#128 - Ironman Texas Preview with Lizzie Rayner and Mark Threlfall

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Welcome to another episode of Talking Triathlon, and as a lot of you probably have seen online,

Ford's not with us this week.

Due to a very unfortunate incident on his bike, he's taken some time to recover and recuperate

for a couple of weeks.

It's just going to be me and guests.

So here we are, and I'm joined by Lizzie Rainer, a Mark Threffle from GTN fame.

Lizzie from Pro Triathlon fame.

How are you guys?

Yeah, really good thanks.

We're in New Yorker.

I'm here for two weeks, Mark's here for a week with the T3 gang, which has been super fun.

So, yeah, last big day tomorrow, I don't want to go home to be honest.

It's been nice and sunny.

We had one day of rain, but yeah, it's been a really good opportunity to get some big bike

miles in and, yeah, good block of training before the season.

Yeah, and this is my one and only big week of training in the year where I try and get

as fit as possible and just hang on to the wheels, but yeah, it's going well.

So you're telling me that a few weeks ago when you ran a sub one tenant bath half marathon,

you weren't that fit at that point.

That was just pre-canned.

Well, I'm not, actually, yeah.

To be fair, I've actually, I've given the running a bit of a crack this year.

Yeah, I found myself in some good run form, I thought, hey, I should keep this going

and do a bit more training, so yeah, no, I was relatively pleased with that.

I just don't give Mark a credit, actually, because it's pretty disgusting how well he can

ride after having not basically not touched his bike for like months on end.

It never goes away, it never goes away, it's definitely getting harder each year,

coming out here.

I was peddling squares up a climb the other day and many people have formed that before.

How many people have you got in your camp?

So we've got about 15 athletes out here this year, which is a little bit smaller than

previous years.

We have a couple of coaches that come out, so Harry Palmer is a coach for me as well,

Crudgington, and yeah, we just rent some villas, just outside the old town of Plantsum,

got swimming pools there and stuff, so yeah, it's a really nice atmosphere, it's a relaxed

atmosphere.

We get the job done, we get the training in, but it's all about just having, you know,

beer by the pool and the evening and just chilling out, it's really good.

We have a lot of fun, yeah, and just say like we're having a great camp this year as

well.

So, yeah, so T3 Trafford, so I set up T3 many years ago, prior to my GTN days, and

yeah, I've obviously been coaching for a long time, so we've run camps out here for years,

obviously coach Lizzie as well, and it's something I'm focusing more on these days.

I'm still involved in GTN, but this is a bigger focus for me nowadays, and yeah, we've got

athletes out here of all abilities as well, it should point that out, it's not just sort

of the pro-end, we've got some athletes here that literally have done one triathlon,

maybe even gearing up to the first triathlon all the way through to age groupers, maybe

going to the world champs and the likes, obviously Lizzie, and everyone mingles and gets some

really well.

And actually, you know what's pretty cool, they all share information with one another,

and I'd say even Lizzie has actually learnt stuff off some of those amateur athletes

in previous years, just where maybe Lizzie's going to do a race that they've done before,

or nutrition, and various things like that, so it is really cool to see it kind of go in

both ways, it's not just pro-advised down to the age groupers, it sounds like a great

group.

Is it something you do yearly, is the camp out where you are now?

Yeah, so we always head out to New Yorker, and we've had a lot of people say, oh, should

we try somewhere else?

It's just nice.

It's great here.

But if we're going to be doing more as well, it's not just a one and done thing, so we're

hoping to do camps in France, and also lots in the UK, as I say, I've been very involved

in GTN for the last number of years, and this is bigger focus for me, so we're going

to have lots more going on in the UK as well, so yeah, do check us out if you're keen

to get stuck in.

Yeah, so you're always looking for new people to join the T3 crew, I suppose.

Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

And what's the score with you, mate?

Before we move on to Tarathon and all that, you say that you're doing less involvement

with GTN.

I'm seeing you less on the weekly news channel, but you're still doing those sort of long-form

things for them.

What's the score with that?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, so I think, I think I can be relatively honest, I've absolutely loved GTN and being

involved in it.

And I still am.

It kind of feels like my baby I was there from the start, so you could never really pull

me away from it, but I've always wanted to give more to my coaching, because that was

what I set up originally many years ago.

And so it was just a discussion I've had, and they've been super supportive in what I'm

planning to do here.

So I'm still involved in some of the bigger projects going forwards, and people probably

will know me well for doing stupid challenges and killing myself and running marathons

in crocs and stuff, not saying I'm going to do that again, but I've got some really cool

stuff planned for this year, I mean, one in particular that you might interest people

I'm going to go and do the Inferno Trathlon in Switzerland, which if you're not aware,

it starts in the lake and turn, and you basically work your way up a mountain road cycle mountain

bike trail run, a bit kind of Norseman-esque, but maybe hasn't quite got the same name outside

of maybe Switzerland and France area, so yeah, so stuff like that.

And yeah, like doing more on the coaching side, so building up kind of our athlete roster

and various other sort of things going on through the year's swim clinics and other

things like that.

So in year ahead then, yeah, yeah, nice, no, I do enjoy the long form content a lot.

Some of the videos you guys put together, it's really, really good fun, especially when

you're somewhere around and doing something random, getting lost, or you do some orientating

type challenge in Scotland, I think, recently that I watched the video off and that I'm

using it.

Oh, yeah, yeah, that was it, yeah, yeah, yeah, we bit off more than we could do that.

It was like watching you do get just get lost and sort of like, we're going to do less

than we thought we were going to do.

