That Triathlon Life Podcast - Triathlon wetsuit sizing, inner tube types, lactate testing, ideal bike for IM Nice, and more!

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

This week we answer your triathlon questions! Questions about what kind of inner tube to use,  how to deal with poor eyesight, how to pick the right wetsuit size, finding a group and location for open water swims,  lactate testing, why pros don't race triathlon after they retire, short wetsuits, swim training with limited time, racing triathlon as an older man, Eric and Paula's ski and snowboard touring setups, the 2024 race schedule, which bike to ride for Ironman World Championships in Nice, and more! To become a podcast supporter, as well as submit your own question for the podcast, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com

Hey everybody, welcome to that troth on live podcast. I'm Eric Loggerstrom. I'm Paula Finley. I'm Nick Goldston. And we are no longer all together in the same place. Nick, I don't know how you were able to do it. But Nick stayed at our house for a week after staying with his parents in New York for a week and was just like living this transient lifestyle, which made it amazing. And we were able to do our, we did two podcast episodes, our celebratory 100th podcast episode and podcast 101. We're 102. We're back to the normal routine here on FaceTime. And I think actually the audio quality is going to be better because Paul and I are both right up on these mics. Finally. I feel like we've had some ups and downs with Paul. Paula's like, she's a very dynamic podcast host.

She's up and down. She's hanging out of this. You're calling me a podcast host? Should I put that on my Instagram profile? What would you consider yourself here a guest every week for every single episode? You're hosting me every week. Paul is a professional personality. I just show up, sit in this comfy chair. You guys give me all my things I need. Eric's sitting in a torture device right now,

but Paula has blankets and pillows on her chair with a nice back on it. Anyway, we're going to forge on here. Paul and I are both professional triathletes. Nick is a amateur triathlet, professional musician, Grammy winner, great friend of ours. And we feel qualified to talk about trathlon things on this podcast because of Paul and my long history in the sport.

And Nick brings a really interesting, every man, if you will, perspective to it. Okay, so speaking of which, I have the spoiled life of living in Los Angeles, and the weather here has been great, and I've been riding outside, no problems. Whereas you guys got like, I mean, how much snow is on the ground now? Over two feet of snow. Yeah, easily over two feet. So what have you been doing to survive? Can you even drive to the pool?

We can drive to the pool, no problem. We have a snow tank. Oh, that thing. Studded winter tires, four-wheel drive. It is the most fun. Yeah, we have an FJ cruiser with some fantastic snow tires with studs that I got off Facebook Marketplace. Probably my favorite website. And it's been treating us right. Yeah, all year I want to sell the FJ, but then when it hits, when the ice and snow comes, it's the best car of all time. Yeah, it's like the perfect thing where it's like a pretty nice car and the heater blasts incredibly, but it's not so nice. that we're not afraid to, you know, if someone were to bump into us versus driving our beautiful

van across town when people are slipping and sliding all over the place, that's pretty scary. So that being said, I imagine you're still not riding bikes outside and there's no end in sight to that? Or is that changed? I have been looking at Facebook Marketplace fat bikes. That would be the only way one would ride outside right now. And would you throw a power meter on there somehow, or would you just kind of go by feel and just try to get your longer aerobic race? rides done on the fat bike. I think I would just go by lactate. Okay, you're going to bring a lactate tester out there

with you? Yeah, there was a question about this today. I put it in. I put it in. Bring some strips and you know, like pull off my gloves and like do a little finger prick on the side of the road. Perfect. If it doesn't turn into an icicle. Yeah, gravel truck goes by. Well, to be serious here, you guys, we're training on Zwift a lot, which is a fine.

Is there just part of winter training? I think it makes you really strong. Yes, of course, ideally we'd be riding outside more, but Bend is the kind of place where two weeks ago we were riding on trails and now it's covered in snow. And like I think in 10 days it could melt enough that the roads are dry again. So it really is just like the nature of winter and we have been living like this all our lives. So it's okay and we're not alone. There's so many people on the West Coast or like, you know, north in the USA that are dealing with the same thing. So it's kind of just how it goes.

Yeah. It's been really pretty though. I'm not hating the snow pick. that I've been taking. And you are able to run, right? But to what extent are you able to run? Yeah, I mean, it's a mix because some days it's actually quite warm out, but the ground is really snowy and a bit slippery.

So you just have to be extra careful. And the way that I treat it is a bit like trail running where paces don't really matter. You have to be extra careful. But I actually do think it adds an element of stability and strength work a little bit without even meaning to because the snow is a bit unstable and it's not like you're hitting a predictably flat ground every footstep. So you're kind of getting thrown off a bit. So I actually think it's good for this time of year when we're kind of just doing base miles anyway. Like I'm still breathing really heavy, but just not running an impressive pace. So it's just kind of the nature of snow running.

I, right when we were running in the snow for the first couple of times, I remember telling Eric like, oh, my calves are sore. And it kind of caught me off guard. And I'm sure it was from the uneven surface thing, then it must have some strength aspect. Eric has alluded to this many times in the past how for him trail running kind of strengthens those muscles and he finds it to be very helpful for him. Yeah, yeah, running the snow particularly. It's like halfway to running in sand, but then, you know, it's like if you're running in sand that some of it was soft and some of it was hard, you know, and you just never knew when you were going to put your foot down, that snow running and it is incredible workout for your proprioceptors. You know, and definitely like what doesn't kill you,

stronger. So as long as you don't break your ankle, they're going to be stronger. And then if you fall, you fall into the snow. So it's not that either. Or a chunk of ice either way. You know, it's just, that's just, you know. The downside is like if it's too cold, like today it was minus 15 Celsius. That's really rare for bend, but that's where I think you get into the territory of potentially getting injured. Like, I took a couple wrong steps and slipped and felt like my hamstring kind of get tweaked. and that's where you're just, your muscles are not warm. So the whole time I'm running, I'm thinking like, am I even getting anything out of this?

Or I'm just like completely risking getting an injury for barely any benefit. And that's where you have to make the call of if the treadmill is a better choice on that day. And you guys don't hate the treadmill so much, right? I don't like the treadmill. I don't use the word hate ever, Nick. I don't know if you noticed. I love that. That's a good New Year's resolution, actually.

That's a great New Year's resolution. But I do prefer to avoid the treadmill at all costs. To my core, avoid the treadmill. I've talked about this on the podcast before. I can Zwift forever all day on the bike. That's what it was, yeah. But then on the treadmill, I get this, like, panicky feeling where it feels hard and I'm not going anywhere, and I feel, like, kind of sick and boozy.

Even if I'm running slow, it feels like I'm doing a tempo run. and it's really challenging for me. Yeah. Anyway. I don't mind it for some reason. It's like kind of zen and I just zone out. But can't do the trainer. I'm the opposite.

Swift is incredible and has been life-changing, but riding the trainer is just a struggle. I do wonder what the scope, what triathlon would look like without something like Swift. How different would bike times be? We all grew up like that, Nick. before you started the sport. Well, yeah, but now, I mean, now is it a coincidence?

I mean, I'm sure it's at least partially a coincidence that the biking is fast, like so much faster than it was even five years ago. Are those two things related? I'm not going to, no comment. I'm not going to say that's because of Zwift, but. Yeah, there's a lot of factors. But maybe it's one of them. It definitely makes it better, easier to do a three-hour ride.

