That Triathlon Life Podcast - Men's Ironman World Championships in Kona, buying high end used bikes, and more!

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

This week we started with discussion around the Ironman Men's World Championships in Kona, and how exciting of a race it was. We did some triathlon and fueling themed "This or That", and then discussed your listener submitted questions. This week, we talked about: Training in/for adverse weather conditionsDifferent greases and lubes for different parts of the bikeReducing cost and waste by willingly declining race swagChanging into sport specific clothing for each leg of an IronmanWhen the "right" time is to accept your pro cardBuying a high end bike from used bike websitesA good gift to buy for someone who loves working on bikesTo panic swim train, or to not panic swim train, that is the questionA big thank you to our podcast supporters who help us keep the podcast ad-free. You can become a podcast supporter as well as submit questions for the podcast at ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcastOur gift recommendations:Eric: T-RATCHET + TI-TORQUE KITNick: HX-ONE HOME ESSENTIAL KITPaula: Home Mechanic Stand

Hey everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finlay. I'm Nick Goldston. And Paula and I are now back home in Bend, Oregon. Nick is back home in L.A. Last week, we came to you from the Wilderness and Mammoth following Paula's race at T-100 Lake Las Vegas. And we're psych to be home. Paula and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a professional and musical person. Also an amateur triathlete, upper middle class we like to say. And on this, this podcast. We talk a little bit about what... Well, upper middle class in his racing results. Yes.

Not talking about us. Yeah, of course not. But my friends have been quoting you, Eric, lately. They've been calling me an upper middle class athlete in terms of my fitness. I guess what I meant to say is upper middle pack. Because we got like, you know, people like to say, oh, on the back of the packer. Yeah. Right, right, right.

But I like that upper middle class. That's great. But yeah, we have a small business. called That Trath on Life that has a very fun community that we've built, a YouTube channel, this podcast, and the basis of this podcast is we take questions from people who ride in and we couldn't do without you. So thanks so much. Oh yeah, it's fun.

But we also like to kind of shoot the shit if I can be so brazen to say that. And Eric, you today went on a run and one of my favorite places to run in the whole world, which is Smith Rock near you. I did. Why did you run there? Why did you pick that spot? I've had in mind for a while now that I would really like to try this thing called ultra running. I'm going to dip my toe in with a 50K race.

It's the end of the season. So if I hurt myself or whatever, it's not really compromising anything except potential ski fun in the winter. And I feel like I could be okay at it. I don't know and I'm just super curious to find out. And it's kind of like when Paula has gone and done the, the UCI cycling. It's like a completely different challenge. I have no idea where I'm going to stack up or anything,

but I just am excited by the to try something new with the fitness that I've built in my life. So that's kind of what I'm working on right now. And the race is only about two weeks away now. So 50K is a lot longer than you've ever run before. Does that, is that not, for a lot of people, that is the intimidating factor is just the pure distance. is that the main concern you have?

Or like, how does this feel different than what your training has prepared you for? Yeah, for sure the distance is a little bit scary. Today, I ran 30K, almost 31K, at once, which is the most that I've run at once in probably a couple years, and the most I've ever run intentionally. We ran 32K once, but we kind of got tricked into it.

Right. And this was like continuous running. I was like fueling as best as I could with the nutrition that I would plan to use on race day. And I wouldn't say I was like race pace, but I was pushing it a little bit when I had the opportunity to do so just to see how my legs felt by the end of it and to get a good stimulus in. I'll have one more opportunity next weekend to do one other long run. Otherwise, I've just been putting in as much volume as I can while training with Paula, doing some of her tempo runs.

And I'm, you know, I don't really know how to train for an ultra, but I have trained for quite a long time for 70.3 races, which are about three hours, 45 minutes, and this race should take just under four hours if I do really well. I think I'm prepared to exercise for that long, be on my fee for that long. That is the question that I don't really know, the answer to. Right, right. It's going to be an exciting kind of dive into it. And you say like you maybe have a little bit of a gift for it in the same way that Paula has a gift for the cycling. And we have your sister as proof as someone who has succeeded in ultra running. So this is a good sign. Also, I love that you said, dip your toe in for a 50K. Like, that's not a dip your toe in. That's a head

first, dude. In ultra running, it's dipping. Yes. Okay. He could do 100K. You can do 100 miles. Yeah. I feel like people are just, it's like 100K, you know, like 50K is almost like half iron man. You're like, oh, well, you know, like, is just a stepping stone to like the real thing? You're like, you're going to qualify for Western States, 100 miles or no. But I think what's kind of cool in the ultra running scene right now is I think it is they are developing like different races and there are athletes that do better at different races. Or at least this has been my observation is you're not like asking an 800 meter runner on the track. Why don't they do the 5K?

Right, right, right. I'm really good at the 800. So I think there are some people that specialize at 50K and there's some people that specialize 100 milers, etc. And there seems to be enough of a race calendar out there that one could kind of trend towards a distance that they're best at. So anyway, I'm going to do a 50K. That seems like possible. I can wrap my head around it without doing a massive special block of training or something. And the other thing is I was not making an analysis of my trail running ability to Paula's time trailing ability rather than that it is a new challenge that I think I could be okay at.

But I don't really know. Paula is confirmed great at time trialing. You don't think you're going to be national champion trail runner here? No, I think... Not yet, maybe, but... I mean, you never know, but I want to enjoy it and I want to go out there, and I really completely respect the people, have dedicated their lives to this,

and I'm not just going to rock up Heather Jackson style and be magnificent, but I want to take on the challenge, just like I did the 100-mile mountain bike race. Just see what it's about. And, yeah, go to distance. And Paula, you and I did a run in Mammoth right after we recorded the podcast, right? Or it was after? It was it before.

It was after. Right after, yeah. And you loved it. It seemed like you really loved it. Is there any part of you that would ever want to do a trail race like that? I mean, Nick, you saw how bad I was at it, too. Well, you're very cautious at descending, but you're also very cautious at descending on a bike, and then something clicks in race mode

and you kind of go into a different gear or mindset or something. I don't know if that's also applicable to trail running. Trail running is very technical, but I think like I also have a lot to lose if I trip. Like I'd have to pull out of Dubai and New Zealand and like all these big races coming up.

So I'm not really willing to take the risk as much as Eric, but that's not to say I don't enjoy it. That's really nice. Pace doesn't matter. Can get to a cool spots. Well, I can say that when we, watched Heather do Western States and when we've started, you know, as a result of that,

getting interested in watching UTMB and everything, Paula has said how much she respects those athletes and how cool she thinks it is and that she would love to be able to do it. Dot, dot, dot. So, you know, I would say personally, my observation is that there is interest, but right now focuses on triathlon and to like do something at the top of the world level, you got to be pretty focused mentally and everything. So speaking at the top of. of the best athletes in the world.

