That Triathlon Life Podcast - Becoming a professional triathlete, Nick races Malibu Triathlon, how alcohol affects recovery, and more!

Episode Date: October 5, 2023

This week we start off by getting a recap of Nick's race at Malibu Triathlon, then do a TTL Spelling bee, and finally launch into your questions. Questions about alcohol, when to use or not use a wetsuit in a race, and a deep dive into what it takes to become a successful professional triathlete. To submit your own questions, as well as become a podcast supporter, head over to http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hey, everyone. Welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Loggersome. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. This is our podcast about triathlon, where we talk about what's going on in trathlon, our journey in trathlon, and the bulk of the show is us taking some questions from you, to people who listen to this. And generally, we do also do recaps of winning races every week. And we only win here. If we race, we win. If we race, we win. That is the rule. If we don't win, we don't talk about it. just cry on the couch by ourselves.

And that is a little precursor to the announcement that Nick came in first place at the Malibutraithon Celebrity Division, and he also won his age group. Yeah. Nick, can you put a round of applause sound effect in there? Of course. Or just make yourself a theme song for Celebrity Division. Can't wait to hear it. Yeah, it was a little funny that I was in the Celebrity Division. but I think every once in a while

there's some actual big celebrities that come in but I will say I did rack my bike next to Toby Flanderson from the office I don't know his real name but I know his name on the office and it's Toby he's a I don't remember he's the one that Michael hates he works in like HR and he's always very low mood yeah

he's very similar to that in person I talked to for a second Yeah very similar I'm like oh you are Toby So did he just slide into that role perfectly or did like the role take over who he is Oh, no, that's a good question. Did it incept him? And now he is that person.

He used to be a jolly holly guy. Did you try to talk to him, Nick? I talked to him for a second because I thought he dropped something, but it wasn't his. But he was like, oh, no, no, it's not mine, no. Oh, boy, dude. Snap out of it, man. You're about to race a try. You got to get into gear.

He had a nice, like, pinarello bike, and he had, like, nice gear. He clearly actually, like, swims, bikes and runs to some degree. Oh, wow. But you beat him. I did beat him. Nick, but what Eric and I were talking about is, yeah, maybe you're not like a Hollywood celebrity, but in terms of the triathlon world, you probably got the most requests for, like, pictures with you. I think when people do recognize me, they're like, oh, it's Nick from TTO podcast.

It's not, like there's this guy, I think his name was Chase Crawford. He was on Gossip Girl. He raced in the celebrity division. The guy who got third place is like a TikTok celebrity. I think people feel a little intimidated to go up to those people. but I don't think people feel intimidated to go up to me, which is great. You're highly approachable celebrity. People, there were a lot of TTL representation at this race, a lot of TTL hats.

And it was fun to see that and talk to all those folks. And every time I see a comment on Nick's posts that are like, oh, Nick should have a TTL race kit, makes my blood boil. It makes my blood boil. We tried. FedEx lost the package. It is in heaven. It's in FedEx heaven. That's exactly what the rep told me.

It's like Pergatory. Next year, we'll get him another kit, but we are deeply saddened. Yeah. Yes. By the loss of this kit.

Yes. It's fine, though. Yeah. There is a non-zero chance that we will get it. We just found out that the FedEx Heaven for a fee, they can retrieve certain packages.

So we are looking into it for maybe one more race this year. Oh, wait. Can they retrieve my childhood pet turtle? Yes, it's also there living out its best life. And all your dogs from childhood are there as well. Terrible. Terrible.

But yes, it was funny. And just so it's clear, you do not elect to be put into the celebrity division. They put you into it, okay? I didn't check a box that said, I'm a celebrity. It dawned on me yesterday that people might think that. Well, you're definitely a triathlete slash celebrity and not the other way around. Yes, yes. I'm triathlete first.

Yeah. Overqualified. We should probably back that up and say that Paula and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is not a professional triathlet. He's an amateur triathlet, professional musician. But you just knew somebody at this race who was organizing the celebrity field, right? Yes. Well, first of all, let me also just say that someone messaged, I think Paula wrote in and said, like, wait, now that Nick won this race, can he get his pro card?

Not that type of race. Which is great. It wasn't a pro race. Also, I am nowhere near being able to get my pro card. And on top of all that, I very gallantly, valiantly said on this podcast that even if I ever qualified for it, I would never accept it. Which is very easy for me to say because I will never even have the chance to deny it. But in the meantime, I look very noble by saying that. I think we should get a little bit of a recap from you.

Just about the whole Malibu Triathlon experience. This is kind of a neat race. The reason I'm racing the Celebrity Division in the first place is because the person who was doing the Celebrity Division last year, it was a girl named Kelsey, who we all know, who now lives in Bend. She was a big fan of the podcast. And so she reached out last year I had DNFed Iron Man, Wisconsin, the weekend before Malibu Triathlon. And I was very bummed and everyone knew. And she offered for me to race Malibu Tri last minute in the Celebrity Division. or I think last year I was like VIP, which is not quite the celebrity division.

And then this year, I was supposed to do it again. And I had convinced Trixie to do the relay, run relay portion of the race. And she was going to do it with Henry Schumann and someone else. But the night before the race, I was at a bonfire. And I got a call from wrestling that she stubbed her toe pretty badly and couldn't really run. So Trixie did not end up doing the race, which is a bummer, because it was on like, I think it was on like local news and stuff that Trixie was going to do it. and that Diplo also did the race.

I'm trying to think of who else. I forget, I don't know celebrities very well at all. But so I ended up just being me this year. That's what happens when you are one. Yeah, you're too close to it. Yeah, right, right, right, of course. That's what it is. Anyway, so I lined up, the only bummer about this whole thing is that I had not had to,

but I lined up and started with the celebrity division, which means I didn't go off for the 30 to 34 males who were my real competition. I had a pretty good feeling, no offense to the other celebrities. I had a pretty good feeling that I was going to win the celebrity division, but I was interested in winning my age group. I'm sorry, Toby from the office. This is an HR violation. Joey you've been sized up.

Yeah. Sorry. So I didn't really know, and every year I've done this race, I've gotten second in my age group. So I was hoping to win this one. What didn't help my chance is that the bike was cut in half. and my strength is the bike. So I thought, oh, this is probably not my year. But anyway, went off, swam, okay, biked.

My power was not good. I'm now remembering I didn't calibrate my power meter, but I do think it read pretty accurately. And power was not good, but my speed was the best ever I've had in a race. If I just take out the getting out of transition and getting back into transition, I was about 25 miles an hour average on a very flat course,

but it did have like six U-turns. in 24 minutes, so there was a lot of slowing down there. So it was my best ever speed on a bike. I think you're like more arrow? Like what's different of you? I think I am. I'm really, I think I was riding alongside you once, Eric, and I was like asking you about different head positions.

