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Jay Weber Safe-Fair-Fun
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#495 Jay Weber - Safe, Fair, Fun!
Welcome to Episode #495 of the 303 Endurance Podcast. We're your hosts Coaches Rich Soares and April Spilde. Thanks for joining us for another week of news, coaching tips and discussion.
It’s Boulder 70.3 Weekend everybody! It’s going to be a toasty day in Boulder on Saturday with temperatures forecasted in the low 90s. Also bringing the heat is the professional men’s race with big names like Trevor Foley, Sam Appleton, Kevin McDowell, Chris Leiferman, Justin Metzler and more.
April - Plus we have a special guest interview with the head official for Boulder 70.3, local legend himself, Jay Weber. What better way to get the inside scope than to talk with the head race official! Speaking of scoops, Rich, are you ready to scoop up some UCAN?
Show Sponsor: UCAN
UCAN created LIVSTEADY as an alternative to sugar based nutrition products. LIVSTEADY was purposefully designed to work with your body, delivering long-lasting energy you can feel. Whether UCAN Energy Powders, Bars or Gels, LIVSTEADY's unique time-release profile allows your body to access energy consistently throughout the day, unlocking your natural ability to finish stronger and recover more quickly!
In Today's Show
-
Announcements and News (Rich)
-
Ask A Coach: How to keep races safe, fair and fun? Interview with Jay Weber
-
Get Gritty: Get Back on The Energy Bus Part 2!
-
TriDot Workout of the Week: Recovery Week Workouts
-
Fun Segment: Race Week Roulette Part 2!
Announcements and News:
Our Announcements are supported by VESPA Power today.
Endurance athletes—what if you could go farther, faster, and feel better doing it? With Vespa Power Endurance Nutrition, you can unlock your body’s natural fat-burning potential and fuel performance without the sugar crash. Vespa helps you tap into steady, clean energy—so you stay strong, focused, and in the zone longer.
Vespa is not fuel, but a metabolic catalyst that shifts your body to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source.
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Use discount code - 303endurance20
TriDot Pool School July 26-27. https://www.tridotpoolschool.com/component/eventbooking/pool-school/tridot-pool-school-20250726-844-986-401-167-857/94?Itemid=762
Before we head into our Ask A Coach sponsor, I wanted to pass on some kudos we got from Sasha Goldsberry aka “Sasha Fierce” that she really loves the personal feel of our podcast and how lighthearted we are which just speaks to positive vibes and good energy we bring to the multisport space.
Ask A Coach Sponsor: G2G Endurance
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Transcript
Role and Impact of Race Officials
00:00:00
Speaker
Our job as officials to educate, to calm the athlete, to converse with the athlete, and to respect the athlete helps the athlete experience so that whether Boulder 70.3 is your first race, whether Ironman Lake Placid is your first race, or whether you've been racing for 25 years, making sure that you have a good experience, worthy to keep them safe,
00:00:30
Speaker
to make sure that they are racing fairly and
Episode Introduction
00:00:33
Speaker
that they're having fun.
00:00:33
Speaker
Welcome everybody to your 303 endurance podcast.
00:00:37
Speaker
Aloha everybody get ready for your 303 endurance podcast.
00:00:43
Speaker
Woo!
Boulder 70.3 Race Preview
00:00:54
Speaker
Welcome to episode 495 of the 303 Endurance Podcast, where your hosts, coaches, Rich Soares and April Spilde.
00:01:00
Speaker
Thanks for joining us for another week of news, coaching tips and discussion.
00:01:04
Speaker
It's Boulder 70.3 weekend, everybody, and it is going to be a toasty day in Boulder on Saturday with temperatures forecasted into the low 90s.
00:01:13
Speaker
It always happens, April, every year.
00:01:17
Speaker
The first 90 day plus day of the year is always the day of Boulder 70.3.
00:01:25
Speaker
It doesn't matter whether it's June 7th or June 14th or somewhere in between.
00:01:29
Speaker
Anyway, we are super excited.
00:01:32
Speaker
We have a great show for you today.
00:01:34
Speaker
Oh, also, we've got a
00:01:35
Speaker
We're bringing the heat with some professional men's racing too.
00:01:38
Speaker
We've got big names, Trouble Foley, Sam Appleton, Kevin McDowell, Chris Leiferman, Justin Metzler, and more.
00:01:46
Speaker
I've got the full list here printed out.
Volunteering at the Race
00:01:48
Speaker
Wow.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:50
Speaker
I didn't know that the, uh, the Mets, big Mets was going to be there.
00:01:53
Speaker
That's great.
00:01:54
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:55
Speaker
So going to be a fun day.
00:01:57
Speaker
And I mean, are you excited?
00:01:59
Speaker
You ready to get up at like three o'clock in the morning to go volunteer?
00:02:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:02:04
Speaker
So Peter and I are driving down tomorrow.
00:02:06
Speaker
We're going to stay overnight in Boulder so that that morning won't be any earlier than 3 a.m.
00:02:13
Speaker
for us.
00:02:14
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to that.
00:02:15
Speaker
And then I honestly like this is one thing that I am.
00:02:20
Speaker
I don't mind getting up this early because right when we get there, it's going to be game basis on.
00:02:25
Speaker
Everybody's going to be hyped up, energized.
00:02:28
Speaker
It's going to be great, positive vibes.
00:02:30
Speaker
And I want to be a part of that.
00:02:32
Speaker
with you, Rich.
00:02:33
Speaker
I think this is going to be a lot of fun.
00:02:35
Speaker
We've got a great volunteer crew.
00:02:37
Speaker
We've got all 15 of our T1 slots filled.
00:02:40
Speaker
Everyone is like responding and, you know, people are engaged.
00:02:45
Speaker
We've got, everybody's got their parking passes out there and directions on how to get into the res.
00:02:51
Speaker
So,
00:02:52
Speaker
It's going to be a good day, folks.
00:02:54
Speaker
And we've got a lot of athletes racing.
00:02:56
Speaker
I know.
00:02:57
Speaker
It's going to be fun kind of juggling both.
00:03:01
Speaker
This is my first time volunteering in transition and also first time being a coach with my athletes at their race.
00:03:08
Speaker
So there's a lot of firsts for me.
00:03:10
Speaker
I know there's a lot of firsts for a few of our folks, too.
Interview with Jay Weber
00:03:14
Speaker
So like I said, I just am really excited about this because...
00:03:18
Speaker
It's going to be good vibes.
00:03:19
Speaker
It's going to be good energy.
00:03:20
Speaker
And we're all going to learn and grow together and have a blast.
00:03:24
Speaker
You bet we are.
00:03:26
Speaker
And we've got a really special interview.
00:03:28
Speaker
You want to tell our audience about our guest interview here?
00:03:31
Speaker
Yeah, we have our special guest interview with the head official for Boulder 70.3, the local legend himself, Jay Weber.
Product Introductions and Partnerships
00:03:41
Speaker
And what better way to get the inside scoop than to talk with the head race official.
00:03:46
Speaker
And speaking of scoops, Rich, I created this lead in myself, so we got to stick with it.
00:03:52
Speaker
Are you ready to scoop up some UCAN?
00:03:54
Speaker
That's pretty good.
00:03:55
Speaker
That's pretty excellent.
00:03:56
Speaker
I like that.
00:03:57
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:03:58
Speaker
Let's scoop up some UCAN.
00:03:59
Speaker
UCAN created LiveSteady as an alternative to sugar-based nutrition products.
00:04:05
Speaker
LiveSteady was purposely designed to work with your body, delivering long-lasting energy that you can feel.
00:04:10
Speaker
Whether it's UCAN energy powders, bars, or gels, LiveSteady's unique time-release profile allows your body to access energy consistently throughout your race day, unlocking your natural ability to finish stronger and recover more quickly.
00:04:23
Speaker
In today's show, we are going to cover our announcements and catch you up on all things that Rich and I have been doing.
00:04:30
Speaker
We had a pretty busy week last week.
00:04:33
Speaker
We also have our guest interview in our Ask a Coach section.
00:04:38
Speaker
And Jay really shares with us how to keep races safe, fair, and fun.
00:04:42
Speaker
Can't wait to bring him in.
00:04:43
Speaker
And then we are getting back on the energy bus for part two.
00:04:47
Speaker
We're going to finish up the last five tips in our Get Gritty section.
00:04:52
Speaker
rich will bring it in with the try.workout of the week which is perfect timing because after race week we need recovery and then we have race week roulette part two i got a little special sauce here inspired by jay so we'll see that a little later that's awesome and you know i am really happy to announce we are both really happy to announce that it is finally official
00:05:17
Speaker
Vespa is a, an official partner of ours.
00:05:21
Speaker
Uh, we have them on board and we have, this is a gift for you guys as well.
00:05:26
Speaker
We have a new discount code.
00:05:29
Speaker
This is a one-time use 20% off anything in your cart from Vespa.
00:05:35
Speaker
There's a link here in the show notes.
00:05:37
Speaker
You can try it out for yourself, folks.
00:05:38
Speaker
This is great.
00:05:39
Speaker
So if you've ever wanted to go farther, faster and feel better doing it,
00:05:44
Speaker
more confident when you are racing at the limit, Vespa Power Endurance is going to let you unlock your body's natural fat burning potential and fuel performance without a sugar crash because it's not sugar.
00:05:56
Speaker
It's helping you tap into clean, steady energy so that you can stay strong and focused and in the zone longer.
00:06:02
Speaker
That's because Vespa isn't a fuel at all, but it is a catalyst.
00:06:07
Speaker
that shifts your metabolism to use more fat and less glycogen as your fuel source.
00:06:13
Speaker
This is going to let you get through your race with less gels.
00:06:20
Speaker
with less sugar.
00:06:20
Speaker
It's going to let you live with less sugar.
00:06:24
Speaker
So less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery.
Personal Race Experiences
00:06:27
Speaker
The link right here is in the show notes.
00:06:29
Speaker
Go check them out.
00:06:30
Speaker
And the code is 303ENDURANCE20.
00:06:34
Speaker
And we hope you really enjoy it.
00:06:37
Speaker
And if you do really enjoy it and you become a team member of Grit to Greatness,
00:06:43
Speaker
we have an ongoing discount for you.
00:06:45
Speaker
Yes.
00:06:45
Speaker
A recurring discount.
00:06:46
Speaker
You can use it anytime.
00:06:47
Speaker
So think about, you know, when you, when you listen to us and you think about, you know, wanting to take your training to the next level, we also have support for you there.
00:06:57
Speaker
Ongoing support from Vespa as a part of Team Grit to Greatness.
00:07:02
Speaker
So how about that for an announcement?
00:07:05
Speaker
Now, April, before we talk about our other announcements, tell me about your race.
00:07:11
Speaker
You and I both raced last weekend.
00:07:13
Speaker
We were talking about it on the podcast last weekend.
00:07:16
Speaker
I did the USAT multi-sport aqua bike and draft legal national championship.
00:07:22
Speaker
I've also earned a spot to a worlds, which I'm excited about.
00:07:26
Speaker
Uh, but tell us about your epic mountain bike race.
00:07:30
Speaker
Well, this was definitely a step outside of my comfort zone.
00:07:34
Speaker
I, okay.
00:07:36
Speaker
I initially had signed up to do all three races or stages of a Pikes Peak apex.
00:07:42
Speaker
I rode one stage of it and I decided, yeah, I'm not ready for this.
00:07:46
Speaker
So I'm glad I did because on race day, there were a few things that happened that really just humbled me in a good way.
00:07:54
Speaker
First off, you know how we talked about Caroline with her hydration at her last boulder, right?
00:08:01
Speaker
Well, guess what?
00:08:02
Speaker
I jinxed myself.
00:08:04
Speaker
I forgot my hydration vest.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yes, in my fridge.
00:08:08
Speaker
And we were about 30 minutes away.
00:08:10
Speaker
So we showed up at the venue with an hour, you know, an hour earlier to actually about 90 minutes earlier.
00:08:18
Speaker
Well, about 30 minutes into that time, I realized that
00:08:22
Speaker
holy crap, I forgot my vest.
00:08:25
Speaker
And at this time, traffic is crazy, Rich.
00:08:28
Speaker
Like, I was like, you know what, I don't know if Peter's gonna make it back.
00:08:31
Speaker
But he he decided to go back and try.
00:08:36
Speaker
So as he was driving back to get my vest, I was like hunting down bottles, I had a couple of items in my bag that I, you know, some fuel that I used Vespa and
00:08:49
Speaker
some electrolytes.
00:08:50
Speaker
So I had, you know, a set that I could put in my bottle cages so I could, but I had no bottles.
00:08:57
Speaker
So I just grabbed like two.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:59
Speaker
So two like plastic water bottles, like Aquafina, right.
00:09:05
Speaker
Threw those in the cages and just said, you know what, if, if Peter can't make it, I'm just going to go with what I have.
00:09:10
Speaker
Well, I got like 10 minutes down to the wire and Peter's like, I'm like five minutes away.
00:09:16
Speaker
He got caught up in again, another traffic, and I ended up actually not getting started until about three minutes into the official start.
00:09:24
Speaker
So, and it was a neutral start.
00:09:26
Speaker
They brought you up Cheyenne mountain or Cheyenne Canyon.
00:09:30
Speaker
And I pretty much begged the, the race officials to let me start.
00:09:37
Speaker
And they were like, go have fun.
00:09:38
Speaker
Like, okay.
00:09:40
Speaker
So in my mind, I was like, you know what?
00:09:42
Speaker
I am here to have fun.
00:09:43
Speaker
That was such a great, great thing to kick me out the door, if you will.
00:09:48
Speaker
I ended up catching up quite a bit.
00:09:51
Speaker
I think I passed about seven, eight people, which is saying something.
