This podcast episode delves into the intersection of professional triathlon and the evolving dynamics of competition, particularly as we explore the notable performances from recent races in Australia and the anticipated events in Oceanside, California. We engage in a thorough examination of the recent 70.3 races, highlighting the impressive feats of athletes like Kristian Blumenfeld and the implications of their performances on upcoming competitions. Additionally, we scrutinize the complexities surrounding therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) in sports, shedding light on the ethical considerations and potential abuses that arise within this framework. Our discourse encompasses both the triumphs and challenges faced by athletes, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state of triathlon. Join us as we navigate these multifaceted topics, offering insights and perspectives that resonate within the triathlon community.

Links to topics discussed:

The TriDoc Podcast

Matt's Instagram

Jeff's Instagram

LifeSport Coaching

Email Jeff: tri_doc@icloud.com

Email Matt: Matt@thetemponews.com

Signup for the Tempo News

Signup for The TriDoc Podcast Supplement form

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 co host Matthew Sharp alongside Dr. Jeffrey Sankoff.

Jeff, I see you over there.

You've got a nice shirt.

I always comment on your shirts, but I like this one in particular.

What are we wearing right now?

My Flanders shirt.

I'm getting into the whole classic season.

A huge cycling fan over here.

We've had a couple of big races already.

We had the Strada Bianchi won decisively yet again by Tade Pugacha.

We've had a couple of multi day races.

But then this past weekend was the first of the big monuments.

It was Milan San Remo.

It's kind of the kickoff to the spring season and it was a doozy.

The women unfortunately had a terrible crash.

I was a little bit disheartened to see on social media a lot of jackassery in the comments.

A lot of the typical BS that you see from men that was really not okay because there was a woman who was pretty seriously hurt in that crash.

The men, however, had an amazing race where Pogaccia was involved in a crash just a few kilometers from the base of the Poggio, which is sort of the last of the big hills where he usually asserts his dominance, was not able to do that this time.

His team, though just a clinic in how you race as a team, brought him back to the front.

They were super calm, cool and collected after he went down, brought him back up to the front and then he and Tom Pidcock and Wout Van Aert got away and it was a sprint to the finish.

And Picach again, just unbeatable.

Incredible.

He's one monument away from having a career sweep and he will get his chance next month.

He is not a favorite on the cobbles of the hell of the north Paris Dubai.

But we'll see.

We'll see.

I'm a huge cycling fan, so I am wearing a Flanders shirt.

This is the, the symbol for Flanders.

So the Tour of Flanders, of course, one of the other monuments that Tade has won a couple times.

So yeah, that's, that's where I'm at.

It's that time of year.

We're getting into the spring and the Paris Roubaix of triathlon is coming up this week.

That's what I always call it.

Yeah, I branded it.

I'm taking credit for that one.

It's a spring classic.

It's a good analogy.

It's a good analogy because it is a spring classic.

It's the, it's the kickoff.

It's the harbinger of triathlon here.

North America.

I think that the introduction of little Elm, always good to see new races on the circuit but I honestly feel a little bit sad that it, it precedes Oceanside because I think Oceanside to me is the kickoff of the spring races.

So yeah, Ocean, it's a spiritual favorite, the spiritual kickoff.

But we're actually going to be instead of starting in Oceanside, we're going to be traveling down under to talk about the races in Australia.

Last weekend there were some big ones, big action, amazing Geelong, incredible racing.

We'll talk about Oceanside, we'll come back over here and then I think to wrap things up, we're going to talk about this new public Tue dashboard which interesting to put these TUS out there.

See, you don't see which athletes are using them but you see the numbers and yeah, some questions arise and that.

Questions indeed, Jeff, most likely will be questions.

Questions indeed.

A little I disheartening in a lot of ways.

But anyways, we'll get there.

But let's begin down under just like we did last week talking about our preview of those races.

Those races went down.

They were.

Well, the, I would say the 70.3 race definitely got the better of T100 in this event just because their field was so much better.

The race, if you saw any of the video, it was a little disheartening.

A two loop flat course, just enormous packs of age groupers that the women were having to contend with.

It was a little bit disheartening there but not, not unexpected.

But anyways, still big showdown.

Big, big amazing fields and yeah, Christian showing his stuff yet again.

His mettle.

He was not my pick.

My curse picks continue to be cursed.

I really thought Hayden Wilde was going.

To miss by much.

Man, he was on the podium.

Come on.

He was on the podium there.

Those three really was always going to be those three just based on the quality of the field.

Bloomfeld had a bit of a question mark going into it after his slightly off performance.

6Th place at Ironman New Zealand which is looking like maybe that equipment issue plagued him a bit more than we thought.

I, I really did Think Hayden was going to be the guy like he's down there, he' training well.

He's had no issues obviously since his surgery and car collision last year.

It seemed like he was just on a roll and I really thought he was going to bust through that I guess duopoly or what have you of Christian versus Yella.

But.

And it looked like he, he would.

He was taking the lead on the bike and really pushing things.

It was funny cuz him and Yella ended up having a 90 second lead over Blumen felt as they entered the run.

And so you're kind of like, okay, it's gonna be a two man battle between these two.

But that was not necessarily the case.

Blumenfeld, Unbelievable.

I mean not in some ways surprising because you give those two guys 90 seconds on most days and they're gonna be able to hold him off.

Come on.

But Christian, I mean 90 seconds for Christian, that's not a huge amount.

Especially with the way he looks right now and the way he clearly is clicking on all cylinders.

You have to wonder if, you know, we're not seeing a repeat of what we've seen with other athletes in the past like peaking at this early point in the season.

How does he possibly, like where does he go from here?

I mean he's gotta have a period of recovery.

