That Triathlon Life Podcast - Triathlon thrills at the Olympics, racing in nylon plated shoes, and more!

Episode Date: August 1, 2024

This week we start by talking generally about the men's and women's race at the Olympics, and then we get to your listener submitted questions. This week we discuss:Water quality issues at the OlympicsFavorite Olympic eventsDid the weather for the Olympic TT affect Paula's desire to race it?Rear bike lights for aero seat postsBang-for-buck: aero race wheels vs treadmillRiding off-road in the offseason to keep your road bike in good shapeGo to supplement for training and racingHow to cycle in nylon plated race running shoesA 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

Hey everyone, welcome to that triathlon life podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldstein. This is our triathlon podcast. We talk a little about what's going on in the world of triathlon. We talk about what's going on in our little world of triathlon. But most of this show is made up of questions that we get from people who listen. So if you send in questions, we really appreciate it. That helps keep the show going and gives us something to talk about each week. Speaking of this week, what's going on this week in triathlon? The Olympics are going on. on. The Olympics happened, well, they were supposed to happen a couple days ago. It happened this morning, both men's and women's races. Since I'm doing the intro, I just realized I forgot to introduce exactly who we are. Paul and I are both professional triathletes. That's how we feel slightly qualified to talk about trathlons things. Nick's an amateur trathlet and professional musician. So, music, the audio on here sounds great. Thanks to Nick. And we're just going to dive right

into Olympic type stuff because we have been watching Olympics every night, every morning, the primetime coverage, the live coverage, anything we can get. And the trathom finally happened. And it was wild, to say the least. And just for a little context here, have either of you been to the Olympics? How does this work? Yeah, Paula has actually been to the Olympics in London. And then Paula and I almost went to the Olympics in 2016. We were both alternates, her for Canada and me for the United States. And technically, I almost went to Paris. for the time trial, but that totally left off that team, which I was at peace with and totally okay with and understood the decision because I don't do the road race. But it was extremely

hard to watch for me because I feel like winning nationals three years in a row, I'm the best in Canada at that event and I should have been there. Right. I truly believe that. And I was a little bit sad to not be despite the horrific rain. Yeah, this is a bit of the thing with the Olympic process is some sports are just like swimming in the U.S. You touch the wall first or second, you go. And then some sports are, you know, we got to like make a little bit of an executive decision based on your strengths and your weaknesses and how many times you've performed well over the last four years versus last two months versus and a lot of sports are like that. And cycling is one. Triathlon is often one as well.

Yeah, but it was really interesting to watch the triathons this morning because the flashbacks I have to being there and racing it is just unlike any other race you'll ever do in your life for a lot of reasons. One of them actually is the branding is just so different. It's so clean. There's no logos anywhere. The race kits are just your name in your country. It says like London 2012, Paris 2024 everywhere with their cool colors, but it's not littered with ads. No, they say that. Well, because they got to save that for television. They want to make sure that you're not. distracted by the racing, you know, when they turn on the state farm and the pharmaceutical company. Yeah, there's an outrageous amount of commercials. But the feeling when you're there, it doesn't feel like just any other race is what I'm saying. Yeah, it looks a little different. And I think Tokyo watching on TV was different because there were no spectators. Rio was different

because London was so fresh in my mind. But watching Paris, I think it truly had a lot of parallels to the London race because the streets were just packed 10 deep. with people trying to get their eyes on this event. And it's one of the only events in the Olympics that you can watch without a ticket. You just go and you line the streets and you can watch it. So it was the same thing in London, just deafening how loud it was. And I imagine, same thing in Paris. So many people out supporting and watching. And I think of all the Olympics since London, it's been the most similar in my mind, or from a viewer's standpoint anyway. So can you explain something to me that you would have

potentially, you would have been Canada's best bet for the time trial, right? I mean, objectively so. Why is it that you also had to do the road race for Canada if you went? Why was that part of the criteria? I think just the, any country, their only mission is to get medals. And I guess the selection pool of athletes for the road race and the time trial are the same. And Canada only had two women's spots for cycling, for road cycling. So out of those two athletes, you put them both in the road race because they're both road race specialists and you can take one or both and put them in the time trial. So Canada chose one of those athletes put them in the TT and then Allison Jackson

actually didn't do the time trial, fully focused on the road race and fully fair because she won the Perry Roubaix. She's a metal hopeful in the road race. and I wouldn't call myself a metal hopeful in the time trial, although someday maybe I'll try to be. But yeah, I guess if I wanted to have a realistic shot of making the team, I would have had to at least do some road racing to show I could have helped Allison or been competent in that event as well. And it's different from the U.S.

because obviously Taylor Nibs are just doing the T.T. I don't want to make this about me, though. But that's the reason. Right, okay, got it. That was what was confusing to me is that, the U.S. was kind of willing, I guess, to sacrifice the road race aspect to get Taylor in on the T.T. That was the thought, right? Yeah, and I think the U.S. might be pulling someone over from the track cycling, who's also a pro-road rider, to race on the road, which I guess Canada could have done as well.

But, yeah, I think maybe Taylor Nib is maybe seen as, was seen as a metal potential for the U.S. So let's see what she can do. So it was worth that risk of bringing her just for the time trial. Well, we have actually a question based on this later, so we'll go a little more into that. Yeah, okay. But before we go into that, I just wanted to talk a little bit more about the Olympics. Eric, when you were watching this, Paula, when you were watching the triathlon specifically, did you feel a sense of like FOMO, a feeling of missing out?

