No Limits Map to Triathlon Podcast · Todd Malcolm - Ironman specific triathlon coach

215 - Kona is this weekend

·22 min

Todd Malcolm is back for Hawaii Ironman week. He says the Hawaii Ironman is this weekend and frames the episode as a lively look at Hawaii Ironman after a quieter stretch on the show. September was busy. Before the road trip, he spent a day at a training camp in Banff, where the group swam in Johnson Lake, rode closed Highway 1A, and finished with a hike, run, crawl up Tunnel Mountain. Then he hit the road. He drove from Banff to Vancouver with the rooftop tent on top, lined up the Vancouver Triathlon, and folds that travel story into the unhurried rhythm that runs through the conversation. Kona changes the mood. He talks about why racing in Hawaii feels so different from training in Calgary, where there is no ocean, no volcanoes, and no lava. The wind gets attention. He recalls the Queen K Highway winds, the heat, and the humidity, and he revisits his 2008 race, when he brought tri-spoke wheels to Kona and quickly learned that the setup was a mistake. That memory still lands. He says he felt like he was going to die multiple times on the bike, which gives the course talk a blunt, lived-in edge. The swim is its own thing. He talks through Kailua Bay, the ocean swell, currents, coral below, and the possibility of seeing dolphins, turtles, or manta rays while still dealing with a rough, rolling start to the day. The run is another battle. After the swim and bike, he points to the heat and the fatigue of a full marathon, and begins to share a Hawaii marathon memory as part of the larger lesson about what the course asks from athletes. The conversation stays warm and grounded. He keeps coming back to the same idea: Kona is beautiful, hard, and worth talking through because the details matter when you are preparing for something that long. He signs off with a virtual high five, a thank-you, and a reminder about his free Triathlon Guide for anyone who wants more clarity getting started.

As heard by us

Kona preview with heat, winds, and an old spoke-wheel lesson.

Episode 215 reads as a Kona-week check-in that keeps returning to Hawaii Ironman's heat, humidity, winds, and the ocean swim in Kailua Bay. Todd Malcolm's 2008 spoke-wheel mistake gives the piece an easy personal anchor, so it lands with more weight than a routine race preview.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Hawaii Ironman preview that feels like a coach talking you through race week.

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