That Triathlon Life Podcast - T100 California Triathlon, breaking through mental walls in training, post race blues, efficient storage on the bike, and more!

Episode Date: February 22, 2024

This week we start with some hypotheticals regarding racing a marathon, then do some triathlon rapid fire, and finally move onto your questions. Questions about post Ironman blues, getting injured while being coached and how to handle the dynamic, T100 California absorbing the Escape from Alcatraz pro race, storing spares and tools while on the bike, the fairness of keeping the T100 series exclusive to top athletes, espresso vs pour-over, weather or not pros have fitness breakthroughs, and mental walls in training. To submit your own questions, as well as becoming a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com

Hey, everyone. Welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Erica Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finlay. I'm Nick Goldston. And we are coming to you from Ventura, California. For the, is this our third week in a row, I think? We're on training camp. Paul and I are both professional triathletes. If you have not checked out our YouTube before, we have got some really cool running and riding segments here in Ventura. I'm sure you've seen a lot of Mount Lemon and Boulder in Bend, Oregon. But this is something a little bit different. We're having to be a lot of having a blast down here, and we're actually only an hour away from Nick, who is the third leg of our tripod on this podcast, amateur triathlet, professional musician, and other reason

this podcast sounds great. I don't love when you guys say that when we're not at our normal setup, because there's weird things that pop up when we're not, when you guys aren't with the mic setup that we designed for that room at home and I'm here, but I try to do a good job with these little mobile mics that you guys are using. Yeah, we're using our on-the-road podcast from the van or whatever Airbnb we are at set up. But I think it works out pretty well. And what matters is that we're all here together.

That's right. Well, unfortunately, we're not all in the same room. But next week we'll be in the same room together. So I'm going to switch topics really quickly. This weekend in Ventura, there's the Ventura Marathon. People from L.A. kind of targeted as a race, and I have a bunch of friends that are racing it. What would it take for the two of you to do an all-out marathon effort if, if I'm a At the end, magically, you didn't have any fatigue or injuries or anything from it.

It was just the pain of the effort to do it. What would it take? There's no downside. That it's uncomfortable. We're curious what the downside is other than it would be very uncomfortable. What's the downside of doing a 20-minute all-out FTP test? I think the downside of an FTP test is that you might let yourself down and what does that mean for your future rather than, of course, it's hard. It's our job to do hard things.

as cliche is that might sound. Yeah, I think it'd be kind of fun to experience it. I don't think that, I think that with the invention of super shoes, it would be doable because my worry would be like muscular breakdown within the marathon, which probably would still happen,

but when you have super shoes and carbon and the extra bounce, that really, it super saves your legs, especially in a full marathon because I can feel it in a half that it saves my legs. After all these years, I thought I knew you guys.

thought both you would be like there's no amount of money there's no magic genie that could give me anything to go all out on a marathon and look at this you don't even need anything you're not going all out nick a marathon is like very paced well sure okay it is very paced but the last hour is going to hurt no matter what do you think you know kip chogi is not at his wits end for the last hour maybe maybe he's not i don't know they're built a little different but i'm just surprised i got imagine the last hour is kind of like the last hour of a 70.3 that you're really really pushing it's yeah You know, you're still running on very tired legs. You really want to stop.

It's not a super exciting speed or whatever, you know. Yeah. That being said, I'm not really interested personally, but it wouldn't take an insane amount of money or incentives to get me to try it. Just because it is a new, interesting, different thing versus I know exactly what a 70.3 feels like 20 miles, 30 miles, 40 miles into the bike and et cetera. On the run, and a marathon is like, okay, well, you're kind of just jumping into something a little slightly different.

Yeah, wow. I'm really surprised to hear that. That went in a different direction. That's really interesting, though. Okay, next thing here, I wanted to do a follow-up on something we talked about last week, which was we talked about what do you do with your old kits? And a few people messaged me and told me that

most cities have, and I confirm this, have some kind of textile donation service or multiple different entities that do this. So you just need to Google whatever, is your closest city or even you could try if you're a bigger town, just Google whatever it is. Philadelphia textile donation and check out the first

few links and it's a probability that you can bring your stuff there. And they may ask you to cut out any stains or anything like that but I thought that was worth mentioning for people who were trying to be a little more conscious. So they just recycle the fabric. They're not trying to like reuse the fabric. Yes. Reuse it. That's super cool.

Yeah, they don't reuse it in that sense. Like no one else is going to be using your cycling kit but your recycling kit may be part of a new kitchen sink or something. I don't know, you know, whatever it becomes. Yeah, that's cool. Reincarnated. Do you think they'd even take, like, Lycra? Well, I Googled Lycra.

I Googled Lycra textile donation, and I didn't find anything that said it was not donateable. I saw many things that said it was easily recyclable. So, but I think every entity, for example, in Italy, you separate, you're recycling into different ways than you say. separate in Los Angeles. And there's some places we'll accept your compost. Some cities won't. So I think it's going to depend on whatever this company has, whatever their workflow is with this stuff. And they'll have the guidelines on their website. Yeah. There's a really cool website that I've found

called got sneakers.com. And you can, if you sign up, they'll send you like this giant bag that you can fill with your old shoes. And they will actually give you money for those shoes. And depending on what condition they're in, it's like $2 for bad condition shoes, $7 for good condition shoes. So I filled up two huge bags. They send you a prepaid shipping FedEx label. And like a month later, they tell you how much you made and they send you a check. And it's like $12 or whatever. It's a great way to get rid of shoes. Banana bread. They're using them into new shoes.

Yeah, and it's not going into a landfill, presumably, right? Yeah, that's the best part. Yeah. What do you think they do with them? I think I've seen tracks that are made out of recycled shoes. Free sneaker recycling programs. Anyway, yeah, they take the parts and turn them into something else, I guess. Cool.

That's interesting. Well, I have a bunch of sneakers that could find a home. So maybe that's good. Also, Eric and I yesterday drove down from, well, Eric drove down from Ventura to Santa Monica, and then I drove us down to San Diego. So that was like a three and a half, no, four hours one-way trip for you, Eric, which is brutal. Yeah. Broken up, though.

I mean, it didn't seem that bad to me because I jumped in the van after doing a hard bike workout. And I really like driving the van as long as it's not dark and wet out. And then I just sat in the Tesla and we freaking cruised along. while paying all the attention to the road. Of course. Of course. On the beautiful freeways down here. And it was all because we were going to see a concert.

