1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,840 Alright, welcome to the AdaptX podcast where we have discussions with individuals who are 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,200 building inclusive and accessible businesses or products advocating for inclusion or excelling 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:09,680 in adaptive sports. 4 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:13,000 Our intention is never to speak on behalf of those with disabilities but rather amplify 5 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:18,080 their voice, ideas, and learn strategies to make our businesses more accessible. 6 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:21,920 Today we're joined by Zachary Josie, a triathlete from Utah who is out in Massachusetts visiting 7 00:00:21,920 --> 00:00:26,280 our facility after completing Ironman Maine 70.3 over the weekend. 8 00:00:26,280 --> 00:00:29,200 We're excited to have him here to recap his race where he became the first athlete with 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,520 dwarfism to complete the 70.3 distance in under five hours. 10 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:34,080 Zach, thanks for joining us. 11 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,600 Thanks for having me. 12 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:37,960 Maybe we can go back to the beginning. 13 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,960 So how did you get into triathlon? 14 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,160 When I got to college I was starting to put on a little weight. 15 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:52,960 Just wanted to get active and I had a brother that ran a lot and just kind of started running 16 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:53,960 with him. 17 00:00:53,960 --> 00:01:00,360 It took like a college course spin class on their spin bikes there and just kind of fell 18 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:04,960 in love with endurance sports just from those two little things. 19 00:01:04,960 --> 00:01:06,400 How long ago was that? 20 00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:11,040 That was about 15 years ago, probably 15 or 16 years ago. 21 00:01:11,040 --> 00:01:17,560 How long between that first like introduction to the sport and your first race? 22 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:19,400 Probably about four years. 23 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:25,960 I just slowly just fell more in love with running after college when I moved back to 24 00:01:25,960 --> 00:01:35,520 Salt Lake and I would say about four years into running I did my first 5K and just started 25 00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,800 racing more and more after that. 26 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:44,800 What kind of encouraged you to switch from exclusively running to triathlon? 27 00:01:44,800 --> 00:01:48,080 I would always think back to how much I liked that spin class. 28 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:54,040 So after a while, started kind of running alone, wore on me a little bit. 29 00:01:54,040 --> 00:02:02,640 So I started to go back and do some spin classes just locally in my hometown and really enjoyed 30 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:09,640 that and then my parents moved to a different city and I met a guy who did triathlon in 31 00:02:09,640 --> 00:02:13,640 that city and I was just always amazed by him. 32 00:02:13,640 --> 00:02:20,160 I couldn't even fathom swimming because I never learned how to swim properly. 33 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,720 And then the distances were always just like I just thought to myself, I wonder if I could 34 00:02:24,720 --> 00:02:25,720 do that. 35 00:02:25,720 --> 00:02:29,360 Yeah, I think swimming is definitely the barrier to entry for me. 36 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,400 It's just not something that I'm confident in anyway. 37 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:37,840 I mean it's scary to get in there in the open water too, especially if you're not used 38 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:38,840 to it. 39 00:02:38,840 --> 00:02:43,960 Yeah, we belonged to a country club a couple of years ago and they have a lap pool and 40 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,520 I just like getting lapped by these old women. 41 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:49,920 Because I just couldn't get down to breathing for whatever reason. 42 00:02:49,920 --> 00:02:52,880 I used to swim when I was younger and so I thought I'd be able to pick it right back 43 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:59,520 up but something about the technique of breathing is actually harder than I anticipated. 44 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:04,800 You can watch all the YouTube videos you want to and I had to go to a coach for like six 45 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,080 months to a year and he just really drilled in the breathing and the... 46 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:13,200 Yeah, sitting in the kitchen with my face and like a lot of times I thought how to get 47 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:17,800 the pattern of it down but one day I'll venture into it. 48 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,120 What was your first half Iron Man like? 49 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:25,480 My first half IRONMAN was at the time I didn't even realize it. 50 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:31,040 I didn't realize how big IRONMAN was like globally and I just knew like okay this half 51 00:03:31,040 --> 00:03:37,720 Iron Man is in my home state of St. George and I didn't realize at the time that that's 52 00:03:37,720 --> 00:03:43,680 renowned as one of the hardest half Iron Man's on the scene and so I just like alright since 53 00:03:43,680 --> 00:03:45,800 St. George I lived pretty close. 54 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:52,280 I went to school down there so I know the area and signed up for it and my friend who 55 00:03:52,280 --> 00:03:59,680 got me into racing he kind of guided me, mentored me along the way and did some training 56 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,120 rights for it and anyway the day was crazy. 