Episode 73: Ironman 70.3 World Championships Taupo Preview

In this episode of Another Triathlon Podcast, Jenna-Caer and Josh discuss the upcoming Ironman 70.3 World Championships, reflecting on the long season and their personal training experiences. They delve into the excitement surrounding race week, the impact of social media, and the future of iconic races like Ironman St. George. The conversation also touches on the coaching changes among Norwegian triathletes and highlights the recent results from Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells, showcasing the dominance of Olympic athletes in the event. In this conversation, Jenna-Caer and Josh discuss recent triathlon events, focusing on the performances of athletes in various races, including the 70.3 series. They highlight the challenges of upcoming courses, analyze the dynamics of the women's and men's races, and predict outcomes based on athlete performances and conditions. The conversation emphasizes the competitive landscape and the strategies athletes may employ in their races. In this conversation, Josh and Jenna-Caer discuss the upcoming triathlon race, focusing on the resilience of athletes, the dynamics of competition, and the impact of hometown advantage. They analyze the financial stakes involved in the race and make predictions about the outcomes based on the athletes' performances and experiences. The discussion highlights the challenges faced by athletes and the excitement surrounding the event.


Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Final Race of the Season
05:25 Jenna's Ironman Taiwan Preparation
11:09 Social Media Buzz and Race Week Excitement
16:51 Norwegian Triathletes' Coaching Changes
24:49 Triathlon Highlights and Debuts
30:01 Upcoming Races and Athlete Dynamics
44:33 Men's Race Preview and Competitive Landscape
50:37 The Dynamics of Competition
56:13 Financial Stakes in Triathlons



Ironman, triathlon, training, race week, St. George, Norwegian athletes, 70.3 results, community, social media, coaching changes, triathlon, 70.3, race predictions, athlete performance, course challenges, women's race, men's race, upcoming events, triathlon highlights, athlete dynamics, triathlon, Ironman, competition, athletes, predictions, performance, endurance sports, race analysis, financial stakes, hometown advantage

Transcript

Jenna-Caer (00:00.972)
Welcome to another Trathon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. This week, we are going to jump into talking about the race that everyone is talking about, which is crazy to see that there is a world championship going on in December of this year. It feels like this season has been never ending, but it is all coming together for the final big race of the year with the 70.3 world championships. And we will dive into who's racing, what it means for the Ironman Pro Series.

And of course, talk about our usual segments with What the F, social media post, and now our Trap on Tea segment as well. But first, let's jump on. I am joined by Josh this week. Josh, how are you doing? What's going on in your world?

Josh (00:39.706)
Happy Monday of final race of the season. Yeah. I'm in my off season, so I'm enjoying that. it's, it's actually been quite the off season so far. just realized today I had a walk run or run walk, protocol for 30 minutes because I haven't run in 17 days. So I hadn't actually realized how long it had been, but, lot of swimming, a lot of biking, as we've talked the last few episodes. And today was my first.

Jenna-Caer (00:43.118)
Man, it has been a long season.

Josh (01:08.964)
dibs back into some running and got three miles in in 30 minutes. Took it easy, but felt good. And we'll see how it responds tomorrow. That's kind of the true test. But the Achilles were kind of mostly 99 % pain free. I got to do a little bit more warming up. I think that's what I realized too. Because as soon as I get on the tread and get in a half mile or a mile or so, everything's clear and good to go.

just a little bit more of a better warmup and I should be good and really making sure I'm stretched. I'm an old man, so I gotta take care of these things these days. But the strength was there. I was very surprised that the legs and the glutes and the adductors, everything kind of felt strong. And a lot of that's just from the biking and the strength work and even the swimming with the core and everything. So very happy with that in the last few weeks without running and...

Looking forward to the rest of the week. got a big weekend at Peloton coming up with like four or five classes and long rides. Yeah, just four or five classes. 75 minute ride with Mr. Wilpers, then a 60 minute run with Becks and both of those classes I booked the entire studio. So 39 people that I'm bringing on the bikes and then 16 people on the treadmills to celebrate everyone who did marathons this fall. So it'll be a really cool class and a really cool.

Jenna-Caer (02:13.176)
He is back in the house. This is my...

Josh (02:35.94)
weekend and just kind of community building and seeing people I haven't seen in a while. And then it's going to be focused on the spring races and really into no more deviating from the coach's plan. But this is my final week out of telling her what I have to do.

Jenna-Caer (02:49.838)
you

Jenna-Caer (02:53.598)
it'll be fun to get everyone together though. So much of this training we do on our own by ourselves. I know I do 99.9 % by myself. So there's just something different when you have that energy of everyone around you and just a little bit easier to suffer when the people around you are suffering too.

Josh (03:09.731)
Exactly. And, and it's a long day to have like 75 minute ride at 8 AM, no, 7 AM and then a 60 minute run at 10 AM. So it, but you're in there and it's over before you know it. When you're running with all these other people and riding with all these other people and the coach is going nuts. We, we get to pick the music for the ride with, with Wilpers on his Saturday morning ride and in our community, because we're, got the whole studio, the guy who does all of the.

song selections for him every Saturday. Let me pick the theme and we went with Jock Jam. So it's going to be pretty lively for 75 minutes of some music you probably haven't heard in a while. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (03:45.71)
you

Jenna-Caer (03:53.25)
That'll be a blast. The music definitely sets the tone. That's gonna be so much fun. Good to hear that at least your first run went back and hopefully everything holds up for the weekend so you can enjoy it and not be stressing.

Josh (04:04.546)
I'm excited and try and figure out what time we got to watch Topaz. So excited to finally end the season and then see some good racing and we get two different days too, right? So I think Friday, the women, I think the women are Friday afternoon, time, somewhere in there in the U.S. and then the men on Saturday. So in the U.S., obviously Saturday, Sunday over there.

Jenna-Caer (04:09.868)
Yeah.

Josh (04:29.348)
Good for them to have their two days. And it seems like that's going to be the theme going forward. I've seen a lot of people posting stories and posts and the ladies want their own day in Kona. the debates and the politics have already started for sure.

Jenna-Caer (04:47.334)
Yeah, absolutely. No, it's gonna be so good to watch. I've got a Christmas party I have to go to. I'm wondering if I can sneak off to try to watch the end of the races there to see what happens. Yeah.

Josh (04:54.521)
you

You and I both are gonna have to figure this one out Friday. I've got covered but maybe I'll make Janine drive down to New York But Saturday is gonna be a little different Yeah, so how's your your Ironman build going? In between saving cats and all of the other stuff that you're doing baking and winning like contest on DLC or whatever channels

Jenna-Caer (05:10.752)
Yeah, definitely.

man, that was a random adventure for sure. Yeah, I had my son's birthday this weekend and I bake once a year and go all like Pinterest on it and spend ridiculous amount of times making the cake. And then I'm totally burnt out. baking until his birthday comes around the following year. So it's my once a year adventure. was, I think it took me like six hours to do this like game controller cake. One of those, is it cake? Is it not? man.

Josh (05:43.786)
You pulled it off. mean, it was television worthy, I thought.

Jenna-Caer (05:48.846)
deal. And then yeah, that was definitely adventure. was more like mentally fatigued for my run after or yeah, for my run after us to like, my god, just drain from trying to make this thing work. So that mental stress does count. But got it done, got the training done, had like I said, a random adventure where there is a cat stuck in my tree. So got to do some tree climbing, trying to get a bucket up to the cat to try to like lower it down in that and

Josh (05:48.858)
Fun dance not easy.

Jenna-Caer (06:17.462)
After being in that tree for almost a day and a half, the cat decided to ignore the bucket altogether and the whole setup and just somehow got down out of the tree by itself. So you're just chilling up there for almost two days just cause in the middle of the trip.

Josh (06:32.954)
Something must have spooked it and it didn't want, it didn't feel comfortable to come down until it's like, all right, screw this lady, I'm out of here.

Jenna-Caer (06:37.966)
Yeah, these people are going to keep bugging me. So I got to get to know it's an adventure. But yeah, training's been good. It's been doing things differently this year. I've mentioned it before, just tons of more heat training and trying to get those adaptations a little bit faster. And I'm doing Iron Man Taiwan and really have no idea what to expect. There's no course up yet. So I don't know what that looks like.

They say the temperatures will be in the 20s, but I was looking at some past race reports where it like 34, which is I think approaching 100. So definitely banking on being prepared for anything with lots of hills, lots of heat, lots of crazy stuff. But this last week was more of a kind of recovery week-ish. Didn't do any crazy hills, didn't do any insane heat. Well, okay, did some heat training, but nothing crazy like I was doing before. My long run was flat.

