Episode 101 – Kristian Høgenhaug: Going All-In, Overcoming Doubt, and Breaking the Mold

In this episode of Another Triathlon Podcast, we sit down with the breakout star of Ironman Frankfurt 2025, Kristian Høgenhaug. Fresh off a second-place finish and one of the fastest bike splits we’ve ever seen, Kristian joins us to unpack the chaos in Frankfurt, the penalty drama, and what it really takes to go from an age-grouper with no elite background to a top contender on the world stage.

We dive deep into:
✔️ Kristian’s unique (and very late) start in triathlon
✔️ The story behind his “Go Longer” training group
✔️ His five-year plan that led to a top-10 Kona finish
✔️ Struggles with overtraining, altitude tent mistakes, and a stress fracture that nearly ended it all
✔️ Working with a sports psychologist and the “bus driver” mindset
✔️ His next-level approach to aerodynamics and CDA improvements
✔️ How he takes in 170g of carbs/hour on the bike without gut issues
✔️ Staying calm in the chaos of Frankfurt—including that controversial outside coaching penalty
✔️ His honest thoughts on racing back-to-back with Roth and why it’s “a fun experiment”
✔️ The three key sessions he swears by for getting race fit, fast

And, of course, our quickfire round includes everything from World of Warcraft to strawberry bonks and beer-chugging on podiums. 🎯

Whether you’re chasing Kona or just trying to get through your first Ironman, Kristian’s mindset and story offer something every triathlete can take away.

🎧 Stream now and follow Kristian on Instagram to keep up with his journey to Nice and beyond.

Guest: @mr_hoegen

Presented by @maunaapparel
Follow the podcast at @anothertriathlonpodcast
Hosts: @joshmvernon, @fredrikson.12, and @jennacaer

#triathlon #ironmanfrankfurt #triathletelife #cdaspeed #ironmanworldchampionship #triathlete #kristianhøgenhaug #longdistancetriathlon #anothertriathlonpodcast #maunaapparel

Transcript

Another Triathlon Pod (00:00.923)
Welcome back to another Trathlon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. We have got an extra special episode this week. We are diving in with professional triathlete Christian Hogan-Hogue. Now, you might've heard his name come up a little bit the last little while after the drama-filled race that was Ironman Frankfurt this weekend. So we're going to learn a little bit more about him, his career, and of course have a few questions about how he gets those wicked bike splits because that was an incredible performance. But first, let's say hi, Christian, how are you doing today?

Kristian H (00:31.624)
Thank you and thank you for inviting me onto the part. We're looking very much forward to the talk. I'm good. It's all starting to sink in a little bit. Just the response I've gotten since the race has been crazy, but only positive really. It's next level to everything I have experienced with any other race, to be honest.

Another Triathlon Pod (00:41.061)
you

Another Triathlon Pod (00:46.225)
Hmm.

Another Triathlon Pod (01:00.315)
Well, we definitely look forward to diving more into it. And I'm joined as always by Josh and Fede. But why don't we dive in, Kristin, and just tell us a little bit how you came into the world of triathlon. It sounds like you started a little bit later.

Kristian H (01:13.758)
Yeah, it's definitely not the normal way into it, I would say. I've always been very interested in sport in a way. I have a picture of me as a four five-year-old kid cycling in the yellow jersey because we had a guy winning the Tour de France, a Danish guy behind the reeds, and he was one of my idols back then.

Fed (01:35.215)
Hmm.

Kristian H (01:43.582)
I actually also asked my dad, I think it was last year, what my idols were as a kid. And he also said there were like eight meter, 100 meter that had the world record with some keep kid. So I actually always enjoyed sports and also did a lot of different sports as a kid. But then when I grew a little bit more, like at 14, 15, I started playing a lot of computer.

and lot of World of Warcraft. And that's also pretty much where, like, I never really found before that a sport that I was really good at. Maybe the best I was at was badminton, but, you know, far away from any elite. And, but then I started playing a lot of computer and that was very fun, but that's definitely not how you get fit. And yeah, I remember my dad even...

Fed (02:28.696)
Thank

Kristian H (02:39.464)
bought a trampoline to just get me and my brother outside because you know we were at that level where he got frustrated that we played so much. Yeah. And then after the gymnasium I started on like a folk high school. It's something we have here in Denmark. It's a school you go to but you don't take an education. It's more like you live on the school and then you can have all sort of different

lectures, it could be, yeah, you could have triathlon as something you do or yeah, or football or stuff like that. And I went to one with sports just to develop myself as a human and also just try out different things. And their triathlon was one of the, what do call it, like lectures or something we had on the school. And I was, at that time I was 20 years old and that's where I kind of got introduced to it a little bit.

And I remember I even did my first quarter of an Iron Man in two hours and 33 minutes. So if you put both of together, it's above 10 hours for a full. But I only did a fourth. I have never heard of an Iron Man, but one of my teachers had done an Iron Man. And he was like, he quickly became like almost like a God figure to.

Another Triathlon Pod (03:50.247)
Thank

Kristian H (04:06.558)
to the students out there and he inspired me to do my first in 2012. And yeah, that's where I kind of got into the sport. But I actually thought that I would do an Ironman and then I would stop. Never had any elite aspiration like everyone else. Yeah. But then, yeah, you know how it goes. then suddenly the next year you're on the start line again. And that was actually in Frankfurt in 2013. But that was like

Fed (04:13.871)
Like everyone else.

