That Triathlon Life Podcast - T100 Vancouver recap, swimming with a group in the pool, and more!

Episode Date: June 19, 2025

This week, we kick things off with an update from the TTL Development Team, followed by Paula’s recap of her race experience at T100 Vancouver. Then it’s on to your listener-submitted questions. We discussed:Hats vs. sunglasses during a raceDoes swimming with others in the pool actually help?How to drink from a bottle while wearing a TT helmetUnderstanding swim effort using intensity zonesPassing mid-corner during a race on the bikeA big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive! To submit a question for the podcast and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Hello, everyone. Welcome to That Traithel and Life podcast. I'm Paula Findlay. I'm Eric Lagerstone. I'm Nick Goldstein. And we are coming back to you after a week off, unintentionally off, but we just got really busy pre-race. But we're so happy to be back. We have so many questions backlogged. And for those of you who are new here, Eric and I are professional triathletes. Nick's a professional musician. And every week, we either do race recaps or give you a bit of news or mostly answer questions from the listeners, which is you guys. This is hilarious. The neighbor started power washing his driveway as soon as we started recording. And now a street sweeper truck is about to come by in front of the house as well. Like absolute loudest. We're really particular about our audio, as you all should know,

but we're also like at my sister's house on Vancouver Island and trying to fit in family visits with a bit of training. And so it's not like we can, oh, there we go, we stopped. We didn't bring our mobile podcast studio with us. We're just chilling here. We got a baby monitor over on the left, and we got power washing man out to our right. So if you heard that, he just stopped. So either the power washers out of juice or were saved.

But yeah. It feels like that scene in the Truman Show, whenever he tries to leave the town, all the traffic collapses in and the bridges don't work. And this is us trying to record the podcast. It was all serene. And then as soon as we start, all hell breaks loose outside.

Exactly. It's okay, though. Yeah, we're going to hit it. Paula raised T100, Vancouver. Should we do some news? It was a pretty epic week for TTO all around on the racing front. I think we should do a TTL Devo update. Yeah, exactly, now.

Yeah. You're the TTL Devo update theme music, Nick. Oh, shoot, I got to make something. Okay. We haven't asked you to make something in a while. Okay, we'll make that. I'll make that. I'll make that, yeah.

Because we might have to use a little more often. They're freaking crushing. So the biggest news is that Lydia Russell got her first pro 70.3 win this past weekend. She was at, what do they call it? It's a 70.3 in Pennsylvania. Happy Valley. It was women's only pro race. The men's only pro race was in Boulder, the same weekend.

So she was first. Chelsea Sedaro was second. And Jeannie Metzler was third. So a really stacked podium in terms of the accomplishment of her accompanied podium people. And we're super excited for her. If you remember, she was on our podcast two episodes or three episodes ago. And we softly predicted that this could happen. We might have called that.

Oh, the TTL elders prophesied a win. Yes, correct. But at the time, I didn't know Chelsea would be there and Jeannie would be there. I thought it would be like a much softer field. But some big names showed up and she still crushed and had an awesome run to get the win by lots of minutes. Like, not to squeaking in there. So good job, Lydia. Zach Cooper.

All the way on the other side of the world. World. Zach raced Iron Man, full Iron Man, Austria. He's had a little bit of a rough go the last month, just like dealing with injuries and everything. But he ended up sixth, which he was stoked about. I texted him afterwards. He said he was stoked and just like getting on the board, having a complete race start to finish. Top six in a pro race. That's yeah, really, really good. That's fantastic. Was it enough to get him a world spot? I don't believe so. It wasn't it a super deep field in terms of like you would look at it and go like oh that person already has a slot and that person already has a slot so i think he would have made some mention of that being the case if you got

in the world's spot but uh performance you just need to rack up a couple performances like that especially later in the year and you can get one of those um and then last but not least 70.3 Warsaw in Poland um Lara she got fourth and she's that's her first race in quite a while she's dealt with an injury and has been like patiently working. back from it and was really excited to race, had no expectation, really just getting one on the board and she got forth. So you guys know how to pick them. Awesome. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I know. I saw a couple of Instagram comments that were like, wow, you guys got more than you bargained for. I was like, no, we do a really good job recruiting and we pick awesome people.

Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. We don't put pressure on anyone to do well like this, but it's just like an extra bonus when they do. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're just, we're psyched when they do. So yeah, the other person that raised was me. I actually know Nick, you also raised. I did race. Do you want to do a quick recap of your race? Like nine words or less. Okay, nine words.

Just kidding. That's an inside joke there. So the short version of it is I'm in Hawaii right now. I'm in Oahu and I went on a ride where I was trying to get a hill climb, whatever. And someone commented on the ride and said, oh, you're here. you should do the Haleiva triathlon on Sunday. And since I already had my bike here, and I had some friends visiting, I had them break into my apartment, get my TTL race kit, and fly it over to Hawaii.

So I did a sprint here. My friends did a relay, and it was a lot of fun, super hometown vibe, you know, swimming, no wetsuit swim, of course. And then I biked on my road bike. I think I was, well, I was the fastest road biker. And then ran three miles. one of which, the last of which, was in deep sand, which was the first time I've had to do that. Eric, I thought of you and Alcatraz.

Yeah, full Hawaii experience there. Oh, God. It's funny. I was running pretty fast for the trail. And then when you hit that deep sand, you're just like, oh, my God. How was this real? Yeah, 10 minute miles, exactly. But it was really fun.