Or was it purely like, wow, good for you guys. That looks like something I do not want to be a part of right now. This is the first triathlon I've watched in a while where I had a little bit of an emotional yeah, FOMO. It wasn't right in your face like the last Olympic cycle, but I don't know, I got kind of moody and thought how cool it was

and wish that I'd made it, you know, back in the day. Both of us really miss short course racing. It's the pinnacle of triathlon in my mind. It's more exciting than 70.3. It gets more eyeballs than any Iron Man events. It's just like the absolute highest level of triathlon in my mind.

And so I think that's why we both have a bit of feeling of, wow, that's so cool. And as I'm watching these Olympics, I get this really deep feeling that I want to go back to the Olympics, even if it's not as an athlete. I just want to be part of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's so cool to have the support team there and the coaches there and everyone who's involved in just like getting the athletes as ready as possible. And it made me really want to go in 2028 for time trial. but if that's not a possibility, go in another role. So that's how important it is in my mind and how cool it is.

Right. Okay. And then the last thing is, obviously, for those who don't know, there was a lot of controversy around the water quality in the Sen, the river that goes through Paris. And the men's triathlon and the women's triathlon were supposed to be on two different days, but that didn't end up happening because of the water quality due to rain. It's a whole thing.

So both races happen on the same day. What do you guys think about the whole, about the athletes swimming at that river that, I mean, I guess they said was okay to swim in, but we'll see in a couple days if all the athletes are sick or not. I mean, what do you guys feel about that whole situation? I think people would be curious to hear your take on this, because it's a hot topic. You know, honestly, I think if I was an athlete there racing,

I would probably feel better about jumping into the water in the Olympics, then I have, you know, jumping into plenty of bodies of water because the stakes are so high. I really don't think that they would push it a couple of points on the E. coli on the scale of whatever they're measuring for versus like there have been every single year there's a race on the ITU scene on the world trathlon scene or, you know, a 70.3 event where, yeah, a week later, a ton of people, like 30 athletes end up sick and, you know, then everybody's questioning, Oh, was that, where did they measure the water? Were they serious?

Do they just don't want to make sure that it happened? And if that was the Olympics, people would be in deep shit. And I just don't think that would... Literally. Yeah, and they have more of an ability, I think, to, like, postpone it a couple days versus, you know, a smaller race in a, you know, somewhere else. So you would have felt okay about swimming in that water. If they said, we're good to go.

Yeah. And then at the same time, I don't know. I'm like... It's the Olympics. You get sick, you get sick. Yeah. If I get, yeah, like, I'm not concerned about another race in three weeks. weeks from now, it would suck to be that sick, but, you know, whatever, I'm going for it anyway.

Right. Paula? Yeah, the unfortunate thing in my mind is just the uncertainty of it. And when you're an athlete leading into a big race like this, there is so many nerves, there's so much pressure. And to add to it, the doubt that you might even start the next morning is absolutely outrageous. And for the men to wake up on Wednesday or Tuesday and hear that their race was postponed, is horrible. I mean, you think no big deal it's the day after, but imagine yourself, even an amateur age group triathlet, the things you do leading into the race to make sure you're prepped for that exact day and your taper has been timed properly. Your nutrition, your everything has been done. You didn't sleep all night, but you're like, oh, well, whatever, I'm racing in the morning.

Yeah, so I do that two nights in a row. That's the saddest thing for me. And the women's race went ahead as planned, but I think every single one of them had the doubt in their mind that, I mean, it's a possibility I'll wake up and this might not even happen. So you don't want to be heading into the biggest race of your life after preparing for it for four plus years slash your entire career and think there's a chance that might not happen. So yeah, I don't know what the solution to that would have been. I think a lot of people were talking about alternative venues and having a backup contingency plan for where to swim. But I will admit that the venue is absolutely the most epic.

triathlon venue I've ever seen in my life. It looked amazing on camera. I could only imagine it was amazing to race on that course. So moving it would have been sad. You know, if it's just been like the levels are too high or moving 30K out of town, the whole feel of the event would have been different. So they, I think, did everything they could to put it on, put it on safely. I don't know if the numbers were accurate with E. coli and everything, but they swam. It looked amazing. The dynamics of the swim were. so cool with the current and I think the swim really impacted the race which it doesn't always if it's a wetsuit, flat water swim. So I thought it's cool. What did you guys think about the actual results

of the men's and the women's races? Relatively as expected. There were some surprises obviously like there are at any games but I thought there'd be one person on one of the two podiums that was a complete surprise and that person was

the silver medalist in the women's race from Switzerland. So yeah, that's cool that that kind of thing can happen at the Olympics. It's not always the favorites. Yeah, I thought I was blown away at the fashion in which the men's race

ended up the way that it did. You look at it on paper and like, yeah, that's kind of what was expected to happen. Maybe not. But then you get like, you actually watch the last, you can even just watch the last kilometer, but like watch the 10K of the men's race.

It's freaking wild. They looked completely like the race was over and won. Decided. With 800 with a K to go and then everything changed. What happened there in your opinion? I mean,

I don't feel like we have to worry about spoiling anything for anyone because it's the next day. Yeah. So Alex E won, but he was like 15 seconds behind with a K to go and with like 600 meters to go.