He's gotta have a period where he comes down a little bit.

But I mean, yeah, to take on the likes of Hayden and Yella and really surge to the front and win convincingly the way he did was very, very impressive.

And, and I think, I don't know if there's been much talk afterwards but it seems to me like maybe Hayden and Yella over biked this bike.

I think they were the eagle egos were going.

Maybe they weren't looking at the power meter.

They were just looking at what was happening in the race.

They maybe saw that they were dropping Blumenfeld and got pretty fired up and pushed even more and perhaps pushed over that line where it really dug into their run.

Like you saw Hayden just in the clips and whatnot.

I didn't watch the race fully.

Oh, it was hard too, right?

Yeah, it was hard.

It was different.

Difficult timing.

Yeah, for sure.

But just in the clips you could obviously see he's maybe missing a gear.

He didn't look as springy.

Maybe that's the word that comes to mind for me it just, he was like sitting back on his run a little bit.

Maybe they just pushed too hard and that's good feedback for them.

Maybe that going Forward, maybe they're gonna have to temper their efforts because who knows, maybe if they just back things off a little bit, we could have had more of a three way kind of decisive run battle.

But you know, they were clearly fatigued coming off the bike.

Blumenfeld must have been holding the card or two close to his chest cuz that one.

Oh.

Six half marathon.

That's.

Yeah.

What, what?

One of the fastest half marathons like we've ever seen off the bike.

Crazy stuff.

And I do, I do have to wonder though, I mean this is the first race for both Wild and Yella and I mean it wouldn't be that surprising to think they're just kind of easing into their season and they're not at their peak form.

Whereas Christian coming off an Ironman block of training, he's going to potentially be in better shape.

So not surprising necessarily that he would be in better form in this race.

But like you said, the 106 off of that bike, that is, I mean it's just mind boggling.

Just, it's just amazing.

This guy just doesn't.

Nasty.

He doesn't, he never ceases to amaze with what he's able to do.

It's, it's, it's just incredible.

It's also a testament to obviously he had people he was chasing and Blumenfeld is going to be someone who will never give up, he will never back down.

He will push himself to the limit every single time.

So he had these like carrots and clearly he could see himself and understand that he was gaining on them.

And so psychologically obviously he's running well, he understands he's gaining on them.

Like that just helps you tap into a diff.

Totally different place as well.

Yeah.

Had they come off the bike at the same time, maybe that kind of pace wouldn't have been achieved.

I don't know, maybe they would have run more tactically.

But he was dragged to this pace a little bit by the people ahead of them and just how like he had to chase them.

So it was just a good external motivator for sure.

You know, look, it's a fast course, right?

I mean we know that it's a flat course, it's one of the faster run courses on the circuit.

It wasn't a super hot day, which obviously plays into it.

But just let's put this in perspective.

Like I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the half marathon open half marathon world record is somewhere around 59 minutes and.

Gotta be 50.

Yeah.

58, 50.

It's it's not too far off.

Right.

So he's like eight minutes under that.

Okay.

And normally in, in a 70.3, you will see the faster guys run 112, 111.

Right.

So he's like five minutes faster than what we usually expect to see the fast guys run.

And he's halfway between the world record and what we expect, a fast.

I mean that just to me just shows what level he's at.

He's, he's just, he's working on a different level right now.

It's, it's really, really impressive.

Yeah.

It would be interesting though as we get to maybe a championship season or just like a one loop bike course because we saw, and I think we should talk about that kind of chaotic nature for the people who were coming up from behind on that second lap, like Hayden was leading.

That's a momentum killer.

Having to like go around these age groupers and make sure you're not going to run into the back of them.

Obviously you have to do that because you have to be respectful of everyone on the course, but you're kind of like, what would this race look like if they had a clear view, a clear shot?

Would they have been able to collect more time on Blumenfeld going on to the run?

There's just that kind of hypotheticals that.

Yeah.

Because of what, how it played out and how the two loop course was.

It's also absurd.

It's also absurd as an age grouper watching that.

I've raced in Australia before and I don't know why, but those races in Australia are notorious for these huge draft packs of age groupers.

And I don't get, I mean, here you've got.

The pros are clearly being very closely monitored by officials, but they're just ignoring what's going on with the age groupers that they're passing in these gigantic packs now.

I get it.

It's a two loop course, there's a ton of athletes and so it's going to be congested.

But I mean, do something.

Just, just try something to, I don't know, just always frustrating.

Visuals were terrible.

It was not good.

It was terrible.

It was terrible to watch.

I was like cringing.

Like I had to.

I basically stopped watching because I was like, I don't want to see like someone get hit by Hayden Wild from behind or get hit by a moto because whatever, like, it just was.

The optics were terrible.

And I would say contrasting that with the T100 race this weekend where you had a lovely pro setup where you had a clean pro race, that was an interesting contrast on the weekend, which is crazy because you had the best athletes at this 70.3 race.

Yeah, I don't want to say, yeah, I don't want to say bush league but like professionally it just wasn't as professional as the T100, so.

Well, I mean that contrast is important to, to bring up.

So one of the hallmarks and one of the things that I as an age grouper always enjoy about the Ironman branded races is that I know the pros are racing on the same course as I am.

And the T100 has previously to a certain degree been the same way.

It seems more recently they've kind of gotten away from that.

And Geelong is a prime example where the pros had a completely different course for a large.

Sorry, T100.

Yeah, they had a completely different course for a big part of it.

And it's not that it's, you know, certainly I agree with you.

Much better for the pros.

They didn't have to contend with the age groupers, much better optics in that sense.

But as an age grouper I think it's a little, you know, it's not necessarily better or worse, it's just different.

It's just different.

And I like the idea of seeing the pros out there with me.

