TriDot Podcast .141

One Race, Three Journeys - IRONMAN Texas

Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and geneticprofile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence tooptimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewerinjuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talkall things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join theconversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Welcome to the show everyone! I’m tryingsomething new today and I think it’s going to be a lot of fun. Every athlete onthe race course carries on their shoulders a story. The story of why they chosethis sport, why they registered for that race, how their training went and howtheir race is going. The more I travel to the races and cheer on TriDotathletes, the more stories I get to hear and it always amazes me how manydifferent stories are playing out simultaneously on the same course on the sameday at the same time and I think there is a ton of value in hearing from otherfolk’s experiences and learning from their stories. So today, we’re tryingsomething new that I’m going to call “One Race, Three Stories” where we willhear three different athletes share their experience from the same race. I planon doing this maybe just a few times a year and today it’s an Ironman. Maybenext time we’ll hear from some folks that did the same sprint, the sameOlympic, or even the same 70.3. For this episode I’ve got three finishers fromthe 2022 edition of Ironman Texas. Our first athlete joining us is Meg Dirito.Meg is a veterinarian from Pennsylvania. She swam collegiately at theUniversity of Bucknell and is a TriDot Ambassador as well as a member of theBetty Elite Squad. Meg is now a two time Ironman finisher and after her 10 hourand 21 minute finish at Ironman Texas she is now a Kona qualifier. Meg Dirito,welcome to the podcast!

Meg Dirito: Hello everyone! Thanks so much for having me onthe podcast today. I’m really excited to be here and I can’t wait to talk aboutall things triathlon, especially Ironman Texas which has some pretty vibrantmemories for me. Thank you.

Andrew: I bet. Can’t wait to hear them. Next up isTriDot Ambassador Jonathan Haynes from League City, Texas. Jonathan is a SamHouston State University graduate who is in the new home building industry withTri Pointe Homes as an area sales manager. He is a three time Ironman finisherand went 12 hours and 11 minutes at Ironman Texas which we’ll unpack in themain set today. Jonathan, thanks for joining us.

Jonathan Haynes: Thanks Andrew. Pleasure to be here. Yeah, I’m atriathlete that is with TriDot that works for Tri Pointe.

Andrew: It’s just a “tri” life you’re living there.

Jonathan: What can I say?

Andrew: Last, but not least, hailing from the Cowboystate of Wyoming, TriDot Ambassador Curt Yanish. A younger version of CurtYanish served in the Marines after studying rangeland management at theUniversity of Idaho and North Dakota State University. Curt now works as arangeland ecologist and vice president of Aster Canyon Consulting. In theWoodlands Curt went 15 hours and 46 minutes for his very first Ironman finish.Curt, welcome to the show!

Curt Yanish: Thanks for having me. I’m glad to represent theback of the pack.

Andrew: I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of thePeople and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always we'll roll through ourwarm up question, settle in for our main set conversation, and then wind thingsdown with our cool down.

Happy to have TRIBIKE Transport partner with uson the TriDot podcast. If you are traveling for an upcoming race, let TRIBIKETransport ensure that your bike gets there race-ready and stress-free. TRIBIKETransport is the original fully-assembled bike transport service for cyclistsand triathletes. Your bike will enjoy a ride in one of the smooth riding trucksall the way to the race site where you will pick it up near T1 ready to racewith your bike fit position untouched. Learn how by heading to TriBikeTransport.com and as afriend of the podcast, use coupon code TRIDOT22 for $25 off your next booking.That’s TriBikeTransport.com, coupon code TRIDOT22 to book for your next race.

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

Andrew: In every piece of fiction whether it’s a book,TV show, or movie every character has a name and that name was thought up andgiven to them by a writer. Some character names seem pretty straightforward anddon’t necessarily merit much reaction, but other times a character is soperfectly named that you can’t help but take note. You hear the name RockyBalboa and you nod your head because, yes, that is the name for a greatfictional boxer. You hear Shooter Mcgavin and of course that would be the name forthe golfer villain in the movie Happy Gilmore. You hear Ricky Bobby andabsolutely that is the perfect name for the protagonist in a piece of NASCARfiction. Curt, Jonathan, Meg, if you are tasked with creating the name for afictional triathlete character what name would you choose to convey this isdefinitely a triathlete? Curt Yanish, I’m going to go to you first on this.

Curt: Well, my first choice of name was taken by an Indy car driver namedWill Power.

Andrew: Oh, yeah.

Curt: So I’m going to go with last name Resolve and first name Sheer. SheerResolve.

Jonathan: That’s great.

Andrew: Hey Curt, that feels like the name that aformer Marine would come up with as well. I’d say. Yeah, you would read that ina book or you would see that on the big screen and you’d be like, “Yep, that’sa good triathlete name.” Triathletes have to have sheer resolve. Heading overto Jonathan Haynes. Jonathan, what did you come up with?

Jonathan: I don’t know. I don’t know if I can top that. Icame up with Trip McGee, I think I’ll put out the reason why later. But yeah,Trip McGee is what I came up with.

Andrew: Okay, so just store that name in the back ofyour heads and know it’s going to come back around when we hear Jonathan’sstory of his Ironman Texas. I love McGee being the last name for some reason.

Jonathan: Right.

Andrew: I don’t know. That just really– That clicks forme. That’s great. Now Meg, you said that you had your kids help you come upwith it and what a creative way to handle this kind of a question. Meg, whatdid you guys come up with in the Dirito Household.

Meg: Well, I didn’t really use what my kids told me because it wasn’t veryfitting. So…

Andrew: We won’t tell them that.

Meg: So I asked Chris, my husband. He was very helpful. So my name is Tres,meaning three in Spanish, and Poena which is in Latin the pain derives frompoena. So it’s Tres Poena; three times the pain.

Jonathan: Alright.

Curt: Wow.

Andrew: That is awesome. Yep, I’m a big fan of that. Itgets the word three in there which Jonathan like you said in your bio, I meantri, we’re tri everything.

Jonathan: That’s right.

Meg: Yep.

Andrew: So that– Yep. Talk about loving the pain.You’re loving the pain three times over–

Meg: Three times. Three different sports. Yep.

Andrew: –when you commit to this sport. I do want to goon the record saying, and Meg you are a Coach John Mayfield coached athlete andwhen I came up with this warmup question I knew– I just want to thank you guysall for being willing to kind of put your creative hats on for a second becauseif I had given this question to John Mayfield on a podcast, like he would havetexted me and been like, “What is this? What is this question?” It would nothave been his favorite one.

Meg: I can see that.

