Latest / Happy Pace - a triathlon podcast / Episode 2: There’s More Than One Type of Triathlon
Transcript
- Jaclyn: Welcome to the happy pace podcast. We're and Marty and we talk about triathlon a lot. Mardi: good This podcast brings together real life training, honest conversations and what's happening on the pro racing world. From first races to long course goals, we talk through the highs, doubts and everything in between. From race formats to gear, training to mindset. Jaclyn: Mm Mardi: This is your go-to for understanding the sport and finding your happy pace through triathlon. Jaclyn: Excellent. Let's dive straight in. Mardi: Great. Our second episode. Very exciting. ⁓ Yeah, how's your week been, Jacqueline? Jaclyn: Yeah I've had a great week, good, training week, but also we put the first Happy Pace podcast out to our friends and family, mostly our friends. ⁓ and the feedback has been great. Mardi: I'm Yeah, it's been so nice. And I think, you know, just before we started recording, we were saying that, if it is just some of our friends who listen to this, then that is absolutely enough for us and for them to enjoy it. so anyone else will just be a bonus. And yeah, really nice. Jaclyn: Okay. 100%. But if you did, if you did listen to last week's episode, or you listened to today's and there is something that resonates with you, ⁓ or you think would be beneficial for someone who's just getting into triathlon, or even someone who's been in the sport for a while now, and you think that this is something that they would enjoy, please do share it with them. Mardi: Please do. And this is a great episode to share today. We've got our topic of the week this week, which we are gonna break down a little bit about the whole world of triathlon, all the different race distances, Ironman, T100, sprint distance, Olympic, all of that, which can be quite confusing. And I mean, when I started, I certainly didn't understand the whole world that existed. Jaclyn: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, it's a, it's a, it's quite confusing and it's a lot when you come into the sport, like trying to work out the different formats of racing. Um, so that's what we'll go into today. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. And I do think, you know, we see and hear a lot about the Ironman and Ironman distance being the epitome of the sport, but really there's so much more to triathlon. And yeah, I'm really excited to talk through that today. So we're going to get into our session of the week. Jaclyn: Amazing. right. So let's go into our first segment today, which will be ⁓ session, ⁓ session the week. Marty, what was your session of the week this week? Mardi: So my session of the week was my Tuesday morning run. So I was visiting Melbourne this week for work and went along to Hunter, which is a running group in Melbourne. I was part of it for probably six, seven years or so. ⁓ Every Tuesday morning Olympic park track in Richmond, such a good vibe ⁓ and just a great, yeah, just always a great session. There's the standard set of the session, which is six. Jaclyn: ⁓ wow. Mardi: to eight by one K reps with 90 seconds standing recovery, or a lot of people just do whatever their coach tour program session was for the week, which that's what I did. And I had four by 800 at Olympic pace with two minutes recovery. So just two minutes easy jog, 2.4 K at 70.3 pace with two minutes recovery, and then four by 300 at sprint pace. with one minute recovery. So a little bit of a long one. It was, ⁓ my sister Sarah was doing the set as well. And ⁓ I think I'd given her one of my sets a week or two before. And so when we were doing the warmup, was explaining, explaining what the set was and said, yeah, it's sprint distance pace for the last one. And she was like, ⁓ okay. That makes sense. Cause the other week I did it and I thought it meant sprint as in like, Jaclyn: ⁓ Spicy finish. Mardi: literally sprint. it's like, no, like given the other parts are like 70.3 pace, Olympic pace, I thought it might be into the fact that it was like a sprint distance pace, but no, just probably leads really well into our topic of the week this week that triathlon is confusing. ⁓ But no, it was so nice to run with friends, albeit a little bit cold and yeah, coffee afterwards is always an absolute highlight. So yeah. Jaclyn: you Notice the weather. You would have noticed the weather this week. was chilly in Melbourne at the start of the week. Mardi: Mm. It really was. Yeah. What was your session of the week, Jacqueline? Jaclyn: My session of the week this week was my long ride. ⁓ We're recording on Sunday night. So it was actually yesterday's ride. I had a pretty solid week of training, but overall my favourite session this week was Saturday. We went out to the Dandenongs on Saturday morning and I