Latest / Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes / What Is SwimRun? A First-Timer's Race Report From Maine Ep 167

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What Is SwimRun? A First-Timer's Race Report From Maine Ep 167 · Find Your Edge: Training, Nutrition + Longevity for Endurance Athletes

0:38
Coach Carlie: All right, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast.
0:40
Coach Carlie: I am your host, Coach Chris Newport, and I have Dr.
0:44
Coach Carlie: Alyssa Barber here with us again for a race report, which are some of my favorites because I feel like you know we're all gonna sit around the fire and listen to Alyssa tell her story.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: Everyone gather around.
0:59
Coach Carlie: That's right.
1:00
Coach Carlie: Gather around, friends.
1:02
Coach Carlie: Here we go for a fun story.
1:03
Coach Carlie: But like they really are.
1:05
Coach Carlie: I feel like that's what makes endurance events, uh, or sports really in general, so fun and unique because you have this expectation of like, I'm gonna do this thing.
1:17
Coach Carlie: And whether you hear it from other athletes or people who have done the race before, or like you kind of form this thing in your head of like this is how it's gonna go, and then you get there and you're like, oh wow, this was maybe a totally different experience, or just as you expected it, with like some twists and turns, who knows?
1:34
Coach Carlie: Let's kick off with what was the event and what made you decide on that event.
1:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:44
SPEAKER_00: So I in this past August, I did a swim run in Maine.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: So for those of you, swim run, very self-explanatory, swimming and running.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: I know it is, but it is, but it's an event, yeah.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: And I'll I'll get to that.
1:58
Coach Carlie: Yeah, people like you swim in your shoes, they like like their heads explode a little bit.
2:05
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
2:06
SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I'll briefly kind of the the course.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: So it's in Maine, it was beautiful, it was off the coast along these islands.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: And so what you do is you run and then you swim, and then you run, and then you swim.
2:21
SPEAKER_00: And so you're swimming between the islands or small islands, running across them.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: And so, yes, you're wearing your shoes while you're swimming, and then you're also running in your wet shoes.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: And I leading up to I was like, this is my biggest pet peeve, is like wet feet and squishy shoes and stuff.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: But we'll get into that later.
2:40
SPEAKER_00: The the reason I wanted to do this is because Chris knows I am not the biggest cyclist, and so this was like a fun event to combine running and swimming that I really loved, you know.
2:53
SPEAKER_00: And it was also like kind of like an adventure, you know, because you're in the ocean doing all this trail running as well, pretty nature trails along Maine, and there's like some of like some rock climbing as well, like that.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: You're when you're getting in and out of the ocean along the shore.
3:08
SPEAKER_00: So it seemed really adventurous to me, uh, which seemed like a a good challenge that I wanted to to kind of put myself through.
3:15
Coach Carlie: That's really cool.
3:16
Coach Carlie: We'll get to the biking stuff, you know, at some point.
3:19
Coach Carlie: Y'all will convert her.
3:20
Coach Carlie: We're working on her, you know, so just give us full time.
3:24
Coach Carlie: But typically, swim run has been a partner, but you decided to do this solo.
3:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so typically that's started in Sweden, and it's yeah, it's usually with a partner that you're bungee to.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And so that seems really fun.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: I couldn't convince any of my friends to do it.
3:43
Coach Carlie: You want to swim and run in your sh in your in your shoes.
3:47
Coach Carlie: Right.
3:48
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
3:48
Coach Carlie: Were you was this because it was in August, so was it were you in your wetsuit?
3:53
SPEAKER_00: I was, so I had short sleeves, short sleeves, wetsuits.
3:56
SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, you're running in your wetsuit as well.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I have 99% of my friends are runners, but not strong swimmers.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: And so that was the that was the catch for them.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Like swimming in the ocean, no.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: So so I went solo, but I mean it was still a really, really fun experience.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: I met a lot of great people, so I didn't feel like I was lonely, I guess.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: So it's I've if people are like, you know, thinking about doing it, but you can't find a partner, I would still do it.
