Andrew Harley: Hey everyone! Quick public service announcement before we roll the show. I am thrilled to announce that the “TriDot Triathlon Show” on YouTube is officially launched. Episode 1 is already out, with Episode 2 just days away at the moment this episode is going live. This weekly triathlon variety show will be a great complement to our podcast. We’ll get our athletes and coaches on camera to educate, inspire, and entertain. If you like listening to us here, we hope and trust you’ll like what you see over there. So go give us a watch, subscribe to the “TriDot Triathlon Show” on YouTube, and of course enjoy today’s episode of the TriDot podcast.

Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Welcome to the TriDot podcast! This is a really different topic today, and it should be a really interesting conversation. I have three bright minds from the tri industry here to talk about the brand-to-athlete relationship in our sport, covering things like ambassador programs, athlete communities, and how brands and athletes can foster growth in our sport. It should be a good one! Our first guest joining us today is the Marketing Director for Zoot Sports, our good friend Mark Goddard. Mark is a two-time Ironman finisher and longtime supporter of Team Zoot athletes. As a company, Zoot Sports is the leading running and triathlon sports brand, providing quality triathlon, running, and cycling apparel and wetsuits. As a community, Team Zoot was the Ironman 2022 World Championship Division I tri club, congrats to all the Team Zooters listening today, and Mr. Mark Goddard has a hand in facilitating all of that. Mark, welcome to the TriDot podcast!

Mark Goddard: Hey, thanks for having me, good to be here, guys, this is a pleasure!

Andrew: Next up is TriDot coach John Mayfield. John is a USAT Level II and IRONMAN U certified coach, who leads TriDot’s Athlete Services, Ambassador, and Coaching Programs. He has coached hundreds of athletes, ranging from first-timers to Kona qualifiers and professional triathletes. John has been using TriDot since 2010 and coaching with TriDot since 2012. John Mayfield, we are getting all up in your grill as our Director of Community with today’s topic. Are you excited for the chat today?

John Mayfield: Yeah, it’s been great to get to know Mark and the team over at Zoot over the last several months, so I’m looking forward to today’s discussion.

Andrew: Also joining us is TriDot’s VP of Marketing, Matt Bach. Matt is an accomplished athlete with an Ironman Maryland victory, and 77nd overall finish in Kona on his résumé. He worked on Wall Street as a trader and portfolio manager for nine years, earned his MBA from Temple University, worked at marketing at UCAN for 2½ years before coming on board to lead TriDot’s marketing effort. And Matt, you also are a Team Zoot athlete, particularly back in your more active racing days. Welcome back to the show!

Matt Bach: Yes, thank you! It’s been a little while, I’m excited to be “Bach” on the mike!

Andrew: I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People, Captain of the Middle of the Pack – and a big fan of puns! As always, we’ll roll through our warmup question, settle in for our main set conversation – still thinking about that pun, Matt! – and then we’ll wind things down with our cooldown.

Before we get too deep into the show today, I want to give a shout out to our good friends at UCAN. Here at TriDot we are huge believers in using UCAN to fuel our training and racing. In the crowded field of nutrition companies, what separates UCAN from the pack is the science behind LIVSTEADY, the key ingredient in UCAN products. While most energy powders are filled with sugar or stimulants that cause a spike and crash, UCAN energy powders, powered by LIVSTEADY, deliver a steady release of complex carbs to give you stable blood sugar and provide long-lasting energy. I personally fuel many of my workouts with the orange-flavored Edge gel and the unflavored UCAN Energy. Between their energy mix, energy bars, almond butter, and more, there is definitely a LIVSTEADY product that you will love. So head to their website, ucan.co and use the code TRIDOT to save 20% on your entire order. Once again, that’s ucan.co, promo code TRIDOT.

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew: I keep seeing more and more podcasts popping up in the tri space, and I for one am all for it. We fill one of your hours per week, but there is certainly more time in your training week to learn more from other voices, and it’s a big bonus when those podcasts in the triathlon space are in the TriDot family. Quick shout out to TriDot Coach Matt Sommer and TriDot Ambassador Jillian Carlson, who have recently started the “Triathlon Age Group Journey” podcast. It’s great, tons of great stories from agegroupers every single week. TriDot athlete Mike Bosch has the “Everyday Ironman” podcast, where he has interviewed several TriDot athletes, myself included. So gentlemen, with this in mind, today I am wondering: if you were starting a new podcast that was not multisport related, what podcast would you start and why? Mark Goddard, this is your first time on our show, so I will throw our warmup question out to you first. What do you think?

Mark: That’s kind of a curve ball, because I’m all over the place. I don’t know much about anything. There’s a lot of really good podcasts out there. You guys do a phenomenal job with the TriDot podcast, and there’s a lot of other good ones. I think what I would do is, just because I know a little bit about it, is maybe more on the side of endurance culture, and just talk about how we integrate it as a lifestyle – as triathletes, ultra-runners, trail runners, you fill in the blank – and balance it between work and family and time, and all this kind of stuff. Just bring different people on to see how they live their lives, pros and amateurs alike, because I think that’s a super interesting juggle that we do on a daily basis.

Andrew: Matt Bach, what are you thinking here? You’re starting a new podcast, not triathlon specific, what are you going with?

Matt: My real answer here is a golf podcast. If there’s a sport I love as much as triathlon, it’s golf. There’s just something about the serenity, stepping up to the first tee as the sun is coming up over the horizon on a meticulously manicured piece of land with the dew still on the grass, the wildlife out there –

Andrew: This is poetry now! This is pure poetry! How could you not be romantic about golf with this kind of language?

Matt: It’s just incredible. The focus of the podcast though, which almost is like the opposite of the poetry, is that it would be on accelerating the golfer improvement curve, because I’m always about trying to get the best out of myself. I love a challenge, I like to improve really quickly, and learn really quickly. I’d of course have a YouTube show as well, because golf is such a perfect sport for the visual medium.

Andrew: All right, all great stuff. John Mayfield, what are you thinking? I know you love golf as well, but Matt already took that answer, so you can’t cohost Matt’s golf show and call it your show. What would you do?