So the drive was well worth it. We got to see Nick and my shared favorite artist right now, PD. And it was actually a pretty cool trip for me too, just because I've spent so much time down in San Diego training over the years. It was a little bit of memory lane mixed with this really cool concert we got to go see. Also, I leave you for one second. there is a TTL fan there talking your ear off when I got back. That was super cool.

Just a random guy who lives in Oceanside and likes our videos, has watched Oceanside before. And that was pretty cool to connect with somebody at that concert specifically. Okay. Speaking of Oceanside, you guys, we have a listener whose father-in-law owns a hotel in Oceanside. And he is being so generous to offer a discount for any TTL fan. that wants to stay at this hotel. It's called Oceanside Marina Suites, and it is literally right beside the start of the race.

So an extremely convenient location, really close to the beach. Yeah, you can't get a better spot. So the number of questions that we get about where should I stay in Oceanside is actually insane. Because it does, it's a two transition area. It's like not always cheap. There's a lot of different options.

It's a pretty expensive place to stay. Yeah. And it's logistically like there's, two transitions, so it's a bit tricky. But if you guys are interested, no pressure. Staying at Oceanside Marina Suites, you can call in for a 15% discount. The code is TTL Oceanside. So wait, you don't do this online.

You actually have to call them and tell them like, hey, I have a... He said you have to call. He was pretty old school. He was a bit old. Maybe you could try it with the promo code on the website and see if that works. Okay. Yeah, otherwise just call on the 100% will know. what you're talking about.

Especially when all the hotel rooms are like hundreds of dollars, you could save 60, 90 bucks. That is some serious value. You're welcome, everybody. Yeah. That's awesome. Oh my God, that's right. Okay, well, we have a bunch of great questions this week about triathlon, of course, but I'm going to start with a segment here that we like to do called Rapid Fire.

Okay, so sometimes we like to come up with user submitted rapid fires, but this one I came up with and I'm sometimes I'm just curious too. So first one here, favorite sunscreen to train in. A sunbum for me. About Zelius. We had a monster, Zelios super pumped. I like Zilios too. I like Zilios too. I like the smell of sunbum better though. Yeah. That is true now that you mention it. Eric and I drove by maybe Sunbum headquarters in Incinitas. We did. Yeah. We were driving through Salon abey and I was like, and that's where Paul and I would get coffee. And that's sunbum. It's right next to where we get coffee and we talk about getting sponsored by Sunbum. And that's, yeah, this is the

The pizza place where Paulo and I went when 2012. Okay, next rapid fire. Would you rather get a leg massage or a shoulder massage? Right now, a shoulder massage sounds great. I'm kind of carrying some tension. I'm desperate for a leg massage. We don't have a massage therapist here in Ventura. If anyone knows anyone who is a massage therapist in Ventura,

we love a contact, but our wonderful massage therapist, Scott, is back in bend. And that is like, seriously the number one downside. not being in Bend right now. Missing Scott. Oh, sorry Scott. Next one here. What do you think the most effective swim drill for you personally is? We do this one called wide ketchup where you're doing ketchup drill,

but you're not touching your hand to your other hand. You're staying with a wide stroke. Just to encourage like a wider entry because a lot of people will cross over and they don't even know it. So. So wider than you would swim, not just wide compared to ketchup, but wide even compared to like proper swimming. Yeah, wide. Like, think about going wide, and you'll probably actually be at a pretty good spot.

What about you, Eric? My favorite thing to do is 25 kick, 50 swim four times through, just continuous. And, like, trying to be kind of being, like, rigid on top of the water and just, like, getting my legs activated and everything. And then trying to swim on top of the water, like, really well. I don't know. It's probably hard to describe, but it's, like, just a very feel-based thing. Yeah, cool. my least favorite thing to do is polo head up swimming

I feel like it just ruins everything about my stroke when we did that the other day in Ventura I just I hated it but I was like oh Paula said polos that we're doing it water polo so we're doing it is the point what is the point of that well head up head up is so applicable to open water swimming

like you got a site you got to swim with your head up but are you really ever swimming are you guys like if it's a choppy is are you actually swimming like that? Like you're taking strokes, multiple strokes with your head up out of the water? You got to be able to do at least four to like see where a pack is

or see where the buoy is. I definitely never do that. But I think it's valuable to like be able to maintain momentum with your head out of the water. Even if you're practicing it for the idea of doing one stroke or two strokes at a time, I think that's the idea behind it. And that's why I accept it.

But it does not make my stroke feel good for a significant length of. time after I've done it for like a 50. Oh, oh, interesting. So it like negatively impacts your swimming going forward after that temporarily. Yeah, which I, you know, like most things, I'm like, well, if I really suck at this, it's probably because I need to work on it. So I'll keep working on it.

Yeah. Right. Okay. Next, most effective running drill. Do you guys even do running drills? I think I would say like hill strides are the closest thing to a drill that we do. Yeah. And they're actually super effective at activating your glues, getting your form,

good. And anytime I do hill strides and then run after the hill strides, I feel a thousand times better. So I think that's a great answer. Effective drill. It's interesting because it goes a little bit opposite of what you would expect. Like they take so much energy out of you, you'd think the run would be

hard after. But it's like, no, it muscularly just gets you primed and deformed and everything fired. Yeah, that's cool. Yeah. And you're not supposed to do them so hard that you're so gassed after that you can't run. And they're full recovery between each one like walk down. Feel good, start the next one.

Paulo is very specific to say there hill strides and not hill sprints, our coach Paulo. And I would also say that if you're doing swim drills properly, it's probably going to fatigue something in your core or just like weird little muscles as you're trying to like maintain good body position. So it's not like a drill is a rest necessarily.

Yeah. And then last one here. I don't know if you guys even have an answer for this. This one's hard to rapid fire, but a fun skill that you could just magically have. Like a wheelie, like a backflip or a backflip or something like that. Descending without fear. That was a great answer.

I would be pretty stoked to be able to either do a backflip or a 360 on a mountain bike. It seems more complicated. Like a backflip, you just lean back and look, sight the landing, and you f***ed up a couple times, but ultimately. A couple of times. Hopefully you get a couple times. At least when I was wakeboarding, I almost landed my first backflip, first try, wakeboarding.

