That Triathlon Life Podcast

Nick and Eric are heading to Arizona this weekend to pace Heather Jackson through the final 40 miles of Javelina Jundred, Eric takes miles 60-80, Nick runs her home from 80 to 100 through the night. We preview the plan, talk through what we’re in for, and then get into a full question bag. Team TTL emails are out, Racing Division decisions are coming, and there’s something new dropping on the webs...

Eric and Paula are recording from Canada, Nick’s in LA, and the mailbag is full of Kona questions. We work through what the race actually does to your body and why it breaks even the best in the world, answer your training and gear questions, get a van update, and weigh in on the Moab 240 weather cancellation controversy. This week we discussed: Bike Tech with Eric: should you remove dried tubeles...

Paula raced the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and this is the full, unfiltered debrief. No questions this week. Just Paula, Eric, and Nick working through the whole day: the rough, choppy swim, the windy bike leg, and a marathon that became something else entirely. This episode is the whole story: The days leading into Kona: the commitments, the exhaustion, the headaches, and whether the rac...

Just the boys this week. We're recording live from Kona, a couple of days before Paula toes the line at the Ironman World Championship. Eric and Nick recap the week so far, including the TTL Donut Run, which brought out some familiar faces including Flora Duffy, Heather Jackson, and Jodie Stimpson. Then listener submitted questions. This week we discussed: Kona race week: what it's actua...

One week out from leaving for Kona, Paula is in the background sketching the donut run poster while we record. We open with a busy weekend of racing, Augusta 70.3, the World Triathlon Grand Final sprint in Pontevedra, and UCI Road Racing Worlds, then get into Team TTL applications opening today, the Kona donut run details, and your questions. This week we discussed: Augusta 70.3 results: Lydia Rus...

We're recording at 7:15pm and going to bed at 7:30, which means we are bending time and space to record this. First up: TTL Mad Libs, a new segment submitted by Mike the Botox guy, in which we fill in a Kona race guide and somehow end up with Pierce Brosnan at the finish line. Then we get through a full question bag before someone's bedtime. This week we discussed: Kona apparel update: a...

Paula and Eric are home from Nice, jet lagged, and ready to talk about it. Paula raced 70.3 World Championships on a course that demands technical descending skills built over years on European roads, and still finished top ten. The swim packs that split apart, arriving at the Col de Vance already fatigued, the Race Ranger rules that disrupted everyone's rhythm on the climb, a drafting incide...

Nick and Eric are recording live from Nice, France ahead of 70.3 World Championships. Fresh off an open water swim in the Med, about to head out for a ride, the boys talk triathlon while Paula is in race week mode and sitting this one out. This week we discussed: Live from Nice: what it's been like being here for 70.3 Worlds, and how the experience compares to Kona Ironman events selling out...

Nick is recording from his neighbor's WiFi, Eric's in the van, Paula is doing her own audio engineering, but the gang got it together anyway! We kick things off with an airline R apid Fire before getting into a full question bag that covers racing, going pro, travel logistics, and a Chattanooga guide for a UK family about to combine 70.3 Worlds with Disney World. This week we discussed:...

Paula and Eric are back from five days in Kona. Riding the Queen K in both calm and full-crosswind conditions, running the Energy Lab, and getting the lay of the land before race week. Eric also cracked a rim on post-hurricane debris in the shoulder. Meanwhile, Paula made the Canadian national team for UCI Time Trial Worlds in Montreal and had to turn it down. After some Bike Tech with Eric about...

Nobody knew Paula was racing, not her inner circle, barely even Paula herself until she was already on the plane to Vancouver. Three weeks out from Kona, she lined up at T100 Vancouver against an elite international field with zero expectations and finished fourth. We get the full race recap: the ocean current swim, the Race Ranger chaos on the bike that had Eric firing off texts from the couch, w...

It's a warm, smoky evening in Bend, the kind where you drive to Sisters for training and now you're recording a podcast instead of sleeping. We kept it deliberate and efficient this week, which means we absolutely went off on mattresses, California Chicken Cafe, and ice cream. In between, a great bag of questions. This week we discussed: 1x vs. 2x drivetrains: the actual advantages of ea...