And you gave me a very clear like, oh, no, that, there. And so ever since then, I've tried to focus on that. It's just hard because when I'm in that position, I really cannot see very far up the road at all. That's how you know you're going fast. Yeah. but I was able to kind of just look up every once in a while. The course was very congested, but honestly, I don't think it affected my race at all.

I'm pretty comfortable in Arrow, like maneuvering. So it was good to look down and constantly see like 25, 26, 27 miles an hour when I was moving. The race attracts a lot of first timers, I think. So it's an extra ego boost when someone's going like 16 miles an hour and I'm going almost 10 miles an hour faster than them. I'm like, oh, I'm really moving fast. and that, of course, just like feeds the cycle of going faster. And so that was good. And then on the run, both on the bike and on the run,

I had this feeling that my muscles were kind of like lactic a little bit at the beginning part of it. And then as the sport went on, I kind of settled into it and was able to hold higher power at the same perceived exertion. We talked about this a little bit after the race too. And I think my lesson from this race, if I could learn something, is I probably do need to do like a proper. warm-up, which probably is so obvious to everyone else. But I've never really found that much of a

benefit in it. But today, I think I really noticed it, especially on the run. So when I set out on the run, my goal was to hold like 20-minute 5K pace. That was like my top goal, even though it was a four-mile run, a little longer than 5K. And I started trying to do that, and I noticed right away that I couldn't. I was just like very, very difficult. So I slowed it down about 20 seconds. per mile. And then I kept that same level of intensity in my mind, but my pace just kept getting faster and faster and faster. It didn't feel like that jelly legs like brick run feeling. It just felt too difficult for me in a way that I guess I can't remember feeling before. So eventually the pace came up to a point where I was running almost like six, 10 minute miles by the end. And

my average pace by the end was 622 per mile, which is a good chunk of fast. faster than any other run split I have done in any triathlon. Nice. Maybe that pacing strategy just works for you. Yeah, I mean, that's kind of what I did at Morrow Bay, too. But that was, I started slow in that one because I thought no way I could hold the pace faster than this, so I'm going to chill. And it felt very easy.

This did not feel as easy. But all my good races have been negative splits. And, you know, you hear about this a lot, like negative splitting is the way to go. But it certainly seems that physiologically my body is trying to do that as well, not just my mind. Yeah, I think that in a short race like this, warming up becomes more important. I often feel in a 70.3 like warming up is not totally necessary. I'll jog around, especially if it's cold, but in a race that's so short like the one you did, yeah, maybe it is important to put more emphasis on the warm up and just feel good right off the bat because there's really no time to warm up.

Yeah. The race is over before you feel good, really. So I don't know. That's a good lesson, though. I'm going to try it at least do a little run warm up before even like a sprint or an Olympic next time. I don't know 70.3 we don't have that much of an opportunity to because there's so much really hard with the overnight bike check-in

and like everything's super controlled to shut down. But then in those races you have more time to build into it. So less critical. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so then the funny part is that when they were doing awards, I didn't even know

I didn't know if they were going to have a celebrity division like podium. I was expecting just to be on the male 30 to 34 podium. And they, like, they announced a couple of the relay groups. And then they, we were the first awards. I was the first awards. And so everyone is still there. There's a ton of cameras around. And they accidentally, instead of saying, here are your top three individual male celebrity. They say top three males, here they come. And they put me at number one. I'm like, this is so awkward. A, I'm not even a celebrity. B, I did not win the overall race. And I'm just walking up on stage. It's like 15 photographers all there, all snapping pictures. I walk off stages like a camera on my face. I want to be like,

I didn't actually win the overall race. But thank you for all the attention. I don't know what to tell you. But yeah, so it was very fun to be there and to feel a lot of the energy. There was a lot of TTL people that stuck around and came up in. And you watched the Super League the day before, right? I watched the Super League the day before, which was insane how fast. I mean, someone like Ben Canute, he raced, and someone like, you know, in any 70.3 or even a full distance, he's a serious contender for podium or the win. And he was able to swim with them the first round and then right away on the bike, just those people are so specialized in that that he couldn't really, by the end of the bike and the run. And it's a very short little thing. He was out the back.

And I thought, damn, even Ben can't keep up with. And he used to be really, really good at that. That was like his bread and butter, but it just kind of goes to show that if you, you hone your body for an iron man, that's completely different than a 17-minute race. It was also crazy to see Christian Blumenfeldt, who was there. He was kind of struggling with the in and out of the water,

but he was catching up on the bike and the run every time. The pain face he makes, he buries himself so deep, but he was catching them every time. I don't understand what that man is made of. Just trying the hardest. But it was very fun. The whole weekend was really fun. That's awesome. It's a cool event.

It was fun. Thank you everyone who was there who said hi. Also, there was a couple of people who came up to me and said that they were a big fan of the TTL coffee subscription, which I thought was great. I'm like, wow, I haven't heard about the coffee subscription in a while. Yeah, we don't promote it that much, but it's still a thing. It's cooking along, and it's a lot of fun. Yeah, basically the premise of it is that we ship out a fresh bag of TTL beans that is roast. by one of our good friends in Seattle who roasts beans and makes coffee and has his own coffee shop. And a different blend every month. So that's the idea of it. And if you want to sign up, it's on our website.

Yeah. There was a lot of people with TTL hats too and TTL shirts. We got more of that coming too. Working on a very cool re-release collection. Yeah, we did a different kind of logo this time. It's kind of out there, but we'll see. It's not the typical circle. I really like it. Yeah, I like it too. It's different.

And I think if you already own stuff that has the circle and the classic logo, it's cool to have something that's so different. Slight remix. Yes, a little remix of it. Stay tuned for that. Awesome. Well, if you don't mind, I have a special little segment that we have not really done in a while here. It's a spelling bee, right? It's a spelling bee.

Oh no. Yeah, oh no, because Eric is always the subject of the spelling bee here. I haven't been practicing. As long as it's not last names of hockey players. Yeah, that was not a good one. That was not fair. Okay, here's the first one. I'm really old school, so I still use cantilever brakes.

A-N-T-I-L-E-V-E-R. Correct, that's correct. Very good, Eric. Your savant spelling has did the test here so far. Okay, next one here, we only have three. Before her race last week, Paula had intercostal pain. N-E-R-C-O-S-T-A-L. That is also correct, very good.

And the final one here, I would bet that this one will get you. All right. Yeah, I think this one will get you. It's good to show your human side and fail occasionally. You're like pretend to fail. Okay, Paula, if he doesn't get this, I want you to try it. Okay. Okay.

Traveling with triathletes is a nightmare, them with all their paraphernalia. E-A-R-A-P-H-P, yeah, I already got to P-H, E-N-A-L-I-A. Very close, but not correct. So there's this very sneaky letter in there that is not pronounced when you say it. You were missing one letter, Eric. Paula, you want to give it a shot?

Paula, don't look it up. I see you getting to your phone. I'm not looking it up. Okay, yeah. You're just scrolling Instagram. Okay, let me give it a shot. Okay. P-A-R-A-P-H.

