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# ROAD TO NOOSA TRI: NAIL THE RUN — PACING, CADENCE & BRICKS
- URL: https://www.inthebeginningpodcast.com/road-to-noosa-tri-nail-the-run-pacing-cadence-bricks/
- Published: 2025-10-07T06:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-20T11:00:52.000Z
- Description: Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on nutrition, Noosa Triathlon — recorded on the Gold Coast.
- Author: Courtney Atkinson
- Tags: Episodes, Triathlon, Sports Science, #Import 2026-07-28 20:58

*Courtney Atkinson and Liam Flanagan on nutrition, Noosa Triathlon — recorded on the Gold Coast.*

## Listen

Listen on [Spotify](https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/inthebeginningpodcast/episodes/ROAD-TO-NOOSA-TRI-NAIL-THE-RUN--PACING--CADENCE--BRICKS-e38nv1h?ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com) or [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/road-to-noosa-tri-nail-the-run-pacing-cadence-bricks/id1772010786?i=1000730653585&uo=4&ref=inthebeginningpodcast.com).

## Full transcript

Auto-generated transcript. Timestamps approximate. Hosts: Courtney Atkinson & Liam Flanagan.

**Read the full transcript** 

\[00:00\] In the beginning prepares for the Noosa Triathlon. Road to the new Noosa Triathlon series. The series continues. We have given you plenty already, and if you missed it as well — the one-on-one with Courtney Atkinson, three-time winner of the event. I listened back to that the other day and jeez, I enjoyed making you go back down memory lane over your own career. Had a few people say your racing memory is as bad as what you said. Yeah, it's terrible. It's awful. We are joined on the series by one of the best triathlon brains in the business — he coaches Matt

\[00:32\] Hauser, and a bunch of Australia's other best performers, Dan Atkins. Now Dan, if we stay on this journey through Noosa — we've prepared, we've swum, we've ridden the bike, and now we are back in the transition zone at Noosa Triathlon, unclipping from our bike, taking off the cleats and preparing our runners. At this point of the Noosa Triathlon, how might we be feeling? How should we be feeling? Take us into that moment of the race if you can.

\[01:02\] Well, it's the third part, as we know, and it breaks the tape, so it's the one we all wanna get through as best as we possibly can. The run — so everything in the lead-up, you've got to at some point be thinking about the run. You just have to be thinking about, well, what am I doing on the bike to best set myself up? So last episode we talked about setups and bike fits and things like that, but nutrition too. We've also got to think about the weather. So if we've got a ridiculously hot day down in Noosa and you've

\[01:34\] started the bike at 8:30 and you know you're going to be on the run by 9:30, quarter to 10, whatever it is, you're going to be in the blistering sun. So you want to make sure you're thinking about that and how you're keeping your core body temperature down a bit so you can run effectively. So again, putting some things into training that are going to make you a bit uncomfortable, to set you up for the race, is incredibly important. Give me some examples of those things. Well, it's running off the bike — you're not running fresh. So what you're running on a

\[02:04\] Tuesday night down the local track, doing your 10 x 400s or whatever, is going to feel a lot different to what you're doing running off the bike. So we spoke about doing some brick sessions in the last episode, and I think that's really important — the specificity of our sport is making sure you're running tired, holding pace. I know in your other pods about running marathons, pace-setting and stuff like that is very important. It's like the bike — the first K of the run can be diabolical,

\[02:38\] from the 8th K through to the 10th K. Right, let's get into it, because pacing — everyone loves to talk about their pace and what time they're going to run. I want to unpack that a bit more, but just off that — how should that first K be? Let's take an arbitrary figure — I'm gonna run 40 minutes, 4-minute Ks. Should my first K off the bike — is it suggested I try to be even-split straight away off the bike, or am I looking to, like we've said

\[03:08\] before, run out easier than the pace you think you should be running? Have you got a guide on that one? Yeah — no one's going to even-pace. That's generally the case, because the adrenaline you're getting off — you're running and you've got the shoes on, and generally they're new shoes, carbon shoes, and they feel great. Or you bought them at the ASICS tent the day before. Look, you want to make sure that first K is maybe 10% slower than your overall. OK, so if you're running, I reckon

