That Triathlon Life Podcast - Racing and training for triathlon as a woman, average FTPs for men and women, Road bike vs TT bike power, and more!

Episode Date: February 16, 2023

This week we finally get into a topic of great importance, women's health in sport. Paula shares her experience as a young female athlete, and how pushing herself beyond healthy limits had mental and physical repercussions. We also talked about recovery footwear, sensory deprivation tanks,  and more! To submit your own questions, and to become a podcast supporter, head to http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hello, everyone. Welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Nick Goldston. And we are here to answer your questions about triathlon life, everything in between. And Nick is a professional musician. Eric and I are both professional triathletes. I feel like I haven't done this intro for a while. So I'm a little rusty. A little bit rusty. But no, we're really excited to be here. We release this pod every Thursday. And you guys sending questions every week, which just keep getting increasing. recently better and it's a very exciting, very fun. We'll start with like maybe a little update on what we've been up to and then we'll dive deep into these super good questions you guys sent us. I have a question right off the bat. Does this podcast, since we record it every Monday for the most part, does this make you feel like the weeks go faster or slower? Like when it's Monday again, you're like, wow, is it already Monday again? Or are you like, wow, that was like two weeks ago that we recorded? No, it, I mean, they come pretty frequently. I just feel. like for us, Sundays are a big day because we put out the pod or we put out the vlog on Sunday

mornings and we have a really big training day and then by Sunday evening we're kind of like, but then we have to get up Monday and go to the pool at 8 a.m. and train all day. And so it just feels like there's no breathing room, you know? Not in a bad way, but it definitely comes around quick. Yeah, I've had the sensation of the weeks coming around very quickly thanks to the YouTube show for several years now. Yeah, we're used to it. This is like actually. pretty enjoyable for me since, you know, Paula kind of collects all of the questions and then Nick, like, weeds through them a little bit more and then I just show up and talk. So it's, it's a highlight of my week personally. Right. You just got to sit down. Yeah, and whatever comes,

I try to answer. How has the pool been feeling for you guys, by the way? I haven't been mining the swimming. I swam six times last week. Eric did not? He did five swims. I did an extra swim because on Saturdays there's a really fun group to swim with. So as much as I dislike swimming, I do a bonus swim on Saturdays. You like fun groups. It's fun. It's still hard. That's the thing. It's still like 4K of like hard intervals and stuff. But the camaraderie is very fun. And it's the one workout that I don't have on my schedule. So I don't have like a workout that I have to do. So I don't bring the session. Someone else brings it. It's a change of role, basically because during the week I'm responsible for like bringing the session to Eric and

Devin and Andy and they're just like waiting for me to deliver the bad news and it's I didn't make it up but I'm responsible for delivering it don't kill the messenger yeah Paula has the best memory for like remembering six by one 50 but 50 of it was is what the pulboleby in 50 is not and then the third 50 and then after that's eight two hundreds and I just absolutely cannot so unfortunately she has to keep that in her brain and just yeah We just get to discover it as we go through the workout. But I would say that the fact that you showed up on Saturday for a swim practice indicates that you do, in fact, like swimming.

Yeah. Because I was not there. No. That was a bonus extra swim. Are you an imposter just to fit in with us? You just say you hate swimming, but really you love it? No, I haven't been hating it lately. Hate's not the right word.

I think the key thing here is that the process of swimming, like driving 15 minutes across town, getting dressed, you know, et cetera, et cetera. It just feels like a lot of time. Yeah. The actual act of swimming and getting better or feeling like you're working on something in swimming is pretty enjoyable. This is what I feel like about swimming,

not to go on and on about swimming, but this is the last thing I'll say about it, is that our training schedule on paper, I think I said this last week, doesn't look that impressive or hard or intense or anything like that. But when you go and look at the swims, they're actually really hard.

And I think there's a component of, we go to the pool, and we're getting really fit in the pool. And that obviously translates to the bike and run. in a way that's not as impactful on your joints and all of this. So I do feel like my fitness is increasing by nature of swimming so much per week and doing these really hard sessions in the pool. Because personally, I don't feel like I'm going to get faster at swimming this year.

Like I'm kind of in the middle of the front pack type of a swimmer for triathlon. I'm not necessarily trying to bump that up to be like a Lucy Charles because it's impossible. But what we could do, can do in the pool is get fitter in the pool. So we get out of the water, we're less tired. Anyway. I'm getting faster than the pool this year. I'm just going to throw that out there. I'm psyched about it.

I'm going to be leading a lot of swims this year. Well, you're already faster. So you don't need to swim six times a week. Yeah, but it is helpful to like get out of the water and be less gassed at the same pace. That's what I mean. That's what I'm saying. I think what you're saying is that like what it would take for you to go from like middle of the second pack to like in the lead pack with Taylor Nib and Lucy Charles is a pretty, a massive jump. Yeah.

If you were like just barely getting dropped off the back of there, that's a closable gap. Wow, this was our tangent. Oh, but I loved it. I want to give a cool perspective from the opposite side that I think I came to a realization about this week. We talked about last week about me not flip turning and like even like not wearing a swim cap. So I tried this week, I tried to like do both of those things. Nice.

And something that I noticed. So I tried flip turning a few more times. And something that I noticed is that in the past, the only times I was ever flipped turning. was when I was trying to go all out. So I was already really gassed, and then I was trying to flip turn as fast as possible. And so that's made the whole thing much harder. So the past few times I've gone swimming,

I've been like, okay, easy 400. Let's try to incorporate some, like, casual flip turns into here without trying to, like, rip myself apart every time. And I noticed that it actually isn't so bad. And it's almost kind of nice. And I liked Eric your cue of, like, let your head like take the like put point your head down and let that flip you over kind of like you were saying like your hand in the wind outside of a car window yeah and that that helped a lot but

it was I think the biggest thing was I don't have to be rushing it it can just be a convenient way to turn around and get to the other side of the pool 100% thank you for I'm so glad that you've jumped ship to our team nonetheless well I hey hey hey one step at a time here I also got like a hundred messages from people being like, I'm with you with the flip turns, man. I can't get it. They're not that hard people. Yeah, just practice them casually. That's a good tip, Nick. So speaking of messages, last week, we tried to guess what the average FTP of our listeners was here. And we threw out some numbers. Today's Monday. This morning at like 9.30 a.m. I put it up on my on my Instagram story to allow females and males to submit their, what they say their FTP is.

And I feel like this is an important distinction because I feel like for the men, we should maybe subtract like 100 watts from these FTPs. That's my feeling right now. That's what that's because when I said 250, like an hour later, I was like, that was way too high. There's no way that's right. And then Paul, you had said like 190, right? For men. Really? No, you had said 190. We had not specified men or women. We had said in general. In general.

In general. So here are the numbers. I don't know how long it's been. It's been like 10 hours since I posted it. We had 169 women reply. And the average for the women was 203 watts. Okay, I think that's probably right. Wow.

So, and this is self-reported. My bias is that I feel like women are probably much more honest about their FTPs than men are. I feel like men all think they're like, it's like, yeah, I tested at 270, but really I'm 2.95. That was just weak that day. I didn't have my Oreos or my coffee or whatever, you know, however they justify it in their own mind. And the men's average, this is just so ridiculous. The men's average is 271, which I feel like is 50% off is what it feels like.

That seems so, so high, but that's 266 men. So the sample size is big enough. What I think is affecting the data here a bit is like the percentage of people, like if you look at the chart of people who, like do triathlon versus the percentage of people who know what their FTP is. There is a huge amount of people who have never even tested their FTP who are going to be, I don't want to say dragging that average down, but are probably, the chances are if you know your FTP, you're pretty serious, you probably have a coach and you're like actively trying

to win your age group, you know, just whatever. Another big factor here obviously is like watts per kilo. And I think a lot of men are actually, I mean, a heavy person, 270 is not that hard. right? Someone who's really big, really tall, big muscle mass, like our friend Jordan Briden, he can do a six-hour ride at 270, and that's not hard for him. So I think that there are so many variables here, but it is a very, I think it's an interesting kind of litmus test of where we were at. And I think for the women we're really accurate, men maybe were a bit high, but maybe not. Maybe these men are, yeah, like a super fit sample size. There's so many different things. It's like,

okay, first of all, you listen to this podcast. So you're so into triathlon that you spend an hour a week listening to a triathlon podcast. That probably shifts you towards the more fit end of the spectrum. You spent the money on a power meter or a trainer. That shifts you towards a certain end of the spectrum, you know?

Yeah. And then I think people who feel more confident about their FTPs are more likely to tell a stranger on their internet what their FTP is. So it's like everything shifts a little more. Totally. So the sample size is kind of

self-selected. But the average for both with all the data together was 245. So it's only 5 watts off of my 250 prediction. But I think realistically, it's probably more like

215. Yeah, I agree. That's what I would guess. Yeah. But yeah, interesting. All right, liars, next question. That's right. But I feel like this could be a fun

little thing. A lot of people were very upset that I didn't do watts per kilo. And then like you said, Paul, a lot of the men would be like, you know, 320, but I'm 250 pounds. You know, they were saying that in the responses. So I feel like all that. But I think it's interesting. And I feel like every once in a while doing a little like poll like this is kind of a fun little little thing to see where people are at.

Totally. Okay, everyone will ask again in a month and it better be higher. That's right. That's right. I did ask what people's like peak FTP was. So not current, although a lot of people did give me their current FTP. But anyway, thank you everyone for answering that. That was kind of fun. It was not fun. It was writing all those numbers down, but the rest of it was fun. So anyway, are we ready for questions?

I'm ready. Okay, we're ready for questions. So first of all, you can submit your questions and support the podcast and keep the podcast ad-free at thattriathlonlife.com slash podcast. First question here. This is a topic that we've been meaning to touch upon for a while, but we just were waiting for the right moment. So this is Paula, mostly for you. Actually, I would say all for you. Poppy here from Hayward's Heath, England. I'm wondering how you maintain a healthy period

while training so intensely. As a female athlete, this can be difficult. This may be a slightly awkward question to answer, but I believe it shouldn't be, as there are some amazing professional female athletes who must have to manage this to stay healthy and injury-free. Love all the content you guys do. Thank you so much.

Please never stop all the best, Poppy. Dang. I'm going to go grab a snack. Nick, you want anything? Yeah, I would love some rice, crispy treats. No, you guys, this is like, you know, 20, 23 in sports. It is not a taboo topic to talk about this. Oh, no, no, no, no. I just mean, I doubt I have much to contribute to contribute. I think you could contribute a little bit. Let's do it then. Okay, so what exactly is the question? I was like a little distracted. The question is, how do you maintain a healthy period while training so hard? Because obviously, you know, you can not get your period or. Totally.

I'm not going to pretend to know, but There's only one answer to this from my perspective and experience and that's eating enough. End of story. I mean, if you don't eat enough and you have a calorie deficit and you're training a lot,

your body goes into like, we can't make a baby now. So all resources are spent on other things, so you just lose your period. And that did happen to me for 10 years. Like I was getting a period a year and it was super, super unhealthy. And reading things like,

Lauren Fleshman's book and other resources now that are like a lot more readily available because people are talking about this have been eye opening to me because I was totally on the end of the spectrum of like my family doctor telling me that that was okay and totally fine because I'm an athlete and it's normal. Oh wow. So I was like, okay, cool. I'm not having a period. That's convenient.

Right. I didn't have to worry about it. But meanwhile, I'm getting struck. stress fractures every six months. And my bone health is not good. And I'm getting injured again and again and fatigue and all these things. And so yeah, when I was in my young 20s, I was winning these big, huge races, super tiny and running fast and everything. But I wasn't having a period. I wasn't healthy. And then I spent almost 10 years between my two careers, kind of like being really sick, getting a lot of stress factors, getting a lot of injuries. And the only way that I was able to get a regular

period back was increasing my calorie intake and training a bit less. So it's now regular. Every single month predictively, I get it. I get it. I'm actually, like, I think get a healthier body weight than I've ever been at in terms of like performance weight and everything. And then just like naturally increasing it in the off season, getting leaner for the in season. Some of that might be just because I'm older now, like 33, and your body kind of naturally leans out a little bit. But yeah, I feel stronger. I feel better.

And that's all, I think, nutrition-related, eating enough. It's interesting. I was under the false assumption. Obviously, I don't know much about this. That even just like a really high training load could make you miss your period as well. But for you, at least, for your body, you feel like the, as long as you fueled properly,

because you obviously do have a really high training load and you work really hard. Oh, like you mean currently. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, totally. I think that like when I was in my late teens, early 20s, I was maybe running a little bit more than I am now, but overall training volume is probably pretty similar

in terms of hours. But just I was also more stressed. Like I was at university. I had to like bring a lunch to school. Like I was, it was a different setup than my life now where I'm at home a lot of the day. I can like prep meals. and then just like put a conscious effort into eating a little bit all day. But I for sure when I was

younger, running track, running grass country was like counting calories, eating like puffed cereal that had no calories in it with almond milk, like just stuff like that to feel full when I wasn't actually getting any nutrients in my body to support the training I was doing. All stuff that's so common to hear now that people are kind of more openly talking about it. But yeah, huge issues still in sports for sure. Is this something that you've talked about or that is normally spoken about between female athletes or like even with other pros or growing up? Is this something that you guys talked about? No, because I feel like even 10 years ago, it was like something you never really wanted to talk about like periods are very personal and kind of not embarrassing, but not something

you ever wanted to bring up with your male coach, for example. Whereas now I think it's a much more open topic for a lot of reasons, for reasons like Lauren Fleshman coming out and writing a book about it and having it be very like normalizing it. And like this is a thing that all athletes experience when they're growing up and coaches need to be aware of it, all these things. So it's more talked about now, I think, but that doesn't mean it's not still a problem. Yeah. It kind of reminds me of when Specialized came out with the mimic saddle that was like specifically designed for women. And like they just noticed that women had been uncomfortable on their saddles for years, but just like never felt comfortable bringing it up. So no change ever came about it.

I wonder if this is a turning point now and for like for women's periods as well. It's just like women's health coming first. Just like young athlete health, you know? Right. Especially because when you're a lot of athletes or runners like have these really big period or like not periods in different sense of the word periods, but times in the their lives where they're really fast, but they haven't, like, developed yet as women, for example. And so they get their periods late. And then maybe they get one a year like I kind of did. And there's no one speaking out, like, this is not okay. You need to, like, step back,

eat more, make sure that you get a regular period. Because ultimately, that's like the sign that your body is hormonally balanced. I don't know. Everything's kind of healthy. It sounds to me like there could potentially be a little bit of a conflict of interest here with like, you know, college coaches and they've got athletes for four years. And on the one hand, you can just like have an athlete burns super hot and they do not get in their period and they're super skinny. And like maybe they get stress fractures for the rest of their life starting with their senior year. But they ran really fast. Freshman junior. Right.

Freshman to junior year. You know, it's like, yeah, I could bring this up with all my athletes and then they might all put on 10 pounds and ultimately be healthier. is but run slower? I don't think that there's coaches out there necessarily that are like using this in a bad way. I think it's just the way things are in sports for up and coming, not just women. I mean, obviously periods are specific to women. It happens in the men's teams as well. But it's just like educating coaches about it, I guess.

And ultimately educating the athletes about it and making it more a thing you can talk about. And I guess also educating family doctors about it are people that are talking to athletes. and people that told me that it was totally okay and don't worry about it. Yeah, the last thing that I'm thinking about that just kind of came to mind as I've been listening to you talk about it is like I feel like it's got to come from the leadership and it's got to be the coach that goes, hey, here's a thing that can happen. We really got to get this out in the open. Just know that you can come to me about this anytime.

If there's anything wrong here, here's what normal is. Versus just like expecting the athletes to like somehow figure this out. and come to their coach and be like, hey, I don't know, is this weird? Is it not weird? It's like, I'm trying to imagine myself as a woman. Just how do I strike up that conversation with a fellow runner in the locker room and be like, hey, I don't, are you, what's going on with you? How to, like, versus a coach bringing it up and you feel uncomfortable with that.

Just to like end the question, not that I, I mean, we could keep talking about this. It's a very important topic. But I think everyone should read Lauren's book. It's called Good for a Girl. and it's eye-opening in a lot of ways, not necessarily eye-opening for me because I feel like I could relate to a lot of her experiences.

So it was almost just like reaffirming that these things that I went through were super messed up when I was a young athlete and led to a lot of like really depressing times in my career. But it is, I don't know, just I think it's good even for mentoring to just bring awareness to it.

It's so well written. It talks about her story, but also her awareness of what was going on in her surroundings with her fellow teammates and fellow competitors was very unique because a lot of athletes just kind of like, I don't know, are blindly walking through and this is all happening. But she was so aware of what was happening and that's interesting. And so yeah, everyone should read that book. Whether you have like a daughter, whether it's yourself, whether it's whatever. I think it's a really good step forward in bringing awareness to this topic. Triathlon is compared to a lot of other sports, there's a sense of camaraderie at these races.

We all want everyone to do well. And when half the field is women, having at least some understanding of these things, I think it just helps you be more empathetic and more understanding of what they're going through. Yeah. And I would say that the majority of people listening to this podcast are probably like age group athletes who are past this phase of their lives where it is a really big issue. but if there are any like, you know, 20-year-old teenagers listening to it, you especially should read this book, but, I mean, it's just good for everyone to be aware of it, like you said, Nick. Cool.

The next question is also related to this, but it's in a way that something that I've really been curious about to that I've tried to bring up before on the podcast. I think it's really interesting. The question is from Laura. Writing from Spain, I'll be sure, but I need to say I still love hearing you guys because I'll always have a smile when listening to you and already feel you as my friends. Love that.

Question for Paula. Do you believe in timing, training, and races based on your menstrual cycle? I know that Laura Phillip is putting a lot of attention to this, why some people do and others don't. So do you notice a difference? Like, when you see a race on the schedule and it's coming up closer, are you like, okay, how does this coincide with my cycle? Like, does that even pop into your head?

Not really. I mean, a little bit, but also you don't have control over the race schedule or your menstrual cycle necessarily. So I try to, I don't structure my training around it specifically. I don't think it's a bad thing too. Like Laura Phillips does that, obviously. And I think you have to have someone guiding you who's a little bit knowledgeable about this. But yeah, personally, I don't really adapt my training to like where I am in my cycle. And then on days, the only day I feel really bad is like the day that I actually get my period. And I have like really bad cramps and a headache and it feels terrible, but actually getting out the door and doing a workout always makes me feel better,

as much as I don't want to do it. So like last week I had a tempo run, could barely get out of bed. My cramps were so bad. But as soon as I started slowly running and jogging and then tempo running, I felt actually pretty good running. So that just kind of instills some confidence that, okay, if this were to happen on race day, I would be fine. So I don't know if that's like the right scientific answer. I think it's okay to maybe, if you work with a coach or you're really knowledgeable at this, to, you know, structure it based on your hormone cycle and all that, but I don't personally. For you, how much do you think the day that your cycle is affecting you in the worst way versus the day that it's not affecting you at all? How big of a performance, could you kind of

synthesize it down to some kind of number that we could understand? How much performance lost do you get. Oh, that's hard to say. I will say, though, that I've won a big race the day I got my period. Okay. And that's the day that not only do you feel the worst, but you also feel like it's affecting your performance the most. I think, yeah, a little bit, but I can somehow overcome it. I think people probably get worse symptoms than me or whatever when they're feeling bad. And there's also periods in your cycle where you are physically the strongest hormonally. Right. I don't know a lot about that. I don't want to talk about it on this podcast because I'm not an expert at it, but I, that's the thing as well.

Yeah. It's so interesting. It's like it's something that, you know, I feel like Eric, you and I, we're like training and racing is complicated enough and we have enough ups and downs that we can't quite explain

or really get a hold of. It's like imagine adding this entire other element that is so complicated as well. Yeah. Can't even imagine. Well, honestly, though, it's kind of weird as like,

most people don't like getting their period because it's annoying. It's like, well, yeah, I don't need to explain that. But I actually am like happy when I get it because I've spent so many years of my life where I didn't have it. And I was so unhealthy and getting injured. And like I now realize that getting my period means that I'm very balanced and healthy and eating enough. And it's kind of like backwards. But I think of it as nothing but positive.

I feel like a great analogy is like when you're injured and you see people running and you're like, oh, I wish I could run so badly. And then you can run again and you're like, oh, this hurts, but I am happy to be finally running again. Right, exactly. Yeah. Yeah, it's your body's way of telling you that we're all good. Yeah, yeah. And if you wanted to, you could also have a baby, which maybe we should do, Eric. I think you go out.

You can definitely. I'll put in a sound of a crying baby is what I'll do. Last week I put the sound of a dolphin in. Okay, well, awesome. That was great. That's something we've been trying to talk about for a long time. So I'm glad we finally somewhat addressed it. Hopefully the answers were okay, I don't know.

I think you did fantastically. I loved it. It's always okay to talk about your experience, and that's what we heard. Yeah, totally. It's just someone else's experience, and you're someone that a lot of people look up to. So I think it's relevant. When I was reading Lauren's book, I was like, shit, I wish I took notes better of my own experience. Because not that I'm like as eloquent or well written or had exciting stories like her,

but I do think that my experience could bring some kind of learning to people who are going through the same thing. And it would be, it would be cool to write a book. Like, I did have some interesting kind of ups and downs, but I don't feel like I documented these things well enough in my brain to be able to go back and write about them. I bet somebody who helps people write books could help get you through that mental memory. But Lauren Fleshman is like just a crazy good writer naturally, which is what makes the book, part of what makes the book so good. Yeah. Anyway, cool. Next question. Next one is for Eric. It's about farts.

No, I'm just kidding. Question for Eric. What typical checklist do you go through when returning from a ride to make sure you're keeping your bikes in the best condition? Both of your bikes always look so clean and kept up in the vlogs.

I'm jealous and want all the tips, Connor. This is a real change of pace, isn't it? This just feels completely trivial and ridiculous. We're glad to the last question. I feel like we should just end. I'm like, oh, bike question. Just to be clear, the last question is not a somber thing.

I think it's something that when you're aware of it can be controlled. And it's awareness is the biggest thing. Anyway. Oh, for sure. I was not making a remark about like the tone of it rather than just like that was impactful and hugely, I mean, beneficial for people to hear and how to clean your bike. I just feel kind of dumb following that up. Well, all the guys want to know.

I just hope that the men that are listening weren't like rolling their eyes. Like there's a lot. It's at the very least, it's very interesting. But I also think if you're a human on this earth, it's good to know what how the population goes through, you know? 100%. Yeah, totally. So anyway, back to bikes, Eric.

On the subject of bike cleaning. And Eric, he did say in this question, what do you do after returning from a ride? Yeah. I would say nothing. It depends. It depends how dirty the bikes are. Like, if I'm, if the bike ride went well,

everybody's in a good mood, I don't have to like go edit immediately. I'll try to knock off like excessive dirt or dust with the hose in the front yard. And then I'll typically just let it dry like that and get stuff off the chain as well. And then after I've hung it up or it's like dried in the sun, if I then notice that it's still kind of grimy or whatever,

I'll go and I'll clean off the chain with a rag. I mean, I'll do this anyway. I'll clean off the chain with a rag and then like relube the chain. And then if I'm just really feeling motivated, then I'll get out some actual cleaner and like clean the frame itself off. so you will use not sorry something other than water to clean the frame sometimes yeah um i honestly don't know if it's like the best thing ever but like wd40 makes this

like cleaner and degreaser and i spray that on a rag and and wipe the frame down with that because you know some of it's grease some of its dirt whatever but i think it's pretty important to knock off like i said the bulk of the dirt with the hose prior to like using a rag because you can just like smear that dirt and sand around on your frame and scratch it up. Yeah. That's my process. I would say part of the reason the bikes look good is because we're not usually riding in like wet, rainy conditions. So they do stay relatively clean and then your mountain bike and our gravel bikes.

Yeah, they get dusty and dirty, but in the summer we're hosing them down. Yeah, when it's warm outside, it's much easier to just hose them down as soon as we get back versus this time of year when it's cold. Yeah. But like Paula said, I do not go riding on the trails when it's super muddy. wet because that's just not a cool thing to do. It wrecks the trails and that really helps a lot. Are there any areas of the bike that you try to avoid with the hose or any like pressures that you try to avoid with the hose?

Not me. I'm going to full pressure. Anything with bearings, she goes right into it as hard as you can. Yeah. Yeah. Generally speaking, you shouldn't spray like high pressure water directly at bearings. So like not directly at the side of the cranks where the, the bottom bracket is or directly at the top tube, you know, where the headset's at and the wheels

and stuff like that. Try to be a little more indirect there and just accept that you might have to work that part with a rag a little bit more. Yeah, yeah, cool. Well, there you go, Connor. Hopefully that helped. Next question here. Hi, guys, big fan of the show. Quick question. Recently bought my first TT bike and my power is 10 to 15% lower than what I was doing on my road bike even after the bike fit. Just wondering if this is normal and how long it should take for this gap to close. Uh-oh. Many thanks, Kanaul from Ireland. Will the gap ever close is the question. Wait, Paula, aren't you, aren't you like the same road bike and T-T bike? You're like one of the unicorns. I think you should always be the same. But I, the reason I put this in there is because I,

there's so many different reasons why this could be. And number one is the power meter discrepancy. And is it the exact same brand, exact same kind of power meter on. both bikes because if not that 10 to 15% could just be that. Yeah. The other thing is are you always like going and doing these power sort of test and maybe it's not a test

but you're recording it mentally in your brain when you're climbing a hill on your road bike versus when you're on a flat doing TT because 100% yes you're going to be able to put out a little bit better power over 5 to 10 or whatever many minutes uphill. Climbing a slight hill sitting up on your road bike.

Go try, go. go try and see how good a power you can get for five minutes on the road bike in the drops on a flat versus the TT bike on the flat. The muscles are a little different between a road bike and a TT bike. The saddle's different relative to the bottom bracket, all of these kind of things. But I don't think that they should necessarily be that different in terms of number output. They're not for me. I don't know about you guys. I think this also comes down a little bit to how good your fit is.

How constricted are you? are you too bent over? Maybe you should do a little shorter cranks, a bunch of these things that can make you maybe a little, you find a happy medium between where's the most aerodynamic and where's the most powerful

and try to strike that balance because if you're 15 watts lower on the TT bike, guaranteed you're going 15 watts faster more than that aerodynamically by being in that position. Right. This person said 15% though,

which could be like 40 watts. Yeah, that is not 40 watts. 40 watts. That's a lot. I would say it should be less than that. And yes, that gap should close if you spend something that I like to do sometimes just depending on the time of the year is like I'll just make sure that I incorporate one of my longer rides, make it a TT bike ride and try to do as much aerotime as possible, not necessarily doing a workout, but just trying to normalize that position and really feel

comfortable in that position. Do you think for an age rupor once a week doing a long ride like that? is enough? I mean, I would certainly say so. That's all I do at the most. And then we do two workouts a week, typically in the TT position. But some people only have a TT bike. So then you just, you're getting all of it.

Yeah, right. I guess that's the ideal. I just, that's just not as fun as I want it to be. I want to ride a road bike. It's not as fun to ride a TT bike. But if you're doing TT-specific intervals, you have a race coming up, then switch to more TT heavy riding. And especially if the power gap is this big

and if your power meter is the same, like we talked about before, then it's really a problem of like getting your TT muscles more used to it. And maybe taking your road bike to the fitter and being like, can you please make these more similar because there's a problem here?

Yeah. Right. So that could be something as well. I guess I would say do every other long ride. Every other, okay. Yeah, every other Sunday do your long ride like that. And then maybe he's, get within the last month of your Ironman or whatever you're doing, do a little bit more.

Yeah, cool. Well, there you go, Kanal. Hopefully that was helpful. Next question is from Carolina, the person, not the place. I'm trying to create content and social media for my sponsor, and I'm super inspired by your work. It's the best triathlon content ever. My question is, how do you manage to record runs and bike sessions when you say you were recording with a phone?

How do you manage to keep the images still while running? What kind of cheap equipment would you recommend to buy for an amateur self-recording athlete? Thanks a lot and congratulations for your amazing season. P.S. My dog Vinnie sends regards to Flynn. This is not Carolina Routier, is it? No. Different Carolina that has a sponsor?

Okay, so we're looking for like budget-minded, good video and phototype apparatuses, yeah? Yeah. I mean, I filmed what, like at least half of our video last week on an iPhone. Which is unusual. Which is unusual, but totally doable. Yeah. I think if you have the option, I would get one of the ones, I think they're the pro models that have the three cameras.

Three lenses. The three lenses. So it's got three lenses. You've got a wide lens, kind of like what, and then you've got a lens that's kind of more normal looking, quote unquote, and then you've got a zoomed-in-looking lens. And that really pretty much gives you all of the advantages that you would get out of a higher-end camera. where you can capture, like, a room and have the corners showing, or you can see somebody from a little bit further away. So that's the first thing.

You're looking for, like, an iPhone 13 Pro or something. Yeah, or a 12. Pro, 14 Pro. Yeah, if you're buying an iPhone anyway and you're going to use it a lot for photo and video, it's definitely worth getting the more expensive, nicer phone with a better camera. The pro model iPhones are,

the pro really comes from the camera features. Like, it's not like it's a better, It's also, that's where the money is going. So if this is what you're into, might as well, I think, do that instead of buying a whole other camera system. Yep. And then the other thing that I think in terms of like the camera and the phone that is going to make a big difference is using the appropriate frame rate, which is, man, that's kind of hard to delve into. But basically, in a movie that you watch in the theater, the frame rate is 24 frames per second. And there's like a little thing in the upper right hand corner of your iPhone where you can change that, I believe, and it's typically set stock at 30.

But 24 is what's going to feel the most natural. It looks the most realistic to the human eye. So that's what you're going to want to normally film in. And then you can use the slow motion setting, slow-mo to like drop in some slow-mo if you want. Those are like kind of the, I guess the main points. And then as it relates to video, if we're just going to kind of talk about video, I would kind of start more thinking about your video shots as like a picture. Like what is a really good looking picture and then just kind of like hold the camera in that position.

And essentially you're taking like a moving picture. That's like the most cinematic looking thing and what you'll see in a lot of Hollywood movies. The camera's not bouncing all over the place. Instead of following the subject constantly, right? Exactly. You're like, okay, where's the mountains at? Where's the person running? I'm going to kind of try to set this up so it looks good as if nothing was moving.

and then you let the subject run through the screen. Yeah. That's a good way to start. That's a good tip, because most people's natural tendency with filming is to pick up a camera and follow the subject around. And it looks super jittery and very unprofessional looking. And you don't even realize it, but that's the reason.

Yep, you just keep the subject in the center and you just run around. Also, on the new iPhone, the pro models, there's like action mode, because they were talking about keeping things, like not too shaky. Yeah. In action mode, it has like some of the stabilization technology that you see in like the

Gopros. Yeah. It needs quite a bit of light, but it's good. Yeah. Eric's really good at running with a stable hand because he runs beside me sometimes filming with the iPhone. It turns out great. If I try running beside Flynn with my iPhone, it's very bouncy.

It's a little bit of like user practice and Eric just being a very, very smooth at being able to run with his camera or his iPhone. Yeah. The last thing I would say, like on the smoothness thing, if you're really struggling with that, you could get DJI makes a gimbal that is specifically for your iPhone. And I feel like, Nick, you have one. It's like $100. It's like $120 and it is worth every single penny of that.

That would be a fantastic buy if you're really committing to, like, creating content with your phone. Eric, when you're taking photos on the phone while on the move, Do you ever use burst mode or do you just kind of take a bunch manually? I don't use burst mode in my regular camera. I don't use it on the phone because I don't, I kind of like the idea. It's like fishing. It's like, oh, I just want to time it just perfectly. And if I didn't time it right, I didn't get it.

You know, and then you ultimately have, I don't have like 15 pictures that have to try to decide which is the perfect stride. You know, and my photo taking is more kind of like compositional. Like I'm trying to get Paula as she runs by this big rock that's catching the light versus like I'm trying to get Paula in the perfect stride. Right. So that's why I don't use it. It doesn't do as well on Instagram though.

