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Passing the Ironman Test | First Guest Episode

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For this milestone episode, we're joined by our brother, who has completed long-distance swims, a marathon, and both half and full Ironman races.

We talk about what inspired him to take on these endurance challenges, what training for an Ironman actually looks like, the mental and physical hurdles along the way, and the lessons he's learned from pushing his limits.

Whether you're thinking about signing up for your first race, training for an endurance event, or just curious about whether Ian peed himself during the race, this episode is for you.

Tune in as we put Ironman training to the test. 

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Super loud.

SPEAKER_03

Oh fuck it. That's why I put it on the side. Shit. Damn it. Well, we're off to a great start.

SPEAKER_01

What's up, Amy Students?

SPEAKER_00

On the microphone, you've got Amy and Lydia. Woo-Whoo!

SPEAKER_02

We're back with another Thursday episode as always.

SPEAKER_00

We're back with this will be on the test. Will this be on the test? Some of it might.

SPEAKER_03

I mean, like you listen to this.

SPEAKER_02

So make sure to grab a notebook and because this will be on the test. Hello, A students. Today is our very first guest episode, and we have somebody on, Ian McKenzie, and you can tell by the name, his genetics are impeccable because they're the same as ours. So our brother Ian is with us today. He's gonna be telling us how to train for an Iron Man.

SPEAKER_04

It's funny when you said brother Ian, I felt like a priest. Yes, my chat. Ian, brother Ian, tell us about your Iron Man. This sounds like you know, typical conversation with brother Ian.

SPEAKER_02

How badass would that be, though, if you were we have a very sweet setup. I was gonna say, how badass would what be?

SPEAKER_04

If a priest ran an Iron Man. I bet that's happened. I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02

Probably with the power of Jesus.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, I bet you're faster because you have God behind you. It's like having somebody push. Is that cheating? I feel like that might be cheating. I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

I don't think so. You always have like backwind.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, exactly. And if not, if it comes to the front, like then you're just not supposed to win. Yeah. Then this God just decided, not today.

SPEAKER_02

You can always blame it on God. Exactly.

SPEAKER_04

Your wins, your losses, everything.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's not my fault.

SPEAKER_04

Did you see how much wind there was? That wasn't my fault. I was doing good. I'm on PR.

SPEAKER_02

So I have a funny story before we get into the Would You Rathers. I was having a really terrible day on Tuesday. And I was like riding my bike home. I had this little break in between, and I was already almost crying on my way home. And then on my bike. No, it gets worse. And I was looking down because I was in my thoughts, and I look up to find my face in the back window of a car. No shit. I full on ran into a car. Like, front back wheel was up, my face was in his car. Yeah. And I just started sobbing.

SPEAKER_04

Wait, I have so many questions. Like, how did you not see the car? Were you because you were quoting the one?

SPEAKER_02

Well no, I wasn't acting there.

SPEAKER_05

It's just like through the tears, you can't see.

SPEAKER_02

And then he had to stop very suddenly. We weren't going that fast. And I look up and I go, I'm just turning it to him. And then he comes out and I'm like full on like snot is coming down everything. I was like, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. He's like, it's okay. He checked my bike, he checked his car. He was the sweetest man. But I was just full on sobbing it around this poor guy.

SPEAKER_04

Is it weird to get to the age with your siblings where you're like, fuck, I would have paid good money to see that. It's just like the but it makes it a little bit a little bit sweeter. If I could have that. You see she's fine. Yeah, she's fine. Like that's as long as they're fine, like then I definitely want to see it.

SPEAKER_02

I didn't even have any, I thought I'd have a few bruises or something, but just like the the window print I'll do.

SPEAKER_04

Did you leave a mark or like no? Did you just kind of bump them? I just kind of bumped them. Yeah. Oh, okay. So it was, you know. But like you were looking, like well, I mean you were in your thoughts, you know.

SPEAKER_02

I was looking down and then all of a sudden I was looking at a talk.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. This is actually so accurate for me as well. Because like two weeks ago I was having a really bad day, and then I went for a bike ride, and I cut off two cars, and both of them honked at me, and I went back to Tarek and I was like, wow, when I'm not feeling well, I should not be allowed to bike or drive.

SPEAKER_00

This is super dangerous. Like, I've I was so unaware of everything because I was so like uncomfortable in myself.

SPEAKER_04

So it sounds like y'all just suck at cycling. Like, maybe it has nothing to do with having a bad day. Maybe you're just bad at riding a bike.

SPEAKER_01

Like maybe Iron Man. Yeah, like you ride a bike for a long time there.

SPEAKER_04

Like, that's a long bike ride. So, Iron Man stuff. What do you want to know? What do you want to know?

SPEAKER_02

Well, we always start off with the most important questions in life. Nice. Um, would you rather do an Iron Man Untrained or have to run with Ardes Achi untrained? You know who Ardesace is?

SPEAKER_04

Is that the new marathon guy?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, the guy who ran the 600 kilometers in like 102 hours or something.

SPEAKER_04

Wait, what?

SPEAKER_02

I thought it was sure that you'd yeah, he wanted to do he wanted to do it in 96 hours. What? 600 kilometers. Oh my god. Jesus. Yeah. He took like catnaps and and he filmed himself doing the whole thing.