Yeah, there's probably like more people that are fast now, the people that are just afraid of the outside or don't have access to it that have been able to ride Zwift and get strong, like someone who has beautiful roads at the back door. Right. Okay, well, first thing we're going to do is a little bike tech with Eric. You haven't done this in a while, but this is a great question. Congrats on the 100th episode.

I have a question about inner tubes. Should I go for old school butel, latex, or TPU or tubeless? For background info, I'm training for challenge Roth and have very limited bike tech skills. The most important thing for me is that I have to think as little as possible about my tires, not much maintenance, few flats. Thanks so much for all your great podcast. They've been super helpful in my triathlon journey.

Best, Emma from the Netherlands. So this is, Emma said, my question is about inner tubes. Should I go for old school? So let's answer two questions here. First one, if you're doing inner tubes, what do you think the best material is for those inner tubes? Back in the day, I would always train on beetle, which is just a little bit heavier and a little less,

you know, a little higher rolling resistance. and everything, and then switch over to latex for racing, which is latex is like what's in the highest on tubulars and everything. And what was the third one? TPU? Yeah. Is that like the super thin, like almost see-through clear ones? I actually don't know what that is.

I'm only familiar. Why are we even talking about tubes anymore? We're just trying to, Nick said let's assume that we're talking about tubes. I'll tell you why, because my road bike, for example, is not, those wheels are not tubeless compatible, so I have no choice but to run tubes. in those. Yeah. So that's what I used to do.

And so that's still the only thing that I can recommend, not knowing exactly TPU and all that's... I did the same thing. I used the thick ones for training and then switch to latex for racing. And I also would switch the tires for racing too. So you're kind of just like redoing the whole wheel set up for a race. Yeah, 100%. Which an ITU racing is quite often.

Eric, when you gave me the disc wheel, actually it was Paula's disc wheel, there was a latex tube in there. Nick, nick, nick, I gave you the disc wheel. You did, you did. Every time you see it, you should say Polly gave him the disc. No, you're right. I just, the reason I said that is because I remember asking Eric what kind of tube was in there, because I thought he might know since you put it in there. Yeah, because it is a, it's not a tubeless disc. No. Yeah. Right. But let's say that you aren't stuck with just tubes. I really think that tubeless is less maintenance, less flats, faster. It's better in all the ways with the exception of the setup time. And if you have a shop nearby that will do your tubeless setup for you,

then you have zero setup time. I will say anecdotally, I don't know if you guys remember how hard of a time I had setting up the tubeless tires on my TT bike with the DT Swiss wheels. Horrible. I literally had to, when I was done with them, I took them to two different bike shops. to try to get them on. And initially, neither one of them could do it.

I had to take them off with a razor blade. I had to cut them off. That was the only way I could get them off. I just set up a set of tubeless wheels for someone the other day. And I almost was able to get the tires on there by myself, just with my hands. Are the DT Swiss wheels you had not tubeless compatible or something? Like, why would that happen? No, they totally were.

I think what Eric said to me when it was happening, his opinion was that they were, this was like at the beginning of tubeless stuff. So it was the Conti GP5,000 tubeless, like the first round of them. And I think even the DT Swiss wheels were like early on. And they were so scared that like the bead would pop off the rim or something that the tolerances were made extremely tight. You got them on but couldn't get them off. I barely got them on, barely got them on. And yes, getting them off, I just could not do it.

Yeah, so this is not an endorsement of early DT Swiss tubeless. Supposedly tubeless compatible. modern day stuff should be no problem. It was zero problem. I popped it on there. It was literally easier than an inner tube wheel. You are just admitting how incredibly right I was and that your wheels were very strange, angry unicorns.

Yes. And most tubeless wheels are not a problem to set up. The stem just threaded on there. I put ceiling in, put the valve core in, and pumped it up with the valve core in and the tire seated perfectly and immediately. It was no problem at all. Like the last five sets of zip wheels that I've set up,

exact same story. Don't even need a canister. Yeah. The only downside that you didn't mention, I'd say, is that it does lose air like overnight, much quicker than inner tubes do. So you just, in my opinion, you just have to pump up before every ride,

which is something that a lot of us already do anyway with inner tubes, but with tubeless for sure. Yeah. Yeah, you should always be checking your tire pressure just in case. Yeah. So we all love tubeless tires for sure. All my bikes that can do it, do it. All of your bikes do it, period, right? Yep. So good luck, Emma, but we definitely endorse tubeless tire. Just make sure that both your wheels and the tires you are using are tubeless compatible. Okay, let's move on to questions. And you too can submit your questions for this podcast at ThattriathlonLife.com slash podcast. There's also a bunch of stuff that we produce on there, t-shirts, hats, We've got more stuff coming up.

The pipeline soon. And you can also become a podcast supporter there. That helps us keep the podcast going. As you can tell, we don't do ad reads on the podcast. So we rely on that. Thank you so much to all our podcast supporters. Every week we try to randomly pick one podcast supporter that we give a bottle to. And this week, we used a random number generator and found Lucas Schoenfeld.

You won. You won a bottle. Congratulations. And thank you for being a podcast supporter. just make sure you message me on Instagram or find me somehow and give me your current address and we'll send that bottle to you right away. I just got to say because as I was going through the supporter list and like doing the number generator and everything, how many other podcasts out there give away something to people every single week? Eric, are you patting yourself on the

back? I don't want to brag on. I'm not trying to pat ourselves on the back, but I'm just saying that is freaking cool. You know, like when I listen to a lot of podcasts, I have to like skip through like 40 minutes of ad reads and stuff is reading a script and what are we doing? We're giving away water bottles. I was just thinking like I'm having flashbacks to going to like film festivals and stuff and you're like a a raffle and even if there's like a thousand people in the theater you're like I have a chance of winning. I am going to win. I don't think I've

personally ever won a raffle or a draw or a random number generator but the hope is always there so it's kind of fun. You never know. I hope it's fun. I was at a volleyball game once with my brother, and they were raffling out free tickets. And they're like, and the free ticket winner is, and I just turned him and I go, I guarantee you, I won these tickets. And they go, Nick Goldston, and I walked right down and got him.

That's funny. You thought I was from the future or something. Yeah, I don't know. That's crazy. I was tingling. That is a cool story. Eric, you're right. It's cool that we do this.

And you know what? No one could tell us it's not cool because it's just the three of us talking, and that's just the one-way street. Honestly, the biggest pain of it. with it is like us, TTL staff, going to the freak in post office and putting them in mailers and addressing them and it's a big thing.

Yeah, so if you get one of these bottles, it's Paula's handwriting on the envelope. It's not someone in some factory somewhere, getting paid minimum wage. Oh, I am getting paid minimum wage. You're getting paid below minimum wage. This is free labor.

Okay, let's move on to the real questions. Okay, first question here. is from Trisha. Hello, TCL crew. For starters, thank you for all the wealth of knowledge that you have provided me over the past year. I have a question regarding those who are visually impaired

and the challenges with swimming. I'm a daily contact wear with an astigmatism, aka expensive lenses, and cannot see further than 20 feet without my contacts. I worry about eye infections from the lake bacteria

or destruction to the contacts from chlorine and chemical exposure in the pool. I try to get my goggles as tightly sealed as possible, but there always seems to be a little water that sneaks in. My eye clinic helped me out last year with a two-week sample pack for daily lenses that I could throw away after swimming in the lake, but since they're so expensive, it's not something I can do

on the regular. Wondering if you have any experience or know others with contact lens use and swimming. Risk an infection and hope your goggles stay tightly sealed. Any wrecks on goggles that are great for this? Consider prescription strength goggles, get LASIC, quit swimming. Any suggestions on this would be helpful. Thank you, Trisha. I say quit swimming, but I'll let Paula answer this question since I think I know what she's going to say.

