That Triathlon Life Podcast - Professional triathlete and TTL Devo team athlete Zack Cooper joins us to answer your questions

Episode Date: December 5, 2024

This week, Zack Cooper joins us to chat about triathlon! Zack is a professional triathlete and a member of the TTL Devo team. With the Indian Wells race just a week away, we thought it would be the perfect time to have him on the podcast.Here’s what we covered:Wireless earphones for cycling and runningThe Orca Flew wetsuit: Is it suitable for cold-water races?Weekend routines for professional triathletesSpectating tips for IM 70.3 Indian WellsCanicross and canitriathlonPacking a bike for international travelA big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive! To submit a question for the podcast and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Hey everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. And I'm Zach Cooper. That's right. This week we have an extremely special guest to celebrate an extremely special week. It is the one week a year that we have a sale on TTL racing and training kits. And the proceeds from that go to benefit the TTL development team. Zach is one of the more prolific athletes from the development team from this last year. He had some awesome races, including Challenge Roth. And he is, by coincidence, in L.A. right now, hanging out with Nick, recording in real life because he's getting ready to race 70.3 Indian Wells in one week.

So, Zach, welcome to the podcast. We're stoked to have you here and representing this year's development team. Thanks, guys. Yeah, it's so good to be on the pod and even more so to be here in L.A. with Nick. We did a bit of swimming this morning. Is that what you would call that? controlled drowning. Come on, Nick.

I mean, I could barely get you out of the pool. You just wanted to keep on going. That's a lot of ladies to talk to then. I haven't actually told you this, but did you know that she... Does she ask for your number? She's sitting to my DMs. I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised.

Amazing. She was smitten with you. So was that green card application like already submitted or... It's like the accent just really makes it. It really tips it over the edge, you know? She also loves swimming. I know this girl, she loves swimming, and Zach's a very good swimmer. So she's like, you know, speed goggles a little bit.

He's very tall. He's handsome. He's exotic. What more could you ask for? What are you from? In the UK, I'm from London. Oh, you're from London. Heard of it.

Straight up London. Heard of it. So if you are new here, Paul and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a professional musician, very solid, strong amateur trathlete. are both actually getting ready to race 70.3 worlds in a couple of weeks. And this is our podcast, the triathlon life podcast. And it's one of the arms of many of the things that we do. But the most exciting thing, like I said, right now going on is our kit order to support

the development team. And the development team is the thing that we came up with a couple years ago. We're headed into our third year. And we support a group of four to six aspiring professional triathletes to try to help them make the jump from being an amateur triathlete. to like a full-time successful professional athlete where that is their primary job. It's a really hard thing to do.

Paul and I have both lived through it and been in it. And so I guess this is our little bit of a pitch here at the beginning of the show. If you have been listening to this podcast, if you do triathlon at all, and you could support the team by going and buying a TTL kit.

We got race kits, running singlets, bikes kits, you name it, on the website. That is a huge help. And we really appreciate you helping us on this little project that we've started. Yeah, it's fun. The applications are also open for the Devo team. So if you're an athlete that you think might fit into that category, then go to our website and there's an application there. We go through them all and then narrow them down, interview people, and announce the team January 1st. So for 2025, you could race in the TTL Devo kit like Zach has all year and represented us super well.

And the kit will be a little bit different than the other kits that we sell, but kind of have a similar look. So everyone feels like they're on the team together. And yeah, it's just an exciting thing that has slowly grown over the last couple of years and keeps getting better each year. We were so impressed with our team this year, the results they had. And just how they, like, conducted themselves and represented the brand all over the world. So we're really excited to keep it going.

Yeah. Okay, Zach, who is Zach? Zach has a cool story, actually. Mm-hmm. If we go right back to the start, I started triathlon now in Sydney, actually, whilst I was studying out there. And I used to be a rower, but I just decided to do a triathlon one day with my friends. And, yeah, from there, I couldn't swim at all. So, Nick, I think you were probably actually faster than me back then.

That seems impossible. And, yeah, that's... That was eight years ago and fast forward eight years. And yeah, I'm, I've just turned pro and this has been my first year. So last year I was struggling to make that step up. And I just thought like if I wanted to go pro, then I needed to go all in. And yeah, I decided to quit my job. I was working at the UCI, so Cycling's World Governing Body.

And I was actually like on the other side of the field of play. So I was working in digital, like doing interviews with that. athletes, you know, the likes of Machia van der Pochard and Tadej Pogachar. And it was fantastic. Like I got to go to the Olympics, World Championships. But I think there was just something inside of me that wanted to kind of go pro and be a pro athlete. And I remember, yeah, applying this time last year for the TTL Devo team. And I'd already quit my job. And yeah, I'd followed obviously what you guys have created for for so long, like since the start. And just immediately wanted to be part of it.

And yeah, the whole vibe that you guys bring is kind of part of the reason why I do the sport as well. So, yeah, for me, it was a perfect match. And I remember putting together like a little video. I don't know if you guys remember it as part of the application. 100%. And we also remember thinking, this dude is interviewing Tade Pagotcha and hanging out with Peter Sagan. Why does he want to be a pro triathlete? Yeah, we thought you were crazy.

You had the coolest job. I was like, I'll trade you jobs. But I think you also must have got that sense of like you're a talented athlete and you're talking to professional cyclists all day and wanted a taste of what it was like on the other side of it. So I could totally respect that too. And it's so cool how you've made that leap, I guess, across from this already very cool job to another cool job. Yeah, I mean, it was certainly like an amazing experience, like being able to interview those guys. and, you know, did Demi Vollering as well. He's super cool.

And obviously, Pauli, you must maybe, yeah, have seen her at Worlds, like in Zurich. Yeah, I look up to all of those people. It's so cool. I raised them in Zurich this year at the UCI TT Championships. Yeah, exactly. And so, yeah, I learned a lot from them. And, yeah, being on live TV was quite an experience. But, yeah, as you said, like, I think I was getting to the point where I was like now or

and yeah being part of the TTL Devo team just really yeah gave me the confidence to step it up and and go for that dream and yeah here we are a year later in nick's recording studio that's right that's right in the pink recording studio do you still train with sam ladlow and his dad uh so i was training with them up until just before they left the cona okay uh and yeah i learned so much like from from training with them. I think I kind of said to myself, if I'm going to go like all in this year, then I kind of need to learn from the best. And yeah, obviously Sam becoming world champion last year was quite something.