Not overdressed, just cruise and...

Josh (07:34.468)
Flat-ish, I thought I saw some incline in there too.

Jenna-Caer (07:37.454)
I mean, it was plus minus 2%, which feels, at this point after the 15%, feels flat.

Josh (07:41.36)
Right, right. Well, when 2 % is feeling flat, then you're in a good mode.

Jenna-Caer (07:46.222)
It's a good sign, yeah. I don't often look at my workouts ahead and I looked at my run tomorrow. I've got a double run day and the first run has a lot more time at that 10 to 15 percent grade. So we will overdress while wearing lots of layers. So let's see how that goes there. But it's definitely been interesting after doing this sport for so long. It's nice to just change up the stimulus a little bit, see what works, doesn't.

Josh (08:10.896)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (08:12.494)
Really the goal with Iron Man Taiwan is to just take the box, get that Kona spot, and then really try to build and be fit for Kona. So, so far everything's on track, nothing's hurting, so that's always a good sign. I'm slowly, but I'm swimming and I should be able to make it, well, still feels like long distance, but I'll be able to make it through the swim and get into the parts that I like a lot more.

Josh (08:35.908)
Yeah, no, it's our pictures of us coming out of the water or some of the like there it could be like the worst moment because you're still trying to catch yourself or it could be the greatest picture of the day because you're so relieved they're like I get to go ride a bike now.

Jenna-Caer (08:46.99)
Just stoked. Now I get to start chasing people down instead of feeling like a floundering fish just trying to survive. So, it'll be good. Although I'm gonna have to take my pretty Debauer wetsuit to the pool to test it out there because it is not gonna be warm enough in Canada to swim outside before April. That's just not happening.

Josh (08:54.704)
Yeah.

Josh (09:08.834)
Nah, just make sure you rinse it. I've swam with mine in the pool a couple of times. I would just make sure you rinse it there. I do it just to stretch it out and get used to the shoulders. And that Ford 3.0 is a little tighter than I think most suits that you might have been wearing previously. man, it's fast, that's for sure. So enjoy that day at the pool for sure.

Jenna-Caer (09:30.286)
man, that's the best. Feel like you're floating on top. I'm just honestly hoping it fits because definitely working towards that reshape not there yet. So hopefully the wetsuit will fit and give it a try. I haven't. Yeah, thinking about the last Iron Man I finished was 2022. Maybe? Yeah. So been a little while between drinks, but I am so stoked about this one. It'll be good to get out there. And we've got

A of the Mana team members going out there, so while I'll be traveling alone, I won't be alone on the other side, which just makes it so much more fun when you have some familiar faces down the course. yeah.

Josh (10:05.016)
I mean, it's going to be hard to avoid mana at races going forward. So if you see us out there, say hi and wave, there's age group wins and everything, overall winners this weekend. And I mean, the kits are looking really fast and are fast. now the, now the athletes are getting faster too. So.

Jenna-Caer (10:18.594)
the end.

Jenna-Caer (10:22.914)
Definitely and if anyone wants to jump into a random Ironman in Taiwan, we've got them on a discount code Just shoot us a message on another chat on podcast. We'll get you discount into the race because it's fun to suffer with friends We good

Josh (10:28.208)
you

Josh (10:36.804)
Yes.

Jenna-Caer (10:39.008)
Well, let's roll into it. What's going on this week? We'll get started with our usual segments and then we will go down into geeking out about the big race going on this weekend. Let's start off with you, Josh. You got your finger on the pulse of social media here when it comes to Traphon. What are you seeing? What should people pay attention to?

Josh (10:57.7)
So it is race week and it is a world championship. with that, hand in hand means Bob Abbott's in town and he is so, Babbitville and breakfast with Bob is in full swing as of today. looks like he was already dropping some interviews and meeting with all the pros as they hit town. And most of them are either there or about to be there in the next day. or so, so.

Jenna-Caer (11:06.446)
Of course, the legend!

Josh (11:24.174)
Just keep your eyes out on Bob's YouTube or his social media page to find the links to get to the interviews and always good content, always great stuff to hear. And especially now with it being December end of the year, kind of get the pulse of some of the athletes and some of them are there for a lot of reasons. Some of them are there just to finish out the year and help their sponsors out and do what they can. And some of them there to prove themselves. So.

Jenna-Caer (11:40.662)
Yeah

Josh (11:52.794)
There's a whole bunch of different stuff going on and I think Bob's going to get that out of a lot of people. And I just want to make sure people remember to check out those interviews too. It's not all just online on social media. It's I consider YouTube part of it as well now and his stuff is really good.

Jenna-Caer (12:08.046)
Yeah, he's got a lot more of those kind of longer form formats where it's like 20 to 30 minute interviews where you can really get some insights. And it'll be interesting to see. know with the T 100 with the grand final, looking at a lot of those interviews, you could tell who was tired and who was still kind of fired up and ready to go. And there's a surprising number of people who look tired at the T 100 that are going to be out there on the weekend racing. So we curious to see, see how it goes, but we'll definitely dive more into that.

Josh (12:21.744)
Yeah.

Josh (12:36.451)
And what was it like four weeks in between?

Jenna-Caer (12:39.822)
And that's, yeah, not long. And that's another month of race fatigue, trying to recover, going to another country, another continent, just man.

Josh (12:50.584)
I mean, I would say the only one who has an advantage that has done that is probably Kyle Smith because he's sleeping in his own bed.

Jenna-Caer (12:58.254)
I mean, that's pretty sweet. hear he's like 15 minutes away from the start there to stay out of limelight, sleeping in your own bed, train on usual grounds and just drive into the race start from home. That is quite the treat for a professional athlete racing at the world championships. Not something we see often.

Josh (12:59.792)
Yeah.

Josh (13:09.774)
Yeah.

Josh (13:16.612)
But he did confirm how crappy the race surface is. I mean, they don't even hide it. They're like, yep, we're from New Zealand and this stuff is just no fun.

Jenna-Caer (13:20.578)
The Chits feel.

Yeah, hearing a lot of feedback from the pros like just the speeds are so much slower at any given power than what you expect and that can definitely mess with people's heads a lot too when you're thinking, I'm putting out good power and then you look down at the speed and it's...

way slower that's when it starts to mess with is my power meter low or my brakes rubbing start to get those little seeds of doubt and I wonder if many not so on the pro side but the amateurs if that'll really start to mess with their heads because that's never a fun feeling especially when you're already out there going hard.

Josh (13:58.862)
Yeah. I mean, you definitely think it gives him an advantage too. He knows exactly what PSI to run. He knows exactly what equipment to run. There's a little, little bit of an advantage there. And when you can have all of those types of advantages in a race this big, where people are going to be really pushing the line. I think that's, that's something we got to keep our eyes on when we make our predictions.

Jenna-Caer (14:05.677)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (14:25.41)
Definitely. Well, rolling on with our what the f of the week here, we have Ironman St. George is going away. The race is not going to be renewing its contract there. So we are not going to be seeing one of the.

Kind of iconic courses out on the Ironman series. Now this race that's known for being tough and hot and hard. I did the 70.3 before and then we had a number of world championship events there for a while there. It seemed like everyone was going to St. George a few times a year, but it is sad to see that it's going to be going away. What do you think about one, Josh?

Josh (15:01.282)
Yeah, a lot of people live there now too. mean, a lot of triathletes have made it home and I think there's going to be a lot of people petitioning to bring it back. And I think the contract was up as you've seen with some of the races in Canada. Maybe those just kind of went away, but I don't think St. George is going to go away quietly. We know that there's one more year for sure. And I think between now and then you're going to see a

Jenna-Caer (15:03.491)
Yes.

Josh (15:29.744)
heck of a political campaign to keep it. And somebody's going to probably step up and you got the Nick chases of the world who are right there in grounds arrow trying to push this. So, and there's many others who love that area and, and, just enjoy that race and that scenery. And it's a, I mean, it's, it's an epic race. You, people talk about like, what races do you like to do and what are your favorite races? And it's in the 70.3 world, it's always been.

St. It's always been Oceanside or St. George. then, and then you compare like all of us and it's like, all right, maybe you like Placid in the mix. And, but these are the ones that people talk about the most and to lose one of those three or one of those top five races in the U S it's just doesn't seem like it's going to go easy. I just, I feel like we'll probably see it again in 2026, but it's going to take a lot of work on some people's parts.

