That Triathlon Life Podcast - Eric wins Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon, race recap, saddle discomfort, running out of the swim, and more!

Episode Date: June 9, 2022

This week we break down Eric's amazing performance and win at Escape From Alcatraz; one of the most storied and historic races in triathlon. We answer questions about side stitches and how we handle them, bilateral breathing and when we use it, and much more! Check out http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hello everyone. Welcome to That Triathlon Life podcast. I'm Paula Findlay. I'm Eric Loggestrom. I'm Nick Goldstone. And welcome back after a week off. We are here again with you. We have a huge buildup of questions. We have an Alcatraz recap. We have a film fest recap. So much on the plate today. If this is your first time here, then welcome. Eric and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a professional musician. We do videos. I don't do videos. Nick and Eric do videos. You do videos. I do reels. I mean, you're in the videos. You're part of the team. I'm in the videos. I'm in the videos, yeah.

But our main gig is doing triathons, and Eric just won escape from Alcatraz. Eric, you won? First place? Nobody else was in front of me at the finish line. Wow. I don't know what happened. Overall, all the people. There are a lot of people trying really hard, and you beat them all.

Yeah. I think Nick is the most proud out of anyone ours. I just keep checking. the results over and over again just to remind myself like, wait, what happened? Oh, yeah, that's right, Eric won. Okay, very good. I was particularly funny yesterday morning, less than 24, but basically like exactly 24 hours after across the finish line, you text, they're like, dude, you won Alcatraz yesterday. That's all I felt. Yeah, it does feel just like it was yesterday, doesn't it? That's exactly what you said. Yeah, that was great. But that was coming right off the back of Nick and Eric's film controlled burn getting into the Mountain Film Film Festival in Telly Ride.

And Nick traveled there. Eric did not because he had Alcatraz coming up, but Nick represented the two of them. And Nick, we would love to hear a little bit about that weekend. It looked beautiful. We really wished we could have been there. But tell us about how the weekend went. Unbelievable. Me and my girlfriend drove there from L.A., and it's about like a 16, 17-hour drive.

And we stopped the first day in Zion. and then we got there the next day and we were there from Thursday through Monday and it was so surreal. I've been there before. The first year I was there, I had, there was a short film done about my mom

who was a mountaineer and now Paints Mountains and I had done the music, the original score for the short, and we just fell in love with that film festival. So I went back the next year just as a spectator and then when Eric and I did controlled burn, I thought, well, why not submit? you know, kind of like pie in the sky, crazy idea.

And then when we found out that we got in, we just freaked out. You know, Eric, neither Eric nor myself had ever gotten into a film festival. So we were pretty shocked. 100% no. I mean, you suggested, I didn't realize there was such a backstory behind this particular film festival for you. I just, I thought this was just like a random one you applied to and we got into. And like, I've heard of it, of course, because that's a big one. but that's awesome. I love the story.

Yeah, it's the only one I applied to because I just thought it was cool. And, you know, it's like $65 to apply. So I'm not just like, oh, willy-nilly apply to 10, 15 of them. $65 buys a lot of pizza. But I did like this one a lot. In Santa Monica. Yeah, in Santa Monica, it buys two slices of pizza. But yeah, it was extremely cool.

You know, I got to present the short film twice. And it was both times, it was very very, surreal. People in the audience listening to me talk about the film that Eric and I made. And I wish Eric was there, but I feel like I did a pretty good job representing you. And it was a very cool weekend. It was kind of tough because driving there was tough. Me and my girlfriend were sick the week before.

And then my mom was sick for a day when we got there, when she got there because my parents came. But all in all, it was incredibly fun, incredibly beautiful. The city of town of Telly Ride is strikingly. beautiful. Eric's saying that maybe it's a little bit like Canmore in Canada. It kind of has the same sort of vibe as Banff, Canmore, where it's just like down the city's streets, you just see mountains. And it's like in this, it looks like it's in a little bit of a valley. It is a hundred percent. Mountains all around. Yeah. Yeah. I think the difference is it's pretty hard to get to. So it keeps it a little smaller and more remote and less people.

It definitely is very small. And the price of the real estate. reflects that it's nuts how expensive this stuff is there now all of a sudden. But anyway, it was really great and then drove back, was home for two days, and then drove up to San Francisco to hang out with Eric

for Escape from Alcatraz. And I mean... You definitely could have not come. I threw that out there. You did. You were like, I was expecting you to cancel. If it sounds fun, come along. But yeah, drove up and then

we just kind of hung out the first night and then the next day what did we do Eric we pre-rode the course in the morning right you went for a swim yeah yeah yeah we got in like pretty kind of later in the evening and just had time to get some dinner and stuff and I built my bike but then the next morning we woke up

and we went out and pre-roved the course I wouldn't say we were like the early birds got the worm and then we went out yeah we literally we passed Ben and Jason coming back from when we were going out like okay so we're a little late yeah exactly but i think it was perfect i mean we had good weather for it and everything got to do the whole thing and um just wrote it pretty pretty nice and easy because like that course didn't really beat up your

legs if you just go ride it and are kind of excited because the hills are just are legitimately pretty steep so um then what else did we do we went for open water swim no way no way i went for open water swim i was i was sitting there watching you swim and then someone taps me on my shoulder behind me And they're like, hey, are you Nick? I turn around as Jackie Herring. And I'm like, yes, I know who you are. And she's like, yeah, I'm a fan. She's talking about the videos, obviously.

I feel like we need to make a public service announcement here. Nick does not do the videos, okay? Eric does the videos. Nick, one out of 100 times will help kind of with one of the videos. Eric is the genius behind the videos. I think what the misconception is that everyone has a video guy these days. that comes to the races with him. So Nick comes to the races, has the camera,

and everyone's like, oh, Nick makes the vlog. Right, right. That's exactly the misconception. Right. But Nick does do the pod for us. So Nick is not... I'm not 100% expendable. I'm just mostly expendable.

Not at all. You're multifaceted, man. You can hold the camera. You can brighten the mood. You basically were Brent McMahon's personal assistant. That's true. Much of Saturday evening. There could be a whole podcast episode dedicated to Brent's experience.

But I truly think, most importantly, you bring a good vibe to races. And I don't think that Eric necessarily would have won without either. So it is not unnoticed. We will never know. I think Eric would have won, maybe even by more. But I would like to think that his whole weekend experience was enhanced. was enhanced. Absolutely.

Absolutely elevated. Yeah. And it is nice having you go and me staying behind because usually Eric and I are races together, which kind of elevates the stress level overall if we're both racing. But having me stay behind with the dog and just doing my training while Eric is going to do his thing is great. And the reason I wasn't there was not because I'm injured. I'm actually training well. But I just don't love that race personally.

Although I did kind of regret not going after Eric won. And we also had to like make a pretty serious decision. And if you have anything that is like, to use the word I hate, but a niggle, anything that's like feeling like it might be an injury coming on, Alcatraz is a great place to go and make sure that it is a big serious injury. Oh, for sure. People, I don't know if people realize. The whole thing. The whole thing. Every single aspect is like borderline and Xtera.

