That Triathlon Life Podcast - Should your triathlon training happen in race order, are male and female triathletes paid equally, single vs dual sided power meters, and more!

Episode Date: January 25, 2024

This week we start out with an anatomy themed TTL Spelling Bee, and then move onto your triathlon questions! We discuss neck and shoulder pain while riding in the TT position, how important training in race order is when doing multiple sports in one day, upgrading from an aluminum bike, what to do when you can't complete a swim workout as planned, foot pain while running on the track, how long to train for your first sprint or olympic distance triathlon, floaty legs being a problem, buying a direct to consumer road bike and having a bike shop work on it, single sided vs dual sided power meters, how good are the best triathletes vs the average pro, flutter kick speed, running in the snow, dog shoes for snow, and how men and women differ in what they get paid in professional triathlon. To become a podcast supporter, as well as submit your own question for the podcast, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com

Hey everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. And this is our podcast where we talk about what's going on in triathlon, what's going on in our triathlon, you could say. And Paula and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a professional musician, great friend of ours, and a amateur triathlet. So Paul and I feel like we, you know, can help a little bit with some questions. And Nick brings a real world perspective. And we might just gloss over some simple thing. So that's the gist. We're getting so many questions lately, and they're all really, really good. So we're going to try to cram it as many as we can today, right, Nick? Yeah, I put in a bunch. And so I think we maybe need to abbreviate our answers sometimes. And I love that we do this. But sometimes we take tangent off a tangent off a tangent.

And we keep going deeper and deeper into the dream. But this time we've got to stay on schedule. Is this an entire episode of Rapid Fire? I would say we're doing a little bit of Rapid Fire. I'm going to put in the half of the Rapid Fire theme song here because it's only half rapid fire. Maybe it should just be like, rapid fire. Oh, it's like the acoustic version of the rapid fire thing. Yeah, I don't know.

Like, tone it down just a little bit. Okay, but we can only really do that if we actually stick to the plan. All right, we're going to do our best. I mean, I'm definitely in a rapid fire type of mood right now. And that mood is grumpy. Like her rapid fire is like she wants to rapid fire a weapon at both Eric and I. That's terrible. She wants to rapidly go sit by the fire.

Yes, that's her rapid fire and throw the salmon. to Flynn. Yeah. Yeah, I was borderline canceling the podcast, Lush, quitting the podcast tonight, but here I am. So you're welcome. And let's get going. Okay, well, I have really good news. There's a segment that we haven't done in a long time. And Paula, like last week, she texted me out of nowhere. And what did you say? You were like, the bike tech with Eric theme song is your favorite, is what you said. No, I just said, I just, I was listening to the podcast on my way to Home Depot. For some reason, I braved Home Depot. without Eric because we need a new dishwasher.

We're going to Trader Joe's and it's nearby. Anyway, I was listening to the pod and the bike tech with Eric theme song came on and I was like, this is the best jingle not only on the podcast, but in the history of the world. It's so good. And then Nick's like, yeah, that's a good jingle, but also this is a good jingle. And then he sent me like the Spelling Bee jingle and then he sent me the rapid fire jingle. And then he sent me. And it's true that we do have the best.

Yes, jingles. I think today, though, we got like a spelling bee. Spelling Bee? Is that right? Yeah, today we're doing the spelling bee. E.TL spelling bee. Wow. Is that what it is? T.T.L. Spelling Bee.

Wow. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. I wanted it. Yeah, it's been so long. You don't even remember. Well, I feel like it's hit or miss sometimes. I personally love them, but they're not so triathlon focused. But this one, I picked a theme, which I think I should be doing with all the spelling bees from

now on. And I did warn Eric about the theme, but he is not privy to any of these words. So we'll see how well he does. Paula, as always, feel free to jump in with your spellings of these words. Okay. Okay, thanks, Mark. We'll give you a pass because I know some words in Canada are spelled a little differently. Okay. So this one is going to be anatomy themed. Okay. And we're going to, we're going to add in a little extra value for the listeners. I'm also going to tell you which each one of these things is. Okay. So, pyreformis is a flat, narrow muscle. It runs from your lower spine through your butt to the top of your thighs. Your periformis muscle extends to each side of your body and aids in almost every movement of your lower body. The sciatic nerve most commonly runs underneath the pyreformis. Eric, how do you spell paraformis?

E-I-R-I-F-O-R-M-I-S. That's correct. He's so good. He's so good. He's so good. That's where the spelling be. blossomed from was Eric's weird ability to just like spell stuff really quickly. S-C-I-A-A-A-T-I-C-Syatic. Wow, that's very good. Eric, by the way, I need a pure form as massage later. Eric, did you ever think that you'd be able to monetize your ability to spell quickly? Because in some small way you have now.

I mean, it's not like it makes five bucks every time I get a right question, a right answer. Well, in kind of a roundabout way you do, though. All right, all right. If you're impressed, subscribe. I'm impressed. I'm impressed. Next one here, one that I've personally had problems with. The iliotibial band is a thick band of fibrous tissue that runs along the outside of your leg.

It starts at the hip and extends to the outer side of the shin bone just below the knee joint. The iliotibial band works with a muscle in your thigh to provide support to the outside of the knee joint. Okay, Paula, let's hear it. IT, B, A, N, D. No, stop. No, that is incorrect. IT B for short. points for you.

You're now excluded from the game, Eric. I-L, I-O-T, I-B-I-A-L. That is correct. Very good. I wasn't sure it was going to be a double-L or not. No double L, you know? But yes, Paul, you're correct.

No one says that. It's commonly referred to as the IT band. The next one is the anterior cruciati ligament. Cruciate. Is it cruciate? Wow, I'm an idiot. Oh, very good. Good.

Is one of the ligaments in the knee... It's funny because I've actually never heard that, so I shows how much I know. Is one of the ligaments in the knee joint. A ligament is a tough, flexible band of tissue that holds bones and cartilage together. The ACL connects the bottom of the thigh bone, femur, to the top of the shin bone,

the tibia. The ACL helps keep the knee stable. So the interior... Say it again. Cruciate. Wow, I'm fired. Okay. We want to know how to spell cruciate.

the R-U-C-I-A-A-A-T-E? He's good. He's good. He's batting a thousand so far. I feel like this is turning me on, Eric. This skill? Unbelievable. Unbelievable.

Okay, we got two more. Next one is, planter fasciitis is an inflammation of the fibrous tissue, planter fascia, along the bottom of your foot that connects your heel bone to your toes. Planter fasciitis can cause intense heel pain. Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes

of heel pain. How do you spell planter fasciitis? E-L-A-N-T-A-R F-A-I-I-T-I-S. How did you get that? What is wrong with you? There's no guessing involved. You're a freak, dude.

You were a freak. The double I, I thought no way you're getting back. I know you thought you had me with the double I. I know you thought that was it. There's no way. And Paula, are you feeding him answers? No, Nick. I just, we.

Paul is over there with a whiteboard and like Google. There's no way. Okay. That was for sure I was getting you with that one. Okay, last one here. I don't even know really what, like, how to say this, but the patellofemoral pain syndrome is knee pain as a result of problems between the knee cap and the femur. The pain is generally in the front of the knee and comes on gradually.

Pain may worsen with sitting, excessive use, or climbing and descending stairs. How do you spell patellofemoral? B-A-T-E-L-L-O-F-M-O-R-A-L. Five for five, Eric. Very nice work. Wow. Very nice work. Honestly, I am so brain-dead right now.

I can't even like re-say the word. I know. I mean, I said ACL wrong. He corrected me. So, wow. That's incredible. What was your degree in in college, Eric? I did not finish college.

He's a drop out. What was your degree? Exercise physiology. Oh, exercise. Okay. So maybe this was a little bit. That is very convenient. That's very convenient.

Wow, that was outstanding, Eric. You know, if one of your thousand many talents doesn't work out, maybe you could go into spelling bees. I wonder if there's like cash prize spelling bees out there. I mean, there's got to be, right? In the digital age, I would think so. I don't think I would even place. No, no.

Those people are, that's what they do. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I feel like there's definitely a degree of understanding word structure and Latin roots and all that stuff and having read a lot. But that's it. I haven't practiced for spelling bees. It's really tough because in Italian, spelling is so easy. The way the word is said is how it's spelled.

Whereas in English, you can have words spelled three different ways but pronounced the same way or the opposite. Words pronounce three different ways, all spelled the same way. So it's... Before E unless we after C or unless we don't feel like it. Right. and so it's a lot of just memorizing, like you said, like the roots, what languages it comes from, all that stuff. Really, really good job.

