#71: Updates on everything

Presented by: Precision Fuel & Hydration

Jan 24, 2024

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issue #71: Jan. 24, 2024

All-sporters, I thought I’d share what I’m currently signed up for in 2024:

a local 50K that starts 400m from my house
a UTMB qualifying 100K that I can drive too
almost definitely the iconic Dipsea trail race
then Ironman Lake Placid—and, ultimately, some local Olympic or sprint to get warmed up

(And then I’ll see what the second half of my year looks like with work.) Isn’t this the spirit we’re getting into these days: big stuff, small stuff, mix of all sports stuff. And to get ready for all this running, I’ve been running a lot lately, like a LOT, at least for me. My legs are very tired.

Precision Fuel & Hydration has also been helping me sort out how to get ready for all of this and not screw it up after so much running. I’ve been sending them my questions and working through things (though they also have a huge amount of information in their knowledge hub), and I’d love to get your questions answered, too, as you’re getting ready for your own schedule of things. Email me kelly@triathlonish.com with whatever fueling and hydration questions you have. (The next one up from me is: How much protein should I be mixing into my race fueling, in addition to or in place of carbs? I’ve been hearing more from ultra-endurance female athletes about utilizing protein—do these recommendations vary for women and men?)

Now. What are you signed up for this year?

- Kelly

Before we get started…

A short bit of history. Back in 2018/19, when Sara Gross & I used to host the original version of the ‘If We Were Riding’ podcast, we started making fun of this brand new thing popping up in triathlon: the announcement that a big announcement was coming. People from all over then started sending us announcements of announcements and tagging us, bigger brands (like Ironman) started rolling with the tongue-in-cheek-ness of announcing the announcement, and it sorta went viral, and just kept going and going. Now, here we are, and are you even a tri brand if you don’t announce the announcement.

Will this ultimately be my greatest contribution to the sport?

And on that note, we have updates on all the news from the last week…

1. People are beginning to get their bikes back from the TriBike Transport implosion!

(Bet you didn’t expect us to start with that one.)

I have seen the actual photos of the actual bikes in the actual warehouse outside L.A. and at least a couple of people have their bikes literally finally in hand from the Pontevedra race back in September.

According to documents compiled by the group of athletes whose bikes were being held for ransom by the shipping company, a few things have happened:

A temporary restraining order was issued in N. Carolina in November to require the shipping company to give the 183 athletes back their bikes, and to sort out the debt complaint directly with TriBike (instead of selling off the individuals’ bikes); people were set to get their bikes back after two months of quite a bit of obfuscation…
But, the shipping company then moved the bikes as they were supposed to be picked up, argued that the court order was really for a different company “doing business as” (which, like, side eye), and filed a debt/defrauding complaint in California against TriBike & unnamed John/Jane Does.
The athletes were also connected with a class action lawyer in New Jersey, but the class hasn’t been certified yet. The athletes do not have a lawyer in California, and weren’t sure how to tackle that.
The shipping company offered a deal to any of the individuals: $2,000 to get your bike back. A few took it.

Now, the insurance company is close enough to reaching a settlement with the shipping company that athletes have been given option of getting themselves to the warehouse on the outskirts of L.A., showing their ID, signing over any waiver/rights, and picking up their bikes. If you don’t live near L.A., however, the details of transporting bikes have not yet been worked out — that’s still in the process and maybe expected within the week. Fingers crossed.

((I know I joked on the pod that I could start a business, renting a truck and delivering people’s bikes, and call it Triathlon Bicycle Transportation. But, seriously, if you’re super stuck and bike transport doesn’t get sorted out in the next few weeks and you’re nowhere near California, let me know; I’m sure we can figure something out.))

2. USAT will not require the Platinum membership for its Team USA athletes this year

After what sounds like it was a SUPER FUN town hall meeting last week, USA Triathlon announced it would not require athletes to purchase the upgraded $400 platinum membership to race at Worlds this year — since people had already qualified and signed up for Worlds. (You can, of course, still opt to upgrade.)

USAT will start rolling out the platinum membership requirement for those who qualify this year for 2025 and beyond.

And, honestly, the rest of the membership changes still make a lot of sense.

3. The PTO races are here…sorta…the announcement of the announcement is here.

First, a journalistic aside: By definition an “exclusive” is only exclusive if you’re the exclusive outlet that has the information. If you’re just one of many media outlets that has been given a press release in advance, or invited to a press event, or are part of a goddamn PR tour in which someone says the same stuff on multiple podcasts, then that’s not exclusive. /rant

Look: The PTO is announcing the PTO Tour on Jan. 30. (Unless, I guess, some kind of crazy London train strike derails that plan. Giant American shrug emoji.) I know this not because I was invited to the event, but because at least 10 people have told me this is when the big launch announcement will be.