had two one in 20 reps. So the first one we do, we did up to a Linda. So one in 20 plus an extra. ⁓ yeah. Mardi: Hmm? So quick one for those who don't live in Melbourne, the one in 20. Jaclyn: So I was, we were out at the Denny Nongs and there's this climb that's about, it's the official Strava segment, I think is around six Ks, just on, just over. And the average gradient is around 4.1%. But it has a little bit of a punchy bit and it does flatten out a little bit. So the first rep I did up to Alinda, which is the normal one and 20 climb plus another two and a half Ks. And then come back down the second one is, was just a normal rep. So that 6.1 K. But it was a really good squad ride. Everyone was up and about. I decided that it was time for me to try some caffeine while I was like in my nutrition bottle while I was riding. And I really noticed the difference this week. Having had that in my bottles, I was still bouncing off the walls at 8pm last night. pretty solid session all around. So all up it was about a hundred and 111 Ks by the time I'd written there and home. So it was good session. Mardi: Love it. Jaclyn: Excellent. Buddy, you want to take us into what this week's topic of the week is? Mardi: So topic of the week, which is why there's more than one type of triathlon. Jaclyn: Take it away. Mardi: So you may have heard of the different types of triathlons, both professionally and for amateurs. So we want to break down different types of triathlons, both the professional world and the amateur and age group world. So I think it would be remiss not to start with Ironman. So Ironman is probably the most recognized brand in triathlon, unless you grew up in Australia, where you would know. Jaclyn: where Iron Man went something entirely different. Mardi: Yeah. Iron Man was, yeah, growing up just the NutriGrain Iron Man, which is like a surf Iron Man. ⁓ Jaclyn: paddleboard surf competition. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. But Ironman Triathlon is actually a 3.8 kilometer swim, 180k ride and a 42.2 kilometer run. And this all started in a place called Kona in Hawaii where there was events for each of the three of those disciplines separately. And in the late 70s, some people got together and said, how about we see who's the fittest out of all of us and do all three. Jaclyn: Can you imagine the conversation where people are just like, let's see who's the fittest and we'll join all of these sports together. Mardi: Yeah, great. Let's do it. And also let's do it without like helmets, cause helmets weren't a thing then. ⁓ You know, nutrition and hydration. Like, yeah, if you look on YouTube, there are some crazy, crazy videos of the first, first couple of Ironmans, but that was where the legend of Ironman was born. And that's why you probably hear Kona, you know, held on this pedestal as the, yeah, like the epitome of sport. And it is. Jaclyn: Hehehehehe ⁓ Mardi: It's the best place of triathlon. Jaclyn: Yeah, it's Ironman is quintessential triathlon and you'll hear you'll hear us talk about that in reference to the Ironman Pro series but also in reference to sort of age groupers going into Ironman racing as well. There's also the 70.3 Ironman distance which is essentially a half Ironman. So it's 70.3 miles. It's a Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. Jaclyn: 1.9k swim, 90k bike ride and then a 21.1km run. So a half, exactly half of what an Ironman is. And 70.3 distance really exists, it's more accessible for people. ⁓ An Ironman distance overall can be really intimidating, but a 70.3 makes it a little bit more accessible version ⁓ of what the Ironman distance is. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. I think one thing that's really cool about Ironman and about triathlon generally is that, you know, the first Ironman event that they held, were men and women doing it. So it's unlike a lot of other sports, like, yeah, cricket, AFL, things like that. It is a sport that has always had, yeah, males and females competing. Jaclyn: Mm-hmm. on the same course. And I think if we go back to what last week's episode, like how we got back into triathlon and what's kept us here, it is that. It has men and women racing on the same course at the same time often as well, which is really exciting. It's almost like triathlon was a little bit ahead of every other sport in that sense. Mardi: And for the professionals equal prize money too. Yeah. Jaclyn: equal prize money. which leads us perfectly into the Iron Man Pro Series. Matty, do you want to talk us through what that is? Mardi: Yeah. Yeah. So Ironman hosts about, I think it's 60 plus events every year. ⁓ Most of which have a professional race to them. And yeah, all of those have tiers. They're like a gold, silver, ⁓ bronze type tier event, just based on the field and, or based on the course