Tempo Talks: T100 Recap and Analysis-Navigating Training and Vacation
In this episode, the hosts engage in a detailed examination of the T100 race that recently took place in London, providing listeners with an in-depth analysis of the competitors' performances. They dissect the women's race, where Lucy Charles Barkley emerged victorious, navigating through a tactical battle against formidable opponents like Taylor Knibb and Jessica Learmonth. The hosts reflect on the strategic choices made by the athletes, particularly highlighting the nuances of teamwork and competition within the race. In contrast, the men's race is characterized by Hayden Wilde's triumphant return to form, which is celebrated as a testament to resilience and determination. The hosts delve into the implications of Wilde’s victory, suggesting that his presence on the circuit could reshape future races. Furthermore, they address the practicalities of training while on vacation, acknowledging the challenges athletes face in maintaining their fitness. This segment is particularly valuable for listeners seeking to harmonize their athletic pursuits with personal time off, emphasizing the importance of a balanced approach to both training and leisure.
Links to topics discussed:
The TriDoc Podcast
Matt's Instagram
Jeff's Instagram
Email Jeff: tri_doc@icloud.com
Email Matt: Matt@thetemponews.com
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Transcript
What would happen if you brought together a professional triathlete and producer of one of the most widely read triathlon newsletters?
Speaker B:Together with the tridoc medical contributor for Triathlete magazine, age group winner and coach at LifeSport coaching, I'd say you had.
Speaker A:The makings of a pretty good podcast.
Speaker B:Welcome to Tempo Talks.
Speaker B:Two perspectives, one sport.
Speaker B:All things triathlon.
Speaker B:Hello everyone and welcome back to to another episode of Tempo Talks.
Speaker B:I'm like holding in a bunch of laughter right now while Jeff, while I was just doing this intro, Jeff was finishing a beverage.
Speaker B:Jeff, what kind of beverage are you drinking and where are you right now?
Speaker A:I'm drinking a very refreshing bottle of Amstel Bright.
Speaker A:It is a perfect beer for the locale that I am in.
Speaker A:I am in Bonaire, which is one of the ABC islands.
Speaker A:Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, the Dutch Antilles.
Speaker A:There are six islands in the Caribbean that belong to the Netherlands or at one point were part of the Netherlands Kingdom.
Speaker A:They are aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, St. Eustatius, Ceiba and St. Martin.
Speaker A:Those are the six.
Speaker A:And I'm on Bonaire for the third time.
Speaker A:It's a wonderful diving location and I have been scuba diving with my family for the past several days and I'm enjoying an Amstelbrite, a beer that can really, as far as I know, only be found on these islands.
Speaker A:And it really is very bright and refreshing and I'm enjoying it.
Speaker B:I love it.
Speaker B:You look like you're in vacation mode and recovering well, enjoying the time.
Speaker B:And this is a family vacation.
Speaker B:Of course it is.
Speaker A:The whole family is here.
Speaker A:My daughter Sam is finishing up an internship with the company that we dive with and she's just finished, concluded her dive master today.
Speaker A:So wow, congratulations in order to her.
Speaker A:And yeah, the rest of us are just having a good time diving the sights of Bonaire.
Speaker B:What has been the most exciting maybe animal you've seen under the sea so far?
Speaker A:So today we had a dive this morning where we saw an octopus, which was pretty cool.
Speaker A:Octopi are always fascinating creatures to see.
Speaker A:We saw some squid.
Speaker A:On another dive, we've seen some really beautiful eels and just a myriad of reef fish.
Speaker A:Bonaire is not known for big things, although we did see a couple of spotted eagle rays.
Speaker A:But you're not going to see large seagoing animals here.
Speaker A:You'll see mostly reef dwellers and quite a lot of them.
Speaker A:The reef, unfortunately, like so much of the Caribbean, has been not in the best condition because of various, because of climate change mostly, but also because of Stony coral loss disease and various other issues affecting the reefs in the Caribbean.
Speaker A:So that's a little bit sad, but it is still pockets that are pretty healthy and the fish life is really quite varied and abundant.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:There's nothing you do you don't want to see then out there, really.
Speaker A:No, it's all good.
Speaker A:It's.
Speaker A:There's nothing to be avoided here, that's for sure.
Speaker B:Nice.
Speaker B:Let's.
Speaker B:I don't want to take up all of your vacation.
Speaker B:So let's get into today's episode on the docket.
Speaker B:We have a recap of the T100 race in London, which was very exciting.
Speaker B:We're gonna, we're gonna talk about how to go about training on vacation.
Speaker B:Should you train on vacation?
Speaker B:And Jeff's there so he can give us a breakdown of that.
Speaker B:And then I think the final segue is talking about what you suggested, which was bringing a travel bike specific.
Speaker B:And it's a specific special bike, right?