Like, I landed on the board and then, like, one second later kind of got squirly and lost it. But I never got even remotely close to landing a 360, despite trying it over and over and over again. The 360, it's like it's hard to slow down or speed up. And with a backflip, it's much easier. You can tuck or lay out and then like slow down your rotation. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, that's our rapid fire. Hopefully that was fun. We'd like to do those every once in a while. We're not going to move on to questions here, and the questions are submitted, as always, by you are amazing listeners. You can submit your questions at that triathlonlife.com slash podcast, where you can also become a podcast supporter. And as a thank you to our supporters, we do a couple things. One of them is that we pick a supporter every week. We send them a bottle.

a TTL branded bottle. And this week we put in our random number generator. And we got Bree Sherry. Bree Sherry, you won TTL bottle. So make sure you just send me a message on Instagram or through the website and we will get you your bottle. Actually, Bree, you may not be getting a TTL bottle. You may be getting an Eric Loggerstrom edition or a Paula Finley edition water bottle.

It really depends. We have got new super cool TTL water bottles on the way. and it just depends if they show up before we mail it and all the things. I didn't know about that. I thought we, if she was, Bree was for sure getting

an Eric or Paula bottle. I didn't realize there was a non-Eryk or Paula branded bottle. It just kind of depends because we don't have Eric or Paula branded bottles with us and by the time we get back to Bend where we have those, we may have some extremely cool

TTL bottles waiting for us. Whoa. You're just gonna have to wait to find out what shows up in the mail. Yeah, very nice. Okay, on to questions. First one here is from Greg in Chapel

Hill, North Carolina, hashtag go heels. I know nothing about sports. I'm guessing that's the local sports team. Tar Heels? I know nothing about sports. Tar Heels sounds familiar. I just know a lot about one sport, but Eric didn't even know.

Eric didn't even know that Taylor Swift had a boyfriend that was an NFL player. For everyone who doesn't know, Eric texts me during the Super Bowl and says, did you know that Taylor Swift has a boyfriend playing in this game right now? I'm like, Eric, please tell me, you're kidding. How did you avoid this?

information and he's like, I wasn't avoiding it. I just never heard it. Like, damn, Eric, you do a good job but staying off of certain parts of social media to have, not have that information. I'm seeing a different version of the internet than you are. Yeah. Clearly. Yeah, that's amazing. Okay, so anyway, back to the question here, Greg's question. Hi, team. As an age grouper, I experienced an emotional and mental letdown after my first full Ironman last year in Chattanooga. I did not experience that after half iron man's I have done. I finished fine, 12 and a half hours. Sure, could have been faster, but was not so bummed about result, and I absolutely loved training and the race and everything about it. I felt like I took everything in stride along the way,

not making too much of a fuss about it, or thinking I was over-invested in the outcome. So I figured I would finish, do some plus delta reflection to look towards the next one. I was a bit surprised about this letdown, and I wonder if you know this type of letdown is not unusual for age groupers. If so, any tips how to minimize and or manage it. Many thanks, Greg. So do you guys have this like You know like the post race blues Like it's you know

Doesn't necessarily have to relate to how well you did The potential that you lived up to Is it just normal? Does it just always happen? Do you find certain things lead to it be worse And certain things lead to it be less bad? I don't really know what makes it worse or better But it's just it happens all the time

Whether it's a good race or a bad race If you have a good race It kind of takes a couple days after you've made your Instagram post and sponsors have congratulated you and whatever, et cetera, et cetera. It's like kind of drags out a little bit these days thanks to social media, but then

you just go back to life. It's like this thing that you've been all excited about and working towards and getting excited and et cetera, et cetera, for six months or two months or however long it's been is now gone and you, like, now what? Like, what else in your life is exciting enough and interesting enough to, you know,

wrap your head around and get excited. about in the same way, and that's when you sign up for your next race. That's how they get you. Paula, do you have this as well? The post-race letdown? Yeah, and I feel like it's important to know if it's tied to, like, a positive or negative result or anything else that you can tie it to. Yeah, it's different as pros, I think, because we always have a race that's really, really

close when we're done in the first race. You know, it's like, there's never this big lull where there's no races to be had and there's nothing in the future. And I find that an easier way to get over a bad race. If you're like, well, I'm racing again in two months or a month. I know what I need to work on now. If you can just like be level-headed enough to have that type of like insight on yourself after the race to think about that. But it is, I had this big time after the Olympics when you're just like working your whole four years up to a race. And then it's over. And then you go back home.

And that is when post-Olympic depression sets in, which is really real. And the closest thing I can think of to this person's experience where there isn't really something coming up that's even remotely as exciting. Maybe you don't want to train anymore because you're tired. And yeah, it's just like finding another thing, I think, is the most important advice. like maybe you spend more time with family or take that six hours you were doing your long ride and go to the market downtown. I don't know. There's like so many things. Like paint the house. There's so many things I wish I could do that weren't training sometimes. I think as much as Greg thinks that he wasn't building it up in his head. He was like taking it in stride and the training

was fun, which are all good things. And I think we'll help her. it. If Greg is anything like me, a lot of times your introduction to triathlon and part of what birthed your passion for it was this crazy idea of completing an Iron Man. And as much as you can tell yourself, it's not a big deal. For most age groupers completing that first one, which I haven't even done yet, I think it does hold this very heavy emotional weight on you. And when you finally do achieve it. You can't help. I think the Olympics example was a great example.

I think anything that you care about a lot is going to have this. Yeah, and anything that takes a lot of time going into it. It takes time. It takes money. It takes sacrifices and all these things. And then when it's done, it almost feels like there should be this big celebration

or whatever, but you go back home and you're back to work on Monday. It's like the anticlimactic nature of finishing an important thing is insane. Yeah, you're going to have this conversation with Bob at the water cooler and I'm like, yeah, I did an Iron Man. He's like, oh, sweet, cool.

I rebuilt the deck. Yeah, right. We go back to work. Eat cool things. I mean, signing up for another race is not a bad idea, even if it's a half. Yeah, just continue the addiction. No, I mean, just like, don't seize to train at all because that helps feel better, I think.