SPEAKER_04

He did it by himself.

SPEAKER_02

Well, he had a team filming him. Okay. Well, no, no, no, it wasn't him with his yeah, he had a small crow.

SPEAKER_00

But then becomes the question: who's more impressive? This guy or this cameraman who's just like, I got this. Fair.

SPEAKER_04

So wait, the the dude, the this what's his name? Right. Ar Dasachi. I was sure you wouldn't know you. Mr. Pesace.

SPEAKER_02

Um 123 hours. 123 hours for 600 kilometers.

SPEAKER_04

So the question is, would I rather run that trained? Untrained. Untrained.

SPEAKER_00

Or do an Iron Man untrained. Or keep up with him untrained. Or do an Iron Man untrained.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. The 600 kilometers untrained? Yeah, no shit. I feel like this question is pretty easy. Art Asachi says, come on, bro, let's go for a run. And you have to keep up with him.

SPEAKER_04

Let's go for a run. And he ends up going 600 kilometers.

SPEAKER_00

It's a crossing state lines. It's a cheese for him. It's only like 60.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, okay. So, like, do I want to run 600 kilometers untrained, or do I want to do whatever the Iron Man distance is untrained? Yeah. Um, I'm gonna go with the Iron Man. Like, I feel like that's a pretty easy Why is that easy?

SPEAKER_02

Like either way, you die, dude.

SPEAKER_04

But like, but 600 kilometers, how long did it take him?

SPEAKER_02

123 hours.

SPEAKER_04

Dude, what the fuck? No way. 123 hours. I I but I did it in 14 hours. So you can either suffer for 10 times as long. Like it's not even it's not even complicated.

SPEAKER_02

You don't have to do the 600 kilometers in. You just you go for a little shakeout run with Artisaji. I have a question.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have to keep up with him? Yeah. That's a good question. But you get to keep up with him. Because if I have to keep up with this person, we are running 400 meters. And then I'm probably out because his pace is way too fast for me.

SPEAKER_04

I don't think he's fast if you're doing 600. I think you're almost like you're barely above walking.

SPEAKER_02

No, no, no. He was running 630. 630. Jesus.

SPEAKER_04

For a little while.

SPEAKER_02

For like 10k. Like when when one of my friend would follow the videos, and when she looked was looking at his pace, she was like, he's running a 630 at the moment.

SPEAKER_04

Damn.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, it's not that's not crazy fast, but for that distance, that's crazy fast. No, easy. I would do an Iron Man. Because also you have three different disciplines.

SPEAKER_02

That's fair, yeah. Right? The other one is just running and running and running. And like, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

You'll be like dead afterwards.

SPEAKER_02

The thing with the Iron Man that scares me is the water.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, you want to do an Iron Man?

SPEAKER_02

No, but we have to answer the Woodie Brothers too. Oh. So I both of them suck.

SPEAKER_04

But how are you picking 600 kilometers over? Oh no, it's not even close.

SPEAKER_00

It's just you have to go for a run with him.

SPEAKER_04

You just oh, so you're just going for a Monday run with him. Well, fuck yeah, I just go for the run then.

SPEAKER_02

But a Monday run with him, if 600 kilometers is what he usually does. It's like, let's go for a 60 kilometer shakeout run.

SPEAKER_04

Oh.

SPEAKER_02

You see what I mean? He probably has chill days where he only does 10.

SPEAKER_04

He got chill days. I might get lucky and get a chill day. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00

You might get unlucky and get his Sunday runs, though, too. Sunday long run. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04

But do you roll the dice on that and then you don't have to do a full Iron Man untrained?

SPEAKER_02

I think you do.

SPEAKER_04

So if it's like a shakeout run, if it's like one and you potentially could run 60k, that would suck. But having someone who's already done it doing it would be really dope. You know, like being able to follow him. If you if you have a bit of fitness and you can follow him, I think that would be sick.

SPEAKER_02

That's true. And you could meet him.

SPEAKER_04

And you can meet him, right? And a lot of people pay a lot of money to go run with that dude.

SPEAKER_02

That's true.

SPEAKER_04

So if it's just a shakeout run, I think, I think you gotta. I don't know what the fuck a shakeout run is, but like I'm just saying it because you guys said it. Yeah. What's a shakeout run?

SPEAKER_02

Like all the social media runners, like Sunday shakeout run where they just go a slower pace and it's just so like shake out your legs kind of thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Then I changed my mind. I'm going for the shakeout. Okay. Yeah. And hopefully I don't get a 60k day. Because if I do, I'm dead for the week.

SPEAKER_02

Listen, we got contacts. The podcast is doing well. Dude. We can totally get this done. Would you rather um pee during the bike ride or shit yourself during the last five kilometers?

SPEAKER_04

Pee during the bike ride.

SPEAKER_00

It's a thing that guys do during Iron Man's time. Hell yeah. Did you? Are you kidding? Of course. Multiple times.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, did I pee myself? No, I pulled over and I got it.

SPEAKER_00

No, no, no, like pee yourself or shit yourself.

SPEAKER_04

Pee.

SPEAKER_00

But then like the entire rest of the bike ride and the run, you're like running in pee pants? Dog, it is.