4:24
SPEAKER_00: And then people were partners, they like met their partner there.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: You can go online and you can try to find people like ahead of time.
4:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, they have like a matching like service.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you like really want to do it with a partner, swim run dating.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: So people like they met each other day up and they're bungee themselves and race together.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think I think it's great to do it solo.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: I am still gonna try to convince anybody to do it with me next time.
4:55
Coach Carlie: Yeah, okay, we're putting that out there.
4:58
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
5:00
Coach Carlie: Cool.
5:01
Coach Carlie: Okay.
5:01
Coach Carlie: Was this your first official swim run?
5:03
Coach Carlie: It was, yes.
5:05
Coach Carlie: Yes.
5:05
Coach Carlie: Okay.
5:06
Coach Carlie: All right.
5:06
Coach Carlie: And did you did you uh bring the whole caravan with you?
5:09
Coach Carlie: Did you bring the whole family?
5:11
SPEAKER_00: No, just the just my husband.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: We left the baby at home.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: So I used to live in Boston, and that's how I heard of this, because it's right there.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: But then when I got pregnant, I like couldn't move.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: So I actually I signed up for it before I got pregnant, and then I was like, I can't do it this year.
5:25
SPEAKER_00: So it deferred a couple of years.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: So then we just made kind of a trip out of it to go up there.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, but the the main one is really cool because spectators can get on the ferry and they can drive around on the ferry.
5:35
SPEAKER_00: So he was on the ferry the whole time, driving around, kind of following us, taking pictures and stuff like that.
5:42
Coach Carlie: Oh, yeah, you're gonna have to give us some some pictures.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:45
unknown: Yeah.
5:46
Coach Carlie: Okay, cool.
5:48
Coach Carlie: All right.
5:48
Coach Carlie: So walk us through like race morning.
5:51
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
5:52
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
5:52
Coach Carlie: And all that good kind of stuff.
5:54
Coach Carlie: Or maybe even beforehand, if you want to, if there was anything significant that you were kind of interesting or different.
6:00
SPEAKER_00: So training, I I was thinking about this before, like what I would do different training-wise.
6:05
SPEAKER_00: It's the usual, you know, tri athletes know this.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: It's it's time management, right?
6:09
SPEAKER_00: You're especially tri-athletes, you're doing three sports and then trying to fit that in.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: And then it's the access to open water swims, you know, trying to get some of the I only did one open water swim before I trained.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: So I was in the pool all the time.
6:26
SPEAKER_00: But I was very comfortable, I'm very comfortable swimming, so I wasn't too worried about that.
6:31
SPEAKER_00: But having more practice with the current and tides, because I just I was in a lake for open water swim.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: So I would want to go to the ocean and maybe practice a little bit more with that because we can talk more about how that affected my actual race.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: And then um actually practicing, and this is something new that traffics probably wouldn't know during the race.
6:53
SPEAKER_00: You wear your swim cap while you're running, you're you're wearing your wetsuit while you're running, you're wearing a belt that has like you have to carry your own reusable cup.
7:03
SPEAKER_00: You have to carry, since I was solo, I had to carry um an inflatable buoy, I had to carry a whistle.
7:09
SPEAKER_00: So you kind of got a belt with like a lot of stuff with paddles because you attach your paddles to your belt while you're running.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: So race day, I was like, oh, I'm like clinging around, like there's so much stuff around me.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: So I probably would have practiced like the whole fit a little bit more.
7:26
unknown: Yeah, yeah.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: And then I, and this is totally against my philosophy, I did not strength train enough, like just because I I was trying to figure out time.
7:36
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I gotta run and swim.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: And then I know I didn't strength train enough.
7:40
Coach Carlie: So listen, you mean you make mistakes too?
7:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what a lot and so that's why, and I think this is fun because leading up to it, I was like, I did not train perfectly how I wanted to, so I have low expectations, and so that's why I think I had fun because I didn't have a lot of like I didn't have a time I wanted to do because I had no idea.
8:04
SPEAKER_00: I'd never done this before.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I didn't have a specific time, I just wanted to finish without getting cut off, and that happened, thankfully.
8:12
SPEAKER_00: So I think like, yeah, next time I'll definitely try to manage my time a little bit better, have a more planned out week by week, and add the strength training in there more.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: Add the strength training back in.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: Yes, here we go.
8:27
Coach Carlie: Um how what did what was the race distances?
8:32
Coach Carlie: Because that's yeah, kind of what you were saying, like not being able to train perfectly or like didn't not necessarily having expectations, because that's I feel like that's the cool part about this sport is that there's not like a benchmark, it's not like okay, here's my marathon time.
8:47
Coach Carlie: Swim run is so different, event to event, and it's hard to compare it.
8:53
Coach Carlie: So it's kind of a unique beast in that.
8:57
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
8:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, my remember the distances?
9:00
SPEAKER_00: I did um the experience one, which was the the shortest one, and and so total-wise, it was four miles of running and two miles of swimming, but that was all broken up.
9:11
SPEAKER_00: The longest swim, I think, was 800 meters, um, and then there were shorter spurts, and then the longest run was like two miles, and then there were shorter ones between that.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: But it went all the way up to the World Series, is I think a total of 26 miles.
9:27
Coach Carlie: So that's they can get length.
9:29
SPEAKER_00: They get there, yeah, yeah.
9:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and what's what's also cool is because of this one that's along the islands, they were saying like some of those distances vary year to year where the tides are.
9:43
SPEAKER_00: So like your runs might be a little bit longer, your swims might be a little bit shorter, depending where the tide is during that time of of day and like stuff like that.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: So that's again why you can't really have even expectations year to year at the same course because the tides are gonna change, so you're running different distances and swimming different distances.
10:00
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think, yeah, like you said, that's that's also cool because then you really can't have too many expectations.
10:06
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
10:07
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
10:07
Coach Carlie: And then again, there is no perfect training.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:11
Coach Carlie: You know, which which is hard with this, uh, you know who you are, because I'm I'm speaking to you out there, you know, like we have this like mindset of like, okay, I need to do exactly this many mileage or this much training, and it'll get me there.
10:25
Coach Carlie: It's like, no, you gotta have some some flexibility on race day.
10:30
Coach Carlie: I mean, of course, you have to have flexibility no matter what you're racing, but perhaps even more so in this sport.
10:37
Coach Carlie: So okay, all right.
10:38
Coach Carlie: So uh where are we at?
10:39
Coach Carlie: Race morning?
10:40
Coach Carlie: Race morning.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
10:42
SPEAKER_00: So um I think our start time was like eight o'clock, so that was great.
10:48
SPEAKER_00: Not too early, not too late.
10:49
Coach Carlie: Was it was it hot?
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Because I mean it was still it was August.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: It was August, but I think when we started, it was maybe high 60s, and then when we ended, it was like 80 maybe.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, so so not but so it made like the water nice and refreshing.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: I was worried about like ice cold water, um, but it made it refreshing.
11:12
SPEAKER_00: It was it was per I think temperature-wise, everything was perfect.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: So the the one thing was so we took a ferry to the start.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: So there's like 500 of us on a ferry going to the start.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I get a little C sick sometimes.
11:27
SPEAKER_00: Just feeling like a little wobbly, like before the race.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: So get on the land and recalibrate a little bit.
11:36
SPEAKER_00: Um, so there's three other distances.
11:39
SPEAKER_00: There's like the experience, the sprint, and the world series.
11:42
SPEAKER_00: So the world series, people they started somewhere else a couple hours earlier.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: So in the sprint and the um experience, we all started together.
11:49
SPEAKER_00: And the first part, it's like a it's these these islands are small.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: So there's not like large, wide pathways and roads and stuff.
