Latest / The People Run Podcast / #55 Born With One Arm. Couldn’t Swim 15 Feet. Now He’s Racing 140.6 Miles. | Casey Watson

Transcript

#55 Born With One Arm. Couldn’t Swim 15 Feet. Now He’s Racing 140.6 Miles. | Casey Watson · The People Run Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You were born with one arm.
• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: You tried swimming very early on.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Swimming 15 feet was hard, and you felt like you had to stop.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: And when we connected for this, uh here on the 5th, you're about to do your first full distance in Germany, man.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: How's that feel?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: How does this all even become your life?
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man, uh right now I just feel like full of gratitude that God's like granting me the health to get to this point and like the the mental strength to to push forward when I feel like I was running into a wall.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_03: So as far as like the swimming goes, uh when the first uh seed was planted about me trying to travel on, yeah.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, well, I have no I don't know how to swim.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um I was already running at this point, so I've done a couple marathons where I'm like, you know, I feel pretty fit.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_03: I can run a marathon.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna go jump into my local pool and see if I can do a lap.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_03: You know, and I jump in the pool and I swim maybe 10, 15 feet.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_03: I stand up thinking I'm like, I'm at the other side.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: I'm not even halfway there.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, oh my gosh, this is I was winded, I was embarrassed.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_03: I looked around, like who's watching me try to struggle and swim?
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_03: But at that moment, I'm like, there's gotta be a way to do this.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna figure out how.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: And that just kind of like lit a fire in me to try to learn how to swim at that point.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Man, I can relate to that because I dabbled to try and learn triads a lot, funny enough.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like maybe two years ago, and for me it was the same thing.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I run, yeah, I feel like I get in the pool, yeah, and I tried for a few months.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna come back to it at some point, not there yet, but man, the swim was hard.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: In the in the swim, uh, it's it was hard.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, it still is.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I've been trying to learn how to swim for I mean a good year and a half now.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like I've done some 70.3 arguments, I've done some trial plans, but it's like trying to learn how to swim.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: It's not like there's YouTube videos for somebody like me.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_03: How do you swim with one arm?
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like I tried to kind of I tried using my right arm a little bit in the beginning, yeah, and it wouldn't do anything for me, but then my my heart rate would skyrocket.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: So now I just put my right arm up and I had to swim with my left arm and uh trying to build up that endurance in the one shoulder to swim 2.4 miles, you know, it's taking some time, but I've gotten to the point now where I can I can swim that distance.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_03: And I said in July 5th, I'm going to Germany, Roth, uh, Germany, to do my first full-distance triathlon.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, most of these swims that you do open water, they're in a wetsuit.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: And I just found out today that there's a high probability that because of a heat wave in Germany, and Roth specifically, that this race may not be wetsuit legal.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_03: So it's gonna be like my first full distance Ironman swim.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: I've never swam the 2.4 mile distance in open water, it's gonna most likely be without a wetsuit.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_03: So that's gonna be another challenge added on to this event for me.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: How do you feel about that?
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I mean, I'm not excited that there's no wetsuit because I know it's gonna be harder, but I know that I can get through it.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: And when you sign up for a marathon, an ultra, you know, full distance triathlon, like we're signing up knowing that we're gonna be in pain.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be some suffering, and we know that we're gonna have to work really hard leading up to it.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: And I've put in a ton of work.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_03: I've never physically put in so much effort into um training for an event before.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I feel like I've I've put forth the effort to know that I could complete the race, and I'm preparing for the the swim portion to be a little bit harder than maybe I initially anticipated it to be.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm just gonna have to be more uh resilient on my bike and run portion and just pace it wisely.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: How did you figure out the swim in the early days?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like you said, there's no YouTube, uh no course, you know, maybe even instructors I'm I'm guessing here uh to help you out with that.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like and you've done a few now.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: It's um it's been like I said, trial and error trying to figure it out.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_03: Like I've had some uh like now I have a trial plumb coach uh that helps me out, Nick Chase, and uh he's given me a few, you know, a few like tips on how to swim, you know.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: But it's it's different because like he trains people with two arms, he's real good at thinking outside the box.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_03: Uh but it's like kind of like you said trial and error.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: Now that we switch to like doing just the one arm and like trying to learn how to to kick.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, the hardest part was you said when you you tried learning to swim for the trial time, like when you're swimming, you're just trying, you feel like you're trying not to die.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: Like you're swallowed water, you can't breathe.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_03: Time you're yeah, when you're trying to swim and you're like, okay, I'm trying not to die, I'm trying to breathe.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_03: And somebody, you know, is telling you, like, giving you all these different directions to do with your body, rotate your hips, you know.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_03: When you breathe, you know, only one eye is supposed to come out of the water, extend on your your stroke, uh, kick efficiently.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_03: Like, you have all these things going through your head, and like all I could think about is like, I'm just trying not to die here.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_03: So it was a lot of time in the pool, a lot of slow laps, starting out getting into the pool for an hour and swimming, you know, maybe like a thousand yards, which is like super, super slow.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but it was just that persistence to just keep showing up uh, you know, four or five days a week to swim, and very slowly getting better and then feeling more confident that like now I know I can get through an open water swim.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_03: But it did my first couple triathlons, the open water was like just absolutely terrifying for me.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna ask, yeah.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So pool, you got used to, but open water.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think open water is terrifying for everyone.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_03: You're right, it it is terrifying for everyone.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_03: And I like I found that out now that I've gotten into triathlon, and I've seen I've had friends jump in their first events and they tell me how scary it is.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_03: Um but pool, yeah, pool is much easier.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: The fear of being in the middle of a lake or an ocean and uh not be able to touch the floor or see the ground is is definitely intimidating.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_03: Having other swimmers around you and waves and uh sometimes wind, that also makes it more difficult and a little scarier.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_03: But you know what I realized as far as like myself when it comes to like competing, when it comes like my first triathlon, it was only a sprint.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: I was just absolutely terrified.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: I the buoys looked much further to me than 750 meters.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_03: Saw boats out there, and as soon as I got on the water, though, it was like, okay, it's game time, we're here to compete, we're here to work, and that fear just was gone.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_03: And I was just I was here to compete.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: So as soon as I hit the water, uh, you know, thank you God, all those fears were gone.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: Do you work on that, like just to mentally be ready to go on the race, or is that just something that comes from the competitive nature?
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_03: And um, I just like once the gun goes off, and and every the races that I do, like I'll get really nervous leading up to a race.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, something at the starting line, but as as soon as that gun goes off, I just go into the race mode, and then I just kind of feel like I honestly sounds cliche, but I feel like I kind of flip a switch, yeah, and there's just like a different mode that kicks in, and I'm just like I'm just out there to compete, and the fear just goes away.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's awesome.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: What was that first bike ride like?