Andrew: But you were all willing to roll with it andput on your creative thinking cap. I actually struggled with this one. Like alot of times I come up with a warmup question and I kind of already have a goodanswer in mind and this one I did not at all. So I thought about it and forsome reason there was a Disney show when I was a kid and I think it was at thepoint where I had kind of outgrown the Disney Channel, but my younger sisterstill watched it and there was a show called the Famous Jett Jackson and forsome reason that character, Jett Jackson, came to mind for me and once I hadthat name in my head I could not shake it. So I didn’t want to rip totally 100%off that show and say Jett Jackson would be my fictional triathlete charactername. So I’m going to keep the first name Jett. It conveys speed, it conveyspower, it conveys a sense of motion moving forward and I’m going to pair itwith the last name Booher as an ode to our founder and my boss, Jeff Booher. Somy answer here is Jett Booher. That would be my fictional triathlete name.Again, thank you guys for kicking this question around with me. We’re going tothrow this out to all of our podcast listeners. If you listen to the podcast,make sure you are a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group. Every single Mondaywhen our new show comes out, we throw these crazy questions out to you, ourlisteners, and I can’t wait to hear what you have to say. We’ve got four, whatI hope everybody feels like these are good ideas, but I can’t wait to hear whatfictional character names you guys throw in the ring. So find the post askingyou, what fictional triathlon character name would you pick if put in charge ofnaming a fictional triathlete character?

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

PRECISIONFUEL AND HYDRATION: This show is brought to you by Precision Fueland Hydration who have a wide range of tools and products to help youpersonalize your fueling and hydration strategy so that you can perform at yourbest. Long-time listeners of the show will know them as Precision Hydration,but they’ve changed their name to reflect the fact that they’ve been helpingathletes nail both aspects of their performance for a long time now. Everyonesweats differently and the amount of fuel we require varies depending onfactors like duration and intensity of our activity so a one-size-fits-allapproach to fueling and hydration just doesn’t cut it. Head toprecisionfuelandhydration.com and use their free online sweat test and quickcarb calculator to understand your fluid, electrolyte, and carbohydrate needsduring training and racing. Then you can book a free one-on-one videoconsultation with the team to refine your hydration and fueling strategy foryour upcoming race. As a listener of the show you can get 10% off your firstorder of fueling and hydration products by using the code TRIDOT10 at thecheckout. Once again that’s precisionfuelandhydration.com.

Andrew: We had somany TriDot athletes and podcast listeners racing Ironman Texas that weoverloaded the Ironman Tracker App. We just totally broke it. I was addingathletes the evening before the race and the app kindly informed me that Icould not add over 50 athletes to the app. I’ve never, ever had that happenbefore. I guess that we’re just too TriDot strong at this point for Ironman tohandle us as a group. From all those athletes there are certainly many thatwould have been a great fit for this episode to share their story. I chose Meg,Jonathan and Curt because they all kind of represented a different place in thepack. They all had very different goals and experiences from the day and I knowthere are great opportunities for us to learn from all three of them. So let’sdive into their stories from the day and guys, let’s start here. I want to hearfrom each of you, why this race? How did you end up on the start line ofIronman Texas? Curt Yanish, I’ll kick this over to you first.

Curt: Okay, soI’m going to go a little back and say that my first marathon was when I was inHawaii in the Marine Corps and I ran the Honolulu Marathon. So I’m in Hawaii,I’m running the Honolulu Marathon. I hear about Ironman and I think, “Gosh, Ishould do that someday.” Well fast forward 26 years later and I meet this ladyon a run and for her 65th birthday and her retirement present to herself, shedid an Ironman.

andrew: Wow.

Curt: And Ithought to myself, “Man I’m almost 50. I can do it. I think this is the time Ishould do an Ironman.” So I made a two year plan. I was going to train up, gozero to Ironman in two years and then they put Waco on the schedule and Icouldn’t resist. So I tried to do Waco in six months of training.

Andrew: Wow.

Curt: And endedup DNF’ing Waco. The next one on the schedule was Texas that I could go to andI needed to get my Ironman in before another summer wasted; “wasted” in mywife’s terms training for an Ironman.

Andrew: So Curt,at the point that you had that desire to sign up for an Ironman, you were not atriathlete yet. You had not done any form of triathlon at all at that point.

Curt: I hadonly run marathons. I could barely swim 300 yards and had never owned a roadbike.

Andrew: Wow.That’s incredible. I didn’t know that part of your story. So that’s super cool.And at every single Ironman, those athletes are out there and that’s theirfirst triathlon and I always recommend people start at a shorter one and worktheir way up, but there are certainly people that do it and you are one ofthem. So congrats.

Curt: Thankyou. I did work my way through every distance getting to that first Ironman.

Andrew: Okay,cool. So you did get a few swim, bike, and runs under your belt along the way.

Curt: Yes I did.

Andrew: Alright.So Jonathan Haynes, for you, how did you end up on the start line of IronmanTexas?

Jonathan: Yeah,well that’s actually completely Brian Mclean’s fault. I actually didn’t want todo this race actually to be honest with you, but I did my second Ironman in2017 and I said, “you know, I did two Ironman and that’s good. I’m fine withthat.” I enjoyed the shorter distances, but you know he wanted to do his firstIronman. You know, he’s a good friend of mine. He’s a fellow TriDot Ambassadorand whenever he wanted to do his first Ironman, what can I do? So I couldn’tlet him do it alone so I jumped in.

Andrew: Sure.

Jonathan: I had tobe a good battle buddy and help him. We always remind each other of the saying,“iron sharpens iron” and we believe that to be very true. So I got in there andstarted training with him and the plan was to do the race together, but thatdidn’t quite happen, but I know we’ll get to that.

Andrew: Yep,yeah. We will get into that and before we even get into that, Jonathan, I willsay it was really cool. So in the end we’ll hear the circumstances that led toyou guys doing different races. But he actually raced Ironman Texas in Octoberof 2021.

Jonathan: Right.

Andrew: You endedup doing it here in April of 2022. So for me just being there as TriDot staff,it was really cool to see you Sherpa for him back in October and you followedhim all over the race course. You took care of him and his family all day longwhile he was racing and then fast forward to April of 2022 and there was Briandoing the same thing for you. So even though you guys didn’t end up doing thatrace together, both of you ended up walking through the experience with eachother and it was really cool to see you both do that.

Jonathan:Absolutely. You know, I mean it actually worked out perfectly. Oftentimes whenwe do Ironman it doesn’t go as planned or sometimes it doesn’t go as plannedand so you just kind of roll with it and sometimes the outcome ends up beingeven better than what you anticipated. So this is a perfect example of that. Hewas able to be there for my race and I was able to be there for his race and Ithink it actually made it even more special.

