That Triathlon Life Podcast - Favorite triathlon workouts, how to get your pro card, improving your run as a heavier athlete, Circle swim etiquette, and more!

Episode Date: September 8, 2022

This week Eric and Nick gear up to race triathlons this weekend. Eric is racing IM 70.3 Santa Cruz and Nick is doing his first Ironman in Wisconsin! Paula hits the boys with some rapid fire questions and then we go straight into your questions about picking an A race in North America, the best kind of mountain bike for Leadville, if shaving your legs is worth it, and more! For some TTL gear, head over to http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hey everyone, this is That Triathlon Life podcast. I'm Eric LaGerstrom. She's fast to sleep. Paula Finley is testing Lindsay Corbyn. And I am Nick Goldston. On this podcast, we primarily take questions from you, our amazing listener audience people, and try to answer them as best as we can. We're not experts, but we do our best. Paul and I are both professional triathletes.

Nick is a professional musician, amateur triathlete, and our best friend. What is so freaking funny? I was just texting Lindsay really quick because we just went out for dinner with our friend Danny and literally every restaurant, every food cart and Ben is closed. And it was like, what is happening? Like it's a Tuesday night. I don't even know what day it is, but it's not a weird night. But I think it's because like the post-labor day thing, it's like kids are back in school.

Everyone's back in work. It's off season. Like leave us alone. We're shutting down. Two weeks off. Everyone just go take a holiday. So we're like walking around Dead Zone and Ben. which was just super weird.

So we're just laughing about that. Eric taught me the term shoulder season, which, and when he said that, I was like, oh, is it like the season that you wear a tank top so you show your shoulders? Like, is that what it is? No, no, it is definitely the time between peak season and mountain towns where the summer is hot because of mountain biking and just rivers and stuff. And then the winter is hot because of skiing and in between those two seasons, dead. Speaking of hot, it is an absolute.

insane heat wave right now in L.A. And I did, I had to do, I had to swim in the pool today and the main fitness pool was full. So I just swim in the shallow pool. It still had like lane lines. But I, the water was so warm that I, like, it wasn't cooling me off. And I would stop between my intervals and get out of the water and still feel too hot. It was such an uncomfortable feeling.

Well, that's a great lead into the, Paul's big race that's coming up in Dallas where it is going to be similar water temperature. It's a sata. I think it's maybe even in Kona too. I've never raised Kona, obviously. But I think there's, people don't realize that the heat in the water can actually have a really big impact on the rest of your race. Because during that time, you're really not, you're not taking any fuel in. You're going hard because it's the start of the race.

And you can come out of the water actually quite depleted before like this bike and run even start. So it's something to consider. And it's, you know, you can be super dehydrated, especially at the end of an Iron Man swim. Like you were just talking about Nick for Wisconsin. If you come out and it's like been a hot swim, it can be super detrimental. Yeah. It's a thing. Yeah.

We're going to get to it later, but our coach was here with us. One thing that he said was super interesting as they were testing Olympic athletes leading into the Tokyo Olympics where the water was going to be super hot, they measured their like their core temperature through the course of like an triathlon simulation through the test event. And their core temperature was the hottest when they got out of the water as they were finishing the swim and as they were finishing the run. That's when you're... That's unbelievable. I would have never guessed that.

Just because in the water, like, your sweat doesn't do anything. There's no way for you to shed heat. Well, I feel like the water is what's pulling away heat from you so quickly usually, but I guess if that... Opposite effect. If it's hotter than your body temperature. Yeah, you can't go anywhere. Yeah, so be careful with that in hot swims. Interesting. Well, so you're...

Both of the boys are racing this weekend. Eric, you're racing in Santa Cruz. And there's going to be no concern about the water being too hot there. Although the water here in L.A. is very pleasant. Like, you could definitely do a non-wetsuit open water swim right now. I don't know how much colder it is in Santa Cruz, because for everyone who doesn't know, Santa Cruz is about a five-hour drive north of L.A.

And on the west coast of the United States, the current comes from the north. So the further you go south, the warmer it is. But, yeah, it'll be quite warmer in Santa Cruz. But it's definitely going to be a wetsuit swim. swim around the pier. You've done the race before, right, Eric? Yeah, it's actually the last triathlon, the last 70.3 that I won. And it'll be the next 70.3 that you win, which is a nice coincidence.

No, I'm really looking forward to it. I think we've talked about it before, like favorite race courses on the podcast before, and Santa Cruz is very high up there. For the swim, the bike, and the run, I think it's all pretty enjoyable and dynamic. And I feel like it's a good fit for you. It's this open water swim with waves, probably, which is good for you. And then the bike course is this kind of rolling. course that you can, I feel like, is also good for you. It's not, I guess it's not technical, but what 70.3 course is really technical in the United States? Nees. Yeah, exactly. The end. And then the run is really great for you. It's very similar to the kind of running that you do.

There's like a big portion that's on a dirt path along the cliffs. And that's a lot of the running you do here is on, or in Oregon, is on dirt. So it seems like it would be fun. It's the perfect event for a low attention span person. Like yourself and myself. I need constant entertainment. The primary competitors that I'm aware of are Tim O'Donnell and Matt Sharp. Tim, O'Donnell obviously doesn't need really any introduction,

but Matt Sharp has won a couple races this year and is doing really well at 70.3. The amount of people who have asked me if I am doing it as well with you is unbelievable. I know. It's just like, oh, you're doing a race? Nick will be there. Yes. That's the expectation. That's important question.

Is Nick a humming? Right. Exactly. It's so crazy. I wish I could. Nick is doing Ironman Wisconsin this weekend. Which we have been hyping for six months. Right.