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you I know you ran, you said you had multiple marathons, but then you're like, okay, I'm gonna try the swimming and I'll spend a ride bike.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so as a kid, like I rode uh, you know, the little BMX bikes, right?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so I did that stuff as a kid, like I knew how to ride a regular bicycle, but I've never rode a road bike before.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: And when I decided I was gonna do triathlon, I went and bought a used road bike for 500 bucks.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_03: It was actually um, it was a woman's bike too.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_03: It was like carbon fiber, but it fit me.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_03: So that was all that I could come up with at the time.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I had my wife actually film this because I needed to show it to a bike fitter so they could come up with a safe way for me to ride.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I got on that bike and I'm going down my street right in front of my house.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: I go to turn over towards the right side of the curb to try and get off.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_03: The bike comes out from underneath my feet and I almost fall.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, oh no.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_03: And I look back at my wife, I'm like, she's gonna cut me off from triathlon before I ever get started after this.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_03: And by the grace of God, she didn't, you know, and like I was able to save myself.
• 9:05
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't get hurt, but I'm like, man, this is not a good first impression on a road bike.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: I pretty much, you know, fell within the first minute.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Was this with pedals too?
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, cleats uh I wasn't clipped in.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_03: Um it was just a regular road bike, so I was only able to hold on with this arm.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_03: My right arm, like I could only put it down the handlebars, it was super sketchy.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_03: I could only use the left brake, which is the front.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_03: I couldn't shift gears.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_03: So what I had to do on that bike was go down to a bike shop, and then we had to configure it so that it was safe for me to ride.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, which meant you know, I paid 500 bucks for a used bike trying to get in the triathlon sheet.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_03: I go in to get my bike, you know, worked on, and we're throwing arrow bars on it.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_03: We're changing the the shifting, completely changed the shifting to uh just different gears.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_03: The brake, we put one left uh brake on the left hand side for the front and back.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I got it to a point to where I felt a lot more comfortable.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_03: And on the arrow bars, I could set my right elbow.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: If you look at like my Instagram, you'll see how I ride like this.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I felt a lot more comfortable.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't realize how much it was gonna cost to set up a bike to be safe for me to ride.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: It was a lot more than I paid for the bike.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, man, I did this wrong.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_03: I bought this cheap bike, and then I went and spent all this money to make it safe.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, I should have bought myself a good bike in the beginning.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_03: But getting it set up like that made me feel more confident to get on a bike and ride.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like, yeah, my first real bike ride, it was still scary.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: Like when you know, I'm riding, I'm looking at my phone to see how fast I'm going, and it says 14 miles an hour.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I was flying.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, this is so insanely fast.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, how do people go 20 miles an hour, like average 20 miles an hour in a race?
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I this is nuts at 14 miles an hour.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: But it's just one of those things with you know, repetition and just getting on the bike as often as I could, uh, building up more endurance and more confidence.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_03: The bike has just become more and more of an enjoyable place for me to play now.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_03: Now I love getting out my tri-bike, and uh I feel super comfortable and super confident on a bike now.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_03: Other people don't always feel that comfortable when they see me riding by him, but I just got one arm.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_03: Like, let's make sure that he's stable on the bike.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_03: But um I'm really comfortable on the bike now and I have no problem with speed.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I love it.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's awesome, man.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: That that you got it fitted.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I I can only imagine, you know, based off knowing regular fit prices, getting that custom made I feel for you right now.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_03: I had no idea how expensive triathlon was when I first got into it, man.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_03: Especially for a para athlete for somebody like myself.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_03: And it's it gets a bit pricey, but it's worth it.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Was this all custom to you and something you do with like all your bikes now?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I've done it on my second bike now.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: After I did my first sprint triathlon, I got it all set up for me.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: After that race was over and I crossed that finish line, I was like, I'm hooked.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I went to my wife, I was like, Can I buy a nice bike now?
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because the one I have is like 14 years old.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: And uh she's like, Yeah, she's like, give me the blessing to go buy a new bike.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_03: So I bought a new bike, and then I went to a bike that are in northern Utah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: It was a different one that works for with para athletes, and uh we gave me a similar setup, but we had a few more tweaks that he added to it, and he just got me really comfortable on the bike that I have now, which is a setup that I feel really stable on.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_03: And I also switched from mechanical to like electronic shifting, yep.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, which is now it's just I'm pressing buttons with my thumb or my finger as for before.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_03: I'd have to like let go with my left arm to try to shift on my arrow bars, which was super sketchy on my other bike.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so now it's like I can actually be in a comfortable position and arrow or just hold it on the handlebars and I can shift, which has been uh think of speed too, no?
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's been it's been the game changer.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_03: The bike is a lot quicker on that bike.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_03: I can shift much smoother before my other bike.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_03: I get stuck in a bad gear going if I'm going like 20 miles an hour, I'll be afraid to let go with my left arm.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_03: So if I needed to shift into a different gear, I was like, I this I don't feel safe, so I just be stuck.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_03: I would get stuck in the wrong gears all the time on my other bike.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yikes, Casey, you remember your first triathlon?
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh walk me through that.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: How'd it go?
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: What was on your mind?
