- This is the GTN show.
Welcome and welcome back, Mark.
Great to be working with you again.
- Yeah, great to be back here with you.
I got to say I was pretty envious of you
guys out in Lanzarote last week.
- Yeah, sorry about that one.
I'm not gonna lie, it was very nice and very warm.
As you can see, it's pretty chilly in the UK right now.
- It is, yeah, well coming up on the show this week,
we have some research that shows that sprint cycle training
could improve your running performance and IRONMAN has
just announced that you can win some slots for KONA this
year and we're gonna be announcing some new events.
- And of course, we'll have race results and we're gonna be
discussing the recent swim cancellations at a few events.
(upbeat music)
(cheers)
- What you're probably wondering why we're stood here beside
the canal in Bath.
- Are we going for a swim?
- Well, probably not in this weather.
Hopefully not anyway.
It's because there's been quite a few
swim cancellations recently.
We had Lake Taupo this weekend just gone and
then the week before, western Australia was cancelled
due to sharks and I believe even Escape from Alcatraz.
- Yeah, that was due to weather.
There's been like every kind of reason and even a local
event in the UK was cancelled due to algae.
It feels like it's becoming more common,
this cancellation and it's just got us thinking.
It's got me thinking we are both strong swimmers.
Like for me that's my strongest phase and it's your
strongest phase as well, isn't it?
How would you feel?
I was talking to you before and you said
you've not actually had a cancellation.
- Yeah, it would definitely throw you.
When you plan for a race and you getting your wet suit on,
being ready you visualise swim, bike, run and suddenly
someone 10 minutes before or an hour before says,
"You're not swimming, you're gonna start on the bike"
that throws you and if you like structure,
that is not good.
But I've got to say, I've never had the opportunity to.
I say opportunity like it's a good thing but I'd
kind like to try it.
- Do you know there might be some people agreeing with you
who hate the swim?
They might be like yeah, I'd like that opportunity.
It's interesting what you say about throwing your plan.
For Lake Taupo I think they announced it about like five
days before so it was a considerable amount 'cause they
knew the algae wasn't gonna go but I know for Alcatraz,
Katie Zefarris who was out there was saying I think they
were on the boat on their way out there and
then they got turned around and they had to come back.
- I think she got an Uber back or something.
- Yeah, she did and she was saying for her,
it's not just a matter of getting on the bike,
it's how do you warm up?
What clothes do you start in 'cause you're
going to be wearing, you're not gonna be
wet so you might dress differently.
There's so many things that you wouldn't consider or
think of that suddenly, yeah, throw it.
- How would you find it, you think?
- I would be gutted and especially, you know,
I've mainly done longer distances and that's the one bit
that I can do well and I just know that at least I have a
bit of a headstart and I enjoy the swim and how would you
feel if you finished, have you done a triathlon?
- [Mark] Have you done an IRONMAN?
- That actually brings us on.
We asked you guys what you thought about this or
what experiences you've had and just bare with me a second.
We do have some interesting comments.
We've got this one from Steven Clarke.
He's actually a race organiser and said
not quite as exotic as Taupo but the race organisers this
yeah had to rearrange the swim the night before so to
organise it must be pretty stressful.
He said the flow was controlled by lock gates and
they were opened just before the event increasing the flow
but then apparently they bussed everyone up stream and
made it a down stream race so they got loads of PBs.
- I actually, we were saying this before,
I did a race in France years back and to be honest
the swim should have been cancelled.
We did 1500 metres in about 11 or 12 minutes.
- It's a bit like running with a dog, to get a PB.
We've got another here from Simon Roue
from IRONMAN Western Australia.
He said cancelling the swim was massively hard mentally so
yeah, like we were discussing.
Why bother doing 180k on a bike and a marathon when you
finish it's not a real IRONMAN?
I was on my eighth one though.
Really felt for first timers and I completely
agree with him on that.
That said they handled it really well and
had no choice when you've got sharks in the water.
- Well that's the thing.
At the end of the day, they're looking out for your safety
so as much as you complain to the organisers,
they are looking out for you.
- That's one other point,
which might be worth taking into account,
Krzysztof Kajetanowicz says that he actually thinks it's
worth if your so you're gonna do you one A race and
it's an IRONMAN or it's a big race and you can't just go
and do another one quickly,
then try and find one where the swims less likely
to be cancelled but there's so many freak conditions.
I mean you could maybe think a lake swim reduces the fact
of weather but you can fog, you can have algae.
- Algae, yeah, exactly.
- It's a tough one.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, on to the race results and still on the
topic of IRONMAN 70.3 Taupo,
we're just talking about the swim cancellation.
They actually made a 3k run, a 90k bike, and a half
marathon run to finish.
- Yeah, I mean that's a discussion for another time but
how does a 3k run compare to a 1.9k swim?
But anyway, enough on that topic.
For the results in the women's field it was won by
Amelia Watkinson in her home country.
Second place was Jocelyn McCauley
and third was Laura Dennis.
- While over on the men's side it was a rapid 3k run for
half IRONMAN distance athletes they went through 3k in 9.54
so not bad, not bad.
It was won by Mike Phillips and in second it
was Braden Currie and in third it was Callum Millward.
(upbeat music)
Okay, we're back in the studio because let's be honest,
we just couldn't bear it out in the cold.
- Yeah, it's nice to warm up.
- What can we complain when we've got
Canadian viewers out there?
- True.
- Far worse conditions than us.
- I'm not acclimatised to this though after Lanzarote.
That's my excuse.
- Well on to the news anyway and to start with,
we've got something a bit science-y.
Some recent research has proven that sprint cycling
improves run performance but not just any run performance.
They're talking about intermittent run performance so it's
more specific to running and sort of ball games,
that kinda thing but there is parts of the research that
show they could help triathlon and endurance sports.
What they've shown is that even just cycling
being non-weight bearing,
less impact, and less eccentric muscle contractions
actually reduces muscle damage.
It's quite a good form of cross
training for aerobic endurance sports.
They're not advising that aerobic cycling for football
and stuff but for those long distance events.
- It makes you think you know if think about the science
that cycling doesn't make your legs quite as sore.
The similar level of cycling and similar level of running,
you don't get that same DOMS.
You you can still get DOMS but I've never really thought
about the fact there's less eccentric loading.
If you're wondering what we're on about,
eccentric loading's when your muscle is basically being
loaded but lengthening at the same time so it's flat.
So if you're walking, that's why it hurst to walk downstairs
after a marathon, it's the eccentric loading.
But I mean I guess it's not groundbreaking science in some
ways that, the cross training thing.
It's interesting, you sometimes see that's how we get new
triathletes 'cause runners do a bit of cross training on
the bike and then they become triathletes but I think to be
on the other side of it,
Gwen Jorgenson's actually gonna be using cycling as her
cross training as she's now moved to a marathon.
In other news, IMG just announced a new race as part of
their Escape Triathlon series.
This one's going to be the Surf City at Huntington Beach.
It's a last chance for age groupers to qualify for the
famous Escape to Alcatraz so top three get a qualification
slot and it's definitely for the swimmers.
Like we were talking about earlier,
sometimes it feels a little unfair.
- I can imagine it being quite wavy though.
- Yeah, I think this one is gonna be known,
well Huntington Beach is known as a surf spot,
so you're gonna need to hone those surfing skills.
- Let's sign us up.
- I think we should go.
- Well onto other racing news.
ITU have just announced that they are launching their
mixed relay series this coming year.
It's gonna debut with their event in Nottingham,
which they actually trialled with British Triathlon running
an event there this year.
That's gonna be part of the Leeds World WTS.
- I think it's happening like they're just literally on the
Friday and then them all moving back up to Leeds.
It's almost like a bit of a mini-tour in the UK.
- It'll be really cool.
And they're going to have another one in Edmonton and then
finish it off with the
World Championship Series Final in Hamburg.
- On to IRONMAN and this week they've just announced
that they've got 40 commemorative slots,
which are going to celebrate the 40 years since
IRONMAN first started on KONA and it's a little unsure
how they're dealing them out but it's some sort of
lottery system, I think.
- Well, I understand you've got up until the 14th of January
to enter into this draw and if you've entered
an event for 2018, am IRONMAN event,
you're automatically entered into that draw and it does
bring us back to this old debate about
the IRONMAN World Champs.
I mean you've got two and a half thousand athletes that
have qualified the best in the world to race at the
World Champs and then 40 people are just getting slots?
- I can imagine there's going to be well,
I can't say 2400, probably not everyone will be annoyed
about it but I'm sure some people have worked really hard
to get there will be but then there's gonna be 40 people
who are just ecstatic.
- Yeah, yeah.
- And get to go.
- It is a great celebration, 40 years.
How would you find it having qualified and worked so hard?
- Yeah, so from a personal point of view,
I'm always like it is the World Championships.
It's not just an exhibition event and
then that would be different.
- You worked so hard to get there.
