The tragic passing of Hannah Henry serves as the poignant focal point of our discourse in this episode, as we reflect upon her life and contributions to the triathlon community. Hannah, an accomplished athlete and vibrant individual, was taken from us far too soon during a training ride, leaving an indelible void in the hearts of those who knew her. Following this solemn homage, we transition to discuss the upcoming significant events in the triathlon calendar, including the T100 on the Gold Coast and Ironman New Zealand, both of which promise to showcase exceptional athletic prowess. In addition, we delve into the vital topic of sleep hygiene, offering strategies to enhance the quality and quantity of restorative rest essential for optimal performance in endurance sports. Through these discussions, we aim to honor Hannah's legacy while providing our listeners with insights into the sport we cherish and the practices that sustain our well-being.

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What would happen if you brought together a professional triathlete and producer of one of the most widely read triathlon newsletters,

together with the tridoc medical contributor for Triathlete magazine, age group winner and coach at LifeSport coaching.

Let's say you had the makings of a pretty good podcast.

Welcome to Tempo Talks.

Two perspectives, one sport.

All things triathlon.

Hello.

Hello everyone.

Welcome back to another episode of Tempo Talks.

I'm your host Matthew Sharp alongside my excellent co host who definitely was feeling a little stressed today during the, the Olympics.

Jeff sank off.

Jeff, how was that game today with Canada vs Czech Republic?

How are you feeling?

I lost, I lost several years off of my lifespan.

I'm, I'm convinced.

You know, we have grown up in a golden age, you and I.

Well, me for sure because I don't remember the 72 series that was but I do remember very clearly watching team or the Montreal Canadiens play the Russians on New Year's eve in the 70s, I believe that was 79.

That was an epic game.

Ended up as a tie.

I remember the Canada cup series that were played in the 80s, including the amazing overtime goal by Mike Bossi, the overtime goal by.

Oh gosh, who was the defenseman for the Edmonton Oilers.

This amazing offensive defenseman to make these incredible.

Not Paul Coffey, was it?

No.

Anyways, Yari Curry.

These are people.

Yeah, no, it's before your time.

These amazing goals, these amazing plays.

I mean Grant Fuhrer, you know, standing on his head to stop like the Russians coming through.

And then of course the all time great Canada cup series where we had a best of three final between Russia and Canada to be won by Mario Lemieux on a three on one with like a about a minute and a half left to play.

Gretzky to Lemieux, top shelf.

Win the game, win the series.

Love it.

I was here.

I watched it here.

But I'm trying to remember where I was.

I just know there was a lot of screaming involved.

There was a lot of, you know, and so today my daughter and I were watching.

I was playing hooky from my responsibilities at work.

I hope my boss isn't listening to this podcast.

And we, we were just like absolutely not enjoying the way how well the Chucks were playing to really shut down the offense.

Yeah, they were amazing.

And, and then they needed, I just knew that Canada, if they were going to score, they needed some kind of deflection or some kind of not straight up goal because of.

And then Nick Suzuki, my Montreal Canadiens captain, came through with exactly that.

And then an overtime.

Mitch Marner on three.

On three play.

Ugh.

Just amazing.

It was.

There was a lot of screaming.

My daughter, I.

And now I have a memory etched forever of my daughter and I watching.

Amazing.

Hopefully a couple more memories coming up.

I know.

Well, I don't need.

I. I'll be fine if they blow out the teams in the next couple of games.

For sure.

We'll have to see what happens if Sid the kid comes back because that doesn't look good.

He looked like his knee buckled under him on a play and he's gone for mri.

So that.

That doesn't sound so great.

But what about you?

Did you.

The Olympics, you know, we have these incredible memories, I guess, like touch points in our lives.

So this is just adding to the.

To the lore of the Olympics.

And it's been so fun to watch the last couple weeks.

All the events really.

I mean, everything has been amazing.

Some amazing short track skating, some great curling.

I saw a funny meme about how there's a lot of kerfuffle about the cheating Canadians at this point.

And not on branding for us.

Well, but I saw this really funny meme about how, you know, when other countries cheat, it's all about drug use.

And when Canadians cheat, it's like a little finger touch on the stone as they release it.

As Canadian as cheating can be.

Oh, well, anyways, if you.

You did, you also find a certain degree of stress watching today's game.

I mean, you're Canadian, you're invested.

Yeah, I mean, I was working, but they had the.

The game on at the office.

Productivity was not at an all time high and I was trying to almost like ignore it because I kept seeing the score and it was too close for me.

Didn't love it.

So I wasn't like fully engaged with the game in some ways because I was just too stressed to.

To kind of like fully invest in it.

The goal was.

Yeah, like that's like a core memory of my life.

Like, honestly, like in top days of my life, like so far, that's up there for sure.

Because I was in Vancouver, I wanted like the, you know, public viewing areas.

Oh, must have been amazing.

It was incredible.

Like obviously the, the roller coaster.

I'm sorry, for folks who are listening who are talking about this, you know, this is just memory lane for me.