\[03:38\] 10% is the guide. So if you're running 4-minute-K pace, you want to be looking at 4:24-4:30 pace for the first K, to give yourself the best opportunity. 100%. Through it, 100%. This is — 100%. So I think that's a really good lesson, even for the age-groupers who might be targeting those faster times — and I can't speak to being one of those, but I'd imagine some of them probably haven't thought about the run in the first couple of days

\[04:08\] like that. But for the first-timers, for the newbies, I can guarantee they're doing their triathlon time maths like this: 'It normally takes me this long to ride the bike, and I know I can run 10K in 45 minutes, so I'll just add that on' — that's how they'll do their Noosa maths. The idea that they should be running those first two Ks at 10% slower than what they can go out and run 10K in would have blown their tiny

\[04:38\] little minds. It would have — because that's how I still do my Noosa maths. Well, that's a good question. So what are we thinking — how do I work out, I've got a goal pace, I haven't really done a triathlon, or I've done a local sprint one, I've never run 10K off the bike, yet I run a 40-minute — let's say 40 because it's easy, we can work out the maths easily. I run 40 minutes normally, that's my best time for a flat 10K run. What am I thinking? What should I be aiming for?

\[05:08\] What should I be able to run at Noosa if I can run 40 minutes fresh? We don't know what we can run in the tri yet, but I'm a fresh 40-minute runner, great, I'm generally pretty fit on the bike, and they'll be telling people that too — 'well, I'm a 40-minute 10K runner.' Yep, I'm gonna guess you'd say 41-42 minutes. You're probably only losing 1.5 to 2 minutes off that, if you said you're fairly good on the bike. OK, so if you're pretty strong on the bike — now I base all my

\[05:39\] running around bike conditioning. So how strong you are on the bike is then how we plan our running around that. I want to make sure the guys I coach are strong off the bike, and their time between what they could do for a flat 10K on the track is very similar to what they do fresh — sorry, off the bike, yes, the 10K. That's the way we train. So if you're running 40 minutes and you haven't done much triathlon before, I reckon 42:30 is probably a

\[06:11\] great time to aim for. 2.5 minutes off — a realistic goal. Yeah, I think so. That's funny hearing Dan say that about his athletes, because that's true for you as well — your 10K times in races are much the same, even if you ran fresh around a track. Yeah, and I think that's what you're going to find at the elite level of triathlon, because they're specialists at triathlon — and even talking, I think of a triathlete who's gone through 20-30 years of conditioning,

\[06:43\] riding bikes, to then be able to run — when you just try to run, you actually have problems, because you're missing some strength that you got from the bike, and a whole range of things. Story for another day. But going back to talking more for the bulk of people out there — you cannot expect your fresh run to be as quick as what you're going to do off the bike. Especially if you're a southerner coming up to the heat of Noosa, that adds maybe another 5% on top of your run. The heat and humidity — the humidity will come down a little by 9, 10 o'clock as opposed to

\[07:16\] 6am. But the temperature and the solar radiation coming down on top of you is going to affect your running. Yep. So OK, we've got to the point everyone agrees — no matter what level, you've got your goal pace, you're working out the first K, going slower than the goal pace, bringing it home — that's the least chance you're going to get yourself into trouble. Yep. OK, then we move into the run — so we work through those two

\[07:46\] first two or three Ks, maybe operating at that 10% slower pace, you start to settle into the race. The course itself, as we've talked about earlier, is a little bit deceptive because it's not an out-and-back 5K. In fact, I was excited after we did that first episode and we talked about that horrible section of the run where you get sent off into the back streets. If I'm Noosa Triathlon, listen up — you need to brand, embrace that moment on the track.

\[08:16\] There's an amazing opportunity for activation there — Struggle Street. They need to create an arc, that you run through, at that aid station just before you enter that back suburban area. It needs to be branded as Struggle Street. A big sign saying 'Welcome to Struggle Street,' and theme it through there so it turns people's minds around about that section of the course. I think there's an opportunity for Noosa there. What else could you do in there, Liam?