Yeah, continue the addiction. Keep the lifestyle going. I do think it's a little bit part of the sport. Like, we build these things up so big, That's how we can push ourselves to do it. That's where the adrenaline comes from. And yes, the downside is that there are lows that come after it. Maybe the more you do it like you guys,

now you maybe don't feel that as much anymore. Because you have a bunch of races, and you've done it before, and your body, your brain is like used to this up and down. I get this after I make a video that I really like. It never goes away. It happens in all sorts of things in life, anything that you care about. It's totally normal.

It's all good. Sorry, Greg. This is life. Next question from Megan. Hi, Nick, Flynn, Paul, and Eric. Sorry, Eric. That's the order you really don't like. No, honestly, I've been missing a little bit.

People have slowly stopped including Flynn in this, and it's not like Flynn has anything to do with the podcast, but I do like that he is included in our troop. Flynn and I were first, and you were last in this list here. That's why I thought you might. It's whatever. I know. I know who keeps the ship afloat.

Okay. Next. I discovered your podcast after coming across the 100th episode on YouTube and have been steadily binge listening all the episodes during my long rides on the trainer. Currently training for 70.3 in May and was hoping to seek a bit of advice. I recently delved into triathlon last year

and participated in my first 70.3 in October. About six weeks before the race, I joined a one-on-one coaching club. Now with approximately 13 weeks left until my second 70.3 race, my training has intensified, leading to some calf tightness. After consulting with two physical therapists,

I was diagnosed with calf-stress. and micro tearing. Interestingly, both PTs chuckled when I mentioned sustaining this injury under the guidance of an expensive one-on-one triathlon coach. I brought this to my coach's attention, but instead of receiving an apology, I was turned around. Blame was placed on me with the assertion that my body couldn't handle the workouts. Cast trains are attributed to doing too much too soon and too fast. Am I at fault for getting injured and should I consider finding a new coach?

Best of luck this season. Can't wait to watch all three of you crush it. Cheers, Megan. I feel like there's so much that went wrong here. What do you guys think about the situation? I don't know where to start is challenging to unpack this one. Well, it's a long question. But I put it in the podcast because I don't think that a coach should ever take,

you should never have to blame your coach for getting injured. That's a very toxic thing. Like when I get injured, I'm not blaming Paulo ever. I think it's like a two-way communication. thing where you're giving feedback along the way. This is too much for me. This is sore. The instant it gets sore, not when it is an injury. Yeah, it's more like, okay, what led to this? It's not one person. It could be a lack, like Paul said, a lack of communication. I didn't say when my calf started hurting six weeks ago, or I ran 10 minutes longer every single time this week

than I was supposed to, or the coach didn't listen. You know, it's like, you just, okay, what, what, let's have an open conversation about what went wrong. It's not somebody's fault. Yeah, I think that expecting an apology from the coach is maybe not the right way to approach it, but expecting to open up conversation about what maybe went wrong, what was too much, how can we adapt this, how can we work through this injury,

and what's the plan going forward? But fully dumping the coach and going to a new coach is not necessarily the fix. Yeah, I think this physical therapist, like, chuckling about under the guidance of a coach, he's just like making some sort of assumption that this coach is a hack and doesn't know what they're talking about and is put this thought into your head. This is a toxic thought rather than just assuming things are going something. You're just like, you're just assuming that the coach told you to do the wrong things and you're a robot and you just did every single thing that your coach told you to. There's like so many assumptions going on there. There's and there's so many things that are wrong here. The the PT's chuckling at you having a coach. That's wrong. That's weird. You blaming your coach. You blaming your coach. that seems weird. Your coach then being defensive and blaming you,

it's all weird, it's all strange. The PT should be understanding of your position. You're an athlete you want to train. You got injured. It's part of the sport, sadly. Like we're pushing our bodies, injuries happen. It's not your coach's fault. It's not your fault.

It happens. It's all so strange, no? You know what? I think, I don't want to throw anybody under the bus here, but my got reaction with this is that these are a bunch of people that got into these fields to make money. Like, there's a coach that got into make money. There's PTs who got in to make money.

These are not people who got in to like make athletes lives as good as they possibly can be. And this is the thing that I love so much about our coach is like I know to his core that he is trying to make us better athletes. Full stop. That's priority. Ego is not a thing. And I feel like this is a little bit of an endemic, pandemic, like whatever it is inside of triathlon coaching. And apparently there's a bit of it in physical therapy of like you got into this thinking this would be a great career rather than getting in it to like possibly. impact people's lives.

And if everybody just wanted to make you... Wow, you guys are taking this way deeper than I read it. If everybody just wanted to make you the best you possible, this would be a non-issue. And there would just be a collaborative conversation about how to make you better. Although, I guess, but the one thing I agree with Megynon is if you, I mean, I don't know how you approached your coach, but if your coach blamed you for the injury and said that you can't handle the training, then maybe that is not the right coach for you. I'm out. That's true. That's true. Maybe you should find a new coach.

But, yeah, I guess this, like every injury is kind of a lesson for yourself more than anything about what was too much. What was the straw that broke the camel's back? Your coach has a billion athletes probably. He doesn't, he should care about you, but he doesn't care about you as much as you care about you. I don't know, this is a one-on-one coaching company, whatever that means. So I would say maybe this isn't the best coaching setup for you. but now you know of what your weak point is. It's your calf, what's too much training,

maybe dial it back a little bit. There are definitely a lot of coaches out there who are really good and who will build athletes up properly who are beginners. Yeah, I do think this is a good lesson and you know your body the best and you know what's going on,

your coach can't get into your head. The other thing that's tough about having a new coach is like sometimes the engine is bigger than the body. Of course. So if you're putting a... out like really good watts and running really well or good times in the pool. He's assuming that you're like fully capable, but the bones and the structure of the body are not like caught up to the engine yet. So that could be a problem if you come from like a rowing background or a swimming

background and you're just starting to run. There's all these little factors that a new coach, it takes months and months to learn who you are as an athlete and maybe just skip some steps along the way in this particular case. Nobody's fault, though. Next question here. Hi from Edmonton. All four of you in no particular order, wondering how Eric is feeling about escape from Alcatraz becoming a T-100 race. I know he has a lot of success there and has really enjoyed the challenge it has presented, except maybe when the fog was super dense or when the rain was going sideways. Actually, Eric, I think you loved those days. Those are my best times.