I Just happened to be there in Vancouver for that game.

You know, the game was being played blocks away.

I was in the public viewing area and just the roller coaster you go on with thousands of other people at this public viewing for this game.

Like we were leading and then they came back over time.

Obviously the golden goal, that was like a core memory because we just all flooded into downtown Vancouver.

You know, the, the feeling of, of sharing that with so many people.

Very special, very special.

And for me that's definitely like a core life memory because it was just, it was just incredible.

Canada could win like 30 gold medals.

If they don't win hockey, it wouldn't matter.

Courtney Cirro embodies joy.

That 25 year old speed skater in short track.

She's just got this megawatt smile.

She clearly is having the time of her life just racking up all these medals.

Amazing.

And she will be, and rightly so.

She will make bank after this for just her personality and everything else.

But if we don't win gold, I think that she will, she will be diminished somehow.

For sure.

For sure.

Sad for her.

We'll see this time next week we'll find out.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, we have some triathlon stories to discuss so you don't have to worry.

This isn't going to be a suddenly a Olympics or hockey podcast.

We are going to focus on multi sport.

We unfortunately have a very sad story to begin with and that's going to be the homage that we are going to pay to the life of the recently passed Henry who was unfortun taken way too soon during a training bike ride.

We are going to then move to something more positive which is the start lists which have been released for the T100 on the gold coast as well as for Ironman New Zealand.

And we're going to wrap it up with the discussion of sleep hygiene.

What are the things that you can do to try and maximize both the quantity and quality of your sleep so that you can recover better and train with a better rested mind and body.

But let's begin first with the really sad and tragic story of yet another cyclist taken from us far too soon on the roads doing something that she loved, doing something that brought her tremendous joy and that is Hannah, Henry, Matt, you knew her.

We knew that this had happened last week but we chose not to discuss it because I think it was too fresh for you.

Tell us, tell us more about Hannah and the life that she lived.

Yeah, yeah, just incredibly tragic.

I just was not ready to talk about it last week because quite Honestly, I didn't want to believe it, but it just like tragic is really the only word to describe what happened.

But Hannah, you know, she was an incredible young woman.

I grew up with her kind of in the same circles, triathlon on Vancouver island and you know, growing up, you know, with another athlete like that.

She trained with me at the National Training center in Victoria for many years.

And you know, just my memory of Hannah and my, you know what I think of Hannah, you know, just a, a bright young woman, like just a gorgeous smile.

Someone who was always showing up to work out, to, to want to work hard.

Someone who always was just pushing.

She was just an incredible person.

It's funny because growing up with Hannah, she was quite shy, quite a shy young woman.

And I remember when, you know, found out that she was going to be going to Arizona State University to, to pursue triathlon and obviously her education, I remember thinking like, okay, like this could be really good, you know, life sequence of events for her.

Like, you know, maybe she'll come out of her shell a little bit.

And she certainly did.

I mean, she became kind of a leader on this, this triathlon team for so many women.

Obviously had some incredible results.

She was two time NCAA champion, which is, she's the only person to ever done that.

And really just that whole experience of, of going to school in the, in the US and it really did kind of, I guess lift her to another level.

And it was just cool for me to observe like the growth of this person, you know, coming out of her shell and becoming an incredible woman.

She got her master's when she was 22.

She was, you know, working full time now.

Like she had moved on from sport.

She had a great job working in sustainability.

She was training for the Boston Marathon.

This is someone who I think like embodied just the best of our community and kind of the best of triathlon.

She was a hard working person.

She was dedicated, she was passionate.

She was very community oriented.

She was just taken from us way too soon.

It's just, it's tragic.

I don't think I understood that she was no longer pursuing triathlon full time.

I knew she was very bright.

She had a 4.0 GPA through college.

Did not recognize she had done a master's already by age 22, which is incredibly impressive.

And was she not part of the national program to try and race in the Olympics for Canada?

Was that not.

She.

She was, I believe she was on the national team at points.

I think when she went down to asu, she kind of kind of Got into that, that focus on, on academics and kind of shied away a little bit from maybe the high performance side.

But she did compete at the Junior World Championships and she actually won a medal at the Pan American Games for, for the relay with Team Canada.

So, you know, an incredibly accomplished athlete, but also such a well rounded individual who was, you know, destined for, for great things, really.

And did she have siblings?

Yeah, so she was kind of the middle child.

There's the three, I would say, Henry sisters.

Holly, her older sister, who I also trained with in Victoria, another incredible person.

And then Heidi.

Heidi Henry, her youngest sister, who went to school, University of San Francisco and did triathlon, NCAA triathlon there as well.

And another bright light in our community.

And I'm sure they're all just completely devastated.

This is, as you say, and as we have noted, just a life taken far too soon.

And I talked on my podcast this morning, Friday morning, the Tridoc Podcast.

My Monologue is dedicated to this ongoing, just wholesale disregard for human life on two wheels.

