The Triathlete Hour

In honor of the Winter Olympics happening right now, we’ve got Paralympic gold medalist Kendall Gretsch on the Triathlete Hour this week.

Kendall won the nail-biting, down-to-the-wire, wheelchair triathlon race in Tokyo this past summer—but she’s also a previous gold medalist in cross-country skiing & biathlon. She talks to us about what it’s like going back and forth, which skills translate and which don’t (shooting, for instance), and which is harder.

Tune in to Kendall's races in Beijing later in March. And first, we're back for Sid Talks on the Olympics, Paralympics, winter triathlon, and if race season is really for real happening this year….

RELATED: The Rapid (Multiseason) Rise of Gold-Medalist Kendall Gretsch

In July, Flora Duffy won Bermuda's first ever Olympic gold medal. She'd spent her whole life and four Olympics to get there. And then the whirlwind after was so different (in a good way) from the daily grind of eat, sleep, train, repeat.

“What I didn’t think about was what would happen after if I actually won?”

Stef & Phil chat about how Olympic racing has changed in the last two decades, how perfect the Tokyo podium was, and how different the realities of life on the road are for triathlon v. other professional sports.

And Flora joins them from South Africa to give some insight into what it's like now that the dust has settled and the reality of what she accomplished has sunk in. Where to from here?

RELATED: Flora Duffy's Unlikely Path to World Champion

This week we’re talking to Hillary Biscay — Ultraman world champ, 66-time iron-distance finisher, and our host's former coach.

Out of all those iron-distance finishes, she won just one. She talks to us about the all-in effort it took to get that title finally, and how she was never the most talented but always willing to work the hardest. The former Olympic Trials breastsroker once fractured her femur during a race and tried to crawl to the finish—not something she advises now. She shares what she learned since then and how suffering gave her an avenue to make a living as a pro.

If you don’t know one of the most prolific long course athletes in the sport, you will soon.

Warning: Don't necessarily try this at home!

Stef & Phil talk about their “training” & how they learned from the top age-groupers to go for a body surf the day before a big race.

Then, Stef fangirls Heather Jackson.

Heather looks back on her very first pro team camp—which Phil was at as a journalist. How does she feel so many years later about being a pro? What's changed?

One of the lessons she learned early: If there are ten women looking for sponsorship, how are you going to stand out from the other nine? Her husband, Sean "Wattie" Watkins, helped her market herself and understand all the aspects of the business. Before it was cool, he was filming her workouts—even though she still doesn't understand why people want to watch her eat!

Plus, they see it from the other side of running a clothing company. “It’s not just take, it’s a two-way street.”

Welcome to the Triathlete Hour, this week’s episode is one we’ve all been waiting for: What is Kristian Blummenfelt’s plan for next year?? 

The Olympic champ and Ironman world record holder talks to us from the south of Spain, where he’s doing a training camp, about how he’s going to do five Ironmans next year, how he thinks he can win both Ironman world championships in 202, and how it’s really not as crazy as it sounds.

Plus, of course, how did Norway become such a triathlon hotspot anyway?

We promise if Kristian wasn’t your favorite athlete before, he will be after this.

And first Laura Siddall & I have a quick chat about how many Ironmans in a year we could pull off and if the sport’s being redefined in real time.

Referenced in the podcast:

Stef & Phil discuss their tough interviews over the years (and the time Daniela Ryf got a funny burn on Stef). And what makes someone a hero or a legend of the sport?

The legend Mark Allen comes on then to give his expert take on the sport now and his thoughts about the 2021 Ironman World Championships in St. George. It might be even harder to win than Kona, he says, because everyone will think they have a chance and there could be an upset.

Plus, it's nearly impossible to be in top shape in May and then again in October. “It didn’t matter who they are or how talented they were, you can’t be in Ironman Hawaii shape in May and then be at that same level in October.”

And key questions like: How important is a mullet to fast racing? And are you watching Mondays with Mark Allen on Youtube?

In this episode of Fitter & Faster, sports nutritionist Scott Tindal joins host Emma-Kate Lidbury to talk about a topic that's often referred to as the fourth discipline of triathlon: nutrition. Tindal, who co-founded the performance nutrition company FuelIn, has helped professional and amateur athletes alike achieve their health and performance goals through better understanding the impact their diet can have on their wellbeing and their athleticism. In the show, we talk about the importance of eating for health and wellbeing—and using this as a platform for performance and longevity. As Tindal puts it, "health first, all else follows."

We talk about some of the biggest mistakes Tindal sees triathletes making with their fueling, including the prevalence of RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) in the endurance sports world. Perhaps unsurprisingly for a fueling podcast, the topic of G.I. distress comes up (more than once) and there are some entertaining anecdotes shared. Tindal is a huge advocate of athletes practicing their race-day fueling strategies to help minimize this. He also talks about carb loading, sweat rate testing, and the importance of setting out baseline nutrition goals.

RELATED: Sweat Testing Without Working Out? We Tried It.

Note: For those not accustomed to using kilograms (Tindal is Australian and uses the metric system throughout the show), a kilogram equates to 2.2 pounds.

And, of course, it wouldn't be Fitter & Faster without our Gear Up section with resident gear guru and Triathlete executive editor Chris Foster. In this episode, we chat about some of our favorite fueling products—and how those differ for biking and running workouts, as well as how our fueling habits have changed over the years. We close out the show with a funny anecdote about biggest race-day fueling mistakes.

RELATED: Triathlete's Complete Guide to Nutrition and Fueling

After a long holiday break, we’re back with the Triathlete Hour—and we have a great first show of 2022 for you.

Rocky Harris, the CEO of USA Triathlon, is talking with us about how he got into the sport after he caught a bug—an actual bug not a metaphorical bug—on vacation. And why he left ASU to take the USAT job because of the potential he saw and what he thought could improve in the triathlon community he loved.

He also tells us USAT is working on this year, what he sees as the sport’s biggest challenges, and what he’s looking forward to.

Don't forget: USAT members get access to a free Triathlete print + digital membership with your unique USAT code.

But first, Laura Siddall & I are back too with what we’re looking forward to in 2022 and what we think you should be excited about.

And stay tuned: Our special pop-up podcast, The Cooldown with Stef & Phil, will finish up its eight episode run too!

After a COVID hiatus, Stef & Phil are back with The Cooldown.

In this episode they chat with fellow Australian and Ironman world champ Chris McCormack about life after the finish line and why he got into the triathlon business instead of going the standard coaching route. "I don't think I'm a great coach."

Macca talks about the birth of Super League and how it's succeeding now after a contentious start, and what we should expect from the Sub7/Sub8 project.

In this third episode of The Cooldown—our limited run podcast from Stef Hanson, of Witsup, and Phil Wrochna—columnist Brad Culp joins them to debate pro triathlon, dream-wrecking, and Ironman tattoos. Is the future in the PTO, Super League, or Ironman? How do niche sports make money? Do the pro ranks need to be culled?

"Your dreams are going to get shattered, kids. Professional sports are not for everybody."

Brad, who has worked for World Triathlon and Ironman, also reveals he has an M-dot tattoo. Good idea or bad idea?

READ: Can Triathlon Ever Truly Be A Spectator Sport?