So, yeah, I was lucky to already be coached by Richard Deadlow and, yeah, got invited to join their squad. And yeah, I was there for 10 months and learned so much. But I think in the long term, it just wasn't going to quite, quite work out. I'm more of a city guy. and they were in rural France but yeah like once again I'm super grateful of the opportunity

and yeah I'll kind of move on and learn new things really that's really cool just like brushing up against the best in the world right away and having that opportunity to see what it's like to be a pro first hand is I could imagine super valuable

I think that's super important I did a similar thing not with somebody at quite that level but when I went all in and quit my job at the bike shop I moved down to San Diego to train with Paulo Sousa and at the time he had a couple of the best Americans and I don't think I would have fully grasped

what all in really meant without having been in that daily training environment, high performance, a bunch of people like on this pathway trying to go, that was for the Olympics and obviously going for Kona is a similar level of intensity. But I think that can't be overlooked as is like a way to really get a taste and fast track yourself

if being at that level is actually where you belong. Yeah, 100%. And it's just like simple things. you kind of hear it all the time, but I think I've put on like three, three, four kilos since the start of the year because I'm just like, I'm just eating more. And then, yeah, everything to do with recovery, like, like not going too hard in sessions. Yeah, you can just kind of see in person just how measured they are in training to make sure that they're ready for the next day's training. So, yeah, we get those questions so much on the podcast. It's not just about what you're doing,

swim bike run. It's like what you're doing outside of that, which, could be the most eye-opening thing when you're used to working nine to five at an conventional job and you see people that are training a lot, but also recovering and eating really well and being really diligent about the other things. That's what makes this a full-time job, I think, is like the stuff you don't really see on Strava. Even more than full-time because there really are no weekends off. That's funny. There's a question about exactly that. But, Zach, thank you for coming here today. We're going to waste no time and exploit your.

you for every little last thing we can. So we're going to put you in this segment here, Shredderbed. And Shredder Bed for Zach, who may or may not know, actually, Zach does listen to the podcast. But Shred means yes, bed means no. This is submitted by Alex. He says, hey, team, I'm in a social circle in real life. I'm the triathlete and no one really knows anything about what I do. But when I listen to y'all, I feel like I'm understood and have community. Thanks for making me feel like I belong. I have a shredder bed game for you all that is holiday themed. Okay, perfect. And it's December, so I'll allow it. First is turkey trot. Zach, you go first. Do you turkey trot? So I happen to be here in L.A. and it for my first Thanksgiving. And the family I was staying

with did their first turkey trot. Oh, was it their first turkey trot too? It was their first turkey trot. Did you inspire it? They're like, this endurance athlete is here with us. We want to show him that we can run 5K. It could have been that, but I felt quite a lot of pressure because it felt pretty serious. We had T-shirts. Of course. Of course. Like family-themed T-shirts? Yeah. I love it. That's America in a nutshell right there. So did you try hard? Well, it was coming off Cosmo. Yeah, exactly. And I was pretty banged up. So I didn't want to kind of show off as well. Right, right, right. That's a delicate balance.

This is the turkey truck canonger. I want to go and I like want to probably do well, but I don't want to try that hard, but I definitely don't want to look like I'm trying hard. Right. But also I kind of want to win. That's it. I kind of want to show that I'm, you know, an okay runner as well. Right, right.

So what happened? So I stayed in the front group and it came down to a sprint and I thought, okay, I'm not going to sprint. I've got Indian Wells. Smart. Smart. Smart. So I better let them win. Okay.

So you let them win. But also, I'm like an Ironman athlete, so I don't have a sprint. So I'm pretty sure they would have beaten me. Right. But it's a nice story to tell yourself. It's like, listen, you take it, dude. Yeah. This is all yours.

I got a serious race next weekend. Yeah. Tapering. Okay, I've never done a turkey trot. I've never done a turkey trot. I'm not about it. I don't like them. Eric.

I've done quite a few turkey trots. I would definitely shred. Yeah. I would shred too. I don't know if we really do them in Canada. I'm a Canadian. So Thanksgiving to me, similar to Zach, is like, American Thanksgiving is a big deal. But where I come from, up in Canada.

At least Canada has a Thanksgiving. It's not on the same day, but you have a Thanksgiving. Yeah, back in October, yeah. Yeah. Okay, next one here. Decorate for holidays before Thanksgiving. So we were talking about this off the air. And I'm not sure.

Are we talking about Christmas decorating or any kind of holiday. That sounds like Christmas stuff before Thanksgiving. Got it. I say no. Bed. Bed. Bed. I just put up some of our lights today,

but I didn't want to go too hard on the Christmas decorations because I'm still racing in a couple weeks. Right. As soon as you start putting lights up, you're like, oh, yeah, let's eat. Oh, I see. Ginger bread and snuggle. I see. Right, right, right. You don't want to trick your mind into going to parasympathetic.

You're still, you still need a race. Still got to be sharp. Very nice. Number three, and I've never heard of this, but this seems crazy. The 12 Days of Christmas workout challenge. Some themed workout goal each day, like 12-100 hill repeats, 11 times one minute on, one minute off, power intervals on the bike, 10 times 100 meter swim on fastest possible send-off plus five, et cetera.

So, have you guys, first of all, have you guys ever heard of this? I've heard of things like this. I haven't heard of this in particular. that's I think it could be a great idea to stay motivated over the holidays if you want to exercise. Yeah. Like for Eric and I with our timing this year and Zach as well, we're racing our and you too, Nick,

we're racing our last event in December. So I think Christmas time is going to be a time of off season relaxing, not needing to do challenges like that. But for someone who's like kind of dreading the amount of like gluttonous food that comes along with the holidays, that could be a good way to get yourself out the door. Yeah, we're kind of like on the flip side, like 12 donuts, 11 brownies,

Crasots, 10 naps. Yeah. Okay, so do we say shred? Yeah, shred on that if you want to. That's fun, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to go bed, but I think Nick should shred it and have a suit. I think you should have like a swimming challenge. You know what's funny?