And I don't really want to belabor it or get into it here because I want to celebrate Hannah, but I do think it's worth noting yet again that every time we go out the door to pursue this activity that we love so much, we are always having to face the reality that the deck is somewhat stacked against us.

And Hannah was doing everything right.

She was riding during the day, she was riding in a dedicated bike lane.

She was, well, she was, she, you know, circumstances just conspired against her.

And I don't want to pretend that there isn't a tragic backstory behind the individual who was behind the wheel of the vehicle, because I'm certain there is.

That was somebody's baby boy at some point who had a full life ahead of him, and his life took a very bad turn and he ended up where he was at a wrong time.

And it's tragedy all around.

But for Hannah to be gone at this point, so young, and to leave behind so many grieving parents and siblings and relatives and friends is just beyond words.

Yep.

Yeah, there's, there's really no other way to describe it.

Just an incredible person.

I feel like for me, with the circumstances of her death, like, this guy was high on fentanyl.

He was basically going out and looking to get more drugs.

I, I, this is, it's what's hard about this, right?

Like, you can't, there's no recourse, there's no, like, what can we do differently?

Like, this guy just chose to do things and chose to get behind the wheel.

And for me, honestly, this is kind of like a hardening episode.

Like, I know, I think maybe you have a bit more compassion than I do, but, like, for me, this is, this has been kind of a hardening.

Just.

It's just.

There's nothing for me, like, I just can't be compassionate.

Like, I, I'm sorry.

I understand.

I understand.

And I, you know, I worked for 20 something years in an emergency department where I saw many, many victims of intoxicated drivers, be it with alcohol or drugs.

And I felt that anger as well.

And I don't pretend for a second to not feel the same kind of anger now.

I, I'm not, I'm not immune to that.

But I also recognize that addiction is, is a problem.

It's not something that most people choose to be addicted.

And once they are addicted, we don't do a great job as a society to help people not be addicted.

And yeah, it's, it's tragic all around, but certainly much more so for the victim here who really, you know, was completely blameless.

And I just, I think it's just a horrible situation all around.

Yeah.

And it's just a reminder to.

For all of us just to, you know, do what we can to be safe out there and live every day.

Live every day to the max because you just never know and do do what you can to, like you said, be safe and make your choices.

I ride in the basement almost all the time because I've seen too much of this and I just don't want to be a victim.

But at the same time, I love riding outside.

So it's this constant, for sure.

Yeah, it's this constant kind of battle of what's the lesser of evil there.

Yeah.

And.

And we went to the memorial for Hannah and it sounds like they actually may be establishing some kind of scholarship for her at asu.

So kind of a waiting word on that.

I'm still waiting word on any kind of like GoFundMe or, or, you know, way to support, because I will definitely be participating in that and I'm sure I'll share it in my newsletter and

we'll pass it along here as well.

Yeah, yeah, we'll pass along here as well.

Any news on like a ghost bike or anything like that?

Yeah, there's.

I think they're setting up the ghost bike kind of where.

Where she was killed, basically.

But I don't know when that's going to happen.

But yeah, it sounds like that's, that's being Set up for sure.

Far too many ghost bikes.

Far too many.

Yeah.

Well, any final words about Hannah before we move to our next topic, which will be hopefully more pleasant.

Yeah, it will be more positive for sure.

I think, you know, our triathlon community is blessed with so many amazing people and, And Hannah was one of them.

She was one of the best.

And yeah, we're lucky to have people like her involved in it and.

And, you know, yeah, she's.

She was just such a bright light, so it's going to be hard to kind of come back from this one.

And that's just the reality.

Well, our deepest thoughts, sympathy, condolences to anyone who was touched by this.

And please feel free to head over to the Tempo Talks Facebook group and leave any thoughts that you might have.

And certainly if you knew Hannah or if you come across her at any time, we'd love to hear about that.

So share your experiences.

But let's move on.

There is still life to consider for those of us who are fortunate enough to enjoy what we have and ENJ going forward.

So let's talk about the races that are coming up.

We have the T100 in the gold coast and we have the Ironman New Zealand.

Two big races and lots of amazing names on the start line.

So what do we have to look forward to here, Matt?

Yeah, we'll get into the.

It's funny, like, we're kind of getting back into the season I guess now.

Like, you know, we had our, our downtime and all of a sudden, hey, Iron Man Pro series start list coming out.

T100 Pros Pro Startless coming out.

Although no men's for the T100, so.

But, you know, they can't get everything right.

It's T100.

Imagine if iron man didn't have a men's star list.

Anyways, so we'll start with like the Iron Man New Zealand start list.

A very, very solid field.

We basically have like Cap Matthews coming and the, the Pro series leader from, from last year.

She's definitely going to be the one to watch.

I mean, Cat Matthews last year, I wouldn't say like an undefeated season, but just.

I would say one of the most consistent seasons we've seen from, from a, from an athlete, like just incredible podium performances was, oh, so close to that world championship victory in Kona.

So she is Kat Matthews, definitely the headliner now.

Cat Matthews had that leg injury in Marbella.