Speaker A:Yeah, It's a bike that is designed to be traveled with because it has couplers in the frame and so it folds down into a suitcase.
Speaker A:A standard suitcase size box that comes with the bike and allows you to travel with it without paying for bike fees.
Speaker A:It makes it just very portable.
Speaker A:So we'll talk about that when we talk about options for training while you're on vacation.
Speaker A:But first, let's talk about that T100.
Speaker A:I gotta say, I was traveling on the day of that race, but I was following social media feeds and just amazing stuff, both women and men.
Speaker A:And a shocker on the men's side as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker A:And then on the women's side, the just really three way race at the end there.
Speaker A:Why don't you give us a blow by blow.
Speaker A:Let's start with the women's side and what your take was.
Speaker B:The women's race and we talked about this before, like last week, where this was shaping up to be an incredible race just because of the talent that was on the start line.
Speaker B:You had all these British athletes at home, ready, fired up, ready to go nib.
Speaker B:Another opportunity for her to battle with Julie Darin, which didn't actually end up really shaping out.
Speaker B:So how it went down was in the women's race there was a small group of four athletes.
Speaker B:Out of the swimming you had Lucy Charles Barkley, who led out of the water, who also had Jessica Learmonth, another great swimmer.
Speaker B:She was working with Lucy Charles at the front.
Speaker B:And then you also had Taylor Knibb on the feet and Alongside her was Kate Wuff.
Speaker B:So a good group of four coming out of the swim.
Speaker B:And I think they had about at least four minutes or so, maybe, actually maybe less.
Speaker B:Maybe about two minutes to Julie Darin and then another minute after that to Ashley Gentleman.
Speaker B:So that's a lot of bike firepower to contend with if you're coming up from behind.
Speaker B:And really, it was a very interesting dynamic.
Speaker B:Like in the past, we've seen Nib just go on her own on a lot of these bikes.
Speaker B:Like, that's her signature style.
Speaker B:Just literally break away from everyone.
Speaker B:No one can keep up with her.
Speaker B:But in this race, you had Jessica Learmonth, who was able to hang with her in the T100 in Vancouver, along with Lucy Charles was there and Kate Woff.
Speaker B:They all were together for the bike, working together.
Speaker B:No one was able to break away.
Speaker B:They just.
Speaker B:They had the momentum with each other.
Speaker B:And I'm sure they could tell with all the loops that they were gaining on their competition from behind.
Speaker B:So very interesting dynamic that we haven't seen before and maybe we'll be seeing for the rest of the season because they ultimately not the kind of course.
Speaker A:Really that would have allowed for someone to really get a break.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Because there wasn't any hills, there wasn't any place for Taylor to really establish herself as the strongest woman on the bike.
Speaker A:They were all just basically arrows route and then the car, the turnarounds and stuff like that.
Speaker A:But it's not a kind of course where you can really dominate, is it?
Speaker B:I don't necessarily think so.
Speaker B:Maybe with the motos and stuff, if you were to get away, like in the men's race, we saw a bit of a breakaway, but I don't know, it's just an interesting time where someone like Taylor.
Speaker B:Nib, who has been more focused on the shorter middle distance in the past, is now focusing on Kona.
Speaker B:We know she's full gas.
Speaker B:Focusing for Kona is she just doesn't have the maybe top end to make it worth her while to break away.
Speaker B:Is she happy to sit in and then see what happens on the run?
Speaker B:Or who knows, Maybe she's just not.
Speaker B:She could just be really deep in a training block.
Speaker B:No one really knows.
Speaker B:But it's just interesting to see her not asserting herself and asserting her dominance on the bike like she has been in the past.
Speaker B:And you're wondering if, okay, maybe this is a.
Speaker B:Is this just a kind of trend with Kona or is this like a real thing that's changing with the racing?
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:And Kate Wolf just continues to just there show that she is for real and very much to be contended with in this distance.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:And what happened coming off the bike?
Speaker B:I think Lucy Charles had a slight gap of 9 seconds or something on the next person, who had another 10 seconds on the next person.
Speaker B:So they were all together, the four of them, coming off the bike and setting up for kind of a.
Speaker B:An exceptional run battle.
Speaker B:Really.
Speaker B:You just don't know how people are gonna go coming off a bike like that.
Speaker B:But in the end, there was.
Speaker B:The four of them came out together, I think after about a couple k. Learmonth dropped off.
Speaker B:And then for miles after that, you had three of the best triathletes going head to head, running side by side together in this, like, locked in this epic run battle.
Speaker B:Like, it was exceptional.
Speaker A:I saw a really interesting clip on Instagram that I wanted to ask you about because it harkens back to something I had spoken to you about on my podcast, on the Tridarc podcast, when we talked about Boulder a few years ago.
Speaker A:So a few years ago, I was riding the bike for second mail at Boulder, and you were locked in with Lionel.
