{"id":6653,"date":"2020-11-11T23:22:01","date_gmt":"2020-11-11T23:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportsnewsforyou.com\/?p=6653"},"modified":"2020-11-11T23:22:01","modified_gmt":"2020-11-11T23:22:01","slug":"kona-2019-ali-brownlee-press-conference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/?p=6653","title":{"rendered":"Kona 2019: Ali Brownlee press conference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alistair Brownlee racing his debut full Ironman and debut Kona is the talk of the Big Island. Just what is he capable of in the heat, humidity and headwinds of Hawaii?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Ali Brownlee\u2019s Kona kit<\/strong><\/p>\n

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From London 2012 to Rio 2016 and those two ITU World Tri Series titles, he\u2019s stepped up to the plate throughout his career, and we can expect more fireworks when the Brit faces Frodeno and co. on Saturday at 5:30pm UK time.<\/p>\n

Here he opens up on his current fitness, his Iron prep and plans for the 2019 Ironman World Championships.\u00a0<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE ON\u2026 THE LURE OF KONA<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ironman World Champs in Kona has always been on my radar since I started tri when I was eight or nine and my uncle was doing Ironman and knew about this race. I\u2019ve therefore known about it a long time and it\u2019s always been at the back of my mind over my decade of ITU racing. It\u2019s great to finally be here. The difficult thing after the Rio Olympics in 2016 was, having won the Olympics twice, what am I going to do next? So being here is an interesting place to be in.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE ON\u2026 IRONMAN TRAINING<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironman was always something I wanted to do and I would\u2019ve like to have raced Kona a year or two ago if it wasn\u2019t for my injuries. I\u2019ve really enjoyed the training for Kona and the experience of being on the island. My focus was the 70.3 Worlds after Ironman Cork but now I\u2019ve really focussed on this. The three things I\u2019ve really had to focus on are nutrition, the heat and the distance. I\u2019ve enjoyed the challenge of addressing these in my training after so much time spent racing short-course and 70.3 tri. This is the most interesting challenge I\u2019ve had in a number of years. What does that training look like? What does the nutrition look like? What is my strategy? I\u2019ve enjoyed those questions and I\u2019m satisfied to be here.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 RACING KONA AT THE FIRST ATTEMPT<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been invited out to the race a few times over the years and people have said I need to experience Kona before racing it. But it\u2019s such a long way, especially when you only have two weeks break a year. So, if I\u2019m coming out, then I\u2019m going to race it, and it\u2019ll be a great learning experience to race it. But my mantra for my whole career has been that it\u2019s just another race, so get yourself into the race and the best possible position on that day. And back your ability to make the right decisions in the competition.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 THE KONA COURSE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The striking thing is that the course and conditions have doubled what it says on the tin: it\u2019s windy, hot and rocky. I\u2019ve spent a lifetime wanting tailwinds on the run but here you actually want a headwind to cool you. And the wind can change complete direction at any time on the bike. The course is more undulating than I thought and there isn\u2019t a lot of flat. That\u2019s the only thing that\u2019s shocked me.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 IRON ADVICE<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had a lot of advice from lots of people for this race. But the important thing is assimilating that advice and deciding what to take in yourself. My main advice is patience. Drilling in patience and getting carb intake sorted.<\/p>\n

I wanted to do the swim here. I\u2019ve never swam 3.8km straight in my life and one of the things about being here is a careful balance between taking in the gravitas of the race and how special it is to lift your performance on race day, and then keeping fresh for the race. That\u2019s something that I\u2019ve dealt with at the event.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON<\/strong>\u2026 PRESSURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s nice to have less expectation on me compared to the Olympics. It\u2019s good for me to stand on the start line and not think it\u2019d be a bad day if I didn\u2019t win this race, rather than it\u2019ll be a good day if I get around. I\u2019ve dealt with my fair share of high-pressure racing over the years and I won\u2019t have to deal with something like the 2012 Olympics again. It feels good to be a rookie.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 RACING MINDSET<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kona is a race that I want to do well in at some point. Put me in the race and if it goes well, and I\u2019m in a great position running along Ali\u2019i Drive, I\u2019m not going to jog it in from there. If I\u2019m in a good position, I\u2019m going to race.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON<\/strong>\u2026 TRAINING WITH THE CREW<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve trained with Gordon Benson and Mark Buckingham. They\u2019ve enjoyed the challenge of doing some longer training as well. I watched Javier Gomez with interest last year and spoke to him about it as well. He said it was hot and hard! Ironman translates well for those who have done very well at short-course racing but Jan [Frodeno] has done the job in terms of diligence. I still do my vast majority of training with Jonny, but specific sessions will differ. It\u2019d be really good to have him in this race.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 THE OPENNESS OF M-DOT<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ironman feels like a very different sport to ITU racing. It was always something that I was going to do. Lionel Sanders and Cameron Wurf starting in their mid 20s wouldn\u2019t happen in ITU racing, and they wouldn\u2019t be competitive at ITU racing [starting that late]. The diversity of Ironman is good and I like that people race from different backgrounds.<\/p>\n

ALI BROWNLEE\u00a0ON\u2026 PLAN B<\/strong><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have minimum expectations of my result in 2019. If I\u2019m racing the last 15km of the race and if that leaves me in first or fifth then I\u2019ll be happy with that. I\u2019m in the best fitness I\u2019ve been in for years. I\u2019ve never been a big one for plans and would rather back myself to make the right call.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Kona 2019: What are Ali Brownlee\u2019s chances at this year\u2019s Ironman world Championships?<\/strong><\/p>\n

The top 15 Kona greats of all time<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Who will win the men\u2019s race at this year\u2019s Ironman World Championships? Our top 10 predictions<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/section>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tClick Here: liverpool mens jersey<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alistair Brownlee racing his debut full Ironman and debut Kona is the talk of the Big Island. Just what is he capable of in the heat, humidity and headwinds of Hawaii? Advertisement Ali Brownlee\u2019s Kona kit \u00a0 \u00a0 From London 2012 to Rio 2016 and those two ITU World Tri Series titles, he\u2019s stepped up…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6653\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}