Do we have any word about how she's been doing?

I feel like she's been training.

I can't Say I've been following her progress too closely, but I know she's like, I think she's been training pretty consistently and she's someone who, I think last year she talked about, you know, how she's been able to be so consistent and part of, you know, what's made her so good.

Obviously, it's very talented athlete, but she's actually kind of been.

Not undercooked, but just been more conservative with her training, ensuring that she's getting on the start line and that's going to get you consistent results.

That's going to get you a pro series victory.

Right.

So I, I envision her showing up to this race, actually.

Definitely not, you know, in Kona form from last year.

No, of course not.

No.

But for many of these athletes, I actually think if you're able to do this race, you're able to show up in New Zealand, even if you're kind of underdone, even if you're not, you know, maybe even at like 90%, maybe you're at 80% or whatever.

I think it's, it's an advantage as we go through the season, but we can talk about that a little bit as we go on.

But, yeah.

Hannah Berry, also an athlete who was the top five in Kona last year.

Someone who's going to have the home crowd support and.

And it's in.

Is it Topa Taupo.

Taupo.

Thank you.

Well, no, actually, you're right.

Sorry.

I always say Taupo, but when I was there, I was corrected.

It.

It's.

It's Topa.

Topa.

Maybe if we're over here, we can say Topo.

Yeah.

Hannah Berry.

She's gonna have the hometown, the home country support, and she had a great season last year, so we'll be watching for her.

You have another athlete probably who I think is kind of on the up this year, Jocelyn McCauley.

She was injured last year, so I believe she's been, you know, healthy since she's been coming back.

She did Kona, but she wasn't, you know, in top form or anything, so I think she's someone who could have a.

Have a great day out there.

Notable athletes.

Also on the start line is one of, one of our favorites, and one of your favorites for sure is Tamara Jewett.

Made the trip down to New Zealand.

Tell me she was.

I could have sworn she told me.

Wait, we talked.

I'm trying to remember if she told me she was doing that one or if I asked her and she said no.

Well, she's on the star list.

She's on the star list.

That's very interesting.

So she has been like.

She's been doing a big training block out in California.

Yeah.

And.

And she's kind of doing like a swing of races.

I believe she's doing the Channel Challenge Wanaka race this weekend, since she's down there, Right?

Yes.

Yeah.

So she's down there.

She's down, you know, that part of the world.

Definitely someone who, if she's putting in the work, always a threat.

Especially on that, for sure.

Well, I mean, she's got a couple of Ironman races under her belt.

They haven't gone perfectly.

She had that phenomenal run.

Where did she qualify?

Was it Texas that she qualified?

I'm trying to remember where she.

Yeah, she had a phenomenal run in Texas and then Kona, she was sick, so.

But she still ran lights out, so it's kind of, you know, it'll be.

She's always a threat.

Always a threat.

If she could put together a solid bike, then she's.

She's dangerous.

And the bike in Ironman New Zealand is not super challenging.

It's like hilly or like.

It's not hilly.

Bumpy, rolling.

Yeah, yeah.

The road surface is not great.

The road surface makes it more tiring, but it is.

There's no significant climbs at all.

It's just basically you do this out and back three times and it's.

It's got this like, you know, sort of lump in the middle.

That's about it.

So, yeah.

So on the, on the men's side, the headliner, definitely Christian Blumenthalt.

I mean, last year's Pro Series champion, almost undefeated last year.

Dustin off that fancy VO2 max.

He's going to take it out for a spin.

We'll see how it looks.

You know, I mean, there were questions around the VO2 Max, so maybe, you know, maybe it wasn't over 100.

Maybe it was 99.

Be that as it may, he's pretty fit.

I'm sure he's one of those guys.

He's always, always fit.

He's always at like 90 at least.

So he's the headliner.

A few other boys on the start line looking to take him down early season.

Mike Phillips, who was last year's champion from New Zealand.

He'll have the hometown support.

Trevor Foley from the US is making the trip over.

Same with Matt Hansen.

I've seen him, of course.

Of course, Matt Hansen.

Matt Hanson never misses a race.

I'm.

I'm still worried about him and his prolific racing.

I'm like, man.

But again, if he maybe isn't gone, put all his chips on the table.

Maybe he's holding a little bit back, just trying to get an early season result.

Maybe not a bad play.

Notable athlete I want to point out on the start line is Pierre Lacour, who I believe I spoke about, you know, a few.

Few episodes ago for sure.

But he's.

He was on the French Olympic team.

He was the one who crashed in that relay in Paris with Hayden Wilde and kind of went into a bit of a downward spiral.

And he's a great athlete, so I'm very curious to see, you know, how he's come out of that.

Last year he was pretty quiet, obviously, you know, dealing with personal issues and.

And whatnot as a result of that crash.

So I'm curious to see how he'll go over the ironman distance.

There's no way he's done one before, so an unknown.

But someone like Blumenfeld will know.

Know what he's about because he's raised him many times on the over a short course circuit for sure.