\[08:46\] What do you reckon, Dan? What do you reckon we could put in there to get athletes through that? Because it's pretty lonely — I mean, there's some people out there at their houses with their hoses, that kind of thing, but it's pretty... I like that thing you guys had at City2Surf, I like that — the Red Bull flying 1K time, you know, one of those Strava segment things, yeah — time through the back? What do we call it — time through the suburb. Yeah, because that's a

\[09:17\] great idea actually, Dan — for those who hadn't heard that. So this is the back-end split — who can run the... yeah, exactly. We're talking about building through the run, so maybe people are holding back, and then they come through the cul-de-sacs and — I love the idea of a Strava segment for that section of the run. Yep, that's a fantastic idea, we'll have to look it up, I'm sure the opportunity's there — Red Bull Struggle Street, there you go, and 'Red Bull Struggle Street gives you wings,' and then you've gotta set the — it's like Walkers. The thing about Garmin Hill, it's a good

\[09:48\] time to take on energy. Yeah, forget it, not just the Red Bull — just at that point, we'll get you... let's talk about nutrition — yeah, we'll get to nutrition for the run. But that idea of Garmin Hill is another little thing for the non-winners, for those athletes that might not be challenging to win their age category — Garmin Hill's a fun thing to compete against your mates on, it's a talking point. So too is the top speed you get to on the downhill. Yeah, and it'd be cool to then have an element of the run, a Struggle Street challenge against your mates, or...

\[10:19\] I'm not loving 'Struggle Street,' by the way — I think we need to work on a rebrand. Going... alright, well, we can work on the rebrand, I know where you're going Liam, but Struggle Street's probably not it. Let's get back to it, we'll work on this Noosa, we'll be in touch — but the run itself, so we've paced ourselves and let's say we're feeling confident, we've made the turn at the four-and-a-half, 5K mark or whatever it is. At what point — I'm always curious to know about this, I know the ultimate answer is it depends on you as an

\[10:51\] athlete — but at what point do you encourage your athletes to put the foot down, put the pedal down, explore what's left in reserve? Well, I can probably get them through six to seven K, as a coach, with the session plans we do — and sure, they can get through the 10K no problem — but their job once they get to 7K is to start exploring how they can really open it up. So we'll have different internal

\[11:21\] tactics and discussions, and I'll let them know where I am — and where I am is generally a place where they'll naturally just want to pick it up. It'll depend on your competitors too, but of course these guys are very intuitive with how they're feeling and how their nutrition's gone, and how they're ready to feel — you can feel any little cramp or twinge in your legs, and it's like, 'oh, here we go.' If you open it up, you could change your pace from 4-minute-K pace to 3:50, 10

\[11:53\] seconds a K on the track doing multiple 400s — that's nothing. But in the middle of a 10K off the bike, changing your pace by 10 seconds a K, that can wreck you. Just that movement pattern of your body, just changing to extend your stride that slight little bit — if the nutrition isn't spot on and the body isn't OK, it's gonna bite you. When you — and I know, Courtney, you've talked a bit about this on the run — your attitude was 'break them early,' and you would

\[12:23\] take that on. I'm going to break — but that's the internal tactics Dan's talking about, so that's not the suggestion. No, no, to do your best. I'm asking you though — at the end of your races, did you ever feel, was there a — did you go, 'OK, I'm going to open up,' or was it more a — it was less a distance marker, more an internal feeling? I think it was an internal feeling — you never really would think, if you were in a battle, you would be then thinking like,

\[12:55\] mentally, OK, how am I feeling, how are they looking, how are they breathing, am I half-stepping them, who's in control, and can they sprint? I mean, that was always mine. So I might have been able to go from a bit further out and hold an extended pace. But I think Chris Gemmell might have got second one year — to me, I'm sure if I was racing Chris Gemmell, for example, that year, that was where I'd employ tactics to go — I have to get away, because he's going to outsprint me every day of the week.