You know, one of the things about the T100 was that you would, the pros wouldn't race at the same time as the age groupers but the age groupers would still be there to see them.

But this race, they were quite a bit apart according to a friend of mine who was there and she said that was a little disappointing.

She wasn't able to watch the pros because we're quite far apart and just the logistics of getting to the other race was a little bit hard.

But again, neither here nor there.

I think both races offered very interesting and very good courses and just, just a difference, that's all.

I think ultimately we would all prefer everybody race in the same course but maybe a one looper just to spread.

It out so the pro are at ahead of the age groupers and they don't have to deal with that.

I agree, I, I definitely agree.

But this is now a bit of attention because you have Iron man pumping the pro series and really building it up.

But then you have this constraint, right?

It's a constraint that they have to use the same course as the age group athletes and if it happens to be a two lap course then hey, this is what you get.

Well, I think your comment that it was, it looked bush league.

I think that's appropriate.

It did.

I agree.

It looked like amateur and not to take away from the amateurs who are racing.

It's just when you're trying to throw a pro race with decent money with big money implications, there's definitely a tension or just feels like there's a bit of a turning point or some kind of something needs to change.

Maybe as time goes on, but ultimately I don't know the economics of hosting a pro series race.

Could we just only have the races that have one loop courses?

Definitely not.

I'm sure at the moment in a, in dream world a one loop course.

And I hope we can hope.

But we should mention the, the women's July.

Oh my gosh, what a great race.

I mean Cat Matthews, she's really, she's something else.

I mean he like on that run, like surely she was cruising right?

Like, like she was just like she did their thing in the swimming the bike and then really didn't have to push on the run because she ended.

Up destroyed everybody on the bike.

I mean it was, it was so impressive.

Yeah, she won quite handily.

Even though the time at the end I guess maybe doesn't look that way.

But it was, she was holding back.

She was saving herself.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Which is hilarious.

Like when you don't really have a race on the horizon.

I'll just save myself.

I wish I'd never had that enjoyment in my career, I'll tell you that.

But you had Grace Tech in second and she's a, an athlete from Australia who I think she's podiumed nine times at this Geelong race.

She loves it.

It's her ass.

Fastest run split of the day, faster than 10.

No, I know who was also on the podium.

Yeah, she ran her way up to third.

She's got to figure out, Tamara's got to figure out how to not lose contact.

She had, you know, a couple years ago when she won Oceanside.

She won Oceanside because she was able to keep in contact off the bike.

And, but this is, and this kind of goes back to my point, I think a few episodes ago talking about how this new 20 meter draft zone can really maybe hurt these kind of pure runner athletes.

And maybe you're seeing that maybe a little bit with her.

I.

It's just hard when you're in that much of a hole off the bike to, to come back on the run even if you're a great runner.

So yeah, definitely something to continue to work on through the season.

But hey, podium.

I was killed for podiums.

And yeah, ultimately I think even if you're not first or second, being on the podium, it sometimes doesn't even necessarily matter what position it is just because of.

For sponsors and everything.

It's just a great signal, great efforts by them and they had I guess a battle, a duel with the women's T100 race in gold Coast.

No, men's race.

I screwed that up when I did my newsletter or I think we were on the podcast.

Yeah, we were talking about here.

It wasn't much of a duel because I mean it was a one woman kind of show which we kind of expected based on.

Unfortunately a lot of the other high profile women had to withdraw for various reasons.

It left Taylor kind of unopposed.

Definitely unopposed.

Although I will say there was a revelation with Jessica Fulligar, who.

I think you think that's a revelation.

She.

She kind of established herself last year.

She.

She gave her bona fides last year.

But when you're in this, I think this T100 sphere, having a result like that, a podium, it elevates you at least.

Yeah, in my mind it elevates you.

It.

And she really did give Nib kind of a run.

I don't think Nib really took that much time off her on the bike necessarily.

Just someone who.

I figured she'd have a good race just based on the quality of field and just her skill set.

Now she's locked in for the T100 really just based on that result.

If you.

It really this T100 series, if you have a good result in the first race of the year, it sets you up to stay in the series through till the end.

So yeah, she has this new path this year and I know she's someone who probably wants to try and qualify for the Olympics, so that'll throw a wrench into some of the works.

But yeah, she's definitely put herself in the driver's seat for being in the series, making the big money at the end of the year potentially depending on what Dib and other athletes end up doing.

Yeah, good on her.

She's an athlete who, like you said, came on a little bit last year and whatnot.

I've been following her on the short course stuff and.

And it's an.

And this is what happens in short course.

An athlete like that who has that swim bike skill set, it really gets buried a bit in the short course because it ultimately, especially these days, it's really so run heavy.

So I'm happy to see someone like her, I'm very biased towards the swim bikers.

Don't know if you can tell, but I'm happy to see her get her flowers and get that recognition for having that skill set of the good swim bike.

And she did a great run too, so.

No, Yeah, I mean, you had said, you had said when we previewed the race last week, you called out her as a dark horse who could potentially give Taylor a run for the money on the bike.

And she did, she did exactly as you predicted.

And I gotta say, I wasn't hugely surprised.

I was, I guess, just, you know, it went pretty much the way I thought it would go, that race.

And to me, she's not a revelation.

She's doing what I think I expected.

I thought to me, the bigger revelation was Grace finishing as strongly as she did in second.

I kind of had Tamara second and Grace third.

And Grace, really, Really.

I mean, she just did amazing.

And she's.

You said she's racing Oceanside this week.

Is that true?

Yes.

So her and big turnaround.

Oh, Blumenfeld too.

Her and Blumenfeld doing the back to back.

So it'll be cool to see how they go.