57 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:05,120 It was... 58 00:04:05,120 --> 00:04:12,960 I mean there's like 3,500 feet of climbing on the bike and then the old run, the old 59 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:14,800 course the run was... 60 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:20,600 There's like a thousand plus feet of climbing so I mean that's a decent run too so it was 61 00:04:20,600 --> 00:04:24,960 a brutal day as hot as like 95 degrees. 62 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:28,560 So when Kona was cancelled they had the World Championship of St. George right? 63 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:36,840 Yeah and that course was just double the first 70.3 I did and that was my first full Iron 64 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:37,840 Man. 65 00:04:37,840 --> 00:04:39,560 I remember how long it took you to finish. 66 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:44,120 It was like 14:45:00 or something like that, 14:50:00-ish. 67 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,480 So yeah it was a long day. 68 00:04:48,480 --> 00:04:53,000 And my first half I finished in 6 hours and 12 minutes. 69 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:57,200 So about an hour and a half improvement recently. 70 00:04:57,200 --> 00:05:02,360 Were there any barriers like physically or anything that you felt like prevented you 71 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,280 from participating equally in triathlon? 72 00:05:05,280 --> 00:05:07,280 Definitely. 73 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:13,640 The biggest one and the one I'm probably most vocal about is the bike. 74 00:05:13,640 --> 00:05:23,360 I didn't realize to be honest how having Ellis Van Creveld and dwarfism my specific form 75 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:24,360 is called Els Van Kruveld. 76 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:30,560 I didn't realize how much differently I was shaped because I'm not, for dwarfism I'm 77 00:05:30,560 --> 00:05:37,400 actually somewhat tall so I just I never thought like I knew a lot of women that were close 78 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:43,480 to my size that road bikes fine and so I didn't realize that because my legs were so short 79 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:49,040 compared to my torso that the bike was going to be so difficult and I got a bike that was 80 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:55,960 like the smallest one on the market and I was set up in a position where it just it hurt, 81 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:01,040 it hurt to ride like sitting on the sea I would swivel from side to side and like it 82 00:06:01,040 --> 00:06:06,000 would cause a lot of pain and then like my shoulders would hurt by the time I got off 83 00:06:06,000 --> 00:06:10,680 the bike and my knees would hurt and I just I had no I just thought that was like normal. 84 00:06:10,680 --> 00:06:12,280 Yeah, you go to a bike fitting? 85 00:06:12,280 --> 00:06:18,760 Yeah, so after after my first or second race I went to a bike fitter finally and he, he 86 00:06:18,760 --> 00:06:25,200 I told him what I had and stuff and when I got in there he just kind of start taking 87 00:06:25,200 --> 00:06:30,560 my measurements and by the noises he was making I realized like okay there's something like 88 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:35,000 something way off that and he knew exactly as soon as he started taking measurements 89 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:41,520 he goes because your saddle is too high your cranks are way too long your your reach is 90 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:46,240 too short on the handlebars you need to go out like way further because your torso is 91 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:53,920 so long yeah and he he had to keep my bike for like a week to see make yeah make the 92 00:06:53,920 --> 00:07:01,320 modifications to the best that he could we got back on that bike and it still was pretty 93 00:07:01,320 --> 00:07:07,320 was pretty off yeah it was it was better but it just it was just not do you feel good on 94 00:07:07,320 --> 00:07:08,320 it now? 95 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:13,720 Yeah, so now I got I actually had to go through a process where I decided I wanted to do a 96 00:07:13,720 --> 00:07:19,640 full Iron Man but I knew that the current bike I had wasn't gonna it wasn't gonna work 97 00:07:19,640 --> 00:07:26,560 I wasn't gonna be able to I could fight through the pain and for 56 miles but I knew that 98 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:35,040 after anything after that I was gonna so so in 2020 when racing was off I kind of I just 99 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:40,560 I started emailing every single bike company like I think that I counted 38 different bike 100 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:45,320 companies from all around the world just emailing I'm telling them what I needed what would be 101 00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:52,400 ideal what my bike fitter wanted me to get on and I don't know how I came across this 102 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:59,520 article but there's a there's an article or there's a there's a magazine called bike rumors 103 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:06,360 and somehow there was an article about a company from the Netherlands called Ku Cycles and 104 00:08:06,360 --> 00:08:09,880 it was like pushed to me somehow or someone either sent it to me or it might have even 105 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:14,360 been my bike fitter who sent it to me like read this see what you think I started reading 106 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:20,280 it and they don't call themselves custom bikes but they called them they call it like made 107 00:08:20,280 --> 00:08:26,640 to fit bikes so I just emailed them they were pretty new a startup in Netherlands and I 108 00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:32,520 emailed the CEO just by chance like the first email I saw on there and I said hey this is 109 00:08:32,520 --> 00:08:38,920 my situation this is what I need what do you think and he sent me a really nice email back 110 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:44,720 just said hey so give me a little while to sit on this we don't we're not doing business 111 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:50,200 in the US right now but he's like let me run this past my team and we'll get back to you 112 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,800 and I kind of thought that would be the last I'd ever heard from him I just like alright 113 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:58,520 I'll just wait and a few months