Does this mean he isn't eligible to race it as he's not in the top 20 of P.T. Ranking. How do you all feel about some of these smaller races that were considered fun, part of an otherwise stressful year, potentially be taken over by the large corporations? Wishing you all good health as you start ramping up races again, Heather from Edmonton. Right question, Heather. Yeah, I put this in there because there was approximately like 10 questions about Alcatraz. For some reason, this was like a tribal, it looked like we initiated it.

All the people saying Eric should get wildcards on Instagram and on. I'm emailing TTL. Like, Eric needs a wild card. If he doesn't get a wild card, I'm boycotting. I don't know if Eric wants any part of PTO T100 situation, even though he is in love with Alcatraz. And it is kind of sad news for him because it's his race. And he does it every single year.

He's won it twice. And Heather, you're correct in saying that now that it's a T-100 race, they won't have like another pro race alongside it that's more of the class. classical style because the PTO race will have a different course. It'll be looped. It'll be the T100 distance. I believe it'll still go off the boat, but it's a different format. So I don't know if Eric's interested, but I do believe he'd be a good candidate for a wild card.

That's for sure. I did look it up and there's no information on it on the PTO website. So we can't really see. The problem with the wildcards is that because the PTO T100 series is now link, to World Triathlon, they're taking control a little bit of the entries and how that all works. So it's not clear, but Eric can definitely submit his intent or his desire for wildcards and just put his name in the hat kind of if he wants. But Eric, you can talk about you.

It's hard for me because I have a lot of history with the race. It's the race that kind of launched my professional career as far as me being, having, been heard of by anyone at all, even though I had a ITU career going before that. And what Paula said about the race course is kind of like the crux of the question for me, where I feel like that course suits me really well, the way that it is laid out classically and the way it's been done for 25, 30 years, whatever. And the way that they're going to have to change it to make it loop friendly and everything, I think will take away a lot of the things that I love about it

and the history of it. And I don't know. I think it'll still be cool and I'll still have a lot of the Alcatraz elements, but it's not the same thing. And I don't know. I haven't decided yet. I just kind of have to do a little soul searching on that, whether or not that like going and doing this triathlon

at that venue in San Francisco is something that I'm still interested in or if I just kind of should close that chapter in my career and watch the other athletes compete at the San Francisco T-100 race. Well, I think it would be an advantage for you, having done it so many times. You, Ben Canute, people that are familiar with the boat jumping, I think that's going to blow the field apart because it's so different than any other race. And the swim and the currents of the swim. Exactly.

The swim is insane. The swim will be different, but still it's like you can follow the leaders there. That's true. And, you know, like the pack could split and go two completely different directions. And then it's the same as normal where you're just, do I want to hedge my bets and go right and straight for the beach or ride the current? A couple times I've done it. I just remember, like, jumping in, the world goes black. And then you're just like with a person or two.

And that's your pack. And you're swimming with them to shore because you're scared. Eric's at the front of those bags usually. I don't remember any kind of like, I don't remember any kind of, oh, should I go left or right? It was just like, no, we are sticking together and we're getting to shore and F this race. That's my experience.

I think my final thing is I'm just going to have to wait and see when they share the course. Right. And that'll make my decision for me. Because the original course is so cool and a big part of the DNA of the race. And correct me if I'm wrong, that's like the swim is really is great

but the bike course and the run course are what excite you about that race. Yeah, yeah. I mean it's just like if you went to Oceanside and instead of riding through Camp Pendleton they were like, okay, we're just going to put you on the freeway for 45 miles out and back just like Iron Man Texas. I still think it'll be

it'll have some cool hilly elements to it. Yeah, it will have some and like I said, I'm just going to have to wait and see and make that decision based on that. Will they be able to go all the way to the sand ladder? I don't know, I doubt it. I don't think it goes to the sand ladder because it's pretty condensed. Well, they'd be able to do the cool zigzaggy, like run up the little stairs up to the Golden Gate Bridge. You're going to just say one thing.

Just because the T-100 took over the pro race, the age group race stays the same. Yeah. So for anyone who's listening who's like freaking out about it changing, it's not changing for the amateur race, which I think is the following day. Or maybe a different time of day. I don't know. but don't worry about that for everyone else. Yeah, anybody who wants to do it, we'll still get the cool, classic experience.

Just not the pros. Okay, next question here from Amara. Hi, Paula, Nick, Eric and Flynn. There we go. I appreciate all the time and effort you guys put into weekly videos and podcasts. They're the highlight of my week. I wanted to ask about storage

for the bottle's entire equipment. I've been looking at getting a custom storage box for a spare tire, air canister, etc. Would you recommend getting one that goes behind my seat or down by the gears. Both of those spots are where I store my bottles, so I'm having hard time picking. Where do you guys store bottles and supplies?

Thank you for all your triathlon knowledge, Amara. Let's start out with this. What do you guys bring with you on a ride? Eric. I just bring Eric. Just bring Eric. Yeah, that's the ultimate. I bring Eric in my iPhone.

That's my toolkit. Yeah, the difference between how full my pockets are and how full of all those pockets are on a ride is insane. If you have tubeless though, your needs are much lower In terms of what to take on the road It's like a CO2 canister with a head on it And a dart kit to plug any big holes, right? That's all it is.

Yeah, I don't even bring CO2 on training rides anymore I just bring a hand pump Because It'll get you home I don't really care about like the super fastest change Sometimes if I'm headed out to do a really big DTE workout that's like the final workout of the block, then I'll bring a CO2

so I can do a really fast change. But just something to pump up your tire with and then the darts. But why do you bring a hand pump if it's bigger and more unruly than a CO2? Because it never fails. You can use it time after time after time. A CO2, if you like use it

and you kind of mess it up and the tire doesn't reseat and et cetera, that's it. For a race, it's fine though. So this, Eric, remember? that, I think like Radsport or something, made us those boxes for our TT bikes that go in the frame. Oh yeah. So those are like little carriers. They're not easily accessible while you're riding, so they're not great for like snacks, but for a toolkit, they're actually

really cool. And they sit right below where your bottle goes, in your frame. They look pretty good. They have them custom for like multiple different TT bikes. Yeah, we had a made for the shiv, but they can make him for any bike. And the problem with the behind the saddle is that then takes a place where a bottle could potentially go, whereas the one on your frame really isn't getting in the way of anything else.

So I might go that route. And the behind the saddle bottle is a really good place to store a second or third bottle, especially while you're racing because there's no aerodynamic penalty. But yeah, are we talking about racing or training? Yeah, that's a good question.