The swim is obviously nuts. And then the bike is just up and down and up and down. And apparently Eric was saying that the course is way. better this year because they've paved a bunch of sections again. But as a first time riding, it sure seemed really rough to me. So I cannot imagine what it was like before.

Yeah, there were some rough sections still, and that's kind of what the entire course used to be like. But they've got some beautiful new black asphalt on a lot of it, which is I mean, huge relief. Let's cut to the chase and talk about the race first a little bit before we get into our questions.

Well, we woke up at the crack of freaking one in the morning is what it felt like. But it 4 a. 420. Yeah, 420, that's right. That's not too bad. That's pretty normal for a race. I know.

I could, I mean, if you were there, we would have woken up at 3.45. I'll just say that. And, because I had a text from Brent at 4.20, like, 415. He was already up and hoping to come to our room to borrow our pump. And I was like, I'm still hitting snooze one more time. Right. Dude.

But, yeah, I got up at 420 and then, like, slammed some food. And the thing with Alcatraz is it's pretty logistical. it's not hard, but there's just a lot of things to do in the morning. So then you need to get to transition, put your bike in transition, at least for pros. You know, age groupers can do it the night before. But you need to like, you know, set your bike up and everything. Then you get in this massive long circuitous line to get on a bus, which takes you on like a 20-minute drive to the ferry. Where you board the ferry, you leave your back, your clothes and stuff in a bag and just get on the ferry in your wetsuit.

And then you ride the ferry for an hour. and then you get dropped off right next to Alcatraz Island, and then you finally start. So we started, jumped into the water at like 7.15 and been up since 4 a.m., just like kind of going through the process of getting to the race start. Well, I was reading on Jackie's Instagram, and I'd heard a couple times that the ferry will not always drop you guys off

in the same spot every year, right? I mean, it's supposed to, but they have to kind of make a call, judgment call based on the conditions. Sometimes they'll bring you what they did this year, just because the visibility was rapidly deteriorated, and the current was pretty strong. They brought us really close to shore, so we could just kind of swim straight along shore

versus this sort of like diagonal where you go across all this river, quote-unquote, that's flowing out underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, and there's a little bit of navigation to be done. So they just made it simple. It's funny because that doesn't really play to your strengths. Like, ideally they drop you off on the other side of the island, you know? Right.

Oops. It's a four-mile swim. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I was pretty concerned about it initially because I sort of imagine that that would decrease the swim to like 10 minutes long or something, and it would just be a non-factor overall. But it ended up being like a 25-minute long swim, which is like totally fair. Sometimes in Alcatraz we get out in 24 minutes, sometimes we get out in 34.

Just like totally luck of the draw with turbulence and the current in the bay. And then so you were not first out of the water. The cow guy was the first out of the water, right? Yep. Greg Harper. I feel like we're going to be. saying his name a lot on the podcast. If he keeps racing because he was out of the water 45, 50 seconds ahead of Ben and I.

I was on Ben's feet for the first probably two-thirds of the swim, and I came around him and led for the last third, and then we got out of the water essentially together. I felt pretty good. I felt pretty comfortable. I'm definitely a little bit better at wetsuit swims than non-wetsuit swims for whatever reason. So I ran really well through transition, got on the bike, in the lead, and just like essentially put in a big surge.

I knew that we needed to, if Jason West was like the only other person that was really significantly in my mind as a factor, was anywhere close to us and he could see us, I figured that would be just enough encouragement for him to ultimately latch on and then to be just a running race like Chattanooga was, which did not want to have that happen.

I was definitely concerned when I saw Jason not far behind you and Ben coming out of the water. I think it was only like 35 seconds. Yeah, I was expecting more than that, so I was like, oh, boy, it's going to be a dad. Which, again, just to, like, paint the picture of Alcatraz. You run, it's like an 850 meter run or something from the water exit all the way to transition, and you've got to run through, you know, get your bike and everything. So that, a good runner could bring back a lot of time there if you're not running as hard as you can.

So, and also, at this point, it is just the skies have opened up. Oh, yeah, it is dumping rain. What? Just so much rain In the first couple miles When I was riding behind Ben Before we got to the top of the first climb The motorcycle was right next to him

Like Rocky Arroyo was trying to get a shot A picture of Ben And they just go through this colossal puddle And Ben just like disappears under a wave of water Like he's surfing or something It was so gnarly Sorry, Trixie is a FaceTiming me Oh my gosh

Except we have a job Except, except. We can get her on. I'll call her back after. We'll patch her in. So, yeah, anyway, I was feeling super good. I passed Ben right at the top of the first climb when you're going up to the Golden Gate Bridge. And then I took the lead on the way back down. And then I maintained staying in the front all the way until the Golden Gate Park, which is basically kind of you're about two miles from the turnaround at that point, the halfway point. and I kind of suspected Ben might come around and try to put in a move there. And he did. And I stayed with him.

And then I retook the lead at the top of that little kind of grind and held it all the way back. So I came in a transition first off the bike, which I was 100% not expecting. I mean, I was just watching the video from us like course previewing and I'm like cracking jokes like crazy about. It doesn't matter what gears I have on my bike. I just need to go like a thousand watts since that's what Ben's going to be doing. Right, right. I don't need a small chain ring. I don't need a climbing gear.

I don't need anything because we're just going to be going so hard and hanging on for dear life. But I felt really good. I think Ben was having a little bit of an off day and came in a transition with like maybe 10 seconds on him, but essentially together. I was worried when I saw you in front of him coming into T2 because I thought your ego got the best of you

and you wanted to be in front and then you were just going to destroy yourself for the run and you're going to have nothing left, which is the opposite of what happened, actually. I was taking a lot of risks for sure on the downhills. Like, I think I really nailed my tire pressure and my tire selection and everything, and I felt pretty confident.

I think people would be interested to hear your tire selection and stuff. Okay. I don't think he's allowed, right? Are you allowed to say? Yeah, you probably can't even actually say anything about that. Yeah, never mind. But you can say you're tires. I was running Schwalby G1 TTs, I think is what they're called.

Are you allowed to say the PSI? Yeah, I can say that. And I was running very low PSI. I was running 63 in the back, 60 in the front, and on 28th. So that's kind of the thing with Tubeless these days. You can run a lot lower tire pressure and get away with it. And especially in the rain, huge difference. Oh, so much more grip.

I mean, that's amazing. Yeah. I know Ben was running tubes and he had to run like 85 PSI. So I think that's got a lot to do with why I was getting a little bit of room on the descents and saving some energy there. Because Bond Trigger doesn't make a tubeless wheel. Welcome to 2019. Welcome to 1999. Yeah, seriously. But then that's great. And then you got off into the run. I saw you, you came by me and right at the beginning of the run.

