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#519 A Lens on Swimming: Casey Arendt & Snake & Pig Goggles
81 Plays6 days ago
This week on the Grit2Greatness Endurance Podcast, we dive deep into swimming with Casey Arendt of Snake & Pig goggles. From childhood lanes to open-water adventures and a 10K swim, Casey shares insights that will make waves in your training. Plus, we announce our 2026 Grit2Greatness Ambassador Team, explore why protein is the unsung hero in endurance workouts, and wrap up with a fun “Not My Job” Snake & Pig trivia segment. Sponsored by Vespa Power Endurance and TriDot Training.
Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We’ll see you next week!
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TriDot Pool School CS 2/28-3/1 Link - TPS @ Colorado Springs CO- February 28-March1-Pool School Average improvement for the last two pool schools in Colorado Springs was 15% and this was after 2 days of swimming at altitude with a lot of out-of-state visitors!
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Transcript
Introduction to the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast
00:00:13
Rich
All right, welcome to episode 519 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts, coaches Rich Soares, April Spilde and Lauren Brown.
00:00:18
Lauren Brown
want
00:00:22
Rich
And you have found the podcast for endurance athletes who want to train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve greatness.
00:00:31
April
Whether you're a swimmer, cyclist, or runner, whether you like smooth roads or rocky trails, wherever you are in the pack each week we share practical coaching insights, proven strategies, and a little fun to keep you motivated.
00:00:47
Lauren Brown
And whether you're chasing your first finish line or aiming for a new PR, you're part of a community that pushes, inspires, and celebrates every step of the journey.
Exploring Swimming with Casey Arndt
00:00:58
Lauren Brown
Let's dive in and get gritty together.
00:01:01
Rich
This week, we're doing a deep dive on swimming with a lens of insight from our featured guest. This is Casey Arndt.
00:01:10
Rich
Casey Arndt of Snake and Pig Swim Goggles. Casey's story flows from childhood lanes of open water and open water adventures, some coaching currents, and even a 10K swim tidal wave. So grab your goggles and let's get ready to soak up some wisdom because this conversation is going to make some waves.
00:01:30
April
Yes, we've got a lot packed in today's show, including some announcements and amazing news that we're going to share today. We have our feature interview with Casey at bat.
00:01:40
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:01:41
April
And then our tri-dot workout of the week is all about a little different spin tonight on... the unsung hero to your workouts, which is protein. So we're talking about protein intake and all the great things with that. And then I've got a a special segment all about snakes and pigs tonight. So we are going to be breaking it down animal kingdom style for our special guest. And she didn't even know what she was signing up for. So let's get started.
Casey Arndt on Swimming Goggles and Ambassador Team
00:02:16
Rich
Yeah, we sold this as just, you know, hey, you know, come join us and help us talk about these wonderful goggles that make us like are so comfortable. And now we've got you embroiled in everything that we do on the podcast.
00:02:28
Rich
So we're so glad you're.
00:02:29
Casey Arendt
I wish I had like a plastic boa constrictor I could put around my neck right now and really get into the feel here.
00:02:29
Rich
a
00:02:35
Rich
i wish I had my goggles on, right? You like I would actually wear them.
00:02:37
April
Yeah. yeah yeah
00:02:38
Casey Arendt
Here, I'll hand you a pair.
00:02:39
April
yeah Yes.
00:02:40
Casey Arendt
right, no, does that work? No.
00:02:42
Lauren Brown
I thinking we should have all came on with our goggles on. Oh, that would be great.
00:02:44
April
We honestly...
00:02:46
Rich
Missed opportunity, missed opportunity.
00:02:47
Lauren Brown
I mean, I have mine like right over here, but I'll be right back.
00:02:50
Rich
Okay, I dare you, i double dare you. all right, well, let's get into some announcements and news. And first, the the thing that we are really excited about this week is that we did announce our 2026 Grit to Greatness Ambassador Team.
00:03:05
Rich
We wanna give a shout out to the following. And what gonna do is by coach, we're gonna read out the name of 2026 Ambassador and what was their answer to how they define grit. So here we go. I'm gonna hit it, get us rolling.
00:03:23
Rich
Congratulations to Paul Hunziker. Improvise, adapt and overcome. This was inspired by the US, United States Marine Corps motto. So thank you, Paul.
00:03:36
Rich
I've got Caroline Young Henry. To me, grit is the ability to stay the course when everything you want want to do is quit. It's about perseverance, discipline and finding strength when comfort isn't an option.
00:03:50
Rich
I first learned what grit really meant through athletics. A year spent in the pool playing water polo and training for triathlons taught me that success isn't about talent alone, but about the willingness to show up every single day, no matter how tired, sore or uncertain you feel.
00:04:08
Rich
got to tell you, there was like three more paragraphs to that answer.
00:04:12
Lauren Brown
We have a lot.
00:04:13
Rich
But it was amazing.
00:04:14
April
That's the lawyer in her. Yeah. Yeah. She got it. She has to show the evidence. It's right there.
00:04:20
Rich
right. yeah
00:04:21
Lauren Brown
I love it. And real quick, my goggles are still wet because swam today. So i i couldn't really see through them because they were still wet. So they're going to stay up here. so
00:04:30
April
look great.
00:04:31
Lauren Brown
But i I love them. So
Defining Grit with the 2026 Ambassador Team
00:04:33
Lauren Brown
Laura Applebaum, for her, grit means never giving up and working on achieving goals, especially when things get rough.
00:04:42
April
And we have Ruthie Fountain.
00:04:43
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:04:44
April
I love to call her the fountain of youth. It literally means grit your teeth, dig in and do the work, do it for the reward of accomplishment and fitness. For me, it brings me closer to the Lord, especially when training and races get tough.
00:05:00
April
He is my role model for verifiable grit.
00:05:03
Rich
awesome and then alice kosterich grit means putting in the work every day and embracing the journey love that alice in zed pits to me grit means showing up when nobody's watching grinding through pain when comfort whispers louder and choosing discipline over excuses every single time it's the unglamorous relentless commitment to finish what i start no matter how long it takes or how ugly it gets oh god love this Grit isn't about talent or luck. It's about heart endurance and the refusal to fold when life gets hard.
00:05:37
Rich
Whoa. Whoa. And Carolyn Sanders, the term grit is simple. It's multifaceted. All at the same time, the most basic principles involve developing the ability to stick to a task and thrive, learning from failure, failures and developing a growth versus a fixed mindset that will help propel an individual to success.
00:06:01
Rich
I mean, like we could write a book with these.
00:06:03
April
Yeah, really. I want to give a special shout out to Michelle. She is currently deployed. She is a Air Force reservist serving as a first sergeant.
00:06:14
April
Just awesome. I love the representation of the Marine Corps, the Army, and now the Air Force. Michelle says that grit means persevering through challenges and always looking for ways to improve even just a little bit better than yesterday. It's also okay to reevaluate your goals and change course if needed, because grit doesn't mean forcing yourself to do something that no longer resonates with you or brings value to your life. Love that, Michelle.