- Yeah, but maybe you need to enter for one
of those slots, Mark.
- Yeah, true, I might actually take it.
Well, I guess the jury's out there.
We'd love to hear your thoughts so please drop
them in the comments below.
- Once we're looking ahead to next year, the race calendar.
The ITU festival has just announced their cross country
course for the ITU Triathlon Cross Country and
the crowned prince himself,
who's a patron to the event,
has actually ridden it which is pretty cool.
- I understand he went around with Michelle Vesterby,
which isn't a bad riding partner.
- No, I think he was keeping up.
He sounds quite a keen triathlete himself and apparently
the course was technical but also quite fast so it's going
to be an interesting one to watch.
Keep an eye from the sixth to the 14th of July next year
on the Island of Fyn in Denmark.
(upbeat music)
- Okay, I'm on to the weekly poll and
after such an impressive run from Terenzo Bozzone with
four wins over four consecutive weekends, pretty amazing.
- That is.
- It posed the question of How many A races you should
have in a year.
So we're talking about those races that you really peak for
in your best fitness and condition.
In third place, joint third place in fact,
it was zero and on the opposite end of the scale,
four or more races and that was seven percent.
In second place it was three to four and then was 28 percent
and in first place it was one or two races and that was
56 percent.
- By far, the most popular.
Well this week we've got a slightly more diverse question
that we're going to ask you.
We've lead into this from the quite a few swims being
cancelled so obviously Lake Taupo last weekend which we
talked about and Australia before that.
How do you make it fair when the swim is cancelled?
We've got a few ideas and we want to know what you think.
So the first one, pretty standard,
replacing the swim with a run like they did in Taupo so
doing a dualathlon, run, bike, run.
Second option, making the cycle longer just so that you're
replicating the rough time that the race would be.
Depending on the length of the race,
how much you increase that cycle by.
This one, I came up with for making it a bit more specific
to swimming so that if you think you've worked your upper
body for all that time and then how about doing some pullups
'cause you don't wanna waste all those muscles that you've
been working on and then finally-
- I think I'd be pretty good at that one.
- I'm not gonna have a contest with you.
- I really wouldn't be.
- Would you not?
I think I'm definitely better at swimming.
Anyway, our final one is rowing which is maybe the closest
replication to swimming, I'm not sure.
- Yeah, it's quite good.
People use that for cross training for sure
so it's quite a good one.
- Logistically it could be difficult
getting all the rowing machines.
- How about BMI, I didn't see that down there.
- Okay that's yours.
Anyway we want to know what suggestions you have,
hopefully better than Marks' so leave them in the comment
section below and vote on the poll by clicking on the
link above my head.
(upbeat music)
It's time for GTN Tribe and last week we featured our first
British Club from Tunbridge Wells and this week,
I think it's time we went somewhere a little bit warmer.
We're heading to the Philippines to Manila and we have the
Praetorian Triathlon Team and it's Julius Ramos whose
actually sent in some really cool pictures and given us
a little bit of an idea of what goes on behind the closed
doors in his club and it looks like quite a lot of fun.
- Yeah, it seems like quite a nice close knit club.
They actually have a little ethos.
They say, "Triathlon for our team is a perfect venue to
learn patience, resiliency,
discipline, and sometimes humour."
- I wanna hear always humour.
I think when you're training you can still have fun but
yeah, a great motto.
- I've got to say, I love that kit, look at that.
It's pretty striking.
- It is, you won't miss them anyway.
- And from what I understand,
they also have some quite nicely established sponsors,
which is impressive for a local club.
That's really cool but most importantly they
like to have fun, look at this picture.
- Here's definitely an example of their sometimes humour.
I think the Christmas party from what they said this just
happened and it looks like they're up
for a fun evening anyway.
- I think I might throw on some goggles for our Christmas
party in here.
- You said it on camera, it's gotta happen now.
- Also, really nice to see obviously very passionate about
kids' participation in sports and triathlon.
Here's a photo we found from a recent event.
It looks like one of the parents or other club members
helping one of the children running into the water.
Looks like great fun.
- All inclusive, I think.
- Grass roots and everything, really cool.
- Well as you can tell we're a little bit nosy and we
love seeing what happens in other peoples' clubs so please
let us know or send in any photos, any videos.
Anything that's interesting from your club and we'd love
to share it on the show so just send it in using the hashtag
GTNTRIBE on Facebook or on Twitter.
(upbeat music)
It's time for the caption competition.