I got fifth overall, which is a result that was very happy with considering the short notice and everything else. So there was some big time local hitters that came out. Yeah, there was, the guy who won was top. top five overall in 70.3 Honu, the 70.3 Hawaii race. Yeah. And there were a couple, yeah, a couple guys that were really fast. But it was a lot of fun. My friends also won the relay. They were, you know, the swimmers, he was a D1 swimmer. Cyclist was a cat won cyclist and the runner was a friend of mine who's a good runner. So they had it, they had a good squad. But it was just so fun to have a local little thing. And this, it was really great.

So long live the local racing. That's like, to me, that's the lifeblood. of the sport. I feel like we should get like bumper stickers or t-shirts to just say race local. Yeah. Yeah. Totally. Totally. Eat local, shop, local, race local. Support local races. Yeah. So that was it. It was very, very fun though. We've been laughing about it. Thank you. And Paula, your race was slightly just one step higher in terms of importance, I would say. Not importance. I mean, everyone races for their own reasons. Well, I'm kidding. It was about a hundred steps higher. Yeah. She didn't win the The triathlon in Hawaii. Now, Nick, you can say it.

But at the time anybody's like, oh, have you done the one on Hawaii? Like, yeah, yeah, I got fit. Yeah, no big deal. No big deal. You got fifth in the trathon in Hawaii. Done it. Completed it.

I did race in Canada in Vancouver on Saturday at the T100, Vancouver. The last PTO race I did in Canada was Edmonton in 2022, and I came second there. And, yeah, in the last three years, obviously the sport has changed a lot. the T100 racing has changed a lot. It's gotten a lot more competitive and faster. And I was eighth, but I had a lot of bad luck and kind of an annoying experience overall. Although it was really fun to race in Canada, I will say being at Jericho Beach, the hype of everyone.

I swear like, I don't want this to come across as being cocky or anything, but I swear like 80% of the people they're watching were there to watch like TTL. You know? Right, right. And come down and see Eric and like wear the gear. It was crazy. Like at least half of the clothing on course for cheering was TTL stuff. It was just so cool. Amazing. So to everyone who did make the effort of coming down from Vancouver or anywhere in the area to watch or to do the race, the age group race on Sunday, that was a cool vibe as well. Eric and I went down the day after to give some medals out and kind of, you know, see what it was all about on the age group racing side. And it seemed like a great event. I didn't hear any. Yeah, I didn't hear anything negative about it aside from the 5.30 a.m. start, which I think was like partially because of the tides and partially because of road closures. Oh, damn. 530. So it was an early race. Yeah. That was the only negative feedback I got because it wasn't super clear on that when people were signing up when the start time would be.

So. But I mean, once you're up early like that and then you're like done racing by 11 or 12, there's no complaints. You're like, oh, it wasn't so bad. Right, right. on a little day on me. Maybe it hurts for the first 30 minutes at 2 a.m. but no, overall, it was really cool. I think the age group was raced on a similar course to us, but a little bit longer loops.

So in the T-100 fashion, the pro race did six laps on the bike and six laps on the run, which was way too many laps on the run. I was surprised, actually. I talked to one guy who said he enjoyed the lap format in the age group race. Obviously, they didn't do as many,

but any at all, he liked that you came back, through the whole hullabaloo of the transition. I could see that, yeah. Instead of just being, like, gone all by yourself for a half. Yeah, because I do really love the one looped bike courses in 70.3, but I could see an amateur or age group athlete on the run. Just like, if you're doing a 10K out and 10K back, like Tram Blanc is that, for example.

Yeah. That feels super long. Right, right. It is kind of fun to come back and really, like, soak up the atmosphere as you're getting closer to transition and then go back out for only. like 10 minutes, you know, before coming back again. So that is a kind of a novel thing about these two 100 races. If you, I would like seriously recommend any age group athlete to try one, sign up for one.

It is a different vibe than Iron Man events, but I wouldn't say there was like a lack of attendance or anything. Like it felt like there were a lot of people there. It does feel like it may have caught just enough critical mass to wear, yeah, at least here in Canada, like felt like a thing. It was cool. There was good energy around. And I saw TTL.

kits, TTL race kits too. There were so many detail. Somebody sent me a picture that they'd, some, but their significant other took of them, and it's them wearing a TTL kit, and then somebody right behind them is also wearing a TTL. Yeah. Of any race, of any race we've ever been to, highest. Yeah. Concentration of TTL race kits, which is really cool to see.

Yeah. We really wanted to do some sort of an activation, like a, just a hangout community thing. But there was just, like, the timing around it, and knowing what we were able to do with T100 was a little bit tricky, and we have been racing a lot, obviously. But if there's any regret from the weekend, at least on my part, it's just that we didn't make that happen. And moving forward, anytime there is a major event in Canada, we will be there in some capacity with a run or a booth or some hats or like anything.

Yeah, it's too big of an opportunity to pass that we now witnessed, right? Yeah, it was just cool. The community is very strong. Yeah. In terms of my race, we got there on Wednesday. and stayed at EBC in the dorms, which not dorms like you'd imagine. They were actually really nice. They had like kitchens and little sweets basically, right at basically on the bike course.