Jenna-Caer (16:29.966)
Yeah, and it's so crazy. have even like in their town square kind of thing, a big iron man, big dot like statue right in there going for it. But I'd be curious to see. haven't looked into it kind of what their numbers look like, because I know from an age group perspective, there's definitely been a trend towards easier courses, faster courses, and some of the harder races are having a tougher time filling up the registration just because everyone wants to get the shiny PR go faster than they had before when like I said, these are the events that when you do those ones you

talk about not because you had a PR but because it was grueling and it was hard and it challenged you and that's what a lot of us are in the sport for but we're definitely seeing a shift in the focus like 70.3 Oregon I think it's either sold out or about to be with the faster swim and stuff we're definitely seeing like I a trend towards those faster courses overall

Josh (17:07.47)
Yeah.

Josh (17:22.424)
I've paid my dues on those slower courses, so it's time for me to actually do one. That's fast. It's, it's, but as long as it has a pro race, would imagine St. George is doing pretty well in registrations because Oceanside is tough. I mean, that's a hard bike course and it sells out real quick. And I would imagine it's not a matter of it selling out.

Jenna-Caer (17:27.68)
You

Josh (17:48.696)
I think this is just a trend we're going to see in endurance sports overall, because everything I'm hearing from like events like TRE, the run event and some of these other big conventions that are going on right now and just reading online in general and LinkedIn and other places, insurance costs are going through the roof. And a lot of these race directors and events that you know and love can't afford to do it. Or you look and it's like...

Wow. I thought I paid like $60 or $75 to go run that half marathon last year. And this year it's like 150, 200 bucks. So I think a lot of it might have to do with that finding the right person to step in and help out. I don't know all of the politics that go into keeping a dot race around and in a location like that, but it's not unsuccessful. And that we for sure know, it's going to attract.

Jenna-Caer (18:23.009)
Yeah.

Josh (18:45.07)
probably newer athletes and then the local athletes that love to just not have to get on a plane and fly, but it's going to attract newer athletes. want to tick a box saying I did that course and, people that have been around long like you haven't done it are going to want to tick that box and they're not chasing just the fast courses anymore. So to me, I just think that there's a whole bunch of factors that we don't know about yet. And I'm sure a lot of it will come out as people start to.

Play those political campaigns.

Jenna-Caer (19:16.654)
Yeah. And I'm curious to see if they have a resurgence of registrations knowing that it may be the last one there. I know a lot of people, especially with the course and Penticton were sad to see that race go kind of not with a bang, but just with a whimper with it being canceled, not happening and people finding out that it was going to be moving over to Ottawa without any prior notice. So people, I would have signed up if I knew it was going to be the last year. And unfortunately that doesn't help the race directors numbers to be sustainable.

with a lot of I would have signed up if I knew kind of situation so curious to see if we see a big boom in registrations knowing that it might be the last time that it happens there yeah that course just really that run is just mean you got a transit t2 and it's just up like come on

Josh (20:06.64)
I mean, it's hard to watch. I have not been there. I've not raced it, but I've seen it and it looks brutal.

Jenna-Caer (20:14.376)
It is a blast.

Josh (20:15.14)
But it looks fun. mean, it's got a good crowd. It's got a great atmosphere. So it's hard to lose a race like that.

Jenna-Caer (20:19.67)
That's a nice little town that it's in too. It's kind of that Kona field where you can stay kind of close by and people around and stuff. Hopefully you'll see it back.

Josh (20:25.242)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (20:27.894)
Well, let's move into the Trathlon T to see what's going on. And I think the most appropriate topic for this first one here is what is going on with the Norwegians at the moment. We're getting gossip and conflicting reports from sources all over the place. Josh done a bit of a dive into this and we keep hearing is Olaf out. Are they not being coached by him? Are they still best buddies? Or is he going to be moving on to the cycling world or is he still coaching?

them on the side. Sounds like you were doing some looking into this beforehand.

Josh (21:03.044)
Yeah, and who knows what we can all believe right now, but it sounds like the breakup is the truth. And the fake news story that Gustav put up with the three of them on like their own little FaceTime call over there is just playing into everyone's infatuation with the whole situation. So.

Jenna-Caer (21:16.814)
Like FaceTime.

Josh (21:28.768)
I got word that Pro-China News, who broke the story originally, is still saying that it's 100 % a done deal that they are broken up. The coaches that they listed as their new coaches are absolutely not their coaches. So that definitely was fake news. Great player on words, But yeah, it is interesting that they are playing along with this. It kind of just goes with their MO there.

Jenna-Caer (21:45.901)
Yeah.

Josh (21:56.356)
They're bunch of kids just having fun at the same time. that their training is hard. If it's not harder than anyone too. So it'll be interesting to see who they land with. think the two of them are a package deal. can't imagine that they would be separating, themselves. It seems like every interview here, it's Gustaf and I are or Christian and I it's, even if they don't talk about Olaf, they're still always talking about each other. So I would imagine the two of them are going to stick together. but yeah, that was a.

Jenna-Caer (22:08.92)
Yeah.

Josh (22:25.316)
Pretty funny that Gustav came up with that idea, whoever came up with that idea to do the FaceTime story over the weekend. But, Hey, we'll share anything that gets posted by them because it's newsworthy and people want to see it. And maybe you don't follow them or get the information as quickly as we do. So we'll share it. And, if you are a triathlon coach, maybe they're still available.

Jenna-Caer (22:44.77)
I know and that's what I'm curious to see what they'll do if they will start self coaching with all the experience that they do have. It did like their their made up new coach names in there but

Be curious to see if they would ever move away from that Norwegian kind of method that they've been doing the last little while, considering how it didn't quite work for the Olympics, but it's been incredibly successful when it comes to the long distance. Or if they'll go back to their previous coach who helped them in the run in the first time to the Olympics to see if that makes.

Josh (23:08.954)
long distance.

Josh (23:15.448)
and how successful they were back then.

Jenna-Caer (23:18.092)
I mean, it worked for the short course and they were doing good at the long distance too. So yeah, curious to see what they do or if they just go off on their own and say, hey, we've learned tons over these last few years. We're just going to listen to our bodies, listen to ourselves and see what we can pull off on our own.

I think those are more the type of guys where they want to have, they're so invested and definitely know the reasons why they're doing things and why they're testing things. But they seem like the kind who are very coachable who would want to have a coach in their corner taking the time to do the deep dive and analysis to get that perspective.

Josh (23:47.416)
Yeah. Unlike Lionel, I think they could handle Jan as their coach, which that would be formidable. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (23:56.696)
That would be a powerhouse. I don't know if Jan particularly wants to coach that in depth ever, but that would be very cool to see that team up if you were to go all in.

Josh (24:06.714)
Kind of hard to pass up, but at same time, he hears Jan again off in the mountains skiing. He's literally a travel advertisement right now, and it's phenomenal.

Jenna-Caer (24:11.776)
And he's living his best life. What does he want to do? Kind of geeking out a mermaid? Man, he's got a travelgram now, or he's just showing all the scenic epic shots with all the fun he's having there. Yeah, can't see him wanting to give that up to be back in a lab working on the nitty gritty details of everything. See, maybe advisor, but yeah, that doesn't sound like it is in his plan.

Josh (24:23.479)
Yeah. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (24:37.666)
Well, the other thing we had with our triathlon tee was not quite including a full race rundown because it's not one of the pro series or T100 race in here, but we had Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells happening this weekend and it was some Olympic athlete domination this weekend. We had both on the men's and the women's side, short course athletes taking the win in there with Claire Michelle on the women's side.

absolutely crushed it out there. And it says she's stoked to close out her career this way and share the time with her family there. So what a way to really kind of close out and make your mark at the end of the day. Then we had Acherlund finished in second and Anna Maria Strehlow crossed the line in third.

Josh (25:09.166)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (25:27.712)
So we'll start with hers there. It's definitely we're seeing the Olympic distance athletes come through on the 70.3 now. You know, it's a bit of a different race with most of the 70.3 athletes going over to the world championships this weekend, but very cool to see her out there getting it done. And then.

Josh (25:45.712)
Yeah, I would say, I would say like, look, it's at the end of her career too. So like we've talked about a lot of people retiring and not going out at the top. mean, she did it and yeah, it might not have been the strongest field on paper 60 something, whatever rating it was. but it was still a 70.3 with a lot of good athletes. And I wanted to give a shout out to our other, friend Nicole Falcaro, who we talked about early on this season in April, when I traveled to Oceanside with her and

Jenna-Caer (25:55.552)
community.

Josh (26:13.754)
Two days later, she's stung by a stingray and her season's pretty much washed for something crazy. And she got out there and ran her way up to sixth place. So her best showing of the season, which is kind of cool, hopefully for her going into next year, which I thought was really neat to see. And for her to do it on the run was important too, I would imagine. Cause that was the one piece that she couldn't train with. So yeah, it wasn't the strongest field, but still a really fun.

