The TriNation Podcast

This week on the TriNation podcast we welcomed on Ryan Bolton - 2000 Olympian turned coach and founder of Bolton Endurance Sports Training (BEST).  Ryan represented USA at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the sports first showing of the event on the Olympic stage. He now coaches many of the top professional triathletes and runners in the world including Sam Long and young rising star Daniel Dixon amongst many others! Alongside this currently heads up as USA Triathlon High-Performance Advisor and travelled out to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games where the USA had an incredibly successful games. We touch on all these things in this discussion with Ryan as well as his coaching methods and what tips he has for triathletes getting into the sport.

This week Luke sat down with TRI-FIT co-owners Dan and Simon. TRI-FIT is a triathlon apparel brand and this was a chance to hear about the  business side of triathlon. Both run the business from the other sides of the world with one living in Australia and the other in the UK. A key point that comes from this discussion is their dedication to the environment which is a key part in running a business in todays market. Not only do they focus on sales but they also give back by donating 1% of their sales back to the environment. Enjoy listning!

The podcast returns! Luke and Andrew look towards a new year by chatting about the upcoming triathlon season, what recent changes have happened and announce how the podcast will continue to bring on professional athletes but also expand more into the outer part of the triathlon world, looking to bring on more coaches, industry experts, event organisers and many more!

This week we marked the 50th episode of 'The TriNation Podcast'. We have managed to bring on some of the biggest names in triathlon and other surrounding sports and will continue to do so! On this week's episode we got to speak to no doubt the most dominant swimmer in triathlon, Slovakian Richard Varga. Richard holds the record for the most lead out swims in the now known World Triathlon Championship Series circuit and it was great to hear his experience on competing in two Olympic games (London 2012 and Rio 2016), his move to Leeds to train alongside the Brownlee brothers and what the triathlon set up is like in Slovakia. We also touched on the subject which has been right at the forefront of the triathlon world in recent weeks on the issue of doping after the recent stiff sanctions which were imposed on the Russian Triathlon Federation. This is something that actually stopped Richard starting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics having only missed out taking to the start line by one slot and he shares his frustration on this topic.

What a week for triathlon with the Norwegian viking Kristian Blummefelt breaking the Ironman world record in style in Cozumel! In good timing we were able to speak to his coach Arild Tveiten a couple of days following the event. We went in depth to the preparations for his debut in the distance before tracking back to the start of Arild's coaching career and taking what was once a young innocent squad of young triathletes including the likes of Blummenfelt, Gustav Iden and Lotte Miller to a now star studded Norway team dominating the triathlon world.

On this weeks podcast episode we were delighted to bring on two extremely female successful triathletes who are currently at the top of the sport. Georgia Taylor-Brown and Jess Learmonth have had a whirlwind few months with success at the Olympics bringing home gold and silver medals for GB and then onto the rising Super League Triathlon 4 week spectacle. This chat is light hearted but gives a great insight into what goes on in the lead up to the Olympics, the day itself and the aftermath.

It has been a busy few weeks of triathlon racing with many events happening all across the world from WTCS races, Super League Triathlon events and of course the Ironman World 70.3 championships. Luke and Andrew sat down to have a catch up chat on it all, giving their full reviews on the races. We have a good few guests lined up for the next coming weeks, including athletes racing at Super League and the Ironman 70.3 World Championships so watch out for those coming out soon.

On this week's episode of 'The TriNation Podcast' we decided to head into the world of triathlon photography. Podcast host Luke had a sit down with World Triathlon content producer and photographer Tommy Zaferes. Tommy is no stranger to racing as an athlete and in the past raced on the World Triathlon circuit (or ITU as it was previously known) to great success achieving multiple podiums. He spoke about his interesting discovery of triathlon and how it quickly took over his life. Another well known fact about Tommy is that he is married to 2X World Champion and Tokyo 2020 Bronze Medalist Katie Zaferes. He gave us his insight of both working at the Tokyo Olympics as well as all the emotions that came with it following Katie's whirlwind run up to the games and the success that she ultimately achieved. Enjoy!

This week we were joined by French Ironman athlete Sam Laidlow, winner of this years Tradeinn International Triathlon. He then subsequently went on to secure his Kona spot for 2021 after a second place finish at Ironman Bolton. In this chat with Sam he spoke about changing the perception of the sport showing that the young generation can compete at the longer distance. He also spoke of the benefits of the FGP racing in France as well as giving us a hint at an upcoming french long distance battle which is in the works. This is a great listen and we hope you enjoy it!