So logistically, really simple, as usual to you and under looked after as well with the mechanics and the massage and everything. It was an interesting dynamic a bit with the swim because the men started earlier than us and their tide was much higher. So the women had to run further into the water for the swim, which. ended up not really being that far. I was imagining it being much longer, but apparently they moved the boys slightly to keep our swim at 2K from when the men raised. So the swim was hectic. Like swimming in the ocean is not, it wasn't like a protected harbor or anything. There was currents, there was chop, there was tide. So it required a lot of skill in like proper sighting and navigation and swimming with currents the correct way. And

unfortunately I kind of miss well I mean the front group at this race is just so fast now like the T-100 as just I think that's the biggest difference between now and before is how fast the front mass of swimmers are like just Learmont Lucy Charles um Taylor Spivey I know there's like five or six which is almost half the field who are just amazing swimmers and when I was like two minutes back from that group out of the water and I was swimming with Ash and Julie and swimming behind them felt easy, but then when I tried to go to the front, it felt like I wasn't making much more progress, but trying way harder. So I was kind of stuck in this weird spot and really steep embankment coming out of the swim because of the tides on soft sand. So Nick, like you experienced in your triathlon, we were just like trying to sprint on the soft sand into T1 and it was so hard. It really makes you feel like you're not an athlete, right?

When you're running, you're like, God, I'm going nowhere. right now. I was joking with Lisa Bacheras about this and she's like, I think I was walking on the Aussie exit. I just could not run. I was just walking. I felt the same way. So yeah, I got on the bike and knew I'd have to do some work to hopefully catch some of the people that were out in that front swim group. And I thought I could. Like I was riding really well. I was climbing at my target watts and like maintaining good watts on the flats, caught up to Julie, who got out of transition a bit ahead of me. And then through this technical part at UBC, we caught up to Alice Beto, an Italian athlete,

who hasn't done many of these T-100 races. And I think she was confused about what side of the road you're supposed to say on because in the T-100 races you're supposed to ride left, pass to the right. And that's in order to allow motorbikes and stuff to go by on our road. right safely. And it's counterintuitive to what you normally think you should do if you're racing 70.3 or even if you're just riding on the road. You stay right. You pass left. So she was all the way right. And if you pass on the wrong side, you get a penalty. So I'm like, I can't get around her. I'm screaming at her. I'm breaking. I'm sitting up. The race

Ranger lights going. Has Julie already gone past her? Julie's gone past her. And I eventually got by here, but obviously it was like slowed me down to try to navigate around her. And then there was the big downhill and I passed Julie at the bottom of it. And the ref comes up to me and gives me a drafting penalty. So I was like, I've never, I've had one drafting penalty before, also in a T-100 race for dropping back out of the draft zone within 40 seconds on a hill when Flora passed me in Vegas. but it's like shocking when it happens because I obviously am not drafting. Like I'm not gaining any advantage. I ride really fairly.

Anytime I come up on someone for the most part, I'm going by them and never seeing them again. Like that's the way that I race because the bike is my strength and the swim is not. So my intention is to get as close to the front of the race as I possibly can. The T-100 used my face all over like hyping this race for Canada. and then I get a penalty. They posted on their Instagram. They collaborate with World Triathlon. Completely ruined my race.

The penalty was a minute, but when the bike comes up beside you, you slow down, you have to break into the penalty box. You have to accelerate back out of it and you completely lose your momentum and the progress you're making. So I would say like really two to three minutes

of like a detriment, plus the mental fuckery that it plays with your head of this is social. shitty. I was going to catch like the Holly, the Lucy train. I was on my way to doing that by the speed I was

riding. I was feeling good. And then pop, all the momentum's lost. Everyone who I'd passed comes back by me and then the last five laps are all spent trying to regain that time. And I did catch back. I almost caught Julie again, but she

had had a minute on me. So came off with ash, I think. Because the last lap of the bike, I was like so checked out. Like even my coach was like, why were your watts like 30 laps, 30 watch less on the last lap? And I was like, I was so fucking over it. I just, that's my own fault. I really

wanted to stop and not finish. And at that point, I was just mad. So Ash caught me back on the bike on the last lap. And then she takes off. And I was running like decently well, but I knew Spivey was probably going to come up on me. And I was hoping I could pass Lucy. So at this point, I'm just playing games in my head.

What's the best position I could finish in. And lots of cheers. I mean, I couldn't fully enjoy how cool it was to have that much many people cheering for me because I was so mad about the situation. But I finished in eighth and yeah, it was quite hard to get through that, but made easier by how many people were cheering for me. So obviously the T-100 needs to deal with their officiating and then also just the media team dealing with how they exploit us when we have rough times. Like, that one, it's completely not our fault. Yeah, unfortunately, there seems to be a pretty strong disconnect between, like, the race organizer of this, and he was extremely apologetic about the

penalty issue, and I know Kyle Smith also had a penalty very similar to this. This penalty is very similar to the one that was the Sam Long issue in Ironman 70.3 worlds a few years ago. Like, Paula is riding two kilometers an hour faster than anyone in front of her except for Taylor Nib at the time of getting the penalty and gets a penalty while trying to successfully navigate past somebody who's going slow, who should have gotten a blocking penalty. But why does this happen? That's a referee issue. But then the major issue that I take with the whole thing is like Paula said,

she spent literally like seven or eight hours doing media obligations for the T100 this whole week. And then has this happen? And then they instantly throw that up on the internet and try to get as much attention out of it as possible without any context whatsoever. Just like Paula Finley, drafting penalty. Full stop. It's like very frustrating situation for us.