We're probably just going to do like a few of the other.

Yeah, I've finally actually with some elite trail runners last week at a training peaks event,

and they actually, a big fan of GTN and follow our channel, he's like, the reason I watch

your channel is because you're just so optimistic, you go into these things, thinking you could

do it.

And he's like, I've done the one, oh man, and the elite course that you guys took on and

that is nails, there was no chance you were finished, yeah, no, just say positive all the

time.

Yeah.

Well, I can't for some reason, I can't remember his name, but what was the other guy that

was with you?

James Kinnamar.

Yeah, Kinnamar, he wasn't positive that day.

He was having a minor breakdown behind you, just going, why the fuck is Mark so positive

all the time I can't deal with this?

Yeah, it's such a hard thing to navigate.

And like, everyone would have been in this position, maybe on a group ride and a friend

just had an absolute humor failure when they bonked and I was like, how do you deal with

that person?

What do you say?

Do you try and lift their spirits or do you just kind of simply rise with it?

You walk to any meters in front of them, talking to the car, no car.

That seemed to be all right.

And he's self-African, so yeah, I've got a lot of self-African friends, but you know

that just the way they might respond sometimes to the positive thing.

What about you, Lizzie?

How is your 2026 shaping up?

It's good, mate.

I feel like I'm in a really good place going to the season.

I'm still really happy with my decision to start my season a bit later, not sighting

until May 17th, which is 17.3 Axon Provence, first of the European pro series races.

So I think it would be pretty stacked and a lot of Phillips racing, which is quite

cool.

So yeah, I think I obviously had the opportunity to race 200 Gold Coast, and at the time,

I think we all hummed in hard a little bit, initially I was like, no way.

And then I was like, oh, maybe I should.

But then that weekend rolled around, I had no FOMO whatsoever.

And I think it's just given me the opportunity to, yeah, just have a really solid build uninterrupted.

And yeah, I feel like I'm ready to go, to be honest.

And so that was the reason for not being out of the T100 Gold Coast was simply to allow

yourself, give yourself space and room to breathe at the start of the season.

Yeah, I think having raced middle of December and to be honest, to get myself to the

guitar start line was like pretty rough.

And I was just mentally physically completely empty.

And so therefore the thought of racing mid March was quite a lot.

I didn't really start training again until start of Jan.

And I don't want to show up at anything less than my best and I thought, yeah, I wasn't

going to be in a good, like, physically, I wasn't going to be fit, basically.

But also the thought of trapped in that travel solo and the time difference and the jet lag

and just everything, you start burning your matches in March, then come championship season.

You've got fewer to spend and that's, you know, that's when it counts.

So, yeah, pretty happy with that.

Yeah, absolutely.

And when, like you say, when you're at home and that race that you're earning and

are about takes place and you don't have any of that desire to be there or feel like

you're missing out, that's always a good sign that you've made the right decision.

Yeah, 100%.

Yeah.

It's very easy to quickly forget how you felt in December.

And so, yeah, you did message me sort of, I think, Jan time.

Maybe we could turn this around and say, well, you've already forgotten where you were

about a month ago, basically crying after the final race, because you were just so happy

to be done with the season.

There's tears before, pretty sure there were tears during, there's definitely tears after.

Yeah, it's so hard.

Such a long season now.

And I was about to say the same thing.

You could, so, and some athlete sure, like, you know, look at, like a cat Matthew's phenomenal

can sort of seem to race all year round.

I know, I would say it, and I know it sounds mad, but like Lizzie's still relatively young

and you, and you just, yeah, um, it's building into things.

And I just think, yeah, the real focus this year, 70.3 worlds after, you know, great result

last year.

And I, I think this course suits her even more.

So let's just, yeah, let's not get carried away with ourselves.

It's just focus on the job at hand and deliver there as best as possible.

How tempting with the season as it is now with these, you know, it starts early.

It finishes late.

There's so many races, so many options.

As a coach and as an athlete, how tempting is it to get carried away and feel that, that

pull to be in everything and race everything or you're just really good at compartmentalising

that and going, that, um, yes, I know.

I think you see everyone, like, you see the best in the world congregating and, like,

ocean side and certainly Texas, obviously, I don't want to go long yet.

But you're still like, oh, that's what I want to be doing.

And that's what I want to race the best in the world.

And that's an opportunity and, um, but I think I'm quite good at, um, prioritising and

I don't feel I'm quite satisfied.

I'd rather do pick eight-ish races and prioritise what, like, half of those, if it's less

than that.

I feel like we've quite clearly picked out these, like, key pillars through the year,

these events that we've got excited about as a team that we're really working towards

and be that, all right, we're testing out certain kit for this one with wrecking, wrecking

or whatever it may be, um, that we're not distracted by all these other things.

Yes, it does look great all this other thing going on, but we're so focused on that.

And I think as someone who really likes a plan, like, as soon as the pro-column comes

out, I message Mark, I'm like, what do you think about these?

And the calendar's basically set in stone from, like, February and we've not really ever

had to change that.

And I think having it down and having it in the diary kind of just means you don't need

to be looking elsewhere and be tempted by anything because I'm like, I'm happy with

the plan.

I couldn't actually fit in anything else extra, um, and so, yeah, I think that just works.

The only curve, well, obviously, is the T100 kind of getting potentially those starts

last minute and particularly last year, you just didn't know until, yeah, I think I should

know a bit further in advance.

Um, so we kind of had them penciled in as maybe's, um, that does make like, you know, planning

the training a little bit.

But you can pick your maybe's, can't you, you know, you know, you're not obliged to race

everyone, you can, you can, you can, you'll get an offer probably in most T100 starts

this year.

