ROAD TO NOOSA — NEW WORLD CHAMPION'S COACH DAN ATKINS

[00:00] In the beginning, Road to Noosa Triathlon, the series continues. But Courtney, we've levelled up. Yeah man, world champion coach Dan Atkins is back, and the grin on this man's face well deserved. We're what, two days after this? Not even. How tell me? How? I mean, 30 years ago, yeah, 30 years ago you start coaching and now you are the world champion coach. Like how's it feel?

[00:30] It's a pinch me moment. I still don't believe it has happened. I mean, we've Matt and I have spoken about it to a point for a long time and obviously he won juniors in 2017. And you know, the flowing from that is you want to keep going and chip away at it. But to actually see it raced and won the way it was you, if you told me that was the way it was going to happen, I would have gone no way. It's not going to be not easy,

[01:01] but that well put together. Did you have a moment? Just like, I mean, I know because obviously Matt is being plastered everywhere over socials. I mean, Matt couldn't. And so he should be, yes, so he should be. Everywhere. But let's go back. There's a team behind it. Yep. And you're the main man in that team getting it done. Have you had a bit of reflection, just yourself, a time to just think what it means to you? Take the athletes, take the travel on and just have you had a check? If with the family, with Katie,

[01:31] just like what's it? Look, I probably haven't and a lot of influential people in my life have said you just need to take stock. But I was back on pool deck at 5:30 this morning coaching my Somerset kids, which bring me back down to earth. I'm back to come on, keep going. Yeah, back to coaching. So, but I've got to say the people that have come up to me or messaged me and I'm sure I'm Matt, it's like 20 times that.

[02:01] But just to me, the influential people that I've looked up to over the years that have come out and said, you've reinvigorated my love for triathlon or you've inspired us or just things like that have just been amazing. And I really do think that what Matt does with me, there is a big part of it about giving back. And I love the fact that I can, I've come here to you guys and I'm talking about it straight away because I haven't really downloaded. So here's my opportunity.

[02:33] I guess let's talk more about that, I reckon. The question most people would be thinking is I've just won a world championship, you know, it's been a long time to get there. What's the celebration look like? Here we go. Yeah, how do these, how do these freak athletes that carry no body fat, how do they celebrate? It's pretty short and sweet as it should be. I think it's it's as hard as and as fast as they race. It's pretty intense. But look, we had a fantastic function with Ausrtri straight

[03:05] after Matt and I got back from his drug testing and we had an amazing moment. I didn't see him for two hours after the event. So I was busy running around checking on the other athletes and cleaning up stuff. And then one of the media girls currently, because you've got to get down to the podium, you've got to see the presentation and ended up being an iconic moment. The microphone with Pete Murray didn't work and we just naturally started singing Advance Australia Fair like without them even being on the podium. Yeah, if you haven't seen it, they couldn't get

[03:36] did they not have the Australian national anthem, or couldn't they get it to work? No the just the microphone just decided to not work and old Pete's there just at the back throwing his arms up that they tried 3 or 4 different microphones but it was just an Aussie like anywhere else in the world it would have been pandemonium but the bar was right next to the podium, so everyone in there — I was this close to grabbing 2 beers and running up on the stage and giving to them. But interestingly, there's a ban on beer on podiums now, so it's

[04:10] weird. But when you're raised in Germany and things like that, non-alcoholic 0.0 beer's normal there. So, sponsor-wise, what? Yeah, it was an iconic moment, as you say, at the podium. We are, we are going to talk about nutrition at Noosa. We're going to talk about, I do want to breakdown parts of the race as well from Matt's performance because I think there's a lot of people interested in certain elements of it. But you talk about the perfection of it.

[04:40] And can I just give a shout out to Will Mccloy, who was commentating the race? As a commentator, there is a level of responsibility about matching the moment. And I thought Will's commentary of the moment across the line for Matt was bang on. I loved it. I thought he reflected the moment. I thought it was beautiful. But this idea of a perfect race is that, I mean, as a coach, it's just, Can you believe that it got executed the way it did on that stage?

[05:10] He's given me a few moments in my coaching career where I've gone WTF, what, how have you done that? And of course, I'm in such a privileged position. I get the VIP access, all areas, the Willy Wonka chart, you know, the golden ticket to his, the way he performs and he gets ready. And if we broke it down to how it would perfectly work, that was perfectly how it was going to work. But it was with the other two

[05:41] guys that were in line for the world championship as well. But the swim was just that — executed perfectly. His start was amazing. Let's talk about it — show me Matt's swim start, because to be really frank with you, it was next level. Well, let's talk about it, Courtney. What did you see? Because I've had people talk to me about it, amateur triathletes. So can you talk us through it? Yeah, I mean, the big difference, and I'm assuming it's sort of mad, is that they weren't off like blocks or a

[06:14] pontoon like normal, right. So you had a few steps into the water, executed well, but just the speed in a wet suit too, because you gotta remember it's a lot more challenging to break away in a wet suit when everyone else has got the buoyancy then it is if you're swimming just in skin suits or you know, races. So how did you coach that damn? What was the what is that strategy that you that Matt has in his head on that start line of that swim? Well, a lot of it's intent. So it's it's more what's between the ears than the physicality of it. And it's just part of his who he is.

