Bowden won 70.3 Dubai
Kanute, Lagerstrom, Von Berg looks in good shape
Appleton ?

Difficult to find the winner :-)

Personal preference for Lagerstrom

kind of late for this one but on my opinion after Frodeno drops out he was already looking to another race!

It was never Oceanside, it was always Frodo!

Totally agree. Bowden will most definitely be in the mix. It's any one's race! Gonna be awesome!

I cant ever tell with his posts. I responded to that comment about if he entered he would automatically be a position higher now and he responded back humbly saying his ass would be handed to him in that race either way.

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I have a feeling that the top 3 run splits will win this race. I don't see a lot of separation happening on the swim/bike.

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https://www.strava.com/athletes/4391866

This is the first thing I thought of when I saw that account. I have a feeling it's going to be a very LS focused account.

Crappy news, from Facebook:
Sorry for the silence. It has taken me quite a while to get some definite answers. After 3 weeks of trying different healing modalities with no success, for what I thought to be a nerve impingement, I finally went to see a sports doctor. Though the symptoms weren’t indicating a fracture, he ordered an MRI to rule it out 100%. Sadly the MRI came back positive for a sacral fracture. On March 19th I did a brick workout where my glute started to hurt. I didn’t do a warmup for the run portion, and figured I had stepped a little funny and aggravated my sciatic nerve. Three weeks of rest, massages, physical therapy and though it was getting better, it was still too painful to run. I got the MRI back and called my mom to tell her the news and she asked me if I had fallen. This then reminded me that on my bike workout on March 18th I rode up to a water fountain and tried to be cool and balance at the fountain while taking a drink. I lost my balance and fell over directly onto my hip/butt, without having time to unclip. The embarrassment was far greater than any pain, so I immediately got back onto my bike and rode away. The next day I became symptomatic. The doctor thinks the bone was likely already weakened to fracture under this sort of trauma. Then the next couple of day’s training took it completely over the edge. Unfortunately, I am off running for 9-12 weeks. There is always a silver lining though, and I will take this time to work hard on my swim, and other deficiencies that could have contributed to this injury. We plan to document the whole process. You can mark my words that on the other side of this thing, I will be a stronger and better athlete. I want to sincerely thank all of my friends, family and sponsors who have been incredibly supportive in what has been a tough last couple of weeks.
#nolimits @ Tucson, Arizona

I saw this as well. Oh man, that sucks for LS. I wonder what that portends for the remainder of the season for him. 9-12 weeks of no running, may mean 2019 is written off.

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tinman

Sanders - "Hey, Frodo fractured his hip, so....."

In all seriousness, that sucks, wish him a speedy recovery.

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It might. 9-12 weeks brings him to early July. At best he could be ready for IMMT but that would be rushing it . Frodo still isn't back from his sacral stress fracture. Ben Hoffman took longer than 9-12 weeks off from his so he could heal properly.
All we can do is wish Lionel the best and a full recovery. Not easy being a pro athlete in the spotlight.

and he was almost literally sedentary during that time. unlike what LS sounds like he plans to be.

Well.....looks like I have to apologize to Lionel right! I was completely wrong on my last statement.

9 to 12 weeks at this time of the year having not yet a spot for Kona is a bummer! I really like LS and what he brings to the sport and would hate to see him out of Kona!!!!

Also it is a remind to all of us, age groupers and professionals, how a silly think can jeopardize a lot of work!

Hope he can recover well and stay in shape!

Read that earlier, that sucks a whole lot.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

And probably one of the very hardest things to do as a professional athlete is sit still and rest. It sure paid off for Hoff in SA. Patience can be a very underrated tool in the toolbox.

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Tim Don and Matt Russel came back strong although their injuries were worse than LS's. I'm sure he will come back strong. There's no way he will be out of Kona. He will make it happen!!!

Do you think he shows up to Kona if he knows he won't be competing for the win? I find it hard to believe he'd be willing to go through that again.
That said I have zero knowledge of how long something like this takes to heal I know they said 9 to 12 weeks but then how long to get back fitness he's lost.

Also do we know what side it is could it have something to do with the hitch in his giddyup when he runs. Not saying it was the cause but it would be interesting to know.. correlation does not mean cause but makes you think.

Jan goes vegan, Sanders follows.

Jan goes to Canyon, Sanders follows.

Jan fractures sacrum, Sanders "hold my beer".

In all seriousness as unfortunate as it is, this is tough. Sacral fractures can be extremely hard to recover from and can be prone to re-injury. I have seen 2 friends who had sacral fractures never truly really heal. One friend has 3 more over the next handful of years, running has been his biggest challenge since.

Not sure what side the fracture is on for Sanders, but with his hitch that constant torque presented in that area might have finally caught up to him.

Are you saying this is the year Lionel wins Kona?

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Wait a second, I'm not following. Did you mean Hoffman?

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I love messing with you Thomas.

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Inside The Big Ring: Podcast & Coaching

I don't think we can make this assumption about whose injuries are worse. Certainly Matt's injury and Tim's injury looked more gruesome than a sacral fracture but we don't really know. Little things that affect posture, symmetry, and ultimately balances/imbalances can be series of chain events wrecking havoc on an athlete's ability to bounce back.

FWIW, I was watching a Lionel video last night while eating dinner and it just reminded of how much I like the guy. But he has also admitted that he has had a problem with substance abuse. For that reason I have always looked at Lionel being Lionel's worst enemy and somewhat replacing one addiction for another. Having lived with many professional athletes and dated some I do think I have a keen understanding of elite athletes, their mindsets, their struggles. Watching the recent videos, he looks beaten up, worn down, and now is going to have stay down. It is only March when this happened. A comeback certainly won't be easy, and as much as the physical component will be a challenge for Lionel, I think the more difficult challenge will be the mental/psychological aspect. In addition, in his lastest videos he already talks about how he is not recovering in general like he used to. That was always one of Lionel's greatest weapon according to Barrie Shipley. That can be an addition to the mental roadblock he might have to cope with.

Looking forward, I would never bet against Lionel as I know he uses this as fuel to be better. And I know he values feedback even if he doesn't take it to heart. And fwiw, I consider a Lionel a friend and I hope he would consider me to be one, but then again I am known for being very blunt. If I was him I would take this extremely seriously as I could see it as a career ending injury. But it could also be the fuel to take him to the next level.

Has Lionel already qualified for Kona? If not I would just pass on Hawaii this year. He is still young, no need to rush the process.

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I wonder if his running hitch possibly caused some of the additional stress to the area from everything pulling wrong.

I posed the same question earlier today.
Does anyone know where Jan is in his recovery.

He hasn't qualified yet. This injury certainly puts Kona in jeopardy. I tend to agree with you, that he should strongly consider skipping it, as even IF he could get to the start line of Kona, it certainly wouldn't be as his "best self".

I believe he's actually said he's replacing addictions in the past, and it is the first thing I thought about as well. As someone who has struggled with issues surrounding alcohol, and as someone who is replacing one behavior with another, I can say my biggest fear is this kind of injury. That specifically is likely why he's going to try and swim through it rather than complete rest (my assumption). The thought of doing nothing with all of that time spent training is terrifying to me, and id do exactly the same. I truly wish him the best - even if I'm off base with what I typed.