Speaker A:And we came through an aid station, and Lionel was on the inside and had access to all of the aid, and you were on the outside, and neither one of you really seemed to want to give any quarter.
Speaker A:And so at the end, you just had to fade back behind him to be able to get fluids and then had to surge to get back on his shoulder.
Speaker A:And I thought that was very cagey and wily on Lionel's part.
Speaker A:And I asked you at the time, was that sort of a sign of respect that you had to accede to him for the aid station?
Speaker A:And you at the time, you said, yeah.
Speaker A:And also, he just had the inside track.
Speaker A:And so I had to go back.
Speaker A:I was watching this clip from the T100 where the three of them were running pretty much abreast.
Speaker A:Taylor Knipp had the inside sort of position for the aid station.
Speaker A:Lucy fell back so that she could get water.
Speaker A:But then Taylor grabbed water, drank some, poured it overhead, and then immediately handed what was left to Kate.
Speaker A:Interesting, interesting.
Speaker A:Who had not been able to get any aid.
Speaker A:And I wanted to ask you, with your insight as a professional, is that something that I would expect to see more from the women who maybe are more supportive of each other?
Speaker A:Or would the men do that as well?
Speaker A:Like, or are the men going to be more cutthroat and be like, hey, you want water, you got to get your water I.
Speaker B:It's interesting because I've handed people water and I've been handed water before, more so in the short course racing, when you're.
Speaker B:You are running in a group and you're in that dynamic, someone's going to take a sip from the water, they're going to get their fill, and if there's some left, you hand it over to the person who's beside you or whatever.
Speaker B:Do I expect people to do that?
Speaker B:Absolutely not.
Speaker B:We're in a race, we're competing with each other.
Speaker B:Like, I. I'm not gonna expect someone to hand me the cola from the aid station on a silver platter, but it's cool to see I do that kind of sportsmanship.
Speaker B:And really, I have no problem with Lucy dropping back.
Speaker B:I think that makes sense.
Speaker B:Like, having the inside line, it's like in track, people are fighting for that inside lane spot because it's advantageous.
Speaker B:That's part of the game, that's part of the racing.
Speaker B:And especially when it comes down to that kind of situation, which most people who probably are racing aren't even used to that kind of context in a lot of ways.
Speaker B:So it was cool to see that sportsmanship for.
Speaker B:For sure, though.
Speaker A:The other thing that I saw on an Instagram clip was the final pass that Lucy made with your right up in the tempo was excellent.
Speaker A:It really did a great job of kind of bringing it to life for me.
Speaker A:And seeing the pass on Instagram, where Lucy went by with about a mile to go, you could see her closing the gap to Kate, and she was just getting.
Speaker A:She was reeling her in.
Speaker A:And then just as she gets up on Kate, you could see that she slows down.
Speaker A:She basically matches Kate's pace for probably five, maybe 10 seconds.
Speaker A:Almost like she's catching her breath and getting ready, and then she moves out and just blows by her.
Speaker A:It's this definitive pass that says, I'm going and you are not staying with me.
Speaker A:And I. I've had a coach tell me this in the past.
Speaker A:It's something that we as age groupers can learn from.
Speaker A:When you make a pass of somebody, you want it to be so definitive that they know that they cannot go with you, that they don't, that this is not an option.
Speaker A:And what Lucy did to Kate in that moment, I thought was, I showed my son, I showed my wife.
Speaker A:I was like, this is a textbook execution of a pass late in a race.
Speaker A:Because you could see Kate just had no response for it.
Speaker A:And I really believe a lot of it was mental just by the way Lucy went by her and she prepared for it and planned for it, it was really, just really well done.
Speaker B:And to wind back, like I think it was halfway through or maybe even before that, Kate actually made that move to go ahead of them.
Speaker B:She pushed the pace and ended up dropping both nib and Lucy Charles.
Speaker B:And then she, I think she had a gap of maybe close to 30 plus seconds, 40 seconds even.
Speaker B:It was like not insignificant.
Speaker B:Lucy Charles was always able to have her in her sights and it was almost like it was slower.
Speaker B:Like when Lucy Charles started coming back on her, it was slow.
Speaker B:And then as she got closer mentally, she was just like, oh, I'm in the game, I'm coming back on her.
Speaker B:And so that was huge.
Speaker B:To lift her spirits.
Speaker B:You never want to be the one who's getting caught too.
Speaker B:That's a tough position to be in after you made a kind of decisive move.
Speaker B:Yeah, I think with Lucy Charles, like she put in a big effort to probably catch up.
Speaker B:Like she wasn't, wasn't just cruisy, I gotta catch her again.
Speaker B:But I think when she caught Kate collected herself in those five to ten seconds, she probably realized like, oh, she is suffering.
Speaker B:And she probably heard her breathing.