Yeah, anyway, it's like, it's not everybody, though. Like, Patrick, who puts the races on, essentially, makes these things happen in these big cities, which is extremely challenging logistically. Like, after this race, he's flying to the Gold Coast to set that course for next March. Super hard worker, and he came over and, like, apologized and whatever. So I think a lot of people do get it,

that that was not handled properly. and it's like the official out on course ultimately as the final say they're not calling in the 2-100 to make sure that that's okay to give a penalty you know they're making the wrong call but i think yeah the main issue that eric and i are having with it is that they did the same thing with kyle smith he got a penalty as he was like doing nothing wrong and it ruined his race as well in terms of like he was riding with the front guys so why are yeah it feels like they're using it as clickbait or for views or whatever it is. 100%. Instead of explaining the situation, just like Paula Finley gets a penalty for drafting. Like I wasn't actually drafting. They have no idea what happened.

It's just like what is the disconnect here? Obviously there's just like two separate issues. Like the referee things like we need better referee training or something. Or more consistent referees at these races instead of someone dropping in for the first time experiencing race ranger. Right. Yeah. Because I think that the issue here. is like reading the intent of what was going on in the actual situation.

And we were told really clearly in the pre-race meeting that in the technical zones, the refs didn't even come into the transition turnaround area because it was too congested. So there was some leniency around when you're doing a 180 or you're doing a 90-degree turn. You can come into the draft zone a bit and then immediately get out of it. So there's some like understanding there of the race scenario. And they completely just ignored that in the area. I was in with my specific situation. So, I mean, I think Ray Strange is good in a lot of ways.

I think it's also bad in a lot of ways. People see red lights flashing and they're like penalty right away versus seeing what's going on in the moment. Do you think that it's possible that this ref didn't actually see the whole blocking and passing situation happen and was just going off of data they had on their iPad or something like that? I don't know for that at that point. There's no data on iPad.

No. I remember on the Race Ranger meeting that all three of us were at, they said that eventually that they would have this. And they could then just have discretion over that. So they're storing that data, to my knowledge, and then they can afterwards be like, oh, number five was in the red like for 400 minutes or, you know, whatever it is, 400 seconds. But like it's not a real time thing. We're not at the point of where it's like, oh, they could just automatically with a computer assessed to detecting penalties. And ultimately, the Race Ranger still is just supposed to be a measurement. tool. It's just a visual representation so that the referees can use their, instead of just

completely discretionary, what does 20 meters look like? They can make that call. It doesn't mean, if red, then penalty. It means if red, then, then, you know, the distance is X and then use your discretion for if this is an appropriate time to assess a penalty. And we're ultimately always going for, like, intent to gain advantage. And that's the discretionary thing, like, in any sport. You know, and we've been watching the Stanley Cup like crazy and, like, they're not going to certain things that were accidents. They're going to call things that were like, obviously you're trying to impede the game or hurt that player.

Anyway, when I finished, I was like, I'm never doing another 200 again. I'm mad. This is not how I want a race anymore. Because these races are really hard for me. I had a decent output, and I didn't do well for many reasons. But it's just, and I'm not like trying to hide from the competitiveness of it. I've put myself out there. I tried really hard.

I was positive leading up to it. But yeah, it's a frustrating type of racing when you're having a hard day because of the lapse and stuff. So I might do T100 France, which is a one-loop bike course with a hill. So that might suit me a little more. But I think I'm just going to be strategic about which ones I do from here on out and pick ones that suit me. And theoretically, like both San Francisco and Vancouver did have great bike courses for me. I liked the bike course a lot. and it was hard.

So anyway. Did you feel like there was a specific aspect about your performance that you think would be the most worth working on in your training? Or do you feel like it was a balanced, well done performance? No, I for sure need to swim better. I mean, that's just it's a little bit to swim fitness and a little bit tactically getting out with better people. But again, it's like racing short course all over again. I have to learn how to have 400 meter start speed. Whereas in 70.3, that was not as important for the last eight years.

But it's even getting important now in 70.3 racing, take out speed. And, you know, if you're not at the front of these races, it's getting harder and harder to bridge up on the bike. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm having a little bit of a down week. I'm not racing the Canadian TT championships. Like, I have the last three years for, I was waffling over it. but world championships are in Rwanda this year,

which I'm not super keen on doing that big trip. So it's not about qualifying for that, really. And then the trip over to Quebec is just pretty hefty. So I'm sitting it out this year. I'll probably race it in 2026 because the world championships in 26 for Road are in Montreal. So it'd be cool to race a world championship in Canada. So that I won't be there either. And what are you guys doing on this down?

We're in Vancouver Island with my sister and her baby and my mom was here. And we're just going to leave tomorrow and kind of slowly make a way back to bend. Doing a little trail running. I did a bike ride on pretty cool logging service road. Just, just chilling. But you didn't do any of the quintessential BC mountain bike trails, Eric? He's a mountain bike yet. No, I mean, my initial plan, I might have said this.

on the podcast. I don't remember was to do a little like couple days in Squamish Whistler prior to the race. But just like there's so much traffic around Vancouver. Paula was a bit stressed. She had all these media obligations she needed to get to. And it just felt like this is not the right time for me to just peace out for 48 hours. So I hung around there. And there was a cool. Plus there was a fire in Swamish.

Yeah. But anyway, I did a really cool trail run in North Vancouver. There's cool trails like right around the race there. And I just also got hit with like this. wave of fatigue. So I was kind of happy to just sit around, do a little bit of training and hang out. There was a lot of driving to get to Vancouver. It was eight hours on paper, but like three days in reality. We need that factor in traffic and training. Well, I mean, we did it over. We took our time. Yeah. But no, what's really cool is like the trail system at UBC is crazy. If I could go back in time

and pick what university to go to, I went to U of A in Edmonton, which I love as well. But UBC is outstanding. So many trails and the type of trails I like, not overly technical, but like spider web of them. Crushed gravel. And Rale? Raleigh? Really well maintained. And a world-class pool.