Test dummy Nick on the job. Zach was saying this at the pool today. He's like, what you should do is every week have the podcast listeners come up with a swim workout for me to do and I'm like I'm not willing to die on that hill. Jeez. That would be a bad idea. That would be brutal. I'm sure I'd become a better swimmer.

Not swim sets with Paula, swim sets for Nick. Yeah. Poor Nick. Okay, number four. Matching holiday family PJs like Christmas morning. I'd be into it if Paula got it, but I'm not. I've totally shred on that. I'll shred on it, but I'm not leading that charge.

Sounds like a stalemate here at the Lagerstrom house. It's going to be a shred from. me. Yeah. Love it. Love it. The thing is it's like expensive, you know, for one day. But the memories last forever. The cuteness is everlasting. You can keep them forever. Okay. Okay. Number five, sending holiday greeting cards. I wish I was organized enough to. We did last year. We sent greeting cards to all our sponsors. But this year we're still needing to write thank you cards for our wedding. It's so hard when the racing goes right up until Christmas. It's again, like, just hard to get on top of that kind of thing. Such a nice thing to do though. I'd try.

on it if I was more organized. Yeah, I'm going to bet that one. I struggle to keep up just sending WhatsApp messages. Yeah, I was saying to that. That's the hardest thing, honestly, is like knowing people's physical addresses to send stuff to you.

No one knows these days. You could just, like, put it on your Instagram, you know, and just like, hey, if you're seeing this, it means you matter to me and that's it. Wow, that's lazy. Bet on that. No, shred-up. Well, my family, we do a real one and we send it out.

Every year. I Photoshop our faces into funny situations and we send that out every year. Okay, that's fun. I like that. Yeah. And then final one here, drinking eggnog, which I think is quite divisive. I have no idea what eggnog is. Really?

You've never even heard of it. No, we do not have it in the UK. What? I've never had it either. What? No. I know what it is. Because I live in North America.

but I've never had it. Historically, also known as milk punch. What? No, sorry, Wikipedia. Or an egg milk punch. No, absolutely not. When alcoholic beverages are added, is a rich, chilled, sweetened, dairy-based beverage. It is traditionally made with milk, cream, sugar,

egg yolks, and whipped egg whites, which gives it a frothy texture and its name. A distilled spirit such as brandy, rum, whiskey, or bourbon is often a key ingredient. I can't quite believe I'm seeing this, but it says the country of origin is the UK. Wow, Zach. Let's see that passport.

I don't believe Wikipedia. I mean, I don't know. I could believe that. It's a very Christmasy drink. It's very Christmasy. If you stay with a British accent, it sounds, you know, like that's how it should be.

Ekenalk. Yeah, that sounds better. Kind of sounds like snogging. Must be British. Can you order it at Starbucks? I know. Well, God, I don't know. I'm sure you could.

sure they have an eggnog latte of some sort like that. I like eggnog. I would definitely do that. A shred for you? Yeah. That's bad for me. I'll try it with Eric, sure. Sure.

Try anything once. Well, thank you for those shredder beds. Alex, appreciate it. We always love when people submit segments as their questions. It's less work for me. And I always find that it's just creative too. I love when people get creative with it. Sometimes I don't put segments in that people send just so Nick has to come on to

come up with something. Wow. What a friend. Geez. Just kidding, Nick. Okay, well, we'll move on to questions now, but before we do, just want to kind of a PSA, you can all, if you're a listener and you haven't submitted a question yet, you're missing out. You need to submit a question. Go to that triathlon life.com slash podcast. There you can submit your questions and you can become a podcast supporter. And just to be clear, you do not have to be a podcast supporter to submit a question, although we really appreciate it. The podcast supporters are the only way that this podcast makes any money. We're still on our streak of once a week picking a special podcast supporter randomly to receive this really nice orca stuff that we have as a giveaway. So this week it'll be a dry bag and we picked a random winner this week.

If your name is Jason Horn, you're in luck. You're going to get a really nice orca dry bag, but it's going to take a while to get to you because we're going to be hopping around the globe. But in the new year, you will get an amazing orca dry bag. So thank you, Jason, for being a podcast. support. I really appreciate it. Hope you enjoy the dry bag. First question from our listeners is from Katie. Hi everyone. Keen to hear what wireless headphones and earbuds you use for both cycling and running. I'm currently running a no

headphone scheme on the bike and some bulky over-ear headphones on the run which continue to fall off on the trail. Thanks Katie. Zach, do you run with music? I do. I do. Especially in winter when it's very dull. in the UK. I definitely wouldn't have had headphones when I was running down Venice Beach because there's quite a lot going on down there's a lot going on. That's true. It's very situational, isn't it? I'm the same why. Treadmill always headphones. Some are boring, yes, but somewhere like L.A.? No. Yeah, exactly. So, I mean, yeah, running very situational dependent, cycling. I tend to always have like one airport in like one ear and then just listen to

TCR podcast. Of course. Of course. Right answer. Of course. But it is AirPods. Apple AirPods. That is your weapon of choice. The Apple AirPods Pro or the regular AirPod of the plastic. The Pro. The Pro. Yeah. All right. I think if you're bouncing around, the pro might be for most ear canals, a necessity for it to stay in.

Is that the one with a little plastic gummy at the end? Yes. Yeah, that's what I have. I haven't had problems with any of the AirPods ever falling out, but I think I might be a bit of an anomaly. but I do currently have only one surviving AirPods Pro. I only ever rode with one in anyway, like with extremely low, also I could hear Paula talking to me, and to hear cars coming in stuff,

I would never recommend two on the bike. I always do the right ear only. That's the one that I lost, unfortunately. It was an unfortunate string of events. It popped out of my ear, or I was like trying to grab it because Paula was saying something behind me, and I dropped it on the ground, she immediately ran over it. So now I have to do the left, and I just have not bit the bullet to buy a whole other set.

Yeah, of course. I am really interested to try, like, the bone conducting ones that all the people seem to wear. I've never tried them before, but they must work. They do work well, but they're just incomparably not as good quality compared to an AirPods pro. Oh, in terms of sound. Right. In terms of sound, no. But if you are just like, if you just want vibes and or maybe like you're listening to, they totally work.

And situational awareness, like if you're running on a trail, maximum situational awareness. Okay. So maybe they are a good choice for if you need music, but you're running somewhere where you need to be able to hear. Like on the trails here, if you can't hear anything, it's dangerous. There's bikers coming behind you. There's dogs and you got to be able to hear.

Yeah. And personally for me, I mean, that's why I think I pretty much always listen to music that I have a playlist built. And if it's really quiet and it was a song I hadn't heard, it would probably be a little bit annoying. But when it's a song you have heard, I feel like your brain sort of fills in the point. Thanks.

Yes. Wow. So it doesn't matter that much. Well said. Last thing about AirPods is I feel like they're so indestructible. Sometimes I'll leave them in my jersey pocket and wash it and they're still fine. Same. That's amazing.

Yeah. I think they're actually the best Apple product that Apple makes as far as like quality, price, and durability. Dude. Except for the home pods. Yeah. And the Apple TV remote. Don't forget that piece of wonder. And an iPhone is pretty good.

But I do think the AirPods pros are just, I have gone through so many different wireless headphones in my life, and nothing satisfies the way that AirPods do. And we're not sponsored by Apple, obviously. God, that would be amazing, though. Yeah. Wow. Have you never lost your airports, though? Never lost them. Oh, I've lost so many pairs.

I've actually, because I was just in Cozumel for the Iron Man, I actually left my airports in Cosimo. Oh, no. For me, that's like instant purchase a new pair. Yeah. Like, I can't go a day without. That's how you know it's good. I know. I know, but I was actually on the plane because I was like, oh, maybe there's someone from the UK still left in Cosemel.

And so I randomly sent a group message on the Facebook page. And someone replied, and she was like living, I don't know, about a K-away. So I've managed, I was like 35,000 feet up in the air. And I've managed to coordinate the retrieval of these AirPods. Wow. And so she's gone to collect them from my Airbnb. And then she's going to fly with them back to the UK and then send them to my parents' place. Wow.

That's amazing. Wow. That's a great story. Now you can never lose those. That's great. Unicorn. Wow. That's incredible.

Now you just got to last a couple of weeks without them though. Yeah, yeah. You'll be fine. Got it. So all of us use AirPods pros, though. Yeah, I've experimented with some J-birds and they're kind of hit and miss, but wanted them to be great. Great.

Well, thanks for the question, Katie. And yeah, as Eric said, if you're going to ride with them, only one ear. That's the rule. you want to sponsor us, that's fine. Yeah, that is fine. We'll allow it. Yeah, if Apple sponsors us, every podcast supporter gets AirPods pros. Okay, that's the deal. Next question here is from Joyce. Hello, all. I have a few questions about the Orca Flex. Are you able to put it on by yourself, given the zip goes bottom to top? And the sleeves are so thin, are they warm enough for Oceanside or Indian Wells? Thanks in advance, Joyce. So, first of all, have you been able to put it on from

bottom to top? Yep. I think bottoms to top is easier. I agree. Yeah, because you're just grabbing the long zipper, cinching it kind of in your back and then pulling up. The reverse zip is really hard alone. That's the tough one.

Especially since you have to like thread the zipper together at the top. Yeah. Exactly. But the Orca flow and the Orca, I think the flex is the only one that's reverse zipper. I'm not sure why they did that one opposite. But the advantage of a reverse zip is that then the zippers at the bottom, and as someone tugs on your zipper well in the swim. Oh, it won't come down.

It won't go down. It won't nowhere. So it is nice. But do you wear a blue 70s, Zach? I don't, not anymore. Actually, I'm very tall. I don't know if you can see this on the pod. Well, you can't hear it, that's for sure.

How tall are you in centimeters? I'm 198 centimeters. Wow, almost two meters tall. Wow. Which means that I struggle to find wetsuits that actually fit. Yeah. So I had to get like a custom made one. Wow.

Who made you custom one? It's this like little company in Cornwall that do custom wetsuits. And because yeah, I've reached out to a few brands, but they only do like custom wet suits for their like top top tier athletes. And I was like, I am a top tier athlete, right? Right, right? Right. I got, I got some great. results, no, I'm joking. And yeah, so this small little company in Cornwall in the UK did this

custom thing, wet suit, because I struggle so much in the water as it is. And so it has to fit. It has to fit, right. And you're thin, too, like tall and skinny. Yeah. That would be tough, yeah. By the way, 198 centimeters means he's six foot six inches in hamburger units. Do you have a reverse zipper or a regular zipper? It's a regular zipper. It's a regular a zipper, I think. Okay. Yeah, if you're thinking about getting a wetsuit, I would say that getting the zipper on by yourself is the least of your concerns. It's kind of fun to go up to someone and ask if they can help use up their wetsuit. They love it. People love helping you with your wetsuit. Yep. Not a problem. In terms of warmth, that's a little bit person to person

dependent, but going with the flow or the float or the float is definitely a better bet if you're concerned about being cold in any the float is thicker basically situation I don't think it's a problem where you're going to be worried about overheating in either of those yeah did we think about I mean do you think the entire point of the flex

I mean what is the use case for the flex I am a swimmer and I am so finicky and afraid of swimming in a full sleeve wetsuit that I just have been swimming without anything this is the wet suit for you and also if you already have fantastic body position in the water and you've swim in wet suits before and it feels

like you're swimming downhill a bit like your butt is floating too much this is the suit for you if you leg drag at all if you're to if you're an aOS adult onset swimmer this is not the suit for you but anyway i mean the difference between these suits in terms of warmth is so minimal indian wells is such a cold swim but everyone's in the same boat and i wouldn't necessarily suggest you go out and buy a thermal wetsuit. I think those are really constricting and harder to get off. And they might be warmer.