He was 12 seconds behind Hayden Wilde who just looked to be completely in command. And then with like 200, to go, he just ran right past him. So what was that? My best guess is that Hayden bonged. Like his demeanor when he crossed the line,

he just kind of seemed like unfazed and like, yay, Alex, that was cool. Like we just did a local triathlon. Like his reaction just like kind of confused me and his complete inability to answer when Yi came by even for like a stride. Totally. Made me wonder if he was just like that low on glucose

that he was kind of like, semi-foggy for that last K. It has to be, right? Because he didn't even try. Alex, he ran by him so fast. Yeah, and he didn't see like a, oh, shit, look on his face. He was just kind of like roboted the whole way and then, I don't know. So that'd be my guess, but we'll have to wait and see what he says in the next in a little bit.

I think that they're just like all of the athletes are racing at their absolute fastest, especially at that point in the race. And from my opinion, they all look pretty composed and relaxed and smooth. And that's just like the tendencies of a good runner. So I think Hayden probably was at his limit.

And when you're 9.5K into the race, just didn't have another gear to go with him. I don't know. Alex also has a running background. To be that stoic? Impressive, if that, you know. I was surprised by the lack of emotion on the women's side, too.

I think... I agree. All around, I kind of was surprised in the lack of emotion. Yeah. Like if I won the Olympics, I would be losing my mind, like the craziest. But it felt a little bit like Cassandra, even crossing the line was a little bit stone face, like, didn't really smile. And I'm sure she was like completely blown away and whatever. But it almost felt like relief. And wow, I've lived up to this expectation of this pressure.

And this has been the most stressful buildup with the water quality and uncertainty. and thank God it's over and I did it. And then Beth and third was probably mad that she wasn't winning. Right. And then, of course, the second place girl. So I don't know. It was kind of strange. Like watching the contrast of Gwen finishing, for example.

Gwen or Christian. Or Flora. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. These crazy celebrations versus both the winners just kind of looked like job done. Yeah, we don't have to do like a touchdown dance or anything, but just. I want to see a tear or two. Yeah, exactly. Please cry.

But anyway, I thought went off very smoothly from my perspective, despite all of the pre-build-up chaos. Yeah, yeah. And I loved watching it all. It was cool to see Flora come out first out of the swim and then just kind of solo time trial the bike for about half of it. That was fun to see too. In my mind, Flora was the performance of the day.

Right, right. I'm friends with Flora, so maybe I'm biased, but I was so in awe of her. Like obviously her experience. Yeah, her experience. Yeah, she was great. It was her fifth Olympics. And obviously that experience helps a lot at this type of a big event with so many eyes on you.

And her experience in the water even like taking the right line, hugging the shore as long as she could and then cutting in. Yeah. You could see her doing different lines from everyone else and then like gaping them more and more. That was cool. smart and I, in my mind, it was, there's the people that are just flustered and flailing their arms and trying to get to the end of the swim. And then there's people that are calculated and thinking about it and maneuvering the swim very well. And obviously she's a great swimmer, but I could just tell that she was really thinking about the race beforehand and while she was in it. And I wish she could have

just T-Ted the entire 40K. Yeah. That would have been cool. Because the rose were wet, which is also great for her. But anyway, she did amazing. Came fifth after a really, turbulent block between the last Olympics. So kudos to her. Yeah, that was good. That was hopeful. It's like, see, you can get injured. You can have a serious potentially career-ending injury and come back and still be so strong.

Yeah. And not that she's old, but she's like 15 years older than some of these women that she's racing. Right, right. She's just been doing it for so much longer than everyone. Yeah, and still right there. Yeah. Wow. It was very fun to watch.

Paul and I, we were up watching it last night, at least the beginning of the women race. A lot of crashing on the bike because it was so wet, which I hate that that's a part of it. But it's so many people went down. Some people went down multiple times. I mean, that's, I don't understand why you hate that that's part of it. I mean, I think in the right, you're right. You're right. Practicing cornering. Like all of these things are like, that makes it what it is. And it's, it's tragic. And but like, you know, like, if every single race was exactly the same and straight up and down a road, And warm and perfect, they'd call it Kona.

And the same people would win all the time. Right. I guess I just feel like part of what I like personally about racing triathlon is that one moment doesn't decide the whole race. Is that you have, you can, you have grace in that sense where you can feel bad for five minutes and still have a good day. Yeah. Or it's like a split second decision, you're down on the bike. Now you lost the group and the race is over. Yeah.

That's the savage part of draft legal and part of what makes it so exciting. exciting and fun and terrifying is that it is second by second like that. Yeah. And which is what makes it fun to watch, of course, too. Yeah. Yeah. Well, there you go. Olympics, so fun.

Obviously, we've been watching not just triathlon, but like all the sports. And there's some questions here about that. So we will be talking more about Olympics. The first half of the questions are all Olympics focused. Before we dump into our Olympics specific questions, we want to give a shout out to our podcast supporters who helps support the podcast. and make it awesome. This week, instead of what we've been doing in the last six months or so,

where we've been giving away one of our custom water bottles, we are doing a podcast supporter, a specific segment. So if you're one of those people, if you're a podcast supporter, just check your email inbox, and you're going to have a special question just for you. Oh, yeah. A special answer. A special question with a video, with an answer, our beautiful faces coming straight to your laptop or phone or wherever you consume content.