Well, for anybody who enjoyed that segment, I would like to remind you that this podcast is fully supported only by you. We don't do ad reads. We rely on support from podcast listeners. You can become a podcast supporter at ThattriathlonLife.com slash podcast. We're very thankful to all the podcast supporters who are already supporting the podcast. You can also submit questions there, and you do not have to be a podcast supporter to submit questions,

and we encourage everyone to submit questions. And we do as much as we can to make sure that this podcast is available to everybody in all of its forms. Every week we try to pick a podcast supporter as a winner, and right now we're going through bottles that are Eric Loggestrom or Paula Finley branded bottles. And this week we put our random number generated to work, and we found that Keen Mihada, you won. congratulations Keene and please just message me on Instagram or email me and give me your up-to-date address and we'll send that bottle out and by we I mean Paula we'll send that bottle out to you right away let's get on the questions here we have so many so we're doing a semi-rapid fire here

I think let's give each question the time it deserves but there's like 14 questions all right paste yourselves accordingly yes that's right and a lot of them are not short I apologize in advance but they're so good first question here is from David. I'm a new triathlete in Cincinnati, Ohio. Listening to the pod gave me the confidence and inspiration to take on my first ever triathlon last year. A local sprint distance. I was pretty far back in the age group field, but I had a blast and I'm looking forward to doing several more races this year in a TTL kit. Yes. Yes, David. My question is regarding clip on arrow bars. I got a set for Christmas and put them on my indoor trainer setup. While I think I achieved a position that feels

comfortable enough while riding Zwift, after each of my first few rides, I have woken up the following morning with significant tightness and soreness around my lower neck and upper shoulders. Is this just my body not yet having the strength for arrow or an indication that something is wrong with my fit or positioning? I know that the ultimate answer is getting a professional bike fit and I'm saving up for one, but curious if you all have any idea for me to try in the meantime, or just any general tips for a first time ever an aerocyclist. If it helps, I'm 5-6, 145 pounds, 32 years old. Many thanks, David. Do you guys ever deal with this stuff when you're maybe like haven't ridden the TT bike in a while and then you get back onto it? Yeah, first longer TT bike outside

of the year, I usually feel that. Yeah, like my, my gut reaction to this is that it is normal. And if this were to continue for months, that's not normal. But yeah, you're looking up in a strain's position and you're having to hold your head up. Like, you're going to, that's some new muscles. Yeah, it's definitely kind of awkward. I feel like doing some gym strength stuff actually can really help with this. Something as simple as doing planks on a ball and just having some like instability and trying to like hold your head up doing that.

That can kind of assist with it. But ultimately it's just spending time doing it and you'll, you'll gain the strength. I don't think it's necessarily a bike fit issue no matter what arrow is going to be a little more aggressive and uncomfortable than sitting up in the drops. or the bars. Yeah, the fact that this came on a day later instead of like you were in pain in the moment, that feels like muscular rather than a bike finisher.

Yeah, think about if you go to the gym and like do squats for the first time in three months or something or your first time ever. You're going to be so sore the next day. And then you go back the next week and you're a little less sore. And you go back the next week. And suddenly you're not really getting sore from it,

but you're still getting like the gains. So yeah, I'd say just stick to it. And another thing is when you're on the trainer, you don't have to be in your aerobars. 100% of the time. We probably spend 50% of the time, especially on an easy ride, maybe not even that,

in our TT bars if we're on the trainer. So it's just like very uncomfortable and static to be holding that on the trainer. As a reminder, Eric and Paula are professionals that have been doing this for so long. So if even Eric, it takes him like a ride or two to get back into it,

you can expect a non-professional, especially if you're new to triathlon, for it to take considerably longer than that. But I think, like Eric, like you said, if it's months, that's too long. Because for me, too, when I start riding TT again, I, that for the first couple weeks, I feel that kind of pain right there. Yeah. I feel like if I just slapped T-T bars on my road bike, I'd need to make other adjustments to make it more comfortable, like with the saddle position or just like the saddle itself, which, need to be different. It doesn't feel naturally like I could just

get on my road bike and go an arrow and be comfortable. So maybe there's like some tweaking with your saddle you could do too. But I don't know. That's advanced. I wouldn't be super concerned while waiting to save up for that bike fit though. Paula, do you have maybe you said planks, could you give this person

a little like quick little set to do? This is not rapid. This is not rapid. But yeah, if you have like a a Bosu ball, like the big ball that's unstable and put your arms on it in a plank, your forearms in a plank, and spell the alphabet while looking up. So go like A, like try to draw the alphabet with the ball while you're in the plank. Oh, wow. Super hard. And try to like keep your whole core solid so you're not like sagging your hips or

popping your hips up. So one time's through or three times through? I mean, if you can make it one, you're good. Yeah. Just one time through. There's a lot of letters in the alphabet is long. Okay. Perfect. Thanks for that question. David. and good luck. We would love to see you in that TTL kit this season. That would be so fun. Yeah, that's sweet. Next question here is from Kevin,

one of two Kevins that we'll have here in a row, by the way. How important is it for you to do your training in race order? On days when you have all three disciplines or even two of the three schedule, do you try to do them in race order? Does muscle fatigue from each exercise come into play with any training order? Thanks again, Kevin. No. I mean, there are like certain workouts that we do, like,

day brick workouts so that are kind of designed where you've got like a four-hour bike ride with intervals in it and then a 20-minute run off the bike with 10 minutes at race pace. Like that is important to do it in race order. But for me anyway, I usually prioritize the event that I feel like I need the most work on. So if I've got a bike and a run, but I feel like I really want to be improving on my run, I'll prioritize the run, do that first when I'm fresh and then go for the bike right after. We don't really pay attention to doing swim bike run. It just so happens that we like to swim first for a lot of different.

that reasons, I feel like it loosens up our bodies a little bit, so we feel good for the next session. And it is more realistic to carry a little fatigue into the biker run. But it's just, I just love swimming in the morning first. If I put it off to the afternoon, I often will just skip it. I'd rather swim midday, not to like be a house divided, but. Eric, when you, I've really liked what you said about if you need more work on the run, you'll do the run before a bike work. If you have both on that day, would you say that's also true if maybe you are in a period of trying to work on your run more? But the run that day is kind of like a throwaway run, just like get a run in, and the bike is a very important bike day? Would you then flip it and prioritize the bike? Yeah, I guess the one exception to be is like if the runs like a 40-minute run and the bike's a big two-and-a-half-hour interval session, then I'll just run super chill first thing in the morning and then wait for it to be like nicer conditions or warmer or light outside or something and do the bike in the afternoon when I feel like I've had a little bit of a time to get excited for it versus like wake up, have a coffee, go slam the heart. hard bike work out. Yeah, a lot of this is like weather dependent, right? Your order that you decide. Like we're swimming first now so it can warm up so we can go outside and run. Or in the summer, it's the opposite. We're like getting out early to rides swimming midday because it's hot midday.

So it's kind of seasonal. Speaking of which, can we get a little weather update, a little bend weather update? Dude, yeah, we just went out and run at Tomola Reservoir where you and I filmed the amazing Flynn running in the snow thing and there was no snow on the road. Really? That's smart to believe. Because it's kind of been raining and above zero, so all the snow's kind of been melted. Yeah, and we had like two and a half feet of snow, but it was so light and powdery that as soon as the sun's on, it melts pretty quick. It's been shocking. You know, in your mind, you're like, oh, this will take like a year to melt. And two days all of a sudden, we can ride our bikes outside tomorrow probably.

Wow. And the freezing rain is gone? Yeah, freezing rain's gone. Wow. Amazing. That's great. Okay. Next one here. You're going to love. this. TTL crew, what's up? It's Kevin from the night shift. No way. Yeah, it's him, dude. My questions for you today are about bikes. I currently have a specialized L.A. I have used this for my 70.3, a few sprints and some training rides slash just riding for fun. I want to get a new bike, but I'm very new to the road bike TT bike world. If I'm planning on focusing mainly on sprints and Olympics in the present,

with a hope to do more 70.3s later, is it smarter to get a road bike or a TT bike? What exactly is the difference between them. The size and weight of the rider affect your thoughts on this. I know the internet can give you exact answers, but I'm curious to hear from you since you have raced both. Basically, what bike works best for which distance, and what are the differences and similarities? Thanks for your time.