This last weekend was Kona, and all three of us kind of followed along. You guys a little more closely than I did, because I was out of service. But something I was talking to Paula about earlier was how amazing it is to see these athletes who are the best in the world who have trained so hard for this race

and who are so specialized and have so much experience in the race, get there and have really difficult days where they weren't able to get out of themselves what they expected. and how us as amateurs also have those days and we can beat ourselves up over that. But then you see the pros also having a really hard time.

They're pushing themselves obviously, well, not obviously, but sometimes they're pushing themselves more than any amateur would to try to stay with a pack or to try to get a result. But it's still kind of, I guess, comforting in a way to see these amazing athletes struggle on that island trying to do that race. Yeah, I think it's kind of the nature of the beast in Kona though.

and the way that racing, especially on the men's side, is progressing, is that I think a lot of guys are like over biking and then they pay for it on the run. So the sport is changing so much. And I think in order to be in the race, you do have to take risks on the bike. And so many people do and have these insane bike splits that would be the bike course record 10 years ago. But they're just like middle of the pack. And then that's when they suffer on the run. Because I think the conditions in Kona were challenging as always, but not as hot as it's ever been yet. Some of the biggest explosions we've ever seen.

So, yeah, it's such a race of like staying within yourself, I would imagine. But this day and age, you can't do that in the men's racing because it's so tight and there are packs. And the people on the front are riding 20 minutes faster than people used to ride this course. So, yeah, it was super interesting to watch it. And I don't know. I think the people that did really well moderated their efforts the best throughout the whole day.

But I love seeing people like Sam Laidlow go off the front and go for it. I thought that was really respectable. And it makes the race exciting. I don't know if you can necessarily say it was an ego thing. I do feel like Sam Laidlaw. Who said he had an ego?

Nick just said it's a bit of an ego. I don't think so. I didn't say Sam Lidlo had an ego. You've got to kind of check the ego and say, like, this is what I need to ride at so that I can have a decent run, you know? Yeah. Well, he went into the race with a plan to win, right? This is what Sam laid low needed to do in order to win the race. Maybe he could have backed off 10% of what he did and had a better run split, but he needed some time on Patrick Lang to win.

We loved watching Kona. I think there was so much media in Kona. I think ProTri News did an amazing job of previewing the race and recapping the race on their podcast. And I don't really think of them as like a competitor podcast. I think any podcast in the sport helps all of us. And so I just listen to their post race recap. And I would highly recommend you guys go listen to that

for a deeper dive recap into like the ins and outs of what happened because they were on the ground. They really saw what was happening. happening in real time and talk to a lot of athletes after. So we can sit here and talk about it and speculate and whatever, but I do think they do a really good job of doing a bit of a deep dive into what they saw. So it was pretty interesting. Totally.

Kudos to those guys. Yeah. But Nick, you and I have been completely obsessed with watching all of the. Of course. Like I'm watching recaps from like Jackson Laundry. Yeah, I watched Jackson's today. I'm like, yeah, I'll watch it. Okay.

Here, as one who is, as one who is. one who has not like gone into it as hard as you guys have are what would be like your biggest surprises like in versus the way that people acted in their pre-race vlogs or whatever versus what happened and you know were there any like whoa

I really didn't expect that or I don't know just any sort of takeaways watching stuff pre-race and then what happened in the race I thought the most interesting thing psychologically and just thinking back is like Lionel shared so much and we all listened to it.

We all watched it. The Norwegians were very open and generous with their time and sharing what they were doing. And then none of them had a good race. And I'm trying to think about how I would feel afterwards if I'd shared that much,

dedicated so much time to the YouTube and to sharing and then not having a great race. I don't think that he's embarrassed or anything, but it is an interesting observation. And I think that the work Talbot did to put those logs that every day was genius.

They were so well done. I was so into them. It was like a TV show that I had to tune into every day. But it would have been such a fairy tale, perfect ending for him to have a good day

and the opposite happened. So I don't know. It's kind of like watching your favorite main character fail in a way. But I don't know. He hasn't said anything post race. I don't know if he thinks he failed

or if he's okay with it. And if he, I don't know. I think that's the, you know, the end of the story that we're waiting for. And I guess the question there that I feel like is sitting there is, did the YouTube, did the filming impact the performance at all?

Or was it true? That's what I'm getting at. Yeah. Or was it, you know, you could say that. Or depends on Lionel's like actual true mental state and the Norwegians' mental state around it. Was it fun to have Talbot there took no mental energy out of them whatsoever and they didn't feel any extra pressure? I doubt we could say that. But like what percentage, you know, did it impact?

Like I thought that was very interesting when we like watched an interview with Jimmy Chin when he was talking about filming Alex Honnell doing free solo and saying that burden that he takes into filming extreme athletes because they feel like they have to do something special when the camera is on. Like no matter what, the camera being there has some sort of an impact on your psychological state. And, you know, I don't know. And just makes them think so much, you know? That's what I'm afraid of. You're being asked questions all day and then doing these deep dives into your mind about what you think about certain things versus just fully finishing a session and relaxing and forgetting it happened.

Which, you know, blank slate, that's kind of tough. But I do think he has a good, I don't know, I don't want to make this about analyzing Lionel's situation. No, I think it's just like an interesting commentary on Trath on YouTube in general. And I wonder if this will have any impact on the number of people that are rushing into, like, I'm a pro-traithet. I got to start a YouTube channel. I got to share my entire journey versus the people who just kind of put their heads down. Classic style, don't do YouTube.

Don't share as much. Because, like, yeah, if I had somebody every day for the three weeks leading into my championship race, asking me how I feel, what am I doing, how do I feel about what I'm doing, what is the point of that, I would struggle to get out of my own head personally. That's funny. You guys say this. This is like the opposite side of what I kind of gained or what I got from. all the videos. What I got from it was, isn't it amazing how Lionel clearly, and the Norwegians and

anyone else who was posing videos, clearly put so much effort into the race. Not thinking about how the video is actually impacting them, but just showing how it's documenting this experience of their training and how dedicated they go there. They go there so early. They do all these sessions and all these different arrow testing things. And then still, there's 20 people who finish ahead of them. And all 20 of those people are probably doing the same amount of intense testing and work and really hard sessions. And we just see this little insight into Lionel's world, into the Norwegian's world. But every one of those athletes is working so hard. And someone that you see even doing as well as Lionel is still then so far back in the results. But maybe it's maybe

it's the opposite. Maybe it's that the video themselves, like you guys are saying, is causing some of the internal struggle that then shows itself in the race. Yeah, maybe that's just our own bias having done YouTube that we like kind of that popped into our mind versus, you know, you're a very optimistic view of it. But, you know, we've seen some like incredible training stuff from like Magnus Ditliff when I think it was Sweat elite, follow him around for a day. That video was just like, what? You know, so I think you're totally right. The level is incredibly high and everybody's doing stuff that would blow your mind.

