- Hey, what's up trainiacs?
On today's weekly Triathlon Newsday Tuesday,
we're talking about Lionel Sanders, abandoning triathlon
to race against pure cyclists,
triathletes in South Africa getting their legs
almost chopped off for training,
and how much pro triathletes make.
It's a dandy.
(upbeat music)
- To start off, let's talk about the ever popular
Lionel Sanders announcing last week on Instagram
that he's going to be abandoning the triathlon routes,
at least for a couple of days on March 24th and 25th
where he will be competing in the CVR World Cup
racing against 11 other pure cyclists.
This event is raced on something similar to Zwift.
It's a virtual world kinda like Zwift,
but just not Zwift.
And frankly, Lionel's been beating up
on the indoor triathlon and cycling circuit.
He is built for this.
Frankly, if there were an IRONMAN world championship
that were held indoors on an endless pool and rollers
and then on a treadmill, he would be my pick hands down.
Like Vegas odds, one to one.
Shoe in.
Next is probably the biggest news in triathlon.
Last week, South African triathlete Mhlengi Gwala,
Probably butchered that name, and I apologize for that,
who last year in 2017 competed in
the ITU World Championships in Rotterdam
was on a training ride at 3:20 in the morning,
when three attackers pulled him into the bushes,
and with a manual chainsaw,
started trying to cut off his legs.
They got to the bone, down by the foot in one leg.
The manual chainsaw, like, I'm imagining an egg beater here,
got stuck on the bone, and then they moved to the other leg,
at which point a security van came by and everyone ran away.
Now apparently the legs have been reattached.
They've been saved.
The doctors say that Mhlengi is going to be able
to run and ride again, but he's got a long road
to recovery, and learning how to reuse his legs.
Like, seriously world?
Why do you gotta get us all down like this?
Man's just tryin' to ride bicycles.
In the IRONMAN circuit, the only race was
IRONMAN 70.3 Bariloche in Argentina,
which was won by Terenzo Bozzone who continued
his winning ways after winning last weekend in
IRONMAN New Zealand.
He clocked a time of 3:58:57.
What's a little bit interesting about that
is that Terenzo didn't have the fastest swim,
didn't have the fastest bike,
but he had the fastest run by about two minutes,
proving that you'll run for dough.
On the women's side, Alicia Kaye won in 4:48:47,
winning by less than a minute.
And I don't want to take full credit for this,
but I do have to point out that one of her last
open water training swims...
Had...
Your boy, Triathlon Taren, very close by.
I imagine that just via osmosis helped out.
A bigger event that happened over the weekend,
was the Mooloolaba Triathlon Festival, which,
in my opinion holds the record for the funnest name
to say in triathlon.
This is held in the Australian sunshine coast,
that is a hot bed for triathletes.
There're tens of thousands of them,
and over the course of a number of days,
they not only hold the age group national championship,
but they also hold an ITU race,
they hold a nighttime 5K run,
they hold an ocean swim.
Huge event.
The men's ITU race was won by Richard Murray,
who clocked a time 53:09.
What was pretty impressive about this performance,
is he got out of the water well back of the leaders,
about 41 seconds back, but he biked his way up,
clocking the third fastest bike and the fastest run.
Again.
We run for dough.
The women's race was won by Emma Jeffcoat,
who brought it home for the Aussies,
clocking a time of 59:35, and had the fastest run.
(upbeat music)
I need to practice my running.
And finally before we get into your favorite part
of this weekly Triathlon Newsday Tuesday,
Triathlete Magazine released the lists of
prize money winnings for professional triathletes,
and the top three were Flora Duffy,
Daniela Ryf, and Javier Gomez,
who respectively earned 297, 219, and 192 thousand dollars.
Now the thing about this is that it doesn't quite tell
the full story.
From what I understand, because you're essentially
your own boss and you're less tied to a government
in half-iron and full IRONMAN distance racing,
the potential to earn dollars from sponsorship
is quite a bit greater.
So while that's just the prize money listings,
I would venture a guess that on average
a lot of the IRONMAN athletes are earning more
than the ITU athletes listed on that,
list by Triathlon Magazine.
Fun fact.
Teaser.
Somebody you know might be writing for Triathlon Magazine
at some point in the future...
Just...
Now with Mooloolaba being around this past weekend,
it's only fitting that this week's story
from the trainiac community comes
from Australian Michael Kanel, and he wrote in to say,
"Hi Taren, I'm fairly new to triathlon
"and I started watching your videos probably back
"in October last year.
"Just wanted to drop you a few lines about my journey
"and how you keep my motivation up."
Thanks.
"My story all started last year in August
"when I registered to do a 14 kilometer run,
"the Sydney City to Surf Race.
"I trained a little for it, but I very much hated running,
"and I trained enough to be able to run the entire race."
That's a long run.
"I was really happy with my performance,
"and looked at doing another race.
"I then registered to do a half-marathon in September
"while continuing my training,
"and I did it in 1:45:00, which was better than
"what I was aiming for.
"At this stage, I looked at what I could do next.
"I watched a few documentaries about IRONMAN,
"and I thought that a triathlon could be nice,
"but I didn't know how to swim freestyle,
"nor did I own a bicycle.
"So I bought a bike, and I started learning to swim.
"I could not even do five meters at the start,
"but I was committed, and my goal was to do
"an open-water swim, the Bondi to Bronte ocean swim.
"I had 10 weeks to learn and be ready to attend.
"Pressure was on and I was looking for swimming tips online
"and that's how I came across your channel."
Most people do come across it that way.
"I was scared I would never make it,
"but you provided great advice
"in your insights about your own experience.
"In the end I made it.
"A 1.8 kilometer swim in 45 minutes.
"It was slow, but for me, it was a big achievement,
"And it was also thanks to you."
You did the work Michael, so congrats to you.
That's awesome.
"I then found a coach, which is probably the best thing
"that I could have done.
"After just three and a half months
"of proper triathlon training, I've done a sprint,
"which was my first triathlon, in an hour and 22 minutes,
"and last week, I did an Olympic in 2:43.
"I have a few more races this year,
"70.3 Cannes, 70.3 IRONMAN Vichy,
"and IRONMAN Busselton in December.
"Triathlon has now become a part of my life,
"and it's becoming an obsession.
"Keep doing what you're doing.
"Keep your positiveness.
"I love your work.
"Also, quick question, when are we going to see the Ventum?"
Well, number one, thank you very much
for sharing this Michael.
Number two, congrats on everything.
Those are some solid times, especially from somebody
who didn't know how to swim just recently.
And third, the Ventum is probably days away.
You'll all hear about it when it happens.
So thank you to everyone for watching this weekly edition
of Triathlon Newsday Tuesday.
If you aren't yet subscribed,
and you want to make sure that you get these
daily triathlon videos, which include
Triathlon Newsday Tuesday, hit that subscribe button below,
and if you want your story featured here,
e-mail me at Taren@triathlontaren.com.
Include some pictures.
Give shoutouts to your friends.
Whatever it is, it doesn't have to be about me.
Quite frankly, I'm tired of me.
I wanna hear about your journeys.
Later trainiacs.
(upbeat music)