Also, you can submit questions to the podcast at Thattriathlonlife.com slash podcast. Like Eric said in the beginning, we need your questions. Otherwise, we're just here chatting about hats and Olympics the whole time. Yeah, we're not that interesting. Okay, first thing we're going to do is a little bit of this or that. Okay, and this is a listener submitted this or that. First one is. If you're picking up on Nick's near-death raspy voice thing,

he's got a little bit of a sickness coming back from Europe. So, yes. Apologies for that. Of course. Okay, so the first one is, do a road race with trail runners or a trail race with road runners. Trail race with road runners, Abby. Amazing. Wait, trail race with road runners?

Oh, I just was thinking, like, people falling all over the place and, like, sliding off the trail. Yeah, I'd probably do a road race with trail runners. I use the on cloud surfer trail on the road kind of often, and they're totally comfortable for that. Oh, so this is an interesting way to interpret this question. I went to competition, not to enjoyability. No, and we're still not. I think Paul is thinking runners, like the way that people talk about sneakers.

Yeah. Yeah. No, we're talking like literally other humans. Like the human beings who is like a cyclist or a runner. Oh. Yeah. Okay, so read it again and I'll think about it in your context. That's interesting, though, because it does work both ways.

Do a road race with trail running athletes or a trail race with road running athletes. Oh, I thought you were saying runners like the sneakers. Right, right, of course, yeah. Like the ons. Yes, yes, yes. I would rather do a road race with trail runners, obviously. Oh, yeah? Yeah, because why is that, though?

Because it's usually going to be flat and those guys are just, they all they do is go up. That's funny. I'm thinking of the vibes. I'm thinking trail runners are just good vibes, so that's who I want to be around for a race. Oh, I'm thinking about who I could beat. Right, right, of course. And that is a very great way to explain me and Paula in a nutshell. Yes.

Okay, next one here. Swim in the Sen or swim in a cold Canadian lake. Sen is the river in Paris that the triathletes swim in this morning. Cold Canadian Lake. Yeah, what kind of a definitely Canadian lake. Some of us might prefer e-coli over swimming in cold, cold water. I just Google Canadian Lake. Yeah, those lakes are beautiful.

That'll make your decision for you. Okay, next one here. Out and Back course on the bike or on the run. That's a good one. Neither? Hmm. Hmm. I hate out and back bike courses so much.

So maybe the run for you is the easy answer. Yeah, but I also don't like those. I might do the bike. I'm trying to think of like Santa Cruz, beautiful bike course, but it is out and back. Yeah, and then the run is more of a loop, you know. My mind goes directly to T100 races where you're doing it out and back 17 times. Yeah. One big one.

Yeah. One big out and back is okay. I can deal with that, yeah. Yeah. I'm even going back to the PTO race in Canada that had the three out and backs on the run. and I actually did end up liking that. Yeah, that was kind of fun. I would say one big out and back versus four small loops, even.

Oh, oh, for sure. I would rest. That is hard. You've got to be feeling a really special kind of way to do a loop number one or loop number two and not be thinking about how far off loop number four is. But you know what's funny is when I think of Paula, I think of someone who likes the race to be as controlled as possible. And so four out and backs or whatever, seven out and backs is probably the ultimate form of that control.

And yet, Paula, you still don't really like that. Well, it's not like out of control to do a big loop. No, but it's just you have less variables when you are very familiar with each little turn and each thing and you do it over and over again. And you can just focus on the effort. Yeah, Nick, you have the wrong idea of me. You're adventurous. You take risks. Yeah, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have won Mont Trembla.

That was an adventurous one-lap course. You're right. You're right. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have won that too. In fact, I DNFed in a situation very similar to that. Yeah, that's true. Okay, next one here. This is just for Paula.

When racing time trial, radio in ear or not? Oh, I've only done one race in my life with the radio in the ear. That was World Championships last year. And you loved it, right? I didn't like it, no. Oh, I thought you liked them telling you like, okay, Head up turn coming up ahead. It was helpful in some ways, but also I don't know the coach that well.

So I think having Eric in my ear, someone that I'm more familiar with, may have been better. But it wasn't all bad. It got a little bit distracting. And I just chose not to use one at nationals. And I kind of like just being in silence. It's what I'm most used to in training and in triathlon. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair.

Okay. Now this one is just for Eric. If you could only choose one bike for an Xtera race, would you choose A, a dual suspension mountain bike without a dropper post, or B, a front suspension only with a dropper post? Dual suspension, no dropper post. Yeah, isn't that what you already were running for a while? Yeah, I mean, I have a dropper now, and I love it,

but I can do without it on 99.9% of Xtera courses. That's so crazy. Yeah, I look at it as, as, like, it's nice and safer to have it, but certainly, most of the exterior courses I've done not necessary. I mean, obviously, I've only raced with a dropper and exterior like one time now. You don't feel like it's faster. You don't feel like you can push it a little harder when you can get your butt lower. I just don't think, I just don't think that there's enough technical, like, steep technical descending in exterior courses to make it like that much of, game changer, you know, in the scope of the entire three-hour long race.

That's just, it's so relevant, though, to your relative, sorry, to your bike handling skills, which you have a lot of, because I bet you that for me, the dropper would make me much faster because I have so much more confidence, even on what you would call non-technical. I'm sure for me or for someone else, it's technical enough where, oh, I feel a little scared being so high up right now. Yeah, yeah, but then back to the question, it's certainly not worth the trade-off of the rear suspension in my opinion. And being able to stay seated and pedal over some bumpy

stuff and, you know, that's the other part of Xtera racing is a lot of times it's not necessarily like a perfect manicured single track mountain bike specific trail. You're riding on grass or you're riding on chunky rocks and like being able to not get beat up as much as is pretty important. Right, right. That's smart.