But I now have to do the remaining races because I, because it's only, um,

four plus the grand final, is it now?

Yeah.

But it's three plus the grand final to score.

So I now have to do the remaining three.

I have to do Spain, Vancouver and Dubai and then Qatar to score.

So I now I'm slightly, because I didn't do Gold Coast.

Um, I have to, yeah, hopefully get a start in the remaining three, but equally, I'm not,

I'm not, it's not like my main focus.

So if I don't, then I don't, um, Vancouver's, I think six weeks before worlds.

And obviously it big travel and things will make a decision.

I think a bit close to the time on that.

But, um, I would, yeah, I would like to do it, um, but we'll see if it fits, make sure

basically you seem like somebody who's very good at taking the advice of those people you

trust around you on board and making a, making a decision based on that rather than just,

like, you know, I'm going to do this, this and this and this and this.

Yeah, I mean, it's why you have a team, right?

I'd hate to make these decisions on my own.

Kind of real sort of, yeah, rely on, um, Mark and, you know, your advice and, yeah,

everyone in the team to, yeah, help me with, it comes from me at the end of the day.

Like I, but we often, we do agree on most things.

Yeah, I'd say, and this is applicable to any athlete amateur or pro.

It's like, the season's got to excite you, right?

So it's like, I mean, for, you know, this, this is Lizzie's job.

So you could argue, okay, well, perhaps she knows she needs to just do stuff that pays the

bills and stuff, but like for an amateur, it's, you know, it is your hobby.

Like you've got to pick races to excite you.

I think you can't study that as a pro, though.

Yeah, yeah.

It's races that I've done before or I know I'm going to enjoy and, um, yeah, I think you

still can cherry pick, um, because you still have to enjoy it at the end of the day.

Cause when it is your job, it is a little bit more pressure.

But yeah, I want to have a good time doing it as well.

They're talking about this plan that you've got for the year.

What is it that drove the, the choice of this particular direction for the year?

What is it you want to get out of this year?

Um, so the main goal is Nice, um, 70 points, two worlds in, yeah.

I'd love top five and niece.

I think it's a course that really suits me.

Um, we're on different, we're different bike this year, different kit.

Um, it's a hell of a bike.

It's a hell of a bike.

It's a good looking bike.

Yeah, it's, I only rode it actually twice in the UK before I came out here, um, and obviously

the difference between Spanish roads and Wiltshire countryside is pretty different.

But I was like, what are this thing flies?

It's turned a lot of heads out here because, well, hey, you've got, she's got a gold chain

with it.

Yeah, it's obviously amazing.

That catches everyone's eyes initially.

This is all thanks to Matt Vock.

And, and then you realize it's like 58 tooth and it's a one by, and she's climbing hills.

So they're, what?

Uh, obviously it's the class I mean, yeah, classified setups.

You've got a virtual gear in the back cup, but it is, uh, yeah, it's quite funny.

Yeah, and class guys on the client and you got 58 gold.

Yeah, yeah, one by and they're like, what the fuck?

Yeah, it does look, does look good though.

Can you got those gold decals on the, um, wheels yet?

They're coming.

They're coming.

They're coming.

So watch us speak park calls, they're putting out all the stocks for you.

Yeah, it's a bit bling, but, um, I think here, it attracts attention and that's,

it's pretty cool, isn't it?

So, um, it's a hell of a looking bike.

So I'm at seven point three worlds, niece.

That's going to be your focus.

What is it about that course that like Mark said a second ago, you think might

suit you a little bit more than Marbella.

Marbella was a hell of a course, hell of a race and a hell of a performance.

What is it about niece that that's floating your boat?

Um, I like climbing, um, I like descending, um, but I like technical descending.

Um, and that's what Marbella was a bit more of a, uh,

Marbella was different, like obviously it was hilly, but it was, I think more,

maybe a bit more of a power, yeah, course, whereas niece is a bit more technical.

And I think that suits me a bit better.

Um, like obviously didn't have anyone near the day I wanted on the bike and Marbella.

It's hard to compare, but, um, yeah, I like the sort of climbing that's in that we have a niece.

And, um, I think the descent will really play to my strengths, especially on this new bike.

Um, so I think, yeah, it's mainly the bike course, like the run is just flat, isn't it?

So, um, so yeah, and obviously, yeah.

And the perk this year is that 70.3 niece in June is a female pro race, um,

which is obviously a bit of a no brain, it's obviously not, it's like a $15,000 race.

So it's like the lowest pro race you can do, um, but it's a bit of also a bit of a no brainer to go and do it because I can test,

like wheels and gear ratios and this is a chance to record the court.

Like it's the best record you could possibly do close roads and, um,

so yeah, that's obviously a big part of the preparation.

And, um, yeah, I'm excited about having that opportunity.

And Iron Man Exxon Provence is going to be your first race of the season.

How excited about that one, are you?

Yeah, really excited.

I love that race.

I did it last year, came second, um, which is like a pretty big result being a pro series race.

Um, I think it'd be more way more stacks this year, but, um,

I think it clearly suits me.

Um, first time I ran under 80 minutes.

So, um, that's, yeah, that was pretty cool.

Um, I think you get an extra benefit going back to somewhere.

You race well before, um, so yeah, I'm definitely, yeah, definitely excited about that.

I think it would be a big one.

Yeah, I know you're going to go and defend Portugal.

Yeah, yeah, of course.

Glad to hear that.

Glad to hear it.

It's just that it's the race light.

It's nothing again.

It's not in terms of pro racing.