Now, one name that didn't come up on the women's start list and we're not really going to have too much to say about all of this, but Lucy Charles Barkley, who recently underwent some kind of surgical procedure.

Do you have any tea to spill on that?

I wish I did.

I feel like she's the kind of person who maybe if I asked her she might, you know, give me some info.

But I don't know.

I don't love to like pry that that much.

She posted her.

She post.

She's always posting on Instagram about her injuries and her surgeries.

Yes.

And always after the fact.

It's like, oh, cool.

You don't talk about hospital.

Here I am lying in a hospital bed, had a.

Had a minor procedure.

Do you know what the extent of the.

I don't is a calf thing.

Someone on her calf.

Calf probably it's something lower limb because she seems to have lower body injury in the hockey parlance.

I'm sure Brian, Brian always knows.

Brian's gonna put a comment in the.

In the temple talks.

He's gonna be like, you know, it was, you know, hit us up, I guess.

Yeah.

Like if it was a calf thing, like what would you could be getting surgery on though?

If it was something calf related.

She had a hematoma in there.

If she had a tear of some kind, but a tear.

Yeah, I could see that she's at the end of that year.

Like that was that Was a big year.

She had a lot of fractures so I would hope it's not that, but we'll see.

Anyways, she will not be in attendance.

She's not gonna healing up and we wish her the best for sure.

One thing to note for this Ironman New Zealand, the first race in the pro series is the introduction of the 20 meter draft rule.

Draft zone for the pros.

Well, it's, it's not a huge list so it'll be fine I think.

Right.

Yeah.

I actually was surprised there wasn't that many people or like it's far.

I mean where, where you're going to run into trouble with that 20 meters is oceanside because Oceanside is a much bigger field and it can tend to get bunched up.

So.

But think like a Cat Matthews will just ride off on her own.

Like does.

Does anyone have a chance of hanging with her on the bike?

That's, I mean on paper that's what it, that's what I would expect.

Yeah.

And in the men's side too.

I mean it's, it's definitely stacked with, with good athletes.

Like.

Or is this Blumenfeld just going to be bye bye, say bye bye to the rest of the field?

Yeah, I mean Trevor can ride, but I don't think he has, he can hold a candle to, to Christian.

His hope is going to have to be that he can run down Christian.

Which, you know, I mean he's, he's a good runner, but he's, he's actually.

Yeah, he's, he's a good, he's a good bike runner.

Trevor Foley.

But I feel like Blumenfeld would just outrun him.

Like few outran Blumenfeld last year.

Like few athletes outran him.

Right?

Yeah, yeah.

Like.

No, I agree.

So it's, it's Blumenfeld's race to lose.

I mean for sure, until he loses a race, it is always going to be his race to lose.

So.

Yeah.

And honestly though, looking at the start list, I think a lot of these Ironman athletes will kind of who didn't show up or who aren't going to New Zealand.

I think they're gonna be shaking their heads a little bit because really like there's, there's just not that many athletes on the start line and I know they go by time.

So like if Cat and Bloominfetta are there and they're firing, it's going to be tough to, you know, not lose that many points or whatever.

But in terms of just getting a result, I definitely think there's an opportunity there and, and maybe some people will be at home being like, I should have, should have made the trip because especially as the season goes on, right, Your opportunities to do a race diminish.

So like if something goes bad in New Zealand, okay, well, at least I can do the next one, you know,

but there's pluses and minuses, right?

I mean you, you alluded to it yourself like this ability to stay healthy and to stay in peak form all the way through the year, that is really difficult for sure.

But if you can show up now and get your slot tucked away and then maybe focus on 70.3 where the training isn't quite as arduous and you don't have to be putting in, you know, the huge long bike rides and the huge long runs, then you could probably maintain a certain amount of fitness, a baseline so that when you do want to get back to Ironman kind of level, then it's not as big.

Now, I recognize that for pros it's not the same thing as age groupers who, you know, really have to have a big difference between 70.3 and Ironman.

And for pros it's probably not nearly as big of a difference.

But still there is wear and tear and I think maintaining Ironman, you know, that kind of high level Ironman ability takes a toll if you're training over the course of a year.

But I'm sure that like Tamara is probably thinking this and Cat's exceptional.

I mean Cat seems.

She's just good Cat.

All last year she was like every race she showed up from, from the early spring all the way through the year she was in peak form.

So.

But, but she's a little bit unusual.

You don't see most athletes doing that.

I wonder when we can expect to see Taylor again because she clearly, you know, has been open about the fact that Kona definitely was physiologically a major hit.

So it was interesting was I think she is planning on racing Kona.

I mean I don't, I don't have that intel or anything, but I, I feel like that's.

She's still going to plan on doing Kona.

But I wonder with this race, I'm a little actually worried about like the broadcast in some ways just because if you've got those two class athletes, are they just going to be off the front the whole time?

You know, the one camera on the one athlete?

Yeah, but I will say I, I was able to get a little bit of intel and it sounds like Will McCloy who I hyped.

Up your guy.