Just from that standpoint of, hey, you just raced Australia and now you gotta book it back over to North America race in this other competitive race.

That's tough travel.

Yeah, I don't know, I guess I feel like going to Australia.

I don't know why.

I never had a problem getting on the time zone.

Like, I remember, always just getting on it, like asap.

But it was coming, I guess, flying east.

Yeah, technically, yeah, from Australia back to North America.

I always, that was the struggle.

That was a struggle.

Hopefully they bank some sleep when they're Australia because they may not get a whole ton on the other side.

We'll see.

I, I, I think it's going to be pretty interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

But I, I don't know for yet.

Nib win.

You had Jessica Fuller second, and then you had Imogen Simmons in third.

Jeff.

Imogen Simmons, nice to see her back on a podium.

You know, we've heard her.

I think you had said to me at some point, I believe, that she was struggling with some kind of illness.

Have I got that wrong or no?

Well, Imogen, she was, she was the.

One who had the contrary.

Yeah, the positive drug test.

Sorry, I think it was India Lee.

I mean, you know, I'm getting them mixed up.

It's the I names, so.

Yes.

Right.

Imogen back on the podium after that controversial drug test last year.

Sorry.

I, I'm tripping up on all of the, The.

You're good.

Yeah, there's a lot of athletes, but, yeah, in this, I think I haven't been too shy about my thoughts on the, you know, the positive doping and then getting it overturned.

The precedent setting of.

I think.

Right.

I don't think it's.

We disagree on this one.

So.

Yeah, it's okay.

It's just seeing her on the podium again, just that quickly, you're kind of like, that's me.

That's what's going on in my head anyways.

But she'll be happy.

It's.

And I do think it's going to be interesting to follow.

Not so much Nib, she's always winning.

But these athletes who have these early season results, usually, I don't know, especially if they're unexpected, it really sets up a nice season.

So as long as they don't go too crazy with the training and double down on some of the heavy work and injure themselves, hurt themselves, I think they're going to come into the season with some incredible momentum.

Definitely nice to have an early season success.

Well, you know, we brushed by Nib, and I just want to back up to her for a second because we didn't really talk about her that much.

And I think it's important to note, you know, when we think back to Sam Laidlaw and his big collapse in Kona because of the heat, and he really suffered.

Right.

He.

For the next, like, six to eight months, he really, really suffered the consequences of that.

And I think you and I both kind of opined and wondered aloud whether or not the same would happen with Lucy and Taylor.

And I think this has given us at least an early indication that she's going to be okay.

Taylor, anyways, looks like she's, you know, clicking on all cylinders back to where we would hope she would be.

So let's keep our fingers crossed that that will continue.

I think she seems to me like she's gotten over.

Over the hump of that or doesn't seem to be really adversely affected.

She's also racing Oceanside, so.

Oh, my gosh.

Keen to see.

That is a crazy schedule.

That is a crazy schedule.

I mean, coming back across the Pacific and.

Wow, I'll be very impressed.

You might as well stop in California.

I'm going to be very impressed to see how they do.

And if they all do well, I, I will be very, very.

I mean, listen, pros, they can, they, they, they can do all kinds of things that us mere mortals can't so I, you know, I guess they'll all.

Do well, I'm going to call it right now.

My picks famously are accurate but I actually do think they'll all do relative to what they'd normally do.

Okay, let's, let's, let's, let's use this as our opportunity to shift our focus over to California.

Oceanside, a long standing, really famous, really kind of one of the big, you know, gotta do it races before you, you know, call your triathlon career.

I, I have had the pleasure of doing it several times.

It's a race I very much enjoy.

I don't know if I'll get back.

We'll see.

But big, big event on the calendar and we have as always just an amazing field.

Couple of younger life sport athletes coached by year old coach Lance Watson.

Former overall age group winner Luke Tasker making his professional debut on the men's side.

And Maya Watson, daughter to Lance is continuing her professional career with her.

I believe this is her fourth pro race and she's going to be lining up on the women.

But of the names that most people would recognize, who can we be looking forward to?

Let's start with the women.

Yeah.

On the women's side it's a very stacked field, especially on the top end.

You've got Solvag Love, Seth Ironman, world champion.

She's starting her Iron Man Pro Series campaign, her Kona Return Return champion campaign.

So she's, I have no indication that she's had any issues this winter.

I'm sure she's going to be carrying some incredible momentum into this race.

She's on the start line.

You've got Taylor Knibb flying back from T100 Gold Coast.

It's interesting having her enter the mix because she's a character in these races.

Obviously she's just a great athlete but she also impacts how the races are run a little bit.

Typically she's just off the front and gone.

People are trying to catch her now.

Having her in the race adds a different dynamic.

There you have Paula Finley as well.

So I'd say those are the big three in this race.

Yeah, Paula Finley, she's won this race what a couple times I think over the years.

So many podiums I believe always someone who's like a blue chip podium at this race.

Going to shoot my shout here.

My wife Kirsten Casper is racing as well and she is, I would say based on her training, I don't think she's at full fitness or anything but yeah, the last like month or so she's definitely hit her stride.

I'm excited to see her go and have a crack.

She won that race in La Quinta.

This field is definitely stronger, but it's good.

I'm glad she has really good athletes to push herself against because then you get to see how you stack up against the best in the business.

Alongside those four, you got Jackie Herring again, another kind of blue chip podium athlete with the dynamic and who's there.

I could see her maybe getting, I don't want to say dropped, but there's.

Kirsten's a great swimmer.

You have Vittorio Lopez from Brazil, multiple Olympian, who is an incredible front pack swimmer.

You're gonna have these athletes pushing the pace and that will bring a different dynamic to this race that I don't think has been there in the last few years.

So a great field.

