Solveig Løvseth - Ironman World Champion

[Music] For the first time ever on the Triathlon Hour podcast, the current Ironman World Champion, the current Ironman Texas Champion, and the current Ironman Lake Placid Champion, the one and only, the Norwegian superstar Solve Lofse. Hi, Jack, this is Gutevere. That was a really good pronunciation on my name actually. It's just about that. We were just talking off air about how many people say your name different ways, and you told me a story that growing up, your mum and dad actually said your name differently, and I was like, "Well, yeah, I can kind of give everyone, including the commentators, a bit of slack, we're not even your mum and dad agree on how to say your name properly." Yeah, that's what I usually talk to people as well, so don't really worry too much about it. As long as I understand you're talking to me, then you're good. Okay, good, good. And we all know I say Casper's name perfectly, so we won't go into that. Solve, it's great to have you on the podcast. It's been a long time coming. You've had a really, really big last 12 months. I want to go all the way back to the Ironman World Championships and start there. When you won that race and with everything that was going on at that race, all the chaos around you, what did you feel were you surprised that you won? Did you go into that race expecting to win, and just talk to me about the day? Yes, I was definitely surprised that I won that race. I felt really good going into the race. Training has been going really well. I didn't have any problems at all in the lead-up. So I felt like I had sort of prepared as good as I thought I could prepare for it. And it was just feeling really, really calm, which was nice. I think just the whole last year, I just had more coldness for me than I had in the years before. I think just racing short course was quite stressful and maybe just trying something new was sort of refreshing in a way. It's fun to do something for the first time. Do the first Ironman and do the first World Championship. It didn't feel any pressure that I had to do well because if I had a really bad race, I would just be like, "Oh, it was my first time here." So I felt really chill and didn't really feel any pressure that I had to do well. At the same time, I felt like the training had been going really well. So I was hoping to have a good race. I was thinking, potentially, if I have a super good day, I could get on the podium, but even that felt like a really ambitious goal. I was confident, but also didn't set the bar too high for myself. But to win, it was definitely still like really exceeding my own expectations. When you were out there on the race course, obviously a quick synopsis of how your race played out, you kind of swam with the main group, which was about six minutes down from the front and Lucy Charles Barkland, Taylor Nibb got away together on the bike. They kind of linked up at about 90km and rode in together and then they got in a run battle out in front and Lucy Charles Barklay. She pulled off on the side of the road about 25km in and then Taylor was off the front by herself on her way to win the race. Behind that, you had broken away from the main group on the bike. You dropped Lisa Perter and Kat Matthews and you were kind of establishing yourself as the next person out on the race course apart from Taylor Nibb and Lucy Charles Barklay. Then out of nowhere at about 39km, Taylor Nibb collapses on the side of the road and you're suddenly looking like, okay, it doesn't look like Taylor's going to stand up here. So they might be in the lead of this race and Kat Matthews is running maybe the best marathon we've ever seen, men or women at Kona chasing you behind and it's all getting very close. How was this playing out in your mind? What were you aware of and can you just walk me kind of bit by bit through the race with how things evolved and what you were thinking at the time during the race? Yes, I think coming out for this swim, I didn't really think at least not a win was possible. All right, I didn't think that before it started either but like especially when we were six minutes back I think I think nobody would have thought that the whole podium would have been six minutes back after a swim which ended up being the case. So out in the bike I was like sort of happy where I was even though I ideally would have liked to lose less time in the swim I was still sort of happy to be around Kat and Lisa and Laura and have like those good cyclists around me and the only time before I had raced with Laura and Kat was in Hamburg and in that race I end up being dropped by both of them at the end of that bike. So I was sort of thinking like if I'm able to stay with this group then that's great and then we'll see how the run plays after that. So that was sort of my plan and suddenly I had a gap and I was by myself and at that point I was thinking like wow this is really cool like now now I'm in third place here and it wasn't really as narrow I had pictured that I would sort of be by myself like that in front of Kat and Laura but I felt like okay this is maybe my opportunity to get on the podium if I'm actually able to have a gap. Gap to them going into the run because in Hamburg both of them were like six to eight minutes faster than me so I was really it was really cool I think and I felt sort of like a little bit proud that I was actually able to ride away from them. I didn't get any splits at all out there so when I came off the bike and heard that it was like eight minutes or something back I was thinking like wow that's actually that was way more than I had expected I had maybe expected like maximum two three minutes so it's really weird to be out there and like don't have any information really about where you are because I think at the turning point it was like one to two minutes or something like that and after that I just didn't know anything so going to the run I was feeling really bad actually like the first part of the run was super hard but I was I was still really happy about where I was in the race but it was also it's really boring to be by yourself like that it was like six minutes up I think and eight minutes back so I was like really in no man's land at that point I was really happy to be in a podium position so my goal was sort of to just try to protect us as good as I could so either avoid getting catch by cat and Laura or if I get catch then I need to try to catch either a tailor or Lucy that was sort of the way I was thinking like try to protect this third place and then obviously the rest of the race wasn't falling in in a way that I think nobody expected it to with both Lucy and Taylor the in essence in the end so it was just a crazy race all over. What did you think when you ran past Taylor Nib and was she still she was kind of like yeah she was like still on the ground basically when you ran past her off to your right hand side on the other side of the road what did you think when you saw her like did you have any concept of what was happening I heard already like going out to Angela people start to say like oh Taylor is starting to struggling a little bit but that's also just some think people say I feel like to sort of motivate you a little bit in a weird way so I decided like going out to Angela when I was in second place that I tried to really work on myself mentally and because it's really hard at least for me when I'm in a position where I feel I feel really happy to be in second like I would have I think like Taylor has had a lot of times she didn't want to be second right she she was going to do everything to win that race but for me I was really happy with being in second so for me it was sort of like the opposite battle mentally to just try to sort of make myself work to get that win it's really hard to like get the brain to want to push harder because I was already feeling so tired at that point but I got a lot of like good splits and people cheering that said like you could actually catch Taylor you have to believe that you can and I got a lot of splits and actually at the point I was starting to gain much faster so then I was also actually starting to believe me to live with myself like okay this could actually like end up being decided like straight on the line basically because I was trying to do nothing my head and like okay now I'm actually catching you quite quickly and then I ran through an eight stage and suddenly she was just