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#525 Velocity: Building Grit & Speed Indoors
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This week’s feature dives into Velocity and how to power your winter bike workouts indoors, exploring smart training decisions that build strength, confidence, and resilience. We kick things off with key announcements — including TriDot Pool School in Colorado Springs — followed by this week’s Get Gritty Mindset Tip on navigating injuries, identity, and setbacks. We wrap with Winter Triathlon Armageddon, putting you in the toughest cold‑weather scenarios to sharpen your decision‑making. Supported by our show sponsor Vespa Power Endurance, and our coaching partners at TriDot.
#Grit2Greatness #VelocityCommunity #CoachingTips #Ask A Coach #TriathlonCoach #TriathlonPodcast #303Endurance #TriDot #EnduranceAthlete #SwimBikeRun #GetGritty #TriathlonTraining #CyclingLife #CyclingCommunity
Website - Grit2Greatness Endurance Coaching
Facebook - @grit2greatnessendurance
Instagram - @g2gendurance
Get Started with Grit2Greatness -Getting Started with Grit2Greatness - Google Forms
Coach Contact Info:
April.spilde@tridot.com
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/aprilspilde
Coach Lauren Brown
Lauren.brown@tridot.com
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/laurenbrown
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/laurenbrown
Coach Rich Soares
Rich.soares@tridot.com
Rich Soares Coaching
TriDot Signup - https://app.tridot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares
RunDot Signup - https://app.rundot.com/onboard/sign-up/richsoares
Get Gritty Sponsor: Vespa Power
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Transcript
Introduction and New Platform Launch
00:00:17
Rich
Welcome to episode 525 of the Grit to Greatness Endurance Podcast. We are your hosts, coaches Rich Soares, April Spilde and Lauren Brown, and we are on a mission to help endurance athletes train smarter, race stronger, and build the grit it takes to achieve greatness.
00:00:37
Rich
Coaches, are you guys ready to rumble on the velocity launch today? We are launching our new platform.
00:00:46
Lauren Brown
I am super pumped. I cannot wait to see our ambassadors on the platform and experiencing it and being able to hear even maybe some of their commentary as they're going through the experience.
00:00:59
April
Yeah, hear what they really think about us. so but
00:01:02
Lauren Brown
We can hear you guys.
00:01:03
April
Yes, you are not muted.
00:01:07
Lauren Brown
If I added you as my friend, I can hear everything you're saying.
00:01:10
April
Yes, i love that. Get their true, true feelings. It's going to be fantastic. I'm so excited, Rich.
Webinar with Robbie Ventura
00:01:17
Rich
If if tuesdays night Tuesday night's webinar that we had with, this was really awesome because we had Robbie Ventura, who has been a part of the kind of vision and you know launch of or growth of velocity was actually with us and for those of you who do not know who robbie ventura is he look him up uh we'll put uh his wikipedia here in the show notes but pro pro uh cyclist raced on the u.s postal team and uh just a really awesome guy and a coach
00:01:19
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:01:53
April
i Yeah, I didn't know he did. Yeah, I didn't know he did the commentary for the Tour de France for many years, too.
00:02:00
Rich
right
00:02:00
April
That was surprising.
00:02:03
Rich
Right.
00:02:03
Lauren Brown
And he's like the most humble person ever where you're like, oh yeah, no, I'm really not that great.
00:02:03
Rich
He
00:02:06
April
Perry.
00:02:07
Rich
sure is.
00:02:10
Lauren Brown
i haven't really done that much. And then you hear his accolades and you're like, m you've done quite a bit, quite a bit.
00:02:15
April
Yeah.
00:02:18
Lauren Brown
Like what an honor to have him on with our team.
00:02:23
Rich
Yeah, for sure. So we'll, yeah, we're we're excited. We're going to be talking about this from a bunch of angles today. And let's roll in. You guys ready to go?
00:02:33
April
Ready, Freddie. I like the angle prompt there too, because there's a little bit of the arrow angle that velocity as a feature can provide to our athletes too. So more to come on that, but let us get in the water as far as getting hydrodynamic.
00:02:49
April
We are bringing our announcement
Tri-dot Pool School Announcement
00:02:50
April
for tonight. We have tri-dot pool school. coming back to Colorado Springs, February 28th through March 1st.
00:02:57
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:02:59
April
That's a weekend workshop. And this is open for everybody, whether you're a beginner struggling to feel comfortable in open water or an experienced athlete chasing podium spots.