[06:46] So it's not necessarily coached too much. Like certainly you know, I've always said that for triathlon coaching, standard distance, we can only probably train enough to be A200400 metre swimmer and the rest of it you just need to get through it. So and 204 hundred metre swimmers for swim coaches out there, we still do, you know, they do 30-40 to 60 K work, we can Max 2025 K work. So really we've we've got a lot of endurance. We have a lot of aerobic conditioning, bike run that

[07:16] transfers over to long distance swimming somewhat. But we focus on front end all the time. Like Friday mornings is our front end swim set and that is always hugely high intensity. Last few weeks we've been doing some like more swimming with Phil Clayton just to get him in around people and just to just to and have fun. I mean help as soon as we saw the chop. How fun's this? Yeah, he's just going to help us goal coasters. And sure enough, he's got a very high stroke rating naturally. And you need a 50 plus stroke

[07:48] rate to be front end. And I do work with Sprint swimmers and they're 60 plus. So I transfer some of that knowledge that I have to how to break away very quickly. And then it's how you deliver on the day. And that's not me. That's that's Matt. For those for those people that might be heading who for those people who jumped on this series to learn a bit about Noosa heading your first Noosa, the trust me when I say when you approach the Noosa swim, it will be a slow weight in trying to avoid stepping in any potholes,

[08:19] ankles, some duck dives, maybe some walking through or over some waves in the early stages and then you'll get into your stroke. If you haven't watched Matt Hauser start to this world championship, it is bullet out of a gun stuff. I don't think there's a there's a dolphin dive in there. It is. It is the first dive and then he is stroking. How do you balance in the training? Obviously that's so anaerobic, that front end of the race and then you've got a 2 hour race. I mean, it's something I think I struggled with for years if you. Put the switch. Too far in aerobic and then it affects your aerobic system.

[08:50] How do you balance that? Well, our secret weapon is strength and conditioning in the gym and we do a lot of stuff there that complements what I do in the pool and again, dot mats. He's a freak. We know that he's a once in a generation athlete. Certainly he will be for me. But somewhere between what I do, how I communicate our values, we've got this perfect storm happening at the moment. That's that's just come through

[09:21] with what's come through this year. But I think the biggest thing with it again, I'll come back to just desire and intent and just the F you moment that I'm going to you know, we were embracing before the start and telling each other we loved each other before the start. That were that were my words of encouragement. I loved you. And that was his back. And he just gets on the start line with a big grin on his face. I'm like, Oh no, I'm out the back, just away from as many people as possible, just sweating, heart rates going up and then just sort of start

[09:53] and I went, great, he's away. I can go and go. I'll move to the position. Can I ask you, Courtney, about start line mindset? Because and the reason it comes to mind with what you just said about Matt smiling on the start line, those words beforehand. I was down at the Coolangatta Gold on the weekend. Yeah. And Ali Day as they're all getting ready to go on for that first ski leg. All the athletes, that full field of elite men in the water holding their skis in the chop. And the bit of a short break, Ali was 5 metres behind, he wasn't in the waters, on the sand. And I was standing with Alex Rigby and his wife and they were

[10:24] both going, what's he doing, what's not 'cause he looked like he didn't know the race was about to start. And I spoke to Ali on the radio show about this and he said, well, I was actually trying to check with the Marshalls that they knew they had the start line level and fair because he was down the far northern end. But also he said it was a little bit of gamesmanship, like you actually get held on that line for a long time and it's draining to stand there holding your ski in that chop. So he had his start line mentality dialled in. Sounds like Matt had for you on the start line back in your

[10:54] career. Did you know in your head? I'm like I'm set with their days when it felt right, different, bad, whatever. Yeah, you know what to do, I think. What's unique about triathlon? Do they still do the drum? Yeah, still the same old heartbeat. So they do this heartbeat as you go out, like right before the race, they do this heartbeat drum. It's the worst can find it people. Is it meant to simulate? It's meant to simulate battle ready to go to battle. But they do brave hearts right before they go.

[11:24] So it's always, I think that's always one, your mind clicks into it's race time. But two, I think that's when it's hard to manage. That's when nerves come about. So when you're comfortable and you're smiling and you can get around that. I mean, but that all was dictated probably prior to the race. What kind of, you know, mindset you're in as well. So I did have a question. What changed your last race with Madden Europe obviously didn't go 100% to plan. What was it 5 weeks, 4 weeks ago, 4 weeks? What changed between then and worlds?

[11:55] Quick. Question we debriefed like that night at dinner and funnily enough, his partner, Georgia and I were so hungry. We didn't even wait for him. We're like, we're going, we're going to get food. And her and I debriefed and I hope she doesn't mind me saying this. She's a nervous, you know, anxious character. And she's like, what are, what are we going to do to get Matt over the line in Wollongong? And I said, look, we're going to keep doing the same thing, but we're going to get him more

[12:25] dialled in a certain couple of areas and you're going to help me with that. And effectively her focus was at home recovery and getting into bed on time and stuff like that. But the biggest thing for us was dialling into the Wamba centres and for us, he had some hamstring tightness. And Matt does less volume than most, but effectively an extra 10K of running a week is done in the gym. And like Triggity brothers, Tim is our strength and conditioning coach who is a Kona finisher

[12:55] last year. He's so very handy, an amazing part of our team and so integral. And I spent an amazing last 2K of the run with Tim, who flew himself down there. And we sat on the sideline. I said we're not running, we're just going to watch the finish on the phone. And we just had in a moment with Josh Myers, who's another famous name in Australian endurance sport, who's our physio sit there and the three of us just we just banged it out for the last two K and really enjoyed it. But those two boys are so

[13:26] integral in getting that too. And to me, that was the difference between French Riviera and Calaveri and then coming home and getting our team back together. Yep, and them all and Lisa Coonan, our dietitian, she's so integral as well at getting matched nutrition spot on and just checking and challenging. And it was one of the key performance indicators to us was getting his muscle mass up and they're at an all time high. So. Amazing. I different walks of life. I know Tim, both Tim and Josh from but funny enough, I've run

[13:58] into both randomly in the last few weeks since you've been over there. And the one thing that I hear from them and hear from you and then I can see in the whole team is respect across everyone. Yeah. So you get a lot of, I suppose in sports, high performance sports is like one way or the highway type scenario and everyone else is just falling into line. But I do get that like limited contact, obviously. But I already have that feeling that everyone respects the place and what each person adds to the puzzle.

