somebody’s that far ahead of somebody else. um that rule has been put in place, but they will have the short and it doesn’t necessarily go to the swimmer that gets it or or so we know there was some controversy around Hayden Wild last year and and and Tim was certainly asked those questions and it just comes down to strategy and on the-fly decision- making but in play. Yeah. No, he’s awesome. He’s just loves the sport. so into it, has so much experience with it. He’s always been a fun person to chat to and definitely knows his stuff. So, be curious to see how this next Super League season goes down. It’ll be fun to watch and see how, you know, the changes actually makes up the racing. I don’t know if it’s going to have too much effect on the actual races, just more so how the teams are structured and the athletes in there. But, you know what? They do such a good job at getting this fast, furious, short racing that people who aren’t into triathon are more likely to watch, let’s be honest, than, you know, three hours of a T100 or eight hours of Iron Man. Hopefully, they have all the technical stuff worked out, too, so we can see a lot more splits and information on screen and yeah, really make it something fun to watch. No. And and that’s I mean there’s the whole individual race. There’s the team race as we all know. There’s the seasonl long um individual bonuses. There’s the swim bonus. There’s the the the run bonus. So there’s a whole bunch of different incentives for the athletes and and for the fans to to keep track of. Um it’s definitely fan friendly because it is quick um and fun and exciting. So, they’re hoping that this new format and franchise kind of holds and it becomes more of that F1 type of mentality and and and takes off. So, we’ll see how it goes. I think they’re all excited about it. Um, if you’re in the Boston area, want to be part of one of these. I know the Boston Triathlon still has registration spots open. So, same with Chicago. It’s an opportunity to get your own racing done and and then be there for these literally Olympic athletes coming right out of the Olympics and in top-notch form running as individuals and teammates. So excited about that. Yeah, I’ve been to a bunch of the Super Bowl previously super league events and if you can go to one to spectate, they make it a whole party, a whole event. It’s some really cool energy and because they do such short races with laps all around and stuff, you’re seeing the athletes constantly and you’re seeing what’s going down and they’re good with having big screens and announcer on site so you know what’s happening even if you’re not watching the feed. So check it out if you can. Those are always a blast to go see. Well, I think the last thing we have going on here is another Iron Man Pro Series 70.3 going on this weekend. And we debated how to pronounce this prior to the podcast and I still have no idea. So it is Iron Man 70.3 Lea Delon vendi maybe we um yeah Canadian but definitely do not speak French. So that is my best guess at it. But we will start with the women’s side. Uh some of the top names we got in there. Emily Morier, Margelan Kuran, Mast Nielson, Chelen Bell, Koli, Pamela Olivera, Danielle, uh Nick Bartlett, a few other names along there. And then on the men’s side, actually, let’s go into the women’s first. Not the most packed start list, we’ll say. We’re definitely getting into the thick of Iron Man racing and a lot of the Iron Man Pro Series athletes are obviously prioritizing those three Iron Mans that they can have included. So, it seems like some of these 70.3s are a little softer in between. But let’s start with you Vet. Who do you think is going to take the race this weekend? Um, I am going to take a local French with Marjorie Pierre. I think she has her own legs to back and she knows the course like the back of her hand. So, I think it’s the easy pick. Uh, so yeah, I’m choosing her. Sounds good. How about you, Josh? Who do you got this weekend? Jenny, you can go next. Okay, we need to go first one of these days, too. You haven’t gone first in a while. Oh, true. Maybe I’ll save it for the races where I’ve got to figure I know what we definitely We should do the uh the daily try u pics in there, too, and post those up. Those are a lot of fun. Um, you know what? I’m gonna go Pamela Alivera. I think she’s gonna go Trinidad. Have a great result over there this weekend. How about you Josh? I’ll go with F1. Emily, I I I I believe what Fed I was actually going to go Margarine as well too because I think that whole French aspect home territory and and understanding the the lay of the land is going to be a big factor here with not as deep of a field. So, I’ll go with Emily Mor. Sounds good. Okay. On the men’s side, we have Rico Bogen, Gustaf Eden, Clementan, Arno Gio, Nicholas Ket, Nicholas Man, Matias Ceelli, uh, let’s see. Oh, Mega Rail, Cam Warf, Rasmus, Spenson, George Goodwin, yeah, some few decent names on here. So, we’ll start again with you, Petty. Who do you think is going to take it this weekend? Uh, well, I I know you guys know who I’m I’m going to pick. Uh, yeah, I can’t cannot choose o other than Gustav for this race. So, thank you for picking me first. Um, yeah, Gustav, he’s going to take it. I don’t know. His run doesn’t seem like it’s quite back where I was I was looking at that, but I don’t know if his run is quite back where he needs it to be to be up in the top. I listen to some of the Norwegian method podcast. He’s he’s not running fully yet. Yeah. No, fair enough. Um, let me go Clement Minion. I think he’s going to pull it out here. Same deal Josh saying there. French got the atmosphere, got the crowds cheering for you, ready to get it out there. How about you, Josh? I’m going to go with our buddy who was not able to be a part of the photo finish at T100 San Francisco and Enrico Boen coming wire to wire on this one. That’s a good shout. You would not that would not be a surprise. Awesome. Well, we’ll look forward to watching that hopefully with a few less issues and getting to see the broadcast, but should be some more fun racing this weekend. Anything else you guys wanted to chat about before we close it out today? I forgot I did get some good news today. Uh what’s that? Un unexpected. I totally forgot I even registered, but New York City has all these marathons have major uh ways of getting in and and they’ve been asking for people to like do a sweep stakes, whatever. And then they threw one out there last week or two weeks ago about a virtual registration for New York. And you could do you have to do a virtual marathon this year within the week of the New York City Marathon. So October 28th to November 3rd, you have to do a version. Well, it was a lottery again and I have friends who didn’t get it and then all of a sudden I saw the email come through that I got in. So with that comes awesome. With that comes a guaranteed entry to next year’s New York City Marathon. Congratulations. That’s I’ll be running New York in 2025. That’ll be a very very cool experience. So Chicago, New York checked. And if if Chicago goes well, Boston will be 2026. There we go. You know, I tried to find um a charity one for Chicago. Couldn’t find anything that had any spots left in there. So, if anyone hears of anyone who can get into uh Chicago there, let me know. We actually have another friend that was with us at Pelaton this weekend from Boston. She’s um she’s looking for one, too. So, Janine and I said we would be doing some research and seeing if we can reach out to our foundation to know see if they know of anyone. I’ll let you know. Let me know if you find any because that’d be a lot of fun. I know there’s one through the Phoenix Foundation, but that is very, very pricey. So, not gonna go that far. Ours is under $2,000. That’s Chicago’s in New York. It’s Yeah. Awesome. Well, congratulations. That’s exciting. That’ll be a very cool experience to go run the New York City Marathon. Definitely something on the bucket list to attempt one of these days in Boston. I should Yeah, one of these days going to try Boston. I mean, these are all stepping stones to get to Boston for me, but I’ll take them along the way. There we go. Wicked. Well, as always, thanks for joining me, guys, and we are going to follow along with all the racing this weekend and be back next week to chat all about it. But have a great night. Have a good one, everyone. Have a good one, guys. [Music]