SPEAKER_02

But did you wait wait wait? Did you pee yourself during the Iron Man?

SPEAKER_04

I think a little, but not like not like full on. I didn't like pee. You know, like I I saw a lot of guys who wear like the full one suit, and I was like, ha ha, you're fucked. Because anytime you want to go to the bathroom, you have to piss yourself.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And the thing is, like, a lot of people when you watch Iron Man videos and all the training stuff, like I did the same. You're like, okay, this is how you optimize for everything. And like what the video doesn't mention is it's it's like a 12-hour day of doing sports. It's a lot, regardless. So for the guys who were in those one suits and were like not pros and like back there with me, like in the like amateur times, you have no business wearing a one piece. Like wear two, like I did, I had shorts and a top, brought I pulled over, I would take, you know, take in the view, all this kind of stuff. Like for sure, man. Like in my mind, when I went into the race, I thought I was like, I'm gonna be like optimized. I tried to do like oh, I had so many stupid shit that I tried to do and like things I I tell you afterwards, but like yeah, of course. I know I would and still to full piss myself or shit myself, full piss myself because it is hot as shit. You're sweating a lot throughout the race. That liquid could come through anywhere, and by the time you actually have to go, it's not really piss anymore, it's just like water because you have so much liquid that you're putting back that it just filters out into like and also imagine this the last 5k. You shit yourself, all right? Now, you this is the only time you've seen people for like the last like 12 hours, and you're running across the finish line, and there's like a big brown stain on the back, and like you are an iron man. I'm a man of steel, baby.

SPEAKER_00

Rust stains on my underwear, but the other way you show up to the finish line and you have done a little bit of a bike ride and then a full marathon and piss pants, you are going to smell like pee so badly.

SPEAKER_04

Did I smell good when I crossed the finish line? No, but you didn't smell like piss.

SPEAKER_00

But will you? Smell like piss.

SPEAKER_04

Dude, no, you won't. I don't think you will out because you have so much time to you'll sweat it out, like it's you're pouring water on yourself. You've got ice on your hat. Like it was a hot day.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. I think if it's raining, it's a very easy question. Then you definitely choose pee.

SPEAKER_04

Even if it's sunny. Dude, pee 1000%. Like shit yourself, what the fuck? That's also then the rest of your day is ruined because you've shit yourself.

SPEAKER_00

True. I wonder if there's anyone, sorry, random thought, that has had a really good day after shitting themselves.

SPEAKER_04

There's a video of a female tra athlete, like one of the best in the world. I think she won this race, and you see her like running, and the camera's like on the back of a truck and it pants over to her, and she goes, Please don't film behind me. I just shit myself.

SPEAKER_05

Like goes to win this shit. It's like, dude, Iron Man are like, they're different, bro. Like, it's yeah.

SPEAKER_00

So okay, what if you shot yourself, you take 30 minutes off your time.

SPEAKER_04

If I had a good time, yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Like shitting yourself? Yeah. If I had a good time shitting.

SPEAKER_04

If I had a great time shitting myself, I would, I would do it. No, but if I was like, if I was doing, if I had a good time already set and like I was at the last bits, and I'm like, I'm wearing black pants anyway, and I get 30 minutes off, hell yeah. I'm going to Kona, baby. I'm going getting that spot. 30 minutes. Yeah, for sure. Because by then you're like, you're so wrecked, you know, you don't really care. And like you're gonna have a shower pretty soon anyway. So, like, sure. Yeah, I'll take 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Lydia, same question.

SPEAKER_02

30 minutes? No. No? I mean, I'd be impressed if I could just do an iron.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, but dog, you've trained for like a year.

SPEAKER_00

What about a marathon? You take half an hour off your marathon time, but you shit yourself. That's a lot. That's a lot on the time.

SPEAKER_04

That's a lot. Like, you're up with the pros if you're like, if you can run like somewhere around a three and a half.

SPEAKER_02

Do I have to shit myself then every time I do a marathon? If you want for 30 minutes, it comes. It's not a freebie. That's my trademark.

SPEAKER_04

Literally trademark.

SPEAKER_02

This girl runs so fast.

SPEAKER_01

She also shits herself a lot, but uh yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Just don't run behind her.

SPEAKER_05

Make sure you're in front.

SPEAKER_01

Really motivates everybody with her. Like, oh my god, she's about to blow. Gross.

SPEAKER_02

What would it be? The 35k mark is coming up, guys. Yeah, I think for a marathon I would.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Because then for an Iron Man, I don't think it would make a difference in my time if it was half an hour more or less. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But if you had a like if for my last one, hell no. Like I was already like slow as shit. So I'm like, no, I don't need I don't need to be slow and covered in shit. Like, no, I'm good. Like, I'll just be slow.

SPEAKER_02

But would you for an for a marathon?

SPEAKER_00

No.

SPEAKER_04

Bro, for 30 minutes on a marathon? You better say yes.

SPEAKER_00

No, because my marathon time was shit. I was like just under five hours. Yeah, but if I'm four and a half hours rather than five hours, like I don't care that much about it. If I was running a sub-four hour marathon, which I don't see happening in my lifetime, maybe.

