That Triathlon Life Podcast - Starting triathlon later in life, wearable tech, clip-on aero bars, multiple coaches, and more!

Episode Date: July 7, 2022

This week we are back into our groove, answering your questions about triathlon. We start with  "This or That with TTL" and then go straight into questions sent in by you! We talk about the new TTL gear that just came out, dealing with race anxiety, returning form injury and much more. Check out the new apparel here: http://www.thattriathlonlife.com

Hey, everyone. This is That Triathlon Life podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Findlay. I'm Nick Goldston. And, man, it feels like we're just knocking these things out like boom, boom, boom since we did two last week. But it has actually, in fact, been a week since we last talked. We didn't even like FaceTime that much this week, Nick. I feel like we don't even know what you've been up to. I know. I don't know how it happened. I've just been all over the place. And I feel like you guys have two. Am I wrong? You've been going out to restaurants, swimming in lakes. Really? I mean, we went to one restaurant. I would say we've been a little bit busy. We did go to the restaurant where Paula's sister is the bartender, and we had some fantastic drinks.

And then Paula's parents were in town. So that for sure takes a little bit of all these little bare bits of time throughout the day. It's not really busyness. It's just that I haven't seen my parents since Christmas. So when they're here in Canmore, I feel like every second just has to be visiting with them, which has been nice. And they help so much with Flynn and cooking us food. and I did no, like, laundry or anything for four days. Yeah, we've been eating, like, kings.

Eric, confirm or deny when you're around Paula's dad, your meat consumption increases tenfold. Oh, at least tenfold. And it's not that I don't like meat. It's just that we don't often think to buy it at the store. And Paula's dad is really good with meat, with seasoning it and, you know, kind of going the extra mile versus, like, oh, we just threw some chicken breasts in a skillet

and whatever, protein in the end. Right. Hachoo! Oh, yeah, and also he's very, like, meat and potatoes. Like, every meal has a protein, a starch, and a veggie, you know? Right. Classic.

That's the way it goes. It's a classic dad meal. Yeah. Every night, every single night. That's great. Well, it seems to work for them. They're both, like, pretty crazy fit. Yeah.

And, I mean, to be fair, the last few days, I've been feeling great in training. So maybe we need to adopt the classic. Hashtag more meat. Yeah, the classic meal plan. Uh-oh. Oh, the vegans are going to come in sending in some emails. No, we fully support the vegan lifestyle as well. So it's just, I guess, you know, you go with the flow.

And right now you're in Canada and the flow is more meat. Yes. Yeah, yeah, exactly. We're not critical of any lifestyle, of any nutritional choices. But you eat meat heavily for a week and you just get that extra like iron, I don't know what it is. Right. But feeling amazing. Maybe it's because we've been resting hard.

Anyway, Nick, tell us about your week. It could also be the banana bread and the cookies and the pie. It's not the hazel and blue banana bread, but it'll do. Is that right? Oh, it's, yeah, Paula's mama's banana bread. Oh, definitely will do. I would never want to put those two against each other. Both equally amazing.

What did I do? I can't even really tell you. I've just been training. It was 4th of July weekend was fun. I hung out with a lot of. friends, but it's kind of interesting how rides now that seemed very long to me a few months ago, my body is just so much, and my mind is so much better. Like I did, I did like an 85-mile ride on Saturday, and it kind of just felt like not that

big of a deal. Because you're getting Iron Man fit. Yeah, I guess so. I guess so. I do think the summer temperatures and long days help with that too. Yeah. Maybe, I don't know. Well, at least for us living in places where it rains and has clouds and things like that.

But the most important thing that has happened in the last week that we didn't talk about on the podcast last week is that you guys, after a long reprieve, came out with some new apparel. Yeah, it's been super successful. We launched it on Sunday, today's Tuesday. But we are so grateful for everyone who's bought something. It was a pretty big investment on the front end on our part because we ordered so much. of it. So I'd say we've gone like over halfway through a lot of it, which is more than we expected. And yeah, hopefully with I think that's good. Like we want to have stuff in stock. So that was intentional to not sell out on the first day. No, yeah, but I mean halfway through is

already pretty fast. So I feel like people who want it better get on that as fast as possible. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like it's not entirely dissimilar to like the views on our YouTube videos or like the podcast listens where the first three days, all of the action typically happens in the first three days. We'll say it's like 75% happens in the first three days and then it's kind of like a slow burn. But yeah, the number of messages we've gotten about like, oh, you guys don't have anything in stock. We really wanted to make sure that we didn't just sell out instantly and then have to go another three months with nothing available. Yeah. Although we do have women's shorts and crunuchs coming. Those are just delayed.

Just about to ask if we can, if that was public knowledge. Yeah. So there's more stuff coming. It's just we really wanted to put the T-shirts out in the men's shorts just to have stuff up for people to buy for the summer and also working on hats. Well, it's still T-shirts. So, yeah, thanks to everyone who bought stuff. We really, really appreciate it. We're super, super-spect to see it at the races and everything.

That's the coolest part for us. And what are the items? There's a pair of men's shorts. Yes. There's two men's T's. And two women's T's. And two women's T's. There's a men's pocket tea.

There's a women's pocket Tee. And then just like a standard T-shirts. shirt for both men and women and then these shorts are just magical. I can't wait for you to get yours, Nick. I'm sorry, am I getting a pair? Oh, did I ruin the surprise? Did you create an order for Nick? You better because they're selling out.

Yeah, I better do that order right now. We don't make an order right now. Hold, please. Oh, that's great. Well, I'm so excited to get it. I already basically only wear my TTL stuff, so I don't know what's going to happen to my poor closet. It's going to be half TTRL.

T-shirts you can rotate now. That's right. That's right. Well, before we got into the questions, I wanted to do a little, quick little game here to get things warmed up. And we haven't done this one in a while, but we'll do a little this or that. That's the one. That's the one. Okay, so, first of all, would you rather do a 70.3 swim without the wet suit or do a 70.3

bike in running shoes. Now keep in mind, the wetsuit would be everyone else is in a wetsuit. Wetsuit. You're the only one with no wetsuit or you're the only one running shoes. Maybe the wetsuit thing. I just wonder how much is

it important to you to stay with that swim group? Not as important as it is to be able to pull up on the bike. Yeah. Got it. I actually have a little bit of experience with this. I did a super sprint race. in Milwaukee years ago. It was the USA Trathon National Super Sprint National Championship.

And I decided to do the first swim leg without the wetsuit just for a faster transition. And I'd like just barely hung on in this 400 meter swim to the back of the group and then had a really fast transition. Right. And like Ben Canute was there and Eli Hemming, like some really fast guys at the time. So I feel like I could probably just barely hang on to the back of the lead group

of most 70.3s without a wetsuit. Maybe just barely get dropped. but it would be nothing compared to the detriment of a two-hour bike ride with flat pedals. Well, I guess you'd also have to think of this. Well, for a professional, how much time do you think you lose in transition taking off your wet suit? Barely any and a half. Almost nothing, like three seconds? It's more in a super sprint.