And then last one here is for me, win another Grammy or win your age group at World Champs. Who? Yeah, I think I would I call me a glutton, but I'd take another Grammy, I think, over winning my age group at world champs. Although that would be awesome. And it would require such a life shift and miracle for me to win my age group at world championships.

I feel like the Grammy is even a little more, somehow is more attainable. It's also more like career changing. Yeah. I mean, damn. If I won, no, I guess not. Like if you're winning your age group of world championships, are you, if you're 30 to 34, You might get like a 50% off a frame. Okay, yeah, this is not worth it.

I don't know. I would say given the fact that you are part of a relatively prominent triathlon podcast, if you... Yeah, right, right. I could get a legit sponsorship. I think some doors could open in a very interesting, unusual way. I mean, do you instantly start making more money if you're a two-time Grammy winner? No. If I won again in a very different way, like if I won another one with Trixie, in a

totally different category. It would remove any element of, oh, that first one was kind of a fluke. You know? It's like, oh, no, there's really a something here. You actually were a key component. Exactly. You know, because for the Kingfish album, I just did the single. There was, you know, there was 10 other tracks or 11 other tracks. So anyway, that's a fun question, though. Thank you for your, this or that, Elise. That was great. And she also said keep up the great work. Thank you, lease. Thank you. Okay, we'll move on to questions here, and the first ones are all about the Olympics. Greetings from Virginia, in regards to the Olympics water issue, how often have you you competed in water you were pretty sure was contaminated to unsafe levels, but the race

went on anyway? And have you ever suffered ill effects from sick water? Thanks. So we did touch upon this. Eric, Paula, have you guys personally gotten sick from water that you felt you were probably going to get sick from when racing short course? Or even long course. Yeah, especially long course. No, I have not gotten sick ever. And I can't remember a time where I was concerned about the water either at any of the races I've been at. We do not preview. We do not do a pre-race swim at the Beijing International Triathlon.

That's the one place where just not sure. And there's a nice pool nearby. So, man, I guess that being said, that when Paula and I first first, sparked our romantic fire. I was the sickest that I have ever been. Oh, that's right. From racing in Carlovi-Vari. And I think it was like 15 or 20 other people

from that World Cup were also very sick. And they didn't make, there was no murmuring about the potential water quality or anything whatsoever. We just all were sick a week, you know, like two days later. I was, it was like the day after the race, I was going on the way to the airport.

And it was like a three-hour bus ride from the place to the airport. And we got within like 30 minutes the airport and instantly. I was like, oh my God. I am going to throw up everywhere. I feel so terrible. And then I got out of the bus

and I couldn't make it to the bathroom. Like I couldn't walk across one lane of the road to go to the bathroom in time. It was like you're okay and then boom, you're not okay. And then I had a whatever, like a 12-hour flight or something. insane to get to China.

Oh, God. And then I just stayed in the hotel room for like three days and texted, you know, Paula, direct message her. So really it was a blessing in disguise because now you've found your wife to be. No, I don't think we actually talked that much, but you were in the room right beside me. We were in rooms right next to each other. And I was like, oh, my God, I would love to be able to talk. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay, so I have a little follow up here.

If you were concerned about the water quality and there were. was like a swim, a practice swim a day or two before your race. Do you take the chance? No. You just don't do it. Never for a practice swim. No. Definitely not. No. Okay. Not worth it. And you shouldn't either. Don't worry. I'm not. That's not a risk. Like no water is that different that that you absolutely have to practice swim in it. No. Arguably the one in Paris actually was so different because you got to like feel the current. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But they canceled those anyway. So you just chuck a bunch of rubber duckies in from the bridge. See what. where the currents the fastest.

Yeah. Smart. Eric, giving away all the secrets here. Okay, next question here. Hey, friends, I'm having a hard time finding a rear bike light

that will fit on my long and skinny tri-bike seat post. Oh. Seems like they are all made for a typical round seat post. Do you guys have lights on your tri-bikes? Do you have any suggestions? Thanks.

We do. Thank you for asking that question. That is so timely and perfect and makes me happy because I have been working quite hard with good friend Danny who develops our web stuff on setting up a curated online

shopping experience with our recommended stuff like this. And we have a bike light mount on there. And it works with arrow seat posts. They are actually 3D printed for whatever arrow seat post of your choice. And I

just became aware of a new product that they have, which we don't have on the website, but if you go to the website and you click on the link and go to their thing, you can find it. But it goes on to specialized seats. Specialized seats have like two little holes. Oh, the SWAT screws.

Yes. Yeah. So they've got one that goes on the SWAT screw. And they've got one that goes on the SWAT screw that holds a light and an air tag. Like this guy is thinking of everything. Yeah. They're kind of just interspersed right now on the main page of the site. You can scroll through.

You can see some Wahu stuff on there. We're going to have Kestelli. We currently have these light holders that are... And the premise of this is I wanted to create this like cool thing where people ask like, oh, what, you know, what kind of bike light do you use? What kind of, what's your favorite shoe? We're going to have it on the site and we will, yes, get a small cut of the money that is purchased ultimately on these company's sites. And that's a cool way that you can, again, support TTR and everything that we're doing and let those companies know that we sent you. So if you get a chance, go check that out. I'm pretty proud of it. It's a work in progress.

