# Crazy Norwegian Training Method Exposed

An episode of [The Triathlon Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1595443343), 28 Sep 2025, 1 h 22 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2640942/episodes/19698023-crazy-norwegian-training-method-exposed.mp3

The boys are back for the weekly pod and on the agenda today is Appo’s downfall into Pretender-hood, details on the daily pods for Kona next week, Ironman 70.3 Augusta, Joe Skipper joins us for some updates and hot takes, how to train 7-14 days out from a race, Fred Funk & Kyle Smith facing public backlash, Contender or Pretender returns, things that annoyed us and made us happy in triathlon this week and we read your Spotify comments to wrap up the pod! Lever: Use the code TTH for 20% off your Lever system Lever Precision: Use the code TTH25 to get 15% off your first order with Precision at Precision Fuel & Hydration or subscribe to the Patreon and access the link that will save you 20% on every order, not just your first Patreon Patreon: We put a lot of time & energy into bringing you this podcast every week and have done for 4 years now. If you appreciate what we do, we would love your support and you can do so for less than the cost of a coffee per week on Patreon - Patreon link

## Transcript

[0:28] SPEAKER_01: Yes, we are back, pretenders.
[0:30] SPEAKER_01: Another week here on the Trithlon Out.
[0:32] SPEAKER_01: And I tell you what, ever since we did the daily pods leading into the men's Iron Man World Championships in Nice, seven days between podcasts just feels like a lifetime.
[0:40] SPEAKER_01: Like I'll get back on with the boys and I think, why aren't we doing this every day?
[0:44] SPEAKER_01: Speaking of the boys, I'm joined by a little bit of a different crew to usual.
[0:48] SPEAKER_01: We've got our man Greg Harper here, the most opinionated man in Triton, the third best swimmer in Triton, although that's dropping by the day.
[0:55] SPEAKER_01: He's here.
[0:55] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think I'm actually going to get uh our guest today to start coaching me so I can jump up the swim rankings.
[1:01] SPEAKER_03: Uh but thanks for having me, Jack.
[1:03] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[1:04] SPEAKER_01: Now, why that's funny is because we're joined not by Sam Appleton, who is arguably one of the better swimmers in Triton, but we're joined by our other regular co-host, Joe Skipper, who maybe not known for his swim pedigree and Greg already starting the podcast with a bit of piss taking.
[1:20] SPEAKER_00: I would be up for coaching him though, to be honest.
[1:23] SPEAKER_00: I think I could uh get him up the rankings.
[1:26] SPEAKER_01: What would you what would you do with his if you if you took over Greg Harper's swim program today, Joe, what would you do?
[1:32] SPEAKER_00: Get him wearing a watch so he can record his data for starters.
[1:37] SPEAKER_00: So we know what he's doing.
[1:39] SPEAKER_01: Get him straight into a three to four by one thousand meter effort tomorrow.
[1:43] SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
[1:43] SPEAKER_00: I think he needs some more like longer threshold reps, a bit more tempo in the pool.
[1:48] SPEAKER_00: He's flagging a bit towards the end of races.
[1:51] SPEAKER_00: Tempo skipper, baby.
[1:54] SPEAKER_01: Joe, we're gonna come back and chat to you very quickly about your race at Iron Man World Championships.
[1:59] SPEAKER_01: But before we did that, um, Iron Man 70.3 Augusta and Iron Man Chattanooga are happening as we speak.
[2:05] SPEAKER_01: Augusta's literally just finished.
[2:07] SPEAKER_01: Jason West and Paula Finlay uh have won both of those races.
[2:11] SPEAKER_01: So shout out to both of them.
[2:12] SPEAKER_01: Absolute forces in North American races.
[2:15] SPEAKER_01: But the big talking point is our regular co-host, who obviously couldn't join us because he's racing.
[2:21] SPEAKER_01: Sam Appledom was going for four from four.
[2:24] SPEAKER_01: He was three from three uh races done and won since starting the podcast.
[2:28] SPEAKER_01: And um the streak's over.
[2:30] SPEAKER_01: Apo hasn't even got close.
[2:32] SPEAKER_01: He's finished fourth.
[2:33] SPEAKER_01: And probably the funniest part of it is that our old co-host, who we kicked off because he simply wasn't good enough and we wanted to upgrade to Apo, has beaten him in Ari Clow finishing second.
[2:44] SPEAKER_02: Woo!
[2:45] SPEAKER_03: Wow.
[2:46] SPEAKER_03: I mean I think you're gonna have to change that intro for Apo.
[2:50] SPEAKER_03: I mean, we're hyping him up, 21 time champ, but he just got beat by Ari and uh didn't even make the podium in a North American non-pro series.
[2:58] SPEAKER_03: It's like, does that null all his wins before?
[3:01] SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
[3:01] SPEAKER_03: Uh he's got some explaining to do, that's for sure.
[3:03] SPEAKER_01: And Greg, you've given him one too many wins there.
[3:05] SPEAKER_01: He was going for 21.
[3:07] SPEAKER_01: He's stranded on 20.
[3:08] SPEAKER_01: He might never get past 20.
[3:10] SPEAKER_03: He doesn't have 21.
[3:11] SPEAKER_03: Oh, I don't even know why he's a co-host, dude.
[3:15] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, I think um I think Apo's going to be getting a pretenders t-shirt in seven days' time because you guys might not know this, but on the group chat behind the scenes, Apo just he relentlessly calls me and Greg pretent pretenders, and like it's kind of like a running joke with him that he's above us, he's a contender, and we've been waiting for the day for this to happen ever since he started on the podcast for him to fall off the cliff and come and join us down here in Pretenderville.
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I mean, I'm not in your little WhatsApp group, so I don't know what goes on in there.
[3:46] SPEAKER_00: I haven't been uh added to that yet, is it?
[3:48] SPEAKER_00: Um, but fair play to Ari though, second place.
[3:50] SPEAKER_00: Like that's uh must be your coach, and uh Jack.
[3:53] SPEAKER_00: You obviously uh have worked your magic on him because that's got to be his best result today, isn't it?
[3:58] SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, by a mile.
[4:00] SPEAKER_01: And um just just so people know, there's a very good reason why you're not on the group chat, Joe.
[4:05] SPEAKER_01: And I I want to do like a public opinion vote right now because full transparency, I'm pissed off right now.
[4:12] SPEAKER_01: I'm starting the podcast in a bad mood.
[4:14] SPEAKER_01: I nearly just said I'm not fucking doing it today because Joe has come on, so we get on to like our our riverside call, we start having a bit of a chat before we do the podcast, and Joe goes, What about Tade Pagatra today?
[4:28] SPEAKER_01: And so I don't know what that means.
[4:30] SPEAKER_01: That could mean he's had a great race or a bad race.
[4:32] SPEAKER_01: This is for the UCI Road World Championships.
[4:35] SPEAKER_01: And I stop Joe, I say, Joe, stop.
[4:37] SPEAKER_01: I haven't watched it, I'm gonna watch it after this.
[4:40] SPEAKER_01: What is the right thing to do there?
[4:41] SPEAKER_01: Greg, what's your opinion?
[4:42] SPEAKER_01: What's the right thing to do in that moment?
[4:44] SPEAKER_03: Well, maybe you just say, um, sorry, uh, I'll I'll shut up.
[4:49] SPEAKER_03: But I don't know how they do in the UK because uh Joe seemed to take that as a cue to just keep talking more in depth about the race.
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I probably shouldn't have.
[4:58] SPEAKER_00: But to be honest, you're not missing much.
[5:00] SPEAKER_03: Oh there he goes again.
[5:01] SPEAKER_00: Tell us not to be.
[5:03] SPEAKER_00: I haven't said anything about what I haven't.
[5:05] SPEAKER_00: I just said you're not missing much.
[5:06] SPEAKER_01: Yes, you did.
[5:07] SPEAKER_01: You literally said you literally went on to start saying something about how he attacks from ages out.
[5:11] SPEAKER_01: Like I think.
[5:12] SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, but you should see Remco.
[5:13] SPEAKER_00: You should see Remco later, though.
[5:15] SPEAKER_01: Stop, John! You are an absolute prick, mate.
[5:20] SPEAKER_00: You have no idea what's going on.
[5:22] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay.
[5:23] SPEAKER_01: I don't know exactly what happens, but I'm assuming it means that Tade does a massive attack and just dominates and wins by a fair bit of time.
[5:30] SPEAKER_00: Now Pidcock was pretty special, mate.
[5:34] SPEAKER_01: Pidcock lives about 200 metres away from me, Joe.
[5:37] SPEAKER_01: Um uh yeah, I'm pissed off.
[5:39] SPEAKER_01: That's like that, you just don't do that.
[5:41] SPEAKER_00: You don't do the dancing until do dawn, mate, 200 metres away from you tonight.
[5:45] SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
[5:48] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so Pidcock podiums.
[5:50] SPEAKER_01: You're I fucking hate you.
[5:51] SPEAKER_01: Oh, let's let's move on.
[5:53] SPEAKER_01: Let's get into your race.
[5:54] SPEAKER_01: What did you come?
[5:55] SPEAKER_01: Something like 30th or something.
[5:56] SPEAKER_01: You had a shit race.
[5:58] SPEAKER_01: Talk to me about it.
[5:59] SPEAKER_00: That was actually not a bad race, to be fair.
[6:02] SPEAKER_00: Like, um I uh the standard on the bike was just insane.
[6:07] SPEAKER_00: Like in uh Nice, to be fair.
[6:09] SPEAKER_00: Like the first two hours, I mean, I did a 70.3 the week before, and um got the fastest bike split, and some of the guys that were in it um are not too bad.
[6:19] SPEAKER_00: They've had some quite good results, and my first two hours in Nice, I rode a higher power than what I did um in the 70.3 the week before, and had the fastest bike split and rode three minutes into the lead group.
[6:32] SPEAKER_00: Um, so uh yeah, I couldn't really do any more.
[6:36] SPEAKER_00: Like I exceeded the power numbers that I thought I would do in the Iron Man, um, felt it a bit towards the end and blew up a little, but that was just because of the group that I was I was in.
[6:46] SPEAKER_00: Like when we started the climb, I was in the perfect position.
[6:49] SPEAKER_00: You know, I was with like Leon, Cam, um Sam Long, um Matt Marquardt, um, all the hitters, and um going up the climb.
[6:59] SPEAKER_00: And I mean, caught Patrick Lang, for instance, on the climb.
[7:02] SPEAKER_00: So we'd already put like three or four minutes into him, caught Beckard, loads of uh decent riders, but unfortunately, there was still about 20 people further ahead.
[7:13] SPEAKER_00: But I could my power was as good as I could do, like it wasn't bad.
[7:18] SPEAKER_00: I mean, 350 watts average for the first for just under two hours to the top of the climb, 360 something normalized in an Iron Man.
[7:25] SPEAKER_00: I can't do any more than that.
[7:27] SPEAKER_00: That's that is as good as it I can do.
[7:29] SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'm still losing five minutes to the front of the race.
[7:32] SPEAKER_03: It is kind of crazy.
[7:33] SPEAKER_03: There was there was like those six guys, and they all biked like low 430s, and then pretty much no one in between.
[7:40] SPEAKER_03: And then you guys got you know, you had like the Marquad at 439, you were 46, Sam Long was 442, like uh they just went so freaking fast.
[7:49] SPEAKER_03: And Rudy Von Berg had made a post too.
[7:51] SPEAKER_03: It's like, yeah, I kind of rode like a 70.3, and then I was getting kind of spit out the back.
[7:55] SPEAKER_03: So those guys were doing something crazy up there, eh?
[7:58] SPEAKER_00: I mean, for instance, like when we were on the climb, I was with Sam, and like I thought when we'd looked at a lot of the data pre-race, you know, like on um my windsock and stuff, and I'd kind of like we did the maths on like what I was weighing and like my setup and everything like that, what I would need to hold on the main climb.
[8:16] SPEAKER_00: And I thought 370 for just under 50 minutes would be pretty good, you know.
[8:21] SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't be at the front, like good enough to be this as the fastest up there, but it would be good enough to go up there like Rudy's kind of speed of what he did the previous year, looking at his VAM and stuff like that, and looking at the data.
[8:32] SPEAKER_00: And I thought that would be okay because then once I get over the top, obviously it favours me a lot more, you know, it's flatter, it's more it's more undulating rather than like a big climb.
[8:40] SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I did just under 370 watts on the climb, and that was can after doing the kickers before that, like 450 to 500 watts average up every single one.
[8:49] SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was nowhere near it, nowhere near enough.
[8:53] SPEAKER_00: And I spoke to Sam long afterwards, and he said he did 385 watts up the climb for 46, 47 minutes, and he's losing four minutes, and he says he can't believe it because he says he does normally does 390 up Snow Canyon in 70.3 St George and he'll ride away from people, and that's only 13 minutes.
[9:10] SPEAKER_00: He just did like five watts less for 35 watts, 35 minutes longer, and he's lost three or four minutes, so literally just couldn't do any more.
[9:18] SPEAKER_00: And I mean, he ran a two, he managed to back it up with a 239 marathon.
[9:22] SPEAKER_00: I was pretty I was a bit fatigued when I got off the bike, but also you you don't really have the same motivation to spank yourself on the run when you're in like starting the run in like 35th position, you know, like it's a bit different if you're going for you're in the mix for a top 10, top, you know, you kind of you push it a bit more, don't you?
[9:41] SPEAKER_00: I mean, let's be honest.
[9:42] SPEAKER_00: Like when you get off and you're not even in the top 30, you're not gonna kill yourself for for it.
[9:46] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've run it like reasonably hard, fairly hard.
[9:49] SPEAKER_00: I didn't feel amazing on the run, but I think that was just because I went so hard for the first two hours.
[9:53] SPEAKER_00: But then I kind of feel like I had to in a way with who I was with um at that time, you know, because I I thought if I got over the top of the climb with them, then it would be pretty good because we could all take turns.