[14:28] And it's obviously working. It's it's, it's as a team, it's really impressive, yeah. Thank you. I want to talk. I do want to not to move you out at the moment. I do want to get a sense from a coaching perspective of how you then move on from this win. Not that you need to the run. Yeah, because what was it a 2917? I think that he dropped 16. Sorry, I don't want to take the second one. And you talk about sitting back and enjoying those final 323 KS, whatever it was on the phone that again, for people that

[15:01] might be new to this sport, that's a 10 kilometre run off the back of a 1/2 K swim and a 40K bike ride to drop a 2916. That when you start seeing those numbers rolling through, are you just, is there a part of you that relax and go, Oh yeah, he's this is amazing. Like he's just, it's all clicking. It's the Swiss watch type stuff. I don't think I relaxed till I saw him hold the tape and even then one of the races this year he rolled his ankle at Mooloolaba trying to do his gun slinging thing that he does but.

[15:33] What is that? I don't know, ask him about the finish line — we'll get him on to talk about it. I love it, by the way. OK, mental note made. But I yeah, it was again, surreal for me, Yeah. And just having that time with the key people that I wanted to have the time with and we were on our own watching my little, you know, iPhone there and just being able to

[16:06] embrace them straight away was just magical. What age did Matt move down here at? He moved down to the Gold Coast when he was 17, nearly 18. So by the end of this year, it will be 10 years since he's been here on the Coast. But yeah, so it's, it's, it's been quite a period. And the great thing is junior coach was in Wollongong running around with a crazy shirt that had Matt's head all over it that he got printed for Paris. So he's a he's a crazy icon. Brian Harrington from he ran Queensland school sports for

[16:40] 1000 years. And so he's the passion. But that's great. But that's that. You see that I remember when Ash Barty won Wimbledon, won the Australian Open and they went to her junior tennis coach and I and I think that's something special about coaching is that, and I'm, I'm guessing, but is that even when you stop coaching you, it doesn't erase the journey you've played in that athletes career. It's a bit different when a coach leaves a sporting team and that team eventually changes

[17:11] shape as players move on and eventually it's not the same team that they coach. You'll forever be Matt Hauser's coach even if he changed coaches tomorrow. You'll forever have played a role in Matt Hauser the athletes journey. Yep, I look forward to seeing what's next for you. I mean, you've had great success over the past, you know, few Olympics and that, but like, what's your next step now too? Like this is you've proven at top, at the top of the world, you know. Something that hasn't been done by an Aussie male for what is it, 20 years? 20 years.

[17:41] Yeah. Pete Robinson So I know you haven't had time to reflect, but that's something, you know, you need to consider too. It's sitting here going, well, you work towards this goal. Take some time to think about it. And then yeah, like I look forward to seeing where what's next with both of you, so. Before you, before we move on from that space too, I do want to ask because to my mind you go we got Matt as you as Courtney asked about that debrief that

[18:11] five week gap between the race over in over in France, was it Czech Republic, Czech Republic over in Europe. Do you then sit down before the next race and try and is it like getting that recipe is that is that essentially what you do? You go OK, he was muscle mass was X recovery was why What was his partner's name — Georgia, getting him to bed at 8:30? Is that then how you go, we need to is it like a cooking recipe? We need to try and have him do that in the lead up to that next major meet.

[18:42] Yeah, it is. And further to that conversation about with Georgia and I, Matt walked in and we both basically hit him between the eyes straight away and said, look, we've got to give us your reflection. Give us Georgia and I your reflection and he did and he'd owned every piece of it. And as soon as we came home from day one, it was just a complete lock. And you know, we had some amazing moments in the lead up to that. We had Ryan Fischer's wedding, which you know, I coach Ryan as a as a young 16 year old as

[19:15] well. So and now he's investing with his company into Matt and stuff like that. So we had some really amazing little moments in the lead up that just sort of and I weaved its way into this that just made it and we saw people we hadn't seen in 15 years at this wedding, Ryan Bailey and Joel Tobin White and people like that is you guys are just doing such an amazing job that just kept that just shovelling the coal in the fire for us. And then, you know, we went there and he did what he did, which was.

[19:46] So cool. It's genuinely — as someone said to me in the office the other day, that obviously you listen to the podcast, but they talked about triathlon. And I'm not saying that Matt's win has achieved at all, but like they're like triathlon's cool again, this, it feels like this age championship has been a bit of a needle-mover for the sport in Australia. Well, It's also, it's also this, there's so many images. We're talking about the number

[20:17] of events that are on that weekend all it's kind of the chance for images to go and represent Australia, you know, different categories about the Sprint race there. Anything else I'm actually interested in your thoughts on? Obviously the T100 race was the day before on the same weekend. Do you think that detracts from the world having the Olympic World Championships on the next day or do you think it do you think it should be stand alone? It certainly affected Hayden.

[20:48] As in having it the day before, as in making that choice? Yeah, I think so — Hayden Wilde went on to win the T100. Yeah, and he won it really well. Yeah. And wanted to back up the next day and it was pretty rough, obviously so affected him having it on the same backup he did. Yeah, right. Yeah, He backed up and that certainly affected his world championship, I'm sure. So yeah, that would. Probably not from probably not from performance point of view. I think about it like we're here talking about Matt and yeah, you

[21:18] know, focused 100%. I mean, in the end I saw, you know, it overshadowed anyway, so the result was the same. But it does when you're trying to, you know, elevate a sport. Yeah, I understand the need for both, but it to me it was like, you got this one. Yeah, kind of like crown and championship at the end. Yeah. And then they just kind of whacked this yeah, random race in there. It for me, I was like, it'd be interesting to see in the future where they take. It's like a boxing card, right? You know where you've got a whole bunch of different bouts on it, but there's a, there's