Another Triathlon Pod (04:20.775)
Just one and done.

Another Triathlon Pod (04:31.901)
Okay.

Another Triathlon Pod (04:35.361)
really?

Kristian H (04:37.084)
terrible experience and after that I promised myself I wouldn't do triathlon anymore and actually didn't do anything for like a year, but yeah, when I then started on my University degree in sports science, met up with a lot of also sports interested guys and we triathlon also caught their interest so I started doing a bit with them again and then one thing led to another and suddenly I was back into it again and and then

Fed (04:53.711)
Yeah.

Kristian H (05:07.038)
Yeah, like did a little more serious with one of my friends and in 2016 we did Frankfurt again and I kind of actually won the overall age group ranking there. And then, and he punched his ticket for Hawaii and we both went there and both placed second in our respective age groups. So from there, like the natural step was to try and go pro, but again, didn't have

Another Triathlon Pod (05:27.729)
Thank you.

Kristian H (05:36.72)
any aspirations that it was something I could never live off. And then, was actually just, I just did it for pure enjoyment. then fast forward to 19, like almost by an accident, it wasn't an accident, but I won, I'm in Hamburg. Like I was in the front and it was a warm day and people started bunking behind me and it was super crazy.

Another Triathlon Pod (05:48.583)
Mm-hmm.

Kristian H (06:05.246)
And after that, BMC team called me and suddenly had a pro contract and then was in the sport. But also they're still a bit unsure what I could do and actually made a five year plan in 19 after Hamburg. And the end goal, like what me and my coach were still in with, we thought would be my ultimate like

If we could get everything out of my talent, it would be a top 10 at Hawaii. And we managed that exactly five years later. But now, of course, we think there's more to chase,

Fed (06:40.236)
and

Josh (06:50.668)
Definitely more to chase now, it's a you've a that I mean, that's an amazing, inspiring rise first off, and we'll get into where you're at now, but.

Kristian H (06:53.384)
Yeah.

Josh (07:03.766)
Has there's there's certainly been struggles along the way, I would imagine. And like, what do you think some of the bigger struggles were? is it over training, trying to like get to that elite level and being a pro. know you've had some injuries along the way and you started to do really well and then had some setbacks. So like what were some of those challenges to get to that Kona performance that you had last year?

Kristian H (07:27.23)
Yeah, so I think one of the problems, you can say so, as I didn't have an elite sports background, we thought like me and my good friend were trained with. Also our team we called Go Longer because we thought we had to like train more than everyone else.

Fed (07:50.702)
Yeah.

Does that still exist, the tomb?

Another Triathlon Pod (07:54.877)
Yes.

Kristian H (07:55.632)
Yeah, actually, now we just have it as a coaching platform and but we have kind of reframed what it stands for like, you don't have to train more, but just yeah, exactly. like, so just we didn't have like the like the huge training age as some people do who maybe come from from short distance and go into long distance.

Josh (08:03.758)
That might have like a skull and crossbones with it at this point.

Another Triathlon Pod (08:07.037)
Thank you.

Kristian H (08:23.026)
But we just thought that we had to these crazy long training days. Of course, in the beginning, when you're not near your potential at all, you can almost do anything and then improve. And we just kept on feeling that we had to do even more. also, of course, think everything works well until a certain limit. And I think...

It ended up going pretty well until 2021, where I actually also played second at Ironman Frankfurt, but in a totally different quality of field.

Kristian H (09:10.622)
But from there, like I don't never really felt like myself for the next two years. that's a little I like, um, we had the world championships in 2022 in St. George and actually had a very good performance a month before that in challenge. And I remember some people even called me a favorite for the podium after that performance. And I thought like, okay,

Now I just have to like go crazy for the next month and leading into that race, I was sleeping in an altitude tent. And then when I got home, I was back in the altitude tent and just cranked it up to almost 4,000 meters thinking that like, like, yeah, yeah, was stupid. But like, I was like, I just need to be 2 % better because if other people think I can get on the podium, then maybe.

Fed (09:56.952)
more.

Another Triathlon Pod (09:57.082)
Thank

Kristian H (10:09.246)
Like if I get a little bit, I can start believing it myself, but that was, that, that totally killed me. And I ended up DNFing at the race. And after that, I had four months where I was struggling in training. I remember we went to a camp with the BMC team, one and a half month after St. George. And I was doing like two or three hour rides. And I could like barely.

average 200 watts. And when I got home, I was just totally done. And that took quite a while to kind of recover from. Then sometimes I felt like I bounced a little bit back, but then just went too hard at it again. And that carried all the way into 2023 until I got a stress fracture where like we kind of threw everything off the table and then started

Fed (10:44.431)
Hmm.

Kristian H (11:08.69)
rethinking what we have been doing from there.

Fed (11:12.419)
Yeah. Seems to me that, go ahead. I was just going to say that it seems to me that you're the type of guy that goes all in at whatever you do. whether it is World of Warcraft or Triathlon, it seems that you go all in. And I wanted to ask you after your first Iron Man and then what changed mentally and that...

Another Triathlon Pod (11:14.107)
Yeah, what would you say? Go ahead, Fede.