It would have an impact, but not in a half. Right. And what, I've never, like, I've heard of super sprint at, like, local races here, but is there an official distance of super sprint? Yeah, it's pretty similar to the super sprint. league. It's usually like half the distance of a sprint trathlon two times. So the entire thing adds up to a sprint. So you do like a 400 meter swim or like a 350 and then whatever. Okay. Let's go to, is this this for that or is this an in-depth question? Sorry. I was just curious. I've, because I've seen the super sprint thing before. I just didn't

know if there's. So basically you jump back into the water after the run. Yeah, it's continuous. Got it. Got it. Got it. Cool. Okay, great. Next question. Would you you sooner do an Ironman or a 50K Trail Ultra? A 50K Trail Ultra. Yes. For both you. Yeah. I'm intrigued by like the Extreme Man triathons.

I've been watching some of those videos lately. Like Kelp Man and Padigan Man. So that might change my mind, but a 50K, definitely. Yeah, cool. Got it. And then last one, would you rather have a 50% chance at making the podium at PTO Edmonton or a 10% chance at winning if you had to just like. kind of roll the dice in that way.

10% at winning. Oh, dang. Man, that's tough for me because I would be over the moon with the podium. To be on the podium. So I don't know if I want to get greedy with trying to... I might just go with a podium because that would be a huge day for me.

No, it's funny as I think both of those statistics are accurate for me. Right. You think 50% chance at podium is pretty right and 10% chance at winning is pretty right. Yeah, I would say. Don't you think you think Eric? Am I being like super cocky by saying that?

No, I'd say that's about right. I'd say for me it's like 10% chance of the podium. Maybe. But that's about right for Paula. 9% chance at winning. Yeah. Once he's on the podium, he's like, I'm winning this. I tend to like either win or come last.

Like I don't get on the podium that often without just winning the race. Like it's a weird thing. I don't know. Right. Right. Cool. If you're not first, you'll last. That's right.

Well, luckily it's not up to that. We don't have to, it's not a chance. Good question. Yeah, great. Well, that was this or that. We're going to move on to questions now. And for those of you who are always asking where to send questions or send me private messages on Instagram with questions, the email address is that triathlon life brand at gmail.com. Also, I love getting people's private messages.

So I don't mind at all. But Paul is the one that, uh, stop. Yeah. No. But Paul is the one that kind of is the first filter through the question. and then I'm the second filter. So the first question is from another Nick. It's not me.

Hey, Paula, Eric, and Nick. Love the vlog and especially the podcast. Really appreciate all the time you put into creating content for us. So excited for my Heather Tee and Ultimate Shorts to arrive this week. Awesome. Thank you for ordering those, Nick. Speaking of the gear, I'm interested in hearing more about the business side of TTL. Is there anything you wish you did differently when you started selling products?

How has the business impacted how you approach your training and racing, if at all? Do you have goals for your business in the same way that you do for your racing? Or right now, is it more of a hobby to build the community? Good luck in Edmonton. Nick. I'll just jump in with this, since I have kind of spearheaded the business side of it to a degree. And I don't think I would change anything about the way that we started. I would love to magically feel comfortable hiring someone right now

to like manage the apparel for us because i like you know like picking out colors that i like and design inspiration off of a VHS tape or something like that but actually putting pen to paper or drawing something in Photoshop and then sourcing it and all of the logistics of it is is pretty exhausting on top of making the vlog each week and and training so that's that's probably the only thing i would change right now and that would also sort of be like uh the goal at some point for me is if we could have one employee in the next couple of years that can take some of the logistical burden of the business stuff. Because it's enjoyable, but it does take a lot of time and energy. What about supply chain stuff? If you could go turn the clock back, or is it really

just been all out of your hands? For the most part, it's been out of our hands. I would say there's like, we could have decided in January, okay, let's just order 800 black t-shirts so that we have them and then we can decide later on the designs we want to put on them but then we'd be married to black t-shirts and you never know maybe just nobody wants a black t-shirt or something like that so when we first started out when covid was just getting ramped up it was pretty easy we could i could lay out i want a blue t-shirt and a green t-shirt and a red hat and a green hat and a pair of socks and we could pretty much get all of that stuff within a couple of months and get it printed and it was good to go and now it's like you get online and there's no black t-shirts

it's existing anywhere. And there's, but you just, you know, but I've designed a thing, a collection around it. And it's, so it's,

it's just been draining, trying to keep on top of all of that. And, you know, it's like 100 emails to get something done instead of 20 emails to get a one product done.

So, but that's why with the latest release, we didn't use blanks. We actually picked the fabric and they're a little, they're 100% custom. Yeah. So they took a long time,

but we weren't having to, like, worry about quantities and availability and all of that. So that was the nice thing about that. Yeah, it's ultimately a longer timeline, but it was a little bit more guaranteed timeline. It's like these will be done in four months.

It's like you have to commit to the color now, but they will be done in four months plus or minus a week versus, man, we just have to sit here and wait for blue to come back in stock. So. Right. Yeah. What about goals for it?

I mean, I remember even at the beginning, you were saying like, you were like the dream for you wasn't like, I want to make so much money with this stuff. You're like, I want people to feel like they're part of a community here. And Nick touches on this in his question. Is that still the goal? Like, what do you have in mind for the future of the brand? Yeah, I'm not like super good with goals, to be honest.

I did write down some like financial goals that I had for like three years just at the advice of a mentor of mine. And we just kind of blew through that pretty quickly. So it's already doing okay. and it's not hemorrhaging money or anything like that, and we're happy with how much time we're putting into it versus how much money is generating. But I get much more excited about, I really want us to have two camps a year

where we have people come, and I really wish that we could be at like five Ironman races a year with an actual expo booth and have launches specifically for that and a pre-TTO, like, party. Like, I get really excited about all those sorts of, yeah, the community building, I guess, of it more so than like dollars and and anything.

The community stuff is way more fun. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. Okay, well, Paul, unless you had something on that, I was going to move on to the next question. No, that's perfect. Eric's good to handle that question. He is, he is good.

I get excited about it too. Whenever I see someone wearing some TTL anything, I just feel like, I feel like it's like me watching my kid make friends. Yeah. I don't know. Yeah, we had a guy at the... I really like him. Yeah, we had a guy at the pool today just,

come over and give us a fist bump randomly. He's like, I love the show. I love you guys. You're awesome. And that's just like, I never even know what to say in those situations. I'm like, oh, thank you, I guess. Like, that's awesome. That is just so, so cool. And we, it'll never get old when that happens. Yeah, yeah, that's awesome. Great. Well, thanks for that question, Nick. Next question is from Rob. Thanks for the opportunity of sending questions from your loyal followers. My question is about wearable technology. There's been quite a bit of media, press, research, et cetera, on recovery-based data and wearable technology. I see a number of triathlon pros and other athletes supporting brands like Whoop and others.