[21:48] the main card, there's the main bout, which is the build as such. And if you have the T100 the day before and then the World Championships the following day, what's the main? But it's kind of like, I see it more like it's not the, it's not the card to the race. It's nearly like having kickboxing one day and then a boxing match the next day. You know, like, yeah, they're 2, they're 2. They're different athletes. Different sports. Sorry, different athletes, same sport. Yeah. But yeah, with different things, I just, yeah, I was wondering like what was the sentiment down there and that. Oh look, as a fan of our sport, which I really am, I

[22:21] enjoyed watching because they did the same thing in French Riviera this year as well. So they had two events this year, and it mainly came about because some of the other T1 events were 100 events were cancelled. So they T100 had to fill in some space. So obviously Wollongong put its hand up and look as far as a cash grab as per audience and stuff like that. The audience down there was just as big for the T100 as

[22:53] it was the grand final because as you mentioned, they had all these events and Australia alone had 13,167 age groupers wearing the exact same uniform as me. 13,167. Australians, yeah, Holy. And then they're all gonna watch the race. Absolutely everyone. And I mean, we had the queen of Australian triathlon racing, Ash Gentle, who raced remarkably well there. Finished second in the T100 and then played such a great role commentating match race and then putting up the microphone

[23:25] and getting out on course. And there's this iconic photo that I've screenshotted of Matt coming out of the line with Ash in the background, which I love because I know she's a big fan of Matt. She took him out in 2017 when he was a junior and won junior worlds and convinced the performance director that he needs to come out and I'll look after him. That was a bit of a funny moment. Yeah, so she's been, you know, mother hen to Matt forever. Not that I'm sure she wants to you known as a 27 year old's mother, but you know that just for me, even those little moments to have the connectivity

[23:57] between the two sports was great. And that's because I am a fan. Yep, did it go well? Yeah, I think you've known that. I was concerned with the scheduling, but they got it right. They really did. Yeah, well. I mean, I wasn't obviously on ground and watching it from afar, but I did wonder just how it, yeah, put us together. Just with the this going back to the celebration stuff, because it must be an interesting situation for you to be in, as someone who wants to

[24:29] celebrate this, wants to enjoy the fruits of the labour of yourself and Matt and they're everybody else. But then you also at some point you need to be the one that turns the lights on and right goes right, party's over. We need to get back to work. Is Matt back in training? How long — have you given him a time frame? What was the instruction? Yeah, he'll be training today. He's got Noosa coming up, which is which is part of the KPIs for the year to get it right. He hasn't won Noosa, remember,

[25:00] and someone else in our squad, Braden Mercer has and he's the younger guy with bragging rights, so it's known that the internal banter was more around Noosa all the way through, which probably helped getting through Wollongong — took a bit of the pressure off. So getting time trial bikes and all this sort of stuff and the fancy helmets and the Christmas triathlete thing, your fitness Christmas, basically. Cannot wait to get up there next weekend, I can guarantee you. That's so cool. That's a good one for everybody hanging out with the rich and famous,

[25:30] Courtney in the VIP 10. Hopefully I get a ticket — I think we will. You can write your own ticket now, Dan Atkins, you can literally write your own ticket now. Make sure I'm not up there this year, but make sure Pete Murray appropriately addresses when he does all the VIPs in attendance. World Championship triathlon coach Dan Atkins, please, Courtney. Pete was still calling me at 1:00 AM trying to get into the nightclub last night, so I'm pretty sure Pete's going to be looking for me to maybe give me an uppercut and his.

[26:01] Voice sounds exactly the same as he did when you were at the Gold Coast. Can I tell you a quick story about Pete Murray? I hosted the Gold Coast Marathon with him this year. First time I'd ever met him. What an absolute legend of a bloke. Everything everybody has told me about him is so spot on. The first time I met him, I said to Courtney, how's this bloke's voice going to be wrecked? This is two days before the marathon. I'm like, he's not going to be able to talk by the end of this last finisher across the line, still the same voice.

[26:31] Yeah. I couldn't talk. How was your voice? By the end of the day, I could not talk. I'm like Peter, to know how you do this. You're amazing. He's phenomenal. He lifts our sport to a new height. He really does. And as I'm sure he did the marathon and yeah, when you hear his name, you feel comfort. Like I felt comfort having our world champs, having Pete call it. That's great. I just felt homely and I was where I needed to be. It was like that warm bed you got at night where you pull your doona up. You're like, that's Pete. He's my doona. Home race, home race — what a

[27:01] place to win. That's so cool before we move on to Noosa because we that's where we will be heading and get your expertise on that. The under-23 world's female race, Rochelle Hill — did that come out of nowhere, or was there internal expectation? Her mum Rena, who is an Olympian. Rena's daughter. I had no idea — oh, there you go. So I raced with, well, raced at the back end of Rena Hill's I raced with you balanced Japan

[27:31] career. Yeah, there you go, the great Rena Hill. Wow. Probably one of the most nervous pre race coaches I've ever met. So she coaches Rochelle, Yep, all the way through. And Rochelle has been out. She qualified for the world's team in Devonport this year unbelievably well by winning that and unfortunately got an injury off the back of that and we hadn't seen her all year and came back and did bridge to Brisbane I think and got second there running a really

[28:02] good 34 low. So for me being on the team, I was like, how's Rochelle going to go? And then saw her do a little race down here that I was try put on and I went, OK, she looks pretty good. But down here it wasn't really the form Finder I was sort of looking to see. I was looking for some 2 minute off the front dominating, but she didn't. It was controlled and it was a great race. And then I said to Rena before the start, I'm like, so how's Rochelle going to go? And really no idea. And I'm like, you know what's her intent? She goes, she just thinks she's going to win. And I went, wow, OK, she goes, I don't know, it's crazy, but she

