Heat acclimation isn’t really the issue with Lionel. It’s his poor nutrition strategies or lack thereof that he’s been able to get away with over the years at every other race but Kona. //

Well except for that one time in Kona where he was leading to the last miles, and only got passed by one guy near the end for 2nd... (-;


Like you said, I dont think he has any more problem in the heat than the average good pro there, it comes down to your nutrition strategy on the day.


He seems to be on the right track early season for a change, and as long as he listens to his crew, he should be fine. Like he doesnt need to get any fitter or faster(except the water), he just needs to be this fast at each race he pitches up to. But that is always the anchor around guys necks, have a great race in your top 5 ever, and you now look to improve on that.. Just hold your line and make others catch up, and enjoy the success each and every race...

The athlete guide and every IM person said the speed zone was at mile 39.5. It’s never been there it’s at 38.5

What a fucking joke. IM is pathetic

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

It is very well marked on course. This is on the athletes and no one else.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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This in reply to the thread in general:
On the viewing:
1. I have an Outside viewing subscription at $4.99/month, or $59.99 per year. I didn't realize I had it until reading this thread. (I also subscribe to TriathlonLive to watch ITU so not a big deal to me). My viewing experience was different than most on here. I didn't see any Outside ads. I always had Picture in Picture with an an ad playing but I could always see the race going on and the leaderboard on the side. Some ads were repetitive but not any more than NFL football. The commentators and the ads all worked together. I don't remember the commentators talking over ads or odd breakouts into ads at weird times. And, I am guessing the ads were played based on, not sure what, but I didn't get the same ads that others on here are talking about (e.g., I don't remember any Hoka ads).
2. I did turn off the audio shortly before the men got to T2 and turned on music until the last couple minutes when Lionel won as I was on the trainer the entire time and had intervals to do the rest of the viewing and music helps me do that more than commentating. So maybe that saved me from being irritated with the commentators.

Lionel was really impressive as was Taylor as to be expected with her. Lionel at the finish with his son and his emotion in that moment . . . . . . .. . . . Absolutely terrible luck for Emma Pallant but that speed limit is so well known. . . . . . . .

Prerace interview with the new CEO I thought was good and looking forward to the new, good energy and ideas that he will bring.

Great way to get through a long trainer ride and looking forward to the rest of the Pro Race Series season!

When the organization that runs the race can’t get the speed zone that’s been in effect 15+ years right it’s 💯their fault. I’ve done this race 13x. It’s always been at 38.5

That’s like posting that the speed zone is 25 but it’s actually 30

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

So are you saying she slowed down at the wrong "speed trap"? I thought this was clearly marked and everyone knows the location, regardless of where it's noted in the athlete guide.

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Brooks Doughtie, M.S.
Exercise Physiology
-USAT Level II

I think they're saying "I want to be angry about something minor because it's fun to hate on ironman". Plenty of things to hate on, this ain't it.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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If this race tells Lionel anything, it’s “stay the course”. There’s always things to learn from races even if you win but overall the training strategy should not change.

If you watch his post race interview with protri news, he mentions he had a mental breakdown a few weeks ago. Was ready to give up after a session didn’t go well. This should teach him that those sessions happen to everyone including world champions and he needs to shake them off and move to the next one.

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blog

Today's reminder of IRONMAN Rule 5.c:


And Rule 5.f:


In other words -- you know there's a speed trap. It's been the same for 16 years. It doesn't matter what IM did or didn't say in a briefing. It's your job to know where it is.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Does anybody know the answer to this question? I didn’t hear anything.

I've assumed the excuse for the penalty is either tunnel vision or maybe there's some rumor that occasionally a pro just sends it and doesn't get busted?

That would be surprising though as it's not like you're in the slow zone for many miles.

Also, pros get to do 35mph for that zone. It's really easy to not get DQd.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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Anyone who has ever done this race or any IM race knows that whenever there is a speed zone or any hazard of any kind there are signs a plenty and numerous people waving flags or giving the signal to slow down. It’s more than obvious. This pro just didn’t pay attention (which I find hard to believe) or just rolled the dice as to getting caught or not.

Its not like the rider memorized the race handbook and looked at their GPS saying, “here is is the speed trap, I better slow down” No, they can obviously tell by the signage on the course.

An observation from watching the race earlier.

Emma Pallant-Brown, who ran the fastest HM, was wearing shorts on the bike. As the coverage focused on her for quite a while it was obvious there was no bike pad. Perhaps she had a saddle cushion? As a run specialist did she go for the faster run setup? Will this be a new trend, could it make sense in an Olympic or Sprint.