John: Actually, kind of funny, I had all these thoughts similar to what Matt said, Mark said. For me, kind of just a dad life podcast –

Andrew: Hey! Cool!

John: – and talk about family, kids. I think Matt would be a regular recurring guest because I don’t play golf anymore, but back in the day, for years I was very passionate about golf, and Matt and I have had lots of great golf conversations. We’ve had lots of whiskey conversations and that sort of thing, because if you’ve got to talk about kids, you’ve got to talk about drinking as well. Mark and Andrew would talk about coffee, since Matt’s not the coffee guy. I even had the same thought of travel and those destinations. So I had all the same thoughts that you guys did because yeah, outside of triathlon I really don’t have an area of expertise to speak to, and I have no idea. No one would probably listen, but I wondered if anyone was going to listen to this podcast, and here we are thousands of people every week listening, so I guess you never know.

Mark: I would be interested in hearing how you do golf AND triathlon Matt, plus you’ve got a family. That’s what I want to hear on your first show. That’s crazy!

John: I’ve got a spoiler alert here, Mark. I do triathlon and I don’t do golf. Matt does golf, and no longer does triathlon.

Andrew: You can have two of the three, you can’t have all three!

Matt: That’s true, it’s really hard to do it all. I don’t do tri as much anymore.

Mark: Don’t let Matt fool you, man. Once a triathlete, always a triathlete. I see the bike in the background, you know he’s crushing it and getting his training in.

Matt: It’s dusty.

Mark: Don’t let him tell you any different. I know he’s doing it for sure. He’s still super fit. I just saw.

Andrew: I know he’s at least just as fast as I am, untrained, as I am fully trained. So I don’t think we have officially said this on the TriDot podcast, but if you follow me on social media, you’re probably aware that my wife and I are expecting our first child in just a few weeks, at the point this podcast is coming out. So John, that is a podcast I would very quickly need to listen to, just to get some dad-life tips and figure out how to ease into that lifestyle. Because once baby comes, baby is there, and you are a dad forevermore, and I’m going to need all the help I can get.

So for me, this is a pretty easy answer. As I’ve said on the podcast many times, I’m a big fan of playing chess, it’s a nice little background hobby for me. Matt Bach and I play all the time on our chess apps throughout the workday. He’ll make a move, and two hours later I’ll make a move, and back and forth. So for me, I would start a chess podcast. There are some great chess podcasts out there, but I would do exactly what we do with the TriDot triathlon podcast. I would have a podcast where it is me, an average, everyday chess player – I’m okay, I’m not great, I’m not bad – and I would pick the brains of people that are smarter and better at chess than I am. It’s exactly what we do on this podcast, so I’m kind of approaching it like a “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach. I would just take the same format we have here and move it over to a different topic, and in my case that would be chess. I don’t know if anybody else would listen, but I know Matt Bach needs to, because I have a pretty good record against Matt Bach in the hobby of chess.

Matt: You really drive it home. Andrew’s strong, he’s tough.

John: That was going to be my next question, I wondered if that “average” title was a bit understated. From what I’ve heard, it is.

Matt: Wow, shots fired! Let’s go gentlemen!

Andrew: All right, we’re going to move the show along. This might be the longest we’ve camped out on a warmup question, but this has been really fun throwing this around. I’m really excited to hear what our audience has to say here, so make sure you’re a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group. Every Monday when the new episode drops, we pose our warmup question to you, our audience, and I’m curious to hear: if you were going to start a podcast on something else in your life that was not triathlon focused, what podcast would you start, and why?

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

Andrew: Triathletes and cyclists love talking about their bikes, and I am no exception. I am so impressed by the quality of my Dimond Marquise. Every detail has been carefully engineered and crafted by the team at Dimond Bikes. My Marquise, complete with a custom TriDot paint scheme, sits proudly on the set of the TriDot Triathlon YouTube show for our audience to see. Many of our coaches have switched to riding a Dimond. The bikes are industry-leading aerodynamic machines, and look awesome. But even beyond that, Dimond as a brand knows how to take care of their athletes. With five different tri bike models as well as road, gravel, and mountain bikes, your next bike should absolutely be a Dimond. TriDot and Dimond are a dynamite race-day onetwo punch. Dimond provides you with a Ferrari of bikes, and TriDot Training develops your engine. So we are excited to partner with Dimond on some really cool offers. If you are new to TriDot, we’re offering six months of the Mark Allen Edition of TriDot with the purchase of a Dimond. If you are already a TriDot athlete, we are offering either an upgrade credit or TriDot store credit with your new bike. Head to dimondbikes.com for all the info and to dream up your very own Dimond bike.

There is a symbiotic relationship in this sport between the athletes participating, and the brands helping facilitate that participation. We need each other. There are several ways brands try to take care of their athletes, and there are several ways athletes can support their favorite brands and the tri industry as a whole. Today I’m joined by some of the best minds in the sport when it comes to brand partnerships, ambassador programs, and taking care of triathletes. So Mark, our longtime audience has gotten to know myself, John, and Matt quite a bit over the years of podcasting, but it’s your first time with us. Hit us with your tri backstory, how you got into the sport, and then how you ended up getting plugged in at Zoot Sports.

Mark: Yeah, thanks. Well, at the beginning of the show you said you were the Captain of the Middle of the Pack.

Andrew: Yeah, what are you?

Mark: If you're the Captain of the Middle of the Pack, I’m the Captain of the Back of the Pack.

Andrew: Let’s go! We need that!

Mark: I’m super competitive, but I’m slow. So I’ll give you a little bit of a backstory of how I came into triathlon. I grew up in Southern California, and I have three brothers. I have a twin brother, and we’re all within about three years of each other. We’re the youngest, myself and my twin brother, hence I grew up wrestling and surfing. Years back, I think it was 2005 give or take, still single, no kids, and one of my oldest brothers signed up for what used to be the Mission Bay Jamba Juice Triathlon, a sprint-distance triathlon in Mission Bay, San Diego, kind of by Sea World. I was living in Long Beach at the time, so I drove down to watch my brother’s race. I’d just newly picked up cycling as a hobby. I grew up BMX biking and all that cool jazz, but I never did anything. I surfed, and so I wasn’t –

Andrew: All the good California stuff, yeah. Good California boy over here.