00:03:10
April
improving your swim technique can unlock some massive benefits. I know when I went through pool school, I dropped 10 seconds off my 100 yard time, which is just a huge breakthrough for me personally. And we've had so many results very similar to that, if not greater through pool school. So we put our signup link in the show notes. We also have a what's it called a coupon or a discount code, hit us up for that discount code. We can get you some, a discount on this pool school coming up as well. If you want to accelerate your progress in the, in the pool, we definitely need to see you at try.pool school in Colorado Springs, February 28th through March first
00:03:55
Lauren Brown
All
Dealing with Setbacks and Identity in Sports
00:03:55
Lauren Brown
right. And we're going to roll right into our get gritty mindset tip. And today to be talking about navigating injuries, setbacks, and identity.
00:04:10
Lauren Brown
And this is something that I feel might resonate with a lot of people, even if we don't always talk about what's going on if we're having injuries or setbacks, right? So it's something that most athletes will face at some point.
00:04:27
Lauren Brown
even if we'd rather avoid it. And it's not necessarily if you're going to experience an injury or if something's going to not go your way, it's probably a little bit more a matter of when is it going to happen and how do you respond to it when it does.
00:04:46
Lauren Brown
So we're not saying every single athlete is going to get injured. but there will be moments when training, a race, a season doesn't go exactly as planned. And while we might be focusing a little bit heavier today on the injury standpoint, I want our listeners to think about it a little bit more broadly. So this might resonate with you if, again, you maybe had a race where Maybe you forgot something. Maybe you forgot to pack something at the race and it just didn't go your way. This can all be applicable in different scenarios.
00:05:25
Lauren Brown
And you can be doing everything right. right like You could be training consistently. You're showing up. you're i mean You could be executing 100 session XP and checking off all the boxes. And then suddenly your body just starts to tap on the brakes a little bit.
00:05:45
Lauren Brown
And if you've been there, you can probably relate to the hardest part isn't often that physical element. It's what the setback also starts to mess with in the process.
00:06:00
Lauren Brown
And this is one thing that I've definitely noticed a little bit. So I'll just say I'm dealing with a little niggle on my knee. And I'm very fortunate that this is like the first time in 43 years that I've had something that was screaming at me a little bit.
00:06:16
Lauren Brown
But the idea of... it's not just an injury, it's also part of your identity and who you are So for many endurance athletes, it's not just something we do, right? Training is stress relief, it's confidence, it's community, structure.
00:06:32
Lauren Brown
So when an injury forces a step back, a set a yeah, a step back, a step back, a step back, it can feel like you're losing a part of yourself. So there's frustration, fear, comparison, and something that I think deserves to be said out loud is that the reaction doesn't mean you're weak.
00:06:51
Lauren Brown
It means that you're aware of what's going on and that you care.
00:06:55
Rich
Yeah, that's right. and And it's funny, we we went. We had our CMG a couple of months ago, Coach April, where we had Coach Michael Fenton giving us a presentation on what it's like to go through you know the recovery process as an athlete.
00:07:02
Lauren Brown
a couple months ago, Coach Gabriel and I, Coach Michael Fenton, gave us a presentation on what it's like to go through the recovery process as an athlete and all of those feelings of isolation and loss of community.
00:07:13
Rich
And all of those you know feelings of isolation and you know loss of community and the comparison you just talked about, Coach Lauren, all of those you know sort of emotional and psychological things going on as you're going through a process where you're healing from an injury, whether it's a niggle or something much more serious.
00:07:20
Lauren Brown
the repairs that you just talked about all of those you know sort of emotional and psychological things going on as you're going through the process uh where you're healing from the injury whether it's an injury or something much more serious but as i like to always say you know it's a crisis this is where
00:07:34
Rich
But as I like to always say never waste a crisis. you know
00:07:37
April
Mm-hmm.
00:07:39
Rich
this is where, you know, this is where setbacks happen. But on the other side, you know, it's always darkest before the dawn is another thing I like to say.
00:07:51
Rich
you know, I was talking to one of our athletes who's going to have a meniscus tear surgery. And, you know, she was asking about my experience with my meniscus tear.
00:08:02
Rich
And I actually was running faster after my meniscus repair than I was six you the six months or you know whatever prior to my meniscus repair.
00:08:15
Rich
And it it turned out that you know it as even i was even having those thoughts, like, will I ever run again? like and it was you know in the moment, it seemed legit.
00:08:21
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:08:26
Rich
but later on it you know, the healing process, the physical therapy that went into it was a corner I couldn't see around at the time.
00:08:37
Rich
But when I was around that corner, all a sudden, like, wow, I'm stronger. I've got more mobility. I can actually run more powerfully because everything's healed up. And I've actually done some proper physical therapy.
00:08:48
Rich
So,
00:08:50
Rich
That is actually a really great lesson because you know when you are recovering from an injury, physical therapy, that mobility, avoiding stillness, you
00:09:02
Rich
really kind of, you know it's a good time to maybe even reflect on kind of your relationship to the sport.
Reframing Setbacks as Opportunities
00:09:07
Rich
It doesn't have to be a doesn't have to be an all or nothing. It can be a change, right?