It's not a huge significance, but, um, it's one of my favorite courses on the circuit.

Um, I really, really love it there.

The people are amazing.

The place is amazing.

And it's always my chance to get early qualification for worlds, um, for the following year.

And each year I've qualified for worlds in in October time.

So you come into the year of the championship and you don't have to stress about chasing, chasing that,

which takes so much weight off.

So there's so many reasons to do it.

Um, but obviously, yeah, be nice to get a third title.

And Mark, when you're coaching athletes who are racing the T100 series and then 70.3 focus,

those two distances you find as a coach quite compatible, are the changes you need to make or anything like that?

Yeah, I mean, obviously the, the type of athletes we've seen switching over the T100 racing, it has,

kind of supported a little bit more of the short course athletes who've seen a very quick swim.

So that was something Lizzie's a good swimmer.

Um, I mean, I don't think she might be saying maybe we're perhaps a little bit off the boil, um, this past year.

And but there was ability there.

So we, yeah, it's a bit of focus, um, this year that I feel like we've got the swimming in really, really good place for that.

Um, there's, I have a social, there is more impetus, I guess, to be in the pack.

And with that, maybe some sort of stochastic nature.

So again, so like working on rather than just being a diesel engine on the bike and ability to kind of over under a little better.

So, um, yeah, on, on the most part, definitely does just transfer.

But there are small tweaks we might make going into some race saw we've been doing.

Yeah, we did some, we did, I think before London last year, like a really cool brick session.

I did some, like, short shot bike, ground bike, ground bike, ground.

Yeah, because Lizzie hasn't come from a short course background.

So while she's really good, obviously, across the board, most things, I have given her some stick for her transition to your past.

Um, because I came from a short course background and I'm watching, I watched her in T2 and it has pained me.

Um, you know, you'd never, you'd, you'd lose sleep.

Haha, yeah, so much abuse.

Um, so yeah, we, we've done a little bit more on that.

Yeah, yeah.

I think I think the swim was probably, because the two, I did three T100s last year.

And it was always like, oh, if I could have made that chase pack in the swim, my bike was the same.

My run was the same as that group.

So you like, but it's quite funny how you can all my, all my 70.3 swims last year were front pack.

And then you do 100 and it's so much harder to even be in that chase pack.

Um, so it was quite good to have that focus.

Um, over, yeah, over the winter, we've been doing like 25 K swim weeks, which has been really beneficial.

Um, so yeah, I just need to get in the open water now and tidy some things up.

25 K swim weeks, fuck that shit.

Gone, gone of those days for me.

What are we, um, yeah, I was dreading having to think like how to do five K a day, but actually it's been quite enjoyed it.

No, fair play, fair play, long way that continue when it's gone, it's gone, I found.

When, uh, we said, well, we're talking about the T100, what do you think as an athlete's perspective?

What do you think about the, the change to women only and men only weekends?

What do you think that does to, does that make any difference to your enjoyment of the weekend?

From a vibes perspective or a logistics perspective, anything like that?

Yeah, I think so.

Um, firstly, there's just fewer people around.

Um, you obviously have half the amount of athletes, which means half the amount of supporters.

Um, and also like the boys are just really good fun and they're nice to have them around and they're good, they're just good company.

Um, and also it's quite fun that we get to race at the same time or, you know, in relatively, um, quick succession.

Uh, so I think, I think it just makes the whole weekend a little bit quieter.

Um, obviously it's good we get our own day.

Um, but does that mean it affects viewing figures and things like that quite, you know, quite possibly.

Um, so yeah, I think it's a little bit of a shame.

Um, but yeah, I, I guess it was, I don't think it was the original plan.

Um, no, no, no, no.

Like my fingers are the 200s.

No, no, I mean, yeah, I've always, like, I'm always banging on about the vibes.

And I, for example, take 70 point three in my Bayer, it was just such an energetic energy field weekend, even to the point where

I know you race on different days, but you've got your racing on course and your surrounded by age groupers who are also racing on course.

The course is filling up this energy, there's atmosphere, there's people shouting and screaming.

I haven't really got that from the T100 anywhere yet.

And I wonder what that, what that feels like on the ground as an athlete.

Do you, does it feel like a bit alone and more lonely experience?

It, um, I did find it quite challenging actually.

Um, we have all these laps to do, but it doesn't necessarily mean that there's more spectators because where they put the courses or, um, and I don't obviously don't want to speak badly because of what it's brought to

racing and the opportunities I've been given.

But, um, it's quite boring, um, and races like to buy, like, it just makes it more mentally hard, like, really quite challenging, um, because it's hard anyway.

And then you haven't even got really an atmosphere to enjoy, whereas like, yeah, you said my Bayer was just, I was absolutely carried on that run with the walls of people.

Um, so it, yeah, it has been quite tricky.

The run is often better because obviously short like 3k laps, for example, we do get more people.

Um, but yeah, it has definitely been a challenge like guitar.

Was weird because very mind they had a load of age group racing as well.

Um, it was, it was, I've never race any of us so quiet.

Um, the run like you do your own breathing and there was just absolutely nothing else.

Um, which was a quite, it was quite area actually, um, you're in the middle of this massive city.

Um, harder to go to those deep dark places when you, when it's, when it's like that or not.

Yeah, I think yeah, it is.

You just did a big training day.

Yeah, uh, basically is, um, it's a little bit boring.

Yeah, it's hard because I don't, yeah, don't want to speak badly because I, I am behind what they're trying to bring to the sport.

And obviously it's been absolutely life changing for many pro athletes out there.