Yeah. Anyway, that's Kona. Amazing race. Amazing race. Crazy. I can't believe people do that. And the amateurs do that too. It's just crazy.

Okay, we're going to move on. We're going to do some this or that. Paula specifically requested some this or that this week. I did. I came up with these questions. And I think they have a theme. And I think it's kind of interesting. Well, maybe it's just me.

Okay, so this or that, no chocolate for a week or only chocolate for a whole day. Oh, see? Silence. That's a good question. Only chocolate for a day. Yeah, only chocolate for a day. I'll do that. Wow, that's awesome.

I love that. We should just do that anyway. I think I could do no, wow, lately, though. No, I could for sure do no chocolate for a week, but I think the challenge of chocolate for a day would be so fun. That is a much more fun challenge. Well, when's the last time you did do no chocolate for a week? Oh, I don't even remember. Years.

Yeah. Yeah, like why. Yeah, of course. Okay, next one here. No drink mix for a week or only drink mix drinking for a day. Drink mix? Like tailwind? Like tailwind?

Like carbon. hydrate powder. Yeah, I'll do nothing for a week. Oh, yeah. No drink mix for a week. Eric? Yeah, I'm not fasting for a day. Are you kidding?

Oh, man. I don't, can we do like, can we mix, like, protein powder drink mix in there? No, no, no, sorry, Paula. I mean, like, as far as what you're drinking, as far as what you're drinking, you can still eat normally, but it's, like, you're drink, every time you're drinking, it's drink mix. Oh, yeah, then 100% just drink mix for a day. Drink bags for a day.

I don't think I could get through training without. I absolutely could not get through training without drink mix. Right. A lot of bananas carrying your pockets. Yeah. No bike shoes for a week or wear bike shoes all day. Or bike shoes all day. It's like you could ride in sneakers, I guess.

No bike shoes for, yeah, no bike shoes for a week. Wow. Forced rest? I love that. Oh, so you're just going to not ride your bike. Yeah. I'm not going to ride my freaking bike. I'm assuming we have to do our normal training.

Well, you can do whatever you want, but yeah, I think that's what would happen. Okay, how about no music for a week or music all day for one day? Music all day, every week all day. Okay, great. All week. Just shouting, trying to talk to each other over dinner. Soundtrack to my life. Yeah, I could do no music for a week.

Yeah. And then last one, only low intensity for a whole week or only high intensity for a whole week. You don't have to do like longer or shorter sessions. You can modulate that however you want. but you'd have to stick to one intensity. Low. Yeah, definitely low. That is a fail of, that is not a great question relative to the other ones.

Yeah, that was easy. You don't like that one. No, it's fine, but it's, you know, didn't have to think too hard. That was fun, Nick. Good job. Did you come up with those, Nick? I did. Yeah.

Those are great. Well done. Thank you. Don't be so surprised when I come up with something that's good, by the way. Well, honestly, like, I imagine Paula telling you this 12 minutes before the podcast. podcast started. So I assume you came up with it just super quick. I did come up with them 10 minutes before the podcast started. But Paul didn't give me ample time. Yeah, I'm not sure my brain would come up with those as well as you did at all. So I'm impressed. I'm in a creative, creative mood,

I suppose. Okay. So let's move on to our regularly scheduled questions. These are questions submitted by the listeners. Thank you to our listeners. And thank you very much to our podcast supporters who help support the podcast every week. Thank you very much. So to you guys, we haven't done this for a while, but we are going back to picking our podcast winners now that we're all back in our respective places.

So we pick a random podcast supporter to get a little TTL-flavored prize. And this week, our random supporter is Johnny Naylor. Johnny Naylor, thank you so much for being a podcast supporter. You're going to win a swim cap? Is that what we're saying? We're switching to swim caps right now. what we're doing. We just launched

four different colors of TTL, Orca swim caps. They are all fire. I would recommend to everybody get one of each, but we're going to be giving away one for the next, so often, to all of our podcast winner supporter people. So, you're going to be

looking good at swimming pool and making lots of friends. They're made by Orca, by the way. Yeah, they're real nice. So Johnny, if you're listening, send us an email with your address and we'll send you one of these. And if you want to just buy one, go to that trap onlife.com. They are also for sale.

Yes. They are for sale, yep. If you don't want to wait to win. Yes. Which you might be waiting for a while. Okay. First question here is from B. There's a hot thread in the TTL app currently about racing in the rain. Lots of different takes and opinions, but what are yours?

I'd shred rain and storms to some degree. Are there any conditions you guys personally would not step up to the line for or we'd advise age groupers to be mindful of if they aren't used to certain conditions. I've always sworn by train in every condition so you can race in any, but I'm also a bit crazy. Goes without saying love the pod, love TTL.

I have a lot of experience with racing in the rain this year, actually. Tron Blanc was raining. TT Nationals was raining. Beijing was raining. Ibiza was like Galeforce wins. So I've had a lot of adverse conditions and I wouldn't say I'm the kind of person that goes out in trains in any condition so that I'm prepared for it. I prefer to be comfortable on my trainer if the weather is really bad.

But I think if the weather is so bad that you shouldn't be racing in it, they'll cancel the race. Iron Man is so cautious with stuff. I was surprised they didn't cancel Montrein Blancel because it was so bad. But once you're in the race, you just have to kind of moderate. your speed and your cornering and all of that for the conditions and just be a little bit more attentive and get through it

and I was fine in the end because I feel like I get a little bit of race brain where I'm less cautious and less worried about things when there's something on the line and maybe it's like that for age groupers too I don't know. General rule of thumb for riding a bicycle

and cornering in the rain is you do not want to be breaking whilst cornering, if at all possible. Try to do all of your braking before you get to the corner and then roll through the corner. Because having pressure, breaking, especially with the rear wheel, and a corner is what causes slideouts.