Speaker B:She probably just noticed her stride a little bit more.
Speaker B:And then she knew there was like maybe 2k left.
Speaker B:It was pretty short to the finish and she knew she could if she just made a decisive move that Kate would have no response.
Speaker B:And killer instinct attacked.
Speaker B:It was awesome.
Speaker B:Like, it was just, it was so awesome to watch these girls going toe to toe the whole way.
Speaker B:And then obviously for Lucy Charles last year, she started the race but then couldn't finish because of her calf issue.
Speaker B:That was flagged her for the second half of the season and then to come back do this win.
Speaker B:It was a home race for her.
Speaker B:It's her home race.
Speaker B:She lives in London.
Speaker B:All her friends, family were there.
Speaker B:It was her first ever T100 victory.
Speaker B:She'd been on the podium quite a bit over the years, but never got that win.
Speaker B:And I think if you're going to take one win in the T100, like you want it to be that home race.
Speaker B:So it was exceptional.
Speaker A:What do you think about the finish area?
Speaker B:Yeah, it looks like trash.
Speaker A:Just don't.
Speaker A:It's the second year in a row they've done that.
Speaker A:They've had this like indoor.
Speaker A:You run underground or something.
Speaker A:It looks like a parking ground.
Speaker B:It's in a convention center.
Speaker B:So it's just a massive hall and that's the.
Speaker B:Where they've been doing this race forever.
Speaker B:Pre T1, T100, before T100 bought it.
Speaker B:They were always doing it at this place.
Speaker A:But it looks terrible.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:All the photos.
Speaker B:Like I was looking for a photo for the newsletter and it's just hilarious because the last T100 race photos that I was looking at were Vancouver.
Speaker B:And I think we all saw the beautiful beach shot, Kitsilano beach or whatever with the Vancouver skyline in the backgrounds, the ocean, the mountains.
Speaker B:That was like race finish of the year photo almost for me.
Speaker B:And then you contrast that with.
Speaker B:It could be in London or it could be in this, I don't know.
Speaker B:Exer's.
Speaker B:No London.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:So it's crazy.
Speaker A:It's crazy.
Speaker B:They need a green screen like behind them or something.
Speaker A:I just, it just, it's just funny to me because when optics are everything, somebody at T100 has got to realize it's not the best visuals.
Speaker A:We've got to spice this up.
Speaker A:We're in London after all.
Speaker A:My goodness, what a skyline.
Speaker A:Anyways, okay, let's talk about the men's race.
Speaker A:That was another just a remarkable story.
Speaker A:Not because of the.
Speaker A:The three way run but just because of how it all unfolded and who ended up winning.
Speaker B:Yes.
Speaker B:And of course Hayden Wild ended up winning.
Speaker B:We'll get into that.
Speaker B:Just going through the race.
Speaker B:It was a typical T100 race where you have a really big group of athletes coming out of the water within a minute or so of each other.
Speaker B:I think Leo ber, Olympic silver medalist or bronze medalist from last year led out of the swim.
Speaker B:R. Bogan not too far behind him.
Speaker B:Mika Newt, yellow gin was like 30 seconds back.
Speaker B:So all these guys are in the same neighborhood.
Speaker B:Hayden Wilde, who I think the swimming was the thing that took him the longest to come back from his massive accident with the getting hit by the truck.
Speaker B:Like he was only a minute back in the end.
Speaker B:So nothing really too crazy.
Speaker B:And onto the bike.
Speaker B:It was the Rico Bogan show in a way.
Speaker B:Like he had a few guys hanging on for dear life behind him but then was able to jettison them by about halfway.
Speaker B:So he was off on his own on the front.
Speaker B:But of course Hayden Wilde was lurking behind, lurking.
Speaker A:And we've talked about this a few times.
Speaker A:We talked about whether or not he'd be able to come back, what he would look like when he came back, what he would look like in this race.
Speaker A:I think both of us, I don't think either of us really thought that he would actually win.
Speaker A:And there he was right at the front of this race and then taking it over in the run with authority over guys like yellow gains and a whole host of characters who are in top form.
Speaker B:We talked about before, like he was incredibly fit.
Speaker B:He ran a 27 minute 10k before, like the day before he got in the accident.
Speaker B:So he was in incredible form in Singapore.
Speaker B:He absolutely dominated that race.
Speaker B:So I think I said too like if he's going to be on a start line it's because he knows he can perform at a very high level.
Speaker B:I don't think he expected to win.
Speaker B:I think he expected to be in the conversation and he certainly was like on the bike.
Speaker B:He ended up coming off, off by a minute or so behind Rico Bogan.
Speaker B:And Rico Bogan, no offense to him but he is just not in the same stratosphere as Hayden Wilde as a runner.
Speaker B:So it was light work for Hayden to come back on Rico starting the run.