It's true. So it's finally happening, people. How do you not get this? No, we're kidding. I'm so excited, Nick. I can't wait to watch that tracker all day. My only regret is that I won't be able to see Eric. My parents are going to be there and I want them to tell me, you know, as Eric is

finishing his race and I'm one lap into the swim barely surviving, I would love to hear how, you know, how Eric's doing. Yeah. That's an extra layer of motivation for me to have a good race. Yeah, because it'll motivate me. If they say Eric won, I'll cry, cry, real, real tears, and then it'll somehow fuel my bike or run or whoever I'm at that point. Nick, I think you might be part way through the bike by that point

because of the time zone difference. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not, my goal here is to have a really good time, and I definitely don't want to just take it easy the whole time, but I definitely don't want to risk, not finishing because I pushed too hard. And just so partially for me, but I assume for everybody else to clarify when you say,

have a really good time, you mean an enjoyable time, not a really good speed. Sorry, right. No, not a good finishing time, a good emotional time, which is having fun is what I mean by it. Which is kind of like a funny event to choose for the purposes of having a good time. Well, here's where I disagree with that,

Because when you're doing a sprint, you can just go all out the whole time. And there's nothing bad that can really happen. Like, you're just going to slow down, but you're not going to not finish if you're trained up for it, right? Whereas it's conceivable that you could, that could happen with an Iron Man, right? I mean, it's very conceivable. It happens to professionals all the time. So my goal is to have a fun time in the sense that I don't have to push and be on that, like, mental limit for, you know, 12 hours or however. long it's going to take me. Totally. Yeah, I agree with that. And I'm excited. I mean,

both Heather and Lindsay were the people who told me to do Iron Man, Wisconsin. I also have a few friends who told me it would be a fun course, and there's a lot of spectators out there. And I really hope I get to see a lot of TTL people out there, just podcast listeners. Yeah, Nick, also, I think you're ready for it. Like, you've been training hard and long. And there's like, I mean, there is definitely probably a learning curve to Iron Man with nutrition. and all this stuff, like, it is a new thing for you. But in terms of, like, hours you've dedicated to training and stuff, it's pretty impressive. A lot of people less prepared than you have finished Iron Man.

Yes, that's right. That's true. I definitely feel like the things that were within my control, I did at the best of my capacity. I did all the workouts. I over did a lot of the workouts. And I think intelligently so. I even had a coach from the podcast. a podcast listener who like I led into my training peaks account and kind of tweaked some stuff to

help me and like added a few hours to a few bike rides. I feel like I'm as ready as I could be, but I've never done it. So I don't know. I feel like the only place, the only way that you could go wrong is like that conversation we had about like Malcolm Gladwell and pacing and everything. And as if there's a point in the race where you're like thinking that you should have been faster than you were or whatever versus just enjoying the moment, that that could like potentially make it not fun. But if you don't like get wrapped up in that and just take it for what it is. That's what I'm going to be trying to do. Great time.

Just not get wrapped up in that. And just look around and realize that as hard as it is in the hardest moments, there's going to be a moment in my life 30, 40, 50 years from that day that I would give anything to be back in the middle of that race, suffering and being young and fit and, you know, being in that exciting moment. Yeah, that's true. Well, if there's anyone from Iron Man listening, that one is on the house. You're welcome.

Yeah, exactly. You can take that little sound bite. Because that is, that is gold. But yeah, I'm hoping, unlike when I race 70.3s, where I feel like I'm just so nervous about getting every ounce of performance out, I don't feel like I have that same nervousness. I'm more just excited to do this thing that started like five years ago when my dad and I were watching the Kona broadcast.

in a hotel room where we're just like, whoa, this is so crazy. I want to do this. Yeah. That's the journey. So hopefully it'll go well. And then Eric, hopefully your race goes well. And we can have a big celebration altogether. Yeah.

Stay tuned for next week. Maybe we'll have the big celebration in Dallas, Texas. That's right. I don't know. Sounds like a fun place. Oh, and I just don't, I need to make it official. If I do finish the Iron Man, I'm going to buy my, myself an FPV drone that I have been thinking about for years.

Oh, you mean the same one that Eric just bought? I don't even know what you're talking about, Paula. Eric, who? False. Okay, let's move on. Allegedly. Let's move on. Yeah, the next thing I wanted to talk about was that your coach was in town,

and you guys actually got to hang out with him, and Paula, you did some, like, bike skill stuff with him. That's super rare for you guys, right? Yeah, we don't see our coach that often in person, because he's usually based with the trathons squad, like the people he coaches in Europe, primarily an ITU squad. So they kind of travel as a group and set up training camps around the world, which we don't do anymore because we're kind of more long course based and have a permanent base in Bend. So with this little gap of time that he had

where he wasn't traveling to a squad camp, he flew up to Bend and spent a week with us. And it was super, super beneficial. Like it was really nice to have him just like watching us, riding his bike beside while we ran, working on some bike skills for me with my TT bike. because that's kind of a weakness that I have. And the limiter is my like fear and the bars going really fast and cornering. So it was I think very, very fun. And like my biggest takeaway from it was a lot of the time he was trying to like hold me back. Like on the run, on the bike, he's like slow down, slow down, slow now.

We're just getting time in the zone. It's not like every session is a do all you can and like finished with her emptying the tank. So yeah, more than anything, it was just like, okay. No session is that important that you have to get anxious about it and take the gas off a little bit and you'll be better for it tomorrow. So it's not like he was here and everything ramped up to 100% like a training camp. It was more just eyes on and yeah, I thought it was very cool. That's interesting though. So much of it, especially for you guys, you have so much volume compared to most age groupers.

It would be a huge mistake to be at 100% every session and having the coaster to be like how far. are below 100% are you supposed to be in certain sessions. That's kind of a cool refresher. Yeah, like he was riding beside me and didn't even have like a pace thing. He kept asking me like what my pace was, but he was just listening to my breathing. And if it got a little out of control, it was like raining back a bit. So I don't think he's got, ever had a problem with an athlete who didn't work hard enough. Like he's got a lot of problems with athletes through the years. I've been coached by him for 10 years now. And the biggest issue with like high performance athletes is that we go too hard too often and get injured and get overtrained and everything.

So, yeah, exactly what Paula said. And like the biggest takeaway, or like a big thing that was, you know, impactful and helpful for me is just like the amount of time that we got to talk to him and be around him. And now it's like way, I'm way less hesitant to text him if I feel like, oh, this workout's too hard that's coming up or I'm tired or I feel sick. Or instead of just like, I don't want to bother him. I'm just going to suck it up. Yeah.

It was nice to have the personal. connection with him now because he's he is a human he's not just a person that we're like WhatsApping every day you know so having that kind of like refresher of him as a person was really nice and I think now like Eric said I'll be less hesitant to text him about things like oh my frame is cracked and I don't know things that I would normally kind of pretend to have under control like kind of use him as a sounding board for things that go wrong or whatever it is like a real like a coach should there for you. Yeah, yeah. And he always would be, but it was just, I was almost like scared

of things a little bit. So, anyway, but it was good. And we have a vlog coming out tomorrow, which will be tomorrow. One day before the one day before this pod comes out with a video recap of like all the bike skills that we did and it was

I think the video is so cool. It's very different. Basically, he would drive me to the top of Skyliner and then I'd have to ride arrow down it, going really, fast. Like, I'm scared of going fast in my a air bars, but he'd be behind me in the car and I had a radio in my ear. So he'd be like,

stay on the watts, stay on the watts. Yeah. And I'd have to be like pushing Watts downhill, which is like my biggest weakness. And now, riding today, I like rode every recovery interval and arrow down that road and it was fine. So I... So it worked.

