Racing alot for a guy like him means almost guranteed paychecks. So it could simply be a financial decision where you bank as much money as you can as an athlete. Might even have sponsor kick backs per podium, etc.

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

Looking at his website, he is racing ALOT compared to other triathletes. //

Not from my era. I remember several of us would race on a Saturday, get on a plane across country and then get up and do a Sunday race. Of course there were not ironmans, or even 1/2's, but I recall one season when I flew 20 times in a year to races, and drove to a few too!!!

FWIW, I raced in Bariloche yesterday and "regardless" of effort, it was no victory lap for anybody out there. I can tell you without any doubt that this is going to be one of the top 5 toughest IM branded 70.3s on the circuit.

14C water, 5C air temperature with 35km/h freezy winds, raining and the toughest 56 mile bike ride I have ever done in a race.

My power meter didn't work but my friend who qualified for a WC slot held 260W NP for a 2h46 bike split. Look at the top AG times - it was a pretty hardcore race.

Terenzo, Igor and one more pro I didn't recognize pushed the bike really hard, the gap to TJ was visually huge when I crossed them. I think T and Igor came off the bike together and Terenzo outran him like 1.18 vs 1.20. I am not saying Igor is at Terezo's level as an athlete, but he's a very solid guy and most top pros respect him. To beat a rested Igor Amorelli on a tough course 1 week after a sub 8 IM halfway around the world is for sure no "victory lap".

Its a shame this thread wouldn't be half as long as it is if it wasn't for the vailed PED allegation that got thrown in early doors...

Terenzo was doing back to back 70.3s and winning them years before this supposed Girona connection/correlation. He won Junior Worlds two years in a row back in the early 2000s. He has been near the top for a long time, he has just struggled to put it all together in an ironman until recently.

which is especially impressive, since back in your day you also had to walk uphill to school. in the snow! both ways!

seriously though monty: flying from LA to chicago to do Mrs T's is a world apart from flying NZ to Argentina to do a full and a half.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

it is now 2018, would you expect him to slow down and not bounce back as well. Caveat stated that I have no issue with his performance.

A lot of athletes peaked for endurance sports after early 30s....skiing, running, cycling, tri... For swimming it was more exception

He is also working with a new coach.

It's sad that people look at the location he decided to train at rather than the person he decided to train with. He went to Girona 2 years ago because Frodeno was there. Last year he spent minimal time there, again with Frodeno.

It's a popular pro cycling training hub.

Not sure it's true, but a certain team started there as their hub a while ago. Spain had certain reasons other than views, routes, and food to be a pro cycling training hub.

Loads of athletes go to Spain to train, they don't all dope.
Spain has a good climate, cheap accommodation and food, hills, lakes, running trails aplenty.
If the countries NSO organise testing or they are on a Wada whereabouts testing pool then the athletes are regularly tested, wherever they are at.
In saying that, I am just assuming he is in a whereabouts programme pool, I don't actually know.

I will start making the popcorn, seeing him in the lead of 70.3 Campeche :)

Back to back to back!!

Incredible performance!

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What's your CdA?

Well, what is more impressive?

A Winning Kona

or

B Winning much weaker races back to back to back

For me, I would say that winning Kona is much more difficult. Therefore every Kona winner should be more sucpicious than Terenzo.

I think he is no more sucpicious than every other great performance we see.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

You're wrong. Clearly (according to this thread) he is taking drugs.

Hold on now, benefit of the doubt--gotta give it to him. I think it is the Nike Vaporfly 4%.

don't have time to read the whole thread, and I know I took your quote out of context, and I'm more than aware of Terenzo's pedigree, but your quoted statement above is what goes through my head with every win, and I'm not typically pessimistic like that - that statement/question does not go through my head when Brown broke his own IMNZ time a couple of weeks ago. It's all intuition based and that isn't necessarily fair.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

It is a sorry state of affairs when we view 'outstanding' performances with scepticism.

Interesting that Cam Brown's name came up too. Age is clearly not slowing him down.

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Trust me I’m a doctor!
Well, I have a PhD :-)

I strongly agree. But, it's just the back to back to back nature of it. Brown putting all his eggs in one basket doesn't get the same cognitive appraisal that Jeptoo's performances garnered.... or Lance's. Apologies - I'll leave it at that.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

That's a two week period of peak form.
A better comparison than the average IM AGer would be pro cyclists for the spring classics, the top guys will usually manage 2-3weeks of racing well with a 5hr midweek and a 6-7hr monument on the weekend.

T is doing the volume and has the the right coaching to hit a true peak (not just slightly rested) that he can hold for a couple of weeks then rest and rebuild. Expect to see him do that 2 or 3x per year.

There are lots of grinders on the pro circuit - they do a lot of racing but never peak. For some, not peaking means consistently good results (as in, decent placings), for others it means never being quite there. I can think of very few athletes who do what T does in truly peaking for a target block of races. Obviously it works for him.

I would be suspicious of a 6week block of winning against good fields. But two weeks just shows good planning and preparation (not *that* type of "preparation")

Pros are so fit that amateurs can't fathom it

I remember in the 90s a German pro was doing 1600meter run interval session at a horse race track the day before he won the kiwi ironman..... And the kiwi Pro at the time got up and swam 2km in the pool to warm up the morning of the race.... Normal amateur concepts of limits just don't apply

This is a great point. I remember hearing stories about ITU pros doing hard motorpacing sessions the day before races in Cornerbrook many years ago. And the earlier point about peaking for a two week window in cycling is good as well. With the volume some of these guys, holding for for two weeks is not out of the question at all.

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I don't see either of those things to be even slightly unusual, even for an age-grouper. It's common to do a some "opener" intervals the day before a race, and common to warm up for 30 minutes or so on race-day morning.

Sorry, I meant 1600 meter repeats and 2km at 5am in a pool the morning of the ironman, not openers and swim warmup before the start