[28:37] just said she's going to win. And I was in the same spot I was for Matt as I was when Rochelle was running past. And of course we're all screaming our heads off. And then that run, 1200 metres out — honestly, that night at dinner, So we had team dinners every night and when she walked in, she literally just collapsed in a heap on the chair and just so great. I remember giving her a hug and she just sort of felt like a big

[29:08] high, but like a bag of potatoes, because I had to carry her. I was just like, that was amazing. And it just lifted us day in, day out, because — That was on the 1st. That was basically one of the first age group races of the whole thing, wasn't it? Yeah, we had the under 23 boys and then the under 23 girls, so we had the boys who did fantastically well. Braden Mercer leading that for the Aussies in 12th. And does that vibe the like, Oh yeah, like the bring that energy, that winning energy, that success into the group for

[29:38] the rest of the week? 100% the team dinners were amazing because we did suit presentations every night. We brought in legends. Explain the suit because listeners will be interested in this. So because I went through it myself years and years ago, the suits, the numbers and this history. And you told me Bill Daverin was actually the one who started it. He did, yeah. So each of the elite team, so not the under 20 threes of the juniors. So across the weekend, as people would know, each day had a different event. So day one, under 20 threes. So the Wednesday night they were

[30:08] presented with their suits and they were asked to say a bit of a speech about what it means to them to be in the Australian team and also some real nervous words. There was some real quick words and then, you know, there's real intent in their delivery of speech. Like Rochelle's was — you just stood right up in your chair. It's inspiring. And then, you know, on the last night we moved to like I want to say the para team was presented by the great Katie Kelly, gold medal winning athlete in Rio who I coached. And honestly, I was emotional

[30:41] listening to her speak because she's such a great motivational speaker. And to see her hand out the next generation of athletes suits and they get their number. So the Paralympic athletes and also the Olympic athletes get a number and that signifies where they've represented Australia. So the great Miles Stewart got #1 because he was the first, he got 4th at the first worlds in 89 in Avignon. And. Do you remember your number?

[31:11] No. Because in the 20s, from memory, some. People don't get that tattooed on them. I'm pretty sure the suits probably in their bag up in the garage, yeah. Well, we put a bit more emphasis on the suits, Courtney, and you know, it's. Been a while Liam, give me a. No, but like if I asked Liesl Jones, who I do the radio show with every morning, what number dolphin she is. She knows exactly what number dolphin she is. Australian swim number. Yeah, but you're just memory is just honestly useless. Well, that's not a memory thing, that's just it.

[31:41] Is. Look to be fair I reckon everyone from the weekend will know their numbers because of the how much we put on it. And it was also 2 days ago. It was awkward, but no. Bill Daverin presented the suit, spoke about the reasons why I wanted to signify the numbers and the place in Australian history that they've created. And yeah, it just. And then Craig Alexander presented the suits and it was hard to follow Bill after his speech, but he did a great speech as well and. It's a great tradition. How did How did?

[32:12] Can I ask how Matt's speech ahead of that race went after he was presented with his suit? Goosebumps again. Look, he was the absolute last person to get his suit of the whole weekend. So it should have just it again, just build up, build up. And you could see he was really nervous. And it's funny, you know, I've seen him like we spoke at a high school the week before that in front of, you know, 1000 people. And he was very polished and there was no sign of nerves at all. But this occasion, I think being around his peers and his family

[32:45] and everyone, he was, yeah, it was very emotional just hearing what it meant to him. And he was, you know, very much open to taking on the world and having Australia on his shoulders and that. It was such a cool phrase — open to taking on the world. It gave me goosebumps. Yeah. And yeah, he did that pretty well. Wow. All right, well, look, hey, the congratulations don't end. This is like Matt is forever a

[33:15] world champion. Now you have forever coached world champion triathlon. So congratulations Dan. We could keep sitting here blowing smoke up your backside. Yeah, that's it. But we need you to switch on your coaching brand again because we are a week and 1/2. Yep, we're getting into the well, definitely in the taper, yeah. We are being tapers. We're in the final zone of the thing. So we're going to get on. We're going to ask a few questions about nutrition that have come in from some listeners. That seems to be the biggest

[33:46] question around like cramping nutrition, Should I take gels, all that. But before we get into there, what, you know last week, well, what are we talking? When's this coming out? 10 days last 10 days before Noosa. What should I be doing at this stage? I don't really know what to expect yeah I've kind of done a little bit I know I'll use one of my mates for example, they've been getting out riding you know in the valley, 2 hour rides they're runners little bit of swimming but they probably haven't done enough training to

[34:16] really get through an Olympic distance at you know top of their tree. Yep. What? What do I need to think about 10 days here if. It can be as simple as you know, the old carb loading four or five days out is really important and it is an old and probably the oldest adage of how to perform in an endurious event is to carb load. But obviously you need protein as well and that needs to be well placed and protein tends to absorb into the system at 24

[34:46] hours out. So you want to be thinking about where you get your protein from and how you how you put that in your system. So I tend to think that, you know, a good steak meal or heavy if you're not a, you know, don't eat me looking at your protein stores going in 24 hours out and then sort of just pulling that back a little bit to get the carbs in. So, you know, as simple as rice and chicken is a fantastic pre rice meal, just simple plain rice, as bland as it can be and A and a good old cooked chicken

[35:17] is probably the most go to meal I see for the guys at the moment. The morning of a so say in Wollongong was a 5:00 PM race. The boys were having rice and chicken five hours out. So yeah, real bland. You don't want any fibre, obviously, but again, that's five hours out. So if we're looking a week out, look, I think this weekend's important. So talk us through this weekend. We've got a lot of first timers. We've got a lot of amateurs or age groupers that are there and,