sitting there so I hadn't really seen her when she stopped and I was really caught by surprise by that because I really didn't expect her to yeah having to stop like that so it was and it felt even weirder because I had already seen Lucy in the same situation and at that point that felt like I was just a part of like some weird practical joke or something like that because they're just too such experience than good athletes and to see both of them. like that was just like, felt like somebody was like cracking me or something. (laughing) - Yeah, it was like a scene from the Walking Dead. It wasn't really reality. It was more like a zombie TV show. And then you obviously finish up and win the race. You had about a can of half, two-cade of run when you went past Taylor. And it wasn't all over at that point though, because Kat Matthews was catching you quickly. You ran 255, she ran 247. You ended up beating her by, I think it was almost exactly 30 seconds. Were you aware after you passed Taylor and got to the top of that last little climb before the downhill into the finish line? Were you aware of how close it was and that Kat was maybe a potential chance to catch you if something went wrong? - I think when I passed Taylor, I got some splits that I had two minutes to catch. And it was two, three, K, it's left at that point. So the fact that she was on 30 seconds behind me at the end shows how much she actually caught up in those last two cases. So it was definitely closer than I thought at the end. But I felt really in control myself at least. Like I was doing, I do a lot of math like that in my head, just based on, I was thinking like, okay, so one mini per case should be quite easy to hold her behind me. And I was really, really afraid of blowing up myself. So I did slow down a little bit on purpose after catching Taylor, like just trying to think, just like now you're actually in the lead of this race, which is crazy. So just like don't mess it up now. So I was on purpose slowing down quite a bit at that point. But also trying to like have a good margin to catch in my head. But she was definitely running way faster than I have thought she would. So when she was that close in there, I was still like surprised how much she had the cut off in those last case. - When you reflect upon the race and the fact that you were able to win the race, what do you reflect upon in your training leading up to that race that you think was a critical part of what made you able to win the race? - Yeah, that's a good question. I don't really feel like it was anything particular I think. I think I just had like many months with good training really and I guess many years with training and that I've been fairly consistent in training over many years. And it's sort of, I felt like last season I was able to sort of build a little bit during the season as well. Like I wasn't really in my best shape when I started racing in like the right in Hamburg in June, but I was like able to get a little bit fit during the victory race I felt like. And yeah, except for that, I think I just timed it well when I went out from altitude and when I was traveling to Kona. And I think I also did a pretty good hit prep, but it's still something I'm not like 100% sure if I do correct or not, but it seems to working out quite good there. - Okay, well, we're gonna break down all of that. So the first thing you talked about how it was just the months of good training. We obviously know about your fellow Norwegians, Christian, Gustav, Caspar, and the stories of their training and their high volume approach and the fact that they coach each other. And we know their story by now. You've always been there. Like you look at photos and videos over time and you're always there, but a lot of people probably didn't realize who you were or they thought, oh yeah, she's just one of the girls who they do short course with, but we don't really know her. You're now an Iron Man world champion. You're one of the big names in the Norwegian method as well now. Do you train in a similar way to them? Were your months of good training that you put together? Were they very similar training structures and sessions and volumes to what we've heard those boys talk about? Or do you do things differently? - It's pretty similar. I think, as you said, they are coaching themselves themselves now. I'm coached by E. Carl Eden, Gustav's brother. And I think it's of course, I highly respect the same schedule, but it's all based on the same principles. And I think like a list of the boys training is based on what they are learned from. Aril and Ulaven, all of the coaches that has been involved in the national team. And Mikhail is also the same. I feel like all of the coaches we've had over the years have been on the same page a lot with what they believe in. And I think so we're all sort of coming out from that. - Do you think that there are any differences in the way that you and Mikhail Eden shape your training compared to what the boys do? Like when you catch up with them or spend time with them, do you go, oh, they're doing that and I don't do that. And I do this and they don't do that. It's a good question. I don't feel like it's in any big differences. Maybe I'd say my training is probably a little bit more conservative than at least Christians. He's the one that sort of tends to sort of push the limits the most I think when it comes to hours and intensity and stuff like that. But overall I'd say it's very similar. - So maybe walk me through what your training structure was like in those months. Like what was your typical Monday to Sunday from as best as you remember? Obviously we're going back in time a little bit here. But you were training up at Font Romo at altitude. What was a typical week for you like leading into Kona? - Oh yeah, no, I have to try to think back. I usually have like a wee structure that is quite similar to what I think a lot of older people do with them. I have usually easier days on Monday and Friday. So on those days it's usually just a short swim and a short run and a little bit of gym work usually. And then Tuesdays is usually some hard swim and either a hard bike or run and easy. The other thing is easy so it's the hard bike. It's easy run and if it's a hard run it's an easy bike and then usually it's the opposite of Thursdays. So if I have hard run on Tuesday then it's hard bike on Thursday. And the Wednesday in between is just usually a long and during the day so just a long swim bike can run. And yeah on Thursdays it's usually a hard swim too. I'm not saying this in the most. It's a bit like messy how I say it now. But and then in the weekend it's usually, if it's sort of the race is a bit away it's usually race based bike Saturday and then race based run Sunday for instance. And when we're close to the race I usually have some big sessions where I do both the bike and the run. One of those days usually on Sundays and maybe a hard swim on Saturday. And we saw your bike be really strong at Corona. Like obviously you had the second fastest time. You were pretty much 50 seconds behind Taylor Nibb from the top of my memory. And that surprised me. I thought you would have a good bike. I didn't think you would be that close to Taylor. I thought it might be more like three to four minutes if I'm being honest. And I thought you were a chance to have the second fastest bike. I just I was shocked at how good you rode. In that build up were you doing particularly high mileage on the bike, were you doing long, long rides, were your sessions really great? Like what was it that made your bike so strong on that day? I feel like for me the bike has always been the discipline that is coming the most naturally. I don't feel like I've ever done any crazy bike weeks to be honest. Like I think I'm not sure if I've ever had any bike weeks about 14 hours or 15 hours or something like that. I think. But I'm fairly like consistent. Like I usually have 12 plus hours. But I I never have any crazy bike weeks. Like I guess in the winter I can also have weeks for just 10 hours. So I feel I tried to actually prioritize not riding too much just because I want to also be fresh especially for my swims since that's like an area I still need to improve. And also I run quite much. But I've never actually been really I don't feel like I ever like prior to the bike more than the others. It's more the other way around because I feel like the bike is usually something that it just comes