00:09:55
Speaker
Yes.
00:09:56
Speaker
And it was hard, hard, hard.
00:09:59
Speaker
And I actually spilled a couple of times.
00:10:01
Speaker
I have a pretty gnarly scrape on my leg.
00:10:04
Speaker
And I, that's what I mean by humbling.
00:10:07
Speaker
Like I just was, yeah.
00:10:09
Speaker
So I made the right decision 100% to try just one of the stages for this round.
00:10:15
Speaker
But I think next year I'm going all in rich.
00:10:17
Speaker
It's going to be amazing.
00:10:19
Speaker
And I, I had such a blast.
00:10:21
Speaker
I actually got, uh,
00:10:23
Speaker
A nice little Moscow Mule Cup with Pikes Peak Apex on it.
00:10:27
Speaker
It's pretty, pretty nice.
00:10:29
Speaker
Probably one of the coolest finisher items I've gotten.
00:10:32
Speaker
And I ended up placing second in my age group for the single day, which the age group in mountain biking is it's like 23.
00:10:41
Speaker
I want to say to 39.
00:10:42
Speaker
Like it's a huge bracket.
00:10:45
Speaker
Wow.
00:10:46
Speaker
So yeah, pretty freaking cool.
00:10:49
Speaker
Congratulations.
00:10:49
Speaker
That's very cool.
00:10:50
Speaker
Thank you.
00:10:53
Speaker
You know, I was sharing with some of my athletes, they were very curious about what draft legal racing is like.
00:11:00
Speaker
And I was sharing it with them and I thought, you know, I might as well share that with our audience because I bet you there's not a lot of people that do draft legal racing.
00:11:07
Speaker
It is a very dynamic type of racing.
00:11:10
Speaker
You know, as I mentioned, obviously did the aqua bike.
00:11:12
Speaker
Aqua bike is pretty straightforward.
00:11:14
Speaker
It's a swim and a bike where you get to rip your legs off because you don't have to worry about the run, which I love that.
00:11:20
Speaker
But draft legal is...
00:11:22
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's such a different animal.
00:11:25
Speaker
So, you know, you start as a pack, like you're on the beach and it's a run in to the water start.
00:11:34
Speaker
So it is adrenaline from go.
00:11:38
Speaker
And you're just going as hard as you can on the swim without getting to the point where like, you're like red line panicked, you know, like you can go
00:11:45
Speaker
like orange line, but you go red line and you kind of get a little, you know, yeah.
00:11:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:50
Speaker
You lose space in the head.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:52
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:54
Speaker
But man, when you get out, I mean, you're already pretty amped up and you're, you've already kind of spiked your heart rate pretty good.
00:12:01
Speaker
And if you get an, I, I got through transition pretty quick, got out on the bike and I actually did my flying mount.
00:12:08
Speaker
There was a line of dudes like right there at the mount line.
00:12:13
Speaker
And they were all fiddling around.
00:12:15
Speaker
And I just found a little gap to run past them, did the flying mount.
00:12:19
Speaker
And I was gone before some of them even got on their bikes, which I loved.
00:12:25
Speaker
And then I follow this guy out.
00:12:27
Speaker
And it's a three-loop, 20K bike.
00:12:30
Speaker
Three-loop, 20K bike.
00:12:31
Speaker
So imagine basically like 7K loops.
00:12:37
Speaker
And you get out there.
00:12:39
Speaker
And I'm behind some guy, you know, right from the start, I'm like, oh, this is great.
00:12:42
Speaker
But then I realized he's going too dang slow.
00:12:44
Speaker
And I'm like, I cannot go this.
00:12:47
Speaker
I mean, it's great that I'm saving some energy behind this guy, but this is going to take forever.
00:12:51
Speaker
So I got to go.
00:12:52
Speaker
Well, as soon as you do that, if there's not a pack to get onto, you're in no man's land.
00:12:59
Speaker
And there I was, I was in no man's land.
00:13:01
Speaker
I was by myself, pulling myself, pushing myself through the wind for almost the entire first lap.
00:13:08
Speaker
I got around on the second lap and there's this big guy who was like at the swim start with me.
00:13:12
Speaker
I'm like, dude, I am looking for you on the course.
00:13:15
Speaker
And he came by and
00:13:17
Speaker
And he is like, you want to work together?
00:13:19
Speaker
I'm like, hell yeah, let's go baby.
00:13:21
Speaker
So he and I started working together and he was pretty gassed too.
00:13:25
Speaker
So he pulled for about, you know, I'm like, what do you want to do?
00:13:28
Speaker
Like 30 seconds?
00:13:29
Speaker
We're talking to each other, right?
00:13:30
Speaker
You want to do like 30 second pulls?
00:13:31
Speaker
Yeah, that sounds good.
00:13:33
Speaker
So he pulls, then I pull.
00:13:36
Speaker
Now I'm pulling and all of a sudden I hear from behind me, he goes, grab that wheel.
00:13:40
Speaker
And as soon as I heard that grab that wheel, a train came by like five guys.
00:13:46
Speaker
And we jumped on and they were going so fast that the, that guy got dropped.
00:13:51
Speaker
Like I lost him.
00:13:53
Speaker
So I'm like, okay, but this is pretty sweet.
00:13:55
Speaker
I'm just, these guys are going strong enough.
00:13:56
Speaker
And they were, nobody was expecting me to pull.
00:13:59
Speaker
They were just like, they were, there was one guy.
00:14:01
Speaker
Locked in.
00:14:02
Speaker
He was pulling the team.
00:14:03
Speaker
I'm like, fine, go.
00:14:05
Speaker
And I'm like, this is great.
00:14:06
Speaker
I'm coming in on the second lap.
00:14:08
Speaker
We're pulling into transition.
00:14:10
Speaker
And I'm like, this is great.
00:14:11
Speaker
I'm going to be with these guys the whole next lap.
00:14:13
Speaker
It was their third lap.
00:14:15
Speaker
So they pulled off and they were done.
00:14:19
Speaker
So now I'm back by myself again.
00:14:22
Speaker
I'm like, oh.
00:14:23
Speaker
And then about a third of the way into lap three, that guy came back along with somebody else.
00:14:31
Speaker
And he's like, you want to jump on?
00:14:32
Speaker
I'm like, let's go, babies.
00:14:33
Speaker
And so we, the rest of that lap, we, we all worked together.
00:14:37
Speaker
The three of us worked together for the last lap.
00:14:41
Speaker
Now, here's the thing, man, you, when you like try to catch on to those groups or you're, you know, trying to catch up to a group, you got to be really careful because you,
00:14:50
Speaker
I mean, you spend a lot of time in zone five, zone six, and guess what's going to happen to your run?
00:14:55
Speaker
You get all wiped out.
00:14:57
Speaker
And fortunately I had, I didn't blow myself up too bad.
00:15:00
Speaker
I actually had a pretty good run, but unfortunately that poor other guy, by the time he got to the run, he would, he said, he goes, my, my 5k was two minutes slower than it normally
Upcoming Events and Recap
00:15:10
Speaker
is.
00:15:10
Speaker
Wow.
00:15:12
Speaker
So it is just electric racing.
00:15:15
Speaker
If you know how to ride in a group, guys, this is a fun way.
00:15:19
Speaker
It's a blast of a way to race.
00:15:22
Speaker
But it is easy to feel sorry for yourself when you are by yourself.
00:15:28
Speaker
There's a group and there's a group and there's a group.
00:15:31
Speaker
I'm hoping for myself.
00:15:34
Speaker
Anyway.
00:15:36
Speaker
You're sitting at the lonely kid's table.
00:15:39
Speaker
Totally.
00:15:41
Speaker
But, uh, yeah, I'm looking forward to doing more of that kind of racing.
00:15:44
Speaker
And that looks, it sounds so much fun.
00:15:47
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:48
Speaker
Now here's the key.
00:15:50
Speaker
You got to be a good swimmer.
00:15:51
Speaker
You got to be a fast swimmer to do draft legal.
00:15:54
Speaker
Otherwise you're going to find yourself alone.
00:15:55
Speaker
So guys and girls, if you guys want to race, come to our pool school.
00:16:01
Speaker
Got a pool school coming up.
00:16:03
Speaker
It is coming up.
00:16:04
Speaker
This is Colorado Springs back at the Air Force Academy, July 26th and 27th.
00:16:09
Speaker
The link is here in the show notes.
00:16:14
Speaker
This is the thing to do.
00:16:15
Speaker
I had people at nationals going, Hey, I see you're wearing a tri-dot shirt.
00:16:19
Speaker
Have you ever been to one of their pool schools?
00:16:21
Speaker
I'm like, have I been?
00:16:23
Speaker
Have I?
00:16:25
Speaker
How many have I been to?
00:16:28
Speaker
Is the question.
00:16:29
Speaker
So anyway, those are our announcements for this week.
00:16:31
Speaker
That's some information for you.
00:16:33
Speaker
And I hope, I hope to see out there racing and I hope to see at pool school.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it's cool.
00:16:39
Speaker
I had Erin, my athlete that did 70.3 Des Moines, she signed up for TriDot Pool School.
00:16:45
Speaker
So I get to see her in person.
00:16:47
Speaker
I'm really excited about that.
00:16:48
Speaker
And she crushed her race this last weekend.
00:16:52
Speaker
So I want to give her another shout out.
00:16:54
Speaker
It was just...
00:16:54
Speaker
fabulous job.
00:16:56
Speaker
And before we head into our Ask a Coach sponsor, I wanted to pass on some kudos we got from Sasha, Sasha Goldsberry, aka Sasha Fierce, that she really loves the personal feel of our podcast, how lighthearted we are.
00:17:14
Speaker
And I just think that speaks to the positive vibes and good energy we continue to bring to this space.
00:17:19
Speaker
So I wanted to share that with you,
Coaching Insights and Services
00:17:21
Speaker
Rich.
00:17:21
Speaker
Oh, that was very nice of her.
00:17:23
Speaker
That's great.
00:17:24
Speaker
Well, you know, we just have fun.
00:17:27
Speaker
We do.
00:17:27
Speaker
We do.
00:17:29
Speaker
I love that you are just as giddy about this as me.
00:17:33
Speaker
All right.
00:17:34
Speaker
So let us lead into our Ask a Coach section, which is sponsored by Grit to Greatness Endurance Coaching.
00:17:43
Speaker
So training alone is tough.
00:17:45
Speaker
Training smart, that's where we come in.
00:17:48
Speaker
And just like Rich shared with you about riding
Jay Weber's Officiating Background
00:17:51
Speaker
alone, we want to make sure that you feel fully supported.
00:17:55
Speaker
So with Grid2Greatness Endurance Coaching plus TriDot, we give you optimized training and
00:18:01
Speaker
We give you the data and the support to crush your goals without burning out.
00:18:06
Speaker
You can try it free for two weeks through our try dot links below, then roll into your best season yet for as low as 1499 a month with the right tools.
00:18:16
Speaker
You are unstoppable.
00:18:18
Speaker
You want to go to the show notes, click the link and we'll get started together.
00:18:24
Speaker
Awesome.
00:18:25
Speaker
Awesome.
00:18:26
Speaker
Well, let's,
00:18:27
Speaker
Let's talk about this ask a coach section.
00:18:29
Speaker
This is not your typical ask a coach section.
00:18:32
Speaker
This is going to be an interview with a coach, but a coach that is not a triathlon coach.
00:18:36
Speaker
This guy is a wrestling coach by history here.
00:18:41
Speaker
And we're talking about Jay Weber.
00:18:44
Speaker
He is a world triathlon, USAT and Ironman official.
00:18:49
Speaker
I've known Jay for years.
00:18:50
Speaker
We've been bouncing around in the same circles for at least a decade.
00:18:55
Speaker
And he was at USAT Multisport, which was great.
00:18:58
Speaker
I got to see him every day that I was there and reconnect with him.
00:19:02
Speaker
And we were able to set up this podcast.
00:19:05
Speaker
We wanted to do this around Boulder 70.3 in particular, because he's going to be the head official there.
00:19:12
Speaker
And he also shared a lot of
00:19:15
Speaker
Great information that any athlete who is racing either this weekend or in the future, it's good information to know, you know, some of the common, you know, violations, you know, rule violations that folks make, you know, what you can do to prevent those things, what you can do to be safe and to race fairly.
00:19:33
Speaker
And I love his mantra, which is, you know, we're all looking for fair, fast, sorry, no fair.
00:19:41
Speaker
What is it?
00:19:42
Speaker
Safe, fair and fun.
00:19:44
Speaker
Yep.
00:19:45
Speaker
Those are the three things that really kind of are overarching as he approaches his role as an official.
00:19:51
Speaker
So let's do this.
00:19:53
Speaker
Let's get into this really awesome interview with Jay Weber, and we'll see you on the other side.
00:19:58
Speaker
All right, here we go.
00:20:02
Speaker
All right, as you heard in our warmup, we have Jay Weber joining us this week for the interview.
00:20:10
Speaker
Jay is a USA Triathlon and Ironman official referee.
00:20:13
Speaker
Jay brings a unique perspective to the sport.
00:20:15
Speaker
He's got a background in wrestling, but he also has a deep commitment for the multi-sport community.
00:20:21
Speaker
In fact, we just spent five days together out in Omaha, really multi-sport intense.
00:20:28
Speaker
Anyway, Jay, welcome.
00:20:29
Speaker
We're glad to have you with us.
00:20:30
Speaker
Thanks for having me, Rich and April.
00:20:32
Speaker
Thanks so much.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah, we're glad to have you with us.
00:20:35
Speaker
So this is the way we like to start off with all of our first-time guests.
00:20:40
Speaker
We like to do this little icebreaker called Two Truths and a Lie.
00:20:43
Speaker
We're going to ask you for three statements about yourself, two of which you know to be true, one you know to be a lie.