Remembering back months ago, both of you were given aura rings. As an age roooper and fitness-focused person, could either one of you share any insight into the technology, i.e. your experience and whether it's worth another monthly charge I have to explain to my wife. Can you swim with the ring? Question mark? I fear it will slip off my finger in the pool or open water swim. I use a garment smartwatch for my training and prefer to wear only. for training. Again, any info would be appreciated. Thanks so much and good luck with everything you're doing. Regards Rob. Sweet. Thanks, Rob. You'd actually sent this question in a long time ago, but we just had so many questions that we didn't get to it. But we love the aura ring for the reason that you said you only like your garment for training. We don't want to wear a watch when we're sleeping

or even during most of the day when we're not training. So we love the aura ring for the main reason is that you forget you're wearing it. And Eric does swim with his every day. I don't just because I don't like the feeling of it in the water, but when I did try, it didn't slip off because they send you a sizing kit before you actually purchase it so you can get the exact right size. And the main data that I use the aura ring for is sleep. It tells me how long I'm sleeping, how restful it is, and I look at it every single day. So Eric can speak more to it. But I totally think the aura ring's worth it. I don't think I would like a whoop because it's like a wrist strap you're wearing 100% of the time. The ring is just, in my opinion,

a lot more comfortable and not noticeable. Yeah. Yeah, I'll usually take off my, I mean, not because it's uncomfortable. I just don't like wearing a watch around. So I'll usually take off my Wahoo. Like, as soon as I'm done running, I'll put it on just for running. And then I use the Wahoo bike computer. But the reason I keep to watch the ORR ring on during swimming is just like, I really want to see that kind of holistic view of like exercise and recovery and and just the whole readiness score that it generates does take into account how much activity you're doing. And mine is super accurate. So it realizes that I'm swimming. It realizes that I'm biking. It realizes that I'm running. And I just have to say yes, yes, yes, yes for all of those and say

whether or not it was a moderate or a hard activity. And that at the end of the day, it's kind of, it'll give you recommendations. Like, oh, you're really pushing and it looks at your heart rate's a little elevated and your respiratory rates a little heart elevated. Consider like really nailing bedtime the next few days. And I think that's like the biggest thing about it is this data isn't like your power meter data where you're going and, okay, tomorrow I need to hit 91 for a score versus it's like constant little reminders. Go to bed on time. Don't look at the, don't look at your phone right up until bedtime, try to unwind. And I think it's had a pretty positive impact on my recovery just in that in terms of that. I've done a lot better job of not working on videos and stuff

and looking at my phone right up until the time I turn off the light for bed. Yeah, because it does give you that number feedback. And ultimately, we're all a little bit data-driven as triathletes, and it's kind of a game to get your readiness score high. And it's truly interesting to see, like, if you drink too much wine the night before, your readiness score is lower. It doesn't know that you've drank wine, but it does know. Yeah, right.

Yeah, your respiratory rate is higher. We're impressed. Yeah, the accuracy is actually super impressive. So there's your question. It's not just for pros though. Like all those things that you guys are talking about. Yeah. Those stand perfectly well for an age grouper as well.

Or a non-athlet. Who's trying to maximize it. Totally non-athletes. I would say even like non-athletes maybe even more. That are just like our friend Chris Corbin, Lindsay Corbin's husband, he's just like so obsessed with like life improvement and being in feeling better and everything. Like he is the ideal candidate for this because he loves doing cold plunges and trying that out and trying out this breathing technique. Whatever Huberman says.

Yeah, whatever Huberman lab said this week. So he could be looking at that data and really like, oh, since I've been cold plunging, my readiness score has been two points higher, you know? Right. Athletics took completely aside. And you wear it swimming in the river? Oh, I'll take it off for open water swimming. I was going to say, like, in a pool, fine.

Like, oh, it comes off your finger, you dive down and get it. But open water, it's too expensive to risk. But maybe I've never worn it. So maybe it really never comes off and it's never a problem. It's never even been close to coming off swimming in the pool. But I don't do it in the open water just because I'm a little bit concerned of like your hands shrinking a little bit being from the cold water. Oh. Or like, you know, whatever, something happening and why risk it?

You can always manually input I went for a swim later if you want. Yeah, like our one open water swim per month. It's fine. Right. Right. Right. Well, I was going to say to this person, like, the technology is worth it if it's fun for you. Yeah, not if it's a stress. I agree. If it's a stress, then it's, I don't think as a non-professional, it's not worth it. Like, for me, I love it. I love all the nerdy little, like, oh, you woke up three times last night. And it's like, oh, your swim stroke per lap is like all this stuff. So I never, ever take my watch off unless I'm charging it. And I love all the little data things. Someone else is going to just, make them less, it could literally make you perform worse if you're worrying about all the

stuff all the time. Right, right. Hopefully that helps, Rob. Okay, next one is from Laura, from the Greater Toronto area. She says, hey guys, my parents placed a lot of importance on education while I was young and under their roof, and they felt any sport I was going to be doing would interfere with studying. As a result, not only was I not encouraged to do sports, it was almost forbidden.

I'm now 47 years old and feel I am making up for lost time. I started running during COVID after I lost my job. I had all these feelings and all this free time and I started running consistently. Turned out I liked it and along the way I found your vlog and got curious about triathlon and I'm signed up for the first triathlon race of my life. Try a try, T-R-Y-T-R-I in August. A lot of advice is given to those new to triathlon, but hardly anyone is touching on age. How old are these new triathletes?

I know it's something most may wish to avoid because, after all, you're never too old to have fun, I guess. While this is true, I feel somewhat foolish spending a ton of money on equipment that I'm going to use for, what, five years? I often forget that I'm just an old lady, and occasionally I am reminded of it when I feel ridiculous putting so much money and emphasis on my training and on these races. I'm too competitive to do it just for fun. I find I enter all my running races trying to win my age group and I know triathlon would be no different. How do I get the most out of the years I have left to train and race? Thanks in advance, Laura.

Good question. 47, by the way. You are young by triathlon standards. That's not old. You can use your gear for 20 more years. Yeah. Yeah, isn't you a lot of the 40s? Yeah.