Danielle Lewis as well, a very solid women's oceanside race.

I think there's 40 athletes, maybe just under 40.

I think there's double in the men's field.

It's pretty amazing.

So, you know, one of the big questions about this race is whether or not they'll have the beach start because it's going to obviously depend on.

I don't, I don't think they ever have the beach start anymore.

Well, they try to, I don't know.

If that's, I thought it was just, I thought it was just like in the harbor no matter what.

No.

Oh, maybe they've gone back to that.

I, I, I kind of, they, they tried for a couple years to do the beach start.

They tried to go back but the surf kind of would, you know, not cooperate and it end up back in the harbor.

So is it, is it the harbor just as is.

That's it.

Yeah.

Jeff, after all these high profile, I would say death events in the, in these iron man swims, I think they're pretty, there's really no downside for them to.

Yeah.

Having a harbor swim versus the downside.

What's the upside to doing the beach swim that looks cool in the photos but like if it's going to increase the likelihood of, of someone dying, they're just not going to make that decision anymore.

So yeah, they're doing that harbor swim.

Oh, I don't disagree.

The one thing I didn't like about the harbor swim was just because of all the boats, there was always fuel on the water surface and so you could smell it until you got out of the harbor.

And then once you were swimming in the ocean, it was kind of cool.

But yeah, just a Great race and to swim.

So is Kirsten, I mean, strong swimmer, short course racer.

I would imagine her and Vittorio Lopez are going to be leading the way.

I would think.

Yeah.

Kirsten's plan is to try and swim with Victoria.

Whether that's maybe swapping turns in the water as we've seen more people do nowadays to try and get a gap for that bike.

I feel like someone like Victoria, she'll just want to lead the swim.

So Kirsten's goal for sure is to just get on her feet and ride that wave.

Why not?

So give us some insight there.

Would, would they actually talk before the race or no?

Oh, certainly they will.

Yeah.

No, they're talking.

They would talk before short course races.

They'll talk, no doubt before this.

This is just so funny.

Person and Victoria, they're both great swimmers.

They have great start speed which is crucial in those short course ITU races.

So like when they get on this start line, they just, from the gun, they're just gone.

They've got the body length on the next person kind of thing.

And that's just how it is with the who does these races.

The depth of field, that's just reality.

So for them, you know, they're just trying to get out quickly to obviously not have anyone.

They don't want to Paula Finley on their feet.

They don't even want Nib on their feet.

I think they're going to try and get rid of Nib.

Yeah.

As quickly as they can.

And Nib, I would say if she has a downside or some kind of weakness, her start speed is not great.

And we saw that in Paris.

Right.

She couldn't get on the front pack feet and she was whatever, mid to back of the pack coming out of the swim in that, in that river swim.

I need to push, I need to push on this a little bit.

So is Kirsten like send Victoria a text and hey, Saturday, let's talk.

Or is this one of these things where they'll be like passing by each other on the beach and Kirsten will slip a note into Victoria's palm that will be like, call me at this number.

Slip a note into your swim.

Yeah.

Or, or is this one of these things where they'll walk up and they'll actually talk in front of the other athletes to intimidate them?

Like, like just how secretive is this and how, you know, like I need to know more.

I don't think they're flexing on the athletes.

They're not flexing start corral or anything.

No, they Wouldn't do that.

I didn't think the guy, the guys sometimes do that, but I think they do that more because they're like nervous and they're trying to project or something.

But no, they'll be texting before like they're buddies anyway.

So they'll text each other every so often going to this race.

They'll have a plan because their incentives are aligned.

Right.

Whenever incentives are aligned then you get that cooperation, that collaboration.

Obviously when it comes to the run, if they're together, I don't think they're going to be.

Maybe they work together but it's not quite the same.

Not going to be quite the buddy buddy at that point.

Yeah, I get it, I get it.

No, especially in the last, whatever a few hundred meters or so when your incentives are aligned then you know, that's when you make progress.

So they're definitely be talking.

They're going to be working together as much as they can on the swim and on the bike to a degree because of the bigger draft zone.

I don't know if.

I don't think they will be like pushing the beginning of the bike necessarily, but they'll be hoping to try and have a decent gap over someone like Nib who honestly, even if Nib catches them, I think they'll just let Nib go because she's just so strong in the bike.

It's not worth taking that risk in a race like this.

I don't know if you could be objective, you know, but see if you can.

I mean I, I personally think Kirsten's got a decent chance to be top five in this race.

What are your thoughts?

I mean, do you think she's.

I, I, listen, I'm putting you on the spot here.

It's, it's hard for you to answer this, but do, do you see her with a legitimate shot at a podium spot here?

Yeah, I think she's capable of podium but it's her second 70.3.

So if she goes out there, has some mistakes, has some.

She would need to everything to go quite well to get on the podium.

And really in my mind the only person who maybe she could have a crack at is like Aala Finley who obviously doesn't have the same, I don't know, she's not on the same level as like a Nib or even.

I just, I have a lot of faith in Solveg just because of her strength on the bike.

She's her.

Maybe her run isn't, I don't know, it's still quite good but Like, I just think Solveg is actually going to be maybe with Nib or even giving Nib trouble on the bike.

That's what I think.

Yeah.

So when it comes down to it, I think if Kirsten has everything go her way, and who knows, maybe other people have things not go their way, then, yeah, I certainly think she's capable of the podium.

But at the same time, if she gets in the top five, I think that's a fine result.

Super exciting.

I think it's.

I will be very excited to see how she does.

So I'll be traveling that day, so I won't be able to watch it live, but I will definitely keep, keep, keep tabs.

All right, let's shift our attention over to the men's side, which has an equally exciting field.

You mentioned Christian Blumenfeld coming back from Australia.