Andrew: Yep andwe’ll hear more about it in just a little bit. Meg Dirito, this was your secondfull distance Ironman. How did you end up on the start line of Ironman Texas?

Meg: It’sactually really funny because this race was actually not on my radar at all. Ilive in Pennsylvania and the winters are super, super cold and I knew if Isigned up for an early season race I would be months and months of training ona trainer and a treadmill and that totally did not appeal to me. However, myBetty Girls signed up for Texas 2020 and that was canceled so they deferred to2021 and if you know me it’s not hard to convince me to sign up for something.I have a severe case of FOMO or fear of missing out and not being with them. SoI signed up and that was the beginning and I’m happy I did.

Andrew: Yeah andthere were a tremendous amount of Betty racers racing that race. Many werecoached by Coach Jo and I’ve gotten to know many of them. There are a ton.

Meg: Yes.

Andrew: Therewere a ton of Betty elite athletes that are also TriDot athletes  and it’s kind of the– I was telling my wifewhen we were in Waco and she was meeting a lot of them. She was like, “What’sthis like Betty thing?” I was like, “It’s kind of like triathlon’s #1 sororityto be a part of.” Is that fair?

Meg: Yes, yes.And there was like 25 of them there so I just couldn’t imagine not being there.So yeah, I trained inside all winter for it.

Andrew: Alright,so no slight to Jonathan and Curt, you guys had great days out there. Youbecame an Ironman. You finished an Ironman, but Meg of my three athletes onthis episode, you finished first. So I’m going to focus on your race herefirst. You came to Texas with one primary goal other than being a Betty oncourse with Betty’s. You came in with Kona qualification or bust. With thatmission in mind, did prepping for this race feel any different from otherIronmans you’ve raced? What was your headspace like entering the event knowingyou were trying to go for a Kona slot?

Meg: So I’veonly raced one other Ironman which was Chattanooga in 2019. At that point I wasself-coached. I had no prior experience racing a full Ironman. I did all theTriDot workouts to a T. If you know me, I do everything exactly as planned andthat kind of helped me prepare for Chattanooga. I was at really low volume inall the three sports. I felt very prepared for race day. I did place fourth atthat race, at Chattanooga, but looking back comparing to what I did in Texas Iwas not nearly as prepared as I was at Texas. So after signing up for Texas Iactually had three goals in mind. I wanted to podium at Ironman Texas and to beperfectly honest, I wanted to win. Second, I wanted a Kona slot and third Iwanted to make top three overall females because I wanted to race in the prodivision. So those three goals kind of fueled me all winter while I wastraining inside. After Worlds 70.3 last September I signed on with JohnMayfield as my coach and I kind of remember a conversation going something like“Hey John, I need a coach and I need to get Kona.” So that’s kind of where wekind of started.

Andrew: Okay.

Meg: So withJohn I entered into this whole new world of training. I would say it was evenmore intense than my training as a division one collegiate swimmer.

Andrew: Wow.

Meg: John andI discussed a lot of my weaknesses, where I could make most of my gains. So weincreased my run and my bike to high volume and just me always wanting more, Iremember talking to John and being like, “Let’s increase my swim too.” So Iwent high volume in everything and next thing I knew I was training 23-24 hoursa week and loving every single minute of it. So my mindset a few weeks beforethe race was I was super anxious, super nervous. I even questioned whether Icould perform at all to the best of my abilities. I was worried about myinexperience and how that would come into play because I didn’t have a lot ofexperience racing fulls, but John has a way of bringing me back each time Iquestion myself and then I felt more and more confident during race week and onrace morning I just couldn’t wait to swim and that was my day and I wanted tosee what I could do.

Andrew: Yeah andI don’t want to embarrass you Meg so I can absolutely cut this out of theepisode if you find this to be an embarrassing fact, but I told Meg this whilewe were in the Woodlands together. Meg is so diligent about doing her workoutsas prescribed that our internal software engineer team when they are testingout new features or they’re tweaking the way certain things work, if they needto see an example of how a change within TriDot will affect an athlete who ison top of their workouts, Meg is the account they pull up to see how X, Y, andZ affects Meg’s account because she is just so on top of it with her dailytraining. And I will say, Meg, for athletes listening I don’t want people tohear “Oh, I can change all my volumes to high to qualify for Kona.”

Meg: Don’t dothat.

Andrew: That was adiscussion that was made with your coach and you are somebody with the athleticbackground and pedigree for your body to handle that volume. Frankly, my bodypersonally cannot handle high volume on running. I will breakdown immediately.So those are things that really worked for you and to your credit, you did thetraining and you had a great day out there. So congrats to you on that.

Meg: Thank you.

Andrew: Meg, let’stalk about your swim. You had a 58 minute swim, which to me is absolutelyblazing fast. For you, I know it was slower than the goal. For some perspectivethough, Jocelyn Mccauley, the female pro winner overall, she went 56 minutes.So you were only two minutes behind Jocelyn there. If you had raced with the 19female pros, you would have been 5th out of the water in the entire field. So,well done all around.

Meg: Thankyou.

Andrew: But, Iwould love for you to tell our audience why your swim was so slow.

Jonathan: Slow?Right.

Meg: So I justwant to say I’m not disappointed in my swim. However…

Andrew: Okay.

Meg: …youknow, with that being said I could have swam faster. So my goal was to swim a55 or below and about a quarter of the way into the swim I felt my timing chipfalling off and the more and more I swam it started to like slip up and I couldfeel that it was falling off and then I started to have these terrible imagesof it like floating to the bottom of the river. So I made a game-day decisionand I stopped kicking. So I swam two miles without kicking. So it made for areally good two mile pull set. My lesson learned was I’ll probably pin my chipfrom now on.

Jonathan: Wow!

Curt: That’samazing.

Andrew: Jonathan,how does that make you feel that she swam 58 minutes without kicking.

Jonathan: That isunbelievable. That’s so freaking fast, especially with no legs.

Meg: Thankyou. I was just was so worried. I was like, “Oh, I’m going to lose it and thenwhat do I tell them when I get out of the water?” Like I don’t have my chip. SoI was like I just need to not move my leg at all. So I just stopped.

Curt: Thequestion everybody wants to know is, was it really falling off?

Meg: Yesbecause I took it off in transition and had to reput it back on.

Curt: Alright.

Meg: So it waslike, you know how it wraps around? Well, the bottom part was like slipping outand I guess the more I kicked it kept slipping up and I was like, “This velcrois going to give way and I’m going to lose it.” So I was so scared, so I wasjust like, “I’m going to stop kicking.” And it stayed on.

Andrew: So Meg,after you knew you had come out in the front pack of the swim, that was alwaysthe plan even not kicking the whole way. So heading out onto the bike and run,what was your game plan and how did it go out there on the Hardy Toll Road andrunning around the canals of the Woodlands?

Meg: So after coming out of the swim I really hadno idea where I was. All I knew is that when I was swimming I had passed abunch of pro women because they had a different color of cap. So I was like,“Oh, I must be doing okay.”

Andrew: Yep.

Meg: So Johnwas waiting for me at transition and he let me know that I was in first placeoverall and in age group. My transition was super quick, super smooth and whenI ran out of the transition tent, John and Jeff had already pulled my bike forme so it was actually standing at the entrance to leave which was superhelpful. My gameplan was just to stick to my watts on the bike for the nextfive hours. That was all great until I got to the Hardy Toll and the windskicked in and I just found myself just fighting to push through the winds.

Andrew: Yeah.

Meg: I knew Icould make more gains on the way back with the tailwind so I tried to takeadvantage of it and I knew I had to stick to my nutrition plan which ended upbeing on point so I was happy about that. Just so I could have enough energy tosucceed in the run and I couldn’t wait to get off the bike because I thoughtthe winds were extremely brutal.

Andrew: Yeah, sofor the record, when Meg says that Jeff Raines and John Mayfield were intransition there to hand her her bike, we were volunteering in T1 that morning.So that was not Coach John and Jeff hopping a fence and doing something theyshouldn’t have been doing. That was us volunteering in T1…

Meg: To giveme my bike.

Andrew: …when Megwas coming. So, but to your point Meg, we were in transition and in transitionit’s pretty– it’s by the canal, there’s some trees around. There’s somebuildings around. We were feeling the gusts of wind in T1 and we knew that youguys out there on the bike had to be feeling that on the Hardy Toll Road whichis totally exposed. So I can imagine your relief coming off the bike andhitting the run course. How did you feel at that point when you started the runknowing okay, I’m surging for Kona. I’m surging for that podium. I’ve got tohave a strong run. How were you feeling?

Meg: So Iusually don’t like people touching my bike, but I was so happy to give my biketo somebody else and to just start running. But thanks to John and yourself,Andrew, and Jeff and my Betty Squad when I started running I knew exactly wheremy position was throughout the entire marathon. I knew that when I started therun that I had a ten minute lead from the second place girl. It was nice I hada pro man, he ran with me for a while to pace me which was great. John hadhooked me up with him. He was running on his second lap, my first and he said,“What do you want to pace?” and I told him and so he stuck with me for a bitwhich was really cool.

Andrew: I believethat was pro triathlete Elliott Bach.

Meg: Yes.

Andrew: Have togive him a shout out. He was Dallas area. I don’t know if he is still in theDallas area, but I just know that name from the local– I’ve never met himpersonally, but yeah.

Meg: Yeah. Soit was really nice that he stuck with me and paced me for a while. So I feltreally strong and consistent on the first lap. The second lap it got a bithotter and I really kind of started to fight to kind of keep the pace. Itwasn’t until mile 20 that the second place girl caught up with me. I saw herpass.

Andrew: And didyou know it? Okay, when she passed you, you knew it.

Meg: Yes. Isaw her pass me and I had some choice words in my head, but I did everything Icould to keep pace with her, but in the end she was just a solid runner and sheran me down. I mean, it took her until mile 20 to catch me so I mean she wasworking hard and I give her props.

Andw: Sure.

Meg: The finalmiles were super tough. I was really hot, really tired. I remember thinking,“Well, you’ve hurt like this before. It’s nothing new.” I had been here. Peoplealways refer to that hurt locker and I really tried to go there, but it’sdefinitely something you need to work on. At that point I knew the third placegirl, she was gaining on me, but I also told myself there was no way I wasletting anyone else pass me. So I kept saying my goals in my head and I justneeded to check off my boxes. So I just picked up the pace and finished.

Andrew: So youcrossed that finish line and by the time I found you, you were sitting in achair. You had Coach Jo with you, you had Coach John Mayfield standing with youand Meg, just in a word the scene was tense. Because we were all waiting to seeif you had clenched that Kona slot. Kind of take us into that moment. What wasgoing on there?

Meg: So when Iwas coming down the finishing chute I saw you, I saw John, I saw Jo, and I sawJeff and I started to tear up because they were the faces of the people that Icare so deeply about . I mean you guys had been with me all day and you hadhelped me all day and I was just so happy to see you guys and I had worked sohard for so long and it was finally coming to an end. I honestly was just– Ihad no idea where I was in the ranks. I thought I was at a certain place, but Ididn’t know and I saw your faces and I was filled with gratitude and I wasthankful for you guys just for being there for me. And I was also very thankfulto sit down. I was happy to finally sit.

Andrew: Yeah,sure.

Meg: So Johnhad mentioned when I was sitting that we were still waiting for that thirdplace girl to come in and I remember just sitting there talking with Jo andthen all of a sudden John just gave me the biggest hug ever and he said to me“You did it. We’re going to Kona.” And I remember grabbing his arm and Iremember tears coming down my face and he hugged me. He said that was the mostpainful 12 minutes of waiting. Apparently she had started later so we had towait for her to come in. So there’s actually a picture you took, Andrew, Ithink says it all and if you’ve been on Facebook or my Instagram now you knowthe story behind it. But I actually did beat that girl by 47 seconds.

Jonathan: Ohh.

Andrew: Yep. Itwas tight and for some context, like you said, because it’s a wave start andyou got in the water before her, late in the run she was behind you, but shewas running faster than you. So John and Jo were doing the math all day long…

Meg: Yes.

Andrew: …on whereMeg was in the field and they knew with this girl running a little faster thanyou that she had a chance to catch you even if she finished behind you.

Meg: Yep.

Andrew: But shedidn’t. You got her by 47 seconds for that and there were two Kona slots,correct, in your age group?

Meg: Therewere two Kona slots. That’s correct. I actually talked with her at awards andshe said, “are you the girl that beat me by 47 seconds?”

Andrew: Yes thatwould be me. Yeah.

Meg: But I meanI was happy I had set out what I wanted to do. I made the podium. I earned myKona slot. I ended up placing fourth overall female so I missed my pro cardslot by one. So that’s what I’m headed to do in Iowa in a couple weeks.

Andrew: Nexttime. Yep, next time. Yep can’t wait. I believe this podcast comes out beforethen.

Meg: Alright.

Andrew: So I’llcut this out if I don’t, but I believe it does.

Meg: Okay.