Fed (11:40.147)
that you were like, okay, let me pursue this. Let me see where can I take my body? Was it like a personal challenge? Was it like, okay, let me do this next one in a way that it's a pleasurable experience? And then what led into, okay, second place in Kona, let's see if I can go pro. it a matter of, let's see how better I can be or was it, I just want to compete with the best of the world or maybe a mix of both?

Kristian H (12:08.394)
How did you

Actually, like what changed was that in 2015, I just started with my coach and he told me that I think you can be very good at this if you start taking it a little bit more serious. looking back, I wasn't taking it serious before, but I was just doing a lot of training, but I was also going to bed at the...

one or two in the evening, but still getting up for a swim at five in the morning. I remember sometimes with the swimming, when we were just standing still in the water and the coach was telling us what the program was, I remember sometimes I was, you where you have the moments where you almost fall asleep.

Fed (13:22.193)
Right.

Kristian H (13:26.14)
And I don't know how I pushed through those moments, but I think I just enjoyed it so much. you know, like winning and Ironman, that changed everything for me, especially, or definitely mentally that starting to believe that, okay, maybe, maybe this can become something that I'm very, very, can be very, very good at. But I've had like so many doubts still.

Actually, only until this year where the contracts I signed when I kind of got a pro contract was only like one year at a time. And I still had so much doubt in myself that like most of the year I was just afraid that I wouldn't perform. So then at the end of the year, I probably wouldn't be doing triathlon.

And that especially last year, having two terrible seasons before that and then getting a stretch fracture and then try to come back from that. was like, like the, especially the first races were really terrifying because

If I didn't perform, I had almost told myself that I would probably stop with Triathlon at the end of 2024.

Another Triathlon Pod (14:53.181)
So how do you deal with that pressure? Because obviously you have the pressure of your own expectations, but now that you have sponsors that you have to renew year after year and they keep coming back mentally, how do you deal with that in the training and the racing?

Kristian H (15:07.58)
Yeah, so what we also did last year actually, we did a lot of good things after the stress fracture, we contacted the sports psychologist who's working with a lot of different sports here in Denmark. And also because we thought, me my coach were both a little bit nervous that all of the anxiety of like racing would kind of drag me a little bit down.

So I started working with him and he kind of like, it was just so nice to hear his perspective on things that of course we, everyone has anxiety or not anxiety, but we like have fear or we all get nervous. And he told me like, and that's just stuck with me that all the like thousands of years ago, all the people,

Another Triathlon Pod (15:55.025)
Yeah.

Kristian H (16:05.95)
that didn't fear the saber tooth tiger or eat the poisonous berries, they all died. now all the people that worried way too much, we're all still here. So we kind of have it ingrained in us to go around and be nervous of different things and just have to know that it's normal. So he also introduced me to, I think he called it like the mental boss. So it can be...

Another Triathlon Pod (16:12.921)
Thank

Fed (16:16.847)
I'm

Another Triathlon Pod (16:17.341)
Thank you.

Kristian H (16:35.57)
just in your everyday life or in a race. So you're always the bus driver and then now and then you go to a stop and then you pick off different people. And when they go in the bus, some of them will tell you terrible things that you're worth nothing or this is never gonna work out, you've got to find a normal job. And instead of trying to talk back to them or...

try to tell them to get off the bus, you just ask them to, you just say hi and then you put them in the back of the bus. And then at one point they're going to leave the bus, but then of course new ones are going to come in, but you don't have control over that. You just acknowledge that they're there and then tell them to go back in the back of the bus. So that was one thing that really helped me quite a lot. And also we started working a little bit with the, tried to make like a value set. So.

You can have that like in your everyday life and in, in, racing. And so I think it made like a good value, like some values that I wanted to represent in, my normal life. And so I had them to stick with and also in racing, some, some values that I could act, so I could act according to those values. then if I just did that, then the race would

be a success so to speak, no matter the outcome. But as long as I acted according to my values and not on my feelings in the race, then I could be proud of the race and then we could evaluate on what we could have done. That just took a lot off my shoulders and it's something I've been using ever since.

Josh (18:29.23)
Do you do anything specific on race day morning in terms of those nerves bottling up and like, how do you get rid of them? And how do you clear your mind before the swim and get ready to go? I think the bus example is an awesome one, but at the same time you're like the lead bus or the lead car. And then there's another bus behind you filling up and that's the bus that you're worried about catching it. Cause you're just gone. You're like eight minutes ahead of everyone else, but.

Before the race starts, how are you clearing your head? Because I think we all do that in different ways and everyone who's part of this sport or anything in life before something, what are your new approaches that you've been able to work on?

Kristian H (19:13.391)
Yeah, so previously I thought I had to kind of hype myself up or be like, okay, let's get ready to go. my strategy now is just like, I'm just really appreciating that I am just able to race. I like when all the nerves comes and

all the adrenaline pumps in my body, I'm like almost thriving on it. And I'm like, feeling is something like, it's like there's a lot on stake when you are there. But then in reality, if we zoom out, it's not that like a threatening position that we are in. So I just really like enjoy of feeling to be in that.

situation, without... Of course there's something on stake, it's not like... If I DNF, it's not like the end of the world. I'll still have my girlfriend and my family, but I just really enjoy it and really just soak everything up and also enjoy watching everyone else go around and be a little bit nervous and the tension in the air.