Who else is towing the line?

Lionel, unfortunately, won't be there.

Buddies.

But who else is there?

His buddies are going to be there.

Oh, okay.

So we got the two other Norwegians then?

Yes, we've got.

The band is back together in Oceanside.

Those two, they needed a bit of a breather, maybe some injuries or niggles or whatever.

So no trip down under for them.

They're going to be an ocean side and if they're on the start line, you can imagine they're ready to go.

Yeah, there's.

I think I saw a stat somewhere.

It's like the top 30 of the top 100 athletes or something, or I don't even know what it was like, are going to be on the start line.

A classic Oceanside, incredibly stacked as the way it's set up with doing Oceanside and then having Iron Man Texas kind of in pretty close proximity after, like, in terms of the pro series setup, like, you just know that's going to attract a lot of athletes.

So you're going to have.

They'll double up on those races, right?

Yeah, they'll double up.

Yep.

So it's fun, too, to.

To see, obviously, how things shake out in the 70.3.

And then the same cast of characters typically will move on to Texas and see how they go over the Ironman distance, see how they.

These battles emerge.

So that's always fun to watch.

But, yeah, you got Norwegians, you got like a Rudy von Bergman, you got Jonas Schomberg, who is definitely a dark horse pick for the podium.

It's just an incredible Ben Canoe.

The list goes on.

It's just deep.

It is so deep.

There's just so many athletes who have been on podiums There's Sam Long obviously, is there too.

So it just, well, it's wild.

You know what, that course with the 20 meter.

Yeah, I was just going to ask you about that.

You know what that course is like, that long, flat section out of transition through the base and before you make the turn up to the first climb, that 20 meter drop zone could really string things out quite a ways, I would think, don't you?

Yeah, absolutely, I think.

And when these guys all get on the course together, maybe the women are slightly more measured and do a good job, but like these men are going to be just trying to flex on each other.

The testosterone will be flying.

Like guys are going to be going all out.

Like it's going to be crazy.

There's going to be some big moves on the bike for sure.

A lot of action.

I'd be curious to see how things shake out in the swim.

It's a wetsuit swim.

It's a big field.

I do think a lot of the top guys are going to be coming out together.

It's more like a, oh, where's Sam Long coming out, you know, Will he be 90 seconds back?

Will he be three minutes back?

Once you get over, I'd say two and a half minutes or so.

Especially with that quality of field, it's tough to come back.

Like we, like, I remember the year that I was there and I was exiting transition.

I was running out with my bike and the announcer was like, and here comes Lionel Sanders.

And yeah, I was like, oh, crap, that's not that long behind me.

If Sam Long can really keep the gap contained, then, yeah, he'll.

He might end up on the podium, but he's really going to have to have a great swim.

He's going to have to have a great swim.

And I mean, unless he's made some significant strides over the winter, I guess we'll see.

We'll see on the weekend.

Well, yeah, no, it's great.

Lots of action.

Looking forward to it.

Who are your picks?

If you're listening, we want to know.

Head over to the Facebook, Facebook private group for tempo talks.

Just take a look for that and we would love to have your opinions in the comments.

So let us know who your picks are for the women and the men and we'll see what comes to pass.

Definitely.

Am I making picks?

Am I making.

Absolutely.

Go for it.

Here comes.

Here comes the Matt Sharp curse.

Yeah, sorry to whoever I'm putting on the podium, especially in the top positions.

I feel like the top positions for me are always not great.

But women's race, I'm gonna go with Solve Egg for first place.

Just throwing that out there.

I think she's.

I think she's ready to go.

I think she's ready.

Maybe Nib's tired.

I think she's ready to take her on.

Nib second.

Then I gotta put my wife, Kristen Casper in third.

I'm putting her on the podium.

I do think she's capable.

It's just.

Yeah, she's gonna have to be locked in for sure.

All right, Love that.

And the men's side, I have a Norwegian sweep.

Hasn't done well at this race, so I'll be interested to see if he does this year.

Yeah, I just.

I don't know those Norwegians.

You get them together.

The vibes are high.

They're so.

You know, I always say it's hard to pick against Christian.

Right?

I say that every time.

It's just after this flight, I'll be very interested to see.

No, he's flying business.

He's flying in the best possible way.

He's not slumming in the back with the poor leg room.

I'm gonna actually pick him for the win.

A guy like him, he obviously raced hard, but he just recovers so quickly and he's so fit.

So I think that's like a great tune up for him and he'll come into this one firing.

And then I got Gustav second, Storn as third.

So sorry, boys, if I picked you and.

Yeah, you're cursed.

Now.

Does Matt full of it or is Matt on.

On, you know, is he.

Is he caught it right this time.

Let us know what you think.

Head over to Talk Tempo talks in the private Facebook group.

And if you're not a member, just answer the easy questions.

We'll grant you admittance and welcome to the group so you can comment and ask questions there.

All right, let's.

You mentioned a little bit earlier that testosterone would be flying.

And that makes me think of our third and final topic today, because the testosterone has been flying.

It's been flying maybe a little too much in the age group ranks, and I hope not the pros.

We can't tell for sure, but certainly seems like there's a lot of it in the age group ranks.

So, Matt, what, What.

What am I referencing here?

Fill.

Fill the.

Fill the listeners in who might not know.

Recently, the international testing agency, the ita, actually published a dashboard, like an interactive dashboard of all the tues for every sport.

So you.

Every sport.

Triathlon, fencing, whatever.

Pick your poison.

Track and field.

Like they published an actual like database, which they would have had, but they made it public.

The TUE is a TUE is a therapeutic use exemption.

So it's.

You're taking a typically banned substance, but you have a therapeutic use exemption, meaning that a physician has signed off that you need this substance for a covered indication, which means that it can be in your system when you train and race.