[10:06] SPEAKER_00: But Leon on the climb kind of put in a big dig, broke up the group, and then it seems like he blew up before the top of the climb because Matt and Cam caught him and dropped him.
[10:18] SPEAKER_00: But I feel like that was a bit of a bad move for our group.
[10:21] SPEAKER_00: I feel like if we had rode strong up the climb and five or six of us would have actually got to the top, and then we were able to work hard on the other side, we might have done a bit better.
[10:30] SPEAKER_00: I mean, to be honest, I don't know if that would have panned out, but it might have.
[10:34] SPEAKER_00: But Matt Marquat was so strong.
[10:36] SPEAKER_00: Like when we caught him after he'd like finished cramping, he was leading our group and he led it up all the kickers, and he was absolutely killing us.
[10:46] SPEAKER_00: And then I thought on the descent before the main climb, in my head, I thought he was going to be a terrible descender uh because he does a lot of riding on Zwift.
[10:55] SPEAKER_00: I thought, you know, no no offense, Greg, but normally Americans aren't too good on the descent.
[11:00] SPEAKER_00: But he was fast on the descent.
[11:02] SPEAKER_00: He he broke our group up and like Cam was happy to ride behind him.
[11:06] SPEAKER_00: And me and Ben Hill went past Leon and he dropped Leon on the descent.
[11:09] SPEAKER_00: Uh, put about 10-15 seconds into him, and I was really impressed with with his riding.
[11:15] SPEAKER_00: Like he was so super strong.
[11:17] SPEAKER_00: And I mean, you take out his cramp, and if he hadn't have cramped and he'd managed to ride that hard from the start, Kay would have been in the mix off the bike.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, he was.
[11:25] SPEAKER_00: I mean, he must have just rode away.
[11:26] SPEAKER_00: Looking at the results at the end, he must have just rode away from Cam and the others.
[11:30] SPEAKER_00: I I don't think he even attacked him.
[11:32] SPEAKER_00: I think he just rode hard and no one could go with him.
[11:34] SPEAKER_01: Quick question for you.
[11:35] SPEAKER_01: And uh apologies for saying you had a shit race.
[11:37] SPEAKER_01: I actually think considering you came out of the water in 50th that far back, that getting up to 26 was uh uh the time out of the water wasn't right because I didn't have a timing chip.
[11:46] SPEAKER_00: So really like yeah, I was uh at the front of that group that came out of the water, basically.
[11:51] SPEAKER_01: Because I was thinking you were like seven or eight minutes out back out of the water, but you were No, I was five minutes out of the water.
[11:57] SPEAKER_01: Uh okay.
[11:58] SPEAKER_00: Well So basically I was at the front of the group with Cam and those guys in.
[12:02] SPEAKER_01: Oh wow.
[12:03] SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, okay.
[12:04] SPEAKER_01: Um, so about 30, 40 seconds up the road.
[12:06] SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I mean, I was just angry at you about the world champs thing, but it wasn't a shit race.
[12:11] SPEAKER_01: But but my big question is where now?
[12:13] SPEAKER_01: Because like we know you're not getting any younger, you're almost you're almost 40.
[12:17] SPEAKER_01: You're probably not God, give me a break, mate.
[12:20] SPEAKER_00: I'm not nearly 40 yet.
[12:21] SPEAKER_00: You're almost 40.
[12:22] SPEAKER_01: You came you came fifth at the I Man World Championships a few years ago, and and now you've come 30th and 25th or sixth.
[12:29] SPEAKER_01: Um, the last couple of goes around at 10 years.
[12:31] SPEAKER_00: 24th this time, I think it was.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
[12:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[12:34] SPEAKER_01: So what now?
[12:35] SPEAKER_01: Like, are you are you gonna have a big crack at Kona next year?
[12:38] SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna target some weaker races?
[12:40] SPEAKER_01: Where where does your career go now?
[12:42] SPEAKER_00: I think I'll do the IM New Zealand, the start of the Pro Series, and see how it goes.
[12:48] SPEAKER_00: Um and if that goes well, then I'll pursue the Pro Series and uh definitely go to Kona if I qualify and would like to do a good race.
[12:55] SPEAKER_00: I don't think the performance was bad.
[12:58] SPEAKER_00: Like looking at a number perspective, I think that was as good as I would have ever done power wise.
[13:02] SPEAKER_00: Um so I mean, you can you can only do the best you can do, and that was on pet, that was power wise actually pretty decent.
[13:11] SPEAKER_00: Um, I really feel like I've improved my swim quite a bit over the last six, like since Roth.
[13:16] SPEAKER_00: If you look at how far back I was outside of Roth and the times that I've been hitting in the pool, I really feel like I'm going in the right direction with that.
[13:22] SPEAKER_00: So I think if I stick to that over the winter and I can keep making some good progress, that could put me in a good position getting out of the water.
[13:29] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I'd like to try uh some of the bigger races.
[13:32] SPEAKER_00: I don't think the Nice course was ideal for me.
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, obviously being like nearly 80 kilos, but I gave it a go because it was the world championships and you want to be at the world's um if you qualify and give it your best shot.
[13:44] SPEAKER_00: So that was why I was there.
[13:45] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I just definitely want to go to Kona.
[13:47] SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna pick weaker races.
[13:50] SPEAKER_00: I'd like to just do races that motivate me really, like courses that suit me, um, race against some decent names and uh yeah, try and try and beat them.
[13:58] SPEAKER_00: I mean, I didn't have a great run in this one, and I haven't had a good run really in an Iron Man for a little while off the bike.
[14:05] SPEAKER_00: But in training, I'm actually running probably the best I ever have.
[14:10] SPEAKER_00: I just haven't managed to execute at the end of an Iron Man, which is it which is a bit frustrating because when you see what you're doing in training, you're hitting like best times and you're doing sessions really well, and I don't mean just like killing yourself in training, you know, you can have like a best session where you don't necessarily hit your best paces, but the perceived effort is pretty good as well, you know.
[14:31] SPEAKER_00: Like I can hit like similar times to what I have done, but the perceived effort feels really comfortable.
[14:36] SPEAKER_00: I've been doing like pretty much the best I have, but I just haven't been able to execute it at the end of an Iron Man, which is yeah, it is a little bit frustrating, but um that shows to me, you know, if you can do it in training and you keep training hard, eventually, you know, it's gonna happen on race day.
[14:51] SPEAKER_00: And um, yeah, when I've done some of my best runs before, they've actually come off training that wasn't really anything special, to be fair.
[14:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think if I could execute a run like I did in Wales again, this is pretty much as good as what anyone's doing at the moment.
[15:06] SPEAKER_03: So are you like motivated?
[15:08] SPEAKER_03: You're like, okay, I did well for myself.
[15:10] SPEAKER_03: Is there a part of you who's like, fuck, the front of the race was so fast.
[15:14] SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm showing up to Kona next year, top ten's the best I do, or you're like, no, that my junkyard dog still got some fight.
[15:20] SPEAKER_03: Like I I can I can get up there.
[15:22] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't think uh I mean the course didn't really suit me.
[15:26] SPEAKER_00: It wasn't a course uh for me.
[15:28] SPEAKER_00: And uh I don't I definitely don't think like you could limit yourself to saying the top ten's the best you can do because if you look at results in history in Kona, like I mean, look at Leon for instance.
[15:38] SPEAKER_00: He was where was he third in Kona last year?
[15:40] SPEAKER_00: It was one position in front of me in Nice.
[15:42] SPEAKER_00: Like, is he gonna go to Kona next year and say like uh, you know, like top 10's the best he can do?
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, I was basically where he was, and um the on the flat, uh like specifically at the start, like on the flat bits in Nice, I felt really like fast on the run out to uh to to the kickers, but obviously the kickers don't really suit me.
[16:02] SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm racing people that are like 10-12 kilos lighter.
[16:05] SPEAKER_00: You know, when the gradient's like over eight percent, it comes down to more power to weight.
[16:09] SPEAKER_00: So if they're putting out 400 watts, I've got to put out like 450, 460 watts.
[16:13] SPEAKER_00: So it's not a course.
[16:14] SPEAKER_03: Just get stronger, man.
[16:16] SPEAKER_03: Come on.
[16:17] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but like I'll I'll train you on the bike, you train me in the swim, and we will just soar to the top of the leaderboard.
[16:24] SPEAKER_03: Wrong, wrong, wrong direction.
[16:27] SPEAKER_03: How can we tank our careers?
[16:31] SPEAKER_01: No, I I think I think shout out to you, Joe.
[16:34] SPEAKER_01: Like, I like that you just keep showing up to the biggest races in the world, whether you come fifth or twenty-fifth.
[16:39] SPEAKER_01: I don't I I like it and I respect it.
[16:41] SPEAKER_00: But look at Magnus.
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: He blew up on the uh, he put a lot of effort in on the bike, and the he's a bigger guy, and he blew up on the run.
[16:47] SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
[16:48] SPEAKER_01: I think Nice and Kona are different races.
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: I'm with you.
[16:50] SPEAKER_01: And I I can see how you can have a bad race relative to the field at Nice, but good for yourself and be like, nah, I can come back and do better at Kona next year.
[16:58] SPEAKER_00: The biggest guy in Nice, like when you look at the big guys, I think the first big guy to actually do well was Sam Long.
[17:06] SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're talking like 80 kilos.
[17:08] SPEAKER_01: I think Sam Laidlow is a pretty big guy relative to Sam.
[17:11] SPEAKER_00: He's slim though, man.
[17:12] SPEAKER_01: Like he's skinny, yeah.
[17:13] SPEAKER_01: But he's like six foot two, six foot.
[17:14] SPEAKER_00: 74, 75 kilos, something like that.
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: Like, he's not like 80 kilos, is he?
[17:20] SPEAKER_00: And that extra five kilos is you know, that's a that's quite a bit, isn't it?
[17:24] SPEAKER_00: Like on the glimme.
[17:25] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: That's 25, 30 watts.
[17:28] SPEAKER_01: You could definitely be right.
[17:29] SPEAKER_01: I I do think I agree.
[17:30] SPEAKER_01: Now, speaking of, we're two weeks out from Kona.
[17:33] SPEAKER_01: That means that the daily podcasts start in exactly one week from now.
[17:37] SPEAKER_01: And I'm not gonna give anything away, but we have a huge week of podcasts planned for for all of you.
[17:43] SPEAKER_01: Um, we're really excited about it.
[17:45] SPEAKER_01: Uh Pretender's t-shirts are coming in one week from now, so they'll be available if everything goes right.
[17:52] SPEAKER_01: Um, on the day we released the first of the daily podcasts.
[17:56] SPEAKER_01: So that's really exciting.
[17:58] SPEAKER_01: Um, I've already bought one for Apo after this.
[18:01] SPEAKER_01: Like, I literally went and took a number off and bought it for Apo, and I'm gonna make that joke, hoping that he doesn't listen to this podcast on day one of the the daily pods.
[18:09] SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, I'm super excited about that.
[18:11] SPEAKER_01: And I told you I would get these t-shirts done in time for Kona Greg.
[18:14] SPEAKER_03: I'm I can't honestly I can't believe you did it, Jack.
[18:17] SPEAKER_03: I'm pretty hyped on it.
[18:18] SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh Jack, he's just gonna be like, oh, I'll get the t-shirts, and they would kind of fall by the wayside.
[18:22] SPEAKER_03: But here we are, got it done.
[18:24] SPEAKER_03: Ask the fans what kind of shirts they wanted.
[18:26] SPEAKER_03: So I'm hyped for them.
[18:28] SPEAKER_03: I just hope you send me one because I kind of feel like I'm just gonna like not receive one, or you're gonna be like, oh, did you order one on the site?
[18:33] SPEAKER_01: So I'm just sending you one.
[18:35] SPEAKER_03: All right, I'll buy one.
[18:36] SPEAKER_03: All right, I can't wait to release.
[18:37] SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna buy them.
[18:38] SPEAKER_03: Support myself.
[18:38] SPEAKER_01: We're only releasing a hundred, they're gone.
[18:40] SPEAKER_01: Once the hundreds are done, they're gone.
[18:42] SPEAKER_01: And I'm not saying I'm not giving away a single one for free.
[18:45] SPEAKER_01: I bought the one from Apple for Apple.
[18:47] SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna buy one for myself, and I'm not buying any for anyone else.
[18:50] SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving them out for free.
[18:52] SPEAKER_01: It's not happening.
[18:53] SPEAKER_00: I guess I'm definitely not getting one after the road worlds, am I?
[18:56] SPEAKER_01: Oh, you're not for free.
[18:57] SPEAKER_01: I'm not buying it.
[18:58] SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you what then, Greg.
[18:58] SPEAKER_00: Do you want to know what happens?
[19:03] SPEAKER_03: I want to buy 98 shirts right when they drop, and I'm just gonna burn them on my Instagram live.
[19:08] SPEAKER_03: No, I'm just kidding.
[19:09] SPEAKER_01: Uh what I wanted to talk about, so we're 14 days out, two weeks out.
[19:15] SPEAKER_01: I think that seven to fourteen days out is the single hardest training period to get right for a professional triathlete.
[19:22] SPEAKER_01: I think it's a super high injury risk period, it's like a balancing fatigue and low period load period.
[19:29] SPEAKER_01: I think you've generally just come off like one of your biggest weeks of the block.
[19:32] SPEAKER_01: Like, I think most of the women will have just done 25-30 hours of training the last two weeks, and they're in this period where they're like, Do I keep going?
[19:40] SPEAKER_01: Do I do another few big sessions?
[19:41] SPEAKER_01: We saw the Norwegians push through and do massive sessions that you know, you know, seven days out.
[19:47] SPEAKER_01: We saw Camworth do a massive and massive week and it didn't seem to work.
[19:51] SPEAKER_01: So I wanted to talk to you guys about what is the best way to train seven to four like fourteen to seven days out from a race, and what do you think are the pitfalls that people get wrong?
[20:03] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a good question.