Well, they are warmer, but I think that they're not really meant for competitive swimming or triathlon racing. They're more of an ocean wetsuit. Yeah. I think you'll get a lot of mileage out of gloves and booties.

If you want to invest in something, do that. I swam in the float wetsuit up in like the very northernmost tip that you can go on Vancouver Island in Canada, like, approaching Alaska. And I had that suit and then just gloves and booties. And I was doing, I was doing great. Yeah, but I think in an Iron Man race, you can't wear gloves.

We had to wear them in San Francisco for the T-100 escape from Alcatraz, mandatory booties and gloves. And I will say they do make it warmer. They suck to swim with, but they do help. Yeah, a little bit like you got a plastic bag on your hand. Cool. Okay. Next question is from Olivia.

Hey, TTL, gang. I've got a question about how you structure your weekends. Given that all of you juggle such demanding schedules, whether it's training or working, how do you make the weekends feel like, well, weekends? As a grad student myself, my schedule is a bit all over the place and I train for cycling every day. So I'm finding it tough to break up the monotony without the traditional weekend to look forward to. Do you do anything special or have any routines that help you truly switch off or relax a bit throughout the week? Thanks for the insights, Olivia. We don't have an official weekend.

The weekend often for us is similar to, I assume, a lot of age groupers, generally longer training sessions on it. So my take is that we sort of sprinkle weekend vibes in throughout the week, wherever we can find time. If it's going to a coffee shop for 20 minutes after the pool on a Monday morning and just sitting there and not doing work before going on to the next workout, little things like that, or if there is a day where we only have two workouts

and there's a way that we can kind of chunk them into the morning and then in the afternoon I can rake some leaves or like finally build one of our bikes or something like that. It's like trying to mentally go into weekend mode for like little spurts and being okay with that during the week. Yeah, we don't really get weekends. But I think that's why I look forward to the little breaks you get after racing. Like if you take five days easy,

are you after your season's over and you have months where you're not as structured, that's where you can kind of catch up on those things and be organized and do weekend-y type things so that your tank is full on that for when you start going into training again. And it is a bit of a compromise. Like if you're training for an Iron Man or a 70.3, that's like your hobby or your thing that you're filling your time with. So it is really hard to have a job train for triathlon and have. extracurriculars and potentially a family, etc.

Yeah. Zach, how has that felt for you as someone who is just freshly gone from like a literal nine to five, maybe more doing the video, you know, content side of the UCI into now your full-time training? How like, what are your thoughts? Yeah, yeah. I suppose I've lived both both worlds. So like right now I'm kind of a bit like you where I don't really feel like I have proper weekends anymore. But before, where when I had a full-time job, I think, like, the thing is, like, everyone out who you train with tends to have the same kind of set up where you do a nine to five, like Monday to Friday. And so having that weekend, you actually find yourselves with similar people and just training with them, like, it just turned into a bit more, like, enjoyable and it just helped kind of switch off a bit during the weekends, whereas, like, when you're training, yeah, during the week by yourself, like it's very like oh you have to get it done and so yeah the weekends just for yeah group rides

social rides and yeah try to train with as many people as possible and that's just what I found helped kind of yeah refresh a bit you know so you still do it in the training time yeah yeah the training time is the social time yeah in a way okay Nick you do that too right yeah I was I was just thinking about how all of us from different points of you do the same thing. We just, we do, I train more on the weekends, but I look forward to it because it is social. It almost feels like less work somehow. That's fun. That's the fun training. Yeah, that's the fun thing that actually keeps you in it. And sometimes when you're in groups like that, you actually work harder than you would alone. Oh, I had a group right on Saturday where I was

like working way harder than I would have by myself. And it was way more fun. Yeah. The only thing is, like, on the weekends, and it's happened with a few of my friends, like, when their partner isn't necessarily into triathlon and they kind of have, maybe want to go down to other activities, like the friends who I've trained with all of a sudden feel quite stressed because they feel like they need to get back in time to go and do another activity. Yes. A number of like impromptu tempo rides that I've been on with my friend Matt Berg over the years where he's like, so I was only supposed to ride for an hour and a half. And it's now like been in two hours and 15 minutes. Can we ride hard home? Like here we go. Strava segments. Yeah. That's something we have never experienced. But yeah, it is nice to have someone else in your life though that can. and force you to check out from the sport a little bit. Like, come to the farmer's market with me, please. I just have something else to do. Yeah.

One last thing, Zach, do you miss weekends? Are you just, like, so fired up and in it that all you want to do every day is train? I don't miss weekends. No. He's living his dream. There we go. That's what I want to hear. Another correct answer.

That's great. That's great to hear. Okay. Next one here is from Brian. who's in Long Beach, California, not too far from here. Hey, parents, what a cheat code this podcast has been to creating a tri-community, providing great resources, and maintaining a steady fixture in the tri-world. Thanks for your continued inspiration and positive encouragement for the kids.

Sorry, I just got something in my eye. Looking for some tips to provide spectators on the Lakinta 70.3 this Sunday, also known as Indian Wells, 70.3. My wife is bringing my six- and four-year-old, so hoping to give them the easiest advice to pay. post up and watch without having them run around all over the place, zooming somewhere on the run with relatively easy access to the finish line. Good luck in New Zealand and beyond. Brian.

Well, I've done this race several times now. It's one of my favorite races ever. I'm really sad to miss it. And after seeing the start list, I was like, damn, I should be going to Indian Wells and not New Zealand. Because I love that race so much. By the way, Zach is doing this race. John Reed from the Devo team, who normally race to short courses, also racing his first 70.3 in Indian Wells. And they're doing a shakeout run on Friday at 4 p.m.

in front of the tennis garden. Do I have that stat right? You do. That's it. Well done. We usually, if Eric and I are in an event or Nick will do like a community meetup for all the TTL people to come together. So for this race, Eric and I and Nick won't be there. But Zach and John are going to rally the troops and do an easy social run on two days out from the race. So thank you. so much, Zach, for leading that up. And if you're in Indian Wells, you should go now that you know Zach. Absolutely. Yeah, I'm looking forward to meeting the whole community down there. Yeah, we probably might not be as popular as you, Eric, and Pauler. But everybody freaking show up to this thing, mob this guy. Surprise us. Wow us. Yeah. It doesn't matter who, if me and Eric are there

or not. If you show up, everyone gets AirPods Pro. So just exactly there may or may not be AirPods pros I'll even I'll even get that lady to send instead of sending my lost airports to me I'll get them to send them to the okay so where to watch it's actually a very spectator friendly course I would say at least on the run

I would say skip the swim it's two transitions the swim is really far away from T2 which is at the tennis garden which is kind of where all the hype is happening that's where you'll go from bike to run, and the finish line is there too. And what I really love about this race is it's at this really well-manicured beautiful tennis garden place.