11:58
SPEAKER_00: It's like narrow little little roads that we're going through and trails and stuff.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: And so the as with any start of a big race, there's that like funnel in.
12:07
SPEAKER_00: And so you're just kind of like the gun went off, and you're just still standing there waiting for your turn to to move forward, but then it it evens out.
12:16
SPEAKER_00: And another thing that I should have practiced more is was transitioning from running into the swimming because it's okay, goggles on, paddles on, buoy in between the legs.
12:30
SPEAKER_00: And so running, running, running, and then I get there and like I like come to a complete stop and I like do anything.
12:35
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking, everybody's like doing it like multitasking as they're still running, and like, dang, should have practiced that, but run transitions, yeah, transitions on the on the list for sure, in and out of the wall water, and then yeah, the when we're swimming, the tides, I mean, just getting pushed around, like making making sure you're sighting and everything.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: They did the best, the best that they could with directions, and there's always a volunteer there trying to point to out like a landmark on the other side.
13:10
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that's where you're getting out, so make sure you're kind of sighting, sighting that.
13:14
SPEAKER_00: But you know, everybody knows as much as you sight, you're still getting pulled out into the ocean.
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so it just seemed like the swims took forever, even though I had like the map of MRIs, and I was like, I know this is only like a 250-meter swim.
13:29
SPEAKER_00: Why is it taking forever?
13:32
SPEAKER_00: And I looked, and so I start my watch at the very beginning and stopped at the very end and went and looked back.
13:39
SPEAKER_00: And I swam a lot of extra meters.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: Um, really, really practicing, you know, in open water, getting my directions and and angles a little bit better would probably help me.
13:53
Coach Carlie: We need like an endurance edge um wave pool practice in, you know, just like turn on the waves and everybody gets their practice.
14:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, and then every you're looking at everybody else's out there, and they're like so spread out.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: People are going this way and this way, and it's like, well, where are they going?
14:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, should I follow them?
14:13
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, I can see my my spot there.
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:17
Coach Carlie: So that was do they flights were were was it lights that you were citing, or was it like some sort of like a flag?
14:24
SPEAKER_00: No, it was usually a flag or a building.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: So that was yeah, and it was hard sometimes.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they didn't.
14:30
SPEAKER_00: I know they were short on volunteers this year, so I think it was they did, like I said, they did the best they could.
14:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and so I did get lost.
14:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, I came out of one of the swims too early.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: I came, I I thought I was siding correctly.
14:45
SPEAKER_00: I saw this little beach, I'm going towards it.
14:48
SPEAKER_00: I get out and then I look around because I don't see anybody, and then they all just were kept going that way.
14:53
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, ah, dang it.
14:55
SPEAKER_00: So they get back and get back in.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: But like I said, right?
14:59
SPEAKER_00: You don't have any expectations, so it's all kind of and fun and and things like that.
15:04
SPEAKER_00: And I think like the community was really fun too.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of other triathlon races are like this too, but everybody is obviously super supportive and fun.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: When people are running with you, you're talking and chatting and stuff, and at the at the finish line, everybody, it's like a big party, they have a big cookout for everybody.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: So that was, I also thought that was really cool and unique because it's a smaller community, right?
15:27
SPEAKER_00: There are people who like I joined this community on Instagram and social media, and there are like strictly swim run, you know, communities where this is what they do.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: They don't do triathlons, but they just do swim runs.
15:39
SPEAKER_00: So it's a tight-knit community.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: So you could you got that sense as well.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: And they have there's several small ones, but there's also like four or five really big swim run races around the country.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: And so they there's a lot of people that like do all of them and they know each other and stuff.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: So I you got that community feel at the at the finish line too, which was which was fun to to learn about because I hadn't known about it really.
16:04
Coach Carlie: Um, I know Otillo is because that I believe that's an Otillo race.
16:11
Coach Carlie: Yes, the main one was, yeah, yeah.