Fed (20:35.138)
Hehehehe

Kristian H (20:36.806)
I actually think it's my favourite moment of every race and I've also just been telling myself, maybe that's the whole point, I've been telling myself that it's super nice and then if you tell yourself enough times then suddenly it becomes reality.

Fed (20:56.291)
Yeah. I I was, I was reading this, this essay about, high performance athletes like yourself and their ability of reframing, circumstances. For instance, the nerves before a race and, like super high performance athletes, they go, okay, I'm not nervous. I'm just excited. this is what I trained for and their ability to make that switch mentally.

Another Triathlon Pod (20:56.654)
Yeah, absolutely.

Kristian H (21:16.222)
.

Fed (21:25.535)
it's what puts them in a position to perform against their peers. And it's very refreshing to me that someone of your caliber, of your athletic ability has the ability to go, okay, it's not the end of the world if I DNF, it's okay. At the end of the day, yes, we put a lot of time and effort into this, but it's something that we decided. We put ourselves into this position, so.

We're going to live another day and we're going to try again. And the beauty about sport is that there's always a rematch if something doesn't go right. So, I think this is very good for our audience and for people that are listening to not take it too seriously. Yes. Put time effort, dedication. And of course we're going to be disappointed if something doesn't, doesn't go our way. But at the end of the day, we cannot control, like you said on the bus, the outcome. can just control our thoughts and the process and

Kristian H (22:13.15)
.

Fed (22:20.759)
whatever happens, we can be happy if the outcome is not right, if we put everything we can into the basket of just controlling what we can. so, yeah, I think that's very cool to hear from someone like you. And it's going to be very eye-opening for a lot of listeners. So, yeah, thank you for that.

Kristian H (22:43.058)
Yeah, think it's a really good point as you also underline. We're kind of privileged that we can put ourselves in those situations and experience all the feelings. I think we can learn so much on how we act, for example, how we act in the race of the morning or how we act in a...

If we get a little bit unlucky in a race situation, it's something we learn in an environment where there's no real bad consequences of the outcome. we can also maybe what we learn from that, we can take into our real life where the consequences might be much, much bigger and have much more impact. then we learn so much from it that we can just...

act better in those situations.

Another Triathlon Pod (23:44.667)
Yeah, and you know, I think that's a good jumping off point to talk about Ironman Frankfurt this weekend because who was there some drama with not only yourself, but a number of the other athletes in there too. But we got to first talk about your killer bike split out there. absolutely dominated the field. And even with having that killer bike split and coming off, it sounds like there was some drama with a one minute penalty.

Kristian H (23:52.918)
Okay.

Another Triathlon Pod (24:08.583)
for some outside coaching. And I have to say what you're just speaking about, that's why it reminded me because you seem to handle that one minute penalty just really well. Like you're calm, you weren't yelling, we had some other outbursts the course when it came to penalties. But you seem to really handle it well. But can you tell us a little bit about how that all went down with this penalty for outside assistance? Which it sounds like there were a couple instances.

Kristian H (24:12.798)
Yeah.

Kristian H (24:34.512)
Yeah, yeah. So, mine was a little, think, one of the guys that also coaches Magnus. He also lives in my city, actually just 500 metres over there. And he was of course down there to support Magnus, but we also...

Another Triathlon Pod (24:49.645)
really?

Kristian H (24:54.366)
good friends and then I had my coach down there and he stood I think right after the T2. I literally think he took like four steps or something and I think it's on the live stream and it's and then but but after that and yelled I split to to the other guys and then the judge took notice of that and then told him that he wasn't allowed to do that and I could get a penalty and then maybe 200 meters down the road my coach did

exactly the same, know, just took a few steps and yelled a split. And then that's kind of where the judge decided that I have had outside assistance. And he started yelling at me that I had to stop. And I was, of course, didn't really have any idea what was going on. And then I just looked behind, I could see he yelled that I had got a yellow card.

and first I actually thought it was five minutes or something, but then he told me it was one and I was like, okay, it's not that bad, but still pretty annoying. And when I stopped, he started his watch, so while he was informing me what was even going on, the time went by, but yeah, of course, he told me that my coach had ran with me and I had absolutely not...

I seen anything of that. But also, I couldn't argue with him as he told me. It was my coach and it was in the rulebook, even though it might seem a little unfair. I don't think it's the biggest advantage you can gain out there. But I was trying to put my energy into where it really mattered and then just trying to...

focus on the job actually and not worry too much about the consequences of it.

Another Triathlon Pod (26:53.999)
Yeah, like what's going through your head in that moment, especially when it's it's a penalty on something that's out of your control, essentially. How like what's going through your head?

Kristian H (27:03.836)
Yeah, so I lost my chain with 5k or something to go on the bike, so I also knew I lost, I don't know, 30 or 40 seconds there, so at first I was like, that's a good portion of the lead gone right there. But then I actually still felt quite confident that I could run really well, so I knew it would get

get close no matter what and I would just have to kind of see like at the next time space what the gap would be and then try to make a plan from there. But yeah, it's funny like the whole moment is like still a little bit blurry I would say. It's really not something I focused.

a lot on as I still thought that I could actually win. actually even on, when I first realized I could win, that was like on the bike when they started yelling that the lead was at six or seven minutes. I actually had a brief moment where that's the first time it really hit me that I could win. And I could instantly feel like I got goosebumps because I thought of the finish line and my eyes even started

Another Triathlon Pod (28:28.711)
Yeah.