Speaker B:I think after about 4k or 5k.
Speaker A:Even, yeah, that minute was gone.
Speaker A:I, I can't help but wonder if Bogan didn't over bike but I don't know that it would have mattered because if he, if he's not ahead at the start of the run, he's certainly not gonna have a chance.
Speaker B:He knows and he, I mean he did this in San Francisco where like he's oh, if I'm gonna win, I gotta get rid of the yellow geens of the world before the run and have a decent enough gap.
Speaker B:And that's his playbook it seems really for him to win or yeah be on the podium.
Speaker B:But I think in this race because there was no hills, maybe a little less bike friendly in some ways he suffered for that.
Speaker B:If only like Hayden maybe was a little closer to him out of the water, they could have worked together a little bit on the bike to push the gap to give Rico a lead.
Speaker B:Rico knowing that he's not gonna, he's not gonna beat Hayden on a run.
Speaker B:But he ended up fading to fading.
Speaker B:He faded to fifth like it was still a solid day.
Speaker B:But when you're used to being on the podium like him, I think now, now his, he's calibrated around podium so he'll be disappointed with fifth.
Speaker B:The other guy, Mika, Newt, Germany, he's got a few podiums now behind him.
Speaker B:He's showcasing himself as a podium guy.
Speaker B:I don't think he's ever going to run as fast as Hayden coming off the bike but certainly putting himself in the conversation for a great result at the end of the year.
Speaker B:And then Yella in third.
Speaker A:Just always classic on the podium.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker A:But obviously a very emotional win for Hayden Wilde.
Speaker A:We saw that at the finish and clearly he really wore it all on his sleeve there and you could totally understand why.
Speaker A:What a comeback.
Speaker A:And he's like you wrote in tempo.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:Comeback of the year.
Speaker A:It's really hard to imagine a more perfect way to reassert yourself as he come out of this, like, just terrible few months that he must have endured.
Speaker B:And like I said, I don't think he expected himself to win, but he always holds himself to a high standard.
Speaker B:But.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:It's interesting because now, now that he's back, it's great.
Speaker B:He's just an exceptional athlete coming out of this T100.
Speaker B:I feel like the takeaway is for me.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:The men's races are probably going to be less exciting now.
Speaker B:If he's on the start line and he's healthy and fit, who's beating him?
Speaker B:He's turning into the Taylor Nib of the men.
Speaker A:Alex Yi has no interest in this.
Speaker A:He has.
Speaker A:He wouldn't really.
Speaker B:He's not.
Speaker B:He doesn't have the skill set to perform at a T100.
Speaker B:The guy is not a cyclist.
Speaker B:Like, Hayden is an incredible cyclist.
Speaker B:Alex e is always going to run faster than Hayden if they come off the bike together.
Speaker B:But Alex, he's.
Speaker B:He's not a guy who's going to hold his own on the bike on.
Speaker A:A longer bike ride.
Speaker B:And he's training for.
Speaker B:He's also focusing on running a bit more now, too, which will take away from his biking prowess in some ways.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:But then for the women, like, the women's racing, all of a sudden you've got four different winners in four different races.
Speaker B:Like, as the season continues and heads towards Qatar, we're all heading towards Qatar.
Speaker B:It's just very intriguing and, yeah, definitely more hype for the women's races than the men's.
Speaker B:That's my.
Speaker A:We have an incredibly deep professional women's field this year.
Speaker A:It's really.
Speaker A:It's going to culminate in three incredible races.
Speaker A:Kona, Qatar and Marbella are all going to be just incredibly exciting races because we just have so much depth to.
Speaker A:In the women's professional field right now, and I think it's great.
Speaker B:And another takeaway, like, from this race for me was Lucy Charles Barkley.
Speaker B:Typically, her mo.
Speaker B:Her strategy to win is to go off the front, is to be alone coming off the bike.
Speaker B:That's how she won Kona that year, seeing her run outrun Nib outrun Kate Wolf going into Kona.
Speaker B:Now, if she has these kind of run legs, I don't know, like I could see her.
Speaker B:Maybe she still needs some kind of lead off the bike versus a Cat Matthews or a Laura Philip.
Speaker B:But maybe it's not as much as it used to be.
Speaker A:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker A:I don't want summer to go too fast, but there are some exciting times ahead for sure.
Speaker B:Definitely.
Speaker A:Interesting.
Speaker A:Speaking of summer, that brings us to our next topic which is vacation and what to do on vacation if you want to maintain your fitness.
Speaker A:Now this isn't so much of a problem for you guys because I think you guys don't take vacations.
Speaker B:Not really.
Speaker B:No.
Speaker B:Not a lot of vacations over here.
Speaker B:I took a couple days up in Salida and that was it.
Speaker B:Otherwise, not too much vacation time.
Speaker B:But for most folks who live their lives, have families, you want to take those holidays and you are on one now.
Speaker B:Jeff, what are your kind of principles for training or maintaining on a vacation?
Speaker A:So I tell all my athletes I think that you can, you could do it one of a couple of different ways.
Speaker A:I always tell my athletes, look, we don't do this for a living.
Speaker A:We do this because we enjoy it and we do this because it's something that it has to be something that brings us a certain degree of freedom and all of the other things.
Speaker A:But if it's going to cause anxiety or if it's going to cause animosity in your household, then that's not a good thing.
Speaker A:So I always tell my athletes, look, if training on vacation is going to be one of those things that causes friction, then it's okay to just take a vacation.
Speaker A:A week's vacation is not going as long as you've been consistent in your training the rest of the year, that's just not going to set you back that much.
Speaker A:Again, we are age groupers.
Speaker A:We are not at the pinnacle of our sport.
Speaker A:However, if you are able to have a conversation with your spouse, have a conversation with your family and look at where you're going and see if there isn't a way to carve out 30, maybe 60 minutes a day to be able to do something and almost inevitably you can figure that out.
Speaker A:Now if you're on a cruise ship, probably not.
Speaker A:Although was somehow able to do that.
Speaker B:He's busted that for everyone.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Most of us are not.
Speaker A:Matthew Marquardt, if you are going to certain places, like if you're going to one of these all inclusive resorts in a country that's not particularly Safe outside of the all inclusive resort and they don't have a gym.
Speaker A:That's going to be difficult too.
Speaker A:But I have gone to a lot of destinations, including the place I am now where it's actually very safe to leave the property and to be able to get some training done.
Speaker A:And so my son and I, we wake up early in the morning before our breakfast and we go for a run.
Speaker A:And so we've been managing to get in a run of three to six miles most mornings.
Speaker A:And then I have a bike that I was able to bring because Bonaire has actually got some well paved roads.
Speaker A:And early in the morning before the cars are out there.
Speaker A:And Bonaire doesn't have a huge amount of traffic, but it does have cars that are not necessarily used to having bikes on the road.
Speaker A:So I like to get out there before they're out there in numbers.
Speaker A:I can actually get a ride around the island anywhere from 25 to 45 miles.
Speaker A:And I can get that done before breakfast.
Speaker A:And it's really not too difficult.
Speaker A:It's not.
Speaker A:I'm not going to get a huge amount of training in while I'm here, but if I can get in somewhere between an hour to two hours a day for the six days that I'm here, hey, you know what, it's fine.
Speaker A:But I don't stress about it.
Speaker A:Like, I miss training today because I wanted to do something special with my wife and drive to a part of the island early in the morning so we could see pink flamingos, something that you don't get to see very frequently in the wild.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:We had a lovely sunrise watching the pink flamingos out on a lagoon.
Speaker A:So I didn't get to run or bike today.
Speaker A:That's okay.
Speaker A:I had a really nice time with my wife and I'm having a wonderful vacation with my family.
Speaker A:I'm getting in the training when I can.
Speaker A:So I think I tell everybody, go planning to do some training.
Speaker A:Do not stress at all if you don't get everything done that you wanted to.
Speaker A:But the most important thing is make sure that your family is on board with it.
Speaker A:Make sure that you've scoped it out in advance.
Speaker A:If you want to swim, make sure that there are pools you can swim in or that there's open water that's safe to swim in.
Speaker A:And don't bite off more than you can chew.
Speaker A:Just plan to be flexible and not get stressed if you can.
Speaker A:Because I used to get stressed, I'd be like, oh my God, I need to bike today.
Speaker A:And I didn't get my bike today or.
Speaker A:Oh, my gosh.
Speaker A:And I'm like.
Speaker A:Now I'm like, you know what?
Speaker A:It's much more.
Speaker A:My wife is walking in the background and she's making faces.
Speaker A:She is throwing up her hand.
Speaker A:She could tell stories, let me tell you.
Speaker A:But I think she would agree.
Speaker A:Yeah, I think she would agree with that.
Speaker A:I am much more relaxed about it now, and I think we're all happier because, yeah, you've.
Speaker B:You've evolved.
Speaker A:Yeah, I've evolved.
Speaker A:And I.
Speaker A:And you know what?
Speaker A:It's okay.
Speaker A:I still love triathlon.
Speaker A:I still do pretty well in my races and.
Speaker A:But I have a much better vacation now, too.
Speaker B:Absolutely.
Speaker B:Time with family is key.
Speaker B:Has there been a time where you had a vacation like that or time away, near an important race?
Speaker B:Have you ever had that?
Speaker B:Or is it.
Speaker A:Yeah, and that's a harder one.
Speaker A:There have been times when my vacation has conflicted or come close before a race that was important, and I've had to just be like, it is what it is.