So the transition is on a grassy green field. There's lots of places to watch the transition. And then you run out, kind of zigzagging your way through the tennis gardens through to a golf course where spectators aren't allowed and you'll do a bunch of loops in there and then come back on the road back to the tennis garden. So I would say posting up at the tennis garden. There's lots of grassy areas for kids, lots going on. That would be the best place to hang out.

And yeah, my number one advice would just be to, if you have a family there, maybe avoid the swim start and go straight to T2. My favorite place to hang out at Indian Wells is so you start to runny, like wrap around the back of the tennis gardens, and then you like drop down this hill and make a hard right onto the main road that takes you to the golf course. Right on that corner where you drop down the hill and turn right,

you also, when you're doing the race, you have to make that corner and go back up that hill. And this is where people are suffering and hurting and going a little bit slower. And I think that's like the most fun place. That is a good spot. Mosy your way over there at some point during your person's half marathon. Yeah, there's an aid station there too.

So there's like, you know, vibes going on there. Yeah. even I think the best is the hybrid. Just go over there. Come back. You can do it all. Something else about the swim is that there's only one road in or out. So I would say don't even consider it.

It's brutal. The only way to do that is parking like a couple miles away, in my opinion, and like riding a bike in to watch and then riding a bike back out to your car. Otherwise, you could be trapped there for a long time. Yeah, it's a bit logistical. And also consider that the day before you have to decontaminate your wet. suit. So you have to actually drop your wetsuit off the day before when you're dropping your bike off. But you want to do that after you've checked in at the tennis garden. So just make sure you plan your pre-race day out a little bit because it is a more complicated check-in

procedure than most 70.3s that have everything in one spot. It's a bit of a drive between the two. Go watch right now. You can pause the podcast and go Google search that triathlon life Indian well as 70.3, we lay it all out. What coffee shop you need to go to, the wet suit contamination thing, the whole deal, it'll be dialed. Yeah, we did two videos on it. There's, yeah. Yeah, there's two. I didn't realize this was a thing. So thank you, Paula. I've just learned something. Yeah, I thought maybe you wouldn't have known yet. So you just have to make, because sometimes people will go decontaminate their wetsuit without having checked in yet. And then they got to drive all the way back and get their numbers. And it's a mess. So yeah. Very simple process when they're

they make it super easy. But because the lake, it's not a swimmable body of water normally, although they allow the race to happen there. So they want to make sure that there's no, you know. Quagga muscle contamination or whatever it is. It's a certain kind of muscle they don't want in there. So you got to dip your wetsuit in chlorine. It doesn't ruin the wetsuit.

It's totally fine. It's more of like a decuaga ing. We should tell them not to worry. We're triathletes. We don't have any muscles. Yeah. But those types is like, silly things, you just really have to respect them.

Otherwise, the race cannot even happen. It's kind of like that speed zone at Oceanside where you've got to slow down. It's like Iron Man is not making this call. It's like to host the event there. They have to do these things. Yeah. Zach, have you done it before? I haven't, but I was just going to suggest that maybe we have like a speed zone in the swim.

And so athletes are allowed to go over. That's what I'm talking about. So between turn one and turn two, you can't swim quicker than seven minutes or something like that. I think it should be between the start and the finish of the swim. I should be a certain point. I think everyone has to do backstroke. Except for us. I'm in full support of this as long as we just have runs get canceled every once in

once in a while for like adverse conditions. Oh, I see. It's like the road's a little cambered and it's dewy out. It's really hot this time. It's kind of dangerous. Indian Wells is also the kind of race. I didn't get in for a warm up because it's so cold. And because I didn't get in for a warm up,

I just got in right before the race started. I never felt like that shock of being cold. No, just like diving in it out, Catraz. You don't even think about it. Yeah, you just go when the race starts. But if you think about it and warm up and then you're standing there shivering, it makes it 10 times worse.

So my advice would be to not do a swim warm, although that's kind of scary for some people. My advice. I just ordered the stretch cords today for this exact reason. There we go. Actually, Zach, remember I was telling you about this at the pool today? I did order them.

So I'm hoping that I can get this like muscle warm up without gutting into freezing cold water. Because I think the water in New Zealand is actually a little chilly as well. Yeah, you're right. I need to borrow those stress cards. Yeah, that's fine.

Okay, next question here is from Felicia. Hi, TTR. I really enjoyed hearing Paula and Nick whip up that new swim sets with Paula jingle. Fun glimpse into the creative process. As we enter off-season, I was curious, have you ever considered canine cross?

Is it canine cross? I think it's Canic Cross? Canacross or can I triathlon, not can I. It's not can I. It's about canines, about dogs. Would Flynn be into it? My dog, Zena, loves the running part, but we have not explored the swimming or biking yet. But the videos look like so much fun.

Thanks for letting us into your world every week. Happy Thanksgiving. Felicia. Wait, what's canine triathlon? And how does one bike with the dog? Do they run next to you? No, you can strap the dog to the front of the bike. pulls you on the bike.

This is like a mountain bike sort of a thing, I think. Not really a road bike thing. It looks quite dangerous, actually. Sounds dangerous for the dog, too. Yeah, that's what I mean. More for the dog. You got to be dialed team, for sure. People send us these clips on Instagram all the time.

Like, Flynn should do this. But Flynn's not that, like, endurance fit. He ran 70 minutes with us today, but he's, like, sniffing. And, I mean, he's not hauling ass the whole time, you know? He's a big boy. These dogs are hauling. He's a sprinter. Yeah.