Yeah, so far. So good. E-R-N-A-L-I-A. Wow. Fala! Did you cheat? Okay, I looked it up. Okay, fine, I looked it up.

Well, Eric made me a drink tonight, and then served me wine. You asked for wine. So I am a little bit... On the tips of termitized. On the tipsy side. So of course I can't spell paraphernalia. Perfernalia.

Paraphernailia. Wow. So okay. That was a corner perfanileanile earlier. So that was our little segment. We try to do one every week. Usually if we do a race recap, we don't do a segment, but I felt like this was worth it. One more thing before we get to questions.

every week when we can, we try to pick a winner from our podcast supporters. Podcast supporters, it's $5 a month or $10 a month, whatever you want, to help the podcast keep going. As you noticed, we have never done an ad read on this podcast. We're maybe inching towards a day where we didn't, I don't think we'll ever do ad reads, but we may have podcast sponsors. But for now, we do not. So the only thing that keeps a podcast going is our podcast supporters.

And also, if you buy a T-shirt or do the coffee subscription, all that stuff is great. So this week, we scanned the system here, the library of podcast supporters, and we used our trusty Google Random Number Generator, and we got one of our favorite ever last names that we've gotten as a podcast supporter winner. Congratulations to Alex Stepflug.

It sounds like a genre of music or something. It's like, what do you listen to? You listen to like rap or rock? No, no, no. I only go to deep. how stepflug concerts. I'm only laughing because of the expression that you made when you said it.

No, it's all good. We love it. I think you're thinking Steppenwolf. I'm thinking of like dubstep. I feel like stepflug is like a cool version of stepflug. Anyway, Alex, Alex in Long Beach, please reach out to one of us, I would say me, since I'm sending them to you.

I did find one more pair of socks. You'll be getting a pair of socks. Last pair of TTR socks in existence. That's right. So you can message me with your ad, and we'll send you those socks. You can become a podcast supporter as well, and potentially, I think we're going to be moving on to bottles going forward.

Is that right? Yeah, we have a lot of bottles. We can do bottles. Paula and I each have signature edition bottles that the only way one could ever get these is if we give them away on the podcast. And we also have some new coffee mugs coming. So we'll have to decide which are those,

what direction we're going to go. You can become a podcast supporter as well and submit your questions to the podcast at That TriathlonLife.com slash podcast. And we're running a little lean on questions. If you wanted to send in yours, I think there's a good chance we'll read it next week on the pod. I mean, you guys know the questions that we always answer on here.

But if it's like asking for something that might be more appropriate for a coach, we likely will not get to it. And there was probably like five of those this week. So anyway. There's a good chance. And this week we're going to do fewer questions, but we're going to end on something that is kind of like a bit of a deep dive that Eric brought to my idea.

attention a couple weeks ago that he said that it would be fun to kind of do a whole podcast about. I think we should do a teaser for that because I think it is a pretty interesting topic. I get an email probably once every couple weeks, once a month from somebody asking just for like, I think I'm going to try to turn pro. Do you have any advice? Like full stop. You know, just like I don't know anything at all. It seems like this crazy ocean to dive into. Can you like, where do I even, what are the questions I even need to ask? So I think we're going to try to get it a little bit more into that. And I think we could do an entire podcast just on that, but we'll get into it and start at least this week. Yeah, that sounds great. Okay, so the first question here is from Paula, not our

Paula, a different Paula. Hello, Mom and Dads. It's a very modern family here. Hope everything is going great and beautifully in your lives. I have an alcohol-related question. How appropriate. I love wine more than one cup, he-he-he with the Jays. I love the he-he-he-he-with-the-jays. but I really feel kind of hung over the next day and I feel like training suffers a bit I'm age group and really focus on performance how do you incorporate it into your day today thank you so much Paula

okay so that's I think generally speaking do you guys have a kind of a rule with alcohol or do you let yourself kind of feel it out each time I think I drink a little bit more than Paula and I don't really have any rules with it but typically if we have a hard workout the next day,

I will try to avoid the temptation to have a whiskey before bed. That's about the only thought that goes through my mind with it. And neither of us, when we say we drink, like we'll have a glass of wine or one mixed drink. We very rarely are like two or three. And when at least, yeah, I can say that when we have two plus, that we definitely feel it the next day that's a performance detriment, and that's something that definitely take into consideration the timing of if we do.

Yeah, I don't feel like I have a hangover the next day, maybe because I just don't drink enough. But I think a good tip that I try to remember is just to drink enough water along with the wine. Because a lot of the times my negative feelings after I drink is like a raging headache before I go to bed. So that can be counterbalanced a little bit by just drinking water alongside the wine. because wine is not quenching your thirst or rehydrating you from the training in that day. So, yeah, just make sure you got water with your wine. I think it's also easier, easy to drink, especially white wine, a little quicker if you are actually thirsty. Yeah, because it tastes good and it's cold.

Right. Yeah. So just don't drink your wine as your post-race rehydration or your post-workout rehydration. Just got to go in the correct order. Protein shake, give it a minute, then get to the wine. But we actually just went to, we just drove through Napa Valley on our way back home from, I flew back from Augusta. And then that night I booked a flight for Sacramento because Eric was kind of in that area. And then we basically drove up all along the California coast and Oregon coast back to bend and went through Napa Valley.

We're not big wine connoisseurs or anything, but we do enjoy it. So it was kind of fun to go to a few tastings where we could taste back to back different kinds of wine and different blends. all of this and kind of like really tell the difference in the flavors. And I can see why people go down the rabbit hole and become really, really passionate about wine. It's like coffee. You can become such a big fan of the whole thing. Different tastes and the, you know, how did we arrive at these is a different taste with the harvest day versus the roast, you know, and like. And like really knowledgeable winemakers that are doing the tasting so they can kind of help you and explain and talk you through it. So I don't think wine is just a means to get a little,

tipsy. It's like, it's like an art. Do you think it's a coincidence that something like coffee and wine, it's an acquired taste, right? It's not something like chocolate or like Coca-Cola that the very first time you have it, you're like, whoa, I love this right away. Do you think it's a coincidence that both of those things have this crazy deep culture and variety and flavors and different tiers of it and so much put into it? I feel like there's something about that, that. That's that must be connected. That's really interesting, man. I don't know.

That's a really good question because you're totally right. I can't really think of a third thing to put into that category, which might just be my lack of education. But those two things have so much in common, and that is one of them. The first time I tried wine, spat it out. First time I tried coffee, spat it out. And now they are so interesting.

And maybe that also has to do with the time in your life when you try wine or coffee at first and how to develop your palate is. I don't know. Maybe we should call Dusty. I don't like any alcohol. I don't really drink alcohol. And that's a big part of the reason. I don't like the way it tastes. And I feel like you're all just lying to each other and telling each other that you like the way it tastes. That's how it feels to me. You clearly still have your 12-year-old palate.