00:06:42
April
And then Sasha Fierce, Sasha Goldsberry, grit is the capability of not allowing our brain to outride our capabilities.
00:06:53
April
Bravo.
00:06:54
Lauren Brown
Yes. Varon Thornhill for her grit is staying in your head and expressing what you are experiencing with breath, time and patience.
00:07:05
Rich
Love it. Chris Shothen, fighting through adversity, training a journey with ups, training through a journey with ups and downs. You have to stay the fight and not give up.
00:07:16
Rich
And Debbie Vasquez, dig deep and get it done. Perseverance don't stop. Be better than you were yesterday. Put in the work. Discipline.
00:07:25
Lauren Brown
Kristen Keen, means getting up when you get knocked down, pushing yourself when you don't feel like you can do it, and working through all the challenges life brings us because there is always hope for tomorrow.
00:07:38
April
And then we have Dr. Sarah Barr, who is also ex-ARMY, and she says, the tenacity to keep going to not give up.
00:07:49
April
She's also a cancer survivor.
00:07:49
Rich
all right.
00:07:51
April
She's just a badass.
00:07:53
Rich
She is a badass guys. That that was amazing. I'm going check in here with Casey Casey, like, like, where's your motivation? Like on a scale from one to 10 right now?
00:08:02
Casey Arendt
Let's do this. 10.5. ten point five
00:08:04
Rich
Right? 10.5.
00:08:05
Lauren Brown
All right.
00:08:06
Rich
Let's turn it up to 10.5. love it. All right. Hey, couple quick things here. First of all, and this is a great segue. We're going to come back. This is a great great catalyst for our conversation we're go about to have here with Casey. TriDot Pool School Colorado Springs coming up February 28th through March 1st. Link here in the show notes.
00:08:27
Rich
it's It's at the U.S. s Air Force Academy. We're in the yeah the pup the pool there at the community center. We get an average improvement of what is it, April? 15%.
00:08:36
April
It's like 15%.
00:08:38
Rich
fifteen percent
00:08:39
April
It's massive. Yes.
00:08:41
Rich
Two days in the pool with us, total of eight hours. It's transformational. Sign up and we'll make sure that you've got a good pair of goggles. By the way, we do not want any form goggles at pool school.
00:08:54
Rich
So get yourself some snake and pig goggles and you're going to be, because you're going be in them all day long.
00:08:55
April
Yeah.
00:08:59
Rich
So comfortable.
00:09:01
Casey Arendt
And they're engineered for that. That's exactly what they're for. Hours and hours of swimming, no no problems.
00:09:04
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:09:07
Rich
We should make you guys the official sponsor for our for our pool schools.
00:09:12
Casey Arendt
Yeah, we should do that.
00:09:12
April
that would be so cool.
00:09:13
Rich
Duh.
00:09:13
Casey Arendt
We should do that.
Casey Arndt's Journey in Swimming and Coaching
00:09:15
Rich
ha All right. And we've got the Grit to Greatness webinar, Greatness is a Habit, How to Build Yours in 2026. That's coming up next week, December 16th, 6 p.m.
00:09:25
Rich
Mountain Time, 8 Eastern. There is a link here in the show notes. Please join. Please click that early and register ahead. And then we have the Crit2Greatness Strava Club. Join us. It is live.
00:09:36
Rich
Link here is in the show notes. Can't wait to see you on Strava. And then keep an eye out for the launch of our Velocity Cycling subscriptions. That will be coming out in January.
00:09:49
Rich
So with that, let's swing into the big event of the day here. We've got our feature interview in place of ask a Coach.
00:09:54
April
Thank you.
00:09:57
Rich
We're going to be talking to Casey Arndt of Snake and Pig.
00:10:01
Rich
Today's guest has an incredible journey in endurance sports. She started as a competitive swimmer at just the age of five, carried that passion through college, and eventually found her way into triathlon, starting with the iconic Mrs. T's s Chicago Triathlon back in 1999. This is before I discovered triathlon.
00:10:21
Rich
Since then, she has raced everything from Olympic to 70.3 distances, coached athletes for over a decade as a USAT certified coach, and even represented at Aquabike Worlds in Penticton, Ohio.
00:10:35
Rich
That's awesome. And did I mention 10K in 2021?
00:10:37
Casey Arendt
Yeah, that was fun.
00:10:41
Rich
She's a part of the Snake and Pig team and brings a wealth of experience and stories. Let's welcome Casey Arndt. Welcome.
00:10:49
Casey Arendt
Great to be here. I'm excited. Yeah.
00:10:53
Rich
All right. So we, you know, we are really excited to have you. You know, we, we want to start and just have people get to understand your background a little bit. You have kind of a unique presence in the swim community. I'm going lead us off with the first question. Then I'm just going to rotate it over to, to coach Lauren and coach April. Uh, can you share how you first fell in love with swimming and what ultimately pulled you into coaching?
00:11:19
Casey Arendt
I honestly couldn't even tell you when I fell in love with swimming. I just feel like I've been doing it since I was born. There was an above ground pool in our backyard when I was a kid. And I'm pretty sure my first swimming experience was probably my mom just going, hey, baby, go swim.
00:11:35
Casey Arendt
And I probably fell in the water. But I remember being at swim lessons as a little kid, swim team every single summer. swimming in high school just seemed like a no-brainer.
00:11:45
Casey Arendt
Of course, I'll be on the swim team because I'm always on the swim team. And that continued into college, you know, Division III, nothing crazy.
00:11:48
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:11:54
Casey Arendt
Now I'm in Austin and they have this amazing Division I team with all these Olympians and, you know, Michael Phelps' old coach to coaching here. And man, I could never hold a candle to those guys. But, you know, when I was swimming, even in the pool, distance was already looking fun to me. i remember doing the mile in long course and thinking this is, this is my sweet spot right here.
00:12:17
Casey Arendt
So when I went away to college and graduate school, i was in Chicago and one day a year, i would see these weird people in the grocery store with these numbers on their legs.
00:12:24
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:12:30
Casey Arendt
like, what is that? I got to figure out what that is. And I found out it was this thing called triathlon that I'd never heard of. so I pulled some friends together and we made a relay team and that was my first ever triathlon was this the swim leg on the, this thing. And so I had to, i had to swim in open water and it was a whole new experience and, fell in love with triathlon that day, but you know, life was busy. So I didn't do another triathlon for many years. And, uh, I decided I wanted to do one myself and it wasn't long after that. Um, that.
00:13:03
Casey Arendt
that I was started putting other people into relays and the Dean of the score I was teaching at that time, she said, you know, you kind of have a knack for coaching. You ever thought about doing that? And that honestly, that little push is all it took for me to go get certified and and start going.
00:13:19
Lauren Brown
I love that.
00:13:20
Rich
It's awesome.
00:13:21
Lauren Brown
So I know you had mentioned that you haven't actually coached in recent years, but you did spend a nice chunk of time coaching. So how would you describe your coaching the philosophy that guided you?
00:13:29
Casey Arendt
Yes.