Um, but they just haven't quite made it work yet.

Have they, um, I don't know why they're not quite getting the numbers.

The viewer, the expectators on course because they have got the amateur events,

but yeah, I have heard in some instances they're like the amateur races at different location.

Maybe London's the closest they've got.

That's probably one of the more successful ones.

Yeah, I think so.

It's still, it's still, I mean, I, I enjoy the London event a lot.

I've been there twice now.

It's still quite a difficult spectator day.

We found that, didn't we?

Yeah, quite difficult to pick you way through.

Yeah, and get to different places.

I think they've, they've got, they create the atmosphere inside because a lot of people are in there watching it.

It's quite noisy as you go through.

But then if you want to watch a bit of the bike course or a bit of the wrong course,

it's quite hard to get around that, that venue.

I guess it's like, and I know you've spoken about this before,

but brings us on to kind of the whole world triathlon takeover as such.

And it's like, well, I can't don't feel like they've nailed their little thing yet.

And yet they're taking a much more.

Which historically, I would say, well, the world triathlon races were like the crem de la crem

when it came to kind of the professionalism and the slickness.

Does that scare me?

I'm nervous, if I'm honest, of that, about that racing and where it's going to go.

Is it going to change anything, though, in terms of race organization and on the ground?

I mean, I had assumed, and I might be wrong, that it's kind of in name only,

when it comes to actually producing and putting on the races.

I don't think anyone knows what it's going to look like.

No, I assume that whatever system is in place to produce these WTCS races is still going to exist.

And they are still going to produce these races.

Chew 100 is just going to stamp their name on it.

Yeah, no, and you're probably right.

I think Lizzy was probably about to touch her as well.

The stuff that maybe people don't see behind the scenes of the pro-levels support.

Oh, yeah.

Like out of this world.

Yeah.

I mean, it's not quite...

It's not quite F1 support, but I mean, you are literally kind of turning up and you can

hang on a bike over and a mechanical sort of all that you've got.

The combination's paid for?

Yeah, sports, massage, therapists on hand,

as in when you need and all sorts of things.

So, I mean, that's amazing that you can just turn up and...

Thanks so much stress out of it, because I always worry,

let everyone worry about my bike when I'm flying.

And I think it's going to be okay because of the other end,

Tony Foy can sort it out as long as it's not a good cracked frame.

But I think it will be fine.

And they do go above and beyond.

And obviously,

paying down to last place.

And the whole point of that is that it covers your travel.

So, yeah, that's...

They're a great team.

They're a great team and a great organisation.

Two seconds.

So, yeah, my phone rang.

Yeah, we were just wrapping up on the T100.

I mean, I don't know when you were saying about the broadcast numbers

and why they're not getting the audience,

even though they've got the age groupers,

I think it's a quite an insight right now into how triathlon viewing

is very age group-based.

If you're going to see an event,

you're going to see your friend, your family,

your relative, whoever to watch their race.

But right now, we will throw to our mid...

a little message for one of our sponsors and we'll be back.

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And we're back.

So let's talk about what is happening this coming weekend.

And we've got a big race, Iron Man Texas happening.

How excited are we about Iron Man Texas guys?

So excited.

It's quite a start list.

It's quite a start list, isn't it?

It's gargantuan normally.

I mean, on the women's start list is big and there's names.

But then I flick over to the men's and normally I can pick out

when we're doing a preview like this.

I'm like, well, there's the key names I'll say.

But it just keeps going.

And I'm like, I want to say everybody.

I know I've, yeah, I've changed my picks at least three times.

We're not doing picks yet.

Slow down.

We got to do yeah.

We're saying picks out.

I'm just saying because the start list I've changed it like a million times this week.

So let's have a chat about the women's race first.

On the women's race, we've got Cat Matthews, Solvey, Love Sake, Taylor, Nibb, Halen Berry,

Lisa Pertier, Sarah Spence, Martia Sanchez, Jackie Herring, Daniela Lewis, Grace Thec.

India Lee isn't racing now.

She's, she's put a social media post up saying she's not going.

Who else is going to be there?

Katie Curran.

Have I missed anybody?

I don't think so.

There are other people racing.

But those are the key names, I think.

Yeah.

What are we reckon?

This is a deep field.

And Cat Matthews is clearly going in with, with a big target on her shoulders.

She's, she's unbelievably good at being consistent throughout the year.

Having strong early races and carrying that form through,

can we see Cat Matthews being beaten in this race?

I think Solvey can win.

And that's a, that word can is doing some very heavy lifting in that sense.

Can or will or will win.

No can.

Can.

I don't want to, I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket.

But I just think that she's, she looks amazing in ocean side.

She's been training with Norwegians.

She's been doing run sessions with Gustav, who I know has been coming back from injury.

But she looked pretty comfortable running that 114 in ocean side.

We know she's a monster on the bike.

So it's yeah, hopefully I'm hoping she can

get out the swim with

nearer cat than she made in Kona.

And she did beat Cat in Kona, didn't she?

Yeah, I think she's probably running better now.

Yeah, do we think, I guess with Cat, the amount of racing she's

been to the early part of season.

Will that, do you think that will?

I mean, it's, it's hard, isn't it?

She does do it.

She didn't last year, but it seems to be a lot and big travel and

these things don't ever seem to really affect her.

No, but yeah.

How I don't know.

Because right now, we're talking about Cat, not using Solvey Lovesay.

But there's also the Taylor Nib questioning who is, who is no mean feat of an athlete herself,

Solvey?

Yeah, um, I mean, she's two from two this year.