See you on the night shift, Kevin. So first of all, the specialized L.A. is basically their aluminum version of their tarmac, which is kind of their world tour road racing bike. and then a TT bike is a time trial bike, which is the style of bike that any professional or serious age grouper would be racing a triathlon on. But it's a little less versatile, right?

So what do you guys think? What would you recommend for Kevin here? Get a TT bike, Kevin. You already got the road bike. This would be a much more complicated situation if you didn't have anything to begin with. But since you've already got the road bike, I would say get the TT bike.

And the next logical thing after that is you can upgrade your road bike eventually. But you got the road bike category covered. So now if you're planning on doing triathlons, sprint, Olympic at 70.3, I would definitely get the TT bike. It's the best thing for a triathlon, hands down. Any distance, except for if you're doing a draft legal race,

that's where you'd ride a road bike. But I don't think that's going to be what you're signing up for. So it's always faster to have a TT bike. Yep. I get like so many questions like this on the email every week, and I normally skip them because in my mind, it's like an obvious answer, but I guess a lot of people are in this situation where they want to get into the sport. Where is my best investment? Is it a road bike or a time trial bike? And this Kevin already has a road bike,

but for somebody who doesn't have anything yet, it'd be a tougher answer, like Eric said, because the road bike is much more comfortable. You're going to want to ride it more. Speed is not necessarily your goal initially. So it just encourages you to like get out and do it more versus the TT bike, which is way more specific, a little scarier to ride, takes more getting used to. But ultimately it's going to be a faster choice if your goal is to perform well. Totally. And to answer the specific kind of back end question there of is your size and height and weight, like an indication of which direction you should go? I would say not really. The only caveat would be is if you were carrying enough extra weight that you absolutely

could not get into the aerodynamic position, then that might negate some of the benefits that you would see with TT bike. But I don't know. If that was me in that position, if I can try to imagine that, I would still want the TT bike is like an aspirational thing that I'm trying to work my way into, you know. Not to mention TT bikes very often, if they're designed for triathlon, have built in hydration and nutrition storage, which is a big plus as well. Myriad of benefits, yeah.

Yep. And if you look at a lot of people on their TT bikes, they're not looking like REMCO. You know, they almost look like they're riding a road bike, but they've got their arms on time trial bars. You're a little more comfortable. You're a little more arrow. Yeah. Ultimately, you will be more comfortable for a longer distance race because you're in this, like, theoretically relaxed position. You're not in, like, the most aggressive, uncomfortable position you can think of.

Yeah. Not to mention, there's really nothing wrong with aluminum bikes. If they have a good group set and you fit well on it and you're not racing it, it's great. Like, I don't even know if you really need to upgrade it. It's, like, carbon's great, but. Yeah, when you were here looking at when you were here last week or whenever it was I don't know three days ago, 10 days ago

and we were looking at specialized bikes on the internet and we saw they have that like is it the L.A.? Yeah, the crit bike. Yeah, the crit bike. I think I could get into that. Oh, for sure. Super cool. Super cool. And they have cool welds on it

that make it a little less obvious that it's an aluminum bike. It's really cool. I mean, nothing else. No hate on aluminum whatsoever. Yeah. Okay. Next question here is from Simon

from Melbourne, Australia. Firstly, thank you so much for everything you're doing for the sport. I can confidently say that the YouTube channel got my interest in triathlon, but listening to the three of you every week is definitely what has kept me loving the sport and kept my spirits up through the difficult training sessions.

Speaking of difficult sessions, I have a swimming question for you. What is the best thing to do when you start a session, then realize you don't have the energy to complete it properly? Boy, do I know this feeling. As an example, I had a session this week

with some hard intervals in it, but after doing the first couple, I was struggling to hit the right pace and just felt like I didn't have much more to give. Should I, A, give up completely and go home. B, give up on the intervals, but swim the distance of the workout so I feel that there's still some benefit

in dragging myself to the pool. This is what I ended up doing. Or C, push through and try to do the intervals as best I can, even though it's likely not that beneficial. Thank you again for all the work you put into TTL and best of luck this year. Simon from Melbourne. That was a great question.

This is a tricky one. I remember it's kind of like scarred when I was coached by a specific ITU coach. I was at a training camp and injured and anemic and super effed. And I was in a swim workout and I couldn't swim hard. And he was like yelling at me to just do it. Just like swim hard. Do it. Get through it.

And I was, I started crying at my goggles like, this is horrible. If it's bringing you that much unhappiness, there's no point in just like pushing through it for the sake of pushing through it. I probably would have done what he ended up doing and just finishing the distance because you got to the pool anyway and just decrease your effort a couple of notches. And maybe you'll start to feel better. You never know. Yeah. Yeah, it's hard because Paul and I always go to the pool together. So we have this consideration of like if I know that if I just get out of the pool in the middle of 10 100s,

that makes it so much harder for Paul to finish that. So, like, I think I would probably go with the, like, just accept that this is not going to be fast. Go nine out of ten instead and, like, be there for the rest of your swimming group. You probably get some benefits still out of just doing the meters. Yeah, I mean, I definitely have this conversation with myself of like, okay, how many times have I dove into the water at a triathlon and felt like garbage? And I just had to keep going. Yeah.

You know? And like swimming in a triathlon, the second half of a, of your iron man or your half iron man. It doesn't feel fantastic generally, sometimes if it does. So like swimming while tired is kind of part of the thing. Yeah, that's totally true. If you give yourself an out and just get out, it makes it easier to do that more and more.

And in our competitive swimmer background where we were at the pool nine times a week with a coach on deck, that was never an option to get out. So we really do have that ingrained in us just to like forge on and do it. But I think a good learning thing that could come from this is like what are the things that led up to you feeling so bad that you felt like you wanted to get out? Is that you forgot to drink coffee? Is that you stayed up too late?

Do you have three kids and they're annoying? He does have two-year-old son and a two-year-old golden retriever. Yeah, like just think about the life conditions that may have led up to that and then try to maybe set yourself up better next time for a better swim, but don't stress about one. Yeah, I would say the only times that I have stopped a session. in the middle of it or when I have this overwhelming sense of like this is harming me. Yeah, exactly. Not like I don't think I'm getting anything out of it, but like if I finish this, I don't think I'll be able to train tomorrow.

If you're getting sick. Yeah, because I'm sick or I'm going to hate it that much or it's so hot out or like something where I'm like, this is negatively impacting me. Otherwise, just get through it. This is what I was reacting to when Paula said that is there's a very big difference. And we've said this on the podcast a few times. but there's a very big difference between like, I don't feel like it right now or this is hard for me. And like, Paula, for you, like, I am anemic.

There's physiological stuff happening on body right now that is preventing me from being able to do this workout properly. And pushing through it is going to be nothing but bad. There's no good that can come from it. And like, that's the question you need to ask yourself, I think, Simon, is, are you potentially like dipping in a little too far into overreaching into over-training? Yeah. And this is not helping you. You know, I know a lot of triathletes were like, Type A, like, no, I can do it. I can do it. But it's not making you stronger. It's going to

negatively impact you. Like Eric said, the next day workout might be negatively impacted. I think most age groupers don't know how to push ourselves to that point, but there are those who can. One other tool I might use in this case is to like put on toys to get through it. Like put on your pullboy and paddles and that lowers your heart rate and you can still hit the paces. And don't think of it like a cop out. Just think of it. Just think of it. it like I can just modify this a little bit and still get something out of it and enjoy it more. Option A is like go to the coffee shop and go home or option B is I put on paddles.

Okay, go for the paddles. Put the paddles on. Put the flippers on or like whatever it is. Not all the time, but in this particular instance. Next question here is from Amanda. Hello, I'm a new podcast supporter. I first found you all on the podcast and have started going back and watching the YouTube channel while riding my trainer and find it helps so much with passing the time.

To help stay active during the winter, I started running on the track once a week and absolutely love it. But it seems like every week something new on my body hurts. Now it seems to be most often my left foot. I've tried four different pairs of shoes on the track and haven't noticed too much of a difference yet. Is this a shoe problem or a running form problem? I'm 31 with no prior injuries and feel like I'm falling apart. Running on the road is not a problem just running on the track and it hurts after, not during the workouts. any advice you have would be much appreciated Amanda.

Amanda. She just answered it for herself. Amanda, you know the answer. You know the answer. This is a track problem. You're turning left over and over and over and over again at speed. Yeah, the track is kind of hard on it. Like back when we ran track, when I say we,

I'm talking about me and Paul Osusa's triathlon squad and everything, we would do like if we're doing mile repeats, we would do one one direction and the other one the other direction and then the other direction and go back and forth. So you're like turning right and you're turning left and obviously if you got a super busy track,

this is not an option. But if you want to stay uninjured and an even runner in a real world scenario unless like running on the track is your career, I think this is what you got to do because that's just so much.