later he emailed me again he's like hey I think we're ready 114 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:06,360 for you he's like this is he's like I've looped in my my partner Richard who was a technical 115 00:09:06,360 --> 00:09:10,640 designer and he's like I think we can find some we can find a way to make up one of our 116 00:09:10,640 --> 00:09:14,640 bikes work to these measurements you need he's like so I need you to go back into your bike 117 00:09:14,640 --> 00:09:21,360 fitter and have him be exactly like this is exactly what you have to have because because 118 00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:27,440 they make them what they do is they take your exact fit and then they manufacture the bike 119 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:33,200 to piece together so it fits exactly how you need it and they had to make a few modifications 120 00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:40,160 on the saddle so we could get that a little lower but other than that it's it's perfect 121 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:44,400 they they sent it out it was like it was about a 10 week process where they like took my 122 00:09:44,400 --> 00:09:52,640 measurements and then they would order the parts have them put together and then sent 123 00:09:52,640 --> 00:09:57,360 it back to get painted and bill and then ship it out to me from the Netherlands so 124 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:03,840 cool that's awesome yeah was there was there any issue with like doing it all remotely 125 00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:09,760 or is the process pretty seamless it was it's actually very seamless I know they prefer you 126 00:10:09,760 --> 00:10:15,560 to go they hire their own bike fitters and so you have to fill out this like if you're 127 00:10:15,560 --> 00:10:19,520 a bike fitter you fill out an application they go over and then they hire you as one 128 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:24,840 of their bike fitters but because I was the first one in the US to reach out to them they 129 00:10:24,840 --> 00:10:29,800 just kind of had to wing it from my bike fitter and just hope that hope that it worked out 130 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:36,880 and it really was I mean I worried a lot and everything it came and it was like the saddle 131 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:44,520 was like an inch shorter than my current bike and then and then like the reach the handlebars 132 00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:49,160 reached out like way further than my current bike and it I mean I have a I have a lot of 133 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:53,040 pictures on my social media of like what I used to look like on the bike compared to 134 00:10:53,040 --> 00:11:01,560 now and it's it's like nine day what I guess what initially like spurred this this recent 135 00:11:01,560 --> 00:11:09,520 goal of like trying to finish a 70.3 under five hours um I that's a good question I feel 136 00:11:09,520 --> 00:11:18,480 like it's very important to like I guess getting into endurance sports is is like a is like 137 00:11:18,480 --> 00:11:23,320 a cool thing anyway I mean it's not a lot of people like to do it it's it's a hard process 138 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:30,000 anyway but for me I love it so much but I could never like there's no reason to keep 139 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:36,200 going if I'm just not pushing myself and that that's my mentality I don't like the idea 140 00:11:36,200 --> 00:11:42,120 of just like finishing all the time like okay finished another one I it became it became 141 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:49,200 like not pointless but it just kind of lost I didn't want to lose the thrill of racing 142 00:11:49,200 --> 00:11:52,280 and so I just thought like I'm gonna start making bigger goals for myself and that's 143 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:57,840 when the full Iron Man idea came into my mind okay I'll do this full Iron Man and I'll see 144 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:06,720 how that goes and and uh yeah and then I just I I kind of lucked in to the 70.3 worlds last 145 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:14,240 year it was in St. George and during in 2021 when things were still slow I got I went to 146 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:19,240 a race that not very many people showed up to and so I rolled down the slot rolled down 147 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:24,520 to me and I got to the 70.3 world championships and when I finished I realized like everyone 148 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:29,760 was so much faster than me like I needed I know that I can run better I know that I can 149 00:12:29,760 --> 00:12:33,840 bike better I need to like make a real goal to like try to do this and it kind of like 150 00:12:33,840 --> 00:12:38,680 encouraged me having a bad race encouraged me to like okay I need to make a better goal 151 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:43,960 I need to see if I can go faster yeah I think most people in certain sports are pretty numbers 152 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:49,240 driven yeah I mean that's just it's a way to stay motivated is to have the certain numbers 153 00:12:49,240 --> 00:12:57,120 to try to beat or the PRs to set how close to five were you prior to I was I was 05:18:00 154 00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:03,920 I believe 05:18:00 between 05:18:00 and 05:19:00 and that was in that was actually in New Hampshire in 155 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:10,240 2021 so what was the limiting factor what did you kind of determine to be like the slow 156 00:13:10,240 --> 00:13:17,280 leg of that that you could kind of improve the most on the bike to the run so my biggest 157 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:24,480 issue on the bike was that like I was biking slow because my bike was so so wrong for me 158 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:29,960 but I was also running slow because I was in so much pain getting off the bike and I knew 159 00:13:29,960 --> 00:13:36,200 running being my best sport I knew that I wasn't running to the best of my ability so 160 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:42,640 St. George came this year or last year in 2022 when I did the world championship and 161 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:48,720 I just was not even though I was more comfortable running I still I'm like I'm faster than