Mark: Yeah, I grew up surfing. I was never good, but I wasn’t afraid of the water. I never had a swim lesson, but I knew how to move my arms and move through the water. So I was just going to watch my two older brothers participate in this event, and it turns out my oldest brother went a little bit too hard, had a night on the town the night before the race, and basically had to pull the rip cord at the eleventh hour. I was already down there, staying at my other brother’s house. We look really similar, so he was just like, “Take my registration.” I went in, it’s a sprint distance, and I think my heart rate had never been so high in my life, climbing out of that water and getting onto the bike. But it was so fun. I wore my surfing wetsuit. I always liked exercising, growing up through junior high and high school with a wrestling background, I think it really trained me to enjoy the process of workout out real hard. So I was hooked immediately. As a matter of fact, this isn’t from the race, but I got an old-school picture of me racing in Zoot, this was from 2007, I found that in one of my drawers. Where is this going? I ramble a lot, so you might have to bring me back.

Andrew: Talking about how you got into the sport of triathlon, so we’re hearing about your first race right now. Mark, I’ve heard a lot of triathletes share their story and talk about how they got into the sport. You are the first person I’ve talked to who entered their first race as somebody else, and kind of illegally snuck into the race. That is a first for me hearing that. So something that is really cool is TriDot and Zoot now have a brand new, very exciting partnership. We have hundreds of TriDot Ambassadors who are also Team Zoot athletes, and we are all for that. Zoot is a well-established, great brand with topnotch products. We’re always happy to see an athlete racing in a Team Zoot kit and a TriDot hat. Honestly, how absurdly many athletes we have in both camps I think is what really sparked the discussions of, “Hey, how can we as brands collaborate and bring even more value to both Team Zoot and to TriDot?” So John, Mark, take us a little deeper on what this partnership does for all parties involved. John?

John: It really does what you mentioned there. It’s kind of a blending of communities. We have two very large communities in the space, and we have just a ton of shared values, things that Mark has already talked about, things that we’ve talked about in the past: valuing athletes and trying to enrich their triathlon experience, supporting each other on and off the race course, educating athletes as they go into the race, and really just enriching triathletes and doing what we can to maximize their experience in the sport. It’s almost a Brady Bunch type of relationship where we have Group A, Group B, and there was already a lot of crossover, as you mentioned. So why not just bring it together and make a family of it? We’re already here, already supporting the race directors and the athletes, the brands that we work with. That was part of it, and I think something that makes it powerful is Team Zoot represents everyone. There’s every individual, every athlete racing every distance at every goal, every finishing time is represented within Team Zoot. And that’s who our training is for. We have created software that creates training for every individual athlete, whether their an elite 24year-old female, or a 75year-old male at the back of the pack.

Andrew: Or a 75year-old male at the front of the pack.

John: That’s absolutely a possibility as well. But something we’ve been able to do is provide training options for all those individuals within Team Zoot as well. All demographics, all race distances, and really all budgets as well, providing that high-quality training specific for each individual regardless of what their budget is. Then for us, we’re super excited to have a new kit option provided by Zoot. I raced in it last year, and like I’ve told everyone, it looks, feels, and performs amazing. I’m so excited to have a really cool Zoot design, and the quality kit that comes along with it. I’m really looking forward to seeing the TriDot kits provided by Zoot out on the race course soon.

Andrew: Mark, you’ve already started doing your TriDot training, is that correct?

Mark: Yeah, and I’m not going to share any of that stuff with any of you guys, especially John.

Matt: You won’t be at the back of the pack for long!

Mark: I want to be a sleeper coming in to a race. But like John said, it really made sense this partnership. It was awesome, we share a lot of the same values. I say this all the time, people always ask. There are some teams and clubs that are haters out there, and they’re like, “TriDot’s too big! Team Zoot’s too big!” First of all, it’s all about perception. It’s all about the community. The reason we’ve been trying to grow our team is because there’s a lot of athletes that live in places that aren’t San Diego, that aren’t Dallas, and don’t have a really big group. And if someone could connect – I’ve made so many friends on Team Zoot, just from athletes. I’ve made personal friends that I’ll be friends with forever, and it’s so cool. We don’t charge a membership fee to be on the team, we don’t do any of that stuff. You gotta race in the kit, and you gotta be cool. Those are the two main things, and that is open to interpretation, so it’s really hard to be kicked off Team Zoot. It does happen when we don’t ask people back, because of some feedback. You’ve got to race in the kit, you’ve got to be cool, and then the third requirement is kind of more subliminal, it happens just because of the enthusiasm, which is we really want our team members to introduce the sport of triathlon to someone else. Whether it’s a coworker, a friend, a family member, anything like that, get people into something. It doesn’t have to be triathlon right away. For instance, I saw my neighbor this morning, a super cool guy. His kids and my kids are about the same age, and every Friday at my daughter’s school they have this flag ceremony where they give announcements and they do all this stuff, and I really try to make every Friday. So I’m sitting with my neighbor and we’re drinking our coffee and chitchatting, and I was just like, “Dude, I’m bringing you swimming every Saturday morning. I don’t care, you don’t have a choice.” Because he’s talked to me so many times about trying to start working out and stuff, and I was just like, “Dude, I’m bringing you, bro. You’re right down the street, I don’t care, it’s going to be free, you’re coming.” Because we need the sport to grow, we need races to be held. That doesn’t mean everyone needs to be an Ironman athlete, it’s more about the lifestyle. I always say, “Once a triathlete, always a triathlete.” Most of us are sick and twisted enough to continue doing this as long as we’re able to, whether we’re racing or not. A lot of people are like, “I’m not doing a tri this year, but I’m still riding my bike a ton, and I’m running or doing whatever because I still want to be active.” Bringing it back to the TriDot partnership, it’s really cool because you guys offer such a cool platform, from people that are just starting out, to really elite performers. To me it doesn’t matter what times you get. I don’t care, and usually no one else cares. That’s not to devalue someone that’s going for a specific time, but it doesn’t matter. Just do it, man! I’ve been to so many expos and I’ve talked to so many people, and my favorite athlete is the athlete that’s like their eyes are just wide and they’re like, “This is my first Ironman!” Like their buddies roped them in or something, and they don’t know what to expect. I light up and am like, “Man, it’s gonna suck! But it’s gonna be so awesome, it’s gonna be such a cool thing, and you’re gonna kick ass and just have fun with it!” It’ really cool to see those people, and I’m sure you’ve had a ton of people on your podcast and you’ve heard different stories, where it does really change your life and your outlook on life. So it doesn’t matter if you’re fast or not, but the really cool thing about your guys’ platform is it gives every athlete of every level this confidence, to go into something and know you’ll enjoy it a little bit more because you’re prepared. It’s a really cool feeling to not have to go and be like, “Ah, I’m dreading this swim, I haven’t done anything.” When you have that confidence that a training plan like TriDot brings you, you have a much more enjoyable experience. That’s what it’s all about is having a fun experience out there, whether it’s a training day or race day, it’s all about doing it. No one’s making you go out and ride for four hours. You’re doing it for fun, so you’ve got to come back to that and realize that’s what it’s all about.