On this post Olympics episode we welcomed on an actual Tokyo Olympian - Russell White. Russell competed in the men's individual race finishing 48th. Russell had a turbulent time leading into the games having to make a last ditch attempt to qualify which meant racing multiple weekends in a row across three different continents. He did come through achieving his dream of qualifying for the Olympics and he gave us an insight into the weeks leading into the race, the day itself, how everything runs at the Olympic village... oh and of course THAT boat incident.

On this episode of the podcast we discuss Andrews recent completion of his first Ironman in a sub-9 hour performance which included a 2.50 marathon running time. Hear how an elite balances work with training, how Andrew went about preparing for his Ironman as well as any advice for those looking to do their first one!

The start of the Olympic triathlon is HERE. Over the next few days we will witness a battle between all of the best male and female triathletes in the world for the ultimate title of Olympic Champion. Luke and Andrew decided to put together a short episode of their favourites and predictions for the races and how they think things will pan out. 

We are back... already! A new season of the podcast begins in Olympic week. Luke and Andrew were delighted to welcome on Australian Natalie Van Coevorden. Natalie was able to tell us her life and story in triathlon which has recently taken a knock after the controversial selection of the Australian Olympic triathlon team which left Natalie off the squad. We wanted to use this platform not only for Natalie to give her opinion on the matter but also to explore where she will go from here and what her ambitions are going forward in the sport. We hope you enjoy!

To round off season 4 of The TriNation Podcast we brought on British athlete James Teagle who recently won Outlaw 70.3 half Holkham. James has been a dominant force in the junior and under 23 scene growing up having competed in multiple major championships for GB. He has been battling to make his mark as a senior in short course racing over the last few years but has recently made the decision to make the move over to the half Ironman distance. James spoke about his struggles of not being funded, his life in triathlon and how he thinks moving up a distance will help prolong his triathlon career.

This week on The TriNation Podcast we have a fantastic episode for you with our guest - 2X Olympic Champion - Alistair Brownlee. He spoke to us about the very recent release of his new book 'Relentless' which looks into the minds of the sporting elite from a side never seen before. We also delved into finding out Alistair's reasons for fighting for another Olympic spot which recently came to an end. We wanted to do this podcast differently to others and really tried to find out more about Alistair himself and look into the mindset of a true champion. Enjoy!

On The TriNation Podcast this week we got an insight into the world of Olympic swimmer Ross Murdoch! Ross is most remembered for his emotional win at a home games in Glasgow 2014 and is now just days away from competing in his second Olympic Games in Tokyo. We learnt how he overcame adversity, a dip in his mental health and how he is aiming to produce as good a performance as possible out in Tokyo. Ross certainly has plenty to say and it was great to hear the differences in training between elite swimmers and elite triathletes!

On the podcast this week we brought on a junior triathlete from the Netherlands who is currently dominating the junior triathlon scene - Barbara De Koning. Barbara has won the last two Junior ETU cups in Caorle and Olsztyn. We heard about her Youth Olympics experience, how she used lockdown to better herself as an athlete and how she is challenging herself by racing in the senior ranks already as well as much more. This is a great listen into the life of a junior athlete trying to break through the ranks!

This week we were delighted to welcome on Lotte Miller. Lotte is the front runner to take the one and only spot for the Women's Norwegian Olympic team. Hear about her career from Junior through to the senior ranks and now racing on the WTCS circuit. We also get a glimpse of the Norwegian training culture, squad environment and how they nurture young athletes and give them every opportunity to rise to the top in the sport. Finally we also heard how WTCS Yokohama was actually ideal preparation for Tokyo later in the year. 

This week on the podcast we welcomed on American and recently qualified Olympian Morgan Pearson. After his great race race out in Yokohama and most notably his run through a pack of 30 athletes to finish on the podium we were able to find out how Morgan has risen through the ranks of triathlon at a rapid pace after only joining the sport in 2017. Get an insight to his college running days, his day to day training and how he felt his brother by his side all the way to that Olympic spot.

Racing is back! It's been quite a year but finally some racing has begun and hopefully things will continue to improve! Our guest this week was Chris Perham - Super League Triathlon athlete, British Duathlon Champion and ETU Indoor Triathlon Champion. His career is certainly continuing on an upward trajectory and he spoke to us about his journey as a triathlete to get to where he is today. Hear about the British triathlon system, the French system, his mindset and so much more!