Our homestay for St. Anthony's in Florida, they were in their 70s and just pass. passionate as ever racing St. Anthony's doing just so into it. If anything, I think starting later is an advantage because you're not burnt out of it. Like we're 31 or 32. I don't even know how old we are 32. And we are so over a triathlon, like almost. Our bodies. Escape from triathlon. Yeah, escape from triathlon. So if we're 47 and starting it, it's almost like a refreshing,

cool new thing. And the improvement curve that you're going to see is going to be so steep, especially initially because you have so many gains to make through new equipment or just training more or training differently. And so I think it's exciting. And I don't think there's any age cap in terms of like how old you have to stop racing at. I think most of the people buying the fancy equipment are in their 40s. So there's no shame and spending your money on that. If it's going to be your new hobby and you are super passionate about it, definitely better equipment will help you go faster. It's just the fact. Yeah, something that, like a term that comes up a fair bit in high-level athletics is your training age. So, like, yes, you're 20 years old, but your training age in triathlon is 10 years because you started when you were 10 years old or whatever.

So you've had 10 years of working at the sport. And so you're like two years old with your training age, and you can just go and go and go. You've got your whole life ahead of you. Yeah, I feel like 47, it's like almost comically young to be asking this question. It seems like. I feel like there's, I, there are some. unbelievably fast 47-year-old men at least because that's who I look at. But I do think that the reason this question comes up is because most of the content out there is about professional athletes who are in their 20s and 30s.

So maybe by comparison you feel like as an age group athlete, almost 50, that is older. But it's not too old. And I don't think that you should necessarily think that's a limiter. No. You know? No, it's a great sport. Yeah. Not at all.

With cycling and swimming, it really does, I think it's pretty good on your joints. So go a long time. Also, Nick, maybe you could speak to this a bit. But I think age group racing is exciting because you do jump to different age groups, obviously, as you get older, which offers like a new challenge as you get to a different age group. So I think some age groups are more competitive than others, even as you get to an older age group. Like maybe the 45 to 50 is more competitive than the 40 to 44. You just get a fresh batch of people that you're racing. I don't know.

Is that exciting? What I would tell Laura is that she'd probably be surprised if she goes back to previous years' results of this race that she signed up for, and look at the 45 to 49 compared to the 30 to 34 women, and you'll notice that those times are not nearly as different as you would think. Those women are super fast. And I realize the question she's asking here is about being a new athlete at 47, which is definitely different. Like someone who's grown up running and swimming is going to have a different experience. of 47 than someone who is just doing it now, for sure. But if you compare it to a sport like skiing, trying to learn how to ski when you're 47, that's a real skill.

Like having the neuroplasticity of an infant trying to ski, it makes it much easier to learn. Compared to triathlon, there's like relatively, it's not a sport that requires that much skill. It requires your time and your dedication. You don't have to be a natural athlete to be really good at it. You just have to put in time and work. And that's, I think, what attracts so many people to triathlon. That's what I think attracts so many non-athletes to triathlon is like, here's this crazy big challenge that if I can easily break it down into small pieces

versus something like, I don't know, the opposite would be like skydiving or it's like there's no way to break it down into small pieces. You're jumping out of a plane the first time, you know? So I think it's really exciting. And she's not going to do this for five years. If she loves it, she's going to do it for 25 years. We certainly hope so. In my race, there was a guy who finished.

84. And I recognized him from doing it all the previous times I'd been there. So I think it's totally, I predict a great, very fun, long future for Laura in triathlon. And spend the money on the cool stuff if that's what makes you happy. That's what, I mean, for me, I love the fancy gear. So it makes me more excited to do it. I got to buy a new camera, like, once every three months to keep myself excited. Exactly. Exactly. I got to buy a new toy every two weeks, maybe every one week. Well, that's because he rips through it. No. You do.

Good question. Thanks, Lord. But yeah, Laura, our advice is to go crush it. I mean, be careful. Don't crush your body. Crush the race. Yeah, just, you know, there's a million guides out there on like how to take, especially the running, how to ramp that up very easily.

But it sounds like you've been running already. So you already know those things. I think you're going to love triathlon. It's so fun. Next question is, yet again from Nick, I promise it's not just me. writing in questions to ourselves here. There were so many Nicks. It was so funny.

And isn't there someone that has a last name? Yeah, the next question person's last name is Finley. So I don't know. Is it just us? Are we blacking out and sending in emails to ourselves? No. People with our names are emboldened to ask questions. That's right.

Greetings, Paula and gentlemen. Love it. I'm sure that includes one as well. I've been enjoying the podcast for a couple months now and absolutely love it. the balance of entertainment and legit content makes for great listen that I always look forward to. Thanks for saying that, Nick. It really does sound like I wrote this question. I have been doing triathlon for a few years now. I currently own just one bike, a road bike. I would love to get a TT bike, but we thought sending our kids to college was the better call. Very nice. I completed my first

full Iron Man last September in Maryland, and for those wondering, there were jellyfish, lots of jellyfish, which is a bit of a callback to a question we had last week. And yes, you get stung for the entire swim. This year I am training for USAT age group nationals, Olympic distance, in Milwaukee and August. I have been riding with arrow bars on my road bike since many people have told me how much faster I would go. However, as I am getting more comfortable in arrow, I don't feel any faster, perhaps slower. I'll continue to train with them because I'm also doing Michigan Iron Man 70.3 in September and will want to use them for the longer ride. But as for an Olympic distance, I'm wondering if I'm better off shedding the ounces and race without the bars.

Thoughts or advice, Nick? Keep the bars. There's like no world where the bars are slower. No. Zero chance. I guess the one world would be where they create such a negative impact on your position and how much power they're able to create, that they somehow negate the aerodynamic benefit.

But is there really an athlete out there that loses that much more? I don't know. It would just, like, that would, if you have a power meter and you can kind of pay attention to that, do some testing, you know, that would be ideal. But typically with arrow bars, you can almost look down

and just like, you can just ride at a consistent effort and then, you know, like look down, like slap your, whatever you're using, ride for five minutes, and then ride for five minutes not in your arrow bars, just trying to keep the effort the same,

lap again, and I can almost guarantee you're going to see like a mile and a half an hour increase. Yeah, it's literally a mile to mile, mile and a half an hour, instantly I see it when I'm upper or in the arrow bars. I would imagine it's the same. And those way, like, the arrowbar clip-ons compared to the difference between like a climbing road bike to a triathlon bike, like the climbing road bike to a triathlon bike, there's a pretty

big weight difference there. Clip-on bars are such a minor weight difference. So I can't believe. Unless you're doing the Alpda-West triathlon and it's completely uphill the whole way, not, yeah, keep them on there. Would it be worth it? him to maybe go to like a bike fitter that has some experience with tri bikes to see if those arrowbars could be positioned a little bit better for him? Sure. Yeah. Yeah. If do you have the

resources to do that for sure. Yeah. I guess they didn't want to buy the full TT bike because they wanted to send their kids to college. But maybe the bike fit is a compromise there. Yeah. I mean, we've said a couple times on the podcast that I think a bike fit is like 200 of the best dollars you can whatever bike fits cost now that you can spend in in the sport just once you get that bike and everything optimizing your position on it so you can put out the most power is just so key and not get injured yeah what do you think paula because you've done some racing and well both have to use clip-ons instead of a legit tri-bike did you find like how often were you in the bars like that it's different in i t u because you're in the pack so much but i agree with you guys

having them on for long distance non-drafting is 100% the way. Yeah. Good question, though. Cool. Cool. Thank you, Nick. Moving on to Mindy Finley. So far, we've only had people with our names.