this 162 00:13:48,720 --> 00:13:58,120 I know I am and so that's what I worked on the most the bike to the run so like my coach 163 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:05,720 just started throwing in two one to two brick workouts a week almost every week so yeah 164 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:10,960 your transition was pretty quick from like to run to yeah yeah which is not normal for 165 00:14:10,960 --> 00:14:16,000 me to I that is another thing we worked on I am notoriously like a combined 15 minutes 166 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:20,280 in transition I I don't know what I do in there I just like I get in there to start 167 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:24,960 messing around or something so so we practice we actually practice like getting in and out 168 00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:29,200 of my wetsuit and then getting onto the bike and then getting off the bike getting the 169 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:35,480 shoes off throwing the new the running shoes on and getting out before kill time before 170 00:14:35,480 --> 00:14:40,920 I killed that yeah I was like when I was following the tracker I was looking for the first run 171 00:14:40,920 --> 00:14:45,880 split because I was curious how hard you pushed on the bike and whether that would compromise 172 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:52,120 the run but right out of the gates you were running yeah 90 minute yeah and it truly is 173 00:14:52,120 --> 00:14:58,480 it's the first time I thought I made one more adjustment to my bike this year there's a 174 00:14:58,480 --> 00:15:03,640 I was on cranks bike cranks that were still a little bit too long so I still kind of have 175 00:15:03,640 --> 00:15:09,920 a knee pain unless I got the cleats like exactly positioned right like I would slide off the 176 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:16,600 side still just a hair and there's a guy from I believe it they're based in Minnesota it's 177 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:25,320 called he's Appleman bicycles and he recently he used to just fix carbon frames and in the 178 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:32,440 last year he's added short cranks to his wheelhouse and so now he manufactures cranks for all the 179 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:38,520 way from like really short which is 135 millimeters all the way up to pretty big which is like 180 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:47,320 I think it's 175 is this top end whereas like 165 to 175 is what most companies make so the 181 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:54,160 bike fitting for any triathletes pretty essential yeah and obviously especially for yeah and 182 00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:59,840 and that was so yeah he that was the one thing I got off and I had zero pain for the first 183 00:15:59,840 --> 00:16:07,120 time and I just so I'm gonna go for it felt good did you feel any added pressure from 184 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:13,640 kind of broadcasting it across social media I know like ahead of our marathon or the spring 185 00:16:13,640 --> 00:16:17,760 like I made the videos made the posts like oh we're gonna run under three hours and then 186 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:22,080 that was like in the back of my mind the whole race I was like I got all these people that 187 00:16:22,080 --> 00:16:26,720 are expecting me to run under three hours and it turns something that's a very individual 188 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:33,200 thing I guess the positive was it turned something that's very individual be it running into 189 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,240 kind of something that's more communal like I had people that were expecting me to run 190 00:16:37,240 --> 00:16:42,960 a certain pace I don't know if the added pressure was a positive or a negative but like did 191 00:16:42,960 --> 00:16:50,240 you feel any any added pressure from like the social media declarations early on I did 192 00:16:50,240 --> 00:16:56,800 I I said it and I kind of said it the very first time I said I kind of said it as a joke 193 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,800 just thinking like I probably can't do that I swim too slow yeah I'm too slow in the transitions 194 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:06,960 I don't know I can do that but I said it and then like my coach kind of reached out to 195 00:17:06,960 --> 00:17:11,840 me he's like hey is this just a goal you're really like looking at he's like we'd have 196 00:17:11,840 --> 00:17:16,440 to he's like if that's the case he's like let's not sign up for St. George this year 197 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,480 that's that course is a little too he's like I don't there's a lot of people that wouldn't 198 00:17:20,480 --> 00:17:25,440 be able to go sub five in St. George he's like let's look at some some other races he's 199 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:30,080 like but I he's like in training you do the stuff where I think you can do it it's like 200 00:17:30,080 --> 00:17:35,960 we just work on translate again so after he told me that I was like okay maybe this this 201 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:41,080 is a real goal and then and then when I did Ironman Texas it's the beginning of the year 202 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:48,560 I like we liked the idea of doing a full Ironman first kind of to build a bigger base so that 203 00:17:48,560 --> 00:17:53,600 immediately after Texas I could get into 70.3 training and I wouldn't have to worry about 204 00:17:53,600 --> 00:18:00,480 super long like five to six hour rides and just have that base so so in April I did Ironman 205 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:07,360 Texas for that reason and I jokingly made a goal or a challenge to one of the pros that 206 00:18:07,360 --> 00:18:13,240 was racing Texas and just said like hey I'll make like if I get off the bike before you 207 00:18:13,240 --> 00:18:19,160 finish the race and like like I win but if you if you finish the race from off and and 208 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,680 it it's funny because that truly pushed me like I was on the bike thinking like no I 209 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:28,840 got to get off this bike and I saw him pass me on his I made my first loop and he passed 210 00:18:28,840 --> 00:18:33,160 me on his coming ready to fit start the run on my on his second loop and I was like