\[13:26\] So at that end of racing, if you're considering all these other things, you're never going to go, 'well, I'm going to hit 9K and decide I'm going to go.' However, I do think, like we talked about in the marathon, about being 'on this bus,' or, you know, we talk about the accolades of all the best marathoners telling us about being on this bus, or waiting til the 32K and that's where the race starts — I guess that's what I'm asking. Well, I think if you're looking at doing your best pace, so you're out there

\[13:57\] racing yourself more than racing a particular person — which is probably what 99% of the people at Noosa are doing — then you go, OK, here's my pacing strategy, I'm going to take my first K easy, and then at this point I think I'm close enough to home to let it go. Now that's going to be different for everyone based on their background — I'd say for most people, that point really isn't until you see the finish line, because you can fall over at any

\[14:28\] point. When I say fall over — literally, coming down the bridge is when you can let go. Now, I don't think you want to be at 7K in a triathlon off the bike suddenly going, 'now I've got enough' — you haven't, you haven't paid — three K's is a long way to get there. Dan, Courtney and I have talked a bit across the podcast about running cues — I'm not going to tell you what they are, because I'm curious to know what yours are — as fatigue sets in, in a triathlon, is there

\[15:00\] anything you talk to your athletes about, or any specific running cues you'd give to your average athlete — not to distract from the fatigue, but to ensure they're maintaining as good a form as they can? Yeah, absolutely, and they're individual to each athlete. Some of the cues I've got are very simple — just 'stay upright,' or 'lower your shoulders,' whatever it might be. The cues I've given out have gotten me in trouble with a man-

\[15:32\] on-man race. Hayden Wilde in Abu Dhabi this year — when I was calling out to Matt, he responded to the same cue. Yeah, right — and broke away from Matt, and afterwards he said, 'thanks for that, mate, that's the exact same cue.' Can you tell us the cue? Oh no, no, no, I won't. No, don't tell us the specifics. But afterwards I said to Matt, I think we've got to think about a different tactic — you may have to employ gridiron or NRL tactics, you're gonna have to move to like a — oh no, well, you can do the AFL thing where they put up those stupid

\[16:04\] signs and nobody knows what they mean, hold up signs like Xbox controllers. No, that's where I'm going — you're gonna have to have a playbook. Just so I understand — this was a race in Abu Dhabi, Matt and Hayden the New Zealand triathlete were running, you shouted out a running cue to Matt, and Hayden has the same running cue. Well, it was more a cue that we sort of work with, that's well known to both of us, and it was to try and get Matt to react — right, in the right frame

\[16:36\] of mind. Yep, but Hayden has some of that on board too — he reacted in that instant just quicker than Matt could, and broke away. So — wow, that's interesting. So is there — well, let's take it away from your specific athletes, because I'm actually interested in this — reframe it a different way — is there a difference in cueing for running off the bike, to manage your running, versus

\[17:10\] for an individual race when you're fresh? We practise it when you're running pretty fresh generally, and that's where you build up that relationship, the communication I guess — so that when it comes to race day, it's consistent with what you've done in training. But generally, for our beginners and people out there, if they've run around the track long enough, then they can just sort of feel it — it might be as simple as 'shake your arms out, take a big deep breath, reset,'

\[17:43\] and go again. Not everyone's going to have a coach out there — I can't be there for the whole 10K either, you see him for a fleeting moment, half a second to say something, half the time they don't even hear it. But you know yourself, when you're out there in a 10K, it's a long way. There's certain things — it might be as simple as, 'let's just slow down for four steps, take two deep breaths,' and then try to pick it back up. It might be 'drop the shoulders,' it might be 'lean

\[18:15\] forward,' it might be 'let's fall into this.' It can be so simple, but it's just re-centring for you as an athlete, to be able to get through a tough period, because the body will do amazing things, as we know, as long as the mind's cueing it the right way. In your history with all ranges of triathletes, is there a kind of running thing you see in the run in triathlon specifically, that most people do — is there a common thing? And is

\[18:46\] there a way you can pick that up — like, they're not picking their knees up enough, or, because running off the bike your glutes are normally shot, your quads are normally shot too, right? Yeah, heavy. Is there something in it, like a cue that the average triathlete — is it, yeah, look, it could be, but I think it's just stride, it's your cadence. So when I'm coaching you, you want to ride the same cadence as you run — so the

\[19:19\] spinning of your cranks is the same as the spinning of your legs. And you can generally see who's gone a bit too hard on the bike, when they're getting off and running and their cadence — and I've had big debates with lots of people about this — but for me, I've had the best bang for buck marrying the two up, the cadence on the bike to the run. So you stick around 95 to 100 or thereabouts, and if you're getting under 80 on the run, you tend to be over-striding,