and prize money. I think it's a couple of things actually. And yeah, they've introduced think it was two years ago, the Ironman Pro Series. So the Ironman Pro Series is a selection of those races across the year of both Ironman and 70.3, where there are points allocated toward a series at the end of the season and a series winner, similar to F1s and other series based sports like that. So I think the winner of a race will get 5,000 points. Jaclyn: for an Ironman, yep, and two and a half thousand points for 70.3 distance. The Ironman Pro Series kind of slogan is every second counts, which ⁓ leads to the way the points are allocated. So the winner is allocated 5,000 points of an Ironman distance event, and then basically the clock starts, and for every second after, Mardi: Yeah. Jaclyn: the winner that the next person comes through, the points are reduced until there's no points remaining. The Ironman Pro Series was built off the back of the T100 series, which we'll go through in a moment, but it's created this narrative throughout the year where we've got all of these different pros racing against each other for different reasons, acquiring points leading to into World Championship. season so 70.3 world champs and then the Ironman World Championships in Kona leading to this which is essentially the pinnacle of the event where in theory the pro series champion would be determined. Mardi: Yeah. And I think what we've seen, you know, in the last year or two with it is it really influences the, ⁓ races that, know, some of the top pros are selecting. So last week we mentioned that, you know, we had some of the world's best athletes, you know, last year's pro series winner, Matthews on the women's side, come to New Zealand and Geelong races, which, you know, Northern hemisphere athlete typically might not target, but yeah, we had some of the world's best, you know, Jaclyn: Yes. Thank Mardi: down in Geelong and down in New Zealand. And so you really see that it starts to shine the spotlight on some of the courses that are probably lesser known across the triathlon world. Jaclyn: Yeah, and that's what makes it makes it really exciting. Mardi: Mm. ⁓ sorry. Jaclyn: Moving on to T100. So T100 is a really new triathlon racing format. It is a two kilometer swim, 80 kilometer bike, and then an 18 kilometer run. Mardi: Yeah. And so the T100 came about a couple of years ago, well, probably about five years ago now through ⁓ an organisation called the PTO, the Professional Triathletes Organisation. So that originally started as a union for triathletes, a self-formed union by a number of professional athletes. It's evolved out into a commercial business, which has a lot of investment, lot of investor backing. to create a series of races. So it's hard to describe in that it has changed a little bit over the, each year they've done it in a slightly different way, but the format that we're seeing at the moment is six or so races across the year ⁓ in different locations around the world. It's professional only race. It has a field of 20 men, 20 women ⁓ competing at that distance and ⁓ all. collecting prize money and then points towards the overall series with a grand final at the end of the year. Jaclyn: And this was one of the first format of racing where we started to see that whole season narrative kind of develop. The T100 or the PTO created this format of racing to lead people into ⁓ following triathlon throughout the season and having these pros compete against each other and have these really exciting races. So. ⁓ Mardi: Mm. Jaclyn: And then seeing Ironman actually come off the back of that has been really exciting too. I have definitely been more engaged in pro racing since the inception of the T100. Mardi: Yeah, 100%. And also they've done heaps of content, like both T100 and then now Ironman as well. You know, a lot of like YouTube series, social media content. So you get to know the athletes, you start to, yeah, feel engaged in their story and their season. And it just makes us so much more interesting to follow. Jaclyn: It's made it a lot more palatable and I guess the format of the way the T100 format their races in the course design has made it a lot more palatable, a lot more exciting to watch whether you're there in person or as Mark and I have watched a lot of ⁓ this format of racing on YouTube. It's made it really, really exciting. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. So T100 generally have done like a lapped course, you know, could be, you know, five to seven laps in that 80k. Whereas a lot of the Ironman courses, you know, could be an out and back, it could be, you know, ⁓ a 90k or 180k loop. So, you know, it just can be for spectators a little bit less engaging than when they just see people pass once or twice. Whereas T100, you know, similar to an F1 or something like that, you do get that fast and furious racing where you do get to, ⁓ Yeah, see some good spectator engagement as well. Jaclyn: Moving on to World Triathlon. So World Triathlon is actually the governing body of triathlon globally. Its format of racing is faster, it's short distance racing or what we would consider to be short course racing. Mardi: Yeah, so it includes the sprint and Olympic distance. So sprint being a 750 meter swim, 20K ride and a five K run and Olympic, which is 1.5, 40 and 10. It's also got a new format being the mixed team relay event, which is two guys, two girls doing, I think it's about 400 meter swim, you five to eight K ride, one to two K run distance. Olympic distance is called the Olympic distance because it's in the Olympics. And Australia was actually the first country to well the first host country to introduce triathlon to the Olympics as a sport in the year 2000. They had a very iconic triathlon at Sydney Harbour, which has never been repeated and I would love, love for there to be a triathlon. Why wouldn't you? Jaclyn: You Would you do it? If there was an age group option to do it, would you do it? Mardi: Of course. I mean, there was sharks in Sydney Harbour a couple of months ago, Jaclyn: I'm not sure how I feel about swimming in Sydney Harbour. Mardi: Yeah, yeah, but they had like transition and the finish line at the Opera House. It looked incredible. But ⁓ yeah, World Triathlon, the athletes are selected by their national sporting organization. our national pathway athletes, ⁓ you know, we have a whole high performance program of those types of athletes. ⁓ Matt Hauser, who is an Australian professional short course athlete is the current world champion. of the World Triathlon Series, which is very exciting. And those athletes compete in an annual series of races around the world and also work on the Olympic cycles. So they will be all vying for selection by their country, you know, during the next sort of two years in the lead up to LA 28. Jaclyn: Yeah. Amazing. So that gives you a kind of overview of three, I guess, main formats that we see triathlon in and particularly that we consume triathlon in. So what we often see throughout the year is a lot of athletes moving between the distances or as someone's short course career who's maybe come through an elite development pathway starts to come to an end, we'll start to see them move towards the more middle distance and longer distance or long course triathlon, which is also really exciting. guess having the different formats means that we're exposed to people really early on ⁓ in their professional careers, especially if they're following that elite development pathway and then seeing them come through that middle and long course. ⁓ One athlete that definitely jumps out at me has been that person who does move between the three sort middle and long course distance quite a bit is actually tail and ebb. Mardi: Taylor is a US athlete. ⁓ She got a silver silver medal from the Olympic Games. And ⁓ she regularly competes in 70.3 is an Ironman distances. would to guess that she will she's currently you know, she's doing the Texas race this weekend. ⁓ And I'd hazard to say that pretty soon she's going to to turn her focus back. to the sprint and Olympic distances so that she can be selected for a home games in LA. Jaclyn: ⁓ And guess what's making all of these different triathlon events really exciting at the moment is that we're seeing more crossover from professional athletes than ever racing across these distances. Mardi: So short course athletes, you know, have always have a really strong swim background. They're to swimming, you know, six times a week and ⁓ really are making a lot of those middle distance swims really exciting. And then also, you know, really strong on the bike and quite speedy on particularly those shorter distance runs. Whereas you do have them come against those Ironman athletes coming down into that level. ⁓ And it's, it's making racing really exciting. And also you know, occasionally hard to predict. Jaclyn: Yeah, absolutely. And I think we saw that on the Gold Coast most recently. I think we will continue to see it throughout the T100 season with a few of those shorter course athletes stepping up. But I also think that we'll see it in the pro series with long course athletes doing 70.3s or maybe doing a couple of T100 races. Mardi: Hmm Hmm. ⁓ So one of the really cool things about triathlon is that you can compete on the same course as the pros often on the same day or in some of the equivalent distances. So, you know, when we think about the opportunities that you have and that we've had in triathlon, you know, we have the opportunity to do everything from that sprint right up to an Ironman distance. So sprint distance races and Olympic distance races