I 211 00:18:33,160 --> 00:18:39,080 just saw him I got to get going so it encouraged me to get get out there and then after that 212 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:45,080 I told my coach I'm like it kind of like motivated me and so then I started really pushing the 213 00:18:45,080 --> 00:18:49,600 sub five thing because that it motivated me I knew that I had it out there like it's something 214 00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:55,280 I have to like I'd have to stick to the training I wouldn't be able to like mess around yeah 215 00:18:55,280 --> 00:19:00,640 I mean having that external purpose kind of gives more purpose of the training and kind 216 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:05,920 of helps you grind through like harder sessions yeah there's that like long-term vision but 217 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:12,120 I think that's something that Endurance Sports is like really good for is just understanding 218 00:19:12,120 --> 00:19:16,640 that you have to put in so much work before anything manifests yeah it's like a great 219 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:22,360 I it's a great parallel between like that and careers in life in general like you just 220 00:19:22,360 --> 00:19:27,760 have to kind of be committed and consistent with the running and results don't always 221 00:19:27,760 --> 00:19:32,480 manifest on the day that you need them to with races but you kind of keep stacking bricks 222 00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:36,960 until till you have that like breakthrough race like you had in Maine yeah and and that's 223 00:19:36,960 --> 00:19:43,960 just it's funny too because I've since since Texas I really struggled swimming I've like 224 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:49,240 I lost a little bit of motivation to swim and I was having a hard time I have to I have 225 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:55,760 to go do most of my workouts in the morning before I work early and then I sometimes I've 226 00:19:55,760 --> 00:20:01,440 been like I have 10 to 12 hour days at work so if I come home and do a workout I don't 227 00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:08,040 get to spend time with my wife and so I do most of my stuff early and it is really hard 228 00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:13,760 to get to the swimming pool sometimes at three in the morning and I was just struggling and 229 00:20:13,760 --> 00:20:17,280 every week I tell my coach I'm like I don't know why I'm not hitting the numbers I'm struggling 230 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:24,360 and then all of a sudden I like I started to feel like kind of like like defeated in 231 00:20:24,360 --> 00:20:28,800 the swim and then all of a sudden like a month out of this race I was hitting the numbers 232 00:20:28,800 --> 00:20:33,920 all of a sudden I was just like every week I was like okay okay I'm building I'm building 233 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:39,920 and then then I I was talking to my wife on the way out here and I'm like I'm all of a 234 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:45,120 sudden like swimming good again like it's been like and I just I feel like it was just 235 00:20:45,120 --> 00:20:50,120 consistency like I forced myself to go to these swims I didn't want to do that I was 236 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:55,200 nervous to do and the one of the things when we were kind of briefly talking about like 237 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:58,880 the wearable technologies and the recovery scores and stuff like if you're waking up 238 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,120 at three to swim yeah if you were wearing something like a whoop I don't think it would 239 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:07,040 ever tell you that you were fully recovered as ready to go so it's like are you just going 240 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:11,600 to keep skipping sessions until you're perfectly recovered like we're not professional in 241 00:21:11,600 --> 00:21:17,040 there in sport yeah athletes we have jobs so it's like just finding time to fit it in 242 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:21,680 and hopefully it kind of manifests over time but being consistent with it even if the performance 243 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:26,240 is yeah compromise a little bit seems to be important and I mean and that was remembering 244 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:31,600 that I'm not a professional is also another thing that goes into like hitting these numbers 245 00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:38,240 where if my if I'll have like an easy ride for the day and I stress out and like I miss 246 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:43,360 it in the morning I just couldn't wake up and I'll text my wife or call her at lunch at 247 00:21:43,360 --> 00:21:47,720 work I'm sorry I have to do this workout I'm so tired but I have to do it and so you won't 248 00:21:47,720 --> 00:21:51,920 see me tonight and then remembering having my coach say like hey it's fine you can miss 249 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:57,320 it like if you're tired this isn't easy like we'll push it to another day or just skip it 250 00:21:57,320 --> 00:22:01,360 all together he's like remember you're not doing this professionally or how much lower 251 00:22:01,360 --> 00:22:06,000 do you think you can go or is that is that the goal is to continue to try to get under 252 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:11,760 the 04:47:00 I'd love to yeah I one of my goals that I've been kind of throwing out now is 253 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:17,920 that I'd like to go sub five in St. George since that's such a hard course going under 254 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:24,640 04:47:00 would would be great I've made so many improvements on the bike and run in such a 255 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:30,640 short time that I feel like they're still coming yeah so I go back to the full distance 256 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:36,920 yeah that's I mean that and that's I haven't figured out the nutrition and running on the 257 00:22:36,920 --> 00:22:42,600 whole distance yeah I both both full distances that I've done I've gotten off the bike feeling 258 00:22:42,600 --> 00:22:49,640 okay and then a 10 to 13 miles in the marathon I just kind of crash yeah and end up both 259 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:55,640 