16:12
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
16:13
Coach Carlie: Wow.
16:14
Coach Carlie: So cool.
16:15
Coach Carlie: So do you feel like you want to do this again?
16:20
SPEAKER_00: I do.
16:21
SPEAKER_00: I liked it.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: So my and I I think I like not ruined it, but I I hear people say the main one is the best one in the US.
16:29
SPEAKER_00: So I I wouldn't mind doing that one again because it was fun.
16:32
SPEAKER_00: But like you said, Otillo, I think there's Austin, Fort Collins, and then somewhere off the coast of Washington, I think are the other the other ones.
16:43
SPEAKER_00: So like I was telling my husband, let's just make a little, you know, little vacation every year out of me going to these places and racing, and then you have some local ones, like here in North Carolina.
16:54
SPEAKER_00: They have smaller ones.
16:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's the um the Lake North Lake James one.
16:58
Coach Carlie: Oh, Lake James, yeah.
16:59
Coach Carlie: That one is next year, Saturday, April 24th, 2027.
17:02
Coach Carlie: And that is looks like the the Odyssey version, which is the longer one, which is a four-mile swim and fifteen mile mile run, and then I think that they also have one that's like half that.
17:15
Coach Carlie: So I guess you could consider it like sprint and full kind of situation.
17:19
Coach Carlie: They used to have swim run North Carolina, right?
17:22
Coach Carlie: I remember reading about that.
17:24
Coach Carlie: Yeah, but that one is that was wicked cool.
17:28
Coach Carlie: But I think that one's on pause for right now.
17:32
Coach Carlie: So but Otillo obviously has its own Yeah, they're their own like entity.
17:38
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
17:39
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
17:40
Coach Carlie: So cool.
17:41
Coach Carlie: So do you think you're gonna do Maine again?
17:44
Coach Carlie: Are you gonna what's next?
17:46
Coach Carlie: I don't know, yes.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: 2027?
17:48
SPEAKER_00: 2027, yeah.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: We'll see what I'll have to look at the dates of all the other the other races, but I really like Maine a lot.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: That's it's a great place if if you guys have never been and you know, spend a little time there afterwards and stuff.
18:01
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we'll see what the what the dates look like.
18:03
SPEAKER_00: I at least want to do one in 2027, so that's we'll we'll decide which one.
18:08
Coach Carlie: Yeah, I know.
18:09
Coach Carlie: Keep us updated because that is intriguing.
18:11
Coach Carlie: I have never been to Maine.
18:13
Coach Carlie: Oh yeah, but you know, so and you know, the families used to it like, okay, where where where are we going now?
18:21
SPEAKER_00: What what's mommy doing?
18:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I I love that they have the the varying distances too.
18:27
SPEAKER_00: It it really like lowers the the entry, you know, it's it's not as intimidating.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, I don't think I will ever do a World Series one, but maybe I'll go up a little bit next time.
18:40
unknown: Yeah.
18:41
Coach Carlie: So it's it's really good entry.
18:44
Coach Carlie: Do you find a good partner?
18:46
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
18:46
Coach Carlie: And is it easy to train?
18:49
Coach Carlie: I mean, not to say it's not easy to train around here because you do have access to the ocean.
18:52
Coach Carlie: You do have access to lakes, but it's hot here.
18:56
Coach Carlie: You know, it is very inconvenient to run in a wetsuit.
19:02
SPEAKER_00: It was tough.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: It was warm and with the swim cap on.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Some people took their swim caps off during the longer runs.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: And especially I see pictures and stuff like of the World Series ones where their long runs are like 10Ks and stuff like that.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: So I I definitely would do that.
19:17
SPEAKER_00: But since my longest run was like two miles, I'm not gonna deal with because you know, once you take the cap off, there's no guarantee you're getting it back on.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:25
Coach Carlie: Yes.