The story on this episode of The TriNation Podcast is a truly inspirational one. Our guest this week for our 1 year special podcast was Scott Meenagh - Paralympian, Former

Sophia Green joined us as the guest on this week's podcast. Sophia raced at the 2019 World Junior Championships and is a front runner to secure qualification for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games as she begins what is a crucial 2021 season. We heard about her career to date, how figure skating was a big part of her life before triathlon and her recent superb performance at the Podium 5K after over a year of no racing!

This week on the new season of The TriNation Podcast we had on Scottish triathlete and recent Super League Triathlon Arena Games winner Beth Potter. She spoke to us about making the switch from pro running to pro triathlon and how it's taken four years to fully make the transition. She also shared details on her plans to reach the next Commonwealth Games as well as the Paris Olympics in 2024.

A short and sweet episode this week as Luke and Andrew discuss the upcoming racing ahead that includes the Olympic Marathon trials, Super League Triathlon and the renowned fast Podium 5K which host Luke has entered. They talk about the importance of race preparation after so long out and why age is just a number!

This week on The TriNation Podcast we headed back to the 90's by bringing on 2X World Champion Australian Triathlete Emma Carney. Emma has recently released her autobiography where she talks about her whirlwind of a life, which includes the famous moment that she was sensationally left out of the 2000 Olympics Australian Triathlon Team. She gave us an insight into the book, what it covers and how a heart condition was to cut her career tragically short. She has since moved into coaching and gave us an outlook of what she has taken from her past experiences and how she is now putting that into her coaching.

We welcomed on Super League Triathlon athlete Ollie Turner to this episode of The TriNation Podcast, who is currently 'living it up' in the sunshine of Barbados during lockdown, as he currently enters his eighth week training out there. Our conversation with him brought an insight into the Super League athlete lifestyle, training with Cardiff University triathlon squad, Commonwealth Games 2018 and his hopes for the future!

On this weeks podcast Luke welcomed on Dov Tate, the owner and founder of Parcour Wheels. With prices seeming to rise more and more within the cycling industry as each year passes, Dov felt he saw a gap in the market for creating reasonably priced wheels that don't break the bank. He decided to tackle this idea using his engineering background, with time spent in the aerospace industry and applied this to create a wheel that is backed by numbers and delivers the ultimate performance. He spoke about the development of Parcours Wheel sets to get them to where they are today, working with Nottingham Trent University to develop their wheels further, that all important question of rim brakes vs disc and much much more. This chat is a great insightful listen that I hope can give you listeners a much greater understanding of a company who puts their customers at the forefront of their minds. 

On the podcast this week we welcomed on 2013 World Triathlon Champion and Rio Olympian Non Stanford. She spoke openly about her career, lockdown and her recent relocation for the time being to sunny Australia.

On this episode of the podcast Luke sat down with Managing Director of Incus Performance Chris Ruddock. Incus performance is a sports engineering company developing premium wearable technology and analytics for Swimming & Triathlon sports. Chris spoke his background in performance engineering, the Incus Nova product, Alistair Brownlees' involvement in the company amongst other topics.

On the podcast this week we were delighted to welcome on Olympic Bronze medalist Henri Schoeman! We spoke to Henri about his training through the pandemic, his journey through triathlon and his year coming up which of course includes the all important Tokyo Olympics which we hope to see go ahead despite challenging times.

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL! What a year it's been! To round it out we are delighted to bring on 2x world champion the number 1 ranked triathlete in the world Vincent Luis! What a conversation we were able to have surrounding Daytona, Joel Filliol, the Olympics and much more!

On the show this week I have been able to welcome on a young up and coming long distance athlete who has just recently come back from the PTO Championships out at Challenge Daytona Kieran Lindars. We spoke going long so early in his career and why others should potentially do the same thing if it fits them.  We then spoke in depth about his race at Challenge Daytona and the experience he gained racing the best in the world at both the short and long distance.

As season 3 begins we welcome on triathlete Jess Learmonth who has just recently been officially chosen to represent Great Britain at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. We had a light hearted discussion on her career, her mentality, what tips and advice she has for other athletes and even had a little go at out first ever quick fire quiz at the end!

On our final episode of season 2 we are excited to bring on 'The Boss' of HUUB Design Dean Jackson as the guest. Listen to him talk about the growth of HUUB's triathlon and accessories business, and their recent Crowndcube fundraiser as it reaches one million pounds.