Jenna-Caer (26:18.318)
crazy.

Josh (26:41.556)
race again. like imagine losing Indian Wells too like that end of season fun potentially beautiful course and more potentially awful weather. Sounds like they won the weather category this year.

Jenna-Caer (26:41.985)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (26:50.606)
I said, I never know this stuff yet. No, it was awesome to see and that's definitely the way you want to go out.

and then on the men's side, we had Morgan Pearson doing his 70.3 debut and not too shabby one at that taking the overall win after having a flat tire. talk about getting it done on the day. And it's pretty cool. He has a pair of Olympic silver medals from Tokyo and Paris in the mixed relay. So this guy definitely knows speed at the short course. It'll be fun to see what he can do a lot more at the middle distance as he's going through here. Luckily they had some support on course, so he

could get a wheel swapped out instead of some unfortunate situations we've seen throughout races this year.

Josh (27:34.594)
Yeah. And pretty quickly too. Cause I think he was like, he was in the lead pack coming out of the swim, which I mean, so he was right there in the thing. I got to the front of the race and flatted, just not even probably over 40 miles. I think he's what he said. so was able to get back in with the chase group and come in and T2 with the chase group. So we know the chase group is usually not too, too far back. and, and we know Morgan.

can run some crazy half marathons, which he's dabbing into and like running as standalones now, as well. So he got to the lead and got a good minute gap and pulled down the rain. Like he just like, all right, I'm gonna, I got another race to get ready for. have a half marathon to train for. Let me pull it back a little bit and still coasted to like a minute and 40 minutes.

Jenna-Caer (28:05.344)
Yeah

Jenna-Caer (28:18.344)
Okay, good.

Josh (28:31.44)
45 second win over another short course Olympian hopeful Matt McElroy too. So who's who's already had some 70.3 podiums. did well at Maine as well too, I think in some other races. So, but Morgan for only a few weeks on the TT bike and showing up in Indian Wells and having a good swim and a good bike. We know what he can do on the run if he has good days there. So

Jenna-Caer (28:37.134)
Yes.

Jenna-Caer (28:57.622)
Yeah, absolutely.

Josh (28:59.568)
I will see is he another 70.3 player? I think you get the 70.3 bug and you're like, wow, this could be fun. I'm not killing myself in an hour and a half, two hours like they're used to. Let's just suffer. Let's just suffer for 345 now instead.

Jenna-Caer (29:13.25)
Right? A little more steady state.

I mean, come on, not that much longer. And then rounding out the podium, had Lewis Woodgate in third place there. But yeah, kudos to him for learning something that takes a lot of athletes a long time to learn is you don't have to win by 10 minutes. If you win by a minute, you're still the winner in there. So cool to see he had enough of a buffer there. Unless you're doing the Ironman Pro Series, then yes, every second counts. But that's not the case here. So take the win if you got the gap and cruise it on home.

Josh (29:19.728)
All

Josh (29:43.461)
Right.

How about Bart Ayrnotes too? Like I couldn't believe I saw this. Like wait, what's he doing up front? He just won an Iron Man.

Jenna-Caer (29:47.009)
And so.

Jenna-Caer (29:51.224)
Right? man, the way they're turning around in some of these races, just the, like, that long to short, that is a tough, tough come down with an Ironman in your legs. Right? Just racing off whatever fitness they have left so they can take advantage of it before they shut it down for the year. But if you look at the season starts again, like,

Josh (30:02.8)
for a young athlete, let alone a 40 year old.

Jenna-Caer (30:16.212)
not that long from now. We've got the WTCS series starts up in a few months and then Oceanside will be in April. Like there is no rest.

Josh (30:23.832)
And there's some other pro series races before Oceanside too, just that Oceanside is still the first North American one this year.

Jenna-Caer (30:31.724)
Yeah, it's absolutely insane. These, I'll be curious to see the impact of that with so little downtime between races of athletes kind of, you know, do the Sam Long and race through all of them from Phukon in January to Dubai at the end of the year. Or if they take some downtime in between and kind of pick and choose their races, because you could really race year round like easily, like, like January, Phukon, dump into that, you're off and rolling again.

Josh (30:58.864)
Yeah. Well, and think about the T 100 is going to add races. So, and, and if they had the series they wanted this year, that already meant Oman and then do whatever one it still would, that would have put a two week gap between the last race, the grand final and 70.3 worlds. So now you're talking, okay, well there goes Kyle Smith's gone.

Jenna-Caer (31:15.598)
There would have been another instance.

Josh (31:26.352)
Cause I mean, he didn't plan on doing the T 100. He just got that wild card slot and he's like, full send in Singapore. And then he does well in San Francisco. He's like, well, I guess I got to go to Dubai and go to all these other races now and, and do that too. So there's always going to be people that are in one series of the other, get an opportunity, take advantage of it, and then have to adjust their schedules and then make decisions.

Jenna-Caer (31:34.284)
May as well.

Jenna-Caer (31:50.846)
absolutely. It's crazy to see. Well, let's use that to jump off into our 70.3 rundown predictions in here. It sounds like Taupo is going to be first off, I'm probably saying entirely wrong. I've heard Taupo, Taupo, all sorts of things. Taupo, Taupo.

Josh (32:09.006)
Topa, Topa. T-O-E-P-A-W. I think that's the majority that I've seen, Topa.

Jenna-Caer (32:15.5)
Yeah.

Topa. Topa. Topo. Yeah, sounds like we were talking about earlier how this course, one of the biggest challenges is going to be those road conditions. It sounds like overall it is not going to be an easy course. Do you happen to have pulled up kind of a bit of the course details in there?

Josh (32:20.304)
you

Josh (32:40.384)
I don't, I just have the standings pulled up, but we can pull up the course details. I know obviously with the lake swim, the Great Lake Topah, very historic area in its own right. But I don't have the info up.

Jenna-Caer (32:56.43)
Yeah, from what I'm getting all around is it's just kind of not flat all around. And like we mentioned earlier, that chip seal and the road conditions are definitely going to be something that's going to have to be reckoned with. When you have that rolling resistance is so significantly increased where you're losing a lot of speed. Like said, I think that'll mess with a lot of age groupers, especially expecting their power output to yield a certain speed, especially if they're over in Kona early in the year where it is like

smooth, smooth, pavement, it's gonna be a shock to the system going to something like Topa with the... It just sounds weird coming out of my mouth that way.

Josh (33:36.966)
It's not what I would expect it to be, but again, we don't live there and I'm going to just kind of try and do it correctly. it's a rolling course on the bike profile. You're looking at anywhere from 200 meters in altitude up to 400. So about 200 meters of climbing at any one point and then anywhere in between there.

Jenna-Caer (33:40.398)
There we go.

Josh (34:04.666)
with, I believe two loops. Let me just double check on that.

Jenna-Caer (34:12.63)
Yeah, it'll definitely keep keep people working. And if it is two loops, that's when we start to get into some interesting dynamics with the age groupers potentially. Yeah, I'll be interesting because we definitely have seen some issues in the past with the age group field, especially on this lower side coming, coming through when the pros are moving significantly faster than the age groupers that they're going to catch at that point. So hopefully we're able to see a clean race and that doesn't actually affect it at all.

Josh (34:20.185)
Yeah, two loops.

Josh (34:41.68)
Yeah, and the run's pretty flat coming off of that. So I think we all know it's going to come down to the run, especially with some of these short course guys in it too that probably have the lead coming off the bike or near the front. And how long can they hold a half marathon as opposed to a 10K as we've seen. So we know some of them are capable of it. It's a pretty flat run right along the lake. So pretty epic scenic run as well.

Jenna-Caer (34:59.798)
Right.

Jenna-Caer (35:07.342)
Definitely be some good pictures that come out of it. Well, let's get started with the women's side. We'll kind of run down a few of the top names that we're going to see out there on the race course. We've got Taylor Nibb, Kat Matthews, Imogen Simmons, Paula Finley, Ashley Gentle, Ellie Salthouse, Julie Duran, Jackie Herring, Maya Stage-Nielsen, Danielle Lewis, Albert, Slotty Wilms, Hannah Berry, Elds Visser, Caroline Pohl.

and a whole lot of other incredible women on this start course here. There's definitely a few that we can see come through. But really the interesting part is we saw a number of these names racing just four weeks ago at T100 Dubai and some of them were looking pretty tired in Dubai. I'm curious to see how they'll turn around and come out at the 70.3 course in here.