And I was like, doing great, Eric. No one behind you. you're like, first thing you said, it was just like, how far back to Jason? Yeah. Well, at Alcatraz, you can see people coming in off the bike as you're, like, running out of transition because it's kind of the roads right there and everything. And I saw him coming in,

but you just, like, never really know how long it took you to run through transition and the whole process and everything. So I figured it was around two minutes, which Jason 100% has run two minutes into me on a 10K before. If I'm having just like a okay day and he's having a stellar Jason day, So I was, I mean, I was 100% not ready to relax or thinking that it was over or anything. And it kind of assumed in my mind that with two miles to go, he would catch me.

And I was going to have to literally like kill myself if I wanted to win. I FaceTime Paula, right, right as you pass to tell her like Erickson first right now. And Jason is like, I think he was like two and a half or three minutes back. No, he must have been like two and a half minutes back there. It must have been two minutes back because I think I ran a minute faster than I mean and was three minutes ahead overall at the end Right So I told her I told her that I was like I told Eric that Jason was nowhere

Could Jason really like make up two and a half minutes on him? And she was like she's like I guess but probably not So I was like I was like okay I hope I didn't give him bad information Yeah it happened at St. Anthony's I think I think he was 90 seconds back And still caught the leaders and then the minutes back of the leaders yeah And then the run it was like still raining and it's like up and down like sand and dirt. Yeah.

Yeah, you start out the first couple of miles are flat, and then you run up this kind of crazy bike path, and it's not bike path, it's a walking path slash stairs that are very rough and old and everything, and then you're going up the same initial climb as you do on the bike where you go up to the Golden Gate Bridge, and then you kind of crest and go back down the other side. You run all the way down to the beach,

and then you do like 800 meters or a kilometer out and back on the beach, soft sand on the way out, hard sand on the way back, and then you hit the sand ladder. So this is the one place on the course where you can see other people. And when I got to the turnaround on the beach, so probably, I don't know, 400 meters of soft sand running

or maybe 600 meters of soft sand running, I saw the other guys just hitting the beach. And again, I'm going, how long did that take? It felt like 45 minutes, but maybe it's 45 seconds, I'm not sure. And then I did the sand ladder, and at the top of the sand ladder,

somebody told me that I had 30 seconds. Oh my God, you got to be kidding me. Like, I felt pretty slow on the sand ladder, but everybody does. It's the most brutal thing you can do in triathlon. There's nothing harder on any triathlon course ever. So I, at no point in time in the race that I really feel like I could truly relax, even when I saw you with like a mile and a half to go and you're like, I can't see anybody. I'm like, I don't know if I like 100% trust you.

Maybe you're not looking close enough. Right, right, right, right. Like there's a lot, you're seeing other runners are going out. at this point. So somebody could be like, you maybe didn't notice that they were running the same direction as you. It's hard to tell. Looking over my shoulder, I can't tell at all. Yeah. I started my stopwatch right as you passed me right there to try to find you later and give you a split. And I was like 20 seconds, 40 seconds, a minute. And after a minute, I still couldn't see anyone behind you. And I could see like 30, 40 seconds up the trail. So I just like, I ditch it. I'm like,

he got it. He's going to win this. So I just left and tried to come find you. And I just ended up I ended up having to go to the finish because you were going so fast. I couldn't catch you anywhere in between. That was awesome, man. It's such a... And then what was that last, like... Such a cool way? What was the last, like, half a mile like when you kind of, like, knew you had it in the back?

Well, I was just, like, trying not to hit people, because everybody that was running out of transition was running on the wrong side of the running path as I'm running in and actually completely slammed into a woman who was, like, yelling at the lead biker for being in the way. Don't worry. I got the footage. Don't worry. It'll be on the show. It was just like constant.

Like you're running through the airport, the wrong direction is what it was like. And just trying to get to the finish line shoot and not take anybody out. So, I mean, it was, it was experience all the way to the end. And then you crossed the line. You let out a lion's roar, as you can see in all the rails. It was really, it was more of it just like,

I can't believe, I actually can't believe that happened. I legitimately thought I was going to have to be in a sprint. I thought I was going to get caught. Like such relief, I've been trying and dreaming about winning that race since I won it in 2015. So it's just, yeah, it was more just like, I can't believe that finally, finally happened. And you did it decisively. You had the fastest bike and the fastest run, not by a little bit. You really outrun Jason by a lot, a lot.

So it was your race. That was your day. That course suits Eric a lot. It does. And I think the rain suited him too. Yeah. Yeah. Everything about that day was a good day for me.

And you're right. That course is not like a true pure runner's course. It's not all foot speed. It's strength and being able to turn and maintain momentum in weird situations. Well, congratulations, Eric. It's amazing. After the race, we, well, let me tell you real quick about my day because I didn't get in the water, but I was soaking wet along with everyone else that was spectating.

And I was wearing my cotton TTL crew that was just soaked all the way through. I have Eric's camera in my backpack, but I can't use it. So I'm just using my phone the whole time to film stuff running around. I was hanging out with Jenna and Miguel, and they were trying to get footage too. And Miguel's trying to fly the drone, but it's too rainy so the drone doesn't work. The police is coming over to us telling us that we can't fly drones. So he's trying to sneak around. Meanwhile, I'm on my road bike, but half the run course is on dirt.

So I'm like gravel riding and mud with my road bike trying to find Eric Gimm's splits and film. Dirt is a generous term for it. Yeah, it was terrible. Like soupy sand mud. But it made it so much cooler when you cross the line and you won. And then luckily, like you got interviewed by like half of America felt like while you were at the finish there. But the skies kind of cleared up. And we went back to the hotel and cleaned up a bit and then came back for awards.

And you gave you a little speech. and then we went to get so just so everyone knows, the day before the race, we were hanging out with Jackie Herring who ended up winning the women's field and I told her, I said that she said it,

but I told her that Eric or Jackie would buy us milkshakes if they won. Had to buy everyone else milkshakes. So we did end up going to Giradelli Square and getting Sundays. It was great. It was a really fun time. So we did that with her

and then hung out a bit. Wrapped it all up nicely. That was a great. That was just a, what a memorable day. And then on the way back home, Nick got a flat tire and was stranded in the middle of nowhere. That's true. They made it even more memorable.

Yeah. I was supposed to get home late at night and that 8.30, my rear tire, like, ripped apart. And luckily, I was like five minutes from this, not a town because there weren't any houses there, but there were gas stations and the Best Western. So I just stayed at the Best Western for the night and got a toe in the morning to Fresno and got the tire change and was home at like 7 o'clock yesterday instead of the night before. for.

But it's still worth it. A little blemish on an otherwise sterling experience. It's part of the story. Part of the story. But we're so proud of you, Eric. I mean, what an amazing thing. This is the first race that you've won

since we've really become friends. And it felt like I won the race. It's just amazing. What a cool race to win. That's cute. No, I totally, I mean, that's how I felt when you won Daytona. I completely lost my mind.