\[19:50\] getting bogged down, yeah, putting force out front rather than force underneath, and it just begins to get heavy and ugly. So you don't have to run 3-minute-K pace to keep your cadence up — you can actually do it slowly, in your warmups, in training, or the first K of the run, which we spoke about being about 10% less than your overall time. Just look at your cadence, don't look at time, don't look at pace, just look at your cadence and go, OK, this feels like I've

\[20:20\] been training. That's such an interesting exercise for people to do — I reckon in the lead-up, I want to do it now, and I haven't been on my bike much, but that exercise of seeing what the difference is between your riding cadence versus your running cadence. Yeah, just check it out — fascinating exercise for people, no matter how many tris they've done, to go and experiment today. Is there a session, like a more general session, that you'd say is a good type of brick session to get me ready for Noosa, for the 10K at Noosa? Yep, look.

\[20:51\] Running off the bike — I guess I want to make sure people, don't just go and run 10K off the bike all the time to get a new sign. Do the bulk of your work through your other sessions, leave the run off the bike to be real targeted, real specific. Train yourself to do a broken 4K for example — you might start off with the distance first, so do 1200 metres running, but trying to do that nice slower pace, do 200

\[21:23\] metres easy, then go 200-800 a bit quicker, 200 easy, and then do the last K at your goal time. So you're under goal time, around goal time, faster than goal time — you've sort of tapped into three different parts of your run. And hopefully at some stage off the bike you're able to do that — but training that way is probably the most effective way I've found of getting to the point where you can run off the

\[21:53\] bike where you want to be. Yeah. And as far as I've only got one chance really a week to do a brick session — is it more effective to do those shorter ones like we've talked about, that repetition-style brick, or would I get more benefit out of, off the back of my long run, just keeping my Nikes on and going out and running a 3K loop? I think both are beneficial, but if you're time-poor and you're doing that one run

\[22:23\] off the bike a week, make that really targeted towards your goal time and exactly what you're doing. Do the other, but periodise what you're doing. So realistically, this weekend, if you're doing Noosa, should be your key session. Yeah, right, three — what are we, four weeks out? Yeah, four, five weeks out — probably five weeks out is when I'd say, right, this is

\[22:54\] the weekend you want to test — test everything, test your bike position, test your shoes, test your nutrition — you might ride 40-50K and then go, right, I'm going to run 6K off the bike and see what I've got. Sorry to those NRL fans out there who thought they might make NRL grand final weekend a big one — this is your — yeah, if you're doing Noosa as well, well, you're probably going to hear this a little bit after that. Sorry, I got my weekends

\[23:24\] mixed up. Well, we'll be a weekend afterwards, yeah, so I apologise. So NRL fans, no excuses — well, now you know how to improve next year when you come back to me. So, OK, brick session, this timing — can we talk, I want to talk nutrition and also run equipment. Yeah, let's start with nutrition — we talked a bit about it on the bike, the importance of finding something that's comfortable with your gut off the back of the swim, and the general

\[23:55\] philosophy around nutrition on the run — what is it? Yeah, again, you want to have trained this under fatigue. Plenty of people will run with gels, and you want to practise stomaching those. You don't have to run when you're having your gel, you can stop and just walk and have the gel at a water station. If you're not comfortable with the nutrition on the run stations and you've got your

\[24:25\] own, just make sure you're getting that in with water, so it's going quickly into the stomach system. So you'd prioritise making sure you're taking the gel with water? Yeah, it'll just go in quicker and it doesn't leave that taste — some of the gels, the less dense ones that are easy to go down, you don't necessarily need water, but sometimes the taste in your mouth — I use Gu, which

\[24:55\] are quite thick, yeah. So all those things — and it's a real science about the carbohydrates and this and that, but again it's just what you're used to. OK, so make sure you've trained your nutrition for the run — absolutely, so you know where on the run that is. And do it under fatigue — there's a huge difference between running fresh with gels and using that as

\[25:26\] opposed to when you're absolutely on the limit. Yeah, and the great thing with triathlon gear is generally it's made to carry — triathlon, of all sports, has got something for everything, they've invented it, they're the invention sport. Yeah, even running now, I'm seeing in trail running they're starting to use vests, trying to implement all this stuff — you can take your own stuff, there's no excuse to say, 'oh well, out on course