Josh (35:58.896)
It's, but at the same time, those are your top athletes too. And they're all looking to dethrone Taylor Nibb. And so regardless of the pro series racers, and I think that's pretty well settled as we've discussed in the past, Pat Matthews just has to finish within like 34 minutes of the leader and she wins the pro series.

Jenna-Caer (36:09.592)
Thank

Jenna-Caer (36:20.865)
Yeah.

Josh (36:22.916)
Jackie Herring can't fall any further than third overall in the pro series. And then it just really comes down to her and Lottie for second or third. And then obviously there's going be a lot of fluctuation between fourth and 10th and in other areas there. when it comes down to the actual race results for this weekend in this day, I think it's Taylor Nibb and everyone else trying to prove that they can still race with her.

I actually believe, I know a lot of people think that Ash is going to have her day and she's going to show up and do this. And it's kind of her climate and her area, even though New Zealand and Australia aren't that close. But I still believe in Julie Duran and the fact that she's the closest to take the throne. And I think this might be the day. I think this might be the time that she gets to get out front and pass her on the run.

Jenna-Caer (37:20.814)
Yeah, and the interesting part here, so a couple things. We're now going to have the insane conditions of Dubai. So that definitely takes a little bit of that ash gentle crazy heat humidity benefit out of it, but.

I was pulling up a Torsten Radt at Tri-Rating, his predictions here, and he's usually fairly accurate with a lot of these, taking some of the previous results into account. And what he does is score different courses based on how challenging they are to really kind of dial in those times. And he has, not shockingly, Taylor Nibb at the front, and he's predicting her winning by five and a half minutes. So he's got her at a 4.02 with a...

a 215 bike compared to the next fastest being 221. So definitely thinking that the bike is going to be where she pulls in most of the time. But and next he's got Julie Doran at 408 and then Kat Matthews and Ashley Gentle tied on times for 410. So it's, it's funny because we've definitely seen, seen Julie Doran come not out of nowhere, but she's definitely significantly increased her run over the previous few years.

And she's definitely forefront of mind, but I think triathletes have a short memory. Like Ashley Gentle has just been so consistent with her runs over time. So, well, if she hadn't had that falter with the nutrition in Dubai, she would have been minutes ahead of Julia coming off. And this just gives her more time to run and more time to make up time on Taylor Nib if she doesn't have any.

issues because we saw how she held on to Taylor Nib and stayed within, you know, stayed within a distance of her at Dubai on the bike, which is something we haven't seen before. And now she's really going after it with a bike focused coach. So be curious to see if they've been able to make any improvements. It's not a lot of time between when she started working with her coach and her new coach and doing this, but I think just

Jenna-Caer (39:21.974)
More time on land is never a bad thing for her. More time on the run is never a bad thing for Ash Gentle.

Josh (39:28.132)
But if you, and I agree with you, but I also think the factor here could be the swim too, because remember in Dubai, Taylor nibs looking over her shoulder and there's Ash gentle. That's normally not the case. And, and I think some of that was due to the heat and Taylor nib not wanting to overheat on the swim where she knew she can still push the bike. And instead of getting a gap that she normally would in Dubai, I think that could be a factor.

Jenna-Caer (39:40.492)
Yes.

Jenna-Caer (39:50.318)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (39:57.462)
here in New Zealand, where she's going to actually be pushing the pace in the swim and Ash is going to try and be staying as close as possible. So I think the swim is going to make a bigger difference for Taylor Nibb's not fumbling around in T1 and catching people. She's going to be the lead bike or two or three. And that's where everyone starts to chase. that factor there alone, now people are pushing watts that maybe they didn't.

Jenna-Caer (40:17.164)
Be away with it.

Josh (40:26.426)
plan on or want to. Whereas in Dubai, they could hold off a little bit from pushing as she was not by them yet until 10K plus in. So I think the swim will play a factor into the women's race. And for that reason alone, because it was a lot closer in Dubai with the three that we're talking about.

Jenna-Caer (40:34.711)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (40:48.567)
Yeah.

Josh (40:48.698)
There's other, there's other players in this race too. I also don't believe Kat's going to throw down a four 10 or whatever it was that he said, cause it's like, she only needs 34 minutes. she's had a long season and you want to talk about getting ready for 20, 25. I don't think she knows how to lose either. most people there don't know how to take the throttle, and loosen it up, but, I still think she'll know.

Jenna-Caer (40:52.014)
and it's got a lot more.

Jenna-Caer (41:02.732)
Yeah, the cat's not gonna back off.

She doesn't know how to not go 100%.

Mm-hmm.

Josh (41:18.628)
where she's at and you got a couple of loops on the run and it's right there on the water and there's going be plenty of people telling her where she's at and you might see her run some slower splits coming in.

Jenna-Caer (41:32.418)
Well, and definitely your point about the swim is good because we have a lot more upfront swim power here than we had at that T100. We've got like Taylor Nibb is going to have a fast time. Caroline Pole will be right up at front. Sarah Fricela, Lottie Wilms, Valerie Barthelmy, like they're going to be, Jody Stimson there too. So they're all going to be pushing the pace at the front. And if the conditions aren't as hot, you're absolutely right. They could really push that swim and make a gap on someone like a Kat Matthews, Nash Gentle. We're looking at.

like a minute, possibly a minute, minute more, if they do go for it and kind of break away.

Josh (42:09.922)
I agree. I really do think that this one will be a factor. I think the men are just kind of grouped naturally together and it's going to be who wants to tax themselves the most on the bike. But with the woman, it's really about how close can you stay to Taylor coming out of the water?

Jenna-Caer (42:29.038)
Yeah, and I think what we saw last, at the T100 is Taylor, when she's under pressure on the run, she can run faster than what we thought. Like, and that's with the T100 race before and a lot of the 70.3 stuff, she just hasn't been pushed because she's had such a massive insane gap there. I think.

Josh (42:36.537)
Yeah.

Josh (42:48.302)
And if she does win this, do we actually see some emotion and like reaction? Do we see like the slamming of the tape? Do we see a mic drop or anything like, cause everyone's coming for her at this race more so than any race ever before, I believe. And do we think we get some emotion on ride? I still don't think she's capable of it yet. It'll come eventually. just don't think she can reflect and talk to her team, but I don't think we're going to see any.

Jenna-Caer (42:54.19)
Ugh.

Jenna-Caer (42:58.9)
Mm-hmm. absolutely.

Jenna-Caer (43:08.342)
Josh (43:16.016)
Patrick Langa type finishes out of Taylor noob.

Jenna-Caer (43:19.918)
She's just so calculated about it and analytical and hard on herself, right? Like you hear all these races afterwards, she loves crazy performances. But I think to a degree that's what it takes to be at this level and be competing across so many, like a couple different distances and being at the top two sets your next dream is she's definitely hard on herself, but.

Josh (43:23.6)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (43:40.462)
then it makes her put in the work and analyze everything to the nth degree to make sure that she is ready to absolutely destroy the course to the point where the question is not will Taylor win, will anyone come close is more of the question.

Josh (43:52.324)
Yeah. So that reminds me too of how analytical and tough she is on herself. I don't know if you saw the T 100 piece where they had a whole bunch of interviews to the top pros about what was their favorite moment or favorite race of the season. And I think it was shortly after Dubai. And I think her answer was the swim start in Dubai. And she's like, I'm an awful swim starter.

Jenna-Caer (44:11.67)
Notice it.

Josh (44:22.744)
I just hit the gun and I was on the beach, I was gone, I was in the front. That was her answer to her favorite moment of the entire series, which she never lost at any Swim by Grunner. They were literally looking at her like, was your favorite moment of the entire year? The run off the beach in Dubai.

Jenna-Caer (44:37.262)
Not all the wins. Man, yeah, no, she is just dedicated to performance and improvement and everything to, yeah, a crazy degree. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how things shake up here. So we'll go the top five for the Iron Man Pro Series right now is Jackie Herring in first, Kat Matthews in second, Maya Stage-Nelson in third, and Lottie Wilms in fourth, Danielle Lewis in...

fifth. So we're gonna see some shake ups. really is interesting how Kat like basically just make it to the finish. And then we have a few people like Lottie Wilms. She's only got 170.3 so she's gonna get some massive points from this one and definitely jump her up.

likely onto the podium here because Jackie Herring will just be replacing another best spot. So she could be moving up into second or third if she does have a great result here as well. And then I think we also have Hannah Barry kind of the same situation. She's only 500 points or yeah, around 500 points.

