In this episode we finally got to discuss our reactions to one of the craziest races we have ever seen in Ironman history: the all-women’s 2025 Ironman World Championships in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. We discuss what it means to win and lose with grace, Taylor Knibb’s incredible post-race interview, the role of heat and humidity in making or breaking an athlete’s day, and what bike brands seem to be most popular at the elite level. We also chat through the role of muscular endurance in super long-distance events like half and full Ironmans, marathons, and ultra runs, and preview some of the innovations we will be bringing to our athletes’ training in the 2026 season to account for this. Next, we deep dive on takeaways from Ironman California, which Katie and Jim agree is one of the best races you can do as a first-time IM athlete. Finally, we expand on a listener question from last week about burnout and drill into three different types of athletes: “event athletes,” “identity-based athletes,” and “for the love of the sport athletes,” considering what lessons we can learn from each athlete type as we try to burnout-proof our season. This episode was so fun to record and we’re excited to share it with you, so check it out!
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