Kristian H (28:32.03)
cheering a little bit up and I was like, whoa, okay, focus back on the job. And from there, I of promised myself not to think too far ahead. And maybe that was also what I did in that moment. Like don't think too far ahead of the consequences that it can have and try to stay as present as possible and then do what I can. And that's a quote my coach tells me almost every second day, like,

This is what's happening right now. You're doing the best you can and then don't worry about it.

Josh (29:09.72)
So you're, you're, mentioned the whole science aspect of your background and going into sports science. And I think you have found a way to, really dial in your bike more so than some other athletes and, knowing the fact that you can't train 40 hours a week and stay injury free, you're found other ways to get faster. And that's really showing itself now. And, and what are some of the things that you've done?

in the last year or since Kona to dial in for this season. And I know you've been able to push crazy watts. Like think you averaged what, last weekend and, but 320 is what a lot of them are pushing, but you are still eight minutes out in front. And I think a lot of it had to do with your position and learning how to race and stay aero and the CDA. So what are some of the bigger...

Kristian H (29:45.694)
Hmm.

Josh (30:02.446)
pieces that you've done and maybe that's something an age group can pick up on. There's some short money that you can spend to get speed, but obviously the practice comes with it. What are some of your top things that you've dialed in?

Kristian H (30:15.206)
Yeah, so for an age group, think the best way for them to go would be to try and copy some of the fast riders and their positions, I would say, and maybe try to look for what helmet are they wearing or what clothing are they in.

100 % tested a lot of different stuff. And that's actually also what I did prior to last year. And the guy I was looking towards was Magnus and his position. he had, I also think he was the kind of what pushed a lot of the athletes into like a little longer positions. yeah, and I also went with that and thought it would be better.

Another Triathlon Pod (30:59.729)
Yes.

Kristian H (31:06.554)
Even though when I was in the position, really felt like the strain on my back was quite high. I also think just because of the position, had trouble pushing power. And then last year I went to the velodrome and then the first time we didn't actually find anything crazy. Then I thought, can't be true. So we went another time and there I started to go a little shorter in my

in my reach and every time we shorten it by one centimeter, the CDA or my how aero I am dropped a little bit. And then when I was as far back as I thought I could, then we started raising the angle a little bit. again, like every time we raised the angle a little bit, it just got faster. So that was kind of an eye opening into like how like me and Magnus' bodies are like totally different.

He's this very tall, long arms, long legs. And I think I have a little weird body type with extremely short arms, actually. But I think it's really for being aero on the bike, I'm starting to think that it might be very good because I get pretty low and then I have a long torso so I can stay pretty flat and then short legs so I don't need to raise the seat.

Fed (32:15.246)
you

You

Fed (32:22.094)
Yeah.

Kristian H (32:35.326)
as much. After that, I also started noticing that I doing better in racing. Then I also went to the Winter last and got some of the findings confirmed. Just starting riding pretty strong, I also felt like with shorter reach, I could also push more power and I was more aero, so it was kind a win-win situation. Just after many years, feeling a bit uncomfortable.

in the TT position when I got on the road, I just felt a lot better. And then this year, we knew partners, just took it a little step further. like I know for my size last year, my CDA was really good. And then this year, we got it pretty low, I would say, even for smaller guys.

Yeah.

Fed (33:36.111)
There's a correlation between CDA and power and power efficiency and CDA. I know there are some guys that say, okay, get me the lowest CDA. don't care if I can push 150 watts because I'm super aero. What's the trade up here? Do you look for a balance? Are you more CDA inclined? And second question of

of this part is, did you really consumed 135 grams of carbs per hour during the bike ride and how did you train your gut to tolerate that?

Kristian H (34:19.567)
Yeah, so I'm definitely, yeah.

more towards just the CDA and trying to be as aero as possible. I have come to realize now also that of course CDA is not everything. Like sometimes you can take some decisions. For example, let's say you get the one or two watts slower by going one centimeter higher up in stack, but then you actually also gain a lot of

comfort in that position. previously maybe like for example just last year, would maybe have thought that then I would just go with the very low stuff. yeah, I think it can be worth to make some trade-offs now and then. And I've also now lost my chain on the bike for the last four races. And maybe if I put on a chain catcher, will lose one watt, but I won't lose the chain. So that's also something.

Fed (35:16.055)
No.

Kristian H (35:22.866)
I'll have to look into. So stuff like that. And also maybe also just even like a helmet, like there are tons of different Aero helmets that some one might be a little faster, but then you have another one you feel more comfortable and more ventilated in. So then I would actually just go with that even though it might be a little slower. But of course, also all these small things can also add up. So it's not like on everything you have to...

go with the comfort, but I would say it's a decision of what type of race I would also say you're going into. And then yeah, the carbohydrate thing. Yeah, so the 135 grams were like the average over the entire race. that's also with the swim included, but you don't take any carbs. So I think on the bike I aimed for 170 and then on the run it was

Fed (36:11.873)
Okay, okay.