00:20:49
Speaker
Don't reveal until we ask you to reveal, but April and I are going to try and pick the lie out of the bunch.
00:20:53
Speaker
We'll just have a little fun with it, and we're ready when you're ready.
00:20:57
Speaker
I've got my, let's see, I've got a piece of paper and I've got a pen.
00:21:01
Speaker
We're bringing it here, Jay.
00:21:02
Speaker
You better need our energy.
00:21:04
Speaker
All right.
00:21:05
Speaker
So first one is I've been to 24 countries outside the US.
00:21:11
Speaker
Second one is I've been to all 50 states.
00:21:15
Speaker
And the third is I've never had surgery for an injury.
00:21:21
Speaker
Huh.
00:21:22
Speaker
Okay.
00:21:23
Speaker
April, would you like to go first or do you want me to?
00:21:27
Speaker
I'll go first.
00:21:29
Speaker
I think that the truth, yes, you have been to 24 countries outside of the US.
00:21:36
Speaker
I think it's also true that you've never had any surgeries, which would be a phenomenal with your career as with your experience as a wrestler.
00:21:44
Speaker
That's something that's a badge of honor right there.
00:21:49
Speaker
I want to say that you haven't been to all 50 states.
00:21:51
Speaker
Maybe you're missing one, like Oregon.
00:21:53
Speaker
My husband Peter's not been to Oregon, and he hasn't been to Hawaii.
00:21:57
Speaker
Those are the last two of the 50 that we've got to knock off the bucket list here.
00:22:01
Speaker
So that's where I'm going, Jay.
00:22:03
Speaker
But don't tell us yet.
00:22:05
Speaker
I've always wanted to hear how someone from Minnesota would say Oregon.
00:22:10
Speaker
What?
00:22:12
Speaker
So, Jay, I am going with, you have been to 24 countries outside the U.S. You have been to all 50 states, and you have absolutely had a surgery for a sports-related injury.
00:22:23
Speaker
He has like 20 surgeries.
00:22:27
Speaker
What is it, my friend?
00:22:28
Speaker
So, I have not been to all 50 states.
00:22:31
Speaker
I've been to... The Dakotas, even though they're drivable, I haven't been there yet, and the gravel lining there is supposed to be amazing.
00:22:39
Speaker
So, it's on the list.
00:22:41
Speaker
But...
00:22:41
Speaker
Yeah, I've broken my ribs, I don't know, literally like 50 times.
00:22:46
Speaker
I've broken, I fractured my heel, but never had a surgery for an injury.
00:22:52
Speaker
So, yeah.
00:22:54
Speaker
I've never met someone who's had a fractured heel.
00:22:56
Speaker
That sounds just painful.
00:22:58
Speaker
It was awful.
00:22:59
Speaker
I skied off a 50-foot cliff that I probably shouldn't have.
00:23:03
Speaker
The ski, one of my, I would have been fine actually if the ski had come with me, but one of my skis decided to stay at the top of the cliff and stomping on the ground with no ski is not exactly fun.
00:23:17
Speaker
Wow.
00:23:19
Speaker
Wow.
00:23:19
Speaker
All right.
00:23:19
Speaker
So tell us all of the sports before we get into all this, tell us all the sports that you have done or you like you're, you, you enjoy.
00:23:30
Speaker
I mean, sports that I enjoy is a much shorter list, so we'll go with that.
00:23:35
Speaker
Wrestling, skiing, water skiing, certainly multi-sport.
00:23:42
Speaker
If you want to throw kind of hiking, basically anything in the outdoors is something that I can probably be convinced to do, but I'm certainly never going to be a linebacker for the Patriots or any ball sports that involve
00:23:58
Speaker
Thighs comparisons is not really a sport or really not sports that I excel in.
00:24:04
Speaker
Awesome.
00:24:05
Speaker
Okay.
00:24:05
Speaker
Well, we're going to spend a lot of time in multi-sport, but we also want to go and talk a little bit about your background as we get into these questions.
00:24:14
Speaker
And before we get started, I'm going to put a little pause here real quick.
00:24:19
Speaker
Jay, is there any way you can pull the mic a little closer or get a little closer to it?
00:24:23
Speaker
I'm noticing that your volume is down.
00:24:25
Speaker
And if in the editing process, I'd like you to be as clear as we are.
00:24:30
Speaker
I can turn the volume up as well.
00:24:32
Speaker
Did that help?
00:24:32
Speaker
Oh, good.
00:24:34
Speaker
Still pretty, pretty low.
00:24:35
Speaker
I was wondering if you were hearing that too, Rich.
00:24:38
Speaker
So I'm glad you paused us here.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah.
00:24:40
Speaker
You could see the distance that we are from our microphone somewhere in that neighborhood.
00:24:44
Speaker
How's this?
00:24:45
Speaker
Is this better?
00:24:46
Speaker
Still low, my friend.
00:24:47
Speaker
We want to hear you.
00:24:50
Speaker
It's super loud for me, so I can... Oh, you're like, dang.
00:24:54
Speaker
Is the volume up or is the microphone recording up?
00:24:58
Speaker
Is there any kind of a gain sensor or gain...
00:25:04
Speaker
I don't see anything other than there's a volume control literally on the mic.
00:25:10
Speaker
Yeah, that control is what you hear though, right?
00:25:12
Speaker
Right.
00:25:13
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:14
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:14
Speaker
That's all right.
00:25:16
Speaker
Let's see.
00:25:19
Speaker
Already, even with that little sigh, I could sense it a little clearer.
00:25:24
Speaker
Is it now better?
00:25:26
Speaker
It's a little better.
00:25:27
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:27
Speaker
I'll just get super close and-
00:25:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:30
Speaker
Okay.
00:25:30
Speaker
We're all going to be really.
00:25:31
Speaker
Do you have like a couple books you could put underneath you?
00:25:46
Speaker
How about this?
00:25:48
Speaker
It's working.
00:25:49
Speaker
It's working for me.
00:25:52
Speaker
Can you angle it down more towards your face there, Jay?
00:25:54
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:25:55
Speaker
It's got a little adjustment.
00:25:57
Speaker
There we go.
00:25:58
Speaker
There we go.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah, there we go.
00:25:59
Speaker
That's exactly right.
00:26:01
Speaker
Yep.
00:26:01
Speaker
How about this?
00:26:02
Speaker
Cooking with grease.
00:26:03
Speaker
I get real close on that thing.
00:26:05
Speaker
How about this?
00:26:07
Speaker
That's good.
00:26:08
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:08
Speaker
I think we're better.
00:26:09
Speaker
Okay.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:11
Speaker
All right.
00:26:11
Speaker
Here we go.
00:26:11
Speaker
We're going to just keep rolling here.
00:26:13
Speaker
All right.
00:26:14
Speaker
So...
00:26:15
Speaker
Jay, when we were chatting back in Omaha, I was kind of curious about your background.
00:26:21
Speaker
I didn't know that you had such a wrestling coach background and that you had a background as a wrestler.
00:26:28
Speaker
Maybe just for our audience, just kind of share a little bit about your background in wrestling and how it ultimately led you to multi-sport.
00:26:38
Speaker
Yeah, so my freshman year, I went to a really small high school.
00:26:42
Speaker
In my freshman year, one of the football coaches, who also was a quite successful wrestler, decided to start a wrestling program at the school.
00:26:51
Speaker
So 13 weight classes, we had four heavyweights because of football, and a total of like 12 wrestlers.
00:26:59
Speaker
So obviously we had a lot of holes in the lineup, but there was definitely no...
00:27:04
Speaker
super small people like myself.
00:27:06
Speaker
So I literally showed up.
00:27:08
Speaker
One of my buddies is like, you should try wrestling.
00:27:10
Speaker
And I knew my dad had wrestled a very successful career in high school and college.
00:27:15
Speaker
So I decided that I'd go out for wrestling.
00:27:19
Speaker
And I mean, I was 85 pounds, so I was getting thrown around.
00:27:24
Speaker
But yeah, being an individual sport, it was really, really awesome to be able to kind of go out into the middle of the mat and
00:27:34
Speaker
if I win, it's on me.
00:27:36
Speaker
And if I get smacked around, it's on me.
Race Fairness and Safety
00:27:40
Speaker
And there's a lot of, you really have to kind of be strong internally, not necessarily physically strong to know that it isn't a team effort.
00:27:53
Speaker
And, you know, as much as I love playing soccer, because I grew up playing soccer very, very poorly.
00:27:59
Speaker
And so I warmed the bench a lot.
00:28:01
Speaker
But at the same time,
00:28:03
Speaker
if we lost, like you could easily blame a thousand other people and wrestling, there's no one else to blame because it's literally one-on-one.
00:28:14
Speaker
There's no other impact in the competitions and the wrestling matches other than one versus one.
00:28:21
Speaker
And if you win, it's on you.
00:28:24
Speaker
And yeah, I think I got drawn to that because I couldn't be benched
00:28:31
Speaker
not because there was no one else on the team, but because literally it was me versus anybody else at my weight class.
00:28:38
Speaker
And I was pretty successful, moderately successful.
00:28:42
Speaker
I wouldn't even say pretty successful.
00:28:43
Speaker
I was moderately successful in doing a sport that just literally laid it out on the line.
00:28:49
Speaker
And it also physically toughened me up quite a bit too.
00:28:52
Speaker
I admittedly went into my freshman year in high school as a very emotionally weak, physically weak, mentally weak athlete, uh,
00:29:02
Speaker
it didn't hurt getting beat on or it didn't feel good getting beat on, but it kind of mentally toughened me up as well.
00:29:09
Speaker
Like, yeah, this is going to hurt.
00:29:12
Speaker
Pain is not necessarily fun, but channeling it to a different place or figuring out a way to get out of the pain almost sometimes.
00:29:21
Speaker
So yeah.
00:29:22
Speaker
So upon graduating from high school, I had a decision like many people do.
00:29:28
Speaker
And by no means was I going to go wrestle at Minnesota or Iowa or Ohio state, like any 10, none of the, even none of the division one powerhouses.
00:29:39
Speaker
Right.
00:29:39
Speaker
But I had opportunities to wrestle at division three schools.
00:29:44
Speaker
And that's kind of, if I look at myself as an athlete, yeah, I'm a mediocre, I'd be a mediocre division three athlete.
00:29:52
Speaker
And, but I decided that
00:29:56
Speaker
I loved giving back and helping others.
00:29:58
Speaker
And so my freshman year in college, I actually started coaching wrestling, not at a head coach position, but as an assistant coach and helping work with the little guys because the dynamics similar to triathlon, the dynamics for smaller wrestlers versus bigger wrestlers is not the same.
00:30:19
Speaker
And when you have a heavyweight coach come in,
00:30:24
Speaker
Sometimes they have that perspective on how to coach the whole team.
00:30:28
Speaker
And sometimes it's very focused on big, strong guy moves that I just was never able to do.
00:30:35
Speaker
Right.
00:30:35
Speaker
Like there were just power moves that I, as a small, weaker athlete was just never going to be successful at.
00:30:44
Speaker
And yeah, in 1998, I started coaching wrestling.
00:30:49
Speaker
How do you think the resilience that you learned as a smaller wrestler in a lighter class and getting beat up on and just getting that mental toughness, how do you think that shaped the athletes that you coached that were maybe in a similar band as you, if you will?
00:31:15
Speaker
Part of it comes from the way my dad coached me, which was...
00:31:19
Speaker
just because you're bigger than the person, if you truly know how to coach, it doesn't mean you have to beat them down.
00:31:25
Speaker
It's making them work for what they are trying to do, right?
00:31:30
Speaker
So if there's a certain takedown, if there's a certain escape or whatever the move might be, right?
00:31:38
Speaker
And it was funny because when I went started coaching, I was big enough that the guys on the team
00:31:46
Speaker
literally told me I had old man strength.
00:31:48
Speaker
And it was just kind of one year out of high school.
00:31:52
Speaker
I'm not quite old yet, but that's still funny.
00:31:57
Speaker
But it was also like the way my dad shaped me as a wrestler helped me shape the because with most beginner wrestlers, it's not hard to just beat on them.
00:32:10
Speaker
Not.
00:32:11
Speaker
And
00:32:12
Speaker
turn them off to the sport, right?
00:32:14
Speaker
Like wrestling and even triathlon, right?
00:32:17
Speaker
It's not a multi-billion dollar market.
00:32:22
Speaker
It's not thousands and thousands of athletes getting turned away with pro contracts and division one contracts.
00:32:29
Speaker
So there is that mentality that if you can draw more people to the sport and help it grow, you
00:32:37
Speaker
all a rising tide raises all ships.
00:32:40
Speaker
And so as a coach, I was always like, I'm going to make the athlete work.
00:32:48
Speaker
And if they get the move, great, but I'm going to make them work for it to get it.
00:32:54
Speaker
I'm not just going to give it to them, but I'm also not going to just instantly deny them.
00:32:59
Speaker
And slowly, but surely as the ability goes up, you start backing down the,
00:33:07
Speaker
give it to them kind of mentality and you increase the effort that you're putting in to make them work for it.
00:33:14
Speaker
So that's kind of how my coaching philosophy as a wrestling coach always was.
00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah, it reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite power lifters, Louie Simmons, who said that big is not strong, strong is strong.
00:33:31
Speaker
And I see you as a humble beast, Jay, just hearing you talk about wrestling and your coaching philosophy.
00:33:38
Speaker
And I appreciate that because I think that the ability to bring out an athlete's strengths, regardless of their shape, size, size,
00:33:47
Speaker
age is a hallmark of an excellent coach and being able to leverage each individual and what they have to offer and make them work for it, like you said, is taking that person from here to here, right?