naturally because I do a lot of endurance training in general. I guess I feel like I'm just not really good at all the technical stuff and the bike is especially like in a bike course like whole nights. You don't really have to be. It's not much technique involved at all. I feel like you just need to have good endurance and strong legs. And given that volume, it probably means that you're not doing many if any super crazy long rides. Like if you do 12 to 14 hours and you ride four or five times a week, it's pretty unlikely that you've done a six or seven hour bike ride. So what do your what do your long rides tend to be? Yeah, most weeks it's maybe just three hours, maybe sometimes four. I think the longest ride I had before in the lead of the cone. I was like four and a half or something. But then basically that whole ride was race pace. But I never have. So that's it. - That's also something that changed, actually. When I did short course, my long rides was sometimes longer, but now the last years, I basically haven't had any four hours easy long rides. Every time I ride four hours plus, it's usually really like specific. - That's actually super interesting. And quite refreshing to hear. Like, we're hearing a lot of chatter lately about high volume and to hear that approach, it's a little refreshing. And you talked about your heat prep, that you're not even quite sure if you're still doing that exactly how you should and you just won the IMM World Championships. And I would say that if anything, the Norwegians are most famous for is their saunering and their heat prep. So what do you do and why are you unsure about whether the protocol you're using is the right one? - I feel like it's a little bit unsure if it's what I'm doing is correct, like how hard is supposed to push in the heat sessions, how often should you have them? And I feel like I've done heat prep quite sometimes now. So I feel like I have a feeling of what I should do. And of course, I also talk to me call about it, but it's still like every time I ride singing the heat, I'm always a bit uncertain if I actually, if I'm actually ready, but what I usually do and what I did going to call, not for instance, I think I started like maybe four weeks out, three, four weeks out. So I was in Fontre Mør at that time. And it was a bit challenging to do proper heat prep there, I think, because it was quite cold there. So the last week I was there, it was like basically in the winter, it was, no, in the morning, it was below zero degrees Celsius there. So it was quite cold actually. And it was like icy and that's also thing. Like when you do heat prep, it's you should also avoid being called a lot, like avoid freezing that can impact the heat training you do in a negative way. So it was quite hard actually like when I was riding outside to dress enough, like even if it was in the heat session, I was just struggling not being called at the other sessions I did. But most of the heat sessions I did there was just quite simple in like 50 minutes an hour, just in the bathroom where I stayed. And I just turned on the shower to get the room really hot and humid because it wasn't any oven in there. And then took on a little clothes and just did, yeah, 50 minutes of riding in a really warm and humid room and did that like basically every second day or so and before I traveled to Kona. And then I was in Kona for, I think I ride like 10 days before the race or something like that, which was actually a bit late compared to a lot of the other people I think. But I thought it was nice not to be there for too long. (upbeat music) ♪ Going down in Harro ♪ ♪ Down the Harro ♪ ♪ Down the Harro ♪ ♪ Don't know where I feel ♪ ♪ But don't know where to go as far ♪ If you're someone who is injured, has been injured, constantly gets injured or wants to do everything you can to stay injury free while you're running, then you need a lever movement system in your life. There's almost nothing more annoying than having to be careful about your run mileage or how many sessions you do because you're scared of getting injured or you have a needle that always pops up. So instead of just constantly urring on the side of caution with your running, you can literally just get a lever movement system and start running more but with way, way less risk. All you do is connect the lever movement system to your treadmill and it allows you to run with reduced body weight, which takes load off all of your bones, joints, tendons and ligaments while you run. So you can do more mileage, longer long runs, faster sessions, longer sessions and more sessions and just run more frequently to get the same or very similar fitness increases, but without having to stress about getting injured. You can use it on your return to run post injury to make sure you don't get re-injured and you can also use it to speed up that return to run process, which is very, very frustrating, especially if you're having to do it multiple times a year. Leaver is honestly just an amazing product that works. It really does. It's such a valuable tool to have as an athlete taking your running seriously or your triathlon seriously, just have it in your tool bag for when you need it or preventively use it so that you don't ever need to skip running because of injury. It's just the most frustrating annoying thing. So prevent it before it happens is my big advice. So if you do want to go and get yourself one, then go to Leaver Movements website and use the code TTH for 20% off and I'll put those details in the show notes. That's a big discount that 20% off one. So yeah, TTH, that one was. And then since Kone, you've obviously gone on and had even more success and I think for a lot of people, your win was a surprise and it had an asterisk of, oh yeah, but if Taylor didn't or if Lucy didn't, not to say everyone thinks that, but people definitely say that. And then you've come out in 2026 and you obviously came second at Oceanside, but I think it was a pretty ominous second place with your 114 1/2 marathon, which was crazy by the way. And then you went on to win Iron Man Texas in really impressive fashion because Taylor Nibb showed up fit and she was fully expecting to be in the fight to win that race. Kat Matthews was there and sure she had some mechanical issues, but you had kind of done exactly what you did at Kone to Kat before that and dropped her on the bike at about 60ish K-ins. So it was a really, really strong performance against really, really strong competition and you've almost shown the world that you're a better level than what you were at Kone, talk to me about what's happened between winning Kona and the Oceanside performance and the win at Iron Man Texas in your training, in your mentality. Have you tried to make yourself even better and didn't motivate you and create momentum in your life that has led to you potentially going from being a shock Iron Man world champion to the best Iron Man athlete in the world as we speak? Yeah, I was definitely thinking the same thing as you said, I was also. I haven't been thinking a lot that I was sort of lucky how Kona played that for me and it's like. It is of course a really weird way of winning that. Like on the run I didn't touch anyone who hadn't already stopped right, so that's a really weird way to win the race. Yeah, going in Texas, I felt fit and I was really excited to race there and it was, I guess, good for me as well to see that, okay, I'm actually competitive with these other girls. It would have been really fun to have a cat there for the whole race. I think it could have been a really close one, so. But I guess we'll have to wait for that battle. But yeah, the win just been good. I have mainly been at home for many months. It's a long time since I've been home the whole win directly, so it has been a bit. I've always forgotten how dark it is and how cold it is and it's definitely a bit harder to both it yourself sometimes when all the training is indoors, so I had like four months with only riding indoors. So yeah, it was sometimes with boring, but just I had really just consistent sweeps the whole winter and when I was planning my season with Nicole, I was initially like a little bit excited to try to go to New Zealand and Australia and all that. Like, it seemed like a lot of people planned, but we really early decided that it would be nice to just have a bit of a longer winter block to actually just build a good foundation and just prioritize that and