Kristian H (36:20.318)
120 grams and

I I don't know if it comes down to my age group days and stuff like that, but I remember also studying on the side. was always sometimes a little tight. And I remember a lot of the time I ate a big lunch and then went for a run 10 minutes later. And I just did that for years. And also with dinner and stuff like that.

Fed (36:49.497)
Yeah

Fed (36:54.863)
Right.

Kristian H (36:55.23)
So I don't know if that helped in like, literally don't have any knock on wood gut issues like my stomach can tolerate quite a lot. But then of course, I also try to avoid the fire was the day before and in the breakfast just to be 100 % sure that I don't have anything unnecessary.

like lying in the digestion and that's also probably a good factor.

Another Triathlon Pod (37:30.415)
Yeah, absolutely. Now the one other thing I wanted to ask about is in the race in Frankfurt, so you amass this massive bike, bike split in there and you're setting records for the times overall and making up time on athletes like a Christian Blumenfeld. How does it feel on the run kind of knowing that these guys are chasing you down? Like you have this big lead, like you said, you thought for a minute there that you were absolutely going to win it on the bike and had that emotional response. What's going through your head or is there anything you can do really when you hear these times?

what's coming down to the people behind you.

Kristian H (38:03.582)
Yeah, so the thing I can do is just try to do what I can do the best and that was try not to overpace and then try to stay cool, hydrated and get in my carbs. So that was kind of the number one priority. then, it's actually just a long waiting game in a way. Like, can see the time drops a little bit, but I also thought I could see like...

I lost maybe one and half to two minutes per lap, so I knew that if I kept my pace, it would come down to almost like a sprint finish in the end. So that was actually what I was kind of preparing for that. I felt quite comfortable also going through the first half marathon and thought, okay, I'm going strong, so I'll just stay with this pace.

And then I thought that, okay, I keep feeling like this and they catch me. Maybe I can try to see if I can increase the pace. But yeah, that's not exactly how it went. I bumped a little bit the 30k mark and from there it's kind of, yeah, just damage control or then also these thoughts that I think I...

when I kind of bonked, was down to running four minutes per K. And I had no idea if that was kind of the lowest point I would get down to. Like I have been into races where kind of you first slow down and then you run a couple of K's at that pace. Then you slow it down another time and then you slow down again. And I knew that if I was running slower than four minutes per K, then Casper in third would...

Fed (39:51.862)
Peace.

Kristian H (40:00.306)
The catch me and Gustav was also running strong. So yeah, that was kind of terrifying as I still had like almost 12 K left at that point, but but they had to like really take it. Yeah, one kilometer at a time and just still focus on all like nutrition and cooling.

Another Triathlon Pod (40:22.522)
Well, you broke up the Norwegian, all Norwegian podium there, so kudos for that.

Kristian H (40:25.896)
Yeah.

Josh (40:28.64)
Yeah, that was a good, still an amazing performance. you're, you talk about the mindset this, this whole episode and you've got to keep that mindset going. would imagine in those situations, like, look, I'm still second right behind Christian and I got to get hold onto that. And how did you stay positive? And I would even say, go back to like, what did you look at at this race as a whole? As some of the biggest takeaways in your eyes, like

You are from pack swim and not always has that been the case. And I think we all know the bike and then you still had one of your better marathon run. So what were some of your favorite takeaways from this race that you know, you can build on going forward that maybe gets you to that top step in Nice.

Kristian H (41:11.198)
Yeah, so I've been like, I like to be like home and in my own comfort. And last year I was, for me, traveling quite a lot. I think I had a little over 150 travel days and I still proved to myself that I could develop as an athlete and still perform well, but I also knew there that

Another Triathlon Pod (41:30.001)
love.

Kristian H (41:39.942)
If I can be that good, like when traveling a lot and not being in the environment that I love the most, then if I stay home, then maybe I could put on another layer. I'm actually just very proud that also just that I'm able to like, it sounds a little bit, a little bit boring and not the crazy Instagram life, but like the, swim environment we have here in

In Aarhus is incredible with the... We have a very, very good coach on deck on Monday and Friday. then the guy who coaches me is on deck on Wednesdays and Thursdays. And then the two other days we swim with no coaches. But I knew that if I had to improve my swim, I had to stay home for as long as possible.

be very consequent with being at the sessions. And then I knew I could get the last, maybe the last year I have been lacking just the last 60 to 90 seconds to the front group. And so far it has been closed down. still don't feel comfortable that I would make it every time, but I have to stay in this swimming environment for that to happen. And then...

I also feel like that I'm able to perform at the level on the bike as I did with the approach we had to the bike training with just trying to keep it quite effective. So our philosophy was that if we just keep the bike training effective with, yeah.

trying to keep the warm up pretty short, don't ride a lot of someone because maybe I'll get a lot of the easy endurance on my run and on my swimming. Then maybe I'll have more energy for the intervals or just for overall recovery. So it's very comforting that some of the choices you make, you get the outcome that you kind of expect.

Kristian H (43:59.47)
And of course we have also made a lot of other different choices last year where we didn't get the outcome that we wanted. So I just think we slowly get sharper and sharper. And then the last thing I would just say is to be able to perform at the level I have seen in training this year is really, really nice. Sometimes I get on Strava and see guys

during world-class training, but they never seem to get it out in racing. so just to be able to also perform on the day that matters is, I think, a nice skill, if you can say that, to have.