\[25:56\] I had to get this' — you can always find water out on course, especially, you're going to get water, so that's looked after. Have trialled your nutrition, take what you're comfortable with, and run with it. I know I've gotten into that run leg with the nutrition I'm used to, stocked up, and I just hit a point where I'm sick of this, I can't take this on anymore, I can't do the taste of it anymore, and whatever the

\[26:26\] nutrition is on course, whatever's there after a certain amount of time — I can't drink any more of that. How important is it, when you get to that point, to push past the taste feeling, knowing the benefits your engine is going to get out of it — pushing through the taste in your mouth for the sake of your body two, three K's down the track? Yeah, there's not a lot of things you can really do to come back from that point except for

\[26:57\] just muscling it out, OK. Unfortunately, you probably haven't looked after yourself well enough in the lead-up, even the couple of nights before, potentially. OK, so look, I'm not a dietitian, I work with dietitians who help my athletes make sure this doesn't happen. But the biggest thing for me — if it's pure, it's the nutrition on the run course, invest some money, have that through the run. Your 6K off the bike we spoke about, make sure you're stomaching that and

\[27:29\] you're used to it. Use the gels in training, use the nutrition on the bike, and don't get creative. Yeah, I like that, because I've been guilty of it, and people do this — normally what happens at Noosa is when you pick up your bag, there's a couple of gels in there, or by the time you walk around the expo and sample all the things, you've walked out with a licorice all-sorts of stuff, and you go and sit in your transition and

\[28:03\] you've got something from there, and a gel from there, and a bar from there, and a banana. And the store just told you, 'use this,' 'Hayden Wilde uses this' — yeah, and you come in with a transition full of an absolute motley crew of nutrition things. So I like that consistency, keeping it solid, and routine, and regular. Can we talk kit — running kit? Because it might seem like, well, you're just putting your

\[28:33\] shoes on, but what else is important — after we get off the bike, out of our cleats and into our shoes, what else do you advise the athlete to make sure they've got with them when they set out on the run? Look, it's something as simple as wearing a hat — I'm loving seeing the bucket hats out there, I think that's great. Just because, again, we're talking to the masses here running at 9, 10 o'clock, it can be stifling hot, having a

\[29:05\] hat with a brim on it — it's just going to save you getting that solar radiation on you. It could save you a minute or 90 seconds on your run, easily. People underestimate the benefits. Courtney's always worn a hat, and so did I, but it was really because it just gave you some shade — I mean, the elites finish before the sun's even — yeah, sun's up. Really, I probably — I just wore it because it got paid for. We're telling the truth here,

\[29:36\] right? Yeah, but do you think a hat can add that much — I do, in those conditions, if you're in those conditions in the afternoon, and certainly some hats now can be a cooling aid — actually, there's these headbands out there. I was gonna ask about those. Yeah, look — Kipchoge wore one in the Olympic marathon, didn't he? Well, if that's wrong, you'll get chastised for that one, but I think he did. And Hayden Wilde definitely — I saw him wearing one

\[30:07\] in New Zealand last year, at the — can't remember which race — he wore one last weekend too. A solid — what's it called — cooling rocks, or something. They're these very expensive, tiny little rocks all together, and as soon as you put something on them they just cool down instantly. Now the science — if people really research this, and I'll get pummelled if I don't get this right — but we did a lot of research into this before Tokyo and we bought some and played with them,

\[30:38\] and they do break — for the investment of $300 a headband, or 400 bucks a headband, I've just looked it up — yeah, they're a very expensive way to keep cool. Look, they're headbands, so they do keep the sweat out of your eyes, which is a good thing, and if you feel that's what you need and you've trained with it, outstanding, wear it. But obviously they cool down well, heat up very quickly, so they last probably, I reckon, two to three minutes at their best.