[35:51] and you know, we'll have a beer on the weekend and we and we like to feed up and enjoy our weekends. It's probably the weekend I'm suggesting. Just chill a bit. Just don't, don't cram your training and overload that so much, but don't overload probably the alcohol obviously, and try and try and get your sleep on the weekend. I think if you can, if you can get a few extra hours on the weekend because you don't have to get up and work, that would be, that would be great. For me, the most important thing is being rested and recovered

[36:21] because I can guarantee the night before the race, you know, we all struggle generally asleep and you've got to get bloody early. Like, you've got to get up at probably 34 AM to get ready for the 6:00 AM start. That was one of the questions that came in about I'm not a great sleeper the night before the race. Do you have any tips or you know, what can I do to kind of help get me to the start line? Yeah, morning. I think napping the day before is a probably a no go. So this Saturday or the Sunday race, try not to nap during the day as best possible. And just, I mean, you know, try

[36:53] not to look at your phone the hour before you go to bed. Things like that we're hammered with. I think it's really important, but what I used to do as an athlete was just put on calming music. If I couldn't sleep and I knew I wasn't going to sleep, just put on something that can bring down your energy levels a little bit and take your mindset away. Maybe be listening to this podcast I've. Been told to push you to sleep a few times all. Right. Not to go to your sleep, but just to bring down the energy levels a little bit. But yeah, big shout out to Jack Eagle, my mate Ryan's young fellow who listens to the podcast before he goes to sleep each night.

[37:25] I the, that I know what you're talking about there about sleep and the benefits. Everybody out there, I'm going to throw a broad blanket for a moment. Everybody out there who's listening to this podcast is interested in endurance sports, taking on the triathlon, whatever it might be. We've all seen the data, the tips about how to sleep better. And if you're like me, you ignore them. You don't get off your phone before you go to sleep. You're not going. You're not. You know, all those bad habits

[37:56] that they say can improve your sleep if you change them? Just change them for this weekend, just for this one weekend, or for that Saturday night before the race. Just change them for one day. And then you can go back to your crappy habits of scrolling, doom scrolling for an hour, and doing all the other things that make sleep. Bad. And then morning of the race. So I did get some sleep. Yep. Up early. Can you talk us through, you know, a generalisation of what you would suggest to get to the start line? Food warmups? Yep. Yeah, it's trainable.

[38:27] So hopefully what you've done in the lead up will marry up what you do on race day. And I suggest you're doing that in your Saturday key session or Sunday key session that you're having your pre race meal the same sort of setup as what you have on race day. And it could be as simple as peanut butter and honey. Like that is such a great pre race little meal. You've got the honey with the sugars, bit of protein from your peanut butter toast with your carbs and stuff like that. It could be as simple as that. Probably avoid the fibre, so avoid the fruits and things

[38:57] like that before the race. Like I said, the athletes I work with have something as simple as rice and chicken. I've seen them have that as early as 4:00 AM. I've seen them have that as late as 2:00 PM. So before a race, so that's something that they sit on and that's so they don't get any GI issues through the race. So for an early morning race like Noosa, though, yeah, they'll still, they'll still have the chicken and. Rice. Yep. They'll do you used to have four days. I reckon I had porridge. Yeah, I reckon I would add

[39:27] porridge. I mean, it's got fibre, obviously. Yeah, OK. Yeah. So it's, it's again, what you've trained your stomach to work on and you know, having Sultana Bran, probably not the greatest thing, sorry, Sultana Bran, but you know, and then obviously working on your nutrition plan with whatever nutri, sorry, whatever product you use. And again, we spoke about training your stomach to be able to handle pure if that's the nutrition on the run course. We found out it was fixed,

[39:59] wasn't it? Fix is it? I'll I'll double check you keep talking. Yeah, maybe check that. Yeah, I'll double. Check. I'll double check. Well, it is. It is a really important point to know what is on course. The fact none of us three are actually racing probably goes to show why. Not. Why we're not talking, but while William's looking up that because I've got a specific question here came from. I can't even say that name's Spatney. Yeah. Spartan. OK, so good day, love in the

[40:29] news segment. Goal for me is to break the 220 mark, so moves along Well, Yeah, I've been short by 4 minutes in the past few years due to poor nutrition. Keeps cramping in the run around the 7K mark. So here's my question. How much fluid should you have on the bike? Should you finish one bottle by the end of the ride? I'm also thinking 2 gels on the bike and maybe another 4 kilometre into the run. What's your thoughts? OK, so there's a lot in there, but let's go to the fluid on the bike for the first.

[40:59] Bit yeah, 2 bottles you your nutrition in one and then water in the other. Don't don't have two well, and when we're talking age group is here, don't have 2 bottles of high carb drinks. You want to clear the mouth of the carb fluid in your mouth, and that is best done by water because having that acidic, dense taste in your mouth can actually it feels like you're dehydrated, so it makes you drink more of it, which then can lead to, you know, your body

[41:33] rejecting that. So we've all seen people reject things on the bike at times, and that's generally because their body's not stomaching and processing the carbohydrates effectively. So always have a water, a water bottle, and then also have your nutrition that you're used to. So some kind of calories, yeah. Because I believe has changed now. But there was a stage there in Triflin where people were removing their calories into a hard form like gels only and then having electrolytes in the

[42:03] bottles, right. Yeah. So it's more skewing now because the carb drinks are so good now with the with the two sugars and you can get a fair bit in. So that's what we're looking at. Yeah. That's probably the best. Advice. Yeah, I think so. One other little tip that quite like is if you have your nutrition and you sort of water it down a bit, squeeze your gel into it. So your water bottles actually got your gel in it. So and shake it up. So it's not a, you know, it's not a dense Morton Jelly that if it's more a goo or whatever it