Yay Lionel...🤣🤣🤣

The only WPRO athlete likely to feature (top 10) in the IM Pro Series is Langridge who is the loser here, by choosing a 70.3 with Knibb racing it. She scored 1575 'IM' points (Knibb = 2500 but she will not race any IMs this year.)
As for Knibb and outlier:
Time 4:09:55 Compare that with Jewett's 2023 4:08:09 with Sodaro <2 mins down and Matthews 4 mins down. Were the conditions better or worse: looked pretty similar to me (swim looks a minute longer this year, though, was colder).
And allow for Knibb easing off a minute or two on the run. Last year Findlay was >13 mins down of the win: this year 12 mins down. This is the opening race of the IM season and most of the top ten are siphoned away to Singapore or, having raced Miami, prepping for Texas. With Findlay, EPB, and Jewett racing it'd be unfair to characterise the field as 'weak': it was a reasonable standard field, (obv) not a 70.3 world champs field.
Knibb won at Lahti, but no Gentle, no LCB, no Haug. Matthews 4 mins down, EPB 5. Knibb dominated (and she'd seen Gentle off 3 weeks earlier at Milwaukee, by a small margin, warming up for Paris).
Looking forward to a showdown between Gentle, Knibb, Haug and LCB in T100 Las Vegas (but not before) and then, very much a maybe, Taupo (given long season and the T100 GF mano a mano ;) which all 4 will race (others in the mix eg Lee, Matthews, a 2019 Ryf, a 2022 Sodaro) - some will choose to skip New Zealand.
I saw no sign of any close moto lead during coverage.
Knibb scores 97.9 PTO Ranking points (cf Lee who score 97.98 points in Miami (Diamond tier)); This will jump her into #2 in the rankings, ahead of LCB and Gentle (both of whom race next weekend) or even #1 (hundredths in it, ahead of Haug).
Edit: EPB's reinstatement drops Knibb's score (average of first 5 raised) meaning she gains one place in the rankings (above LCB; not that they matter till Christmas).

I don’t think the pro’s did get to do 35 I think it was 25 for all.

Emma hasn’t posted anything or complained about anything so I would imagine she is appealing. It is ok for someone to say it has been that way for 16 years but if you aren’t from US!

Emma is extremely professional, she fought hard just to be on the start line so lets wait and see what happened.

Hmm. Every year I've done it we were 35mph. They don't advertise that anywhere to not confuse AGers but I'd bet it was the same this year.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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That was a good write up. Thank you!

And Dev, your increased proactivity re: race threads on the forum has been awesome.

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wovebike.com | Wove on instagram

The year I did it in 2013, I actually did not realize I was at the speed trap. The guy in front of me sat up to drink a water bottle and I "almost passed him" and saw a sign at the right of the road just before I passed and backed off. I think technically I had entered the guy's draft zone and not passed but I figured the time penalty was safer than a DQ for passing in a no pass. Is it still a no pass AND speed limit?

Yup. Still both. Two years ago a pro male got DQd for passing my wife in that section. She wasn't anywhere near the front so that dude may have been looking for an excuse to stop racing though...

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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Per IM app, looks like both EPB and Currie are reinstated, 2nd and 6th.

My work life has been stretching me at all ends and I have been cramming in training to keep that up but not socializing much (online or live with other triathletes), and frankly training does not feel as fun when you're not talking sports shop talk with others. It is much more healthy training when you are immersed a bit more with other athletes (here online or other friends). My day to day life is with techies and finance people. It has frankly not been balanced and swung waaay to the finance side. So trying to socialize here a bit more (with the good and bad that comes with this, but its better than not at all).

I had to cancel my race in Oceanside on account of sickness and a dental surgery this week, so getting on the trainer for 40km and watching this race was a great way to vent and following all the commentary of course is uplifting because you can feel like you are on the course without being there.

Well she was on stage in 2nd sooooooooooo

You guys crack me up. The organization puts out the completely wrong info and ur like “it’s on the athletes” FFS it’s the race director telling people the speed zone is at 39.5. Can we please hold the accountable for being stupid

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

The reinstatement had literally nothing to do with the fact that they apparently mis-stated the exact mileage of the speed zone. EPB provided GPS data that she did not speed. If Ironman is going to allow gps data (notoriously unreliable) to override their timing mats, they're opening a big can of worms. Maybe they set up the timing mats wrong or had the auto dq threshold set incorrectly, but I promise you no one gives a shit what mile marker it was at. I'm having a hard time understanding why you think that is such a big deal.

When you race and they tell you there is an aid station at mile 16 but then it comes at 15.5 instead do you ride past it then complain after that you didn't get a bottle at mile 16? Like, use some common sense and stop throwing a fit about nothing.

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Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
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I saw her on the bike course, walking in the opposite direction to us, in the grass, with her bike shoes in her hand. Forget at what point in the ride. Not sure if it was a mechanical, or what. I hope she finds her mojo. On breakfast with Bob for Oceanside she talked about her race experience at the T100, and the words she was using, and lack of support she had were issues. In life we need to maximize performance when the cards are stacked against us. With that strategy, we can overcome. I hope she continues to persevere, and comes out stronger. Like Lionel at awards today spoke about he had a terrible workout last Saturday and was ready to throw in the towel. Look how well he raced today. Amazing what we as humans can achieve. Who would have picked him to smoke all these fast guys. Yet he did, had a great race, and I am really looking forward to seeing his race report with Talbot, and actually admitting that his plan is working, and more importantly that he is sticking with the plan.