\[31:10\] Really? And then do you have to — then the idea is, as you go through a water station, you throw cold water back on it — well, hopefully the water stations have cold water. That's a challenge at Noosa for sure. Exactly, so it's not something I think the age-groupers should — yeah, we're not advocating it, no, but — 20 pieces of thermally conductive graphite in a hydrophilic coating, I'm just reading about it. Well, there's so much interest — I mean, because I know behind the scenes, in

\[31:41\] government sport, and especially you being at the top of the triathlon world, this is all tested for years — anything that comes out is going to be tested, you're going to have all the data on it. So much of this for amateurs, whether it's nutrition, whether it's headbands, whether it's some of the bike equipment, probably the same boat — if you believe it's healthy, go for it, a placebo sells so much. This sequence — nasal strips.

\[32:12\] You're bringing up nasal — I'm not bringing up nasal strips, but I'm sure he bought a pack of them and made me try them out — just felt like an idiot, I don't think I ran any faster. We'll see some at Noosa as well. Shoes — what's your take on triathlon shoes? Is it just, go get the best running shoes you can? Do you have a philosophy when it comes to the shoes your athletes wear? We've said it 100 times — don't just buy them from the expo and run in them the

\[32:42\] next day. Make sure you've trained in them, make sure they feel comfortable. The big factor at the back end of the run is blisters, and feet care, as I call it, is very important. So if you're comfortable spending 30 seconds putting a pair of socks on before going out with your shoes, do it, because you're going to get wet, moist feet, whether it's from the hoses or from sweat. And they're not specifically made for triathlon, let's be clear — there's no shoe,

\[33:14\] except maybe the Noosa ASICS shoe that comes out every year, that's specifically made for triathlon. The fabrics and stuff are made for running — they're very light, quite coarse, so they do a lot of rubbing and chafing on the feet, which creates blisters, which generally slows you down. But the quality of shoes these days is just insane — but they do change your run mechanics, from the top-end $500 shoes out there now, to your $200 training shoes.

\[33:45\] So there's a huge difference — so a couple of these brick sessions we spoke about, make sure you practise using the shoes you want to race in off the bike, so you're getting used to that different mechanics, building up your calf strength and tendon strength to adapt to those shoes. And practise with whatever type of stretchy lace you're using in the race, to get them on quickly. Again, if you're that way inclined, looking for the ultimate — you know, sub-two

\[34:16\] hour, or two hours and 30 seconds last year — what do you reckon, do most people at Noosa wear some type of fast stretchy lace, or am I completely — no, no, no mate, stretchy laces — I'd put it up there if we played a Family Feud style of 'Expo purchases' — what are the top five things amateur triathletes buy in a panic at the Noosa expo? Stretchy laces, number one with a bullet, really — because it's such a — that makes me feel like a

\[34:48\] triathlete, I've never had it before, there's a novelty aspect, and it's very tangible in terms of time saved in transition. So I'd have that — and I'm guilty of it too, I reckon it's been 4-5 years, and in fact I threw a pair of shoes once and someone said, 'do you get the stretchy laces?' and I was like — so yeah, do stretchy laces — like, at the elite end, as the shoes get more built up and higher, is there a problem with stretchy laces on the shoes, or are they locked in?

\[35:18\] Yeah, they can — they lock them in, yeah. I haven't come across an athlete that's had a lace problem. There was a new type of lace coming out — going to be lighter, faster — we were looking at this prototype actually this time last year, hasn't kicked off yet, but there's something in the pipeline they're trying to look at that's lighter, and it's almost throwaway with the shoes — you'd only use them with those shoes and they can't be taken in

\[35:48\] and out. But I mean, these guys are wearing their shoes four or five times and then getting new shoes, so — new lace technology. But the carbon shoes are just revolutionising how people are running, their stride, so you want to make sure you're training in them and get used to the different feel. Yeah, and then you're over the bridge, hitting the blue carpet, and you've done it — you've come to the end of the 10K leg of the Noosa Triathlon.