Andrew: My wife likes to remind me of that, anytime I complained about the long sessions getting ready for my first Ironman, “No one made you do this! No one made you sign up for this! This was all your own thing!” I want to talk a little bit with you guys about what you’re looking for those athletes to do and value. Mark just shared some about Team Zoot and what you’re looking for in athletes, John and Matt, I want to hear from you for the TriDot side of this. In terms of an ambassador program, I think we all –on social media, in our email inboxes – we all get invited to apply for different brands, different companies’ ambassador programs. So basically, for that particular program and that particular year it was, “Hey, here’s X% off our apparel, we want you wearing our stuff on race day, I want you to send us pictures, we want you reviewing the gear that you're wearing, and we want you to spread the word in the marketplace about DeSoto Sports.” I was like, “Cool, I need help buying some gear, this is a perfect thing for me.” I feel like ambassadorships have come a long way since then, and Team Zoot and TriDot both do a lot more with our community than those early programs. John, what kind of culture are we trying to cultivate with TriDot Ambassadors, and what are we looking for that program to provide to athletes and to us as a brand?

John: We look to our Ambassadors to represent TriDot in their local and virtual communities. There’s something about triathlon that really puts us in these two camps. We have our local communities – it’s where we race, it’s that club that we may be a part of, it’s the training group that we’re getting together with, maybe a masters swim, something like that – then it’s those people that you’re literally bumping elbows with at the start of the swim at the race, and sharing a beer with at the finish line. We look to our Ambassadors to represent our community at those local events, and then in virtual spaces as well. We almost tend to live in those local communities on the weekend, and to a certain extent we live in these virtual communities through the weekday. There’s a lot of social media interaction, a lot of community and connection that we have. So we look for our Ambassadors to represent us in those space as well, and we look to create a culture that educates triathletes, as we talked about before, and even Mark was just talking a minute ago. We want for the athletes to have a great experience, we want them to be prepared, and a lot of that is providing the training, but also the education as to what to expect, what to do. “How can I maximize this fitness that I’ve gotten, what are the pitfalls that I need to avoid, what are the lessons that I need to learn.” It’s so great when you have that person to come along, take your hand, and lead you through that. That’s really something that we’re looking for our Ambassadors to do, and then very much something that Zoot is big on is growing the sport. Who can you reach out to and enrich their lives and improve their health by bringing them into the sport? Really it’s about serving the community, growing the community, and along the way representing TriDot.

Matt: Yeah, just providing a supportive community where there’s a sense of belonging, you feel like you’re a part of something. It brings like-minded athletes together so we can share knowledge, have fun together. For all of us, nearly all of us anyway, it’s a hobby, not a profession, so we want to have fun doing it. We want to improve, have fun, train and race together, all of these things are made better because of each other.

Andrew: We absolutely love our athletes. We adore our athletes, it’s borderline a problem. Mark spoke about how enthusiastic he gets when he sees his athletes on course, and we feel the same way. What are the things that we as brands – I know Team Zoot is out at the races with team captains, TriDot is at a lot of the races with our staff or with coaches that live in certain areas – how do we as brands support our athletes in their training cycle and once they get to the races?

John: We are the training provider. We’re creating those training plans that are increasing their race readiness to perform as best they can on race day. Obviously that’s a critical component of what we do, providing that training plan so that they arrive at the start line maximizing their potential and ready to produce their best results possible on race day. But some of those other things that we mentioned as well is how can we help them maximize that fitness? You can have this very high level of fitness, but it also comes down to execution. We have things like our Race Recon webinars that we do several weeks prior to those big events, which provide a bunch of information on how to maximize their experience, their performance, all of that. We have our Race-Ready email series, which is a super-cool weekly countdown email that again is just chock-full of information and useful tips. Then as you mentioned, we’re also onsite at the races. We’re doing group workouts to get in those last sessions before the race, doing Q&A sessions, course tours, and that sort of thing. Whatever we can do to help maximize that athlete’s experience, whether it’s getting their best performance or the most enjoyment out of the day.

Matt: To add to that, there are things that brands can do that the individual athlete would be hard-pressed to do. Certain things like the I AM TriDot Facebook group, where we are extremely engaged. For us a brand, we can provide that platform, that community, which has something like 14,000 members at this point that are extremely engaged, and can get answers extremely quickly to your questions, within minutes if not seconds. Celebrity events, like Mark Allen and Michellie Jones, you’ve got these coaches that we can bring to you, these celebrity personalities that we can bring to you the athlete, to enrich and motivate and inspire your triathlon experience. That would be difficult, a regular old athlete couldn’t just call up Mark Allen and say, “Hey, come and do a chat with me and for my friends.” We can provide those experiences for them. TriDot Pool School also comes to mind. It would be very difficult for an individual to put something like that together, that is as high-quality, effective, and fun. We provide that opportunity, that experience, for triathletes to break through their swim plateau, or learn how to swim if they’ve never competitively swum at all. Certain things like that help the athletes in their training cycle, but also at the races as well.