So, um, I think, I think I heard a birdie told me that she maybe had some

problems with her nutrition in ocean slide.

Okay.

So obviously, and that's the 70.3.

So I think that's probably going to come down to that and see what she can

manage in Texas, to be honest.

So being that you've thrown out, that you think Solve said Solvey can win,

how do you think she can win if she's going to take on someone like Cat Matthew's in a race like

this? How do we think that rolls out?

I still think she needs a bit of a gap off the bike.

But I think she'll, I mean, in Kona, she rode away and didn't even realize.

Like she thought she was going to the front of that group to take a turn, turned around,

and there's no one was with her.

Like we know Cat, like didn't have her best down the bike in Kona.

But I think Solvey's going to work, I think, pretty hard on the bike to get a little bit

of a buffer. I don't think she needs a huge buffer, but I think Solvey can ride with Taylor.

Yeah. I think that might be the key.

I feel like Solvey and Cat coming off the bike together, I would lean towards Cat in that instance.

Agreed. I think, yeah, if they were getting to T2 together, definitely I'd be leaning towards Cat.

But what Solvey has proven is that she's very calm under pressure.

Or seemingly, can still execute a solid race under pressure. In the back end of that Kona race,

when suddenly she's leading the race unexpectedly, from our perspective.

I don't know if she may well have been expecting to lead that race.

But suddenly she was leading the race. And then you've got Cat Matthews charging down

and taking lumps of time out of you, but she's stayed composed and she still managed to win that race.

So you put Solvey, like you say, with a bit of a gap coming off the bike.

She's got the mindset to hold on to that win.

She seems quite chill, isn't she? Very focused, doesn't seem, yeah, doesn't seem easily

phased. So, I mean, that mechanical she had in Hamburg last year, like she dealt with that.

So bloody well. We're most supposed to be panicking, but yeah, she seems so calm under pressure.

So I'm quite excited for that. Yeah, I'm excited. I just feel like Solvey's just building

into things as well. I might be wrong in saying so, but I believe her Kona bike,

like just the bike setup was just stock setup from Felt, because she was just like,

just happy to have this bike scraped. And even that alone is just the amazing isn't it?

Little optimizations, changes you make, gear ratios. Yeah, she's just,

I just feel like we're just, she's just going to start picking up momentum.

Yeah, I hope she's got some help with that. She was literally someone's stock stat

tram, yeah, yeah, gearing and stuff. So, and obviously, I think in Texas, you could just ride

along by with a big gear. And yes, someone like that can definitely, she can cope with that.

Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, you couple, like that's the fact that she went from where she

was to where she is now. She's certain, like you say, she's going to optimize the bike.

She's going to start thinking, right, that, that massive confidence boost of winning a race

like Kona is going to give her almost to the point where you don't need that confidence boost.

You just want Kona. Do you know what I mean? It's like, oh, all right, I'm probably

going to retire now. I'd still, you know, I've got a par mare as that most people won't have.

And I don't know if you saw her after Oceanside, but precision hydration posted her stats.

And apparently she had nearly 140 grams of carbs an hour. So she's definitely be hanging out

with a Norwegian boys. Yeah, yeah, that's the only thing you do that over an Iron Man, but

bloody hell, that might be the key to she can clearly handle that. It's, but then we look at the

other side of that, the way she, she kind of, I'm very hesitant to say things like stumbled

into the victory in Kona because like she found herself leading that race and managed to execute

the win. Amazing, because Lucy Charles Barkley and Taylor near both sort of ran themselves into

the ground against each other. Do you think that now she's, she's won that race, is the more pressure

on her than before? And how does one handle that? Well, absolutely, 100%. And we've seen athletes

really struggle with that. There's, there's, you've got two sizes. Obviously you have a great result.

You have the, the sponsor supports and various other things with that, which then make

in theory your life a little bit easier in the sense you can be a true professional. Perhaps,

you know, you can get rid of other things that are maybe holding you back. But with that comes

huge pressure. And people deal with that differently. Some deal with it really well and doesn't

phase them. And others, it can really affect them. And we've seen athletes kind of almost go

backwards initially before maybe climbing back up. So I'm guessing the impression, though, just

early on that soul fee seems to be coping well. Yeah, at least she did podcast with, what's

the called the Norwegian method podcast with, she was on there with Gustav and yeah, she sounded

quite chill about it. And obviously she's learning. What are you about saying?

You shouldn't Gustav and Casper. I was going to say, we had Christian on last weekend before,

week before last, I think. And he's there training with her. I mean, she's got the people around

her. If there's anybody you want to learn from about how to handle that pressure, how to put the

the required steps in place to really excel with what you've got, then she's got those people

around her. Yeah, you couldn't ask for better mentors, could you just in every walk part of your

life unless she was to go on a T3 camp, of course. Of course, yes. I wish, you know, would mind

blowing. We don't have a beer on swimming pool after the day. I'm not involved in the beer drink,

just to be clear. Just how many carbs, how many carbs an hour are we talking?

Yeah, quite good carbs in the beers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, all right, so let's do our picks for

the women's race. Who's going first? I'll go first. I've got it here. She says, I've gone

Solvey for the win, cat for second, third, Lisa Perter and Hannah Berry, if you want.

You've got five deep, fair enough, fair enough. Mark, you're next. I'm very much on the spot here,

but I'm going to get cat for the win, Solvey second and Taylor third. Yeah, I echo that. I echo

that. I think cat Matthew is Solvey and then Taylor, but I wouldn't put it past someone like

Taylor Nibb to just, you know, blow us all away and win the thing. I know, it feels wrong writing

like taking both her and cat off the top step for me, but yeah, we don't, we don't know. I think

I'm most excited to see Solvey race more than anyone. Men's race then. Let me go through some names.