No, I would just, instead of flipping, I would just take the workout and do it on the road. That's what Eric and I do all the time. I'm just saying if you must do it on the track. Well, there's no one that must run on the track. Amanda's spreading into the track. Yeah.

Okay, but I think that you can do a really efficient and measured workout with like, you know, GPS watch technology these days on a bike path or something. And that's what we end up doing all the time is four minutes on, one minute cruise to replicate kilometer, you know, whatever it is. But yeah, the track does have kind of like a cool feel to it and it's springy and it feels like you're doing the thing. So I totally understand the appeal. But if it's only on one foot and only when you run on the track, then that's probably the problem. It's not a shoe issue or anything like that. So maybe just start incorporating some of the workouts off the track with the same intensity level and see how that feels. Do you think it's bad form to run the opposite direction if you're in the outside lane, like far away from the people who are trying to go fast?

No, I think you can do that. People like warm up and cool down on the outside lanes. Yeah, I wouldn't be running backwards if there's other people to track personally. Oh, okay. I haven't ever frequented a track where there was a ton of people, you know. Yeah, they're not often that busy. Sorry, Amanda. Hopefully this doesn't ruin your track dreams.

We were pretty harsh on her. That was a little mean. I don't think it was mean. I just feel for it like I know when training is hard and when you find something that makes it more enjoyable, you don't want to let go of it. Yeah. Yeah. I really think trying to alternate if you want to go to the track.

track is and try to do that. Paula, do you think a mobile board would help her? No, I mean, maybe. But not, it's not going to be like, oh, use the mobile board and then you can go to the track five times. Yeah, only on your left foot, though. Very nice. Okay, next question here is from Sarah. Hi, TTL family. I'm writing to you from Pennsylvania. I'm a current sophomore in college. Last year, I walked on to my university's women rowing program. That's awesome. I've now been rowing for just over a year, and I love it. I often use biking, running, and swimming to cross-train during the summer or during winter break.

I discovered your podcast almost two years ago, and ever since, I love following your guys' story. I've never competed in a triathlon, however, I am interested in completing my first sprint or Olympic distance triathlon this summer. I'm wondering how long you would suggest for triathlon-specific training I would need following the conclusion of my rowing season in May. For reference, I was never a swimmer. However, I used to be on youth swim team, and I'm a lifeguard swim teacher and can swim comfortably. As I said, I often run and bike for cross-training. Thanks for all you guys do.

I love watching and listening to everything you put out. Thanks, Sarah. And I want to add something to this question for you guys. I think Sarah is probably perfectly capable of completing a sprint distance triathlon tomorrow. That's what I was going to say. So what, like, and Sarah probably knows.

this too. So then the question is, what is an amount of time for a sprint that you think is going to give you that feeling of like, I prepared for this thing and when I cross that finish line, I'm getting a payoff for all this work? That's so person specific, you know? Like people, there are people doing the Super League triathlon and that are doing the ITU distance that is predominantly sprint distance now that have trained their entire lives to be the fastest that they can be and they still get to the start line and feel like they haven't done enough. But I don't, I don't I don't know. Like 12 weeks, like eight weeks of specific triathlon training is going to feel like you did a thing. I think that it's obviously the aerobic engine is there and the training is there.

So it's not like you're trying to go from couch to 5K type of thing. It's more just the skills and being comfortable on your bike, being comfortable running to the point where it's not like hurting you or you're not getting injured and feeling like you could do open water in the pool. It's really not like a fitness issue because you're probably training more than the majority of the athletes you're going to be racing at this thing. but it's definitely just more of like a personal comfort thing. Okay. Yeah, I guess I don't really think about the fact that there could be some fears around like actually riding the bike and transitions and stuff. Feeling like you nailed it or whatever. That's what I thought.

That's what I'm thinking is like feeling like you nailed it versus having the fitness and skills to complete it. Yeah. And when she says she bikes for cross training, like that could just be a spin bike at the gym. Yeah, right. So there's some element of just getting comfortable with the gear. Well, do you guys remember your first race, how long you trained for it when you did it? So it was a fetus. Yeah, I did like a couple of bikes and a couple of runs on my dad's Schwinn mountain bike before doing the triathlon.

But we were like swimming full time. So it's like very similar. A ton of fitness and like just enough biking to not fall over and complete 12 miles. And Eric, didn't you have like, am I remembering this right? You, like, had duct tape over your shoes or something? Yeah, yeah, I had sick Adidas, like tennis shoes from, I don't know, the Adidas outlet. And I put white duct tape on, you know, so it didn't look dumb, like black duct tape.

You know, it matched. But yeah. And I got through and it worked and it was great. And I had a blast and everybody was super cool. So I think, like, the thing here is just, like, I think you know inside, like, does four weeks sound like a good amount of time? You know, we can't necessarily answer that for you. depends how serious you want to be about the result.

But if you're a collegiate row or you're for sure fit enough. Yeah. That's out. What's your 2K time, by the way? Just kidding. I'm so obsessed with the ERG 2K. She have a phone number? Can we just phone a friend?

We text her. Sarah text us. We want to know your 2K time. I mean, the 2K time, is that always on an ERG machine? Or can you compare out in the water to the ERG? I think the ERG is like just a very, isolated, got it,

yeah. Isolated thing. When you go out on the water, you got like, water conditions, you got body weight matters more maybe.

And it's probably skill, too, right? Like, there's a skill component. Yeah. Way more skill component outside than on the erg, yeah. All right.

Have you guys ever, have you ever? Done an erg test? Like, no, done the outside rowing. Like, no. My mom rows.

Yeah. Almost every day. Yeah. I have zero. My mom was the first female to compete for Canada at a world championships and a lightweight single.

Wow, Sheila, that's really cool. I mean, that makes her sound old, but she was just like, didn't have enough money to get to world championships, but otherwise would have, she still is a good rower. I think her 2K erg time is faster than mine. Wow, row.

That's really good. Zero interest in doing a 2K erg, but I would love to, like, learn to row on the actual water. Yeah. That seems like mass, super, peaceful and cool and the technique. Paul and has his own boat, he could teach you. I would be into that.

If we move to Edmonton, that's what I'm going to be doing. And sorry, last thing on this just because they peak my interest. For pole pedal paddle, what kind of, what do they use? That's a kayak. They use a surf ski. The fastest guys use the thing called the surf ski. Is that the one where you're like one knee down and you're kneeling with the other knee? Because I've seen that.

No, it's more like a kayak. That's a canoe neck, I think. Like a kayak. Do they have a little an outrigger pontoon situation on the surf ski? I don't think so. I don't think so. It's like a freaking pencil thin. thing that you can barely see you can barely see the boat poking up above

the water. Okay, cool. You're racing kayak. Yeah. That's cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. Okay, next question here is from Georgia. Hi, H-TL team, huge fan of the podcast. I listen to it in the morning before work and it sets me up for a good day. A swim wetsuit question. I'm not a strong swimmer and I have a bit of an odd problem for a not strong swimmer. I swam club level

when I was younger so my technique is probably okay-ish. I get the feeling most weaker swimmers experience sinking legs. However, I have the opposite problem. My legs are sitting high, and when I'm in the pool, this is okay, but when I swim in the ocean in my wetsuit, it feels like I'm kicking air. Any tips or things I could try to fix this issue? My wetsuit is a blue 70 helix. Thanks a lot and best of luck for the coming season.

P.S. hopefully you can make it to 70.3 worlds in New Zealand in December. Georgia. Georgia, I'll make you a deal. Let's switch. What, wetsuits or lives? My legs definitely aren't too high in the water. That's not an issue I know my face. That's very unusual, but we do, we do have a solution for you because we've been doing an insane amount of wetsuit research as of late as we're trying to decide what wetsuit we want to swim in next year.

And there are different wetsuits with different amounts of buoyancy in the legs. Yeah. I mean, this problem is just because of the wetsuit. In the pool, she said it's fine. So I think that it's just the buoyancy of that wetsuit that she has is too much in the legs, which is why wetsuit companies, like you talked about in the last blog, Nick, why would a good swimmer not want as much flotation as possible?