Andrew: One of the most valuable things to me, even in addition to all that, is when you’re on course and you’re wearing the kit from your brand. In my case, I race in a TriDot kit. We certainly have folks that race in their local club kit or just their favorite kit and they’ll put on the TriDot hat. When I see that logo on the race course, as a fellow athlete, whether you recognize or know that person or not, there is just a morale boost of spotting each other, giving a quick fist bump or attaboy/attagirl. That camaraderie of knowing there are other people from your tribe on the same race course as you, to me, goes a long way when I’m racing, and I see it go a long way when we’re just out there cheering. A triathlete comes around a corner, they see us in our TriDot shirts, they’re wearing a TriDot hat or whatever, and everybody’s eyes light up, high fives go around, and you keep on going with your morale boosted a little bit. I know that’s the case for Team Zoot athletes as well. Mark, what are some of the things that the Team Zoot community really brings to the table to help enrich an athlete’s experience at the races?

Mark: At the races in particular, Andrew, what you just pointed out was huge. That feeling itself was one thing that really spurred us to try to grow the team. I can’t remember what it was, it might have been that 70.3 in Santa Rosa which used to be the Vineman event, the boss and I raced it a few years ago. Seeing the team members on course in your kit, and just being in the same kit and having that instant connection to someone on the course, that support is so cool, and it really does give you a boost. These were bigger Ironman events, but it’s really cool to go to even a small event, and see that group of people on the race course support each other. My goal is that Team Zoot will have a presence at every triathlon everywhere, because it’s a built-in support structure. And like you said earlier, triathlon’s expensive. We’re an apparel brand, basically an apparel technology brand. For those of you guys who are listening that don’t know this, Zoot invented the triathlon suit. They created the first-ever triathlon suit –

Andrew: Thanks guys!

Mark: It was a lady in Kona, Hawaii, and she still lives there today, we see her every year we go back to Kona. She’s a fine artist now, but she was a seamstress. Basically what she did is she had some friends that were racing the Ironman event for a few years, and one of them was like, “Hey, could you sew this? In a nutshell, I want to sew my bike shorts to my running top, because I don’t want to change in transition, which is a couple minutes.” And actually, if you ever come to the Zoot office here in Carlsbad, we have it. We have that suit.

Andrew: That’s so cool!

Mark: My customer service guy tells me all the time, and I’m in there too sometimes, that with different people’s body types, we can’t make something that is for everyone. Our goal is just to do the best we can. But to see how the chammies have evolved, how the stitching has evolved and everything for chafing, just makes everything a little bit more comfortable on race day. Because the last thing we want you guys to think about it is your suit bugging you. We want you to be suffering because you’re suffering, not because you’re getting destroyed because of whatever suit you’re racing in. Then you could take it to the next level of, “I want a fast suit,” or, “I want it to look good,” or whatever, and Zoot’s always been known for being one of the first brands to sublimate with different colors and really cool things. As an athlete, this is a very expensive sport, there’s no bones about it. You’re not just doing one sport, you’re doing three. Bikes are expensive, wetsuits are expensive, race entry fees are expensive. So we are not just a brand that is making suits from some factory and putting our colors on it. We own our own factory, we develop our own apparel, and we’re in that constant strive to make better stuff. So we rely on the team a lot for feedback, and we rely on our agegroupers just as much as our pros. So if you’re doing the sport, it makes sense to be associated with someone, whether it’s a local tri club or a team, because not only do you get that support, but you get those perks. We get to offer really cool stuff from our partner brands like TriDot, and we also get to introduce these cool brands that are in the same space to our athletes, and at least put eyes on it. Not everything works for everyone, but at least they’re aware of it, these are the options. It gives them a little bit more education to make it more fun, the whole experience.

Andrew: I love that you mention the discount percentage that your Ambassadors get, because that’s obviously a component of many ambassador programs, depending on the company. Some athletes will jump into an ambassadorship just because of that. We get it, we see that, no worries there. But I think for the most part, most of our Ambassadors, probably 99% of our Ambassadors for both of our brands, they want to represent the brand well. They want to do what they can do to help out our brands. Recently, at the TriDot Ambassador Camp we had in St. George, Utah, one of our Ambassadors, Kay Grant, spoke up and said, “Hey, I’m just curious, as a longtime Ambassador, what are the best ways that we, as your athletes, can help TriDot?” So publicly, on the podcast, for all three of you – for Zoot as a brand, for TriDot as a brand – what are the tangible actions that our athletes can take that tangibly help our brands press on and continue to grow? Maybe I’ll start with Matt Bach on this one.

Matt: I would say one thing is most of our TriDot athletes have a powerful story of their own. Why are they using TriDot? Why have they come to the sport of triathlon, how did they find TriDot, and why did they stay with TriDot? Why are they now a TriDot Ambassador? They love the platform, they love what it’s done for them, just share that story. It’s very easy to do that, because it’s part of their own story. Share that, whether that’s on social or in person, at the races or to whoever you’re coming across where it makes sense to share your story about it. Because people keep coming to TriDot, it just helps to spread the good word.

John: Sometimes I’m blown away by the passion of our Ambassadors, and how sometimes they even outpace our own passion for TriDot. For us, this is something that we invest in on a daily basis. We’re very passionate about it, it’s our child, it’s something that we’re investing in and growing. But yeah, these folks come along and they’re just as or sometimes more passionate than we are, which is just amazing. It’s about transferring that passion out to the community and sharing that. Why are you so excited about TriDot? Why do you love TriDot? Really, I think what it comes down to is it enables athletes to maximize their potential. They’re achieving things they haven’t done previously, either going faster, or going longer, they’re realizing their goals. At the same time, they’re also able to do this within a lifestyle that works with other things. They’re able to stay employed, stay married, stay good parents, stay injury-free. A lot of times these are struggles that athletes have. They think it’s a choice they have to make. “Either I do this, or I do that.” Really, what TriDot enables is for them to do both. They can still perform at a high level, they can still set lofty goals and achieve those goals, while still maintaining all those other priorities. I think that’s one of the things that they get passionate about. Then the thing we keep talking about is the community, those connections that they make. There are few things that I enjoy more than getting together with folks, meeting people in person that I’ve perhaps “known” for years through social media. There’s just a lot of good around that. It’s just a great group of people that really loves other people. I think that’s what we’re all here for, so I think that’s really what gets me excited, I think it’s what gets our Ambassadors excited, and I know that transfers over to Team Zoot as well.