Yeah, well, you know what I'm going to say, but I think with an astigmatism, you can't just get LASIC. That's too bad because that's what I have. I think it's more complicated than that. What? That's too bad because that's what I have. You have what? An astigmatism. Oh, you do. Okay. I mean, I'm not an ophthalmologist or optometrist or whatever you call them, but I think that not everyone is a candidate for LASIC.

personally had LASIC in 2012 before the 2012 Olympics. LASIC was a sponsor of mine, so I didn't pay for it, but it truly is the best thing, maybe like top five best things I've ever done for myself, because I have not had an issue with my vision since. And anyone who wears glasses or contacts or has not perfect sight, I think it's a worthwhile investment. Before I had LASIC, I wore daily contacts, which I realize are expensive, but I think on days where you're swimming, you should go for the dailies and throw them out. Maybe you don't swim every day.

Hopefully you don't swim every day. So maybe you could just save the dailies for the times where you are going to the pool or to the lake or doing a race. But I really think that risking an eye infection is not worth wearing the same lenses day after day when you're swimming every day. I have a quick question. because I'm just uneducated.

How much does LASIC cost? And now knowing your experience, how much would you pay? Oh, wow. So, Paula, you answer the question first, and then I'll tell you how much it costs. And I'm also going to tell you about the astigmatism with LASIC. I don't know how much it costs now. I think maybe back then it was maybe 5,000 Canadian.

Okay. Per I or total? It was total. And let me tell you, the process is so fast and painlessly. and the recovery is extremely quick. I think I took a week out of the pool and I wore like sunglasses outside, but it's a really unintrusive surgery.

How much would I pay now? 20. Wow. Or more. Wow. 20. This is just so incredible and fascinating to me. Like imagining,

be having blurry vision and then just all of a sudden in the course of one day, being able to see is just... I mean, it wasn't like I was going from blurry to clear. I wore contacts every day. But what really makes me feel like I would do it for a lot of money is that in three WTS races, which I ended up winning, my contact fell out in the swim. So I was literally racing the race with like weird obscure vision.

And it was like not that safe on the bike. So I was like, I need to put an end to this. There's got to be a solution. I think having prescription goggles might be. you a good solution for this person if daily contacts are truly not affordable. And then you would like put contacts in in T1? No, this person, like, wear dailies for a race, but just for day-to-day swim training, maybe wear the prescription goggles.

Oh, okay. The crazy thing about ITU swimming is it's so rough that even getting knocked a bit in the face would cause the contact lens to pop out in my goggles. Really? Yeah, so that's, those are the situations where I'd lose a lens. I wouldn't lose a lens in swimming training every day. Right, right. So, anyway, Nick, how much does it cost and can you get it within a stigmatism?

First of all, what we need to get is like a LASIC code so that we make money, because I think we just sold hundreds of LASIC surgeries with your endorsement. Oh, I don't know about that. But first of all, you can get LASIC if you have been astigmatism. There may be a limit if your astigmatism is really bad. Yeah, I think they just have to like go and see if you're a candidate. That's exactly right. I remember doing that, going in for an appointment and making sure it was possible.

When I was Googling stuff, that was like, Everything said that, that you have to be a candidate. You have to see if you're a candidate. But on this website, which I found, which I don't know how reliable it is, but it looks legit, MacCi-EyCenter.com. LASA costs, on average, the life-changing procedure costs around $2,200 for one eye and $4,400 for both eyes, with cost determined by several factors. So this is in Los Angeles.

So that's well under 20,000. Wow, I really, really, really all made. That's well under 5,000 Canadian, too. That's probably about 5,000 Canadian. I don't know, 4,400 U.S. That is, oh, let's see. I don't want to say that's $5,700. $3,700.

$3,700 American is $5,000 Canadian as of today. So, yeah, not so bad. That's not so bad. That would be worth it. That's something I'm going to consider as well, because I have my glasses, but it would be really nice to not have them. Cool.

Yeah. Especially riding, honestly. Like mountain biking, when the things right in front of you matter a lot or trail running after dust, which is something I do all the time. Yeah. Yeah, I would just, on the goggles,

I would just go for someone with a bigger gasket and then really experiment with the different nose pieces that come with goggles to find the one that makes the leaking the least. Yep. Okay. Next question here's from Andy. Oh, from northern Germany. I love the video about the wetsuit testing.

Oh, speaking of which, that was our latest video on the That Triathlon Life YouTube channel. Really cool. Eric took three different wetsuits, a Roka wetsuit, top of the line roca, an orca wetsuit in a zone three wetsuit, and did as a scientific test as we could. Four one-hundredths with the same leaving time and tried to do the same effort. I'll just run through it. Basically, we did four-one-hundreds with each suit. not see what time I came in on, but then after about 10 seconds, I would look up and make sure that

I left on the 130, so these are 100 long course meters. And then at the end of each four with a suit, I would take it off as quick as I could, seeing how fast. And if there were any issues, any hangups, and then I put on the next suit and did this and repeated this test. So I did the Roca, the Zone 3, the Orca, and I went back to the Roca again just for control to see, basically trying to determine, like, I like the feel of all these. does anyone feel harder than the others and do the times confirm that one is faster or slower? It was really cool.

Nick filmed it. Without giving away any of the results because we want people to watch the video, is there anything that would like kind of surprised you or that you want to share that's not going to spoil anything? I would just say that what I thought was happening. You know, if you would have said,

which one of these do you think was fastest and which one were you working harder to swim in? I was wrong. That says that's great. I love that. Yeah, really cool. Okay, sorry, back to the question from Andy here. I have a question about wetsuits. Do you have any experience with the durability of different wetsuit brands and also how tight should it really be? Would you recommend using the bigger or smaller size if you sit in between two sizes? Best from Northern Germany, Andy. That's a good question. They're all pretty fragile, I'd say. Yeah, I mean, like really the key is to have your fingernails clipped and then try to always be. pull up the wetsuit using like the pads of your fingers. I'm like, you know, making a motion to Paula and Nick in the FaceTime, which is useless to everybody listening. But instead of like thinking like grabbing onto it with your fingernails, try to do it, you know, with the centers of the

pads of your fingers. You'll kind of get the hang of it. Yeah, I do, I said they're fragile, but I've actually never really torn a wetsuit by pulling it up. So maybe I just am careful with it, but they do have some durability. Yeah. And the places that are maybe a little bit more fragile or like the arms where it's really thin. People tend. The armpits. The armpits are where I've had holes. Yeah, I mean, you get those from stretching, but the place that we had the most fingernail holes

back when I worked in the triathlon shop was in the legs. People were just like trying to pull up the legs. Yeah, yanking. It's not anything against women, but more often or not, it was women because they just would kind of like they have fingernails, you know. Like men tend to have a little smaller fingernails. So anything you can do to not get your finger nails. your nails into the neoprene, wherever you're pulling it up and just don't try to put on your

wetsuit three minutes before the start. Give yourself a lot of time. Have you guys ever used that neoprene glue kind of stuff? It's like a repair for. Yeah, that does work. It works. Yeah, I had to use it last year. I spent hours with that on our rental fleet. Oh, with the shop. Yeah, that really does work if you get a hole in your wetsuit. And often when you get a little hole, the rest of the wetsuit's totally fine. You don't want to have to go buy a new one so that wetsuit glue is really nice. In terms of the sizing, I would say that it's

kind of like an old wives tale that tighter is better. Because if it's too tight, you really feel constricted and it's hard to breathe. On the flip side, if it's too loose, you get water in it and it is not as fast. But I would almost, if you're in between sizes, go one up.