prioritize to have a bit more weeks of training and that that would give not only for this season, but also just, I guess for future seasons we just have like prioritized that time to build a good foundation going into the season and yeah, so far I feel like the season is going well, so I just hope I'm able to do a little bit like last year and actually build on this as well. So we'll see, that's the goal at least. - So was it just the same kind of thing as leading into current or just consistent weeks, more of the same thing, no big changes or no changes at all in your training apart from moving to being mainly indoors that got you to Texas in the shape to win it? - Yeah, I'd say so. I feel like my winter training was very consistent but it wasn't anything really special. Like even my interval sessions in the winter aren't, it's not crazy long sessions even, but I was just, this winter I just, I didn't have any sickness or any injuries or any problems really, which is always helping a lot I think to just build a foundation, but like going into at least ocean side, I had no idea really how my shape was, I felt like because training indoors don't really give you any, or it's hard to really know how the shape is. Like I did all my runs on the treadmill as well and all my intervals on the bike on the trainer and then I went straight to Serena Nevada and an attitude is especially hard to know how the shape is because it's so effective of the attitude I feel like for me it's actually. It's quite big differences from every time and there, like actually how much I get affected by the altitude. I don't know why, but like sometimes I can go off the altitude and feel like it's almost as training a sea level and other times it just, I have to actually reduce the speed quite much. And when I was in Cienenvalde, I was also mainly indoors, actually, for a lot of the training there. So I had all my run-in tools there at the treadmill as well. So I actually only did one outdoor run, a hard outdoor run before I went to Oceanside. We drove down for one session. That was the only time I sort of got a feeling like where the shape was at. I had a really good session when we drove down. So that one session gave me a bit of confidence, but like except for that one, I felt like I really didn't know how the shape was. But I just tried to find comfort in that the training had been really consistent and just hopefully that also leads to good shape. Yeah, that is really interesting because I would think that if you're doing everything on the treadmill and that's not something that you'd done prior to Corona and then you come into the season with Oceanside and Texas, that you would have a little bit of like trepidation or doubt in how you're running. But then you go on to run 114 at Oceanside and 249 at Texas, which is only like 30, 45 seconds slower than what Cat Matthews ran the year before. And this is a person who ran like seven, eight minutes faster than you at Corona and now suddenly you're running really similarly to them, who is probably the best or second best marathoner in the sport. So now you've gone from running 255 at Corona to 249. It's one of the all-time step-ups in only a few short months' time. So I guess like my question is that do you think there's some magic in spending a lot of time on a treadmill and doing all of your runs on a treadmill? Or do you think that the same thing would have happened if you trained the exact same way but just did those sessions outdoors or on the track? I don't think it's any magic in it, really. I do actually have two runs last year like in Hamburg and like last year last year I ran to 46. So like 249 isn't like crazy fast I guess. The hamburger and Texas courses are so different though. Hamburg's like so much faster than Texas. Yeah, definitely felt the concrete. So that's maybe the thing with running on treadmill is much like softer on the legs. But like that being said in between ocean side and Texas, I ran all my hard runs outside on concrete just to try to like get a little bit used to that but it was still brutally in that race I think. Yeah. But like I don't think you need to run a lot on the treadmill but it's still really efficient and that do actually like it quite much because it's easy to just. I like the thing that you don't have to sort of push to hold a certain pace because the treadmill is sort of doing that for you. So you can actually just focus on trying to be relaxed and it's sort of almost easier to work with the technique on the treadmill. And the trainer is also just obviously a really efficient way to train like you don't have any down the terrain like that. You can just be really like peddling the whole time. So it's definitely nice to use it and especially when I'm home I don't really have any other choices. And I feel like it's definitely. it's working really well but I don't feel like it's working better necessarily like before all the races I've done everything outside and that has also been working really well. But I guess it's just. it's a confidence thing now that I know that both doing the training outside and inside works well. Yeah. And I guess this is the kind of next point I want to make is that you are very consistent on the bike and the run. You obviously like you just said you've had the good marathons in the past at Hamburg and like placid, you won like placid came third at Hamburg and then obviously now what you're doing this year, it's really crazy what you're doing on the run. When it comes to the rest of the year from now where you've just beaten Taylor Nibb and well you did beat Kat Matthews. There's an asterisk there but you did beta. You've only not really beaten Lucy and Laura of the main challenges to you at Kona later on this year. Where is it that you think you can still improve over the next few months in your lead up to Kona given just how strong your bike and run are at this point in time? Is it just the swim? Do you still see some really like obvious things in your bike and run that you can work on? Yeah, this one means the obvious one as you said but I also think I don't actually when I was thinking about it now, I don't feel like I've actually really nailed the bike run combo yet. It's been good in all I've done for our mess and I feel like it's really good in all of them but like for me, I feel like in Hamburg and like placid last year, I was really happy with my runs. But in both of them I didn't feel like my bike was that good. As I said in Hamburg, I was dropped by Kat and Laura. Of course I had some problems there as well with my air bars and stuff like that but I was still not feeling good and not pushing really good power and it wasn't really the same in like placid. I was in Kona and in Texas now I felt really good in the bike but I felt like my run wasn't exactly where I had hoped it to be. And of course maybe that's a correlation there like lower watts in the bike and would maybe make you feel fresh from the run. So it makes sense as well that it's like that but I feel like I still haven't gotten like that perfect day where I can do both of them to the level that I feel like on a perfect day I should be able to do. So I don't know. Maybe I'm just setting the expectations too high. It's so funny you said that, Salve, because when I was thinking about your racing over the past 12 months like knowing that we were going to do this podcast together, I walked away with a really similar takeaway from your racing is that at points you've had probably the best run in the race and the best bike in the race and you've had good swims and kind of average swims. But you've never put together all of it perfectly on the one day and it made me kind of like scared almost because if you look at Lake Placid, right which you won you ran 246 but Marta Sanchez road faster than you but then if you fast forward to Texas, I think you road like almost 15 minutes faster than Marta Sanchez. It's kind of like scary and you still ran fast you still ran 249 so of all your performances, I think Texas a few weeks ago is by far the most complete given that like hamburger a good a good marathon but I think yeah Laura and and cat road faster than you whereas then at Kona you look at the time you put into them it's just been a little bit all over the place mainly very good but it's quite scary for I would assume for people like Taylor near and cat Matthews and Laura Philip and Lucy Charles Barclay to think well like solvays already a world champion