19:25
Coach Carlie: And then and then it just goes like, you know, like go to put it on, and then it just it rips in half and then it like flies.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:31
unknown: You're like, well.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: And then most um, if your wetsuit permitted, most people would, you know, zip down for a little bit, but but again, you're like carrying a lot of stuff too.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:43
SPEAKER_00: And so having like a good belt with some carabiners, that was that was clutch for me as well to to hook everything because I'm not big on stuffing stuff inside of me.
19:53
SPEAKER_00: It just bothers me.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: That's where a lot of people put their their fuel and things like that.
19:57
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I just had everything on my belt.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
20:01
Coach Carlie: So it does.
20:01
Coach Carlie: So for you for those of you who are like, hmm, this is intriguing.
20:05
Coach Carlie: Also, I know some of you lost us that you swim in your shoes.
20:09
Coach Carlie: Right.
20:09
Coach Carlie: But give it a chance, y'all.
20:11
Coach Carlie: Give it a chance.
20:12
Coach Carlie: I'm just saying.
20:13
SPEAKER_00: That was not as bad as I thought it was gonna be.
20:15
SPEAKER_00: The shoes right?
20:15
Coach Carlie: Yeah, yeah.
20:16
Coach Carlie: It's really not it's it's really not that bad.
20:19
Coach Carlie: Um, and I am not big, I am also like a squishy suit.
20:23
Coach Carlie: Shoes is a hard pass for me.
20:25
Coach Carlie: And I had a blast in run.
20:28
Coach Carlie: It does there, there is now more specific gear for swim run.
20:33
Coach Carlie: Like you were mentioning the zip in the front.
20:35
Coach Carlie: Most wetsuits zip in the back.
20:37
Coach Carlie: Right, yep.
20:37
Coach Carlie: And it's not so it's like a it's a shorty.
20:40
Coach Carlie: Although I think you you did you have long sleeves?
20:43
Coach Carlie: Nope, mine was short.
20:44
Coach Carlie: Yeah, you you had short, okay.
20:45
Coach Carlie: Yep.
20:46
Coach Carlie: Um, yeah, because I did the shorty, but it zipped in the back.
20:48
Coach Carlie: It was a standard wetsuit, but you can buy the ones that zip in the front.
20:52
Coach Carlie: Um, and you can buy sleeves, you can buy gloves, you can and you can also rent too.
20:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, cool.
20:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so you can rent so there it would have been like 50 bucks to rent an actual swim run.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, wetsuit.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just like decided I wanted to own one because I wanted to, you know, probably do this several times.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: And you got to pee in your own wetsuit in my.
21:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, however, you guys feel about that.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: Sharing a wetsuit with somebody else, that's up to you.
21:18
SPEAKER_00: But if you yeah, if you're like not sure you want to get into it and you don't want to invest in your own, I think that's a great opportunity too for to rent one.
21:25
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
21:26
Coach Carlie: And then you had mentioned carrying paddles and a buoy, but to clarify, that's not required.
21:33
SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
21:34
SPEAKER_00: I think most people had a buoy because the buoy helps with the shoes.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: People are like, what?
21:39
SPEAKER_00: You're still with your shoes, it helps to counter the the heavy shoes, it helps to keep that stuff.
21:43
SPEAKER_00: A lot of people didn't have paddles because people have different opinions on paddles, and depending on if you like training with them or not, and things like that.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: I had them because I I wanted to train with them because I knew they would help me.
21:55
Coach Carlie: Yeah, yeah.
21:56
Coach Carlie: That was your strength training, by the way, Alyssa.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: It really, it really was.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And that's another piece of advice.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: Like, if you are gonna use them on race day, make sure you train with them.
22:09
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
22:10
unknown: Yeah.
22:10
Coach Carlie: And there are you have to attach it to yourself and figure out how to get it all back and forth.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you see you learn the you learn the order, like, okay, wait, I can't put my paddles on before my goggles, because then I'm like So those small things, it just makes you laugh in the middle.