Yeah.

As being a great broadcaster.

He's actually going to be doing a number of the pro series races and I, I'd imagine he'd be doing this one.

So if you are planning on tuning it, tuning in, at least you'll have a pretty engaging like voice.

I think he's the best announcer in triathlon for sure that far.

None.

I'm, I'm, I'm super excited to hear that.

So I'm looking forward to, you know, that is great when I tune in, at least having Will's voice on the mic.

There you go.

All right.

How about the T100 Gold coast the first time race, big sellout very quickly.

Looks like it's set to be a big show.

Who can we look for there?

Well, on the women's side because there's only a women's start list.

No Hayden Wild.

No Hayden Wild.

Well, so far no Hayden Wild.

I don't know, maybe he'll pop on when they pop open that men's start list but at least we have the women's.

Definitely a kind of like I would say T100 ecosystem.

Notable athletes.

Like if you look at the kind of top four, you've got Kate Wolf, last year's T100 champion.

She's coming.

She's loves this distance, clearly is excels at it.

So you better get down to Gold coast start your year.

You got Julie darin, Swiss athlete, second in the T100 standings last year.

Taylor Knibb is on the start list.

So there's, there's Nib there, I suppose, you know, not everybody shows up to every race they put their, their name on.

But, but I feel like she's an athlete when you, she puts her name onto something, she's gonna do it or she's at least intending to do it, right?

Yeah, I think so.

Some people, they put their names on and they just kind of flake.

But I don't, she doesn't strike me as someone who would, would be like that.

But so yeah, if she's there, I mean top three is great.

You got Ashley Gentle who's like a local legend there, Queenslander.

She'll have plenty of crowd support.

So it'd be great to see her race on the Gold coast with, with those women.

And then really like I kind of alluded to these kind of T100 ecosystem athletes.

These are athletes who, I feel like they were pretty committed, whether contract or not to the T100 last year.

Athletes like Lucy Beerham from Great Britain, Ellie Salthouse, Australia Sarah Perez, Holly Lawrence on the start list.

Megan McDonald, who's not a huge name, but someone who pretty much raised most of the T100 races last year.

And other than that kind of athletes who have raced T100, I think there's 15 on the start list right now, so you can expect a few more wild cards.

You can probably expect people to drop off as well because these star lists, especially T100, seem to be quite in flux now.

Do you think when you.

There are names that clearly are, you haven't mentioned, and I wonder if that sets us up for who we can expect to see in South Africa.

Like, does that mean that Lisa Purder is going back to South Africa?

I believe someone like Lisa Perter, you know, she had a great year doing both iron man and T100.

She's the kind of person who, I think if she gets a start at the T100 and it makes sense for her around her Ironman racing, she'll do it.

But I think, yeah, I don't know the, the lure of Kona, especially when you've had a good, a good go at it and you want to, you know, try and get on the podium.

I think for someone like her, you won't see her maybe as at as many T100 races this year, but the season it goes on, so you never know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, whose pick for that race?

I mean, we, we both think Matthews and Blumenfeld for New Zealand.

Who's your pick for this T100?

Because, you know, Wolf and Darren, I mean, that's, that's, that's a good tussle up at the top there, but there's some other big names there too.

Well, when I think of, I mean, the Ironman start list, obviously big names, but with, when I think about the actual racing on the course, I mean, the T100, this women's race, it's shaping up to be way more interesting.

Oh, yeah.

Better.

Yeah, yeah, better.

A better sort of field, I think

I would say, like at the top end, a better quality of field.

So, like, I'm definitely more interested in the women's race.

I'd love to see who's on the start line for the men's race.

I feel like a Hayden Wild will certainly be there.

Morgan Pearson type character.

I don't know about, like yellow gin.

Like, he lives on the Gold Coast a bunch of the year.

So, like, I know he's, I think he's declared that he wants to win Kona, which is cool, but I feel like he could make an appearance as well.

Just because it's down the road, I would think.

But I don't know.

We can't see.

Can't see the star list.

The one person who I would love to see do that race is Matt Hauser because he trains there.

He lives there, you know, short course, ITU world triathlon world champion.

I think having him in that race could be really interesting for the dynamics because he obviously pushes from the front.

Maybe he could help, you know, pull people away from Hayden.

Who knows?

I think that could be a great addition to the race.

I will be watching to see if he gets added for sure.

So there is a men's profile.

They just haven't announced a list.

I just looked right before I came on it because I saw them, they posted the women's start list and I was like, okay, like, surely the men's was up somewhere.

And usually on world triathlon because they're intertwined now with the team 100, they'll post the start list 30 days out because that's their protocol.

So I was like, oh, sweet.

I'll be seeing the men's race on here.

That's the hack.

And then I went there and they only had the elite women.

So maybe it's on the challenge website.

Yeah, maybe on the challenge website.

Go to all the ones that PTO T100 owns.

Just go to all of them and see if we can find it.

But I don't know, maybe the.

The world triathlon, they're going to stop doing that because so now, Matt, these races.