And I was like, everything that I had been, I was so invested in it that it felt like, I mean, I was so hard to race after that. Just so you know, Paula, he said that to me in the hallway of the hotel as we were walking out. Because I said to him, I was like, I feel like I won today. And he was like, now, just imagine how I felt when Paula won. And I was just freaking out.

It was like a year of COVID. And it was her first time winning big like that. And it was like this huge race. And it was just so emotional. So he really means it. He's not just telling that to fluff you up. Yeah. No, I know.

I know. We're a couple of super emotional boys. I think we need to get on to the questions. Let's do it. Let's do it. Let's move on to the Q's. But thank you for the recap. We appreciate the recap. And thank you for being so patient, Paula. Well, it might be another seven years before I went another race,

so we just took a little extra time on it. That's right. So we'll go right into these questions, and once again, all of you can send your questions into that triathlon life brand at gmail.com. And our first question is from Brooke. She says, hey, Eric, Paula, Nick, and Flynn. Funny story. I'm moving from Newfoundland to.

Edmonton for work this week. Never been there before and it's a huge change for me, but I'm super excited. In an effort to help myself find some friends and community, I look for volunteer opportunities and remember there was a race coming up in Edmonton soon. I filled out a Google formed volunteer and guess who I was connected with by email, none other than a certain Sheila Finley. The last name got me wondering how many other epic triathlon related Finleys could there be in Edmonton? Some quick insta sleuthing. This is the 21st century after all, confirmed the suspected relation. Anyways, looking forward to getting

involved in the tri-community in Edmonton as an athlete and volunteer. And it made me think of a question for you all. When you think of home slash where you grew up, what are some fond memories that come up? Could be relating to triathlon or sports. I grew up playing soccer and I remember dearly the time spent

with teammates in the dressing room before games or just to your community, such as walking to your favorite park or home-cooked meal from a family member. A little nostalgia is always fun. Keep up the amazing work from the pod and vlog. I look forward to them every week. P.S. Eric's recent answer about his process. Choosing music for the vlog made me tear up. I always notice how beautifully the music pairs with the video. I really appreciate the time and effort that goes into that.

Wishing you all the best and I hope to see you at the race at Edmonton if you make the trip up, Brooke. Nice. So the little backstory there is my mom is the race director for the PTO Edmonton. So I guess when you go ask to volunteer, you get directed to her because she's looking for volunteers all the time. So that's cool. Thank you for offering. And I hope you have fun volunteering. Honestly, one of my best memories of being a kid in Emmington is watching the triathons there, like watching the World Cups. And it's ultimately what inspired me to get into triathlon was watching Simon Whitfield

and Siri Lindley and all of these iconic names that I didn't really know at the time race in Horlack Park, where we're going to be racing in July. So it is really cool to kind of come full circle and be back there. in my professional career, being able to race in front of my family and friends, when that's literally where I stood on the sidelines watching the heroes I had at the time, race. So, I don't know. That's a, like, all of my memories related to Edmonton. I grew up there.

I didn't move away, really, till I was in my late 20s. But most of my fond memories are from sports, like running cross country, running track, cycling, swimming with the swim club, all that. Yeah, yeah, I would say the same thing. I grew up outside of Portland, but Portland's definitely the big city that I was on the outskirts of and doing bike racing in my teens and doing the local triathlons just around the area that we could drive to and everything. Those are all the things that just when I think of the area pop up into my mind and just a beautiful scenery. I truly just fell in love with being out in nature and riding my bike in the woods like that.

Nick, did you grow up? You didn't grow up in Italy, did you? It depends on how you defined grew up. I grew up there until it was six. Do you have memories of it? Oh, yeah, of course. All my earliest memories are there. Yeah.

So, I mean, I remember learning how to ride a bike right in the city square because it's in Europe and Italy specifically. The center of the city is like you have a, like, a, it's called the piazza. It's like a square that's like a big, open, flat area where people just congregate and talk and meet up and there's usually bars and restaurants around it. So we would take my bike down and I learned how to ride a bike right in that square. I mean, I remember that. I have a lot of great memories, skiing where we were right near the mountains there too.

But yeah, it's kind of a vast question. But yeah, I guess my first memories are kind of going between Italy and the U.S. That's kind of like the early part of my life. Oh, that's interesting. Cool. Thanks for the question, Brooke. Yeah, thanks, Brooke. Next question is from David.

Hey, Team. I just love you guys. You keep me entertained and motivated. I appreciate all the content you put out for all of us. And Nick, I appreciate you engaging with total strangers on Instagram. The sad face is still funny. Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that. We didn't do it this time. I just didn't feel totally natural. So I tried it once and the audio was weird. Question for you all. I just finally competed in my first try, the North Vancouver Triathlon, which was a sprint distance. I've worked hard and made a lot of progress keeping my heart rate down the last few years, and I'm able to keep it in check pretty well going from bike to run. In this race, though, my heart rate was sky high after the swim.

T1 and the first lap of the bike course. We did four laps. I was able to calm down for a bit for the rest of the bike and have fun and ended up finishing fourth in my age group. Is this something that's normal? Do you deal with this still? Is it just adrenaline being my first race? Any tips other than just keep doing it?

I've got an Olympic distance coming up in July. Thanks, David. Yeah, that's an interesting question. Yeah, there's a lot of things that are interesting about what he's saying. When you're going from swimming horizontally to running vertically, you're completely changing the orientation of your body and your heart, and that's a weird feeling, and everyone's heart rate kind of skyrockets at that point. And so it's just a feeling that because it was your first one might be a little unusual and scary,

but I don't think there's necessarily a way to prevent that from happening, it's just being okay with it happening. And the more you practice it, I guess, the better it becomes. But honestly, I think the only way to fix that is you are going slower while swimming. Either you just get more fit, so you're going the same speed more easily. Yeah. Or your heart rate coming out of the water has to be a lot lower. I still have this all the time, and it's just like I can tell in the last 400 meters of a swim

if the run out of the water is just going to be horrible because I'm on the limit already or if it's going to be super good because I've just been chilling on somebody's feet. Yeah. But I don't really understand when he says I've made a lot of progress keeping my heart rate down. Well, I think...

Yeah, that's a bit confusing because I don't think the goal necessarily should be to keep your heart rate down in a race. That's what I was thinking. But maybe a heart rate that he's not maybe panicking at. Because sometimes when your heart gets so high, You can't breathe properly, and it's super uncomfortable. And obviously, in a race, you want to kind of hit that zone, but also keep it under a level that is manageable for a whole race.

So it is kind of a fine line. I assume we're talking about keeping it down inside of the manageable zone. Yeah. Well, what I would ask you guys as professionals is, do you think that maybe a race is a situation where you can't really compare your heart rate to what you've been doing in training? because you're just in a completely new scenario. You're psyched out of your mind about it, and your heart is reacting to much more than just your physical exertion. Yeah, I think a good tip would be for him to not look at your heart rate while you're racing.

Don't think about it. Just race. Just think about effort, right? It can be a good tool if you're doing a 70.3 or an Iron Man to make sure you're not overexerting too early or anything and keeping that under control if it's a tool you use in training. However, in a sprint distance race, you shouldn't be looking at any numbers. just go as hard as you can.

Yeah. I think. Yeah. It might be interesting to like still wear the heart rate monitor, but either tape over it or just have it flipped around so you can't see it. So then maybe you get the data out of it. But one of the thing I was going to ask was like, are you feeling this panicky feeling and then looking at your heart rate

and seeing how high it is and that's encouraging that feeling? Or is it like you're looking at your heart rate, but you otherwise feel fine or what? So I've done that before like in a bike workout since we use power. Like I'll just tape over my power. meter, so I'm not obsessing about, oh, how does this feel, and do I feel good? And does that hurt more than I think it should? And you just go hard and then see what the numbers were, and you might surprise yourself. Well, I was going to ask you guys, that's what I do with heart rate.

I basically don't look at heart rate during my training or my racing, but I always look at it afterwards. Do you guys look at your heart rate ever during training? No. No. We got heart rate numbers when we did our, like, V-O-2 max and VLA max testing back early season. So we, we like kind of know what it's there for, but if you've read anything about heart rate, you know that it's kind of subjective to how much sleep you got and how hydrated you are and, and, and, and, and, and, caffeine and how deep into the workout you are is just so many things. It can be a good guidance, but shouldn't be like the end-all, be-all of your pacing strategy, in my opinion. David, I think our advice would be it's worry more about your effort and your perceived

exertion, and especially if it's a sprint, just go for it, you know. I mean, you can still blow up, but I would say heart rate looking at it while you're racing, it seems like kind of there's too many things going on to really use that as a tool. Yeah, I agree. Great. Okay, cool. Well, next question is from Mike. Hey, Paula. Hey, Nick, Paula Flynn and Eric, L-O-L. I love it. Eric, your last behind Flynn. Thanks for all of your awesome motivation. I'll just take this question off then. Do you remember the person that said, hey, Eric, Paula, Flynn, and Nick in that order? Yes, Nick, we get the joke. We get the joke.

Okay, got it, got, got, got it. Thanks for all of your awesome motivation. I'm still laying in bed on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend trying to get caught up on the vlog. I just watched the Oceanside episodes. It's been a busy spring and got to thinking you had really good success at Oceanside and you arrived in Southern California over a week before the race. how important is it to arrive well ahead of the race to get settled and to check out the local coffee and donut scene prior to the race? Very important.

What is the sweet spot in arriving before the race? Eric, that podium performance is coming. So this email was sent before Sunday. Yes, yes, it was. And I love the gear, but being six foot five, I'd love extra tall gear. Cheers, Mike. Cool. I would say that if there's no time zone change, there's no real need to go early.

and a lot of the reason we did go early to Oceanside is because we were driving, and that road trip takes a lot of days, a lot of sitting, so it was nice to get there early and shake that out a bit. And didn't you race, are we doing, why did we go so early? I can't remember. Well, we have friends down there that we could stay with. Oh, that's right. Yeah, so it was affordable.

And we wanted to do the pop-up thing, so we had to drive and bring stuff with us. So, yeah, if you're driving, that's the length of time that we went before St. George last year when I had such a good result. So we just kind of decided to replicate that same training plan and everything of taking a day off of training like 10 days out or something like that and then doing our last like three hard workouts at the location. But I think if you're thinking about age group athletes in particular, it's not really an option to go really early because they're working.

So say there's a Sunday race. Arriving on Friday is plenty of time. Arriving on Saturday is kind of cutting it close in case your bike doesn't arrive or doesn't give you any opportunity for anything to go wrong. So I would say Friday is the prime amount of time. And the tricky thing that Eric and I find is if we're traveling to the East Coast from the West Coast, the three-hour time change really is difficult for us.

So in those situations, we'll try to go a couple days before, just so we can really get on that time zone. Otherwise, you're racing at 6 a.m., and it feels like 3 a.m., and it's really, really difficult. A lot of people say you should go one day per hour difference. of time. So if it's a three-hour time change, you want to go three days ahead of time

and get used to that time zone. Because ultimately for Chattanooga, we had to wake up at like midnight or 11.30 a, you know, p.m., whatever, hour time to race at 3 a.m. hour time and that your body doesn't get used to that in the course of 48 hours. But because we got there early,

we were adjusted to it. Yeah. Anyway. I think it's fun to get there early because you can get your check-in done, you can check out the donuts. Yeah, it's so much nicer to be not stressed. I'd say, like, ideal situation, you get there and you have one day where you can just, like, go see the course, get donuts, get a coffee,

or whatever, and you're not stressed, and then the next day you check in and you do the stuff, and then you race. Yeah. My logistical tip for age groupers would be that you would definitely want to check when bike check-in is and when registration and stuff is, because there are some, for example, Iron Man races where, the last day that you can do that stuff is actually Friday for a Sunday race. That happened to a friend of mine who had the flight come in on Friday and missed that.

That's unusual. He would have missed it so we had to change. But if you're flying in the day before and bike check and stops at 4 o'clock, I mean, that's cutting it tight. So I think getting in the day before is a little scary. Also, when we checked in the day before at Chattanooga, just because we were staying pretty far out of town. And the age group lineup to register was weaving through. the expo. Whereas if you check in Thursday, like the first opportunity in the evening, nobody's there. So it's just less time on your feet. You can get in really quick and get all your stuff and not worry about it on the day before the race.

If that's an option, it's definitely nicer. But also, we're not just there just to like show up and race and leave, right? For most of us, this is this whole lifestyle that we've built around this. So it's fun to get there a few days before. Maybe you have to take a day off work. but you get there a few days before and you soak up the atmosphere of the place that you're about to race in and have this extremely memorable experience in. So I think if you can, get there a few days earlier and do the coffee and the donuts and the course rec. Just go around and check everything out before doing the race. Totally. 100% agree. Okay, great.

Well, next question is from Leone. I hope that's right. Greetings from Germany. Hey, Paula, Eric, Nick, and Flynn. The order is variable. Appreciate that. My name is Leone, and I absolutely love listening to your podcast, which I most. do whilst I bike home from lab on Thursday afternoons.

So your release day is just perfect for me. It really gets my head off my studies as there's simply no better combination than biking and listening to your lovely voices and tips. Now to my question. I find it really hard to add quality to my bike workouts. I have a run and swim squad, and my training across these disciplines is quite structured.