Are we talking about racing or training? I just carry that stuff in my jersey pockets. Yeah. I don't really like saddlebags. They tend to make a little bit of noise and... Hit your legs. It doesn't start to carry a tube anymore with tubeless. Yeah.

But if this person has a not tubeless bike, so they need a tube as well, it's a lot of stuff to put in your pocket. I would just go with a frame route if they're doing a custom thing anyway. Yeah. I used to use one that was like a bottle design specifically for this, where you could put your tubes and stuff in a box.

and then in a bottle cage. Obviously, then you're cannibalizing where you could actually put a bottle. But it might be an easy solution on a day where you're not going to drink too much on a training ride. Which is never. Right?

Yeah, we always have fuel training. We always bring two bottles for each hour. We never bonk. Never, never ever. We always buy burritos and given the opportunity at rest stops. Unless it's a one hour ride,

you should have two bottles. Okay. Yeah. So that's a bad plan to use the bottle cage as a tool kit spot. Next that. Don't do it. They look so great and you always want to buy one at a bike shop. But then when you really start thinking about it, where you're going to put that? I need that space.

You need that water. Unless you're riding with a camelback, I guess, would be the exception. One other thing is you don't want to have a round down tube situation for race. Is that so slow? Yeah. Well, Amara, I guess that custom like little, is it, what are you talking about? Is that built right above the bottom bracket and the bottom of the triangle there? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah, a few bike companies made that as part of their bikes, too.

Yeah, some frames that's just built in. Maybe this is it the Cervillo? The Argonne has a little space down there, I remember. I think the Cervillo might have a little space, a little junk trunk down there. Specialized even incorporated into the Rubei at one point and maybe even some other models. Yeah, they've got on their road bikes. They've got it, and there's a down tube situation on the diverge, which is sick. I was going to go, I went online to buy one of these things, and then I contacted the guy and he just sent him to us. It's called Rad Sport Ebert, I-B-E-R-T, and they've got like the Argonne, the Shiv, the

trek, the everything on here where it's built specifically for the bike, and you can still fit a bottle, like an air-down-toe bottle. Yeah, it looks pretty cool. That's nice. Check that out. Not a sponsor, but just to. Cool thing. Cool thing, yeah.

Next question here is from Adam. Hi, Paula, Nick, Eric and Flynn. I'm super excited about the upcoming T-100 series and watching Paula compete in it. I must say I'm a little confused about some of the controversy surrounding it, however. I've heard on some other podcasts,

some lower-ranked athletes complaining how the series isn't as open as they'd like, and they feel excluded from it. I was under the impression that this series was created as an elite-style competition series, sort of like F-1,

and intentionally is only featuring top athletes. Am I missing something here? Are these lower ranked athletes justified and feeling left out, or are there plans in the future to include a deeper field with more opportunities here? Also, I feel that with this series taking focus, it will open up more opportunities in the Iron Man and 70.3 races that other athletes can step in. With Paula being on the athlete board, I figured you'd have more of an insight into the future of the PTO. Thanks, excited for the upcoming season, Adam. Yeah, I think he answered a lot of the questions in the question. Like some of the lower ranked athletes can go raise 70.3, Oregon or 70.3, something that's not in the Ironman

Pro series or the T100 series, and there'll be less athletes at those. Therefore, more opportunity to podium or win them and make prize money that way. Eric, how do you feel as someone who is not part of that top 20 that this is exclusively for those people who are ranked in the PTO top 20? Because you're kind of the person that Adam's talking about here a little bit. I'm not in it. But I know that if I had done over the last four years, made every single move to make my training the number one focus of my life. And I was good enough.

I would be in that series right now. But I have wanted to do some X-Dara. I've wanted to build our little company. I've supported Paula. Like we've done a lot of things. And I've had a really great life. And the people who are in the top 16 and racing at that level eat, sleep, triathlon, that is it.

They have teams around them. They are like training in a training group every day. They're like going to altitude camp like every last single thing. And I think if you want to race at that level, that's what you need to do now. It's super high. And it's just like it's exactly like Formula One. I think that's a great example. Getting into Formula One, getting one of those driver seats, we've all watched Drives to Survive now, is incredibly difficult.

But once you're in there, it's a little bit easier to stay in there than it is to get into it. But it's not like. It's impossible. It's not impossible. And if you go and you race 70.3, we're just going to keep using 70.3 Oregon for the rest of this podcast as an example. If you go there and you go freaking an insane time and you like bike 158 and you run a 106, PTO is going to notice. And they're going to give you a wildcard and you're going to get the opportunity to race to that level. But if you go to 70.3 organ and you bike a 215 and you run a 118 and then you expect that you should be able to go line up at a T100 race,

no like you can go race the best athletes in the world at oceanside though like that's going to have 130 pro men on the star list and they're all going to be smacking the shit out of magnus dittlev and joe skipper the guys who actually have a chance to win the race and they have an equal opportunity to win that theoretically but that's not what the pTO race is about it's about prioritizing those tippy top athletes making sure that they have a clean race best possible experience and it's easy to watch for consumers and get on TV

all those things. But you can aspire to be there. It's totally open. You just got to perform and be at that level. That's how I feel about it. It's fun for us to watch and have the same characters

show up at each race and know the stories. From a viewing perspective, it does seem more exciting that way. I think the PTO does have ambitions of having a... T200? Yeah, like a B-League kind of race

series that feeds into the T-100 series. They took on this enormous task of setting up this series, financially, logistically, all these things. So it's too much to ask to do both of those things in year one. But I think it's like maybe a year three, a year four, plan down the pipeline. It's definitely been talked about on board calls. And in the meantime, I think there's still so many opportunities for racing this year, no matter what level you're at. I don't know. I just like to me, I feel like we're trying to save trash.

Or like we're trying to make pro triathlon, something that gets on TV and is on ESPN, etc. This is the only way. This is the only way. Like it was really awesome that the PTO paid every single pro triathlet during COVID, a little bit of money to get them through and everything. But did that get us any closer to triathlon being on the same levels as golf and tennis and F1? No. It was great for a bunch of people who were in there. But like if we really want this to get to the next level and have this be like a sport that is around forever.

I do feel like this is the way. I love it. I agree. I love it. Okay. Next question here is from Trevor, from Minneapolis. Hey, y'all, longtime viewer, first time caller. My question is about coffee.