00:13:34
Lauren Brown
And what do you hope athletes felt, learned, or carried with them after working with you?
00:13:41
Casey Arendt
Well, i have to admit, I'm not really the cheerleader type. I'm more of the, here's this really hard set we're all going to do together and don't whine at me, we're going to do this. So it was it was kind of a work smarter, which sometimes means harder kind of philosophy, which, you know, honestly, my whole training for myself and my training for my athletes was very much about doing intervals that you don't think you can do. that are very race specific. And I was very into, you know, don't swim for fun and just do three miles in an hour and, well, not three miles, but 300, 3000 yards and just do whatever you want. It's got to be structured. It's got to be specific. And you can do things that you don't think you can do when you do that.
00:14:32
Casey Arendt
Even on race day, you can swim hard, in the swim leg when you've been used to thinking, well, I shouldn't be out of breath. I shouldn't never be out of breath. I should just swim easy. So I think it was that kind of encouraging people to work harder than they really wanted to in the right ways.
00:14:50
Casey Arendt
and with swimming, it was it was some work smarter, not harder with in terms of technique, you know that swimming doesn't have to be difficult. you should be able to swim without being out of breath. At the same time, if you swim well, you should push yourself to be out of breath by swimming well, but swimming hard.
00:15:11
Casey Arendt
So it was, it was a mix of strong and hard. And i think I wanted people to show up to get their butts kicked. was pretty much my philosophy.
00:15:20
Lauren Brown
I love it.
00:15:21
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:15:23
April
That's right on brand right there, Casey with grit. oh
00:15:27
Casey Arendt
I was listening to all those quotes and thinking I am in the right place.
Advice for New Triathletes
00:15:38
Lauren Brown
stop.
00:15:42
April
swimming can be often the barrier that keeps people from wanting to try this sport. And it does have a way of teaching us grit, adaptability and patience.
00:15:53
April
But what is one lesson this sport has taught you that you now pass on to your athletes?
00:16:00
Casey Arendt
I think you need to come prepared. But on the day, you just don't know what's going to happen, how you're going to feel, what the conditions are going to be. And you just have to be prepared for it to not be your expectations. With a lot of new people, i want them to be prepared to swim the whole swim leg freestyle. But the truth is, you may swim the whole thing backstroke.
00:16:23
Casey Arendt
You may swim the whole thing breaststroke. No one's going to give you a gold star for doing it all freestyle. So you have to give yourself grace to just do what's going to get you to the end. And sometimes you end up in a pile of weeds and you got to get yourself out of there or you've gone completely. I mean, there's all kinds of crazy things that happen in open water. It's nothing like being in a pool where it's just...
00:16:45
Casey Arendt
Everything is known. i mean, I've been in some pretty weird pool swims where my cap fell off in the middle of a race and I kept swimming past it as it was like halfway down the pool. It was very strange, but open water is just a whole other ball game. So, you know, you just have to do what you can do, but the more things you've done in training, the more things you put in your toolkit, you know, you've practiced going back and forth between freestyle and breaststroke. So if you've started out halfway breaststroke and you think, well,
00:17:13
Casey Arendt
maybe I feel better now. Maybe I can really swim. You've been used to doing those those things. You just have more ways of dealing with the unexpected if you've kind of been through stuff in your training. And, you know, my very first open water swim was horrible. I swam the whole way with my head out of, I mean, I swam a half a mile with my head out of the water the entire way because swimming around other people in open water was something I had never done before. And open water itself, I'd swum you know, probably 15, 20 times trying to get used to it, but it was still really unfamiliar.
00:17:48
Casey Arendt
And now, I mean, I could go probably two, three, four years without getting an open water and just go out there and just have a ball, you know, it it takes time, but you do get to where you can love it.
00:18:00
Rich
So if you have done a 10 K, you probably love it. Yeah.
00:18:05
Casey Arendt
I'm not sure and I love it enough to do another 10 K.
00:18:05
Rich
i like
00:18:08
Casey Arendt
That was a lot of training.
00:18:08
Rich
How long did that take?
00:18:11
Casey Arendt
I think we had a very slight current. I finished in about three hours, but there was a lot of, are we there yet?
00:18:15
Lauren Brown
And.
00:18:19
Rich
Yeah. Are we there yet? Yeah. right wellll we'll We'll get there when we get there.
00:18:21
Casey Arendt
Yeah, it's a long, long swim. That's right.
00:18:24
Casey Arendt
That's right. Thankfully, it was a swim I had already done as a relay where I only had to swim like a mile at a time and then we traded off.
00:18:31
Rich
Oh, okay. Yeah.
00:18:32
Casey Arendt
So I was familiar with the course. I kind of had a feel an idea of where we were at, but yeah, that's three hours is a long time. And then you you hear these stories of people who've swum the English Channel and they had really bad currents that day and they thought it was going to be 12 hours and ends up being 18.
00:18:48
Casey Arendt
I mean, it's just mind boggling.
00:18:51
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:18:51
Rich
It is mind boggling.
00:18:51
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:18:52
Rich
Well, you have a lot of experience that you bring to you know that you brought to your coaching and now you bring to your current role.
00:18:52
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:18:54
Casey Arendt
yeah
00:18:59
Rich
How does all of that experience like, you know, show up in what you do today?
00:19:07
Casey Arendt
I think it just gives me the the confidence to be able to help other people who are really wanting to get into the sport, but swimming is a barrier.
00:19:18
Casey Arendt
Just encouraging them and knowing how to you know, when I'm at the pool, sometimes it means I want to correct other people's strokes and I really shouldn't do that. So that's hard. But if someone asks, usually you can give them, you know one or two things that will help. And that's the thing about swimming is the better your technique gets, the the less work it is to work at that same level of intensity. So it's, it's kind of nice, but, know, I don't, I don't do much coaching anymore, but there's still a lot of working with other people and working in teams and still encouraging people to do
Winter Swim Training Techniques
00:19:56
Casey Arendt
their best. And, and, uh,
00:19:59
Casey Arendt
and just to persevere when things get tough. And, and you know, I want a friend to be able to say, Hey, we were thinking about doing this relay and we need a swimmer and just be able to jump back in the water and hit it, you know? And I've, I even remember talking to a coach who the very first time he thought about doing triathlon had no experience at all and was terrified by it. And he got to the point where he didn't even bother training for swimming anymore. he could just show up on the day and his technique was so good. He could still swim well. I personally,
00:20:29
Casey Arendt
still do need to do some training first. The first swim back after a long layoff is pretty rough. madam But yeah, once you've got that, it's, it's not like falling off a bike. Like you still need to dial it in. Feel for the water is always the thing you got to train, but once you've been there, it's easier to get back. So especially for winter training, I really feel like that's the time that you can be putting in a lot of technique work. You don't have all this pressure to be doing a lot of yards and it's the perfect time to be working on techniques so that you can you can bring that better technique to your longer distance once you get into the meat of your season.
00:21:04
Rich
That's great. Great advice. And what as a great answer. Thank you.