Some Raleigh, yeah. Kind of hilly, yeah. Hilly. Not too bad. Just yeah. I don't know, pretty dreaming. If there's any prospect university students in Canada listening to this, you should go to UBC. Oh yeah. Like any of the houses that are around UBC like $10 million houses.

So it's a really desirable zone to be in. Yeah. Is Vancouver much more expensive to live in than Edmonton in general? It's the most expensive place in Canada. It could be more expensive even than somewhere like San Francisco. I don't know. More than Toronto? I thought Toronto was like the most expensive.

No, Vancouver's got to be more. Chip Wilson has a house that was right near the race and it's $78 million. Oh, wow. You had to win a few T-100s to afford that. But he bought three lots and built a huge thing on it. Wow. I don't know. I hope that my hope is with that I wasn't,

didn't come across as like 15 minutes of us just like hating on the T-100, but hopefully we offered up some things that are just like some positive thoughts. Okay, let's do some questions. Okay. Well, we'll do some questions. Yeah, very nice. Okay, so you can submit questions of the podcast at that triathlonlife.com slash podcast, where you can also become a podcast supporter.

And speaking of podcast supporters, we have a question here from a podcast supporter. Hi, Paula, Eric, Nick and Flynn. I'm a longtime pod supporter who has recently moved from Sydney, Australia, to Vancouver. Getting a hug and photo with Paula at the end of my T-100 race last weekend is undoubtedly a Canada highlight. Quick question for Paula. I noticed you weren't wearing a hat or sunglasses during your T-100 run leg. Is this just personal preference, or is it a transition time-saving strategy? Thanks so much for being such an inspiration, and for all your

do for our sport? I never wear a hat running. I do training, but I just don't in racing. The only time I can remember you wearing a hat was it that... That Dallas race. And I picked a wrong color hat. Hoping for some... Yeah.

So I like chucked it. But never wear a hat. I usually actually do wear sunglasses on the run, but it was overcast. When we started, I thought there's no way it's going to be like so bright and sunny that I'm going to need glasses. And across my mind, as I was... setting up my transition. I'm like, oh, it is kind of faster to just have less things to grab. And it's so funny that even at this level in doing this for so many years, I still look to the

left and the right and see what other people are doing. And that influences my decision for some things, like wearing booties on the swim in San Francisco. And like, Holly didn't have glasses down and Jess didn't have glasses down. They were both in each thad of me. And I'm like, fuck it. I'm not doing glasses. So it's just kind of, it is, you do totally get influenced by the, or at least I do by what other people are doing. And it's just like human nature to assume that other people know exactly what the best thing to do is. So that's why I didn't. But I kind of liked it.

It did pop in your head, though, like this is maybe a little faster. I mean, yeah, it's maybe slightly faster. Because it's nice just to have such a clean thing. Like, there's no race belt in the T-100. So I just had my shoes, a Morton, which I didn't even need because they give out Morton's on course. And my watch. So it's super spas to grab those two things. Versus an Iron Man, I'm like three gels and then I've got my glasses and I've got my race belt and I got my watch.

And that's a lot to deal with. So this is like a very clean thing. Speaking of this, Nick, did you see this thing about there was a woman and an Iron Man? She was wearing a green Pewag racing shirt, a teeth thing. And she like waited for two minutes in transition at an Iron Man. pro for like somebody to bring her her watch. Did you see that? No. No, I did not see that.

There was like people losing their mind about it. It was a reel that I saw pop up and I was just, wait a second. If you haven't seen it. Wait a second. Describe what's happening here? Like the real just said like so and so waiting transition for two minutes to get their watch. So Iron Man's also using some clickbaiting things here. And then people are, you know, like 90% of the comments are like, you are so dumb. Just go by failure.

You're a pro. and then one other person, I think, had something positive to say, but I was just, I was hoping maybe Nick you had, like, heard of it and understood any sort of basis for this thing. I cannot imagine that there's any world where losing two minutes to get your watch is net positive for your race. Lodi Wilms loses two minutes at T2 as she waits for her watch. What?

Yeah, I mean, the top comment that I saw for this was like, hey, you know, maybe she gets paid $10,000. crosses the finish line with a time max on or you know something but there's no way that seems like a stretch to me i feel like they just there's no way that's actually what she was doing here i'm just watching it now i also don't understand what what does that mean waiting for someone to give her her watch why is this a part of the race i don't or was she waiting for it to connect to satellite that'd be funny that i mean that's that's that's brutal That's brutal.

Just one second. Just one second. I'm just waiting for the satellites. Just one more second. So our Wahoos, they don't make these anymore, but they used to take a little bit longer than some watches to connect. And I would stand there and turn it on. Actually, I would do it with all of my computers.

I would turn it on in transition prior to going down to the swim start just to like preemptively, hopefully now it knows where it is in the world. Yes. So that like the first time that I turn it on in transition, like it's been here before. That's correct. That works. That's an actual. thing. Yeah. Actually, I had my watch on for Vancouver, but I, because of the headspace I was in,

I didn't look at it a single time. I didn't look at my pace. I didn't look at the distance. I didn't look at the time. So I think sometimes it is really cool to just go by intuition and and feel. I mean, it's definitely possible. We're just so trained, literally, to have these gadgets to kind of dictate our effort in our heart rate and our pace and everything. But I think it can be really freeing to just, I mean, if your power meter wasn't linked on your bike or was broken for some reason, you wouldn't stop. You would just go based on your RPE, your perceived exertion. That's totally possible. And I think often might even surprise yourself and have a better output than you thought you could with your power meter.