of them I in my first one halfway point exactly I crashed and just walked the rest of the way 260 00:22:55,640 --> 00:23:01,240 and then in Texas it was at the 10 mile mark I just kind of didn't have anything left obviously 261 00:23:01,240 --> 00:23:06,200 completely different world but the nutrition was one of the harder pieces for the marathon 262 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:12,600 yeah that I struggled with as well and I felt like that was essential to our more recent 263 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:19,080 strong performance is just managing GI distress yeah later half of the race but also kind of 264 00:23:19,080 --> 00:23:23,960 stacking up enough carbs in the early half of the race that you don't run out of yeah and 265 00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:29,000 that way I mean even for the 70.3 I I struggled this is I would say this is the first time 266 00:23:29,000 --> 00:23:34,680 I got it like a hundred percent right yeah right yeah right a everything I was supposed to 267 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:41,240 I like I got all the carbs in that we plan to get in and so yeah I was this is like a 268 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:50,120 perfect day which is I think is probably pretty rare yeah so if how do you like so I guess how 269 00:23:50,120 --> 00:23:55,560 do I want to phrase this so there's there's a kind of like a narrative I guess in the disability 270 00:23:55,560 --> 00:24:00,680 space that like people with disabilities who accomplish things are like inspirational or 271 00:24:00,680 --> 00:24:07,000 motivational do you have any thoughts on like the inspiration narrative or kind of people 272 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:12,520 like once you post on Facebook did you get some stuff like that or do you have any thoughts on 273 00:24:12,520 --> 00:24:18,360 like people calling you inspirational um yeah so this this is something that me and my wife have 274 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:23,480 talked about a lot because like listening to your other stuff hearing everybody's opinions 275 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:30,760 um like I like what you always say about how like people with disabilities should still be 276 00:24:31,400 --> 00:24:39,560 pushed yeah like just like finishing something or doing everyday stuff is like like it's like 277 00:24:39,560 --> 00:24:46,600 it's almost for me insulting that like to say like praises me for a six and a half hour half 278 00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:51,800 Iron Man or I'm like no I know I can do better like like the first one's great but like I don't 279 00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:56,280 want to be praised unless I unless I improve it was a thought as you were saying things like that 280 00:24:56,280 --> 00:25:00,920 that like you want to push yourself and that you weren't content with finishing in a specific time 281 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:07,000 and then when you talk about like 3am swim workouts and stuff like that that alone is the part that's 282 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:11,800 like motivational it's not the presence of and exactly and that's that's what I would want 283 00:25:12,840 --> 00:25:19,400 people to see is that like and that like I did this hard work it wasn't just 284 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:25,880 it wasn't just like a guy with Thor Viz and finished a race it was like I put in this hard work 285 00:25:26,760 --> 00:25:34,840 I did it at weird times because of my actual job and then so so if that if they came to me and said 286 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:41,880 like you're inspirational because I have this body that's that's like built better for it but I 287 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:47,160 don't have the motivation he's like so you've like you've inspired me to do like get out there and 288 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:53,080 maybe push my limits yeah like that no sorry oh that would be I would feel good about that 289 00:25:53,880 --> 00:25:59,560 from a representation standpoint were there other people with dwarfism that you kind of saw in the 290 00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:06,120 space or so yeah when when I first started toying with the idea of a IRONMAN I think I'd 291 00:26:06,120 --> 00:26:11,960 already done three halves and after the first two I just wasn't really interested in the full I liked 292 00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:17,320 the half but I was like I'd get pretty like destroyed after them and I just like my body hurt 293 00:26:17,320 --> 00:26:22,200 I don't think I can do a full I'm not too interested I'm a terrible swimmer I don't know if I could 294 00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:27,240 swim that long the the wetsuit hurts to have on that long which is another thing I had to 295 00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:36,600 have made for me but um so there's a guy I believe he's from around here John Young yeah and he 296 00:26:36,600 --> 00:26:43,240 I started reading articles he has a different form of dwarfism than I do he has the more I believe he 297 00:26:43,240 --> 00:26:50,440 has a chondroplasia which is the the most common um so he he's a little shorter than I am but our 298 00:26:50,440 --> 00:26:59,800 symptoms are similar in the sense that like long torsos bigger heads and shorter limbs and and so 299 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:07,400 I just kind of like like figured out what he did and I actually ended up when I went to figure out 300 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:14,120 a better situation for my wetsuit I emailed this company and the guy's like oh hey I know John Young 301 00:27:14,120 --> 00:27:20,760 I did my first iron man was his first iron man and we so he kind of knew John Young and then he 302 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:26,200 he knew the situation slightly better than anyone else did and I think he had more sympathy he just 303 00:27:26,200 --> 00:27:33,560 knew that like yeah I can understand why a wetsuit would be hard for you because like I saw the 304 00:27:33,560 --> 00:27:43,560 struggles that John had and stuff and so so in a way it wasn't like I don't want to say that like 305 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:48,920 to offend John in any way by saying like you're so inspirational that you finished this race but it 306 00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:55,640 was it was motivation in the sense that