What's the hype with espresso? My wife and I are huge pour over folks with high-quality beans, mostly ChemX, V60, and Kalita Wave. I've noticed a few high-level athletes like yourselves and folks in the CrossFit realm are big into the espresso. Is there a specific reason? Lower acidity when mixing milk, more calories for training, or is it just a preference? Thanks for all your content and being rad humans, Trevor.

I think if you want to have cappuccinos, you need an espresso machine. It's like milk drinks and e-dispresso. Well, people do drip coffee with milk all the time, don't they? Yeah, but it's not like a cappuccino, frost-poured thing. It's like, yeah, you can put milk in your drink. Yeah, yes, you can have a milk, a drink that has coffee and warm milk in it. but that is not the same as a properly textured or frothed cappuccino or latte.

It's just a different experience. But I think that good pourover with nice beans is just as artisan as an espresso. Would you say? Yes, for sure. Like maybe even more. If you were to make an Americano, which is just espresso, watered down with hot water, and put that next to a good pourover or a chemx, I think you probably are going to prefer the pourover.

Yeah, it's less acidic, right? Yeah, it's super tasty. But if you're just having, like, an espresso shot by itself, it's got this crema, it's got this whole texture and mouth feel that's unique. And some people like that, some people don't like that. And then you add milk to it that is properly textured. I'm just going to use that word again. That's a specific type of drink.

It's like saying it's a mimosa better than a mojita. I see. So it's not unequivocally better. They are just different. Yeah, they're just different. And the espresso machine, you got the frother. in it. The milk froth are like comes with the machine.

Comes with it. I'm just surprised because anywhere you go where they serve coffee, if they serve espresso, it costs more than a drip coffee. And then the machines, like you buy a drip coffee machine, it's like super cheap. And espresso machine is not. So I kind of thought it was the elevated version. We're not talking about drip.

We're not talking about like pour over Kamax, like the slow. If you go get a pour over that just says on the menu, market price. which means if you want that, you just better be ready to pay whatever beans that they're using and somebody is there tending to it

for like four minutes of dribbling water over this and just the right way, it just the right time, just the right temperature. I see. Now that's part of why I prefer the espresso machine. I like the process of espresso, but I don't like the process of the pour over quite enough to sit there and like fully tend to the coffee

times two, you know, all- It takes a while, yeah. I like the espresso process a lot. I thought pourover was just a fancy word for drip coffee. It's like the same process, but someone's there pouring it, you know? Well, I mean, you're not wrong. Ultimately, that is a correct statement where a pourover is a person doing this manually, very specifically, versus a drip coffee. It's just a machine blasting hot water, you know, dripping hot water onto a coffee.

Plasting. It's not blasting, but it's you taking. control. Yeah, cool. Doing it very specifically. Cool. Thanks for that. Okay, next question here is from math, but this is going to be a supporter-only question.

Is this Math Cart? I don't know, but I do know who MathCard is. Yeah. Yeah. It just says math. It just says math. What are the chances? Yes, that's right.

So this is the question. Hey, TTL fam, super fan of your podcast here. A quick question I had is I was doing some mobility work this morning. As you're away from home for a few weeks slash month, what mobility, massage, recovery tools do you leave with? Foam rollers, mobile board, recovery boots and sleeves, etc. Sending loads of good vibes your way, math. So if you're a podcast supporter, you're going to get the rest of this question in an email.

If not, you might just have to become a podcast supporter to hear it. Back to the regular podcast here. This next one is from Wyatt. Hello, TTR gang. I just signed up for my first triathlon. on last weekend, Chattanooga. Ooh, a lot of Chattanooga talk on this pod. I finally had a breakthrough in the pool where everything began to click.

My question is for you all. At the level you all compete at, do you still find yourself having breakthroughs in training? Wyatt. No, never. I put this in there because I read it and I laughed. Like, I don't think I've ever in my life experienced like a breakthrough feeling. Like, aha, now I'm good at this.

I just keep getting worse at things. that's brutal I'm trying to like minimize the downfall of my 20 year old self that's all I'm doing like a breakthrough these days

class it constitutes being almost as good as the best time that I've done that workout like wow I was really close to the best time that I can remember doing before this tempo run 10 years ago that was very sad

When's the last time you were like, do you remember when you were younger having breakthroughs like that? Or even then was it kind of like pretty stepwise, linear progression, like predictable? I want to say it's pretty predictable, but I can remember a couple times, like a couple situations, like when I really had a great like three months of running that led to a big 10KPR. Yeah, I remember specific, specifically like swim meets where you take off a chunk of time and the 200 breaststroke or something. thing, but that kind of has a lot to do with just getting older and stronger and bigger as you're getting older as a teenager, more than anything. Yeah, we're at this point, we're not like realizing little technique things that just took off this big chunk of time. And like our engines are so refined and worked on.

But I do think this is what's cool about an amateur getting into the sport later in life is that these moments could happen. more often than they would for a professional athlete. They happen to me. They're currently, like, I have those moments, not frequently, but they do happen. That is one of the few upsides of approaching the sport later in life. Yeah, totally. Last question here is from Jennifer. Hey, everyone, I've been a fan from the beginning, watching every YouTube and listening

to every podcast. Wow, that's a real day wander. Thanks for all you do to show us a glimpse of life as a professional triathlete. Last week, I was listening to your podcast during a hard interval session. in my head I was planning to finish one more interval if I could and skip the last two because I just couldn't. Ironically enough, this is when Paula started talking about the mental aspect of getting good on the bike and having to dig deep.

It was perfect timing and I was able to push myself through the rest of the intervals. It was hard as hell, but it really helped to build my confidence and reminded me of how deep I need to go if I want to get better and faster. It's less of a question, but I'd love to hear more of each of you as how you get through those mental walls and physical pain that your body endures during those hard intervals. When both your mind and your body is telling you enough, how do you push yourself to keep going? Thanks for your motivation last week and all the years prior. Can't wait to see how the rest of your journey unfolds, Jennifer.