00:09:14
Rich
This is a great time to just be patient and let things come to you. So this is where you know better questions matter more than harder workouts. What has my body been asking for that I've ignored?
00:09:26
Rich
What was I compensating for instead of addressing the root cause issue? What does stronger actually mean for this season? And so here's the reframe. This isn't just a setback. It's a forced audit and a rebuild.
00:09:40
Rich
Rehab, prehab, and preseason matter. Now you're going to have greater wisdom around that rehab and prehab. This isn't just about getting to the baseline.
00:09:51
Rich
It's about like, you you know, you're going to
00:09:55
Rich
And you can't just use the preseason for piling on fitness. This is your time. you know You're going to be addressing any lingering issues from last season, building resilience, not just capacity, but building resilience, cleaning up movement patterns and strength gaps. This is a great time to do a functional movement screening, do you know, a, a gait analysis to make sure that there's nothing going on wonky with your gait analysis and running that's going to cause an injury.
00:10:26
Rich
And athletes who come back strong, don't rush it. They really kind of follow the, you know, prescription of their PT or their coach. They don't panic. They don't skip the boring work.
00:10:37
Rich
Here's the truth. Rushing back usually costs more time than it does taking it slow because coming back too fast, you can just re-injure yourself.
00:10:45
April
Yeah, that is true.
00:10:46
Lauren Brown
So that.
00:10:48
April
One of the things that Laura and I were talking about when she shared that she's been dealing with this, this knee niggle was the fear, right?
00:10:58
April
The fear, the things that we go through the gamut that our mind runs through when something happens that that's totally unexpected, that is unfortunate and can feel completely derailing.
00:11:13
April
And one of the things I love about Lauren is that she is a very, very resilient and she has a great way of looking inward to address the fear, right? So she and i if you don't mind me sharing a little bit, Lauren,
00:11:29
Lauren Brown
you.
00:11:29
April
she and I talked a little bit about, okay, what is the fear and how can we reframe it so that it's not so big and scary? And I think she quickly, it was wonderful to see quickly rose to the occasion to provide some answers to the fear, which can automatically in a powerful way defang what that feels like when you are in that moment of uncertainty.
00:11:58
April
And it's just a great way to look at fear as feedback versus failure, right? We want to get that information so we can make an informed decision that we're understanding why we're here in this situation in the first place and not shaming or blaming, but
00:12:10
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:12:17
April
realistically and objectively looking at, okay, this is what's happened. This is what I can do to adjust or pivot, which that is the definition of resilience. It's the ability to withstand and or recover from a setback. So Lauren, I know this, this segment for you is close to your heart. And I just want to say thank you for being willing to share what's currently going on. You've got some awesome goals, big dreams, and I really see you on the path to getting back to and using this as a stepping stone versus a a stumbling block.
00:12:50
April
So when we think about getting gritty here with overcoming this fear of a setback, or if we are injured or we're over-trained, or we just continuously get in this rut of not being able to see progress, there's a few things that we can do to help us move through this. First is making sure that we separate our identity from our output.
00:13:17
April
You are not your pace. As coach Rich shared earlier, he tore his meniscus. That's the first time I've heard that. That's that is an incredible story of coming through something that is uncertain and you haven't been through.
00:13:32
April
And is this, this new dark forest that you have to go through to see if you can come out the other side and hear you actually are running faster. That's so amazing.
00:13:42
April
So separating your pace
00:13:44
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
Balancing Identity and Athletic Output
00:13:44
April
from your identity, you,
00:13:47
April
Understanding that things change and we can adapt to them. You're not your mileage. You are not your race calendar. Just this last year, I, my goal last year was to qualify for Xterra worlds, but it was also my mom's 60th birthday.
00:14:07
April
And I recognized mom, We're going to Mexico to celebrate your 60th. I can put this race off for another year. Right. I recognized in that moment that I'm not my whole identity is not to be a triathlete. It's also to be an excellent daughter, to be a wonderful sister and to recognize that my mom has a milestone birthday. We're going to go celebrate in Mexico. So you're not your race calendar.
00:14:32
April
You are someone who shows up, someone who adapts and someone who plays the long game. Your training will change. It will change. It's not a may or if it will, but your identity doesn't have to.
00:15:06
April
That is training. It's just a different season of it. Another way to help you with moving through a setback is turning that setback into a tool.
00:15:18
April
Your injury doesn't have to define you. It doesn't have to break you. It can become a very powerful teacher. It can remind you that you're ready for a reset.
00:15:28
April
Maybe you need to look at your priorities. It can be a huge foundation builder. So if you had been neglecting an injury for a really long time, and then finally it, it impeded your ability to train now is the time to address the If, if you couldn't do it in the past right now, today is the time to do it.