However, I really struggle with that for my biking as I mostly go for rides with mates. Do you have any tips for key bike workouts which amateur triathletes should incorporate. Keep up the amazing content and good luck with your racing. Leone. Well, first off, like, doing hard bike session can be super, super daunting. I mean, like, the number of times that Nick, you have texted me about you're getting ready

to do a bike workout and you just don't think you can do the script. Oh, yeah, 100%. I don't remember you ever saying that about swimming. No, never, yeah, never. Or running. Yeah. And we have the same thing. Like, a lot of times, Paula, Paula, I would.

will just be sitting in the garage, like staring at our bikes for a few minutes with our helmets on going, can we really go to that same road again and go as hard as we went three days ago? It's just crushing, but you just got to get started ultimately. A lot of times, like, what I do is I just try to build into the session. So if we have eight by 10 minutes or eight by five minutes, whatever it is, it's like, okay, the first one, I'm just going to like, if I don't hit the Watts, that's totally fine. I'm just getting warmed up. and then I'm just going to make build into it versus hitting the watts on the first one and potentially blowing up by the end.

So that can be a way to like kind of trick yourself into getting into the rhythm without just like starting can be so mentally crippling. I think it honestly takes many, many years to realize how hard you can push yourself on the bike. So for someone who's never done bike intervals before, I think it just needs to start super basic. Like you're doing 20 minutes where you go one minute,

hard one minute easy. And hard is relative. It's however hard you want to go that day. And over years and years of doing that, you realize biking can be really hard and you can push a lot of watts. And I didn't really have that realization until like a lot later in my career. So I would say keep it simple at first. Don't focus on watts. Don't focus on heart rate. And just do some fart like type workouts. Maybe take something you might do running and transfer that to cycling. Hill repeats are really good because you're kind of forced to go hard. Like early season we did a thing with Paula

where we just went to this big hill and it was just right up at seven times. And just in the act of doing that we were riding almost at race pace. But like hills are good for that. Yeah, that's a good point. I would say just do find a good like three minute hill and ride up at five times.

There's your bike workout. I wonder where she lives because like a friend of mine just moved to Berlin and he's like, dude, I just did 60 miles of riding with a thousand feet of climbing. You know, like it can be so flat depending on where you are. I was going to say in that situation, if you do live in a busy city, Zwift is the perfect platform to have workouts.

There's literally workouts on the app that just spit out to you and you just do them. Yeah, and if you have a smart trainer, it just automatically the resistance changes and everything. Like a lot of the times when Paul and I have an hour and a half bike work, I mean, just an hour and a half of easy riding. She'll put on a bike workout and put it at lower watts just to pass the time. Yeah, ZWF is a good tool for that. Wahoo Systems is good for that. There's a lot of like online ideas you can use or even just Google like bike workouts.

Yeah, I don't know. I mean, Zwift definitely just helps you take your mind off of it for sure. My pro tip as a non-pro would be the same thing that got me into this in general is like, find some segments on Strava that you want to try to do well at and attack them like that. Maybe find like 20 around you and be like, okay, I'm going to hit this one and this one and that one and that one and like push myself as hard as I can. And the thing that I really like about that is that unlike doing intervals, these things, like you can actually see progression. And there's some excitement and seeing yourself get faster than you were a month ago. I like that.

If you don't have a plan, or maybe if you don't have Zwift or hills, that can be just this like false. goal, not false goal, but kind of imaginary goal that you're setting for yourself that can help push you. And it is cool because you're not necessarily going for a QOM, but it does tell you on Strava if you got a PR on that segment. Exactly. So that's the thing you're just going for your own personal fastest time. Yeah. Cool. Well, thanks for that question, Leonie.

I hope we pronounce your name right because if we pronounce it wrong, we said it wrong like 15 times. Next question is from Jake. Hey, Paula, Paula, Eric, and Nick. Firstly, love that y'all are doing YouTube pod, merch, et cetera, et cetera. Eric doesn't like the word merch. Don't use the word merch. Gear. Swack.

No, don't say swag either. I genuinely get excited to watch slash listen every week. And now I'll get to watch slash listen while drinking coffee in my new sweet mug I just ordered. Awesome. Well, thank you for that, Jake. A question for the pod. I'm curious your thoughts on how comfortable a bike saddle should be.

I personally struggle getting comfortable. Have tried at least a dozen saddles, had a professional bike fit, use chamois cream, and I'm fairly flexible. I'm not super light, 88 kilograms played American football growing up, but I've also heard it's never going to be truly comfortable. I don't get sores, but it constantly bugs me. Not surprisingly, I notice it more on the trainer.

So to what extent do you just try to ignore it versus continue working on making it more comfortable? Best Jake. That's interesting. man. If you're comfortable on your bike seat on the trainer, you've achieved the holy grail of cycling. I disagree. I don't even think for a second about my bike saddle ever. I'm saying you are in the minority. Like it's a long process, but that is, that's the tippy top. That's the ultimate litmus test. If you are comfortable on the saddle on the trainer, not a huge ton of people are, I don't think.

I'm not saying you shouldn't strive for it, but it's tricky. What about your bike shorts? I was going to say that. I'm sure he's tried this. I was going to say that if you're wearing shorts and not bibs, shorts, I started with shorts back in the beginning and I thought that was normal. And then when I switched to bibs, I realized the comfort level was just 10 times better. But I'm thinking like if he's had a professional bike fit and tried 12 saddles, he's definitely wearing bibs. But the quality of the bibs can really impact the comfort of the ride.

So it sounds ridiculous to spend $200, $300 on a pair of bibs. it is totally worth it to have a nice pair that fits you properly, that doesn't rub, that really supports you in the right areas, and puts pressure on the saddle, like, in different ways. So if that's something you haven't tried, buy yourself a pair of $300. Yeah, it's true, though. I've bought cheap bibs. I started with expensive bibs, and then I was like, I'm going to spend all this money on freaking fancy raff or whatever, and I ordered some really cheap ones, and I'd never wear them

because they feel so bad. It's so uncomfortable. It really is very different. Yeah. That's the thing. If you get a nice pair of bibs, you'll wash them twice a week and make sure you have them

for your long ride and you'll get the money's worth out of them. They're worth every penny, yeah. How often are you guys thinking about discomfort in the saddle when you're actually riding on a long ride? Occasionally we'll get saddle stores. It's kind of inevitable when you're riding,

whatever we're riding, I don't know, whatever we're running, 300K a week, 400K a week. More than 300. But a lot of it has to do with if it's wet or you're sweaty. Yeah. Sweat management is really important. I just say get in the habit of always using chamois cream for sure. He says he does that already though.

Yeah. I mean, sometimes I don't know. It's easy to forget. It's more just like an overall discomfort. Well, I can give you one tip. You should just get specialized saddles. Yeah. That's what I ride.

That's what all three of us ride, right? Yeah. The specialized satiro on a TT bike and the power. saddle on a road bike, 100% best saddles I've ever used. And I used them when I wasn't sponsored by Specialized. I used them on my tracks. I used them on every bike I've ever used.

So if that's a brand you haven't tried yet, which I can't imagine it. He probably has. I'm sure. But Specialized does have a ton of saddles, so try the power of the Satero. Yeah, I mean, the other thing, we've talked about this before already as well, but don't be afraid to, like, change the tilt

of the saddle, a degree one way the other. Like, make a note where it was to begin with and then try tilting it back. You know, so it's like a little bit nose up and then try tilting it a little nose down. And just like, you just go for a ride and just do that every 15 minutes and kind of see how it feels. Yeah, that could make a big difference too. And I'm assuming since he's had a professional fit, they measured this, but your sit bones can be different widths. Not widths, but have different distances from each other.

