Hi Matt - congrats! Wow, amazing race and incredible to put together such an awesome race.

I know you are a big Endurance First user. I heard it was a relatively cooler day in Houston, but you still used the EFS Pro? I read it's only good for super hot days. I used it last year on a very cold/windy day in Copenhagen and I had to go pee many times!

Another question about training, do you use the EF multi-v pro and optygen HP year around?

Thanks!

Midday there was a heat index of 92F with 40% humidity. While not blistering hot, I’d hardly call that a cool day.

Do you have a wrestling background? If so, then as a former college wrestler (U of Mizzou), did you just become my favorite triathlete?

Hi Matt
Any idea what kind of time you could run a marathon in as a stand-alone event?
Are you pretty close to your maximum pace when you run the marathon leg at IM?
Cheers
Paul

based on the data i keep that's got to be a significantly different bike position than what you were riding a couple of years ago.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

Compared to 92F with 90% humidity it would be like having your own personal cooling fan with you!

Curious how u feel that the guy you ran shoulder to shoulder with is a doper for meldonium? But that the ITU let it go (as they have a tendency to do). I mean even TENNIS suspended their most global superstar for the stuff.....but not ITU. And he was popped for it 4 months after it became banned substance. With the 2 year math he shouldnt have been in the race.

https://triathlonmagazine.ca/...substance-meldonium/

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@rhyspencer

Me no, Matt yes. I just happen to live in Gable country.

I did alter my plan slightly this year on the bike, but I probably shouldn't have as I was needing to take in extra salt on the run. I did 1300 calories from EFSpro and 700 calories from a blend of EFS and Liquid shot this year on the bike. I took in a flask of liquid shot on the run and cola at the aid stations.

I use multiVpro year round and will use the OptygenHP all but the 2 week winter break and 2 week summer break I take in a typical season.

Yes, I wrestled all through HS and my first year in college until I dislocated my hip at the conference tournament.

I have no clue. I can definitely go faster...I've gone faster in a structured training session a few years ago.

In order to find out, I would have to actually train for a marathon and that would be counterproductive to what I am trying to accomplish now on the bike and run. I might try to find out some day, but honestly running that kind of mileage a week doesn't sound appealing to me at the moment. I'm loving every day of training right now...ok, ALMOST every day of training...so will probably stick to tri training until that changes.

What weight class??? Did you wrestle for U of Iowa???

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

Hi Dan-

Yes, I've made a few changes. I've dealt with back pain (likely closely related to the hip dislocation and spondy from my wrestling days) since I started riding. It has been a constant battle to find a position that is fast and that I can hold for a majority of the race. Matt Bottril has REALLY helped me with this in the last 6 months. The only equipment changes we have made are switching to the ISM 3.0 saddle and slightly rotating it down so I can keep pelvic tilt as fatigue settles in. I also switched to the new Time pedals last fall. Position wise, I raised my saddle 15mm over the winter and also rotated the arm rests on the Zipp Vuka aero bar 180 degrees so they sit back a little farther. Finally, we've been working a lot on just a better bike posture on the set up I have and holding that posture as much as I can when important on the course. Some very subtle...and not so subtle...changes that seem to have made a big difference in comfort as well as speed.

i'm surprised your only positional change on the pads were flipping the pads. i'd have thought you came back more than that. in any case, coming back that amount would, i think, help in low back pain, if that's the pain you had.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

During the race, I didn't think about it one bit. He was in the race and wanted the same result that I did...so I had to find a way to one up him on the day...same thought I would have had with anyone running on my hip.

I've been asked about this a few times since the race, and honestly don't know what to think. It is hard not to be upset about this type of thing, but I also don't know the entire story. As hard as it is sometimes, I try to assume that everyone on the same start line as me is clean and not let it mess with me or my plan on race day. I wish there were more systematic testing of all athletes and better testing methods that would catch everything. Are their people out there doing things they shouldn't...probably. But I try hard (and am not always successful) to keep it black and white...either the athlete was banned or the athlete is able to race for a reason.

I wrestled 141 and NO I was not good enough for the U. I wrestled at a small D3 college (Buena Vista University...the same uni I was a professor at until I went full time as a pro triathlete in 2015).

I am back farther than I was in 2015 when I was riding a different aerobar. I switched to the Zipp in 2016 and the reach has been the same since. I do sit a little farther back on the ISM saddle than I did on the Cobb I rode until March of 17.

Wow, 141 and yet you look pretty darned lean at 150 in the race pics. I wrestled one year D3 as a junior in college at 158, only b/c some friends of mine were on the team and they had no one at all to wrestle at 158. When i was a senior, a real wrestler came in with the frosh class so i just bowed out. :)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

So all your training run miles are at sub 6 min pace? How many now?

I wrestled at Mizzou, but I coached at a small NAIA school in Missouri for 9 years (until 2006). I know we saw Buena Vista University at at least 1 tourny most years, not sure if any were the year you wrestled there or not. But I may have coached against you.

Congrats on the win by the way!

I just went back and looked at the last 6 months...I averaged 50 miles of running per week with a low of 35 miles and high of 70 miles.

I was there 2004-2005 so you probably did. What team?

For anyone interested, I just posted a bit of a recap from the race and a response to IMs announcement yesterday about the records.

http://www.matthansontri.com/2018/05/02/1318/


I'll put one together about the race specifics as well soon.

Congrats on the win Matt! I was on the run course watching and it appeared to be quite the epic run battle going on right up to the finish. On your second and third laps of the run course it started getting kind of busy. At any point did you feel like you lost some momentum going around other lapped competitors?
Also fascinated by successful nutrition plans which yours obviously was. You stated you took in 2000 kcal on the bike. Can you give a bit more detail on how that was portioned out? Did you have it in two bottles and mixed taking sips along with water or was it in four 500 kcal bottles or....
Thanks for the insight.

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Mike Plumb, TriPower MultiSports
Professional Running, Cycling and Multisport Coaching, F.I.S.T. Certified
http://www.tripower.org

It definitely got a bit busy on the third lap, but for the most part I was able to keep consistent strides and momentum going throughout the course. I had to slow down a few times in the aid stations to get what I wanted/needed but it was never too much of an issue that I remember.

I had 3 bottles: one between my arms, and aero bottle on the frame, and a bottle behind the saddle. I start out with 500 calories in the bottle between my arms, then have the rest split between the other two bottles. I take 1/2 of the BTA bottle before the first aid station, then fill that with water to get it back to optimal osmolity. The rest of the day I mix the other two bottles in BTA bottle with water I get from the course. I'm also typically trying to get as much water as I can in me as I go through the aid stations as well. Target for hot races is 3 bottles of fluid an hour...I managed about 2.25 this race.