Andrew: Mark, what tangible actions do you guys in the Zoot offices look for your athletes to take to support your brand?

Mark: I’ll pull a quote from one of the alltime best movies ever made.

Andrew: What is it?

Mark: You could disagree with me on this one, everyone listening, but it’s right up there with “Days of Thunder”, is a quote from “Road House”, from Patrick Swayze:

Andrew: Let’s go.

Mark: “Be cool.” Just be cool. That’s it. We as humans are naturally very tribal, and we want to support stuff that we really like, and we hope people really like our products and our brand. It’s why people wear stuff, rather than just a Nike shirt that says “Nike”. But when you’re wearing something that says “Zoot”, whether you’re racing, or training, or getting on a plane in an airport, you identify as a triathlete. That really sets you apart from these other people, and it’s awesome to be associated as a triathlete because you’ve worked really hard at it, and it is really rare in our society. If John – he looks like he’s probably pretty good at everything he does – but if he’s in a recreational softball league, and he plays softball on Wednesday nights –

Andrew: I would love to see John play softball!

Mark: My point is if John’s at a party, his friends don’t look at John as a softball player, but 100% they’re going to look at you as a triathlete, which is really cool. It really sets us apart. If you’re “being cool”, and I say that super vaguely but I really do honestly mean that. I said before it’s really hard to get kicked off Team Zoot, but if you’re the guy or girl that’s yelling someone in the bike mount lane because they’re spazzing, and you’re just being a total prick –

Andrew: You’re not being cool!

Mark: You’re not being cool. So what we’re trying to do, number one, is obviously build good product. If we’re not building good product, let us know. We want to continually evolve that. But within our team, if you see people that are having a good time, and they’re enjoying themselves in and out of the races, and they’re wearing our brand, that is really powerful to us. That’s the main thing that we look at. We don’t require people to post on social media, we don’t require any of that. You don’t need to hit a certain time, you don’t need to qualify for the World Championships in Kona,. We’re not an all-guys team or an all-girls team, we’re everything in between. But we really are looking for people that are just having fun and not taking themselves too seriously, and just kicking ass in life and within the sport. That’s not to say that we don’t have some extremely fast people in our team. We do, we have a lot of card-carrying pros that are still on Team Zoot. But if they’re representing the brand in a good way on the race course, that’s really paramount to us, and all we really ask for. That’s the best way for them to be Ambassadors for Team Zoot.

Andrew: That’s great. I will be selfish here, as the media guy for TriDot and a big content creator. I respect anybody in the space that steps out on a ledge to become a content creator, because it’s really nerve-wracking when you’re partnering with a brand and saying, “Hey, let’s start a podcast. Boy, I hope people listen to it!” Same thing with our YouTube show that just launched, and I know that any Instagram influencer who started posting content on a regular basis probably had that experience. But I know it really helps our brand when people engage with our content. When you listen to and share the podcast, when you watch and share our stuff on YouTube, when you subscribe to the podcast and the YouTube channel, when you follow us on social media, all those things really help get our brand out there. There are obviously algorithms within YouTube and Apple podcasts and all these places, where when people do engage with your stuff, it helps get you out there a little bit more. We always like that, it’s always nice to get an alert from the podcast distribution places when someone leaves a nice review for us on the podcast apps, Apple in particular. So that’s my selfish ask, in supporting our brand, is if you appreciate what we’re doing, keep tuning in. Tell your friends about us, and leave a nice review from time to time where appropriate. But mentioning social media there for a minute, I’m curious to hear from Mark and Matt as the marketing guys for TriDot and Zoot, what specifically helps brands out in terms of social media engagement? Everybody these days has to have a presence on Facebook and Instagram. I don’t’ know if Team Zoot’s on TikTok. TriDot so far hasn’t gotten on TikTok, but there’s all these different platforms out there. As marketing guys, what really helps out in terms of athletes engaging with us on social media? Matt?

Matt: I’ve got a few things on that one. First, just engage with the post that TriDot is putting out. Every time that you like it, love it, leave a comment, share it with somebody on Meta or Facebook or Instagram, they notice that with their algorithm. It feeds it to more people, so it gets better visibility and our posts get out there more. So every time you see a TriDot post, do something to it. Every time you see a Zoot post, do something to it so that it propagates more out into the world. Another thing is, as a TriDot Ambassador specifically, one thing you can do to help is join other triathlon groups, and when you see people asking for coaching or advice, or introductions to coaches, or introductions to ways that they can train, introduce them to TriDot. Maybe send them the link to the Preseason Project so that they can join, or send them a link to start a trial on TriDot. Join in those other groups, and share the love.

Andrew: I’ll give a quick shout out to Jenna Gorham and Elizabeth James, who at the moment tagteam our social media accounts. They do a great job curating and posting content, and yeah, they’re always looking to amplify the images and the stories of athletes. So tag TriDot, tag Zoot, that just lets us know that that story is there, that image is there.

A couple more questions here, tons of great stuff today, talking about the communities of Zoot and TriDot, what we’re looking for in our athletes, what value we’re trying to bring to our athletes. We’ll try to blitz through these last couple questions, because there are a few things I want our folks to hear about. Matt Bach, I’ll have you specifically answer this one: we spoke earlier about Zoot and TriDot forming a new partnership. When we form a partnership, we’re always looking to add value to that brand, and vice versa. We’re very choosy about who we work with. We want it to be brands like Zoot that share our values, that want to take care of our athletes. When we bring on a sponsor or partner, it’s always because we genuinely believe in their products, and we believe in their team. I know it’s the same for Team Zoot, Mark, you’ve reiterated that quite a bit. With that in mind, Matt, what do you want our listeners and athletes to know about the world of brand partnerships, and sometimes the discount codes that come along with those partnerships?