22:28
SPEAKER_00: Like the very first transition, you're like, okay, I can do this, I can do this.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: Oh wait.
22:36
Coach Carlie: Oh, that's so And then you're like, duh, what was I thinking?
22:44
Coach Carlie: Like, oh yeah, goggles first.
22:46
Coach Carlie: Okay.
22:47
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
22:48
Coach Carlie: Any other things you would do differently next time?
22:52
SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know.
22:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, besides learning those transitions and those small details, I feel like now that I am aware, it's just things that you wouldn't have even figured out until you you did the race, you know, those small details running in the wetsuit a little bit more.
23:08
SPEAKER_00: Because I did get some chafing and I I had prepared, you know, I did the glide on like the usual spots, but I actually was chafing like around the neck towards the end.
23:17
SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, getting more used to running in the wetsuit.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: And it's like I did it once, I ran around my neighborhood in my wetsuit.
23:25
Coach Carlie: That's amazing.
23:27
SPEAKER_00: And after that, I was like, I think it's okay.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: My neighbors now officially and this is the summer, right?
23:40
SPEAKER_00: Because it was the race was in August, so I was doing this in the summer.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: It's like, but yeah, I was thinking about the heat, and I was like, I have to have to get used to it.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: So I did it once or twice, I think, and I was like, okay, I think that's fine.
23:52
Coach Carlie: That's yeah, that's that will suffice, especially in the middle of the summer.
23:56
Coach Carlie: Oh that's that's rough.
24:00
Coach Carlie: Uh because getting a wetsuit kind of on and off is a little weird, especially if you're hot and then wet on top of that.
24:08
Coach Carlie: So I I did notice that some people would zip it down and like let it fall to their waist.
24:15
Coach Carlie: Yeah, completely.
24:15
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
24:16
Coach Carlie: And then you gotta go through the whole situation of putting all that back on, which is you know, when you're wet and sweaty, it's you know, and that's that's where a partner would help too.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: They were talking about that.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: Like when you do have a partner, it's much easier to to do all that because then you can you can help each other.
24:31
SPEAKER_00: And for like I said, the the World Series distances where you're running 10, 15k, I would definitely take that off.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: But like I said, for for me, the longest run was two miles.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I don't, I don't think it's worth it to try to it would take me that long just to get it back on.
24:48
Coach Carlie: Yes.
24:49
Coach Carlie: Oh, and that's that's rough.
24:51
Coach Carlie: But you still can do partners.
24:53
Coach Carlie: I made my partner carry all my nutrition because they had a cool pocket and I used to bucket.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, did we out the the equipment and the nutrition to each other?
25:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because did they have good aid stations there?
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh yes, they did, yeah.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, they definitely didn't concern about that.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: Pretty pretty often too.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but it's just like all theirs was they had all pres precision fuel.
25:20
SPEAKER_00: So if that's something that you didn't like or you'd never trained with, then you probably would want to bring your own whatever you're comfortable with.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: But they they had plenty to go to.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:28
SPEAKER_00: That's really cool.
25:29
Coach Carlie: Okay.
25:30
Coach Carlie: So 2027 is gonna be swim run, but yep, we'll keep you posted on which one.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:36
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
25:37
Coach Carlie: Okay.
25:37
Coach Carlie: Yeah, let us know.
25:39
Coach Carlie: And then let us know when we can get you on the bike.
25:41
Coach Carlie: Just, you know, just to I will.
25:43
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
25:45
Coach Carlie: What was your what was your tell me again, what was your hang up with the bike?
25:49
SPEAKER_00: I think it was so I did, I did a sprint triathlon exactly like 10 years ago.
25:55
SPEAKER_00: It was right when I graduated college.
25:57
SPEAKER_00: I was still very fit.
25:58
SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I'm just gonna do it because just hang on to this fitness as long as I can.
26:03
SPEAKER_00: And I I think my hang up was I was straight out of college.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: So I got like a Facebook marketplace bike like two weeks before the race.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: And so I I didn't know how to like use it.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: The you know, the seat was off, the it was all not my size and things like that.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: I like didn't know how to properly use the gears during the race.
26:25
SPEAKER_00: So people were like passing me, and I know they shouldn't have been passing me, and I was getting frustrated, you know, my bottom was hurting.
26:34
Coach Carlie: Spoken like a true mother of a one-year-old, by the way.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: And so that was just that was that.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: But I think for me now in my life, and tri athletes know this, you know, the biking, it it's time consuming.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: And so, like right now, and it's you know, financially consuming as well.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think those are the two main things for me right now that I'm not like gonna get into it quite yet.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: And that's why I I do see like the people like you know, mid-20s to mid-30s, where I'm at, like, there's not a lot of people doing triathlon uh in that age group unless they're like really, really into it.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's not a lot of recreational people like me.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: And I I think it's because of that, because of the the time and the the financial commitment.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: So I I I always tell my husband, like mid-40s, that's where we'll be because kids are older, I don't have to worry about them.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can go out and do my own thing for hours at a time.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
27:36
Coach Carlie: It's interesting how Trathon is just generally shifting in terms of like average age, and a lot of that is because it's it's not cheap, and um it's not like it's intentionally not cheap, it's just not cheap.
27:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I mean a lot of I mean swim run, like there's levels.
27:53
SPEAKER_00: Like you could have I I just had like my good old Speedo uh hand paddles, but there's ARC ones that you could get for like several hundred dollars, the buoys you can get for so that's it that's there's okay.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: There's levels, yeah.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: There's levels to every sport, right?
28:08
SPEAKER_00: There's there is levels to every sport.
28:09
Coach Carlie: And that is honestly not the cheapest sport either.
28:13
Coach Carlie: And I, from a race director perspective, I just can't even imagine the degree to which there is not only support, but like course design and getting people where they I mean, yeah, you know.
28:26
Coach Carlie: Yeah, logistics.
28:27
Coach Carlie: It's not it's not a small uh if you're used to Iron Man 70.3, then you won't be surprised by what a swim run costs.
28:35
Coach Carlie: Right.
28:36
Coach Carlie: But you know, it's all depend it all depends, right?
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you can do it on a budget too.
28:42
SPEAKER_00: Like I there's so many college kids doing this on a budget too, and you can still have fun and and do really well, right?
28:47
SPEAKER_00: You still it's still dependent on the athlete.
28:49
SPEAKER_00: All these expensive equipment does help, but still you gotta put the training in and you know and perform.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: But I still think the bike is, yeah, I just I need a nice bike to get me in there.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: So Alyssa can borrow.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm about five five.
29:09
Coach Carlie: Because I can see, and you are not alone in this.
29:12
Coach Carlie: Uh, there are so many people who start just like you started and are like, screw this, I am not getting passed by everybody and their brother.
29:20
Coach Carlie: And yes, it hurts my bum a little bit.
29:23
Coach Carlie: And you know, just like anything else, it's like wearing a wetsuit that's too small or too big.
29:27
Coach Carlie: You're like, this is miserable.
29:29
Coach Carlie: I hate this.
29:30
Coach Carlie: Um, so anyway, we'll get there.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: We'll get there.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:34
SPEAKER_00: I I have no doubt that there's triathlon in my future.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: Like, I just I know there will be.
29:38
SPEAKER_00: Just we're gonna do swim run right now.
29:40
Coach Carlie: I I love it.
29:41
Coach Carlie: I love it.
29:42
Coach Carlie: Swim run is so fun.
29:43
Coach Carlie: I'm excited to see how you progress in the sport, and you'll have to keep us updated with future race reports.
29:50
Coach Carlie: Yeah.
29:51
Coach Carlie: Cool.
29:51
Coach Carlie: Alyssa, thanks for sharing your story.
29:53
Coach Carlie: Thank you so much.