Appears happy also.

Lionel finally came to the painfully obvious conclusion that you cannot objectively analyze yourself and your own training. And that the successes of Frodo, T.O. Hoff, Wurf are all in part because of the teams of individuals around them whom they listen to. AH-MAZING!!

Great video, let’s hope this sticks. David is an amazing coach, Cody and Lionel are in good hands.

Very smart decision. Having someone the caliber of DTD in his corner is a massive asset if he listens to him and internalizes it.

I'm pretty happy with myself haha. Obviously it was out there - but I think I called it on ST first!

It's going to be a good thing I think - if he just stays out of his own way - great things will happen. I think he looks better across the board, swim bike and run, technically than he ever has - this year might have been a great thing.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

The post that I made post Kona pointed out that his most successful race in Kona was under DTD and ever other year he was outside the top-10 and underperformed (although that was debated).

While I agree this was already out there I think we are all glad to see he has gone under DTD's guidance again and we can all breathe easier knowing we won't be frustrated with his self-coaching next year.

Lionel has a great work ethic (almost too great at times) and loads of talent. Looking forward to seeing how the team of Sanders and DTD do in the next few years!

EDIT: Just watched the video, probably one of his most mature videos and commentary on him ever. Great awareness and acknowledgment on why and how he cannot do it on his own.

This must have been a hard but easy decision for him. Hard that he wants to do it alone, easy that he knows DTD helped him so much and he recognizes that year was his best.

Oh, there were a TON of posts about him doing his best races under DTD. I think we all felt like that was a great fit for him.

I was referencing being the first one seemingly to actually find him on DTD's current athlete page October 22nd. With the picture from Kona 2017 but still! I was just pretty proud of my amateur sleuthing skills on the interwebs.

"EDIT: Just watched the video, probably one of his most mature videos and commentary on him ever. Great awareness and acknowledgment on why and how he cannot do it on his own."

I agree with you on this - he seems "lighter" for lack of a better term. He's 31 - there's really no reason he couldn't get 2 or 3 Konas if he cracks the code. Hell, Jan was 34 with his first.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

Can someone break down DTD for us? Resume etc

Can someone break down DTD for us? Resume etc //

He used to coach Lionel Sanders, what more could there be? (-;

Everyone thinks this is the magic bullet but this guy still can't run low 2:40s in Kona. Might be a depressing fate when there aren't any more excuses a year from now.

http://www.tilburydavis.com/athletes

He's a good coach - knows his stuff. There's a bunch of podcasts with him - coached Lionel, Cody Beals (now in the past athletes, interestingly) and a bunch of others. Posts here a bunch - has given me thoughtful feedback on an issue last year that he didn't need to. Super close in Seattle I believe. Should take him out to coffee one day.

I'm pretty sure he and Cody did/do work similarly, with lots of athlete input, so I'm sure he knows what he's going into again and will set the boundaries well. I think this will be Lionel 2.0.

In regards to Lionel not running low 2:40s off the bike in Kona. His run times elsewhere show that the potential is there, so it's not like he's a 1:15 HIM runner who hasn't shown the capabilities off the bike to run fast. I know he needs to SHOW it, but the potential is there, let's not lose sight of that.

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

Ah it's this time of year again.


In all seriousness though, I hope he means it this time.

DTD is making a mistake. But if he has an iota of intelligence (and I think he does), he knows he is going to fail and he knows agreeing to coach Lionel is a mistake.

So why, David?

Maybe the question is really who else is willing to take him.

Matt Dixon will take anyone on the right financial terms.

What do these guys charge? Or is it a percentage of the winnings.

No comment.

Joe Skipper says "Hello"

I still don't understand his nutritional struggles. Gatorade put him through a battery of tests a year or two ago to determine exactly what he needs to fuel himself and I'm sure they'd happily do it again (or another nutrition sponsor if he were to switch). Was there something wrong with that plan or did Lionel just abandon that (I don't follow him nearly as closely as others here do)? If he just abandoned it, then getting a coach isn't going to help him because he clearly just does whatever he wants to do anyway.

I would look at it as it's a very low risk for DTD. Athlete w/ previous success and relationship. Talking about a guy coming off Kona finishes with a double digit 2 in front....aint a high bar to go from here imo.

The risk as I said is the coach/athlete is going to have some very "difficult" conversations and thus the athlete's going to have to "show" the coach. If those meaningful conversations were had, and I'm guessing in LS's case he's sorta against the wall....so it's now or never.

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

My 2020 Lionel Predictions (counting his next three 70.3’s)

89%+ win percentage in all races
Top 3 Kona 2020
Sub 2:47 run in Kona
DTD is still coaching/advising Lionel November 2020

Plenty of coaches are willing to work with Lionel. He's a good guy and great athlete. He may have been the everyman of triathlon making seemingly amateur athlete mistakes. But he's been a self-taught athlete his entire career, he didn't come up through a high performance system like the majority of his peers.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

So I guess the one-bottle-an-hour rule is out the window! He needs three bottles and hour! Where will he keep all that fluid? Is it even possible to refresh reserves of 60+ oz of fluid every hour without stopping or slowing significantly?

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