Wow, will be fun to see this on Strava!


\pink There, I fixed your last sentence.

Richard Murray recently ran a 13.37 5k. The amount of talent in short course triathlon is unbelievable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOm6YjNeeVE

13:51 for Kristian

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

13.51 for kristian, guatav around 15 seconds behind in 3rd.
Not the fastest course either so well done.

I love that they are not afraid to run against runners.
Kristian took down Marius Vedvik, he ran 1500 in 3.44 last year.

And if you take all the top ITU guys, Murray, Mola, Gomez +++++++ there are so many good runners.

Don’t forget Hayden, I think he is the fastest aside from Yee at the moment.

---

Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

How many guys are heavier for their height and run faster than Kristian? He seems like an outlier= heavy and fast.

https://superleaguetriathlon.com/...ristian-blummenfelt/

He does have a middle distance runner type of build. Like a Nick Symmonds.

---

Matt

The depth is just ridiculous, so many sub 14 min performances, and now apparently even a sub 13:30. All this stuff for me is more legit and impressive than all the Zwift racing.

Top ITU guys race 70.3 and win (Gomez, Iden, Blumenfelt, Brownlee, Van Riel) but never the other way around; yet somehow it seems as if they never get the recognition they deserve among the triathlon fan masses. As Frodeno said, he got more mileage out of his Kona win than Olympic gold. I think that 70.3 pros have marketed themselves a bit better than most ITU guys (despite IM paying a lot less money to athletes than ITU racing, according to GTN report), I think this is slowly changing with more ITU guys marketing themselves a bit better in social media (i.e. more youtube videos) and also racing more 70.3 and breaking the myth that draft legal biking does not require a lot of bike fitness.

I think SuperLeague has also helped market the amazing ITU guys and gals to a broader triathlon audience (and finally maybe gain a bit of recognition in the USA among the triathlon crowd who historically have only cared about long distance/Hawaii).

Here you have Blummenfelt's video about the race.
The course had a 180 degree run, not the best for a PB.
But I love that the athletes are out there running (or biking or swimming).
https://www.youtube.com/...amp;feature=youtu.be

Very true they are starting to market themselves better, but it could not really get any worse either.
70.3 is just really shaping up to be a perfect battlefield, ITU vs IM vs 70.3 specialist

The depth is truly amazing but as gomes says it was harder to win races when alister was at his peak than now .

Besides while this is all interesting what matters how you run off the bike.
Those 5 k runs are intresting but I would say they have as many cons as the have pros. At the end what counts is race day. I guess I prefer idens slower time as it messes up less with the consitency of training.slightly less injury risk etc.
Or in other words one could not completely refute the fact that Alistair goal to race commonwealth track games did not work out too well for his triathlon. As there is a Google chance it increased his injury prowess.

In terms of sponsorship/promotion ITU athletes face a real challenge in terms of National/Olympic selection commitments. Some of the top athletes will be given freedom to do some independent marketing but most countries/national triathlon bodies want to leverage the athletes for their own benefit and that means keeping a tight leash on the athletes. From a sponsor perspective this is also a mixed bag as you are effectively have to pay team level support to produce marketing for products that aren't designed for a team audience. At the 70.3/140.6 its just practically easier to do targeted marketing for select products. The downside for the sport is that this doesn't benefit athlete development in the same way companies are forced to subsidize the larger efforts at the ITU level.

The way I think about it is long distance racing is a true free market economy. The best get paid but the competition is tough and there is no safety net. ITU is more Socialist and provides support even if you aren't winning every race. Socialism and egalitarianism aren't the same though nor is Socialism a perfect or fair system and if you aren't willing to tango with the clusterf*** that is ITU politics then avoid the rodeo. As a sponsor you have to balance the lure of having your products a top the Olympic podium against the headaches of getting dragged into a human rights fight over rainbow flags.

Agree, loving Blummenfelt's channel. Feels raw and has great content. Plus they are absolute animals. It's one of my favourite channels.


I think A Brownlee would be the other way round. He's a household name after the Olympic performances. Wellington, whilst relatively well known, has nothing close the Brownlee celebrity.

I live in Germany, and at the time of the gold in 2008, Frodeno was all over media, but short-lived. The problem was the performance was a bit of an outlier - he was always near the top 10 in ITU but rarely won. Then 2009 saw the rise of AB, so that didn't help. He kind of faded. And in 2012 he gave what, for me, was his stand out Olympic performance, even though he was 6th (I think).

Kona OTOH, coupled with Roth / Frankfurt and the fact they are on TV here has enabled him to demonstrate himself as a multiple champion rather than a one hit winner. He also comes across very well in interviews (although last year or so one could argue it's all gone to his head a bit)

That's a nice video!

Something that I found interesting based on the races I watched, is that Blummenfelt have shown to be consistently a slightly (few secs dif) better runner than Iden who is world champion athlete as we all know.

Considering the massive weight difference between the two, one could assume that Blummenfelt could smoke him on the bike as weight differences there are not that relevant. But it's actually the other way around, in the races I've seen they are very similar on the bike, and it's the run that give Blummenfelt that small edge advantage.

Could it be that difference is mostly better running technique/skills/mechanics instead of having bigger engine than Iden?

so if gomez, mola or brownlee were to wear these shoes we would see sub 13min 5k?

Some people run faster than others, we're all different - it could be just that.

They are all good for throwing assumptions out of the window.

Iden won the 70.3 WC on a road bike, and Blummentfelt is an axe runner when too heavy, they have quite a heel strike, oh and they seem to have fun. I can think of one very popular triathlete who seems to have no fun at all. These guys have a blast, and it's pretty cool :)

Iden won 70.3 Worlds on the hilliest course ever which is bound to slow down a heavier rider, and had a massive technique component which maybe Iden was better suited for on that day. Their runs are pretty close all things considered. I don't think anything definitive can be said regarding engine or efficiency, it seems they're pretty similar across the board imo.

Who's the runner who paced Blumy the whole way? Great running form/strides.

Marius Vedvik.
https://oslo.diamondleague.com/athletes/14515874.html

Small running events like this are being organized all over Norway now.

We are getting back to normal and has had few deaths related to the virus.
Organized sports are up and running with some restrictions.

I agree, all this extra speedy run racing and zwift racing going on is surely a big injury risk at this time too, when most athletes don't have access to massage and physios at the moment. Proper recovery is restricted, I have been surprised how much is going on.

I think it can go the opposite way in terms of injury risk. If you ain't doing any high intensity, especially on the run, during this odd situation and you end up going from September 2019 - March 2021 without the stress load from some "proper" running/racing I believe that can lead into more injuries in early 2021. Can maybe talk more about that in the next video with the guys.

Appreciate the videos and material you guys post. Super entertaining and inspiring.
great that you are on ST as well :)