Yeah. You know, that's just like a little bit of the give and take. But I mean, you can correct me if I'm wrong. I also feel like you get the highest quality image. You do. Not using burst mode on the phone. For sure. Then I'll say with the still photos, if you are going to get the pro model iPhone,

the each one of those lenses takes a photo in a different sensor. It doesn't matter what that means. But what does matter to you is that the one times lens, is the highest quality lens. So much so that sometimes when you use the three times lens, it's actually just using like a cropped version of the one times lens. And it also gives you the most realistic looking, it's the closest to the human eye looking thing,

which sometimes is good. And sometimes you want something that's more extreme, like the ultra-wide or the zoomed-in telephoto. But keep in mind, especially in lower light, that one-time lens is going to give you the highest quality stuff. Yeah. Crash course on iPhone filmmaking. Like when I gave my mom,

my phone to take a picture and she's like, one sock and she like zooms it in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it looks terrible. Like, no, no, no, no. I'll crop it if I need to. Just do it in the one-time's lens. Right. Anyway. Right. Cool. Well, there you go, Carolina. Carolina, Carolina, sorry. Good luck. And let us know what you end up deciding. Next question is from Graham. Footwear at home. What type of footwear do the three of you wear around the home and why? Have a great season. And thank you for everything you do for our sport. Graham. Love this question. Very interesting question.

It's probably my top question of the week, honestly, because I think that... Wow. You hear that Graham? I think that everyone's like obsessing over running footwear, getting injured, staying healthy, supportive, whatever, whatever. But you spend most of your day, at least if you work at home, walking around in your own home. And we have tile floors that are very hard. So when I wake up in the morning, if I don't put like a supportive slipper on or a supportive shoe,

it hurts my body to walk on our floors. So I think a hot tip, if you're old like me and you're injury prone, is like my slippers, for example, are Birkenstock slippers. So they do kind of have that supportive arch that the Burkestock sandals have or any kind of Burkentstock, I guess. I think those are really good. But, you know, shoes are a little bit less comfortable, so I would tend towards a slipper for in the house. but it honestly made a difference in staying healthy, wearing a supportive slipper shoe, house shoe, whatever, day to day in the house. Eric, what about you?

I know all three of us are Birkenstock diehards, but what do you wear around the house? Glorups. Yeah, I've got a pair of glare up slippers that I wear around the inside of the house. And then if I'm going to go out to the garage and kind of be that I know I'm going to be standing out there for a while, I put on my Birkenstocks for that. And do are any of you, have you ever tried like those like very specific recovery like slides or anything like that? Nope. Like the UFOs?

Nothing. Marketing man. No, I've never tried though. I know they probably are fine. But all I'm saying is like having something on your feet in the house is good. Do you wear anything in the house, Nick? Only if my feet get cold. Not, so just for temperature, not for comfort.

But I have carpet. That's nice and soft. Carpet really helps for sure. But if you're on hardwood floor, tile. Get those Perkinson. I also just don't do the volume you guys. Like my friend David, who does whatever, runs like 100 miles a week. He cannot walk barefoot on anything.

Like his feet hurt all the time because he's destroying his body. So he always has to have some kind of soft surface under his foot. Yeah. Yeah. So you guys are somewhere in between where it's like, yes, it hurts you to walk on tile, but like I'm sure you could walk on whatever grass. Yeah, I'm fine if I don't prefer to. Yeah.

Good question, though. Good question. Thanks for that. Next question, hey TTL, you spoke a lot on swimming this last pod, and listening to Nick talk about all his swimming practices felt as though I was hearing a recap of my own. No flip turns, that extra breath. My question is, I'm about to do my first 70.3 this year, and it has a rolling swim start. Given how much slower the touch turns versus flip turns are,

how do I accurately place myself in the start groups if I'm potentially faster when not having to turn? Thanks for the great content, and now even my 6-year-old daughter is asking to listen. Boy. So you guys, I don't know. We're barely roasted. Yeah. Have you guys talked, have we talked about this before about how the self-seating is in these races? It is so wildly inaccurate. It's unbelievably inaccurate.

Well, it's just like, it's just this thing like, oh, like seed yourself a little fast so you can get in with those fast swast. Meanwhile, the whole field is thinking that. So all of a sudden you got people who swim two minutes per hundred jumping into the 140 per hundred. And every time I'm like, all right, last time I thought I was like being fair and I've got to go faster. And I still have yet to cede myself correctly. Because every time people are like 15 to 20 minutes slower than they predicted. I don't know how it's happening. Totally ridiculous.

I mean, if you just like scale this up, your frame of thought, right? You're like, well, last time that wasn't fast enough. I better go. I better fake it further. Everyone's just collectively seating themselves 10 seconds faster. every time they do a 70.3. So this person like, okay, maybe if you do flips, you're like two or three seconds per hundred faster, such an incremental small amount when you're considering like the wild

inaccuracies of seating yourself in a swim start. So it's, it's, it's, it's, you're overthinking it a little bit. I think you just got to do what everyone else does. Pretend you're 10 seconds faster per hundred than you are and pick that corral. That's exactly what I was going to say. If you do want to continue overthinking it though, you got to, way, how much, you know, that extra breath you're getting at the wall relates to your overall speed over the course of the entire 70.30. I mean, you're missing out on a lot of breaths by just

swimming continuously. And then you're in a wetsuit. So that's going to make you a little faster, you know? Yeah. Man, there's so much to think about. So much. But yeah, I might, usually it's like, oh, it is not as scientific as you might hope. Yeah, exactly. People are out there swimming all kinds of speeds. Yeah, people aren't doing like a personal time trial the week before to make sure that they're fairly seating themselves. That's not happening. Although here's a call-out to the whole TTL collective listeners. Start seating yourselves more fairly.

Maybe this will make a difference. But then they got to swim through all the people who didn't, you know? It's like you're going to be the one person that takes the high road. Yeah, I don't know. I just think it's the people who are seating themselves in these races are the same people that are telling me that FTP is 320. Yeah. I feel like it's the very same people.

A lot of confidence. A lot of confidence going into the race. Well, there is a factor of like, okay, it's a race. I'm going to swim faster. That is true. Right. But within reason. Right.

Right. Well, there you go. Hopefully, just have fun out there. Yeah. Ultimately, just have fun. Don't do flipter. The swing is a tiny amount of the whole trathlon. It's not that important.

Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Okay. Next question is from Jesse. Love everything about the TTL culture, but cutting right to the point. I travel for work.

a lot. And finding a lap pool can be hard. I have a YMCA membership, so that's partly impactful, but not always successful. Do you have any tips or tricks for when you guys are traveling, or is it just Googling and vetting through pictures? Maybe TTR can have an app designed someday to find cool training locations, lap pools, cool running trails, et cetera. Estrava is only so helpful from Jesse. Well, it was the initial thought of our race blogs was to do a bit tour guide style and show what pools are good, coffee shops, training spots prior to a race. But when you're just traveling on the road for work or something, that does get a little tricky, especially for the pool.