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Learning lessons.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's like leading up to the my first when I decided to do my first triathlon, like I didn't actually tell anybody about it other than the people that I was training with because that going back to the swim, I was so terrified of that swim.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_03: I wish I could say that I'm tough and nothing scares me, and I was like, I'm gonna conquer this swim.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_03: That wasn't my experience.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I was terrified of the swim.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, if I'm not gonna tell anybody in case I end up getting pulled out of the water by a 12-year-old on a paddle ward.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I want to save myself, you know, that humiliation of having to explain that to everybody.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't tell anybody, um, but I like leading up to it, a couple weeks uh prior to the race, there was a lot of like excitement, but fear and anxiety over the race.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: Like I was dreaming about the open water swim, having nightmares about it.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_03: Like it was uh really intimidating leading up to it.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_03: The day of the race, I had a good buddy with me who's done a ton of uh triathlons, and he just kind of like walked me through the process of the transitions because a triathlon, it's there's a lot more going on with the triathlon versus like a marathon, which I was used to doing before.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: Marathon, you get to the starting line, you run triathlon, there's different transitions, and you know, he walked me through that process, and then you know, walking into the water, you know, to the start, that part uh that was really scary getting to the front of the um getting into the water, seeing all the boats, and then except once the gun went off, the fear went away.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: But one thing I didn't anticipate was how I was gonna be swam over.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_03: I'm a slow swimmer, and there was people for the entire swim grabbing me by the ankles, grabbing me by the head, pushing me down under the water.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm like, not only am I just trying to swim, like I'm also like fighting people off me for the whole race because I am a slower swimmer, but it wasn't I wasn't scared in the water, I was just like, hey, we're here to compete, and I'm gonna have to battle differently than most other people that are swimming because they're able to swim quicker than I am.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I was able to you know get through that swim, and I knew with my my first triathlon, if I get out of the water, I'm gonna complete complete the race.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: So it's all about getting out of the water.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_03: And while my swim was slow at my first triathlon, I made it out of the water.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_03: I was able to get on the bike.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the bike ride was just a blast because I got passed up by a lot of people on the swim.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I'm on the bike.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, you know, for being a newer cyclist at the time, I was only on a bike for a few months.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_03: I was fairly decent.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I had a lot of experience in running, so my legs were strong.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, now is my time to make up some ground.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_03: So I just started passing people up on the bike, and I was just getting pumped up, like just watching people just kind of dropping people, like it felt good.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_03: And then what I didn't anticipate was a reaction from people.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_03: Other bikers are like, Oh, look at this guy, this guy with one arm, like this is incredible.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_03: People were just being they're really they were pumping me up, they were just being so kind, and I I wasn't I wasn't expecting that.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_03: So the bike portion was really, really fun.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_03: And once I finished the bike and the run was starting, that's where I knew like I was gonna be the most comfortable, you know, because that's what I've been doing for the last couple of years is running.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, because of the run, the run went well.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_03: Similar experience, as I'm running past people, I'm getting some pretty people are just building me up.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_03: They were saying really kind things.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_03: And one thing uh I didn't take, I didn't think about until after the race.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_03: Because my buddy that was walking me through the race, he was there kind of watching all this happen.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_03: Um, he was saying, like, as I would pass people up, like during the run, and they would see me, and they say I have one arm, they try to pick it up and and catch back up to me.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_03: They're like, 'cause they see this dude out there with one arm, like, he should not beat me in a travelon.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_03: So it's like as I'm passing them, they're stepping it up and trying to go harder.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_03: And actually, I had somebody after the race kind of touch on that.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_03: How just seeing somebody not making an excuse out there on the run, uh, just pushed him harder to try to try and keep up.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that that whole experience, man, it was it was incredible.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_03: And when I finished, it was like it was it was a bit of an emotional experience, and I actually ended up placing uh third in my age group.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, which yeah, I wasn't expecting that at all.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: So the fact that I like I you know I beat most of the field in my age group in a way.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, yeah, I was pretty proud of that.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: So no, that's amazing, man.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I have that crowd pumped up.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: I can only imagine you're just getting fired up.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: People are like, oh, what's going on?
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: You're just yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_03: I said I didn't, you know, I didn't get into running or triathlon, you know, to for for the attention, right?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_03: But when I just seeing how people were reacting, I mean it it did, it was motivating, and it was just an unexpected uh surprise, which was really neat.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Did you know immediately when you crossed the finish line that you were third in your age group, or someone came up to you later?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, by the way.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_03: No, I didn't know.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_03: We went uh after I crossed the finish line.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_03: The guy that I was with that was uh kind of like you know, helping me train.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_03: He we walked over to the booth, and you know, you go and you look up your name, he pulls my ticket out.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, You place third in your age group.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, I have no idea.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: And but except my my swim was at the bottom, but my bike and my run were you know were towards the the top of the percentage, so that's what helped me end up finishing a little bit higher than uh than I thought I was going to.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_03: So if I could learn how to swim faster, I've I've done a little bit better.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_03: But I'll take it.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_03: I was super I was super grateful to finish third.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: I can see how you got hooked now.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_03: No, it was a lot of fun, and that was like uh one of your local sprints.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_03: And after that is when I uh signed up for my first 70.3 Iron Man, which is in my hometown of St.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_03: George, and it was actually the last 70.3 Iron Man that they're gonna host there, at least as of now.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: What's that transition been like?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you do your first sprint one, and then you just start going all in on 70.3, like what had to change?
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, how'd you improve?
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_03: So for the for the sprint, I was just training.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't really know what I was doing when I was training.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_03: I just was all it was all about getting comfortable in the water and being able to swim 750 meters.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_03: So that was like my my big concern at that point.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_03: Once I decided that I was gonna commit to the 70.3 Iron Man, like that's a much longer distance.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_03: Now you're looking at a 1.2 mile swim, 56 on a bike, and a half marathon.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_03: So that's a much larger race, it's on a much larger scale.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_03: And this the St.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_03: George Iron 70.3 was the North American Championships, and there was other like other paraathes that were gonna be there.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_03: So on this race, I was gonna be competing against other paraathes in my own in a separate division.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_03: So there was for me, there was like a lot more to strive for in this race, but there's also, you know, even although I did my first triathlon, there was like there was definitely like more fear of a much longer swim, a lot more competitors, a lot more people in the water.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_03: And at the same time, I just found out that I got accepted into Boston from the Boston for the para, yeah, in my the paradivision.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_03: So I have I'm training for my first 70.3 and for the Boston Marathon, and they're within two weeks of each other.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: So like, yeah, yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I don't know how to train for a triathlon.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_03: Like, how am I gonna do this?
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_03: And that's when I I decided, like, okay, I need to get a coach and I actually learned how to train for this because trying to train for a marathon and then my first 70.3, and there it was Boston was two weeks before the 70.3.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, If I'm gonna go and do this, I want to do it right.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_03: And and I got some help with like the coach setting me up with the training, you know, on training peaks, and that helped a lot with learning how to train properly.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_03: And I still had to learn a lot of um work a lot on my swimming, yeah.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, and still on the bike.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, after my first traveling, I was only on the bike for a few months, so I did feel pretty good on the bike, but I wasn't like super confident at that point.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_03: When I signed up for the 70.3, is when I bought the the new bike, and then I was really focused on being comfortable outdoors on a bike.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_03: Like sitting on a bike for three hours, yeah, it can be painful.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_03: And when you can't let go with your one arm, it's like even more so.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I had to spend a lot of time on my bike outdoors, getting comfortable.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_03: Um, also had to learn how to use nutrition for my first triathlon.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_03: It was a sprint distance, so it was only like a 45-minute bike ride.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_03: I didn't have any water, no gels, but I was able to get away with it.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't able to get away with that at uh 70.3.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_03: So then I had to figure out how am I gonna get nutrition?
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_03: I cannot let go of this hand to drink a water bottle or to eat a gel.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_03: So we had to add some more uh components to my bike, which was buying uh a water reservoir to strap to the frame of my bike so that I take my nutrition, another reservoir in the front of my bike so that I can put um gels in there, like there's this precision flow gels.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_03: Have you ever heard of that?
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, yep, I'm familiar.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_03: So I put so I buy like the big 300 uh grams bottles and I just pour it in my front container and I drink that out of a straw.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_03: So I have two straws on my bike.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_03: One is gels, and the other one is my hydration mix, and that's how I would get through my long bike rides and be able to, you know, to properly feel on the bike, so I don't have to pull over like every 45 minutes to pound water take a gel.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_03: So you had to get a little creative there.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but it's worked out, you know, it's it's worked out really well.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_03: So I've been unable to get on you know some long bike rides and not have to stop to refuel.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: You you explain the nutrition, how you get in.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm curious now, now that you mentioned it also takes me the transitions.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what takes the most planning between transitions from swim, bike, run?