Even on dry roads. That's a great rule of thumb, even on dry roads, especially if you're pushing the limits of your tires. Is this because you only have a certain amount of traction and cornering takes up some of that and braking takes up some of that? So put those on top of each other and you start to run into the limit of what traction you have. Sure.

I think that's a good way to, that's an interesting way to describe it. Are you a physics teacher? Yeah. Physics of sound, baby. Personally, I, I'm kind of similar to Paula now. I used to go out and train in all conditions and just be like, that makes me tough. But now I kind of have scaled that back to like if it starts raining or Gale-Forst winding

while I'm doing a bike workout or I run workout or something outside, I don't let myself just go back to the house and call it. I get through it in the conditions, and that's kind of my reinforcement. I would say almost more psychologically than technically to myself of like when things get hard, I can handle it and I can work through it, barring danger, of course.

This reminds me of something that I have been wanting to talk about with you guys on or off the podcast. for a long time, which is, how much do you think about developing mental toughness at this point in your career? Are you ever, you know, it sounds like Eric, you do kind of, that sounds like you do care about it. But I could see an athlete in your position, either one of you thinking, I need to make things as simple and as easy as possible so that I can get the workouts in as cleanly as possible. where do you sit on that spectrum for either one of you?

Yeah, I think it kind of depends what type of athlete you are and what kind of person you are. For me, being out in super gnarly weather and working through it is the ultimate high. It's like, I am so tough, this is so sick. Other people would have turned back and are at home being soft. And it actually gives me energy in a cool way, but I would say it's detrimental if you're out there

and you're suffering so much and it's not giving you energy and you're burning matches and it's causing you to like question if you are tough and whatever. Then in that situation I would say maybe better to you know save that place that you,

that dark place you need to go to for a race. Right. That's really interesting. I forget who it is who said this, but it was on a podcast or a YouTube video or something. It was another pro athlete. And they were talking about, they live somewhere like where they get winter or rain or whatever. And they go out and train it and they're so tough.

And they think it's building their mental resiliency. And no one else would be out here in this. And then they go to a race and they get destroyed. And they're like, oh, it's because all the people I'm racing against actually are just doing a better job at working out in more optimal conditions. I think this was Ian Boswell. Yeah, it might have been Ian. I forget. Or Ted King.

Yeah, one of these cyclists guys who's like, they're in the winter on their first. fat bike, like doing the intervals. And you're like, oh, no, wait a second. All the people I'm racing are now in Tucson doing intervals on Mount Lemon and the sunshine and they're getting better. Riding 12 hours a day happily. Yeah, your body doesn't know the difference. If you're outside in shi-weather and you're pushing 30 less watts, but you're feeling

all jazzed up and like you're doing good work, you're still doing 30 less watts. So to me, that's where getting on the trainer and getting like a more quality session in in a more controlled environment is usually. the better call for me. And of course, doing the gnarly stuff occasionally is fine. But using that as a reconfirmed to yourself that you're tougher than everyone else is maybe not the healthiest mindset. Yeah, I think there's a difference between like getting through and like seeking it out.

That's true. If it starts raining while you're out there and you get through it, kudos. Yeah. But if you're like, oh, it just started pouring, I'm going out. Let's go get the tough in the rain. Right. It's funny you say that because I remember a run at Smith Rock that I did and it was snowing out and I went out in the snow. And I had that exact thing that you're talking about, Eric, where it felt epic and I felt like no one else is out here.

I'm doing it. And it was awesome. I mean, it wasn't a great workout. But I felt like stoked about it. Hey, here you are talking about it. So I would say it was a win. If you've done it seven days in a row for like a month, you know, that might be detrimental to your training. but one-off epic funness like that,

you know, I think that's good for the soul. Cool, cool. Great. Okay, next question here. And this was almost a bike tech with Eric question, but I just thought it was interesting, so we threw it in. Hey, all, when working on your bikes,

do you use a bunch of different greases for different areas and parts or just general grease for most jobs, threading bolts, bottom brackets, etc. I've always just used polylube from Park Tool on everything, but they have many other types of grease as well. Thanks, Kinley.

What is your lubed, uh, count? or look like, Eric? Oh, yeah, we use a lot of different lobes. Different places need different loops. And why is that? But they're just, there are different, you know, like a bottom bracket should theoretically have a slightly different viscosity and type of lobe and like, or grease and how long, you know, how fast the cranks are spinning versus like your derailer pulley, for example,

like a derailor pulley, you're going to want extremely low viscosity lube versus you're going to want a little bit more of like a grease on the bottom bracket because it's just not spinning that fast. It needs to last a little bit longer. It's a little bit like we talked about with the zip wheels last week and the noise and the free hub being because of different viscosity of lube. Yeah. Yeah. But for the most part, I've got a couple of these like little baby syringes full of some ceramic speed. like super special grease that I got like eight years ago when I was sponsored by ceramic speed. And I kind of use that on anything that's moving at high speed.

Eight years old? I'm sure. I think we need to refresh that. I don't think that expires. And I like to use that on anything that's moving high speed. But I don't service our hubs. I don't do a ton of service on that kind of stuff. I leave a lot of that to the professionals.

That polylube from Park Tool is pretty great and works on many parts. parts of the bike though. So that is a good one to have. Yeah, and then chain lobes, it's the own thing entirely. Separately. Don't use polyluve on your chain. No.

Don't use grease on your chain. You can use WD40 bike lube on your chain, but don't, yeah. WD40 makes bike lube, and it's not like a grease stripper. It's, it's actual chain loop. Yeah, they kind of went all in on the, in the bike scene, and they got a good bike cleaner and stuff. I mean, I'm a sport guy, personally, but I do know that WD40 makes some products. Great, great. Awesome. Okay, well, there you go, Kinley.

Next question here is from Molly. Hello, all. Do you know if there are races that offer a reduced entry fee if you decline swag? The midsize mass-produced T-shirts, extra water bottles, yet another bag or even a metal all seem like plastic extras that I often never use. Wouldn't it be great if there was a way to opt out and save some money? Maybe more of a question for Paula's mom is I'm not sure if decreasing these much of an effect on overall cost of putting on a race, permits, etc. Entrifice just seem to be climbing, thanks, Molly. This is an interesting question. I have some thoughts about this as well, but I'm curious. I've never seen this, right? I've never seen declining a t-shirt being, uh, lowering the cost or anything like that. Yeah. No, in fact, when you're signing up for an Ironman, if you don't pick a t-shirt size, which like screams at you. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I don't want a t-shirt.