I don't know. Is that bad advice? I would say go down. With the DeBoer, we both sized up like two sizes. It was absolutely insane. But most of the time, I'm a small and I stay with a small. And also they have like small tall a lot of the time or medium tall. So there's different lengths. And often I find that like the size charts on the on the websites are pretty accurate. Would you say, Eric? Yeah. Aside from divorce. Yeah. I would say 99% of the time they are pretty accurate. I'm always a medium. So some suits.

Some companies have a small and a small medium and a medium. Some companies have a small and a small tall and then a medium. And all often, like in Blue 70, I was between the small and the medium. So I did the small tall. I was out of the range of height on the small tall, but I was over the weight. So I basically just like filled a suit out sideways instead of vertically. You can always cut the legs. It stretches a bit.

You can always cut the leg. That's the thing, Nick. They are pretty flexible. So if they are too, a little bit too tight, like it does loosen up over time as you wear it a little bit and get it wet, it'll loosen up a bit. So if you first put it on, it feels tight. That's probably okay. Where it's not okay is if it's like hard to breathe and you feel panicked. Okay, so I pulled up two different wetsuits, the Roka top of line wetsuit and the blue 70 top of line wetsuit.

And under their fit tips, first of all, Roka says the suit should feel tight, but if it constructs, your breathing or restricts shoulder movement in the water, then you need to size up. So that kind of goes along with what you're saying. But then the blue 70 site says start with your weight, then match your height. Like you were saying, that's kind of the chart there. If your weight falls across multiple sizes, use your height to determine the best one. If your height and weight are both on the border between two sizes, choose a larger size for a more comfortable fit or the smaller size for a better performance, but a tighter fit. Yeah. That's great wording. That's good wording, yeah.

So that's, I mean, you guys struggled hard with the breathing thing, and that feels like that's number one priority. If you can't breathe well, it's just like the rest of it doesn't even come into play. Yeah, one should not be having a panic attack prior to diving into the water. Yeah. Next. All right, Andy. Hopefully that helps.

Next question is from Grant. Hi, Nick, Paula, Eric. I'm training for my first triathlon, Xera, New Jersey Olympic distance. Let's go. Yeah. And after a year of picking up lap swimming as an adult, I finally feel like I have a good enough fitness base that I'll be able to handle the needed endurance of the sport.

That said, I have no experience whatsoever open water swimming. How do I find good places to try swimming? It feels easy to find cycling and running groups on Strava, but can't find any open water swimming groups near me. It seems like lakes near me have swimming areas, but in pictures don't seem big enough for long workout swims. I'd also want to be with a group of more experienced swimmers for safety. Thanks in advance, I have a very difficult year with terrible losses of loved ones,

and triathlon training has been a great escape. Thanks for your company on my workouts. Cheers. Grant. I don't think you need to do as much open water practice as you think. I think a lot of people probably do none, and they're fine. I would say slightly more than none is probably a good amount. Slightly more than none. What I think is even at the race on race week, So you get there two days early or three days early, getting in that water is probably good enough.

That was stressing me out. Yeah, but if you don't have any other option, you're going to be fine. I think Grant has an option. It's just he might have to swim back and forth in 100 meters, which I think is totally fine to get the feel of the wetsuit and everything. You can still practice siding and looking up and seeing the same thing each time and getting the feel for the direction. And ideally, yes, get a couple of friends out there and swim side by side and get a little bit of feel for getting bumped by back and forth, but you can also accomplish that in a pool. So I would say 100 meters, 50 meters, even if you have to go back and forth, just get to feel

the wetsuit and make sure that that is not a thing that's keeping you up at night. Yeah. Yeah, practicing with the wetsuit is important. But also, you'll be fine if you don't do it, is my opinion. And as you do more races, like you get more comfortable with it. You won't even think twice. Here's my opinion as someone who swam with a wetsuit for the first time in the past 10 years. which neither of you have that experience.

You were both, first of all, very good swimmers on top of all that. But I think, what do you guys think about even if he can't swim with a wetsuit, open water, bring it to the pool a couple of times just to get used to that feeling first. Yeah, for sure. Definitely. You cannot show up on race day and not know if it fits. Right. Or race week, you know, like taking advantage of that.

But the other thing is I think there's probably not a lot of open water swimming groups, But I think there's a good chance there's a triathlon group that you can be a part of, a member of, and they will organize open water swims hopefully. Yeah. That's a good point. Or even just like one or two other people around you. Yeah. You could also go on to either, yeah, I think that triathlon life Strava Club has quite a few people commenting on there.

And you could go on there and say, hey, I live in such and such does anybody want to go for an open water swim? Might have some luck. I think it's a good idea to practice with people because I remember being surprised at how much I do not swim in a straight line unless I'm siding quickly enough, often enough. And then if you're used to seeing a line at the bottom of the pool, seeing nothing but blackness is a little disorienting. That's scary. Yeah, totally. So that's good practice to get in. At least that was helpful for me.

Finally, I think those, you guys never swim with these, but the inflatable little pull buoys behind you. That adds a level of feeling safe and visibility. But also like you can just like... Oh, do you? Yeah. When we're not swimming in the river where there are no motorcath. Where there are no motorboats allowed. But if we go somewhere where it's a little bigger and motorboats or, you know, we'll do it then.

Yeah. Yeah. But it's going to be okay, Grant. Yeah, those are great. It's going to be okay. You're going to do great. And we're very excited. We would love to hear how you do at Exeterra, New Jersey.

That's going to be fun. next one here is from David and these are two questions but both are really good questions high founders which might be the new might be a new one i accept i'm right to the party but i think i have caught up and consumed your most excellent podcast and youtube videos i have to say you do live train and race at some beautiful locations i hope one day i'll get to check out some of them in person i have a few questions i've built up and i would be grateful if you could answer any one of them Do you have any lactate testing as part of your training? If not, why or if yes, how frequently and have you seen real world results using it?

So let's start with that. Eric joked about it early on, but what's the truth? We do lactate tests. It's not even really a test, but we do go do bike testing one or two times a year. And the physiologist uses the strips just to measure the lactate threshold, like when it spikes up. and then we take those power data and that heart rate data and use it for training.

But we're not taking lactate strips to training day to day. The way that we see the Norwegians or a lot of people do. Yeah, we've never done that. Like we don't have our own lactate meter or the strips or any of that stuff. Two of the guys that we swim with

did lactate testing in the pool today, something we've never done, but they were doing like 400 repeats getting out, pricking their fingers, testing their lactate. I don't know. To me, I just don't have. understand it enough for it to be a valuable tool and I don't want to do it. So that makes it easy.