[42:36] might be, then you can mix that into your water bottle and sort of mix it through the day, like mix it overnight and then have it on the water. So you're always constantly sipping on it every 5 minutes or so. Yeah, and Noosa's likely to be hot. Yeah. So it's about 1.5 leaders. Yeah, I think so. Look, it depends on the person and your trained body size though. So the Clydesdales probably most definitely need to get 22 bottles in. The true, the true Clydes, the true Warriors, the 100, the 100 plus. 100 plus guys, the

[43:09] Warriors, they probably need that in you're 50K girls. Maybe not they might get through 1 bottle yeah but it's also a good tip is using the insulated water bottles and freezing them overnight yes now yes, highly possible that they'll defer us through the day, you know from the time the transition shuts. But having one of those bottles even when it's just a bit cooler than your nutrition bottle just cools your core body temperature

[43:39] down so much and it's actually very refreshing to have that or just squeezing a little bit over the back of your neck. It just makes such a difference, yeah. Pure is the official on-course nutrition — you're bang on. So it is pure is the is the is the on course nutrition that will be used. So if you if you have been using that great. If you haven't, maybe get familiar with it potentially just quickly. I do want to say talking about the course in that 7K mark. Speaking of cramps, Dan — I have been inundated with

[44:11] support of the naming of that section as Struggle St inundated. I know this is the first time. Quite like it. Courtney, you were the only person who's not on board with me. Struggle St Noosa Triathlon, you've been told the people want to see it. Struggle St official branding. There's a great opportunity there, someone to get on board. Red Bull maybe? Just saying if you know someone. Kind of a bit down-market, not really Red Bull. No, I think we want to be — well, then I'm taking it to Forex, and we're going to arm the people in the

[44:41] back streets with their products. Well, we might need to look at what the beverage sponsor is at the CIP. AG1 should get on board. I would say normally it's a craft beer from Noosa. Matso's. Is that ginger beer, isn't it? That's so. There we go anyway. I'd happily sit there and yeah. Jump into Struggle St hang out there. How do you reckon the fizzy beer would go down 7 just as you're cramping? Quickly, because I don't know, I think this might

[45:11] be our last one with you, Dan, about Noosa. We've talked about transition and taking your time and all the rest of that. I've got to share this story while we're talking as a triathlon two years ago, I was up there and with a mate and he had some friends that he worked with who were doing it for the first time. Now I'll keep names out of it, but this fellow who was doing it terrified, petrified, completely underestimated the whole event. And watching him wade into the ocean at the beginning of the swim was like, it was like watching it, you know, an elderly person cross the street.

[45:43] He was doing it as slow as he possibly could. He eventually came out of the swim some 45 minutes later. But in transition, first transition, he had a vape. And then in struggle St, he had his phone with him on the run and he was walking through struggle St watching a Lakers game. That's the definition of a bad day out. I mean, a good day. Well, yeah, he might have been

[46:14] Well, he still finished, good on him — but that's where things can get to. Sorry, you wanted to ask something — I've completely lost it. But isn't that the great thing about Noosa? And that's why we're all here. It's because of the communities that come together for that event. Yeah. The people that are wollongong talking to me that I know have never watched a triathlon before. That's, you know, it was just unbelievable. And Noosa will, well, you'd probably be having more people. I'm so excited for news and I'm not going to be. Is there free to wear coverage

[46:44] of Noosa because you? Rolls out on YouTube. Yeah, like a live YouTube. Free to wear we gotta get. I know Youtubes free to wear, but we need a broadcaster behind it again, like the if this sport is having a moment and having a season and driven by all the participation and when you have an athlete like Matt. We've talked a bit about this of late on the Saturday episodes when a sport finds its hero, like gout is for track athlete at the moment when there's an athlete like Matt, I feel there's a little it's beholden on the

[47:17] country and the decision makers within the country, not just the governing sport, but beyond that, to find a way to capture that momentum and help elevate it. And I feel like free to wear television would be like the Coolangatta Gold, for example, of just gone. It was on delay but still 7 sport broadcaster and then you get that new audience, those casual observers finding a way to buy into it and it just brings new eyeballs onto the sport. We'll talk about how we can keep following on because obviously with you, Dan, I noticed this.

[47:49] Who's been filming with you — is it an unfunded podcast thing? No, sorry — it's Tom Falco, and he's a freelancer. Is that is that something because I mean, if someone if you're listening and you've you liked what Dan said and you want to keep following along with the training, is that something you're looking at continuing following yourself and Dan in the training? I know the last episode, I think it was the last run set before I

[48:22] watched that just last night after the race. But like it's a great insight into, I suppose, seeing also what goes on in like inside elite sport. Yes, you do use a whiteboard — nothing's changed in 30 years. You go to the pool, you're at the track, using a whiteboard. You've got the, you know, you see that whole team we're talking about around you and the and the content's great. So yeah, hopefully that keep you continue with that. Yeah. Well, I did

[48:53] say at the time, I probably got a bit too much air time on that again, but I think it's great to showcase what we all do. And again, the intent in which Matt delivered that session and it was a pre, it was a key session. So, you know, we spoke about how we can do that and we had a team of people following Matt around like the whole weekend at Wollongong that it's going to be an amazing documentary now that it's, it's come out and obviously he's won. So there's a little teaser there that's something that we've

[49:23] been, well, Matt's been working on and it's a real insight. And obviously it's it's, it's to help his sponsors, the them platform. But I think beyond that, it just showcases what we actually do. And I mean, I'm all for it because if it gets one more kid in the sport and starts becoming a fan because we're not on free to air TV, this is the platforms that we all want to watch and learn and we get inspired by then I'm all for it. And it just for me, it helps if they're a continuous part of

[49:54] the team. So if they're there and Tom will be with us in Noosa, he's going to be there, and he's doing the Bolt run too. He can run — well, he's going to try. You don't do the Bolt unless you can. But he's a fan of the sport, he's a fan of Matt, he's a fan of what we do and hopefully we can. How did that connection come about? And oh, look, he's worked with us for a long time now and he's just a fan of the sport.