SPEAKER_04

Well, if you shit yourself, you'll get there. What'd be like 4 15?

SPEAKER_00

I'd be tempted. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_04

Go down at 345. Hell yeah. All the fast runners are like watching this are gonna be like, just run faster. Like, what are you doing? Don't shit yourself, just run faster.

SPEAKER_01

Just pretend you shit yourself and run faster. Maybe that is maybe that's the key. I'm like, I gotta change my pants.

SPEAKER_04

Just like oh, you get 30 minutes, so you know you're gonna do it, so you change before you hit the finish line, then nobody knows. If you're good.

SPEAKER_02

Okay, now we get to the important stuff. Do you think anyone could do an Iron Man if they put their mind to it?

SPEAKER_04

I would like to think so. I think it's I think it is such a mental game. And the people you see like Iron Man are like shit swimmers. Like they suck at swimming. Like it's it's you like a lot of people who come up, the first thing they say is like, I'm really nervous about the swims. Like, okay, cool, don't worry. Like, you don't have to be good. Like, you just have to keep your head head above water and go forward. Like, even though it's far, like I would be scared of drowning.

SPEAKER_02

This is what's stopping me from trying to do a triathlon or something. Because of because of the mass start. Because of the mass start, everyone like swimming over each other. That is scary.

SPEAKER_04

But there's no more mass starts. I mean, some most races there's no more mass starts.

SPEAKER_00

Even the the four second, like the the one here in Zerk, it does, it is a little scary, but if you go further towards the back, they have figured it out that now they used to have the women go first and then the men. Men would go. And then they had all the slow women who wanted to be like in the last part of the and then they'd have the fastest men just go and roll over them. Now everyone starts at the same time. Yeah. And if you think you're faster, then you go in that more competitive. If you think you're slower, stay in the back, and then it's not as scary. It's if you want to make good time on your swim, then it can be a little scary. But I think in the back it's probably not as bad.

SPEAKER_04

I will say that that is definitely the most combative part of the Iron Man. And like to a point where like Hunger Games vibes. Yeah, I was kicked. I I I full on heel kicked somebody in the face who was swimming like all the way up my butt crack and like would not go away.

SPEAKER_02

And I was I mean, you could have shot yourself.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, that would have been the time to do it.

SPEAKER_05

Like, bro, you have picked the wrong person to follow. Feel my wrath.

SPEAKER_01

Especially if it's diarrhea.

SPEAKER_04

Dude, if it's diarrhea, it's double effective. Then I get my own swim lane. No, I would like to think that everyone can do it because it is it is a mental game. I don't think the one that I did, the one in Toon, would be a good start. I think it's way too much elevation. But there's a lot of like flatter courses that you can do. And I don't know. It's yeah, yeah, I I I want to say yes, but there's a lot of people who have disabilities and like the people who like don't like who would love to do stuff like this but can't.

SPEAKER_02

I think ev you'd like to think that every able-bodied person.

SPEAKER_04

Yes, there, yeah. I'll that's that's a good way to say it. Like, okay, and if you're an able-bodied person, you should be getting to the point where you can do it and find somebody who is not able-bodied who really wants to do that and do it with them. Yeah, that's that's one of my goals. I want to find somebody who's like who's like who's like down to like be pushed around and shit, and like, I'll do it. Like for sure, dog. Like pulling him in a little boat. Because if you got a little boat behind you as well.

SPEAKER_02

Do they have disabled people doing iron maps? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

There's this this really famous story of this uh dad and his son, and his son is like super competitive, but he's like completely disabled.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And so he's like, okay, we're gonna do this race. And he's done like I don't know how many races he did, but he has like a boat where he pulls his son in the boat on the bike, he has him on the front, and then in the run, he has like a stroller that he pushes him in. That's cool. That's epic. That's the thing.

SPEAKER_00

And the son looks like he's having the best time. It's really impressive.

SPEAKER_04

But that's like the best things that you see in those kind of sports. Like we were in uh Portugal for the half Iron Man at full, and there was a kid, he must have been like, I don't know, in his 20s or early 30s, and he was running. I remember her name, I don't remember his name, but he was running with this lady named Gladys, and he had her like up and was running with her to the last bits of the finish line. And you're like, that's a fucking G. Like that guy, that guy is so and like even when he got to the race, whenever you finish an Iron Man, the announcer goes, You are an Iron Man. But the announcer said, You are a gentleman and an Iron Man. I'm like, dude, you just get the little chapeau, you know, you get the little uh on top. And so, like, that's like that's yeah. I so I think every able-bodied person could do it. I don't know if every able-bodied person should do it because it's grueling, but I mean, I think you should also do hard shit. I think doing hard things is important and it gets you to I don't know, broaden your scope of what's what's possible.

SPEAKER_02

So, what have you done today? What sports sports events have you done?

SPEAKER_04

Okay, what have I done? Um, I have done a full distance Iron Man, we know that. I did a half Iron Man during COVID, so that was organized by a bunch of friends, and so we like set up the distances and we just did COVID-based Iron Man. It wasn't an official event. It was an official event. Uh done a full marathon. Um swam from Lausanne to Evion, which was a 14 kilometer swim, and that took four hours.

