On Pro Tri News pod today they said Taylor said the blood was from chaffing. Ouch.
Haha at least there’d be some scientific validity to it. Actually now that you’ve said this I can get behind the idea of religious beliefs being placebo for performance.
Don’t think you actually know this, period.
Lot’s of even top athletes “walk [the odd] aid station”.
And Mark on the PTN pod said that Taylor told him it was some serious chafing during the run.
Do you think @rrheisler should ask all top female athletes who walk aid stations “if she was dealing with menstrual cramps”? Before offering his take.
Knibb was so dominant in T100/70.3WC that it seemed inevitable she’d sweep all before her. It hasn’t happened, yet: reasons upthread.
Interesting. Hadn’t heard that yet. Wow, that’s a whole lotta chafing. Glad to have that update.
Agree that it’s a weird question to be asking, so maybe I should re-think how the question should be asked. I went in and added a few edits to my original post.
So…a few thoughts.
First – I think that regardless of the aforementioned circumstances, given Taylor’s dominance across an array of distances to date, it’s fair to ask the “why hasn’t she won an IM yet” question. It’s also fair to point out that she’s done all of four of these distance races (two in TX, two in Hawaii), and three out of those four fields have been stacked to the gills.
There’s two trains of thought that I have there. She could go ahead and race a non-Pro Series race, get a W, and kill that narrative altogether. The other is to continue putting yourself in the lion’s den, only race the biggest of big events, and see what comes of it. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer there. But I do think it fair to ask the question.
Second – I had known that it was a kit issue, but I do think that you are correct that it’s entirely reasonable to ask that question regarding cycles, and report on it (though I would also think it likely that, in this day and age, an athlete might post about it themselves on their social first, and then the story builds from there).
Thank you, as always, for reading and the thoughtful dialogue.
You don’t actually care if she races only A races and doesn’t win an IM do you (until she eventually wins one or does go race a B level in post LA etc)? Like it’s kinda just a oddity right? We don’t actually need to see her to go race a B level race and win by an hour just to say she’s “won” right?
I mean…people have had worse ideas. Might not be the worst thing to do some of this “testing” in a lower stakes event before arriving fresh for Kona.
But I’m just a schmuck who’s getting his ass kicked in B category Zwift races so what do I know.
We get it, you’re not a Christian. Please grind your axe on the other board.
I liked the Nike sign, I thought it was an ode to the runners at Boston and somewhat tongue in cheek. Not surprised it offended. Disappointed in Nike for tucking their tail and apologizing. When can a company just say “oh well, sorry you were offended, we thought it was amusing.”
The Jesus as King flag.. I don’t know, I mean that would be a loose interpretation of the definition of propaganda to issue a DQ. Do I like when athletes do that, or overly thank Jesus or God for their performance? Ehh, not a ton, but I don’t care either. I understand how/where do you draw the line could be an issue, but sometimes fewer rules is better. Leave it to court of public opinion - if someone does something egregious enough they’ll face the music.
Hah. I’m Episcopalian. Wife and daughter are Catholic. Thanks for playing.
why would they be targeting Argentines specifically?
“Runners. Yeah, we’re different”
Adidas, 1998, so it says
This is what I had in mind (I think?) when I started using #MakeRunningWeirdAgain #MakeRunnersWeirdAgain
Reposted from Raziq Rauf’s Substack
I love watching Taylor Knibb race – her performance in 2023 at Kona inspired me to do my first 70.3 and Ironman. But I think there’s a decent chance that Taylor’s equipment choice cost her this race.
I’ve been scouring the internet looking for some clear images of her tires, but assuming she was running the S TRs she ran in Kona instead of the TT TR that’s 1.4 watts in rolling resistance per tire. (Somebody please correct me if I am wrong here — Conti unhelpfully makes the sidewall branding almost exactly the same.)
And the Ballista, while being very fast for a road helmet, is not going to compete with the Wingdream. Claude guesstimates that’s about another 7-12 watts for a total drag saving.
Say it’s 8 watts total. Claude says that is about 1.33% drag reduction (assuming AP of 225), or saving 3.5 minutes, which almost exactly the winning margin.