Andrew: Peoplecan track you in Ironman Des Moines 2022 and go root for Meg as she chases downthat pro card. She’s already got Kona. So moving on to Jonathan. Jonathan youhad a training wreck right before Ironman Texas in the fall of 2021. So thisrace was delayed for you. Just six months prior, your fitness was there, youwere fully trained up, you were ready to rock and roll. Thankfully Ironman letyou defer to 2022. So with this race delayed six months for you, how fired upwere you physically and mentally just to get out there and burn it to theground?

Jonathan: Yeah, Icertainly wanted to burn it to the ground alright. I actually did three and ahalf Ironman ramps for the race which I think is just nuts.

Andrew: BetweenCOVID cancellations…

Jonathan: Yeah.

Andrew: And Iguess give everybody a little context for the wreck you had in October.

Jonathan: Yeah, sowhat happened was at first it was COVID cancellation and then it was anotherCOVID-type cancellation with Harris County and then the last one, the thirdone, was a bike accident and so basically– you guys understand COVIDcancellations. But the bike accident I was two weeks away from racing inOctober of 2021 and I was just going on an easy Z2 ride and well, it was one ofthose stupid moments on a bike that I really don’t have anybody to blame otherthan myself. I wish it was a really good story like I wish I could blame thecar, but it’s really all my fault. So basically I grabbed the wrong brake and Igrabbed my front brake and so I sent myself over the handlebars and that wasnot a fun experience.

Andrew: And thatwas two weeks before Ironman Texas in October of 2021, right? So you had doneall the training, you had done your race rehearsals, you were ready to go, andbike accident which, like we said, it took you out of commission. Instead onthe day you Sherpaed for your buddy Brian. So in April it was your turn. So howready were you to get out there and do it after just years of training andwaiting for this race?

Jonathan: I wasextremely ready to do it. It was half of me wanted to get it over with and theother half of me wanted to, as we said, burn it to the ground and PR thesucker. So it was mixed feelings, but I was glad to finally toe the line andget there. I actually PR’d. Just a couple weeks before that I PR’d my halfIronman in Galveston by like a solid 30 minutes or so.

Curt: Wow.

Jonathan: So I waspretty pumped about that.

Andrew: Yep I wasthere. You had a great race. You looked strong the entire day. Every time I sawyou cruise by you were just in the zone there. You went 4:48. So 12 minutesunder sub 5 there in Galveston. So that had to be just a big confidence boosterheading into the full in the Woodlands. So between that PR, you had experienceon this course in the Woodlands, you had done Ironman Texas before, and you setfor yourself a sub 11 hour finish time as the goal and by all accounts it seemslike a great mark for you to shoot for. Jonathan, how did your race go?

Jonathan: Well, itdidn’t quite go as planned, but it started off really good. So my swim was–itwas a good swim. I got kicked I think like three times in the face.

Andrew: Sure.Sounds right.

Jonathan: But it’skind of weird, my watch actually started– It’s funny Meg, you were talkingabout your timing chip. My watch actually did fall off.

Meg: Oh no!

Jonathan: So theband unbuckled and it started like floating. I don’t know how I did it. I have noidea. I grabbed my watch in the water and I opened up the top of my wetsuit andI shoved it in the top of my wetsuit and–

Curt: And justkept on going?

Jonathan: Yeah.Which makes like a really interesting swim because like every 500 or so I feltit vibrate and it was kind of like– So I’ve got something vibrating on myheart. It was a really strange feeling, but anyhow. So that happened and thenmy goggles got knocked off so I had to flip over and fix them. But anyhow, IPR’d it by five minutes which I thought was awesome.

Andrew: That’sgreat.

Meg: Nice.

Jonathan: So yeah,the swim went good so that was that. Then, so Meg it’s not in your head whenyou said like you felt like the wind was strong. Like, that’s not in your headat all.

Meg: Yeah, itwas strong.

Andrew: The windwas strong.

Jonathan: The wind was very strong.I’ve heard different quotes on what the miles per hour were on it. We’ll juststick with it was strong. I think 21, 22 sustained or something. Andrew do youknow?

Meg: Yeah thatsounds right.

Andrew: We sawreports of gusts into the 30s from the weather stations and for people whodon’t know the course at Ironman Texas, the bike course you take some kind ofcountry roads, some urban roads to the highway and then you just have a stretchwhere you go up and down this toll road for 20 miles one way, 20 miles theother way, 20 miles one way, 20 miles the other way. So when you’re riding,it’s 20 miles straight into a headwind, 20 miles straight with a tailwind. Youdo that back and forth, back and forth then you head back into town. So whenthere is wind, which again 20 miles sustained, gusts into the 30s, it’s alreadyreally windy, but then on top of that you’re out there on a highway justtotally exposed to it. So we knew you guys were definitely burning some matchesout there just fighting the wind.

Meg: Yeah.

Jonathan: Yeah,absolutely. Yeah, there’s definitely no way to hide from that wind. But thebike was going well for me. I started to run out of nutrition which was kind ofthe start of probably the downfall here and I guess I mistimed the specialneeds and so I started to grab for on-course nutrition so to get like aGatorade or something to get some electrolytes in me. Then I grabbed like acouple bottles that– they were still sealed which is always fun. So like yougrab a bottle and you’re like, “Man the top is sealed!” And you’re not going tobe like, well, I’m not going to at least say “I’m going to pull over and let mejust undo the little white top on it.” So I just like tossed it back. I’m like,“It’s sealed!” I don’t mean to be a jerk. I’m just frustrated.

Andrew: I wantedthat Gatorade!

Jonathan: I neededthat! So yeah. I had a little bit of nutrition problem there and then I startedto feel some cramps at mile 90. So I knew that was going to be– I knew that hada potential ripple effect through the race. So I got to the dismount line andjumped off my bike and then it felt like somebody put my leg in a vice grip.Like just total lock up. So it made it really fun for my wife because she’sstanding there and I’m yelling “Ahhhh!”

Andrew: And it’sthe first time she’s seen you in hours right?

Jonathan: Yeah. Imean I’d been gone on the bike for like five plus hours and so the first thingthat she sees me is jumping off the bike and screaming. So it did not feelgood. It was a big cramp. Then she asked if I’m okay of course and I said, yeahI’m fine it just hurts. It’ll go away and of course it did. You know, the painwent away and I was very happy as well to hand off my bike and go ahead and getto the changing tent. So I handed off my bike and Brian was there who Imentioned earlier and he’s like, “Hey what’s going on?” and I’m like “I’mcramping.” So he had taken me over to the tent real fast. I started changinginto my run stuff. He grabbed me a PH1500, the salt tab and so he grabbed meone of those. I slammed that real fast and then one of the other triathletesthat was sitting next to me he said “Here take this.” and he threw something.He threw like a bottle at me and somehow I had the wherewithal to grab it. Justcatch it like it was no big deal.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jonathan: Like anaction throw. Like he threw it at me and I’m like, “Yes!” So I grabbed it and Ipopped that open real fast and I slammed it. Then I looked to see what I justdrank because I figured that might be important. So it was pickle juice which Igot a little worried about that because I remember the last time I had picklejuice was when I was in high school cross country and I remember pickle juiceequals massive throwing up. So you know, just roll with it I guess. Anyhow, Idid. So I was like, I’m sure it’s going to be fine. So anyhow, I just threw onmy stuff and got out to the run course and it was going well. Actually itwasn’t going bad. The first like, I don’t know, eight miles or so wasn’t bad.Then I ran into you.

Andrew: Yeah.Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I saw you pretty early on maybe at the end of loop numberone. So normally at these races Coach Jeff Raines, Coach John, myself, we allfind a good spot on course and we cheer for a while. Well, John was just so inthe zone making sure that some athlete named Meg Dirito would qualify for Kona,I never saw John. John was all over the course giving Meg time splits. So JeffRaines and I, we set up shop right at the exit of T2 and so that way whenTriDot athletes got onto the run they would see a friendly face cheering forthem. So Jonathan I think we saw you as you were finishing loop one, startingloop two and so yeah. I asked you how you were doing and you already seemed torecognize that the race wasn’t going the way you wanted it to. So when in yourrun did you realize that sub 11 goal just wasn’t going to happen and maybe whatwere some of the emotions and thoughts that you faced in that moment?

Jonathan: Yeah,that’s right. I mean, I saw you and I think the words that I said to you was,“Change of strategy.”

Andrew: Yes. Yepthat’s right.

Jonathan: It justwas a survival mode thing at that point. The cramps were back with a vengeanceand they were hitting me strange. I mean, I had one in my side which is notabnormal, the side stitch thing. So that’s not abnormal one. It’s a sharp pain,but you know, you work your way through it.

Andrew: Yeah.

Jonathan: The onethat was really weird was I was getting one like around my ankles or at leastthat’s what it felt like in the race. It felt like I was cramping on my anklesand it was causing my toes to curl which is like really, really weird. Soimagine running with toes curled. So that kind of was not working very well andneedless to say that run was not going great. I’m like, my toes will not justdo the normal thing. So anyhow. Yeah, I felt that and so I was just like, “Youknow what? That’s it.” At some point I was like 20 miles left. I’m just goingto start counting down; 19 miles left. So you get into that spot wherefortunately I’ve already been down this road before being my third Ironman. SoI knew what had to be done and I knew that I was going to go into that toughmental place that you have to go as an Ironman.

Andrew: Wow.

Jonathan: I don’tknow if anybody is able to do an Ironman and not go to that spot. You know, I’mnot sure if that’s possible or not, but I knew that was the time where I wasgoing to have to dig deep and just battle through it. So that’s kind of what Iwas– I knew I wasn’t going to quit. That was out of the question. It was just amatter of how much suffering I was going to go through before I hit the redcarpet.

Andrew: You know,despite the cramps, you kept pushing on. I saw you several more times on therun and it seemed like you kept moving. It seemed like you kept a good attitudeall things considered. How, Jonathan, did you stay motivated on that run courseand what advice would you give to other athletes that maybe find themselves ina situation where their primary goal is slipping out of reach on race day likethat?

Jonathan: Yeah, Imean that happens and I think it happens to a lot of athletes that are outthere to where they set themselves up for a goal and they’ve done all thetraining and then they realize that their plan is not going to work out quiteas what they anticipated. I think it’s important to remember why you’re there.You’ve got to have that like firmly in your mind. Why are you doing this? Sofor me, obviously, I would focus on that and it was also a matter of I’m alwayscognizant of what I’m doing is a representation or visual or a lesson for mychildren. So, you know, they were on the course there. My family was on thecourse there. They’re out there to cheer for me. Being a spectator is not easy,right? So standing out in the heat waiting for that glimpse of seeing theirathlete or their loved one pass by them. So I wanted to represent well and Iwanted to show them that hey, you know, even when times are tough, that doesn’tmean we give up. That doesn’t mean that we just fold. You know, we have to havethat mental stamina to be able to kind of continue to drive through to achieveour goal and so yeah. I think it’s important; you’ve got to know your why morethan anything.

Andrew: So Curt,you already mentioned that you ended up on the start line of Ironman Texas as aredemption race from that DNF at Ironman Waco. For you it happened in the latestages of the bike course in Waco. What caused that DNF and what prompted thedecision to sign up for another Ironman so soon?

Curt: So inWaco, dehydration got a hold of me. I didn’t keep up with my hydration. Itmight have been the two flats that I had that took 20 to 30 minutes out where Iwas not hydrating.

Andrew: And thatwas a hot, windy day and that is 20 - 30 minutes you are out in the sun longerthan you planned, so yep. Absolutely. Now Curt, there actually was, for folkswho weren’t there, there were some local folks unfortunately who had put sometacks out on the road and there was about a half mile stretch of road on loopone when I went through it, I probably passed 15, 18, 20 athletes on the sideof the road fixing flats. Now the race director got out there, they actuallywent out there with some magnets and with magnets sucked up all the tacks thelocals had put out on the road. Is that where you flatted or did you flatsomewhere else?

Curt: No, itwas the tacks that got me.

Andrew: Okay.

Curt: And thenI didn’t clear the tack on the first tube replacement and I got a second flat.

Andrew: Okay,gotcha.

Curt: But itwas weird. When I started really dehydrating, I can look back and I see all thesymptoms I missed, but I started tingling– my lower lip started tingling andthen my whole body started tingling and I came up on a bridge and I was notsure I could keep my bike on the bridge. So I pulled over, I sat down, got someshade and then I started shaking uncontrollably.

Andrew: Wow.

Curt: I gotchilled really bad so I knew I was dehydrated. I knew I was in trouble. But itwas tough to tap out that day and catch an ambulance back to the start line. Somy redemption in trying to get it in before my summer busy season happenedagain was to do it at Texas.

Andrew: Yep and Imet you in Waco because obviously I was there racing and I was there as TriDotstaff and so I had talked to you at a number of our events there in Waco and soI hated to see that you DNF’d. I mean, inevitably there’s always a few. So Iwas excited to see you on the start list for Ironman Texas. I mean, thatturnaround is just six months from that DNF in Waco to the start line of Texas.I mean that’s certainly long enough to be physically ready to go again, butit’s not so long that Waco was a distant memory. How did you feel going intothat race? Was that DNF in the back of your mind at all?