00:21:08
Lauren Brown
So when it comes to snake and pig which obviously i'm rocking the goggles i'll take them off my head now so i don't get like totally stuck in my hair but i do there we go i mean i honestly so for anybody who's not watching hasn't seen our video i mean i and i guess in video it's also a bit different i am a small person so i have a really i have a small head and i have always had issues with goggles because i feel like i have to put them so tightly
00:21:14
Casey Arendt
Okay.
00:21:29
Casey Arendt
Uh-huh. You should try the junior ones.
00:22:01
Lauren Brown
As a coach and as you know the marketing leader, leader for snake and pig how do you evaluate whether like a team community aligns with your mission and athlete-centered approach
00:22:15
Casey Arendt
there are a lot of different brands out there. We are among the tiniest. And we have grown almost exclusively by word of mouth.
00:22:25
Casey Arendt
So we are really looking for a place where there's already some people who are like sold out in love with our goggles. And if one of those is a coach, that's gold for us, but we want some of the athletes to already have the bug and then they can just spread it to others and, you know, providing a, team sponsorship is just, you know, greasing the the wheels that are already kind of turning.
00:22:47
Casey Arendt
So that's that's usually what we're looking for because, you know, we really believe strongly that when people are doing things in community like you guys are, especially when you can show up to the same workout, or even if you can't, if you're showing up in these webinars and these other things from all over the world, it kind of in the same place online,
00:22:48
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:23:05
Casey Arendt
everybody doesn't have to find things by themselves. You know, as soon as one person finds something great, everybody knows about it. You know, that's how I found the, the tri shorts that I used because there was another small company that was all about comfort.
00:23:20
Casey Arendt
Hey, you guys, we've got to try these, you know? you know, anytime you find something that really works, that's kind of a niche thing that solves a problem that other people have, it's really fun to be able to share that in a group. So, that's,
00:23:34
Casey Arendt
that's what we're doing is trying to tap into all these little, little hive minds that are all over the country and, and help them help people find things that solve their problems.
00:23:46
Lauren Brown
Well, we're thankful. so
00:23:48
Casey Arendt
Yeah. Awesome.
00:23:50
April
Yeah, Casey, we caught the bug. So all of us knew or heard about snake and pig through word of mouth. Rich was actually told about it as from one of his athletes.
00:23:57
Casey Arendt
Mm-hmm.
00:24:01
April
Uh, one of his athletes gave him the gift of goggles and, and it just was love at first sight from there. so. It's great that we get to share that with you and snake and pig has obviously developed a nice following among swimmers, but from your vantage point, what makes the goggles stand out, especially for newer or developing athletes?
00:24:15
Casey Arendt
who
00:24:23
Casey Arendt
I feel like there are so many things about swimming that is uncomfortable. You know, it's, that you already have a lot of reasons in your head to maybe not go to the pool and do the swim. You know, if there's,
00:24:36
Casey Arendt
If your goggles are are also part of the problem, you know, they just hurt all the time or you're trying to go to your eight to five afterwards and everybody's like, what happened to you? Did somebody beat you up? You know, it's just one more barrier.
00:24:50
Casey Arendt
So it's, it's nice to kind of skip over the 15 years and the pile of goggles in the closet that you don't use anymore and just skip straight to ones that are, are comfortable. And some people can use, you know, $15 pair of Speedos and be,
00:25:06
Casey Arendt
perfectly happy. And I, that was never me, but you know, if that's you, that's great. But if you do have goggle problems, it's nice to be able to just find one that right away that is going to be much more comfortable.
00:25:19
April
Yeah. You know, what's so great about this is, you know, rich Lauren and I, we all have different face structures. We all have different things that make goggles good or bad. All three of us have experienced amazing fits.
00:25:31
April
I mean, I have, uh, I have, have, have some hooded eyelids that make.
00:25:35
Casey Arendt
Mm-hmm.
00:25:35
April
Section on suction on my, uh, eyes really hard. So I w I like Lauren, I would have to tighten down the straps almost to the point of getting migraines.
00:25:45
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:25:45
April
And yeah, yeah. And it made wanting to go to the pool very difficult. And it's just been such a relief quite literally to have this in my pocket now.
00:25:58
Casey Arendt
Yeah. And for those of you who just following on audio, like you're not going to be able to see at the goggles, but the the key to these goggles is really, it's the gasket and it's kind of hard to get that across without having them in your hands.
00:26:07
April
Yes.
00:26:10
Casey Arendt
So if you have a friend who has a pair, just borrow them, you know, cause it's, it's the air cushion.
00:26:13
Lauren Brown
yeah
00:26:16
Casey Arendt
It's just this like squishy thing. and it, it just like, you can't tell from the box, you can't tell from a picture, but if you put them in your hand and you just squish the gas, you're like, Oh,
00:26:28
Casey Arendt
It's kind of like air in there. And so the way that they seal the water out is not by like suctioning on like a suction cup or like pulling the straps down really hard. It's just this soft thing that's kind of conforming to all those little k nooks and crannies in your face.
00:26:44
Casey Arendt
So you can leave them looser than you think you should.
00:26:44
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:26:48
April
Yes.
00:26:49
Casey Arendt
And, you know, we're not diving off the blocks.
00:26:49
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:26:52
Casey Arendt
We're not, some people don't even do flip turns. Like I personally, I do flip turns and I like to push off hard and they do stay for me. But, you know, you're, you're not trying to go, you know, a hundred yards and in 49 seconds.
00:27:07
Casey Arendt
So, you know, they're probably going to stay on and then you can just leave them a little looser and that helps all the things.
00:27:10
April
The comfort. Mm-hmm. Mm.
00:27:14
Rich
the air cushion is just as I so sit here on my on my ball, I'm just you know thinking it's just like having like sitting on one of those donuts, right?
00:27:14
Lauren Brown
And one other thing...
00:27:19
April
but
00:27:19
Casey Arendt
Oh, there you go
00:27:20
April
Yeah. It's like air ride.
00:27:23
Rich
If you like you you hurt your tailbone, right? You're going to sit on one of those donuts. It's like a donut for your eye.
00:27:29
April
Yeah.
00:27:30
Rich
It's a super air ride.
00:27:30
April
Air ride.
00:27:31
Casey Arendt
Totally is.
00:27:31
April
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:32
Rich
There you go.
00:27:33
April
hu
00:27:34
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:27:34
Rich
You know, one of the things that you said just now is how, like, it's it's removing one more barrier.
Community Support in Triathlon
00:27:41
Rich
I'm like, I didn't even think about it from that perspective before Casey. And that was, know, I often talk about like, you know, what are the barriers that keep people from getting into the sport? You know, just, you know, figuring out, all right, how do I, you know, like, do I just show up at a pool? Do I just, dot you know,
00:27:58
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:27:58
Rich
What have been some of the things that like we have a athletes that are listening to this, that are thinking about like, you know, maybe they're a cyclist and're thinking about getting into triathlon or they're, i don't know, they're just curious.
00:28:09
Casey Arendt
Right.
00:28:09
Rich
What are some things that you have found help people get through those barriers faster?