[20:05] SPEAKER_03: Um so legend of the show, Dean Harper always told me that that week is a good week for like a higher swim volume, as you kind of you know, you keep the aerobic stimulus high and maybe dial back the bike and run.
[20:17] SPEAKER_03: Now with Kona, the heat is a different element.
[20:20] SPEAKER_03: So if you're getting there two weeks before and you have this mindset, like, oh, let me keep pushing a little bit, you can I think you can get on the back foot really easily.
[20:28] SPEAKER_03: So if you're at home in temperate conditions, maybe you can uh not like gain a lot, but do a bit more.
[20:35] SPEAKER_03: But like you said, it's like how do you manage it?
[20:39] SPEAKER_03: I almost think if you if you just try to sharpen up a bit and keep the volume of intensity lower and just keep your body sharp, it seems like maybe that's the kind of the best way to approach it.
[20:50] SPEAKER_03: But like I said, you know, if you normally swim 15 to 20k, uh you know, swim 23, 24k, get a little bump there as you maybe dial back the the run volume or the run intensity uh leading in.
[21:04] SPEAKER_03: So that's that would I've never done an Iron Man, but to me that makes sense.
[21:08] SPEAKER_03: And you know, if you're crushing a bunch of sauna at home too in the weeks prior, too, you I think you gotta be careful on the the overall overall load too, especially if you're getting dehydrated from that and you're not hydrating up and then you go and do a run session and your tendons are dehydrated, like you said, the the injury risk is high.
[21:26] SPEAKER_03: So that's how I would like think about it and approach it.
[21:28] SPEAKER_03: But it's hard to say too, because we whatever happened in the three weeks prior is you know that's incredibly important.
[21:35] SPEAKER_03: So if you're coming back from injury or you're like killing the training, then you have to manage that second week out a little differently.
[21:41] SPEAKER_00: I would normally, yeah, I I think you're pretty pretty bang on there, Greg.
[21:46] SPEAKER_00: Like I would normally start tapering like before a big Iron Man, ten days before where I really start knocking it down.
[21:53] SPEAKER_00: I always like to go into the week before the race feeling decent and doing the Like a normal kind of session that I might do would be like 90 minutes at race pace and then a four to six more run at like target race pace off the bike.
[22:12] SPEAKER_00: But I would want to go into that feeling pretty good.
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: So I'd normally start tapering about 10 days out, do something like that a week out, and ideally feel really good where you feel like you're having to hold back to hit the power.
[22:22] SPEAKER_00: And then I know if I hit that seven days out, then I'm gonna have a good race.
[22:26] SPEAKER_00: Like I I've found in the past, if I go into a week out and I feel pretty tired and not and like I'm having to work a bit to hold the power, it doesn't come around in time to feel really good on race day.
[22:38] SPEAKER_00: Like I'm not gonna feel 100%.
[22:40] SPEAKER_00: So I kind of would say if I start that two-week period out, you know, this Sunday or the Monday, uh two weekends before, that would be like a normal Sunday.
[22:50] SPEAKER_00: Then Monday would be pretty normal, which is normally an easier day for me.
[22:53] SPEAKER_00: Then it would be like Tuesday, Wednesday, basically normal training, and then Thursday would be like a significantly reduced amount, Friday, reduced amount, Saturday would be like a little bit of intensity, like I'd normally do, like a bit of a track session, and Sunday I'd do that session, and then lead into race week, like a proper, like as I was tapering going into that weekend, and yeah, it normally seems to work really well.
[23:16] SPEAKER_00: I I've never been one to do a big weekend the week before.
[23:19] SPEAKER_00: I personally don't really think there's any point.
[23:21] SPEAKER_00: Like I think a lot of people are probably doing it more for their head rather than actual physic physically, because I think you're more likely to fuck it up than you are to get a big bump in fitness from it.
[23:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think it's been confused a little bit because we've seen that in 2022 and then again now in 2025, the Norwegians did crazy training weekends one week out, and it makes you think like, oh, maybe that's what I have to do, or maybe that's what works best.
[23:49] SPEAKER_01: But I actually think that doesn't work for the majority of people.
[23:52] SPEAKER_01: And we saw Cam Worth did it and it didn't work at all.
[23:55] SPEAKER_01: I know from my own experience in coaching, like for example, I did an Iron Man with Penny Slater where um we trained right through until the weekend before, did a big weekend Saturday, Sunday, the week before the race, and she was absolutely cooked.
[24:08] SPEAKER_01: But then the two races that we got really right, like second place at Iron Man Texas, and nearly ran up to catch Kat uh Matthews towards the end, and then the seventh place at Iron Man World Championships, we kind of well I approached it with the I want to stop training somewhere between 12 and 16 days out, and from there just do aerobic volume, you know, try and um try and dissipate fatigue throughout those, you know, 12 to 16 days into the race.
[24:36] SPEAKER_01: You know, still do enough volume that you feel good and mentally feel good, and you don't feel like you've had too long off and you're sluggish coming into the race.
[24:44] SPEAKER_01: But I do think, and it's based off like research, there was a big research paper done in 2007 that basically said that there is like training latency or like training lag between doing a stimulus and getting an outcome from that stimulus, and it it basically concluded that you need between 12 to 16 days post your kind of last big training to express that training effect in a race.
[25:08] SPEAKER_01: So I mean, any training you're doing within 12 days um leading up to the race, you're not actually going to express that in the race.
[25:17] SPEAKER_01: And like Joe said, the only real benefit from it is if it keeps you in routine and keeps your head in a great place going into the race.
[25:25] SPEAKER_03: Well, it's funny that people would use the Norwegians as an example.
[25:28] SPEAKER_03: It's like, oh yeah, yeah, they do that.
[25:31] SPEAKER_03: That's what I do.
[25:31] SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh, so you mean some of the most genetically gifted athletes that have ever walked this planet and you want to copy what they do one week out?
[25:39] SPEAKER_03: It's like it's insane.
[25:40] SPEAKER_03: So I think you're right.
[25:41] SPEAKER_03: And I think there's really something to be said about what what Joe said about shedding fatigue.
[25:46] SPEAKER_03: If you're a week out and you're like, oh, I really need to taper, maybe it's I I've been in the same boat.
[25:53] SPEAKER_03: I've had good races, and generally a week out, I'm like, I'm feeling kind of good for this race, and you can kind of maintain, maybe even do a little bit more in that week to like keep yourself sharp, but not have to shed all this fatigue or something too.
[26:05] SPEAKER_03: And and then if you're feeling shit in race week mentally too, it it can be tough, and then you travel and all that.
[26:10] SPEAKER_03: So I think there's something to be said, and like you said, Jack, 12 days out, maybe you can express that aerobic stimulus.
[26:17] SPEAKER_03: Although we did talk about this a bit on the pod, you can get a little, I don't know, I guess you call it anaerobic boost in in the last few days before if you want to maybe like raise your top end and the swim or something like that.
[26:28] SPEAKER_03: Um so yeah, I think you guys are are pretty spot on.
[26:31] SPEAKER_03: It seems like we all kind of agree what what we should do in in that period.
[26:35] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and on yours and Joe's point about you know shedding fatigue or fatigue dissipation, there's been a lot of study done on that as well.
[26:43] SPEAKER_01: And basically, accumulated fatigue masks fitness during and immediately after the block.
[26:50] SPEAKER_01: So you you have this accumulated fatigue throughout a training block, and it does, whether you like it or not, it does mask your ability to race at as high a level as you possibly could if you didn't have that fatigue.
[27:04] SPEAKER_01: And um, yeah, that's that's been shown to be somewhere between 10 and 16 days as well.
[27:09] SPEAKER_01: So it's just proven that you will be more fatigued than what you could be if you don't stop training as high high intensity 10 to 16 days out.
[27:18] SPEAKER_01: It's what's so crazy about the Norwegians, and and maybe there's more left in the tank for them, but also I think it speaks volumes to if you're doing 30 to 35 hours week in, week out, and you have been for 10, 15, 20 years, then you can still do big sessions like seven to ten days out and and and still dissipate fatigue from them, but if you just drop volume all around that, which that is what they do.
[27:41] SPEAKER_01: So they're not like keeping the same volume all of that last week.
[27:44] SPEAKER_01: They're dropping volume, they just still keep a big session on the weekend out.
[27:48] SPEAKER_01: Um and then there's also other things like there's there's actual changes that occur that you need um time to let peak post finishing your training block, you know.
[27:58] SPEAKER_01: Blood plasma volume is a classic one and really important going into Kona where the athletes are going to be dealing with with the heat.
[28:05] SPEAKER_01: And so they've all been doing training that will help them in the heat um to increase their blood blood plasma volume expansion.
[28:13] SPEAKER_01: So it takes about one to two weeks post your last stimulus for your blood plasma um expansion to peak.
[28:20] SPEAKER_01: So you literally do need to take time after your last stimulus to get the best out of your performance.
[28:28] SPEAKER_01: So there's lots of there's lots of you know scientific, physiological reasons why a taper does matter and why you don't want to train, you know, super hard all the way leading into the race, like Joe and Greg both talked about as well.
[28:40] SPEAKER_01: Um, speaking of Joe, Joe's got to go.
[28:42] SPEAKER_01: He only had about 30 minutes he could record with us off the top of the show.
[28:46] SPEAKER_01: He's got a dinner booking, he's on a week holiday.
[28:48] SPEAKER_01: So, Joe, thank you for joining me and Greg for the first half of the show, but we'll be fine without you and I don't forgive you.
[28:54] SPEAKER_03: Sorry about that, mate.
[28:56] SPEAKER_03: Was it 30-minute check or was it more like 4550?
[28:58] SPEAKER_03: Just someone showed up 15 minutes late.
[29:01] SPEAKER_00: No, I was trying to load up.
[29:02] SPEAKER_00: I was trying to reload up, mate.
[29:04] SPEAKER_00: Like uh Joe, always good to see you, man.
[29:08] SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, I'm proud of you for your for your race, and uh I hope we can get uh on a course together next year.
[29:12] SPEAKER_03: It'd be super fun.
[29:13] SPEAKER_00: Are you gonna go for um Kona next year, Greg, or are you gonna stick to 70 point for race?
[29:18] SPEAKER_03: No, I'm gonna I'm gonna do Iron Man for sure.
[29:21] SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
[29:21] SPEAKER_00: So I'm I probably uh might end up crossing paths with you then.
[29:25] SPEAKER_03: Little placid action.
[29:26] SPEAKER_03: You know, hey Joe, funny, really quick funny story.
[29:29] SPEAKER_03: In 2022, when you is that the year you won Placid?
[29:32] SPEAKER_03: I was there and I gave you a barking on course and I was like, let's go, Joe.
[29:37] SPEAKER_00: So uh 2023, 2023.
[29:40] SPEAKER_03: I was out there and I I cheered you on with a little bark.
[29:42] SPEAKER_03: I think you were at mile about 2021.
[29:45] SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, anyway.
[29:46] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that was uh pretty close, wasn't it?
[29:48] SPEAKER_00: Because I was getting caught by um Ben Hoffman and uh I actually thought that he might catch me, so that probably helped quite a lot.
[29:56] SPEAKER_03: The lights are out for sure in your eyes.
[29:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
[29:59] SPEAKER_00: I was hanging on for dear life then.
[30:01] SPEAKER_00: But no, sorry I couldn't uh stay for long, boys, and uh yeah, I'll catch you later next week's uh good for me, so we can do a proper one then.
[30:08] SPEAKER_01: Well, Joe, that's what I was gonna ask you.
[30:09] SPEAKER_01: Are you gonna join us for a few of the daily pods?
[30:12] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll definitely join you for at least one of them.
[30:14] SPEAKER_00: Uh I don't want to uh overcommit myself, mate.
[30:18] SPEAKER_00: I'm like, but yeah, I'll definitely join you for at least one.
[30:22] SPEAKER_01: For those of you who don't know, Joe, you know, me and Greg, we've been we've been messaging in private behind Joe's back about it.
[30:29] SPEAKER_01: One of the most unreliable podcasters on planet Earth, I reckon.
[30:33] SPEAKER_01: Always like, always technical issues, like we're editing that out, we're editing that bit out.
[30:39] SPEAKER_00: I'm not having that in.
[30:41] SPEAKER_01: He literally did this, he literally did this 30 minutes from a park, and there was just people talking the whole way.
[30:47] SPEAKER_01: So we had to stop and be like, no, we're not, we're not doing this recording and restart it.
[30:51] SPEAKER_01: And so Joe walked off into the literal bush.
[30:54] SPEAKER_01: Like he's I don't even know where he was.
[30:58] SPEAKER_01: Get out of here, Joe.
[30:59] SPEAKER_00: I've got a I've got a two and a half year old in the hotel room.
[31:02] SPEAKER_00: That would have gone down, that would have been absolute chaos if I'd have tried to do it there.
[31:05] SPEAKER_00: But yeah, now I'll uh catch you guys later and uh yeah, good to have a catch up and uh I'll uh see you next week for one then.
[31:14] SPEAKER_01: If you're training for any triathlon or running event, you should 1000% start using precision fuel and hydration as your training and race day nutrition.
[31:23] SPEAKER_01: Their best products, in my opinion, are their gels.
[31:25] SPEAKER_01: I love the PF90, PF30, and PF30 caffeine gels, and I also love their flow gel for the bike.
[31:31] SPEAKER_01: All four of those are just amazing products.
[31:33] SPEAKER_01: The thing that separates precision gels from other brands is that they taste great.
[31:37] SPEAKER_01: They just have this really simple, sugary flavor that you don't get sick of.
[31:40] SPEAKER_01: Um, and in combination with that, they also have this texture that goes down really, really easily and doesn't leave you feeling gross and nauseous after taking it.
[31:48] SPEAKER_01: And I know for me, they're kind of two of the biggest factors that I've struggled with in other gels, but with precision, just a really simple, nice, sweet flavor, and they go down so so easily.
[31:58] SPEAKER_01: Um, they've also nailed their packaging, which can be a bit of a bugbear of mine, but they've made a really um practical and simple packaging that that doesn't spill out and get everywhere in their smaller gels.
[32:09] SPEAKER_01: And the PF90 literally has an easy-to-use on-race day screw top.
[32:13] SPEAKER_01: And in training, the PF90 is just absolutely incredible if you're doing a long run or if you're out on the bike.
[32:18] SPEAKER_01: Like there's no better gel uh on the market than the PF90, in my opinion.
[32:22] SPEAKER_01: It's just the best.
[32:23] SPEAKER_01: Um, they also make electrolyte tablets that have become a staple in the Triton world.
[32:28] SPEAKER_01: So join the bandwagon, start using precision for your training and racing, and to get a discount code when you do, um, either use the code TTH25, which gets you 15% off the first time you use it, or click the link in this episode description if you want a bigger discount code.
[32:44] SPEAKER_01: Um, it's over on the Triton our Patreon.
[32:46] SPEAKER_01: So the link to the Patreon is in the description of this episode.
[32:49] SPEAKER_01: And there's a 20% off every time you shop at Precision Link if you do sign up for Patreon that you can take advantage of.
[32:57] SPEAKER_01: All right, Greg, we've got some big topics that we wanted to talk about for the back end of the show.
[33:02] SPEAKER_01: We thought we'd kind of do the fun light stuff for the first uh part of the show with Joe, but now uh it's time to talk about probably the I'd say it's the thing I've got the most messages about this week.
[33:12] SPEAKER_01: And it's Fred Funk and Kyle Smith both came out on Instagram and made an announcement saying that they're kind of done for the year.
[33:20] SPEAKER_01: Like they're gonna go into off-season, they're gonna reset, but they're both still going to fulfill their T100 contracts, is how I interpret it.
[33:28] SPEAKER_01: Fred's definitely going to, I think Kyle is.
[33:31] SPEAKER_01: There's still three races to race there's the Australian race and then there's the two Middle Eastern races.
[33:36] SPEAKER_01: But they're they're not gonna try, basically.
[33:38] SPEAKER_01: Or like they're gonna try when they're racing, if they race, but their season's done, they're doing an off-season, they're not gonna be fit, they're not gonna be at their best.
[33:47] SPEAKER_01: And I would say I've almost exclusively had negative messages about that saying that it's you know, it's it's it's poor, um, it's not fulfilling the contract in the right way.
[33:57] SPEAKER_01: What's your take on it?
[33:58] SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's really surprising that that those are the sentiment of your messages.
[34:03] SPEAKER_03: I mean, they're just coming out and being transparent, which we talk about a lot.
[34:07] SPEAKER_03: It's like we just don't want people doing shade, like you come out after the fact, like, yeah, actually, I couldn't really prioritize these races, I was struggling behind the scenes.
[34:16] SPEAKER_03: They're kind of coming out on the at the front side of it saying, Look, we need to reset for myself, for my body, for my mind, and we're still gonna show up to the races.
[34:25] SPEAKER_03: So, yeah, I I I I like that they came out and said it.
[34:30] SPEAKER_03: And look, for Fred, Fred's like, oh, I saw him on some comment, he's like, What?
[34:34] SPEAKER_03: So I get 12th instead of 16th.
[34:36] SPEAKER_03: It's like, yeah, who cares?
[34:37] SPEAKER_03: And like, Fred's not featured in the series.
[34:39] SPEAKER_03: The T100 probably doesn't care that much, and he's doing what he needs to do to be at his best next year.
[34:45] SPEAKER_03: So I commend him for that.
[34:46] SPEAKER_03: And and Kyle too, like he we want to see him at the front.
[34:50] SPEAKER_03: I feel like there's this weird world where they take, you know, say four weeks unstructured and then maybe do six weeks kind of building back, maybe they're doing some volume, not trying to take chase all these hard workouts, and they actually outperform what they think they could do um at the grand final in in December.
[35:07] SPEAKER_03: But yeah, I I you know the they're under contract, they're fulfilling the contract.
[35:12] SPEAKER_03: I think that's all you can really ask of the athletes and how they show up to each race, that's that's their prerogative.
[35:19] SPEAKER_03: And you know, we've seen the athletes not show up at their best in all different types of racing.
[35:23] SPEAKER_03: So, you know, there's a shit ton of races, they're traveling all over the world, they're not having their best season, and they're coming out and being transparent.
[35:29] SPEAKER_03: I uh I commend them for it.
[35:31] SPEAKER_03: And I think they can do whatever the heck they want.
[35:33] SPEAKER_01: I agree, Greg.
[35:34] SPEAKER_01: I think that the most refreshing part about it is that they both came out and said it.
[35:38] SPEAKER_01: Like, what are we what are we doing if we're discouraging that?
[35:42] SPEAKER_01: We're saying, hey, we just want to be lied to.
[35:44] SPEAKER_01: Like we we either want one of two things.
[35:46] SPEAKER_01: We want everyone to be 100% all of the time and be kind of robotic, or we want you to go out there and you know, do your best, but do this stuff in private and don't tell us about us about it and tell a lie.
[35:59] SPEAKER_01: Like, be like, hey, like, you know, uh do the race, do poorly, be like, oh, I tried really hard and that that was all I had today.
[36:05] SPEAKER_01: Like, I think it's great.
[36:06] SPEAKER_01: Now we can watch these next races knowing, hey, Fred and Kyle, they're both basically done for the year, and and this is why their results are going to be like that.
[36:15] SPEAKER_01: We know.
[36:15] SPEAKER_01: Like, why would we ever discourage our professionals from being transparent?
[36:20] SPEAKER_01: I think I think the opposite needs to happen.
[36:22] SPEAKER_01: I think we need to see more and more transparency like this.
[36:25] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I totally agree.
[36:26] SPEAKER_03: And I mean, that's like Fred's calling card too.
[36:29] SPEAKER_03: He kind of started the whole no secrets, sharing all his data.
[36:32] SPEAKER_03: Now he's saying, hey, I can't prioritize the end of the season.
[36:35] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I mean, I'm actually like, like you said, I'm like really hyped on it.
[36:38] SPEAKER_03: I'm like, all right, good on you.
[36:40] SPEAKER_03: Like for someone who's in the sport, but I'm not in with these guys, I'm not at this, these guys' level.
[36:45] SPEAKER_03: It's like there's always these question marks and the ebbs and flows, but whenever people just share what's going on and they're just, you know, they're fulfilling their contract and they're just being true to themselves and and giving the fans.
[36:56] SPEAKER_03: And I think it's respectful to the T-100, too.
[37:00] SPEAKER_03: You know, yes, they're saying, hey, we can't prioritize these races like we wanted to, but we're gonna show up and you know, maybe they'll do some more media.
[37:08] SPEAKER_03: They'll do, hey, two days before the race, I'm gonna go to the kids trathlon program and give back a little bit more because there's less pressure on this race.
[37:16] SPEAKER_03: So, you know, maybe the T100 can lean into that and use these guys to you know help their community outreach and in the week before the race and all that type of stuff.
[37:23] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, commend these guys.
[37:24] SPEAKER_03: And I mean it's Kyle and Fred.
[37:26] SPEAKER_03: Like, we all we love these guys, like they're everyone in the sport likes likes these two, and they're doing something uh yeah, great, I think.
[37:34] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they're both pretenders for the rest of the year, but we still love them.
[37:37] SPEAKER_01: Um I think like probably the takeaway for me is that it exposes quite a flaw in the T 100's current system.
[37:45] SPEAKER_01: So I actually I think contracts are good, I just think they're doing contracts in the wrong way.
[37:51] SPEAKER_01: So how I think you fix almost all of the T 100's problems is you go, okay, we're gonna contract, you know, maybe it's the same, maybe it's 20 or 25 or 30 athletes.
[38:03] SPEAKER_01: But what we're gonna do is we're gonna contract them all for the same four races.
[38:08] SPEAKER_01: So instead of contracting them for the whole year and saying, okay, it's your best five scores that count, and here's you know, eight, nine, ten races in the series, and you pick and choose which ones you peak for and which ones you come in unfit for, uh, or you know, whatever.
[38:24] SPEAKER_01: But as long as you do five, then you're gonna get paid your contract.
[38:27] SPEAKER_01: I think the contract now becomes hey, we have eight, nine, ten races, these are the races.
[38:33] SPEAKER_01: But if you sign a contract, you are contractually obligated to be at these four races, and then you make them your biggest races.
[38:42] SPEAKER_01: So it kind of goes back to the open system or it copies the the tennis or the golf system where there's there's lots of races, but these are the ones that really count.
[38:51] SPEAKER_01: Because right now, what's happening is we've got like, you know, we've got nine races or yeah, nine races, and like there's just some people showing up fit, some people showing up unfit.
[39:01] SPEAKER_01: So you might have, you know, Yellow Geans who's really fit for one race on the same race that Martin Van Real is showing up completely unfit for, and then vice versa in two months' time.
[39:11] SPEAKER_01: So you're not seeing each other racing each other at their best that often.
[39:14] SPEAKER_01: Whereas if you just say to them, look, all you have to do is show up for these four races, you don't even have to do the other races.
[39:21] SPEAKER_01: Like you're contractually not obligated to do the other five, but you must do these four.
[39:25] SPEAKER_01: You then increase the prize money for those four, you put extra points on the on the um overall scoring system for those four, and then you reduce the points of the other five, you reduce the prize money of the other five, and then like you're still gonna get all the up-and-coming athletes.
[39:41] SPEAKER_01: You're probably even still gonna get some of the really high-level athletes, but you're guaranteeing that you have four races that absolutely matter and that everyone will sharp for and peak for and target in the year.
[39:53] SPEAKER_01: I just think it's such an obvious fix, and I think that this Fred Funk and Carl Smith thing exposes why the current contracting system just doesn't work.
[40:02] SPEAKER_03: Well, it's funny, you say obvious, but I mean I hadn't really thought about it in that way.
[40:07] SPEAKER_03: Like when you said, Oh, I'm in favor of contracts, I'm like, hmm, what's where's Jack going with this?
[40:11] SPEAKER_03: So I do like that.
[40:13] SPEAKER_03: Um and the fact that the other races, maybe you can still get that kind of pipeline for people who want to show up, prove themselves, and maybe make it into those bigger four races.
[40:22] SPEAKER_03: I think something to be said around that, you have to plan the big four races strategically, avoiding other big races, mainly Iron Man World Championships and things like that.
[40:32] SPEAKER_03: I mean, we saw it on the T-100 Spain, the week after the World Champs.
[40:36] SPEAKER_03: It's like I was not that invested in it.
[40:40] SPEAKER_03: I'm as big a fan of the sport and invest in the sport more than anyone.
[40:44] SPEAKER_03: And if I'm not invested in it the week after a world champs, like I think most people won't be.
[40:48] SPEAKER_03: So I think strategically those four races are in different times and weekends than uh you know, the Iron Man, the big Iron Man races.
[40:55] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, it's an interesting way to put it, Jack.
[40:57] SPEAKER_03: I hopefully they could get more of the the male hitters this year.
[41:03] SPEAKER_03: You know, we saw them all skip out on the series, and like you said, the eight, nine series, everything's weighted equally, you have to go to six or whatever.
[41:13] SPEAKER_03: It's just shown this year hasn't worked.
[41:15] SPEAKER_03: And I really hope they just don't lean into it and say, no, we're sticking it, we're we're we're digging in our boots, let's keep pushing.
[41:22] SPEAKER_03: This is the way.
[41:23] SPEAKER_03: I really hope they can just change.
[41:26] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[41:26] SPEAKER_03: Just slight tweaks, right?
[41:28] SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm just gonna be frustrated if it's just the same series again next year.
[41:31] SPEAKER_03: It's like, dude, you have to listen to the people.
[41:34] SPEAKER_03: And we talked about this off air.
[41:36] SPEAKER_03: If you can't please the diehards and then the triathlon fans, then you can't reach the casual.
[41:43] SPEAKER_03: Maybe they're trying to prioritize like casual.
[41:46] SPEAKER_03: You have to you have to listen to your your fan base first, and then it can trickle down and and find more more fans that way.
[41:53] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that they like the T100, they kind of have these great options available, and they keep choosing the shit option.
[42:01] SPEAKER_01: It's like, guys, like we're not saying this to waste our breath.
[42:04] SPEAKER_01: We're the people who are going to consume your races.
[42:07] SPEAKER_01: Like, at what point do they listen to an idea that makes sense?
[42:10] SPEAKER_01: They always talk about how we're you know, we're trying to do golf or tennis or whatever it is.
[42:14] SPEAKER_01: I think copy golf in the right way.
[42:16] SPEAKER_01: So, what golf does is they have four majors and they do them in April, May, June, July.
[42:22] SPEAKER_01: Okay.
[42:22] SPEAKER_01: Guess what we don't have in the Triflone world?
[42:24] SPEAKER_01: We have no big races apart from Roth, but respectfully, Roth isn't attracting the professionals like it used to because of prize money, and it doesn't mean anything to the other two series.
[42:34] SPEAKER_01: So apart from Roth, which I don't actually think matters that much, there you go.
[42:39] SPEAKER_01: April, May, June, July.
[42:42] SPEAKER_01: Do four big T100 races, one in each of those months, because everybody starts their season super fit, very few people start their season injured, and so they're the first big four races that everyone's gonna target.
[42:55] SPEAKER_01: And then you dominate that that space in the year.
[42:58] SPEAKER_01: You're like, we're seeing it right now.
[43:00] SPEAKER_01: No one cares about the T100 races right now because Iron Man are dominating, Iron Man are doing better than ever, and everyone is super excited about Nice and Kona and 70.3 worlds.
[43:09] SPEAKER_01: You don't have to compete with that, just do the races and almost wrap up the main part of your season by mid-July.
[43:16] SPEAKER_01: That way you don't have to compete with them.
[43:18] SPEAKER_01: You'll do way better numbers, people will care way more and call the races something that matters.