\[36:20\] And then you look up for your name on that archway, you see your time, and you're filthy because you thought you were going to run faster. Your mate Pete Murray — Pete Murray's welcoming you home over the blue carpet. I'll say this to people — enjoy the moment, but also be warned, because this happened to me at one of my Noosas — there's nothing worse than being run down by your mate on the blue carpet. We talked about, when

\[36:50\] you're in your run, if you've got any energy left, if you can go with — because if someone runs you down on the blue carpet — my brother-in-law, who started this year, I had a proper pop and had a horrible day, but he started maybe 15 minutes after me and ran past me on the blue carpet, and he's never let me forget it. I didn't see him coming — I was waving to the crowd, no, I was head down, I'd had a horrible afternoon out there, it was hot and miserable, but I was a rabbit for my brother-in

\[37:23\] law. He saw me, and it was game on chasing me down the blue carpet. It's one of the — like we said, Noosa's one of the premier endurance events here in the country, and if you get to run down that blue carpet — there's — I mean, you don't get a crowd like that, especially as the morning goes on and more and more people finish, more families come to the finish, you probably get, what, a better welcome than the elites, right?

\[37:53\] Yep. If you finish at 10 or 11am, you're getting a better welcome than the winners of the race, trust me. Now, we've got you, Dan — recovery, what do you like? No, I mean this honestly, because for most people recovery is straight to the surf club, but is there anything — any little tidbits — because I actually think that post-race area in the lagoon is one of the — it's also one of the

\[38:25\] other great parts about the Noosa races, you get in there and you're surrounded by athletes who've finished. But is there anything you'd advise people on, something simple they can do after those two, three hours out there on course, so they can walk the next day? Yeah, I think the first thing most people are looking for is a can of Coke. Yep — shameless plug there to Coca-Cola — I think it's something everyone craves. But look, not a lot of people can stomach a big meal straight after, because you've

\[38:56\] gone pretty deep. But the sooner you can get some food into your system, the better, really. But jumping in that lagoon, or the canal, quickly after, cooling down, or getting some — I still to this day don't understand why they have watermelon and fruit — there we go, let's build Dan's dream buffet in that area — what would you be putting in there? I'd have Mars Bars, and coke, and maybe off to the side some sausage rolls, or

\[39:27\] something like that — the savoury, salty stuff, because you're wanting some salt in your system. Yeah, that's what you'd be going to, by the sense of it. Well, my first thought was, how good is savoury sometimes in endurance events — but it is hot at Noosa too, so when you're hot and you've just finished, in your mouth it's just, you've got that dehydration. Do you know what they need? Just some type of — Dan mentioned it earlier — the biggest challenge around events in hot conditions is refrigeration out there.

\[40:00\] So being able to get something cold — where do you keep it, where do you store it? Because nothing comes out of those tubs of water cold, or even if they've got Coke there, it's coming straight out of hot plastic. Last year they had cans of, like, iced lattes and stuff, one of the sponsor products — yeah, but it wasn't cold. No, and you're not sure those products are the greatest thing to have straight after a two-plus-hour

\[40:30\] — we'll come to the run in a sec. Before the race, there's certain things across the whole race we want to talk about — the taper, what you want to think about, week of eating — we'll cover all that in another episode. But the run, always — say, in the end, it's triathlon, but you win or lose in the run, you finish in the run, and it's so important. And for those who ride quicker than they run — yeah, no, I will give a big,

\[41:00\] big shout-out to all those people, because there is nothing I enjoy more than seeing you and your big fancy wheels go past me on the bike, and then me seeing you on the way past. If you wanted to be a champion at how good you ride in a triathlon, go to cycling. There's gonna be a good group of them at the surf club, I guarantee, sitting in the corner boasting about how quickly they went on the bike. Actually, that's a fun thing you could do in the recovery area — segment people based on what they love doing. Alright, all you cyclists go over that side, we've got the runners over here.

\[41:31\] Alright, there you go — look, we love running here. And of course we would sit here and talk about ways to improve your 10K time until the cows come home. But we're going to move on — the road to Noosa series continues. Dan Atkins, thank you so much for bringing your expertise once again to the Run Lake. We're going to bring you back for one more chat. As Courtney said, we've got a lot of other little bits — if there's anybody out there with a specific question about Noosa that maybe we haven't hit yet, something you'd love Dan to weigh in on — maybe you're a first-timer, maybe you're an age-grouper, or maybe you're someone trying to

\[42:02\] dip under that magical two-hour mark. Feel free to send us a message, best way to do it is via Instagram, In The Beginning Podcast on Instagram — flick us a message, and we might even get some of those to you, Dan, in our final episode. So thank you again, Dan. My pleasure. We'll see you next time. See you next time. Thank you.