Your chance to win a GTN cap and the picture last week was
me on the treadmill struggling to hang
on or that's what it looked like.
We had loads of great suggestions as always.
- Yeah, so we've got one here as a runner up.
Ryan Kelly, I like this one, he said,
"In the next lesson, Heather will show you how to do a
flying mount onto the treadmill, a pro move for sure."
Quite timely actually because a great fly-mount video
has just come out from Heather and Mark Buckingham
out in Lanzarote.
- I know, that's pretty, this was sent in before
that video went out so.
- So check that video out.
- Maybe I can teach you a fly-mount,
not on a treadmill but on a bike.
But anyway, my favourite was this one from pbassred.
Hang on a moment.
It says, "Turn the fan off, turn the fan off,
turn the fan off!"
(laughter)
It looks as though I'm hanging on obviously
but a great one pbassred.
Please send in your details so you can gain your free cap.
- On to the caption competition for this week:
Triathlon, ITU has just put out a load of great photos from
one of their photographers, Janos Schmidt.
We thought we'd pick our one from Hamburg earlier this year
and it is Ryan Sissons, Mario Mola, and Birtwhistle on the
podium and it sort of looks like Birtwhistle's just standing
there waiting for the beer to be thrown in his face.
- Everyone says a pint of beer is refreshing.
I don't drink beer so I wouldn't know but maybe it's
equally refreshing if you've had it poured on you,
I don't know.
- That looks like a little bit more than a pint.
- Oh, that's a point.
- We'd love to hear your suggestions so please drop
your captions in the comments below.
(upbeat music)
Okay, onto comments of the week and we're doing this week
because quite a few people picked up on the bike shaking
in the background of the show last week and I have to say
I watched that show quite nervously gripping the table
waiting for that bike to fall over,
which is actually my bike that I've never ridden.
- It was very kind of you to lend it to us in Lanzarote.
We did look after it, I promise.
- Well quite a few people obviously picked up on it.
Andrew Ferguson said,
"Did that bike blow over at any point?"
Did it?
- It didn't, I promise you, it didn't.
- I'm not convinced.
Haxham said, "I was never this paranoid about a bike
shaking in a video" and I have to agree.
I was also very paranoid.
- Do you know I completely wasn't.
I was so annoyed and worried about the wind blowing the
hair across my face,
(laughter)
I didn't even realise the bike was moving.
I didn't hear any crashing sounds so I think it was okay.
- Okay, I'll have to take your word for it.
- We appreciate your concerns.
- Well, if you know Lanzarote, anyone out there,
you'll know just how windy it is so we know
what you had to deal with.
(beep)
- Have a few minutes rest and then attempt that set again.
(wind blowing)
(laughter)
(upbeat music)
- Okay, moving on the GTN Pain Cave.
To start off we have one here from Dan Mue.
He sent it in over Facebook and he has a treadmill set up
alongside his Turbo Trainer.
- Yeah, and he's obviously a bit of a sweater or maybe
it's a bit warm in there 'cause he's got a sweat catcher
and a towel to cover the wheel so a lot of protection for
many splattering there.
- He has a white board up as well so he can obviously write
up his sessions and he's got a dual screen set up.
It's pretty pro, oh and an I Pad, flipping A.
- Do you know I'm most upset about the trampett.
I don't know what he uses that for but maybe rehab.
- Yeah, I really like that, it's really nice.
Moving on, we have one here from Evgeniy Bachginskiy.
He sent this one in over Facebook.
This is a couple.
- It's nice that they can run, run?
I think they're cycling actually, side by side.
Not sure what they're watching on their screen and they're
pretty close to that, I mean, watch your eyes.
You don't want to get square eyes.
That's what my Mum always said.
- Moving on, we have one here from Kirstie Mulvey and
it's another his and hers sent in over Facebook.
They got their Turbo set up alongside each other and bit of
bike racing on the T.V. for motivation.
- Yeah, it's pretty close together which is nice.
They're got to obviously get on pretty well,
nice little love emblem.
It's all about love in this pain cave.
Yeah, we like it.
- Well, please keep sending in your pain caves in over
Twitter using the hashtag #GTNPAINCAVE or over Facebook.
- That's it for this week's show.
If you've enjoyed it, do give us a thumbs up like and
remember you can subscribe to GTN by clicking on the globe.
If you want to watch that video we mentioned earlier on the
flying mount just click down here.
- And if you want to watch a bike wash video,
which is pretty apt for timing for us guys in the UK with
winter and coming back from rides with grubby bikes,
you can watch that by clicking down here.