It's happened to me. I'm sure it's happened to both of you too, right? Yeah. And in a sprint neck or like an Olympic, I never grab a watch because like in ITU, do you see anyone grabbing their watch? No, they're just going full-tale. Of course not. Of course not. You just go as hard as you can. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, not to like criticize her in it. I don't understand what happened there, but that is a crazy story. Yeah, I don't understand either. That's why I brought it up. I was hoping that, you know, Nick, you were. No, I haven't seen it. Admittedly, I have been on my phone like nothing the past like week, but I'm surprised that didn't pop up. That is an interesting story. And right up my alley of using the watch and the wrist. I was like, this is the thing Nick would know.

Yes, of course. I'm sure you guys do this or other people do this, but something that I've found helpful on the bike computer is I start my bike computer when I'm leaving to start the swim. So it's going. So it won't turn off. It just pauses. Nothing's going to be an issue. And then, right. And then as soon as I start moving, I just lap it and go off of that. Yeah. Cool. Cool. Well, that is crazy. Yeah. Great question. Next for the question. Okay, next one here is from Jamie. Hey, T, T, T, T, L swim question. I love this, by the way. I love this question. I'm so curious to hear what you guys say because you have had a lot of this experience. And I think a lot of must me included have not.

If you're swimming in a group in the pool and you draft off the person in front of you, will this make you a stronger swimmer or a weaker swimmer? Thanks for the amazing pod. So I see this all the time when the master's group is swimming next to me. And of course, you get to swim faster

because you're drafting off of someone. But do you think that has any effect positive or negative on your actual swimming? Well, for like, I mean, just a little bit of understanding here. This is how Paul and I grew up swimming. If you're swimming on a swim team, there's often 12 kids per lane in a 25 meter or 25-yard pool. And it's not like...

It's not that bad. I mean, there can be. I've done plenty of practices where there were eight plus people and usually going every five seconds and you have just enough time to like push off the wall before the person at the front of the line has like made a full 50. So it obviously works and it doesn't make you a slower swimmer. But I guess the thing to take into consideration is just like maybe your RPE and understanding that if you're pushing off five seconds, behind somebody, the time that you're going is probably going to be a couple seconds faster at the same RPE than if you were leading the group. Especially if there's a lot of people in the lane going first is a lot harder because

you're like hitting the current of the people coming back. Yeah. So in a, I used to swim with like the Julie Dibbon squad in Boulder at Rally Sport, which was a fun pool, but not like a high performance competition pool or anything. It had big walls at the edge and everything. and so many people would go to her workouts that sometimes it would be like five people in a yard six lane pool

and you are just in the washing machine if you go anywhere but first just like getting totally pulled along and I do think that like when I grew up in swim club we swam in a long course pool we always had to go 10 seconds back and you don't get as much of a draft with 10 so just like

for a more honest effort it is better to go 10 back if you have the room to do it but for example like when I'm swimming with Eric If we had sets that were on a really tight send-off that were potentially too hard for me, but appropriate for Eric, and I went five back. It kind of makes it so we can both do the same workout because I can get it on his feet a little bit for the first 50. And yes, I'm going faster than I would if I was swimming by myself in the lane,

but it allows us to do the same workout and push off on the same interval. Same thing. If I'm swimming with someone slower than me and they push off right on my feet, then we can both do hundreds on 120 because otherwise the purpose. person on my behind me couldn't do that if there's swimming in the lane beside me. But you're saying that even five, because I mean five seconds back swimming feels like, you might as well be swimming on your own, but you're saying there's still a significant advantage.

Oh, totally. Wow. Wow. Five back. You're like swimming in their current. I feel like to me, like unless you're almost touching their toes, anything other than that is negligible. You get also like taking to consideration here.

Like, the faster you're going, the more the draft effect is going to be. So if you're swimming three minutes per 100, you know, it's like your second time swimming ever. Five seconds is like a, you know, it can be a significant, less than significant draft. But at the fees that we're going, you definitely get like one or two seconds, one and a half seconds per hundred boost by being five seconds back. Yeah. Wow. That's amazing. So the last thing I wanted to ask you guys about this is I've heard and experienced this feeling of when you put fin, on or some kind of tool that helps you swim faster, that difference in feel of the water rushing over your body can be helpful to like, almost like doing strides running, like to get that feeling of what it feels like to actually swim that fast. But my brain is telling me that if I'm doing

this in a group, it's not the same thing because the water is actually also moving forward with you as well, right? So you don't get that same effect. Is that right? Yeah. Okay. So it is just like a, There's like a mental benefit to like, oh, I have to swim fast enough to keep up with the group. Also, like the main benefit. Exactly. If you're swimming on a swim club trying to swim like Katie Lalecki in a swim meet, going 10 back in a long course school, like that makes more sense because you're swimming more on your own. But if you're practicing for a triathlon, drafting is actually a really good thing to practice. So if you can find someone that's just slightly faster than you and go five back from them or even on their feet sometimes, that's actually very applicable to the sport we're training for.

And I have a really hard time transitioning to open water racing, especially early season when I haven't done any, because we have not practiced drafting on feet and sighting. And, of course, being as close as you possibly can to someone's feet is going to be the best draft. But it's really hard to judge where that is unless you do it in practice sometimes. So for triathletes, I think there's no problem. As long as the person in front of you is okay with it.