she's already beaten us all at Texas if she puts it truly together she could do some pretty special things do you agree with that statement or or do you think that is just the like kind of give and take of what I'm and racing isn't it's pretty hard to get it perfect on the day. Yeah that's what I hope to find out like if it's if it's as I said possible to actually got both of them or all three of them I guess right in that one race because I don't really feel like I have that done that yet but it could also be as you said just a given take so if I ride with harder that will affect my run maybe a little bit more than I sort of like to admit that I also also agree with you that takes up was definitely felt like that was a step in the right direction and I felt like I was still running decent even though I have push quite hard in the bike and it's also I think I'm also just someone who mentally don't really it's really hard for me to push if I feel if I'm sort of have a comfortable enough lead so like I looked at my split from that race and he was so telling to see that I was like I think I had like a minute or so. I think I had like a minute or something gap or Taylor for a really long time there like he was going up a little bit but like super little for me time and got a split so like when I when the gap was like one minutes I was super stressed as you would catch me because I was it was quite hard to run there so I was just trying to like hold it together and then I think it was around 30k she actually had a little stop or Taylor just walk for a bit and certainly on the next time gap I had three minutes when I got a split. And from that point on when I got certainly heard three minutes then in my head I was just like okay so Taylor has slowed down more now and then my own case times just went off with like 30 seconds basically from that once flipped to the next one and I didn't realize it myself where I looked at the times after like actually how much I slowed down just when I sort of felt more safe in the in the gap down to her. Yeah you're clearly very competitive and and that that makes me that makes me want to dive into this a little bit more deeply so I'm going to put a challenge out here to you this is going to be tricky to do but you're not allowed to list lots of different names I want you to give me one name one name only and a reason why who do you think is your main rival or competitor over the I man distance this year maybe particularly who do you think is going to be the hardest person for you to beat at coronal later on in the year. - Mm. Yeah, that's impossible for me to do. I don't know. I feel like it's a lot of really competitive, or people left can definitely beat me there. It's funny that you say that I'm very competitive, 'cause I guess for them what I just told, I definitely have some competitiveness in me, but I don't really feel that I'm that competitive, actually. I can relate to people say that they're pitching themselves, running down the finish line, or that they're thinking a lot about the races they're going to win and who they're going to beat. I generally never think about that. I haven't really thought about who will be my biggest competitor. I guess all of the cat and Lucy and Taylor and Laura, and it's a lot of people. - No, Solve, you're supposed to just say one name. - Okay. I guess I could be a lot. I feel like, Cat is a obvious one. She has three third places, and I guess she really wants that win, and she's always so good and so consistent. It would have been really. I would have thought it was really cool if she actually. If she got that win. Taylor, as well, you saw last year how much she wanted that win. Now I'm already starting to mention more names. It's hard to really mention more names. We'll go with Cat, though. We'll go with Cat. We'll say that your biggest rivals, Cat. - Yeah, sure. - But if you picture it, like if you do picture it, which you said you don't do, but if you close your eyes now and picture Kona and you're in the lead of the race, or you're in second in the race and you're chasing someone, and there's a K to go, who's the person that you picture you're either just in front of or just behind? - Kona. - It could be any of those I just said. It's. I don't picture stuff like that. And I never, like, I heard people say, "Oh, when I run leading off the race, I picture myself passing people." I never do that. Like, yeah, for me, it doesn't really give me anything. - I really tried, but yeah, it's very clear how your mind works. You're not like Lionel Sanders, who we should probably touch on, who has the picture of his athletes, directly in front of his treadmill while he runs. You're not like that when you do your treadmill sessions. - No, I feel like I just want to improve myself. I don't really feel any rivalry sort of things. Like, actually, that's sometimes something I struggle with and I'm really tired in a race. It's actually, it's so fast that my mind goes to just taking stuff like, "Oh, but that person also deserves to win." I get told like that in my head. And then I need to really work on my head and be like, "Oh, but you also deserve this." - It's common, you need to try and. - Yeah. - That's so fun. - I'm also really just motivated by trying to get better. Of course, it's really fun to win races. But then it's not the motivation. It's cool to win. It's cool to beat this and this person. For me, that doesn't really give me anything. - Yeah, but I think what you're saying is so relatable to triathletes. And I actually think just endurance athletes in general, because you train so much right. Like you spend so much time in your own head that it's actually a rare person who can get that done through external motivation that pushes them to be better and to beat people. You do tend to find that endurance sport and triathlon being the endurance sport that trains probably more hours than any other endurance sport in the world. It tends to lean itself to the people who are intrinsically motivated getting the best out of themselves in the sport and just wanting to train hard and better themselves and improve themselves. So it's kind of a weird thing that then after doing that for months and months and months where you're really just thinking about yourself and obsessed with yourself and being selfish and trying to get the most out of yourself that you then throw it onto a race course and it's like, oh no, sorry, now you have to compete against people. And it's not really what it's like, is it? It's like you get out there and you still compete against yourself, but other people are just also out there on the same course as you competing against themselves as well. - Yeah, yeah, for sure. It's really fun when you say it like that. - Yeah, it's one of the best parts about our sport, I reckon. I touched on Lionel Sanders just then. He's obviously by all reports, just started beginning being coached by your coach, Mikael Eden again for the second time. We know that in a sport like this, you build very strong relationships with your coach. So I know for a fact that you and Mikael Eden would have talked about this, are you going to disclose what you've talked about when it comes to Lionel? What do you think of the decision that Lionel's made to go back to being coached by your coach? - Well, I actually haven't talked to him about it yet. Like usually after an Iron Man, like the first week, I just do whatever I feel like. And I actually haven't talked a lot to Mikael this week either. I'm going to call him today. That was my plan actually to call him right after after this podcast just to have a little catch up. And also of course, ask about that. So yeah, I haven't, I just seen all this thing on social media and be like, "Ooh, what is going on now? Are we going to have training camps together now?" Or what's the plan? - I've timed this horribly. I should have just waited an extra hour. That would have made it so much fun. That would be one of the collapse of the century, Solvei Lofsef and Lionel Sanders training partners. That would be peak entertainer. - Yeah, that would have been fun. I would have enjoyed that. - I think it'd be a good training partner for you. - I don't have a training partner here. So yeah, I train, of course, when I'm with the boys, I train a little bit with them, but they are always dropping me. I guess Lionel would have done the same probably, but it's always nice to some company still. I need more girls to train with. That's a conclusion. So maybe if Mikael's kid starts coaching some other girls, that would have been nice. - Yeah, that's an interesting question. If you could pick a girl to have as a main training partner, who would you pick? - Ooh, that's also hard. I think Taylor would have been fun, I think. - Oh, no, you and Taylor. Taylor is one of the rare exceptions. I reckon she'd get real competitive. I like it. I reckon she has that dog in her. Yeah, I reckon. - Yeah, I reckon. - You'd love it. And Taylor would love it as well 'cause you're both like really fun people. But I reckon Taylor's one of the most competitive people in this sport. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall and watch you and Taylor train together, though. You'd definitely get the most out of each other, I reckon. I think Catwood also would be really fun. I feel like she's not that competitive either. I think that could have worked well. We are quite similar also, I think, in life strength. I feel like all of the girls have been fun to train with. So if someone wants to join the Mikhail train, that would have been cool. - The office on the table, Solve a look in for a training partner. Reach out to Mikhail. - I'm just offering Mikhail as a coach without having asked him first. That's how it is. He doesn't ever say it. Okay, so I'm gonna change to the topic a little bit here. Before, it was three days ago, I was reading the report that you did or that precision fuel and hydration did with you about your race at Iman, Texas. And it's really, really good. They kind of like released everything that you took on during the race and how much and when and why. And I couldn't recommend it enough for people to go and read. I was loving it. There was a few things in it that I wanted to ask you about. So the report said that at Texas, you took on 132 grams of carbohydrate per hour for the whole iron man. Is that normal for you? Is that like normal numbers? Is that kind of what you hit at Kona as well? Or is that high for you? And do you practice that in training? Like are you taking on that high level of carbohydrate per hour in training ever? - I think I have around the same corner, but I don't remember exactly. I guess you can also find that on the, they always make a post after my races. It's always probably possible to find it either on my Instagram or there Instagram or something. I don't really do the math that much. I just, the precision people are so nice. And usually Lindsay, that works in precision just sends me like, "Do this and this in the race." And I'm just like nice. And I don't, then I don't have to plan it myself. (laughs) But yeah, it's been a lot of talk about carbs lately. I feel like, and especially like, I feel like a lot of people have talked about my carbs, which I think is sort of funny, 'cause it's not something I really like to spend much time on, to be honest. I guess I'm quite lucky that I, I don't really have much problems with just my stomach in general. So I guess my approach to eating races is just, if I can handle a lot of carbs, it's like the safe solution to just taking a lot of carbs. So I don't even know how much I absorb or anything like that, but yeah, it's working quite well, but I definitely still have things to improve on. For instance, actually in Texas, I was, I had like slightly discomfort on the run, but it wasn't bad at all, but like more than I had in other races. And I think that was partly because on the bike, I was like, I only had one bottle in the front. And I had 200 grams carbs in each bottle. And I didn't feel like switching a lot back and forth with my bottle, so I could typically like, take 200 grams in like 40 minutes and then only drink water for 40 minutes and then take another bottle of 200 grams carbs. So like I realized after race that I should probably have, distributed the carbs a bit more evenly throughout the bike. So stuff like that, I guess, can still get better. But in general, I just feel happy that my stomach told right a lot, and of course, precision have really good products that helps as well. So yeah, I feel like so far, our meditation thing has been quite smooth. And yeah, you asked how much I've taken training. I usually don't take that much in training, but it really depends on the session, of course. I typically have some long break sessions in the weeks leading into the race that are like the purpose of those sessions is to be really specific. So in those long break sessions, I tried to do basically the same numbers as I would do in the race. And if my stomach told race that in the sessions, then it's also good for the races. I went into reading that article thinking in my mind, I guess more subconsciously than anything, but on the bike, if you were going to take on anything, you'd probably be taking on that precision, have the flow jail. I thought you'd probably take on flow jail. Or if, or maybe like you would have some PF 30 or PF 90 jowls on the bike, and you would take them. But I read that you actually take on the carb-only drink mix that they have as your main fuel source. And I was really interested in that because I don't have a lot of experience trying that. I've, like, I love the jowls. And that's why I just assumed that everyone would use the jowls. But you actually get your carbohydrates on the bike in their, in their carb-only drink mix. Is that what you're using training as well? And why do you go that versus like the jail or the flow jail? Well, I actually tried the different things. And I feel like all of the products works well for me. So in the corner last year, I used to flow jail. I think I had in total at least like three flow gels in that race. Oh, well. And I think, yeah, yeah, I had the two on the bike in one of the run. So on the run, I just took a flow gel and divided it into six soft flaskes. You had all those pro-aid stations. So yeah, I really like the flow gel as well. I feel like it's a really easy way to get in a lot of carbs. But this race, as you said, I went with only the carb-only drink mix and some salt as well. But I just wanted to try that as well. And I feel like for me both worked well really. So I just, the main thing is that I really like to have it. I think it's really nice to get my carbs in in some sort of drink. Like, yeah, I don't have, I think it's a bit of a hassle to like have all the gels and like open one gel at a time. And so I usually mainly use gels for when I want to have caffeine. Or maybe sometimes on the run, if it's not a lot of stations where you can pick up your own drink, then I also have to have some gels on the run. But I think that the bike, especially it's so easy to just drink all the carbs. He said, and I'm drinking a lot anyway. And then I don't like, I don't have to think about getting the carbs in. It just goes in by default, basically. That's probably the next thing I wanted to talk about from it is that it said that you took on 500 milligrams of caffeine throughout the day at I'm an Texas, which it doesn't necessarily sound like a lot when you compare it to what Christian has talked about taking on or the day that Braden Curry accidentally took on 2000 milligrams because he thought they were 30 grams per gel, not 100 grams per gel. But it's still, if you're taking to account body weight, it's actually still really high because it works out to be like a really high number per kilogram of body weight, which is kind of how people talk about caffeine. So yeah, I would be curious where 500 milligrams stacks up compared to your competitors, like how much cat and Taylor and Lucian, those people are taking on. Do you see a real benefit from taking on caffeine during the bike and the run or pre-race or, and is that a normal number for you? Like is 500 a normal number, a low number, a high number? And how do you get it in? Is it just through the PF 30 caffeine jails that have like 100 milligrams per gel, so you just take five throughout the day? Is that right? Yes, so I feel like I actually think I took more caffeine before, but then I realized I didn't really need it. So now, like my planning Texas was actually 600, I just forgot one of the caffeine jails, but that's like sort of my standard for now, at least I'd say it's like I just take two caffeine jails before the start, maybe like 34 minutes before. And then I take two halfway through the bike basically and then another two, like halfway through the run or something like that. I feel like that works, works well for