I don't need it. really want you to have a t-shirt. They do want you to have a t-shirt. Like often when I go pick up my thing, I won't get the bag or the shirt. And I don't know if that then, I mean, it's still made, so it's still wasteful. But this goes into my theory here. This is like, like, you could say like, oh, you're going to be vegan. You think that makes a difference? It's not going to make a difference. Well, it makes a difference if enough people do it and less and less people are buying a certain product and the grocery stores orders less of it. And there's less demand. It eventually makes its way up the chain.

So I think if enough races have like, we have 150 shirts left over three years in a row. We're just going to make less shirts next year. And then maybe we'd like slightly decrease the waste. I mean, ideally. Or just a simple option for it. I think this is a great idea. On the drop-down bar, just be like no t-shirt. And I don't even think it necessarily needs to be like, okay, you get $20 off your entry fee if you don't take a t-shirt.

But to me, it's just a wasteful thing. Right. Yeah. If you're going to throw it away or you don't really want it, you don't have room in your luggage, this is your 10th race this year, whatever it is. But on the flip side, I think that that memorabilia from a race is actually really special for a lot of people. And they want it to remember the race they've done. And the finisher medal is really meaningful.

So it's one thing for maybe Eric and I who do 10 races a year. And we've done Iron Man racing for eight years now. We don't want another T-shirt. It's just going to go in the bin that goes to, donation, but I don't think they should get away with them altogether because some people really want them.

Yeah, and I do think Iron Man's in a good position where these races sell out so far in advance, they could wait to see how many people have opted in for a T-shirt to then produce the appropriate amount. Versus, I mean, there are plenty of races out there that that's not the case, where people sign up day of or last possible minute,

and then the race organizers just doing the best job that they can to guess how many T-shirts they need. Right. I think that's comes into play where you can just decline it and then eventually they kind of figure that out. You know what this reminds me of it reminds me of when you're in hotel sometimes and there's that thing like, help us

conserve water if you want to reuse your towel, blah, blah, blah. And I'm like the hotel does not care about water. They don't, they, it's less work for them to wash the towels. That's at least my cynical opinion about this. But Iron Man could kind of say the same thing when you're signing up

for the race. Like, be eco-friendly. Don't use a shirt. And In reality, it just saves them money to not have to produce a shirt. I swear I have seen this. Oh, really? It's probably a smaller race or maybe it was an exterior or something, but I have seen this and noted it mentally that it was neat. And the masses they're producing, though,

is it really saving them a significant amount of money? They're getting these things so cheap. I think it's like 50 people each time do it. I mean, it's little things that, if that's how we can make a difference. It adds up. I guess it adds out. Yeah. No, it's funny is we're giving out.

Finisher medals in Vegas, me and Eric, for like 30 minutes. And one guy crosses the line, I go to give him his finisher medal. And he's like, no, I don't want to finish a medal. Like, he said it really aggressively. And I was, like, kind of insulted. I remember, I saw that because he kind of was aggressive about it. But he made it sound like it was because he has too many. Like, he's just going to throw it away and he doesn't want to be wasteful.

It sounded like to me. Or like, my race was so bad. I don't want a fisherman. How dare you? I don't know. Yeah, like to me initially it came across, like, I am so above finisher medals. I've done so many of these or this means nothing to me. I need a medal for finishing on the podium.

But it could have just been that he doesn't want to like waste another finisher medal. So I don't know. I guess if you're going to decline a finisher medal or a hat at the finish line, just do it in like a nice way. I would say just PSA, anytime you have an interaction with a volunteer anywhere on any race course, keep that in mind. That they are there. They don't have to be there. they're there for you trying to make your experience great and try to keep that in mind as you interact.

Right. Well said. Especially if someone's giving you finisher medals and they race the day before. And her name is Paula, especially. No, it doesn't matter who I am. Okay, wonderful. Next question here is from Garrett.

Currently training for my first full Ironman. I've seen a lot of people say changing into bike bibs and running clothes in each transition is worth the comfort rather than trisuit. I will be moving at a snail's pace, so comfort intrigues me. Would love to know your thoughts, Garrett. Do you guys ever think about the comfort of your race kit during racing? Does it even cross your mind?

Yeah. Really? Yeah. I pretty much every time I jump on the bike, I want to readjust a little bit where the grippers are on my legs. And just because the Castelli grippers are so effective that sometimes it feels like the fabric on my butt is just like a little bit stretched more than I want. And so I like pull them up just a teeny bit.

But that is, that's about it. I never think about it. But if you're out there all day for an Iron Man and you're using the bathroom and you're, you know, literally out there for 16 hours, I could see this being a thing. And didn't Lionel used to change into? He did it for change shorts.

Like half shorts and a singlet. I'd be pretty tempted personally. I would love to just run in like a track singlet. Yeah, just feel like it's cooler. How much of a difference really is that 30 seconds going to make over the whole Ironman, really? Yeah, it's an interesting idea. Especially if you're defining yourself as like a slower athlete. What is there to lose here?

Yeah, I mean, like Dave Scott and Mark Allen in that iconic Iron War, they were wearing freaking track shorts and singlets and it looked so good. Yeah. I think that there's an element of like, some people get really excited by putting their race kit on. And it's a special thing and their training in their training kit. But then race day they get to wear their race kit. And that brings like that extra boost that shoes would bring or race wheels or something.

You know, it's like a whole feeling. But when I read this question, I thought about everyone's wearing these one-piece kits these days because aerodynamically they're the fastest. But what about like the two-piece kit like wearing tri-eastern? shorts and a tight singlet on the top. What's the point though? Like Miranda Carfrey used to do this. So you could go to the bathroom easier. Oh, the bathroom.

It's just comfort. And you could put on a loose fitting tank top in T2. That's what I'm interested in. Like if you could actually get aerodynamically the same with like a try, a fancy tri top, but then take that off, but leave your try shorts on and then put on like a singlet for running, that sounds pretty nice to me. It's funny. I was thinking about why I feel an aversion to doing this. And the sad, vain truth is that it's because of what Paula said.

I want to feel like this is race day and I'm doing it and I'm wearing my tri-kit that is made to race in. I want to feel like cool doing this. But I don't think it, yeah, I don't think it's because of the performance aspect of it. It's because I want to feel dialed in on race day. Yeah. I think that's totally fine. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. Whatever makes you feel fast, I think I would feel freaking cool if I had on like a sweet tank top.

