8 Tips for Racing Your First Full Distance Triathlon
The TriDot Triathlon Podcast
TriDot Triathlon Training
4.9 • 634 Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2026
⏱️ 63 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A full-distance triathlon is no small undertaking, it’s one of the most demanding challenges in endurance sports, requiring serious time, discipline, and mental grit. But for those willing to commit, the payoff is extraordinary. In this episode, legendary Coach Kurt Madden joins us to break down exactly what it takes to cross your first 140.6 finish line. From building your ideal support team (coaches, training partners, medics, and even bike mechanics) to choosing the right gear for both performance and comfort, Kurt shares practical, hard-earned advice every aspiring Ironman needs. We also dive into the power of smart planning: structuring your training calendar well in advance, understanding the value of professional coaching, and strengthening your mental game to stay focused (and adapt) when it matters most. With 53 full-distance finishes (and counting), Kurt brings unmatched experience and insight. This episode is packed with actionable tips to help you train smarter, race stronger, and achieve your biggest endurance goals.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Triedout podcast. |
| 0:04.4 | We are in a series of episodes where we are talking about how to approach your very first race at a brand new distance. |
| 0:11.7 | We've had a coach come on and talk to us about doing our first sprint triathlon. |
| 0:16.0 | We've had a coach come on and talked to us about doing our first 70.3 distance triathlon. |
| 0:20.7 | And today we're going longer than that. |
| 0:23.6 | I've got a trite-out coach here to tell us his eight tips for racing, your very first 140.6 full distance triathlon, sometimes known as an Iron Man. |
| 0:35.8 | Yeah, good stuff today. |
| 0:36.9 | Our coach is Kurt Madden. |
| 0:39.0 | I picked Kirk because he has 53 full distance finishes, and he's certainly not done yet. |
| 0:45.5 | By the time you even hear this episode, maybe he'll have 54 or 55, you never know with Kurt. |
| 0:49.8 | He's also a two-time Ultraman World Champion. |
| 0:53.4 | He is a master's degree in exercise physiology and is the head of coach development for Tridot. |
| 0:59.6 | Coach Kurt, welcome back to the show. |
| 1:01.7 | Andrew, it's always welcome to be back with you, my friend. |
| 1:05.9 | Now, you were telling me in those 53 races, you did a little bit of math to determine how many hours |
| 1:12.5 | you've been on the Ironman race course. What was that number, my friend? |
| 1:18.0 | You know, Andrew, it is hard to imagine. But as I'm crunching numbers, I think we're in the |
| 1:25.5 | range of, if I took my average time over 53, |
| 1:28.7 | and I think I'm pretty consistent. I'm in the ballpark of about 583 hours of being in the |
| 1:36.6 | arena, feeling the love, feeling the vibe, and saying, someday I will be an Iron Man. |
| 1:42.9 | Yeah, and that's just the full distance. |
| 2:03.1 | That's not accounting for 70.3 races, which you certainly do. That's not accounting for Ultraman, which you've certainly done. My total at the Iron Man is 12 and a half hours. I've done one of them. Yeah, I think 12 hours, 37 minutes, 34 minutes, 30-something minutes. Anyway, that's because I am Andrew, the average track. |
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