me. Like I have some like some segments of the race where I feel like it's nice to be caffeinated and some segments where it's not that necessary. Like the start of the swim is definitely like an awesome people don't take anything before the race, but for me, I feel like the start of the swim is that important that I want to feel like I'm sort of on from the start. Then like during the bike, the first part of the bike is just nice. And then when you go halfway through the bike, then you're starting to get a little bit tired again. You take some caffeine, then then you're sort of feeling good towards the end of the bike. But then the effect of the caffeine has sort of started to slow a bit when you start to run, which is nice again because in the beginning of the road, you don't want to be too eager. So then it's nice that you're actually not like that caffeinated, I feel like. And then obviously the end of the run is always hard. Then before you come to that part, you need to have another sort of feeling, I'd say that sort of my thoughts behind it. Yeah, so I love it. Like you're stacking caffeine rather than kind of drip feeding it throughout the day. Yeah, I treat it sort of servings. Then I take always two caffeine gels, like quite close to each other. Yeah, exactly. And the one before the race is the one that I'm kind of most interested in. So you'll be like 30, 40 minutes before race start. And you'll just pop two P F 30 caffeine jails 100 milligram per jale. So you're just getting 200 milligrams in 30 minutes before the race. They reckon it takes about 20 to 30 minutes to kick in. So you're on the race line just absolutely buzzing. Do you think it actually helps your race start though? Have you tried it without doing that? Like have you tried a non caffeine say 70.3 restart versus a 200 milligram caffeine 70.3 restart? And do you genuinely think it changes how the first like 100, 200, 300 meters of the swim plays out for you? And I race I don't think I've ever actually not taken in caffeine before the start. I guess like coming from short course, it's even more important to be ready when the swim starts. So yeah, I actually haven't tried it, but I have of course in training like in swim training. I definitely tried both and of course it might feel a little bit mentally as well, but I do really feel that caffeine helps me to feel ready for a swim. So I'm like why not why change it when it's I feel like that's what's working. And how much caffeine do you take day to day? Like is this because the reason I ask is because if you don't take much, this could be a lot or if you take a lot than this is just pretty normal. Where do you sit on the scale of like caffeine take and coffee intake just day to day in your training life? I'm trying to not take into much caffeine actually. I feel like it's something that can affect my sleep quite a bit. So a normal day I usually drink a cup of coffee when I wake up. And most days that's it. If I'm not having like a super special session or if I'm super tired one day, I can attempt to maybe take another cup, but that's actually really rare. Like I tried to only drink a cup of coffee in the morning, maybe two cups of coffee in the morning, but like nothing throughout the rest of the day. So yeah, I guess it's quite low compared to in the race, but actually before I always took three caffeine gels before the start. And I didn't it didn't feel any difference than taking two. So I don't think I'm reacting a lot to caffeine either, but it's also like so it's a bit this I think before it caffeine I had like a bit the same approach that with carbs like if I don't feel a negative consequences like why don't do like some extra just didn't know you get enough. But now I actually told, told it down a little bit. I think I'm also probably just as he said like influenced by Christian and he definitely takes way more than me again. So I don't feel like I'm taking that much. Yeah, well my favorite story ever on the podcast. So that is that the story of the Collins cup where Christian Bloomingfeld was racing and so was Sam ladle and Christian Bloomingfeld was drinking a lot of espresso, double espresso before the race and Sam ladle was it was interested in asked him, you know, how much he takes and and why and Christian says you need to take you know this this much and so. Sam ladle proceeds to drink about a thousand milligrams of caffeine before the race and then and then he. And that was on coffee right. Yeah, from from just black coffee and then he just spent the yeah, he spent the whole run walking because he was needing to go to the toilet and every porter potty he'd find he was he was at the toilet. And I think Christian was just playing games with him. So that was one of the first instances of the Norwegian mind games that now everyone knows and loves. You talked about before that you don't really necessarily have a preference in the fuel you take like you want to get it in liquid form but you can also do the jails and have done the jails in the past and that leads me to my next question which is do you know the next Iron Man race you're going to do? Do you have your season fully mapped out at this point all the way up to Kona? Basically the next full I will do is Hamburg that's a plan and then Kona so that's like the three full distances and for the 70 point trees I think I'll do Swansea and also the World Champs in Nis. Oh yeah you're going to do Nis and that's it I think. Yeah I feel like it's fun to do the World Champs and I don't really think Nis is like necessarily my course but it's just fun to feel like it's fun to try to challenge myself in different courses and also try to maybe prove myself that I also can because so far I feel like I've definitely done best in the flat courses and of course like quite heavy compared to a lot of the other girls but I do really want to do well in like a hilly course as well so it all fun just to sort of give Nis a shot but I think for me it's definitely Kona that is the main goal but I don't think racing Nis is negative or Kona anyway and it's as I said fun to do the World Champs so yeah that's a fact. So do you just think that you don't climb very well is that why you say Nis isn't the course for you? Yes I have racing my bio last year and I was so much time in that climb so I mean in my bio I was my best race overall I think I was like a bit like mentally not super motivated after Kona I was just like satisfied with my season at that point I think so I feel like I have a better club in me and than what I did in my bio but I don't know if I can do that. I don't think I'll be like competitive with the best still best who knows you got to I didn't think I would win in Kona either so you never know what's going to happen. Have you considered doing any T100 races this year in 2026 or did you did it not even cross your mind to do it because I'm sure they've reached out to you as the current Iron Man World Champion and want you to do their races but did you just think no on the on the Kona champ I'm going to pursue the pro series I'm going to try and win Kona again do 70.3 worlds and that's where my focus is going to be. Yeah definitely consider this then I think it's always easy to like want to do everything and get it's like racing is exciting and to be excited by doing a lot of races so I'm definitely like been considering a lot but I think think what has been nice what I've told was really nice last year was that I actually didn't have that many races I had six races last year and at least coming from short course six races is a really few mouth races for a whole season and but I really liked that then when I was just able to sort of when I had decided like this is the race I'm going to do and I just stuck with that it was actually really nice like mentally in a way as well to just know that I had like a lot of time in between each race and could like take the time to like process a race and rest a little bit and then build things towards the next one and so like before this season started like I was I just had a lot of ideas of all the different races I wanted to do and then I talked with me call about it and realized that it's actually nice to also just only have these races that I want to focus on and try to do as good as possible in these races and like just try to sort of I guess limit myself a little bit at least for now maybe I'll go more crazy in the future but yeah for now I think pro series is my focus this year