The only reason I can see for her to do this is a) Trek is paying her to wear the Ballista (surely not enough to justify the $10.5k winning margin, right?) b) she’s worried about the heat.
Aero gurus please correct me if I am wrong!
Diet Coke of Catholics you be eh. Being baptized as something does not also make you a weekly churchgoer. But you also generally come off as extremely liberal, this may be for the other board which I’ll leave to you. But you seem to be pushing something here.
There is a significant difference in your examples. The intent of the rule is likely to stop the antisemitic bullshit at races that is infecting the rest of our country. And also possibly quite possibly to make it even simpler “support of terrorism is not welcome at Ironman races”.
From the River to the Sea or Up the RA are clear pieces of propaganda.
I got a simple rule though, cannot cross the finish line carrying any flag of any kind. Hands must be free throughout the race except when holding a hydration device. That probably works for you I’m sure.
In the past the Lidl-Trek guys were free to wear the aero helmet they wanted. Trek was pretty cool about that. I spent a week at a LT camp, got to meet the Trek folks and have to say, they had a great attitude in general. Way better than some.
She went to the tunnel last year and probably has a data set on which she makes decisions. One thing O can tell you and I really don’t know if this is the case here but if you base your decisions on one data set, you have a better than average possibility of getting it wrong.
Catholic Lite. Same great taste, only less guilt (and less Church scandal). And, like the President in the show with my GIF…I am simultaneously liberal -and- attend mass on a regular basis. What can I say…I’m weird.
If I remember it all correctly, the original onus of the rule was to ensure no protests took place at races in Abu Dhabi / Bahrain…in particular, the Pride flag.
Think you could probably allow the flag of the country you are racing under, and then everything else is forbidden. Or no flags. Or just get rid of this rule entirely, and then handle offensive / counterproductive ones under the other areas of the athlete conduct rulebook.
A few years ago, my cousin came down from CT (this was before she became MAGA, and we were still talking), the weekend of Broad Street Run
She ran a 5K at Drexel, the day before (Saturday) and we hung out in Philly for a while afterwards
“We have to get back to Jersey” I reminded everyone
“Aw, so soon” she complained
“Yeah we have to go to Mass this afternoon, before my race tomorrow”
“If you were Episcopalian - like the rest of us, in Connecticut - you wouldn’t have that problem”
I thought it was something to do with only eating fish.
“Jesus is King” falls into the same bucket here. You’re trying to broadcast a particular belief or belief system (which is a particular brand of Christianity), with the eventual goal of converting/convincing the audience to your side. If this flag came out in a race in the middle east, I don’t doubt that the audience there would see it as hostile.
Let’s break it down a moment, hopefully in a way that doesn’t get this discussion banished to the other side of the forum - The flag asserts that Jesus, a first century carpenter, is the sovereign ruler of something. Originally, this would have been in the context of the 1st century Jews looking to overthrow those pesky Romans (“apart from the aqueducts, what have they done for us?”) and set up (what would have then been) a renewed state of Israel. However, this would have been since widened to include his sovereignty over all of creation post-resurrection, and ascension. It is making a statement about the world as the bearer (Hoel) believes it is, given his platform (in this case his high finishing position, but elsewhere on his IG) to be absorbed by the triathlon community.
It is a specific declaration of a particular belief of the world - one that comes into conflict with, well, let’s face it, a majority of humans both living and dead.
And so coming back to the definition of propaganda (per Merriam Webster) - “ ideas or statements that are often false or exaggerated and that are spread in order to help a cause, a political leader, a government, etc.”
They key here is that it doesn’t need to be false (or you believe it to be false) or exaggerated, just that they’re spread to help a cause, political leader, or government. And so, this is different than a banner that would have said “I am a Christian” or some statement about himself. The declaration of someone as king (or “King”) is always done so for a particular political cause, and in this case a religious one as well.
(and not that it should matter but since people’s personal beliefs are apparently relevant in this discussion, I’m an atheist, but spent a good chunk of my teens/early 20’s as an Evangelical, even going so far as to get a few degrees in theology/religious studies)
No, they don’t mean the same.