00:34:01
Speaker
Just the ability to pull that out of them is magnificent.
Advice for Aspiring Officials
00:34:07
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:34:08
Speaker
And part of it, and some people might not agree with this philosophy, but sometimes it truly is just
00:34:16
Speaker
a body, right?
00:34:18
Speaker
More warm bodies brings, and to your point, right, sometimes the strength might be just the fact that that athlete is an amazing cheerleader.
00:34:27
Speaker
It makes everyone feel good about themselves.
00:34:30
Speaker
And physically, agility-wise, they might be a terrible athlete, but
00:34:36
Speaker
having another warm body like wrestling again is not in the Midwest.
00:34:41
Speaker
It certainly has, it is a stronger program.
00:34:44
Speaker
You have your strong States, California, New York, but like in a lot of States wrestling is not enormously popular.
00:34:51
Speaker
And so just by having more people there helps the program just develop all of the athletes.
00:34:59
Speaker
Hmm.
00:35:01
Speaker
Yeah, well said.
00:35:02
Speaker
Well, awesome.
00:35:04
Speaker
How did that now take you?
00:35:06
Speaker
When was the first time you...
00:35:09
Speaker
got introduced to multi-sport triathlon or any of its components?
00:35:15
Speaker
I mean, outside of seeing Ironman on TV like once a year, right, growing up.
00:35:21
Speaker
And I mean, I even remember, this probably dates myself a little bit, but I even remember the Ironman cereal.
00:35:26
Speaker
Like it was those little like, oh, those little rings.
00:35:30
Speaker
And like, I literally remember the Ironman cereal and like having to figure out what an Ironman was because...
00:35:37
Speaker
But, um, so outside of that, uh, when I first moved to California in 2006, uh, one of my buddies was racing the LA triathlon and another friend of mine and I drove to downtown LA.
00:35:54
Speaker
I was living, we were both living in Redondo beach at the time.
00:35:56
Speaker
So it wasn't hard to get up to the race finish.
00:35:59
Speaker
And I remember kind of where LA live now is, if I remember correctly, was the finish line.
00:36:04
Speaker
and just seeing all of these athletes come across.
00:36:07
Speaker
And my buddy Ben's like, this is a lot of fun.
00:36:12
Speaker
I'm like, I'm an awful swimmer.
00:36:14
Speaker
Like I grew up water skiing.
00:36:16
Speaker
So I jumped in, I can swim to the dock.
00:36:18
Speaker
Right.
00:36:18
Speaker
Like,
00:36:20
Speaker
for all intents and purposes, I'm an adult onset swimmer when it comes to doing laps.
00:36:25
Speaker
And so I was like, swimming in the ocean sounds really hard.
00:36:29
Speaker
It doesn't mean I'm not going to give it a go, but my first kind of dabbling in it was through team and training in 2009.
00:36:38
Speaker
Similar to everybody, right?
00:36:41
Speaker
We've all been touched by cancer.
00:36:43
Speaker
And one of my middle school friends lost her battle with cancer and
00:36:49
Speaker
It was a small, tiny town, right?
00:36:50
Speaker
So everybody knew everybody.
00:36:52
Speaker
And so I was like, you know what?
00:36:55
Speaker
I can check off the box of doing a triathlon.
00:36:57
Speaker
I can fundraise and give back to Leslie's memory and
00:37:03
Speaker
Literally living in San Diego is also kind of pretty fortuitous and fortunate for me in the fact that you can sign up for 26 triathlons in a year probably and not have to drive more than an hour.
00:37:17
Speaker
So I started training and I'm like, this is actually pretty fun.
00:37:22
Speaker
So I signed up for like five more sprints, two more Olympics, a half iron, and I hadn't even done Wildflower yet.
00:37:29
Speaker
Like I signed up for Wildflower Olympic, haven't even raced yet.
00:37:33
Speaker
And I'm just like, you know what?
00:37:35
Speaker
I'm just going to sign up for a whole bunch more races and spend my whole summer racing and just training and having fun.
00:37:43
Speaker
Turns out Wildflower was an amazing race.
00:37:45
Speaker
It was amazing.
00:37:46
Speaker
You know, 2009 was pretty much part of the heyday of you have like 30,000 people on site and 8,000 people race between the two days.
00:37:56
Speaker
Like, I was just like, oh my gosh, if every race is like this, I can't wait.
00:38:01
Speaker
Now, not every race is like that, but you know, it was a lot of, I really did get hooked.
00:38:08
Speaker
And I was very glad that I had signed up for that many more races to, you
00:38:11
Speaker
keep me engaged because I just had so much fun.
00:38:15
Speaker
Rich, have you ever done anything like that?
00:38:18
Speaker
I did not know wildflower was that massive.
00:38:21
Speaker
Oh yeah.
00:38:21
Speaker
There were a lot of really big races back in the day.
00:38:23
Speaker
I mean, even like the Boulder peak, you know, in that 2009 timeframe.
00:38:28
Speaker
I mean, it was like a big pro attraction and the pros did loops on the, you know, it was 10 K run and these guys are doing what they were like doing 2 K loops or something like that.
00:38:40
Speaker
You know, they kept coming through.
00:38:42
Speaker
It was, it was an era.
00:38:44
Speaker
It was a, Oh, I wish I could have seen that.
00:38:47
Speaker
That was cool.
00:38:48
Speaker
I phoned it.
00:38:49
Speaker
Right.
00:38:50
Speaker
Yeah, that's right.
00:38:51
Speaker
It was actually, did you know it was a Kona qualifier one year?
00:38:54
Speaker
I think I knew that at one time.
00:38:56
Speaker
I couldn't have got it out of my head if you had asked me just now, but.
00:39:00
Speaker
It's just like a little weird factoid.
00:39:01
Speaker
You know, it was like 1989 or something goofy like that.
00:39:05
Speaker
Anyway.
00:39:07
Speaker
I mean, Wildflower Longcores used to be a Kona qualifier too, right?
00:39:12
Speaker
Like there were lots and lots of different races that were Kona qualifiers.
00:39:17
Speaker
So Jay, you've had this really cool like transition into triathlon, you know, 2009 sounds like you really leaned into a ton of races and had a lot of fun, like you said, and really enjoyed it.
00:39:29
Speaker
But can you kind of walk us through the process of being an athlete and becoming a USA triathlon slash Ironman referee?
00:39:38
Speaker
What, what, what was that transition like for you and what prompted that?
00:39:42
Speaker
And then kind of walk us through how that certification went.
00:39:45
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:39:46
Speaker
So again, living in San Diego is pretty fortuitous for a lot.
00:39:50
Speaker
Yes.
00:39:53
Speaker
And so I am, as you may or may not have figured out, I'm not exactly like a wallflower.
00:40:00
Speaker
Like I can shut up when I need to, but I'm- Social butterfly.
00:40:05
Speaker
Very much so, right?
00:40:06
Speaker
And so when I start doing something that I really enjoy, like I go all in.
00:40:10
Speaker
So I started getting involved in the Tri Club of San Diego and-
00:40:15
Speaker
all these other events and volunteering as a race director within the Tri Club of San Diego.
00:40:21
Speaker
But in 2012, again, just perfect timing, stars aligning, the World Triathlon, which was ITU back then, brought their top-level racing, the World Triathlon Championship Series, to San Diego.
00:40:38
Speaker
And being a draft-legal high-end event,
00:40:41
Speaker
the U S was responsible for bringing X number of, of officials to the program for the event.
00:40:49
Speaker
And so they literally sent out an email to the tri club of San Diego and said, Hey, we need to train officials to be able to do this event.
00:40:59
Speaker
Now in no way, shape or form, were we going to be head referees or it was all very much under some very, very experienced referees.
00:41:09
Speaker
But yeah,
00:41:11
Speaker
There was a three day training program the day before the three days leading into all of the preparation for the race.
00:41:18
Speaker
So I think it was a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, so that Thursday, Friday, Saturday could be very much focused on the call it a practicum, if you will, of being on site with these very experienced officials to learn from them all the stuff we learned from the classroom.
00:41:38
Speaker
And so I took somewhat of a unique, call it path.
00:41:45
Speaker
Unconventional.
00:41:46
Speaker
Very unconventional.
00:41:47
Speaker
That's the word I used for.
00:41:49
Speaker
Because lots of people start with USAT officiating and then move into draft legal and then start doing the bigger and the bigger events.
00:42:00
Speaker
I just started right at the very top of draft legal racing and then had to actually go back to
00:42:07
Speaker
USAT and get certified as a USAT official so that all of the kind of T's were crossed and the I's were dotted to be able to officiate elsewhere.
00:42:18
Speaker
Um, but yeah, my first officiating experience was just because I got an email from the Tri Club of San Diego that said, anyone and everyone that's interested, we're happy to, to train you up.
00:42:30
Speaker
And so there were four of us that are still in the program that were part of that course.
00:42:37
Speaker
from the Southern California area.
00:42:40
Speaker
That's cool.
00:42:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:42
Speaker
Again, fortuitous, dumb luck, whatever it is.
00:42:45
Speaker
Fortune smiles on the ready.
00:42:47
Speaker
We're ready.
00:42:48
Speaker
But also just being in the right place at the right time.
00:42:52
Speaker
Yeah, exactly.
00:42:53
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:42:54
Speaker
Had I not been in San Diego and had I been in Boston, it would have been unlikely that I would have gotten this opportunity to take this course, start officiating the way I did.
00:43:06
Speaker
Wow.
00:43:08
Speaker
Can you imagine how different your life would be?
00:43:10
Speaker
I can't.
00:43:13
Speaker
I can say that probably half the countries I've been to are because of officiating.
00:43:19
Speaker
Oh, wow.
00:43:20
Speaker
That is really cool.
00:43:21
Speaker
We're going to get into a typical day of a referee, of an official here in a minute, but what's the coolest race you've ever officiated at and what made it so cool?
00:43:34
Speaker
Oh, gosh.
00:43:35
Speaker
Let's see.
00:43:37
Speaker
I wouldn't say necessarily the coolest, but one of the more unique experiences was being the head referee for 70.3 Coquimba one year.
00:43:46
Speaker
And then the president basically made a decision that caused a bunch of riots to happen.
00:43:58
Speaker
And so our flight, it was beautiful.
00:44:00
Speaker
Paula Newby-Fraser and myself is the only two Americans from Ironman down there.
00:44:05
Speaker
But our flight was at Coquimbo Airport.
00:44:08
Speaker
So we had to get south and there was one flight left and we changed our original flights to get on this flight.
00:44:17
Speaker
We got out of the country and we were never in any danger.
00:44:20
Speaker
So it's more of just a very unique experience that I can be like,
00:44:25
Speaker
Like I got, we literally were escorted in a, um, a special vehicle all the way down to the airport to get out of town.
00:44:35
Speaker
But it was, it's definitely an experience I will never forget.
00:44:38
Speaker
Wow.
00:44:40
Speaker
Coolest event that I've ever officiated.
00:44:43
Speaker
I'm going to plead the fifth on that one.
00:44:45
Speaker
Cause they've, Oh yeah.
00:44:47
Speaker
You can't alienate anybody.
00:44:48
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:48
Speaker
Right.
00:44:49
Speaker
But also like they all have been so special and unique, right?
00:44:53
Speaker
Like,
00:44:54
Speaker
There's so many races.
00:44:57
Speaker
It's like picking your favorite child.
00:44:59
Speaker
Right.
00:45:00
Speaker
There you go.
00:45:02
Speaker
All right.
00:45:03
Speaker
Well, I got to witness you firsthand working your way through the day, the last five days up in Omaha, but maybe for our audience who didn't witness that, could you tell us just what is a, give us a typical day of
00:45:17
Speaker
you know, officiating a race.
00:45:19
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:45:20
Speaker
I mean, so full disclosure is each race brings with it unique responsibilities.
00:45:28
Speaker
So as an example, 70.3 Boulder is coming up.
00:45:33
Speaker
And for that event, Ironman brings in a very, very, very capable staff.
00:45:39
Speaker
So we're not on the water witnessing whether athletes are cutting the course.
00:45:46
Speaker
We're not,
00:45:47
Speaker
We're in certain places on the bike course and certain places on the run course, but from a logistics standpoint, we manage far less than we do in the world triathlon world.
00:45:57
Speaker
So to simplify it, most people think of triathlon officiating as being on the back of the moto and
00:46:06
Speaker
for draft illegal races that is the lion's share of the focus but rich as you saw this weekend like there were people in red shirts all over the course manning the penalty tents being on the run course being on the bike course being at the swim start helping start the race so there's depending on which hat
00:46:29
Speaker
you're truly wearing will determine what a typical day looks like.
00:46:34
Speaker
But the thing I think that is all a central tenant in officiating is that whether you're a seasoned pro or a first time athlete, getting into transition has the nerves on edge.
00:46:48
Speaker
And so we are always on site
00:46:52
Speaker
well before the athletes arrive so that we can make sure transition is ready to go so that we're in transition and we can answer as many questions as we can.
00:47:03
Speaker
Now, certainly anything outside of the realm of the competition rules
00:47:10
Speaker
it's certainly pointing somewhat to a place where they can get a definitive, accurate answer, right?
00:47:16
Speaker
We don't ever want to be like, oh, well, you do this, this, and this.
00:47:20
Speaker
Well, race management decisions are the ones that might dictate what is supposed to be done.
00:47:27
Speaker
And so we certainly don't want to overstep our bounds or our relationship with the race director.
00:47:34
Speaker
So multi-sport festival, the race director was USA Triathlon.
00:47:38
Speaker
They...
00:47:39
Speaker
control the flow in transition.
00:47:42
Speaker
We might be officiating whether or not someone buckles their helmet or not.
00:47:46
Speaker
But if you came up to me on Saturday afternoon, you're like, I've got a flight in two hours.