SPEAKER_02

I forgot about that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, and then I did the uh Rappersville swim, which was a 26 kilometer swim, and that took eight hours and 45 minutes to get to Zurich. So that's the things that I've done. Okay, so it's cool, but now every time people see me is like, what are you doing next? I'm like, I don't know. So what are you doing? Recovering, dude. Recovering with my knees. Like that's yeah, that's the that's the the hardest shit right now.

SPEAKER_02

What's been the most fun or satisfying sports event that you've done so far?

SPEAKER_04

The most the most fun or satisfying.

SPEAKER_02

Um can be the same or it can be two different.

SPEAKER_04

It's two different for sure. The most satisfying was the the swim, the the Rapper's video to Zurich swim. Because I I did like a practice swim for that and I got like mild hypothermia. It's just I'm kind of a pussy when it comes to cold water. So like I it wasn't in there for very long, but like that was me failing that swim. But then it was also during COVID. So it was one of those things that like you usually have to sign up for like a year in advance.

SPEAKER_00

At least now it's almost three years.

SPEAKER_04

Is it three years now?

SPEAKER_00

Whoa Jesus. You have to sign up, and usually they don't take you, and then maybe sometimes in the second year they take you, and then they try at least in the third year to have taken. That's crazy. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_04

So I got in, but like it was COVID time, so no one could travel. Yeah. And so I signed up on the website, and this is the reason it was there's two reasons it was so satisfying. Um so all the pools were closed, right? Because every because COVID stuff. And I the organizer calls me and he's like, Hey, you know, what are you done? 'Cause you know, they also want to see that you have a bit of a pedigree, like that you can swim. So I was like, you know, a competitive swimmer for sixteen years, and then like I swam from Lausanne to Evion, and I did that in four hours. Like, okay, that's that's a decent time. Um how's your training look now? And I was like, It's like it's whatever, you know, 'cause it's everything is closed. So I was as training kind of, not really. And he's like, well, the race is like in two months. And he uh like how much you're training? I was like, oh well, I will start now. And he's like, literally, he goes, impossible. He goes, it's impossible that you finish the swim. And I I was on the phone and I remember hearing that.

SPEAKER_02

I was just dude, I was just like, Yeah, that's very much Mackenzie.

SPEAKER_04

Okay. So I was like, Yeah, like don't like no, it's fine. Like, and I I think I lied. I think I was like, nah, I've been training, you know, like I can do 5k, no problem, all this shit. Like, yeah, yeah, sure. It's like I can I could swim, it's all good. He's like, Yeah, okay, if you think so, then there's a spot because it was like, and it was like 10% of the amount number of people. Yeah, it was it was super like it was normally a hundred people. I think there was or 300 people or something like this. It was like 30 people who swam that day.

SPEAKER_00

It's not a big event anyway, but during COVID, it was a small event.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, very soon.

SPEAKER_02

Was that when Micah was on the boat with you?

SPEAKER_04

That was when Micah was on the boat. So that's the first satisfying part. Like I was like, this dude said impossible to me, and I I don't do impossible. I have to I'm like that, especially something like that.

SPEAKER_02

That's a trigger word for our.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, really? Let's see. Who says I can't fly? Um, so that was the first thing. And so I was training in the in the Letin actually against because it came down, so it's like a perfect infinity pool. And I lived right next to it, so I was swimming in that. For a little river where it's like the river comes towards you, so you can swim against it. The thing is, because it was like close to like early spring, it was very, very cold. It was very cold. And the entire, I mean, even the swim when when we did the swim, it was like 16 to 18 degrees in the lake. It was so cold. So, like, that was the first part. So I had very little time to train for this thing, but I knew I'd wanted to do it for a long time, so I kind of had like the background for it. So when I actually was in the water doing the swim, I got really bad swimmer shoulder in this right shoulder, like and I that happened at the midway point. So my line, which was like a kilometer 13. Yup, and it got so so so bad that I was like screaming underwater when I would pull with that side. I didn't want to scream out because I didn't want the boat crew to like panic or anything. I just wanted them to like you know, be cool. If you touch your boat, you're disqualified. If you go and you touch your boat, you're disqualified.

SPEAKER_00

And that can touch anything, no, even like the person.

SPEAKER_04

If you touch a person, if they can throw you like a bucket and like you can touch the bucket to get your food out, like that's fine because it's like on a fishing line. So like they were like fishing for me at some point. But like in my mind, I was just like, just touch the boat, just touch the boat and you're done. Like, you don't have to do this anymore. You can just touch the boat and you're done. Mind games, but like I'm uh I'm very petty and like it's you see yes, both yes. I'm very petty, and so like the one thing that I thought on top of like just touch the boat, it's like you're gonna have to come back here and do this again. Yeah, because you've told so many people that you're doing this. A lot of people know that you're in the water right now. Like Micah's posting for your Instagram right now. Like, fuck no, you're not touching that boat. Like, you're gonna swim and you're either gonna die here or you're gonna finish this race. Like, that is how we're gonna do this.

SPEAKER_01

And so, like, and like what if I'm because you've made it this long without I actually would love to ask the listeners because this all is making a lot of sense to me.