Curt: Everyworkout. That DNF was in my mind every workout. I had my Ironman Waco shirthanging next to my bed. I saw it every morning. It kept me going all the time.So yeah. The DNF was big and it was a motivator and it got me to the next startline.

Andrew: Yep. Soonce you were there we went through all of the kind of pre-race workoutstogether. You were there for our group run. You were there for our group ride.We certainly had you on the tracker. You were my number one athlete I wanted tosee finish that race after that Waco DNF. So how did it go out there? Tell usabout your race.

Curt: I was soexcited and so happy to toe the line two days after my 50th birthday at IronmanTexas.

Andrew: Nice.Very nice.

Curt: I wasincredibly calm at the start of the swim which was fantastic.

Andrew: Good,yeah.

Curt: That’sthe part I hate the most. I got in the water, swam to the first corner feelinggreat and the chop started making me motion sick. So I had to go to thebreaststroke. Now, surprisingly the breaststroke will let you cut tangents thatyou don’t see when you’re doing the crawl stroke.

Andrew: Ohhh,interesting.

Curt: So thatdoes help. You can swim so straight in the breaststroke and the people in theslower, they don’t sight well so they’re all over the course and if you’rebreaststroking you can really cut some tangents and save some time that way.

Andrew: Alright.  

Curt: I got outof the water with an eight minute PR from Waco so that was nice.

Andrew: No,congrats. Yeah.

Curt: Then Icelebrated like I had just finished the Ironman when I got out of the water. SoI get on the bike and I’m so happy to be back on the bike and those first 20miles at Woodlands is so nice. There are so many people cheering you on, ridingthrough the trees, it’s just great. But then you turn onto the Hardy Toll Roadand you head south into that headwind…

Andrew: Yeah.

Curt: …and itwas brutal. It was very brutal.

Jonathan: Yeah itis.

Curt: And weknew that wind was coming so I asked Coach Jeff Raines, “What do I do?” and hesaid, “You watch your power, you keep it where it was planned, and you keepyour RPM’s up.” So to do that I was in a very low gear and I’m just truckingalong and I’m watching these people back of the pack with me and they’re inthese high gears and they’re just pounding away and then inevitably you watchthem blow up and you pass them back. So it was great advice from Coach Jeff. Idid stop a couple times because my neck was bothering me. I got some BioFreezeput on my neck which was a lifesaver. I don’t know why I thought they could dothat, but it was a great relief to get some BioFreeze on my neck and then thatlast 32 miles with the wind at your back going into transition is just– it’sheaven. It is so fantastic. Got through transition and got into the run. I wasable to do my 11 minute mile pace that I was planned to do, but I couldn’t takein any fluids. I got nauseous every time I took a drink of something and it justkept getting worse. I saw you and Coach Raines at the beginning of lap two andI’m like, “What do I do?”

Andrew: Yeah, Iremember that.

Curt: And Jeffgave me some suggestions and lap two was absolutely miserable. I was slowed toa walk. I was barely keeping a 15 minute mile walk pace. I was really forcingmyself to stay at that pace.

Andrew: It waskind of more because of your gut and kind of GI more issues.

Curt: Yeah.

Andrew: It wasn’tan energy thing. It wasn’t a lack of your legs being there, right?

curt: No thelegs were there, but I was just so nauseous and my gut was just– I couldn’ttake in fluids. I was maybe starting to get dehydrated. At mile 17 right beforean aid station I finally threw up and one of the aid people ran over to me andgoes, “What do you want?” and I said, “I want to finish!” and he goes, “Well,what do you need?” I had heard somebody say pretzels settled their stomach so Igot a couple pretzels from him and a glass of chicken broth…

Andrew: Nice.

Curt: …and amile later I was a brand new man. I was in it again.

Andrew: Do youremember the second time you saw us on course after that?

Curt: Yeah Ido.

Andrew: Because Iremember it. I remember you running up. Yep, Curt comes running up to Jeff andI and the last time we saw you you were struggling. You were like, “I can’tdrink anything. I can’t keep anything down.” And we see you 20 miles later andyou were like, “Guys, I threw up and I feel fantastic!” It was awesome. It wasawesome to see that.

Curt: Yeah, Inever got back to a full run, but I caught up to a lady– shout out to SavanahHarshbarger– we started walking sub 14 minute miles and got both of us to crossthe line together. It was fantastic.

Andrew: When yougot to that mile 90-ish marker where you had DNF’d in Waco, what went throughyour head in knowing okay, I’m now farther than I was in Waco?

Curt: I wascounting down the miles to that mile 93 and it was fantastic that the wind wasat our back at mile 93 so I could really celebrate when I went across that milemarker and it felt great. I really felt great. I knew I was going to finish thebike that day so I celebrated finishing the swim like I had just finished theIronman. I celebrated T2 getting off the bike like I had just finished theIronman and then finishing it was such a relief. That was the biggest thing. Iwas hoping for more fireworks and more excitement, but I was just so relieved.I was excited, don’t get me wrong.

Andrew: Yeah.

Curt: But yeah.It was such a big relief to make it and it was so fun to hear my name called,“Curt Yanish, you are an Ironman!” It was amazing.

Andrew: So Curt,what did you do differently in the Woodlands that led to that successful finishthat you didn’t quite get in Waco? What were some of the things you learned inbetween those two races?

Curt: I changedmy fuel strategy and I had a lot more fluids going in for the race. Like JohnMayfield says, you need to drink like it’s your job during the Ironman. Then Idon’t remember who said that you’ve got to drink to thirst as well and anytimeI was thirsty I drank extra. So I drank far beyond my hydration strategy forthat day.

Andrew: Okay.

Curt: I thinkthat led to my, it might have led to my GI distress by overdrinking, but I wasthere to finish.

Andrew: I justwant to say a big thanks to all three of you for coming on, for sharing yourstories and your emotions from the day there in the Woodlands. I hope folksreally enjoy this conversation today. I know I sure have. To close down themain set here, I want to hear what the TriDot on course support meant to eachof you. You know, we had a lot of TriDotters out there racing. Like I said, Ibroke the app trying to put everybody in the app that was a TriDot athlete thatwas racing. I saw a lot of TriDot hats and visors and kits often on people thatI didn’t even recognize and I’m like, “Who are you? I want to meet you!” We hadTriDot staff out there cheering, TriDot Ambassadors volunteering all over thecourse. So what difference did it make for you just to have so much support outthere? Meg, I’ll start with you.