00:15:45
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:15:48
April
It can be an incredible foundation builder to help you so that this doesn't happen again. And that you have a stronger place to stand when you continue on with your intensity or with your training.
00:16:01
April
Athletes who reflect during setbacks tend to train smarter. They respect recovery. They also recover faster and they learn that mind body connection.
Building a Stronger Foundation through Reassessment
00:16:11
April
They can learn how to better communicate with their bodies.
00:16:14
April
This season doesn't have to be less than it can actually be stronger because of it. So here's your closing thought for get gritty tip. We talk a lot about grit and endurance sports. I mean, the name of our podcast is grit to greatness.
00:16:29
April
But grit isn't always pushing harder. Sometimes it looks like pulling back, choosing patience over the ego and honestly doing the work that no one sees the stuff. That's not glamorous or flashy or fancy, but the things that really make the difference when it comes to building that foundation.
00:16:52
April
So if you're injured right now, you are not behind. You are just building something that's a little quieter, but also a lot stronger because the work you do in that setback often determines the strength of your comeback. And it also is the difference maker between long-term grit and resilience and the ability to stay in this game, through longevity.
00:17:16
April
So coach Lauren, fabulous, fabulous tip. Do you want to add anything?
00:17:22
Lauren Brown
Well, wanna Rich, thank you for sharing about your meniscus tear, your surgery, because it's one another thing that Coach Apele and are talking about while I'm trying to navigate this in my head space about the the fear and almost like guilt that was showing up for me was that I'm thinking, i again, like what we said earlier, like I do the right training. I if i look around at, like, again, not that you should be comparing, but I'm like, I'm mobile. I do mobility every day. I'm flexible. I sleep well. I am pretty on point with my nutrition. And then I'm thinking, i started to question
00:18:05
Lauren Brown
like what am i doing wrong i i don't deserve this space i'm obviously like treating not not treating my body properly i'm not i'm not doing the right things and not not that i want to hear that rich that you had surgery or anything like that but obviously i look up to you as a coach i look up to you as an athlete and it's like injuries and setbacks happen to pretty much everyone. It doesn't matter if you are the best coach in the world, if you are the fastest, fittest athlete, we see it all the time on the the pro field with athletes who have the best care from, you know, physiotherapists, massage therapists, people that are doing their nutrition and it still happens to them and they also recover. And it it's just, it is that it's that fear of the unknown, but knowing that
00:18:58
Lauren Brown
the comeback can be stronger than the setback. So i I needed this conversation today and I hope that it resonates with someone else. And I know that there's always training and racing on the other side of it and it helps to talk through it sometimes.
00:19:18
Rich
And talk through it with your coach, talk through it with your your fellow athletes. There's a great chance that either they've had an athlete who's gone through something like this or they know an athlete that has gone through something like this who could be a good support system for you, right? Just having somebody, oh, you've been through this too.
00:19:37
Rich
Can I be your, you know, can we exchange, you know, phone numbers so we can text each other if I have, you know, like, and was like, you know, Coach Fenton gave us that presentation on what it's like to go through a traumatic injury.
00:19:53
Rich
It's hard to put yourself in those shoes. It's hard, you know, you know, so, you know, talking to someone who's been there, done that, and has gotten through it, it's probably very, you know, sort of comforting, you know.
00:20:06
April
Yeah, hope giving.
00:20:06
Rich
and and and And let's just put this out there, right? You know, don't, if if there are, if they're if you're experiencing something in a race or in a workout that does not feel right, this is not right.
00:20:20
Rich
Pay attention to that. You'll come back tomorrow and and train tomorrow if you pay attention to that and pull over and get whatever attention is that you need. Don't ignore warning signs.
00:20:32
Rich
can You know, like whether, you know, look at, I mean, Tio had a heart attack in a race.
00:20:36
April
Heart attack, yeah.
00:20:39
Rich
It happens. And he was, you know having that thought, well, maybe i could just keep going, right?
00:20:42
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:20:43
Rich
Obviously not, right?
00:20:46
Lauren Brown
Super important.
00:20:47
Rich
public service announcement is on my mind.
00:20:50
Lauren Brown
Yeah. It was timely.
00:20:51
April
super, super, super timely and relevant.
00:20:52
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:20:53
April
and And honestly, it can, it can happen to anyone. and And I think that's the importance of us sharing this, this tip tonight, if you want to call it that is words of wisdom, I would say.
00:21:05
April
but Before we head into the fun segment, cause this fun segment is themed, uh, for our lovely coach, rich, who just did the Almageddon last
Rich's Almageddon Winter Race Experience
00:21:15
April
weekend. and I wanted to ask you, rich, can you give us a down and dirty on how Almageddon went?