So for example, the power saddle comes in different widths. And I needed the widest one for my hips. But so maybe he, bigger guy. I was maybe making hips, bro. I could pass twins through these hips, but maybe he has a bigger guy needs a wider saddle as well. So, I mean, it's hard.

And like we've said before, just because you had a professional bike fit, it doesn't mean you got a good bike fit. Right. Yeah. I mean, who knows? That was mean. That was mean.

But just keep trying it. Just keep trying things. No, I mean, like in different fitters have different philosophies too. So you never know. It's like going to a PT person. One PT person might have the revelation of how to fix your Achilles

when the last person has a, and had that much Achilles experience. But I would say don't give up. It is an achievable goal to be comfortable on your saddle. 100% absolutely achievable. Hopefully that helped, Jake. Best of luck. He's like, oh, fuck.

Yeah. Now I got to go spend another two grand. Okay, next question is from Jeff. He says, hey, gang, first time slash long time. Love it. Questions for discussion. You feel a cramp, side stitch coming on midway. through the run. Do you, A, hold steady and hope it passes, B, accelerate, bring it on, get through it faster,

or C, ease up and try to work through it. See you at Juniper, ride on Jeff. I love this question, and I'm very excited to hear what you two say about this. Also, I just love the short to the point format of this email. He doesn't have time to waste. He's currently working his way through a side stitch, so that's why he couldn't write too much. Writing his email is giving me a side stitch. I don't really get stitches that often. No, it's very infrequent. I haven't gotten one in a long time. But I'd say I'm in the camp of like, oh, God, please don't get worse.

Please don't get worse. Sometimes I'll just like... Grab it and try to breathe really deep. Yeah, we know that. I know that. That's like the natural human instinct reaction right there, I think, because everyone does that. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, oxygen's got to help. I don't exactly know the science behind cramping. It gives you something to do. I'll tell you what I... Feel proactive. I've noticed. The more I've trained, the less I get side stitch is to the point where I pretty much don't ever get them now. However, the one exception is if I've eaten a lot, in like the days previous, if I've eaten a lot, I won't necessarily have any GI distress, but I'll start getting a side stitch.

It's those donut stitches. So stop eating and train more. Is the conclusion from Nick? Yeah, that couldn't possibly lead to a disaster. No, it's the timing of the heating, too. But I would say I'm in Camp A of those options. I'm definitely not accelerating, and I'm definitely not going to slow down unless I'm, like, crippled by it. Just hold steady, breathe, take some deep breaths.

They usually go away, right? I had this happen in a race two years ago, or I guess three years ago, and it got so bad that I had to walk because I was holding steady. But it was because I had, I went to this, this sounds like I'm making this up, but this is true. I went to this place in San Diego, this like artisanal donut shop the day before and got like six donuts, one of which was like as big as my face and ate that and then went out for awesome Mexican the night before because it was just like, yeah, I felt like partying, you know. And then I felt it on the run so hard that I had to walk for a bit. This is why we bring Nick on the pod, just a little bit of reality. I'm like, I'm going to have fun when I go race. So yeah, I'm going to have the biggest donuts you have, of course.

I've done that. Yeah. That's right. So I think it depends on what you do, but my feeling is that if you were to keep training and keep getting fitter, your body adapts, and you don't get these side stitches unless you've really screwed up something else. Like you've eaten a lot or you are way blown up. Or maybe you're dehydrated.

Dehydrated. Right. Right. So hopefully that helps, Jeff. Next question. Hello, gang. Was on a training run for the upcoming court of Lane 70.3 and listening to the Talbot Cox interview, which I

found awesome and fun. Also watched Paula smash it at Chattanooga live streaming. Amazing. This upcoming 70.3 is my first triathlon. I am a lifelong athlete, collegiate cyclist, but haven't been in a pool swimming laps until about seven months ago. The last time I swam laps was in high school about 30 years ago. My question is breathing patterns while swimming. I recalled getting into a three-stroke rhythm between breaths, but then started watching videos of you guys and other pros, and it seems there's some big differences. Do you train holding your breath for three or more strokes and alternate? Or do you recommend just getting the air when you need it, which at the end of a session for me is every stroke? Is there an advantage for

holding for additional strokes? Love the pod. It motivates and inspires me to keep it up. Thanks, Montana. Maximum oxygen. Yeah, I would say the answer will be different for a pool swimmer versus a triathlete. And I think a lot of the videos you're watching are of triathletes that are just get into the finish line. I don't know. I feel like my breathing pattern kind of changes throughout a set as well. I don't know. I go 100% breathing to the right. I'll warm up a little bit of breathing to the left and just doing bilateral breathing is what you call it when you breathe the both sides. But I certainly don't like do a whole workout of trying to even things out. I do think there's something to be said for like your body naturally wants to breathe on one side. You're probably

faster doing it on that side. I agree. And let it happen, especially when you're racing or doing a hard effort. Actually, I was just watching Lucy's YouTube video. I was going to ask you if you watched it. Yeah. Yeah, she has a stress fracture in her hip and they're hypothesizing that part of the reason is she only breeds to one side and one side was crooked and she was not symmetrical,

scoliosis, all these things. But she grew up swimming and she's one of the fastest swimmers in the sport. She is the fastest swimmer in the sport. So I think with the amount. that you'll be swimming now to train for a triathlon. You haven't lopswam in a lot of years. You're not doing any harm by breathing to one side if that's what you're more comfortable with.

And I do think that when you have a stress fracture, that's bad. You do a lot of hypothesizing. And like, well, maybe it's because I broke my toe when I was three years old. And ever since then, you know, like at least I do that. I totally agree. When I was watching that video

and no shade it all to the team that diagnosed her with that. But when I look at this slow motion footage of her running, it doesn't look that bad to me. And they were saying like, oh, it was going to happen no matter what at some point. And I don't know. It seems like they're like if it's from the swimming to one side caused an imbalance that caused the hip. I guess I'm not a medical professional. You would have thought it would have happened before now.

That's all. If that's it, because she's been breathing that one side of her entire life and she's been training her own triathlon for a while now. I think there's something to be said to the one side breathing because of the volume she swims and how long she's swimming. But I don't know. I thought it was a very interesting YouTube video. I loved watching it. I mean, super compelling stuff. I thought it was super insightful.

But in terms of the answer here, I would say just do what Eric said. Breathe what kind of feels natural and get oxygen. And the other thing you'll have to consider in a race is sighting. So you might change your breathing pattern up a bit with looking up for the buoy and breathing when you do that. You can practice that a little bit in the pool as well. Yeah. We'll occasionally, just to wrap it up, we'll occasionally do some like breathe every three, breathe every five, breathe every seven as an actual drill.