I noticeably made these huge gains of comfort on my TT bike only in one week. It was totally crazy. Which is so relevant to your, well, I don't know if Dallas, I don't know if that course I'm imagining, it's mostly flat. It does have a lot of turns. Well, yeah, I saw seven loops, I think.

Definitely St. George. I also wanted to say that a few podcasts ago, we talked about trying to set up some kind of recycling thing for the swim caps, and we didn't really get anywhere with it. But Dennis from Form Goggles listens to the podcast, and he said, and we're on board with this, I'd love it if you could let your listeners know for those racing PTO U.S. Open

in Dallas, bring your old swim caps to the Form tent in the Expo. We've partnered with TerraCycle who will recycle the silicone and latex swim caps. After listening to that pod, I thought, well, we at Form have the power to do something about it. So they looked into it, and this is a solution.

So yeah, check it out. Check it out, folks. Bring your stuff to the Form 10. Especially if you don't know what the heck to do with those old swim caps, and they get grows pretty fast. Yeah, totally. Okay, well, we're going to do something that we haven't done in a while, but it's one of the OG little games that we did on the podcast. And it's, Paula's going to do some rapid fire. Rapid fire is for Nick and Eric. And rapid fires mean,

means like one or two word answers, right? Okay. She's saying that because we were historically less than good at keeping it short. Keeping it contained. Okay, number one, what is your go-to lazy dinner? Paula cooks the pasta dish. I was going to say, pasta as well. Okay. It's because I am Italian. Yeah, pasta's easy. We do it a lot.

I'm about to do it tonight after this podcast, actually. Do it, dude. You haven't had dinner yet? Nick, what did we talk about yesterday? I'm sorry. God, the judgment. Nick's racing an Iron Man in a week and he's not taking care of his fueling. I did a bike workout and then I had to wash my bike and then I had no time.

Wash your bike is like so far below fueling immediately after the session. Look who's talking. You know what? That's how important is it. chain halfway through his intervals because it needs a new chain every day. Yeah, well, I've replaced it right after I have a cliff bar. Okay, next, next. What is the best non-curs word, one-word insult?

Oh, my God. I can't rapid fire that. Fred. What's it? Cotton-headed nanny muggins. Wait, that's not one word. You can put some hyphins in there, yeah. Cotton-headed nanny muggins from elf.

Oh, okay, okay. Karen. Karen. This one's appropriate because next study hasn't even at dinner yet and it's 8.30 p.m. What time do you normally go to bed? 11.11.30. Like in bed? Like 9.15.

Yeah, we're like a 9.15. Yeah, I was thinking about this yesterday as I was stupidly out on my motorcycle in the dark. I was thinking like, oh yeah, they go to sleep at like child hours. Yeah, dude. I mean, if you have a problem after dark on your motorcycle, we're not going to be able to help. Yeah, people to call. Next. What were you scared of as a kid? High school.

I was pretty scared of the dark as a kid, which is funny because now I feel like I'm in like the 1% of like absolutely not scared of the dark at all anymore. Yeah, yeah, funny. I was scared of fire, like candles. Fire? Super scared of fire. Really? Still am, really. I wasn't a very scared kid.

Eric, were you? You don't seem like it either. No, no, I was literally just scared of like getting older in the future, you know, like Peter Pan vibes. Oh, yeah. I've been accused of having Peter Pan's syndrome in that same way. Yikes. Well, I'd say it's a colloquialism, but yeah, go ahead, Paul. Do you kill bugs when you find them inside or take them outside? No, no. Every life is sacred. Absolutely not. If at all possible, take them outside.

Yeah. Except for the flies that Eric swats like they're the devil. Flies are not bugs, they're less than bugs. I guess mosquitoes. Well, there's no way to take a fly. outside. Or a mosquito, can you imagine? I'm just going to catch this mosquito. No, I'm not taking mosquito.

If I could, I would. I don't like killing anything. I love killing mosquitoes. Yeah. Cannonball into the pool or dip a toe in first? Oh, cannonball, of course. Yeah, toe is pretty counterproductive. I'm a toe dipper.

Mostly because I don't want to get in. That's a great one. Name an automatopoeia. clack. Oh, so that's a word that sounds like it. Yes, see? My automatopoeia was so good that it defined it for Eric. Boom.

Boom, there you go. Automatapia, a word that sounds like the noise it describes. Boing, gargle, clap, zap, and pitter-patter. Oh, my gosh. Gargle. That was satisfying. A-plus. It's their cool words.

I love automatapeas. Okay, next. Next and last. thing very relevant to the saga. What was your last impulse by? Excuse me. Eric, Eric, as your attorney-in-law, I advise you not to answer this question. Does it fly in the air and rhyme with prone?

The bench in our bedroom, my dear. Oh, boy. What was yours, Nick? My last impulse purchase? I guess this frame. For your Grammy? Trixie was here, she'd be laughing at that. She would be.

It's like the only thing I bought. Yeah. Oh, you know what I bought? It's not an impulse thing, but I replaced that straw that I was using for my, like, hydration reservoir in front of my bike. Oh, like a highly necessary thing for your armament next weekend? I haven't been impulse buying things much. I impulse buy food. I impulse buy fast food.

Or I'm like driving home. I'm like, you know what? I deserve that. I'm going to have a cheesy gordy to crunch right now. Yeah, new answer, an old-fashioned 20 minutes ago. There you go. In my defense, for the drone that I didn't buy, I've been thinking about buying that drone, and I've been on the wait list for all the release notes for six months.