and I'm not the not the school as Taylor who does all this serious so I think for this year at least the pro series will be my main focus but yeah maybe I definitely want to do at 300 is one time because I've never ever done any of them so yeah let's hope they're still around by the time you are able to fit one into your schedule that's that's what we need to keep our fingers crossed about okay so you just mentioned mika lead and again I just want to quickly come back to him do a bit of a lap back around to mika what makes mika the right coach for you when when the other Norwegians are a self coaching and they moved over to all love and and you were kind of around all of that but you didn't you didn't also join them in going to all of you suck with mika and you're still working with mika as we speak and and having so much success so why did you decide to stay with mika what makes mika the right coach for you and talk to me about your relationship and the dynamic between you and how it works as coach and athlete yeah I think for me when I decided to go to long distance I if all she's a little bit scared to do something new so it took me a while to like decide to actually go like go out to the national team and go with that new distance and I was talking quite a much with cash for about it because he wasn't the same situation like I guess we decided sort of at the same time to sort of leave the short course world and try some RMS instead and he was talking about that that he was going to go with Chris and then Gustav and I think that makes really sense for him to do that since they are all living in Bergen they're all boys they had like the same schedule and yeah it sound like a really logic thing for them but I think for me like I was mika was already my coach at the national team and he knows me really well and I've had him as a coach for a while and we have been a lot of cabs together and I felt like it was working really well with mika in short distance and I knew he had also experience with arm and training like he was coaching Rudy and he had been coaching Lionel obviously and yeah had that experience as well so I just asked if he wanted to continue as my coach when I sort of left the national team and luckily he wanted to continue working with me and for me that just felt felt right and he felt sort of safe to continue working with a coach that I already knew and that I knew sort of the philosophy he had and yeah it just felt like a good choice and still like if I'm sometimes training with a boy it's quite easy to sort of still do a lot of the same we still have trained quite similar so it's not the like a crazy big differences but I think it's also nice to have a coach for me it feels really safe to have a coach and also I'm not always doing the same schedule as the boys and I think if I had been sort of joining their group I think I would have felt like a little bit on the outside still and I'm not even leaving like in the same city as they are so for me it feels really good to have that relationship with mika. Do you guys still use more lactate strips like in a day than say the average of the rest of humanity in a year or has that kind of toned back down and you're not obsessed with lactators what maybe you guys were in like 2022 for example when I really feel like lactate was at its peak of its peels in terms of popularity. Yes I definitely measure less lactate. I think I was never the one who was measuring the most I was probably more kiss and a style but I still use this way more before than I do now like before we used it in all hard sessions and also for instance when we arrived in the altitude we even used it for all the easy sessions and stuff like that but now I feel like I sort of know my body quite well and now I still use it like here and there and especially for a lot of the threshold sessions and maybe especially in altitude but I can still have a lot of threshold sessions where I don't measure and like just go by feel and yeah I feel like I've hit a good balance where it's still like a nice tool but it's definitely mainly based on feeling and especially in arman I feel like it's even more sessions where you don't really need lactate like when I do arman pace I basically never measure any lactate I just go by feel and maybe a little bit what the sense of like that. If any of you want to use precision fuel and hydration just like solve loss set does then use the discount code tth26 for 15% off your first order the discount code and details for both Nomeo and Precision are in the episode description. But I actually have one last question for you that I just remembered because I've been listening I've been listening quite quite much to your podcast but I have to admit I haven't listened to all episodes but like in the time around Kona I certainly I heard you talked about like that I had a nickname but I didn't understand where it comes from because that episode So that must have missed sometimes. So I'd love you to explain that for me. - Oh, duh. (laughing) I don't actually even remember where it started, whether it was one of the daily podcast series where we talked about, it just, it kind of, it evolved. It wasn't like a, oh, now Solve has a nickname. And it wasn't even about you. It was about Olaf Alexander Boo and the fact that he told the story about how to test the core body temperature of Christian and the boys. They would use rectal thermometers. And so we kind of took that joke to the next level and made the joke about Olaf Alexander Boo having to put his glove on before administering the rectal thermometer. And we just thought that was really funny. And then someone on the Spotify comments in one of the daily podcasts pointed out that your name has glove in it and they called you Solve Gloveset. And obviously you're a Norwegian as well. - Okay, 'cause I heard the glow, but I was like, what does a glow have to do with me? I was just really confused by it. - Really nothing? - Because, okay, I see. - The fact that you're Norwegian, and you're French, really French. - I didn't have any, I didn't have any use for a glove in my corner prep. (laughing) Just to have that there. - Yeah, I don't think anyone actually thought that you had partaken in the glove method. It's just unfortunate and funny that your name had glove in it right as that joke was kind of being made. And so. - Actually, when, how you say it in, how I pronounced my name, it's actually not a glove in it. I would say Solve Gloveset. - Oh, yeah. - But it's just really funny. I was just really, I was just listening to book podcasts. I'm like, "The glow of the book." Where is that coming from? - That's really funny actually. - Do you like the nickname, The Glove? We haven't called you at for ages. That kind of died out. I did, I did you hear my rap that I did? I did a rap where I talked about The Glove. - Did you? No, I didn't hear that. - Yeah, I'll send you the episode. I'll send you like the episode. - You think about it. - And the time where the, where the, - You don't want the rapid now. - No, no, I'm not doing it ever again. I think I was one and done. I'm not very talented when it comes to rapping or music I found out Solve. But yeah, I think The Glove, I think The Glove nickname is actually died for 2026. It was, it was left in 2025. - And now I'm bringing it off again. That wasn't, that wasn't technical of me. - No, it was. - For me, it's okay that it died out. - That was really stupid of you. But good for you to clear up that you never actually part talk in The Glove method in your lead up to Kona. That was good to call you back. - Yeah, now everyone knows that. (laughing) - Oh, that's funny. - It's a no. - Yeah. I think that's a pretty good note to end the podcast on Solve. - Yeah, yeah, it looks so good to finally chat. I feel like you're one of the biggest names that we haven't had on the podcast. So thank you for saying yes and coming on. And you're a lovely human being who is extremely bloody good at this sport of triathlon and only getting better. So just a pleasure to have you on. And I can't wait to see what you do for the rest of 2026 and good luck defending your Kona title. It's gonna be one hell of a show down there. And hopefully we can chat to you maybe the week before the race to see how you're going and get a bit of an update before the race. And yeah, that would be good. But thank you for coming on today. - Yeah, thank you for having me. It's been a fantastic chat. (upbeat music) [Music]