(upbeat techno music)
- This is the GTN show, welcome!
And you might have noticed, I've swapped Mark this week.
We've got Susie, thanks for joining us Susie.
- Thanks for having me.
- Susie Cheetham is an Ironman champion,
and two top six finishes at Kona including this year.
And now you're sort of getting back into things,
you've had a bit of a break,
and looking ahead at next season.
And I want to talk to you a little bit about
how one goes about winning an Ironman.
- I'd love to.
It's a bit of a long process, really.
Took me quite awhile, lots of hard work.
Lots of training.
There's not really any secrets,
it's just a whole lot of hard work, and yeah, sorry.
- There's no secret recipe, it's just--
- Yeah no, the reality is there's lots of hard work and--
- That's a shame (laughs).
But on a serious note, like how do you now,
you've come back from your off-season,
you've had a nice break that we talked about earlier,
and you're looking at next year with you know Kona,
for you being Ironman athlete as your focus,
how do you break down your season?
- So for me I mean, yeah it's all about Kona,
so how can I physically get, not just physically,
physically and mentally get to Kona
in the best possible shape, and for me,
I don't wanna race too much before,
some people find that racing quite close to Kona
is the way to get them there in the best shape,
for me I try to do quite an early season Ironman,
probably around April.
On top of that I try to raise the championship races,
so that sort of leaves Ironman South Africa
and Ironman Texas.
So I think it's looking like I'll be doing
either one or the other of those.
- And are you gonna do any 70.3's like in the buildup,
or are you literally saving yourself just for the big races?
- Well for me I prefer Ironman racing,
I think I'm better at it.
70.3 racing's just like, you're red-lining it the whole way
and it's, I find it so much tougher.
- You can't say this, cause we had a,
Mark and I had a conversation about it
and Mark was saying that he thinks 70.3
is harder than Ironman, but I was saying
just cause I've done the Ironman and he hasn't,
that Ironman's harder so, - [Susie] Okay! (laughs)
- [Heather] We can't let Mark know this--
- Well to be honest, I'm with Mark on that one,
I think 70.3 racing is a really hard format,
because you're not that much slower
than you would be in--
- There's no let up is there?
- Yeah you're just going
the whole way. - Not that there's let up
in Ironman, but it's a different intensity.
- Ironman is a more controlled effort,
70.3 is for me, maybe, less controlled
and you know, it's hard the whole way,
you're hurting from the beginning,
whereas Ironman, you have to control it a little bit more
so you're not hurting straight away.
- And you don't do anything different next year,
you've had, you've been really consistent
with two top six finishes in Kona, which is amazing.
Is there anything you feel that you're gonna do
like drastically different, or you just gonna keep
kinda working away at the things you've been working on?
- So I think you know, we're in that phase of the season
at the moment where we're sort of,
we're analysing what sort of went well,
and what went potentially wrong in Kona,
and what went well in the buildup,
and what went well in my training,
and I think yeah, there's a few tweaks I'll make.
I think my swim probably let me down this year.
So I've gone sort of right back to basics with my swim,
which is possibly the most frustrating and hardest thing.
Swimming is unique in triathlon.
You know it's not like biking you can learn,
and you can go through the process of working hard,
as I think running is as well,
swimming, it doesn't necessarily, if you're,
swimming's not my natural--
- Not the sport you came from.
- Discipline, yeah.
And it's hard, because it's not necessarily,
you can't just work harder and you'll go faster.
So that's where I am at the moment
in terms of improving next year
that's what I really need to work on.
- But I reckon a lot of people watching this
will be like 'ah!', you know they're with you on that page
with the swimming just being, you know,
you've gotta go and then think about it.
But once you've done that, you're looking at next year,
you could see massive improvements couldn't you?
- Well I hope so, I hope so (laughs).
- Cool, well I'm sorry to break it to you,
sounds like there is no magic recipe,
but just lots of hard work.
Thanks Susie.
(upbeat techno music)
I'm moving on to the weekly poll.
Last week, we asked you how long you think
the draught distance should be, and the results are in.
At 7% it was 'other', 10 metres came in at 15%,
and then 12 metres 18% of you voted for,
but it was an out-n-out winner for 20 metres,
58% percent of people went for that distance,
and it opened up quite a big debate actually,
and we've had some comments in.
We'll share a few with you.
Horia Popan said 'hard to enforce it
when you have 2,400 participants,
but I think it should be enforced at least for the pros'.
Likes of you, Susie.
What else have we got here?
- Yeah, so we got James that says,
'I race with a 10 metre draught distance,
and that's hard enough to get past someone.
So anymore than 20 would be too much.
- That's interesting, bit of a contrast there.
Then Matesieqe17 says
'I would say I don't
have a set distance for drafting
cause it makes a run much more exciting.
Almost all sprint finishes come
from triathletes bunched in the cycling part of the race.'
Bit of a, two different types of racing probably.
But uh, we've got one other we've chosen as well,
- Yeah, so Martin comes back with sort of the numbers thing
and says, 'when there is 20 to 50 pros then yes increase it,
but to move into age group races where there's regularly
up to 4,000 athletes on the course,
there's just not enough room'
to make that draught seem so big.
- I think that's the kinda consensus,
we had so many comments about it,
but just quickly putting you on the spot Susie,
what, where would your vote go?
- Oh definitely, I'm with the majority I'd say.
I'd say the 20 metres, just makes it the fairest race.
It's a, it gives the best reflection
of true swim, bike, run.
- Well we'll see what happens,
but I think the debate will just go on forever.
But we need to move on, and this week we wanted to ask you,
'What do you choose to use for your refill
as soon as you finish a long ride?'
And we've got five options for you.
- So we got first up the 'recovery shake', pretty standard,
then we've got Heather's favourite, 'cake'--
- You weren't supposed to say that!
- And then we got 'beer', 'sandwich', or something else.
- What do you go for, you've just dropped me in it,
that I go for cake, Susie what's yours?
- Well do you know what it depends on the time of year,
and I'd like to say I'm always professional
and always have a recovery shake with my protein
and my carbs but I think post my biggest session
for Kona I came back and had a cheeky glass of wine,
cause I was so proud of myself for finishing,
finishing the training block so.
- I love that, and I--
- It's probably not the most pro, but--
- I wasn't sure if you were going to admit that,
or if I could mention it, but very honest of you.
Although I think maybe you know, some of our viewers
now are gonna go home and to think,
'ah finished my timing session onto the glass of wine.'
When they don't make it to the next race,
I'll blame you Susie.
- You can blame me.
- But anyway, back to the point,
that was recovery shake, cake, beer, sandwich, or other.
And if it is something other, then do let us know
what you like to have at the end of a ride.
Leave that in the comments section below.
And to vote on it just click on the poll above my head.
(upbeat techno music)
It's time for GTN Tribe and we launched this last week,
we've got two clubs up on a map already.
And we've had loads of you sending in pics,
videos all sorts from your club.
And this week, we've got a new one to add to our map.
- So this week is My Tri Club in Dubai,
made up of club members from eight different nationalities.
- And it looks like there's a real range
of athlete age as well,
we've seen transition practise happening,
which might seem to us a little bit
of a strange time of year,
but not everyone's in their off-season now.
And it is Ironman 70.3 in Dubai in just nine weeks time,
so I guess those guys will be focusing a bit more,
Unlike us who've just sort of,
coming back from our off-season.
But whilst we're on GTN tribe and I've got you here Susie,
did you come from any club background
or have you trained with a club?
I know you don't now per se, but.
- Yes, I mean even now I train with the Team Bath setup,
up at the University.
But getting into triathlon,
the club setup was really important to me.
I lived in Cambridge and I worked standards hours,
so it was good for me to have the structure
of a club to go training with.
Really important for my swimming,
cause that was new to me, you know,
it was sort of the structure of swimming early,
on a Tuesday and Thursday, and that would get
a really good quality swim twice a week in for me.
And it was just having that support
when I didn't really know what I was doing.
- I think that's so much was fraternising is,
it's a support network, and that's what
so many of the people sending things in,
it's about the community of being in a club, and.
But, there is, I mean it's interesting to,
I'm sure some people think are pros who've never
been in a club or just done everything on their own.
But you still need that bit of community feel.