Josh (44:47.904)
I would say cutting back on the travel is something you're focused on, but coming up in the near future, you won't be focused on cutting back on the travel. I think somebody's added Swansea and Lake Placid.

Kristian H (44:54.622)
No.

Fed (44:55.887)
No.

Kristian H (44:59.398)
Yeah, so I'm also a little stressed about it. had my first run today since Frankfurt, six kilometres, and almost every step I was finding a new swear word from my coach.

Fed (45:05.759)
Yeah

Fed (45:16.815)
You

Josh (45:20.206)
I have it.

Another Triathlon Pod (45:20.903)
We've all been there.

Kristian H (45:24.124)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it will be interesting, but yeah, like I have so much doubt that how it all work out like there, I really fear that maybe I can't perform at those two races and maybe it will also come with a cost that

Fed (45:24.173)
Yeah.

Kristian H (45:48.806)
Like this week is more like a recovery week. I hope to get into good training into next week and maybe I can like train over Swansea. So I don't have to taper for that because then I'll have another taper leading into that. And then after Swansea, there's one week to Lake Placid where I also have to taper. I had to taper after Lake Placid. So suddenly it's like four weeks out of the window. So the challenge of trying to get in some quality training while still...

feeling relatively sharp is going to be a pretty big challenge. I don't feel 100 % that we'll nail it. Also, you said, it's going to come with a lot of travelling, so I'm going to be a little bit challenged on that. It will be a fun little experiment.

Another Triathlon Pod (46:41.565)
Yeah, absolutely. See how the body responds.

Fed (46:42.073)
Definitely.

So this question, it's, I'm asking for a friend that his name starts with an F and ends with an ed. If, if, if there are, if there are three key sessions on swim, bike and run that you can do to get fit fast, what would they be? And yeah, like if you want to just get the most

bang for your buck and get fit ready so that then you have like a base so that you can build upon what would be those sessions that you would suggest.

Kristian H (47:14.718)
I'm a little split on the swim actually because we have one week a day where we take up all the lane ropes and then put in boys in the water and then we have like on 100 meters we maybe have like three or four turns

Fed (47:38.287)
Mmm.

Kristian H (47:45.17)
And when we started doing it this year, all of us, our shoulders were totally smashed after each session because we kind of have to break our rhythms each time we got around the boys. But as we kind of progressed over the last month, it's been so good. And I think it's one of the keys to my open water success this year is just being able to

Fed (47:58.383)
Mm.

Another Triathlon Pod (48:00.199)
Mm-hmm.

Kristian H (48:14.14)
like a reset after each small acceleration, whereas when you swim in a pool, you have like the totally same movement pattern in the water. But when it's open water, maybe your hand goes a little bit out and you use just the muscles a little bit different. But I think that's one of the key sessions and you can even get benefit from it.

Yeah, over a short period of time because it's just getting used to it. yeah, on the bike, I just really love a good, simple threshold workout, like six times 10 minutes. And I feel like the first few weeks is also just getting used to even being able to do six times 10 minutes. then when you're in the grind, it's like you're

muscles just don't fatigue the same way and sometimes you can even when you have written it for a couple of weeks you can maybe even increase the power a little bit in the last few repetitions so even though it's not that Ironman specific I feel like it builds some kind of fatigue resistance and then yeah the running I would say maybe just a good old long run

Also just being able to spend time on the legs without them fatiguing.

Another Triathlon Pod (49:47.226)
No, that's fantastic. Well, we've couple quickfire questions that we like to ask our guests on here. Nothing too crazy. But let's start with what's the weirdest thing you've ever eaten during training or racing? Have you ever just been like bonked at a gas station and gotten something bizarre?

Fed (49:48.559)
That's awesome.

Kristian H (50:02.942)
Oh, yeah, I remember one time. I was in a period where I tried not to eat too much during training and I was cycling to a summer cabin and like maybe 100k into the ride with 80k to go. was like literally, I was bonking so bad. And then like here in

Fed (50:27.695)
Thanks.

Another Triathlon Pod (50:27.943)
Ha

Kristian H (50:29.758)
Here in Denmark in summertime, we have a lot of strawberry farms and then sometimes they put out the strawberries in like just in the front of the garden and then you can buy a little box of strawberries. And literally I was riding in this small town and there was no supermarkets or anything and I was like, you know, almost shaking. And then I could see, okay, I could get 500 grams of strawberries.

I was like, take my money. And then I sat there eating 500 grams of strawberries. So, and that's a big, portion. And then after I was like, that was good. Now I'm ready for the last 80 kilometers. Then I went on Google and then, okay, how many grams of carbohydrates are there in 500 grams of strawberries? And it was like 20 grams of carbohydrates.

Fed (50:58.109)
You

Fed (51:05.391)
Yeah.

Kristian H (51:26.33)
I was bonking completely bad, but I was also so full that I couldn't almost bike on my bike. was terrible.

Another Triathlon Pod (51:31.933)
you

Another Triathlon Pod (51:35.485)
and that's why we do the sports drinks a lot more carbs with a lot less volume. That's a good one, I like that. If you had to race an Ironman with another pro, who would it be and why? So this could be someone who would push you to go faster or just someone to be fun to spend the time with to do an Ironman distance.