And it's for this reason, because it feels like you're kind of swimming downhill. Your legs are too high up. So, like, for example, I think the orca range has an apex, a flex, and a flow. And a float. The float will be super floaty. It'll have, like, it'll amplify your issue. The flex is more flexible, less floaty.

So maybe you just need to switch to a model. that's more like that where the buoyancy panels in the legs are not as intense. Exactly. I think maybe there's a common misconception that the better, the more expensive a wetsuit, the better, the more buoyant it is. But often that's, sometimes that's the opposite, right? The super high-end stuff, they're like, we know you're a good swimmer. You don't need the buoyancy.

It's like a decision that the wetsuit manufacturers will make. It's like a judgment call about how much buoyancy they put in. Totally. Yeah, most of the wetsuit companies out there have a couple of different options, Erica's website, just to finish Pollard's thought, is very up front about it. So they've got the Apex Flow, which is like kind of the all-around, which is what we tested in our YouTube video last week. And then the flex is probably the one that you're going to want, which is very flexible shoulders, but less flotation in the butt and the legs. And then the float, aptly named, is just going to float your butt more.

So that's what I would look into. But most wetsuit companies out there have at least two options, one that's like more flexy and one that's, like, more flexy. that's more, it's like less floaty in the butt. So just do a little bit of reading on the websites. I think if you don't want to invest in an expensive new wetsuit though, the Blue 70s are great wetsuit. Don't worry too much about how much you're kicking in a triathlon.

Because I think it's actually okay to not kick as much because you're going to be using your legs for the bike and the run. Totally. So we don't kick a ton in open water when we're swimming with our wetsuits. It's kind of nice to treat it like a pole boy and have your legs kind of like dragging behind you. Well, I was going to ask you, how much do you guys actually kick in a race? Yeah, not a ton.

Maybe at the start you're kicking a lot to have a good start speed, and then towards the end you pick up your kick a bit. But otherwise, just kind of using your legs for counterbalance and having a pretty low intensity kick is fine. So in that case, maybe the floaty legs is okay. Yeah, like your kick raises your heart rate incredibly and does not contribute as much as you might think to your propulsion. Eric and I were watching footage of Katie Ladeke swimming a longer distance race.

And it's like she's just for the most part dragging those feet along. And she's not even wearing a wetsuit. And she's going faster than any of us will ever go. She does like a two beat kick. Yeah. Her kick must be pretty powerful. But it's not like she's doing a really, really high cadence on her kick. Yeah.

Yeah. If you just want to like watch somebody swim for an hour, like pull up Katie Ladeke videos and watch those on repeat. That's probably the most applicable swimmer to triathlete. because she's not eight feet tall and her stroke is actually very good to watch for just kind of like get that into your brain. Yeah, cool. Okay, next question here is from Jason.

Hey, y'all. Hope you're enjoying off-season and early pre-season. In the market for a new road bike right now and I've been looking at the canyon seems like a best bang for the buck. However, a little worried that mechanics and or shop owners that I ride with occasionally, we're not BFFs or anything,

will treat me a bit different for buying direct from a big brand instead of helping out local businesses. Nick, any experience with this? Happy Mardi Gras, y'all, Jason. So why would a bike shop be upset that someone would buy from Canyon? So Canyon's entire business model is direct to consumer. So you go on the internet and you pick out your bike and it just like shows up at your house.

Like sometimes I think that there are certain bike shops that you can get delivered to that will build that bike for a small fee. But the bike shop's really not getting much out of this at all. what are the chances that you're actually going to come back to that bike shop and get it worked on? Versus if you go into a bike shop and say, hey, I'm doing my first triathlon. I don't really know what I'm doing. You build that relationship with the bike shop. And then, like, at least when I worked at a bike shop, if you bought a bike, you get your first tune-up for free.

You get 20% off anything else that you buy at the time of the bike. It's this ongoing relationship and you really feel like if something goes wrong with this bike, I know who I can call and it's comforting. And the bike shop obviously benefits from that lifelong relationship as well. So it's, I mean, it's just like supporting a local business versus supporting a big online kind of thing and a bike shows up, you know. Yeah. So to be clear, you cannot buy a canyon from a bike shop. It's not an option.

No. It's only purchasable directly through them. Yeah. And that is what has allowed them to hit this great price point that's a little bit lower than specialized in Trek and Oregon 18 and et cetera, et cetera, all these companies that work through bike shops because they have to sell the bike to. the company to the local bike shop for X and then the bike shop has to market up just a little bit so that they make a little bit of money. But, you know, yeah, that's just, that's the thing. So it's just, do you care about local business or getting the very best deal? I really don't think that a local, that a bike shop should treat you any differently though for riding

a canyon and taking that in for service. You're still bringing your bike in and paying them to do the service on it. So there shouldn't be any kind of bias there. Like if we take our specialized bike, into a giant dealer. They'll still work on them. So I don't think it's a deal breaker. No. But it is, like Eric said, kind of nice to be able to go in, see the bike,

get a fit, build a relationship. It sounds like you already have kind of relationship with these bike shop guys. So that's kind of like weighing how much money you're saving or how badly you want to ride a canyon. They're a nice bike. I will say that personally,

I do own my T-C bike as a canyon and I have brought it into bike shops several times and I've never gotten any direct disappointment in that but I have heard it in that same bike shop I've heard them talk poorly about Canyon not realizing that I, like they just don't remember

that I was there. I've heard that multiple times. So I think in addition to feeling good about having a relationship with a bike shop like Eric is saying, I think there's also an element of sometimes if something's like not a big deal, maybe they'll throw in like that thing for free. Or like, oh, you're also like this little part was worn out.

So we, we clean it up for you. That's for free. I think if you, you know, if it's a specialized shop and you do that with a specialized bike, maybe they do it for free. If you bring your canyon into the specialized shop, they're not, they're just like, I'm not going to do this person any favors for buying, for like putting us out of business kind of by buying this other shop. And I think those little things might add up. I've never considered this before.

Yeah, that's so interesting. I've never really thought of this. As like a major topic of discussion and a feeling 100% of the time having worked at a bike shop. And it's not just Canyon. There's other brands now that do the same thing. Yeah. But another option for this person, not to drag on the rapid fire, but you could just get like velo fix to come to your house and work on your bikes. Like someone that's just completely not attached to any bike brand at all or isn't in the market of selling bikes.

They're just in the market of working on them. What's velo fix, by the way? Mobile bike shop based out of Sprintz. Bringer Man's. Yeah, I don't know if they must have it in California, but it's basically a bike shop in the back of a van. It's big. It's big in L.A., but I'm not sure if it's in like every city, you know.

Big. They're franchisable, so anywhere that someone has decided that they want to have one. Got it. Yeah. Got it. Cool. Okay, next question here is from Hannah. And this is going to spur a little Spotify poll.

So listen closely. Hey, fam. I'll keep it short for Paula's sanity. Is there a big difference? in purchasing single or dual power pedals. The cost is nearly double, and I can't seem to find any research that justifies the means.

Super big fan and hope you guys make it to Chattanooga 70.3 this year, Hannah. First of all, do you guys have dual end single or just one? The cork uses an algorithm to determine if you're pedaling predominantly right or left. But I have used, I have used

ones that I used to be sponsored by Pioneer and they had an actual strain gauge on the right and on the left side. Okay. Paula, what about you? I use the cork. Okay, so you have dual as well. Eric, when you had the pioneer, did you find that the data was, A, like, were you significantly different between your left and right,

and B, was that of any use to you? I am different between right and left, yes, but it is also translated over to the numbers that I see on the cork. So, yeah, that's the potential hang-up is if you are one out of 10 people or something that has a significantly stronger right leg than the left leg and you only have a power meter on the left side. You might not be seeing accurate total power numbers, which, as we've said before, is not an issue as long as you're just comparing yourself to yourself. But yeah, you could potentially end up in this situation where your right legs putting out 50 watts in

your left leg's putting out 30 watts, but you're only measuring the left. That'd be insane, though. Yeah, that's very, that's an extreme exaggeration. So I don't, I don't think it's a huge deal, but if that messes with your head and makes you wonder whether or not your data is accurate, then that's a consideration. If you were personally spending your own money, Eric, would you spend twice as much for dual-sided versus one-sided? What, like, what one-sided options are we talking about here? Stages, four-eye, a ton, the strand ones that come with it. I would only buy a cork that's in the spider.

Got it, spider base, not crank base. It just is, it is never, ever. We have it on, like, we've had it, like, between Paul and I, we had it on, like, 25 bikes, and they always work, and that's what I care about. I've had an SRM before that one out of every three times I would turn it on. The computer didn't work or didn't sink, and it didn't seem accurate, and I had to zero it and et cetera, et cetera.

