- Morning, trainiacs!
Today, second weekly Newsday Tuesday,
and we are talking about bike crashes in Abu Dhabi,
pals of ours winning Ironman,
and, potentially, free bikes for some trainiacs.
Pretty sweet, huh?
(upbeat music)
Last week, you all went mad at the concept
of a weekly triathlon Newsday Tuesday,
so we're gonna make this a regular thing.
We've got some better lighting, here.
We have a second camera angle.
Fortunately, you've got the same old ugly mug.
But let's get into triathlon news from the past week.
Let's start off with the ITU sprint race in Abu Dhabi,
which was a smashing,
unfortunately, I mean that literally, race,
because halfway through the 20 kilometer bike ride,
really big favorites coming into the race
Flora Duffy, Katie Zaferes, and Canada's Joanna Brown
crashed out around the 10 to 11 kilometer mark
because there was some rain overnight,
and the roads were really slick.
Flora Duffy and Joanna Brown came out
with a little bit of road rash.
Katie Zaferes, however, actually ended up in the hospital,
and her husband was actually saying
that she was suffering from short-term memory loss.
However, she looks really good in ROKA shades right now
covering up a banged-up eye.
The race was eventually won
by Rachel Klamer of the Netherlands,
going one hour, 43 seconds.
The men's race was fortunately a lot less exciting.
Henri Schoeman came out with the win
in 54 minutes and 16 seconds,
blazing fast.
He was actually only the second person ever
to win wire-to-wire,
leading coming out of the swim, the bike, and the run.
Congrats, Henri.
In Ironman racing,
we had Ironman New Zealand happen on Saturday.
I think it was our Friday, their Saturday,
'cause their toilet bowls go a different way.
South of the equator problems.
But this is a very big race.
Mike Reilly goes down,
and he only selects a few races every single year,
so you know that this is going to be a big race
coming into it.
Terenzo Bozzone came out on the men's side
with an awesome race, going 759:57,
winning by about five minutes on his home turf.
Excellent race!
And you might be thinking that that's not a crazy fast time,
because you've got athletes going
somewhere around 740,
however, that race is historically anywhere from
10 to 25 minutes slow.
On the women's side, our pal Sid, Laura Siddall,
ended up winning by about five minutes as well,
going just over nine hours.
This is the first time she's won that race.
She has been nailing it the last couple weeks,
winning down in Ironman New Zealand,
placing second just a couple weeks ago at Challenge Wanaka,
and I don't wanna take credit for it,
but I just wanna say that a few weeks ago,
we were playing Jenga, watching her train,
and she wasn't winning Ironman New Zealand
before that happened, so, you're welcome, Sid.
Zwift and Specialized just announced a partnership,
announcing the Zwift Academy
specifically for elite amateur triathletes
that are trying to get to Kona.
With this program,
athletes will be identified through the Zwift program,
and they'll be trained to qualify and do well in Kona.
They'll be supported by Specialized
with their bike fitting systems, with gear,
potentially getting a new bike,
and all you have to do is go to zwift.com/academy,
sign up, and you might be selected.
You also might actually have the opportunity to be trained,
if you are selected,
by mentors Lucy Charles and other high-performance coaches.
Really good deal, so get on Zwift.
By the way, follow me at T Riathlontaren,
Riathlontaren's the last name.
See you on Zwift, ride on.
USAT, the governing body for triathlon in the United States
announced the hiring of their commissioner of officials,
Thomas Reilly, who is the most referee-looking referee
that ever did referee.
That man needs a whistle and a rule book.
USAT also announced their new athletes of the year.
On the men's side, it was Albert Harrison.
On the women's side, it was our pal Danielle Dingman,
who we had on the podcast,
and is going into her first year as a professional
half Ironman triathlete.
Now, on to what last week
was probably the most popular segment
of the first Newsday Tuesday.
That's a story where a trainiac submits
their story about how triathlon has changed their life.
Not necessarily about how I've changed their life,
but their story about triathlon
and the journey they've gone through.
Today's story comes from Cameron Comerford,
who commented about how listening
to last week's story of Steve
who went through weight loss surgery
and is in his first couple years of triathlon
really hit home for him,
because he himself went through weight loss surgery,
and he is 10 years into that journey
and seeing amazing results in triathlon.
"The story from last week really hit home to me,
"because that was me 10 years ago.
"I've been overweight since I was a kid,
"graduating high school at 260 pounds,
"and I was 5'11."
I feel your pain, being short and stubby, my man.
"By 2006, I weighed 320 pounds.
"I tried lots of diets, but to no avail.
"Eventually, I had lap-band surgery in Tijuana, Mexico,
"which got me down to down to 230 to 240-ish.
"I did a slow sprint tri, and really enjoyed it.
"Kept working on it, dabbling in tri,
"but I couldn't get my weight lower.
"I never solved the emotional issues
"that led to my eating addiction.
"After getting pregnant with our second child,
"I got back up close to 300 pounds.
"I would order takeout wings every Saturday morning
"on the way home from the gym to watch football."
Like a boss!
"After the little one was born,
"my wife and I got our crap together
"and started working with a nutritionist.
"You can say, sure,
"with the help of that nutritionist,
"I was able to get down to 185 pounds about six years ago.
"I started back in tri at this time, and I was hooked.
"Long story long, I now stay at 175 pounds.
"I've raced five Ironmans in the past three years
"with a personal record of 10:05.
"So damn close to going sub-10, damnit."
He adds, "PRed the half distance
"at the 70.3 World Championships
"in Chattanooga last year at 4:53,
"and finally reached my goal of USAT All American for 2017.
"The plan is to qualify for
"2019 Half Ironman World Championships in Nice, France,
"then go hard at Kona after that race.
"Of course, there are lots of victories,
"learning experiences, good races, bad races,
"and too much money spent on carbon over those years."
You can't ever spend too much money on carbon.
Just by definition it's not enough.
"But the main reason I'm writing you
"is because of the story you shared in last week's video.
"There are some things I've learned about endurance racing
"after having weight loss surgery,
"and there are tips and tricks I've learned
"about racing long distance after such a surgery.
"Tips, bibs, equal man spikes,
"and make sure to take as many photos as possible
"after the race, when you're dehydrated and cut.
"I was so stoked to see that story.
"Brought me back to a few years ago,
"and the excitement of little things
"like fitting into a medium-sized tri suit.
"I want everyone to know that it's never too late
"to get healthy again.
"Thanks, Cameron Comerford."
Holy crap, Cameron, you are fast,
and where you started from is amazing.
Thank you very much for sending this in.
If anyone else wants to share their story,
I think that this would be one of the coolest things
that we could possibly do on this channel
is sharing all the stories
of what you're accomplishing in triathlon.
So, email us at taren@triathlontaren.com.
I'll see you on Zwift!
Later.
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