Matt: Yeah, we want it to be a winwinwin. As far as the partnership is concerned, we want to be able to add value to Zoot, to Team Zoot, and want them to be able to add value to us. We’re in it to really enhance the experience of the athlete, and there’s a lot of different things that we can provide to Team Zoot-ers who are already such engaged, amazing triathletes. For so many of them, it’s a lifestyle. They love the sport and want to share it with others and make their own experiences as good as possible. Things like the race recon webinars, the training itself of course, TriDot Pool School, celebrity events, virtual events, in person at the races, all these different things that we can bring to them. The partnership just makes so much sense in how that works. But as far as discount codes are concerned, if there’s a discount or a promo or code that’s to be used, whether it’s partners of ours, partners of Zoot or each other, it’s helpful to remember that you have those. Use those codes, because it signals that you’re taking note of the fact that you have this certain promotion or sweet deal that you can take advantage of. It indicates to us that the partnership is worthwhile, and you’re taking note that there’s something there that the partner is providing, that we maybe would not have been able to provide elsewise.

Mark: Like Matt said, I think it’s a winwin. I’m hesitant sometimes to bring new partners on, just because there are so many cool products, services, etc. We’re in a sport of gadgets and gizmos to help you run faster, do all this, there’s so much cool stuff out there. I’m like, “We don’t have room on the kit!” or, “I don’t have the bandwidth, I don’t want another thing on my plate!” We try to be super selective, as much as we can. I would like to bring in as many as I can, but it just comes back to authenticity. I say to our team all the time on our Friday calls, “This may not be for you. You might be a Wahoo person and not have a Garmin.” I’m like, “That sucks, you’re missing out, these are the best in the business!” I live and die by all our partner stuff like, “This does not leave the office!” Because people will take it home and I won’t see it –

Andrew: Just to note, as you’re saying that you’re holding up your Hypervolt Hyperice massage gun.

Mark: Sorry, I forgot that some people are watching this. If it was up to me, I would build a little lounge chair right here in my office, I’d be chilling in the boots right now as we’re talking about this. So I really believe in a lot of these products. It’s just helping spread the word. The TriDot community is big, the Team Zoot community is big, and if you have a partner that you’re working with and someone asks a question, it’s super easy to chime and be like, “You gotta check out TriDot for your training. You’ve got to check out Garmin for your watch needs,” or whatever the need is. It’s all about being aware of the different brands and partners, because the better the partnership, the cooler the stuff they give you, and they give you a steeper discount. It all costs money, it’s so expensive, so whatever you can do is good.

John: I can attest to that due diligence that Zoot does with their partnerships. Even borrowing on one of the Zoot slogans of “Born in Kona”, our relationship was kind of born in Kona. Several months back I sat down with Zoot President Shawn O’Shea, and we started this conversation of what it would look like to work together, and it just took four or five months to get it all put in place. That was part of it, it was like, “Well, we’re going to talk to some of our Team Zoot members that use TriDot, and we want to use the platform and see what it’s about.” It was refreshing to see that, it wasn’t just a, “Oh, there’s something here, let’s jump in bed together.” It was like, “Let us see what it is, let us test it out.” It was very well vetted. I felt good about us, but there’s that little bit of, “I hope this works out!” So I was really glad when we passed the test, and I again just appreciate and respect the fact that it wasn’t just us offering a partnership and they said yes. It was, “Let’s test it and see.” Glad to have passed the test!

Mark: I always like to use the analogy of how we want to date a little bit before we get married.

Andrew: Absolutely! We want to make sure that what we’re sending out to our athletes is something that they will benefit from using! We totally get that here at TriDot and respect that. So, lots of good talk about ambassadorships and partnerships. One more thing I want to touch on before we call it a day. I think one more aspect of being a good member of the triathlon community is supporting local races and events. Beyond showing up, beyond paying and participating in a race, what are things that athletes can do to help local race directors and help the events in our area thrive for years and years to come? John, what do you think?

John: There’s a lot to just being present, being there, whether you’re racing or helping in some way. Something that I enjoyed doing over the years as a coach, and it was a winwin, it was a strategy for me to help build my coaching portfolio back in the day, was I did a lot of clinics. We did beginner clinics, cycling, running, transition clinics, all those kinds of things that again just enhance the experience. Because it can be intimidating, especially for those first-timers, those folks that are interested, those folks that are going to grow our sport. There are those barriers that need to be overcome. That was something that I did a lot, but you don’t have to be a coach to do those. Just any experienced triathlete can go and host a clinic and teach folks how to change a tire. You don’t want people with flat tires out on your race course, so teach them how to change their own flat. Those kinds of things go a long way and help grow the community, and you connect those with those local races. Those are the lifeblood of our sport, and they enhance our sport. We need them, they are a critical component, so do what you can. That’s just one way, I partnered with those local races. They would send it out their mailing list, and they were a great relationship. It was a winwin-win, as Matt mentioned before. I benefited from it, the race did, and the athletes as well.

Andrew: Mark, I know earlier you mentioned that your dream, your vision, is to see Team Zoot athletes at all races everywhere, all over the world. Not just certain brands, not just premier brands, but everywhere from Kona to the local 5K down the road. What do you think our athletes in our communities can do to support those local races?

Mark: I think for us, it comes back to spreading the word. Local races are quite a bit different than say a 70.3 or a full-distance Ironman. Because of all your TriDot training, you might be some pretty good shape and decide to jump in a local race at the last minute. So it’s not something that you necessarily plan months and months in advance, but spread the word. We have these closed Facebook pages for our regions – and a big shout out to our team captains, they’re unbelievable. We couldn’t do all of this without our team captains that manage the regions locally. But even if it’s just, “Hey, I’m doing the Carlsbad Tri on this date, who’s with me?” some people might read it and be like, “Oh, I forgot that this race was here, maybe I should do it!” I’ll also say to any of these local race directors that are putting on these races and events, reach out to your local clubs. On teamzoot.com, we have all of our regional captains with their email addresses. John, I’ll use your region as an example, because you happen to be pretty close to one of our team captains – shout out to Susan, she is unbelievable. But if you’re a local race director, say in Texas, what I would do is reach out to the Team Zoot captain in Texas and be like, “Hey, we got this race going on, could you post something to your regional page? Here’s an extra 10% or whatever. Here’s a graphic, do you mind posting this to your team page and get some eyes on this race so people can do it?” It costs zero money, and I’m just surprised that it doesn’t happen more often. Get some of the local tri clubs involved to spread the word, because those are the races that those clubs really, really do all the time. So if you’re a race director, reach out to the brands and the teams, and help spread the word. That’s really valuable.