Speaker A:You know, I have to believe that I got the good training in beforehand.
Speaker A:I'm going to get some training in afterwards.
Speaker A:Inevitably.
Speaker A:Look, a week off.
Speaker A:As much as I try to tell people, look, a week off isn't going to make or break your season, it does have an impact.
Speaker A:There's no question.
Speaker A:If you look at your ctl, you could see a week off.
Speaker A:It's not nothing.
Speaker A:So it has an impact.
Speaker A:But again, I'm not doing this for a living.
Speaker A:This is not my life.
Speaker A:And it's having a.
Speaker A:Having these, especially as my kids grow older and they're going to be leaving for college soon.
Speaker A:Having these times, and we are having just the most amazing time together is much more important than anything else.
Speaker A:And I'll come back from this vacation, I'll probably have lost what, I don't know, an iota of fitness over what I was before.
Speaker A:But that's okay.
Speaker A:I've got a month before my next race.
Speaker A:It won't be panic training.
Speaker A:It'll be regular training, and it'll be what it is, and I'm okay with that.
Speaker A:And I recognize that there are a lot of people listening to this who are going to be like, oh, no, I can't do that.
Speaker A:And I get that.
Speaker A:I totally understand that.
Speaker A:And if I was training to try to qualify for Kona, or if I was training for Kona and I wanted to win there, this would be a problem.
Speaker A:But then I wouldn't have scheduled a vacation like this for sure.
Speaker B:Yeah, no, for you, you're going to remember that bike ride with your son, seeing the beautiful sights on the island?
Speaker B:Maybe not.
Speaker B:You're not going to remember that threshold ride you tried to squeeze in on the island?
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:It's not really.
Speaker A:Yeah, go ahead.
Speaker B:Yeah, I'm curious, like, for, like you said, like, you're going to lose a certain fit fitness.
Speaker B:Let's say you had to take a week off of training.
Speaker B:You couldn't train on this vacation.
Speaker B:For whatever reason you wanted to live your life.
Speaker B:Is there a certain facet of your physiology that gets affected more?
Speaker B:Is it like, more like the top end speed or top end like VO2 versus your, like Zone 2 Fitness?
Speaker A:I think so.
Speaker A:I don't, I don't, I don't know that I have any hard science for that, but I think just based on my own experience, that seems to be the part that goes the fastest.
Speaker A:Your base endurance is the thing that you work on the longest and it seems to taper off the slowest.
Speaker A:But yeah, that top end stuff or the, that extra gear that you have to be able to push up that last hill, whatever, that's the part that seems to go the fastest and that's the part that takes the longest to try and to get.
Speaker A:So I'm not that surprised, although it does.
Speaker B:So it does sound like you are getting some riding in.
Speaker A:I am.
Speaker A:And I want to just finish up the show today just talking about that because I am and I recognize and confess that I am in a position that I am privileged enough to be able to afford a travel bike.
Speaker A:And we always talk about N+1 and we joke about how, you know, that's how many bikes you need to have, is how many you have and then plus one.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:I have talked about this concept of a travel bike and a travel bike can be a variety of different things.
Speaker A:But for me, when I think about a travel bike, it's a bike that is easily packed, is not, is fairly lightweight, is fairly robust, so can really withstand the being put on an air in an aircraft hold and everything else and then is very practically easily put together and assembled and easy to ride.
Speaker A:And so I could tell you for, I went through Seven Cycles, which is a small custom bicycle company in Massachusetts.
Speaker A:They take your measurements and they will build, they have very high level bikes for standard road riding, gravel, mountain biking, all kinds of stuff.
Speaker A:But they will, for a extra fee, build in these couplers which are these two.
Speaker A:I don't even know how to describe them, but there's these basically two little joints One in the top tube and one in the down tube where when you unfasten the couplers, the bike basically the frame comes apart into two pieces and then.
Speaker B:Oh, it comes apart.
Speaker A:Yeah, the frame.
Speaker A:So it's a standard bicycle frame.
Speaker A:Mine is made of titanium and carbon and it just comes apart.
Speaker A:And because it comes apart into small enough pieces, it all f it all.
Speaker A:It's a Tetris puzzle, putting it all together into this little suitcase.
Speaker A:But it all fits into this square suitcase that measures by into fits the measurements of standard luggage.
Speaker A:So I pay for a standard bag and that's all I pay to transport my bike.
Speaker A:And it's got a couple other things that make it easy.
Speaker A:It runs on SRAM red or not.
Speaker A:Yeah, SRAM red.
Speaker B:It's wireless.
Speaker A:It's wireless.
Speaker A:So there's no cables for the gearing and it has mechanical disc brakes, so no hydraulic fluid to deal with.
Speaker A:And the wire, the cable that runs to the rear brake actually has a little coupler in it so that it comes apart so that when the frame comes apart, the cable comes apart as well.