Josh (45:40.208)
So she can't get to third. That's where like Jackie can drop to third, but I think with the 3000 max points, so even if Hannah Berry won, she would still be short of Jackie Herring in third. So I think Hannah could get to fourth with a win or a really solid outing, but that's the best she could do. Whereas Lottie with the extra 70.3, she's close enough where she's going to jump my stage, Nielsen, no matter what. Right. But Hannah Berry has got a little bit more work to do.

Jenna-Caer (46:02.359)
Yeah.

For sure.

Josh (46:10.34)
to get just to fourth.

Jenna-Caer (46:13.386)
Yeah, get into that top five there.

And you know, I really like we were talking about last week, and I really hope they dive into some of these calculations on course, give us some virtual rankings, depending on where people are on the course, what it's going to mean for the pro series, and have some of that analysis, because I will say that is something T100 did very, well in this last race was doing that Tour de France style virtual rankings as it is right now. Here's who's going to win the series, who's on top, what the points differences are, and it would be just fun to have them do that during the Ironman series and just give

us some more data to geek out on because when you're watching these races afterwards you can't exactly follow along in the same way so if they can give us information on screen it'd be a lot more fun and something to fill the time so they're not saying the same thing over and over and over again for three and a half hours.

Josh (47:01.896)
All they have to do is listen to our podcast, listen to the PTN, listen to Bob Babbitt. We're going to give you all of the information you need for this weekend. tune in, share this with them, please.

Jenna-Caer (47:10.68)
Just, yeah, absolutely. There we go. man, well, okay. Let's dive into the men's side of things, because we definitely have some interesting implications from this race on the men's side. But we'll get started with the start list here.

Josh (47:29.616)
The start list is crazy. I mean, you want to talk about firepower.

Jenna-Caer (47:32.654)
Right? Absolutely insane. Okay. So we got Rico Bogan, Matthias Margier, Yuri Kulin, Mark Dubrik, Josh Amberger, Hayden Wilde, Leo Breger, Matt Hansen, Matthew Markhart, Gregory Barnaby, Christian Hoganhell, Kyle Smith, Casper Stornes, Brighton Curry, Jason West, Yelly Geans. We have got a whole crazy list of talented athletes that we've seen performing across the 70.3 and the T100 series here.

It is going to be the battle of the short course athletes versus the 70.3 athletes versus the Ironman athletes. It is going to be absolutely crazy to see who comes out on top, but what are your thoughts going into this one?

Josh (48:19.178)
It's going to be interesting with those dynamics that you talk about and, can the broadcast cover it. Cause we, we've talked about this before. mean, we've had other races where you're going to have two different stories going on. You're going to have what we believe to be the front of the race and what we believe to be the season series race as well.

Jenna-Caer (48:28.32)
See that? Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (48:44.172)
Thanks.

Josh (48:46.574)
The simplest would be for Ironman and the broadcast would be if Matthew Marquardt goes to the front and wins, because that's all he's really got to do. Or if Barnaby goes to the front and wins. Those are locks. think, I think Marquardt has to win by just like over a second, whereas Barnaby wins, he's in. like they're that close. They're like a second or so apart, even though Marquardt's eighth. But they're Ironman distance athletes and.

Jenna-Caer (48:57.582)
to the credit happening.

Josh (49:16.324)
Barnaby has done a 70.3, so he was ready for that. Marquardt's been training for 70.3 amongst everything else that he does in his life and world and saving people. and raising money and doing everything else. But, I just, like I said, two weeks ago, three weeks ago, I, I, Barnaby surprised me and went to the front and took the race. I don't think they can do that here.

Jenna-Caer (49:27.094)
Yeah, this guy.

Josh (49:45.912)
with the, the likes of Hayden Wild and Leo Berger. And it's, it's going to come down to, you got to finish the race. And if, even if Barnaby doesn't finish the race, there's still a chance he wins the pro series. If these other guys finished like four minutes or eight minutes back behind him. So that I don't see, I don't see Matthew Marquardt finishing eight minutes behind the leader. so I think he can get, if Barnaby has to DNF that gives Marquardt a way in, but.

Jenna-Caer (49:58.882)
Yeah.

Thank you.

Josh (50:17.668)
I just don't see Marquardt eight minutes back. In a 70.3, we've seen him break down on an Ironman run, but you want to talk about somebody who can push the bike with anyone? I would imagine he's going to be leading coming into T2. He should be.

Jenna-Caer (50:24.918)
Mm-hmm.

Jenna-Caer (50:32.93)
Yeah, he should definitely have one of the fastest bike splits for sure. And that's where it's really interesting because we definitely do have that Ironman Pro Series, but then the race in here. So it's going to be a race within a race, which has been said a hundred million times has become absolutely cliche here. But we have these short course athletes coming over to the 70.3 worlds that we haven't really seen race against the bigger names or race in any kind of event with this kind of quality and depth. We've got the

like Yellagene's, Hayden Wilde, we've got so like Leo Brejera is going to be there, Max Stapley. They haven't been to some of these big 70.3 races. A lot of them have done 70.3s, but not a lot have done like the Ironman Pro Series ones. They haven't done 70.3 Worlds. It's going to change up the dynamic completely because they finished the Olympics and went, okay, boom, this is the next big goal.

Josh (51:19.29)
They haven't done Kona, they haven't done Dubai.

Jenna-Caer (51:31.254)
and haven't had their attention divided or done that race and recover and up and down and everything.

Josh (51:36.398)
Yeah. I mean, these, these other athletes that we're talking about, Barnaby, Hogan, Hogan, Marquardt have a lot of miles on them. And that's the reason why they are here. And we're, talking about them and think about this too. mean, Barnaby did his, it was T 100 Miami that he started out the season with and had a broken rib. And then, couldn't do Texas. So there's Texas gone. It's like,

Jenna-Caer (51:43.342)
And it's December.

Jenna-Caer (51:58.678)
Yeah, that's crazy.

Josh (52:04.14)
And here we are, the guy who didn't even do Texas is leading the Ironman Pro Series with a very good cushion and only has to pay attention to two other guys really. So that's pretty impressive. So if you have a bad start to your season, there's still a way to get to the end too. But Mark Watt and all these guys have a lot of miles on them this year and that is another advantage that these guys have. So I can see you like, Mark Watt stay within eight minutes. I think he can because he's a front pack swimmer.

Jenna-Caer (52:18.376)
Mm-hmm.

Jenna-Caer (52:33.89)
Yeah.

Josh (52:33.968)
And he's one of the top bike bikers out there. And so for 43 miles or 56 plus miles, sorry, 60 miles, he's going to be with these guys. And then you get into the rest of that half marathon. We'll see where he's at, but I don't know if he can run low five minute pace on a half marathon with these guys, but

Jenna-Caer (52:48.596)
Yeah, he's eight minutes other.

Josh (53:02.148)
He might have a big enough lead coming into T2 on the other Yelly, Geans and Hayden Wilds and Leo Brejers that we're talking about. Cause I just don't know if he wants to push Watts, he's going to push, but like you said, we haven't seen these other guys in these big races with this dynamic.

Jenna-Caer (53:14.26)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I don't think

Jenna-Caer (53:19.154)
and they haven't been pushed. Like, that's the thing too. Like, we haven't seen some of these really solid Olympic distance athletes coming over be pushed in some of these races too. right. And that's the question. Will, if they're actually being pushed, have a big group around them when some of the other races they have, you know, been off the front and knew that they could run it run down?

Josh (53:29.728)
averaging 350 watts for two hours.

Jenna-Caer (53:43.764)
If they have people around them, how will they respond to that? Well, they may push that bike a little bit too hard. We saw Kona absolutely explode on the men's race because they all tried to stick together on the bike and it was just who's going to survive to the finish by the point at the end. Are we going to see something like that on this course? Because there is a whole lot of,

of swim bike power at the front of this when you do have those short course athletes. But some of them haven't put in the time on the TT bike. So who knows if we see some back issues or cramping up because they haven't been able to spend that time down there. We're going see the first

Josh (54:16.944)
Yeah. And I worry about somebody like Hayden Wilde. Like we've seen him have some pretty awful swims and that for him has always been a factor. sure, sure. Of course we know that's a little harder because he can't get hit because of the drafting and all of that and the dynamic there. but I still think it's a factor here in the Ironman 7.3 distance too, because if he's got to push those extra Watts on the bike and run

Jenna-Caer (54:23.895)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (54:28.012)
But we see awful spins in short course. Yeah.

Josh (54:45.72)
ride solo or ride with a smaller chase pack. You don't want to be that far behind a Marquardt. I think his swimming has come along and I think he's had some really good swim. So I don't think it will necessarily be a factor, but I think if there's somebody who could have a bad day in the water, it's, it's hidden wild who we could still see win this race.