like well maybe I can do this because yeah because other 307 00:27:55,640 --> 00:28:00,840 people like me are doing it and I would imagine you're probably doing the same for others um 308 00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:07,560 are there like do you speak to other athletes with dwarfism or is that not even really like 309 00:28:08,280 --> 00:28:14,920 I have I know that there's there's a bigger community in the running community yeah um a lot 310 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:22,040 of them are a little older than me and John's really the only one I've made somewhat kind I mean 311 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:28,520 he's he's a pretty popular guy so I don't know if he should be like if he ever sees my like I'll 312 00:28:28,520 --> 00:28:34,040 ask him questions and I'll like I'll talk to him he'll like give me thumbs up on stuff sometimes but 313 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:41,400 but he's a pretty popular guy so and then I've had another some other people reach out to me asking 314 00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:46,280 me like hey how did you do your bike or like hey do you have any suggestions like I'm trying to just 315 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:51,640 just make this road bike do you know any things I can do so so I've been trying to compile all my 316 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,640 all my information to help these other people that want to cycle or that want to like get into running 317 00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:07,880 and yeah I've made some a few friends I would say from from triathlon especially people that 318 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:14,520 are looking for for bikes and there's no real unique aspects of training right like 319 00:29:14,520 --> 00:29:20,280 if I was training someone else for a half-iron man versus you for a half-iron man 320 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:26,200 there any like specific considerations that you think your coach makes I I don't think so I think 321 00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:32,280 that the swim coach that I originally went to just to learn how to swim understood that like my limbs 322 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:38,680 were short and so like relying on just my stroke was going to be a huge problem like he really had 323 00:29:38,680 --> 00:29:43,880 to nail the fundamentals into me whereas like it's pretty famous in triathlon that they're 324 00:29:43,880 --> 00:29:50,200 terrible fundamentally swimming because they just like muscle their way through the swim and so 325 00:29:50,200 --> 00:29:55,640 so he really he his big thing was always we're going to train you like a real swimmer because 326 00:29:55,640 --> 00:30:00,600 you're not going to he's like your arms just simply aren't long enough that like they don't go past 327 00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:06,760 your head far enough like you can't cheat that your stroke you have to learn the fundamentals so 328 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:13,640 that was one thing but other than that now that I can sit comfortably on my bike I my 329 00:30:13,640 --> 00:30:22,280 coach hasn't really had to to back off too much on on stuff I I might wear down slightly faster than 330 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:30,760 the average average person just I mean my knees bow in yeah and then I'm just my limbs are so short 331 00:30:30,760 --> 00:30:35,080 that it's also interesting to think of how many more steps you have to take over the course of 332 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:40,520 about 13 mile a run yeah I would like I know I think my stride length is between like three and a 333 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:46,680 half to four feet a little longer when I run the wheelchair and I would wonder what yours is and 334 00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:53,480 I know you like twice as many steps almost I know it probably is close and and it's it's funny too 335 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:58,120 because I used to compare myself to a lot of the pro women that were shorter than you know how do 336 00:30:58,120 --> 00:31:03,320 they run so far or as tall as me or just slightly tall and then like looking at him you can tell 337 00:31:03,320 --> 00:31:09,000 like oh yeah her legs are longer than mine that's why yeah yeah that's I would imagine that's 338 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:16,760 one of the I guess that's a physical barrier that can't be changed yeah you can you can obviously 339 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:21,400 improve your fitness I guess like what what do you think has been most important to improving your 340 00:31:21,400 --> 00:31:29,240 running I think so kind of on my own I I started just implementing just like very basic strength 341 00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:35,800 and I mean I think strength is probably important not even if you're a endurance athlete just for 342 00:31:35,800 --> 00:31:44,840 any person strength is important for like longevity and stuff like that so I just do like a very basic 343 00:31:44,840 --> 00:31:47,960 strength program like through the week and that's that's kind of helped 344 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:57,480 that's probably some of why my knees feel better off the bike that mixed with the like the better fit 345 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:03,880 I just feel better all around from from adding a little bit of strength in there and and it's 346 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:12,760 nothing crazy it's basically like some kettlebell routines so and how much what was what were the 347 00:32:12,760 --> 00:32:16,520 shoes that you wore and kind of what was the process of finding a shoe that felt good so yeah 348 00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:24,600 I used to I used to wear ultra shoes strictly because they're white toe box my feet this is also 349 00:32:25,560 --> 00:32:30,920 I don't know if it's if it's specific to to my type of dwarfism but I actually have heard other 350 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:37,240 people at dwarfism have the same issues where our feet are like short and wide and my hands are kind 351 00:32:37,240 --> 00:32:45,320 of the same way too they're small and wide so I mean when I would when I would wear smaller shoes 352 00:32:45,320 --> 00:32:51,560 my feet were way too wide kind of squished in there and then when so I'd size up and then 353 