It's like a lot of people ask us about cloud monsters and about kickers. And this way, if you click through TTL to buy it, we get a kickback. Yep. And we are, the whole goal is that we're cutting out some of this decision-making process. You're like, oh, do I need a kicker move? Do I need a regular kicker? Do I want to, what bike light, do I want all these? Like, I want to have them on there.

And I'm going to have a recommendation, like our little thing from Paula, our I, here's why we chose this and here's why we like it. And if you want this, you should. get this one. And if you like this, you should get this one. Because it's like, it's very hard to find out. Like go right now onto Solomon Shoes website or Brooks Shoes website or on and like try to figure out kind of quickly what shoes are for what. It is a, it is a whole thing. A whole process you got to go through. We just want to cut a little bit of that out and put our favorite stuff up on the site. If you click, if you click to the On website through TTR, anything you buy on the on website will then get a kickback from.

So it doesn't have to be the cloud monsters. Nope. Cloud Monster is the only one we have set up right now. We're going to have the other shoes and why we like them and what we use them for coming shortly. So go spend $10,000 on the onsite while you're at it. Well, speaking of OnStuff, I tried the cloud eclipse for the first time today.

That's like the super cushy one. And I haven't tried it yet because I'm like, it looks too cushy. But I will say I like it better than the cloud monster. What? Wow. Yeah. So if you want to try a new shoe that's really cushioning and you run on pavement, you must buy this shoe. Eclipse, cloud eclipse. I want to try them.

Yeah. It's the super like super fat base, like even taller almost than the cloud monster. But what I like about it is that the upper I can tighten more so it fits my foot better than the cloud monster. I find sometimes with the cloud monster I'm like swimming around in a little bit. because it's a little bit wide. But the eclipse is a softer feel to me, is better for pavement, and it fits my upper foot better. Dang. Well, okay, we're going to try to rid all that down. I'm going to call Danny and see if we can get cloud eclipse

up on the partner products section on the site, which will exist hopefully by the time this podcast comes out. That's my, I'm going to give that a shot. And six hours? We're good. We're good at what we do. Wow. you are good.

That's impressive. Danny's a wizard. I've been very hands-off with the affiliate stuff, but I'm just giving feedback based on me going on there and trying to find stuff. It's not intuitive. I'm glad that you have gone on and tried to look at it. That helps.

Love it. Hi, TTL crew. In honor of the Olympics, I have two questions. If you could compete in one event that is not triathlon or a triathlon-related discipline, what would it be? And second, what's your favorite one to watch? So let's start with the first one there. There's so many.

There's so many fun ones like shooting and archery and like javelin. Like which one would you want to compete in? And let's assume you'd be good at. Yeah, you'd be good at. But let's say it's not about the glory. It's about the fun. Gymnastics, for sure. Ooh.

Anything specific in there? Being Simone Biles. Just being her. Just being her. Paula gets FOMO about specific people. It's like I want to be that person. because they are so cool. Yeah.

Well, Simone's just so extraordinarily great, too. That's what is so amazing about her. Yeah, gymnastics is so interesting because it feels almost like the big show of the entire Olympics. And that's where all the celebrities that are in Paris go to watch. Is that true?

It's not like track. It's not like the hundreds. I think it's just this year with Simone. Oh, they probably go to swimming and they probably go to track too, but the shots they were showing of the, celebrity contingent that was at the gym yesterday to watch the gymnasts was

insane. Yeah, that's cool. Like actors, actresses, other iconic athletes. And imagine being like, not just Simone, because she's probably used to the attention, but like that Jade Carey girl who's a little bit quieter, a little bit more shy, a little more out of the spotlight. And she has like these big-name people there

to watch her do the Volt. Like that is so much pressure. It is outrageous. I just think it's so impressive when they can do these things and hit them perfectly and with all of the eyeballs on them. It's so cool. Yeah. What about you, Eric? What sport would you do?

Surfing. Oh, yeah. You'd be in Tahiti. You'd be a Tahiti. Yeah, I wouldn't be in the sand. I'd be in Tahiti. Surfing a river wave in the sun? It'd be freaking great.

Yeah, that's awesome. Some of the footage has been crazy. the waves there have been awesome. Oh, yeah. Looks so fun. My favorite one to watch, and I don't like saying this because I feel like it's a bit unfair

how much Peacock or NBC focuses on swimming gymnastics and track. They basically don't show anything else. They show the triathlon, but the more minor sports that you don't really think of or see ever are not highlighted as heavily on peacock. But I personally love watching swimming in gymnastics the most, so I get it. Right.

That's the most popular. That's why they do it. They do it because people want to see it. Yeah. To sell ad space. Yeah, but I think it would be fun to have a little, some clips of like archery, other things that are completely unknown to people.

That's like the horseback riding, the three on three basketball. There's a lot of like these other small sports climbing. I love watching sport climbing, actually. That is crazy. They're like, that's got to be on TV. They got to show that. Yeah, maybe they'll show.

For sure. They will for sure. And then, yeah, what about you, Eric? What do you like to watch the most? There's also like skateboarding, you know? There's a lot of those like alternative sports. Yeah, probably swimming and certain track events. I mean, and not because I think they're necessarily inherently more entertaining.

But that's what we know. That's what Paula and I grew up doing. We know deeply what it means to be trying to kick in the last, you know, 200 or like swimming at 400. I am. We know what that feels like and can relate to it. Right. Right. Cool. Okay. Next one here is from Tiffany, and it's for Paula.

After watching or hearing about the tough, rainy conditions on Saturday, are you kind of glad that you didn't go to Paris to race the women's time trial? Seems like it would have been a bummer to skip the opening ceremony to race the next morning, and then in those conditions, yikes. Best wishes for the upcoming wedding.

Tiffany. Yeah, we already touched on the TT a little bit, me saying how I wish I was there. And the weather on the day did not change how I felt about wanting to be there. I think if I was there in that scenario, it would have been stressful and it's a little, but it was the same for everyone. Nobody likes cornering on wet roads and some people are more skilled at it than others and pick the right tires and corner appropriately. But what I learned from London is that you could crash, you could fall, you could come last, but you're still an Olympian, you're still at the Olympics, that trumps everything and going and being a part of the whole thing.

Even if the 40-minute race itself was scary and out of my comfort zone and not exactly what I expected, 100% I would take, I would go. I would take the experience. There was 0% thought of, oh, I'm glad I'm not there because that looks terrible. Okay. I have a question for both of you about something you just, something you just, just said made me wonder how you guys feel about this. How much, if you had to divide, if you had to a lot your joy and relief and excitement and life satisfaction of going to the Olympics and doing well, how much of that comes from qualifying for the team in general and just making it as an athlete to the Olympics and how much of it would come from actually doing well in the sport.

That's completely dependent on how good you are. Good you are going in. Yeah. Like in London, going to the Olympics, even though I was 21 and it was the coolest thing that ever happened to me. Obviously, this is happening. Yeah. And when I went, all I wanted to do was win.

I didn't care that I was at the Olympics. And now, 12 years later, I appreciate it much more. But if I were to go for the time trial, my expectations would be much lower because it's not realistic for me to win that right now necessarily. So in that case, I'm more happy to go and see how good I can be against measured, kind of almost against myself. But it is completely dependent on your results leading in. I think 85% of the field in the triathlon was just happy to be there and call themselves an Olympian and was not fighting for a win. The other 15% is going to go home devastated because they didn't win. Yeah. That hurts. And you. And you,

you see that with like Chloe Dygert coming third and being disappointed or Beth coming third and being disappointed or Bobby Fink coming second and being sad. It's like because they wanted to win. But someone who's from had no expectations and gets a medal, it's completely the best day of their lives. Right. This is this is this goes back to something Eric's talked about a lot, which is so often in racing. And we know triathlon, but I assume it happens in all kinds of racing. So many people go home disappointed and only one person goes home happy. It's such a, it's, it's such a hard ratio to wrap your head around. Yeah, but what I'm saying is I think there's more people going home happy right in the Olympics, having had the experience there. Right. Yeah. Compared to like 70.3 racing where

whatever, it doesn't have quite that same thing. Yeah. Yeah. If I had, if I had actually made it and not been the alternate in 2016, that would have, I mean, that, that would have been insane. and the highest thing that I, you know, could have imagined as a kid. I don't think I personally had any illusions of winning a medal ever, and so I was not burdened by that, but just going to the Olympics and being up to call myself and have other people call me an Olympian for the rest of my life would have been, I mean, that's the dream. Right.

Okay, next one here is from Donald, and we're now, we are moving past Olympics questions. Hey, guys, should I buy extra watts with wheels, or buy extra time to train, with a treadmill. Oh, this is a great question. For more context, on one hand, race wheels are a major arrow upgrade for my aluminum stock wheels. On the other hand, I live in a very hilly suburban area so I can do hill repeats right from my front door, but every other workout requires a 10-minute drive to good running. I usually cut run workouts short because of time constraints or skip

them altogether. With my work schedule, having a treadmill would just make my run workouts more convenient and easier in terms of time and stress. Given a similar price point, which purchase is more worthwhile, a treadmill or race wheels? Thanks, love everything you guys do, Donald. Man, my answer is going to a little bit depend on how often you race, but I think I would go with getting the treadmill and renting race wheels for the important races. Oh, that is definitely the right answer. Because you can, I mean, at least back when I worked in the bike shop, it was like $100 or something like that to rent a pair of race wheels for the weekend. And boom, there you go. You got both worlds. Oh, that is such a great idea. That's such a great idea. Think about race wheels. They sit in your closet for the whole year. 363 days of the year. Yeah, right, right, right. Whereas a treadmill that you're going to use several times a week.

Yeah. And my thought immediately when I read the question was go the treadmill for sure because I think yeah we all want to be a minute faster to 70.3 but does that really bring you like that much happiness versus if you're training you do a run you feel great about yourself after several times a week that is more beneficial in general life happiness than going a minute faster in your 70.3. Amen. All things being equal finishing faster because you ran I don't know there's something. about like being more fit versus oh I shaved my legs and I wore the right arrow helmet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's like you're kind of, you're playing the game. But there's something

that's so pure about like, no, my run fitness was better. That feels so good. And I appreciate that this person even is considering these two things as being like this or that because a lot of the time people are looking for the shortcuts. But I think that just training itself is so underrated. People don't train enough and they go by the most excessive. expensive stuff to race with and you can get so much out of yourself, so much more out of yourself by just training like 10% more. So I think you should go get a Wahoo kicker treadmill. Exactly. Link in the description. Exactly. Oh my God. That's so funny. Okay. Wonderful answer. That was such a good answer. Great job, guys. Next question here is from Matt from Ireland.

loved the High Cascades 100 film which is the latest YouTube video that is on the That Triathlon Life YouTube channel. You should all go check it out. It's a little bit of a masterpiece from Eric. It's 20 minutes long and it's so, so great, so fun. Eric, you did a good job too

at making it friendly for people who don't watch every single video that you put up. Oh, thanks, man. Yeah, I thought there was a chance that maybe some people who just are curious about the race aren't just curious about triathletes. I might watch it and just want some beta on the race or triathletes watch it.

They don't really understand how mountain biking works. So, yeah, I tried to think of it a little bit more like that than just another episode and ongoing story. The POV footage of Eric's friend Curtis riding behind Eric on the last descent is insane. And our massage therapist, who's a good mountain biker and really good athlete himself, was a triathlete back in the day, said Eric's not just a triathlete. athlete who mountain bikes. He is like a freaking mountain biker. Yeah, he for sure is. So go watch that for... Love it. Have your mind blown. He's getting a big tip next week.

Yeah, Scott. Keep it up. That's so funny. Okay. Back to the question here. Is there merit to exclusively riding off-road in winter in order to build strength, avoid cars, keep training fresh and fun and protect your road bike from winter conditions? What are your thoughts? Thanks and love all things TTL, Matt from Ireland. I guess in Ireland it doesn't snow and get icy. Is that true? No, it's just wet all the time. Yeah, so that's why this is an option for him. For us, we're like, our trails are a bit iced over in the winter. So we're running on the treadmill. We're on a clear day,

maybe riding our gravel bikes on the road, just like he said, to save our nice road bikes from the grit. But I think the winter is a completely appropriate time to do alternative activities to stay fit. Yeah, if mountain biking is the option, I do think that actually fits in pretty well in the off season because typically what we do in the off season are like short spiky efforts. We'll do like 10 second sprint, you know,

and then ride for two minutes. Or we'll do like hill repeats on the run where it's just a little quick stride for 10 seconds. And I think that type of like just spiky power early season is totally fun. Can you explain why that is? Because I have seen that myself as well in a lot of plans. And it kind of, it's in direct. contrast with what we think off-season base is, which is long, easy miles. Why do you want to do

those short, spiky efforts in the off-season? I don't personally have the in-depth scientific explanation for it, but for me, I feel like it's a really good neuromuscular sort of a tool. If I just go run for three months, which is like how long the off-season pre-season can be, and I'm just running four minutes per K or 420 per K or like whatever it is, just a steady state, I feel like something kind of goes dormant in my strides, whether it's my glutes or my hamstrings or something, and doing those quick hill strides and like high-intensity short things that you're not super tired from,

I feel like really gets all those muscles that come online when you do race intensity that keeps those active and keeps them part of the conversation. That's how I feel. Last question here is from Becker. Long-time listener, shorter-time supporter. Forgive me, please. Oh, Becker, you are definitely forgiven.

Stop it. Thank you for being a supporter. I'll keep this short so Paula lets this pass through. Well done, Becker, it passed. With all of the marketing going into supplements and nutritional needs supporting recovery, training, and racing, what is the one thing in this category that you wouldn't want to train or race without? This has to be consumed, cannot be an obvious need like water, and this assumes that you would use course-provided items except for your selection.

Stay awesome, Becker. Tailwind endurance fuel. I'm not trying to balk over here Guys we're getting a lot of emails That the shipping to Canada for Tailwind is like $65 Oh really? Yes Like so many people have asked me personally about this

And I My hands are tied It's not my company It sounds like they are Either like us Or in a period of time where they're like us Where their Canadian distribution is Like the stuff's coming from the US

I don't know what the explanation would be It shouldn't be $65 to ship there, though. No. Anyway, if you're one of the people asking me, that's news to be. We'll ask them. I mean, it's still less than how much somebody, to somebody's paid to ship a shred till bed poster to Australia. Oh, my gosh, really?

You don't even want to know. Is it so bad? Nutrition is like, you've got to order it so often. It's completely not feasible to pay that much every time you order it. Yeah, yeah. But I love the tailwind flavors and the whole line. so I think it's worth buying it, but I don't know if I'd pay that shipping. Yeah, we'll look into it.

Eric, can you tell me how much and I'll just bleep it? $1.1. Oh, my God. That's a $2.00 poster. Oh, my God. That's not that much. Imagine what people pay for art. Yeah, no, but it's a little, it's a poster from, you know, that's crazy.

Wow. I mean, if you want it, art and one of a single, thing that has Paula's handwriting on it? Hey, that's special. Priceless. That's special. Okay. I think for me, it's like a way protein powder.

That is, I rely on that for sure. So you could just go fasted all bike rides. Okay, you're right. I'm saying that's, I couldn't live without that. But you can still use, it has to be consumed and cannot be an obvious thing and assumes that you would use course provided items. You know, so I can use whatever that's on the course. Okay, well, those are all the questions that we had for this week.

Kind of Olympics focused a little bit. And I think we'll be probably bringing up some more Olympic stuff next week just because we'll have been watching track and swimming and all kinds of, and cycling too, events. And I'm excited to watch all of it. Heck, yeah. We are fully Olympic obsessed while it's on. We are bringing the TV from upstairs to the downstairs.

We're getting the peacock subscription that gets through to the ads. We're going all in. So buckle up, everybody. Buckle up. Well, thanks for hanging out. Thanks for listening. And we will catch you all next week. Yeah, if you're a podcast supporter, look out for that email.

You get one more question. Check your inbox. Bye, guys. Bye.