Jenna-Caer (55:06.444)
Yeah, honestly, I think he's going to come out front pack with that with how many how many guys are up at the front there that are kind of so close and swim.

Josh (55:13.39)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (55:14.954)
ability and he's like he's a bad swimmer well not a bad swimmer he's not a front pack swimmer in olympic distance all the time but he sometimes is pretty much equates to 70.3 you're probably gonna be a front swimmer in there we're gonna see so i pulled up again torsten's kind of tri ratings in here and surprisingly he has yellow jeans as the favorite going into this which kind of surprised me he doesn't have the depth of experience in it he definitely had an incredible

Josh (55:22.533)
Bye.

Josh (55:27.696)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (55:44.238)
result over there in Las Vegas, which was a heavily weighted race when it comes to a lot of these rankings. But I can't go past Hayden Wild. Like I really, he's been on such a tear and is so good at these distances and knows New Zealand riding. Like I said, that definitely plays a good factor in there. But I think he's going to be a front pack swimmer. Might lose a couple minutes on the bike, but I see him easily running through in there. But I think that's where

kind of yellow greens is the question because he could potentially have a better bike ride. We know he can run the same as Hayden. He's probably going to be just off the front of the swim, maybe in a second pack or hang on to the back of that front pack. So I think the difference will come down to a couple of minutes either way on the bike and the swim in either direction. Curious to see how good it'll be to see a run battle.

Josh (56:35.896)
I think if Yelley can stay close on the bike or in, in get into that lead pack, like he did in Vegas, then for sure he's a factor on the run. we've already seen that. I don't think we can question that. I think the other question we haven't talked about when we talked about it pre-show, was Kyle Smith and the hometown boy and, and having a great season. It's not even just for giving him a hometown advantage. He's had a great season.

Jenna-Caer (56:55.852)
Yeah, hometown advantage.

Josh (57:05.006)
Now the difference between Yelly and Kyle that I see right now is Yelly's a little fresher and Kyle's coming off of Dubai where he pushed himself and was in a run battle. But he is home. He is in his own bed and he's had a phenomenal season and a finally healthy breakthrough type campaign with a lot of adrenaline when you start to get to that run course in your hometown.

That's where it makes a difference. So if Kyle Smith can have the swim bike that we've seen him have like he did in Dubai, cause he was right there in Dubai coming off the bike. So if he can be in the front pack or near the front pack coming on to the run, I think he's a huge factor too. I can't go with Hayden. I don't think I, I don't have it in me to go, go with him at this distance yet in this field. think. Yelly or Kyle are going to take this one down.

Jenna-Caer (57:43.392)
yeah.

Jenna-Caer (57:57.336)
Yeah?

Josh (58:04.624)
Jenna-Caer (58:04.856)
See, and you know who we haven't talked about is previous world champion Rico Bogan. We definitely saw he can handle the heat now. He can get it done.

Josh (58:09.05)
Yeah.

Josh (58:14.234)
So that's another factor in this. How much does Dubai play into this? And we're going to find out.

Jenna-Caer (58:19.274)
Should it take out? Yeah, that's the tough part. and that was such a, like the conditions were so significant that that makes a big difference. Going to the well when you're in that kind of heat in a world championship level race is something different than doing another 70.3 or.

Josh (58:37.476)
Right. And you, and you've talked about this, like what, what Martin did and going and racing an Ironman directly after you might not have had that whole on onset of the aftermath of doing a race in that type of conditions. But once you get a week plus out, it really starts to weigh on you as you train more and now go into a new build. And that's what these guys have done. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (58:59.47)
trying to balance it. Yeah, that's the hard part, trying to balance that recovery while not losing a ton of fitness and just really that central governor thing too, when you're going that hard in that kind of heat mentally, that takes a few matches that really will burn a few and that's hard to come back from there. So, and then we also have someone who we haven't talked about is Kasper Stornes, the Norwegian, he's definitely been up at the front and he's such a solid

kind of all arounder there, might lose a little bit of time on the bike, but the guy can swim, the guy can run with the best of them in there if he's gonna be in the mix. So you know, you can never discount that Norwegian mentality coming to some of these races or something like a Leo Berger. Like he is gonna be right up there at the swim. I think he might lose some time on the bike, hasn't had a ton of time, I don't think on the TT bike in there.

Josh (59:48.442)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (59:54.662)
But you never know what you're going to see with him in this 70.3. We just don't have the depth of results for him going in.

Josh (01:00:00.59)
We know these guys can run and that's where, where do they get off the bike is the biggest question. And they're definitely fresher than a lot of these other athletes that we're talking about in the, that have been in the Ironman T 100 world all year.

Jenna-Caer (01:00:14.03)
Just if they put in the time on the TT bike to be able to put out a steady state effort for a prolonged period of time without cramping up or having some issues there.

Josh (01:00:23.844)
Yup. So, I mean, there's a lot of money on the line this weekend. In both cases, there's a lot of notoriety on the line for sure. 70.3 world champion is still on next to Rico Boggan's name and he's kind of carried that into a new year.

Jenna-Caer (01:00:35.298)
Yeah?

And being the first winner of the Iron Man Pro Series, like that's something that's pretty cool to be able to see too and something that'll go down a bit in the record books. Hopefully this something that sticks around long enough for us to care about the record books for it, but... I mean, that's not so shabby either. Bit of a payday.

Josh (01:00:40.815)
Right.

Josh (01:00:49.264)
and the $200,000 that comes with it.

But we've talked about other people jumping into the top 10. mean, it goes from 200,000 down to 10,000 for 10th place. And then everything after that, 20 or 11 through 50, I think is like five grand each. So 10 grand up if you can get into the top 10. And that's significant money for a lot of these athletes and cover.

A lot of the travel that they need to do to, to compete and be in the pro series, right? That's one of the biggest expenses they have is the travel expenses and getting to a lot of these races and getting their bikes to these places. a lot of their stuff's taken care of a lot of their gear is given to them, but the actual travel and stuff like that. And you're talking like we talk about two weeks in Kona for some of these sponsors. Well, a week and a half, two weeks in New Zealand is not Trump change. It's why Jenna's not there at the last minute.

Jenna-Caer (01:01:27.672)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:01:44.302)
Well, even if Lionel... Yeah, man, I wish. But even if had Lionel Sanders, he was debating coming down or not because of the cost. Like before he had his crash, he was debating coming down or not because of the crash. And that is such a bummer not to see him at this race because he is so good at 70.3. Like he...

is so good outside of the 70.3 world championships and it'd be fun to see him kind of crack that and have a good result. I was looking at last year's results and it's funny on the women's side I would not be surprised to see the same results again. On the men's side I would be shocked. So if you don't remember last year we had Taylor Nibwin, Kat Matthews in second and Imogen Simmons in third.

So I would not be surprised by any method. Imogen Sim is so strong on the bike. She could definitely get some time in there. See if she could hold on on the run. there are some... Yeah, that doesn't hurt either. It seems like they're in a good training groove. But on the men's side, we had Rico Boggan in first, Frederick Funk in second, and Jan Strautman in third. So I don't think we're going to see a redo there.

Josh (01:02:38.746)
been training with Kyle Smith too, so.

Jenna-Caer (01:02:57.922)
But we've just, seems this year is so much stronger just because we had the Olympics this year. So many of these short course athletes were all in and trying to get Olympic points and qualifications. So we didn't see them and they're gonna, whether they win or not, absolutely have an effect on the race and how it all goes down.

Josh (01:03:17.666)
I and it's, I can't wait to find a way to watch it all.

Jenna-Caer (01:03:22.292)
Yeah, definitely. Well, let's make some predictions in here going into the race. Yeah, right. She she has such a bike. It's just a case of to hang in on that run. So it's like she'll be right at the front on the swim. Should be good. Well.

Josh (01:03:27.925)
I forgot about imaging too.

Josh (01:03:42.618)
So the top five or so in the female race is probably going to come out of Dubai as well. Like they're all, right? They were all at Dubai. If you think about Taylor, Julie, Ash, Kat, was Imogen?

Jenna-Caer (01:03:56.416)
Yeah, so kind of the got Taylor Nib, Julie Duran, Kat Matthews, Ash Bala. Yeah, Imogen is yeah. Yeah. How are they like?

Josh (01:04:08.983)
you

So with that said, we might see some upsets if we're talking about the way we're talking in the men's side.