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, I would say like before the the race starts, I'm setting my bike nutrition up.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I have to pour all my hydration in my bike bottles and the flow gel.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_03: So I gotta get everything set up on the bike before the race even starts.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_03: You know, getting out of T1 to swim, going into T2.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that's all about you know, getting your wetsuit off as fast as you can.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's really just you have everything set up, but it's trying to remember you gotta put your helmet on, you gotta make sure you have your bike shoes on.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you got to make sure that you put your your bib on because when you're swimming, you don't have your bib.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so then you gotta you gotta strap that on.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, I mean, really that's it for for T1.
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: But I mean, I have gone out of T1 without strapping my helmet down before because it's you know, it's a lot to think about.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then for me, I'm like trying to run with my bike, and uh that's a little bit tricky too.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_03: Uh and as far as going from going into T2, it's like when you're bringing your bike in, you're just running your bike into T2, yeah, taking off your helmet, swapping your shoes.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_03: And what is a little bit harder for me is like you know, swapping my shoes out.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_03: I can't like just stand up and swap them out.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_03: So I do have to like sit on the ground and take off my shoes and put my other ones on.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_03: So like my transition times are a bit slower because something like for you to take off a pair of shoes and add another pair, you're gonna do it a lot faster than me.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh, so there is something that like it's a little bit more difficult sitting on the ground and doing uh you know, doing my thing, but you know, it's it gets done.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for no, you for sure get it done.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh how many of them now?
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, uh I I've done four 70.3 races.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_03: Oof.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_03: So I've done a few of them, you know, and I know I'm kind of bouncing all over the place here, but like going back.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, like that, you know, that first one is 70.3 in uh in St.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_03: George, and that's also like now that's my hometown.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that was another part of uh that race it made it special, and I'd be my first 70.3, but being in my hometown and my wife and kids were there, so that was like very meaningful, yeah.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_03: And then uh, you know, going through that race and going through, you know, the you the swim portion is, you know, it's it was tough, it was slow.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_03: They Iron Man lets us start out behind the the pros.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_03: So it's the male pros, the female pros, and then the para athletes go, yeah, which is cool because you get kind of like your own little start for like a couple minutes, but then you have the fastest age groupers behind you.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_03: So like these guys that are like borderline pro swimmers are coming up behind us and uh just trample.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was just it's a battle.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_03: I can I swam in like 53 minutes, and I was about 50 minutes was spent fighting people.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_03: But wow, I would I would still rather do that than have to wait an hour and a half in line in my wetsuit trying to get into the water, being with this little group.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_03: So that that was another experience of like just fighting through adversity as you're you feel like you're fighting in the water for an hour, but it was uh said I was able to get through it, and just overall, like that race ended up going really well.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_03: Because it was a home event.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I had friends out there, we had people from our church that showed up.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_03: So throughout like the bike course, I'm seeing people holding signs with my name, and I was like, oh, this is like this is so awesome! Like seeing multiple people, groups of friends out here, it was just so inspiring.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_03: And uh same thing on the run course, it was two laps, so I got to see a lot of my friends on the run course, which was super, super cool.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I had like you know, a kind of a goal time time in mind for that race that I wanted to finish within, which was like six hours and 15, six hours and 30 minutes.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, I thought like if I had like the ideal day, like I could finish in six hours and 15 minutes.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_03: And when I was doing the run portion of that race and I started adding up the math in my head, I'm like, oh my goodness, like I'm gonna finish this race in under six hours.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_03: That for me was like, I don't like I don't know how how this is working out, I don't know how this math is working, but it was an incredible feeling as I was running.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_03: And before the race was over, I started getting emotional and get choked up a little bit.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_03: Of course, and I'm like, oh my gosh, like, dude, you still got like five, six miles left, man up, don't fall and trip because you're not paying attention.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: So I had to you know keep pushing forward and and kind of get my grip about me, but you know, going to finish that race with uh having those emotions and then finish crossing the finish line, and then I see my wife and my kids, and they're screaming and hollering, and it was like I cross, and I'm like instantly I'm starting to kind of tear up a little bit, and I can't get to my wife yet because she's on the other side of the gate.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know how to get to her.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_03: I go through the finish line, I walk out into the grass, and I run into a guy that I know from the pool.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_03: We swim together all the time, and uh he comes up to me and gives me a hug.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_03: I just start bawling like a baby to this to a friend of mine, and he's like, and he's like, Hey man, I get it.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, understand, he's like, go for it.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, Cry and I was like, Where's my wife?
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I was filled with so much emotion, and I just lost it on this guy, and I felt bad, but he was super uh understanding.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_03: And then a few minutes later, I saw my wife and my kids and friends of ours that were there and started getting emotional all all over again.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_03: Hugged her, started crying.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, Man, I can't believe like that I've come to this point, and like that I finished.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_03: And then like not only like I achieved my goal, but like I beat what I thought was possible.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and it was just man, the feeling of gratitude and like the hard work and all the time spent training paying off like that was just it wasn't like anything else, and I was like I'm hooked with this sport for a little for a long time.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_03: It was it was incredible.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: Does like I I can only somewhat imagine this because this sounds amazing, first off.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: Congrats! Thank you.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: Does like life play in your head as you're like running and going, Man, I'm about to get under six, and you're seeing your family for probably a few times on the course now, and you're just like, Holy crap, I'm gonna do this.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, no excuses, I'm about to finish, you know.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I would there's definitely like a lot of uh thoughts going through my head at the time.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_03: Uh like I just like I want to be a good example to my children, to my wife, and others around me.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I don't want to use uh like for like my disability as an excuse to not uh try something hard or something that maybe other people think that I shouldn't be doing, that I'm not capable of doing.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_03: So, like those kind of thoughts were going through my head, and it's also like I said, the hard work that you put in leading up to a race like this, all the hours spent, you know, with sacrificing time for my family on the weekends, and but seeing it all come together, it was just a huge feeling of gratitude, and like, you know, God bless me with the health to do this, like it's not easy, you know.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_03: And it having health is just such a blessing to be able to do this, to be able to run marathons, to be able to compete traveling, having that health is I mean, it's one of the greatest gifts in life, right?
