Here are the men's top 10 and whether you characterize them SC or LC
Agreed 100% on everything you said.
The one thing I would add is the unpredictability of it all. Going into BIG races like this this year - all the form charts have very often gone out the window in endurance sports races and events.
Who would have predicted a 21 kid from Slovenia would have won the Tour de France while the defending champion on the most invincible and most consist team ever in the sport, does not even finish the race!
Ditto at the Giro - this time the invincible team wins with a guy originally supposed to be a Domestique.
Or . . how about the GOAT in the marathon, having his worst race ever at the London Marathon!
. . and so on.
Same yesterday at Daytona. George Goodwin? Young guy with a strong Duathlon back ground! Matt Hanson - super-runner! Lionel - Mr. Grit, giving the finger to all the doubters! Really - Iden was the only one in the top-4 who I thought was a "favorite" - aftercall he is the current 70.3 Champion (close to this distance) and beat many of these same Longer Course guys in Nice last year - albeit on a VERY different type of course. The carnage of all the much more fancied favorites was fascinating to watch!
As for the women - the one thing I was struck by, was what Paula shared with me earlier in the year, when I interviewed he for a client and she mentioned in her pre-race session with Babbitt - This was the longest sustained, uninterrupted cycle of training that she has ever put in! Essentially 6 - 8 months. You see normally for athletes at this level, the training is in more fits and starts than you think: Train. Then taper. Train again. Another race. A little recovery. More training. Niggling injury. Time off. Scramble to get fitness back. Another mini taper . . . and so on! For Paula this sustained training, worked brilliantly. She swam/cycled/ran with extraordinary balance and composure - never out of it. Always in control. And then by the mid point of the run - literally just had to stay on he feet to get the win!
The results yesterday, were amazing, and I don't mean to take anything away from the top finishers, but this has been, a most unusual and extraordinary year in many ways.
As for the Broadcast - I said this yesterday and I will say it again, outside of what we see during the Olympic Games, for triathlon coverage, with a slight nod to Super League, this was the BEST coverage of a triathlon race I have ever seen!
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog
Agreed 100% on everything you said.
The one thing I would add is the unpredictability of it all. Going into BIG races like this this year - all the form charts have very often gone out the window in endurance sports races and events.
Who would have predicted a 21 kid from Slovenia would have won the Tour de France while the defending champion on the most invincible and most consist team ever in the sport, does not even finish the race!
Ditto at the Giro - this time the invincible team wins with a guy originally supposed to be a Domestique.
Or . . how about the GOAT in the marathon, having his worst race ever at the London Marathon!
. . and so on.
Same yesterday at Daytona. George Goodwin? Young guy with a strong Duathlon back ground! Matt Hanson - super-runner! Lionel - Mr. Grit, giving the finger to all the doubters! Really - Iden was the only one in the top-4 who I thought was a "favorite" - aftercall he is the current 70.3 Champion (close to this distance) and beat many of these same Longer Course guys in Nice last year - albeit on a VERY different type of course. The carnage of all the much more fancied favorites was fascinating to watch!
As for the women - the one thing I was struck by, was what Paula shared with me earlier in the year, when I interviewed he for a client and she mentioned in her pre-race session with Babbitt - This was the longest sustained, uninterrupted cycle of training that she has ever put in! Essentially 6 - 8 months. You see normally for athletes at this level, the training is in more fits and starts than you think: Train. Then taper. Train again. Another race. A little recovery. More training. Niggling injury. Time off. Scramble to get fitness back. Another mini taper . . . and so on! For Paula this sustained training, worked brilliantly. She swam/cycled/ran with extraordinary balance and composure - never out of it. Always in control. And then by the mid point of the run - literally just had to stay on he feet to get the win!
The results yesterday, were amazing, and I don't mean to take anything away from the top finishers, but this has been, a most unusual and extraordinary year in many ways.
As for the Broadcast - I said this yesterday and I will say it again, outside of what we see during the Olympic Games, for triathlon coverage, with a slight nod to Super League, this was the BEST coverage of a triathlon race I have ever seen!
Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog