Nick and Eric are heading to Arizona this weekend to pace Heather Jackson through the final 40 miles of Javelina Jundred, Eric takes miles 60-80, Nick runs her home from 80 to 100 through the night. We preview the plan, talk through what we’re in for, and then get into a full question bag. Team TTL emails are out, Racing Division decisions are coming, and there’s something new dropping on the website.

This week we discussed:

• Nick and Eric are pacing Heather Jackson at Javelina Jundred this weekend, who has the harder shift and what are we actually getting ourselves into
• Race tracking privacy follow-up: a listener reveals how going anonymous on the Ironman tracker was used tactically to hide from competitors chasing a Kona slot
• Team TTL emails are out, Racing Division decisions coming imminently after 180 applications
• Are you a gradual getter-inner or a jump right-inner at the pool?
• What do you attribute to your longevity in endurance sport?
• If you had $200K in prize money, what one chore would you outsource?
• When is a niggle something to push through and when is it time to stop, especially with a race two weeks away and a swollen knee
• Is it distracting watching Breakfast with Bob when you can see his notes, and what actually makes someone great at interviewing?
• If you had no responsibilities and unlimited time, what one sport adventure would you do?
• Do pros pee on the bike during an Ironman, and what’s the ideal number of bathroom breaks?
• Continuous swimming vs. intervals
• Is age group triathlon in the US getting faster ahead of 70.3 Worlds Chattanooga?
• Arm band vs. chest strap heart rate monitors: accuracy, convenience, and what to do when the optical sensor goes rogue

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Eric and Paula are recording from Canada, Nick’s in LA, and the mailbag is full of Kona questions. We work through what the race actually does to your body and why it breaks even the best in the world, answer your training and gear questions, get a van update, and weigh in on the Moab 240 weather cancellation controversy.

This week we discussed:

• Bike Tech with Eric: should you remove dried tubeless sealant film from inside your tire, or does it actually add protection?
• What truly makes Kona harder than any other Ironman, heat, humidity, wind, the pre-race demands, cameras, and the psychological weight of the race itself
• Should athletes have the option to keep their Ironman race tracking private?
• Running vs. cycling right of way on Ali’i Drive, and the broader question of pedestrian lane etiquette
• Would extending the trash zone at aid stations improve safety and fueling, and did Gustav Iden and Matthew Marquardt's penalty tent stops accidentally help put them on the podium?
• Carbon plated shoe lifespan: are your Hoka Rocket X 2s still worth racing in over 200km?
• How hard should you actually swim a 70.3, and if swimming is your highest heart rate activity of the day, are you costing yourself on the bike and run?
• Off-season training structure, to rest or not to rest?
• How do you keep up with the laundry that three sports creates?
• The Moab 240 cancellation: the decision to start knowing bad weather was coming
• Treadmill workout structure: TrainingPeaks, Zwift custom workouts, or just winging it?

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Paula raced the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and this is the full, unfiltered debrief. No questions this week. Just Paula, Eric, and Nick working through the whole day: the rough, choppy swim, the windy bike leg, and a marathon that became something else entirely. This episode is the whole story:

• The days leading into Kona: the commitments, the exhaustion, the headaches, and whether the race week experience matched four years of FOMO
• The TTL Kona Donut Run recap, Malasadas, two kilometers in the heat, and a star-studded crowd
• The swim: rough conditions, a swollen lip, disorientation near the far buoy, and finishing in good position despite it all
• The bike: treating the first half like a 70.3, riding above watts to chase people, Race Ranger dynamics, and what Paula would do differently
• Navigating the aid stations in 28mph crosswinds on a day when the fastest male pro bike split was 4:11
• The run: from the first steps on Ali'i Drive to the Energy Lab turnaround and back, what it actually felt like, minute by minute
• Rachel Zelenkas, Kat Matthews, and the camaraderie that got Paula to the finish line
• Lucy Charles, Solveig Løvseth, and a day that humbled the entire pro field
• Whether finishing without a medical reason to stop is something to be proud of
• What Paula thinks about doing it again
• Kona TTL gear still available, Energy Lab hats, Castelli technical apparel, socks, and swim caps

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To help support the podcast, and if you have a question for next week, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Just the boys this week. We're recording live from Kona, a couple of days before Paula toes the line at the Ironman World Championship. Eric and Nick recap the week so far, including the TTL Donut Run, which brought out some familiar faces including Flora Duffy, Heather Jackson, and Jodie Stimpson. Then listener submitted questions.

This week we discussed:

• Kona race week: what it's actually like to be here, the energy, the chaos, and the pro athlete sightings
• The TTL Kona Donut Run recap, malasadas, a big turnout, and some A-list company
• Best apps for finding triathlon training routes, gravel rides, and camping spots
• Hip mobility stretches that actually work
• Would Nick take over from Bob Babbitt someday, and what would he call the series?
• Miscounting laps in the pool: do you shorten the next interval or just carry on?
• Advice to your past selves at the inception of TTL, and what it means for anyone building something big from scratch
• Surviving washboard gravel roads: positioning, speed, and whether anything actually helps
• Hydration on long trail and gravel rides with no gas stations in sight
• Backing out of a race you signed up for with a friend, how to feel about it
• Why marathon swimmers hold 1:10 per 100m for 10K but pro triathletes swim 1:20 for 3.8K

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

One week out from leaving for Kona, Paula is in the background sketching the donut run poster while we record. We open with a busy weekend of racing, Augusta 70.3, the World Triathlon Grand Final sprint in Pontevedra, and UCI Road Racing Worlds, then get into Team TTL applications opening today, the Kona donut run details, and your questions.

This week we discussed:

• Augusta 70.3 results: Lydia Russell wins, Samantha Skold third, Adele Likin's wrong turn with two miles to go, and what it highlights about race coverage
• The Grand Final sprint finish: Matt Hauser wins the race, Vasco Vilaça wins the world title, and whether Matt held his line
• Aerodynamic gravel bikes: what pro racing demands of equipment and what it means for the regular consumer
• Team TTL and TTL Racing Division applications are open now through October 19th, what the Racing Division is, who it's for, and how it's different from the main team
• Kona TTL Donut Run: Wednesday October 7th, 2pm, featuring malasadas
• Team Canada Kona shakeout run: Monday October 5th, 8am, hosted by Lisa Bentley at Big Island Running Co.
• FTP tests for seasoned athletes: how often pros actually do them, what Paulo Sousa uses instead, and why the scariest version might actually be a QOM climb you care about
• Nick's volume experiment: six minutes off a 27-minute climb after a month of Z2 only
• Paula's Ironman swim set: 10x400 on 15 seconds rest, no toys, no alternatives (well, maybe five 800s)
• Rest days vs. active recovery: how often Paula and Eric actually take full days off
• Backyard ultras: how long could each of them last, and why laps are their own special kind of suffering
• Strength training in a triathlon program: how to stay consistent without it wrecking your other sessions
• Looking up race results and imagining where you would have finished
• First 70.3 Worlds advice: why going three weeks early might be the wrong move, and what Paula's Kona build has taught her about not putting races on a pedestal
• The creative process in music and video: prosody, co-creation, and why you can't make art formulaic even when you really want to

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

We're recording at 7:15pm and going to bed at 7:30, which means we are bending time and space to record this. First up: TTL Mad Libs, a new segment submitted by Mike the Botox guy, in which we fill in a Kona race guide and somehow end up with Pierce Brosnan at the finish line. Then we get through a full question bag before someone's bedtime.

This week we discussed:

• Kona apparel update: almost everything sold out; what's still available at the Castelli booth on race day and why you can't say "Kona" inside the expo
• Your proudest Strava CR or QOM — Eric's COVID-era Portland climb rampage, Paula's Bend segments, and Nick's Santa Monica Pier sprint Up
• Losing 30-45 seconds per mile in the second half of a 70.3 run: fitness limiter, pacing problem, or both?
• How pro personal needs bottles work at 70.3 Worlds — the sticker system, race number order, and why Paula's never actually used one
• The best triathlon commentators
• Should athlete vitals be shown on the broadcast?
• Alcohol before a key race — how Paula and Eric have approached it differently this year, and the NA whiskey price problem
• Waterproof shoes for a 240-mile trail race: Gore-Tex uppers, the bathtub water retention test, and the dry pair rotation strategy
• Cooling techniques for extreme heat: ice bandanas, hands, neck, and where not to put ice cubes
• Aero helmets, bucket hats, and the Omius — where the line is between functional and ridiculous
• Torn wetsuit: repair it, cut the sleeves off, or buy new?

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question — or a Mad Libs — head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Paula and Eric are home from Nice, jet lagged, and ready to talk about it. Paula raced 70.3 World Championships on a course that demands technical descending skills built over years on European roads, and still finished top ten. The swim packs that split apart, arriving at the Col de Vance already fatigued, the Race Ranger rules that disrupted everyone's rhythm on the climb, a drafting incident that was caught live on the broadcast, fueling on a demanding course, and then on to questions.

This week we discussed:

• Paula's 70.3 Worlds Nice full debrief: swim tactics, the Col de Vance, descending faster than 2019, and what the run actually felt like
• The on-camera drafting incident explained, what Race Ranger rules require, what happened on the climb, and the personal apology that followed the next day
• Why Kristian Blummenfelt's 1:05:12 half marathon off the bike might make more sense on this specific course than it looks
• Katie Schide showing up at the turnaround on the run course, and what it meant to Paula to see her there
• The Nice croissant run: hundreds of people, one visit from the French police
• TTL Kona edition apparel launches Thursday, limited numbers, no pre-order, Foreign Rider collab
• Does cadence actually matter for cyclists, or is it just a distraction from the real problem?
• Wheel-on vs. direct drive trainers for a new TT bike: what actually matters
• Bucket hats in triathlon: sun protection or aesthetic surrender?
• Where to position your support crew on a 70.3 run course for maximum impact
• Running downhills without destroying your knees: shoe fit, grip, and why sizing up a full size might be the culprit
• Making mountainous training roads translate to triathlon-specific fitness
• Taper week from two pro perspectives: structure, what feeling bad on Tuesday actually means, and why consistency beats reinvention every time

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Nick and Eric are recording live from Nice, France ahead of 70.3 World Championships. Fresh off an open water swim in the Med, about to head out for a ride, the boys talk triathlon while Paula is in race week mode and sitting this one out.

This week we discussed:

• Live from Nice: what it's been like being here for 70.3 Worlds, and how the experience compares to Kona
• Ironman events selling out in under twelve minutes, should there be a qualification requirement before signing up for a full or half distance race?
• A triathlete was bitten by an alligator training on the Augusta 70.3 swim course, how much does wildlife factor into race choices, and where's the line between rational and irrational fear?
• Brody's stats are in, if you had 40+ hours a week to train him, could you make him go pro by 35 with four kids? Be brutal.
• Power meters for a TT bike on a budget: single vs. dual sided, left vs. right, and whether pedal-based makes more sense
• Road cycling etiquette and how to deal with aggressive drivers without letting it derail a hard session
• Watch recommendations for someone who splits time equally between road speed work and long trail days
• Dealing with race morning appetite issues when nothing you try in training translates to the start line
• Cold water adaptation for a no-wetsuit open water race in Lake Tahoe when you live somewhere hot, cold plunge, AC, or just suffer?
• The most meaningful lesson each has learned from the other

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast