- Welcome to The GTN Show.
Now, this week we have got news on arguably
the best-known triathlete of all-time,
finally announcing their racing intentions
for the coming season.
And we also spotted another very recognizable cyclist
being, well, interviewed by a tri-industry icon.
- Plus, we're going to be sharing with you
some exciting bits of new tech that we spotted recently.
And we've got plenty of photos.
Both the ones that you've sent in
as well as the Caption Competition to look forward to.
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(digital beeping) (air whooshing)
- Now, a story that we have been keeping
a key eye on here at GTN,
I'm sure many of you will be following
with interest too,
has been what are the plans for Alistair Brownlee
and the upcoming 2020 Olympics.
Well, as of this week, we now officially know that
he has committed himself to the task
of trying to qualify for the Great Britain Olympic Team
which will get him to, potentially,
his fourth Olympic Games.
- Yes, well if we rewind to just over a year ago,
to the end of the 2018 season.
It was the 70.3 World Championships over in South Africa
and Alistair competed very well there, finishing second.
But it was an exciting three-way battle
between himself, Jan Frodeno, and Javier Gomez.
And it looked then that it could be the ITU heavyweights
who were going to be making the way
for the championship season for the years to come.
- However, after a disappointing debut at Ironman Hawaii,
Javier Gomez announced that he would actually be
stepping away from long-course racing
and returning back to the ITU circuit
and attempt to get to the Tokyo Olympics.
- Well, it wasn't long until it looked like
Alistair Brownlee was following in the footsteps
of his Spanish rival as the beginning of 2019 saw him
compete in a World Cup in Italy which he won
and then he went on to regain the title
as European Champion later in the year.
- Yeah, but then he announced that he would be racing
the inaugural Ironman Ireland in June.
Which, despite some incredibly demanding weather
and a canceled swim,
he went on to win his debut at what,
well, should have been a 114 mile event.
But, with that win it seemed that the dream
or attempt at going back to the Olympic Games
was perhaps slipping away.
- Well, then it was a hotly anticipated battle
between the ITU stars and the longer distance veterans
at the 70.3 World Championships in Nice.
And Alistair must've gone in there as one of the favorites.
It really did look like it was going to be his chance
to put his stamp on long-distance racing,
which he was moving to.
And it had a hilly and technical bike course
that was going to suit him.
Although, there end up being a surprise
from Norwegian's Iden,
who meant that Alistair, again, finished second.
- That much-anticipated debut of Alistair Brownlee
certainly started with a lot of fireworks in Hawaii.
He was amongst the early swim leaders as you would expect.
That carried on in the early stages of the bike ride too,
with him pushing the pace.
However, he did pick up an unfortunate puncture
around about the Hawi turn point,
but this didn't seem to cause him too much of an issue
and he hit T2 in amongst the podium positions.
That being said, once he started the marathon
the wheels really started to fall off.
The famed heat and humidity of Kona took its toll
and he faded to a 21st place that, well,
he certainly wasn't happy with.
- So, unsurprisingly, he was pretty keen to make amends.
Pretty shortly afterwards announced he was going to be racing
Ironman Western Australia.
And it could have been a seed that was sown by Javier Gomez
who had the similar tactic in trying to qualify early
for the Ironman World Championships the following year
where he went and won Ironman Malaysia.
Well, Alistair Brownlee certainly did
as he not only won, he got the course record
and recorded one of the fastest Ironman times,
seven hours 45:20,
and ticked that box for Kona the following year.
- So just this last week the final piece of the Brownlee
racing puzzle, as we could call it, has been announced.
With him finally stating
that he will push on for Tokyo 2020.
All the long-course racing can be pushed to one side now,
he's got that in his back pocket.
And now he can revert his focus
back to that short ITU-type of racing
that he has been famed for doing so well at
throughout his career.
- But all of this leaves us rather intrigued
as to how it's going to unfold.
The Great Britain team has yet to be picked for the Games
and no one would bet against
the determination of Alistair Brownlee
to get back into that three-man team.
And you never know, we might well see him racing
with his brother Jonathan for a third Games in a row.
- Yeah, now of course Alistair is an incredible athlete
and if anyone is able to do this then surely he can.
Especially if he believes he is able to.
But, the question is more whether he's able to
step back up to that very high level
that the sport has moved on to yet again.
And if he can get himself back into the peak shape
we're so used to see him racing in a number of years ago
over the ITU distance.
- Yeah but none the less, we've seen a lot pf parallels
between Alistair Brownlee and Javier Gomez.
And Javier Gomez went back to the short-course racing
at the end of 2018 and very quickly showed his form again.
You know, being at the spiky end or the top end
of the ITU short-course racing.
- Yeah he did, so it's going to be very interesting.
So, that leads us onto our question for this week's poll
which is, do you, quite simply, think that Alistair Brownlee
can qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games this summer?