Yeah. Our coach, Paulo, does understand it and he has not recommended it to us. It's just, there are a lot of variables and a lot of, I think, I think that what makes it work for the Norwegians pretty well is that they've been doing it for so long, they have such a body of data that to them 3.1 and then on the next rep, they were 3.3. Like that means a lot to them versus us. It's like, oh well you know x y and z could have made that happen outside of just like my effort level you know a little bit how we talk about heart rate is is great but also if you didn't sleep well and you're under hydrated and everything it can kind of throw it so definitely adds a layer of stress to workouts that are already stressful because they're hard so i think that the way to execute it properly

is to have like a coach with you or someone to help you execute the session where you're doing that and Eric and I when we go do hard sessions we're both doing the hard session so we don't have someone on deck or whatever in a car following us on the bike to do it we just kind of keep things simple and it's worked for us so far yeah and Nick you might have no more but like correct me if I'm wrong the Norwegians it's not like every session of every day

they're testing but due to social media obviously that's like an interesting thing to take pictures of So I think it probably disproportionately looks like they're doing it a lot more than they even are, but they're checking in on it periodically. It's not like every swim, every bike, every run. They're going completely based on that. It's also like, this kind of leads to the question

I was going to ask you, but I guess I'll just answer it myself. Because the point is to understand what an effort's physiological effect on you is. So it's not going to change from a Monday to a Tuesday if you're running, right? You kind of, you can check in like, okay, right now, three or four minutes per K is this is the effect it's having on my lactate.

So now I know that and I can train accordingly or race accordingly in regards to that. Yeah. Yeah, I think our friend at the pool this morning was like, when you're doing an Iron Man, you want to stay at about a 2.0 or something, whatever that means. And to him that means something and he knows that, okay, if I'm swimming 120s per 100, I'm at a 2.0 and this is what 120s feels like. So when I'm doing a 20 by 100 at race pace, I should be going this. It just gives more data to execute training well if that's a tool you use, which we do not.

You know, I think you could somewhat equate it to how people try to use their heart rate threshold compared to their effort. Yeah, totally. And then the second question here, I love this question. And you guys are the perfect people to ask this. Why, in your opinion, don't you see many, if not any, retired pros competing as age groupers? Do you reckon you'll still compete after you retire? So let's answer that first one there. Why not?

You know, you see plenty of 50, 40, 60-year-old people competing in triathlon. I mean, that's extremely common. Are we not seeing pros doing that because they are, because it's bad form, because it's sandbagging? Or because they're like, I exhausted all my triathlon racing? You cannot walk anymore. Yeah, it's over, you know. Yeah, yeah. Good question.

I think there are a lot of factors to it, but I think for me, you know, we've been doing this for so long and trying so hard at it. And I think by the time that we've retired, we're making that decision because we've reached our peak and we're going to want a little bit of a break at the very least. And even if, you know, you didn't take a break, you're still. burdened with the memory of how fast you once were, and that's just going to get worse and worse. So, like, in my mind, it seems more fun to go take on a new challenge where there might be some improvements left to still have versus I'm just kind of like slowly watching myself get old,

as indicated by my finishing times, you know? Yeah. You'd have to, it's some serious ego work to be able to still do that, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I think by the time people retire, it's. you really should be ready to be like letting go of the amount of training and work it takes to be good at it. Like I definitely for one won't be going to the pool very often when I retire.

We're kind of like in the grind right now and it's for good reason. But once I retire, I think it's, yeah, it would be maybe not as fun to go back and not be as fast as you were. and like Eric said other goals other things you want to try trail running gravel riding still being active skiing more hanging out with your family more I don't know there's so many other things yeah to like give a little bit of context like we do not have weekends like our lives are we're on all the time and yes we have the luxury to go to the coffee shop in between workouts but for the most part like I've gotten like 12 texts in the last week from friends like oh my gosh powder day it's so good up there and I'm like I get you know I can't I'm on the treadmill I'm I'm doing

swift and stuff and there's so many things like that like Paula said that is once we're done with this like incredibly devoted dedicated lifestyle it's going to feel like one big weekend for a little while where we get to catch up on all these things that we've wanted to try and have never had time to do I wonder also if it's hard to it'd be hard to go back into the age group scene and like be paying so much money to do this because like it is so expensive to enter races and you'd have to suddenly like buy all of your own stuff and no thank you to that, right? Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, exactly. Thank you. We feel a little appreciated, Paula. I appreciate that. Well, that could be one reason. I don't know. I'm just trying to think of like, why has no one done this? You're right.

I don't even know one pro who's gone on race. I have one theory here, which is, you know, okay, let's say me. I keep racing until I'm, let's say, 75 and I love it. And then at the end, I'm like, you know what? done. I've finished. You guys have done 10 lifetimes of training by the time you're 35. And so that 75, you reached that when you were like 20 and you had to break through that barrier and keep going like, nope, I do this. I keep going on. I keep training even when I don't want to, even when I want powder days. I didn't go out. I didn't go on vacation. I did this thing.

I do wonder though if like we could probably train at like 25% of what we're training right now and still win age group races. You think that's possible? Is it about? Is it about? Is it about winning? Like, do you think once you're no longer a pro, you're going to care about winning age your braces? Or you're just going to care about doing it? Maybe not. Maybe then you'd feel like a fraud. You'd feel like, okay, why am I doing this?

This is embarrassing. Yeah. It's a complex ethical dilemma. I mean, I would like to go volunteer. I would like to continue doing what we do with the development team. I would like to continue that triathlon life as a brand and everything. I still want to be around the sport and everything. That's what I think is the coolest.

It's not just that, but like, we go to races with Ironman and like Paulineau-Nobie Fraser is our athlete liaison and Belinda Granger is doing the announcing. And like people that we watch. Marinda Carfrey is doing it. It's like everyone. Yeah. I would love to be involved in that capacity. Like you're still there. You're still in it.

We love the professional side of racing. We totally understand what it takes to be the best at it. But we're done with that and we're at peace with that. But we can still be there. And I think like being there from that angle would be super fun to me. Yeah. Yeah. So that's cool.

I've said this before, but that's what's kind of interesting about the podcast, is that you two aren't just other pro athletes that did well. People now feel like they are connected to all three of us. And 30 years from now, people are going to remember that they listen to the podcast every week and we're kind of like up to date on what was happening in your life and you're racing and your training and your hardships and your injuries and stuff. So it's kind of like you are forever connected to the sport. And to me in a much deeper way. If we want to be. Yeah. I don't think it's if you want to be.

I think it's the ship has sailed. No, I think if we fully like retired and went off social media, we would. It would be sad. It would be fine. It would be totally fine. Everyone would be fine. I don't think I agree with that. But I guess that's just a difference in our opinions.

Well, we'll find out. Stay tuned. I was waiting for me quitting the pod. 20 years. And then finishes with many thanks for sharing your incredible journey with us all and hope you all have many successes this year. All the best, David, from Sydney, Australia. It's quite an international question bank we have this week.

Yeah, it is. We got a lot of questions this week, by the way. Appreciate that. Keep those coming. We love when we can pick from a lot of questions. And if we don't answer it this week, maybe we'll answer it another week, you know? Oh, yeah. Next question here is from Sarah.

new pod supporter long time listener ooh Sarah thank you for being a pod supporter really appreciate that hi TTL team I have a wetsuit question regarding shorty suits shorts on the legs instead of full suit for petite individuals I really need that buoyancy in my pelvic realm

and often cut so much off suits on the legs is there any major disadvantage of a shorty suit as long as it's made for triathlons thanks as always for the humor Sarah what do you think how shorty are we thinking talking here like above the knees. Probably, yeah.

