Pretty sure that a podium finish in Leeds this weekend earns both brothers their Tokyo slot. GB's 3rd slot is decided on Leeds and the Tokyo test event (September?) I believe.

Agree with you about Yee being the 3rd - the commentary for Yokohama mentioned that the main group deliberately tried to distance him on the bike because they were so concerned about his run. (shame the same cant be said about his swim though!)

Leeds is not an auto qualifier for any Rio medalists. For JB, AB and Holland they can auto qualify with a top 3 at Tokyo test event. Everyone else had to auto qualify with top 3 Yoko 2019 + Tokyo test event.

It is an race that is factored into the decision of the board that *could* get you nominated by the board, but it's not automatic.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Well, if he wants to be GOAT of all triathlon then he needs to go long, he is already arguably GOAT of ITU (I like Gomez but I do think two OGs + two ITU titles > 5 ITU titles + OS), but both Gomez and Jan have better palmares across all distances which means he only has one choice if he wants to be ultimate triathlon GOAT. I think he is struggling with loving ITU while considering his legacy

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

But what it does give him is...
- a full distance bit of experience
- a relatively straight qualification for Kona (relatively - he still has to finish and finish 1st !). So he then has the option to going to Kona. Certainly easier than winning Frankfurt for example.
- no long travel problems
- no jetlag
- less likely to get heat exhaustion, so CAN pick up again on shrter distances pretty quickly.
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- less likely to get heat exhaustion, so CAN pick up again on shrter distances pretty quickly.

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The only pushback I have with any of this; this isn't how you win medals or even top spots in Kona. Again I don't know his specific training, I just see his race calendar and results. But this seemingly half in, half out process seems to me to lack any specificity. Now of course he's already won 2 Gold's, so ITU is probaly boring to him now. Again, we don't even know if he's committing to Tokyo or not, it seems as if it's still up in the air. Maybe he does it and maybe he doesn't.


But of course even doing ITU specific training but racing the IM distance, it's going to put him in great shape. I just dont think it's ideal training specificity. But again, racing Kona for handful of years as "learning" is pretty smart. But of course everyone is going to go crazy over the "battle" we'll see with him in the race, but I'm kinda over here like "pump the brakes" on the actual Kona race day execution and results in the early years. I said the same for Gomez, let him go race Kona, get his ass handed to him the last half of the marathon and learn from it. That's pretty much what we saw happen, that bike effort likely cooked him just a wee bit + conditions in Kona, etc.




ETA: But again AB is at a point where it doesnt really matter what path he chooses. Kona is a yearly event so he can sorta show up and learn from it with not the ideal training leading into it and then just race again next year. And since he's already the greatest ITU and double gold medalist, Tokyo result is *meaningless* other than really the MTR result for him. I mean of course he'd love to do as little as possible and win a 3rd medal, I just dont think he is so concerned about his training leading into Tokyo- IE why he's even racing an IM.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

Why can Lionel not be in peak condition?

Can you do some Ali videos, please!!!!!

Texting with Ali now. We are going to try and set something up. Stay tuned

but both Gomez and Jan have better palmares across all distances //

I think you are getting ahead of yourself putting Gomez into the same zip code as Frodo. Gomez has done a lot of successful 1/2 ironman, not really any full ones as of yet. Frodo likewise has a lot of great 1/2 distance races to his resume, and many ironman wins, including the big kahuna. To me, Gomez is only a fraction ahead of Ali at ironman distance, just because he has done a couple. Ali has done enough 1/2 to show he is dominant and competitive with anyone on the day too, just not as many as the others..


I like what he is doing, its funny to me that so many get their panties in a bunch because he might choose to do olympic distance and ironman in the same year. It is the same sport, and you dont need a whole year to switch focus from one distance to the other, a few months is plenty. Its how we all did it back in the day when you had to race all distances. And the best guys seemed to still be the best guys, racing all distances within a year. Do folks need some experience moving up, absolutely, but not always. Some of the greats just move over seamlessly, and only way to know is to do...

I guess it's going to be a pretty good indication if he blows up in Ireland 😀 if he does well at least the Brownlee fan boys will still have something to cling to before he melts down in Kona in October.

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What's your CdA?

Okay so he won’t be doing Kona.

He won’t even win cork. Have you guys seen the start list?

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i'm just not sure this is his best play. i love the guy and his style of racing. but given everything, i'm not certain the full distance is his strength. if i were his coach i might suggest he top out at half IM and decide to absolutely own that distance for a while. the full is about patience, sitting in, etc. - he's shown a problem with that in his 1/2 racing, and it'll be magnified at the full. at ireland he might just go off the front all day, but that approach won't work at kona


It seems only in triathlon that you can double or quadruple the distance (say from Olympic) and, we just assume that, the same athlete will be a world beater at the longer race.

It's not ALWAYS the case. We have a recent example with Javier Gomez. Historically another GOAT that comes to mind is the great Simon Lessing - could never really figure out Full IM racing. Some just don't have the physiology, the durability or the mind-set for going this long.

On PAPER Ali Brownlee should do very well at a full IM, but strange things do happen beyond, I would say, the 6 - 7 hr mark in an IM that until you are in a race and have been going that hard for that long, you never really know how it's going to go!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

It is the same sport, and you dont need a whole year to switch focus from one distance to the other, a few months is plenty. Its how we all did it back in the day when you had to race all distances.


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Except it's not the same sport anymore. The specificity that is happening in ITU and then in IM is showing that they are now more than ever 2 different sports. But again AB totally can get a pass with either direction cus what's it matter if he doesnt win....he's cemented his legacy with the 2 gold's. And Kona being an every year event, he can have some developing race years. But what I'm pointing out that you don't get to put your foot in and out and win in either pathway. That's just how good the competition is he is going to be racing against in 2019 and beyond.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I think you are right about some successful fast short course guys struggle at longer distances. I think u r wrong about Gomez and Lessing though. Lessing struggled after his short course career primarily due to injuries and not a lack of ability at long course...although he might have been poorly suited to Kona.

Gomez has hardly struggled at long course, two World Championship titles, beating Frodeno at Mt. Tremblant and an on fire Kanute at Chatanooga, amongst a tonne of others. Gomez was also second to a phenomenal Currie at Cairns and 11th in Kona on your debut against an incredible field is not horrible. It is exceptionally rare to knock Kona out the park on a first go. I think Gomez may lack the fire for iron distance racing otherwise why house give up the iron distance to go after Olympic gold on a course not suited to him.

Umm you need to go back and look at Javiers results.

Didn't he do Ironman Cairns and break the course record that was held by Luke McKenzie when he was in his prime?

Javier is a freak.

I don't know if Ali will go well in a few weeks or not.

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Definitely some formidable names on the start list, but the majority of the super big names (Vanhoenacker and McMahon) are somewhat aging stars in the sport. If Ali has a day that matches his expectations at like an 80% accuracy, I think he'll take it.

People seem to think that Alistair is so concerned with legacy, the guy is 31 years old. Guys like Jan and Javi should have far more fear about legacy since they are in the later stages of being a prominent athlete in the sport. Alistair could skip Kona for the Olympics and still have several years of legitimate shots to win.

Ali is almost the prototypical height and weight to win Kona. I think Ali could have a shot to make Patrick Lange look like a jogger in Kona. This guy is not only a phenomenal athlete, he's a gamer. Ali races every race aggressively and boldly. Ali also doesn't sit in on the bike, which will probably hurt him early on in his long-distance days. As Ali gets more strength from lots of base work, Ali's bike strength will really become an asset in long-distance.

We all bow at the church of Frodeno, Alistair has all the makings to be even better than Frodeno. Ali is going long earlier than Jan and his track record is actually more accomplished than Jan when he made the jump.

Barring significant injury, Ali is poised to cement his name in triathlon history above the likes of Jan, Javi, Crowie, Macca, and may put Mark Allen in the passenger seat.

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Team Zoot 2023

Personally, I won't be high fiving anyone just yet that AB is going to Kona. When he is on the start line I will believe it.

A high of 60F, that's heat for you?

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

If you study run mechanics..... I’d wager “ironman world” should be WAY more concerned if/when Jonny Brownlee decides Ironman looks fun.... my 2c

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David T-D
http://www.tilburydavis.com

Definitely not only triathlon, just look at Mo Farah, 3:28 1500 and then a 2:05 marathon which is 30x the distance. Same goes for Kipchoge, Choge, Bekele, Geb, Rupp to name a few.
In fact I would argue the contrary, especially seeing as Olympic tri is a long event in its own and largely aerobic. Sure the athletes coming from ITU likely will have an adaptation period learning pacing and nutrition, but in general the people who are great over 2h l, are gonna be great over 8h.

Lastly, for the people saying you can’t train for lc and sc at the same time, look at kejelcha running fast 1500 and HM within weeks, which arguably is a lot more different than sc and lc

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

I studied AB running away from JB in any important race during the last 10 years.

yeah, the thing is you don't fail at ironman because you run out of breath. you fail at ironman because of nutrition, pacing, gear selection, strategy . . . those little things are really the biggest thing, in an 8-hour race.

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

putting in a quarter-mile kick at the end of a 5 or 10k, yes. but that's a different thing from a (relatively) slow and steady marathon at the end of an IM.

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____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Macca might disagree - remember his "olympic dream"?
Ali wouldn't go to Tokyo to make up the numbers. Whether he can still get the leg speed to match Luis, Mola, Schoeman etc is another matter

I am aware of that, however that still doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t succeed? Obviously gear selection is not an issue, and for sure he will have to learn better nutrition strategies, but he has a good team to help him with that. He will learn pacing and strategy just as everyone else, but that still doesn’t explain why people think his ceiling is 70.3. Pointing to run form or biomechanics is also just wrong, since that is impossible to gauge from visuals alone.
Sure, he is injury prone, but his injury risk will go down as he goes long, since he won’t be doing fast quarters.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon