Watch and learn.

In the old days we waited months to catch a glimpse of a Kona replay, which when it did appear was spread out in segments on Saturdays Wide World of Sports coverage. Today things have come a long way with live coverage the expected norm for most big races. Last weekend we had the PTO US open coverage available at the push of a button. The coverage itself has continued to improve, so now for any up-and-coming triathlete it is a must watch. There is no better way to learn than to watch the best in the world. And it wasn’t just coverage of what to do, but watching the men’s race especially, you saw no end of challenges the pro’s had to endure.

For me the highlights and learnings were –

• Jan starting early on the mind games, comparing Kristian’s claims that he will “smoke everyone in every race” to his daughter crying wolf! Maybe this did play a role in getting Kristian to go out hard on the ride, breaking away from the group early on, potentially costing him some energy and playing a role in his cramp?
• Jan also talked of the need for anger to make him race fast and that he has lost a bit of his anger and as a result he is ready to hang up his togs. Except again he has made Kristian his enemy (a bit like Michael Jordan who turned the world against him to drive him on) by commenting that when Kristian punched him in the swim it turned his anger levels up. This is a little like the Holly Lawrence and Ellie Salthouse rivalry in the women’s race which has been going on for years.
• We all make mistakes and encounter problems, Jan forgot to take his speed suit off after the swim. Jason West had his aerobars come loose after hitting a pothole, Kristian suffered cramp at multiple times during the run, especially in T2, as too did Ellie Salthouse. Sam Long only arrived at 10pm the night before the race after the birth of his first child. It was a big week for him as he also crashed a car due to his mind being elsewhere.
• But then we have someone like Taylor Knibb who leaves nothing to chance, being the type of athlete who reads the athletes guidebook and invests heavily into her preparation.
• Ash Gentle learnt from the men’s race, her Husband Josh Amberger, guided her on tactics, including warming up in her wetsuit for a non-wetsuit swim to make sure she didn’t get too cold.
• The swim in the men’s race didn’t break up a lot, while the women’s race stretched out significantly with swimmers failing to get close enough or choosing the wrong line, to miss feet. Open water skills and choices count a lot in the swim. At the front end of the men’s race Aaron Royale realised he couldn’t drop everyone, so he threw in some backstroke and repositioned into second to get the benefit of the draft.
• Jan had to really fight on the bike, riding on the rivet for a lot of it. He used the draft allowed zone through transition and also the technical parts to close back to the front guys. And after not racing for a few years, he was genuinely surprised at how fast they rode.  But in the end, he rode his own race and raced smart, to his plan.
• Ditlev again made-up ground after the swim but then he struggled to break away when the catch is made. Perhaps this may have been due to the fatigue of racing Roth only a month or two ago. There is always a story behind every race performance.
• On the bike most are going the sloping aerobars pads to get lower on the front end and make comfort easier, while Jan and Taylor Knibb both had a more traditional flat set up. Find the set up that works for you and make sure you can hold it.
• Pacing on the run was a big thing for most athletes as they continually looked at their watches to assess paces. Kristian was also doing calculations in his head to know how fast Jason West was running (and he was correct to the second!), showing just how aware the top athletes are of everything happening around them. Taylor also had her head around the race and knew how to pace herself to make sure she was in control the entire way.
• Jason Wests run was just mind blowing. He wanted a 55.30 and got a 56.30, this is 3.08/km. His final battle over the last 4km with Kristian was amazing as Kristian went from cruise to full on race mode. But in the end Jason had more capacity to sprint over the back end. But in his post-race interview he spoke of running on empty for the final lap, he just ran on fumes wanting to make the most of the opportunity. You can always find more if the want is there.
• Watching Kristian watch Jan celebrate after he crossed the line was an image for the ages and shows just what sort of competitive beasts these athletes are.
• But there is always another race for Kristian, while Jan is now focusing on Nice (Kristian has another 4-5 races in that time, including Singapore PTO in 2 weeks’ time). While Jan spoke of how he has trained so hard in the week leading up, logging 40hrs of training. Who knows what approach is better.
• Taylor Knibb spoke of the whole day just being hard and her having to just persevere through it. It took her until the 3^rd kilometre of the run to find her rhythm on the run. But then she used the splits she was getting on course to help steer her through the day. She also spoke of how the comments from other male competitors helped her through, noting comments like “pressure is a privilege, believe and race to win” that all inspired her.
• The finish line also showed the value of the run and also how important every second is- they all fought to the very end. Between 6^th and 11^th in the men’s and 4^th and 10^th in the women’s race, the time gaps were next to nothing and now with big money at play it become even more important.
• In the end everyone spoke of their love of competition and that having someone like Jan in the race helps them to take their game to another level.

With Singapore in two weeks settle in for a few hours and see what you can learn.