We're loopy, and apparently incapable of saying basic words out loud, which means it's a great episode. We kick things off with a new This or That segment that goes off the rails almost immediately, then get into ten listener questions that end up going somewhere unexpected. Big week energy after the last two, different energy this week. This week we discussed: This or That: firm surface...

Things are back to normal in Bend and Los Angeles. Paula's quads have finally recovered, training is back on, and we've got a full question bag to get through. We open with a food theme Rapid Fire , check in on what post-race blues actually feel like after something as big as Lake Placid, and get into the philosophy of fear in sport: before races, before hard sessions, and why accepting...

Paula Findlay wins Ironman Lake Placid on her very first full distance triathlon attempt. Setting the bike course record, ringing the first-timer's bell, and crossing the tape after one of the most composed performances of the year. Nick and Eric were both on course for the day, and this week all three of us sit down to relive every moment: the cold non-wetsuit swim chasing Chelsea Sodaro, th...

We're recording in person in Lake Placid, two days before Paula toes the line at her first-ever Ironman. She's feeling good, she's excited, and she's ready. We get into all of it before diving into your questions. It's a full bag this week, from the science of optimal racing temperatures to the very real question of how big the jump from 70.3 to full distance actually is,...

Elise Lagerstrom — Eric's sister and two-time desert ultra champion — joins us to recount winning the Gobi March outright, becoming the first woman in the race's 20-year history to beat all men across a 250-kilometer, seven-day self-supported ultra through central Mongolia. We cover everything: the emergency electrolyte crisis at mile 12, how she managed a 52-minute buffer over second pl...

This week we have a shorter episode getting straight to questions. Nick podiums third overall at San Diego International Triathlon, feeling breathless the whole time. We get into it. Then we launch the official TTL Eddington Number Challenge (with a gift card prize), debut the Lake Placid limited edition merch, and answer your questions. This week we discussed: Nick's San Diego International...

Paula is racing the Canadian National Time Trial Championships, so it's a bro pod, especially when Ari Klau calls in live from O'Hare Airport after his first-ever 70.3 win at Mont-Tremblant to finally explain the shoe phone celebration that baffled the entire internet. We also break down a deceptively addictive cycling metric, answer your bike tech questions, and get into open water swim...

Paula wins the 70.3 North American Championship in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania. Her fourth North American title. We do a full race recap covering Paula's pre-race warmup adjustments, the bike leg where she went full throttle up a climb, fueling breakthroughs, timing chip chafe as a legitimate race threat, and shoutout to Lindee Kent for delivering the best aid station splits anyone has ever he...

This week Nick races the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon for the first time. We do a full race recap, answer Instagram questions from listeners who followed along, and discuss whether the steep price tag is actually worth it. Eventually we also got to our classic listener submitted questions. This week we discussed: Nick's Escape from Alcatraz race recap: the jump off the ferry, 57° Bay swim,...

This week we kicked things off with Eric's experience crewing for Heather Jackson at Unbound XL, 350 miles of gravel, mud, and racing through the night. Josh Amberger also made a stunning gravel debut with a fourth-place finish, and we had some thoughts on that. Then we went through listener questions. We also talked the Escape from Alcatraz donut run, compression shorts, and the best perks o...

This week we almost didn’t manage to record a podcast between travel, family visits, birthday celebrations, and Eric leaving at 5 a.m. to film Heather Jackson at Unbound XL, but skipping wasn’t an option. So instead, we went full rapid-fire mode and packed in as many listener-submitted questions as possible. We also talked fast helmets, Escape From Alcatraz, questionable podcast comments, and the...

This week we hear all about Paula’s experience racing through the highs and lows of IRONMAN 70.3 Chattanooga, but not before hearing Nick’s trail running adventures in Maui, Hawaii, and getting an update from last week’s mysterious Mr. Smith. When we finally got to listener questions, we discussed: Washing your sweaty cycling helmet Riding with someone who’s always pushing the pace Making parts of...

This week we’re gearing up for Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga as Paula Findlay prepares to race this weekend. She also brought us a challenging Swim Sets With Paula before we dove into listener questions. This week we covered: Sherpa-ing Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga for a pro triathlete Training alone vs. training with friends Adjusting swim sets from short course to long course Forbidden love between triat...