I have the 12-year-old a lot of things. My brain is still like 12 years old. Nick, I think if you went to some wine tastings in whatever, even Italy, especially Italy, maybe, you would learn to like it because they give you like one sip. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's barely enough. You're not drinking it because it tastes like Coke. I think I'm at a point now with it

that I am, I feel like I've been given a gift that I don't really like alcohol and I don't feel any kind of pull towards it. And I'm just going to try to ride that out forever. Because I don't need the social looper. I don't want to say I don't need it. I love socializing. my fully sober state.

And I don't feel like I'm missing anything. I don't feel a lack of confidence when talking to new people. So it doesn't give me that. And then everything else seems like it's kind of enjoyable, but you're kind of tangoing with a lot of negatives as well. And I already have a problem with eating probably too much sugar. So I don't need to add another vice into the mix there. I think the other thing that's similar between coffee and wine is like the act of doing

it is pretty enjoyable. Yeah. Like going to a wine bar or going to a coffee shop or having a friend over and doing FICA or having a glass of wine. The social aspect of it is like inseparable to the feelings. And both of them have entire ecosystems built around them. Like coffee shops. There is a coffee aesthetic. There is an outfit that is a coffee outfit that you go to like a hipster with a scarf and a beanie.

And wine bars and alcohol in general also have an entire. higher culture. I mean, night life is mainly built around alcohol. It's really interesting how much both of these things are, not inherently enjoyable, but then become intertwined and almost like a part of people's identity. You know, it's like, have you ever seen those like live, laugh, love style signs? It's like, if I'm not drinking coffee, then I'm drinking wine. It's something like that. Yeah. Wine, the first coffee. Just kidding. Just kidding. really interesting thing here is I looked into this a little bit, and I think anecdotally we can

all feel that alcohol is probably counterproductive to training, at least in large amounts, right? That becomes obvious when you're hungover and you're like, I can't imagine going on for a run right now. But here's what I found, and I'm just going to read this straight from their website here, this is a conclusion from a study. Actually, it was looking at a bunch of studies. both the effects of alcohol on human physiology and the parameters that determine athletic performance are multifactorial and extremely complicated. A significant body of literature has established an array of adverse symptoms caused by acute alcohol ingestion. However, the notion that alcohol consumption affects performance has not yet received enough consistent validation to advance beyond being anecdotal. Nevertheless, just because alcohol is not yet comprehensively shown to have a negative influence on performance,

does not imply this review advocates its use prior to or following competition. Indeed, the data demonstrates a severe lack of analysis on the possible detrimental action of alcohol in the recovering athlete. However, based on the available experimental evidence in cellular and rodent models, athletes should remain wary of ingesting alcohol following intense exercise, focusing instead on effective dietary strategies proven to enhance recovery. I thought that was all interesting. I just thought that was interesting.

I thought it would be like unanimously like, do not. if you're an athlete, do not ever consume alcohol. But it seems like that may be the case, but not to the degree that I assumed at least. Yeah. I think like the logic so far has basically been like, well, alcohol makes you feel shitty. Is shitty feeling shitty part of recovering wealth from training? No. So, yeah, ideally you'd want to not feel shitty while you're trying to recover.

But yeah, it sounds just, I mean, from that article, it just sounds like no one has done a study yet on this to have somebody do a five-minute maximal test. one day and then drink a bunch of wine and then the next morning do another one nobody's interested in running that study maybe we'll do that study along with sleep study of three the sleep we're doing drink and train week

we're doing it's shaping up to be an awesome off season that's right what'd you do while I slept like 10 hours a day and got freaking smoked every night science on myself all winter by the way I had a few people message

me saying that if we do sleep week to do the aura ring circles. Have you seen those where you can get a bunch of people in on it? And then everyone can see the three aura scores, which are readiness, sleep, and activity score. So I think that could be kind of cool if we see any trends, you know, if like maybe 50 or 100 people join that circle,

I think that could be fun. Yeah, if we could make that like a link that people get too easily, that'd be sweet. You have to have an aura ring to participate in that? You do. There's probably at least 20 people that listen to this that have an order ring. who would get it on our science.

20 people. I'm just saying at least, you know. I would say probably 2,000. With an aura ring? Yeah. That's listening to this podcast. It's definitely closer to 1,000 than it is to 20. I mean...

Yeah. I just didn't want to be presumptuous about the number of horror rings that are out there in the world. Wow, the pro-tri-news call out. No, no, no, no, I'm sure. Just, just it's a triathletes are obsessed with their gear. And you make it sound like we have a hundred. people listening to this podcast, Eric. I mean, going from like, you

listen to the podcast, you have an aura ring, you're willing to find it, click on the link from this thing. Okay, that's true. There's many layers of filtering. You know, you're right. Next question is from Juju, Hi, TTR Gang. I'm doing 70.3 Memphis next week, and water temperature could be all over the place.

My question is swimskin versus wetsuit if the water is right on the edge of being wetsuit legal. Is the wetsuit advantage still big over a swim skin? Thanks for all the content you create. is juju. Yes, this is a very, very quick, easy answer. Always faster, significantly faster.

Not even a question. If it's legal, you wear a wetsuit. It's the opposite, right? Like, the swimskin is not crazy faster than no swimskin. If you have a, like, a suit that doesn't have pockets or anything like that. Which no one does. The difference between nothing and swimskin is smaller than it is between swim skin and wetsuit. Yeah.

Yeah. And have you guys ever swam a race where it was right on the line? And of course, all the pros are still using a wetsuit. But did you notice like, ooh, I'm a little uncomfortably hot and it's affecting my swim? That is what I was going to add at the end of this. But the wetsuit cutoff for age group is higher than the wetsuit cut off for us. So if it's wetsuit legal for us, it's pretty cold. So I've personally never overheated.

But that would be my main concern if I was in the age group field. The last degree at which you can wear a wetsuit and hasn't been made a wetsuit illegal yet, I would massively, massively overheat in my wetsuit prior to getting onto the bike, and heaven forbid, the bike be hot conditions as well. Yeah, it kind of depends what the ambient temperature is. If you're racing in Mexico, it's going to be really hot when you get on the bike versus even Augusto was a little bit on the edge, at least for the pros. but the air was cold enough that the wetsuit would be no problem.

So just kind of read the situation, know your body, but buoyancy wise and pure speed wise, X versus Y, it's going to be faster to use a wetsuit. Totally. Would you guys use a sleeveless wetsuit? Or, Eric, would you use a sleeveless wetsuit in that? That actually could be a nice compromise, but personally, I have not really liked the fit of sleeveless sweatsuits.

I actually feel like there's more material kind of in the shoulders, because they've got some seams and I don't know. I just don't like the feeling of like the, I don't know. I feel like a really high-end sleeved wetsuit feels nicer than a, they don't really make really high-end sleeveless wetsuits for the most part. But yeah, that's an interesting middle ground possibly to like mitigate some of the overheating. If you had access to all of these things, you know, 20 minutes before you jump in the water. Yeah, it's the hot water that I would be, I wonder if you actually overheat in it.