Most of the eight races are confirmed (ideally, they’re able to announce all of them on Jan. 30)—starting in March, ending in November, around the world. Most of the athlete contracts are signed (we’ve gotten heavy hints from Lucy CB, Taylor Knibb, Sam Long). We can talk more about who is racing once all the names are public — I’d just be educated guessing on half of them — but I don’t love the way some of the top-ranked athletes get looped in and signed, and some don’t even get asked. That’s not how you run an athlete org.

While the first race is still not *publicly confirmed* we did get this confirmation of the “Lake Las Vegas” (ie. Henderson) race in October, a week before Kona.

And I will say this about the rumored calendar: Someone asked me back in Kona if I knew where the West Coast race was going to be. I did not. I assumed if there was one, it was going to be in L.A./Malibu, for obvious reasons + that’s a location people around the world have heard of. I assume this is also why the PTO backed the play (with letter & financial support) to take over the Malibu race from Super League. But, I also assume, there’s no way that’d happen in time for this fall, not on the scale they’re looking for, not with the Super League/Malibu chaos. The West Coast is my world, I know the ins and outs, and there are a limited number of places and venues and existing races you could have a PTO-level event at. So, if they pull off now in California what I think they’re aiming to pull off, I will be genuinely impressed.

The PTO Tour may really truly be fully delivering this year on what they’ve been promising. *hold your beath* Hopefully, it comes together big enough fast enough.

Race results, already?!

Tauranga Half: Chelsea Sodaro couldn’t quite run down Hannah Berry (previously Hannah Wells, if you were also confused like me). And Jack Moody made a super sprint for the win — and got stung by a jellyfish apparently.

Big thanks to Precision Fuel & Hydration for the support. And if you’re looking to stock up on fueling for the season, I’d heavily recommend the mint & lemon chews — it sounds like an odd flavor combo, but it’s just right for not overdoing it on the sugar when you’re in hard training/racing. 15% discount applied here.

The -ish

Stuff from around our sports worth knowing about this week.

I think the most impressive tri-ish result of the weekend, without question, was Morgan Pearson taking 4th at the XC National Champs (though he said he won’t be taking the world's team spot he qualified for). It’s impressive given that he was racing against full-time pro runners (while he is training for the Olympics in triathlon) & he took it to the field to make a move for the win. Good for him. No, I don’t know why the club XC champs and the individual XC champs weren’t at the same time/race. (Instagram)
Even more impressive, but not at all related to triathlon, Weini Kelati took the XC national title win by a lot just *six* days after she set a half-marathon American record. (Instagram)
And I’m getting quite pumped about the Olympic Marathon Trials next weekend. IF YOU’RE IN SEATTLE, COME TO OUR LIVE WATCH PARTY! (There are prizes.) Here are the best fun facts from the male runners’ and the female runners’ bios. (Feisty/Citius Mag)
The Boston Marathon men’s field was announced, and it’s also a sizzler. (BAA)
There’s a new record for the world’s coldest marathon at -62 degrees F. (AP)
Maybe the biggest -ish news of the week: Zach Miller & Killian Jornet have started emailing around to other top pros ultrarunners to see if they can all agree on another race that’s not UTMB to go to instead — in effect, creating a shadow boycott of UTMB. Since I love drama, as long as I’m not involved, I find this fascinating. (Marathon Handbook)
Emma Meyers could become the first para-triathlete to compete at the NCAA level. Though Grace Norman was the first to race, as an amputee, at college club nationals. (KJCT/USAT)
The new King of Denmark has a 10:45 Ironman PR. (Tri247)
In general, everyone editing and posting professional IG videos of their everyday training has been making me exhausted, but Ben Hoffman made me laugh. (Instagram)
This is a very good point about how we overemphasize the importance of shoes, especially when it comes to the records run by West African runners—as if they don’t run the race themselves. (Sapiens)
I told you durability is the new metric of elite training. (Velo)
And, oh, Vinfast, stop arresting people. (Jalopnik)

One last thing

Everything Laura Green does is a gem, but this parody of the running pubs as a poker game making their picks ahead of the Trials is my absolute favorite lately.

This issue was brought to you by Precision Fuel & Hydration. Get 15% off your first order here.