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Of course.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, for Casey, I'm just gonna be honest, you're giving me chills here.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go run right now.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, then going back to the St.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_03: George Iron Man.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_03: Uh during the end of my run portion of the race, I had a couple friends out there tracking me, and they were tracking my my division.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_03: And I then I also found out that I was first, I was in first place.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, like so.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_03: If I kept up my pace, I was gonna finish first, which another thing was not on my radar.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm competing.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_03: These people have to do triathlon for years.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_03: Some really good athletes.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: A good friend of mine was competing in that day.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_03: He's somebody helped get me into triathlon, uh, Dave Wheelan, incredible triathlete.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I was like, there's no way that I can compete with these guys, but I'm grateful to be on the, you know, I'm grateful to start with them.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_03: And when I found out that I was first, I was like, oh my gosh, like this is crazy.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_03: But like it was uh almost like a fairy tale coming true.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that that's wild, man.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Back to back, high, you know, finished races.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't expecting it, you know, and it was an incredible feeling, and definitely like you know, uh it was a big motivating factor for me to like keep pushing forward with triathlon and just running in general.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, you train very hard.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what do you uh attribute the success to, like these podiums and age group finishes um in your training?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what is it that's like nailing it for you that you are having such success in triathlon?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's just I'm used to putting in more work than everybody else because I have to.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_03: Like growing up, um for me to be average at a sport, I have to work twice as hard.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_03: And I've been doing that since I was a kid, and that's conditioned me to push hard physically and also mentally.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_03: So it's also like that contributes to like any success I have had in life with you know, business, um, family, my faith.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_03: It's from hard work and just being conditioned to know that I have to work harder to get ahead, which I'm okay with.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_03: So with my training, I have that conditioning of like, hey, like Casey, if you want to be able to compete with these able-bodied people, you're gonna have to work twice as hard.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: And so that's what I do.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_03: I just I put in the effort, I put in the work.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if I'm tired, you know, the arm goes off, I'm not skipping a workout because I'm tired.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, not skipping a workout because it's like I didn't prioritize my day, right?
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like it takes a lot for me to miss a workout.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's just it's part of my day.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_03: We wake up, we eat breakfast, we read the Bible, we drink.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_03: That's just part of my everyday.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_03: That's like yeah, I feel like that's just what's helped me like have some uh success in these races is just putting forth, just putting in more work than a lot of other people are willing to put in.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: What are some of those things that you double down on?
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: You mentioned like hey, some things I just have to do twice as hard that are twice as hard for me.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what are some of those things that you found, at least in triathlon, you have to maybe it's more biking, maybe it's I have to run just as much as you because I gotta get stronger.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_03: Well, I guess I'll touch on all three of those um quickly.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_03: So with the swim, it's a lot more time in the water.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_03: So for other athletes to get out, and just an example, you're gonna go swim 3,000 yards, you know.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_03: Your average athlete can get in there and they can pay that out in an hour.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_03: For me, it's gonna take me a lot longer.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_03: Like I may be in the water for two hours, it takes me longer, I have to work harder, and they may be getting in the water two, three days in a week.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_03: I'm in the water five days a week, six days a week, because I need to I need to be in order to be able to compete.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_03: I have to be in the water longer and I have to get in the water more often.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_03: And that's that's just part of what I do with training.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_03: And as far as the bike goes, for me to get comfortable on the bike, it took a lot of repetition, a lot of outdoor rides.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I've been blessed to train a lot in St.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_03: George, Utah with some really high-level athletes, like my coach Nick Chase, he's a professional triathlete.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_03: He has other athletes that are out there that it probably ride with.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_03: These guys are really good.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm able to just kind of hang on their will and chase them on the bike and you know, just watch what they're doing on the bike and kind of learn how to maneuver my body and get more comfortable.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_03: And you see somebody going downhill 40 miles an hour, it's like, well, I'm behind them.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_03: I've kind of committed to this.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, it was just like it was just a lot of uh, you know, committing to chasing people on the bike and and getting out there, uh, just getting outside a lot and uh putting myself in situations to where I'll build confidence on the bike and also getting my body comfortable being on a bike because that was hard to sitting on a bike, finding a comfortable position on the bikes, my shoulders, especially my right shoulder.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_03: Like from my first uh 70.3 man, my right shoulder hurt more than anything else.
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_03: It wasn't my legs.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, no wrong, my butt hurt, like sitting on a seat for that long.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_03: It hurts, but man, my shoulder, I was like uh constantly just moving it, like that hurt so bad.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: So I have to spend a lot of time, what they call time on saddle.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_03: I had to do a lot of that to get my body uh conditioned to sit on a bike for that long.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can imagine.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you got saddle time, but also the arm probably goes numb.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, it gets really painful, and then um, you know, with my left arm, if I like being an arrow is the most comfortable, but it's like finding comfort being an arrow is scary.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_03: Like imagine being an arrow and you can't touch your brakes, right?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_03: And now we're going 30 miles an hour downhill and there's cars coming.
• 38:22
  SPEAKER_03: Like it's you gotta work up to that confidence, right?
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_03: So it's for me, it took a lot of time of being on the bike to build that confidence to be comfortable in that position and feel like I'm doing it safely.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_03: I have a wife and kids, like I'm not trying to be foolish, so you know, it's like a uh lot of repetition getting comfortable.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: And if I put my left arm on handlebars too long, my arm gets numb, my left arm gets numb because I'm too much force on it.
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_03: So I know there's been a lot of uh, like said, really just a lot of repetition and learning uh how to put my body in a comfortable position to where I can just sit on the bike for as long as I need to be there.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Casey, does this impact you more also in fatigue?
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're out there longer and also having to fuel more at the same time because you you're probably out there twice as long on the bike, twice as long on the swim.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um running, I would imagine, just a good amount as well.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, and with the running, like I'm able to like running for me is like maybe a little bit harder than it is for you, having you know, one side being heavy, like my left arm is obviously has more weight than my right, so it kind of throws off throws off my stride a little bit.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, like as far as like when it comes down to the race, I yeah, like the swim portion, especially, my body goes through a lot more than uh than everyone else is going through.
• 39:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I really gotta put that's why I gotta be so well conditioned to get through that swim because I'm gonna burn twice the amount of calories that you're gonna probably burn in the swim to get through the same amount of time.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, as far as the bike now, like now I've I've spent so much time on the bike that I feel um like my biggest disadvantage on the bike is during a long run or like for this full this full distance strath long coming up right now, I cannot carry enough like hydration on my bike to get me through the race.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: So like I have to pull over to refill all my bottles.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_03: I can't just go and grab a bottle from the volunteers like everybody else can.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_03: I gotta pull over to the side of the road and I gotta refill my reservoirs, which takes a couple minutes.
• 40:27
  SPEAKER_03: But that's that would probably be like the hardest part for me at this point because I am so comfortable on a bike.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: Like I can, yeah, I pretty fit on the bike, but I do lose um, I do lose time having to pull over and and uh you know refuel and rehydrate and all that.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: Just out of curiosity, how much shield are you taking on any given uh bike session or race?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_03: Uh so what the way I'm trying to prepare for this this full distance track on, uh let's let's just say my last couple of bike rides, the last couple weekends have been about between five and six hours to 95, 105 miles.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I put about 400 uh grams of the precision flow gel in my front reservoir, and I'll finish, I'll go through that.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_03: And then my other reservoir that I have that's on the base of my frame, that's 40 ounces, and I'll refill that like at least twice.
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, okay.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know if they'll do it.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, my front reservoir is 30 ounces, and my yeah, my back one's 40, so that's 70.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_03: It's about like 140 ounces.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_03: So it's uh yeah, it's a lot of fluid to go through on a ride, but with triathlon, you can't hydrate in the water, so you take a couple jills, whatever it is, you swim, there's nothing you can do in the water.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you get out.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_03: When you're on the bike, the bike is when you hydrate, is when you fill up, is when you carve up.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_03: You want to be, you want to top off your levels on the bike so that when you get into the run, you're feeling strong.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: Then, of course, as you run, you continue to, you know, I'll still take a gel like every 20 to 30 minutes, and then I'll stop at every water stop, and I'll take some water or some uh sodium mix, depending on how my stomach feels.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: Because I I'm still working out the kinks.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I'm still working that out.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like I found a lot better with hydration, but you know, there's some races.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, like St.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_03: George, for example, I didn't have my nutrition locked in very well.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: And on the end of the bike, my stomach started uh get upset by the time I was running, and it was like 90 plus degrees that day.
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_03: It was a really, really hot day.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_03: I was like throwing up like during the first five, six miles of the run.
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_03: Because I just you know learning as we go and how to hydrate.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, stopping at every water stop.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_03: There's a lot of aid stations that that helps, and then they have different options water or if you want like an electrolyte mix, and I just kind of base it off of how my what my stomach's telling me.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: Casey, at what point you mentioned her a few times, does the wife go, Casey?
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are we done yet?
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or uh are we still going?
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a great question, is balancing life with this new hobby that I've decided to pick up.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure she gets scared sometimes, and then also, you know, you're staying over here 40 miles, 30 miles per hour on the bike.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, you know, it's like I feel like she's pretty confident in my abilities to compete, so she doesn't get too scared as far as me like being on the bike and uh you know the swim and all that.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_03: It but balancing the time uh is I feel like that's some conversation we have almost daily is like here's my training schedule, this balance this around life.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_03: But with that being said, like she's been like such a great supporter.
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like when I told her I was gonna do this, like getting a trial on, she's like, I think that's amazing.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_03: Um, this race challenge rock that's uh that I'm doing next week.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_03: Once she heard About it from my friends, but I wasn't gonna ask permission to do that race.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, that's a full distance triathlon, it's in Germany by myself.
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_03: Like, that's a big ass when you're a married man with two kids.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so I'm not even gonna ask her, but she overheard other people talking about it to me, like they were telling me how it's just one of the most popular triathlons of the world, one of the hardest triathlons to get into in the world.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_03: So she's overhearing this, and she's like, Okay, so you have an opportunity to get into Challenge Roth to do your first full distance triathlon in Germany.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_03: She's like, You have to do it, you can't pass this up.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_03: So she was on board for it.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: So cool.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she's the one who was like pushing me to do it.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Are you gonna give me permission to do this?
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, let's go.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_03: But it's constant communication, especially like on the on the weekends, making sure that it doesn't conflict um, you know, with family time, family, you know, like God, more wife and kids are the priority.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_03: Um this hobby, you know, that it comes after faith, family, and friends.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_03: So those faith friends are faith, family, and friends come first, but with communication, for the most part, it it we're handling it pretty well.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: There's some times where a five-hour bike ride will turn into like a six and a half, you know, and uh kind of treading treading water sometimes, but for the most part, it goes, it works out pretty well.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I've been fortunate um enough with as far as when it comes to work, like I own a business, it's like ace fitness equipment.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_03: I sell gym equipment for a living.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: So that's dope.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_03: I I work from home.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_03: Um, if I have my phone, my computer, like I'm working.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm able to have a little bit more of a flexible schedule and uh have a lot of really early morning workouts.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I bet.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_03: What time do you get up?
• 45:53
  SPEAKER_03: Depending on the day, um between like most days I'd say between like four and five thirty.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: Just depending on what I have going on for the day.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh weekends tend to be a little bit earlier because they're the longer workouts tomorrow.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_03: Uh we're I have a run to do and we're starting at 5.30, so I'll probably get up at like 4.30.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_03: But I gotta get home in time, you know, early enough to hang out with the kids and the wife in the morning.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: So what do the kids say and thoughts around when they see you in either a wetsuit or running shoes at the races?
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_03: You know, it's been pretty cool to see my kids' response.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_03: Like they know that I train a lot, and you know, my daughter's lovely, my daughter's four, she's about to actually turn five next month.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_03: My son just turned eight.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_03: My son has recently just become enabled with sports.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah, which has been cool.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: So we're sharing, we're starting to bond over that.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_03: But they see, you know, we're out there running and swimming and all that, and they're like telling me, Dad, I want to do travel one day, or dad, let's go outside, let's go run.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_03: Dad, let's go ride our bike.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_03: Most of the time, our children are gonna want to do.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_03: So they see me training, and then they're like, let's go out and train, let's go do it together.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_03: So we do we do some like family training, which is a lot of fun.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_03: But my son, uh, I love the way that he thinks what he thinks that I am, because like he he's seen some like some of my Instagram stuff.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_03: Um, like there's a video, I don't know if you've seen on my Instagram, like that's about define the odds.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: That comedy did um like a little documentary on me, and he was in it, and he's been watching that over and over and over again on YouTube and showing like all our family and friends.
• 47:39
  SPEAKER_03: That's okay.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, Oh, look it, I'm on YouTube.
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_03: My dad's a professional athlete, like he thinks it's the coolest thing.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_03: So he sees me going to these races and coming home with trophies, and like I, you know, we didn't really touch on this, but I I competed at Boston Marathon, yeah, and he was there, he went to Boston, and I finished second in my category.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, like in Boston, like I ran with a classified professional field, and I had a podium on the 5k and the marathon, and then I actually brought home surprise money, which was super cool.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: So my my kids have gotten to see that.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_03: They've gotten to see me like stand on top of podiums and get you know recognition for my athletic uh achievements.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_03: So they're they've been pretty uh you know, like pretty pumped on it.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_03: So especially my son.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: He thinks it's like a he thinks it's really cool, like that I'm chasing these dreams, and it's neat seeing their responses and how they're trying to like live a more active lifestyle because of it.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how'd you like Boston?
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_03: Obviously, you you won some prize, but yeah, so Boston and oh it was incredible.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: It could it doesn't compare to any other marathon that I've done.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_03: Um, have you have you done Boston?
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_03: Not yet, no, I haven't done Boston yet.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh man, it's incredible.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_03: So when I went to do Boston, I I did the 5k a couple of days before, which was was just uh a ton of fun.
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_03: Um kind of destroyed my legs a little bit for the actual marathon.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_03: So if I were to do it again next year, I don't think I'd do the 5k because it it messed up my calves a little bit.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_03: Oof, wow, okay.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but the the the marathon itself, man, like the crowds are out of this world.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: I've never felt like such like a celebrity running, like the the crowds just scream and cheer the whole time at everybody running.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_03: You're you're just from the second the gun goes off, your your level of excitement is just up here, and then it stays up here until you finish.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_03: And in my situation, it was more unique because I was racing in the classified division for parent athletes.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_03: So it was the pro men, they went off, they get their five minutes, then the pro women, and then it's us, and then after us, then it's all the other, you know, the the waves they start to wave, yeah.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_03: So, but I had a good maybe five or ten minutes of running the Boston Marathon with nobody around me.
• 50:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_03: And that was like the coolest experience.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_03: I'm running, yeah, the first few miles I'm running, and I don't, you know, the pros are gone.
• 50:17
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I'm not running a you know a five-minute mile.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_03: And uh I've seen all these people cheer and they're screaming, go, go, go! And I'm like looking around, there's nobody here but me.
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, these guys are these guys are screaming because I'm running.
• 50:30
  SPEAKER_03: Like, oh, I was like, this is the most incredible feeling.
• 50:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I have at a race, I've never had that experience before, and everyone's you know, these little kids are high-fiving you, and yeah, it's just the atmosphere there is it's incredible, and it's just like you said, the whole 26 miles, there's somebody there cheering and rooting you on, and it was the first and the only time I've ever ran a marathon, and I didn't want it to end.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: That speaks to the training and also the cool race.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_03: And the the atmosphere was like I said, it was just it doesn't compare to anything else that I've done.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_03: I definitely want I definitely want to go back next year.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: But since you do both, what do you find harder?
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's a great question.
• 51:17
  SPEAKER_03: I would say, like definitely like logistically and you know, trying to plan for the triathlon and training is harder.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_03: It takes more time to train for triathlon.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_03: Um, it's a longer day.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_03: But I would say a marathon in comparison to like a 70.3 triathlon is harder on your body when you're racing a marathon.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're going all out just running for 26.2 miles, and you're going that like the fastest effort you can.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it takes more, it takes more out of you.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_03: Like you your legs are be a little more sore, but your nervous system is kind of breaks down a little bit.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_03: So the recovery process from a marathon takes a little bit longer than it does for 70.3 because you're you're swimming, and then by the end of the swim, when you're feeling miserable, you're out of the swim and you're biking, you know, and then you're working your legs, a different part of your legs.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_03: You bike for a few hours, and then you get to run.
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's like you're you know, you're still on your legs, but you're kind of working different muscle groups, so it's a little bit it's a longer day for sure.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_03: Feeling's harder, but you're not doing the same, uh, you're not having the same style race for the entire time.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_03: Triathlon.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_03: But we'll see what happens for the full triathlon.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I don't know about that one yet.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: Well, well, you kind of mentioned it's a big race, you know, very hard to get into.
• 52:46
  SPEAKER_00: You're in it now.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what have you heard of, you know, this uh full distance Roth in Germany triathlon um going into it?
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh what have I heard of it?
• 53:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what have you heard of the race, like course wise, or anything that scares you?
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_00: As far as like let's let's just talk about the course.
• 53:06
  SPEAKER_03: So the course is supposed to be a fairly fast course.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um, the swim is in a canal, which um okay, that part is a bit comforting because it's not gonna be uh a big lake or like ocean swim where there's a strong current, so there's like a very there's not much of a current, which is good.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna be open water, or it's not gonna be wetsuit legal, most likely.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_03: That part stinks, but I know I'll get through it.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_03: And because it's a canal, if you want to, you can swim on the shallower side of the canal.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_03: And if you need to get out and step up, it's a lot easier than being, you know, a mile out in the middle of the lake, and then you decide you can't swim anymore, like you can't just stand up, right?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: So there's some good and bads about the swim.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_03: The bike course, uh, it does have some elevation.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's I don't know the exact elevation.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_03: I look it up online, it's between somewhere between three and five thousand feet of elevation gain.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, so there is some, there is some uh a couple points of the course, and it's a two-laps where there's it's some good elevation, but then the crowds at Roth and like on the bike course are supposed to be out of this world, like unlike any other triathlon you'll ever do.
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_03: There's like hundreds of thousands of people that show up to spectate, and there's like one of the climbs on the bike courses, I think it's called Solar Hill.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: If you Google Challenge Roth bike course, you'll see photos or videos of people going up a really steep road, just smothered by with spectators watching and cheering them on.
• 54:35
  SPEAKER_03: So, like I'm super pumped for that bike course and to have all the spectators because when you're riding that long, like 112 miles, a lot of races, you're not gonna see people that often, other than your other competitors.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: So the fact that those the course is gonna be stacked with uh spectators that really fuels your fire, right?
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_03: You've done races, you've done you know, you marathons seeing people helps motivate you.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm super pumped about that bike portion and being able to see people, and then similar to the run.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_03: The run is supposed to be um fairly flat.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_03: It is gonna be interesting.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_03: I uh I think a little over half of it's on like a canal, so it's not gonna be um like road or asphalt.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_03: There's gonna be a lot of um, I guess it's gravel or dirt on a portion of the run.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll see how that works out.
• 55:20
  SPEAKER_03: Um, I've been training out here, I'm in Southern California right now in Riverside.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_03: I've been training a local canal that's supposed to have similar running conditions, so uh we'll see how that ends up playing out.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_03: But again, uh to going back to the crowds there at Roth, like the crowds are just stacked all over the course.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_03: So I I'm I'm really excited for that.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_03: Like I really feed off of the other spectators and uh people that just appreciate the athletes out there uh giving a throw all racing.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, that's something I'm really I'm really excited about.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_03: And the thing with Roth, uh, if you look at the finish line, the finish line that they have there, it's out of this world with the setup that they have.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_03: It's a lot of times you're finishing at night, they have all kinds of like strobe lights, and it's like a big massive party.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_03: There's stadium, like there's all this seating, so there's tons of spectators.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_03: It's like one giant party at the finish line.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_03: So I'm really excited about that as well.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_03: Man, Europe.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, all right.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: No, that sounds uh that hill you described sounds awesome.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds like Tour de France, you know, when you got the crowds going, uh, or you know, the the tours that they do in cycling and kind of how you describe your races.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: I could just picture everyone.
• 56:41
  SPEAKER_00: What's his number?
• 56:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, go Casey.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:46
  SPEAKER_03: I don't I'm I'm super excited for that.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_03: Like the the spectators, uh, it's just some of the best part of racing.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_03: It's just uh I love seeing people out there supporting all the athletes.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: What what do you feel most confident?
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, going into this race?