SPEAKER_00

Like when I think something like, I'm this is either gonna kill me or I'm gonna finish. And um, it might be the worst time ever, but I'm gonna finish. Like, does everyone have this?

SPEAKER_05

Comment below. Comment below a time you thought you were gonna die for a race.

SPEAKER_04

And then like it's your brain starts going crazy. Like, what if you lose like a you lose that right shoulder? What if you're like ripping it to pieces, like all that kind of stuff? And like at some point you just gotta say, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. I'm this is this is the only thing that matters right now, and like I'm gonna finish this. And like at the end, they they want to record, you know, and like get your shot. And so, like, I'm like all messed up, and they come up, you know, like okay, how how was your race?

SPEAKER_05

And I was like, it was it was really hard. I'm like, full crying. It was so like dog, you can't give me like five minutes to collect myself.

SPEAKER_01

So that they like also all the pictures are at the end of the race when you're like, dog. Take a picture of me at the beginning when I'm gonna have to look good.

SPEAKER_04

Ask me it at the beginning. No, at the end. I've I've full cried. But I won that race, huh? Yeah, I won that race first in my category because the there was no one else.

SPEAKER_02

How do you start to train for an Iron Man? Do you make a plan?

SPEAKER_04

Do you like so yeah, uh I did all of that. I read the Triathlon Bible. I signed up.

SPEAKER_02

Is it is that a thing?

SPEAKER_04

It's a book, yeah. And so it trains.

SPEAKER_02

Is it called the Triathlon Bible?

SPEAKER_04

It's called the Triathlon Bible, you can get it. Um I bought a training plan from Training Peaks uh for the intense one, obviously, because I'm an intense person and like it was way too much.

SPEAKER_02

If you couldn't tell, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

But I did it, I did the race with Killian, and Killian and I had completely different training styles.

SPEAKER_02

I can imagine, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And he was like balls to the wall, crazy, weekends go party. Yeah. And I was like, consistent, always this, that, the other, no alcohol, no nothing. And he was like living his life, you know. But the way he passed me on the bike, Killian's also a very, very strong athlete, and like on the bike, he's crazy.

SPEAKER_02

Um but did you guys have similar training during the week and just the weekends were very different?

SPEAKER_04

Sometimes we would cycle together, but I think, for example, his indoor bike training was a lot more intense than mine. I did a lot more outdoor bike training, and I think that was not always optimal because you can't you can't always you always have to go the pace of the road. Indoor, you can go the pace that's you want to set. So you can go super hard for a long time.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um so I think he did a lot more of that than I did, and I think that really helped him in the I was faster in the swim. I think the run we were about even, but he was so much further on the bike. And I was in front of him on the bike, and he passed me on the uphill, and like my heart rate was like skyrocketing, just trying to keep up with him.

SPEAKER_02

So, what would you do? What would you implement from him?

SPEAKER_04

I think the indoor bike training that he did, I think more of that because outdoor training is fun, but indoor you can do like you can get swift, you can have is it like interval training, or what is he then doing on the bike? No, he's just going hard for a long time with like rollers in his living room, no music, nothing, and just training. Like you saw videos of him just sweating.

SPEAKER_02

Just with a high heart rate for a long time.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, yeah. This sounds like killing. Yeah. Okay. Um, I would do a race that's flatter and I would dial in my nutrition. Like, I think next time I would do I would actually, there's a couple of like sports clinics in Austria that train some of the top athletes. I would go and like spend the money and get all my yeah, dude, get all my shit figured out, like how much I sweat and everything, and then see what that is. Because like I was I'm happy I did the Iron Man. I'm super not happy with my time. Yeah, I'm super not happy with my time.

SPEAKER_02

Do you want to share your time on the podcast?

SPEAKER_04

Yes, it's 13 hours, 59 minutes, and 59 seconds. So it wasn't 14 hours.

SPEAKER_02

It wasn't 14 and what would your goal time be?

SPEAKER_04

I don't know. I've seen some people talk about 11 hours.

SPEAKER_00

Um, but I mean, yeah, yeah. If you have a flat course, right?

SPEAKER_02

Once you get a better time on your Iron Man, is that when you're getting an Iron Man tattoo?

SPEAKER_04

I don't think I'm getting an Iron Man tattoo. I did the I did the five things as a five, like five feats of strength. And I did that after dad passed.

SPEAKER_00

What are the five feats of strength?

SPEAKER_04

So the five feats of strength for me were like five like different physical challenges, and each one had to be more demanding than the other.

SPEAKER_02

Was him dying motivating for you to because you wanted to stay fit as long as possible?

SPEAKER_04

No, because I needed some way to process. So yeah, that that was my mental of like I want to do five things in five years that I can tick off. And so if I get a tattoo, it will be a tattoo of the five feet.

SPEAKER_02

So that's a marathon, an Iron Man, a long swim.

SPEAKER_04

Marathon, half Iron Man. Uh then the uh swim from Lausanne to Avion, swim Rapersville, and the full Iron Man.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. Are you gonna get five feet? Five feet of strength. Yeah, it's just strong feet. Strong feet. Um if Lydia or I came up to you and we're like, we signed up for an Iron Man, or we're thinking of signing up for an Iron Man, what would you say to someone who's like, I'm toying with the idea?