- Yeah I mean, everyone has to start somewhere.
And I started triathlon fairly late,
relatively to some athletes,
and you know the club setup really helped me.
- Well we're pretty nosy here so we'd love to know
what happens in your club.
Any photos, any videos you've got,
please send them in on Facebook or on Twitter
using the hashtag '#GTNTRIBE'.
(upbeat techno music)
Race news, and it was absolutely jam-packed
with racing over the weekend,
we're gonna start down in Australia
with the Asia Pacific Championship.
And it was a pretty strong field.
The women's results, it was Melissa Hauschildt
who won with a 4:07,
Felicity Sheedy-Ryan from Australia second,
so one, two, for Australia, and then
New Zealand, Amelia Watkinson was third.
And on the men's side, it was a nice close of his career,
Dan Wilson won from Australia,
and it was his final ever race.
Which is a pretty nice way to go out.
Second it was Tim Reed, also from Australia,
and then New Zealand third again for Braden Curie,
so a similar pattern very much Australia
dominating in that race.
And I think it was a pretty close finish
for Tim Reed and Braden Curie.
- Yeah I saw that, I saw there was a bit
of a sprint finish and yeah it looked pretty painful.
- Going back to your 70.3, a tough race
and a strong field at that.
And we had another championship,
it was the Middle-East Champtionships as well in Bahrain.
And this one had potentially
a massive prize purse up for grabs.
So we'll go to the results first,
and then talk a little bit about that,
so on the women's side,
it was the win for Holly Lawrence
after a slightly sort of maybe,
would you think it's fair to say
disappointing season for her?
- Oh I think Holly would've been all about
the 70.3 World Champs, and you know she didn't perform
at the 70.3 World Champs and I think
that will have really knocked her.
And it's good to see her come back,
get over that and you know, pretty much you know--
- I mean it'd been going so well until then,
And then she had that injury I think,
you know a bit before and.
- Yeah so, yeah to mentally come back from that
as much as physically is really tough
and yeah, it's good to see someone able to do that.
- Another, (mumbles) and at the end of the season.
So yeah great result, Holly Lawrence from Great Britain
was first and it was Anne Haug of Germany
with a tremendous run in second,
and Daniela Ryf in third.
I know you mentioned that Anne Hagen's run,
and you, I think looking at the time,
she ran 1:17 which is the same time as Terenzo Bozzone.
- Yeah I mean it's, it's really impressive.
Running a 1:17 when the other girls
that are good runners, I mean Holly and Daniela
are both fantastic runners, and they ran a 1:23 and a 1:28,
and you know,
that probably shows-- - Puts it in perspective.
- It's a pretty legit course,
and you know you got Anne Hagen
running the same sort of splits as the guys,
I mean that's really impressive
and I'm sure we'll see a lot more of her
in the next (mumbles) season.
- Well it was tough waiting on the men's side as well,
we saw a debut impressive performance
by Christian Bloomenfeld from Norway
winning his first ever 70.3 race in a tough field.
Terenzo Bozzone was second,
and then Sven Riederer of Switzerland was third.
But just off the podium, Javier Gomez fourth,
and then Matt Troutman in fifth.
It was a really packed field and it the first time
we've seen Matt Chapman back from injury.
- Yeah so, Matt had a big crash in January,
the end of January last year,
and I think it was questioning whether
he'd be able to walk again let alone race again,
and you know having three of his vertebrae fused
it was a bit, a little bit touch and go.
- About how he can get into the aero position
after that as well, is impressive.
- And to get back to really competitive field
and to come fifth and run a 1:15, 1:16
you know is really impressive.
- And finally it was a full-distance Ironman
in Cozumel, Mexico.
What happened in the women's race, Susie?
- So you had Lisa Roberts winning in the women's,
I think she's come back from a tough season
after being injured at the beginning,
and she won that with a sub-three marathon,
which is quite impressive.
Then we had in second place Kirsti Young,
and third Sonia Tashish.
- Well and on the men's side there was a new course record
by Sebastian Keane, finished fourth in Kona,
and obviously had enough time to just about
get another training block in and pick himself up
at the end of the season so that was
an impressive performance there.
Michael Vice was second, and Ivan Rano was third.