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_03: Which uh as far as the swim bike run.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: You know what?
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_03: I run is still my my most confident.
• 57:11
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but my cycling, I'm newer to cycling.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_03: I've been running for a little over three, most four years now.
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_03: I've been cycling pretty consistently for maybe you know, a year and a half coming up on two years.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_03: But my cycling has been progressing like faster than I anticipated.
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_03: So like I've been having a lot of confidence on my bike.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_03: I I don't know where I'm my bike, I don't know exactly what my bike is gonna do in Roth.
• 57:40
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I have my goal times of really basically finishing the bike under six hours.
• 57:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm hoping I can do that.
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_03: Um, but I'm not sure what you know, my bike fitness and where it's gonna land.
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_03: The swim, I'm just surviving.
• 57:56
  SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be a long swim.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna be out there for a couple hours.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna burn a lot of calories.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I'm gonna suffer, but like I said, we know like I said at the beginning of the podcast, when we sign up for these things, like we know we're we're there to suffer.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_03: We're not there to have an easy day and have a picnic, you know, we're out there to get after it and just see what we're our bodies are capable of handling.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I'll I'm ready to get out there and do that.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: With the training, and and you know, I'm sure you're practicing transitions and all that.
• 58:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how do you feel going to the race with the logistics of a full distance now?
• 58:37
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, probably logistically, I feel you know pretty good.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's like transitions, I feel you know, pretty comfortable.
• 58:45
  SPEAKER_03: Um, you know, I'm okay if it takes a little bit longer, especially given how long we're gonna be out there for the day.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_03: Um I said getting things once we get to Europe, once I get to Roth, finding out where everything's at, like that part makes me a little more nervous than the actual like race transitions themselves.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_03: Like, I know how to set up all my gear, I know how I want my T1 and T2 to look.
• 59:08
  SPEAKER_03: I know how to set up my shoes and my helmet and glasses and everything to just be able to transition as quickly as possible.
• 59:16
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, but it's like where we're staying, like Roth is a small town in Europe, and there's like no hotel.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_03: So it's either you stay with you get a home stay, and you stay with somebody you don't know, probably doesn't speak English.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm having one of my good friends is flying out from Oklahoma.
• 59:32
  SPEAKER_03: He's actually flying out on Sunday.
• 59:33
  SPEAKER_03: He's coming out here to Riverside, and he's gonna go to Roth with me.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_03: So we're so we're gonna be gonna be together, and uh, I didn't want to do a homestay, two people, you know, trying to find a home stay for two people's tough.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, so we gotta stay at a hotel with that's about 45 minutes away from the race.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_03: So that part of the logistics is like getting to the race, um, to the expo and all that, it's gonna be a little bit of a chore.
• 59:59
  SPEAKER_03: Race morning, you know, I gotta wake up an hour earlier uh than everybody else to get to the race.
• 1:00:06
  SPEAKER_03: So logistically, that part's gonna be, you know, a little bit more difficult.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_03: Uh, but you know, that's just that's just part of racing, especially something like this.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_03: It's you know, in a different country that I've never been to.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, I just gotta do my homework when I'm there to make sure that I know what time to leave and what time to arrive and figure out how to make sure I get enough calories and carbs in.
• 1:00:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think that's the other thing with uh with traveling logistics is making sure you have enough food.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_03: Because it's as you know with racing, man, you gotta eat a lot a few days leaking up.
• 1:00:42
  SPEAKER_03: So I don't know where I'm gonna eat yet.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_03: I'm gonna bring um gonna bring a lot of microwaveable rice with me and some top ramen and stuff I can travel with just in case.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_03: But I gotta find a lot of uh I gotta find a lot of food while I'm out there to make sure that I'm properly filled up before the race starts.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: What's this race mean to you, Ra, full distance?
• 1:01:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's it gonna mean when you cross that finish line to you?
• 1:01:07
  SPEAKER_03: Uh that's a great question.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_03: This is like physically the hardest thing I've ever trained for.
• 1:01:16
  SPEAKER_03: The amount of time, like an hours I put in these last especially these last four weeks.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I'm putting in like 20 hour weeks into training.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_03: My weekends are like I'm having 10 hour plus weekends between my you know 18 to 20 mile runs and my 100-mile bike rides, and then you know, after my 100-mile bike ride, you get to run off the bike after that again.
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_03: All the work and like the sacrifice, time away from the family.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_03: Man, there's just there's a lot of build-up for this race.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_03: I feel like I'm ready for it, like I put in a lot of hard work, and to be able to travel to like one of the the biggest triathlons in the world to compete is like a dream come true.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_03: It's something that if you would have if you would have told me four years ago, three years ago, probably two years ago, that I was gonna be traveling to challenge to go to Germany to compete in challenge off where full distance triathlon.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, you're out of your mind.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_03: This body was not built to do triathlon.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_03: There's no way.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_03: And now that I'm like coming up to it and I feel as prepared as I do, like the excitement anticipation is just you know, I don't know, it's like it's just it's at all time high.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_03: Assuming everything goes well with the race, you know, which you know I'm expecting it to.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_03: Knocking here for you too.
• 1:02:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_03: Uh I I just I'm excited to see, I'm excited for that feeling of crossing the finish line.
• 1:02:55
  SPEAKER_03: Like I can only envision what it's gonna feel like, but I won't know what it feels like until I get to that point.
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_03: But you know, with God's grace, I'm gonna be able to finish this race.
• 1:03:07
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, just I just feel so blessed to just have the opportunity to even attempt something like this.
• 1:03:15
  SPEAKER_03: So it's it's very exciting.
• 1:03:18
  SPEAKER_00: Testing all the limits.
• 1:03:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it sounds like you're ready and excited to go.
• 1:03:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:03:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, let's try not to make excuses.
• 1:03:29
  SPEAKER_03: It's like we can either we can make excuses in life or we can make it happen.
• 1:03:33
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm you know, I'm just trying to I'm trying to make it happen and try not to let excuses, you know, slow me down or stop me from doing something that is hard or stop me from doing something that people think that I shouldn't be doing, I'm not capable of doing, or safe for it's not safe for Casey to do triathlon.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_03: Like you know, I'll push all that to the side and and just go after something that is definitely like a populous item for life.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:04:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, for sure.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: Casey, I'll the hardest thing.
• 1:04:08
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:04:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: Casey, I appreciate you for coming on the podcast.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: This conversation's been amazing, man.
• 1:04:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pumped up.
• 1:04:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure everyone will be pumped up as well.
• 1:04:21
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for uh except for having me on and like and taking interest in my story.
• 1:04:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh go crush Roth, man.
• 1:04:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited to see what comes from Roth and you finishing that.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_00: This has been the People Run podcast, everyone with Casey.
• 1:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, guys.
• 1:04:35
  SPEAKER_00: Catch you on the next one.
• 1:04:36
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.