SPEAKER_04

Toying with the idea or going for it? Full distance or half?

SPEAKER_00

I am toying with the idea. Or no, I'm going to do a half.

SPEAKER_04

You're gonna do a half. Yeah. Go nowhere to do it. Go do it. You'll have fun. Yeah. Halves are great. Halves are so much fun. They're the distance is awesome. You can still push really hard. You don't have to have your nutrition as dialed in. Like you don't have to do so so much. You can get really good at biking. Uh, swimming is easy. Don't train so much for the swim because you're a good swimmer. Yeah, I know you want to. No, it's my favorite. Train for the other shits. That's my favorite part to train though. And it's the shortest part of the race. It's the warm up. It really annoys me. It's the warm-up. I was in the water and I was I think I was like 20 seconds behind uh Daniela Reef, who won the race. So we had a very similar swim time. Nice. But for the rest of the race, I was slow.

SPEAKER_02

We used to do a swim team when we were kids, in case that's not clear for people.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, competitive swimming, like in the summertime. So like we can swim. But like they can.

SPEAKER_02

I was six, so still working. We're getting it in. It's okay.

SPEAKER_04

But half Iron Man, go for it.

SPEAKER_00

Sorry about full Iron Man.

SPEAKER_04

Full Iron Man. I would say the first thing I would do is go and get uh some blood work done and do a sports test of like some like and I would really want to know how much sodium do I deplete, how much you know, sugar do I need, and get that at the beginning. Because then if I have those numbers, I can then go and talk to the guy, the guys from Training Peaks, they have a bunch of cool shit. Yeah. I would go and then talk to them and say, like, based on this, and also we have AI today, so you can combine the two. Um, I would do those two things, and then I would try to go to a camp of some kind.

SPEAKER_00

Oh, cool.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, like in Marbella or something like this, or somewhere in Spain.

SPEAKER_00

Training camp. Yeah, training camp.

SPEAKER_04

And you go and you do a lot of the stuff, but then people can see based on your heart rate and also how you train, how you do your nutrition, you can learn a lot from other people. Yeah, that would be the first thing. Second thing is gear. I think getting a good bike is you don't really need to buy the craziest bike. If you want to have a good time, you can go there and rent a bike. And they're those are crazy bikes. Oh yeah. And they're like, it's like four or five hundred bucks, but you trained a year for this thing. Yeah, you know, so like if you really want to have a sick time, you get a TT bike that they've customized for you, and you just rip the course on that thing. The only problem is you haven't trained on it before. Yeah, and that's like I would say don't change anything if you like even the day before I changed so much shit and like I regretted it. So I had like a little water bottle in between my tri bars and I filled it up with Gatorade, and the tilt was so bad that the Gatorade was spilling all over me and my bike, so I was all sticky for the rest of the race. Yeah, so don't do that.

SPEAKER_02

That's why you would choose to pee yourself because I sweat anyway, like it didn't matter.

SPEAKER_04

Um and the third thing is give yourself enough time to train. Yeah, give yourself enough time.

SPEAKER_02

Like it really, like if what what do you think the right amount of time is?

SPEAKER_04

It depends on what your base is.

SPEAKER_02

Our base.

SPEAKER_04

You like for both of you specifically?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, because I think you're a bit more like fit when it comes to endurance. I think Amy's a stronger swimmer. Amy's definitely a stronger swim. I think you would need a little bit more time though to get your run-up.

SPEAKER_00

Oh yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04

Right? But your running is already very, very strong. And guess what? That's the biggest part of the race.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So yeah, I mean, Amy, the Amy's Amy's good at the warm-up, you know, me too. No, I think that's the part that frustrates me.

SPEAKER_00

I think the bike would be fine. I really think I'm scared of it because of the marathon at the end. And I had a really shitty time during the marathon. Like the run is no, it's I I I think you would need more time to train.

SPEAKER_04

I think you could you could definitely do the trainings in the same time, but the more time you give your body to kind of build up and also to rest, that's super important.

SPEAKER_00

What's the minimum amount of time?

SPEAKER_04

Two months.

SPEAKER_00

Impossible.

SPEAKER_04

And there's just got there's people online who have done like no training Iron Man. Yeah, that's just stupid though. Like, don't fuck with your body that much. It's and like if you're a really good athlete and you have a strong base, I mean you can do it with zero training and just go out there and rip it to pieces, you know? It's no biggie. I think you need at least six months if you don't have any sort of base and you want to get across the finish line before they cut you off. Yeah. So I think at least six months.

SPEAKER_00

Okay. That was good. That's that's what I had in my head. I think at least it would be nice to train for a year.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Minimum would be six months.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

If I was gonna do a full Iron Man, a half Iron Man, I would say I'd like to train for at least six months. Minimum would be four.

SPEAKER_04

And also, like, if you can find a training group in the city, like I know it's like a solo sport, but I think joining the training groups is not that expensive.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And it just makes it a little bit nicer because somebody can watch your form and you can go cycling with people. Try not to go cycling by yourself. That's that's that's cycling and especially with all the cars around and everything, it's very dangerous. And so, like, get an indoor trainer that's ride on Swift. You don't have to the the the way the trainers are built now very easily translates over, and the road the the course is mostly closed. Yeah, like there's a lot of pros who have gotten very hurt on the cycle. Yeah, like always on the cycle.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Maybe we should go into the funny stories, yeah, which is a segment Lydia and I like to do because basically everybody fails at something, and we we usually have a very good fail on topic that we're talking about. Yeah, we fail a lot, is what we were we fail a lot.