I would for sure. I mean, when we do heat protocol, what we'll do is actually sit in the hot tub and the hot tub time that you do is a little bit less than the sauna time because your body absolutely cannot cool itself down while you're in water. Your sweat is completely useless.

And like we've seen a couple of unfortunate deaths in open water swimming due to this overheating in warmer tropical races. So when I do a hot water swim like Cabo, it almost gets me the most kind of panicky or my body shuts down the quickest because it knows there's no, like, my cooling systems are doing nothing right now. I, even when I swim, like, in my pool here, we have the fitness pool and the splash pool.

And the splash pool still has lanes and you still can do your whatever swim. Actually, I swam in there with Gusewif and Christian when they came because that's all the room we had. It's like way steep and it's quite a bit warmer. And I, in that one in the summer, between reps, have to stand up to cool off because I'm getting too hot in the water. And a place like Cabo, it's like, it's real hot. Yeah.

You just have to slow down. Yeah. Anyway, that's the one caveat to when you might want to not go the wetsuit route when it's on the line, is if you have overheating issues. Would you tell Juju to potentially try to swim in the river the day before or a couple days before and test it out? Yeah. Yeah, that's a great idea.

And maybe final thing for that, what kind of effort should she do to not be, to not screw up a race but also get a good data point for if she should use a West ear or not. Definitely do at least a couple of 40 second efforts, I would say, to kind of get your heart rate up

and get your breathing harder after you've warmed up. Okay, next and last question here, and this is our little deep dive. Just because of the way that you're going to read this question, this is actually based off of an email that I got last. I get emails asking about this fairly regularly. I actually did a little bit of a talk for some USAAT juniors once on this concept.

So that's where this email is coming from. Okay, got it. So it's from Maria. Dear Eric, I hope this email finds you well. I'm sorry that you had to miss out on Exetero World Championships because of your injury. By the way, let's do a little update on that. Eric, you are feeling a little bit better, right? Almost all the way.

Yeah, I'm feeling pretty good. I've kind of gotten past any pain and I just have a little bit of tightness in my niece. So we did a run today with our friend Nate, who was actually the guy who put the stitches in my leg, and I felt pretty good. That's great. No issues. My name is Maria, and I was wanting to say hello at Exeter, Germany, but never caught you there. I grew up in that area, and the O.C. challenge is the only reason I got into triathlon and started racing in the elite category. I'm reaching out to ask for some guidance and mentorship for basically everything.

I have been following your and Paula's vlog and journey for a while, and I love how you're going to be. approach things and the community you have built. My journey started with my mountain bike XCO and mountain bike marathon racing, and I later added cross triathlon as well as gravel racing. With the help of a cycling scholarship, I'm currently studying in the U.S., but I'm trying to focus more on sport and start my pro career. Do you have any general advice for me, what races to focus on, how to approach possible sponsors, etc.? Your opinion on trying to succeed in different disciplines. I would be very grateful for any advice. Thank you for your help. Best regards, It's Maria.

So first of all, what's XCO and what's mountain bike marathon racing? So XCO is the shorter stuff. It's like an hour and a half. And then marathon, it's more like four hour in length, mountain bike racing. UCI, these are both under the UCI banner. Let's start by saying that you guys are able to make a full living off of triathlon, which is not common for the vast majority of people who have their pro card. Right.

I would say the fact that we are making a living at it. We've been doing it for 10 years or so. We own a house. That puts us in a very small percentage. And would you say that the way that you're able to make a living from it, is it unique to the pro field? Or do you think you've done a good job at it, but it's not, you don't have any one specific scenario that is an outlier? I would say that what we've done with regards to video was a bit pioneering, but now it is not a unusual in the pro field. And that's really just to say that video was a new sort of platform

alongside photo or like written word with blogs and stuff. And we kind of capitalized on that early. And now like all new media, you're kind of just expected to take it on as, you know, an entrepreneur, basically athlete. Right. Okay. So let's start by saying what do you think that Maria should be focusing on, at least right now? And then, maybe give her also like a five and ten year kind of down the line like and you know once you get to this point you're going to start looking at whatever talking to sponsors or getting a video person or whatever it is yeah i would say that first and foremost the thing that you can't forget is that the actual craft itself of being the athlete is has got to come first um like for me when i went

from being completely unknown to a little bit known was at escape from alcatraz and that was sort of due to me doing some video sort of thing. So there was a little bit of something that people could go look at once I had won the race, but it still took me winning the race in a sprint finish against Andy Potts to kind of like settle the kindling

on fire. And then people were able to go and like, who is this Eric? And I had some pictures on Instagram. I had like written some blogs and I had done a couple videos so there was something for people to go grab onto after that big result. So don't forget to like... But the big result is what

kicked it off. It was still the catalyst. The way that you were living and training back then, and still now, but was super intense. Like your whole life revolved around it. You were living with the triathlon squad. And that's undeniably the most important part is training hard enough and serious enough and smart enough to have, it doesn't necessarily have to be a breakthrough like you had in Alcatraz, but to make your results good enough for people to notice. And it's not. having the best photos and having the best video on the internet.

Right. Yeah. I actually, before that, the thing that actually got me allowed into the race was that I'd won three Continental Cups in a row. So things were going great, but still just,

like it hadn't really caught on yet until having that big moment. But that being said, like what I was doing and what I would recommend people do is that alongside of that, realize that people latch on to stories. And if you think back to, like, great movies that you've watched, like Hoosiers and, you know, just like any sports movie, you fall in love with this team as they're

going through the process of becoming the champion. So if you can identify early on, like, what are some things about me and my journey that are a little bit unique? And I'm going to try to bring those to the forefront. But just more importantly, like telling your story as you're working on this thing that you care a lot about and are working towards, that's super relatable. And people want to follow that and see how the story ends. This reminds me of basically the TTL YouTube channel, up to when Paulo and Daytona. Exactly. Same concept.

It's not like that was planned. We were trying really hard and it's just like all the things came together at the right time. And it was people were on board. They knew what she had been doing and what she'd been going through. And so it just, it brought that extra layer of specialness to it. So basically create weekly videos and then go and win the biggest race of the year. Basically you have to do everything at once. Yeah.

Well, it's a lot of. bit of luck. It's a lot of chopping wood. You're like building up this huge, huge woodpile and hoping that the match comes along just the right time and you can make good on it, you know? I would say like in playing devil's advocate a little bit and what I personally did growing up because I never wanted to be a pro triathlete or aspired to this. I went to school and was like chipping away at my degree thinking I wanted to do something in the medical field or or whatever it was. And that is so important for athletes, especially when you're like in high school or college years, is to get, just stay in school. Like don't leave school to pursue triathlon.