And you can click on the link about Heather's head there
to give us your answer whether that is yes or no.
- What do you reckon, Frasier?
- Yeah, I just think that if he says he's going to do it
yeah, I'm going to give him a yes.
- Yeah, I think I will too.
But anyway, we'll have to see, let us know what you think.
But, the results from last week's poll when the boys asked,
does anyone else struggle with the old January winter blues?
Yeah, I mean I wasn't in the show,
but I would have been a yes as well.
Although, I think maybe some of you just have a really nice
indoor setup or quite like the cold
because it wasn't actually that decisive.
54% said yes, and 46% said no.
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- To start off Try News we're getting a little bit techy.
And I know we are missing our in-house tech, geek fan,
but myself and Frasier are going to do our best
to share what would be Mark's excitement
as there's been a few Tech Try-related pieces
that have come out of CES, the Consumer Electronic Show
out in Las Vegas.
- Yeah, and the first bit of tech
that we're going to talk about
is a swimming-orientated device that's called Instabeat.
Now, the Intsabeat is a little device that can clip onto
the right side of your existing googles.
Now, we've seen the likes of Form goggles
with the Polar OH1 where they can incorporate
heart rate into the display that they have in the goggle.
Well, these Instabeat devices they can basically give you
traffic light-type of system that you can see
in your peripheral vision.
You've got a blue if you're not working too hard.
You're green if you're in the correct zone,
and the red if you're working too hard
or maybe pushing on a bit too much.
So, it's really interesting.
That's very similar to the Flex that we have seen as well.
So, I'd be keen to give them a go.
- Yeah, there's lots of tech as well
on the running side of things when it comes to feedback,
both in the shoe and insole.
So, Asics has got the Asics EvoRide Smart Shoe
that's just been released.
They've actually launched two new models
which can measure several metrics
including your running efficiency,
your vertical movement, your kick back,
your landing load reduction as well.
- Yeah, and all these can help towards
working on your footstrike.
And talking about footstrike,
another interesting bit of kit that we have just seen
is the Nurvv insole.
Now, these are really cool.
These are, effectively, insoles with 32 individual censors
in he sole that can measure up to 1,000 times a second.
So, loads of information, data points.
But, all of of this, basically, helps with things like
your footstrike, with your cadence, with your stride length
and all sorts of data that can be transferred
on to their corresponding app
and then help you with improving your running form.
- Yeah, it's cool.
- Suunto have also launched a new smart watch,
The Suunto Seven.
And that's obviously fitting into the more daily-wear space.
So, it's got things such as music on it
and ability to pay using your watch.
So, going a little bit away
from the really hardcore sports watch,
but still an exciting new product.
- Now for a slight change in tact.
Because we've got a fun story here about
well, one of our favorite people
in the whole sport of Triathlon, that is Bob Babbitt.
Because this past weekend was the 40th anniversary
since he did his very first Ironman
which was the third-running of Ironman Hawaii
back when, obviously, it was staged in January
and not it's usual spot at the second weekend every October.
And it also used to be not on the big island,
but on the island of Oahu.
And he's talked about this being such a pivotal point
in his life.
In fact, he said it was the day that changed his life
which is really--
- Romantic that is.
- Yeah, I mean, he says that those first two editions
of the race there was only 15 starters and 12 finishers.
But when he did it in 1980, so 40 years ago,
it had actually moved up to 108 starters,
so it was a huge, I mean it's only 108,
but it was a massive upsurge in interest in the event
and it really, sort of, gathered a pace from there.
- Well, whilst our eyes were on Bob
we also noticed that he's been busy in his day job
interviewing famous athletes.
One that caught our eye was Wales' Geraint Thomas,
the former Tour de France winner.
Interesting to see him have a chat with Bob out there.
- Yeah, and to tie it all back in to Triathlon,
the reason they Geraint is actually training
in Southern California is 'cause one of his
very good friends and training partners is Cameron Wurf,
who is none other than the record-holder for the bike-course
in Ironman Hawaii.
So, they've been training hard together
in Southern California in the hills and around LA.
So, yeah-- - Lucky them.
- Yeah I know, so we'll see
how their seasons unfold from here.
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- I got it done, I completed the Zwift Triathlon Academy
workouts in the knick of time.
I must admit I was up against it
because last week I had to do two run workouts,
a bike workout and the running race
all within six days of getting back from holiday.
- So, tell us, how was it?
- Well, let's say the race was not my finest hour
because, I mean it wasn't really my fault,
but I did have a bit of injury
and then obviously Christmas got in the way and holiday.
So, I wasn't in the best shape that I've ever been in,
but yeah, I gave it my all within reason.
But, I did have a bit of a cold, all serious in note,
and I didn't want to make myself more unwell
and obviously here at GTN we do talk about
being sensible so I thought I better practice what I preach.
- Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you there.
So, what does that mean happens next?
- Well, basically I'm going to get my breath back.
Maybe have a look back over my sessions,
but I will actually give you guys more of an update
and a bit of reflection on how it went
and what comes next in next week's show.
(upbeat music)
- Right then, so now it's time to have a scan through
all of the pictures that you guys very kindly send in to us.
Please do keep sending them in.
We really do love to get an insight into your home's
pain caves or your pictures for your training.
The picture that we've got to start off with here
is a pain cave from Ben.
Now he has shown us his Felt B16 which is on the turbo,
but he's got a couple of the nice ones
on the wall, hasn't he?
- Yeah, it was the Bianchis that caught my eye.
Actually, before I even rode a road bike
I wanted one of those.
It was the color that's always caught my eye.
So they look rather beautiful hung up on the wall,
I must say.
- Yeah, he says he's got a Baianchi Pulse all to himself
and his girlfriend has a Bianchi in the Rooney Seven.
And this is from Gosport
and apparently it's their new pain cave
and their very first home.
- That's exciting, congrats guys.
This next picture has been sent in from Olive
and I think this is a Christmas Day photo
'cause it says "Burning calories after Christmas Lunch is"
And I don't know how much running I could do, personally.
I presume it was a few days after Christmas Lunch,
I'm not sure.
- Who knows, but it could have been Christmas afternoon.
- Anyway, it's from the sea front in Lahaf, Normandy.
- Another interesting take on the pain cave here
is from Matthias who has shown us a before and after
picture where he's essentially removed his sofa
or his couch and replaced it with his Smart Trainer
and his bike which is taking centerpiece there
in his sitting room in front of the TV.
So, it seems like he has got himself
a really good setup there.
He's got his CUBE Cross Race Pro bike sitting there
on the Turbo Trainer and he says,
"I am loving my new indoor training vibe."
- Well, that's one way to get you motivated
I guess in the new year.
If you can't sit down on your sofa
you've got to sit on your bike.
I feel like I should try that
'cause my sofa is definitely more appealing.
Well, anyway you can tell that we've got a bit
of January blues and we want some motivation.
So if you've got some great setups,
or you're out doing some wonderful training
then do share those pictures
and we can then share them with the rest of our viewers.
And you can do that by using the GTN uploader.
(upbeat music)
Well it's now time for GTN's Caption Competition
and last week we had this slightly, well I found it amusing,
photo from Ironman Bolton.
Plenty of wonderful suggestions to go with it.
- Yeah, so our first submission
for this Caption Competition is from Kieran Fitzgibbon
who has said, "I'm head over heels for GTN"
- Oh, that's a funny accent there, Fraiser.
(laughing) - Head over heels.
- Well, it was really close between the winner,
we had a bit of debate with this one,
but the final runner-up comes from Fergal Acala, who says,
"Watch out...or you'll get foot in mouth disease"
That just makes me feel a little bit gross but--
- Which is a good one, it would have maybe been a winner
in any other week, but--
- If Fraiser wasn't here it might be a winner,
you'll find out why.
- So, Les Nottage has come up with,
"Look, I have found the Loch Leg Monster"
- Said with true Scottish loch-noise.
Obviously playing on the Loch Ness Monster.
If you don't know about it
look it up or ask Fraiser.
It's a very Scottish thing (laughing).
- Loch Ness has got a big-- - Congratulations!
- Sorry we'll stop going on (laughing) about Loch Ness.
Send in the details and we'll send you the cap to you.
But if you want a chance to win a GTN cap
then this is the picture for this week.
- Yeah, and it is a picture from an athlete
at the start of Ironman Barcelona last October
and, well, you guys can let us know what you think.
I think it is a very focused individual there
with a bit of a death-stare down the beach for the start.
- Is that what you're like at the start of a race?
- I don't think I was no.
I was usually focused but sort of relaxed.
I'd like to think so.
But, anyway, you guys tell us what you think
and drop your submissions for the Caption Competition
down there and you might be able to win one of these caps.
- Well, this show is coming to an end,
but there's still plenty more to look forward to this week.
We've got a video on how to use a snorkel whilst swimming.
We've also got 10 treadmill mistakes.
Anyway, hopefully you've enjoyed this week's GTN show.
So find that thumb-up button and give us a Like if you have.
- Yeah, and remember that we have a shop
full of all sorts of stuff
that you can get yourself involved with.
We've got bike kit, caps of course,
so have a look in there.
See if there's anything you would like to get ahold of.
Hopefully you want to see more content on the channel
so find the globe on screen so you can Subscribe
and get everything else.
- And if you want to see a video on how to return to running
after an injury, find that just here.
- And if you want to see one that Mark and I did
about a V02 Max Test, well you can find that here.