00:47:52
Speaker
I got to get into transition.
00:47:54
Speaker
That's not my call.
00:47:55
Speaker
I got to go find a person in a gray shirt that says, no, this is still a live transition.
00:48:01
Speaker
I can't let you in.
00:48:02
Speaker
Like, it's unfortunate, but I just it's not safe.
00:48:06
Speaker
So we certainly
00:48:09
Speaker
are ambassadors of the sport and we are there to kind of help talk people off the leg and make them feel more comfortable with the day they're about to embark on you could have done 26 ironmans this could be your first iron man they're still nervous there and some people get insanely nervous some people are cool as a cucumber but making people understand too that we're there we're on their side
00:48:39
Speaker
We're there for safety.
00:48:44
Speaker
We're there for fairness and we're there to make sure they have fun.
00:48:47
Speaker
Certainly people think about officiating is like, oh, they're the guy in the zebra stripes that are there's there to, to bust my chops.
00:48:55
Speaker
There's reasons for the rules, but for the most part, we're there specifically to just be on your side, help everybody have a great day out there because
00:49:08
Speaker
Like everybody, I want to go home to my family at the end of the day, and I very much want all of them to go home to their family at the end of the day.
00:49:15
Speaker
But I would love it if they did it with a smile on their face when they leave the day.
00:49:19
Speaker
And so that's kind of one of the most important parts for us.
00:49:23
Speaker
Okay, Jay, I've got two questions.
00:49:25
Speaker
They're going to go off script just a little bit, all right, because I'm genuinely, genuinely curious about this.
00:49:30
Speaker
One, I'm
00:49:31
Speaker
What is the craziest thing you've seen?
00:49:34
Speaker
Non-attribution, right?
00:49:37
Speaker
And two, are you taught de-escalation tools on how to handle conflict?
00:49:44
Speaker
I really want to hear that too.
00:49:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:49:47
Speaker
So I'd say the craziest thing I ever witnessed on a race was someone literally on a bike course pulled up to the...
00:49:58
Speaker
aid station and threw their helmet away and then just started riding on.
00:50:03
Speaker
Helmet didn't feel comfortable so they took it off and they threw it away.
00:50:09
Speaker
Oh no.
00:50:10
Speaker
Like bonkers to me like regardless of whether or not you know the competition rules that you have to have one.
00:50:17
Speaker
Yes and it buckled right.
00:50:20
Speaker
Like if I'm riding with
00:50:22
Speaker
3,000 other athletes, not even trusting my own skills.
00:50:26
Speaker
Like I'd want a helmet on in case, gosh forbid, Rich, because he's so much faster than me, is on his second loop and he rear-ends me and knocks me off my bike.
00:50:36
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
00:50:38
Speaker
It sounds like something Rich would do.
00:50:42
Speaker
Of course it would.
00:50:44
Speaker
I'm still on my first loop very much so.
00:50:46
Speaker
I know that he knows how to handle his bicycle.
00:50:47
Speaker
Yeah, I know.
00:50:50
Speaker
I'd say that in no way, shape or form are we call it negotiators, right?
00:50:55
Speaker
We're not like I even we don't have to take five years of psychology classes.
00:51:00
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:01
Speaker
But for the most part, yeah, there's certainly elements that we're trained on for de-escalation.
00:51:08
Speaker
Now, sometimes there is only so much you can do, but.
00:51:13
Speaker
Personally, having officiated since 2012, I've literally never run into a situation where it's been that I had to deescalate it or walk away from the situation.
00:51:27
Speaker
Wow, that's good.
00:51:29
Speaker
Most people are like, if you do it right,
00:51:33
Speaker
just with any bad situation, most people just want to be heard.
00:51:38
Speaker
And so, yeah, like good listening skills, just listening to what happened.
00:51:45
Speaker
It's often, especially with like triathlon races, you know, the things that won't help are like arguing with the person, like listen to them.
00:51:56
Speaker
And I'm sure we'll get into this later on, like kind of the other part of it, but yeah,
00:52:01
Speaker
education is such a huge part of what we do as well it's one of those things that i'm kind of always on my soapbox on when i'm talking to athletes about officiating but like there's no driver's license for triathlon racing to legally your automobile you need to again legally doesn't mean you can't teach yourself how to drive and still drive around and knock it but like to legally drive your automobile
00:52:29
Speaker
you need to have a license that says you have an adequate understanding of the rules of the road.
00:52:34
Speaker
That is not required in triathlon.
00:52:36
Speaker
And it's an all welcoming sport because of that.
00:52:40
Speaker
But, right, like if I give you a penalty for drafting and you have no idea what the rules are, you're like, I wasn't drafting, I was like six inches off of their wheel.
00:52:52
Speaker
And it's sometimes just simply listening to them and then saying, okay,
00:52:57
Speaker
So that's fair.
00:52:59
Speaker
Here's what the rule for drafting does say.
00:53:02
Speaker
And it's like, oh, my bad.
00:53:04
Speaker
And they walk away, right?
00:53:06
Speaker
They wanted to hear, be heard.
00:53:09
Speaker
And then you just explain to them what the actual rule says.
00:53:12
Speaker
And they're like, oh, got it.
00:53:14
Speaker
Thanks, right?
00:53:14
Speaker
So de-escalating situations is, I mean, I'm sure there have been situations where it has gotten out of hand, right?
00:53:22
Speaker
There's a reason why unsportsmanlike conduct is,
00:53:25
Speaker
in the rules.
00:53:26
Speaker
Fair play.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:27
Speaker
Call it out.
00:53:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:29
Speaker
But you know, unsportsmanlike conduct just doesn't just apply to you not hitting rich in the back of the head repeatedly when you're swimming.
00:53:37
Speaker
It applies to race officials.
00:53:39
Speaker
It applies to referees like any of the volunteers, right?
00:53:43
Speaker
Like,
00:53:43
Speaker
If you run by and you knock a cup out of a volunteer's hand and you start swearing at them for not holding the cup right.
00:53:50
Speaker
Yeah, being abusive.
00:53:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:52
Speaker
That's not okay.
00:53:53
Speaker
So, you know, I've never, I'm sure it's happened because it's in the rules, but it's never happened to me.
00:54:01
Speaker
And maybe count my lucky stars that I've been fortunate enough for that to not happen to me.
00:54:05
Speaker
But I found that de-escalating has worked quite well throughout my career.
00:54:11
Speaker
I bring that up because I used to be a military police officer and we did classes on, we call it verbal judo.
00:54:18
Speaker
But it is absolutely a skill.
00:54:21
Speaker
And I love how you, I mean, you really used a good one as far as like, hey, I'm calling out the behavior.
00:54:26
Speaker
I'm not calling you a loser, but your behavior is loser-ish.
00:54:33
Speaker
So yeah, I love it.
00:54:34
Speaker
Perfect example, right?
00:54:35
Speaker
Like I never...
00:54:38
Speaker
flat out call someone a cheater, right?
00:54:40
Speaker
Yes, right.
00:54:41
Speaker
Exactly.
00:54:42
Speaker
Competitive rules.
00:54:44
Speaker
And they might historically do it all the time, right?
00:54:47
Speaker
Like I might know that athlete one, two, three, whoever that happens to be, gosh, every time they're on the course, they're drafting.
00:54:57
Speaker
Still not there to judge intent.
00:55:01
Speaker
I'm there to judge whether or not they broke a competitive rule.
00:55:08
Speaker
And I'm never going to go up to you, April, you rich and say, you're being a gift in the blue card for cheating.
00:55:15
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:17
Speaker
Such a good point.
00:55:18
Speaker
Never come out of my mouth.
00:55:19
Speaker
I'm not here to judge you.
00:55:21
Speaker
I'm judging the action that I witnessed, which is drafting, blocking, wearing headphones, whatever the case may be.
00:55:29
Speaker
And I think that that's important too, right?
00:55:32
Speaker
Because if you tell somebody, just like when you get pulled over,
00:55:37
Speaker
There's a very big difference between telling someone that they were going above the speed limit and telling them they were driving like a insert any profanity there.
00:55:46
Speaker
That's probably not going to go well for either the police officer or the driver versus, did you know you were going 90 and a 55?
00:55:53
Speaker
And it's like, well, the speed limit here is 55.
00:55:58
Speaker
So yeah.
00:56:01
Speaker
We're writing you a ticket today.
00:56:02
Speaker
Exactly.
00:56:03
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:04
Speaker
Thank you, Jay.
00:56:05
Speaker
That was excellent.
00:56:07
Speaker
All right.
00:56:07
Speaker
You want me to take this next question, April?
00:56:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:09
Speaker
Try to follow that up, Rich.
00:56:11
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:12
Speaker
I gotcha.
00:56:13
Speaker
I gotcha.
00:56:14
Speaker
All right.
00:56:15
Speaker
So we've been talking about some of the rules out there.
00:56:19
Speaker
We've talked about...
00:56:22
Speaker
at a very high level, some of the rules, could you maybe share, like, what are some of the most important ones that athletes need to be aware of on the day?
00:56:30
Speaker
And just use Boulder 70.3 as an example since it's coming up.
00:56:33
Speaker
And that will simplify because we're just talking about non-draft rules.
00:56:37
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
00:56:38
Speaker
I'd say the one that everybody that has some grasp of the rules, and I always like to clarify that, right?
00:56:45
Speaker
Because lots of people don't know that there are triathlon rules.
00:56:48
Speaker
They don't know
00:56:49
Speaker
what the rules are, but drafting I think is the easiest one to go to.
00:56:55
Speaker
It's just from a competitive advantage standpoint, from a safety standpoint, right?
00:57:02
Speaker
You could be any pro on the World Pro Tour team.
00:57:08
Speaker
And if you're drafting in your aero bars, your reaction time needs to be that of a Formula One driver to be able to hit the brakes if something happens to the cyclist in front of you.
00:57:20
Speaker
There's multiple angles you can look at the reasoning behind the competitive rules, but certainly part of it is safety and part of it is competitive advantage.
00:57:31
Speaker
Because it all circles back to either fairness or safety.
00:57:37
Speaker
I certainly want you to go home at the end of the day, but I also want you to do it fairly.
00:57:41
Speaker
And yeah, if we can have some fun in there too, that's all the better.
00:57:45
Speaker
Another one is certainly athletes need to ride as safely to the right as possible.
00:57:52
Speaker
Because again, if Rich is on his second loop and I'm on my first loop and I'm just looking at the foothills, riding in the left of the right lane and Rich can't safely pass me, well, now I'm not being fair or safe to the people that are in back of me.
00:58:12
Speaker
And so blocking,
00:58:14
Speaker
because you need to be riding on the right, passing on the right is also a big one.
00:58:21
Speaker
And that again, again, like it all circles back to fairness and safety.
00:58:27
Speaker
Unless you're in a draft legal race, Rich is not expecting me to pass him on the right.
00:58:32
Speaker
He's probably not expecting me to pass him at all.
00:58:34
Speaker
But if I pass him on the right, you know, he's certainly not expecting that.
00:58:40
Speaker
And so the passing on the right is a big one.
00:58:46
Speaker
Headphones is big, even with bone conduction, mostly from kind of an outside assistance standpoint, right?
00:58:55
Speaker
If April's texting me and saying, okay, you're at the last timing, Matt, you were 45 seconds down from third place.
00:59:03
Speaker
That's a good point.
00:59:04
Speaker
Right?
00:59:04
Speaker
Like if you're texting me and I've got it going through and it's like new text from coach April, 43 seconds down, right?
00:59:12
Speaker
Like that's not, cause not everybody's getting that.
00:59:15
Speaker
But at the same time,
00:59:17
Speaker
The, the, out the, the technological use of your phone is distracting.
00:59:24
Speaker
So, right.
00:59:25
Speaker
If I'm looking down at the, if I'm using my phone as just a bike computer, great.
00:59:30
Speaker
Like pretty much no problem there.
00:59:32
Speaker
But if you're using it as a two way communication device, listening to music, right?
00:59:37
Speaker
Like everybody loves listening.
00:59:38
Speaker
Taking pictures.
00:59:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:40
Speaker
People do that.
00:59:41
Speaker
Yeah.
00:59:42
Speaker
And so that's kind of a big one as well.
00:59:46
Speaker
And then the other is, I'd say, you know, making sure your helmet is strapped, clipped anytime you're in possession of the bike.
00:59:56
Speaker
The craziest things can and do happen with the bike, right?
00:59:59
Speaker
Like you're unclipping and you lose your balance and you fall.
01:00:03
Speaker
Like it doesn't take a lot for bad injuries to be made that much worse.
01:00:09
Speaker
And so anytime you have your hands, you know, you're touching your bicycle, it's a good idea to
01:00:15
Speaker
With most places, there's rules anytime you're touching the bike, but it's just a general good rule of thumb to keep your helmet buckled and on anytime you're touching your bike.
01:00:26
Speaker
We have one question that came up from our athletes.
01:00:29
Speaker
We just did a camp recently.
01:00:31
Speaker
We're talking about executing in transition.
01:00:34
Speaker
And there's a lot of people that will do things to help them find their bike in that sea of 3,000 bikes.
01:00:41
Speaker
They'll tie balloons with some helium in it or put some streamers on their bike or something.
01:00:50
Speaker
What are the rules around...
01:00:53
Speaker
you know, doing something to help your bike be more visible and help you find your bike and your row easier.
01:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
01:01:00
Speaker
So that's kind of a combined effort between race management and the officials.
01:01:06
Speaker
If it's on your bike and there's not really a risk of it, well, for starters, with all of the new rules coming out, it depends on whether anything you're putting on your bike would be outside of those parameters.
01:01:18
Speaker
But assuming they're not, like, yeah, you can't have...
01:01:23
Speaker
markings on the ground.