On season 2 episode 9 of the TriNation podcast we have been able to bring on GB triathlete or a northern lad as they like to be known Calum Johnson. We spoke to Calum firstly about his career and the highs he's had from it and the fun he had training at one of the biggest triathlon training set ups in the UK at Leeds where he spoke about his time at university there. We also touched however, on the lows he has had in the sport with a few injuries that he has had to fight back from and the challenges he has faced trying to gain slots in races due to the difficulty of the British selection system. He may also hinted at the fact he is making his triathlon distance a bit longer for next year.

On the podcast this week we brought on a young junior athlete Daniel Dixon who stepped up to the mark over the weekend at Outlaw X and finished 6th male pro! Andrew and Luke initially talked about the race as a whole and how it finally brought all the best UK long distance triathletes together to battle it out, thanks to the set up of the PTO. Dan then spoke about his experience of the race, his first 70.3, how he prepared over the space of just two weeks and finally about his last minute trip to Poland to get away from the UK for a bit whilst Covid continues to swarm the media.

Today on the podcast we caught up on a busy week that has occurred on the triathlon scene from the Super League Arena Games and French Grand Prix racing to the announcement of WTS Hamburg being turned into the overall World Championship title decider and the widespread opinion of that decision from athletes themselves via their social media. We then moved onto longer distance racing that is taking place this weekend with Challenge Davos - the first big 70.3 to go ahead for a long time as well as Helvellyn Triathlon that has attracted some of the UK's biggest long distance athletes including Olympic Triathlon Champion Alistair Brownlee. We finalised this with how the PTO investing money into these races and the athletes helps keep the sport alive in these unusual times.

This week we welcomed on GB Triathlete Grant Sheldon as our guest on the podcast. Grant spoke - Podium 5k (13.51) - WTS Racing - His career from Junior to Senior - Going vegan

In this episode podcast co-host Andrew returned and we had an initial discussion on what has been happening in recent weeks, from the whole season basically coming to an end and what is next for triathletes. Luke and Andrew then moved onto talking about Luke's recent 3 day challenge to cycle Scotland's famous North Coast 500 in just three days to raise money for Abbie's Sparkle Foundation. They spoke in depth about the route, things that went wrong and right for Luke and his most memorable moments from the trip.

On this weeks episode we were lucky enough to get on Olympian Lucy Hall as our guest. Lucy has been in the sport all her life and competed at the London 2012 Olympics for GB and acted as a pilot athlete for Helen Jenkins because of her exceptionally strong swim-bike disciplines. She took us right through her career from junior to senior and has since moved onto the long distance triathlon. As a prominent swimmer she also gave us her insight into the Yonda Ghost 2 wetsuit.

On this weeks podcast we have a very successful age grouper and recently turned professional triathlete Ruth Astle as our guest. Ruth has had a rapid climb to the top of the ever more challenging heights of the age group Ironman competition. But she has done this whilst holding down a 60-hour week working in the corporate world of banking. After putting many good results together and being part of the Zwift Academy triathlon team over the past year her age group career concluded last year when she took the overall age-group win at the Ironman World Championships in a time of 9:20:06. Since then she has turned pro and was was looking forward to seeing what she could do this year with all that training behind her and having a lot more rest. However, with the race season stalled because of coronavirus it was interesting to hear how this left her feeling. She also spoke openly about her nutrition strategy for the ironman distance as well as how the mental strength of an ironman athlete is especially key to putting out performances you are capable of producing.

For episode 12 of 'The TriNation Podcast' we decided to bring another junior athlete onto the podcast - GB triathlete Noah Canby. One of the things we wanted to include in this podcast was to try and get a Junior athlete on every now and again, just as we did with Erin Wallace in the first season to give them a chance to voice themselves, when the majority of the time the spotlight is on the full time professionals. Most people do not see the amount of hours that juniors put in on top of their external activities. Noah himself took the British Junior title in 2018 and is well renowned now as a lead out swimmer on the British scene, one for always attacking on the bike and having in my opinion an underrated run. Although he is still very young and has a long way to go I got to speak to him about his high level junior racing experiences. His confidence he has gained year on year and how he has overcome a fair few unfortunate mishaps and misfortunes in races.

We are Back! In the very first episode of season 2 of the podcast we welcomed on GB and WTS medalist Tom Bishop. Tom has been based in Leeds and Derby throughout his career and life and has been around for years now and has competed on multiple occasions for Great Britain during his time. Tom is most defiantly one of the front runners at the moment chasing those elusive Olympic spots on the GB team for the delayed games in Tokyo. We spoke with Tom about his career from starting of as a junior to and moving through the British system, moving to Leeds, his near miss for the Rio Olympic games spot as a pilot athlete but what was most interesting about this chat that Andrew and I had with Tom though was his outlook on his training and the physiological aspect of it all and about how mindset can be a big factor in how you perform as an athlete.