You can do it alongside. And I did for probably 10 years. It took me a long time to get my undergrad degree, but I did it part time while training at a high level. And I think it's, it was not only, I never ultimately ended up using my specific degree that I got, but mentally, it's really nice to have a backup because, as we said, the top 0.5% of pro athletes, pro triathletes can make a living at this. So just be smart in your decision making and not to say have a plan B, but definitely keep your options open. Yeah? No? School's not important. I don't know. No, no, I told, I don't know how much I think an undergraduate degree is important. But what I think the point is here is that there are so,

even if you are able to make a living from triathlon while you're a pro, that small percentage becomes even smaller making a living off a triathlon after you're a pro. Yeah, that's true. And life is long. Life is very long. So I do think that, I mean, the community that makes up TTR is so passion. and amazing that I think this TTL will last forever.

But I think that's a huge, it's an outlier. I mean, there's nothing really like that and else like that in triathlon. I mean, athletes have their fans, but this is something a little bit different. Yeah. And let's be clear, this was not a thing that was planned at the inception of turning

professional. This is something that came along with thinking in mind of what comes next. So, I feel like that's always just kind of been part of who I am, thinking about like how does this thing that I'm doing playing to the next thing and build on that and build on that. And so like that's kind of come a little bit more naturally for me, perhaps than some of the other athletes that I trained with that they kind of finished triathlon and then they were out and onto a completely different thing. So it just kind of depends.

Like for Paula, like having the plan be the degree afterwards versus for me, I kind of identified while working on the degree that I couldn't think of anything that I wanted a degree for and kind of like having a different sort of thing, ultimate vision maybe in mind. like keeping that in mind is great. Yeah, I will say that if you're in the Olympic pipeline and it's looking promising that you can make the Olympic team, that's when you can put school on the back burner because that is such a tiny window in your life where that's a possibility and it requires being completely all in

with no other distractions. So that's one little exception, I would say. You know what all of this reminds me of? There's a really great parallel in music that because I think in triathlon it's a little bit easier to see this athlete is really talented they're going to do really well

because you just race faster and it's such an individual sport that the best athlete often does win. In music, music is so much more subjective which is great and it makes it beautiful but a lot of people think being a successful musician or a performer is just who you know

being in the right place at the right time I think that gets way over simplified. You still have to be the best of the best of the best. I remember even 15 years ago when I was already doing music professionally, I thought, oh, I just need opportunities. I wish I got more opportunities because I'm ready. And now I look back and I was not ready. I thought I was ready.

I did not have the skill necessary for it. And now I noticed that a lot more opportunities just happened to fall into my lap because I have gotten more skill. And I think triathlon is the same way. Being a really, really good athlete is still going to be the foundation of your career. There's very few exceptions to people who have made their living off of it. To be high level and the best, I'm noticing this with the time trial. It's really hard to dedicate yourself to different things that require different, very specific skills. And yes, there's crossover, of course. But I think if you really want to excel in any of the things you're interested in, you need to just pick one. You can get away with doing a little bit of both,

but to truly, truly be the best, it's like you got to be all in on that one thing. I do you think it will become obvious to you, which of those you should work on once you've experienced a little bit of American gravel racing in the cross country. And like once you've got a good feel for all of them and for how each is trending, I kind of feel like you'll know inside what's the best call. Yeah. Okay, and now let's say Maria finds her sport is good enough at it that she's doing really well.

How often is just doing, unless you're winning every race, how often are good performances enough? Never anymore. There has to be something about you that people latch on to, even if that thing is you just win fantastically and dominate, that I mean that that can be a little bit of the thing and I would still say that whatever you're posting and your type of stuff should lean into that a little bit so I that's kind of where I was like the ultimate the final thing that I wanted to say

is like because you asked about sponsorship and stuff is as you're doing the storytelling and you're kind of alongside saying here's how things are going and maybe you're identifying like I'm really good at writing so I'm going to lean into to blogging versus I'm good at talking but I don't like being on the camera, try to do podcasting and see if that's a good way for you to share your story. But then have some components to yourself that you really realize this is what makes me, me, and my journey unique, lean into those things. In addition to that, like leaning into that as you approach sponsors or start to think about what sponsors you might pursue, look at companies that you feel like mirror your personality or things that are important to you

and how you can be a part of helping them tell that story through you telling your story. Yeah. And do sponsors reach out to you? Do you have to be proactive about talking to sponsors? Do you nourish those relationships as early on as possible? It totally depends on how well things are going. So like after Paula exploded onto the triathlon scene,

GE was calling. Yeah, right. The president was calling. Yeah. But if that's not the case and you're still working, towards having that big result or putting all the pieces together, you'll probably will have to approach certain companies. Yeah, I kind of experienced both ends of this in a bell curve type of way, like an inverse bell curve throughout my career because I started really well,

had Nike specialized. I actually like turned down a Red Bull sponsorship because I didn't drink Red Bull and I was like 19. I was like, I don't drink Red Bull. I'm so stupid. You turned down Red Bull. First time ever anyone has ever turned down a Red Bull sponsorship. Because I was just so naive to the whole thing, you know. I'm like, I just want to go to the Olympics and win the Olympics. And I've never drank a Red Bull. Red Bull is bad.

That's the kind of my mindset. Anyway, but then as soon as I started racing poorly and was injured for years and years, zero people approached me. So I did have some connections from like previous sponsors when I was successful, but then they were like, okay, well, we'll give you product now, but we can't pay you. Like, it's so fascinating how quick people are to jump on the bag wagon and then jump right off when things aren't going well. So I could only imagine that had I not had that brief glimpse of success, how much even harder it would be to have sponsors interested at first. So it's definitely a matter of, I guess, reaching out, but also not being super have high expectations at first of,

of how a company might support you. Even now, we're building sponsorships up, so it might not be much at first, but as we nurture and grow and continue to have success, these sponsorships grow with them. So it might start with a free pair of shoes and then slowly grow into something like bonuses and then financials.

Yeah, something that really stuck out in my mind early on. I can't remember who said it. I want to attribute to the Wortel's talking, about if I can get one new, really good sponsor a year, like in years like one to five of being a pro athlete, like that was amazing and like a great rate to where you have a sponsor who's like with you for life, wants to work through things, support you as best as they can and has some sort of financial component to it. Those don't just like happen boom, boom, boom, all at the same

time. Like build those slowly, work on it, find the company that you feel like you identify. with most, you believe in the product, and it just feels so right. And once you have that sponsor, how much percentage of your time is dealt like nurturing that relationship or, I can't think of other ways that that would show itself in your life. Yeah, I mean, it kind of, it totally depends. My first sponsor was Rolf Prima. Actually, I guess before that, Athletes Lounge, the bike shop that I worked at sponsored me. And that didn't really have anything to do with any one particular product.

I got discounts at the bike store. So it was a little bit different. But like Rolf Prima was the first company that kind of sponsored me as a pro athlete in a unique way besides the bike. So they got the bulk of all the posts or anything that I was drawing attention to because I wasn't paid to ride the bike. I wasn't paid to wear the wetsuit, none of these other things. So I did the absolute best job I could making sure that I was tagging Rolf Prima and talking about them and yada yada. And that built that really strong relationship that grew next. The landscape is so different now, though, because even back then, Instagram didn't exist to, like, tag.