Andrew: Matt Bach, shut down our main set today. What do you want to add?

Matt: Yeah, I’ll add a couple things. One, volunteer. They need a lot of volunteers to make the races happen. Reach out to the race director and see if they need some help. I would imagine close to 100% of the time they’re going to say, “Absolutely, please! You can help us at such-and-such aid station.” Then going back to the quote Mark said before, “Be cool.” That could have several different meanings. One, make triathletes have a good name among the community, so don’t do anything disrespectful, and also help the beginners. If you see somebody dawdling around in transition, they have no idea what they’re doing, you can tell it’s maybe their first time or one of their first times doing a triathlon, go over and offer a little bit of friendly help before the race. Help them set up, give them a few tips, and who knows, maybe we’ll have a triathlete for life instead of maybe a oneand-doner.

Cool down theme: Great set everyone! Let’s cool down.

Vanessa Ronksley: All right everyone! It’s time for the Coach Cooldown Tip. I’m Vanessa, your Average Triathlete with Elite-Level Enthusiasm! I’m here today with TriDot coach Gina Rymal and let me tell you, she has an absolute heart of gold. Gina started her triathlon journey while studying kinesiology, and she became hooked right from the get-go. Gina had her first swim coach role at the age of 13, and continues to do so. In addition to personal and group training at a fitness center in Texas, Gina started coaching triathlon in 2017, and since then has worked with beginners through to Ironman finishers, youth, retirees, and para-athletes. She does have a special place in her heart for first-timers. Whether that’s toeing the line of a local sprint or a full-distance tri, she loves helping her athletes create an amazing first experience, because it only happens once. Gina has completed seven 70.3’s, is training for her fourth full, she’s done multiple half and full marathons, and has twice been in the top two at the Texas Mountain Bike Racing Association Championships. Very impressive! Welcome to the show, Gina!

Gina Rymal: Thanks, so glad to be here, I’m excited!

Vanessa: You mentioned that something most people don’t know about you is that you got into the sport of triathlon to have fun, to challenge yourself, and to lose weight, because you used to weigh over 300 pounds. This sounds like it might have been quite the journey for you, both mentally and physically.

Gina: Yeah, it definitely was. I got into triathlon solely because I wanted to lose weight and enjoyed a good challenge, and triathlon is just a really good fit for that. I did a few sprints, and immediately the next year signed up for a full. I lost 150 pounds on my journey, and I’m not looking to find the 150 pounds again. It definitely builds some consistency and good habits that are needed for both weight loss and to do a full Ironman.

Vanessa: That’s absolutely incredible. The amount of dedication that it takes to push yourself into trying something new, and into a sport such as triathlon where there’s so many things to focus on, it shows a lot about your character and personality that makes you who you are at your core. It’s such a great inspiration to so many people out there. Why don’t you share your tip with us today, Gina?

Gina: Yeah, my tip is a little bit more on your why or your story. Obviously I had a bit of a story going into my triathlon journey, and I think it’s so important to always come back to why you got into triathlon in the first place. Not everybody’s out there looking for a podium finish, not everybody out there even wants to be top ten, or a certain speed. They just want to finish, for health reasons, or in my case weight reasons, or personal gain or whatever. Coming back to that why or that story is so important in keeping the sport alive. We’ve got to encourage people to be in triathlon, but then also to keep it fun and entertaining for yourself. Because if you forget why you’re there, and you’re just kind of going through the motions, then you’re not invested anymore. You’ve got to stay grounded to why you started triathlon in the first place. But then for me it goes deeper that that, such as inviting somebody to come along with you on your ride, or maybe being willing to go a little slower on those group runs so that you can encourage the newbie in the corner to have fun and to see what it’s all about. Because whether we came in with a head start from swim team, or we did track, we all started as a beginner triathlete, we’ve never trained for three sports before. You have to remember that everyone started somewhere, and now even though you’ve got more experience, and maybe you’ve got a hundred races under your belt, the new person on the block doesn’t always have that. So always go back to why you started, and be encouraging to others who are trying to start, it’s so important for me as a coach, and it’s the attitude that I’d want my athletes to see.

Vanessa: I think that is a really great tip, and very valuable for all of us to reflect on the moment we decided to do our first tri. Maybe it was for the challenge, maybe it was for weight loss, maybe it was to be competitive in something, and to get out of our comfort zone, or even engage in a healthier lifestyle. Whatever it may be, I think that you’re right, after you’ve had one of those training sessions has been really difficult, or it hasn’t been the best that you were expecting, to think about, “Go back to the beginning. Why did I want to do triathlon in the first place?” Then the perspective will shift like, “Who cares about that one training session? Who cares about that race that I didn’t complete or the race that I didn’t get a PR? Why did you do this in the first place?” Then all of a sudden that entire perspective will rush back in and will be able to carry forward and continue on the path that we’ve set for ourselves.

Gina: Yeah, totally, and it makes such a big difference to have that renewed perspective. For me, consistency and habits are why I am where I am. Like I know at my lunch break on Wednesday, I’m going to be doing my long run. That is just in my calendar, it happens. But sometimes we just get in a rut or routine and we’re not really paying attention to what we’re doing, and going back to, “Why did I get into this? Why do I enjoy this sport?” is such a big deal. I was one of those weird people in Covid who was okay not having a race on the schedule because I just loved the training, and the activity and the consistency of it. Yeah, I missed the races – one of the biggest things I like to do at a race is count how many high fives I can get – but I was okay not having a race on the calendar, because I’m going back to, “Why am I doing this in the first place? Because I want to be healthy, and this is how I’m going to be healthy.” It just made sense to stay on the course, even though it was a year and a half later before I got to it.

Outro: Thanks for joining us. Make sure to subscribe and share the TriDot podcast with your triathlon crew. For more great tri content and community, connect with us on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Ready to optimize your training? Head to TriDot.com and start your free trial today! TriDot – the obvious and automatic choice for triathlon training.

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