In the final episode of season 1 we welcomed on GB Olympic medalist Duncan Scott. Duncan has multiple titles and medals to his name already by the age of 23 and has many more years of high level international racing to come. We spoke to him about his training at Stirling University with the swim set up there and the Jan Olbrechh training method that they use for their training. He told us how he is overcoming lockdown and he is taking a very relaxed approach to it and what other things he is working on whilst it isn't possible to get in the pool. He also gave his view on doping and gave us his story of what took place in the Sun Yang podium incident. Finally, he also gave us an insight into the rise of the International Swimming League and the opportunities that this has opened up to swimmers both financially and in terms of promoting the sport to a wider audience.

For episode 9 of 'The TriNation Podcast' we welcomed on Scottish triathlete Cameron Main for a chat. Cameron took 3rd at the British Championships at the end of last year and raced in European Cups throughout 2019 in his first year as a senior. We chatted with him about the Scottish system and moving from the junior to the senior ranks and why he then chose Stirling to be his training location when moving to University. We also heard about his role as Chairman of Abbie's Sparkle Foundation which is a Charity that was set up in memory of his sister. Finally, we listened to how he is approaching the next 2 years in his main goal of qualifying to race for Scotland in the next Commonwealth Games.

For episode 8 of The TriNation Podcast we welcomed on Australian WTS athlete Luke Willian as our guest! Prior to our chat with Luke, we had a short initial discussion on race mindset and how we should be replicating that during this time whilst there is a lack of racing. Luke has had some incredible results in recent years which include multiple WTS top 10's and finishing 8th in the Commonwealth Games. We spoke to him about how he started the sport and how he has progressed through the ranks and the Australian system. He also spoke about what its like to train in Australia and got an insight into his training group and coach Warwick Dalziel. We found out what changes he made to his training after his first WTS event and the different level and speed that the best athletes in the world race at. He also spoke about his Olympic test event experience and what lessons he took from that race and how he will apply these lessons towards his continued aim to qualify for Tokyo.

For this weeks episode, we welcomed on GB triathlete Chloe Cook. Chloe has represented Great Britain at an incredibly high level, that includes the World Under 23 Championships. She spoke about being born straight into a triathlon environment with her dad, Glenn Cook, being 1989 World Silver Medalist, and her mum, Sarah Coope, being 1991 Ironman Hawaii World Championships Bronze Medalist. However, with this and a lot of success at a young age, came a lot of pressures, which ultimately led her to actually step away from the sport. She then reignited this passion for triathlon whilst at University, quickly regained fitness and pulled off some very impressive results. Her continued journey from there, however, has not been without its setbacks of injuries and she gave us a reflection on the challenges that come with this from a mental perspective and how you have to adapt to overcome these moments.  

On the podcast this week Luke and Andrew's discussion begins on recent triathlon events this week away from racing, including Richard Murray's 5K solo effort. They then move into the main topic of whether training more is in fact more? Or whether training less is more? and take into account perspectives from both the athlete and the coach.

In episode 5 of The TriNation Podcast we welcomed on our first female guest, Great Britain and Scottish triathlete Erin Wallace. Erin competed in the Commonwealth Games for Scotland (mixed relay) in 2018. She competed at all the European and World Championships in her junior years with her highest finish being 2nd at Worlds in 2018. She also has an extremely strong running pedigree with an 800m PB of 2.05 and a 1500m PB of 4.14. She took gold at the Youth Commonwealth Games, has multiple cross country titles to her name and to top it all off finished 7th at the world junior championships. In our discussion with Erin we were able to find out about her background in the sport and how she has progressed to get to where she is today. She gives us an insight into her experience competing at the Commonwealth Games. We also asked her the looming question that surrounds her as to whether she is making the complete step to move away from triathlon to solely run. 

In episode 4 of the podcast we have an initial discussion on whether the triathlon season should be completely cancelled or not for this year. We then bring on our special guest Scottish triathlete Graeme Stewart. Graeme broke the Scottish Ironman distance record with a time of 8.16.42 in Barcelona 2013, which also made him the 6th fastest Britain at the time. He has since moved into Xtreme triathlons, competing in the races such as the Norseman, Swedeman and even taking the win at Celtman.

Our main topic of discussion in our third episode of TheTriNation Podcast is the coach-athlete relationship, breaking down elements within that and how that is key for the progression of both the coach and the athlete.