are honestly the best to get amongst and involved with first. There's a lot of local race organizers for the sprint and Olympic distance. You know, in Australia, we've got the two times U series in Melbourne, you know, the Queensland tri series up here. And those races also give you the opportunity to qualify for the age group world championships, which are held in a different location every year, usually coinciding with the world triathlon championships at the end of that season. So. that's a really great opportunity. But at the same time, it is the perfect distance for your first triathlon or if you're gonna step up from a mini or a sprint to the next level. Jaclyn: For sure. For sure. I think the other thing about the sprint distance and Olympic distance races is they're really affordable. You don't need to have like all of, you don't need to have all of the gear. You can usually enter the week before. The time commitment for training is not necessarily huge depending on what your goals are, but it definitely makes. makes Triathlon a little bit more accessible as well. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. And I think too at the Olympic distance more and more we're seeing some really great destination Olympic distance events. So, you know. Jaclyn: or buddying up with other events as well, which is really cool. Mardi: Yeah, so we've got ⁓ the Noosa Triathlon, is probably a whole episode in itself. It's one of the most iconic triathlons in Australia. Recently at the T100 Gold Coast, they had a 100k distance, but also an Olympic distance option. So I think it's great because you can do it between, you know, two to four hours and it's a good challenge. A really great, yeah, really great sweet spot, I'd say. Jaclyn: and Yeah. Absolutely. And then like age group is going to also, there's also an age group race at T100 events as well. It's a little bit more limited. They don't have age group races at every event necessarily. It's becoming a little bit more popular. We just had our first or second. first age group T100 race on the Gold Coast in March. ⁓ It's a real event style experience, ⁓ which is what I found to be really exciting when we're up there, the marketing, the branding, the layout of the event. But again, it is something that someone who is relatively new to triathlon could try their hand at. It's a little bit shorter, slightly. Mardi: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Jaclyn: than a 70.3 distance and it's not as intimidating as entering into an Ironman distance event straight up. perhaps if someone's done a spring through Olympic distance and they're looking to stretch themselves a little bit more, that could be good option. ⁓ It is a little bit harder to access because they aren't everywhere yet. But I think over time, what we'll see is that they do become a lot more accessible. Mardi: Yeah. 100%. And then next step up from that is a 70.3 distance. that is, I think there's about six or seven, six of those in Australia. There's a good number. We've got what? Cairns, Port Macquarie, ⁓ Western Sydney, I'm working my way down the coast, Geelong, Melbourne, Baselton. Yeah, so there's about six events in Australia for that. There's also, ⁓ Jaclyn: Western Sydney, Geelong. But fascinating. Mardi: Yeah, Topor in New Zealand, which is nice and close by. And as I said, Ironman run about 60 events per year across the Ironman and 70.3 distance. So there is absolutely plenty of choice. ⁓ Anyone can enter an Ironman 70.3 distance. ⁓ They also have a world... Sorry. Jaclyn: And I think, sorry, go on. No, I was just gonna say, and I think ⁓ being a recognizable brand, Ironman have got that longer term, I guess, backing behind them. And it is the most common, I guess, pathway for age groupers if they're looking to do something Ironman branded that's not an Ironman just yet. Mardi: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ They also have the Ironman World Championships or the Ironman 70.3 World Championships. So we mentioned that Kona is the Ironman World Championships and that's held in that location every year. Whereas the 70.3 World Championships, they alternate at different locations around the world. So ⁓ we mentioned last episode we went to the 17.3 World Championships in Topor, New Zealand in 2024. ⁓ And then last year was in Marbella in Spain and this year it is in Nice in France. So yeah, really great opportunity. There's a qualification system based on ⁓ an aggregate time at end of the race with slot allocation, which ⁓ you can look up ⁓ And that's also a amazing opportunity to represent your country and ⁓ participate in another Iron Man 70.3 event. Jaclyn: Yeah. And then lastly, we've got our full distance Ironman events, which obviously again, anyone can enter. I would say you probably do need to commit a fair amount of