Eric and I have been talking about this drone for years. Well, that wraps up rapid fire. That was fun. Yeah, that was good. I like that. That's fun. So we're going to move on to questions now. and if you are listening, you can send your triathlon-related questions or not triathlon-related

questions to that triathlon life brand at gmail.com. If it's not triathlon-related, it's got to be really good for us to read it on the pod, though. To be clear, that is Paula at dot com. Right. Yes. Paula's the one who reads those. So the first question is kind of a simple one, and it's from Ashley. I love that Eric watches romantic comedies the night before or wrong,

race, which is a fact. Eric's hanging his head in shame. Can TTL Nash, spelled PNAE-S-H, which is a great new spelling, get a list of his top five. I look forward to listening to the pot every week. Thanks for opening up your lives and sharing all of your knowledge and experiences with us, Ashley from Texas. P.S. hoping to make it to the PTO U.S. Open to cheer you on and rep TTL. Awesome. Wow. Man, Ashley, that's your one takeaway from the podcast, is that I listen to watch a romantic of comedies. Eric, everyone gets different things from this podcast, and we can't judge them for that. All right. All right.

Crazy stupid love? Crazy stupid love. I knew it. Something's got to give. Along came Polly. What's the one with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds? You're just a Ryan Reynolds fan. She's her boss. She's his boss. What about 50 first dates? I was just reminded

that movie recently. I haven't watched that one. Oh, that's a good one. Drew Barrymore, Adam Sandler? No, I've watched it. I mean, I know of it, and I've passed it on Netflix many times, but no. Man, crazy stupid love is just so good. Yeah, it is. I saw it for the first time this year. It's so great. That's okay. If you can think of another one throughout the pod, great. If not, that's okay, too. Four is more than I expected you to be able to rattle off that quickly. You really are a super

fan of the romantic comedies. Well, I race a lot, so. That's right. Paula, do you have your favorite real quick? This question wasn't directed towards me. Well, I'm asking you the question now. I said along came Polly is a good one. Oh, nice, yeah. Cool.

But I don't love watching movies twice, so I would love to, like, watch a new one. Because otherwise I just get kind of bored, and I start looking at my phone, and then I start thinking about the race. Yeah, yeah, right. We're getting Sarah Marshall. Oh, so good. And also, I love Stranger Than Fiction. Have you ever seen that? It's with Will Ferrell.

Such a great movie. It's a little stranger, but yeah. Yes, it is strange. Okay, next question is from Mitch. I want to plug an A race for 2023 and would absolutely love your feedback. We live in the prairies in Manitoba and would love to stay in

North America and make a family trip. If you were to choose, a first 70.3 is a great experience. Which race comes to mind? They are a beginner, two sprints this year. Iron Man site is convenient to browse, and I don't know many races outside of their bubble, but I think they're open to races outside of Iron Man.

And are races like the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton back in 2023? Would races like Escape from Alpatraz put a beginner on their ass, etc? Thanks again. Keep kicking ass, Mitch. Yeah, the PTO open will be in Eminton and in Dallas. And I think they're fun races, like newer, less people, but a cool distance. 100K is a really interesting distance and a little bit lower price point for the entry fee. Yeah, a lot lower.

If you're looking for ultimately like a cool destination race, that's a different thing, like a family vacation type of thing. not necessarily choose Edmonton for that or Dallas. Escape from Alcatraz is very cool. The downside is that it's a lottery system, so you're not guaranteed to get in. I would say as far as Canada stuff goes, Victoria, 70.3. Yeah, Victoria's really cool. Tron Blant's really cool. My first reaction was to say Santa Cruz, except for I just booked Eric, like, the world's

crappiest hotel for $500 a night. Like, it's not affordable. So that's not a great place for a family. Is any Ironman, I mean, I don't know. Seems like hotels have just gone up. Santa Rosa would be so expensive. Oceanside would be so expensive. Yeah, everything's expensive.

Oceanside was better, though, because I did look at a lot of Airbnb's there. That's another fun one, actually. Oceanside's cool. Yeah. But it's so hard. It's like you have to balance the weather versus like the family friendliness versus the affordability factor versus like all the time of year. You know, there's so many things.

You kind of have to narrow it down. Well, I never did it and I've never been there. but I remember when I researched it, I got very excited about it for Victoria. I thought that was such a cool race, and then you keep it in Canada, too. It's very pretty. Yeah, do that. Plus side of Oceanside, Disneyland's nearby. Oh, yeah, if you're going with family, that way you can throw away even more money.

Yeah. I do love Disneyland, though. Well, hopefully that helps, Mitch. Next question from Reed. Hey, y'all. I had a question for Eric about mountain bikes. I'm currently triathlete looking to get into off-road and long-distance mountain biking. like he's saying like Leadville, stuff like that.

But I wasn't sure the best mountain bike to get for cross-country slash trail endurance rides. I live in Colorado right by the foothills, so plenty of trails to train on. My other questions is if you all had an update on when Wahoo would be releasing different color options on their watch, I can't find any info online, but saw they sent some prototypes to you. I don't think Wahoo is making them to sell yet. And I think it was like kind of a limited, like, pro release. Got it. They didn't at least didn't tell us.

These are coming out soon. Yeah. If they are, we don't know. But I love the white. But this is, the reason I like this question is because after riding with you and Curtis, I realize that 99% of people should be getting short, travel, full suspension bikes. People do not need these, like, trail bikes and these endurance bikes unless they're doing big jumps. Yeah.

Right. Like you, the riding you and Curtis do was like, you guys were doing jumps and you were hitting trails hard and going down and going up and down them fast on these like cross country bikes. Yeah, I mean, a bigger bike is going to be more forgiving. And if you live somewhere that has a lot of roots and stuff, like you might want more travel than we have. But you can definitely get away with less travel. And the upside of it is just that a cross country race bike is going to be lighter for pedaling up hills. And that is, at least for me, like, not having to drag a super heavy bike uphill has a high impact on my happiness. Yeah.

I agree. Yeah. And if you're trying to race like Leadville, it seems like you wouldn't want to. Yeah. Yeah. Almost a freaking cyclocross bike, you know. So the bike that I ride that I love is the specialized epic. I have the S-Works, but they have non-S-works versions of it.

It all works the same. It's 100 millimeters of travel. And then if you want something that's a little more quote-unquote fun and can handle more rudy situations, just staying inside of the specialized family, they have the Epic Evo, which is 120-millimeter travel bike. And that's like at the top of my list of something that I want to get next year just to be able to like do certain downhill trails. It's slacker head tube angle too, right? I mean, I don't think it's much slacker. Like going into 2022, I believe, they made the epic, the standard epic, a lot slackerhead too. Oh, okay.