[43:22] SPEAKER_01: Like call them your like T100 Opens or T100 Masters or T100 Grand Slams or whatever it is.
[43:30] SPEAKER_01: But April, May, June, July.
[43:33] SPEAKER_01: That's championship season for the T100.
[43:35] SPEAKER_01: And then maybe have one or two races before that.
[43:38] SPEAKER_01: I would probably say one before that, just one, and then three or four after that.
[43:43] SPEAKER_01: And that's where all your contenders can come in, you know, your lower ranked athletes or even some of your your higher ranked athletes who just like the race or want some money and that kind of thing.
[43:52] SPEAKER_01: I tell I just think it's such an obvious fix and um and we wouldn't have this issue with Fred and Kyle if if if this was the system.
[43:59] SPEAKER_03: A hundred percent.
[44:00] SPEAKER_03: People are frothing for racing by April, right?
[44:03] SPEAKER_03: And you know, when Oceanside comes out, everyone's so pumped on it.
[44:07] SPEAKER_03: So I think that's super smart, Jack.
[44:08] SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, I mean, I just listened to Jack, and then that's how I form my opinion.
[44:14] SPEAKER_03: So uh yeah.
[44:17] SPEAKER_01: The single hardest thing about training is being consistent.
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[45:39] SPEAKER_01: Get consistent in your running.
[45:41] SPEAKER_01: It's the main thing that will get you running faster.
[45:45] SPEAKER_03: Well, you know how it is, Jack.
[45:48] SPEAKER_03: It's my segment.
[45:49] SPEAKER_03: I created it.
[45:50] SPEAKER_03: We have t-shirts to thank because of me.
[45:53] SPEAKER_03: We're back.
[45:54] SPEAKER_03: We're back with another edition of Contender Pretender.
[45:58] SPEAKER_03: My bread and butter.
[45:59] SPEAKER_03: I contribute so much to the show.
[46:01] SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, so here we are back again.
[46:03] SPEAKER_01: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
[46:05] SPEAKER_01: I'm not having this again.
[46:07] SPEAKER_01: This is group chat stuff.
[46:08] SPEAKER_01: I came up with contender or pretender.
[46:10] SPEAKER_01: I said, Greg, I've got this great idea for a segment for you.
[46:12] SPEAKER_01: You can be like, you know, you can make it yours, and now Greg is stealing it.
[46:16] SPEAKER_01: I want credit for contender or pretender.
[46:18] SPEAKER_03: I came up with the name, didn't I?
[46:20] SPEAKER_03: I honestly I can't remember.
[46:22] SPEAKER_03: No, I'm being I'm being shade.
[46:23] SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm a pretender, eh?
[46:26] SPEAKER_01: No, it's definitely your segment.
[46:27] SPEAKER_01: I'm just being salty.
[46:28] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
[46:29] SPEAKER_03: Okay, Jack.
[46:29] SPEAKER_03: Well, we know it's my segment.
[46:31] SPEAKER_03: So here we are.
[46:31] SPEAKER_03: This edition of Contender Pretender.
[46:33] SPEAKER_03: It's for people who didn't or aren't racing the Iron Man World Champs.
[46:37] SPEAKER_03: But if they did race the Iron Man World Champs this year, are they contenders or are they pretenders?
[46:43] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[46:44] SPEAKER_03: So I've got five men, five women, and we're just gonna we're gonna write them off.
[46:48] SPEAKER_01: I think this is clever, and this was your idea, so kudos to you.
[46:51] SPEAKER_01: Um top three, are we going contender or pretender for podium or for winning?
[46:56] SPEAKER_03: I think a podium.
[46:57] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think podium too.
[46:59] SPEAKER_01: All right, so just so I've got this right in my head.
[47:01] SPEAKER_01: It's people who didn't race the men's Iron Man World Championships or women who aren't racing Kona, but if they did, are they a contender or pretender?
[47:08] SPEAKER_03: Right.
[47:09] SPEAKER_03: So we're just talking about Iron Man here.
[47:11] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yep, yep, makes sense.
[47:12] SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
[47:13] SPEAKER_03: Number one, Paula Finlay.
[47:15] SPEAKER_01: Oh, good one.
[47:17] SPEAKER_01: Uh Pretender.
[47:18] SPEAKER_01: I think she probably hasn't done the training to be a contender yet, but I think Paula's a really interesting case study.
[47:26] SPEAKER_01: If if she comes out and says, I want to do Kona 2026 and dedicates her year for it, I don't know if I'd be calling her a pretender race week.
[47:35] SPEAKER_01: I'd probably I'd probably lean towards contender, but right now, pretender.
[47:39] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm gonna say pretender too.
[47:41] SPEAKER_03: That Kona bike course has Paula's name on it for sure.
[47:44] SPEAKER_03: I agree.
[47:45] SPEAKER_01: I agree.
[47:46] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm I'd be I'm excited.
[47:48] SPEAKER_03: Like Kona, I look Kona this year for women, it's gonna be amazing.
[47:51] SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be one of the best we've ever seen.
[47:53] SPEAKER_03: But I feel like next year too, you can add another layer to it.
[47:56] SPEAKER_03: Um, I don't know, just it's the racing is all getting so exciting too.
[48:01] SPEAKER_01: I probably just like question whether Paula loves the sport enough.
[48:04] SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't I don't want that to sound rot wrong, but I don't know if Paula has Iron Man in her.
[48:09] SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know if she I don't know if she's willing to live that lifestyle and do the training required.
[48:15] SPEAKER_01: I think I think she's really suited to the training and lifestyle of middle distance or even like short distance to be honest.
[48:22] SPEAKER_01: I just wonder mentally whether she can.
[48:25] SPEAKER_01: I want to see it though.
[48:26] SPEAKER_01: I really want to see it.
[48:27] SPEAKER_03: Next in line.
[48:29] SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you've heard of him, but Lionel Sanders.
[48:33] SPEAKER_01: Did you watch Lionel's latest in uh YouTube video?
[48:35] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just of course, yeah, yeah.
[48:37] SPEAKER_01: I it's so good.
[48:39] SPEAKER_01: Um I think I think pretender, yeah.
[48:43] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'll have to say pretender.
[48:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, don't think the climbing and descending suits him at Nice.
[48:48] SPEAKER_03: No, all right.
[48:49] SPEAKER_03: Kate Waugh.
[48:51] SPEAKER_03: Waff.
[48:52] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Kate Waff.
[48:53] SPEAKER_01: That's how she says it was.
[48:54] SPEAKER_03: Okay, all right, cool.
[48:55] SPEAKER_01: I don't know why it isn't Kate War, because I think that's definitely in Australia we say that last name War, but it's obviously just a weird British thing.
[49:02] SPEAKER_01: Uh oh, Kate.
[49:05] SPEAKER_01: I look, this is crazy, but I think contender.
[49:09] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I I think you're not wrong.
[49:12] SPEAKER_03: I she's shown her bike and run level is very high.
[49:16] SPEAKER_03: I mean, obviously swim too.
[49:18] SPEAKER_03: Crushed it in Singapore, insanely hot race.
[49:21] SPEAKER_03: I think these these short course athletes, if you're at the top of the short course game, you train big volume, you travel, you race in hot conditions.
[49:29] SPEAKER_03: Like I think these, like I said, short course racing, I think is still the I don't think the depth is quite as high, but these athletes are incredibly well-rounded, and to be at that type of level, I mean you saw it with like you know, Hayden and people like that.
[49:43] SPEAKER_03: When they come into middle and I think even long distance, they're gonna say Jonas Schoenberg, like literally hadn't even done an Iron Man up until this year, and now he's the best Iron Man athlete in the world.
[49:54] SPEAKER_03: So video too.
[49:56] SPEAKER_01: Wait, so did you say contender as well or pretender?
[49:59] SPEAKER_03: Oh, I'm still gonna say pretender, but I think she I think she'd be really, really close.
[50:03] SPEAKER_03: There's too many those big four, maybe.
[50:06] SPEAKER_03: I think uh I don't know if she could break through on them because I haven't seen it.
[50:10] SPEAKER_01: Don't spoil the big four.
[50:11] SPEAKER_01: That's one of our talking points for day one of the daily pods.
[50:13] SPEAKER_01: We've kind of coined the big four.
[50:15] SPEAKER_01: It's not the big three, it's not just Kat, Laura, Lucy, Charles, Barclay.
[50:19] SPEAKER_01: It's the big four.
[50:20] SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about that day one of the daily pods.
[50:21] SPEAKER_01: Anyway, Greg's just getting ahead of the.
[50:24] SPEAKER_03: Well, sorry, I was thinking of the the the ex big four of the of the 1980s.
[50:28] SPEAKER_01: Um, next one.
[50:31] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[50:32] SPEAKER_03: Best friend of the show, my personal best friend, and Jack's number two best friend on earth, Hayden Wilde.
[50:38] SPEAKER_01: Oh I was talking to Hayden during the week.
[50:42] SPEAKER_01: He asked me to go and get a coffee with him.
[50:44] SPEAKER_01: Unfortunately, I'd gone down to the coast for a couple of days, and then when I was getting back, he was he was flying out.
[50:50] SPEAKER_01: So it didn't quite work.
[50:51] SPEAKER_01: But he did tell me he's not the biggest Greg Harper fan in the world because I was like, mate, just come on the pod.
[50:56] SPEAKER_01: And he goes, Don't not a huge Greg Harper fan.
[50:59] SPEAKER_01: Uh but anyway, I don't know.
[51:01] SPEAKER_01: I'm not uh Hayden Wise.
[51:04] SPEAKER_03: Just trying to start beef and then just like walks away from it.
[51:06] SPEAKER_03: All right, whatever, Jack.
[51:08] SPEAKER_01: Uh contender.
[51:09] SPEAKER_01: Uh like honestly, huge contender.
[51:12] SPEAKER_01: I wish he had a raced.
[51:13] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I you gotta say contender.
[51:15] SPEAKER_03: I mean, this guy dominates any race he shows up to over the middle distance.
[51:19] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
[51:21] SPEAKER_03: Jessica Learmont.
[51:24] SPEAKER_01: Kona suits her because she'd swim with Lucy, she'd probably ride with Lucy all day.
[51:28] SPEAKER_01: Taylor Nibcat shows up to him, they could get a big gap.
[51:31] SPEAKER_01: But I'd question her marathon.
[51:33] SPEAKER_01: So pretender for the podium, pretender for Jessica Learmont.
[51:36] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think pretender too, but you know, if she can get another year of you know consistent run under her belt.
[51:43] SPEAKER_03: Like I said, she's she's strong and rides those rides really well.
[51:47] SPEAKER_03: And I mean, Kona is such a tough bike horse in a different way, right?
[51:53] SPEAKER_03: So uh it seems like she's a great time traveler.
[51:55] SPEAKER_03: She seems dialed in uh in her aerodynamics.
[51:57] SPEAKER_03: So yeah, contender for now, but like we say, I feel like we're kind of sitting on the fence, we're like, oh well, she's a pretender, but she could be a contender.
[52:05] SPEAKER_03: It's like I th I thought Apple wasn't even here this week.
[52:08] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're right.
[52:09] SPEAKER_01: That's soft as bars.
[52:10] SPEAKER_01: I was just gonna go on again and say something nice, but I'll change it.
[52:13] SPEAKER_01: I'll try and be a bit harsher on Jessica.
[52:15] SPEAKER_01: I don't believe in her marathon.
[52:16] SPEAKER_01: I think she's the kind of athlete who could kind of Chris Lieto her Iron Man career.
[52:21] SPEAKER_01: Like, I think she could go on right off the front, try and drop Lucy and Taylor, do it, succeed in it, come into T2 with like a huge lead on people like Laura Phillip and Cat Matthews, but then blow up super hard, like have some absolute all-time explosions on the marathon.
[52:36] SPEAKER_01: So pretender.
[52:37] SPEAKER_03: Pretender, yeah.
[52:38] SPEAKER_03: I agree.
[52:39] SPEAKER_03: But didn't Leto get second one year?
[52:41] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, okay, whatever.
[52:42] SPEAKER_03: I was just No, I think I think you're right though.
[52:44] SPEAKER_03: I mean, it there's not 20-minute gaps between the first four athletes at these races anymore, too.
[52:50] SPEAKER_03: And there were in the Lieto era.
[52:53] SPEAKER_03: So uh that's a yeah, so that's a dig at all the pros back in the day.
[52:56] SPEAKER_03: You guys are soft and it's way harder now.
[52:59] SPEAKER_03: You don't even know.
[53:00] SPEAKER_01: Let's go even harder.
[53:02] SPEAKER_01: Craig Alexander was never that good.
[53:03] SPEAKER_01: Chris McCormick's McCormack sucked.
[53:08] SPEAKER_03: Whoa, whoa, you're hurting your original guests of the show, dude.
[53:11] SPEAKER_03: They're not gonna want to come back.
[53:12] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[53:12] SPEAKER_01: I actually ran into Crow ran into Crowy at Nice, and it just he's just the most likable person on the planet, and he does listen, so uh apologies, Crowy.
[53:21] SPEAKER_01: That was that was just Greg just was influencing me then.
[53:24] SPEAKER_01: I don't actually think that.
[53:25] SPEAKER_03: Alright, now we're uh next one, another fake Australian now.
[53:30] SPEAKER_03: Uh Yella Gines.
[53:31] SPEAKER_03: Hey, sorry, Yella Gaines.
[53:33] SPEAKER_01: Uh Yella is a oh wow.
[53:40] SPEAKER_01: Um Pretender.
[53:42] SPEAKER_01: Pretender, I think.
[53:45] SPEAKER_03: I'm good contender on that.
[53:47] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, tough.
[53:48] SPEAKER_03: That course suits him.
[53:49] SPEAKER_03: I mean, so does Kona.
[53:50] SPEAKER_03: I just believe in Yella.
[53:51] SPEAKER_03: I mean, he's he's at the pointy end of all his middle distance races.
[53:56] SPEAKER_03: His riding is underrated.