Right. Right. A TTL tank top even, you might say. I mean like, you know, a freaking Castelli printed up version of my normal tri-kit, but that's like a little bit looser flowing and, you know. Well, thank Goddirk's not doing on-road racing, so he can wear its thinglet all the time now. Oh yeah. You got to look cool for your trail race there. Yeah, I haven't figured out my outfit for that yet. Is trail racing a little more open-ended? Like, could you race without a shirt? I feel like, yeah, 100% you could. Like Anton Krippichka, Krippichka, however you say his name,

that dude has never worn a shirt in a race or life or anything. Yeah, Lionel wore a race a singlet for Iron Man Canada, which he won. He may have also done it in Kona. We just haven't seen a single picture from him racing. Oh, that's true. Right. Yeah. Right.

Okay. Next question here is from Sam. What do your recommendations or guidance when it's appropriate or the right time to accept your pro card? How do you know you will actually be competitive and not just an amateur with a pro card? I know that may sound harsh and probably is not the best question for the upbeat pod, but it's something I'm trying to figure out. I'm currently in a position where I could accept my pro card,

but I know my swim is not at a professional level. The variation in skill levels in the professional field is very evident in the pro series races, and I want to do the sport and my self-justice. I also wanted to say thank you. The T-100 Lake Las Vegas run course was brutal. All I wanted to do was jog it out, but after hearing, Paula yell, you look so strong, K-I-S-Kit. Those thoughts immediately left and I wanted to push harder.

It is crazy how a few simple words or the slightest acknowledgement from an inspirational figure can change an entire mindset. Truly a life-high point for me, Sam. That's really nice. Paula, you're out there making a difference at that cheer tent. Epic. I love that. I'm out there making a difference at the cheer tent. That was epic.

Handed out smiles, handed out motivation. Yeah, I really paid my dues post. She sure did. Didn't I? So, okay, this is such an interesting question because, like, how, is there even a right answer to this question? No, it's so individual. And some of our detailed Devo athletes were, like, asking about this this year as well because they're winning their age group and wondering if they should take their pro card or if they should just continue winning their age group because they know that they're not going to be competitive in the pro field necessarily right away. And so the advantages of taking your pro card is you can sign up for the membership for the year, like $1,200.

And then you sign up for as many races as you want. Anytime you want up to two weeks before the race. And logistically, it's a lot easier. Ultimately, maybe a bit cheaper, right, if you're not paying for age group eight race entries. And you don't have to sign up as far in advance. Yeah. Obviously, the downside is that you won't be at the point. end of the race anymore. And winning is fun. Winning your age group is fun. Podiuming and your age

group is fun. And you'd be sacrificing that to race in a field where you'll be more near the back if your swim's not good. Yeah. There is a question there of like, does winning your winning the overall amateur thing frequently, if you're looking at this as a career, does that get you more attention from potential sponsors than getting 27th at, you know, in the pro field every time. That's a valid question. It's an interesting point you make because you're touching on this thing where you can be an amateur but be making sponsor money as an amateur, which is a relatively new thing. Yeah.

I mean, I don't know if you're necessarily making sponsor money, but there's a good chance you could be getting discounts on things. equipment or you know like maybe a free wheel set or something like that potentially if if you have a good social media presence and more so than if you're a racing professional and we're just in the middle or back of the back in the very back yeah i think either way if you have if you like sharing your story and you have some pictures or you're freaking you know you have a photographer friend or whatever like that is going to help in either situation um i think that if you're going to take your pro card and race as a pro initially, while you don't feel like you're fully maybe ready for

that level, is to just be really selective in which races you do. Don't go to St. George. Don't go to Oceanside. Go to like 70.3 Cosumel or some of the smaller ones where the pointy end of the 70.3 people aren't going to be there because they're at a different race or whatever. There's less prize money. So those races, I think, are a good opportunity for new pros to step in in a more level playing field. Yeah. I would say that I would probably encourage people to turn pro a little bit sooner if they are a good swimmer than if you're a good runner. I know, I was going to say that being a bad swimmer is so rough for piercing pros started. That's a long day all by yourself. Yeah, versus someone who is like,

oh, I swam collegiately, but my run is kind of still developing. Yeah. You're at least in the race for the first step. Yeah. Like my sister, she got her professional triathlon license right before COVID happened and then kind of decided to go the ultra running route instead. But in her first couple of 70.3s, she wasn't like miles behind Paula out of the water. She was with like a solid group of swimmers because she grew up swimming to swim in college and everything.

And so she was actually able to experience some pro racing for, even halfway into the bike before kind of falling off of the, you know, whatever, pointy end pace. And that's a lot more enjoyable morale boosting and you're actually building some experience there. But you really just got to do what's best for what you want to do. I mean, if you're back five minutes back out of the swim and you're biking by yourself, no one really cares if you're having fun and enjoying it and getting something out of it and that you want to be a professional triathlete, that is totally fine. You're not harming anyone.

in anyone's way. Yeah, yeah, that's a good point. If you're like, I want to be a professional triathlete, and that's exactly what I want to do, and I know it, then go for it. If you're like, I don't know, I'm going to find out if it's like the right thing. And, you know, then, yeah,

maybe you ride the age group wave a little bit longer. So that leaves me some of the final question here, but it sounds like you've already answered it, which is there's nothing ethically wrong, or there's nothing that's frowned upon for being one of the pros that is quite a far ways back from the front of the race. It's your thing.

It's up to you. Unless. Paula might get pissed at you for getting in the way of the women's paper. No, not that. If you're a slow guy and you're interfering with the women's race, that's annoying. But that's very annoying. But it's also not their fault.

You can be a slow guy. And then when the lead woman passes you, you just don't interfere with the race, right? We've talked about this before in the podcast. Let just let them go. They caught you. That's fine. Let them go. Do your own thing.

Yeah. They're not there. Pretend they're not there. Yeah. That's right. Okay. Next question here is from Riley. Hi Nick. Hi, Eric. Hi, Paula. Curious your thoughts on used bikes from sites like ProClaZet and Bicycle.

I've had a tarmac since 2012. With the end of the season, I thought there could be some good stock out there. I've got the approval from corporate, my amazing wife and Sherpa, to upgrade. Really like, I love corporate. I might start saying that. Really looking forward to getting electronic shifters and some tubeless 28s instead of 23s. Oh, God. I realize that I can get a one to two-year-old bike for anywhere from 20 to 40 percent off. current year, but it's still a pretty big purchase, and most of them all you get is very good or good shape. Do you think it's worth not knowing the car facts, in quotes, on the bike?

And this likely being my bike for another 10 years or so, thanks for letting us see into your lives and approving your kids' purchases. Riley. So are you guys familiar with Bicycle as well? Only because of ProTri News, to be honest. Oh, see, it's working. They've reached out to us on quite a few occasions.