00:28:15
Casey Arendt
Well, i think knowing somebody who's in the sport who can just kind of walk you through some of those things is really great.
00:28:21
Lauren Brown
is really great.
00:28:23
Casey Arendt
One of the very first things I did when I was getting into coaching was to just give like a one hour talk at the community center about what is triathlon. And I literally showed people like, this is how we set up a transition.
00:28:35
Casey Arendt
And I would go through a transition right there in the room and just, you know, weird stuff like that. And, you know, going for like one swim lesson with a, with an experienced coach who's worked with adult triathletes before, not eight year old kids who were trying to learn how to swim breaststroke.
00:28:53
Casey Arendt
That can also help. I mean, just knowing that when you put your swim cap on, that the print should be on the sides instead of the front and the back. Like just, you know, those kind of rookie mistakes, you know, it's just nice to have someone who can walk you through that and tapping into a training group or you know, a coach or something like that can really ease the way.
00:29:03
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:29:14
Casey Arendt
I think that helps a lot. So anytime you can find some community where there's nice people and not just a bunch of people who are like, I've done 18 Ironmans and I couldn't hear less about you. You know, that's, that's not the vibe we're looking for. and in general, I've found triathlon to be an amazingly welcoming sport. I've done a lot of different sports, competitive swimming, cycling, racing, and it's always the, the little group that's, that's really going to help you get your feet wet.
00:29:44
Casey Arendt
There's also good books out there that kind of help, but with swimming, it's kind of like, yeah, you actually have to show up to the pool and know how to swim circle, swim in a lane. And like, there's just some, some things like that. And it's nice to have somebody who can walk you through it, whether it's a friend or coach.
00:30:00
Lauren Brown
So true. I even think like the first time I go to a new pool even can feel intimidating of being like, are there certain lanes that certain speed swimmers swim in and I'm not used to that. And when you're used to swimming at a certain place or with a certain group, you start to take it a little bit for granted, but it's a find a nice small crew, like the grit to greatness crew.
00:30:24
Casey Arendt
Exactly, exactly.
00:30:26
Lauren Brown
you You started to touch a little bit about talking about winter swim.
00:30:31
Casey Arendt
m
00:30:32
Lauren Brown
and So for our athletes, most of us are heading into our winter training where things shift a little bit. Some people might shift a little too far away from their swim training to come winter.
00:30:45
Lauren Brown
What are a few simple, sustainable tips for keeping swim fitness sharp without needing to spend the hours in the pool that we might spend when we're a little bit more in season around our races?
00:30:58
Casey Arendt
right right yeah I used to swim at the Y indoors and you know sometimes you think well it's winter and maybe I'll just swim for half an hour and then go hit the weights before I go to work you know these nice things where you can chain things together and so yeah it's nice to be able to get a quality swim in and not a lot of time so i think the number one thing is to come with a plan and whether that's a actually written out workout from TriDot or your coach or just, you know, a few things that you found online that you kind of like that you rotate in your your swim bag. I think that can really help because honestly, if I show up without a plan after about 10 minutes, I'm bored and like, well, I guess I'll just get out. So you're really not going to get anything done. So the plan is number one.
00:31:44
Casey Arendt
and But what' what should go into the plan? i mean, in my opinion, you really need to just give yourself a little patience at the beginning and just warm up and not have any expectations because you're probably frozen from coming in from outside and nothing's working, especially if it's early morning.
00:32:01
Casey Arendt
So the first two or three hundred is going to feel horrible and just know that it's going feel horrible and don't worry about it.
00:32:07
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:32:08
Casey Arendt
You know, it's always that kind of like, okay, i'm I feel terrible. I'm going to give it the first 10 to 15 minutes to decide if I want to go on. Just, you know, give yourself a little time. But then, you know, I think since you don't have all these expectations about I have to get 2,500 yards in today or I have to get 3,000 yards in today, you really do have time to spend on drills.
00:32:29
Casey Arendt
You know, there might be that one pool toy that's been in your bag that you're like, you know, every time I swim with this thing, it really helps me, but I haven't had time to play with it.
00:32:31
Lauren Brown
you.
00:32:34
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:32:38
Casey Arendt
You know, your favorite pair of agility paddles, or maybe you're a crazy person like me and you love your finesse parachute that makes you feel like you're drowning. you know, whatever it is Personally, my favorite drills are sculling drills because it's all about fuel for the water. And one of the things that I like about doing drills is making sure that whatever I'm learning from the drill actually makes it into my freestyle instead of it just being a drill for a drill sake.
00:33:07
Casey Arendt
So for instance, if you're sculling, you could skull for half a length and then the second half of the length is freestyle. And maybe you come all the way back freestyle too, but the whole time you're thinking about how does the water feel on the palms of my hands?
00:33:17
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:33:21
Casey Arendt
How does it feel on my wrist? How does it feel on my forearm on the left side, on the right side? Am I actually, pushing water back or is, am I just slipping, you know, things like that. So think, you know, if you've got two or three drills that when you tried them during the regular season, you thought, wow, these are really hard or man, I'm so floundering when I'm doing this drill.
00:33:44
Casey Arendt
Those are the ones you need in the winter. The ones that you hate are the ones you need the most.
00:33:46
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:33:49
Casey Arendt
So go and do them. And then you need to still do some structured intervals because otherwise, You're just going to be swimming junk mile, you know, junk yardage, and you're not going really get anything out of that swim. So, you know, maybe this is the time to do some fast 50s and see against the clock, okay, if I increase my cadence, did I actually get faster or did i just feel like I worked harder?
00:34:17
Casey Arendt
You know, things like that.
00:34:18
Casey Arendt
Maybe it's the time to do 10 by 100 and see if you can hit all of them within the same second or two seconds.
00:34:21
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:34:27
Casey Arendt
How consistent can you be? You know, these are skills that are so important for endurance sports. The consistency one is the biggest one for me and something that I think I just magically learned in all those years of swimming, competitive swimming, that people who learn how to swim later, they didn't have all the time to generate that skill. So now you've got to be You know, you've got to do it on purpose and being able to not go out too hard and then not go really slow for a little while to make up for that.
00:34:55
Casey Arendt
And then get back to sort of fast and then just Peter off.
00:34:57
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:34:59
Casey Arendt
I mean, if you could just swim the same the whole way, how nice would that be? So you feel so relaxed at the beginning and then you get to the end and you're like, man, I still got all the gas I need.
00:35:10
Casey Arendt
my training was for the right distance. I learned how to do the right intensity to get me to the end and I'm so ready to get on my bike right now and I don't feel gassed or like I just killed myself and you're happy with your time.
00:35:24
Casey Arendt
i mean, that's that's the but that's the perfect swim to me. Yeah, yeah.
00:35:28
Lauren Brown
magic.
00:35:30
Rich
Right now, all of our athletes should be expecting to see a 10 by 100 show up at some point in the near future.
00:35:37
Casey Arendt
Actually, if you really wanna talk about grit, the worst and best set I ever did was eight by 100 on three minutes. Every 100 all out.