It's still the same way, too. Yeah. So cool. Yeah. Yeah. Long last relative. Hi, all. I won't get all cheesy on you, but I'm a big fan.

When it comes to the three disciplines, I'm absolute crap on the run. I'm currently working with a tri-coach, but I was thinking, thinking about also hiring a run coach to help speed things up for me. I'm curious what your thoughts are on having a coach versus coaches. Do you have experience with this or is this a big no-no? Thank you and best of luck, Mindy Finley. Yeah, that is a good question. And I actually do have experience with this because all growing up, I was swimming with the swim team, running with the track club, and then I had a trathlon coach for the bike and for overseeing everything. And I think the critical component to that because it's okay to do that, but the communication between coaches

has to be good and open and honest and make sure the triathlon coach knows that you're working with a run coach. There's a good chance they won't be okay with that. So I think as long as there's some honest communication, it can work really well. Another option is just to not even have a try coach and just have like a running coach, a swim group, and a bike coach. I don't I don't know. That's starting to get maybe a little bit too expensive, but I do think that there's some benefit not only from having a sport-specific coach, but training with sport-specific athletes. So if you have a run coach and that means you can go join runners for their workouts or their long runs or their easy runs, there's a huge benefit to that. And I find, like, that's part of the reason I was so successful as a junior is that I was running with pure runners, swimming with pure swimmers and cycling with whatever other triathletes. I really elevated my skills in all three individual sports, and I think it's a good thing to consider. Do you think then maybe she should ask herself

whether she's looking for a coach that's going to help her get better at each individual discipline or a coach that's going to help her manage her overall training load and how it's divvied up? Yeah, that's where a tri-coach is important because it is overwhelming to try to program all three sports individually. But maybe you don't need a coach to do that. maybe you could just follow a training plan similar to what you do, Nick.

It's like an online pay for the plan, but then have some flexibility. Yeah, have some flexibility with the running to have your running coach prescribe your run workouts and maybe oversee that part of it. I don't know. Any thoughts, Eric? He's only had one coach's whole life and that's Paulo. I've had a couple coaches. I'm definitely what's subscribed to the idea of having a triathlon coach,

then going to some run workouts with some people. But a run coach, if they're like literally prescribing your entire week of running, you're going to want to ask them, well, when do you think it would be okay for me to go for a bigger bike ride and go for a swim? And that's just like not necessarily their wheelhouse. And that's what a triathlon coach would ultimately do. And a triathlon coach could just say hard swim workout Tuesday, Thursday, hard run workout Wednesday, Friday. And you could tell them, oh, well, the hard run workouts with this.

this run group or Tuesday, Thursday, and they just switch your swim days and your run days and you're golden. See, that's to me, that's what a triathlon coach is going to be good at. Exactly. Is you giving them some external information and them working that into your training plan? Yeah. Whereas the running coach, I always be like, listen, I don't know about swimming and biking, and I don't really care.

I'm trying to get you to be a better runner. Exactly. So it probably needs to work in that direction. There's also some truth to what Eric said about the group. I don't know necessarily how much a specific running coach will help you make enormous gains on your run from what a tri-coach could do, but meeting up with a running group on the track or whatever does have a lot of benefit because you're pushing yourself with external variables of having people around you and not thinking about running every second that you're running. I think it takes your mind off of the pain and how hard running is when you're doing it with a group. So the biggest gains I ever make with running or when I'm running with other people.

Yeah, nice. Maybe the one exception would be if you're dealing with a running specific injury and you know of a running coach that's very good with dealing with that kind of stuff. That's true. That's true. Maybe that would be nice. So yeah, hopefully that helps, Mindy. And we love your last name, of course. Next question is from Jake. Hi, Paula, Eric, Nick and Flynn. Found your podcast last channel shortly after completing my first sprint try in Oro Valley. I've loved going back and watching your Tucson videos for The Pure. I know where that is enjoyment. I currently can't afford a trainer and therefore do all my cycling outdoors. I know you guys are a little familiar with Tucson weather, but obviously we have very hot summers and somewhat chilly winters. Do you have any tips for staying warm on cold winter morning rides and staying cool on summer rides?

Thanks. We'd love to do a bike or run meet up next time you're in Tucson to meet others in the Southern Arizona-T-L-N-A-Y-S-H. Jake. This is why we need like a forum or something. or another so that TTL, southern TTL nation can just, can meet up on their own. Don't need us there. That's right. But I guess I can just answer about the staying warm or staying cold, and this really comes

down to just the gear your clothing. Do you have a really solid base layer and like a shell? I would say are like kind of the two most critical things. If you've got like a good wind protection type of a shell for the mornings and you've got a good base layer, you can kind of do whatever in between with a jersey. and then do you have knee warmers or some booties for biking? Like there's really almost no limit to how cold of weather you can ride in if you just have the appropriate gear for it.

I wear my long fleece, Castelli bibs so much. In the winter I have two pairs because I wear them every day that I were riding outside. Those are a good investment over like leg warmers and knee warmers that are kind of awkward to put on. I like the full-length bibs. But I think coming from Tucson, he's probably more interested about staying cool. Yeah. Because we get out

to someone when it gets too hot. You just can't ride in the middle of the day. You have to ride in the morning. Exactly. I think the only advice for that is start your rides

early, early, early, before the sun's beating down and stop for ice. I don't know. Yeah, there are... Plan out water stops if you know where they are, stuff like that.

There are some like jerseys out there that are kind of like designed specifically to be lightweight and sort of UV resistance so you could maybe try something like that, like an actual long sleeve, but UV white type of jersey. Maybe Google that. But yeah, that's just tough. If we would do like our rides or our runs early and then a swim later because swimming is less important in terms of the weather outside, although the UV index is

insane in the middle of the day. So you just have to consider that too with getting sunburn. Sunscreen, obviously important. But I think the more you do it, the more your body gets used to and you just acclimatized to the crazy heat over time, right? Yeah, definitely, like, drinking so much water, too. That's what's going to help your body cool itself down. Maybe bug Ben Hoffman. He's been living there for a while. Maybe he's got some secrets.

That's right. He doesn't have a podcast, though, so. I know. You just have to slide into those DMs, and maybe he'll get back to you. You can just email that triathlon lifebrand at Benhoffman. We'll see if the answers, I don't know. That's right. That's right.

Yeah, so hopefully that helps. But yeah, no magic bullet for the summer, right? Not that we can think of. It's just start really early. Yeah. That's tough. It's tough over there. Okay, well, hopefully that helped, Jake.

Next question is from Jesse. Hello, Paula, Erica, Nick. And my goofy old dog Lola always barks when Flynn barks, so I guess hello from her too. I'm a new triathlete and headed to my first 70.3 in Maine at the end of July. I was introduced to your vlog and website via the pod. Really love the podcast and the viz. They are so inspiring to me.

If there were a podcast award for best podcasts to listen to during Long Zone 2 efforts, you all should win hands down. Well, thank you. Anyway, my question is about how to handle training when you're battling illness. I'm a mom of a toddler, and I swear all these pandemic-raised toddlers are getting sick and bringing home germs even more than toddlers. pre-pandemic. As a result, our house has had a cold or some kind of illness run through us about once every month for the past six months. Oh, that sounds terrible. Something that most of my

parent friends are also experienced. I'm writing because I'm sure there are other triathlon parents out there struggling with getting sick every time a kid wipes their nose on you. When I'm facing colds and sickness so often, is it better to just do the schedule training no matter what and maybe just not hit my usual numbers or take a few rest days, then get back to it when I'm all better. Or is there a third option? Like, when I'm sick, should I just go out and move even if it's going for a walk? I would appreciate all your thoughts. Thank you for all that you do. And congrats on your national title, Paula. What an inspiring performance, Jesse. Yeah, I think this is super relevant. And I definitely think Tio and Rennie are experiencing this, having two young kids

and racing professionally. They have been sick so much this year. And it is really tough to balance with you know, trying to race at an elite level and train it at elite level and having kids bring home bugs. But ultimately, family is more important than training, so you can't get rid of your kids. Anyway, I think it's hard to answer this because I don't get sick that often. So when I do get sick, I err on the side of caution and take two or three days off completely, maybe moving around or walking outside a little bit. But I feel like if you just try to power through it, you could prolong it. However, maybe. Maybe my answer would be different if I was getting sick every six weeks, and it would just, like, I felt like I couldn't afford to take time off every six weeks.

But I think that you really have to play it a little bit by ear and how terrible you feel. There's different degrees of feeling shitty. And if you feel like you can go out for a run and do it, and it's not like in your chest, I think it's fine to do that. Do you agree? Yeah. Yeah, I would agree. I think you really have to listen to your body and how you're feeling with this. and if it really, I just, I think you're going to know.

You're like, man, I'm just like, I'm just working so hard just to, like, jog at the slow pace down the street. Ask yourself, like, is jogging at that super, super slow pace? Like, is that really benefiting anything? Or is that just, like, you sort of checking the box to feel like you didn't quit on, on that day? And I think you should just kind of, if you feel like you can do a thing, go for it.

And if halfway through it, it's not feeling around. then be okay with letting it go. And you'll probably recover from that sickness faster, like Paula said. Yeah. The things I like to start with after coming back from a cold is like riding the train are really easy. I feel like that's the easiest on my body. I find swimming is actually the hardest, especially when you're like congested or have something in your lungs because you're just in that weird horizontal position.

And I find that is really hard to breathe. And also I think things spread easier in the pool. Like if you're going to a public pool while you're sick, you could easily pass along whatever you have to someone else. So just being conscious of that. Yeah. And then running is obviously the hardest because I think it's the most aerobically demanding. But if the sickness is kind of just like a fatigue type of sickness, I think it's safer to push through it versus an actual, like I'm coughing at my lungs type of sickness. I would probably just to cap it off say like, just forget about hard workouts.

And if there's a two-hour thing that you had with hard intensity in it, just like just try to do two-hour. low grade and just like just get just get through that and save the intensity for when you're feeling 100%. And then in replacement of the extra time you have, you can, well, maybe you don't have extra time if you have kids, but you can focus on eating super healthy or just like making yourself a smoothie with like boosted vitamin C and all these things. Even if they're, even if it's just like a placebo effect, I do feel better if I'm more focused on getting in like vitamins and healthy foods while I'm sick. It might help you get over it quicker. Give us something to do.

Funny, you guys both kind of touched on this, but I remember hearing this that if it's below the neck or above the neck, right? If it's above the neck, then you can kind of continue to train. And if it's below the neck, you shouldn't. But I think these are kind of like these general rules. And I think it should be a combination of what do you feel like doing? Yeah. And just like, do you have a doctor that you trust? Like, ask them.

It's like, hey, obviously I'm this endurance act. athlete, I was hoping I could still train, is this the kind of thing you think I could train through? And they have all the expertise necessary to train through it. But I also feel like if you're getting sick every six weeks, that's really tough. But if you get sick every once in a while, chances are taking like three, four days off in a row, it's probably going to be good for you in the long run, even if you weren't sick. So it's not the end of the world. You're not going to lose all your fitness.

It's okay. Yeah, good point. Okay, great. Next question is from Nick again. This is a different Nick. Nick, stop. So inquisitive. I know.

Geez, God, I have such a common name. Okay, hello all. What are your recommendations for following a training plan while also recuperating from injury? I was planning to follow a training plan for my next race, but I'm working my way back into running shape following a stress fracture that took me out for a couple months. I've been running for a month, but I'm not feeling confident either my legs or my foot to follow a training plan. I've used the what did I feel like doing today training plan for the past three years and want more structure, but not at the expense. of potentially injuring myself again. Any suggestions would be great.

Get a coach. Yeah, I would say having a coach is a good solution to this, but that's not really feasible for everyone. Yeah, sometimes your physical therapist, whoever it is that you're working with who identified the stress fraction and everything, you can ask them for what would be a reasonable return to running rate, just run 15 minutes day one,

walk 10 minutes and then run 10 minutes day two. That's not it, though. That's not it. It would probably start with like, run for one minute, walk for one minute, something like that. But yeah, I see what you're saying. Yeah, I was just throwing out random numbers. Don't use those numbers. I have a couple of friends who've just come back from injury doing exactly what you just said, where they had, it was a combination of physical therapy and a coach kind of very slowly ramping up their activity.

And I worked for both of them. Now they're both healthy. I really don't think with a stress fracture that you can go too slowly. Better safe than sorry. Better safe than sorry. And also, obviously, the nice thing about triathlon, which I have a ton of experience with, the stress fracture part, is you can focus on swimming and biking when it's safe to do so. I mean, if your stress fractures in your metatarsal, maybe not biking right away, but you can really keep a lot of your aerobic fitness in the pool and on the bike. And I actually think I am good on the bike now because I've had so many running injuries. I've made so much progress and gain on the bike because I've basically just like taken a lot of the hours that I would have spent running and put them into cycling. And with guidance from my coach and sometimes more by feel if it's like an off season or I'm just kind of trying to build back.