Speaker A:So it's really.
Speaker A:It's very slickly designed.
Speaker A:I have to.
Speaker A:It takes me probably 20 minutes to take it apart and almost less than that, probably 10 to put it together.
Speaker A:And it's really easy to do.
Speaker A:It's not inexpensive.
Speaker A:I don't want to pretend that it is.
Speaker A:But what I tell people is, look, if you're in the market for a new bike and you do a lot of traveling like I do, and I.
Speaker A:It's at the point where I was traveling and I was putting a bike in a bike case and I was paying 150 bucks to bring my bike on the plane and then I'd have to rent a bigger car.
Speaker A:And it was all these problems.
Speaker A:And if I went anywhere for a three day weekend, I wouldn't bring my bike because it was such a hassle.
Speaker A:Now it's so convenient that if I'm going even for a weekend, I can fold up this bike, bring it on a plane and it comes with me and I can get some riding in.
Speaker A:It's just really convenient.
Speaker A:So I tell people, look, if you're buying a bike, a road bike, because you're just in the market for a road bike, consider this as an option.
Speaker A:It's not that much more expensive than a high end road bike.
Speaker A:And you will get this luxury that you can bring with you wherever you're going.
Speaker A:It is a very high performance road bike.
Speaker A:So it's like as high performance as any other Road bike, but it's got this bonus that comes apart, could be folded neatly into a suitcase and travel with you.
Speaker A:So again, it's not for everybody and it's not going to be for everybody's circumstances.
Speaker A:But I know that there are a lot of people like me who have the means, who are maybe looking for a road bike and who travel a lot and who would like to be able to bring their bike with them.
Speaker A:And this is something that I would consider.
Speaker A:And look, 7 isn't the only one that makes them.
Speaker A:There are several other people who make these kinds of things.
Speaker B:Yeah, Richie makes one too that the Triathlon Canada staff always brought to our races.
Speaker B:And it was brilliant.
Speaker B:Cuz then the coaches come out with you on the bike when you're running and it just, it made a lot of sense that way as well.
Speaker B:I guess, let's say over the years, like obviously done a lot of trips with this bike.
Speaker B:Can you maybe estimate, let's say you rented a bike on the other end every single time, like maybe even over that amount of time it might have paid for itself kind of thing.
Speaker A:It depends.
Speaker A:Renting a bike for a week is probably.
Speaker A:It's not cheap before.
Speaker A:It's not cheap.
Speaker A:First of all, you have to be able to find it, right?
Speaker A:So we were gonna rent a bike in Bonaire, but we can't.
Speaker A:There's no road bikes in Bonaire.
Speaker A:So you know, you have to be able to find one.
Speaker A:And if you can't find one, it's often 200, 250 bucks for a week or so.
Speaker A:And then you're gonna bring your pedals and bring your shoes and everything else.
Speaker A:And you have to hope the bike.
Speaker B:Fits the measurement too.
Speaker A:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker A:It pays for itself in money and it pays for itself in these other ways.
Speaker A:But just for me, I mean, what better way to see the place you're visiting than by bike?
Speaker A:And I have gotten a chance to see some amazing places that I.
Speaker A:Otherwise I'd just be on the resort or in the water by boat.
Speaker A:And this way I get a whole other avenue of seeing places and I've really enjoyed it.
Speaker A:I like to talk about it because I think it's a passion that I know a lot of people share and I think they don't think about it and I just want them to know that it's a possibility.
Speaker B:Yeah, excellent.
Speaker B:I'd love to hear that.
Speaker B:And we will be in touch with Seven Cycles about the Jeff disagount code for sure.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker A:I'd love to help with that.
Speaker A:Yeah, we should talk to them.
Speaker A:This has been a great conversation, Matt.
Speaker A:I am glad that I was able to make some time for you while I was on vacation here and if you enjoyed this, we hope that you will leave a rating and a review wherever you download the content.
Speaker A:We would love to hear from you.
Speaker A:Not just about your opinions on the show, but whatever you have that you'd like.
Speaker A:We've had some great discuss discussions on the Talk Tempo Talks Facebook groups and we'd love to hear from you there.
Speaker A:Please go look for Tempo Talks on that platform.
Speaker A:Answer the easy questions will gain you admittance and we'd love to hear from you.
Speaker A:Matt, thanks so much for talking to me today.
Speaker A:I look forward to chatting with you again next week.
Speaker B:Yeah, it's perfect.
Speaker B:Thanks, Jeff.
Speaker B:And go hang out with your family.
Speaker B:Vacation time.
Speaker A:That's right.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:Goodbye now.
Speaker B:Goodbye.
Speaker C:Tempo Talks is a production of the Triathlon Performance Hub along with the Tridoc podcast and is produced and edited by the amazing and talented Lauren Sankoff.
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