Jenna-Caer (01:04:15.822)
Yeah, no true, seeing how deep they had to go there. And how they're coming from that travel too, because that is not easy travel for almost anyone, really. Let's go podium. Who do you think will be on the podium in the women's side here?

Josh (01:04:28.388)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:04:39.502)
and it's a tough one.

Josh (01:04:39.888)
Julie Ash Taylor. Taylor hobbles in with the, somehow she bonks on the run. Something goes wrong. Maybe there's a mechanical on the, hey, we haven't even talked about mechanicals. We haven't talked about penalties for littering or anything that could go wrong with all the bumps that they got to ride through. there is a factor there in knowing how to tie everything down and making sure you're not getting, I mean,

Jenna-Caer (01:04:55.135)
man.

Jenna-Caer (01:05:01.442)
That's a good point. Yeah, with those roads.

Josh (01:05:09.754)
They're all pieces of the game and that could be a factor. So I'm not going to play off of that, but I think this is the day that Taylor Nib does get caught and it will be Julie Duron and Ash finishes second again. So we've now got a new three headed beast of Julie, Kat or Julie and Ash and Taylor Nib. I think Kat would normally be in this if this was a little bit more competitive for her.

Jenna-Caer (01:05:19.298)
it.

Jenna-Caer (01:05:23.98)
Yes.

Josh (01:05:39.512)
and she needed to be in the top five to win the pro series. I think you would see Kat in this. just, it's so hard to turn that engine on when you know you have $200,000 waiting for you just by getting to the finish line, literally with a 35. mean, she can finish with inside of 30 minutes of Taylor Nibb or whoever wins this. Julie, to Ron.

Jenna-Caer (01:05:59.022)
Mm-hmm. I was gonna say the same names, but I'm gonna mix it up a little bit. I think Taylor Nibb still takes it. I think S-Gentle is gonna be there till the bitter end. And let's go Kat Matthews holds on for a third in there, just because she won't be satisfied with just winning the pro series. Matt, I think she's just...

Josh (01:06:19.032)
and she can have a great bike.

Jenna-Caer (01:06:23.104)
What she's proven is her resiliency over these races, even like going and tired racing week after week after week, she's still right there. Like you just can't shake her. Yeah, absolutely. She should be, you know, around that Ash Gentle kind of level in there. If she has a good swim, which would be good. I'd want to call it Paula Finley, but she just seems like her head's just not quite in it.

Josh (01:06:30.938)
Yeah.

And her swim has come a long way too.

Jenna-Caer (01:06:51.412)
this but I know it sounds like she was kind of sick going into Dubai and wasn't feeling 100 % but I know not seeing that excitement.

Josh (01:06:58.062)
I just haven't seen her flip a switch all year. Like she's won some races, she's had some great races, but it's like once she's in fourth or fifth, there's no switch that pushes to that next level. And she's been around for a long time. It's amazing that she's still doing what she's doing. And now she's got the whole TT, and not TTL, to the actual like TT racing life that she's got potential at too. So.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:00.878)
She's absolutely capable of it.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:15.63)
Absolutely.

Josh (01:07:25.09)
I agree with you. think she's going to be in the race. I just don't think we're going to see her push on the run. And that's kind of where it's been. I think she has a dinner. I just don't know if she wants it that badly and she's had a long season and she's going to finish with some money again, probably.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:35.15)
Mm.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:41.592)
Yeah, definitely across a couple. Okay, on the men's side, what do think we're gonna see happen here?

Josh (01:07:49.84)
You can go first this time

Jenna-Caer (01:07:54.126)
It's a double one. Okay, you know, I think we're gonna see Hayden Wilde. I think he's gonna take the win in here. And I think we're gonna go for a New Zealand double with Cal Smith. then, I wanna say Yelly Gaines, but I think that Coruscant T100 really suited him. Might not be the same here. Let's go to Leo Brugere. I think he's just so familiar racing with Hayden being at the front there that.

you know, so could have a good day out there at the 70.3 and really make a bang.

Josh (01:08:28.048)
All right. I'm going to change up my thought here. think I've seen Marquardt's been there for a while and I think, and there's nobody smarter than him in this industry. And I really think $200,000 for him would mean a boatload of potential for his future because he doesn't want to give up on his future of studying and research and saving lives. So that's huge for him. And I can't even imagine how much of that he would actually donate.

Jenna-Caer (01:08:49.539)
Yeah.

Josh (01:08:57.904)
on top of that, but I think Kyle Smith is going to take the top step, but Marquardt's going to be there and Kyle's going to get him towards the end. as we've seen Marquardt in the past take the lead into the ring, into the run, and all of sudden that left arm or that right arm starts to flail a little bit more, which I start to see more and more in runners in general. it's like the Marquardt is getting more popular. But I think Marquardt will hold on for a second.

Jenna-Caer (01:09:19.55)
my goodness. Yeah.

Josh (01:09:26.604)
And Hayden and Leo will be batting layout for the third spot.

Jenna-Caer (01:09:29.921)
Really?

Josh (01:09:34.008)
And I don't think Barnaby and the rest of them get close enough and Mark Watt takes down the season series.

Jenna-Caer (01:09:39.786)
Ooh, big shout there. Right? That would be an epic jump. And you know, I don't think it's quite the podium that Iron Man was expecting going into it, but there's almost a little bit poetic that Patrick Lange is not going to win this series not being at the race. That'd be a little bit anticlimactic, like skipping one of the world championships and still winning the series. Overall, doesn't quite have the same...

Josh (01:09:41.412)
from eighth place to first on the last day.

Josh (01:10:05.528)
And he's not going to be in the hot seat that we wanted waiting at the finish line.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:07.95)
I know that'd be so good. man. It'd be fun to have a tour to France hot seat watching the race go down.

Josh (01:10:14.168)
Yeah. But I think Marquardt's going to be close enough to hold on for the overall. think that then this is the difference between the men's race and the women's race. doesn't have to. Marquardt and Barnaby and Hogan-Hogg, they got a red line. And I think being Ironman athletes, they will have that capability. And the fact that Marquardt did not race two weeks ago is going to be the difference.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:26.167)
No.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:31.736)
Full gas, yeah, they're racing each other.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:43.064)
See, I almost wonder if they just, they're not at the front because they're just watching each other. Like kind of once they kind of come with them, because they need like a second. it's just, Yeah, to get, yeah, to get to the top of the series in there. Yeah.

Josh (01:10:52.152)
Yeah, but Mark right needs a lot more than that to jump to the top.

Josh (01:10:58.308)
So now you're talking 85,000 or 200,000, the same conversation that we had about Patrick Lange. How bad does Marquardt want that jump? Cause he did show up.

Jenna-Caer (01:11:05.932)
Yeah, just don't see that happening, but it'd be fun to see that go down. I hope that they show if they're not at the front and Mark and Barnaby are kind of racing each other. I hope we see some of that. Because that would be an absolute shame if they are just kind of watching each other and like playing off of one another if we don't see any of it until the end of the race.

Josh (01:11:27.802)
I don't think you're going to see the high five from Barnaby to Hogan Hog that we saw a couple of weeks ago, but it will be nice to see on the race on the run.

Jenna-Caer (01:11:31.314)
Not too much?

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I think that is us for tonight. We are going to be watching all of the social media and interviews and everything going in to see where everyone's head is at because there is an epic race going on this weekend. Definitely check out some of those ones Josh mentioned, especially about it, Bill. He gets all of the insight and we'll just see who's tired.

Josh (01:11:57.07)
Maybe that's where Feday was. Feday's doing his breakfast with Bob. That's why he couldn't join us tonight.

Jenna-Caer (01:12:00.494)
There we go. It's a little late for breakfast. I mean, it's a good day if you're breakfast at 4pm. No, he's enjoying everything that's in New Zealand and getting his head in the game for race day. So we wish him absolutely all the best out there on this weekend too, because he has had a tough start to the season, but we're ready to see him rip it this weekend and have some fun.

Josh (01:12:22.788)
Yeah, huge day for all the age groupers too, who haven't had as long of a season as some of these other pros for sure. But they're there and they're ready to go for the world championships too.

Jenna-Caer (01:12:29.27)
I mean, absolutely. Well, we will break it all down next week and go through everything that happened until then. Definitely give us a follow on social media at another Trap on podcast. And we've got everything on YouTube now. If you want to see us chatting about everything, get something.

Josh (01:12:47.822)
And we got a whole lot of whole new class of triathletes coming in for next season, signing up for their first races. Shoot our shoot our link to them.

Jenna-Caer (01:12:55.648)
Absolutely. Well, have a great night, Josh, and we'll see you next week.

Josh (01:13:00.228)
Good. See you guys.