Yeah.

So I wanted to get a handle on what was going on in the triathlon space.

So I was able to, right before this, download some of the CSV, the Excel file on this, and it breaks out the status of these TUEs. One of the.

One of the columns is like partner id.

So it's under there.

It's like World Triathlon, Ironman.

I don't know if T100 is in there as well.

No, I only see World Triathlon and Ironman.

There's also, like, discipline.

So Ironman is its own discipline, which probably includes 70.3.

You have duathlon, para triathlon, and then triathlon.

And I looked at.

I just looked up 20, 25.

Going through the list, I see.

I think there's seven or eight Ironman Tues. And I'm looking in this list, and one of them here as the TUE class is anabolic androgen genic steroids.

So I guess, Jeff, like, why would somebody have a TUE for this?

Isn't this a banned substance?

Shouldn't they not be taking this period?

Matt, you ask such good questions.

I wish I had good answers.

Okay, so testosterone is an anabolic androgen steroid.

And that's probably what we're talking about here.

As I'm sure I don't have to tell you, there is a whole industry that has popped up over the last decade, 15 years or so, that is basically geared towards convincing men of my age group I don't have anything to hide.

I am in my late 50s.

But basically convincing men that they have a problem because with the natural decline in testosterone that happens to us, that we have a disease called low T. And low T must be treated because if you have low T, then you don't have normal T. And the only way to get to normal T is to augment your T. And that T is testosterone.

I had a conversation with Jim Vance on my program last year.

We were talking about the results that came out of Roth, where a bunch of athletes anonymously admitted to using banned substances without TUEs. And Jim's take on this was, I thought, more nuanced than my own.

Jim Vance, a coach of Ben Kanute and several other high performing athletes.

Jim said, look, triathlon is a pursuit.

It's a sport.

It's not a living for most athletes.

We're not talking pros here, we're talking age groupers.

And his feeling was, look, if somebody is taking something, testosterone or Adderall, which is going to be another class that you're, I'm sure going to mention, which is stimulants, if somebody is taking a medication that they believe is improving their quality of life.

And there's no question that for a lot of men, even though they are, you know, they don't have a disease called low T, but they do suffer from lower testosterone because that's the, you know, what happens when you age.

And if you take testosterone.

Yeah.

And if you take testosterone.

Yeah, you're gonna regain a lot of the things that you had in your youth.

You're gonna regain sex drive, you're gonna regain muscle mass, and you're going to regain some things that you lost when you got older.

And that can make a lot of men feel better.

So Jim's point was, look, you're doing triathlon as a simple pursuit.

If you're taking a medication that gives you a better quality of life, why should we outlaw that?

And that gave me pause because I used to spend a lot of time being very aggravated and angry about all of these guys going to these testosterone clinics and loading up on the stuff because they were getting a disadvantage or sorry, not disadvantage, but an unfair advantage.

And I guess now I feel a little bit like, why should I care so much?

Because the reality is, is I train as hard as I do.

I race for my own reasons.

I'm not.

I like to win.

I am competitive.

But if I don't win, I have a wonderful life all the same.

So if somebody beats me because they're.

You're already winning, too.

Exactly.

You're already.

So if I.

If I.

If somebody beats me because they're taking testosterone, so be it.

I just can't, you know, I have much bigger fish to fry.

I have many more important things to worry about.

And so I just can't lose sleep over it anymore.

And I think that that is the evolution of my feelings on this.

I would rather people weren't doing it, but if they're going to get a tue to do it and it's genuinely giving them an improved quality of life, then I think it's probably not for me to question.

Yeah, no, for sure, for sure.

Bros are a different story, Rose.

Yeah.

And these Tues, these are for pro athletes.

Where.

I guess.

And it goes back to.

So hang on, wait.

This whole.

This whole thing is pro athletes?

This is just pros.

Oh, you're asking me why are pros on this stuff?

I can't give you an answer for that.

So my answer was for age groupers.

And that's a great answer, I think for pros.

I can't give you a. I can't give you a realistic answer why any pro would need to be on an anabolic androgenic steroid.

What if a pro had really depressed levels of testosterone, obviously below what a typical person or.

That is going to be very rare.

It's going to be very rare.

You know how many are there on that?

I don't know.

I don't have the exact numbers, but I've heard of.

There is such a thing as hypogonadism.

There is such a thing.

There's something called hypogonadism.

It exists.

There's.

There's other things.

Like you can have hypopituitary.

I mean, there are valid medical reasons to have this, but it is rare.

And you are very unlikely to be a professional athlete walking around with such a low testosterone level that you need to have augmentation.

I think it's likely that if there's a list of 10 or 11 of these people, maybe one, maybe two, there's no way 10 or 11 of them out there.

I would be very skeptical.

And this is where.

So I saw this.

And this cropped up.

I think I saw a bunch of people post about it, but Sam laid low, actually took this by the horns.

And he's basically saying, now why aren't the names public?

Because that's not.

No, absolutely not.

Well, this is what he's.

This is what he's trying to push.

And, and no, I take.

I take exception to that.

If you have a true medical issue, that is nobody's business.

So you have to.

You listen.

Do I think that there are this many people who have this problem?

No, but am I going to call them out?

Absolutely not.

That is.

That.

That is be.

Listen, just because you're a professional athlete does not give me a spectator the right to know your medical history.

That.

That is fundamental violation of privacy.

Reminds me of the.

I don't want to say witch hunt, but like the witch hunt of where they wanted to make the race ranger data public.

And it's just like making everything public that public.

Maybe there should be public.

I don't make your power numbers public.

Yeah, it is public now.

It Wasn't before, but it is now.

