issue #199: Aug. 19, 2026
Presented by Mint & Honey Co.
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You all, I’m back to doing all the sports these days. Hitting Crossfit 1x/week, went back to Masters a few times, testing out The Running Algorithm platform (which keeps telling me to run with more intention; stop running too slow most of the time and then too fast some of the time). I’m still pretty far off anything resembling fitness, but I do personally enjoy the short, fast, and hard more than the long, slow, and slog.
And in between maybe getting in shape again, I’m also gearing back up to do more covering triathlon. Reminder that this is your free weekly newsletter with commentary and analysis on all things triathlon-related. You can find a guide to all the different triathlon series and how to watch here. (Because it is confusing.) You can find past Q&As here. Feel free to make suggestions for future Q&As or in-depth stories. And maybe we’ll even re-start a podcast!
- Kelly
A reminder: People care about what you tell them to care about — The Kona Edition
Did you know there was a time not so long ago when conventional wisdom suggested that triathletes just don’t really care about the pros.
Now here we are.
I like Kona. They have good poke. I swam with (a LOT of) dolphins two years ago. It’s fun to have so much of the sport in one place, concentrated in one isolated town. Triathlon’s still a place where you can randomly get drunk with world champions at the local bar after the race. I don’t know how much longer that’ll last. Kona is a fun week.
But I also think, if we objectively remove the hype from the facts, The Hype is its own self-perpetuating motion machine.
Which is to say (in case it was too subtle) people care about the pros now because we told them many times what and how and who to care about over multiple years. And they care about Kona because everyone tells them all the time to care about Kona. I mean I get it, but also you all know that you’re doing Ironman’s hype work for them for free, right.
Now that the Kona qualifier list is final post-IM Kalmar, a few things people are already hyping:
Data on who wins and if you have to be a veteran
And who’s already out: Leon Chevalier
One other random Kona note: I was at a party a couple of weeks ago and there was a woman in town visiting her parents, who lives in Kona and works for an excursion tour company there. So I asked her, just for another data point, what the perception was of “the Ironman.” Of course she said it was mixed and the quantity of video shoots for so many athletes now is too much. But then she was like: Splitting up the races has made it a lot better. And I was like: Well, I’ve got some news for you…
And a thing I just happen to think about sometimes
btw.
When people say they wish more women did triathlon, when Ironman says they’d love if more women wanted to do long-course triathlon, I think sometimes about last year’s Women’s Kona when they could have had more spots for the women. They could have had the same number of spots as they had for Men’s Nice, there was no space limitation argument against it. And don’t say women didn’t want to race — the numbers were lower for Nice for a number of well-documented reasons. Then Ironman simply didn’t give the women the choice for last year’s Kona: there were ~2,415 qualifying spots available for Men’s Nice and ~1,520 spots for Women’s Kona.
When given the opportunity, Ironman could have had more women in Kona and they chose not to.
And you can say whatever you want to about why and what the reasoning was, but a thing I think about sometimes is the simple reality that they didn’t want more women, they wanted more of the right type of women.
Whether or not you characterize the manufactured scarcity as not making it “too easy” to qualify for Kona, that’s just a different way of defining the type of woman you’re willing to let in.
There’s a mini-debate going on in trail running right now about if the culture of the sport is changing, is it booming for women, is it getting too bro-y and unwelcoming and commercial, or is the reality that for a certain group of people it has always been unwelcoming and for them it isn’t booming. We’re not going to have that debate in triathlon because the debate requires a level of introspection triathletes are not known for. But sometimes I think about the fact that the biggest self-created problem Ironman The Company won’t admit is: When 50-year-old Joe Triathlete brags at the office about doing an Ironman, they actually *don’t* want someone to say ‘oh didn’t Margie in sales do one of those, what, is it hard.’ Ironman could have had more women, but those weren’t the kind of women Ironman wanted.
From the races
IM Kalmar: Many men’s national records set. And a women’s course record from Laura Philipp. But Robert Kallin couldn’t hold on after his fastest ever Ironman bike record and will miss Kona. Isn’t that how sports go: Triumph, heartbreak, onto the next.
Also, an update on the guy who ran his bike 35km after a mechanical.
T100 Vancouver: Julie Derron and Kate Waugh are very very good at the 100km distance and format.
Northern California 70.3: And Grace Alexander, Jason West continue to be excellent at U.S. 70.3s. But mostly I just wanted to note that it is rare for me to hear nothing but raves for an Ironman race, especially an inaugural one. The West Coast Ironman operations team is always very good, but it also seems like they really reached out to local businesses, worked with the Chamber (as mentioned before) to make sure businesses understood what would and wouldn’t sell, lots of businesses had deals for athletes and events; they worked with local influencers to hype the race. (People care about what you tell them to care about.) They lucked out a little bit too that Northern California had record low temperatures last week (something to do with the hurricane in Hawaii and pressure systems, etc) or it could have easily been 100+ degrees in Redding instead. But there’s a rumor going around they may move the event to May for that reason — and I, personally, wouldn’t be surprised if they make this a Pro Series or continental championship type event in 2027 or 2028.
Results: IM Kalmar, T100 Vancouver (and the series rankings now), Northern California 70.3, Hradec Kralov 70.3 (which is in Czechia, which many of us probably know as the Czech Republic)
Get to know the woman behind the magic
I’ve been excited to partner with Mint & Honey Co. this month and with Lynette Pettinicchi, the woman behind the boutique PR agency. Part of what’s great about Lynette is how much she lives our sports.
So let’s get to know her.
Lynette first started running after getting hit by a car 15 years ago. Once she was cleared to run post-walking boot, inspired by her sister, she immediately signed up for a 5K. Like so many of us, she was hooked. Six marathons. Countless half-marathons.
The run leg of a relay at The Beauty & The Beast Triathlon in St. Croix in 2021 got her into triathlon. And since that, she’s gone all-in on swim-bike-run: sprint triathlons, Olympic-distance, 70.3s — and all eyes now on Ironman Ottawa. Wish her luck at Jones Beach 70.3 next month and then CIM in December!
She teaches mat Pilates. She specializes in run courses for Race Awesome. And at Mint & Honey Co, she’s run PR campaigns for brands you know (like Body Glide) and helps connect athletes with partnerships.
She believes wellness should make you feel well. And she believes our sports are a key part of that. If you’re looking for expertise in running, health, wellness, or endurance sports, email Lynette.
The -ish
Some of the things worth knowing about this week in our sports — or that I just think are interesting.
Ironman Leeds had to cancel the swim because of algae blooms due to the heat. And Western Massachusetts 70.3 has permanently been canceled (sorry “paused”) because the swim kept getting cut. Do you think everyone’s ready to finally acknowledge that climate change is going to change our sports? (BBC/MassLive)
The big Supertri series finale will officialy have Alex Yee and Hayden Wilde facing off again. (Endurance Sportswire)
Jeanne Collonge had a bad bike crash a few days before Kalmar and has been in the ICU partially paralyzed since then with a spinal injury (according to the translation of her update). Send her all the good thoughts. (Instagram)
Rudy Von Berg and Simone Dailey (previously Simone Mitchell, if that’s more familiar) are having a baby. (Instagram)
Cute story from pro golfer Bubba Watson who wandered into the Ironman in Kalmar and had the reaction most people have. (Instagram)
Next week is UTMB week and it’s like Kona hype week but for trail runners. (iRunFar/Instagram)
Katie Ledecky lost a major 800m race for the first time in 14 years, and how dominant do you have to be that losing a race at Pan-Pacs is a global headline. (To be clear, she still has 18 of the top 25 800m swim times ever and this was actually faster than three of her four gold medals in the event. It’s just that finally a couple of other people have caught up.) (The Athletic/NBC Olympics)
The autopsy was released for the woman who died during Ironman Texas and it was ruled an accidental drowning — which just means it doesn’t appear that something else happened while she was in the water. I still think it sounds like SIPE contributed to the drowning. (Chron.com/Triathlete)
Fin Tarling died after hitting an unauthorized car that’d been waved onto the course by spectators during a bike race. Does cycling need to come to terms with how it fails its riders? The GoFundMe for Tarling. (The Gaurdian/The Athletic/GoFundMe)
Mountain bike world champ Kate Courtney’s move to the road has also been one of the most interesting choices within a women’s peloton (and a superteam) that is exploding. Will she be ready for LA28? (Escape Collective/Instagram)
L.A. (the city) is still very concerned about potential cost overruns from the Olympics and reached a tentative deal. (LA Times)
I’ll also say I went into my second LA28 ticket drop timeslot on Monday and literally the only tickets available in California were $200 for prelims of handball, baseball, or soccer (which I’d buy if I knew who was playing but), a few $1,000-2,000 tickets for track, or boxing finals. So, I’m gonna keep waiting. I keep assuming that it’ll operate the way Paris did and there’ll be a lot of cheaper tickets available later and a re-sale market, but I really hope I’m not wrong because right now all I have is tickets to the sprint canoe final. My husband says the only solution is to get really dedicated and follow the canoe athletes for the next two years. All in on sprint canoe!
Why are people into Hyrox? Partially the low barrier to entry (you know how to literally do all the things), partially Hyrox has done a good job making it fun. But also the style of training (a mix of strength + cardio + high-intensity and a little endurance) is probably the best thing for you in a general sense. (Feisty/Triathlete)
A really good website guide to the Marathon Majors (h/t Mario Fraioli). (Marathon Ballot)
Could you run a marathon with 20 wine stops? (Wall Street Journal)
Apparently regular people are racing in briefs now. (Outside Run)
And, I’m not sure if this is totally accurate, but Steve Magness isn’t wrong: How to tell if someone is doping. (Youtube)
“Are the Patriot Games great? No. Are they fun to watch? Also no.” (The Atlantic)
One last thing
Sarah True once tried to explain to me that running with a dog attached to you is literally faster than running on your own. The dog pulls you along. Well, the SF Mile this past weekend added a dog mile.
I looked at the last 4 years of participant numbers for Western MA and I actually think the reason it is cancelled is because that number has been 1200 - 1600 each year compared with other races like Jones Beach that has over 3000. Two years of cancelled swims might be the public reason but there have been many examples of races in the Northeast (Timberman, Connecticut) where the race didn’t get enough registrants or couldn’t accommodate enough registrants to be a profitable endeavor.