00:35:52
April
oh
00:35:53
Casey Arendt
And you could even do it on four minutes. Like you could give yourself a lot of rest. But you would be surprised the speed that you can repeat when there's 12 or 13 other people doing that set with you and they're all watching you and you're really going for it.
00:35:57
Lauren Brown
Yep. Mm-hmm.
00:36:10
Casey Arendt
it is It is astounding. You're like, I had no idea I had that in me. And that's really fun. That's really fun.
00:36:17
Rich
breakthrough. Amazing.
00:36:20
April
Casey, I get one more question and I would be remiss if I did not ask you, where did the name snake and pig come from?
00:36:30
Casey Arendt
So, you know, when you go to a Chinese restaurant and they've got the, the, the placemat and it's like, snake and pig and dragon and rat.
00:36:38
April
Yeah.
00:36:39
Casey Arendt
it's It's just like that. So the two owners are both immigrants, one from Taiwan and one from somewhere in South America.
00:36:49
Lauren Brown
What?
00:36:50
Casey Arendt
And she, and she who was not from China region, was learning about the Chinese Zodiac. And she said, did you know that I am a snake and you are a pig, said the very nice woman to the very nice man.
00:37:03
Casey Arendt
And she said, you know, those have really bad connotations, but we're going to use it It'll be funny. It'll be ironic. And so that's the thing.
00:37:10
April
Oh, wow.
00:37:12
Casey Arendt
Yeah. So they're like the two nicest person people you could ever meet. And they have these like totally bad connotated animals that are like their spirit animals. And so they just get together.
00:37:21
April
Oh, that makes me so happy.
00:37:23
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:37:24
Rich
That's awesome.
00:37:25
Casey Arendt
So if you look at the box, you can see all these great drawings that Michael, the owner, has actually drawn himself.
00:37:25
Rich
What a great story.
00:37:26
Lauren Brown
okay
00:37:30
Casey Arendt
And they've all got snakes and pigs in them. And when I started working with snake and pig, I said, you know, open water swimmers don't really like thinking about snakes. So maybe lean maybe we'll lean into the pig a little bit more heavily. So that's why the logo is just a pig.
00:37:48
April
Oh, that's delightful.
00:37:49
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:37:50
April
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for answering that mystery because I was coming up with all kinds of different stories and I'm sure you've heard of all, but man when I told Lauren about it for the first time, she she's like, what?
00:37:59
Lauren Brown
yep
00:37:59
Casey Arendt
Yes. as
00:38:05
April
Yes. Snake and pig.
00:38:06
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:38:06
April
That is the name.
00:38:07
Casey Arendt
Yeah.
00:38:07
April
Yep.
00:38:08
Casey Arendt
Plus it's so memorable, right? It's like that, wait, what?
00:38:09
April
It is. Yes. Mm-hmm.
00:38:13
Rich
All right. April, is that it? You ready for me to bring it home?
00:38:16
April
That's it for me.
00:38:17
Rich
All right. Well then listen, we've got one more here for you real quick.
Personal Growth and Motivation in Sports
00:38:21
Casey Arendt
Okay.
00:38:21
Rich
And that is what is lighting you up right now? Like what is giving you inspiration in life and fueling your jets?
00:38:28
Casey Arendt
You know, I'm getting old. So in general, I'm just not as lit up as I used to be. But man, I got invited to be on the swim leg of a relay. And I'm so stoked to get back in the pool, see if my wetsuit is going to blow out all of its seams or not, or it's going to hold together.
00:38:48
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:38:49
Casey Arendt
i don't know. i mean i I mean, I can fit into it. I just don't know if it's ready for me. and And just hang out with friends and go do a race. You know, like go out of town and hang out with all these these gals that I've been racing with for years and just have a good time. And for me right now, it's it's not about being fast. it's It's hardly about grit anymore, but it is so much about community. And I think that's always been the part of the sport that I've loved.
00:39:17
Casey Arendt
Besides learning what my body can do, which was always... something that really got me going when I first got it, like can I do this? And then doing it is just like the best thing ever.
00:39:28
Casey Arendt
but the community aspect has always been a big part of sports. That's, that's the thing that's really, that's really holding me now is, is my friends and just doing stuff, doing crazy things.
00:39:39
Casey Arendt
It's kind of that, uh, that's a terrible idea. What time should I be there? Like, that's, that's, that's what it's all about.
00:39:45
Lauren Brown
Those are best friends.
00:39:47
Casey Arendt
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:48
Lauren Brown
Thank you so much, Casey. This was so great having you on the podcast and i loved hearing your your stories and your wisdom.
00:39:53
Casey Arendt
Awesome.
00:39:56
Lauren Brown
So thank you so much for for being so open and sharing.
00:40:01
Casey Arendt
Oh yeah. Yeah. I don't know how to not be. So that's just kind of me. No filter.
00:40:05
Rich
Don't go anywhere. We've got a lot of fun coming up. It's got your name written all over it.
00:40:09
Lauren Brown
Yeah, so shifting gears a little bit, going into the workout
Nutrition Tips for Endurance Athletes
00:40:15
Lauren Brown
of the week. First, we're going to shout out our sponsor, Vespa Power. So Vespa Power Endurance helps you tap into steady, clean energy so you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
00:40:29
Lauren Brown
Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source. Vespa comes in CV25, Junior, and Concentrate. Again, it's less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery. You can click the link in the show notes. Use discount code 303ENDURANCE20 for 20% off of your first order.
00:40:54
Lauren Brown
All right, tried out workout of the week. Coach April mentioned this earlier on. It's a little bit different than a actual workout, but it is something that is the unsung hero to your workouts. That should be an important component. And we are talking about protein and how much protein do endurance athletes actually need. Endurance athletes often hear outdated protein recommendations. I think some athletes might not even think about protein because we're so focused on worrying about our carb intake, but honestly,
00:41:32
Lauren Brown
or the reality is that a lot of athletes are not getting enough protein. And we want to shift that today. an appropriate target for most endurance athletes that you'll hear quoted is 0.8 to 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight.
00:41:49
Lauren Brown
During the off season, when strength training, because it should, but you have a little bit more time to maybe add some more strength training back into your training program, it might be a bigger focus.
00:42:02
Lauren Brown
You can benefit from going closer to 1.6 to two grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. And as an endurance athlete, when your endurance training, your swim, bike, run, whatever you're working on increases naturally yourre carbohydrate intake and your need might rise. And so It can appear that your protein intake is fluctuating, but the reality is is it shouldn't fluctuate too much.
00:42:33
Lauren Brown
The reason it fluctuates again might be that your carb intake is increasing. So your overall calorie intake might be increasing. Your protein should not decrease. Your protein is not less important, right? Again, it's that total calorie consumption and the carbs. So there's this little bit of a shift.
00:42:54
Lauren Brown
Protein should never be an afterthought, even when carbs are taking center stage. So key takeaways to keep in mind before we move forward, protein targets should reflect your training phase.