Got it. So like the epic that you rode, which is like a 2016 epic, my old epic versus one that I have, and one I have massively slacker head tube and that, i.e. better down hill. Yeah. Yeah, I don't really know a lot of the other bike lines that well, but that's kind of what you're looking for. A hundred millimeter travel bike is typically going to be lighter and better climbing uphill. And 120, I think, is like the sweet spot of great downhill, great uphill. Yeah, every bike manufacturer will make, we'll make a hundred millimeter.

dual suspension bike, right? I mean, it's certainly not the hot item right now. Downcountry, like 130 travel is probably like the hot item. But like I said, I mean, if you value lightness uphill 120, I think is a great area. Cool. Which is I think like the Santa Cruz blur or something. Oh, yeah. It's like one another bike that fits into that category.

Just look for that. Just look for 120, 130, I think. I wouldn't go over that if you want to pedal uphill ever. Right. Right. Well, thank you for that question. Read. Next question is from Pete in Yorkshire or Yorkshire. Do we know? I think it's Yorkshire. I think it's Yorkshire.

Yorkshire. Pete from Yorkshire says Nick is one of your 1,000 strong Strava followers. I've followed your Ironman training, your workouts as well as the photos have been inspirational to follow. And you're the most exciting person on my feed by far. I don't follow Flynn yet, though, he says. Best of luck in Wisconsin next weekend, you'll crush it. My question for you as you taper is, What have you been, is what have been your most enjoyable workouts in the training block for Ironman? Either the fun kind of enjoyable or the enjoyable because you feel like you've got the most value. Same question to Eric and Paula for 70.3 training.

Love the pod and the YouTube. Thanks for all you're giving out and create such valuable content. Is that taper specific or just in general workouts? I think he's just, the tapers reminding him now that it's over. It's like looking back what is the most fun. I think for me it was like, ironically, I'm definitely better at short. or stuff, but it was the long rides and the long swims, the long rides and long runs. Like the long runs, I did these two hour and 45 minute trail runs with friends up here

in the mountains, and those were great. The rides are like on my TT bike riding, I did 120 mile ride a few weeks ago, and just doing that and getting off the bike and running a bit and just being like, wow, I definitely could not do this a few years ago. Like, I would be in the hospital. Right. And even the swims. Yeah, just be like, wow, I can do this.

Can swim for an hour, yeah. Yeah. That's cool. I think that's it for me. What about for you guys? I definitely tend towards liking the run workouts the best, like Fartlick runs, six minutes on, two minutes off, three minutes on, one minute off, whatever that is. Because they're a little bit less structured distance-wise,

so there's some flexibility to go faster or slower depending on how you feel. And you could definitely, with our coach's schedule, see who. improvements weekly because our schedule remains fairly similar week to week. Those are my favorite. I can't say I love any swim workouts a lot or bike workouts a lot. Bike workouts are just so hard. I was suffering so hard today. Oh my gosh.

They're just so hard. I was telling Eric, I had like four by three minutes today. And even that was like... That's what Eric did. Oh, really? Twins. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's just like, oh, this feels hard. It's so hard, yeah. Mine didn't feel hard. It felt good. That must be nice. That's a good sign. Yeah. I don't know.

My favorite stuff is like tempo runs. I get a lot of confidence from when I do a good TT bike workout, but just because it doesn't happen that often with my hip condition. But my favorite bike workouts probably like mountain bike when I go out on the mountain bike and do, you know, five by five or something like that. That's like super fun. And I usually hit really good power. just because I'm like engaged in it. I kind of like that for on the road, too, up hills. Yeah.

Yeah, that's it like, for whatever reason, I feel like five times five minutes is such a classic workout. Yeah, such a classic. And it really is like, it's a hard one, but it can be really confidence-inspiring. Yes, especially because of my brain, I usually go into it, like I'm going to hold these watts and then I'll usually hold 30 more.

That's a Paula Finley special right there. Yeah. Yeah, no one is relating to that. No, 30 watts more, no. And the watts are. she's prescribed her high already, so that's crazy. So yeah, that's it. But that's a good question, because now looking back, I'm looking at these workouts.

And there's a lot of like those whatever hour and a half interval workouts that I just forget. But the long, epic adventure, new root stuff is what sticks out of my mind. It's the stuff that felt the most fun. It is really cool to go back. And especially if you're getting nervous for your race, look back at what you've done. You've done so much work to get there. And you do forget about it unless you just like reflect for a minute. or look back at your own Strava, like as a diary, and say, okay, I've done the work to do this.

I'm way fitter than I feel right now because I'm nervous and I'm tired, whatever. So it's a cool. That's a great. That's a great way to look at it, Paul. Next question is from Nick without a K. T-TLN, quick question, body shaving. Does it matter and why? Thanks.

You're all awesome. I love that question. I love that question for one, because he abbreviated T-TL-L-L-Shing. that's so cool. Stand by for the T TLN T-Sirt. Right. That's right. That's like the team.

Genius. Without a K, you get one for free. Great. For the idea. That's right. Yeah, 100%. In every capacity, it is beneficial. It's faster in the water, unless it's the wetsuit swim.

Is it faster on the run, though? I can't imagine it is. I mean, I guess it's marginally faster, but. Yeah. Small amount. you look great, you feel great. That's true. As a result of looking great.

But on the bike, it is definitely aerodynamically faster. Oh, it's like considerably faster. The specialized at this test that a lot of people are familiar with at this point. But they said for shaved legs, if you're hairy legs, it can save like one to two minutes over 40K. So extrapolate that into an Iron Man. And that's like, think about trying to get five minutes of fitness, right, versus you just shave your legs.

Boom. Are you going to shave your legs for your Iron Man, Nick? Of course. I shave my legs every race. I mean, put a freaking shag carpet on the hood of a Formula One car. It's going slower. Yeah. It's going to be slow. Wow, it just comes up with the most funny thing sometimes. It's great.

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, it definitely makes a big difference. But legs more than anything, you can shave your arms and there's some time there. Apparently, shaving your face, almost negligible difference. Obviously, your hair shouldn't make a difference because you have a helmet on, I hope. I think having a mustache is actually faster. It's like if your bike is red, it's faster. Scientifically.

Yeah. Yeah, it makes a big difference, so definitely shaving. I think Nick Without a K actually does have a K in his name, but he spelled it as NIC. So maybe he goes by Nick Without a K. Oh, like when his friends call him, he's like, hey, where's Nick Without a K? Exactly. He just wanted to distinguish himself from you. Right.

That's fair. That's fair. Well, Nick Without a K, thank you for that. And look out for the TTLN crews coming soon. Next question is from Michael. I've been listening to the pod for a while now. It's my favorite one out there and actually met Eric at St. Anthony's but didn't know who he was at the time. I feel really silly now.