Which, by the way, the SRM's not like a budget power meter, you know? No, no, it's just the original one. all I care about in my life these days is simplicity and it always works and is not broken because I just I cannot handle like going out and you're about to start a workout and oh your power meter needs to be calibrated or isn't working or the thing and the corks are just so reliable and accurate day to day. To be clear here though you're talking about the quality in the in the quark power meter itself not necessarily dual sided versus one side right like if Quark had it and it was only one side that you would be just as happy.

Sure. I would say that having power is better than no power. So if you can just afford the one side, then that's fine. Cork's not dual-sided. It's in the spider. Yeah, but it does spit out. Like you said, the algorithm tells you what it would assume to be the other side versus like my 4i and my stages when I had it.

It does not. It just gives me just, it multiplies by two for that. Okay, okay. So if it reads 100, it's saying you're doing two and 100 watts. Yes. Yeah. Okay.

So we're just talking about seeing left or right data. Yeah. And in my experience, like I also have quirk on my specialized and then I have four eye on my canyon.

And the dual sided is fun, but I totally don't need it. I'm 49 to 51 at the most percentage-wise when I'm out of a discrepancy. Otherwise, I'm at 50-50.

And maybe like you said, Eric, maybe one out of 10 people, it's like 45-55. And then it's like, okay, maybe this is worth actually figuring out what I'm doing. Yeah, or if you're coming back from an injury or something like that,

then sometimes it can be useful to know what your baseline was and where you're at now and maybe you need to do someone like in squats or something. But for the most part, it's like kind of just interesting data. Yeah, and the poll I think I'm going to make is going to be, if you have dual-sided power, do you find it to be worth it for you? And we'll see how people respond. Okay. next question here is from Dan from Anaheim, California.

This was kind of a two-part question. We're only going to read the first part, and we're going to save the second part for a segment in the future. Here's a question. Olaf Alexander Boo was on a podcast last week. During the episode he stated, and he's paraphrasing here, that the jump from sedentary person to world-class triathlet is almost as big as the jump from world-class to world champion.

Now, I'm not trying to start a fight between you and the Norwegians, but I'm curious about your take on that statement. Do you agree or disagree? Aside from the fact that there can only be one world champion at a time, what makes the jump so massive? Basically, I'm just asking how many lactate strips does it take to get my pro card? So do you think that's true? No.

Completely disagree. That's a shitty thing to say. Yeah. Almost every pro triathlete out there has over-trained, and I'm sure what he's getting at is like we're smarter and, you know, yada-y-a-y-a. But, like, I don't think it's that extreme. and the differences are more like, did you win the genetic lottery?

Is the timing just right? Did you find the right coach? There's like a whole bunch of different factors. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, I think that's a bit extreme of a statement personally. Maybe what would be more accurate is the difference between a sedentary person and like someone who's barely a pro,

maybe that's the difference between barely a pro and the top of the top. I don't know. But it's just hard because like it's like when you're in men's, Manhattan, and you look up at the skyscrapers, you're like, all of these are super tall. But when you're actually at the top of one, you see a bigger difference. You're like, oh, this one over here is way taller. This one is way shorter. And that's where you guys are.

You are at the top of one of those buildings, so you have a clear of you than any of us have when you're like, oh, this person's running 15 seconds per K faster. Like to us, 15 seconds per K, it may not mean as much, but at faster speeds, you're like, whoa. That really is crazy that that person's able to do that. Yeah, that's an interesting analogy. Sure. Like every percentage point further that you go is more challenging. It's not like the difference between 1 and 2% is the same as 98 and 99%.

Right, right. It gets more challenging the further along you go. But I was second at the World Championships. I almost won. And I don't think I did anything differently or special to get to that point. Okay, so we debunked this one. Yeah. Okay, next question here is from Andrew.

this is about swim kicking. I'm an adult onset swimmer and my kick is horrible. Very slow and contributes almost nothing to forward progress, only alignment in the water. I'm working on it with drills and practice, but my question is, what is your kick only speed in the water? Moderate effort over 100 meters. How much does it contribute to your speed over 100 meter effort in your opinion versus 70.3 swim pace? Interested in answers from Nick, Paula, and Eric. Do you guys think you could answer this, kind of like off the top of your head? I have no idea what my all-out kick speed is not fast. The reason I put this in is because my 100 kicks faster than Eric's, but he can swim way faster than me.

So it's not super relevant. That is interesting. Do you think Eric? Maybe if we were both going like max effort for a hundred? I don't know. Yeah. If we both like raced a hundred kick maybe, but like Paula just just kicking and me just kicking, she's faster. Or if we raised a two under kick, maybe I'd out kick you.

Yeah. I just kicked a lot as a swimmer growing up, but it comes a lot down to like your ankle flexibility and how you kick if it's from your hips or more from your knees. There's so much technique involved in kicking that you don't even realize. But this is really interesting because Paula compared to the women's field is not as strong of a swimmer as Eric compared to the men's field, right? Yeah.

Like Eric really is a really, really great swimmer. So the fact that there's this discrepancy in the kick, I don't know. That is an interesting data point there. Yeah, the kick is, I think, even for pure swimmers. Like, the best kicker is not necessarily the best swimmer. But it is an important part of the stroke. It's just, like, how hard you can do 100 kick

or how fast is not as relevant. I think I could probably do, like, I don't know, under 130 meters if I was going hard. Wow. That's not that good. It is so good. Swimmers can do, like, a minute. It's not that good.

Really? A minute for 100? Just kicking? Probably. With a kickboard. Yeah, with a kickboard. Not meters. I mean, like, if you're Michael Phelps. Yeah.

Yeah, Michael Phelps. Wow. Okay, well, I'll just say since they asked. He couldn't do it, I don't think. I think she could. Maybe she could. I don't know. When she goes to the legs, it's crazy.

Like, childhood, freaking teenage swimmers are doing hundreds kick on 130. For sure. So I think I could do one under 130. Wow. Okay. I mean, obviously I'm not a kicker, but if I go under two minutes, I am I'm ending the session there

because I've won for the day. Of 100 yards. Yes. That is so hard for me to do under two minutes. I'm usually at like 215, 220 and I'm working hard. Yeah. We're going to do this one.

We're going to do this for the vlog. This is why I put it in the podcast because I was like, okay, well, tomorrow, we're all swimming. We're going to do it. And then we'll come back to you next week and we'll tell you what our 100 meter times are.

Oh my gosh. I cannot. My mind is blown that people can swim a minute for a kick and that you guys can go under 130. I don't know why I thought that was way beyond possibility. Just so that we make sure we do this right, you got to get yourself into the

frame of mind of doing like a 30 second max effort on the bike. Like you're going for a KOM sprint. Like that's the level of intensity we got to get. You're the wall and you cannot breathe. I love it. I mean, the question was moderate effort, but I think we should do all out.

We're doing all out. We don't do moderate here. When I When I was growing up, we did 400 kicks for time, and it was the most painful, physical thing I have ever done in my life, and we did it frequently. I mean, after 200, your legs just stopped working, I imagine. And thankfully, I was a breaststroker,

so I would cheat, and I'd, like, throw in some 25s breaststroke kick because my breaststroke kick was just as fast as my freestyle kick. But the hip flexes are just on fire. You do a 400 kick. Okay, we're definitely doing this. And I'll do 100 yards, to be clear, but. If anyone could. If anyone wants to join our challenge

and wants to send in it's got to be a video though The fastest person I'll send out three bottles to Wow, this is so fun Can we do this on social media in some way? Like hashtag TTL kick challenge or like Hashtag TTL kick challenge Totally, that's it. We're doing it.

Oh, okay. So if you want to participate you post a reel or a story. Wait, there's a problem here. Stories are only a minute, and no one's going under a minute. Okay, so you post, man, you don't want to like pollute your feed with the underkick for time.

Oh, you know we do? I got it, I got it. The iPhone has a feature that you can do a time lapse. So make sure you and the clock are in the time lapse, and then it'll be under a minute. Okay, perfect. TTR Kick Challenge.

TTR Challenge. Eric, how do you feel about that? I think that'll work. I think that'll work. It's going to weed out a lot of people that are not that committed, you know, setting up their phone and doing the whole thing, but that's okay because we got, how many bottles are we giving away for this? Three.

Three. I'm giving away. That is. That is a serious prize. I'm going to have to go to the post office and buy some new, some bigger envelopes. Bigger envelopes. And if you don't feel like filming yourself, I still encourage you guys to do it. And then we'll have a poll next week for what your results were and we'll see where people landed in this.

Sick. Yeah, it's the honor system. Very, this is, yeah, well, I mean, we're triathletes here. I think if we're generally honorable people. Yeah. Don't cheat yourself. Yeah. Oh, I love that.

Okay. I'm excited for this. It's going to be so painful. The first 25 feels good and then you're like, wow, I quit this challenge. Dumb challenge. And next. There was, okay, so there was a, there was, part of this question that I think is really interesting is, if I were to just remove the kick from. your swim.

So let's say you had calling back to last week when there was someone who wanted just the legs or not just the upper part of the wetsuit, but let's say you just had a lower part of wets.

So buoyancy was not an issue. How much do you think removing the kick, how many seconds per hundred do you think that would take away from your time? Barely any. Yeah.

Like less than five seconds per hundred? Yeah. Sometimes when I put a pull boy in, I go faster. Yeah, me too. And I don't really kick when I'm a terrible kicker. No, I think it just improves your body position to have a pull buoyant. It lowers your heart rate.

So many factors. Yeah. Yeah. If buoyancy is not an issue, then it's fine. Yeah. Cool. All right, that's going to be a lot of fun. Next question here is from Catherine.

Hey, TTL team. What's your opinion of running traction devices like yak tracks? Like you guys in Ben, I recently got hit with a ton of snow here in Michigan. And for some reason, keep option to use running traction. shoes without pulling my yak tracks on. Wondered what you guys think of these tools and what it takes for you to incorporate them, if at all. I'm not sure if I'm missing out on something or if instinctively, it just doesn't feel right for some of us. Speaking of snow, kudos on the amazing snow content you've been producing. I don't think running in snow footage could get any better than Paula's

on announcement last year, but the drone at the reservoir last week was pretty awesome. Take care, Catherine. That's awesome. Thank you, Catherine. Yeah, we always have a lot of fun with the snow stuff. You guys, my mind is still in the kick challenge. And I just want you to specify if it's yards or meters in your videos. Oh, of course. Yes, yes. Because like meters to yards is an enormous difference, not only in time, but also in like an extra 10 seconds of kicking when you're doing meters is hell.

So just make sure you really specify that. And then we'll do a conversion for the winner to make sure it's as equal as we can make it. Sure. USA swimming conversion chart. But there's definitely like a, there's definitely like a, there's. There's an advantage of doing the yards, for sure. For sure. For sure.

Okay, onto the Yachtrax. I'm not a huge Yachtrax fan. They just, they feel so strange. And like when I, when I've used the act tracks and maybe like they have better updated technology now, but it's not like they're glued to your soul of your shoe. You know, they move just a teeny bit. So they're moving around your foot, which is moving around, I mean, they're moving around the shoe, which is moving around your foot. Is this person mean specifically for running? It feels a little sloth.

Yeah. So like I will avoid at all costs and just go with like the Solomon trail shoes like the gnarliest tread that I've got to try and get away with it. And if it's so terrible outside that like you can't even walk without yak tracks, then I'm going to the treadmill personally. Yeah. I agree. For walking the dog, yak tracks are awesome because it doesn't matter what the footing is or you're going so slow. You can be careful. But I agree with Eric for running. I don't I don't like yak tracks. I have a a pair of shoes of a brand that I can't say that has built in spikes and I freaking love them when it's icy. Yeah, that's the move. If you're in a place where it's icy with any sort of regularity like Canmore or maybe Michigan. Invest in a pair of running shoes that come with spikes. And you've had those for like six years. Like they don't wear out because you wear them twice a year, but when you need them there, it's like it's like studs on your on your snow tires. It's like when you need them, you really need them. They're one of the, the, the, best winter things I own when it's icy. Because I can go and run when it's like skating rink and it's

fine. Yeah, I would like to have a pair of those. Another option too is to like just screw microspikes into your regular shoes and maybe just have like a dedicated pair for winter. I think you can buy those bikes at a lot of running shoes and then you're just screwing them in yourself to your... Yeah, you can buy them at running shoes. Is that what I said? You said just you can buy them at running shoes. You can buy it running shoes stores. Yes. I'll say that when I was in Ben for a month when I was first hanging out with you guys, it snowed. So I bought exos spikes, and those are more expensive than yak tracks, but I think they're a little more designed for running, and they don't move around your foot.

At least for me, they didn't, and I loved running in those, but still, like Eric said, I would never do like a speed session or anything like that. It was just to be able to, like, run outside semi-safely. I'll say for me, it wasn't semi-safely. I couldn't believe it. Like, I came down Misery Ridge in a snowstorm. on those and felt locked in. I love, love, love those.

They just do feel weird. Even if they don't move, they just like compressed your foot in a kind of a funny way. Yeah, because you're strapping them on. Yeah, you're strapping them on. But I really like those. Yeah, that's a good, that's good tips.

The number one solution, though, is to buy the shoes that already have them in there. Of course. But those are expensive, so. But like Eric said, you get them once, and it's like you're not using them every single day. So they'll last a long time.

Yeah, I might actually have like a little hole in the top fabric because I have used them a ton. Oh, wow. I just, we'll never get rid of them. Yeah. Okay, next question here's from Shauna. Hey, TTL fam, day one are here, but my question is not about triathlon. I'm currently living in Edmonton where it's been too cold to do anything, including walking my dogs. I noticed Flynn sporting some booties in the snow last week and wondered what brand you have.

I have my own small horse, a six-month-old, great day. Oh, that's really a horse. and everything I have managed to wrestle him into falls off within a few hundred meters. Thank you for all you do to inform and entertain us during these endless indoor workouts, Shana. We've gone through a lot of different booties trying to get ones that he actually will tolerate and that work well. And the solution was we went to this place in Canmore where they do dog sled tours, like husky dogs take people out on tours. And the shoes they wear are called Niwa.

sport and utility dog gear. And you can get a pack of 10 booties for $26. Such a good deal. How do you spell that? N-E-E-W-A. So we bought a pack of 10 for $25. So if he loses one or it breaks, it doesn't matter. And they basically just have, it's like a very simple fabric square.

Like a canvas pouch. With a bungee Velcro strap. And they work so well. And they're verified that they work well because professional sled dogs use them. Is the point of those just to keep the dog's foot warm or is it to keep it also like debris? I don't totally get it. No, it's when Flynn runs outside when it's really cold and snowy, he gets ice chunk buildup in between his paws. And then it hurts him.

And he like tries to kick it out and he stops and licks it. And so it's really uncomfortable for him. And then we'll have to stop and like dig the ice out of it. of his paws. So if he has these on... It just packs up. Yeah, the snow packs. It turns into like a full on ice cube in the center of his pad. Got it.

And you have to reach in there and grab it out. Like you couldn't, you'd have to get like a nutcracker to break it apart. It's like a crazy effect at a certain snow condition that creates an ice cube in there. And then they're just walking on an ice cube. Yeah. So if it's a lot of conditions, he doesn't need them. Like if it's just a fresh snow and it's not that cold out, he's fine. but in these kind of colder conditions he needs them.

And we don't go down the route of getting the ones with like the grippers and the ones that look like human shoes. These are just like super simple and they work super well. He kind of slides around on them if it's icy, but he has four legs, so it's fine. It's like Bambi, like newborn Bambi. Yeah. When I posted a video of Flynn with these shoes on, I swear I got like 50 messages about what shoes they were. If we could make an affiliate link for this, we would be minimum. Billionaires.

Yeah, we could retire from triathlon. Yeah. But anyway, it's probably a small company and like someone's sewing them in their backyard by hand. So just go buy 10. Niwa. Newa. Awesome. Okay, last question here.

And this is kind of a philosophical one. But hi, Paul, Eric, and Nick. One of my favorite parts about triathlon is that men and women pros are paid equally. At least at races, the prize purses are the same for men and women pros. However, I was wondering whether you think sponsors also pay men and women triathletes equally. For example, if you looked at the list of highest paid athletes just based on race prize money, would the list look the same if you also included sponsor money, or would

the list change and would it favor one gender over the other? Alex. Great question, Alex. Way sway towards men. Yep, unfortunately. I think there are still definitely, if you were to look at like the top five earning professional triathletes, there are women in that list. But you think? I think so. I don't think so. Daniela, Chelsea. Lucy, yeah, maybe. I think that there is, like, there are some incredibly inspirational women that are making great money. But like on average, I think if you were to look at average, for sure, men are generally going to make a little bit more.