Christian Blumentfeld, Casper Storner's Patrick Lang, Gustav Iain, Martin Van Real, Jonas Schoenberg,

Antonio Benito Lopez, Rudy Von Berg, Nick Thompson, Yella Gaines, Matt Hansen, Kristen Hodenhog,

Sam Long, Matt Kerr, Lionel Sanders, Lionel Arnold, Jonas Hoffman, Jason West, Vince Louis,

Casper Steppeneck, Jason Laundry, Ben Kanute, Jan Strapman, Robert Callin, Kirin Linders,

Magnus Berkstedt, Zach Cooper, Cameron Wurf, Matt Collins, Cameron Maine, Andrea Spalsberg,

who am I, who I'm just working my way, Emil Home, Kirin Linders,

many, many people doing this race. What we think, Robert Callin, it's, it's basically the world

championship's minus Sam Laidler. And it left. And it left who is, yeah, it left

who's had to pull out because he's got shingles, unfortunately, which is brutal. Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, not nice, but yeah. Not nice. Yeah, I hope he's okay. That's nice.

I don't know why you start with this. No, I don't know why you start with this.

My couple names there that I actually had not even clocked, they were racing, you just

read them out. Oh, my goodness, they're in there as well. Yeah. It's, it's, I'm, I'm, I'm

interested to see how Lionel Sanders gets on. Be good to see him back racing. He's come out and

said he's not intimidated by the start list at all. I can imagine his brain being what it is.

That is probably very true. He's just going to go and have whatever race he has. Obviously,

Christian Bloomberg felt it's coming in as one of the biggest names in the world, the biggest name

on that start list, I think. And the way he's racing this year, I wouldn't put it past him.

But there are people there that can take it to him. And there are many of them.

Yeah. Yeah, I still don't know where to start.

No, I mean, getting it's good to like start the swim maybe where we think it might,

who might go with the race. Yeah, yeah, do it. Do it.

Making it tough as we go. So I want to talk about phrase.

Yeah, I want to try another person in into the mix who I'm not, I'm not necessarily saying they're

going to be competitive throughout the race, but phrase Dominican, who is probably right at the very

bottom of the start list that you're using. He's the last name on that start list. I'm looking

at. Yeah. So he's an ex-international swimmer. Okay. I didn't know that. Very, very, very,

yeah, very, very, very good swimmer. Like, you know, top notch one of the best in Britain at the time.

He's been racing triathlon for quite a while. He's strong on biking the run bit, obviously,

not going to be competitive with the top guys. Well, he's, I don't think he will be, but I won't be

surprised if he leads a swim out or is right there pushing the pace. I think you have a, yeah,

and then obviously you've got Jonas, Martin Van Real, like that front swim pack Vince Louie.

Yeah, those kind of short course stepped up to long course guys that are going to be leading that

swim out. Yeah. And then I, but I think you have most the everyone else in that second. Yeah,

you have the other cover. I think it'll be a very big segment. And that second group will have,

I think, considerable amount of bike power in it. And I don't think that gap is going to last

very long coming out of this where you've got some big swimmers coming out of there. And there

is going to be a gap between the first group and the second group, but I don't think I don't see

that gap lasting particularly long into the game. No, it won't be massive. And I guess it depends how

big that second group ends up because I know this is wild saying this, but Sam Long, his swimmer's

just being like, he's transformed it incredibly over the last couple years. That swimming ocean

side was phenomenal for him. And you never know, like if that second group is big enough and it's

trailing, he could find himself latched on the back of the way he swam in ocean side. That might

be a bit of a punt, but you never know. It was so big. And then obviously at 20 meters,

you know, he has a chart. He does have a chart. I'm very excited to see him race. I mean,

obviously amongst many others, but I was very impressed with how he racing. I think he did

struggle in ocean side on that run. He did struggle on the run, but it was a hell of a bike,

wasn't it? And a hell of a performance. And like you say, that swim has come on leaps and bounds.

It's still not the best swim in the world, but it is head and shoulders better than it was.

I think we'll see that it's now quite a bit, quite a bit above what Lionel is still able to

do. But we don't know. We've not, I mean, he was Dallas. They'd had water 300 meter swim. So

yeah, we don't actually know what Lionel's swim form is like, but it's pretty bizarre.

We have a conversation. Lionel's not really in it.

Yeah. Yellow games has never biked 180k and he's never run 42k. So he said,

Yeah, he's going to run a sub 220. No, I think I'll clean it. I mean,

and yellow's the heart. Yeah, no, no, no, no. So I don't know.

It's, you don't know, the first time, man, like you have

so much to learn anything could happen, anything could happen with that man.

He could come out and have, you know, an absolute blinder and show everybody how to race this sport

properly, but he could also have an absolute shocker and suddenly realize that an Iron Man is

something you need to build into. I'm particularly excited. Sorry, go ahead.

The mint and chocolate. No, I was going to say I think he might possibly struggle on the bike

more than anything else because like the bike power we have in this race like Christian Hogan

Hogan is just going to be absolutely wild. And you know, experience us count for a lot.

Like he's obviously got his run, the run and his armoury, but I think yeah, possibly over 180k.

He's good at that like surgery. Obviously, having that short course background,

that surgery responsive 270.3 type racing. But so yeah, it's going to be interesting on the bike.

When we got, we think we're going to have a second group, a large second group with a lot of bike

power in it. Do you think the 20 meter giraffe rule is going to, it's going to be noticeable at this race?