I mean, how often are you guys going to places where you haven't swam already? Yeah, I mean, typically we're like picking locations that we're going to for training around the fact that they have a 50 meter pool that is pretty accessible and that they has good trails. Yeah, we're not typically just getting dropped into the middle of the outskirts of Chicago. and you know for a business trip. Yeah, but I mean, we're not normal in terms of people that are traveling for work. What I usually do if we're on a road trip or something is I'll Google like aquatic center on Google, a bunch of things pop up.

I'll click on it. Make sure that the time that the pool is open suits my schedule because a lot of the time, like an outdoor pool won't open until noon or something. And then the only way to really make sure that they're going to have an open lane, because that's more my concern, more than like the temperature or whatever, I can deal with, like, non-perfect situations. But lane swim time. So I'll just call the front desk.

Get a guaranteed answer. This is when the pool is open. This is how many lanes are available. And just do that trial and error for a few different pools. I would say I rarely end up finding a good solution. It's usually like no lane swim or the pool is closed or blah, blah, blah, members only. So it's really, really challenging. So I would also allow yourself some leniency when you're traveling to just not swim.

Like it's so much more less stressful to go for a run that you're going to be happier in the end. And you're not going to get that much more out of doing like one or two extra swims on your business trip. So COVID taught us this. Don't stress about missing even a week of swimming. You're going to be fine. Do some stretch cord exercises. Save yourself the headache. Think about this.

You just gave yourself an excuse to me. miss a week of swimming. It's a win-win. Exactly. I mean, give it your best effort, but don't just lose your mind over it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Great. Next question is from Everett. Greetings team. I was wondering if anyone on the pod has ever done a sensory deprivation tank floating. My partner and I do it regularly, and I find it helps with central fatigue, mental and emotional recovery, and maybe some modest

physical recovery too. It's not for everyone, but wondering if it's something you all have tried or would be interested in trying thanks Everett. I freaking love it, dude. Wow. Is there a place in Ben or is this somewhere else? Everywhere. They're everywhere. Yeah.

I wouldn't say that it was, I mean, I haven't like incorporated it into my weekly routine, but the time that we did it, I thought it was incredible. And like just anecdotally, I've like always struggled with this hip thing that kind of works into my lower back. And after being in this thing for, I was probably 40 minutes or whatever, I had this insane adjustment, like in my SI joint lower back area that was just like somebody had jumped on my back

because I'd been suspended, weightless essentially for long enough that it just finally let go and it was like a magical experience. We should do this more often. Wow. I personally didn't like it because I think I'm a little too busy in my brain and it would have taken more sessions to really embrace it. But basically what it is

of people that don't know, it's like you go into this sensory deprivation tank where it's saltwater that is completely at body temperature and you float in it and there's so much salt in it that your body is floating in this tank basically it's pitch black

there's no you're not hot, you're not cold you're like perfectly at room temperature you're naked right ideally or you're wearing a bathing it doesn't matter yeah but yeah you just like

float there for 40 minutes and try to like meditate or zone out or something I don't know the concept kind of freaked me out like being in water with this like cover on. It sounds scary. I sound like I'd be claustrophobic.

Yeah, some people do get claustrophobic. And my mind was just too busy to be able to relax. So I was like itchy and I couldn't wait for it to be over. But it's a bit dependent on your personality. Like we came out of the thing and Eric was like, I'm doing that again. That was the best thing ever. And I was like never again. Wow.

Polar opposite experiences. How much of it do you feel like was Eric for you was a. mental thing versus mental plus physical thing. Yeah, I would say it's pretty hard to separate the mental and physical thing, but I would say the mental aspect of like totally clearing my mind and like truly meditating, almost falling asleep was like such a, like that's one of my favorite parts about going and getting massage each week is like I kind of have like a casual opening conversation with our massage therapist, but for the most part it's like time that I can't look at my phone,

that I really can't accomplish anything and just like fully let the brain unwind and go blank. Wow. This is, by the way, just so the listeners, no, I've never heard of this story from either of you. I feel like this is a cool, crazy thing that I didn't know.

Well, it's not something that we know would just like super easily come up in conversations. Yeah, I know, but I talk to you guys like five hours a day every day. I thought of what I mean. We did this a long time ago. Like four years ago. It was a while ago. It was actually after Ocean Sides.

many years ago. And I had like a horrible rash on my neck from wetsuit chafing. I think that's a big part of your... And I was in this like saltwater tank. Like my neck is on fire. Yeah, that was definitely a big part of it. So maybe I should give it another chance. But like I think a lot of these establishments exist in every city.

And like I don't know if like groupons still exist or coupons. Yeah, yeah. They do. often find like, you know, get one float 80% off. Yeah, because there's like a 50-50 chance as, you know, per our anecdotal experience here, that you're going to love it and want to go back, but it's hard to convince somebody to give it a try it the first time. Yeah, it's not super cheap, you know.

Yeah. I kind of want to try it now. I think I would. 100% would. Yeah, maybe it'll be something we do together. Are we allowed to say we're going to Flagstaff at some point? Yeah, we're going to training camp at flagstaff. locked.

Okay, great. We booked the Airbnb. It's not unrefundable. The other thing they had was like, they had like a couples tank. We did not opt for that. This is not a monotic thing I would do as a couple. Couples tank. I would say fully separate.

Put us in different buildings, please. Yeah. Well, actually, that dovetails perfectly into our last question from Janet. Hi, TTR. In honor of Valentine's Day, I was wondering if Paula and Eric could talk about the most supportive things they do for each other in the context of triathlon. I'm sure training, running TTL and being together 24-7 is sometimes challenging, but you guys seem like such a power team. Thank you, Janet. So by the way, Valentine's Day is tomorrow, Tuesday. I'm not saying

you guys have to do anything. Just putting it out there just so everybody knows. For the listeners, it was two days ago from when this came out. But yeah, that's a good question. I mean, maybe it requires a little bit of thought, but is there anything that comes to mind for either or one of you for the other? First, I, man, it's, this is like hard to even, it's so all-encompassing. Like, just, we have both adopted roles with stuff that we need to get done super well.

And I just, I personally feel like we compliment each other's strengths. And there are certain things that, like, I think, you know, that I have realized that maybe Paula really needs help with. And I've, like, doubled down in those categories, you know, that kind of thing. And conversely, Paula, you know, just, man, I was thinking about this on the run because somebody mentioned on our YouTube video this past Sunday, hey, you know, like, Paula's super lucky to have Eric always building her bikes and like getting shit done or whatever. And I, like, tried to go back and find that comment. They must have deleted it because I just wanted to be like,

dude, I would literally be living in a van down by the river if it wasn't for Paula. And it's like, it's not a glamorous van. It is a piece of shit. And like, I'm like, I'm like, taking a shit in the woods. And I'm eating like Cheerios and Beans. Oh, that's the way I would be. Yeah, that is where I would be. My bikes would probably be clean, but like I would be completely malnourished.

You got a sweet mustache going right now. I'll say that. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. So like the thing that you don't see, when I'm putting in these parts of the vlog where I'm like working on a bike or whatever,

like these are the most aesthetic things that happen in our life. like wrenching on a bike. And I love doing that. It is playtime for me in the garage. Yes, it has to be done. But I'm out there. I'm like meditating and zoning out and making things better that we're not good 10 minutes ago. And ultimately putting together like beautiful top of the line bikes that were just sent to us. Yeah. Like that is a childhood dream. Right. Right. I'm out in the garage living my dream. Meanwhile, Paula is in the house like on the TTL Gmail answering people about how they're packed. got lost in Sri Lanka and they want a refund for their $600, you know, order. And it's like, it needs to be done. But it's not fun. It's not glamorous. And I just, you know, like, that's just, I just really feel like we compliment each other. And Paula does a lot of stuff that would, you know, how do I present that on the vlog?

Here's 20 minutes of Paula, like hacking away at the keyboard, right? And then she cooks and she gets the groceries. I do not go to the grocery store. Like I really, in my mind, I'm like, I should go to the grocery store. I should have come here. And that's the last thought. What is safe way? He doesn't even know how to get there.

Like that must really suck to be doing that by herself. But, you know, I need to put this disc wheel together. Right, right. And while I'm editing the, like, we could not put out a video each week. If, like, Paula wasn't cooking dinner while I was editing for a stupid amount of time. Right. Friday night and Saturday night. But, like, as I'm editing, I can't be getting video of her doing that.

So it's just like, I don't know. I just. I haven't interrupted Eric at all. Like, keep it coming. Keep it coming. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

More, more, more, more, more. And what about the walking. And the laundry. Yeah. Like, I could go on and on and on. And that comment on YouTube just really fired me up. So I'm glad this question got dropped in here. And I thought it would be appropriate if we sung each other's praises versus like,

yes, of course. Here's a lot of you for Paula every week. Right. Right. Well, I mean, I don't need to tell you what Eric does. You see it in the box. Just kidding. I mean, we try to also just like have a relationship outside of like TTL and training partners and all of this. So like we went for dinner last night. Didn't talk about TTL at all. That kind of thing. So I think that's important too is to like separate work and life, especially when you're working so closely with your significant other. It's a very unique. very rare thing, I think. And we do it well most of the time. We do have arguments occasionally. But often they're not like because I'm mad at Eric. It's there because I'm frustrated with something. And he's here and I'm taking it out on him. So it's not really fair to him when that happens. But last week, Nick, I think we got in a little argument about an impending sponsorship, stupid thing. and I like stormed out of the house to do my tempo run

and I was like oh Eric is for sure FaceTiming with Nick right now just like ranting about this whole thing so then I face timed you and you actually picked up I was like you were just on the phone with Eric weren't you? Yeah I was I was and then I proceeded to tell you my side of the story so Nick you are also part of this relationship I don't mind by the way I feel like everyone once in a while Eric's like dude I'm sorry I just unload it on you.

Usually it's not about you. It's about a sponsor or about a video or about something else. But I think Eric knows this. I just love being a part of it. I'm just happy to be here. Eric and I can't stay like quote unquote mad at each other for more than like three minutes. Because we don't like it. So as soon as like we have a disagreement, it's like resolved because we both don't like to function that way.

So I don't even remember what the original question was. but I think you did a great job at answering it. It's just what the most supportive things you guys do for each other and that's exactly what you said. Yeah, yeah. Good question though.

Good question. I love my question. And happy, well, by the time this comes out, Valentine's Day will have come and gone. I feel like it's very on trend to hate Valentine's Day these days. But I hope everyone has a good one. I like it.

I think any excuse to have like some kind of festive atmosphere, I'm all about it. Yeah, nay. for sure. That is Nick in a nutshell. Yeah. Why are we, it's like, it's like. Celebrate. Or don't. I don't know. I guess it reminds people that they're alone, but I guess that's a little sad. I still have fun. Flynn's my Valentine this year.

If you'll have me. Well, thanks for listening to everybody. This was a fun one. I had a good time. Yeah, I feel like we went a little deep into some certain subjects, but hopefully it was fun. I don't know. I think it would be cool. I mean, I wanted to do a whole. episode around like women's health and sport. But I feel like this is a nice little soft intro into what that would have been like. I think it would be fun to bring someone a little bit more scientifically knowledgeable about it. Right, right, right, right.

To talk about it or even just another female athlete that's gone through some similar or relatable experiences. Yeah, I think that would be great too. Let's get Lauren Fleshman on the pod. Well, she does live a couple miles away. She's very very in demand. I think that like every running podcast on Planet Earth has had her as a guest since she released this book. But why don't you guys all start by going to read the book and I'll work on. Right.

Getting her on the podcast. Nice. Might take a year. But yeah, thanks for listening. Everybody. Thanks for your amazing questions. And a lot of people actually in their emails this week started off with like, well, I won't go on and on because I know Paula doesn't like long emails. That's not true.

I love when you guys go on and on. It's just harder to like condense the questions to be podcast appropriate. But feel free to pour your heart out to me. I do read every word of these emails. So don't think I don't like it. I love when you send me screenshots of the good ones. Damn. Selfishly I like the long ones.

Yeah. Yeah. Keep writing us love letters. We're still floored that people, we still have questions coming in after over a year of this podcast. I know. I was like for sure, we'll make like 40 episodes before we're just, it's hardcore reruns on the questions. Well, on that subject, you can send in your questions and help support the podcast and keep it

ad-free at that triathlonlife.com slash podcast. And every once in a while, people will send me questions. And I'm like, are we not doing a good enough job at letting people know where to send it on the website? So I'm trying to be good about that. Sometimes I'll get some Instagram messenger questions and those just aren't making it in. I'm not organized enough for that. Yeah.

That's right. Sorry. Oh, I do just want to say, real quick, for the podcast supporters, it has taken embarrassingly long, but I have finally gotten the technology and all the things put together to where we're going to be able to send you a physical piece of mail with a cool little thing in it. Yeah. It's all coming together this week. So, I don't know, just check your actual physical mailboxes in the next week or so.

Or two weeks or three. Yeah, that's awesome. I can't wait for that. I mean, it's not a free bike, people, but it's not cool. I think. It fits in an envelope. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well, awesome. I see everyone next week. Yeah. Sounds good. Thanks, guys. Bye. Later.