For sure. He's a bit of a sprinter, but he can do endurance. I can't tell, though. You know, you see these videos, and of course they're going to pull the highlights where the dogs are starting or they're going their fastest. So I don't know what reality looks like. And I don't have any idea how long these events are. I think Flynn would be dialed for like a, you know, 20 to 30 minute long triathlon. Like a 5K run.

Yeah, like maximum 5K run. But it would be possible. I think he would definitely struggle. with the swim part. He is like maximum effort swimmer, not maximum good, not maximum speed swimmer. But I think he'd be okay for the mountain bike part

and the run part would be a non-issue. Yeah, these types of events, I think, are more suited to like short hair pointers or Vichlas or like a little bit more leaner. Yeah. Dogs. Yeah. But it's fun to think about it.

I wonder if, like, especially on the run, like, do you think the dog would, make you faster? For sure. Oh, he makes you faster for sure. That's the point. It would look like they speed you up on the on the mountain bike as well

unless you're going downhill. Yeah, I wouldn't be into the biking thing, but just a full on candy cross, like run. I think, Zach, yeah. I think it might make your 5K time like a minute quicker or more. I've seen that video of the dude setting like the world record

for the mile and it's like a ridiculous speed and he's just full like pinwheeling as this dog is just like... Because think about when you're in air, like when you're running, you're in air for a bit. And that whole phase, you're being propelled forward with the harness. Flynn, when he was younger,

I'd run with like a stupid roughware, non-official thing. And I would run 20 seconds per K faster because he'd be pulling me. Wow. It's kind of fun. I would love to try it. I think the mountain biking uphill

with a dog pulling you uphill sounds pretty great. Yeah, sounds fun. And it's not. animal cruelty because I think the dogs are thriving. They love it. Of course they love it. Of course they love it. Okay. Next question here. Hey guys, last minute question regarding the pod. You guys may be sitting down

to record any minute, but I figured I'd give it a shot anyway. See, people just send in questions at any time. It's always worth it. And if it doesn't get into that week, it might get into the next week. Those are that saying that I am so grateful to you all for creating the TTR community, but especially on the eve of Thanksgiving.

I'm really looking forward to catching up with the TTL community in New Zealand just a couple weeks. On that note, I'm feeling a little nervous about packing up my tri-bike in a bike case for the first time and could use some guidance. Since I haven't done it before, I'm just afraid that if I take it apart, I won't be able to put it back together correctly. Taking the wheels off is no big deal, but once we get to taking the derailer off or leaving it on and messing with the aero bars, things get a little dicey. I'm using a friend's hard case that's a little smaller and old school. So just think I need to be strategic with the packing.

Would you recommend heading over to a bike shop and having them walk through it with me? Or should I just get over it, watch some videos on YouTube and get it done? Dude, we got to make a freaking bikepacking video. I've always thought, oh man, I'm sure there's like 700 bikepacking videos, but I think maybe coming from somebody that you know, it might be slightly, I don't know. Zach, what kind of bike bag do you use for your giant bike? Oh, right. Of course.

You have that problem too. I have a giant bike. Yeah. Yeah. I have a bike box allen. Okay. I was hoping you would. Well, I have to literally take everything apart to make it fit, but it fits.

Like handlebars everything. Yeah, exactly. Wow. That's rough. Because my bike could probably fit in a bike box salon without taking the handle. the bars off. Oh yeah, that's a dream. I have never had that situation.

Paul and I both with our current bags. It's just wheels and pedals. Yeah, that's so useful. Although, Nick, I do take the derailer off too. Should I too? Eric, do you think I should take the derail off to? Yeah, you should. I think there's really no downside.

It's so quick and just goes right back on. Yeah, the one thing Paula ran into at the last race is that her chain got kind of like twisted and done in circles and it was. I was extremely calm about it though. She was extremely calm about it. I remember how calm you were. At all. So just doing something to try to fix the chain to the chain stay and just like try to

immobilize the derailer a bit with some bubble wrap or some duct tape, maybe not duct tape, but like some packing tape of some sort. So that doesn't happen. That can potentially make your life a lot easier. That being said also just really, before you take the derailer off, maybe even take a picture of the way that the chain is routed with the wheel off so that, you know, at least, because it can be a little bit confusing without the, you know, the chain going around, the cassette to really understand exactly how this chain should be oriented and everything, and make sure your derailers turn the right way when you put it back on. What about, so I feel confident that most people can easily do derailer and pedals and wheels. What about bars?

Because I feel like that's where things get a little weird and you might need a torque crunch to put that back together. Yeah, I don't think it would hurt to get a torque crunch if you're going to be doing this. And the other thing is I would mark everything. So basically what I'll do is if it's an arrow bar extension that you're taking out, I'll draw a little bit of a line on the actual arrow bar extension where it intersects the clamp,

and then I'll draw a line perpendicular to that. So I basically have like a crosshair at the intersection point of like the clamp and the arrowbar extension so that I can line it up in the perfect distance, you know, front and back inside of the clamp and rotationally. And the other thing that I'll do is personally,

anytime I take a screw out of anywhere, I store it actually inside of where it goes on the bike, even though it's not clamping anything there, just so that I know that I have all the screws there. They're not getting lost. So like if I unclamp and they take the airbar extension out, I just tighten the extension clamp back down with the screws there. So the last thing you want to do is you end up in New Zealand

and four of your screws are missing because you just put them on the workbench at home, forgot to put them in the plastic bag. Or you don't know what screw goes where. You also do like a little video of yourself taking the derailer off so you know what it looks like when you put it back on, something like that. Pictures are your friend, videos are your friend. Also, Eric will be doing bike services in New Zealand for $500 a bike. Or just a right AirPod Pro will also be a sufficient payment.

You know, I guess I will actually say if you are in New Zealand and you just have like a panic, oh shit situation, you can DM me and I'll try to help if I can. Don't DM me if you're just like, oh, I don't know. Someone's going to intentionally throw their bike under a bus and be like, Eric, come save me. No, emergencies, if you think I could actually help, I will do my best. That's really nice, Eric. Eric, he's becoming the official bike mechanic. If you're carbon fiber, carbon fiber is broken, don't text me. I can't do that.