That's just a feeling. We don't know for sure, but generally speaking. No, I think it's for sure. To me, it highlights this, like, oh, here's the public facing side that everybody. sees. Yes, the race money is the same for men and women, so people won't complain. But then behind closed doors, contracts that are only signed by individuals, the discrepancy comes back, sadly. Yeah, it's kind of like a built into the culture of sport, like, you know, hockey players and football players. And I do think triathlons better at it and continuing to get better as there's more

awareness about the importance of supporting women and having equality for women's sport and getting more girls into sport and support for mothers. it's getting a lot better. And I don't know if that's because it's like, oh, every company now has to spend X amount of money towards women. It's just what they do now. But especially historically has been, I think, easier for men to make money.

Well, I mean, if I compare it to something like the WNBA, which is often used, unfortunately, as like a joke, like no one watches it compared to the NBA, which is extremely watched in the U.S., I don't think triathlon kind of, it's not the same. Like, I personally am just as interested in watching women's racing as I am watching men's racing. I think that's very common.

Everyone is invested in both the men's and women's races. But here, but here's the question. Are you purchasing bikes based on what bike brand a female world champion is riding versus the male world champion? I think that's the sticking point. I think a lot, like, it's, there's, I mean, at the risk of getting. canceled. I think, but like a lot of men have like built a, have built their brand on like, I'm super analytical. And I was an engineer before I was a trathlet and like everything I look at is like, I analyze it super hard versus women tend to take just like a more lifestyle approach to their social

media and stuff. And I, I don't think that's like, I prefer that personally versus like the analytical approach. But I just, I don't really know where I'm going with this, but I feel like if you just from the beginning if you kind of like integrate I take a very scientific approach to what I choose then that ultimately long term can set you a better with sponsors for

like people are like oh I know this person like considers every aspect of what they do oh I see as like vetted it and I don't and I'm not saying that's like necessarily I say stereotypically men like lean that way and are like techy and geary and like talking about toys and stuff

but it's that's more the thing like if you know someone is super anaclytical about a thing, you tend to trust them a little more. And the first person that comes to mind is Jordan Rap from like years back. So correct me if I'm wrong here. I think I'm understanding what you're saying. Let's take Chelsea Sadar, for example, you're not taking anything away from the fact that she's world champion. You're just saying that there's maybe someone who is way less successful than she is, but that is known to be really particular about their gear. And that's valuable in selling bikes or nutrition or helmets or whatever.

Totally. Like I'm super curious, like, what Chelsea's training is like and what her headspace is like and how she balances being a mom and like what are like the things that got her to be world champion. But then like I said, Jordan Rapp from years ago, like he would write really interesting blogs about like breaking down all the science of all the things. And then, you know, it's like, well, if he decided to ride a zip wheel, then it's like there's no way I'm going to do more research than him. So I think it's like more of like a brand positioning thing, I guess is what I personally take interest in. I wonder if it's a chicken or the egg thing. I think there probably are just as many women that are as interested in that. But I think what they maybe have found is like, that's actually not helping my brand as much. What does help my brand is taking this other approach to it. You know, it's just what is rewarded. And just to be clear, like, TTR is so much more on the side of the lifestyle

and the feeling and the vibe of triathlon versus the super techie numbers thing. Yeah. So we're not poo-pooing that. at all. It's just what sells bikes, what sells products? And I see what you're saying there. It makes sense. Just as we're talking about this out loud, I do think this is actually a problem. Because having worked in a bike shop, the number of women that came in, and women have great taste, they have better taste than men, and they buy more things than men. And the number of women that came in were like, I really want X bike. I know it has okay components on it, and I know it comes in teal or whatever.

and I know that Lucy Charles rides it. You know, it was, it was Chrissy Wellington back then, not Lucy Charles when I was working in the bike shop. That is a huge, huge market and a huge buying potential that I think by leaning into female athletes and making sure that they're riding cool stuff and that they have custom painted bikes and leaning into all these things that women find valuable,

that's like a huge, huge market. And I don't know, if I was running a bike company, that's where I would go. I think companies are getting better about that. They're figuring it out. Yeah, like there are women-specific things. I mean, it's in their best interest to figure it out. It's not a generosity thing.

It's not trying to make the world better. It's like, you can make more money. Yes. Yeah, exactly. I think there's such an interesting thing here of like, oh, we got to equalize it for women. It's like, no, just look at it. Like, look who buys stuff and look how they buy stuff

and market towards that huge demographic. And Paula and Lucy Charles and Chelsea Sadarro are speaking to that demographic and figure out how to work with them and be a part of what they got going on, and that's just like a huge slam dunk. Yeah, I guess maybe I was wrong in saying it's a huge discrepancy. It could be more equal than I thought. Yeah, the only reason I was saying we don't actually know is because we haven't called up every pro-traithet out there and know exactly what they're making.

It's very, you're not allowed to ask. You're not talk about your contract. And so we don't know. It's just like hearsay and we're generally in our experience. I will say, though, like we have data from the podcast and the YouTube of who is listening and watching, as well as data of who signs up and finishes races. It is

right now in 2024 predominantly male by not a small margin. So I wonder if that in some way contributes to this which is not fair to the athletes who are giving it their 100 percent, of course. But it might be another data point to explain why this happens.

No, yeah, that's a great point. Thankfully for Eric and I, we cover both the bases. And you're friends with And you've been doing this a long time and you're friends with many other people. And you do have somewhat of an understanding of what other people are getting for their contracts. So I think you have more data than you're alluding to right now. Yeah.

And I mean, anecdotally, we know men and women who really, really struggle to make a living. You know, so it's not, yeah, you're right. There's just, there's a lot of aspects to it. Yeah. Well, that's our episode for this week. I feel like we did a pretty good job at rapid firing them and then going a little deeper into stuff that, deserved a little more time. Yeah.

Yeah. I had a great time. Yeah, it was fun. I'm pretty tired, though. Yeah, we got to get to bed and rest up for the kick challenge. The kick challenge? Oh, are you guys going to do it tomorrow, really? But we don't have a swim tomorrow.

Oh, then the next day. Wednesday. Okay, same day as me. I'm doing it the same day as you guys, so we'll see how it goes. Nick, why don't you just come to Ben for it? Okay, also I'll do. If we get... Don't do it.

Don't do it. I think it's a lot. If we were going to do it in the same place, we're going to be doing it in California. Yeah, we might be going to California. But we can't wait that long. No, you can't. You can't. We're doing it.

So I would like, the last thing I'd like to do here is predictions. Eric, what do you think you'll go? Paula, what do you think you'll go? And I'll say what I think I'll go. Ooh. I'm going to go like 124 for short course meters. So my 100 time, basically, when I'm trying pretty hard. Got it.

I'm going to go a 119. What? Confident. Oh my gosh. Okay. I'm going to go 158. Then I will drown and die. I'm going to have to tell the lifeguard, hey, in about a minute and 58 seconds, come save me.

Because I will be at the bottom of the pool. I also want to really clarify how we're doing our flip turns here. Are we allowing like a full pull with the board and then a flip? Or do you have to touch the wall? I'd say whatever whatever you're doing to make yourself go as fast as possible.

There's no rules. Okay. I will say you 100% have to do it with a kickboard with your back up or stomach down. You cannot do this on your back,

right? And no fins, no toys, all natural. Yeah. Yeah, and you can do breaststroke kick, you can do butterfly kick,

you can do freestyle kick. If you do it in butterfly kick, congratulations. That's faster, I think, for like, Michael Phelps. Oh, I see. It just takes a level of effort and fitness that I don't have.

And just like ability to wave your body like that. Right, right. Yeah, we can't do that. Yeah, I'm curious if Michael Phelps is faster, butterfly kicking with the board. It's like definitely butterfly kick underwater is faster than flutter kick. Okay, we're going to make a little thing on the TTL Instagram. If you don't follow, you better follow. You should be following already with some criteria and how.

to submit. Okay. I can put that together. Okay. You get the idea. This is going to be fun though. This is going to be fun. All right. So check in on the Instagram for this sweepstakes that is going to be taking over triathlon this week. It's like the opposite of sleep week. This is die in the pool week. And then we'll do another one like six months from now and see if you've improved your kicking. Oh my gosh. Wow. We're just we're committing. This is long term. All right. Okay. Awesome. We got to cut this off before we start offering. Free cupcakes or something.

All right, bye everybody. Bye, later.