These races aren't coming up.

I mean, Maryland is March.

Right.

And early March, I think for New Zealand.

And then Gold coast is like mid March.

Okay.

So we still have their wedding our beak for sure.

They're getting us excited.

Yeah.

Not on the same weekend.

So.

Good for T100 to not have finally an Ironman race.

That was a curse last year a little bit.

Was them having the same.

Same race weekend.

Yeah.

Well, that's why they're dangling the start lists in a sort of a staggered fashion, I guess.

So Generate more interest.

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Well, let's turn our attention into our third topic.

We are trying to integrate more training topics into this podcast and especially now that we're still in the winter.

Although if we're talking about races, spring must be just around the corner.

But we are still getting some early darkness.

And so sleep is probably very much at the forefront of everybody's mind.

And so we wanted to talk a little bit about hacks, sleep hygiene, things that you can do to improve the likelihood that you get a good night's sleep.

So what is your routine, Matt?

To make sure that you get a good night's sleep and wake up rested, recovered, ready to go the next morning.

It's actually funny, I was thinking about this like when, like if my wife's at a race, if Kirsten's at a race or something and I'm just at home, I definitely feel like my sleep hygiene not as good.

So she definitely keeps me on the straight and narrow with, with the sleep hygiene in the habits and whatnot.

So like really a typical routine would be kind of winding down at like 9 or so to try and be in bed before 10, go to sleep around 10.

You know, I do the eye mask typically.

Sometimes I'll do earplugs.

Yeah, that is kind of my, my routine.

I, I kind of do the screens until kind of late.

So not, not so good with that.

You, what's your.

Well, I could tell you, you know, the thing about the screens is interesting, you know, because they talk a lot about how screens are bad, not good.

Right.

It's like it's a bad idea.

Which light, which light is supposed to be bad for you?

It's the blue light from the screen.

So it's.

You can shift the light on your screen.

Apple anyways, I'm sure on other phones also you could shift it so that it decreases blue and it has more of a yellow hue.

But you know, the thing I have learned with screens is if you're a person who has trouble sleeping, then screens are not going to be a good idea.

But if you're one of those people who like, you know, browses, you know, scroll, you know, doom, scrolls your reels or is reading news articles and stuff, and then you put your phone down and you fall right asleep.

Screens are probably not that big of a deal, right?

It's not just a blanket thing.

You can't have screens.

I think you have to be really careful about any blanket statements, anything.

You know, this is always bad.

Like, listen, smoking is always bad.

I think we can agree on that.

But to say that, you know, a screen is always a bad thing before bedtime is probably not necessary.

There seems to be some evidence that it's always bad for teenagers, but I don't know that it's always bad for adults.

If, if you sleep fine after looking at your phone, then it's probably not a terrible thing.

If you wake up at night, I would not suggest you pick up the

phone because you're going to probably the kiss of death.

Yeah.

So when they talk about sleep hygiene, what we're usually talking about is making your sleep routine as routine as possible.

So having a dark room, having a cool room, if it's too warm, it's often hard to sleep.

Weighted blankets have been shown to be very effective at helping people sleep.

A shower before bed, a hot shower actually can also help you with it.

Interesting.

Yeah, didn't know that one.

Yeah, it heats up your body in the shower, but then when you step out, you immediately shed a lot of heat and it cools your body down and so you end up actually feeling doing well.

Glass of milk also before bed can also help.

Melatonin plus minus.

There's some emerging evidence that melatonin should probably be avoided on a regular basis.

But we've looked at tart cherry juice as a sleep aid and found some evidence to suggest that it helps.

And I'm all for the natural products.

So, hey, what, what is your sleep hygiene routine then?

I actually, since I changed jobs, I sleep really well.

For the last year, just being less stressed has allowed me to sleep quite well.

I'm in bed by 10, I sleep, I do wake up during the night.

But I will say, look, if you want to make sure that you're sleeping well, alcohol, not a good idea.

Alcohol will decrease the amount of time between when you lay your head on the pillow and when you fall asleep.

But it decreases the quality of sleep and it will decrease quantity because it is a diuretic.

It will make you, you wake up to pee and anything, you know, drinking too much fluid before you go, go to bed.

Especially as you age.

Like me, you know, prostate the size of a, you know, baseball.

Right.

Never a good thing.

So you will end up having to get up and pee and, you know, caffeine late in the day.

Now I'm one of those people, I can drink a cup of coffee after, like after dinner and it doesn't.

You have an espresso after dinner.

I. I love espresso.

Yeah, I love espresso after dinner and I will sleep, but most people can't do that.

And so I want to be that kind.

You kind of need to know who you are, right?

I mean, you need to know what works for you and what doesn't work for you.

But there is no question that some things definitely work for everyone.

Like I said, the dark room, the weighted blanket, the cool room, the hot shower before the glass of milk has often been shown to be quite helpful.

Having this kind of routine where you wind down, don't watch tv, don't do things that are going to stimulate your brain and make you more awake.