It's working. We just have not accepted a sponsorship But bicycle, it's kind of like pros closet where if you have an old bike in good shape. Yeah, but it's not from pros necessarily. Anyone can sell their bikes on bicycle. Gotcha. But neither was pros closet. Oh, was it not?

I never used it. I never used it. Okay. No, anyone could send it in. It was just, it kind of started in Boulder where like a lot of pros lived and brought their bikes in. Physically in person, I think. And then it just became an online thing. But I think the only way to buy a fancy bike.

if you're a little bit on a budget, is buying a secondhand bike. I think that is completely fine. And a lot of these websites will, or at least with pros calls at my experience, is really thoroughly check the bike and make sure that there's no carbon repair. It's in good shape. And they'll usually tune it and make sure it's good to go and be really transparent about any defects or anything that might be potentially kind of wrong with it. So that, I think, is a safer way to go than maybe buying something off of Facebook

marketplace or something where someone's just selling it individually might be trying to hide something. But even then, I think a lot of the time, people that own nice bikes like this have taken really nice care of them. And generally, if you're paying a certain amount of money for a new thing to you, it's going to be a reliable tool for X number of years for you. Way better than going and buying. It's like buying a new car. Such a waste of money. You drop it off the lot and it's like reduced its value instantly. Yeah, yeah, agree. So we all agree.

Bind used even for nice, fancy bikes is great. And like you said, they do charge a premium bicycle and ProClauget. They will charge a premium. But it's because they have that extra care. So you have a little more piece of bind. That's true. If you can go straight to the source of a professional athlete who's trying to sell a bike, you might get a bit of a better deal.

Like Eric and Paula, for example. Yeah. Like when we sell, when we've never, I've maybe once in my life given a bike to pros closet to sell for me, but they take a huge cut, like 40% or something. So I'd prefer to just sell it myself with the person who's buying it, knowing that like, okay, this bike has only been ridden for one year. I've taken really good care of it. And both people usually win in that situation, but it is a lot more work than just saying, here you go, pros closet, please sell this for me. So it's like kind of a give or take situation. Eric, did you buy it? Was your first bike

your first, like, Cervello, I think. Was it used? my first five bikes were used. The first bike that I raced in a professional triathlon, professional non-draft triathlon, I bought the frame from one person and then I scrapped together parts

that came off of people's bikes who upgraded their parts at the bike shop that I worked at. So it was like a full Frankenstein situation. And it was great. That's awesome. Okay, next question here is from Megan. Hey, y'all, this is probably a question for Eric.

And actually, I think all three of us should give answers to this question because it's a good one. My partner's birthday is coming up and I'm trying to figure out what to get him. He races bikes in all forms, mountain bike road, gravel, tandem. Wow, tandem. You name it. I'd like to get him something fancy for his bike workshop, especially because he's my amazing personal mechanic and he truly loves spending hours working and perfecting his bikes. I'm looking for a gift that's a luxury like a fancy tool or accessory or something really that he wouldn't normally buy for himself.

any ideas what's your favorite workshop piece that maybe even feels like a toy to you so eric you are the person for this question so we'll let you go first is there something that you're like oh i got this but i didn't need it but oh it's so nice to have oh man i mean this is like three quarters of tools for me there are so many tools that are so specialized and like i'll use this one time but it's so cool the way that it works um actually i think my favorite thing is Zach Ellie Salt House's partner

got this for me as like a thank you for letting us stay with you for several weeks last year and it's a silka like travel multi-tool Tor crunch tea handle situation

so it's like fits all into like a saddle bed oh I see it yeah it fits into like oh you have this pulled up. Yeah, I hope. It fits all into like this cute little wallet-sized pouch and you assemble it and then it's got a bunch of little bits in it. So it's got like a torx bit and an 8 mil and a 5 mil and a and everything. But then also as you twist it, it'll register like three Newton meters, 5 newton meters, 8 Newton meters with little dashes on there. And it's just it is such a neat little piece of engineering. Like I think it's fantastic. So that's the thing that brings me the most joy to use. And it's, I think a

affordable gift. It's $125 on the Silka site right now. Yeah. It looks really nice. It's so cool. It's a neat thing. That's a great gift. That's a great gift and appropriately priced.

Mine is also, I thought about this, I also am going to recommend the Silka thing. I love. Yeah, I know. This was not planned. But we are going to put links to this in the bottom. And we do get, they are affiliate links. we will get some kickback from this, but I truly believe in this product because I have been using it.

That sounds convenient, but this is actually my, this is actually my favorite thing. Yeah, and this is actually my favorite thing too. It's called the HX1 Home Essential Kit, and it's like a hex key set, and it has a few other heads that you can put in there, but it comes in this beautiful wooden box,

and each one of the hex keys has this, like, red lining to them. They are so beautiful. Yes, oh, I have been loving. them. The way that I think of of Silka stuff is like Law Marzocco, but of like bike tools where you're like, this is unnecessary but it's so neat and sexy

that like I need it because it's like the coolest version of the thing. And it makes you want to use, like it makes you want to work on the bike to me at least. I'm like, oh, I get to open this box. God, there's going to be something I can tighten. Yeah, exactly. Paula, do you have

a tool that you could think of that excites you in the same way that The bike tool that I just can't live without and excites me every time I use it. Yes. God. I think I have an idea of one for you. No, but if I were going to get Eric a new thing right now for the bike area, it would be a new bike stand. I hate our bike stand.

It's like broken. I can't believe he puts up with it. And I can't even use it because it's broken. So that is a, I think they make like a wide array of like cost points for bike stands. but it is a nice thing to have a good working one in the garage. They're a little expensive if you want one of the ones with a nice, like steel base and make potentially two handles on them and stuff. Well, maybe this person doesn't even have a bike stand yet.

That's a really good recommendation because you can do almost anything without a bike stand, but the second you have it, it makes so many jobs. Everything's better. So much easier to not have to hold up the bike. So that's a good one. What were you going to say, Eric, for me? I was going to say a thing that I think it was a great gift that you really like and cannot live without. It's not a tool, but the little like the radar tail light.