Yeah. Doing that, your times are going to be quicker, whatever. That's great, good confidence booster. and just don't think too much about it. Okay, okay, okay, yeah, cool, cool. Okay, next question here, and this was kind of a last minute ad. Eric, Eric found this question. This is from Izzy.

Question for the podcast. How does Paula drink from the bottle without a straw when she has her TT helmet on while cycling? I just bought the same helmet and find the front blocks the water bottle. Looking for bottle tops with straws on the internet now, question mark. So first of all, Paula, what kind of helmet are you using? and is this something that you've ever thought about? Well, the TTI5, the specialized TTI5, but it's not really any different than any other aerial helmet

in terms of how far it comes down. So are they thinking about... It's this because they can't do this because of the helmet's here. Yeah, I ran into that problem in St. George, actually. You have to, like, cock your head to the side, yeah? Yeah, you've got to almost squirt it in. But I do have a visor from Specialized that's cut. It's a specializer.

It's like a prototype custom. and one that they did this because of Remko because he's so low to his bars that his visor is much smaller than the standard visor you get when you purchase it because his nose is like touching the tops of his hands yeah so the visor I used in Vancouver is actually like half or three quarters of what the full visor is and it was much better for that because I could get the bottle I could drink totally fine and it wasn't like it was not low enough to be a just as arrow. Like, I almost could get my head lower because the visor wasn't getting in the way. Yeah, that's nice. So if you're, if you're comfortable taking your visor to like a machinist or

something and getting it cut, I think that's actually a good plan. You don't have to touch the clasps. You just have to like literally cut the glass. I don't know. But would you say it's worth practicing doing the head tilt, you know, cock to the side and squirt in from the side bottle thing? Sure. Yeah. I mean, that's what I've always had to do anyway. Like, you're doing something. Like, basically, you grab the bottle so it's upside down. So, like, you're holding it, you're holding it upright, but the nozzle's pointed straight down. And then you, like, squirt in the side of your mouth, basically.

The thing about the T.T.5 or, like, the new Rudy is that they're so wide. And that's, I think, more the issue than the fact that they're low. Because with older T.T. Helmets, they're much closely to your face. So it didn't really interfere with tilting the bottle into your mouth. But these lampshade type things really good in the way. The Storm Trooper helmet, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, which is like all the rage now. I mean, everyone's wearing that Rudy helmet. It's crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. Even people that aren't sponsored. Everyone's also donking because they can't drink anything from their bottle. But a good solution to this is if your bike allows it, put like a torpedo bottle between your arms and use a straw. That's what plenty of pros still do that. The only reason I use a regular bottle there is so I can chuck it and replace it with an aid station bottle or the bottle from behind my saddle. So it just is a bit more efficient with in terms of getting more fluid. but I also really like the straw solution

if you can find something that fits with your arrowbars. Yeah, yeah. Cool. Okay. Next question here is from Stain. Hello Tripod and Flynn. During my swim sessions, I often work with zones or intensities similar to running and cycling.

I pick this up from the swim coach who coaches the Sunday swim sessions with my triathlon club. However, I've always wondered what the exact difference is between the zones. Sure, my pace differs from each zoned. different compared to cycling too is you can't simply increase your watts in swimming rather I tend to change the tension

of certain muscle groups, frequency, breathing patterns, etc. Basically, I'm curious if you three work in different intensities in swimming and if so, what do you focus on or what changes in each zone? Maybe for the sake of the question we can assume zone one through five, one being a recovery lab and five being a full out sprint.

Curious on your thoughts. All the best and good luck with the rest of the season staying. I mean, what I would say to this is that, that's a little bit too much thinking, probably. And your body is going to figure out what it needs to do to go different speeds. But we don't, like, think, okay, you know, 130 per 100, engage the core, slow down the stroke, breathe. You know, it kind of just, it has to happen naturally in overtime. You don't do that.

Like, I'm sure Stain doesn't do that in running either, although technically you're doing the same thing. extending your stride, you're driving your knee forward more, you're pumping your arms, but that's not a thought that happens. I mean, yeah, I do still think that there are drills that are applicable. You know, like in running, you're going to be doing a hurdle mobility drill potentially or like, or something to that effect, which is really cueing muscles that are only going to be used when you're running, quote, fast. And there are some things in swimming that you might do that's similar, like a zipper

drill or a catch-up drill that is obviously not how you swim fast, but it engages a lot of muscles and motor patterns that are going to be handy when you start trying to swim harder versus just chilling. Well, I guess, I'm curious, I forget what your swim zones are. I remember steady is one. Does they roughly equate to the zone one through five? No, I guess a little bit. Yeah, Paulo worked in zones that had names and they were like kind of equated to zones

one through five. But, like, I think a lot of coaches and the zones that we spent the most time in were kind of like the speed that you would be going in a 70.3 in the race. And then, like, the speed that you would potentially be going in an Ironman race and then just, like, full chill. Like, you kind of have three that you end up in most of the time. And then maybe, like, a start speed. Got it.

So that's usually at least how I reframe a lot of things. It's like, okay, this is my, like, Olympic slash 70.3. race pace because we're doing 10 times 100 with short rest. And then this next thing is going to be some 50s that are, quote, all out. And that's really like start speed. Yeah. I mean, that does sound a lot like zone. Yeah, very, very similar to that.

I would say that like technique is very similar between 70.3 pace and Ironman pace and just like aerobic pace. But then as soon as you try to go into the start speed, you got a lot of more kick involved. Your body cornees to be a little bit more rigid. Yeah. Yeah, that's a different shaker. Sprint. Cool.