Yeah, right, right. So it was about riding the bike and riding the wheels and winning on that. Yeah. And then sharing that. Maybe being in a magazine. It's so different now than it used to be in terms of, like, media importance and taking good authentic pictures. Yeah. And I guess, the piggyback onto that question is that, like, Paul and I are very fortunate in the

companies that we work with feel very natural for us to incorporate or we literally don't have to try at all. Like we just get to go take a picture while riding our beautiful bikes and they are specialized and they do have zip wheels and ceramic components on them. But we don't have to like draw your attention to that. And that is the dream scenario. Right. We're just driving around our van taking pictures of it. I mean before anybody paid me anything with a van, I was driving around my van taking pictures of it. So that was a slam dunk. It's not it's not like it's a toothbrush sponsor where it's like, well, when am I going to put a picture of a toothbrush into my Instagram? Yeah, that's going to be awkward as hell to incorporate this toothbrush into a post.

That's what I find a struggle with nutrition company sponsorships is love the products, use them for racing, absolutely essential in my performance, but a little bit more challenging to display organically in a post or in a video without sounding like you're just plugging a sponsor. Yeah. So it's really hard. We freaking love, like, precision, and we'll talk about it, and we'll genuinely talk about how we use it,

which I think is a cool part of the podcast, as you can hear it's great for podcasts. The nutrition stuff is great for podcasts, but not great for visual media. It's harder for pictures and stuff. Yeah, it's a long form thing to communicate how it benefits you rather than a picture. Oh, we're swaying way off topic.

I thought that was, I think what this, the question was basically for any advice whatsoever. So I spent a little bit of time thinking about what were the core things that I feel like people ask the most and like the sponsorship thing and what makes me valuable is kind of at the top of it. Would you ever say to someone who's getting in and wants to be a pro wants to be really good, set yourself a timeline and if you haven't achieved a certain thing by a certain time, then move to the next thing?

Yeah, sure. I've known a few people who have done that. For me, it was I had an amount of money that I saved up in a savings account to get through my first couple years of pro and if I ran out of money, that was the end of that and I had to go get a job. So either a timeline or like financials or financial thing, you know, just like definitely check in with yourself and like have I made progress towards being a better athlete and have I made any sort of progress towards being a better storyteller and I guess brand and have some realistic expectations set goals and check in. I'm going to challenge that and say the opposite.

it, at least from a musical perspective, which I think they both follow this of like, it's my passion, but it pays very poorly kind of thing. And it's really hard to be professional in it. I would say, I would rather be bad at something I love doing than good at something I don't love doing. So like you said, maybe make a list of like, what do you want from life? Is it to have a nice house and have a family with kids that you can send to a good school? Then maybe you do need to set like a timeline. But if you're kind of more of a free form explorer, through life. And you're like, well, yeah, I'm barely making ends meet working at the bike shop, but I'm able to race triathlon pro. And I get to wake up every day hoping that I'll get further

in the next year, in the next season, instead of like, well, if I don't make it by year three, I'm quitting this thing. Totally. It depends if your goal is to be a lifelong professional triathlet or if you want to have said that you were a pro for a few years and then you would get back to whatever your degree is in. That's the difference there. The hard part about triathlon to try to make it as a pro is not only are you not making money at first, you're bleeding money. Just to get to races is so expensive and you're not making anything back even like if you get third place. You're barely covering your expenses for the trip. So it becomes a really tricky game.

It's not like you're just staying equal. You're having to spend all of this money not only on the travel and the race but also on potentially having a coach and the gear. all of these things add up. So maybe that's one slight different from music. I don't know if it has as much cost up front. We don't. We don't. Yeah, we don't.

But regardless, I agree with you, Nick, that if you are truly passionate and love something, you can do it. But I would say you can still do that with triathlon without being a pro at it. Yeah, like Eric was saying, it depends on who are you? What are you really trying to do here?

What is the goal? And what are you willing to put up with for that goal? That's like that quote from Men in Black that's been memeified lately. Oh yeah, it's worth it. If you're strong enough. Yeah. Yeah.

So then my final little thing, question for you is, obviously there's the performance piece that's important. There's the sponsored piece that's important. And then there is this third thing, which is who are you to the people?

Like, how are you interfacing with the people? What's your media stuff like? And my question for you is, I haven't heard you really mentioned this, but I have found this to be a trait of successful pro triathletes who also have a persona attached to them, is that they're not just average people.

They kind of have a thing that you could elevator pitch. It's not just... Lionel isn't just fast. He's really interesting because of his whole background, right? You guys aren't just successful athletes. There's a specific thing about you that is unlike other pro triathletes. Do you think that is necessary for this to work? Yeah, I think so.

And that's kind of what I was saying with identify like a pillar or a couple of Three pillars of you that make you special. And that's the thing that you lean into with your storytelling. You don't need to like every day be like, hey, it's really cool that I'm this, this, and this, rather than just keeping that in mind as a thing that you might sculpt your stories with. Yeah, that's cool. Well, that was really interesting deep dive in that. I don't have any more desire than I did before to become a pro because it just sounds like such a grind.

And you need so much passion and perseverance to make it happen. But it really is interesting to get into the weeds about it. Yeah, I mean, I think it's really interesting how similar it is to music, actually. Like, trying to become a musician and trying to become a professional triathlete are so, so, so, so similar. Except triathlon, you're, like, breathing really, really hard. And it's super painful. But Nick did go to music school. We didn't go to triathlon school.

Yeah. Nick has, like, some qualification. There's no, there's no chafflon school. But, no, and it's also kind of funny how both of them have this component of, wow, this is actually really interesting. There are people who are born naturally good athletes. Yeah. And there are people who are born naturally good musicians,

and they are not always the people who then go and become professionals or the best of the professionals, right? There is like this work ethic and passion component that goes such a long way in triathlon and also such a long way at music. Training is really easy when you're feeling great and loving it, and it's really hard when you hate it. Yeah.

And so I'm not saying you hate it, but I know that you obviously are naturally gifted for it, and you put in a ton of work. Yeah, like part of the reason I dedicated myself pretty hard to school and got good marks and wanted to get A's and everything was, even as a teenager, I always thought to myself after racing, like, man, if I didn't win that race, there's no way I would keep doing this.

Like, this is not fun, but I'm good at it, so I got to keep doing it. Maybe we should take this out of the podcast. But I had that thought as like a 15-year-old kid. Like, why are people who come in 30th here? But it's because there's so many reasons. It's just so short-sighted of me. I'll tell you why I think you're saying that. And I think this is, it explains it for a lot of people.

I think you have never really felt what it feels like to not have that kind of self-confidence in sport. And so I think a lot of triathletes are made up of people who were not natural athletes, who were not their star baseball player. And at some point they went, what would be a really hard thing at a big challenge for me? And a swim bike and run all at once seems like a crazy thing.