01:01:24
Speaker
You can't have certainly not a balloon with helium in it and things like that.
01:01:32
Speaker
And it's interesting because one of my first triathlon coaches had a billion stories, but one of his was like, you know, he was officiating the
01:01:42
Speaker
athlete was running by, a wind blew, the string wrapped around the person's arm and like literally took them down.
01:01:49
Speaker
Whether or not the story was true or not, like gives you a visual on why having 3000 balloons with helium in it could be dramatic.
01:01:57
Speaker
Yeah, problem.
01:02:00
Speaker
Jay, do you feel like you could write a book on the different things you've seen as a referee and officiating?
01:02:09
Speaker
I mean, I don't know that anyone would read that book, but it'd be a lot... I think you'd be surprised, sir.
01:02:16
Speaker
it'd be a lot of anecdotes though.
01:02:17
Speaker
Like they're not long stories.
01:02:19
Speaker
Right.
01:02:20
Speaker
Like, you know, and again, great American short story, right.
01:02:24
Speaker
Right at your fingertips right here.
01:02:26
Speaker
There we go.
01:02:29
Speaker
And like, it isn't even meant to like poke fun.
01:02:32
Speaker
Right.
01:02:32
Speaker
It's just some of the crazy things we've seen.
01:02:34
Speaker
Like,
01:02:35
Speaker
I probably saw it a dozen times this weekend.
01:02:38
Speaker
Athletes that in the heat of the moment, they come off the run or they come off the swim, right?
01:02:43
Speaker
If they're doing a duathlon or a triathlon and they put their helmet on backwards.
01:02:48
Speaker
Like, oh yeah, I would think that would be insanely uncomfortable.
01:02:52
Speaker
But even this weekend in four days of racing,
01:02:56
Speaker
I probably saw it a dozen times and it's just like, Hey, really backwards.
01:03:02
Speaker
Like, right.
01:03:03
Speaker
When people in like long course, when people are racing long course and they have the arrow helmets, like they look like a bird, right?
01:03:11
Speaker
No.
01:03:14
Speaker
And, but I would just think that with the ratchet and the boa system, like it's digging into your head and it'd be insanely uncomfortable, but apparently not.
01:03:22
Speaker
And so that is certainly one where we're like, Hey,
01:03:26
Speaker
your helmet's on backwards, you got to fix it.
01:03:29
Speaker
And so like, you know, a lot of the stories that we have, like they're not even meant to poke fun.
01:03:36
Speaker
It's just like, no, it's just like, Hey, I'm trying to help you out here.
01:03:38
Speaker
But also like, I've never actually read any studies as to whether or not a helmet would be effective if you have it on backwards and you crash.
01:03:48
Speaker
My guess is help, but I'm not an expert on it.
01:03:51
Speaker
So I would think that it's important to wear the helmet forward so that if you use it, it works.
01:04:00
Speaker
And maybe not.
01:04:01
Speaker
So...
01:04:02
Speaker
That's really good.
01:04:03
Speaker
Thank you.
01:04:04
Speaker
All right.
01:04:06
Speaker
I got one more question for you, Jay.
01:04:08
Speaker
And I, I really liked this question because it, it just speaks to the importance of your role.
01:04:16
Speaker
So how do you see your role contributing to the overall experience and integrity of the sport?
01:04:21
Speaker
So I think that the experience can be separate from the integrity of the sport at the end of the day.
01:04:31
Speaker
Like we've, we all know, right.
01:04:34
Speaker
Triathlon doesn't have a million athletes in the U S that are itching to do the sport.
01:04:41
Speaker
And so our job is officials to educate, to calm the athlete, to converse with the athlete and to respect the athlete.
01:04:55
Speaker
helps the athlete experience so that whether Boulder 70.3 is your first race, whether Ironman Lake Placid is your first race, or whether you've been racing for 25 years, making sure that you have a good experience.
01:05:09
Speaker
Because the reality is, right, Rich and I living in Colorado, but people living anywhere, there's a thousand things you can do today with your time, with your finances, with any of your resources.
01:05:22
Speaker
And if that experience isn't
01:05:25
Speaker
as good as it can be, which is on the onus of anybody involved in the race, race director, race management and officials and volunteers.
01:05:36
Speaker
If that experience is bittered, it's I'm going to go do high rocks.
01:05:40
Speaker
It's I'm going to go do Spartan.
01:05:42
Speaker
And so the onus is very much on all of us, right?
01:05:45
Speaker
Even if you guys are coaching on the sidelines and you start yelling at another athlete, they're going to be like, these fans are awful.
01:05:53
Speaker
I'm not going to go back.
01:05:56
Speaker
we signed up to, you know, help with the race.
01:05:59
Speaker
And so the experience is very much on our shoulders, especially kind of like a police officer.
01:06:06
Speaker
Like we don't want, we want them to understand too, that we're not there just to bust their chops.
01:06:13
Speaker
Right.
01:06:14
Speaker
To keep them safe, to make sure that they are racing fairly and that they're having fun.
01:06:20
Speaker
And so,
01:06:22
Speaker
You know, the integrity part is, I think, pretty simple to understand as an official, like we're there to make sure that the race is fair, but we certainly go beyond that with making sure that, right?
01:06:35
Speaker
Like let's say rich had an awful experience at multi-sport and he was like, well, I'm just going to stick to long course.
01:06:42
Speaker
Then I'm just not going to support USA triathlon events anymore.
01:06:46
Speaker
If there's anything that we can do to make sure that his experience is better.
01:06:51
Speaker
then that's where we step in and that's what we need to do.
01:06:55
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:56
Speaker
Yeah.
01:06:56
Speaker
I mean, you know, being, you know, getting into a tangle, you know, with an official, you know, because two ways, right.
01:07:03
Speaker
And if, and if, if, if you were to be like really critical of athletes, you know, turn them away, right.
01:07:09
Speaker
They would,
01:07:10
Speaker
If you were to do the things like refer to them as a, that was cheating, things like that, those would really offend people and probably alienate them from the sport.
01:07:22
Speaker
Yep.
01:07:23
Speaker
And I mean, we've been, most of us officiating, especially the ones that officiated at the multi-sport festival or these higher tiered races, we've been in the sport for a while and
01:07:38
Speaker
The last thing we need to do is contribute to the fact of turning people away from the sport, because I can't think of many situations that would turn me away from the sport at this point in my career, right?
01:07:51
Speaker
I'm going to give up officiating or giving up anything else.
01:07:55
Speaker
And so since there's not a lot that's going to turn me away from the sport, I need to make sure I can be as positive as possible so that you guys all keep coming back too.
01:08:04
Speaker
Being a good ambassador of the sport, as you called it earlier, setting a positive example as an official, it might attract some people to that role.
01:08:15
Speaker
What would you say to, or how would you advise listeners who might be thinking, hey, I want to grow in the sport.
01:08:21
Speaker
I want to take my experience in the sport in a different direction or grow in the sport.
01:08:26
Speaker
Coaching doesn't feel like it's for me.
01:08:28
Speaker
Race directing doesn't feel like it's for me, but officiating might be.
01:08:32
Speaker
How would they pursue that?
01:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, the best pathway right now is probably reaching out to the USA Triathlon Commissioner of Officials.
01:08:43
Speaker
USA Triathlon has a really good pathway.
01:08:47
Speaker
And now that it's aligned with World Triathlon,
01:08:50
Speaker
the pathway keeps going all the way, right?
01:08:53
Speaker
So if it's like, I want to officiate the 2036 Olympics, there is a pathway.
01:09:01
Speaker
It's not guaranteed, just like being the starting quarterback for the Patriots isn't guaranteed.
01:09:06
Speaker
But there is a step-by-step pathway.
01:09:09
Speaker
And it starts with calling the commissioner of officials, having an interview, talking about the process and, you know, starting with a level one entry level USA triathlon officiating program, right?
01:09:21
Speaker
Where it's, it's a variety of elements and factors.
01:09:26
Speaker
And it's not just like, here are the rules, memorize the rules.
01:09:30
Speaker
Like it's a 300 page document.
01:09:32
Speaker
You're not going to memorize it all.
01:09:35
Speaker
It's, but it's also understanding how a race actually works.
01:09:40
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:09:41
Speaker
One last question for you.
01:09:42
Speaker
What time are you getting up on, on Saturday morning?
01:09:45
Speaker
3.00 AM.
01:09:48
Speaker
And you live right outside the res.
01:09:50
Speaker
I mean, I'm up in Arvada now, but it's, I'm not far, but yeah, I mean.
01:09:56
Speaker
You used to be right outside the res.
01:09:58
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:58
Speaker
Yeah.
01:09:59
Speaker
I was in gun barrel, like right across from Avery, but yeah.
01:10:03
Speaker
now.
01:10:04
Speaker
But yeah, get up early again to make sure that we're on site and ready for the line of athletes that are going to come into transition with a multitude of questions and being there to calm their nerves.
01:10:18
Speaker
Because again, before the race starts, like I will give you the entire playbook.
01:10:24
Speaker
Like, no, that helmet isn't okay.
01:10:26
Speaker
No, you know, your bike isn't safe, all of that.
01:10:30
Speaker
So that, you
01:10:32
Speaker
we're there to help them and ease their tensions.
01:10:35
Speaker
Now, obviously their bike is already checked in at that point for these races, but helmets, wetsuits, whatever the questions are, we're there to help them relieve their nerves.
01:10:45
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:10:47
Speaker
Coach April and I will be in transition with you.
01:10:49
Speaker
We have the 4.15 shift, so we will be there dark and early with you.
01:10:56
Speaker
I have a whole new respect for you and what you do, Jay.
01:10:59
Speaker
I just want to tell you that.
01:11:00
Speaker
Thank you so much.
01:11:02
Speaker
It's definitely, I mean, similar to coaching and triathlon, right?
01:11:05
Speaker
Like this is, it's service with a smile.
01:11:09
Speaker
And because of passion.
01:11:12
Speaker
Passion project.
01:11:13
Speaker
Yeah.
01:11:14
Speaker
Like it's such a cool sport.
01:11:16
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
01:11:17
Speaker
Jay, it's been an absolute pleasure.
01:11:19
Speaker
Thanks for, it's been, I can't believe it took us this long to do this.
01:11:23
Speaker
You have a open invitation to come back anytime if you want to share some more information or some wild stories about wrestling with our listeners.
01:11:32
Speaker
It was a pleasure having you on, bud.
01:11:34
Speaker
Oh, the pleasure is all mine.
01:11:35
Speaker
Thank you guys so much for having me.
01:11:36
Speaker
Thank you.
01:11:41
Speaker
All right.
01:11:41
Speaker
Well, April, what was your, don't mean to put you on the spot here, but what was your favorite thing that came out of the conversation with Jay?
01:11:50
Speaker
I loved that he shared some of the weird things he's seen racers do when they're in the fog of war.
01:11:59
Speaker
So putting on your helmet backwards.
01:12:02
Speaker
I told Sasha that because I was like, hey, we were talking about, you know, Boulder and some of the common things that people do.
01:12:09
Speaker
And she just got a new arrow helmet.
01:12:12
Speaker
I said, if you walk out here with that thing on backwards, I'm going to be yelling your name.
01:12:17
Speaker
She started laughing.
01:12:18
Speaker
But yeah.
01:12:19
Speaker
I was shocked to hear that some people were doing that at USAT Multisport.
01:12:23
Speaker
What do you see?
01:12:24
Speaker
Three or four people or more?
01:12:25
Speaker
I was like, really?
01:12:27
Speaker
Yeah.
01:12:29
Speaker
They just get so tunnel vision.
01:12:31
Speaker
Quite literally.
01:12:32
Speaker
Yeah, for sure.
01:12:34
Speaker
Yeah, I guess so.
01:12:36
Speaker
The other thing I thought was good, and this is a question that came up a lot during our camp.
01:12:40
Speaker
Is there a way to find my bike easy?
01:12:43
Speaker
You know, is there something I can do?
01:12:45
Speaker
He clarified the rules.
01:12:46
Speaker
You can't mark the ground.
01:12:47
Speaker
You can't hang.
01:12:48
Speaker
You can't.
01:12:49
Speaker
fly a balloon, a helium balloon from your bike.
01:12:55
Speaker
And you see that probably some local races, but these bigger races definitely can't do that kind of stuff.
01:13:02
Speaker
So, you know, some good tips are, you know, maybe you have a brightly colored transition towel that will help you find your spot, or maybe you've got some bright neon green water bottles that are on your bike to help it stand out.
01:13:16
Speaker
We can solve that for you guys with some bright neon green water.
01:13:22
Speaker
Folks, I hope you got a chance to listen to this interview.
01:13:26
Speaker
And I hope you took something away that will help you race more fairly, have fun, and be safe doing it.
01:13:34
Speaker
Yeah.
01:13:34
Speaker
Special thanks to Jay for the time that he gave us and the awesome stories and just really sound advice.
01:13:41
Speaker
You can tell he's very passionate about what he does and that just makes our lives so much better.
01:13:46
Speaker
The experience is so much better.
01:13:48
Speaker
Right.
01:13:49
Speaker
So just want to give him that kudos again for the awesome interview.
01:13:53
Speaker
And, you know, and he and he makes it sound like all officials are as just as, you know,
01:13:59
Speaker
I don't know, engaging and thoughtful and kind.
01:14:02
Speaker
He's, you know, he's just a nice guy, right?
01:14:04
Speaker
He's, you know, and it was funny because my, I was talking to my daughter about our interview with Jay and she's like, oh yeah, he was so much nicer than the other officials.
01:14:14
Speaker
Oh, that just speaks to him.
01:14:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:14:19
Speaker
It just speaks to his, his nature.
01:14:21
Speaker
So it'll be fun to hang out with him on Saturday morning.