I don't know. I don't, I don't think so.

I think it's such early days with this 20 meters and I just, I have a white doubt if it really is

changing the racing. I just, I don't have a clear answer for you. In theory, you could say there's

some people in there that, you know, if they're lucky, they'll be in that second group and get to 90k

into the bike and that 20 meters will sort of catch up with them and they'll start to fall off.

They won't get the free ride that 12 meters maybe could give them. Wait, especially in somewhere

like Texas. Where's this flat? Yeah, but I really don't know. No, I don't know.

So going into a race like this, this early in the season with this many names in it,

as a pro athlete yourself and as a coach of pro athletes, will everybody be bringing their

A game to this race? Or will there be some people in it who are just there to get through the

distance early on in the season and get one under their belt? Well, there's some people,

obviously, that if they're wanting to do Kona, they need to pull off. Yeah, or validate it. Yeah,

exactly. So I would say necessarily a race, but they're going to need, I mean, we're going to start

this like this. If you want to perform, you're going to have to be in pretty peak fitness. So yeah.

It's not an easy one to go and just qualify at. No, I think I think there'd be quite a few people

here that are as a bit of an A race of them. Yeah, yeah. It's just quite a large amount of

quite a majority, I think. Yeah, because I think you can probably could peak here and then

peak again, have some time off peak again in October. What about someone like Gustav Eden?

Obviously we lost all his performance in Nice last year, having a brilliant race coming back

from a period of a kind of wilderness period where he wasn't having the best time.

I think we could see Gustav really start to go up through the gears this year and go back

to where he was when he won the arm and watch championships. And I'm quite excited to see

that happen. I'd love to. Yeah, I think everyone would. Yeah, I really would. I'm so tall.

I'm a fan of favour, isn't he? He's like with a well-vanart of the track, some worlds.

So, what we think in picks wise, who's going first?

Not going again, man, you've got it. It's because I've done it already, so KB for the win.

It might be tired. You can't count him out.

Really? Casper for second. All right, Christian Blumentfeld, Casper Storners, who's for third?

Sean Berg. Sean Berg. Eliva Peck. Love that. We've talked about Sean Berg.

I love seeing him. I love seeing him in his long course phase.

I think he looks so good on the ocean side. I think I don't argue that this distance

maybe suits him a little bit more. Like was he fourth in Nice or something crazy?

Yeah, yeah. He's swim at the front bike at the front and I mean,

he looks pretty good at the moment, nor does training, so.

I have got yellow for fourth and Martin for fifth.

Always like to go five deep. Good on you. Love it. Right, you mark.

Who are you picking for the win?

So I was going Casper for the win.

Okay. All right. Yeah. Christian second. And maybe this is rogue, but I'm going

to be doing some long for third.

That's just what I want to see.

I want to say Gustav for the win.

Oh, you're nice. Love it.

And I think, hey, I think Jonas, Jonas, Sean Berg's going to come second.

And I think Boomerfeld's going to, going to come third.

That is my choice. But we've also got this weekend just to, as a quick mention,

we've got Iron Man South Africa happening this weekend, which is a non-pro race.

And we've got a few athletes here, Matthew Markhart, Jamie Riddle, Rasmus Fenningson,

Frederick Funk, Gregory Barnaby, Joe Skipper, Bradley Weiss, Michael Weiss,

Florian Anger, Andrew Horseful Turner, Friend of the podcast, Peter Heimerick.

So that race is also taking place. I'm not going to ask you for picks on that one,

because who knows how that's going to shake out. But basically, thank you so much for joining me

this week. It's, it's appreciated. What has the rest of the week got in it for you?

When do you return home?

Can we just cover the women's start list? Is Africa quickly?

Oh, I thought it was just a men's race.

No, no, there is a woman's. There is a woman's race in South Africa.

Yeah, good day, pal. I had it got so much shit for that. I thought it was just

yeah, so Catherine Christensen, Mel Brune, Laura Janssen, Anna Perberinger, Penny Slater,

Daniela, Blemheim, Rebecca Andabry, Julius Scala, who else have we got here?

Yeah, Claire Han, Michelle Clibs. So yes, also the women's start list.

It's not as deep, but just as important and apologies to everybody for missing that one.

This one won't be broadcast because the pro race broadcast will take priority with Iman Texas,

but you can track it on the app. And yeah, going back to my sign off question a minute ago,

what's the rest of the week got in store for it for you guys and when do you return home?

Well, we are almost wrapped up here in New York, so we just got one day left or big day training

left. So we've got the epic. It's not quite the three one two, but it's not far off. We are doing

a big ride down towards Andrax from Pointer and then a loop background. So anyone's been out

here before we pick my own down into Sawyer and then it's just stunning. It's such an amazing ride.

We do it every year out here. We've got a few options, aren't we? It goes from like 160k to 210.

I think we're going to test the mood for the mood tonight. We've got a couple of bailout options

on the way for people. There's taxis, but I know we've got a good group here this year.

A few people, they've enjoyed egos have come out, but I think that's been found out a little bit

now, so everyone's sort of taming it down a little bit and saving themselves for the final,

final big one. Yeah, I'm going home on Saturday. I do. And if people want to find out about T3

coaching, where do they go, mate? Yeah, it's head on over to t3trafflon.co.uk or hit me up on

Instagram or the t3 Instagram page. Yeah. If people want to follow you, Lizzie, where do they go?

Instagram is probably the best place. Lizzie Rainer 97. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining me.

It's appreciated. Well, thanks James. Yeah, thanks for having us.