So for them proving themselves wrong about who they've been told they are their whole life, that's the gift. You never had that. So when you're like, you just see yourself who has that confidence not doing well and not overcoming anything. Yeah, they have their own successes within each result, regardless of the finishing place. Do you know how happy I was when I finished my first try?

I was, of course, nowhere near the top, but I just thought, because I didn't see myself as an athlete growing up really. I loved snowboarding and skateboarding, but not aerobic sports. And I felt like I just proved that version of me wrong. I'm not just some musician. I tried hard at this thing that has nothing to do with me. Yeah. Yeah, good point, Nick.

I realize now there's a billion reasons to do it. But there's... I get what you mean. I totally get what you're coming from. But they have their own version of winning. It's just different. And I have that, too. Like, I was eighth overall yesterday.

But in my head, I won because I won my age group. And the selectivision. And also the selectivision. In my head, I was a winner because I was a double winner. And they also mistakenly said I was a winner. But yeah, like we, and I think this is a healthy part of life is like setting, setting these goals that are achievable and then achieving them and looking back and think like, I did it. Okay, what's next? Right.

That's just kind of builds momentum. Yeah. That's, I mean, it's still an addictive process for me, despite the fact that I don't love it as much as half of everyone else that doesn't. We just finished Augusta. Last week's pot, I was like, okay, I'm taking a break. No question. My body is destroyed. And now Eric and I are looking up flights to Los.

Cabos. It's so addicting. It's like, well, that wasn't that hard. I'll just go do it again. The mind really remembers the good stuff. Maybe you do like it. Maybe I do like it. Paula, here's the thing.

I know that you think you don't like it, but I know that you like it because you spend a ton of your free time looking at triathlon stuff. Yeah, it's so addicting. I think the other one thing you might not like is how much you want to be good at it. Yes.

Oh, that's interesting. Like the best, best athletes like, do they really love it? Or they just like, do they just hate losing? Do they just addicted to it? They're crushed by needing to be good at it instead of being able to be just good enough at it. Yeah, the good enough people are like, people like me. Or it's like, yep, I'm just going to be in the middle. It's fun.

Still in the middle. Still in the middle. It's going great. I think I'll pay my coach a little more. All three of us are talking about going to Los Cabos to race. That's correct. We're flirting with the idea Including Eric.

So we are looking for free Airbnb. I'm just kidding. I don't know. Yeah. I mean, my TT bike haven't been on it in a while, but it sounds a little bit okay. Wow. Eric, if it gets bad, just find me on the course

and we can ride and run together. That's what I figure. Like worst case scenario, I just sit down mid-heat stroke, and about the time I'm recovered, and we're just walking in together, drinking margaritas. Because I'll have had a stroke also at the time, so I'll be walking as well. That would actually be so funny if we literally did the race together. Oh, my God.

Wait, like at the same place, you mean? You guys have to do like one-armed breaststroke while I do freestyle. Yeah, no, Eric would have to wait for me, and then collectively Eric and I would wait for Nick. I think you guys would just try to swim pace me. and then bike pace me and then I see what I can do on the run. No, because Nick, we're staggered, so you're already behind us.

Yeah, that's right. Right from the go. We're going to need to get into the celebrity division of the 7th century those covers. Oh, that's so good. The celebrities go off with the pros. Yep. I love it.

Oh, my God. This is going to be a great time. That's so funny. Well, yeah, we are very much flirting with it. Here's another interesting anecdote from my week and then I'll just stop talking. Okay, great. But last week after Augusta, I was in off-season mode totally switched. I went down to meet Eric.

I only brought running shoes so I didn't have a bike. We didn't try to swim. But I did a little jog each day just to feel normal because exercise makes me feel normal. And after a week of no biking or swimming, I feel totally awesome. So recovered. Nothing hurts. I think all the little aches and things. pains and ailments that I get are from the bike, not from the run. It's crazy. Or from just

like the cumulative load of everything. Think about the like position you're in on a time trial bike trying to go as hard as humanly possible. It is not a natural position. You're locked versus when you're running. That is something we've been doing since we were cavemen and it's an upright, very natural position. Your body wants to run. So I just think that we think that we think. We think think that biking is safer because it's an on impact, but I think that the majority of the injuries and aches and pains I get are from riding my time trial bike maximum effort. That's 100% why my hip's messed up. Yeah. And also it's the reason why my tendon in my right, my biceps tendons is messed up, actually. Yeah. The locked in nature can be worse and you're locked into a certain knee flexion.

Yeah. It's, we hope to God that your bike fitter gets it right on the first go, but one millimeter out of place could or send things out of whack and think about how many you're you're definitely on a bike for many many more hours than you are running each week and how many repetitions of that circular motion you're doing every time you go for a ride. Let's not discount too that like for most people biking is like half of your training, not one third. So taking it out is really reducing the overall volume like you said. But that's an interesting point.

Systematically you're recovering. Yeah. In the TT bike, I noticed it yesterday too. I'm just like, God, this is such a constricting position. It's so isolating certain muscles instead of that running or swimming feeling of really engaging everything. Fluidity. Yeah. And your body wants to be efficient.

Like it'll work towards efficiency. So anyway, it's just an interesting realization because in the past, when I've taken like a break or something where I'm only doing one activity today, my brain goes to cycling because it's the most restful, quote, on quote or like it feels like something I could do in an easy week and it won't have that much impact on my body but it certainly does have an impact on your muscles, etc. So anyway, take a week off biking everyone. Just take a week off. Just take a week off. Please, for the love of God, take a week off. Yeah. Don't do anything. Maybe it could be sleep week. But the fact that I took a week and I still ran 50K last week, but I didn't do the the other two, allowed for this realization.

Versus if I had taken everything off, I would have never associated this with biking. Yeah, that's really interesting. That's pretty interesting, man. That was my study for the offseason. You guys are next. Great. My study will involve a lot of sleep and cookies. By the way, I'd like to say that the second place in the celebrity division was Parker,

who is a huge fan of the TTL podcast, and I think he's a fitness model. and he brought me cookies from his favorite bakery. If you see me at a race and bring me cookies, I might marry you right out of the spot. This is not using the pod for good, Nick. Just leveraging this platform. Wait, what did you say what happened if they did? I'll take their hand in marriage on the spot.

Oh, that is dangerous. Man or woman. Oh, yeah, or anything else. Yep, absolutely. Okay. Yeah, that's my offseason. Eric, any offseason ideas before we sign off here? For what I'm going to do in the offseason?

Any studies? Any offseason studies. I've already done mine. Biking is bad for you. Well, sleep week was my idea. Yeah, you're right. Okay, yours is a sleep week. Mine is cookie week.

What's cookie week? Oh, we'll get into that in the future, but I think we could have a cookie week. Like a bake sale. Cliffanger. That's right. And we're out. Bye. See you next week.

Later, everybody.