Yeah. We're not doing carbon fiber repairs on the side of the road in New Zealand. Sorry. Good luck. You don't have a choice, so just go for it. I guess we could real quick run through what bike bags that we know of that will get you the least amount of disassembling. No, he's only got a bike bag. He's leaving this week.

Okay, never mind. Forget about it. Yeah, okay. Good luck. But he is just one person. So, Eric, I still would be curious to hear from you which bike bags that you know of that work that do not require all that work. Right. So the Saigon.

You guys have the Evoch. I don't know what that model is called. Evac Pro. Yeah, it's like half hard, half soft. Bike Case Pro or something like that. I'll look it up. Bike Box, Alan, if you're not a giant. I think you probably still have to take off the extensions on that one.

We also take off the extensions on our Evox and Saikon. Just in case. Those are the ones that I know of off top of my head. The Evoc is called the pro road bike bag. And for my canyon, which is a, I think a large speed max, it does not require to take off anything. I don't even have to lower the saddle. You leave your extensions on.

Yeah. Wow. That's a risky business. Also, my Evoc, the zipper just broke and I need a new one. So similar to Apple, Evoc, if you want to float us a bike bag. Yeah, yeah, definitely. We wouldn't say no. We've paid for our own bike bags all along.

So we're only endorsing what we've actually paid for and used here. Yeah. And I have been tempted, Zach, to get the bike box Allen. The only thing that scares me about it is like the weight and then getting two of them in a cab or in a Uber or something, when I can I get somewhere. Yeah. They're a little bit less like, well, they're not flexible at all to fit into. The evok is already a bit of a trick with a lot of European rental cars.

Yeah, but if you want just like bomb proof, never going to break, bike box Allen. are great. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. I mean, my bike box has kind of gone around the world, and I've had it for like 10 years, and it's been... 10 years.

It's protected the bike, like, through everything. Yeah. But as you say, like, it's pretty heavy, and, yeah, getting around an airport with it isn't simple. It's a bit annoying, yeah. But, I mean, I've only had my evoc for a year and a half, and the zipper's broken. I need a new one.

You know what's really annoying? So you've had one for 10 years? Your bike being broken at a race. That's annoying. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm saying that the bikebox Allen 10 years, that's like a good investment. All right, so Evok needs to send us a new bag and Bikebox Allen sponsor this dude. He's selling bike boxes on our podcast right now.

Or if you want your bike to be put back together by Eric, then you just put your bike in a cardboard box. Yeah, perfect. And you pretty much guarantee that it all arrive in pieces, but at least Eric is available to put it back together. If your message to me starts with, so my bike, when I pulled it out of the car, board box. I'm not reading the rest of it. Sorry. Man, that was fun. I had a blast. Yeah, thank you, Zach, for being here. Appreciate it. In the flesh, too.

I mean, what a treat. Yeah, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to go over to Nick's place. Are you in Santa Monica then until Indian Wells? Yeah, exactly. And then tomorrow, it's obviously Nick's birthday. Happy birthday, Nick. Thank you, Zach. And we are doing a birthday brick session. Yes, a birthday brick.

Wow, that's so fun. Nick. Good thing that my birthday present to you arrived today. It did. Oh, do we want to say? Do we want to say what it is? Yeah, I got Nick some cloud boom strikes. Woo! That's a good present.

For his birthday? Are you going to wear them on your brick run? You better. Oh, should I? Yeah, why not? That'll be the maiden voyage with them. I tried them on my feet today. It's hard to not sound like we're just blindly loving on, but they feel incredible.

Yeah. They're so, they've, you know, if you have a. slightly wide foot like I do, most super shoes suck because they're so narrow and these feel like they actually fit my foot well and they feel so cushy and good. I can't wait to feel what they feel like

and totally different than the echoes. Okay, come back to us next week with a review. One week review. So you guys are doing a brick together. That's so cool. Yeah, we're doing intervals up Manneville Canyon. Not nothing too hard, but you only have the TT bike, right? I'll be on the TT bike as well.

And then we're going to come back and I think I have 15 or 30 off the bike. Is yours something more legit? I've got 40. Okay. Perfect. We'll just... It all works.

Maybe I'll go back on the bike and film you running. We can put it on the socials. Nick's been telling me how he's in the peak running shape of his life. So I must admit, like... You're never going to keep up. You're never going to keep up. With his ons on as well, I'm a bit worried. Yeah, it's kind of like you'll have to be wearing like flip-flops.

That's the equivalent. Yeah. We've also told Nick to reel in his effort, his intensity leading into the race. It has been reeled. It has been reeled. I did a little test run yesterday and I felt I felt real good running slowly. So I'm feeling like the work has been done. I'm not worried about it.

Okay. So just a quick little recap, go online and get a TTL kit. Apply for the Devo team if you're interested. If you're in Indian Wells, go to the TTL shakeout run Friday at 4. and if you're in New Zealand, we'll send you our address for the bike shop. I'm sure we'll also do some sort of shakeout sort of thing in New Zealand as well, so just stay tuned for that.

Yeah, and hopefully we'll get a pot out next week. It's kind of crazy. We lose like two days traveling to New Zealand. That's crazy. I literally leave here on the 9th and land on the 11th. Yeah, me too. And it's a direct flight. Yeah, it's crazy.

So we'll try to fit a short one in. But if not, then good luck to everyone racing. And we'll chat with you next time. Zach, where can people find you on social media? They can find me on Instagram. I'm only on Instagram, Zachary Cooper. But yeah, just one final quick thank you to what you guys do, what you guys have created, and yeah,

what you guys are doing for all the Devo athletes from this year and past years and, yeah, all the ones to come in the future. I really appreciate what you've done for me this year personally. And, yeah, look forward to hopefully, yeah, continuing to put out there the TTL vibes. Awesome. Thank you. All right. Later, everybody.

Thanks for listening. Ciao. Thanks, guys. Ciao.