I don't know. Yeah. During COVID. Yeah. Just really become a monster on the bike. Make that your goal and just forget about the running for a little while. That's such a fun part of triathlon is that we can do that. Yeah.

There's always something to work on. Most other sports, you do not have that. Yeah. Then you're like water running. Water running is actually not a bad idea. even for triathletes, but I feel like you can get an equivalent aerobic or harder aerobic workout swimming and it's more sport-specific. So I don't like water running that much. Although if it makes you feel like you're doing something and you just have time to do it, then it's fine.

Yeah. Like your first or second stress fracture, you can like do water running and you're into it and it feels productive. And then your third and four stress fracture, you're just like, F this. I'm going to sit. I'm either like going to swim or not do anything. Oh, another thing, though, is like I actually love the elliptical. for getting back from a stress fracture, and I've used it so much. My coach actually doesn't like it, so he doesn't prescribe it. But when I am injured and Eric's on the treadmill, I'll just run on the elliptical. Zero pain.

You can get your heart rate super high. You're sweating. It feels like you're getting a workout, which is ultimately... Can you get your heart rate super high? Yeah, because you can up the resistance. You can up the... Cadence. It's so hard.

Oh, it's like stairs, right? You can make it treat it like similar thing. I mean, it's not like stairs. It's like stairs meets cross-country skiing, you know. It's really high. And I actually don't hold on to the handles. I just use my hands in a running motion. So it truly feels a little bit like you're running.

And I don't know. I think that's a super awesome tool to get back to. You could take whatever runs are on your training program and transfer them to an elliptical. So if it's like five by a K, you could do five by four minutes steady effort on an elliptical. I don't know. This is just my ideas.

You don't have to take this. Fast forward two months. All the top age group women are on ellipticals. They're just like Paula Finley said. when I was training at Rally Sport in Boulder, like Emma Coburn was on the elliptical. It's a super common tool for injured runners to use when they're getting back to full weight running. Speaking of Emma Coburn, I can't remember if I told you about the,

I just watched the video of the 2018 steeplechase final with her in it. Did I tell you about that? No. They were running around the Diamond League. They were running around the track. And one of the hurdles was set half at the men's height. Half at the women's height. Oh my gosh.

During the race, and she calls them out, she's like waving her arms. Literally in the middle of the race, they had to fix it. Well, tell us. Tell us. While they're on the other side of the track. So they fixed it. Well, she ended up getting second by 0.07. And did she have to go over the high part, or did they actually fix it?

I don't think she did, but she, I mean, she definitely wasted some energy, like, waving her arms around and yelling at officials. Wow. Yeah. Somebody had to do it. Crazy. Yeah. It was really wild.

It's just like, that's the kind of thing that you hope doesn't happen at a high school track. Right, right. Not at like a Diamond League final, you know? Somebody's getting fired. That's crazy. Yeah, definitely. They said that on the broadcast. Like, someone just lost their job.

Yeah. Well, we'll move on to the last question here. Hi, Paula, Nick and Eric. I'm such a huge fan. My name is Lally from Costa Rica. I'm an amateur triathly, completely in love with the sport and currently training for my first Ironman 70.3 in Cozumel this September. I discovered the podcast and the vlog a couple weeks ago and have devoured all the content since. She goes and gives a little more detail and says some nice stuff and says, how do you deal with any anxiety you get the days leading up to a race?

Or if you get any at all, do you still get nervous before competing? I love, love, love the competing feeling and I'm super competitive person, but sometimes I find that the days leading up to a race, I get really tense and anxious. So any tips or rituals you have will be amazing to hear. Thanks so much for all you do. Much love from Costa Rica, Wally. So, Paula gave me a little note for this one before. I don't know if you want me to not put this in, but you said, answer, you freak the fuck out until the gun goes off. Then you hate your life for the entire race, and then it's over. You can leave that out.

Nick, I put that in to be funny because I was like, oh, we probably can leave this question out. I know, I know. I just thought of a few things that recently haven't helping me. So I thought we could put those. We can put those in there. Thank you for your question. Nick's going to take this one away because I have zero advice for overcoming anxiety because I am very anxious before a race. And there's no way for me to avoid it.

But maybe Nick will have some advice for me. Well, yeah, the advice I would have is for Paula, it's stuff that you already do. But it's stuff that I didn't do at the beginning. Oh, okay. Which was so it's unfortunately it's not going to help you, Paula. But maybe Eric and I can contribute something. So for me, what I noticed is that I get, I'm not usually stressed about anything, but racing definitely, it's like a very, very uncomfortable feeling I have leading up to the race, especially the night before

in the morning of the race. So I found that for me, getting things ready way further in advance than I would normally, like getting all the bike stickers and the transition stuff ready way beforehand, it kind of just like lets me think like, okay, like, you know, like shaving my leg, stuff like that. that I would normally do the night before. I'll do it like two nights before or something like that. Just so I... And then by race day, they're a bit hairy again.

Yeah. It's a freaking forest. But yeah, I'll take the loss just to not have as much stress. So I think just getting some stuff out of the way a little bit earlier so that the day before the race, I can just be like, nope, all I have to do today is chill out and go to sleep as early as possible. That helps me a bit. And then reassuring myself that I'm not a professional.

It doesn't matter how well I do. I do this because I'm trying to have fun, and I've already done all the work I can possibly do beforehand. There's nothing I can do now. And I've already paid for the fee. Exactly. I can't not do it. I can't not do it now.

I paid for those. And so that helps me a little bit. And just something that I've noticed now is like when I was doing sprints, I got really nervous about sprints. And then once I moved up to Olympic, if I would do a sprint, the sprint would be like, oh, this is no big deal. I've done more than this. And then once I went up to 70.3,

then the Olympics didn't feel so difficult for me. And I'm kind of hoping that once I hopefully do this Iron Man, the 70.3s will just feel like a much more digestible, manageable distance that I can be like, oh, I can go off the bike and run a half marathon. I've done twice that. It's not that big of a problem, you know? Yeah. So those are little things that help me,

mostly just like over-preparing in advance. So I don't feel like it's a day before the race, and I have so much to do and all I want to do is go to sleep. Yeah, that's a good point. Also, it's like, it's interesting to think about what is it that's making you nervous. Are you anxious because you're worried about being able to complete it? Are you anxious because you're worried about you might get a flat tire? Are you anxious because you know it's going to hurt a lot? And I think that if you can just put your mind at ease by telling yourself a lot of those things you can't control, like mechanical issues or what other people are doing or what the weather is going to be on race day, those are just going to be what they're going to be. And you can deal with them in the moment. But it's not really worth stressing and getting anxious over them and I put mind-minded ease a lot by reminding myself that I can't control what other people are doing or circumstances on the day. Actually in Lionel's latest video, he was like, if I get a flat tire, I get a flat tire, so what? Who cares? I'll just fix it. I know. I can't believe he said that. I know. So just that attitude that he had before the race, he's like,