Cool. Okay. So, yeah, less thinking, Stain. Just chill. Eric's the Zen swimmer and he swims really well. Yeah, you can think during drills and then try to just, try to just go. Cool. Or like maximum one thing to think about.

Think non-thinking, as the Zen Buddhist say. Okay, next question here is from Sean. Hello, Pent. First time questioner, long-time listener. I just completed Ironman 70.3 Eagleman. I'm very weak swimmer, but a strong biker. For that reason, I'm mostly passing the other competitors on the bike. I was coming up to a left turn and approaching a girl in front of me. She left me plenty of space on the inside of the turn, so I took it and passed while we were both turning. I said aloud, on your left, she yelled out, really on a turn?

I thought we were racing here, but I'm left wondering about that turn. What is a proper etiquette for passing out a turn. Is it okay or wait until the turn is completed and pass on the straight? Love the pod. Makes driving to work every Thursday so much better. Best Sean. So, well, it's not something I really thought about, but is this poor form to pass on a turn? A little bit. I think it's just hectic and maybe dangerous because you can't predict what line someone's going to take through a turn if it's like the right line or if they're going to swerve or whatever. Actually, this kind of happened after my penalty because the penalty box was right before the transition zone. Well, there was one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten turns to get out of the transition

zone. What? It was insane because we went left, left, right, roundabout, left, left, left. Oh, yeah, you're right. The photos that you turned was like right away, too. Yeah. No, you had to do a bunch of turns to get to that. But anyway, it was a messy zone. It was where, like, they didn't send the motorbike rafts or whatever. But I was pissed after my penalty. Right, of course. Right. Right when I was coming out of the penalty box, Ellie and someone else went by me. So I was behind both of them in the technical section. And I was so mad and ready to just, like, get through it and start riding hard on the flat again. And I came up to the girl behind me on the corner. And I was like, oh, I just need to get around you. Like, I'm in the worst case scenario here. But I waited

until we had made the turn. And then you use one. Anyway. So it is better to wait till the flats. Like how much time are you really saving by passing on the corner? A lot of time. If you're coming up on somebody who's really slow and you have momentum and you have to slam on the brakes and then re-accelerate, you're like.

Yeah, it does suck your way. Like, if you're cornering very slowly, I'm just like, I don't know. This is half a you problem and half a problem with the person who's passing you. Yeah, I guess just be careful. I guess just be careful. Yeah. So you're both saying, though, that, like, there is some merit to what that athlete said. Like, on a turn, really?

That's funny. I would have thought, of course, this is racing. Like, if I can pass safely, I'm going to pass you. Yeah, if you can do it safely, like use your judgment. No, I'm saying pass. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. Eric saying pass, I'm saying that could be dangerous, but you should do it.

I guess it's a case-by-case basis, right? If it's like a U-turn where everyone's bunching up, yeah, don't take advantage of this, like, squeeze inside the U-turn. But if you're at speed and you have momentum and there's space, if you had time to say on your left and this person had time to say, really during a turn, like we're not at the edge of our lives and our abilities here, okay? Right, right, right. You know?

With all things, a little bit of discretion and, yeah, it's racing. Yeah, okay. Well, those are the questions that I picked. We're sorry again for last week. We wanted to make it happen. we were trying, but it was just, there was so many things going on at once. And there's a lot, I mean, Paula alluded to it, but she was doing a ton of stuff with the media stuff, even though the thing got turned around. I mean, it's not even really, I somewhat expected it for a Canadian race,

but on the Thursday, basically, I had to get picked up at like 6.45 a.m. to go to the CTV studio for the morning show and didn't get back to the hotel till nine, so that was two and a half hours. Yeah. And then I tried to squeeze in a 90-minute bike ride and 30-minute run to be ready for, like, the PT-100 broadcast interviews, which I sat in that room for an hour and a half. And in the middle of that, did, like, a radio CBC thing. So there was just a lot in that day was so, I'm not complaining necessarily about it. And that's not even the day that we would have recorded the podcast. I think the reason we've missed it was because we were all traveling.

It was just a lot of travel. And I think the T-100 weeks in general, are, they just, they demand a ton of energy just to be there and, and do the race. Yeah. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. It's stressful.

Of recording the podcast the night before that day. Totally. Is like, oh my God, I just need to nap and get ready for that. Thanks for understanding, though, everybody. Appreciate it. It sounds like we're just chatting, but we know that there's a lot of people that listen and we want to make sure we do a good job every time too, that we're not just rushing through it. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. And another thing that's been a little inconvenient is the Oilers game, we've been starting at five. Well, don't they, isn't there, isn't there one today? The series is two and three, right? Yeah. Yeah, so the Stanley Cup will be in the building tonight because if the Panthers win, they get the Stanley Cup. By the time this podcast comes out, we'll know the outcome of that. But if they don't win, it goes back to Edmonton, and winner of that gets it, and it could be Edmonton. So for them to win at home would be so insane.

So we're hoping for the forced game seven tonight. So you would never go and watch it, right? Oh, we would have with a thousand percent go and watch it, but it's also probably $5,000. A million dollars, yeah. Okay. Okay, thanks for listening, everybody, and we'll chat with you next week.

We'll be back at home in our normal situations, and we'll have it. Basically a full podcast of questions next week. Just banging out questions like mad. That's right. Just prepare your brains for the information you're back to receive. That's right. All right.

Bye, guys. Later. Bye.