first!

can you dunk?

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Thanks for joining us here!

Can you give some insight as to how the time between Kona and IMFL played out? Both you and Joe put on astounding performances following good days at Kona. (Hell, the entire podium was ridiculous, if we're honest.)

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Hoff: What the fuck were you thinking?

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Are you still sponsored by a bacon company?

On the note of the poster above, you seem to have a ton of non-endemic sponsors. I would guess you have an agent, but what is the approach to getting so many non-triathlon related companies on board? Cast a wide net or are most of these companies reaching out to you? Its pretty cool to see, and inspiring as I one day hope to wear a big Chipotle logo on my chest with Trolli sour gummy worms on the back...

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors

He's popular in Germany.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Thanks for the opportunity to pick your brain!

You have an interesting stable of sponsors (the blinds sponsor in particular). As far as the swim spa: do you do all of your swimming in the spa (or any, for that matter)? If so, how do you arrange your workouts in the spa?

Thanks

Thanks for joining us Ben!

A few years ago I gave up pigeonholing you as a stud cyclist with a strong, yet not lethal, run. It's been at least a handful of years now you've been a front pack swimmer, seemingly pick your battles when you want to throw down a nasty bike, and now strike fear into your fellow racers with that closing run. By golly, you're the complete package. If you have a weakness I have no clue what it is!

So, my question(s)....

* Do you train all 3 sports consistently throughout the year or do you have dedicated blocks for each sport? Mostly interested in swimming.

* Do you let your hair down at any point during the year for some serious R&R? And if so, for how long? What are your hobbies outside of triathlon?

* Assuming you've still got a soft spot in your heart for hitting the dirt. Do you still find yourself on the mountain or gravel bike (Cervelo's Aspero looks SICK) or out running trails throughout the year?

Cheers,
Lars

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Lars Finanger
Odyssey SwimRun

What is the weirdest thing you've ever eaten on a training day?

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

Congrats on a great season.

You are one of the best 140.6 runners, particularly in severely hot and humid conditions. Any specific or general tips for running so well off the bike? How fast could you run a stand alone marathon?

Congrats on all your success!

What is your favorite distance?

What diet do you follow, if any?

You're one of the few people that has ridden the P5X, P3X, P5 Disc and PX bikes in race situations and all with a similar setup. Is there one you prefer over the others? Will you continue to pick and choose the bike to match the course going forward?

How is that internal drink bladder you have on the PX working for you? How is that held inside the frame of the bike? Great ingenuity!

CDA?

Average power IM Florida?

How has your sleep changed now?

And congratulations on the precious baby girl! :)

I feel like asking what worked* AND what didn't in 2019 would intrude into the 'not here to train my competitors' zone; so maybe answer in detail on either side of the coin. What worked* OR what didn't?

*without referencing the non-invasive hemoglobin tracker. :)

Thanks for doing this!

What's your guess? I'd guess somewhere in the .220-.225 @ 0 range. His calves aren't very aero.

No questions here. I just want to say congratulations for your incredible performance this year. I watch most of your races and interview videos, so please keep in mind that you inspire a lot of people out there and I'm one of them. I wish you the best and thanks for doing this during the off season. I will read Q&A in this thread and learn. Thanks!!!!!!!!!

How much do you enjoy the swim spa?

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

 
Congrats on a great 3 week IM double.

Here are some questions. I don't think they would be earth shattering if your competition knew the answers but it would give the rest of an interesting set of data points:

• Height
• Weight
• Percent Body Fat
• 400m swim speed
• 1600m mile speed
• Annual Hours of training
• Annual run mileage
• Average annual run pace (mileage divided by hours including warmups)
• Peak week run mileage
• Peak week swim mileage
• Off season FTP
• Peak performance FTP
• Calories per hour bike during IM bike leg
• Calories per hour IM run leg
• mg sodium per hour bike and run leg
• Any workouts of any significance in between Kona and Florida
• Overall years of endurance sport
• Overall years of running
• Was Florida always on the plan ?

Kudos for stepping into the fray....

Your run form is beautiful. Has it always been that way or have you made conscious changes to get to where you are today?

Why were you constantly looking at your watch during the FL IM run?

Thanks in advance, Ben.

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"Good genes are not a requirement, just the obsession to beat ones brains out daily"...the Griz

Do you still have a Beyond bike?

What/who hassles The Hoff?

No questions, but please have another Kona viewing party with Tender Belly for breakfast. That was amazing last time. We could turn it into a TZ party since there are a bunch of us in the Denver area.

Congrats on great performances this year in all 3 IM races you have done!!


IM training run load needs to be carefully managed, not only because of injury, but also if you push it too hard on the run probably it will have an impact on your bike workouts the following day/or days. And as we know IM bike fitness is critical.

Any tips you can provide on managing the IM run training load vs bike training?

In your weekly IM blocks do you include high intensity run training at 10k pace or higher (i.e. 1k repeats)? or do you cap the run training intensity at a certain pace to avoid impact on bike workouts (examples)?
How many times a week do you include quality run workouts and how many times a week easy/recovery runs?

Weekly run volume during specific IM blocks?

Thanks

Congrats on fatherhood and Congrats on a great season Ben. Had to be a big relief coming off the injury.

Interestingly enough to me, the top 4 at Kona this year all had their training loads and racing reduced since Kona 2018 due to some sort of injury at one time or another. You and Jan the sacrum. Sebi the achilles. TO the broken foot, the ribs and a stubborn virus. This forced rest clearly helped.

Do you think this shows that the only way to win Kona is to really focus the entire season on just Kona? Could you make it financially by only 1 full distance race so you can be 100% fresh for Kona? Would your sponsors be ok with that?