00:21:21
Rich
Absolutely. Cause when we signed off, it was the night before the race. And so I'm like, if you were listening last, last week, you heard coach Lauren and I talking to some of my, I'll call them roommates at the Alma house, which was just kind of like a, you know, like a bed and breakfast kind of a setup. Awesome. I highly recommend it.
00:21:42
Rich
Like, by the way, like,
00:21:45
Rich
Liz Collar wants us to have our camp up there in Alma. Use the Alma House. She's like going to give us, she would give us 50% off on the race that she's happening that weekend.
00:21:50
April
What?
00:21:54
Rich
We got to talk to her.
00:21:56
April
Oh, wow.
00:21:56
Rich
But. So, and it's beautiful up there. it's really It's really fun. it's it's It's like that cool, funky, you know, like Colorado, you know, you're you're kind of in that whole like, you know mining scene and, you know, the old west.
00:22:09
April
Yeah.
00:22:11
Rich
I mean, like there's one grocery store called the All Mart. Not Walmart, the All Mart. Anyway, yeah.
00:22:22
Rich
Race. So go to bed that night. The wind is howling all night. Like we we looked at the forecast. think we talked about the forecast on the podcast.
00:22:29
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:22:30
Rich
It was like going to be like minus like 20 overnight with or like minus 20 wind chill with like up to minus 35 with the gusts of wind or something like that.
00:22:41
Rich
was ridiculous. Get up the next morning. You guys saw the video. Wind was howling down the street.
00:22:44
April
Mm-hmm.
00:22:47
Rich
We're all sitting there looking at our fat bikes, looking outside going, I don't know. and This can't, like, we're like waiting for the announcement that this has been canceled. Like, it's gotta be canceled.
00:22:59
Rich
It was not canceled. So we do this thing and the the ride. So they had to cut it short because of the weather, because of the ironically, the lack of snow base to be able to do the skiing. It was cut a little short, but it started on fat bikes and you had to have your tire pressure, right? Otherwise you were going to spin when you did hit the snow because there were some drifts coming.
00:23:24
Rich
But it was headfirst into wind that was gusting up to 50 miles an hour, sub-zero. so you've got, like, i've I had six layers on my upper torso, two on my lower, the ice bug shoes with wool socks,
00:23:43
Rich
you know, lobster mitt gloves. Most people had handlebar gloves, you know, that you so you know big sleeves that you stick your arms in, smart. A lot of people wore goggles, ski goggles.
00:23:55
Rich
I just had the big the big glasses on and a muff, like a buff rather. Well, you're going into the wind, you're working, you're breathing hard, that buff gets wet.
00:24:02
Lauren Brown
Oh
00:24:08
Rich
And when like you're at 11,000 feet, you're already breathing through a straw. Now there's a cloth on the other side of it that's wet. You're getting waterboarded at 11,000 feet.
00:24:19
Rich
right? It's, you can't breathe. And then, so you go to pull it down and now it's just like, you know, ice, you know, like ice daggers hitting your face. And then the, the buff that was wet now is like an ice block, like in an instant.
00:24:35
Lauren Brown
one's terrible.
00:24:36
Rich
Uh, uh, Judy, who was on the call are on our pod last week was talking about how she took her hand out of a glove and it flash froze. Like, because of a blast of wind. It like, and anyway, it's pretty serious stuff, but it was a fricking blast. Like i you were working hard.
00:24:56
Rich
You were not sure you were going to finish this thing. You were you're going to make it to the next hill, you know? And the bike skills, like when you hit the drifts on those fat bike, you know, and you're climbing, if you don't have a nice smooth stroke,
00:25:10
Rich
It's just gonna, you're just gonna, and once you start to spin, that's it, you're done. But if you can keep a nice steady sort of that like traction control that you have on your car that really like reduces the torque, right?
00:25:22
Rich
To keep that grip. It you were able to just, especially if you follow somebody else's track, that was the key, like get right on somebody else's track. Anyway, up to, up to the transition.
00:25:22
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:25:36
Rich
despite putting warm water in my pack and like warm water in my hydration pack and a body warmer against the the the bladder and putting the hose inside the backpack, it still froze.
00:25:59
Rich
I thought, I'm like, this is genius. This is bomb proof. I go to take that hose out. I think it was honestly just taking the hose out for a second. Like all it took was just a little bit of exposure to the air and it was frozen.
00:26:07
April
Oh.
00:26:11
Lauren Brown
Wild.
00:26:13
Rich
Good thing I took some Vespa and I was well hydrated before the beginning because I didn't really get to take in anything during a whole race.
00:26:20
April
Wow.
00:26:21
Lauren Brown
So how long were you out there for? took
00:26:23
Rich
Just a couple hours. It was two two just under two hours.
00:26:25
April
Just a couple hours.
00:26:27
Lauren Brown
a couple hours freezing my everything off.
00:26:30
Rich
Yeah.