I mean, I'm just thinking like that's, this is... That's too short. From the hips and below is where you want the wetsuit more than anywhere else, you know? Yeah. In a perfect world, you would wear only pants. Right. Only wetsuit pants. No, I just think that the...

I don't know like a single wetsuit brand that makes... Because when I think of a short wetsuit, it's like shorts and also short sleeves. Yeah, for swim run. And I feel like that would be... It's just really hard to get the same quality of... wetsuit and speed that you're looking for with a wetsuit without the full arms and the full legs and also just warmth. Like a lot of the time, we're not just wearing wetsuits to be faster. They seriously serve a purpose. And a lot of the time the water is freezing and you want a

full wetsuit. So I don't know, they do make very small wetsuits for petite people. And I think cutting the ankles is a really good option if it's too long. But going all the way to shorts, if you're buying a wetsuit anyway, is not what I'd recommend. Yeah, that almost defeats the purpose. Yeah. Sorry, Sarah. What it is good for, though, is if you're, I used to do this at Commonwealth pool in Victoria, it was so cold, like the 50 meter competition pool.

So some of the people I trained with would wear those shorty wet seats just to train because it was like so cold in the water. So they'd serve a purpose potentially, but not for racing. Ah, yes. Okay. Okay. Next question here is from Catherine from Zurich. Dear Eric, Paul and Nick, I have a question about training when time is limited.

I'll be giving birth to my second baby in March and have 70.3 Wisconsin scheduled for September. Let's go, baby. Deferred from 20203. Nick's doing that too, right? Not the 70.3, baby. I'm doing two of those back to back. The full. He's doing the real race. It's not real. It's going to be real hard.

I feel confident I can get the training in for run and bike but probably won't be able to swim three to four times a week like before with a baby and a toddler. If I can only swim once a week, maybe twice. What is the biggest bang for my buck in swim training? I'm an experienced triathlet. I've done a full and many 70.3s and Olympics and sprints, so not overly concerned. However, I do want to get enough swim training in to finish the swim without panic.

Thank you for all that you do. Love the pod. Catherine from Zurich. So what's a good once a week kind of focus for someone in her position? Eric doesn't know. Duathlon? No, that is not true. What I thought of when I read this question.

This is insane. No, what I thought of when I read this question, once a week is totally fine. stretch cords go a long way. And we all discovered this during COVID when we were in lockdown. Remember that, Eric? We didn't swim for like a month and we were fine. I don't know. I just think that like if you're going to the pool once a week to get the feel for the water,

your best bet for that session is to do as many meters as you can in that session. Like don't mess around with doing like drills and sculling is my thought. And then when you're at home with the baby and the toddler and the busyness, you could do like 10 minutes of one minute hard pulling with the stretch cords 20 seconds off 10 times. It takes 15 or 20 minutes. And I do think you get strength from that. And we all did it during COVID. So worst case scenario, I would for sure try to swim twice a week. Once is so little, but twice if that's at all possible, like mix it by going to the gym and swimming.

for 2K and then running on the treadmill or whatever it is. But voice would be optimal. Yeah. In either way, still like trying to get as many strokes in as possible instead of like drill work or like 50s with long rest in between. It's like no, keep the effort lower to be able to get in more swimming. Is that what you're saying? I do think there's a place for like speedwork and sprinting where you do take more rest. But what I'm talking about is

just like being very diligent in the pool and not talking or taking more rest than you need and just being very focused for that time that you are in the water. And doing like best average sets of 100s, for example, on short rest are really good ways to get fit in the water when you're on a time crunch. Is that true? I mean, don't look at me. I'm not the person asking about swimming. I've never had a baby. I have no idea. That is an incredible undertaking. And I'm just so impressed that you're going to try to do a 70. three in the middle of that. That's true. That is really amazing.

And if you're an experienced athlete, this is what we found during COVID, is that all of our years of swimming experience really never went away just because we didn't swim for two months or whatever it was. Totally. Yeah. If you have any sort of background in swimming, I think this will go smoothly. If you're learning to swim this year, then it's harder. Then it's harder.

It would be struggle. Also, Catherine, if you see me in Wisconsin, say hi. I'll remember this question. I promise it's in my head. Catherine, Catherine, Catherine, from Zurich. Oh, she's from Zurich. and she's flying all the way over here for that race. Aw, yeah.

That's all so crazy. Catherine's a glutton for punishment. Okay, next question here is from Peter. Hi, TTR, Peter from the UK. Thank you for all the podcasts. They keep me company on my morning walks. I'm a keen runner, but I have never completed a triathlon. Is 74 years young too old to try one?

Running and TTL have become my friend since my wife died two years ago. I run four times a week. Your advice would be great. Kind regards, Peter. 74. I love it. I love it, Peter. Some sad stories this week. I'm sad.

Well, thank you for sending in the question. Also, thank you for listening to the podcast, considering you've never done a triathlon. That is really cool to us. You are for sure not too old to do. Yeah, no, you're good to go. I think we've seen like a 70.3 world, like an 80 to 85 year old age group.

Yeah, especially if you're like active still. and it's really never too old. And I think that's one of the cool things about triathlon is you don't have to go in and do an Ironman. You could go do a sprint distance. You could try an Olympic. You could do things that are local. There's a lot of welcoming opportunities

for someone who's new to the sport to come in and do it, regardless of their age. That goes on the young end. It goes on the old end. And another thing I realized as I get older myself is that 74 is not even that old. It is crazy how our perception of age has really changed.

Yeah, I'm like, my dad is in his 60s. I used to think that was old, but he's like totally fine and fit. He could do a triathlon tomorrow. So I think there's a very big range of like people's health at different ages. But in my mind, 74 is not that old and you can definitely do a trathlon. And we would love to hear about it if you do. Oh, absolutely. I'll say too that my dad who has kind of toyed with the idea of doing a triathlon,

he is older than 80 and he recently went to his heart doctor and that's what I would tell you to do by the way, Peter, is see a heart doctor or maybe just a general doctor and tell them, hey, I want to do triathlon how can I make sure that that's a good idea

for my body? They'll be able to tell you if it's like, okay, we'll set you up a couple of tests. Maybe we'll do a EKG, like a stress test and see how your heart responds and then we'll go from there. Yeah, that's a really good advice, Nick. Even us as professional athletes to get our international race card in Canada, we have to do a test like that.

Oh, yeah. It's a pretty good idea for anyone to do that, regardless of their age, just to make sure that you don't have like some kind of a heart condition or like something you don't even know about. It might be a risk if you're exerting yourself really hard. Yeah. In Italy, even as an age riper, you have to get cleared to race. not just as a professional interesting Peter it's going to be very fun

triathons very very fun just make sure that's the priority is having fun totally yeah okay next question here is from Joe hey Eric Paula Nick hope you had a great season so far it's real early but it has been great so far

could you give us a rundown of your backcountry ski slash split board setups also I know Paula mentioned having a dedicated schemo setup in addition to her backcountry gear and as a gear nerd, I will happily hear about as much as you are willing to share. I also think that, Nick, you're mildly disgracing your heritage by not joining on some tours.