One, could you give a shout to my friend Justin from Chattanooga? Yes, Justin, what's up, dude? Number two, how do you get your pro card? Not sure if elite license is the same for triathlon, but I've tried to find things on the internet with information but haven't been successful. Good luck in your upcoming races, Michael. Do you guys know the actual thing here? How snobby is that that we don't even know? I know how it was when I got mine,

and that was you had to go to a race that had a professional triathlon associated with it. So if you went to like the Lifetime L.A. Triathlon or whatever, that race for the pros had to have $20,000 minimum prize money. and then as an amateur, you would have to basically win that race. And that would qualify for me. And then the other ways where if you got like top three at collegiate nationals or if you got top three overall at age group nationals, that would qualify for you for your pro card.

Isn't there also like a percentage of time within the pro field? Yes. In addition to getting that top three, you had to be within 7% of the winning pro. So it's actually pretty hard. It's not easy. It depends where you are. Certain races, it's extremely hard.

At other races, I mean, that's why you see some of these pros who are getting beat by age groupers consistently. That's the thing. It is challenging, but still the jump from accomplishing that to being a successful professional triathlet is a huge jump. So I think it's fair. For sure. But I also think that people recognize that.

They're not getting their pro card and expecting to go win a pro race. There's so many. There's so many benefits to racing professionally. You can sign up for the yearly fee and enter any race you want. With Iron Man. With Iron Man. You start in the pro wave.

There's a lot of logistical things that are easier racing professionally. So I'm not really opposed to people who earn it. No, no, no. I'm not either. Some people want to be a big fish in a little pond and some people want to be a little fish in a big pot. The flip side of it is that you're now racing against professional athletes. So there's a much higher likelihood that you're going to be out there completely by yourself for four hours. Yeah, or even like the excitement of winning your age group is cool.

Like I think if I was an actual, H2 badly do I had a job and had a family, it would be more fun for me to win my age group than to come 15th in a pro race. But everyone's different. And I think someone else would say the exact opposite. They'd be like, I'm sick of winning my age group. I'd rather be 15th than the pro field. Yeah, yeah, maybe and like see how I measure up against them. Totally.

Yeah. Interesting question. Yeah, that's interesting. And I looked it up, and Eric, it's pretty much what you said. You could place top 10 overall at Amateur World Championships, ITU or Kona, placed top five overall at USAAT age group nationals, placed top three overall at amateur at a qualifying race. And a qualifying race is defined as any race that has corresponding elite race

with a prize purse of 20,000 plus. Wow, Eric really knows it, exactly. And finally, in order to keep your pro license, you have to re-qualify every three years of a pro licensure. To do so, you must finish. than 8% of the winner's time at a race offering a prize purse of 5,000 plus. Yes, that should take absolutely no effort at all. So it's not a risk, unless you just are injured for three years straight.

Right, right, right. So, interesting. Next question is from Tyler. What's up? TTL N-A-E-S-Z. It says people from Poland will get that spelling, L-O-L, sorry, Eric. My question is about training break. By the, I love this narrative of everyone saying T-TL-Nation, Eric, hating it.

It's so wonderful for me. I'm over and everybody, but continue entertaining us. No, no, he's not. No, he's not. Keep it coming. He's pretending so that we'll stop. It does keep me awake at night. My question is about training breakdown for your weakest event.

For reference, I did my first 70.3 and finished under my goal of seven hours. Congratulations. I love the sport and I'm using it for weight loss after playing college football. I'm 260 pounds currently and fairly muscular. My swim was 39 minutes. My bike was 246, but my run was almost. three hours. Being heavy, running is difficult, so would you recommend I spend more time running and expect my time to come down or focus on the lower impact legs of the race with a more

balanced training plan and hopefully it becomes easier to run as I lose more weight. I'm not going for any age group podiums, but it's frustrating knowing that my times are so slow due to my run. Thanks and love the podcast, Tyler. Wow, that is such a good question. Yeah. Tyler actually also emailed me again today with another question, but he's like, I know you guys don't like follow-ups, but maybe I'll add it to next weeks. Okay, yeah. I mean, I think, I mean, if we ask a question to you, then we do want follow-up. For sure, for sure.

If we want clarification on it. I think he was just like, oh, I have another question. Right, right. What was your answer to this be? I could, like, see both sides of it. They're both so interesting. Yeah. Like, I guess, I guess my basic idea is that there's just, there's a set rate at how quickly you can, like, progress your run volume.

intensity and all that. And like you kind of need to let that be your guide and and fit in the other training. Right. It doesn't matter like, oh, I want to be faster at running. So I'm just going to go straight to running 60 miles a week or whatever. That doesn't work. So like progress the running as safely and quickly as you can because ultimately over time, that's going to be the better gains than going to 60 miles and getting injured for two months or. Yeah, the injury risk of running is a huge factor in this. And it's not like you're 260 pounds with a ton of weight to lose easily. You're probably really muscular, right? So I do think that naturally endurance training, swimming, biking, and the amount of running you're doing in a balanced way will naturally lean

you out a little bit more if you're not eating like a football player and lifting weights like a football player would. I don't know, it's a different kind of energy system. So I think that there's definitely like huge gains to make in your runtime. And And I think that you will see that as you get lighter. Like, it's a touchy subject because talking about body weight and run speed is dangerous because it can lead you down like really dangerous roots. But it is just a fact that the lighter you are, the faster you go and running. The thing is, if you're trying to be a fast triathlete, though, there's definitely an inflection point

where you get so light that your bike times are going to go down. And let's not forget that the bike is the majority of the race. Yeah, or just like your strength overall. and how you feel and your energy and things like that. Yes. So I think there's definitely a, like maybe as a football player, you have a really big upper body, which you don't need as much as a triathlete

and that'll naturally change as you just do more exercise, you know? It'll take a while, though. It's going to be a couple years. Yeah, definitely. I mean, that's what we've always said on this podcast is like, eat healthy, fuel your workouts well and do your workouts well, and your body will naturally adapt to that kind of stress you're putting on it. I don't think it'll take two years to change it, though.

you'll see improvements in your running, I think, pretty quickly as you just train more across all three things. Oh, no, yeah, I meant more just like body composition wise. You're not just going to lose your traps in like a couple months. No, right. Yeah. But I would say like his times are really good in the swim and bike. And the run, I feel like he could run a two hour half marathon instead of a three hour half marathon. Yeah, I agree.