time to being able to train for an Ironman event. Even just in the sense of completing an Ironman, even if you don't have time or competition goals or qualification goals, I think that it's important to still allocate a bit of time to training for the event. Mardi: Mmm. Yeah. And I think that Ironman, you you've got that really big event feel. ⁓ Often it's a bucket list thing that people want to do an Ironman and do one in their life. But yeah, I think there's just so much to enjoy at all of the other distances. You know, I've done an Ironman. I absolutely loved it. But I'm so glad I didn't rush there because all of the other distances are just so enjoyable. yeah, definitely a lot to play with and yeah, definitely. Lots of events on the calendar to enjoy. Jaclyn: So whether you're thinking about just starting or getting into a triathlon or you're already racing, you're kind of part of the same ecosystem as the pros, which is really, really exciting. It's just at a different level. Mardi: Yeah. And I think, you know, what we've learned through following a lot of the pros on social media and, you know, medium races, things like that is they are very similar to us age groupers and, know, are generally doing it for all the same reasons, you know, as much as it is a professional sport, unfortunately is not as highly paid as other professional sports. So, ⁓ a lot of passion does go into it from the athletes competing professionally. And I think that's something that's really, you know, as much as Jaclyn: Mm. Mardi: We'd love to see them be paid more. I think the passion is something that, yeah, just really carries through with all of the pro athletes and ⁓ yeah, something that you feel you have in common with them. Jaclyn: Yeah, agree. ⁓ So next up, we're going to go into what's been happening. We're recording this on night, ⁓ Melbourne and Brisbane time. So Iron Man, Texas. ⁓ One of the pro series races actually happened overnight for us on Saturday night. We'll do a little bit of a recap on that next week and just sort of cover off like the pro race standings and what we noticed throughout that race ⁓ next weekend when we record again. Mardi: Yeah. I mean, one thing I did notice was obviously the timing of the race. does make you realize how long an Ironman does actually go for because it started before I went to bed at nine o'clock. Yeah. Just like, yeah, exactly. Exactly. But. Jaclyn: and it was still going when I woke up. And these are pros racing under nine hours. We also have T100 Singapore coming up as well next weekend, which is the first men's T100 race of the season. So we will also have a bit of a chat about that next week. Now that we're all familiar with the formats of racing. Mardi: Yeah. Awesome. ⁓ So we'll go into our quick hit now. So a quick hit is where we share maybe an unpopular opinion, a bit of a hot tip or something that we're currently obsessed with. So Jacqueline. Jaclyn: this week. We'll do one race. I would recommend if we were if you're a first time or getting into race and honestly, I think it would be a local two times you sprint distance race. If I could go back and have that first race again. Last week, I mentioned it was the Olympic distance race. I would absolutely do a sprint distance race again. I really love the distance. It's not intimidating. It's a relatively short swim, one lap. Mardi: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Jaclyn: ⁓ Get out on your bike ride as far as you can for 20 K's and then then run at home Mardi: Yeah. I also think just the vibe of those events are so welcoming and you know, you do your training in the lead up and it can, you know, you can feel nervous about it. You get there and it's just so friendly. Like there are club tents, you know, there are volunteers for the check-in. There's a really fun race announcer. They've got music playing. Like it is actually such positive energy. Jaclyn: And the people that are there, they're there to help you. Like you might be, it can be intimidating you rock up and you see all these like fancy bikes or Aero helmets or whatever it might be. But at the end of the day, everyone's there to help you and the people that are rocking their bike near you will help you. It's a great community event. Mardi: Mmm. Yeah, absolutely. And I also think if you've got a goal to do an Ironman or to do a 17.3, that those sort of races are awesome for just understanding and practicing things like transition, nutrition, your bike set up, everything else like that. So Jaclyn: Absolutely. Amazing. Mardi: Amazing. Jaclyn: So if there's one thing that you can take away from this episode is that if you understand how the sport works, the more fun it becomes to follow it and to be a part of. Mardi: Yep. Awesome. And with that, I think we're off to catch up on Ironman Texas. Bye. Jaclyn: Bye!