I wasn’t trying to make a statement, let alone the news, when I leapt into my partner’s arms after breaking the tape at IRONMAN Mont Tremblant. Our celebration was just the first of thousands of emotional finish line moments that day, yet it garnered nearly as much attention as my breakthrough performance simply because we’re both men. To younger me, this scene would have been a ray of hope. I’m Cody Beals, a 12× IRONMAN and 70.3 Champion and one of the few openly gay professional triathletes. Here’s my story about coming out, the current landscape of endurance sports, and why representation m ..read more

My swimming has come a long way over my nine years as a pro triathlete. Look no further than the trajectory of my PTO ranking in the swim. Swimming was my weakest discipline and a major liability for most of my pro career. I couldn’t imagine every truly loving it. I grudgingly shifted my focus to swimming in 2022 after a couple years of erratic pool access during the pandemic. Before long—and much to my shock—I’d fallen hard for swimming. Why was the pool my new favourite place to be? I’ve experimented a lot with swim training methods and learned from some of the best. Here are ..read more

The caliber of pro triathlon has exploded coming out of a couple pandemic-limited race seasons. More pro triathletes are swimming, biking and running faster than ever. I feel the urgency to continually level up or get left behind, especially after a tough season. Over the full distance, sub-8 hours for men and sub-9 hours for women used to be a big deal. Just a decade ago, only a couple dozen men and women had broken these barriers. More recently, these benchmarks have become the norm on all but the most brutal courses and, sometimes, not even enough to ..read more

Back by popular demand, here’s the latest edition of my pro triathlon budget, the series that pulls back the curtain on the esoteric business of pro triathlon. As far as financial reports go, I hope this one is at least as enthralling as livestreaming 17 hours of IRONMAN coverage. One thing is for sure: no one is drawn to pro triathlon for the dough. From my rookie pro season in 2014 to a top-20 PTO ranking and top-5 TriRating last year, my income level progressed from “preteen babysitter” to “moderately successful accountant”. It too ..read more

PROFILE: Professional Triathletes Organization Biography     ARTICLE: Cody Beals is Triathlon Magazine Canada’s 2019 Men’s Long-Distance Triathlete of the Year (January 10) INTERVIEW: Offseason with the pros: Cody Beals (January 30) – I did things differently this offseason and shared some reflections on the Wattie Ink Blog.     PODCAST: Pursuit of the Perfect Race 344 – Pandemic Series (April 8) – How I’m coping with the upheaval of the pandemic. WEBINAR: Cody Beals & AJ Baucco: Real Talk, Mental Health (April 8) – AJ and I open abo ..read more

This year feels like a punch to the gut and few well-placed kicks while I’m down. I haven’t been my best self lately and the perfectionist in me is learning to live with that. Checking your social feeds for the ten thousandth time since March, you’d get the impression that everyone is making the most of <<THESE UNUSUAL TIMES>>. Social media has devolved into a mire of toxic positivity during the pandemic. Here’s me being real.     After a banner year in 2018 followed by an up-and-down 2019, this was supposed to be my year. Of course, everyone wil ..read more

Few topics inspire more heated debate and strong convictions than diet. Especially among athletes, nutrition elicits more passionate discussions than politics or religion. Not surprisingly, it’s been the subject that I’ve received the most requests to write about. My aim with this post is to give you a brutally honest, no BS look at what it takes to fuel my high octane life as a pro triathlete. I shared my thoughts, practices and hard-won lessons on my dietary philosophy and composition, fueling, supplements, groceries, race weight and more. I also included a represent ..read more

ARTICLE: TMC Triathlete of the Year: Beals and Brown take top honours (January 16) INTERVIEW: Catching up with Cody Beals (February 12) – I reflect on a breakthrough 2018 and share some of my off-season struggles with Triathlon Magazine Canada. INTERVIEW: Cody Beals’ Next Act (February 14) – An introduction by my new apparel sponsor, Wattie Ink, touching on my success in 2018 and the challenge of building on those results and coping with the newfound pressure. GUEST POST: Cody Beals’ Progressive Treadmill Intervals (February 20) – I described one of my favorite treadm ..read more

There were high hopes and even higher pressure leading into my first Vega IRONMAN World Championship, coming off three wins in three starts at the distance. An unfortunate mechanical issue ended my day, but I faced other humbling lessons and challenges even before making it to the start line. Watch my candid recap of the experience and a post-race interview with Triathlon Magazine Canada reflecting on a roller coaster of a 2019 season. My pre-race interview on Breakfast with Bob is also below.   ..read more

I surprised myself with a breakthrough day at IRONMAN Mont Tremblant, turning around a lackluster start to my 2019 season. It took a personal best sub-8 hour performance, under my 8:10 course record set in 2018, to hold off my countryman Lionel Sanders and defend my title. Here’s my video recap! For more insight into my lead-up, execution, recovery from injury and my upcoming Kona debut, check out my interviews with Ventum and Wattie Ink. Ventum Interview: Cody Beals: A Repeat Win At IRONMAN Mont Tremblant Wattie Ink Interview: Cody Beals Keeps Setting Records: What Habits Does ..read more