I'm not nervous. Like, what am I supposed to be nervous about? Like, I've prepared for it. Literally, if anything happens, it's going to happen. So that's an aspirational mindset to be in. I don't know. I wish that I could be like that. I agree. I agree. I liked, I liked his approach to that. It also doesn't hurt that he's won so many that it doesn't really matter what happens to him. I know. I know. And like he's going to win, probably going to win. Yeah, probably right. Right. Eric, what's your secret other than bringing me to races? Yeah, I need to leave Paula home and bring Nick. The end. No, but in all honesty, and this is, I think, kind of like what was working for lineless, you focus on what you need to do.

Like, instead of letting your mind run away from you, you're just, like, I focus on, like, I know that, like, this mental cue when I'm swimming is really good for me. And I know that I need to work harder in the first 100 meters of the swim than I normally do. And I need to really make sure that I do the nail the first 50 minutes of the bike or, like, whatever. And here's the things that I've been thinking about while training that have helped me execute in workouts. and just like focusing on all these like little process goals that will that will like essentially take up that blank space in your mind that could otherwise be filled with worries and concerns. I agree. Eric is so good at that. Just kind of having a...

It's like a game plan. A plan. Yeah. Like visualizing the race. Thinking about what you're going to think about at different points in the race when it gets hard. I'm not as good at that as Eric is. And I really admire that ability, you know, to be able to just not really be nervous, but just be logical about it. it. Yeah. I mean, and the other thing, it's kind of the opposite of, I'm just thinking as I was listening to you talk about doing things, you know, a week in advance, Nick, I'm a complete opposite of that. Like, I just kind of do things as they seem to make sense and as they occur to me. And, like, I might forget a thing occasionally, but usually not. And that sort of keeps my mind busy the day before the race instead of like, well, I've already packed my bag. I've put my stickers on my bike and it's 9 a.m. And now I have until 9 p.m.

to sit and think about how I feel. It depends on your personality. Yeah, yeah. I'm more like you, Nick. Like when Paul and I go to races, you know, she's more like you. And so she's putting her sticker on like 48 hours in advance. And then I'm looking at it like, oh shit, should I be doing that? I don't know. I was just like,

I was going to get to that eventually. And I'm looking at the room like a total explosion. His elastic aren't in his shoes yet. I'm like, he better get his shit together. Like, the race is coming up. Let's be clear. Most of my life is not, I'm not doing things a day in advance. Their last second is.

Yeah, yeah. But me and Eric couldn't be more polar opposite with that stuff. Yeah. And then I always just, and then I've said it before, but I'll watch a rom-com. Then the evening before the race. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'll watch Love Actually. Secret Souse.

Love Actually every single time. Just solid, mindless, good, happy vibes. I can't watch like Braveheart or something. That's just too emotional. Right. Also, we just watched this movie called Ambulance the other night. Don't watch that. Don't watch it.

Worst movie ever. It was so stressful. Like two hours of a car chase. That kind of movie. Oh, yeah. That kind of movie, not great. Wait, is that the one with all the FPV drone shots? Yes.

It did not really. There were like two instances of the 20 instances that they used the FPV drone where I was like, yeah, that made sense. That worked. The rest of it was just like, what is this random building sort of, like, okay, whatever. It's a Michael Bay movie. It's Michael Bay, right? So you know in Michael, in like Transformers, for example, where like the final scene takes like an hour, well, this movie was just you start with the final scene. And it's two and a half hours long.

And I mean, yeah, it was even a bit much for me and I love action movies. I was like, I can't watch this. I need to go get some pie. Yeah. I couldn't sleep for like three hours after that. Just like I didn't feel that wrapped up, but I definitely was. Anyway, that was a tangent. But don't watch that before race.

Yeah. That's the moral of the story. Got it. But yeah, maybe like have, it sounds like both of you have a routine. Yeah.

Maybe that would help. Totally. You know? Yeah. Cool. Well, that's it. Those are all our questions

that we had. Is that really all the ones I put on there? Gosh, guys, I thought this was going to be two hours. You guys were hyping up the number of questions real hard. Well, we picked the good. They're all good.

They were all good. They were all really good. And it's, It's always hard when I have to pick the ones. No, I didn't, those weren't all of them. Oh, okay. So we can hopefully save some of those for next week. Although I checked the email like right before we started talking and there was three more.

Okay. Like, this is getting out of control. That's great. We appreciate it. We don't want to discourage people from sending questions at all. Not at all. It needs to be out of control if we want to keep this going. That's crucial.

That's right. That's right. Yeah. So just as a reminder to everyone, you can go on that triathlonlife.com to check out the new apparel that was just released on Sunday, and it's going quick, so better check it out quick. And you can send questions into the podcast at That Triathlon Life brand at gmail.com. Yeah. And when you buy a thing, you're directly supporting us.

So that is, I don't know, I guess the best. There's no big triathlon here that gets a cut. Yeah, yeah. It's like we are putting our own money into it. And if we don't sell it, we're losing money. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, yeah, that is initially like our initial logic.

Like, so we kind of were like, what should we start a Patreon? What should we do? Like, we were doing the YouTube channel and everything. And people said they wanted to support us. And we would much rather, you know, make a product or something that you could wear around and represent how you feel about the sport and everything. Like the community building aspect of it versus just like, oh, here's our PayPal. That would just, no, not at all.

But I will put my PayPal in the description. On the other hand, this podcast is not monetized. No, no, I'm in it for the long run. If we sell out the shorts... If we sell this podcast for a million dollars. If we sell out the shorts by the end of this pod day release, we'll send Nick $1,000. There we go. A thousand.

You guys hear that? Verbal contract legally binding. Maybe that's not enough. I don't know. No, that's a lot of money. What is money mean anymore? That's ridiculous. Okay.

Yeah. Judging by how much I paid for a Friday sandwich on Sunday, it's like a thousand dollars is going to buy me a bottle of water in a week. Yeah. So we'll see. Anyway, that's our show. That's what we have this week. I hope you guys enjoyed it.

We'll be back next Thursday. Any final words from you too? No, just thanks so much for listening, guys, and for the support. And we will talk to you next week. Yeah. Thanks for sending in questions. This is a highlight of my week. I really enjoy this.

I'll see you next week. Ciao, guys. Bye.