But I'm just saying, I guess the line that to should be drawn, or maybe should.

Yeah, should be drawn is, like, medical stuff.

But the problem is it's well known out there that, like, the TUE process can be abused.

Like, ultimately, it's a doctor who makes these calls.

Right?

Like a doctor.

And I don't know, maybe the doctor is like, hey, I really like this athlete.

Or maybe, yeah, you're on the line of needing this.

Sure, let's.

I'll sign off on this and then.

Okay, there you go.

There's just a. I guess a slippery slope, or maybe there's just.

There's an opportunity for, I would say, corruption in this process.

And that's why they're saying, we want to make it public so that we can get an understanding of who's on these substances.

But then typically, these people wouldn't tell the other people if they were having a medical issue.

Like, it's.

Yeah.

So I frequently make this mistake where I say, look, my ethics as a physician and my honor as a physician are such that I would never do that.

I would never willingly lie to advantage somebody and put my name and my license on the line.

But I know darn well that my ethics and my honor is not translated across the board to other physicians.

So I know that, and I know that you're right that there is an opportunity here.

But that doesn't mean that you expose people's medical history.

That's just not okay.

I mean, there are.

There are people out there who.

There are people on this list who may be on stimulants because they have mental health issues.

That's a completely valid reason to be taking a stimulant.

And I don't think that given the way we treat mental health as a stigma, there is no way that that should be exposed.

Yeah, no, I think I'm.

I'm pretty much on your side with this.

I think you want to root out corruption.

You wanna.

But what's.

At what cost?

I don't know if I'd want to have people's conditions like that all rung out for everyone to see.

Like, it just.

Yeah, yeah.

To me, I just don't.

I don't think I could endorse that.

The making public of who is on these tues.

It's more like, how do you make the punishment for those who end up, I guess, eventually maybe getting caught, you know, blurring the lines or whatever.

How do you make that punishment quite severe, that maybe they're Less likely to do it.

How about.

Yeah, well, look, the TUE process exists for a reason, because there are valid reasons to have to take some of these medications.

The problem is, is when it gets abused.

The issue then is how do you determine if it's being abused?

I think if you have a list that's this long, the question of whether or not there is abuse is realistic and real.

I mean, listen, we had Colin Chartier today coming out on social media, basically questioning this.

It's like saying, hey, look, I admit I took something, I was wrong, but how are you gonna look at this list and think that, you know, I'm the only one, or that everybody's okay on this list?

And he's got a point.

He's not the most trustworthy guy.

He's not the guy we should be looking to for this kind of stuff.

But at the same time, you, you know, you can't necessarily have the experience, I guess.

Yeah.

So I, I, he's, he's a subject matter expert on things.

Me?

Yes, he is.

I, I don't have an answer for this, Matt.

I think it's, I think it's interesting.

I mean, look, I, I actually tried to get a TUE one time because as a night shift worker, I was taking a medication when I worked night shifts.

And I, as a responsible athlete, checked the list and found that this medication was banned in competition.

Not out of competition, but banned in competition.

It's a stimulant.

I looked into it and I found out that even though I wasn't taking it during races and I wasn't taking it on race day, the problem was the half life of this medication was so long that if I took it a week before, they would likely detect it if I was tested.

The washout period wasn't long enough.

Exactly.

So I called USADA and I spoke to, because you can call if you're worried about this kind of thing, they have a number.

And I called them and I had a conversation with them, and they said, we understand you're an age group athlete.

We have shift workers across the country who are similar, and we actually don't screen for those kinds of medications in age group athletes for that reason.

So we are more lenient for certain types of drug classes because we recognize that they're commonly used and they're not being taken to get an advantage.

Now, people could be listening to this and saying, oh, good, I'm going to take stimulants when I race.

I mean, that's, you know, if people are gonna cheat they're gonna cheat.

But the reality is, is, like, for people who are not cheating and are actually doing what Jim said, right, taking a medication because it improves their quality of life, improves their ability to work, they shouldn't get punished.

And I think that's USADA doing the right thing.

They're trying to do the right thing with this TUE process.

But your question about whether or not it's being abused is a hundred percent valid.

I don't have a way to answer it.

I. I don't think anybody does.

And I think putting this out there is kind of a way to get people to just sort of open their eyes and say, do we need to question this?

Do we need to do something about it?

Ray, it's not black and white.

Lots of gray.

Lots of gray.

Lots of gray.

All right, well, I think we have covered a lot of ground yet again.

This was.

We've been to Australia and back.

We stopped briefly in California, and then we covered the gamut of TUEs.

I'm shocked that that list was just pros.

I don't know why.

In my mind, I thought when I saw the extent of the list, I was like, oh, it's age groupers.

Fairly certain it's pros, but I could get a penalty for that.

No, I bet you're right.

I bet you're right.

Penalty box.

Oh, well.

Well, folks, we hope you enjoyed the program, and we hope that if you did, you'll let us know.

If you didn't, you can let us know also.

But if you liked it, do us a solid and leave us a rating and a review wherever you download the podcast.

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Until next week, we will be back with another episode of Temple Talks.

I will be recording from the shores of Blackbird Key in Belize.

I look forward to having a video backdrop of the ocean setting.

I guess we'll see.

We're gonna have to work out the time zones, given that I'll be a couple hours ahead of Matt, but we'll figure something out.

Figure it out.

Yeah, no, that sounds lovely.

I can't wait to hear about that.

And, yeah, maybe we'll get Kirsten on,.

And I would love that.

Yeah, I would love that.

That would be great.

So we'll lock her in for sure.

All right, well, until next week, folks, we hope you enjoyed the episode.

We look forward to talking with you again then.

Take care, everybody.

Perfect.

Thanks for listening, G.