00:26:30
Lauren Brown
Whiskey?
00:26:30
Rich
And then, so yeah, you do the run, you go up. Oh, they were doing, I didn't have one. They were doing fireball shots at the turnaround.
00:26:36
April
I knew it. I knew it.
00:26:37
Lauren Brown
if
00:26:39
Lauren Brown
whiskey
00:26:40
April
Yes, that is a, that is a thing.
00:26:41
Rich
Yeah.
00:26:41
Lauren Brown
Oh, really?
00:26:41
Rich
With with with like so cinnamon.
00:26:42
April
Yep.
00:26:43
Lauren Brown
I was like, there's no way i'm I must not know the lingo. I'm thinking, oh okay.
00:26:48
April
Cinnamon shot, cinnamon whiskey shot.
00:26:48
Rich
And then, yeah. Yeah, something like that. and And then you get back on the fat bike and go down. And now here, you're going to want, like, this is what you put on that puffy layer because you're going downhill. It was actually a little probably warmer generally, but and you're but you're going downhill.
00:27:06
Rich
And anyway, great time. 50 racers total. We're... The town of Alma, the people there, you know, just a great time. Great vibe.
00:27:18
Rich
Liz Collar, shout out to her. Shout out to the Park County Search and Rescue. I've made two donations to these guys now. They were just great.
00:27:29
Lauren Brown
Very impressive.
00:27:30
April
Awesome. That was, uh, actually you hit on some of the notes from the fun segment. Oh, it's so good.
00:27:36
Rich
all right. Let's build the beans.
00:27:36
April
It's so it's perfect. Yes.
00:27:38
Rich
Okay.
00:27:39
April
You talked about being a blast. We're about to have a winter blast here. This is winter triathlon Armageddon, Armageddon. We're going to, uh, jump into the works here where nothing works.
00:27:53
April
Everything hurts and optimism is a liability. So this is a segment where we are going to drop you into the cold, chaotic, and questionably safe winter race scenarios. So there's no overthinking, absolutely no disclaimers and no well ideally.
00:28:13
April
So there's just one question. I'm going to give you a scenario and I'm going to ask you, what would you do? We have two rounds and each scenario is going to get progressively worse.
00:28:21
Lauren Brown
Ready.
00:28:26
April
So I'm going to give you the scenario and you need to tell me what would you do? Are you both ready?
00:28:32
Rich
Ready.
00:28:33
Lauren Brown
and
00:28:34
April
All right. Round one. This is cold, but contained. Here's your scenario. You're five minutes from the start gun. You already can't fill your toes. It's going to be at least an hour for Rich. It was a few hours.
00:28:50
April
before they warm up. If they ever do, what would you do? You are five minutes from the start. What would you do?
00:28:56
Rich
You go first, Coach Lauren. i've got I've got a real life example of this.
00:29:00
Lauren Brown
What would I do? i mean, i would i would just pray that I made it. I would see if I could get some hand warmer things and maybe see if they would fit somehow in my shoes.
00:29:13
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:29:15
Rich
There you go There you go. Yeah. So what I have found to be the key, and this is what I like literally did as I was racing to the the the start, because I had actually forgot to put my my tag my number on the saddle, on my stem of my saddle.
00:29:35
Rich
And I'm like, oh, I need to make sure I've got those on too. So I got the toe warmers, but what I do is I take out the sock liner and put it Under the sock liner and then put the sock liner back in the shoe so that your sock doesn't catch it.
00:29:54
Rich
But it still keeps the whole toe warm.
00:29:58
Lauren Brown
it's
00:30:01
Rich
So that's what that's the toe warmers.
00:30:01
Lauren Brown
a method okay
00:30:04
April
Yeah, I love that. That is some skill right there. Okay. Number two, you are overdressed on the start line, but underdressed for the descent, you know, is coming later.
00:30:17
April
What would you do?
00:30:19
Lauren Brown
I keep it on even though I know now I'm going back to last week's episode. There were some tips and I'm pretty sure Judy said something along the lines of you not want to be sweating on the way up because that's going to freeze on the way down.
00:30:36
Lauren Brown
but I know myself well enough that I would probably be like, I don't believe it. I need to be blind.
00:30:40
April
you
00:30:41
Rich
Thank you.
00:30:44
Lauren Brown
So Judy's advice, take a layer off. So you're not actually, so you don't want to sweat. She said, you do not want to sweat.
00:31:14
Rich
You know, and then, you know, as those as, you know, things change, as your intensity level changes, as the grade changes, as the wind changes, as the sun you know comes out from behind the clock, when those things change, you can just, you know zip and unzip as you need to adjust.
00:31:28
Lauren Brown
Yeah.
00:31:33
Rich
Be my
00:31:35
April
I like those, layer tips because I think that can really make all the difference with how prepared you are for whether you're sweating bullets or you're shearing off icicles.