Meg: So theTriDot support, it meant a world of difference for me. There was always afamiliar face or even if I didn’t know them, the shirts, the hats, the visorsaround like every corner, every turn, every bend of the course and I never feltlike I was alone. I always felt like there was somebody there cheering me on orgiving me insight or just there and it really helped me. I really love myTriDot family. I feel blessed to have them all on course. I just couldn’t do itwithout them. And I do have to give a shout out to John. He is an outstandingcoach and he is also a wonderful friend. He has transformed me in so many waysand I just wouldn’t be where I am today without him, so thanks John.

Andrew: JonathanHaynes, what did the on-course support in the TriDot family mean to you on raceday out there?

Jonathan: Yeah, itwas like being in the cool kids club, you know. There were so many TriDottersout there, it was unbelievable. I think that maybe in the shorter coursetriathlons, it’s great to have the spectators, but I think in the longer coursestuff with Ironman it makes such a huge impact on you as an athlete. The littleencouragement even if it's a five second “Good job, you’ve got it!” is like ahuge asset and it can’t be said enough how much encouragement you get from thatand having somebody from your own training group just saying, “Hey, you’ve gotthis.” is a great thing to help kind of motivate you and keep on pushing youtowards your goal. So it was awesome.

Andrew: Yeah, andMeg races in a Betty Designs kit and a TriDot visor. Jonathan, you were racingin the brand new, bright red TriDot kit and I love that kit because it’s soeasy to spot our TriDotters on course when they’re wearing that new bright redkit; the same one I was wearing in Waco. Curt, you were in a fluorescent yellowbright kit so you were very easy to spot as well as soon as I learned what youwere wearing. Curt, for you being out there, you were a part of the TriDotfamily. We knew you, we recognized you, we saw you, we cheered for you. Whatdid that TriDot on-course support mean for you?

Curt: It was ashot of adrenaline or dopamine every time I saw another person with TriDot on.It was fantastic. I was cheering on everybody that I passed with TriDot oreverybody that was passing me. I was like, “Go TriDot!” It was just a boostevery time and then on the run course it was fantastic. TriDot people hidingbehind trees or something. They were everywhere. It was great. I loved it. Thenshoutout to Shannon Cranson, she was special support on the course for me. Shehad me jumping up and down at T2 just like I had finished the Ironman like Isaid earlier. But it was great. I couldn’t ask for anything better to help meget through such a tough day.

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

Andrew: We’ve heard a lot of great Ironman Texasstories on the show today, compliments of Meg and Jonathan and Curt. So shoutout to them. I’m going to claim the cool down today for myself. I’m going toshare just a story from that same race day, Ironman Texas 2022, in April andjust share a story that I saw out there on the course. You know, when you’respectating an Ironman you see a lot of things. You see a lot of athletes go byand I saw Meg, Jonathan, and Curt all go by several times. But late into theday as Jeff Raines and I were standing there cheering for athletes going by,this guy runs by, he’s racing, he’s doing his Ironman shuffle heading by us andright when he gets by Jeff Raines and I he just falls over to the ground, legmuscles just immediately cramping. He screams in agony and you could tell hiscalves were cramping and it was like every time he reached down towards hiscalf to try to alleviate that cramp then his back would start cramping. So itwas kind of like he was doing this back and forth game where he was trying tograb his leg, but he was also trying to grab his back because so many musclegroups at the same time were starting to cramp. So Jeff Raines and Iimmediately sprang into action. I went over to the guy and helped get him tothe side of the race course as he was battling those cramps. Jeff Raines ran upthe course a little bit. Where we were standing there wasn’t a lot ofspectators around so Jeff took off on a jog trying to find somebody fromIronman. Ironman has medics around on the course and so Jeff went to go find amedic. A second, or I guess a third spectator that was standing nearby us alsocame over and so while I was trying to stretch out the guy’s calves and get hiscalf cramps to ease up, this other spectator comes over and starts talking tothe guy. You know, what do you need, when was the last time you had water, whenwas the last time you had a gel? And that spectator thankfully–I didn’t haveanything on me–but that spectator had some salt on him. That spectator had acouple Gu gels on him and so got some salt into the athlete, got some waterinto the athlete, got some Gu into that athlete and I remember thinking thisguy was on his second, maybe third lap. Still had a lot of miles left to coverand I was like man, I don’t know if this guy’s going to finish. His cramps herewere just so severe and I don’t know if he had just over cooked it on the bike,I don’t know if he had under trained, I don’t know if he didn’t have enoughsalt in him or just didn’t have enough calories in him, but he clearly was in abad place fighting some cramps with a lot of miles to go. So I thought that guywas done. I thought his day was over. I thought surely within a few miles hislegs are going to do this again and he’s going to be done. Well, fast forward afew hours. I’m at the finish line and I’m cheering on some TriDot athletes asthey are crossing the finish line and lo and behold, who do I see doing theIronman shuffle down the red carpet crossing the finish line with both hands overhis head in celebration? It was that guy who had fought off cramps hoursearlier. So he had probably run another eight, nine, ten miles after thatmoment that he cramped and he got it done. He made it to the finish line. Heeither became an Ironman or he became an Ironman again depending on how manytimes he’s done a race like that and it just struck me. You never know whensomething goes wrong early in a race whether or not you’re going to be able tobattle back from it. But as all of you, our listeners, head into your next racewhether it’s a sprint, whether it’s an Olympic, whether it’s a half or a full,whatever distance you’re racing just know that whatever goes wrong, wheneveryour body tries to revolt against you, whenever you’re feeling like you mightnot finish or might not finish as fast as you want to, just know that you canhang in there and stick it out just like that guy did and you never know. Youjust might reach a finish line. And if you’re a spectator, the next time you’respectating a race, be prepared because you can be just that saving angel whosteps in in a moment and helps somebody make their own finish line.

Andrew: Well that’s it for today folks. I want to thankTriDot Ambassadors Meg Dirito, Jonathan Haynes, and Curt Yanish for sharingtheir stories from Ironman Texas. Shoutout to Precision Fuel and Hydration forpartnering with us on today’s episode. Head to PrecisionFuelandHydration.com tobook a call with one of their sweat experts to form your own race day hydrationstrategy. If you want to give Precision Fuel and Hydration products a try, youcan use coupon code TRIDOT10 for 10% off your order. The next time you travelfor a race head to TriBikeTransport.com and use the code TRIDOT22 to save onyour booking. Enjoying the show? Have any questions you would like to hear ustalk about? Head to tridot.com/podcast and let us know what you’re thinking.We’ll have a new show coming your way soon. Until then, Happy Training!

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

‍