Reading has been shown to be quite effective in helping you fall asleep.

So, yeah, I mean, you just want to, oh, exercise at night.

A lot of us have no choice, right?

I mean, a lot of us have to.

We work all day, we don't have a choice except to exercise at night.

But if you can exercise five to six hours before bedtime, you're better off because the closer you exercise to when you want to go to bed, the more difficulty you're going to have, trouble you're going to have falling asleep.

And I know I used to play hockey at like 11pm it was awful.

I couldn't sleep until 2 because you'd be so ramped up and your hormones, your body would be totally out of whack.

So now I'm happy from getting hits or whatever.

Hitting people?

Yeah.

Oh yeah, for sure.

Dishing it out more than anything else.

Exactly.

There we go.

There we go.

So, yeah, so those are the things you can do.

And so just to sum it up again, avoid caffeine, avoid alcohol, avoid screens.

If those things keep you up, make sure your room is dark, make sure your room is cool, make sure you have a good blanket and try to sleep in the same.

Obviously if you're traveling you can't do that.

But if you go to sleep at the same time and you sleep in the same area and you have this routine around going to sleep or you don't drink alcohol, you don't have caffeine late in the day, all of those things can help.

And we know that good quality, good quantity of sleep has been shown to be incredibly beneficial to performance in endurance sport.

So getting sleep, one of the easiest things you can do, costs nothing and super, super beneficial.

If you could, or like recommend or let's say you could only do one of these kind of sleep hygiene things Like a cool room or dark room or you know, no screens.

What would you recommend?

Everybody's different again because some people can sleep in bright.

I can't, I need dark.

So for me it would be dark.

But I know that I think cool.

Well, but I think cool is one of the things that I was going to say is pretty across the board.

And the reason I say cool is because if your room is too warm and you're not comfortable being warm, there is nothing you can do about it.

Like you're, you're just going to toss and turn and sweat and it's, you know, it's just not.

But if your room is too cool, it's very easy to put on another blanket to get warm.

And that's why, you know, you'll often hear couples will be like, oh, she thinks it's so cold and he thinks it's so warm.

But if the room is generally cool, you usually, the person who finds it to be cooler can get an extra blanket.

And usually that's the solution.

So the cool I think is the thing that I would go for.

I agree.

I feel like I've a b tested all these things.

Probably not the screens, I've probably done a terrible job with that.

But I feel like whenever I'm in a cooler room because what do you know what the temperature range it's like 60 degrees to 60.

Oh, 60 is pretty cool.

I think 65 to yeah, mid-60s y.

So I feel like whenever I've kind of like, I don't know anecdotally cuz I don't wear like an ur ring but if I did I, I feel like it would show like a cool room would lead to better sleep.

Like if, if I could recommend one thing, I feel like it would be a cool room which of course living in the desert that's going to be woof.

A little tougher come the summertime.

Well, desert nights are still now it's

fine now it's great.

Yeah.

But I'm thinking like July when I think it doesn't, you know, it stays like 90 degrees or whatever, 30 plus Celsius overnight.

Like there are these kind of emerging technological things like the eight sleep mattress.

Are you familiar with this?

It like cools your, your mattress.

I, yeah, I have seen some of these things.

Yeah, I don't, I haven't researched them, but yes, I have, I have heard of these things.

Things.

There are mattresses that blow cool air.

There are, there's mattresses that take away body heat.

There's all kinds of.

Yeah, different.

Yeah, I, I feel like if there was maybe some kind of technology or competitor to eight Sleep that did like the cooling, I don't know, I'd try and invest in them or something because I do think this kind of stuff, like, there's only, it only is going to be more important for people in terms of, like, longevity and performance, obviously.

But just from like a longevity standpoint, people want to get, get to optimize.

And I really do think, like, having a cool room or, you know, maybe a cooling mattress at some point, you know, eight Sleep, if you want to sponsor the podcast, we're here.

Yes, that's right.

But yeah, sleep hygiene, I think this kind of stuff is pretty important.

And yeah, the, the cool room would definitely be my number one recommendation for athletes.

All right, well, that's what we've got for you today.

We've talked about our thoughts and memories of Hannah Henry, we've Talked about the T100 on the gold coast as well as the Ironman New Zealand, and we've given you our recommendations for a good night's sleep.

So what better way to wrap it up than that?

If you enjoyed this episode of Tempo Talks, we hope that you'll leave us a rating and a review wherever you download it and of course, share with a friend.

We will be back next week with another fresh episode.

If that is too long to wait, then we hope that you will subscribe to the Tempo News, Matt's newsletter that comes out twice a week.

You can the links for that in the show notes as well as to the other sister podcast for the triathlon performance hub, that being the tridog podcast.

We hope that you will have a fantastic last weekend of the Winter Olympics and Go Canada, Go Canadian hockey team.

And of course, we will be back next week with another episode of Tempo Talks.

Thanks, Matt.

Yeah, thanks.

Thanks everyone for listening and hope you have a great night's sleep.

Sam.