00:31:48
Rich
Sweat and bullets in more than one way.
00:31:49
April
All right.
00:31:50
Rich
That's for sure.
Hypothetical Winter Race Scenarios
00:31:52
April
Let's cut that out if we could, please.
00:31:55
April
All right, round two full winter Armageddon.
00:31:57
Lauren Brown
One and two.
00:31:59
April
We are up in the ante. Now it's not just cold. It's consequential scenario. Number three, we've got an ice patch. Surprise. You hit unexpected ice on the bike. You stay upright, but your confidence is gone.
00:32:14
April
You get that slide, that drift effect, and you, you almost feel like you're going to go down, but you managed to stay up, right? But you lose your confidence. What do you do?
00:32:24
Lauren Brown
Oh, man. This, I'm going to say this what I did in Spain. I just kept praying to my uncle in the universe that that I wouldn't crash. I mean, you just keep going and you try to stay calm.
00:32:38
Lauren Brown
That's it.
00:32:39
Rich
Yeah, 100%.
00:32:39
April
Ride the wave.
00:32:40
Lauren Brown
Just ride the wave.
00:32:42
Rich
Yeah, 100%. That happened every two seconds on the last climb because you were you are on snow that was fresh snow, right? So the the the front of the pack, the more skilled riders,
00:32:58
Rich
fortunately at least gave us a couple of tracks to go through but otherwise like you would spin out or slide and you just had to be ready at any given time to put a foot down you know and not go especially going down you had to be careful not to go too fast because there were patches there was actually one patch they were like uh they were able to steer us around but it was like they were actually calling it the ice rink
00:33:08
April
Hmm.
00:33:24
April
No, it's like do or die. i that feeling of losing control is such a oh yeah.
00:33:32
Lauren Brown
It's unsettling.
00:33:33
April
Jarring.
00:33:34
Lauren Brown
Mm-hmm.
00:33:34
April
Yes. Okay. Rich, this is right up your alley again here. Okay. Here's your next scenario. Your bottles are slush. Your gels are bricks and chewing feels impossible. Plus your water bottle is frozen. What would you do?
00:33:51
Lauren Brown
vesper i'm stealing riches which is actually what he did
00:33:52
April
Yeah. yeah
00:33:58
April
yeah but
00:34:00
Rich
Well, so the pre-hydration, I think, was like actually really key here. like I think I would have been more panicked if like I hadn't been hydrating well the night before and the morning of, really taking in, you know like hydrating with electrolytes.
00:34:18
Rich
The other thing that, you know i mean, it was just like, by that time in the race, yeah like you didn't have access to it while you were riding. You couldn't take it out.
00:34:28
Rich
right So it wasn't until I got to the transitionary that I even attempted to take a drink.
00:34:29
Lauren Brown
Thank
00:34:34
Rich
Unfortunately, by that time, they were just taking the hose out. was It was frozen. So pre-hydrating, was frozen so you know prehydrating You know, just as, you know, luck favors the prepared, if you will.
00:34:47
Rich
And yeah, the Vespa meant that I really didn't need a gel. I wasn't going bonk just because I wasn't, I was using mostly fat for fuel.
00:34:55
April
Yeah, I think this all goes, the, the, the luck goes to the prepared 100% on all of this here.
00:34:56
Lauren Brown
Hmm.
00:35:18
April
What would you do?
00:35:22
Lauren Brown
I keep on going back to, I'm just going to pray that everything works out fine. I, this, you know what I would say, and again, this is something that we were told not to do on the last, last week.
00:35:31
April
yeah
00:35:32
Lauren Brown
so So if you listened last week, you're going like, Lauren's just not doing anything.
00:35:36
April
Throwing the rules out.
00:35:38
Lauren Brown
I would use my leg as a kickstand if I needed to slow slow down. if I couldn't shift gears and I needed to slow down, break the leg, literally.
00:35:45
April
Ooh.
00:35:47
April
Break a leg.
00:35:48
Lauren Brown
That's what you know,
00:35:51
Rich
So it all seriousness, if this was me, I could not could that break or shift. I would probably think that I was probably being unsafe.
00:36:03
Rich
And I would probably pull over and either figure out a way to get those hands warmed up so that I can keep going and you know and get some feeling back in my fingers.
00:36:03
April
Yeah.
00:36:14
Rich
a Although that sounds horrible, just pulling over and just like being there, not moving forward. But it might be the alternative of not being able to stop and hitting a tree. you i don't I don't mean to laugh at that, but yeah.
00:36:26
Lauren Brown
No, no, but.
00:36:28
April
True. It's safety for sure. If your hands aren't working, if your fingers have not, uh, recovered, that might be early onset frostbite as well. So,
00:36:37
Rich
Yeah, Buzzkill Rich. Sorry, guys.