Seven? I mean, that's hard. Totally a drill. Just for like a 25 or a 50. And that's as much, it's not as much about breath holding as much as it is like getting the breathing out of the equation and no breathing

giving you the opportunity just to feel even. And I'd say that is valuable. And it's the same as like doing a snorkel. And that is a good way to like at least try to work on pulling evenly while not having to think about where am I getting my next breath of air. Well, I'll tell you, for me, my training is broken up.

My swimming drills my swimming in general was broken up into zone two, zone three, zone four, zone five. And I try to bilateral breathe zone two and zone three. And then I just breathe to the right for zone four and zone five. Because I can afford to bilateral breathe in zone two and zone three since it's so easy. Maybe that's some way you could split it up for yourself or something similar. Yeah.

And then our final question, hello, Flynn and gang. Wow. We're just gang. Flynn gets called out by name. We're just gang. Eric, Eric does not find the same. amusing, by the way. He is like over it. Okay, whoever wrote this email, I hope you don't mind if Flynn edits the video and the podcast

is right. They won't. They would love it. Okay. Yeah, they'll love it. Stand by for that to drop. Bork, bork, bork, scritches, scritches. You are all hilarious, love the pod. Well, there you go. Tric suits. Does a try enthusiast need one? Just competing 70.3s for fun and trying to beat my own time goal. sleeves or no sleeves any suggestions

Nick how is it training for a full and balancing work slash social life slash relationships slash being a dog dad is it possible slash is it worth it for someone just competing for fun keep us updated over your training well first of all I'm not a dog dad folks okay I look after this dog

my friend's dog tempo he's a triathlet and a runner as well and so every once in a while tempo is no tempo does not yeah tempo is a triathlet too And he actually, he doesn't like trisuits. He does just bibbs. He does no top.

Sleeveless? But it's not my dog. So how do I balance it all? I don't have a dog. That's how I balance at all. That's my pro tip for everyone. Don't have a dog if you want to have a life and also train for a full iron mat.

Oh, that's a good tip, actually. As we were driving to the dog park today, Eric's like, we waste an enormous amount of time on the dogs walking them. I'm like, well, I take some enjoyment in it. So it's not a waste of time in my mind. I didn't actually use the word waste. said we spend an insane amount of time, and then I followed that up with, like, it is at this point completely a hobby.

Like, there's about an hour maximum per day that is the amount of energy, like, exercise that Flynn needs. And we dedicate, we'll say two hours. Like, and so I think in my mind, I've made it, I'm totally at peace with it because it's a hobby. Right. Taking the dogs for a walk as a hobby. We're not doing it necessarily for them.

Because we're like, oh, we like being in nature. That's a great reason. We have to walk the dog, you know. So what is the question? Does he need a trisuit as an enthusiast? Just competing in 70.3s for fun? No, no, you don't. Definitely not. But here's my disagreement with that.

Are we using the word need, or are we not using the word need? Yeah, you don't need a TT bike. You don't need running shoes. You don't need a hat. You don't need fancy nutrition. You don't need a training plan. Of course you don't need it. But is it going to make it more fun for you if you know that you're squeezing every

ounce of performance out of yourself? If the answer is yes, then I guess you do need one. Or not even about performance, comfort for the trisuit. Right. What else do you get to wear? You could theoretically swim just in tri shorts and then put on a shirt for the bike or put on a bike top and then put on a running shirt or tank top for the run. Yeah, you could change in transition.

You do stuff like that. For 70.3, most competitive people are wearing trisuits. Actually, I won't say most. I'll say pretty much all competitive people are wearing trisuits. I like it much better than having two separate pieces of clothing flopping around, getting wet, and maybe not staying in place. I definitely got out of this question that this was not like a high performance question versus I'm a casual triathlete.

Do I need one of those? Yeah, but if you're doing a 70.3, you're a little invested. 70.3 might be... The biggest thing about a trisuit, in my opinion, is the shammie in the shorts, which you can also get out of a pair of tri shorts, but then you're going to have this issue of like getting a sunburn between your tri-top and your tri-shorts and it's just like a whole bunch of different things. So like for the least amount of chafing and just like simplicity, trisuit, that's what it's for. What about sleeves or no sleeves?

On the trisuit or on the wetsuit? Trisuit. On the trisuit. I mean, it doesn't, whatever feels good to you. Like some people don't like swimming in their trisuit with sleeves because like feels a little bit restrictive. Ours feel great, and we both swim with the sleeves on underneath our wetsuit. Sleeves are faster, aerodynamically. But if speed is not your primary concern and having your arms out in the breeze feels good, totally functional.

Yeah, it's a bit more cooling to have no sleeves. We wear sleeves because the Castelli speed suit is definitely the fastest suit on planet Earth and it has sleeves. It's definitely a lot trendier to wear sleeves than it is to be sleeveless. That is true. I was looking at Eric winning Alka. Tras in 2015 and his he had a sleeveless suit and I just thought who's this age grouper crossing the line Oh, Nicholas. Watch an ITU race, dude.

Yeah, I guess that's true. I guess that's true. They're still there's still. That's where that was coming from. Yeah, ITU, no sleeves. Yeah. I would say get a trisuit even if it's the on sale, ugliest trisuit you've ever seen. You won't regret it.

It's got pockets. It's got a shammie. It's all comfy. It should be snug fitting. If it's loose, that'll move in chafing is. is the enemy with long course stuff. Chafing is the enemy. Yeah, well, that's that's that.

So that was Kate from Canada, by the way. I think that was three Canadians that we had asked questions today. They're really coming through. Thank you, Canada. We love you. Just keeping this whole thing alive here. So we don't have to just talk about. I don't know.

What do we even talk about? Well, unfortunately, we're definitely not answering most of the questions that people are sending in at this point. We really have to be selective, which we love. And if we still haven't answered one of your questions and you've sent stuff in, just keep sending them in and eventually we'll get to it. It's not that we don't like the question.

Maybe a new question? Next week, questions only just straight into it. No messing around? No, that's incorrect. I have a spelling bee for you next week. Okay. I have them right here and it's beautiful and you're going to fail one of these and I'm going to love it. I always need a little bit of warm up, I guess.

But honestly, the week off was refreshing. We love the pod. We love the questions. But Nick is so busy and Eric was very. racing, so it really did feel like a nice little break for us. So thank you for waiting till this week. And no, I was just kidding when I said that. Definitely send your questions in. We love the questions and the dog photos. So yeah, you can send your questions to that triathlon life brand at gmail.com. Do you have any final words, Eric, as a winner, as the escape from Alcatraz, reigning champion.

Did you win? Oh my gosh. Did you win? Two-time winner. Amazing. Yeah, maybe I'll have to change my Instagram handle or something. Eric Loggerstrom, 2X. That's right.

Well, thank you guys. Thanks for listening. We'll be back next week. Yeah, thanks guys. Maybe even together in the same room. Oh, yeah, next coming to Ben. Oh, yeah. More on that later.

Ooh, teaser. See you guys.