It'll leave the home of the Hut-to-Hut ski tour. Congratulations on Amazing Year, both on and off the race course and have a great 2024. Actually, he said 2025. Joe, you're a little ahead of yourself here, but. Okay, so what is your ski splitboard setup, Eric, for example? I have a Cardiff Snowcraft Paugoda, which I love. It's only the second splitboard that I've ever used, but I think I got super lucky. I got it because it was supposed to have a very surfy, like playful feel.

And then I got Valleys bindings. And I don't know what brand my boots are. They're K2. K2, like backcountry specific boots. So they feel pretty good to walk up in. I can crank them down with the boa a little bit when we switch to downhill. Yeah, I'm pretty psyched on the setup. The only thing I haven't quite figured out yet is the perfect set of poles.

I kind of want like longer poles with longer grips, but the longer the grips, the less, you know, small the poles get to put them in your backpack. And I would just always carry my poles while riding down, except I'm also trying to carry a camera for three. Right, right. We're going downhill. So my setup is extremely complicated. I will say that the one coolest thing, piece of gear that I've seen lately that I really want to get is our friend Nate has, is it, is it Joel Bo?

I never heard of the sunglass brand, but yeah, I think it's called Jolbo. Yeah. So Jolbo, I had heard of this brand. I just want to make sure that I had it right. They have these goggles that are, that you can wear while walking up and then writing down and they actually like pop off your face. You tell me about this. Yeah. by like three millimeters just so they let it flow through and your goggles don't fog and then

you just like kind of click put them back on and so you don't have to take your helmet off and your transitions are super fast. Don't have to take your goggles off. It's all great. That's cool. And do people like when you're talking about your setup is, you know, like on bicycles, tires matter a lot for the kind of skiing that you guys do for the touring. Do the type of skins matter or is that kind of like, no, they're all the same? Oh, good question. I don't know. I think that probably in schemo racing where it's really critical to take them off quickly, like while the skis are still long. they're very light

because everything is about weight. You want to minimize weight. But for the type of touring we do, I don't think that the skins make a huge difference. I've had skins for like eight years and they're still good. Oh, wow. There are definitely different prices of skins.

Yes, there's different prices. The companies would definitely want you to believe that there's a big difference. I would say like a ski purist would definitely be rolling their eyes right now and saying, yes, there's a big difference. But all the ones I've tried have been good and feel similar.

We don't go on days that are super gnarly to where, like, having a 1% better skin is going to, like, make the difference of you being able to go uphill or not. We don't, if it's, like, cramp on required skiing, we're probably not doing it. So, yeah, got it. We're pretty light on our gear. And what about Paula set up? I'm probably, like, the person who, relative to the amount they ski has way too much

freaking stuff. Because I just am obsessed with buying skis. It's so weird, because I don't even ski that much. It's just like my guilty pleasure. Yeah. Skies are policed drones. Yeah, exactly. Except you guys use your drones.

I just like look at my skis because they're so beautiful. The skis are in the videos. I do ski. I do ski. But what's so funny is I've bought so many new pairs of skis over the last couple years and I still go back to my Scott 95 with skis that I got like back in 2010 because I just love them so much. So I don't know.

95 is kind of like. a good overall all-round ski. But I also bought a pair of, this is how stupid this is. I don't even know what brand they are. You got DPS like 1-10s or something? I got DPS 1-10s, like super wide skis because I borrowed a pair when we went on our heli ski trip last year. And they were so beautiful and so nice. So I bought a pair this year with Dinafit bindings. And then I also got a set of new Solomon super thin ones to use for going up. uphill fast, but they're not schemo skis. They're kind of like an in-between. They're light ski, but they're not like a crazy race ski. And I think those are like a 78 or an 82. So I got the

full fleet of weights. And I think that we're probably boring most triathletes on this topic. Well, anyone who's interested in it just got all their cheat codes. So you're welcome. Yeah, I will say that the Dina fit or like the pin style bindings for, and he was interested in a touring setup are definitely the best that I've experienced. I have nothing to add to this topic, fortunately. The thing that's skiing, though, is kind of like triathlon I would imagine as an age group athlete is there's always more shit to buy. Right, of course.

Like, oh, I need a fancier backpack to match with my fancy ski pants to match with my five different jackets I have for different weather conditions and then my helmet that I use for uphill and my helmet I use for downhill and my goggles that pop off my face. It's like, suddenly you're spending. Maybe that's why I like it. We don't have a sport where we're spending all of our... For fun. For fun money.

No, we don't have any gear acquisition stuff, you know, like satisfaction from triathlon. Yeah, so skiing is that for me. I just need to go more often. Yep. Okay. Cool. Thanks for the question, though.

Okay, next question here is from Guy. That's officially his name here. What's up TTL, fam? I'll try to keep the questions short and sweet. What is your plan for this upcoming season with the PTO series and the new Iron Man Pro series? I'd love to hear a bit about what you are all planning for in terms of races this upcoming season, especially with the two main road pro series. Wishing you all the best this year, thank you for all you doing the triathlon community.

I'm all in on the PTO, baby. All in. You say all in, but that's not strictly true. That is. So you're not doing any Iron Man races this year? I signed the contract, Nick. It's not like you can't do any Iron Man races if you do the PTO series. That's what I'm saying here.

So you're saying you're all in. But you're still going to do some Ironman races potentially. Yeah, I think I'll do a couple 70.3s. The way that the PTO schedule is laid out, which has not been released yet, it is quite spread out over the year. And it goes all the way until the end of the year. So there's a lot of opportunities where there are gaps in the schedule where I could fit in a race like a North American 70.3 race, which I really want to do because I love Iron Man racing.

The 70.3 distance is different than the PTO racing. So I think it's fun to mix some of those in and it's really also fun to go back to races that we love, like Chattanooga, St. George, Oceanside. Like we have these good memories there. We know the courses. So anytime I can fit in a 70.3 in between the PTO, I'll definitely do it.

But when I say prioritize PTO races, I definitely mean that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's what I'm taking the most seriously. So that's my plan. Eric, what about you? Yeah, I don't know. It's really tricky season for me because I am not highly ranked enough in the PTO thing

to like get a wild card or anything like that. So none of those races are an option for me. I'll definitely be focusing more on... Not that you'd want them to be really, though. Yeah, it's... Yeah. I mean, if I really wanted to get into the PTO series, like I would have had to live my life slightly differently

over the last couple years. Yeah, maybe. like just, I mean, train a little bit differently, do less mountain biking, you know, Paul and I might have gotten in more fights on bike rides and stuff. So, I mean, I'm really happy with where I'm at and everything, but I'll be probably doing a couple of North American 70.3s. I'd love to get back to Santa Cruz. I'd love to do Trondon, Blonde again. Oceanside and St. George are just like classics, which, which, which we really like and we really like the community there, but I just have to decide if I really

want to do those courses again or not. And then like the thing that's really making me the most excited this year is going and trying to win Xtera Oak Mountain, which is North American championships for Xtera. And then go to Italy for your worlds. Yeah. For Xtera worlds. Yeah. Yeah, I think it's kind of interesting. It's the first year where our schedules will be potentially quite divided, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Like we experienced last year, I went to some of Eric's races where just he was racing. He came to mine where just I was racing. And I think having that kind of division and roles when we're at these races is nice.

And it's quite challenging for us both to go and race at the same event. It's definitely doable. We've done it a ton. But it's not all bad that maybe we're dividing a little bit in our schedules this year. Yeah, I agree. I mean, I've been there firsthand. And I think when both of you are racing on the same day, it causes like a cumulative stress. for both of you.

That's obviously not healthy for racing, or at least not helpful. I just feel like it's more of a game of compromise. And you can't be compromising if you want to race at the highest level in 70.3 and certainly not the PTO these days. And we have slightly different ways that we operate on race week. And if we're both doing the exact same thing,

then somebody is compromising at any given time. Well said. Okay. Last question here is from Jackie. Hello, relatively new to triathlon, but feel like I've dived in head first and catching up on all TTL episodes. Love your work.

Quick question for the team. I just qualified for World Champs and Nice after my first Iron Man, very stoked for a 10.30 with a handful of weeks on TT bike. That's great, by the way. My question for you, do you think Nice is best suited for a TT or a road bike with clip-on bars given the elevation?

Do you think the only time it's worth using a roadie is when there's lots of twist and turns on a descent rather than the elevation? Thanks, Legends. Hopefully you can come to a race in Australia someday. I knew when she said Legends, I knew she was Australian. I could feel it. Absolute legend. Legend. This is an interesting question. We've both raced in Nice at the 70.3 World Championships. Just for context, we're not totally guessing here. We've actually done that course. What would you say, Eric?

There's a little bit more to the Ironman course, obviously, the 70.3, but you start and finish the same way, I think with going up the cold avons and then coming down the... I don't even know if they go up the cold avons in the Iron Man. Oh, really? But either way, it's like the nature of the roads there, we kind of understand. Yeah. I don't know.

I mean, like, the year that we race there, Gustav Eden won on a road bike. So I think if you're significantly more comfortable on your road bike than you are on your TT bike... For the descents. Yeah, for the descents. and also potentially the climbing. This could be one course where that might be the better thing

and if that also sets you up for a better run, yeah, I think that's kind of on the line. I say the same thing with Alcatraz. With Alcatraz, if you're as comfortable going downhill as you on your road bike, might as well ride the TT bike. But if there's a huge difference there,

then go with the road bike because it can be hairy. The funny thing is that we always say always triathlon bike is faster, unless you're on some course like Nice and then maybe the road and here we are where that's a real situation where it's world championship

and people are trying to decide what's going to be faster for them. I think that on that course for professionals the TT bike for sure is better especially for an Iron Man there are a lot of parts of that course that you will benefit from being aerodynamic

versus as light as possible and I think that the better technology and bikes and better braking with disc brakes and wheel choices, you can still descend really well on a time trial bike, maybe more than 10 years ago or 15 years ago on a time trial bike. So it's very feasible to do that race on a TT bike. And I think the biggest thing is just getting time on it and practicing on it. And if you're on a TT bike for two weeks beforehand, that's going to feel a little sketchy. But if you can ride your TT bike as your primary bike for months and months leading into it, practice on windy roads, that's definitely the way

to go, I think. Yep. EGY bikes are better for usually for storing nutrition, for carrying water, all the things you need in an Iron Man. So it's, I think the bigger question is like, do you go disc wheel or no disc wheel? Maybe. That's interesting. What I was going to say is that I think people underestimate how much aerodynamics makes a

difference, even on a course where you're twisting and turning and climbing and breaking a lot. Even in like a hill climb, you have to get pretty steep before you should be prioritizing weight over aerodynamics. It really makes such a big difference. And my thought was exactly what you said, which is, are you going to be able to descend safely? Are you going to be able to descend confidently on the road bike? Much more so than the TT bike. Maybe that's where it makes a big difference.

Yeah. I honestly think that the perfect bike for Nice is the Shiv T-T-T-T. Because to me, it rides like a road bike. It feels so light. It's so light. Got the disc brakes. It's so easy to maneuver it. It's not like a tank T-T bike, but you can get error on it.

Well, you say, you know, you can get error on it because nobody can buy it. So this is funny. Like, you are sponsored by Specialized, but this is like not, and you're not trying to sell bikes here because you can't get the bike, right? Well, it's on the website, but it's sold out. They're sold out on the website. Yeah, but they've been sold out for like a year and a half. Okay, well, maybe if you offer us enough money, we can say you on. Yeah, so try that.

Maybe do that. Anyway, a bike like that. It doesn't have to be, you know, like the UCI legal bikes. Yep. Are all kind of similar. Yep. And they're lighter than the triathlon bikes. Yeah, if you're up for purchasing a bike specifically for this world championship.

Yeah. that you can't use the ad bike. Well, those are other questions that we had for this week. People are back to training, and I know people are back to training because I think the amount of people train is directly proportional to our relative downloads that we get on the podcast each week.

And they are climbing fast. Holiday break is over. People are back on the grind, training for Oceanside or whatnot. Just to be clear, Nick, that wasn't all the questions we had. That was probably like a third or less. And I had to pick a tiny percentage of those that we did.

So we're sorry if we don't get to your question, but I do read them all. Some of them I just feel like I should reply by email because maybe it's like too specific for the podcast. So what's on top next? Maybe we'll come down to Santa Monica and train. Get out of the snow. I keep telling people, I'm like, maybe Eric and Paul are coming next week. Keep your fingers crossed. Today I did this epic ride up under the Hollywood side.

sign all the stuff. And I was thinking how much I would love to bring you guys there. I think you would have really liked the loop. Yeah, I know. It is crazy because it's like we got this beautiful van

that can take us anywhere safely. But then we have a giant horse to put inside of it. Okay, Flynn is not the limiting fact. He is a thing, yes. But he's not the reason that we haven't packed up and left yet. I think the reason is because

all the drives are so mind-bogglingly long. to get somewhere warm. And we did a lot of traveling in our offseason. We went to San Francisco to the wind tunnel. We went to Canada for Christmas. We went to Victoria. I visit my sister.

So we feel slightly burnt out on road trips. I feel like burned out on driving. That's what I mean. I don't even want to like drive up the mountain to go skiing. Yeah. Very much, which is like completely different than last year. And definitely if you're training locations to train, it takes a couple days to get there. And then it takes a couple days to get settled.

And it cuts into a week of training. So right now we're just, although we're doing a lot of indoor staff, we are really on a role and it feels like we're getting fitter and we're able to all the training. Bleep out cute. I hate that word. I agree. I agree. It just reminds me of the she who shall not be named. Yeah.

So that's why we're struggling with this decision. Well, you guys know that I would love it if you guys came down. Of course we do. Yeah. We would love it too. just, it is a long way. How many times have you driven all the way up here? Once. Yeah. And your car drives itself. That's true. And I don't pay for gas. That is one thing that our dream van does not do. It does not drive itself.

That's what we, we'd have to do it like in a way where we stop and then we train and then we drive and then we stop and then we train. But we can't do that right now because it's freaking freezing cold and snow everywhere. We just have to suck it up and do it all at once, blast through. Okay, well, we'll let you guys know what we decide. Maybe next week we'll be coming at you from Santa Monica. Yeah, I would love that. I would love that. Do another video pod.

Yeah. Oh, don't get everybody worked up when you can't deliver. Okay, thanks, everyone. Later. Bye.