(upbeat techno music)
It's time for 'Caption Competition'.
And now, I feel a little bit mean as Mark's not here
and he wasn't here last week to defend himself,
but we did have this slightly funny picture.
And I've chosen my favourite caption,
which was from James Hutchinson,
and he says, 'someday, I'm going to be
an Ironman just like Heather.'
Well you know, we're both fine Ironmen,
so we can gloat whilst Mark's not here.
But Susie, as your the guest,
you get to choose your favourite.
- Okay so I chose mine from Raynor,
and his caption was 'Trying my best
to look like young Frodeno.'
And then '#headband'.
- #gamestrong, nice one.
Well Raynor, please send in your details
over Facebook to get your free cap.
And for this week, we have chosen this picture.
Now those of you who watched last week,
I was joined by Mark Buckingham on the bike,
we actually went out did some videos as well,
and he does have quite good bike skills,
but it doesn't look like it here,
and we were finishing off a video,
and trying to do a little thumbs up
like we thought it'd be really clever,
and do both thumbs, but as you can see,
the thumbs didn't quite make it.
And a few moments after this he pretty much
almost took me out, luckily he didn't.
But we would love to know any suggestions
you've got for captions, do leave them
in the comments section below.
(upbeat techno music)
And now moving on to the GTN Pain Cave.
And we've got a great selection
that we've picked out for you this week.
We're gonna start off with Muizz Husnani
who sends a picture in on Facebook Messenger,
and very clearly says his son's hot walk blue kid bike,
he's quite proud of that one, do you think Susie?
- [Susie] Yeah it's pretty cool I think he
needs a (mumbles) trainer for the kid
to cycle along next to him,
but yeah there's some pretty cool bikes there,
I think your favorite's the kid's bike, isn't that.
- I think it is, I like the colour.
Turquoise, it's pretty, but three specialised bikes
are pretty impressive.
Uh next one, Llewellyn Griffiths on Facebook Messenger.
- [Susie] Yes, I think he's got his session there
written out ahead of him, knows what pain
he's go coming up there.
I think I recognise that chin in the video, actually.
I think it might be your co-presenter.
- I think that's a (mumbles) chin, isn't it?
Recognise that anywhere.
Although I think Susie when you first looked at this
you did notice that the carpet might get sweaty.
- [Susie] Yeah it was when my OCD came out,
I think maybe he needs to um--
- [Heather] Put a mat down? - [Susie] Invest in a mat.
- Well there you go Llewelyn if you are sweating on that,
just be careful of your carpet.
And that leads us on nicely onto Liselore Schickendantz
who send another picture in on Facebook Messenger.
And there's a very good sweat-catcher here.
I have not seen one of these before.
- [Susie] Well I've actually got one,
I was training a lot on the turbo before Kona,
a fair amount anyway, and you know
you're sweating a lot and that sweat
goes right into a crank if you're not careful, so,
yeah I got one to catch the sweat.
- [Heather] Well also, Liselore's
got a mannequin with a mascot.
- [Susie] Yeah as you do in every pain proof,
I think I need to get myself one of them.
- [Heather] Yeah would it be a manne,
would you dress it like yourself?
Or would you put it in a, we've got Ironman t-shirts.
And they're a 'prizeman' t-shirt.
- I don't know, maybe I'd dress it as one of my competitors.
Get a Danielle or--
- Yeah! That's a Lionel,
That's a Lionel Sanders technique, isn't it?
Have you seen his?
He's got a poster up with Patrick Lange
in front of his treadmill.
- I'll have a Daniela mannequin,
which, I dunno if that's weird.
- Well we won't tell Daniela just yet,
until you've beaten her then you can say,
'that's the secret to success.'
Well, we'd love to see more of your pain caves,
so do send them in on Facebook and Twitter,
using '#GTNPAINCAVE.
Well that's it for this week's show,
Susie thank you so much for coming and joining us.
- Thanks for having me on!
- Well I hope you've enjoyed it,
and if you've enjoyed this week's show,
give it a thumbs up 'like', and to subscribe
to GTN just click on the globe.
- And if you want to check out my P5X,
click on the link below.
- And if you want to see our choice
of top tech from this year, just click on this video here.