That three hours is such an outlier with those other two times. Yeah. So the fitness and the athletic ability is definitely there. It's just getting run miles in your legs in a responsible slow way, not just like ramping up the line. I mean, 260 pounds. Imagine like that's like me with a hundred pound backpack on though. I understand why that run is so challenging compared to the swim and the bike.

You have to be so, so strong to run well at that weight. And there's nothing wrong with that weight. It's just like if you're trying to be a fast runner, it's a challenge. Yeah, for sure. good on you man but also you also have like a lot of muscles in your legs if you're that strong it's not like you with a backpack it's like no no no no of course not

of course not of course not but I don't know like I wonder if I would if I were in his position if I would just like bike a ton like relative to the other the other three but you guys are saying to try to keep it balanced still and let it run its course I mean the biking is definitely the thing that is the lowest risk but we're just saying that like

you can't just oh i want to i want to like lean out a little bit so i'm just going to like spend all my time running instead of biking you know it's just like i think you're just gonna it's gonna naturally be balanced because there's only so much running that you can what one can do responsibly yeah i guess maybe something we can agree on is that the mistake would be to just like go all in really hard on running and ramp up your run volume all at once right yeah yeah which i think is what he was fishing for that's the answer he was looking for right yeah don't do that yeah good job though that's that's really impressive. Email us when you get your rundown to two hours.

I don't think it'll take that long. Yeah. I'm impressed. And then our final question, and this one is kind of a philosophical quandary here. It's from Sean. And Sean says, hi, I would love to your collective opinions on this pool etiquette question, both from the pro and amateur perspective. There are a lot of pros who swim at my pool.

She's in Boulder. I'm trying to summarize here because there's a lot. As well as a lot of people who are front of the package. age roopers and qualifying for worlds, etc. If I am swimming in a lane with one other person and we have split the lane and someone else inevitably comes up and asks, do you mind if we circle swim? Is the correct answer? A, yes, I'd prefer to keep it the way it is as I am slower than most and would really

like to get my workout in. B, sure, no problem. And proceed to try as hard as I can to keep up with whoever it is, blow my workout and still get past a million times. or C, lie and say, sure, no worries, I was done anyway, and then just leave. I have done all three, but my preference is A. Am I the asshole? Just yesterday I was at the pool, and there were a ton of pros there, and there appeared to be an empty lane, so I jumped in, about 100 meters in, Vittoria Lopez's boyfriend,

asked if I would circle with them, Vittari Lopez is a female pro. I looked at him petrified and just said something like, I'm sorry, I can't swim with you. In all fairness, I think they had their stuff there in the lane, and we're chatting with others on the deck, so I may have inadvertently stolen their lane. They were very nice about it, and thankfully another lane opened up for them. Anyway, can you settle this for me so I know how to handle this situation in the future? Setting pros aside, is there some unwritten rule that if people are waiting, you have to circle, or is it okay to stick to a lane? Yeah, unfortunately, the rule is that you have to circle swim. You can't put your foot down and say, no, we're splitting this lane,

go somewhere else. I mean, I wish you could. I totally understand the annoyance of circle swimming, with people that are completely different speeds. But I think at least our lifeguards at our pool are really strict about keeping it in a circle. So if you're splitting a lane, another person comes, it's like it switches to circle no matter what. Yeah. I think when someone asks you,

is it okay if we circle swim? That's kind of a rhetorical question. Yeah, I agree. You're not allowed to say, you're not, you can't say no. Yeah, no, they're like, circle is happening. I don't want to run it and head on to you. So it starts cycling.

It's code for, hey, I'm jumping in. Yeah. The thing that's confusing to me here is Boulder is this like triathlon mecca town. And I'm so surprised at this pool that she's swimming at, that apparently has very fast people at it, doesn't have speed designations in like slow, medium fast, whereas like she could just go into the, if she says she's slow,

into the slow lane. And then if you're circle swimming, you're circle swimming with people of similar fitness. Yeah. At our pool and Ben, the lifeguards are also very strict about keeping those. signs pretty accurate. So if we jump in the slow lane because it's empty, they encourage us to move over, even if we're in the middle of a workout, as the fast lanes open up, just so that if someone

comes in and they're aqua jogging or they are actually a bit slower, they can get in the slow lane and be comfortable there. Like, ultimately, it's about making the pool an accessible place for everybody to come and train and just keeping some, you know, some rules set. So unfortunately, if you're in Ben and you're in the fast lane and you're out fast, you're getting run over. Sorry. Eric. Well, it's really tough. I sympathize with this person because it sucks. No, there's like no good on it.

I was making a joke. But there's like no great thing because, yeah, we do have the slow medium and fast. But then like the people who are fast, like somebody faster shows up or like, yeah, the medium lane has nobody in it. So we jump in the medium lane. And it's just it's hard to keep it all rolling and you never quite know what. to do. But ultimately, if somebody shows up and wants to circle swim with you, you kind of have to roll with it. But on the flip side, as a pro, if we show up with like Heather, Lindsay and Andy, and there's one empty lane and then like two slow people splitting a lane, we're not asking

them to circle. We're all just going to go in a lane until something else opens up. Yeah. What we'll do is we'll ask one person as they come to the wall, like, hey, do you mind scooting over one lane? So all four of us, can you go over there and split without? person so all four of us can circle swim together. Because ultimately, I think it's more annoying to be the passer than it is to be past. So if you're the faster swim we're getting in, I'm never asking a slower person to circle. Like that's just hard to do a workout that way. So we would way rather split like five of us all together than ask a slower person. And I do find that people that are swimming a bit slower tend to have like a 20 or 30 minute swim and then they're getting out. So you

kind of have to keep your eye open for other lanes that are open. And I don't know. It is hard. It is hard. You never feel like you're doing it perfectly. Yeah. As hard as it is, though, I do think the question was, am I the asshole? And I think the answer is yes.

Yes. If someone asks you to circle swim, you cannot say no. No. I'm sorry, Sean. But the good news is that now you know this, right? This is the etiquette thing. And I think ethically, it also makes the most sense. The thing you can do is,

try to swim with people in a lane that are similar fitness to you. And so when someone comes over and they ask you to circle swim, the hope is that they picked your lane because they're a similar fitness level to you. Yeah, a pro coming and asking you. I can tell by your question that that hasn't happened to you a lot and that you kind of get into these bad situations. But that's the goal is you're trying to get into people circle swim who swim roughly the same speed.