01:14:25
Speaker
Yes.
01:14:26
Speaker
Well, let us jump into our get gritty tip.
01:14:29
Speaker
We are getting back on the energy bus, which is a book that was written by John Gordon.
01:14:35
Speaker
He's written many different leadership, positive.
01:14:38
Speaker
One of my favorite is actually the positive, the power of positive leadership, which is another recommendation rich that of a good book.
01:14:47
Speaker
But anyway, the energy bus is a real good short story about a gentleman that basically has a horrible morning.
01:14:56
Speaker
has to take the bus to work, has a horrible attitude as he's getting ready to do this giant presentation at his company.
01:15:03
Speaker
And he gets on the bus and he meets the bus driver.
01:15:05
Speaker
Her name is Joy.
01:15:06
Speaker
And she's just filled with joy.
01:15:09
Speaker
Literally just a bright ray of sunlight.
01:15:13
Speaker
He gets on the bus and she...
01:15:16
Speaker
She pretty much mentors him throughout this ride or these series of rides together on how to make the most of your life.
01:15:26
Speaker
And we talked last week about the first five tips.
01:15:29
Speaker
So the second week, we're going to talk about the last five, really how to have the ride of your life.
01:15:35
Speaker
So picking up where we left off, number six is
01:15:40
Speaker
is think about what you want, not what you don't want.
01:15:44
Speaker
So we want to shift the angle of our perspective on things that we do want that we're looking for.
01:15:50
Speaker
So in triathlon, it's easy to focus on the challenges or be in the gap, if you will, fear of failure, bad weather,
01:16:00
Speaker
90 degree weather or tough competition.
01:16:03
Speaker
Instead, focus on your goals and what you want to achieve.
01:16:07
Speaker
Visualize yourself achieving that.
01:16:09
Speaker
Visualize success and let that vision propel you forward with energy and determination.
01:16:15
Speaker
Let that vision be your fuel.
01:16:17
Speaker
And that's what brings us to number seven, which is driving with purpose.
01:16:21
Speaker
We have that vision.
01:16:22
Speaker
Now we want to fuel it with our purpose.
01:16:25
Speaker
Every training session, every race, every recovery day should have purpose behind it.
01:16:32
Speaker
Whether you're hitting the pool or doing a long run, you want to align your effort with your bigger goal.
01:16:38
Speaker
When you have purpose, every action counts and the journey becomes meaningful.
01:16:42
Speaker
So I like this because I think there can be purpose behind even recovery, Rich.
01:16:47
Speaker
A lot of people kind of just breeze through recovery, don't really give it the focus and attention it needs, but it's
01:16:53
Speaker
a big 80 percenter thing that people often neglect.
01:16:59
Speaker
And I was thinking about that today when I had my physical therapy appointment.
01:17:02
Speaker
It's like, yeah, my my legs are pretty, pretty tired from this last weekend.
01:17:07
Speaker
Right.
01:17:08
Speaker
And I haven't been going super hard this week because I've been trying to allow my calves and my literal open wounds, if you will, heal up.
01:17:21
Speaker
So I've been taking advantage of my PT appointment.
01:17:24
Speaker
I'm going to definitely get a massage at the end of the month.
01:17:27
Speaker
Like there's things that I'm specifically doing with purpose to recover from this last big event.
01:17:32
Speaker
And then obviously we're getting ready to go into Xterra Lori.
01:17:35
Speaker
So driving with purpose, recovery is just as important.
01:17:40
Speaker
Yeah.
01:17:40
Speaker
I want to just say something about this, your drive with purpose or doing your workouts with purpose or your recovery with purpose, with intention and an objective.
01:17:49
Speaker
that really will make all of the difference.
01:17:51
Speaker
If you're just going into the workouts and not really thinking about the bigger picture about why you are doing it and what the objective is, you're very likely to miss the target.
01:18:01
Speaker
And this is really important because each workout should have a very specific purpose.
01:18:05
Speaker
It should have a goal, the training zone that it's trying to work, that you're trying to create an adaption for.
01:18:11
Speaker
And, and if you're not going into it with that intention,
01:18:15
Speaker
you're probably off track.
01:18:16
Speaker
You're probably not, you know, you're probably not doing the right training.
01:18:19
Speaker
Right.
01:18:19
Speaker
And that's what we're trying to do is do the right training.
01:18:22
Speaker
Right.
01:18:22
Speaker
And putting yourself in that kind of mental state of, you know, what is the best thing for my race?
01:18:29
Speaker
Like if I am doing like zone four threshold sets, you know, if I'm thinking about what would it be like to be in a race right now and trying to hold this threshold pace, sometimes it really just kind of sharpens your intention just because you're visualizing yourself actually
01:18:45
Speaker
racing.
01:18:45
Speaker
And then you can draw on that when you are racing.
01:18:48
Speaker
Cause like, wait a minute, I've been here before.
01:18:50
Speaker
In my head, I've been here before.
01:18:53
Speaker
Yeah.
01:18:53
Speaker
I think that is expertly said when I think about this too, it's, it's kind of like when you look at your workout, that's on the app, it'll give you, it'll give you the explanation, but if you can find a way to tie that back into what are you training for?
01:19:10
Speaker
It just gives you that extra momentum to, to do the right training, right?
01:19:14
Speaker
So I realized I had a lot of zone four threshold and hold.
01:19:20
Speaker
There were some holds that were nine, 10.
01:19:24
Speaker
There was one that was 16 minutes long, Rich.
01:19:27
Speaker
And I was like, I'm going to die.
01:19:29
Speaker
But you know what?
01:19:30
Speaker
When I, when I started this race, my first two miles were,
01:19:34
Speaker
was threshold and hold.
01:19:37
Speaker
And I was able to catch up to those riders because I had built that stamina to be able to hold in that position, going at that power for that amount of time.
01:19:48
Speaker
And I was like, well, thank God I did that.
01:19:50
Speaker
Yeah, the confidence because you knew you'd done it.
01:19:52
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
01:19:53
Speaker
Exactly.
01:19:55
Speaker
And this sets us up for this one perfectly because when you know you have purpose and you're executing on purpose, you're going to have passion.
01:20:03
Speaker
And passion
01:20:04
Speaker
is contagious.
01:20:06
Speaker
Number eight, let your passion for a triathlon inspire others.
01:20:11
Speaker
Passion is magnetic.
01:20:12
Speaker
Like you just want to be around those people that are passionate, right?
01:20:16
Speaker
Rich.
01:20:16
Speaker
Like it almost feels like, man, I could use some of that.
01:20:19
Speaker
You want to soak it up.
01:20:21
Speaker
It fuels your drive and motivates those around you.
01:20:24
Speaker
When you bring energy and enthusiasm to your training, your teammates and your training partners will rise to the occasion as well.
01:20:31
Speaker
We saw that at the camps.
01:20:33
Speaker
There were some days where we were out there for three, four hours, and then we have a 20 to 40-minute run off the bike.
01:20:41
Speaker
And because of people's just energy and good vibes and supportiveness, everybody did it and did it well.
01:20:50
Speaker
Yeah, and they've all done it together, and they're all going to do it together again.
01:20:54
Speaker
And it's going to just be so familiar because, you know, they've rehearsed it.
01:20:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:20:59
Speaker
Yeah.
01:21:01
Speaker
Good stuff.
01:21:02
Speaker
All right, number nine.
Community and Gratitude in Racing
01:21:04
Speaker
And it's wearing off on our teammates who weren't at the camp, who are also racing, because the passion and energy that all the folks that were at the camp are now sharing that with folks who weren't.
01:21:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's such a good point.
01:21:18
Speaker
I mean, I had Sarah text the group asking, hey, who's all doing Boulder so I can track you, right?
01:21:23
Speaker
And she just met them these past two weekends, right?
01:21:27
Speaker
And it's like, okay, we are all sending these awesome positive vibes out into the universe for each other who we didn't even know two months ago.
01:21:38
Speaker
It's so awesome.
01:21:40
Speaker
Number nine is
01:21:42
Speaker
It's again, good, good segue here.
01:21:44
Speaker
Love your passengers, your teammates, coaches, your support crew.
01:21:51
Speaker
They are the key to your journey.
01:21:53
Speaker
Appreciate their support and invest in these relationships.
01:21:57
Speaker
Whether it's a word of encouragement from a fellow athlete, it's Laura putting in the chat, Hey, what is your favorite post-race meal or advice from your coach?
01:22:06
Speaker
They help carry the load and make the ride more enjoyable.
01:22:10
Speaker
So love your passengers.
01:22:13
Speaker
Yes.
01:22:14
Speaker
And then finally, tip number 10, drive your bus to the end with gratitude.
01:22:18
Speaker
Man, gratitude is so powerful.
01:22:21
Speaker
Be grateful for each mile, each step of progress and each race you complete.
01:22:26
Speaker
Gratitude will help you stay grounded and focused and will help you celebrate your victories, both big and small.
01:22:32
Speaker
Every part of the journey is worth appreciating.
01:22:34
Speaker
And I want to challenge our athletes.
01:22:36
Speaker
I want you to specifically look for times tomorrow or in the race where you can smile.
01:22:43
Speaker
Even when you're hurting, if you put a smile on your face, I guarantee you will be 10% less hurt.
01:22:49
Speaker
You will be feeling better.
01:22:51
Speaker
It's such a powerful thing to be able to smile and find gratitude, especially when you are not in perfect conditions, not in the best feeling mood.
01:23:04
Speaker
If you can turn that around, that is so powerful.
01:23:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:23:09
Speaker
When you're out there racing this weekend and the going gets rough,
01:23:13
Speaker
you know, look around the course at the people who are not racing, who probably wish that they were, you know, be grateful that you even have the ability to be out there.
01:23:24
Speaker
And I don't mean that you got four limbs and you can, you know, you can swim, bike and run.
01:23:28
Speaker
I mean, the very fact that you got yourself to the start line, the very fact that you're on the course, that took an enormous amount of energy, commitment, time, sacrifice, time,
01:23:41
Speaker
there's an honor.
01:23:42
Speaker
There's a, there's a great honor that you are on that course and, you know, be grateful that you are even out there suffering, right?
01:23:51
Speaker
I know it's 90 degrees.
01:23:53
Speaker
I know that you're hot, but man, when you get done, you are going to be the one that's got the metal around your neck, the finisher's metal around your neck, the finisher's t-shirt, your name on the back of that shirt, which by the way,
01:24:08
Speaker
You and I need to get the race shirt for this year with all of our athletes' names on it.
01:24:13
Speaker
Yes.
01:24:15
Speaker
Sorry, sidebar.
01:24:16
Speaker
Anyway, I'm really grateful for, you know, I'm grateful for the opportunity to be able to get up at three o'clock in the morning and be out there for our athletes.
01:24:26
Speaker
You know, because not everybody's going to be able to have that experience like us.
01:24:32
Speaker
I am pinching myself.
01:24:33
Speaker
I did not think I was going to have this type of experience.
01:24:37
Speaker
Even when I became a triathlon coach, it wasn't in my mind as far as like how big this could get.
01:24:42
Speaker
So thank you for sharing that rich.
01:24:44
Speaker
I'm definitely grateful, super grateful for this opportunity.
01:24:49
Speaker
We want you all to also take this energy, take the energy bus with you with purpose.
01:24:55
Speaker
So this week, I'm,
01:24:57
Speaker
We want you to identify one area of your training or life where you can apply one of the 10 rules to create a positive impact.
01:25:06
Speaker
Share your energy with your training partners, share it with your coach, and keep your vision clear.
01:25:12
Speaker
Get behind the wheel of your success and drive on with confidence.
01:25:17
Speaker
Woo!
Post-Race Recovery Tips
01:25:18
Speaker
Yes, love it.
01:25:19
Speaker
Beep, beep.
01:25:21
Speaker
That's great.
01:25:22
Speaker
I love that.
01:25:23
Speaker
I need that as a sound effect here.
01:25:26
Speaker
Yes, you're going to have to clip that on me.
01:25:29
Speaker
Although I think we're doing an excellent job with our horns.
01:25:32
Speaker
This tried out workout of the week.
01:25:35
Speaker
is all about post-race recovery workout.
01:25:38
Speaker
So fast forward, you're going to get through the weekend, you're going to be done with your race.
01:25:43
Speaker
And now next week, you know, what, what should be in your programming, right?
01:25:47
Speaker
Should be more of the same of what you've been doing?
01:25:49
Speaker
Heck no, this is a time.
01:25:51
Speaker
I mean, unless you're, unless this is a train through race for you, what I mean by that is you have an Ironman right around the corner and you really, this is not like
01:26:02
Speaker
You're not going into this race to really blow yourself out.
01:26:05
Speaker
This is actually something that's really more of like a, a, um, a, uh, you're, you're racing, but it's actually more of a training day for you, right?
01:26:14
Speaker
You're just doing, using a 70.3 as a training day.
01:26:18
Speaker
That might be a different story, but let's say that this is actually one of your a races and you're really putting it out there.
01:26:23
Speaker
When you're done with this, you need to spend next week and recovered.
01:26:27
Speaker
You don't want to like rest.
01:26:28
Speaker
That's not the right idea.
01:26:30
Speaker
You want to keep active, but you want it to be nice and easy.
01:26:33
Speaker
So here I'm going to share one recovery week training session.
01:26:36
Speaker
This is a recovery swim.
01:26:39
Speaker
And here's the session note as you would read it in the TriDot app.
01:26:42
Speaker
This is a recovery swim for time.
01:26:43
Speaker
Don't worry about counting laps or hitting pace.
01:26:46
Speaker
Focus on your form and relaxation in the water.
01:26:49
Speaker
Take 20 to 30 second rest as necessary.