Yes, I like the radar tail light. And that's like I care about you. This is a safety item, honey. You know, like that's a great, that's a great gift. We bought ours off Amazon. We didn't buy the Garmin one because we don't use Garmin stuff. The ones that we have are called Magin, M-A-G-N-E. work just like the Garmin ones,

except I think maybe some of the Garmin ones have a video camera now. I don't know if the camera's necessary. If it has a camera. I don't think so. But it shows up like on your Wahoo and I'm sure the same on a Garmin or whatever. There's like little lights that show how far away

the car is behind you. And it's if you want to not be stressed about how far out of the road or in the road you're riding, it's a really nice piece of mind when you're TTIing. Yeah. There's go. That's great.

I know you guys love those. Free product recommendations. Yep. Okay, last question here. Hey guys, listen to the podcast since the very beginning. Ooh, day oneer. I feel too old to say pod, even podcast took me years to warm up too. Okay. I need some urgent advice. I'm racing Iron Man Florida in two weeks and because of some family and work circumstances, I've only a total of four days of swimming in the last three months. That's my kind of swim frequency. I can run fitness of my life, though. Yeah. I'll be on scene at the venue Monday through Friday before the Saturday race. So what kind of things would you recommend to someone underprepared on the swim, but with a week to go? Two a day swims for the first couple days, shorter, higher intensity, or longer? Thanks just so you know, my kids know all of your voices.

My daughter has a signed poster of Paula on her wall and you're an inspiration to her to complete her own 70.3 as soon as she turns 18. Wow. that's awesome. That's crazy. If you have little tidbits like this to, you know, add to your questions, feel free. Feel free. I'm here for it. Feel free to add them.

I don't know. There's like, I don't think panic training really works. Like if you got a week before your race to train, I think going and doing two a day swims or increasing the intensity is just going to backfire. Might just make for some extra tiredness? Yeah, honestly, it'll make you more tired. And what we've said this about swimming before is like, If Eric goes and swims, he's just as fast as if he swims every day, but he's more tired after. So I think the thing you might be sacrificing here is just your freshness when you get out of the water.

It might gas you way more to do an Iron Man swim when you don't have the training to back you up. But in a race this long and this like low intensity, I think you can overcome it once you get on the bike and get some nutrition in. And the swim is such a blip in the whole picture that if your bike fitness and your run fitness are really good, which you said they are, I think you're fine. It would be a bigger problem if you'd only run four times in the last three months or something. I think swimming is kind of the sport where, yeah, if you're racing at the professional level, it's super important. But if you're a competent swimmer, you can get through it and you'll be fine. Yeah, get yourself the floatiest wetsuit and you can get your hands on. It's in Florida, though.

know if it's a wetsuit swim. Okay, get yourself a swim skin, some water wings, maybe some like, no. But like if it was me and I was in this situation, I would not increase my swimming, but I might increase like doing five minutes of stretching, like before and after the swim, just like trying to have some looseness and just feel okay. But I don't, you're not going to shoulder mobility, range of motion stuff. Yeah, you could even start doing that. It's like activation of muscles rather than you're not going to get fit in one week. Swim fit. Although swimming's funny because like if I take two weeks off of swimming or like COVID

if you take a freaking four months off swimming and then I swim for a week, I do get the feel of the water back. Like I think water feel is really a real thing. Yeah. So maybe the frequency thing for the week of the race would be a good thing. I'm not saying two a days, but swim every day while you're there, even if it's for 20 minutes. Yeah. And just get the feel of the water back and then your fitness will carry you through.

Maybe actually 20 minutes is the move. Yeah, 20 minutes is the move. Not a huge amount. And then my question for you guys would be about how about the amount of effort that you'd want to put out in the swim? So if you are really fit on the swim, really fit on the bike, really fit on the run, you know what it's going to feel like to get out of the water and bike and get off the bike and run. But if you're not confident in, let's say, your swim fitness, do you think? think you put out the same effort that you would if you were a swim fit and just know that you're going to go slower? Or do you take it a step further and say, no, since I'm not swim

fit, I have to go take it even easier than I would normally so that it doesn't negatively affect so much the bike and the run. I honestly don't think in this situation, it's like a conscious thought. You just go and your body will tell you how hard you can go. Would err on the side of caution. So you don't want to compensate and work harder than you normally would because you know that you're not as fit. That's not right. But you don't necessarily want to avoid, ignore what your body is telling you and go even easier. You think it will inform you where you need to be when you're swimming. I think you need to, you're being like Lionel right now. Like, just stop thinking about it. Well, it's easy to say when you're a high performing athlete

who is really swim fit. But I think when you're concerned about your Iron Man coming up so much so that you're writing into a podcast, then you do want to have some kind of answers. Probably less is more. with thinking. I've also never done an Iron Man, so I don't really know. Maybe you do need to use your brain and Iron Man's. When do you get here, Nick? I think Thursday. Not this Thursday.

The following Thursday. No, no, no, no, no, no. That's great. Because then we can do our long run next week together. You're doing the half marathon. I'm doing the 50K. Yep. But you'll start, what, like an hour and a half after me or something like that?

Something like that. And we calculated that there's a possibility that we might finish at the same time. Right. That could be fine. That would be amazing. That's the goal. Major goal at the weekend.

Speaking of wastefulness, back to that question about medals and finisher t-shirts, I bought a bag of Halloween candy yesterday because we live on a really kid populated street. And the fricking bars of chocolate, you can't call it a bar. It's the size of a nickel, maybe even a dime. and to satisfy your chocolate need, you need to have like seven of them, and then you have seven wrappers.

It's honestly criminal that they would sell them this small. They're not mini chocolate bars. They're like micro chocolate bars. Like maybe 40% larger than a tootsie roll. No, not even. Not even like 20% larger. At its worst.

Than a titsy roll. Yeah, I swear every year Halloween candy keeps shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and shrinking. And what I think I might do actually is go to Costco tomorrow. and we'll be the house that gives out the big chocolate bars. Oh, the full-sized candy. Yeah, my parents used to do that, and it was so fun to give out candy

because the kids would just, like, die when they saw that you had big chocolate bars. And you go to Costco and you could get, like, you know, 48 big chocolate bars and it's not that expensive. I feel like if you give out one big chocolate bar in this family neighborhood, you better have like 200, because Word is going to go like wildfire.

They're going to know. You can't shut down. Kids are coming back in their second costume just for another full-sized snickers. You can't close up shop. That's what my parents did. And it was so fun. We get so many kids. People know where the big chocolate bars are coming from.

Oh, this episode comes out on Halloween. Yeah. So happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Spooky. Might I recommend you go to Costco and get the big bars to give out. Get it. If Paula hasn't already swiped them clean.

It's worth the extra money. Trust me. Okay, I think that's all we got. That was a fun one. Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll see you here next week. Same time. Bye.

No.