00:43:06
Lauren Brown
Again, because of where maybe your carbohydrates are increasing and of course your total fueling demands, but Try to, if you have outdated endurance norms when it comes to protein intake in your brain, try to set them aside and be open to what we're going to share about protein and and why it matters.
00:43:31
Rich
And here's why it matters. Protein isn't about size. It's about adaptation. This is about supporting muscle repair. This is about connective tissue strength.
00:43:41
Rich
This is about immune health. This is about hormonal balance, you know especially for women. Strength, turn you know, like this is like, you know, important for rebuilding and your health.
00:43:49
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:43:52
Rich
So, you know, don't let this be your limiter, right? You know, there's something else out there that could be your limiter, but don't let this be it. This is this is an easy thing to address. If you're training hard, but under fueling in protein, you may feel constantly sore, run down, or maybe just feeling inconsistent. Adequate protein allows your body to absorb the work that you're doing. It's not the work that you do that matters. It's how much you absorb that matters. So training stress leads to progress, but don't you don't want to burn out. Key takeaway, protein is how your body turns training into results.
00:44:28
April
Yeah, that's such a great point, rich. you think about from a longevity standpoint too, and making sure that we have the structures in place to support all the demands as we get older, protein is a big part of that. So let's talk about ideal sources and then how you can actually get more protein into your diet.
00:44:47
April
Remember the goal is consistency and distribution, not perfection. We want you to aim for 20 to 30 grams of protein every three to four hours, rather than loading it all into one meal.
00:44:59
April
Focus on high quality sources like lean meats, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, fish, tofu, legumes, and quality protein powders.
00:45:11
April
And when we say 20 to 30 grams of protein, that can feel abstract. So here are a few real world examples. If you eat an animal based diet, here are some examples of what 30 grams of protein can look like, such as four to five ounces of chicken breast or turkey,
00:45:31
April
four to five ounces of lean beef or pork, five to six ounces of salmon or tuna. And then we have one cup of Greek yogurt. Check the label. Most are between 18 to 22 grams. So pair that with a scoop of collagen or a boiled egg. And then we also have three whole eggs plus egg whites, about three eggs plus two to three egg whites. Okay.
00:46:06
April
One and a half cups of edamame plant-based protein shake aim for 20 to 30 grams per serving. And then Greek style plant yogurt plus seeds and protein powder stacking sources matters here.
00:46:20
April
The takeaway, you don't need massive portions.
00:46:21
Lauren Brown
Okay.
00:46:24
April
You just need to be very intentional. Carbohydrates may fluctuate with volume and intensity, but protein is the constant that supports recovery and durability year round.
00:46:34
April
So the big thing here is yes, carbs fuel the work, but protein makes it stick. Protein may not get the hype that it deserves, but it is one of the simplest waves ways to improve recovery, resilience, and long-term performance. You don't adapt to training. You can't recover from and protein is recovery. Okay.
00:46:55
April
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.
Trivia and Fun Facts
00:46:57
April
Lauren, thank you so much for this. I love the nutrition focus. That is absolutely a part of any workout plan and protein obviously is huge in that. And, uh, we're talking about protein right now and I don't know about all of you, but one of my favorite proteins is a bacon.
00:47:16
April
So yeah, I'm sorry.
00:47:17
Casey Arendt
There's another pig right there.
00:47:17
April
I had to.
00:47:19
Casey Arendt
I was waiting for that.
00:47:19
April
Yeah. So Casey, You are coming front and center with us. This is the long sought after fun segment.
00:47:30
April
And we are actually taking a cue from one of my favorite shows, NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, which has a key segment, yes, called Not My Job.
00:47:31
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:47:41
April
And you, my friend, are going to be answering all things and we will we will join you in this uh charade here but you will be answering trivia all about snakes and pigs are you ready
00:47:48
Casey Arendt
Okay, good.
00:47:57
Casey Arendt
I am ready.
00:47:59
April
okay so this is in honor of the brand name snake and pig i've put together a quiz that includes slithering facts oink and truths and things you definitely did not prepare for when you agreed to come on this podcast But don't worry, Casey, getting these wrong will not affect your goggle credibility in any way.
00:48:18
April
Mostly.
00:48:20
Casey Arendt
Okay. Oh.
00:48:21
April
All right. So let's find out how we all do in a not my job snake and pig edition. First up, I'm going to test a little of your bacon know-how. How much bacon does the average American consume per year? a six pounds, B 12 pounds,
00:48:39
April
be twelve pounds see 10 pounds or D 18 pounds.
00:48:45
Lauren Brown
Oh my God. Those are all big answers.
00:48:49
April
This is average.
00:48:51
Casey Arendt
I'm going 12.
00:48:52
April
The average American 12 pounds for Casey.
00:48:53
Casey Arendt
twelve
00:48:54
April
Hey,
00:48:55
Lauren Brown
I'm hoping it's I'm
00:48:57
April
what's a is six.
00:48:59
Lauren Brown
hoping it's six.
00:49:01
Casey Arendt
I mean, one slice of bacon doesn't really weigh that much.
00:49:04
April
This is Americans we're talking about.
00:49:06
Casey Arendt
Nobody can eat just one.
00:49:08
April
e
00:49:08
Casey Arendt
like Doritos. I don't know.
00:49:10
Lauren Brown
don't think it's ever true.
00:49:10
Casey Arendt
i'm still i'm sticking i'm sticking with
00:49:10
Lauren Brown
Most Americans have that.
00:49:12
Casey Arendt
I'm sticking with 12. It's probably too much, but I think it's great.
00:49:15
Lauren Brown
Does the average American eat bacon every single week?
00:49:19
April
I'm not going to say anything rich.
00:49:20
Lauren Brown
Oh my God.
00:49:21
April
Oh, rich. I can't hear you. My friend.
00:49:22
Casey Arendt
Oh no.
00:49:24
Rich
We're all good. So I am going to assume that like, this means like bacon on anything. Like it could be like, there's bacon in a burger. There was bacon on this. There was bacon on that.
00:49:35
Rich
I'm going to go we're going to go with, and this is, these are the average American. I bet you we eat a lot of bacon. I'm going to go big. 18, 18, it was 18 pounds.
00:49:42
Casey Arendt
He's gone.
00:49:42
April
What are you going with?
00:49:44
Rich
You said let's go 18.
00:49:44
April
18. Okay. All right. Answer. Rich is correct. Americans consume a significant amount of bacon, averaging around 18 pounds per person annually with total U S production, exceeding 2 billion pounds each year, showing bacon's enduring popularity as a favorite pork product used in breakfast and beyond.
00:49:58
Lauren Brown
Oh my God.
00:50:09
Lauren Brown
And that's that's not including turkey bacon, I'm guessing.
00:50:09
Casey Arendt
Wow.
00:50:12
April
No, this is yeah this is the fried.
00:50:15
Rich
I just can't wait for the clips about bacon and and Casey with her shirt. And it's just, it's just all going to work so well this week.
00:50:21
April
Yes.
00:50:24
Rich
I just can't get over it.
00:50:26
Lauren Brown
Wow.
00:50:27
Casey Arendt
my gosh.