SPEAKER_02

My fail is that we went to go watch you at the Iron Man and we were running like beside you sometimes, and Ian did not look like he was having a good time. You looked like I was like, Hey, how's it going? Like, should I run with you? And he's like, Yeah, if you could just finish the marathon with me, that would be great. And I thought you were being serious. Was I joking? Yeah, nice. You were so tired. I was like, he's definitely not joking because he doesn't have the capacity. I couldn't continue because there was like a fence in the way, and I went back to Naomi and I was like, Ian wants me to finish the marathon.

SPEAKER_05

You gotta keep a sense of humor, dog. Ian if you're like if you're in the middle of it, you gotta keep the sense of it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's very impressive that you still have the capacity to make a joke.

SPEAKER_00

I have two funny stories. I'm gonna tell the first one, and you have to say if you're okay with it, because it was also during your Iron Man.

SPEAKER_04

God, so many things happened during this shit that I wasn't aware of.

SPEAKER_00

But the only part that we could really join for was the run. And then there were sections where we could run along the fence with Ian. And Naomi and I were running, and it was quite funny because we were running in our flip-flops, and you were running. Yeah, yeah. Like you're it was clear your nutrition was bad. And I remember Naomi was running next to you, and I was running off to the side, and you were like, I feel really bad. I think I'm gonna shit myself. I think I'm gonna shit myself. And Naomi went, it's okay, slow down, you're fine. And I tapped at her and I was like, no, move. And I said, I went up and I was like, You're not fucking stopping. You are if you shit yourself, you're gonna shit yourself. Yeah, dog, yeah, that's what's up. Okay, okay. And then the fence came and we couldn't run anymore. And Naomi was like, that was so intense. And I was like, no, after the marathon, Ian and I talked about how we both thought we were gonna shit ourselves and it was a mental thing. It was your head doing everything possible to get you to stop. And I was like, I'm pretty sure he's not gonna shit himself. And if he does, not my pants.

SPEAKER_04

That's so much better than being like, yeah, you know, just slow down. Like, no, they're in the pain cave. Don't pull them out. Like, it's part of the reason you do it. It's the big part of the reason you do it. Put them in there, yeah. Let them stay there and let them like the natural reaction.

SPEAKER_00

I think Naomi didn't have this feeling. So the natural reaction is like, Well, don't shit yourself. I was like, he's probably not gonna shit himself more.

SPEAKER_04

What's the second story?

SPEAKER_01

The second story was after your Iron Man, you talked about like how your nutrition was off and your assault levels and blah blah blah.

SPEAKER_00

And then I went and did like a Olympic distant triathlon and I chugged a sports drink before that they gave us at with our bibs, and it knocked everything out of whack. Like I wasn't drinking enough. I went to the bathroom after four hours of racing and couldn't go to the bathroom because I just had nothing left in me. And it like I threw up at the end of the race, and I was like, What do they give you? It was just like one of those focus waters. I to this day cannot drink it without feeling sick. That's crazy. Yeah, and I was like, I should have just listened to Ian. Like, why on the race day did I chug a water thinking this is gonna help my energy levels?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so yeah, that was it. It was really like a year after you did yours. And I was like, that's so fucking stupid. He talked about it for such a long time, and all I had to do was not drink this stupid drink.

SPEAKER_04

And do we learn from our mistakes? No, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00

Do you have a funny story?

SPEAKER_04

The Iron Man was just full of like stupid shit that I did. So, like, uh do you uh do you know what a flying mount is? Yeah. Okay, so I maybe explain it and cannot. A flying mount is when you get like you're pushing your bike, and when you push your bike, instead of stopping at the line to get on, you jump on the bike to save time. Okay, it's a 13 fucking hour race, and I'm saving 10 seconds by jumping on my bike. The way you do this is you put rubber bands around the pedals and around some part of the bike to keep the pedals flat because your shoes are already on the bike.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

So you just put your feet on top of the shoes and then you pedal for a while, and the rubber bands are supposed to snap. So I get five, six kilometers in, I got everything done, and a cyclist, one of the guys comes up to me and is like, hey man, your rubber bands are still on your bike. Connected to what? To my pedals.

SPEAKER_05

So I've just been pedaling the whole time with rubber bands.

SPEAKER_00

So it's slowing him down every time he removes his super dumb.

SPEAKER_05

Like super dumb.

SPEAKER_02

So what we learned from this is train enough in advance, work on your nutrition, and don't be an asshole.

SPEAKER_04

Make sure your Y is super strong. If you can dial in your nutrition, great, but if not, then just be prepared to suffer and bite through it. Like uh, don't walk, don't be a pussy. No, don't don't not not like just like commit, commit to the thing, and like that's the rest of it will fall on the place.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Thank you for being on the podcast. Your first ever guest.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, guys.

SPEAKER_02

Thanks for listening in again, as always.