00:36:38
April
No, it's good. This is the prepared. This favors again, luck here. So that is your winter triathlon Armageddon, Armageddon version. Winter racing doesn't only reward bravado. It rewards preparation, adaptability, and good decisions made under pressure. Just like Rich said was stopping. If you are not able to use your hands, that is a good point to stop. If one of those scenarios made you squirm, good.
00:37:08
April
That's where the real learning happens. But now we want to hear from you. Head to our socials and tell us what you would do. Pick a scenario, call your shot. No explanations required. Just honesty.
00:37:21
April
Would you push on? Would you pivot? Or would you pull the plug? Tag us, reply in the comments or drop it in our DMS with winter triathlon Armageddon at the top because winter doesn't care how strong you are. It only cares how well you decide how well prepared you are. And that is your winter triathlon Armageddon.
00:37:41
Rich
Love that.
00:37:43
Lauren Brown
Always fine.
00:37:43
Rich
for yeah Thank you for letting me share the the race from last week. it is i honestly think that this is something that yeah folks should try. This is a blast. like If you're a multi-sport athlete and you've got access to one of these events, I know I know the the bi i made it sound terrible with the 50-mile-an-hour gusts and the wind blowing your face and all that stuff. but Honestly, if we had really good weather, this would have been absolute blast. And next year, I'm um'm all in.
00:38:13
Rich
so
00:38:13
April
I will say rich had the biggest smile on his face on all the photos I saw. He was smiling and ear to ear. And even though it looked like a suffer fest, it also looked like just the best memory is
00:38:25
Rich
i mean, like if you saw the town hall that we were in, like you know this whole like inside there, everybody was just having the goofiest, greatest time.
00:38:28
April
Yeah.
00:38:33
April
Oh, I love it.
00:38:34
Rich
Oh, and there was like a chili and soup cook-off, like a crock pot competition at the end, which is great.
00:38:39
Lauren Brown
cetera
00:38:41
April
That's so good.
00:38:41
Lauren Brown
It's awesome.
00:38:42
April
That's so good.
00:38:43
Rich
we go April, next year.
00:38:46
April
Yeah, we're doing it. yeah Yeah. I think we can manage this for next year, Rich. Thank you for being the Guinea pig.
00:38:51
Rich
Awesome. Yeah, absolutely. The pioneer.
Vespa Power Endurance Promotion
00:38:55
Rich
Folks, as you know, we are big fans of Vespa Power Endurance, and they are our show sponsor. So we are really proud to be talking about them as a part of our training and racing.
00:39:09
Rich
And, you know, we just went to share, like, this is the product that really will help you. It's different than a nutrition product in that it helps you tap into steady, clean energy, It is not a fuel. It's a metabolic catalyst. It shifts your body from using sugar and glycogen to burning fat.
00:39:29
Rich
it It helps clear the mind. It helps focus. It helps you feel more confident. And it comes in it's like a, it's like a water, like almost like a very liquidy pouch. It's not at all like a gel. It's just a completely different product, but it really does. It it really makes a big difference in, in your performance in racing and training.
00:39:53
Rich
Less sugar, higher performance, faster recovery, faster recovery is another big, huge advantage. You have those hard days that leave you pretty wiped out the next day. you will notice the difference.
00:40:04
Rich
i It will notice the difference. And Vespa will stand behind that you will, I'm pretty sure it will stand behind that you will feel the difference. We have a discount code in here, 303 Endurance 20.
00:40:12
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:40:14
Rich
That will give you 20% off of your very first purchase. After that, you can use our ongoing savings with our new G2G Vespa 15. That'll give you 15% off that code, Will. And the link is right here in the show notes.
00:40:29
Rich
Give it a go. And folks, and and coaches, I guess. What a blast. What a show. And next week, me just give a little preview. We've got a special guest joining us.
00:40:44
Rich
Wes Smith from Pro Bike Express is going to come and talk to us about what what the ins and outs of shipping your bike are and what your options are and kind of like what that whole business, you know, kind of like a little inside that whole business model.
00:40:49
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:41:00
Rich
And he's got he's got a he's a really fun guy to talk to and he's going to He's going probably have us laughing quite a bit, is my guess.
00:41:09
Rich
Awesome.
Closing and Next Week's Preview
00:41:10
Rich
Thanks for spending some time with us today on the Grit to Greatness Endurance podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow us on Instagram at g2gendurance and leave us a rating and a comment.
00:41:22
Rich
We'd love that. Plus also review us on Apple Podcasts.
00:41:23
Lauren Brown
Thank you.
00:41:25
Rich
We are also on YouTube now so you can watch the podcast. It helps us reach more athletes like you when you leave us a review. So we appreciate that. Stay gritty, train smart, and keep chasing greatness.