I can't help but go back to the very first thing we talked about, which is the fact that if you didn't incur any fatigue or injury, that both of you would just go try as hard as you could on a marathon. it's like both of your minds, and maybe it's not just both of you, just professionals, are just stronger. You know that you have to do it. The issue isn't fighting through the pain. The issue is like, is this smart? Is this going to affect my training tomorrow? My hip hurts. How is this going to affect that? Yeah. It's not completely fair for us to compare our pushing through a hard session to a typical age group athlete because our livelihood depends on this. We don't so much have to go to

the bank of like, why am I doing this? What is the point? Does anyone care? It says, this is my job. And if I want to continue paying the bills and keep living my life this way, this is what I have to do. So it's like whenever an option is presented to you, it makes it harder to choose and like stay on the course. You know, if you see one of your co-athletes quit the workout, all of a sudden that becomes a little bit of an option versus if nobody quits ever. that's just an example. So we have the benefit of that a little bit. But for me, what I do when I'm having a really hard moment like that, I try to think more like right here right now.

Like what am I trying to do right now? Nail this next stroke. Nail this flip turn. Now close my eyes and try to really focus on having a quick turnover while running or like getting my knees up, et cetera, like these little cues and like really try to be in that moment. in search for something that I can work on right there that is not just how bad does this feel?

I don't have a very insightful answer, but when I really hate the swim set that's hard, which is often, I always calculate how much time is left in the set. I'm like, oh, we only have 12 minutes and 40 seconds left of this set, and then it's done. And for some reason, I can wrap my head around 12 minutes of pain versus like, oh my gosh, we still have... A thousand yards or whatever.

Something that sounds so much scarier. Like, oh, I did 12 minutes hard on the bike yesterday, and it was like, no big deal. I can do 12 minutes of hard swimming. So I trick myself that way. But it's, that's kind of dumb. It's so funny because this is the exact opposite of what I just said, basically. It's like I'm trying to forget about where I am

and, like, how much I have left and all this stuff. and I'm just trying to think about not that. And then inevitably, like, you're swimming with somebody who is like that. Not Paula. Somebody completely different, you know. And they're like, only seven minutes to go. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no, don't say it. No, I don't, no.

Stroke, breathe, stroke, breathe. They don't. Yeah, right. But, like, for that person, that helps, you know, breaking that down. Yeah, or I'll break it down in kilometers. like, oh, I have 2K left with this tempo. That's nothing, that kind of thing. Do you guys ever have a thing where you're approaching a session, a difficult workout,

and maybe you do the first interval and you're like, oh, my gosh, how am I going to be able to finish this workout? Like, I don't know if I can do this properly. And then you get to the end and you think, whoa, I got through it and I'm okay. Like, I'm not totally wrecked. I'm okay. Literally every day that happens to me lately. Oh, man. That's rough.

Really rough. It's really rough. I'm having a hard time. That's when you, when you have that every day, for instance, a period of time, that's when it might be time for a race week or a race is coming up in your, did I say race? I mean, rest week. Oh boy. Freudian slip. You know? The opposite of a race week.

Yeah. Like today I love the temper run. Eric wasn't home and I was like, I don't know how I'm going to get home from this because there's no way I'm doing this temper run and I'm 5K from home. Then you just start it and you do 1K.K. then you do 2K and you're like okay I might as well do the whole thing

and I'm feeling a little better now just start just start just start just freaking just start your watch and start moving and you'll be done eventually

right it's true and you know we all know that in our heads but man it's still so hard to push through that and then I go through this awful cycle of like oh if I had only started

when I told myself I would start I'd be done yeah like and then I start thinking does anyone else like this? Like, does anybody truly freaking enjoy this? It's just, it's an awful cycle. Try to get yourself to start the workout

before all these negative thoughts coming to your head. You've got to autopilot all the things. Just wake up and you just make the coffee. Be a robot. You just like, look at one email and then you put on your shoes and you just try not to think about what you're going to be doing

at 6 p.m. or what's for dinner or any of the things in between. Just focus on the thing that you have to do in the next 10 seconds. But to agree with what you're saying here, Eric, I think it's not even just like before and after the workout. It's like you said, it's within the workout. Don't even think that you have five more intervals to go. Just focus on that one interval.

That helps me. Yeah, nailed that interval. That's all you can do right now. I can't help but think about the next five. Yeah, I mean, of course. Of course. Because I'm like, what does it matter if I nail this one thing? It's going to be a better triathlete to nail this number six out of,

17. Yeah, you're right. This is the paradox. It's like simultaneously feeling like everything matters, but also nothing really matters so much that you like live or die

by it. That is like the paradox of getting the most out of yourself over a long period of time. That's a good point. It's the same thing that prevents people from eating healthier like me, for example. I'm like, well, it's not this meal that matters.

It's all of them together. It's not this donut that matters. Yeah. I'll stop having donuts next hour. Right. But this donut looks so warm and fresh, so I'm going to have this one. It's true, and it carries over to many aspects of life. Yes, many aspects of life.

I don't need good sleep tonight. I'll get good sleep tomorrow night. I don't need to pay this bill today. I'll pay it tomorrow. Yeah, but then also obsessing about tonight's sleep is not great. You're right. There's a zen medium somewhere there. Dude, how about those squirrels and say?

Santa Monica. You mean the rats? Squirrel rats. I showed Paul of the video and she was laughing hysterically. Like if Flayden was there these squirrels would be toast. They're laying around like they've never seen a predator in their lives, their parents, and the parents before them have never seen a predator.

Well, just to give you an idea also when it was COVID and that whole so Eric is referencing there's an area called Palisades Park in Santa Monica. It's a beautiful green strip of park. It's very thin and very long and parallels the water and there's just a ton of squirrels that run around there and during COVID they don't even run though they just they just sunbathe like laying while

stretching they're like they're doing down dog uh in the middle of the in the day but during covid that whole area was fenced off because they didn't want people kind of congregating there and the squirrels were just literally sitting in the middle of the field like they had no predators at all no one was bothering them and there were just hundreds of squirrels sitting around this green patch area It was epic. What about birds of, what about birds of prey? Do you not have death from above of any sort?

Death from above? Yeah, we have death from above. Usually the seagulls in L.A. are so brutal that you can be eating a burrito and they will fish it out of your hands. But a burrito and a squirrel are not the same thing. Anyway, if you're not, if you don't have a hockey team that you're aligned with, just cheer for the Oilers. Because they're the best. They're from Evan. No bias.

No bias at all. Yeah. Well, thank you for listening. Maybe next week we'll do a podcast in person. I'll always turn out better, I think. Appreciate everyone's support. Thanks, guys. Thanks.