01:26:52
Speaker
It's a great practice to use recovery swims such as this one to work on your drills.
01:26:58
Speaker
like pool school drills.
01:26:59
Speaker
If you feel up to it, do a few builds from zone two to zone four.
01:27:03
Speaker
However, this is, it should not be stressful.
01:27:06
Speaker
So the way that this would work, your warmup in this set is a 200 at zone two.
01:27:11
Speaker
You might do four fifties as catch up grill or tap and go with a 25 free.
01:27:18
Speaker
You can then maybe do a 300 alternating 50 at zone four and 50 at zone two, only if it's not stressful.
01:27:26
Speaker
And then do six by 50, you know, odd lengths or odd fifties do, uh, you know, just regular, you know, do some stroke work.
01:27:35
Speaker
Even do some just easy freestyle.
01:27:38
Speaker
Main set, aerobic swim for time zone to focus on form relaxation in the water.
01:27:43
Speaker
Take 20 to 30 seconds.
01:27:45
Speaker
Rest is necessary.
01:27:47
Speaker
And then do your cool down, do some more drills in your cool down.
01:27:51
Speaker
And then same thing with the bike and the run.
01:27:53
Speaker
Everything should be nice and zone two, really kind of easy recovery stuff.
01:27:58
Speaker
There is plenty of time for the high intensity work to follow.
01:28:03
Speaker
So there you go.
01:28:05
Speaker
There is your
Hypothetical Race Scenarios
01:28:06
Speaker
post-race recovery workout set.
01:28:09
Speaker
Well, now that we have fully recovered,
01:28:13
Speaker
It's time for another spin around the roulette wheel.
01:28:18
Speaker
It is our fun segment, Race Week Roulette.
01:28:23
Speaker
This is the game where we test your triathlon instincts and race day adaptability with all the curveballs race can throw your way.
01:28:32
Speaker
Race week, I should say.
01:28:34
Speaker
Each round presents a race week scenario and Rich and I must quickly choose how we'd handle it.
01:28:42
Speaker
So ready to spin the roulette wheel there, my friend?
01:28:46
Speaker
Absolutely.
01:28:47
Speaker
Let's do this.
01:28:48
Speaker
Okay, this first one I thought was pretty good.
01:28:52
Speaker
The hotel ice bath debacle.
01:28:54
Speaker
You try to set up a do-it-yourself ice bath in your hotel bathtub the night before the race, but the tub won't drain.
01:29:02
Speaker
What do you do?
01:29:02
Speaker
You turn it into a makeshift cold plunge pool party and invite your race buddies over?
01:29:08
Speaker
Do you bail out the water with your gear bag?
01:29:11
Speaker
Or do you call the front desk and pretend you have no idea how this happened?
01:29:17
Speaker
Your tub won't drain.
01:29:22
Speaker
I am calling the front desk and pretend like I don't know what happened.
01:29:27
Speaker
Why is there freezing cold water in here?
01:29:30
Speaker
Where did all that ice come from?
01:29:31
Speaker
I'm going to go with my makeshift cold plunge party.
01:29:35
Speaker
That sounds like a great time.
01:29:37
Speaker
You want to know something funny?
01:29:40
Speaker
At the Collegiate Nationals for USA Triathlon, I went there with Lauren one year.
01:29:46
Speaker
And that is exactly what they did.
01:29:47
Speaker
They had these inflatable tubs or inflatable pools and they filled them up with ice water.
01:29:54
Speaker
And the college athletes would all like different teams, like teams would just pile in with each other.
01:30:01
Speaker
You'd see like four schools all hanging out in these ice pools together.
01:30:06
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
01:30:07
Speaker
It was hilarious.
01:30:09
Speaker
See, I knew I picked the right one.
01:30:10
Speaker
You did.
01:30:10
Speaker
You really did.
01:30:14
Speaker
A polar blast.
01:30:15
Speaker
Make room for April.
01:30:17
Speaker
She's coming in.
01:30:18
Speaker
Yeah.
01:30:19
Speaker
Cannonball.
01:30:20
Speaker
Yep.
01:30:20
Speaker
All right.
01:30:21
Speaker
All right.
01:30:21
Speaker
Here we go.
01:30:22
Speaker
Number two, Expo impulse purchase.
01:30:26
Speaker
You get talked into buying a $400 revolutionary pair of socks at the Expo that guarantees a 10 minute PR.
01:30:36
Speaker
What are you going to do, Rich?
01:30:37
Speaker
Are you going to wear them for the first time on race day because, you know, science?
01:30:42
Speaker
Are you going to save them for post-race Instagram photos only or return them and buy 40 energy gels instead?
01:30:50
Speaker
Those are some expensive energy gels.
01:30:55
Speaker
Okay.
01:30:55
Speaker
So the coach in me knows don't do anything new on race day, no matter how enticing it sounds.
01:31:02
Speaker
So I think what I am going to do is I'm going to try to do the smart thing here and I am going to save them for a ghost race Instagram photo and say that I am going to give them a go in training before I use them in my next race.
01:31:20
Speaker
Oh, you're lame.
01:31:25
Speaker
Oh, lame old coach answer.
01:31:28
Speaker
Okay.
01:31:31
Speaker
Okay.
01:31:31
Speaker
Well, I'm going to go the newbie route.
01:31:33
Speaker
I'm going to go wear them for the first time on race day because, you know, science.
01:31:40
Speaker
Even though 10 minutes, yeah.
01:31:41
Speaker
Okay.
01:31:43
Speaker
Yep.
01:31:44
Speaker
All right.
01:31:45
Speaker
Well, there you go.
01:31:46
Speaker
You risk taker, you.
01:31:47
Speaker
I am.
01:31:47
Speaker
I'm jumping into the cold plunge.
01:31:49
Speaker
I'm wearing the brand new $400 socks.
01:31:52
Speaker
I mean, and you do race mountain bikes on little skinny paths.
01:31:56
Speaker
I do.
01:31:56
Speaker
So, you know, this is kind of your jam.
01:31:59
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
01:32:00
Speaker
I am the lesser risk taker, I guess.
01:32:04
Speaker
You're the smart one.
01:32:06
Speaker
No.
01:32:08
Speaker
Okay.
01:32:08
Speaker
Number three, race morning port-a-potty panic.
01:32:12
Speaker
You finally get to the front of the port-a-potty line and discover there's no toilet paper.
01:32:18
Speaker
What are you going to do, Rich?
01:32:21
Speaker
A, improvise with your excess gel wrappers.
01:32:25
Speaker
Ask your fellow athlete in the next stall for TP assistance.
01:32:30
Speaker
Or exit gracefully and pretend you never actually needed to go.
01:32:34
Speaker
Oh, man.
01:32:36
Speaker
And get back in that line.
01:32:37
Speaker
Excess gel wrappers.
01:32:42
Speaker
Are you kidding me?
01:32:44
Speaker
No way, man.
01:32:45
Speaker
You gotta love that.
01:32:50
Speaker
And I don't think anybody is going to help me from the next all over.
01:32:53
Speaker
You know, actually, I think what I'm going to do is I am going to exit gracefully, knock on the door next to me,
01:33:03
Speaker
And ask a, ask a fellow athlete for a little toilet paper assistance.
01:33:10
Speaker
Hey man, toilet paper in there.
01:33:11
Speaker
Yeah.
01:33:12
Speaker
Yeah.
01:33:13
Speaker
I think that is the most logical answer here.
01:33:15
Speaker
Probably the safest bet also.
01:33:20
Speaker
Totally.
01:33:21
Speaker
Oh, all right.
01:33:22
Speaker
I'm going to agree with you on that one.
01:33:24
Speaker
Okay.
01:33:25
Speaker
All right.
01:33:26
Speaker
Volunteer mix up at T2.
01:33:29
Speaker
You arrive at T2 and your bike is racked backwards.
01:33:33
Speaker
with your helmet hanging from the front wheel.
01:33:35
Speaker
A, you calmly fix it while visualizing your best T2 time ever.
01:33:40
Speaker
B, yell, who did this?
01:33:43
Speaker
And create a dramatic moment.
01:33:45
Speaker
Or C, just roll with it and ride out a transition wearing your helmet backwards for the crowd.
01:33:50
Speaker
That just goes out to Sasha.
01:33:52
Speaker
All right, I am going to put a, I'm going to, I'm going to put you in the penalty tent.
01:34:00
Speaker
because this is not a T2 mix up.
01:34:04
Speaker
This has got to be a T1 mix up.
01:34:07
Speaker
Oh, this is all my bad.
01:34:08
Speaker
Yeah, no.
01:34:08
Speaker
So you get to spend 40 seconds in the penalty tent, and I'm going to give you a yellow card.
01:34:14
Speaker
Oh, that is shameful.
01:34:17
Speaker
I'm sorry.
01:34:18
Speaker
I hit my head a little too hard this last weekend.
01:34:23
Speaker
That's awesome.
01:34:24
Speaker
Oh, goodness.
01:34:25
Speaker
But now if we were to flip this and say this is actually a mix up at T1,
01:34:30
Speaker
I will calmly fix it while visualizing my best key one time ever.
01:34:35
Speaker
Yeah, I think so too.
01:34:37
Speaker
I was just thinking like through these, I definitely wouldn't be yelling.
01:34:41
Speaker
Who did this coming after him?
01:34:44
Speaker
Shaking my finger.
01:34:45
Speaker
Like, don't you touch my bike?
01:34:46
Speaker
Yeah.
01:34:48
Speaker
Anyway, thank you, Rich, for the, am I out of the penalty box now?
01:34:51
Speaker
Can we move forward?
01:34:52
Speaker
Yeah.
01:34:53
Speaker
Time to get going.
01:34:54
Speaker
Yeah.
01:34:54
Speaker
You got to get up to speed here.
01:34:55
Speaker
Let's go.
01:34:55
Speaker
Okay.
Listener Engagement and Stories
01:34:56
Speaker
All right.
01:34:57
Speaker
Last one.
01:34:59
Speaker
This one, it goes out to Jay.
01:35:01
Speaker
This is the unexpected celebrity encounter.
01:35:05
Speaker
So you're at the race expo and you accidentally bump into a retired pro wrestler who's signing out of grass.
01:35:12
Speaker
And somehow you end up in a friendly but slightly aggressive headlock photo op.
01:35:19
Speaker
And you wake up with a stiff neck.
01:35:21
Speaker
What are you going to do, Rich?
01:35:24
Speaker
A, laugh it off, tell everyone you got taper slammed and race anyway.
01:35:28
Speaker
B, start dropping hints on social media that you got pro wrestling tips for your mental toughness.
01:35:35
Speaker
Or C, immediately start training for a future crossover career in the WWE Triathlon Tag Team Championships.
01:35:43
Speaker
Hell yeah, that sounds awesome.
01:35:46
Speaker
We are definitely doing that.
01:35:48
Speaker
World Wrestling Triathlon Tag Team Championship.
01:35:53
Speaker
I am down with that.
01:35:54
Speaker
Yes.
01:35:55
Speaker
And Jay, you're invited.
01:35:56
Speaker
You're part of this tag team.
01:35:58
Speaker
We need you.
01:35:59
Speaker
We need your expertise.
01:36:00
Speaker
You can be our coach.
01:36:03
Speaker
We had, speaking of wrestlers, this is funny because this is actually the second wrestler that we've had on the podcast that I remember.
01:36:10
Speaker
We had an ultra running race director.
01:36:14
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:15
Speaker
who actually went through the world wrestling federation, whatever there, you know, like the school where you learn all the fake takedowns and the, and the, like he went through the training for that.
01:36:30
Speaker
Like went through the school.
01:36:32
Speaker
There's actually a school for how to do that goofy made up.
01:36:35
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:35
Speaker
Cause it's pretty physical.
01:36:37
Speaker
It's pretty intense.
01:36:38
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:39
Speaker
And dangerous, which is not the kind of wrestling that Jay talked about.
01:36:42
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:43
Speaker
No, just so everybody knows.
01:36:44
Speaker
Yeah.
01:36:46
Speaker
Not that we know what we're talking about, but yeah, exactly.
01:36:49
Speaker
I mean, I just went over T2 for God's sake.
01:36:53
Speaker
Anyway.
01:36:55
Speaker
That wraps up race week roulette part two, because no matter how well you plan race week and race day, always finds a way to get weird.
01:37:05
Speaker
Have your own crazy race week story.
01:37:07
Speaker
We want you to drop it in our DMS or tag us using hashtag race week roulette.
01:37:13
Speaker
And if you've ever accidentally done a wrestling warmup in your wetsuit, we definitely need to hear from you.
01:37:18
Speaker
Ooh, I like that one guys.
01:37:21
Speaker
We hope that you have a great race this weekend.
01:37:25
Speaker
We hope that you have great positive stories to tell, but if you do have a, let's call it a race week roulette scenario.
01:37:34
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely.
01:37:36
Speaker
Tell us about it.
01:37:36
Speaker
You can even come and tell us about it after the race.
01:37:38
Speaker
Cause we're going to be hanging out all freaking day.
01:37:40
Speaker
So we're going to see you out there at T1 bright and early guys.
01:37:44
Speaker
Thanks for listening this week.
01:37:46
Speaker
Be sure to follow us at 303 triathlon accurate to greatness.
01:37:49
Speaker
And of course, go iTunes, give us a rating and a comment.
01:37:52
Speaker
We appreciate it.
01:37:53
Speaker
And you,
01:37:54
Speaker
Brain informed.
01:37:56
Speaker
Stay tuned and enjoy the endurance journey.
01:37:59
Speaker
For your 303 Endurance Podcast.
01:38:00
Speaker
It's your 303 Endurance Podcast.
01:38:01
Speaker
It's your 303 Endurance Podcast.
01:38:03
Speaker
It's your 303 Endurance Podcast.