Lionel is plant based?

News to me. We were smashing pizza's and steaks about 2 weeks ago.

Lionel should sit out. Even if he makes it there’s no way he even gets a top 10 and we know how badly he wants that race. This is not his year IMO

Lionel is plant based?

News to me. We were smashing pizza's and steaks about 2 weeks ago.

Lionel is plant based?

News to me. We were smashing pizza's and steaks about 2 weeks ago.

wont qualify for Kona.... nice

We could add:
James Cunnama
Ivan Rana
Igor Amorelli
Joe Skipper
Victor Del Corral

Ann Haug
Sarah True
Anja Ippach
Carrie Lester
Angela Naeth
Helle Fredrickson
*** It Appears there will be 14 more men's spots and 12 women's spot between now and the last KQ race @ MT, Denmark, Sweden

These athletes have all featured at a certain level be it top 10 in Kona or floating around top 10

Ok, man!

As far as I know, he has no coach.
Lionel hired me to help him get back on track after his disaster in Kona 2018. I met him the summer of 2011 in Caledon and I have been somewhat involved (very sporadically) and provided advice when asked or when needed (or when I think he needed it) since then. We tried to work together in 2015 but I found that he was way to stubborn and difficult to work closely with after about a month. We tried it again after Kona 2018 when he reached out to me after the race. That ended at the end of Jan of this year. He decided he would rather execute his training plan to a 'T' in Tucson instead of coming to Florida to have one-on-one coaching. Bottom line : he just won't/can't listen to anyone. After Kona 2018 he swore up and down that he didn't know anything about anything and that was his new mantra (just watch his Youtube video) and then 3-4 months later, he goes back to being 'Lionel' and he knows everything about everything again. I thought it was a terrible decision for him to go to Tucson on his own and I felt that he was getting back on the same mental path that lead him to Kona 2018. He is perhaps the most talented 70.3 and maybe even IM athlete this sport has seen in a long time (or at least top 3) but I have a hard time seeing how he ever reaches his full potential because of his poor decisions. I tried for years to help but I eventually had to give up.

Lionel should sit out. Even if he makes it there’s no way he even gets a top 10 and we know how badly he wants that race. This is not his year IMO

Agreed. All are great athletes. My point is that Lionel often out bikes and/or out runs many of them on most days, especially if it is a non-draft-fest type of course (maybe Frodo at his best is close to unbeatable?). Heck, go back and look where LS was at 2014 70.3 Worlds. He barely had 3 years of decent training, he took much of the winter off from the bike in previous years while he was running x-country in University and accomplished 4th at Worlds and he started with a last place swim. Since then he has made minimal to no progress (he bikes the same power or less and runs the same pace or less - for both racing and training). The point I am trying to make is that I assume all those great athletes are close to maximizing much of their god given talents but Lionel is far from it. Lionel gets 2nd in Kona 2017 and his training progression was 7.5/10 (that's my opinion after reviewing every single workout he did) leading up to it. He made several training errors and still lead for most of the race right up to something like 23 miles of the run.
I assume that other athletes make better overall training decisions and that Lionel's decision making process is why he isn't where he should be. I have been using the initials FWC, (Future World Champion) for as long as I can remember to describe him. That is definitely his potential, imo, but you can't reach your potential if you make poor decisions, and I just couldn't figure out how to stop him from making poor decisions. Miracles and surprises don't happen at 4 or 8 hour World Championship endurance events.

Example:
Problem : He got 2nd place at Kona and just needed to hold his run together for a bit longer. He needed to improve by about ??... 1%.
LS Solution : Instead of changing 1% and making small tweaks to his diet, bike, run, training, etc., he went and changed 99% of it. He completely changed his diet. He completely changed his bike set up. His training was a complete reversal in 2018 vs. 2017. How do you explain that?

Problem : Slowest swim among the top tier professional long distance triathletes
LS Solution : Hire perhaps the best open water swim coach and then never, ever go and train with him. Use only online training plans. Instead, train in a pool by yourself with no coach on the deck & train in an endless pool in your basement in Windsor. That is not World Champion decision making skills, imo? Remember, he has unlimited time and unlimited money, he just has solve problems (ie. a slow swim).

Don't get me wrong, he has obviously had a ton of success and he is an incredible natural athlete. One analogy that I use is someone who has won a lottery but then through a serious of poor decisions, blows all their money. Lionel hasn't blown all his 'money' (time in this case), but I couldn't figure out how to stop him from blowing the rest. Maybe somebody else can figure him out but I am 95% confident he can not figure it out on his own. The mentality that he had in the month or two after Kona 2018 can put him on the right track but that needs to last 2-3 years, not 2-3 months.

Lionel is plant based?

News to me. We were smashing pizza's and steaks about 2 weeks ago.