00:50:27
April
Yeah. yeah
00:50:28
Casey Arendt
We need to have a baking giveaway. mean.
00:50:30
April
yeah
00:50:32
Lauren Brown
Forget the goggles, we're giving away bacon.
00:50:33
Rich
Oh, well played. Well played. Well played.
00:50:35
April
Yeah. Goggles and bacon. That's a great pairing right there.
00:50:38
Rich
oh
00:50:40
April
Okay. Next question.
00:50:41
Casey Arendt
New sticker idea.
00:50:43
April
Yes. Oh my God. True or false. Snakes smell with their tongues.
00:50:52
Rich
True.
00:50:52
Casey Arendt
I'm going with true.
00:50:54
April
All right. Great job. All three of you.
00:50:56
Casey Arendt
Wow.
00:50:57
April
True snakes flick their tongues to collect scent particles and deliver them to the Jacobson's organ. It's called the Bimero nasal organ. Fun fact.
00:51:09
April
Snakes don't have eyelids. They have a transparent scale called a Brill. And that is from world animal protection. Did you all know that?
00:51:19
Casey Arendt
No.
00:51:20
Rich
No, but I'm hoping my daughter, the zookeeper did.
00:51:20
April
No.
00:51:21
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:51:23
Rich
So I'm sure.
00:51:23
April
I was thinking about Morgan.
00:51:24
Rich
yeah
00:51:25
April
I was thinking about Mo when I was putting this together, Rich, honestly. So I hope she loves this. All right. Number three, which of the following is not true, not true about pigs.
00:51:38
April
A pigs cannot sweat. B pigs are smarter than dogs. C pigs are solitary animals and D pigs have excellent memories.
00:51:51
Casey Arendt
Going with solitary. That's the not true.
00:51:54
April
as the not true.
00:51:58
Lauren Brown
I'm going with that they don't sweat.
00:52:01
Rich
I'm with you, Casey. I think it is that they are not solitary. i think they're very social.
00:52:06
April
Yep, Rich and Casey take this one. Pigs are very social animals and they prefer groups according to the BS SPCA as another fun fact for you both.
00:52:19
April
Pigs can recognize their own names and respond to human cues.
00:52:24
Casey Arendt
wow
00:52:24
Lauren Brown
That I believe, I know people who own pigs as pets.
00:52:28
Casey Arendt
they're very smart
00:52:28
April
Yeah, they are.
00:52:28
Lauren Brown
They're like dogs, they're like having a dog.
00:52:29
April
They're popular pets as we led off with bacon.
00:52:30
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:52:33
April
This
00:52:35
Lauren Brown
You can't eat your pets.
00:52:37
April
is, oh my gosh. Okay. All right. Number four. What percentage of snake species are venomous? A about 10%, B about C about 50% D nearly all.
00:52:51
April
c about fifty percent or d nearly all
00:52:55
Casey Arendt
I'm going 10%. Hmm.
00:52:58
Lauren Brown
That's what I was thinking more so because I'm like hopeful that it's 10% because that'll just make me feel better.
00:53:06
Rich
I feel like it's like half of them. I don't know.
00:53:09
Lauren Brown
I hope it goes wrong.
00:53:10
April
Okay. This one, I got all three of you. I stumped you. It's roughly 25% of snake species that are venomous.
00:53:19
Lauren Brown
It's higher than I would like to.
00:53:19
April
And another, yeah. Another fun fact. Some snakes give live birth instead of laying eggs.
00:53:25
Casey Arendt
Ooh, interesting.
00:53:26
April
Could you imagine that?
00:53:27
Rich
to watch it.
00:53:28
Lauren Brown
It'd be weird to see.
00:53:29
April
Oh,
00:53:30
Rich
right
00:53:30
Casey Arendt
Yeah, a lot of slithering.
00:53:32
Rich
I don't want to. watch it i don't want to
00:53:33
Lauren Brown
visuals The visuals, thank you.
00:53:35
Rich
Yeah, don't.
00:53:35
Lauren Brown
I'm picturing it like just a little.
00:53:36
Rich
I'm out.
00:53:38
April
Ooh. All right. Last one here. We're all doing pretty good here. Okay. What feature allows snakes to swallow prey much larger than their own head?
00:53:51
April
Is it a flexible scales, B expandable skin, C hinged lower jaws or D extra stretchy lungs?
00:54:03
Casey Arendt
I'd have to say C, just unhinging. Oh, I think of unhinging, but you said hinged. I don't know.
00:54:10
Rich
Unh, you said unhinged.
00:54:11
April
on Unhinged, sorry.
00:54:12
Casey Arendt
Unhinged, yeah, yeah.
00:54:12
April
unhing Like in it can hinge and unhinged.
00:54:13
Casey Arendt
Like they can just. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I want C.
00:54:17
Lauren Brown
I'm going with the same thing. I can't imagine their lungs have something to do with it.
00:54:19
Rich
This whole, this whole episode is unhinged.
00:54:22
Lauren Brown
So, see
00:54:25
Rich
It's unhinged.
00:54:29
Casey Arendt
Perfect.
00:54:30
April
You all are correct. It is unhinging their lower jaw. It lets snakes open wide and swallow their large prey whole as from the natural or nature conservancy.
00:54:42
April
Fun fact, they can dislocate their job, but they don't, it's not actually unhinging them. That's why it says hinged lower jaw. They can dis, they can dislocate it.
00:54:51
Casey Arendt
Okay.
00:54:53
Lauren Brown
I
00:54:54
April
oo All right. How do y'all feel about that trivia tonight?
00:54:57
Lauren Brown
always
00:54:59
Casey Arendt
That was fun.
00:55:00
Rich
Bravo.
00:55:01
Lauren Brown
hold on.
00:55:01
April
but
00:55:01
Lauren Brown
I'm just
00:55:01
Rich
Way to bring it.
00:55:03
April
Well, that is a bacon wrap on not my job snake and pig edition. Whether you ace that trivia or learn that pigs are smarter than we give them credit for and snakes don't blink.
00:55:15
April
We can all agree on one thing. None of this will help you design better goggles, but but it did make us laugh. So Casey, thank you for being such a good sport and playing along. You've officially passed the most important test of all being willing to have fun on this podcast.
00:55:31
Casey Arendt
Awesome. Thank you. It was was fun.
00:55:35
Lauren Brown
Yes. Again, thank you for spending time with us today on the Good to Greatness Endurance Podcast.
00:55:41
Casey Arendt
Well, thanks for inviting me and thanks for being such great fans of the goggles. We really appreciate it. So tell a friend.
00:55:49
Rich
Awesome.
Closing and Listener Engagement
00:55:50
Rich
Folks, thanks for spending time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast.
00:55:54
April
Your support means everything. And we're honored to be part of your endurance journey. If you enjoyed this episode, especially as much as we did, please follow us on Instagram at grit to greatness, endurance, and leave a rating and review on Apple podcasts. It does help us reach more athletes like you.
00:56:13
Rich
And of course, stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness. We will see you all next week.