[53:58] SPEAKER_03: I mean, he succeeded in hot conditions and short course scene too.
[54:02] SPEAKER_03: Like, so you know, for Kona next year, but for Nice this year, I think he would have been right up there with Martin and them.
[54:09] SPEAKER_01: I don't know what I'm saying.
[54:10] SPEAKER_01: You're 100% right.
[54:11] SPEAKER_01: He's he's a contender.
[54:12] SPEAKER_01: You know what happened is you got in my head then for us not being like tough enough, and I'm like, I'm gonna just go harder.
[54:17] SPEAKER_01: But no, Yellow, he would have 100% been there on the bike, I reckon, with like that Norwegian Nick Thompson group.
[54:24] SPEAKER_01: And so why couldn't he run a fast marathon in the heat on a on a relatively flat run course?
[54:28] SPEAKER_01: Of course he could.
[54:29] SPEAKER_01: He's a he's a contender all day.
[54:30] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and he's put in he trains less than he used to, didn't he say?
[54:34] SPEAKER_03: So he's put in those years of big volume.
[54:36] SPEAKER_03: Like uh these guys, that's what I'm saying.
[54:38] SPEAKER_03: These top level IT guys, they come into middle distance and they're ready for Iron Man as well because they've trained at a high level for a long time.
[54:45] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[54:46] SPEAKER_03: Ash Gentle.
[54:48] SPEAKER_01: Uh Pretender, pretender a hundred percent this year.
[54:52] SPEAKER_01: She hasn't done the work, in my opinion.
[54:54] SPEAKER_01: The bike and the swim would both not go well for her.
[54:56] SPEAKER_01: She'd have a very good marathon.
[54:58] SPEAKER_01: I think Ash Gentle has the potential to be the best marathon runner in female triathlon.
[55:02] SPEAKER_01: I don't think she's going to go to Kona next year, Greg, from what I'm what I'm hearing.
[55:06] SPEAKER_01: What?
[55:06] SPEAKER_01: Oh.
[55:07] SPEAKER_01: I don't think so.
[55:08] SPEAKER_01: She needs to, if you're listening, Ash, and I know Josh listens, please go to Kona next year, Ash.
[55:14] SPEAKER_01: Like that's that's got to be your target.
[55:16] SPEAKER_01: You could be so good at this distance if you did it.
[55:19] SPEAKER_01: I think it's what you should have done five years ago.
[55:21] SPEAKER_01: I think Ash General should have been doing Iron Man for ages at this point, kind of Danny Alleref style.
[55:26] SPEAKER_01: And I hope she doesn't retire before having a serious crack at Kona.
[55:29] SPEAKER_01: But this year, in two weeks' time, pretender.
[55:32] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretender for me.
[55:33] SPEAKER_03: And yeah, I hope I really hope she does.
[55:36] SPEAKER_03: We gotta see that.
[55:38] SPEAKER_03: She was like out, she would outrun like most of the guys on the on the on the day.
[55:42] SPEAKER_03: Couldn't agree more.
[55:42] SPEAKER_03: Um Rico Bogan.
[55:46] SPEAKER_01: Nah, pretender, pretender.
[55:48] SPEAKER_01: The knees course is too hilly, it's too hot.
[55:50] SPEAKER_01: No, pretender.
[55:51] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, pretender.
[55:53] SPEAKER_03: He's uh might I say under pressure.
[55:57] SPEAKER_01: Oh well, that's tough because he's had a good year, but we now measure him off extremely high standards, don't we?
[56:03] SPEAKER_01: Like third and fourth and fifth with the occasional eighth and ninth isn't good enough for Rico anymore.
[56:09] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, I agree.
[56:10] SPEAKER_03: Um next one.
[56:13] SPEAKER_03: Imogen Simmons.
[56:14] SPEAKER_03: I don't know if we can uh quite measure her performance this year to make a fair fair assessment, but uh yeah, here it is.
[56:23] SPEAKER_03: Siri, I'm throwing it at you.
[56:25] SPEAKER_01: This is an insane one for you to put in.
[56:29] SPEAKER_01: I don't.
[56:30] SPEAKER_01: I just there's so many things I want to say.
[56:32] SPEAKER_01: Um I'm gonna say none of the things I want to say.
[56:35] SPEAKER_03: Now, can I just ask you a question about this?
[56:37] SPEAKER_03: Because as someone who really doesn't understand it, like what is going on like behind the scenes?
[56:44] SPEAKER_03: Or I don't maybe you don't know, or we're not supposed to talk about it, but I'm just I'm just curious.
[56:48] SPEAKER_03: It's like we hear of an investigation and it's six months has passed, and it's like, you know, if you hadn't said anything, then we probably wouldn't have even known, and what would she be saying to the public facing?
[56:59] SPEAKER_03: So I just like I just don't understand what what happens in in these scenarios or like what's going on.
[57:04] SPEAKER_01: So here's what I want to know, Greg, because I copped a lot of hate at the time for breaking that story.
[57:08] SPEAKER_01: What happened?
[57:08] SPEAKER_01: Like, there's still no outcome now.
[57:10] SPEAKER_01: What what happens if I don't break that story?
[57:12] SPEAKER_01: Because there's other people who claim they knew, they didn't know, like they they really only knew in the couple of days when I'd like kind of started talking to people.
[57:20] SPEAKER_01: This could have all just been completely secret.
[57:23] SPEAKER_01: Maybe there's a few whispers, but nothing has actually come out as concrete.
[57:27] SPEAKER_01: Like, surely now you realize why you have to release the story because like Imogen's got great lawyers, her lawyers are sensational, and there's a reason why this is taking so long.
[57:37] SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna talk about there's also some news around that story that is like it's Greg, it's so interesting, but I can't say it.
[57:45] SPEAKER_01: But like this is all gonna come out soon, and when you hear this news I'm talking about in relation to this story, you'll be like, that is very interesting.
[57:54] SPEAKER_01: So just wait and see what happens.
[57:56] SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't know when it's all gonna wrap up, but just just know that there is things to this story, and it's all gonna come out sooner or later.
[58:03] SPEAKER_01: As soon as the decision's made, it's all gonna come out.
[58:06] SPEAKER_01: So let's just let's just pause it there.
[58:08] SPEAKER_01: She's a pretender for now because I doubt she's that fit right now.
[58:11] SPEAKER_01: But let's just leave it there.
[58:12] SPEAKER_03: Okay, we can leave it there, Jack, but I just want to defend you for one second because when this whole thing came out, it seemed like the pro tried news voice went kind of hard on you.
[58:21] SPEAKER_03: And I remembered like DMing with him and be like, but if he hadn't done it, what if?
[58:26] SPEAKER_03: Like what?
[58:26] SPEAKER_03: It just no one says anything, and then she returns to racing when she gets cleared with maybe you know, maybe some bogus story.
[58:35] SPEAKER_03: We don't know, right?
[58:36] SPEAKER_03: So, from my perspective as an athlete in the sport, I was like, Yes, of course.
[58:40] SPEAKER_03: If you have information like this, like blast it out there.
[58:43] SPEAKER_03: Like, I think people need to be like, if if there's something going on, we as pros, we want to know too, right?
[58:49] SPEAKER_03: So, and then maybe they can be more pressure on them from organizations for testing or whatever it might be.
[58:54] SPEAKER_03: So I I I was really weirded out by that from those boys, and I thought, like, well, if Jack's not going to say anything, no one else is, and then these people just secretly return to sport.
[59:04] SPEAKER_03: I mean, it makes you think like when big athletes have these struggles and whatnot, and they're they're gone for a while, and then they just kind of come back, you're like, wait, now now my brain's rewired differently.
[59:15] SPEAKER_03: Um, and it makes me question them a little bit more.
[59:18] SPEAKER_03: Not that I want to be some cynical man in the sport, but you know, you want to know what's going on.
[59:22] SPEAKER_03: Like, I I'm just showing up, I'm showing up to start lines against some of these people, and you know, you do you it's just weird to be behind the scenes on it.
[59:30] SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna commend you and defend you on that too, Jack.
[59:34] SPEAKER_03: And not just because I'm your friend and and a co-host, but it just seemed like the right thing to do.
[59:38] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[59:38] SPEAKER_01: And I've I've I've squashed that beef in Nice with those boys, so I won't make a comment on it.
[59:43] SPEAKER_01: But I do think those boys would would like they would admit that they've got biases, they've got relationships in the sport.
[59:50] SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's like I didn't take any of it personally or anything like that.
[59:53] SPEAKER_01: Um, and I just I didn't see myself as a victim in in any way.
[59:57] SPEAKER_01: Uh that just comes when you break big stories like this by really well-liked athletes.
[1:00:00] SPEAKER_01: And Imogen Simmons at the time was a really, really well-liked athlete, and I think she still probably is a pretty well-liked athlete, even after it.
[1:00:08] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, just part of it.
[1:00:09] SPEAKER_01: Um, who's our last one?
[1:00:11] SPEAKER_01: 100%.
[1:00:11] SPEAKER_01: Um, last one, Mika Nut.
[1:00:14] SPEAKER_01: Oh, tough one as well.
[1:00:15] SPEAKER_01: Pretender's tough.
[1:00:17] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, marathon wouldn't stack up.
[1:00:19] SPEAKER_01: Great swim biker, I think would be good for quite a bit.
[1:00:22] SPEAKER_01: Um, but pretender for Mika Note.
[1:00:25] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I think so too.
[1:00:26] SPEAKER_03: And he seems to run relatively low volume for how good he is.
[1:00:30] SPEAKER_03: So if he can kind of and he's still young, so yeah, but I mean, like I said, if he he went to Nice and he got off the bike at the front of these guys, you know, there's a handful of athletes who could get off the bike at the towards the front, some of these T100 athletes, but yeah, the question is if they want to do that training or you know, have the marathon to to back it up, and I don't think Mika does as well.
[1:00:54] SPEAKER_03: So Mika Newt, you are a pretender, sir.
[1:00:58] SPEAKER_01: Greg, something annoyed me this week that we talked about on our daily pods um for Nice, and I just wanted to bring it to the table because I was not sure if it annoyed me or not at the time, but now I'm certain that it fucking annoys me.
[1:01:10] SPEAKER_01: And it's that athletes who give these big excuses about why their race wasn't good, and it's pros and age group, as I saw it both, like I'm I'm gonna put him on, I'm gonna put him on blast.
[1:01:20] SPEAKER_01: And I know we just talked about wanting transparency, which we do want transparency, but I think there's a a difference between excuses and like almost kind of underselling what your what your competitors did, and kind of saying, like, uh, I was only in this position because of these things.
[1:01:38] SPEAKER_01: Like maybe they contributed, but it kind of makes it seem like it was entirely because of them.
[1:01:42] SPEAKER_01: And like the defending champ who has no reason to do it, like he's a three-time champ, Patrick Lang.
[1:01:48] SPEAKER_01: I was reading his Instagram post and I'm just like, mate, this just isn't like a good look.
[1:01:53] SPEAKER_01: You don't need to do this, just like congratulate everyone on being better and use it as fire to come back next year.
[1:01:58] SPEAKER_01: And you know, if you want to say, like, I I wasn't on my best day, but I'm gonna come back next year, do that.
[1:02:03] SPEAKER_01: But like, I don't know.
[1:02:04] SPEAKER_01: The list of excuses I've now realized it does annoy me.
[1:02:08] SPEAKER_01: There were other athletes who did it as well.
[1:02:09] SPEAKER_01: I'm not I'm not gonna call out everyone, but I wanted to shout out a couple of people who I thought did it really well.
[1:02:15] SPEAKER_01: Sam Laylow, I don't even know if this true this is true, but I'm pretty sure it's true.
[1:02:20] SPEAKER_01: I heard that he was sick going into the race.
[1:02:22] SPEAKER_01: I heard that he might have got a little bit sick at one of his sponsor commitments during the week and wasn't quite at his best and still had a great race.
[1:02:30] SPEAKER_01: And he hasn't come out on Instagram and done a big post for like, oh, what could have been?
[1:02:34] SPEAKER_01: Like he was the defending champion on this course, he finished in in the top five in the end, had a great race.
[1:02:40] SPEAKER_01: But maybe it could have been better if he didn't have some issues going into the race.
[1:02:43] SPEAKER_01: But you don't see him being all sad about it.
[1:02:46] SPEAKER_01: Like, I think his behavior on social media shows huge growth from maybe like 2022 Sam Leo.
[1:02:52] SPEAKER_01: I was super impressed by him, and I just want to congratulate him on the way he handled not having the result he would have loved, even though it was still a great result.
[1:03:00] SPEAKER_01: Same as Patrick, still a great result.
[1:03:02] SPEAKER_01: I think just two different ways in handling it.
[1:03:04] SPEAKER_01: Um and Leon Chevalier, I thought he did it the right way as well.
[1:03:07] SPEAKER_01: He was transparent, he kind of gave the reasons why his year hasn't been as good, but he in no way made it seem like they were the reasons why he did poorly.
[1:03:15] SPEAKER_01: He kind of, he kind of just he he did the he did the perfect balance between the Sam Lalo, which is like the say nothing, and the Patrick Lang, which I felt was make excuses.
[1:03:24] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, Jack.
[1:03:25] SPEAKER_03: I I totally agree.
[1:03:26] SPEAKER_03: It's there's some, and not that Patrick does this a lot, but there there are pros, and it seems like in every race report, they're like, Oh, I was sick.
[1:03:34] SPEAKER_03: It's like, all right, dude, just it just shows like okay, well, good guess what?
[1:03:39] SPEAKER_03: You're never gonna win a big race if that's your mentality.
[1:03:42] SPEAKER_03: Now, Patrick's post, yeah, he kind of said, Oh, I was sick all week, and it's like you know, when someone says, Oh, I was sick all week, it's like, oh, so you were like had a sniffle like a week out, you know?
[1:03:53] SPEAKER_03: It's like people like to to play it up a little bit.
[1:03:56] SPEAKER_03: So obviously Patrick's not coming on the show now again because we're talking smack on him, but you know, he only finished four minutes slower than two years back.
[1:04:05] SPEAKER_03: So you know, it's not like he had this insanely off day.
[1:04:08] SPEAKER_03: We'd like to see a little more credit giving like, damn, the front of the race was insane.
[1:04:13] SPEAKER_03: These guys did something crazy, and and that is what happened.
[1:04:16] SPEAKER_03: Like, Patrick, if Patrick had gone eight ten or whatever, he would have moved up like what he did two years prior, or even say he went eight oh eight or something, he would have got like seventh, right?
[1:04:26] SPEAKER_03: So like there was just no way Patrick was was gonna win that race, too.
[1:04:30] SPEAKER_03: So, like you said, now it's kind of discounting what the guys did who raised the level from what he did two years ago to getting second.
[1:04:38] SPEAKER_03: Um, but you know, I think Patrick will be back, and I still think he's got another crack at at a at a good Kona, but as you see, the the level keeps rising.
[1:04:45] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he had a great race.
[1:04:46] SPEAKER_01: That's the thing, Greg.
[1:04:47] SPEAKER_01: He didn't need to take away from it.
[1:04:49] SPEAKER_01: And I think like if you're sick, like don't say it after the race.
[1:04:53] SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna say it, say it before the race.
[1:04:55] SPEAKER_01: Like come out and say, Look, I've been sick, and then I think that's fine.
[1:04:59] SPEAKER_01: Because then you don't need to do the whole like, oh, look at me, I was sick, I could have had it, like excuses post-race.
[1:05:05] SPEAKER_01: Because everyone knows, everyone knows, okay, this guy's sick leading into the race.
[1:05:08] SPEAKER_01: If it maybe he doesn't have as good a result as it as he could have or we would expect, maybe that's why.
[1:05:13] SPEAKER_01: People then do it for you.
[1:05:15] SPEAKER_01: But yeah, um, anyway, yeah.
[1:05:16] SPEAKER_03: All right.
[1:05:17] SPEAKER_03: Well, you know, things out of no way, Jack.
[1:05:19] SPEAKER_03: That's great.
[1:05:19] SPEAKER_03: I'm glad you got that off your chest.
[1:05:21] SPEAKER_03: Creating a, you know, really putting your foot down to cement that enemy of the show, Patrick Lang.
[1:05:27] SPEAKER_03: Um something that made me happy this week.
[1:05:30] SPEAKER_03: And uh shout out to Will G for commenting about this on the Spotify last week.
[1:05:34] SPEAKER_03: Now, speaking of pretenders, we got to give a shout out to our boy, Justin Rialli.
[1:05:40] SPEAKER_03: Second place, his I'm just so proud of him for getting that age group podium at Cosmo 70.3.
[1:05:48] SPEAKER_03: I mean, he's come a long way to get go there and get second place in that age group race.
[1:05:53] SPEAKER_03: It's just it's just huge for him.
[1:05:55] SPEAKER_03: So shout out, Justin, pretender of the show.
[1:05:58] SPEAKER_03: Congrats, man.
[1:05:59] SPEAKER_03: We're we're proud of you.
[1:06:00] SPEAKER_03: Over here at the triathlon hour.
[1:06:01] SPEAKER_01: That is that's good.
[1:06:03] SPEAKER_01: I gotta give you that.
[1:06:04] SPEAKER_01: That's good.
[1:06:05] SPEAKER_01: Because I said something that annoyed me.
[1:06:07] SPEAKER_01: You set it up like there was something that made you happy.
[1:06:09] SPEAKER_01: And then you go to give a shout out to Justin Raleigh, who got his first pro podium on the weekend.
[1:06:14] SPEAKER_01: But instead of just doing that, you've you've said the age group podium because the Iron Man 70.3 Cosimal start list was one of, if not the weakest, start lists of the year.
[1:06:25] SPEAKER_01: No doubt about it.
[1:06:26] SPEAKER_01: That is really good, banter.
[1:06:28] SPEAKER_01: I just gotta I had to explain that because that's that was probably confusing for most people, but that is that is genius.
[1:06:33] SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I mean he came back from the dead.
[1:06:36] SPEAKER_01: We know he died and then somehow came back to life.
[1:06:38] SPEAKER_01: And and getting that age group podium last week at Iron Man 70.3 Cosimal to wrap up probably the best season he's ever had.
[1:06:45] SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Justin.
[1:06:46] SPEAKER_03: All right, speaking of Spotify comments, we're gonna read read some more.
[1:06:50] SPEAKER_03: We had so much fun doing this in in the Nice buildup.
[1:06:53] SPEAKER_03: And you know, if you slide into the in Jack's DMs, it's like people, it's easy to do.
[1:06:57] SPEAKER_03: If you're going on the Spotify comment and you're leaving a comment for us, we know you are a true pretender and we value that.
[1:07:04] SPEAKER_03: So we're gonna read a few more comments and uh I'm gonna I'm gonna start us off.
[1:07:08] SPEAKER_03: So Steven Bovellino says, Jack, can you get a serious update on Max Newman?
[1:07:16] SPEAKER_03: Repeat Max Newman, friend of the show, uh, and where he is at with his return to racing.
[1:07:23] SPEAKER_03: I had I had this question myself, so good one, Stephen.
[1:07:25] SPEAKER_01: I'm glad that you and Steven both brought up Max Newman because, like we all know, he got so angry at me last week at a barbecue where it wasn't even about Triton, just catching up as friends, having a barbecue, and he aggressively grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and told me he was gonna bash me if I didn't mention him more on the podcast.
[1:07:42] SPEAKER_01: So thank you for mentioning him and bringing him up.
[1:07:44] SPEAKER_01: Max Newman, Max Newman, Max Newman, Max Newman.
[1:07:46] SPEAKER_01: Um, okay, Max Newman, serious update.
[1:07:49] SPEAKER_01: He's doing 70.3 world championships in Mar Baya, and that's I think probably gonna be the only race he does for the rest of the year.
[1:07:57] SPEAKER_01: He might do a late season race if everything goes well, but I wouldn't bank on it.
[1:08:02] SPEAKER_01: I think he's gonna try and have a good comeback to racing at the 70.3 worlds in Mar Baya and then really target Kona 2026, where you know we saw what he did coming fourth there in uh 2022.
[1:08:13] SPEAKER_01: Um I think the thing with Max is he cares about the big races and he doesn't really give a fuck about the small races.
[1:08:20] SPEAKER_01: So that's why he's targeting Mar Bayer and already has his eyes set on Kona.
[1:08:24] SPEAKER_01: I see him ride past my house literally every day.
[1:08:26] SPEAKER_01: He's been riding the TT pike past my house the last few days that I've seen him, whereas before that, he was always on the road bike.
[1:08:33] SPEAKER_01: So to me, that says 70.3 words are coming close and he must be getting relatively fit.
[1:08:38] SPEAKER_01: Um, and just to reinforce what Greg said, we love the Spotify comments.
[1:08:42] SPEAKER_01: Please keep sending them in because the Instagram DMs they all get lost.
[1:08:45] SPEAKER_01: Whereas we we all read these Spotify comments every single week.
[1:08:49] SPEAKER_01: We talk about him in the group chat a lot.
[1:08:50] SPEAKER_01: It's it's one of the best parts of our week.
[1:08:52] SPEAKER_01: Um Tri Doc 1980 says Jonas Schomberg is the Chuck Norris of Triathlon.
[1:08:59] SPEAKER_01: Jonas doesn't flush the toilet, he scares the shit out of it.
[1:09:02] SPEAKER_01: We loved this, and it made me want to ask Greg a question.
[1:09:06] SPEAKER_01: So obviously, all week leading into Nice, you were high on Jonas Schomberg, you wouldn't shut up about him.
[1:09:10] SPEAKER_01: When it comes to Kona, who is the Jonas Schomberg of you for the women's race in Kona?
[1:09:16] SPEAKER_03: Who I don't even know if I want to get it all right, I'll give it away.
[1:09:20] SPEAKER_03: Julie Duron is gonna win her first Iron Man world title in two weeks' time.
[1:09:28] SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's an insane call that might be true.
[1:09:30] SPEAKER_01: Brett Sutton effect.
[1:09:32] SPEAKER_01: Um, I love it.
[1:09:33] SPEAKER_01: I love it.
[1:09:33] SPEAKER_01: Looking forward to hearing all about that next week and daily pods.
[1:09:36] SPEAKER_03: We'll say one thing.
[1:09:37] SPEAKER_03: I mean, fastest Kona run ever.
[1:09:38] SPEAKER_03: I mean, she'll have to do that to actually win.
[1:09:41] SPEAKER_03: But, you know, she she got an Olympic medal.
[1:09:43] SPEAKER_03: Brett Sutton.
[1:09:45] SPEAKER_03: Oh that, yeah.
[1:09:45] SPEAKER_03: I think it's like next week.
[1:09:47] SPEAKER_01: Save it, save it, save it, save it.
[1:09:48] SPEAKER_01: We gotta we gotta we got seven days of podcasting in a row, seven hours in seven days.
[1:09:52] SPEAKER_01: We we've got to.
[1:09:53] SPEAKER_03: I will say she doesn't quite race like I mean, I don't think there's anyone like Jonas who just does the crazy stuff though.
[1:09:59] SPEAKER_03: Like, is there anyone in the race who who who can really replicate that?
[1:10:02] SPEAKER_01: Lucy Charles Barclay.
[1:10:03] SPEAKER_03: Okay, you're right.
[1:10:04] SPEAKER_03: You're right.
[1:10:04] SPEAKER_03: What have I been thinking?
[1:10:05] SPEAKER_03: She's the most insane person wire to wire we've ever seen.
[1:10:08] SPEAKER_03: Oh man, I can't wait for next week.
[1:10:10] SPEAKER_01: There was a few comments about the T100 from John Ketteridge and Gav about T100 needing less races and more races that matter.
[1:10:17] SPEAKER_01: We agree, um, refer to the top of the show.
[1:10:19] SPEAKER_01: We couldn't agree more.
[1:10:20] SPEAKER_01: Um, I will say this, Greg.
[1:10:23] SPEAKER_01: I have been told by people at the T100 there are some big changes coming in 2026.
[1:10:27] SPEAKER_01: I haven't been told what they are, but I've been told that I'll like them.
[1:10:31] SPEAKER_01: So just watch this space.
[1:10:32] SPEAKER_01: And Rosie Bartlett, speaking of the T100, commented and asked, Is there really a world in which Hayden doesn't sign for the T100 next year?
[1:10:41] SPEAKER_01: He's made a hundred K plus contract fee already, despite being injured for part of the season.
[1:10:46] SPEAKER_03: Interesting.
[1:10:47] SPEAKER_03: Well, I I like that fact that you maybe have some insider rumblings that there's some changes, like we said earlier in the show.
[1:10:56] SPEAKER_03: I just don't want to see the same thing.
[1:10:57] SPEAKER_03: So I hope there's some changes.
[1:10:59] SPEAKER_03: Now, is there really a world and Hayden doesn't sign with a T100?
[1:11:02] SPEAKER_03: This is what I kind of thought.
[1:11:04] SPEAKER_03: And maybe you have a different opinion, because I'm like, well, why wouldn't?
[1:11:07] SPEAKER_03: Like he he can show up to these races.
[1:11:09] SPEAKER_03: Hayden doesn't even need to be in full fitness, it seems, to to cash out and win and kind of be the face of the series.
[1:11:15] SPEAKER_03: So it makes sense to me why why he would sign.
[1:11:18] SPEAKER_03: Maybe even if he wanted to prioritize short course racing, or maybe he goes up to long and want wants to do Kona.
[1:11:25] SPEAKER_03: In some sick world, I think Hayden would try to do all three.
[1:11:28] SPEAKER_03: He's like, Oh, I want to win Kona, win the World Triathlon series, and win the T100 series.
[1:11:33] SPEAKER_03: And I mean, there's only one person who could pull that off.
[1:11:36] SPEAKER_03: So um it makes sense to me why he would, but maybe, yeah, uh, maybe you have a different opinion, Jack.
[1:11:42] SPEAKER_01: I was waiting for you to say, and that person is Jonas Schomberg.
[1:11:46] SPEAKER_01: But no, I agree.
[1:11:46] SPEAKER_01: Hayden Wilde's the person who could do that.
[1:11:48] SPEAKER_01: Like, obviously, Jan Fredino probably could have at one point if all this was around, but right now it's Hayden Wilde.
[1:11:54] SPEAKER_01: I think that the reason he wouldn't sign next year is out of spite.
[1:11:58] SPEAKER_01: I think that Hayden really, and like this, he hasn't told me this, but I think I like I kind of feel like he has to be pissed off at the T100 right now.
[1:12:08] SPEAKER_01: I feel like they threw him under the bus or threw him to the wolves with this whole situation.
[1:12:12] SPEAKER_01: Sam Renew still hasn't come out and made a comment as the CEO.
[1:12:15] SPEAKER_01: Like, if this was Dana White in the UFC, Dana White would have done a press conference, asked, been asked the questions, and he would have handled it.
[1:12:22] SPEAKER_01: But they kind of just like left Hayden out to cop this for like weeks and weeks and weeks.
[1:12:27] SPEAKER_01: So I definitely think there's a world where Hayden's pissed off at them, and his mindset's now like, well, fuck this, fuck these guys.
[1:12:33] SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go and win all their races, take all their money, and then I'll go win the Iron Man World Championships next year.
[1:12:38] SPEAKER_01: That that's I just I just think there's a world where that's his mindset.
[1:12:41] SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying it is.
[1:12:42] SPEAKER_03: I think you're right.
[1:12:43] SPEAKER_03: And I'm just I just want to personally call out Sam Renof.
[1:12:48] SPEAKER_03: He came on the podcast, I feel like he said things were like changing, oh, now we're in a position.
[1:12:53] SPEAKER_03: It's just the same old shit.
[1:12:54] SPEAKER_03: Like, dude, get out and make a fucking statement.
[1:12:57] SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm so tired of this shit.
[1:12:58] SPEAKER_03: It's the same old, same old, same old.
[1:13:01] SPEAKER_03: So, dude, get out from behind whatever shield you want to provide yourself, talk to the fans, keep them in the loop, transparency.
[1:13:08] SPEAKER_03: Enough is enough.
[1:13:09] SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm getting upset with the man, and I've never even met him.
[1:13:11] SPEAKER_03: And he seems like a very likable guy as well.
[1:13:14] SPEAKER_03: So uh that's that's my little plea for him to get out there, like you said, Jack, and and and be a face of the company.
[1:13:20] SPEAKER_01: Mate, 100%.
[1:13:20] SPEAKER_01: I've been saying it to him to his face for like a year and a half now.
[1:13:24] SPEAKER_01: He's so likable in real life, and trust me, the podcast version of Sam isn't the real version.
[1:13:29] SPEAKER_01: He's actually far more opinionated and funny.
[1:13:31] SPEAKER_01: He's a genuinely funny, likable guy.
[1:13:33] SPEAKER_01: And all he needs to do is become the face.
[1:13:36] SPEAKER_01: I think he's scared.
[1:13:37] SPEAKER_01: I think this is my personal view as Sam Renouf, my friend, not Sam Renouf, my ex-boss or the T100 CEO.
[1:13:46] SPEAKER_01: I think Sam has a little bit of anxiety about the way he looks and not always being in front of a camera and not wanting to be the face.
[1:13:55] SPEAKER_01: I think Sam Renof needs to get confident.
[1:13:57] SPEAKER_01: He needs to come out and do weekly or fortnightly or once monthly press conferences on Instagram where literally a T100 employee asks him a set of questions with just an iPhone camera in the PTO office.
[1:14:10] SPEAKER_01: He answers them and then they upload it.
[1:14:12] SPEAKER_01: It could only be like could be like four or five minutes, and he just does it, you know, somewhere between once every week or fortnight and once every month.
[1:14:18] SPEAKER_01: Changes the game, makes people love him, makes people feel like they're in the loop.
[1:14:22] SPEAKER_01: Sam, come on, it's time.
[1:14:23] SPEAKER_03: He'd also be good at it.
[1:14:25] SPEAKER_03: Like totally.
[1:14:27] SPEAKER_03: Um, all right.
[1:14:29] SPEAKER_03: Mini Forklift says, guys, please stop the skinny and Ozempic talk.
[1:14:34] SPEAKER_03: Honestly, I I'm kind of down for this.
[1:14:37] SPEAKER_03: I feel like for the men's race, you know, we're males talking about it.
[1:14:41] SPEAKER_03: It's a little we can get away with it a little bit, and it made sense on the Nice course.
[1:14:46] SPEAKER_03: I mean, look, all the professional men were talking about it who were doing the race, right?
[1:14:50] SPEAKER_03: They're saying Christian looks skinny.
[1:14:52] SPEAKER_03: And uh here I am talking more about it.
[1:14:53] SPEAKER_03: But you know, I think going into the women's race, yeah, we could probably table that discussion uh uh for the for for the foreseeable future.
[1:15:02] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think where it's appropriate and obvious, talk about it, but like don't make it just like an everyday topic.
[1:15:08] SPEAKER_01: I do think the Ozempic joke about the Norwegians is kind of funny, like they clearly made their bodies a big part of their Instagrams in the lead up.
[1:15:16] SPEAKER_01: They clearly were thinking about it and making a bit of a joke about it, or they really did think they looked great.
[1:15:21] SPEAKER_01: So I kind of just went with that and been like, you know, instead of the Norwegian hype train, it's the Ozempic hype train.
[1:15:26] SPEAKER_01: Now, I don't think they're taking Ozempic.
[1:15:28] SPEAKER_01: I definitely don't.
[1:15:28] SPEAKER_01: I a hundred percent don't think those three are.
[1:15:31] SPEAKER_01: I just think it's like a funny joke.
[1:15:32] SPEAKER_01: Um R.
[1:15:34] SPEAKER_01: M.
[1:15:34] SPEAKER_01: Backen commented, still waiting for the grovelling apology owed to all Norwegians after boldly stating post-Kona 2024 that the Norwegian method is dead.
[1:15:45] SPEAKER_01: Okay, Greg.
[1:15:46] SPEAKER_01: I think the 2024 Norwegian method is dead.
[1:15:49] SPEAKER_01: I still think that.
[1:15:50] SPEAKER_01: I think that they were getting sick of having Olav's hands with a glove, of course, we know he does it hygienically, inserted up their anus to check their core body temperature.
[1:16:00] SPEAKER_01: I think that once they got rid of the 2024 Norwegian method, which is the glove method, that the Norwegian method was finally able to shine again, and that's what we saw in 2025.
[1:16:09] SPEAKER_01: So no apologies about that.
[1:16:11] SPEAKER_01: The 2024 Norwegian method was and is still dead.
[1:16:14] SPEAKER_03: I agree.
[1:16:15] SPEAKER_03: And uh based on this guy's name, he's definitely a Norwegian, uh, right?
[1:16:19] SPEAKER_03: So you know obviously he's just he's just salty about it.
[1:16:23] SPEAKER_03: Um all right, our last couple of comments here before we're wrapping up the pod.
[1:16:27] SPEAKER_03: Um a long track says, Can't wait until KB starts coaching Lionel.
[1:16:32] SPEAKER_03: Love that, can't wait to see that now.
[1:16:34] SPEAKER_03: We got another comment.
[1:16:35] SPEAKER_03: Speaking of Lionel, Eric Serene says, Come on, guys, Lionel is still Canadian.
[1:16:41] SPEAKER_03: What the heck?
[1:16:42] SPEAKER_03: Jack's saying he's not, he's North American now.
[1:16:46] SPEAKER_03: Jack.
[1:16:47] SPEAKER_03: You know Canada is a part of North America, right?
[1:16:50] SPEAKER_03: America is a continent and USA is a country inside of America.
[1:16:54] SPEAKER_03: Jack, your response.
[1:16:56] SPEAKER_01: Not geography again.
[1:16:57] SPEAKER_01: Okay, so Eric, I hear you.
[1:16:59] SPEAKER_01: You're clearly a Canadian.
[1:17:02] SPEAKER_01: I thought up until recently that Great Britain and like London and England, I thought that they were part of Europe.
[1:17:09] SPEAKER_01: I've only just realized that the continent has split and that England is no longer part of Europe.
[1:17:16] SPEAKER_01: I genuinely thought that the Great Britain was part of Europe.
[1:17:19] SPEAKER_01: So we only learn about that in the in the Nice build-up pods.
[1:17:23] SPEAKER_01: And like, it's news to me.
[1:17:24] SPEAKER_01: I I didn't know this.
[1:17:25] SPEAKER_01: I thought that Canada was its own country.
[1:17:27] SPEAKER_01: I didn't realise that it was a part of America.
[1:17:29] SPEAKER_01: Like, as you can tell with what I'm saying, geography, a very strong point of mine.
[1:17:32] SPEAKER_01: So a shock that I didn't realize this.
[1:17:34] SPEAKER_01: But no, of course, of course.
[1:17:36] SPEAKER_01: I know that Canada is part of North America.
[1:17:39] SPEAKER_01: What I was meaning is that Lionel is not a part of Canada, Lionel is a part of the United States of America, just like our co-host Sam Appleton, who is no longer Australian, he's also an American.
[1:17:51] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, actually, I get a few DMs from the Aussies and being like, frickin' Apo, he's the bad kind of pretender, and he's not even an Australian anymore.
[1:18:00] SPEAKER_03: So shout out to anyone who's uh ever sent me that in a DM.
[1:18:03] SPEAKER_03: Uh I hear you, and uh yeah, Apo's full on American now.
[1:18:06] SPEAKER_03: Now, a question: how many years before Apo has to live in Australia for him to become a true Australian citizen yet?
[1:18:13] SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think he has to make the decision to move back, bring his family back, live there for a year, and then okay, we can have you back.
[1:18:19] SPEAKER_01: But right now, he's been living in America for like nearly a decade.
[1:18:23] SPEAKER_01: His whole family, like his son is American, his his wife is American, you know, like he's he's ingrained.
[1:18:28] SPEAKER_01: He doesn't even come back for Christmas anymore.
[1:18:30] SPEAKER_01: He stays in America for Christmas.
[1:18:32] SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it would take at least a year of living in Australia.
[1:18:35] SPEAKER_03: I like that.
[1:18:35] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he just races those soft North American races like true, like a true American would.
[1:18:40] SPEAKER_01: To be fair, the Australian race is not a lot stronger at the moment.
[1:18:42] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's true, actually.
[1:18:44] SPEAKER_03: All right, that's yeah, they're actually weaker.
[1:18:45] SPEAKER_03: Let's let's put that out there.
[1:18:46] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but they're getting better.
[1:18:47] SPEAKER_01: The Australian races.
[1:18:49] SPEAKER_01: We're we're we're on the globe.
[1:18:50] SPEAKER_03: I gotta say one thing before we finish.
[1:18:52] SPEAKER_03: Remember, I I forget if I was saying I'm scared for the future.
[1:18:56] SPEAKER_03: Was it what did I say?
[1:18:57] SPEAKER_03: Long course Australian men?
[1:18:59] SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
[1:18:59] SPEAKER_03: I feel like I made that comment, but you did.
[1:19:01] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you had mentioned Nick Thompson, and he he's totally cemented himself um as as up there.
[1:19:06] SPEAKER_03: So I gotta I think I gotta rescind that comment.
[1:19:08] SPEAKER_03: And uh yeah, I'm excited to see Nick and his diehard fans uh on the on the world stage next year.
[1:19:14] SPEAKER_01: I like I don't see why Nick can't podium at Kona next year, or at least top five.
[1:19:18] SPEAKER_01: I agree.
[1:19:18] SPEAKER_01: Nick's back, and then he'll you know what happens?
[1:19:20] SPEAKER_01: You get a big name who's back on the world stage and it rises everyone else.
[1:19:24] SPEAKER_01: Like everyone, like it's like the the rising tides lift all boats.
[1:19:27] SPEAKER_01: That's what's gonna happen with Nick Thompson.
[1:19:29] SPEAKER_01: He's Australia's next star, and I think he's gonna be good for a long time.
[1:19:32] SPEAKER_01: And just so that you guys don't realise, I was rage baiting you.
[1:19:35] SPEAKER_01: I realised that England is the country, London's the capital city, it is still part of Europe, the continent.
[1:19:40] SPEAKER_01: They've just left the EU.
[1:19:42] SPEAKER_01: I understand all this.
[1:19:43] SPEAKER_01: I'm just just rage baiting you.
[1:19:45] SPEAKER_01: So don't don't uh don't f slide into the Spotify comments, all of you angry uh ex-European English people.
[1:19:52] SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, you know, New Zealand and Tasmania and Australia, they're all just connected, right?
[1:19:56] SPEAKER_03: It's just it's one big country.
[1:19:59] SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'll take the New Zealanders, but I'm not having the Tasmanians.
[1:20:02] SPEAKER_01: That's Camworth country.
[1:20:03] SPEAKER_01: They breed them weird down there.
[1:20:04] SPEAKER_01: All right, Greg, that's the podcast done for today.
[1:20:07] SPEAKER_01: Uh, like we talked about off the top of the show, this was kind of just like an episode in between the two main events.
[1:20:13] SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we had the daily pods into Nice.
[1:20:15] SPEAKER_01: We've had a couple of floating episodes, but the real business starts next week.
[1:20:20] SPEAKER_01: We're gonna be doing seven pods in seven days, daily podcasts into the IMM World Championships at Kona.
[1:20:26] SPEAKER_01: And if you thought that the Nice ones were good, which clearly you did because we've never had better numbers in the podcast history than that, the Kona ones are gonna be so much better.
[1:20:34] SPEAKER_01: We've got way more planned.
[1:20:35] SPEAKER_01: We're doing them in a really fun way.
[1:20:37] SPEAKER_01: There's gonna be a lot of laughs, but also a lot of serious conversation.
[1:20:41] SPEAKER_01: Um, we've got a we've got a few special guests lined up as well.
[1:20:44] SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you agree with this, Greg, but I think this women's race is so much more intriguing than the men's race.
[1:20:50] SPEAKER_01: The return of the Norwegians was great, and Sam Laylo, Martin Van Riel, and Patrick Langer, but this battle between Lucy Charles Barclay, Kat Matthews, Laura Phillip, Taylor, Nib, Julie Duran, Solvik, Lofseth, uh, you know, like I there's so many more.
[1:21:03] SPEAKER_01: We've got all this thing, all this list of things we're going to talk about, and I'm super hyped about it.
[1:21:08] SPEAKER_01: So tune in next week.
[1:21:09] SPEAKER_01: Get excited for the daily pods.
[1:21:11] SPEAKER_01: Comment on this episode on Spotify if you have things you want to hear about next week, or just comments you have about this, this, this podcast today.
[1:21:18] SPEAKER_01: Um, we'll read them out on the first uh episode of the Daily Pods going into Kona.
[1:21:23] SPEAKER_01: Uh shout out to Joe Skipper for coming on for the first part of the episode.
[1:21:26] SPEAKER_01: Uh suck shit up, oh, you're a pretender now.
[1:21:28] SPEAKER_01: Uh and Greg, Greg, thank you for coming on as always, mate.
[1:21:31] SPEAKER_01: The most opinionated man in Triton.
[1:21:33] SPEAKER_03: Thanks for having me, Jack.
[1:21:34] SPEAKER_03: And uh, we'll give one more shout out to Ari for second place for in a real uh pro race, not like that other pretender.
[1:21:40] SPEAKER_01: And keep a keep an eye out for the pretender shirts, they're coming in seven days from now, so get excited for that.
[1:21:46] SPEAKER_03: You're welcome, everyone.

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