I personally kind of like it sometimes because it does make me swim a little bit harder. you know, just like it has a little bit of a race dynamic to it. It makes a little more fun. Yeah, yeah. You can spin it that way. Yeah, ultimately the key here is flexibility. And if we get in the pool and like we're supposed to be doing hundreds on the 130 and we see Jimmy's coming back around like we'll go five seconds early and try to not, you know,

make him pass us and then repass them. You know, just like you just, you got to be flexible. And ultimately the end of the day, that is not going to affect your Ironman in four months. Talking about the faster person. Just talking about like working, like getting out of the way once every 200 yards or like going a little bit early one time. That's not going to be the deal breaker. Yeah. It's about like being flexible, everyone being flexible and making it enjoyable and not, you know, if you are a pro getting in, don't do it an angry way and start doing butterfly and like be super annoying.

Right, right. Okay, I have a follow up question here for both of you. let's say you are circle swimming with someone and you're right behind them and you come up to the wall and they don't let you go in front of them. Do you continue to swim behind them slower than you should?

Do you try to pass them within the length of the lane? Or do you wait until they're further enough away that you can still go to the speed that your plan has you going at? 100% past them. Yeah, you just pass them. Yeah.

Is that okay though? Because I've done that a few times I'm like, is that? with ease. No, Nick, that's, it's hard because if you're swimming faster than someone and you're in their draft, you're literally like not swimming. You're just like sculling behind them. Yeah, it feels like you're barely working.

Yeah, so you kind of have to go around them. And I don't think it's necessarily the slower person's responsibility to stop at the wall for you. Necessarily, they usually do, but if they don't. So like the way that it works on like a swim. team, if somebody touches your feet and you're approaching the wall, it is like your thing to like do your flip turn more to the right side of the lane. The person behind you is going to do their flip turn more to the left side of the lane. You might still push off at the same time, but now that person kind of has the right of way to the right of the lane going back the other

direction and you slot in to draft behind them. Yeah. That is how it should work. Yeah, like tap their feet. So like ideally that's what will happen is I'm passing somebody. I thought if you tap your feet, they just wait for you. That's what I'm saying. That is the gold standard. Nobody's getting disrupted. No one's stopping. Everyone's continuing the flow, but you're just aware of that you just like do a very relaxed flip turn as that person passes you doing ideally a slight more aggressive flip turn. And it is all, right. Right. Right. Oh my gosh. Right. That's like kind of the international sign for like, hey, I would like to pass you. Somebody like touches your feet. And then, you know, like, they're probably going to try to come by on your left soon.

The reason I thought this question was so good is because I feel like the level of like angrieness at swimming at the swimming pool is so absurd when you're trying to like share or get someone to stop for a second. It's like people go there and they just want to be like in their own Zen bubble and have their own lane and that's not realistic all the time. So it just can really make people grumpy. And we've had some super like, not negative interactions, but just like people rolling their eyes and people getting pissed at us. And it's negative for everyone involved when that happens. So I think like the thing to keep in mind, like Eric said, is it's like it's not do or die. You're at the swimming pool. Trying to be

flexible. Everyone, not just the slower people, but the faster people too. And just make it a fun environment. Nobody really likes swimming. Right. We all hate this, obviously. Let's hate it. Let's hate it in peace. Like none of us want to be here. You're here to exercise. we're here because we got a raise. Like, let's just make it work. I wanted to tell the story of my best ever experience asking someone if I could split a lane with them. So I was at the pool in Santa Monica and I asked this lady who was swimming fast, but I was like, do you mind if I split with you? And she was like, she lit up.

She was so smile. She was so nice. She was like, of course, I would love it if you split with me. And then I see she has a Red Bull cap on. And it was Natasha Bodman who as one. Kona a million times. The only reason I found out was because she said she was Swiss, and I was

like, oh, yeah, like, you know, Danielle Reeve winning Kona a bunch of times. She's like, yeah, she's about to pass my record. And I was like, oh. Wow. And she was nice about it. That is so cool. She was super nice. That's how we should all be. Yeah, she was super nice.

Her whole thing was like every Kona victory she's ever had, she was smiling the whole way. That was like her thing. Oh, really? Okay, that's cool. Oh, yeah. Go watch any. Any video of Natasha Bodman winning, she's smiling literally for 180, the entire freaking thing. She left a mark on me, and now I'm always extremely friendly to people when they ask me if we want to split our circle.

I even did it to the lady today who was, because I was in like the shallow pool, so it's like if you stand up, it's waist high. She had her shoes on in the pool doing like aqua walking. But we were having a great time together. A clocking. A clocking. A quacking. That's a good onomatopoeia right there. What are you doing?

I'm a quacking. That's what it sounds like. That's right. Oh, funny. Okay, well, thanks for that question. Yeah, did you have anything you wanted to add to that, Paula? That's the last one. No, I think we've really exhausted that question.

Now would have just been like a tangent on the tangent on tangent. Well, I love tangent on tangent. That's my favorite kind of tangent. No, that really is not that important. Well, that's all we got, guys. This is the last pod before some important races for the boys here. And soon enough, Paul will be racing PTO Dallas. PTO, sorry, PTO U.S. Open.

Is that what we're calling it? Yep. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah. I'll be racing in the surface of the song. Because I was calling it PTO Edmonton, and that wasn't right either. That is not right.

That is definitely not right. PTO Paula's parents' house. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, no, PTO, Emiton, PTO Dallas. I don't know. They all work. It just feels strange saying the U.S. Open. I know.

Yeah, not golf, not tennis. That's why like PTO Dallas or PTO. The Canadian Open, really? It's kind of cool. It's cool, but it's also a thing already. If you're racing Santa Cruz this weekend, Eric will be there, hopefully, in great spirits and doing well. If you're in Madison this weekend, I'll be there.

If you see me, feel free to come up and say hi. I would love that. I'll be there with my parents. If you see two old people wearing TTL swag, you can be sure that they're probably my parents. So you can go up and talk to them too. They're very friendly. My mom has a heavy Italian accent if that gives it away. You have the best mom.

She is wonderful. That's it, guys. We will see you all next week. I guess we'll hear you all next week. Or you'll hear us. Whatever. But yeah. We'll talk at you next week.

That's right. We'll talk at you next week. Thanks for listening, guys. We'll talk to you soon. Thanks guys, bye. Bye.