Kristian H (51:38.264)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Kristian H (51:55.216)
I think it would be my good friend Christian Hinckherr, who I kind of, we started together as stage groupers and also us that kind of made it a go longer team. And we have just been in the sport quite a lot together. So, and it's been quite a lot of years since we raised each other, but it would be nice to kind of have the experience together and kind of just remembering old days.

Another Triathlon Pod (52:18.269)
Yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (52:24.059)
I like that. Next one is, if you had to add one discipline to triathlon, so forth discipline, what would it be? we're looking for something that would give you an advantage. So is it a World of Warcraft tournament beforehand or what would you add in there?

Fed (52:36.296)
Yeah.

Kristian H (52:37.214)
Maybe chugging a few beers. I I won that competition on the podium at Frankfurt over Christian, so maybe I will have an advantage there.

Josh (52:38.51)
I'm

Another Triathlon Pod (52:45.331)
there we go.

Josh (52:46.249)
He trick!

Another Triathlon Pod (52:53.362)
and like it too. Your account is great.

Fed (52:53.439)
Beer and strawberries could be the...

Kristian H (52:55.864)
PMS brothers! I mean...

Josh (52:57.198)
You don't wait to do the beer mile after the race like Skipper. You're going to do it before the race.

Kristian H (53:01.362)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (53:04.957)
my goodness. Next one. So do you have a guilty pleasure or pump up song that you listened to before hard sessions or a race?

Kristian H (53:15.582)
Sometimes I actually just like to award myself with a bit of candy before going into a session. Like if I have a really good session I'll maybe go out and buy some candy and then get pumped in that way. That's probably my guilty pleasure.

Fed (53:22.531)
Okay.

Another Triathlon Pod (53:33.743)
I like it. And then the last one, what's a piece of advice that you've been given over the years that's really resonated with you?

Kristian H (53:41.732)
It's 100 % the quote my coach keeps giving me with the, this is what's happening. I'm doing the best I can because it's something I can kind of using, yeah, in everyday life and in racing. And for example, just now this week went for a run and it felt absolutely terrible. And I feel like I have to perform a world-class level again in just nine days.

And of course, panic starts to pop up in your mind. But then what I can do is try to recover as best as possible, take the best decisions. And then, you know, I can't really do much more. And it's not the same as saying that you don't care, but then you should just try to relax. And sometimes it can take a little bit of pressure off your shoulders because you can't really do.

much more than your best. Don't go around and knock yourself in the head and say, try even better, but try to do 95 per cent of your best and then you can really do much more.

Another Triathlon Pod (54:52.765)
That is really great advice.

Josh (54:54.956)
Love it. I'd say that leads into a thought I had in my head because you're talking about how hard it was to get that next run in in 95%. How about some of your colleagues who you raced with last weekend, who were probably at 70 % who are jumping in Roth in a couple of days? How would that mean? Now I know a couple of them didn't finish, but they did race. They put a lot of energy into Frankfurt.

Kristian H (55:15.423)
You

Josh (55:23.608)
Could you even imagine doing Roth this weekend?

Kristian H (55:26.667)
What do the new release?

don't really release the pressure from the valve, then I feel like you have to go to another big event. And then Roth is pretty big. And quite convenient, it's two-hour drive from Frankfurt, so I think a lot of them, if they didn't really run too far on the run, will be 100 % ready.

Josh (56:01.56)
Pretty big.

Kristian H (56:19.294)
And also probably very eager to perform because they didn't do it last weekend.

Fed (56:24.397)
Hmm.

Yeah, yeah.

Another Triathlon Pod (56:27.825)
Yeah, absolutely. So sounds like you got a few races coming up and we'll definitely be following along as you head towards Ironman, Nice, the World Championships there. But thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. We sure appreciate it. And it was fun to hear more insights about race in Frankfurt and just what you've done so far in the sport.

Kristian H (56:45.818)
And thanks for a great podcast, some very good questions and also different questions. So really enjoyed it. It's always nice that sometimes things resonates with yourself when you try to answer different questions. So thank you.

Josh (56:52.302)
you

Another Triathlon Pod (56:56.989)
Hmm.

Josh (57:01.032)
You've been a busy man this week. to do our own research. You forced us to do a lot of research to make sure we didn't ask the same questions, but appreciated. Where can people, where's the best way to follow your journey on your Instagram and maybe some of your partners that have helped get you here?

Fed (57:04.397)
Yeah.

Kristian H (57:04.84)
Yeah.

Kristian H (57:17.766)
Yeah, will probably be my Instagram. I'll try to post more frequent from now on. think I gained a lot of new followers, so I better start prioritizing it a little bit. Yeah, so that's probably the best channel to follow.

Another Triathlon Pod (57:26.129)
it.

Josh (57:34.401)
Awesome.

Another Triathlon Pod (57:34.407)
Perfect, we'll add those links into the show notes here so that people can find you easily and start following your journey. But until then, we look forward to the next race and have a great evening.

Josh (57:43.501)
Thanks, Christian.

Kristian H (57:43.816)
Thank you and have a good day.

Fed (57:44.591)
Thank you.