[50:24] And I think for him, he's, he's an AFL person, but he just loves the diversity of our sport and the ebbs and flows of it all. And he's, he's connected with a lot of the characters in our sport. And, you know, he works alongside another podcast that's triathlon influenced. And so, yeah, but he just does a great job doing what he does. And he's just a passionate triathlon person, which I think's fantastic. That's what you need. We'll be able to find that on Matt's

[50:55] YouTube channels — he'll ask us all to collaborate on it. So what Tom's doing is different from the documentary that's coming out, which is a bigger piece put together by his sponsors, filmed over the last month or so. Plenty of content coming. Do you reckon you're on the cutting block? I'd prefer to move more in the background, even though people go, oh, you love

[51:25] the camera. I'm not, really. So any last words of advice for Noosa? Look, just, I think if we recap what we've gone through, let's not get a bike at the bike store the day before the race. I think we're clear on that. I think that's clear, yes, let's make sure we get someone to check our bike after we've unpacked it. I think that's that's really important. While you're while you're talking bikes, can I just give you a nightmare for a moment? A friend who is racing Noosa

[51:56] this year, Sarah, is borrowing my wife's bike for the race. My wife went out to the garage the other day. The bike has not moved since Noosa last year and my wife said I probably should get that service, shouldn't I? I'm like, Oh my God, this is and again, this Sarah's my friend who can't drink on the bike because you can't take her hands off the handlebar. So there's a caution tale there. Your friend Sarah should get one of the bottles with the hose that comes out — she's looked at them, looked at investing in one. I said to

[52:27] her, just learn to take your hand off so you can get a drink. But she's like, no, I'm too scared. That's fine, there are ways around it. OK, so don't buy bikes on the day — make sure your bike's fitted. I think get down the day before the race and have a look at the water. I'd love to give a clinic down at the beach — so if anyone's looking for that, I'll just hang out down there on the Saturday and give an impromptu one while I'm at the beach with the boys. You're

[52:58] just having an open invitation now, tapped on the show. Get a T-shirt that says, if you're nervous, ask me for help — instead of giving out free hugs. But now get down to the beach, have a look at, if you can, the Friday Alvo swim. Just the way that the guys get out quickly. I know they're elites, but then there's age groupers afterwards. Just have a look at the way they navigate it. Just walk out the start line before the start. Just get a sense of what it feels like underneath. You want to sort of capitalise on not making as many mistakes

[53:31] as possible. Have a look at how far the run is from the beach to your bike, walk through it, and make sure you've got a photographic memory of where your bike is — the number racks and any landmarks — because getting to your bike quickly is the most frustrating part otherwise. I think another one is if

[54:04] you can get out to one of the further cans in the swim and look into the finish line. If you're a more competent swimmer and you actually want to get out the back there, have a look at the landmarks coming in. So normally there's a big arch that you run through. Just get a sense of. What buildings are behind it — sometimes a particular tree or pine tree is a good landmark, or the surf. I think from memory the thing we always talk about is the surf club logo, Noosa Head Surf Club. I think that's quite visible. So picking up on that, making sure you've got your nutrition

[54:36] on the bike, making sure that the first K is controlled even if you need to put socks on so you don't get blisters. Save yourself in Struggle St, and then enjoy and celebrate. Can I just tack on one more story from experience about things to avoid. If there's any surfers out there, if there's any people that haven't actually spent much time in a triathlon suit, I'm just going to give all you all a

[55:06] word of warning. Not through my experience, but through my brother in law's experience, right? Avid surfer, surf instructor, and very used to spending time out in the ocean in those three mil weddies. Now, the thing about a three-mil wetsuit is you can go to the bathroom in it and it'll just run down your leg while you're out in the ocean. You give it a rinse out right triathlon suits much thinner now. He stood in knee-deep water at his first Noosa triathlon and thought, I

[55:39] know, a little nervous pre-race toilet stop, I'm in the shallows, it'll be fine here. But it won't run down your leg like a wetsuit — it'll just pop straight out. So if you need to go, you need to be waist-deep, that's all I'm saying. Because those wet suit, the Tri suits are not the same thickness as a wet suit. Yeah. Just Vaseline around the neck. Good one. Oh. That one I thought of that good

[56:10] one, the old love bite. I mean, a lot of people come home from Noosa with a love bite from the wetsuit. Getting it down around the jaw area as well, correct. Yeah, Bit of bit of good old Vaseline around the neck from the Tri suit that stuff bites. It can scar. I know people that just keep reopening and reopening and reopening from one bad decision. from one bad decision a moment ago. Well, this isn't going to be the last time we talk. Absolutely not. Well, now

[56:42] that you're a World Championship winning triathlon coach, you're welcome anytime. Thanks guys, honestly, this has been fantastic. The Noosa Triathlon — we've got about 10 days to go from the day you're listening to this. If you listen this on the Wednesday that it comes out, what's what's the rest of the day and tomorrow got on for you. I'm going to grab some lunch now, I reckon, and then back to the school coaching my kids for a run session this arvo, the

[57:12] young ones. young ones. Then I'll start seeing the boys from tomorrow — they're on the TT bikes tomorrow, then in the pool tomorrow arvo. Is Matt the sort of athlete just quickly to finish this off, is Matt the sort of athlete that will have moved on? Will he have eyes on Noosa already? Like he's obviously been training as part of that, but from a mental perspective, will he be switched off the win and be focused? There's 15 grand up for grabs. He's gonna switch over pretty quick. No — as I said, the banter in the group, they can't wait to get on their

[57:42] time travel bikes. and start spinning around the coast on those. So it's fun times. Congrats again, so stoked for you, and thanks for joining us — the whole thing. My pleasure. Good luck to everyone at Noosa. Come and say hi if you see me. Yep, he'll have the shirt on. Perfect.