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:57,320 sizing up too much obviously causes problems so I was always looking for just stuff with white toe 354 00:32:57,320 --> 00:33:05,800 box and then I started getting to a point where I wanted to try these the the carbon shoes the fast 355 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:13,320 marathon ones and they became more available and so so I asked around and a lot of people told me 356 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:21,000 to try the asics the metaspeed sky because they're supposedly a little wider so I was using those but 357 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:28,280 it was still same problems like at about mile 13 I had I'd start getting blisters on my my feet and 358 00:33:28,280 --> 00:33:35,080 anything longer than a half marathon I used too many too many blisters and so I would always go 359 00:33:35,080 --> 00:33:43,000 back to ultra and then some new hoax shoes came out recently that the people were saying that the 360 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:49,160 upper stretches out a little more so and that's that seemed to work for me I didn't I didn't have 361 00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:55,160 any problems that was a carbon blitz you that was a car yeah the rocket x2 the their newest version 362 00:33:55,160 --> 00:34:02,520 of their and so that and it ran I felt like it was the same as is the asics that I liked but 363 00:34:02,520 --> 00:34:09,640 it accommodated my foot slightly better so the goal for this past weekend was to go under five 364 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:16,760 in man iron man man 70.3 um you want kind of take us through the the three legs of the race 365 00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:23,320 yeah true I'll back up a little too I I planned to do at least give myself three tries I didn't know 366 00:34:24,200 --> 00:34:29,800 I kind of wanted to use this first one as like maybe like to set some benchmarks and like okay 367 00:34:29,800 --> 00:34:36,520 did this bad did this good try to put try to fix the bad and mix it with the good and so coming 368 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:42,600 into into main I realized like okay this is a river swim my swimming's my weakness maybe I can 369 00:34:42,600 --> 00:34:49,000 figure something out for this one and then as the race got closer and I was getting more familiar 370 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,760 with the course I realized like oh the bike course is actually kind of hard I didn't realize 371 00:34:54,040 --> 00:35:01,880 and so I just I thought like okay like I said using this as benchmarks but still try to go for it 372 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:08,440 so anyway race more great leading up to the race I was I was pretty quiet to my wife all week I just 373 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:15,800 like I I fell like okay I don't know if this is going to be the one I don't know how much how excited 374 00:35:15,800 --> 00:35:20,840 I could be if like I get so close on this one and then just kind of or if I have a terrible race 375 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:26,200 and it's like way off like that protective mechanism yeah we do like leading up to our marathon too I 376 00:35:26,200 --> 00:35:31,320 was like yeah I was like yeah my hamstring hurts this maybe I'll just do it later yeah yeah and so 377 00:35:31,320 --> 00:35:38,920 I'm like yeah and I was just like this bike is way harder than I thought it would be and then 378 00:35:39,560 --> 00:35:44,760 I talked like my wife is really good at calming me down just letting me go over stuff and then 379 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:49,480 I talked to my coach and he goes he goes if you still push the power we've been working on on the 380 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:54,440 bike you should be fine he's like it's he goes it's a little harder than what you've done he's 381 00:35:54,440 --> 00:35:59,480 like but then the run is much easier than what you've been running on so kind of evens out so 382 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:08,680 we just stick to our our plan and I think that we'll we'll see some good results and so just I got 383 00:36:09,400 --> 00:36:15,320 lined up on race morning to swim I got my bike set up and all my transition gear set up and then 384 00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:22,520 walk down to the swim and ate my nutrition just like I was supposed to like one gel 15 minutes 385 00:36:22,520 --> 00:36:30,200 out before I got in the water and then I got in the water and I just I felt great I I mean like 386 00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:36,520 I said it was a river swim so it was quicker than I would have planned but I've never felt so strong 387 00:36:36,520 --> 00:36:44,040 swimming either like in a normal I still think I would have PR'd the swim by a lot just at the 388 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:50,760 effort I was doing I was confident to do the effort I was swimming fast and I felt really good I got 389 00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:57,000 out of the swim and I mean a lot of times you feel dizzy getting out and I felt good it was like a 390 00:36:57,000 --> 00:37:03,880 half mile run to transition up a hill and I took that really fast and felt good when I got out and 391 00:37:04,760 --> 00:37:13,160 I cut my famous nine minute t1 time down to six minutes so that was a huge improvement that's 392 00:37:13,160 --> 00:37:18,200 I've been working on that and then you told me about 30 minutes on the swim and you finished it 393 00:37:18,200 --> 00:37:25,320 and I think I finished it in 19 minutes right around between 19 and 20 minutes and then I 394 00:37:25,320 --> 00:37:31,880 transitioned in six and I thought that what would happen is I'd finished between 28 to 30 minutes 395 00:37:31,880 --> 00:37:41,400 and I'd I'd try to be out of transition by 35 minutes so I put I gave myself almost 10 minutes 396 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:48,680 of what I planned just by getting through that swim and then transitioned good and I got on the 397 00:37:48,680 --> 00:37:53,640 bike the game plan was to get through transition as fast as I could and then kind of regain my 398 00:37:53,640 --> 00:38:00,600 composure first like five to ten minutes on the bike and I got on the bike and in like two minutes 399 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:07,080 I was comfortable my breathing had slowed down I was ready to ready to start pushing it so I worked 400 00:38:07,080 --> 00:38:14,120 I worked up to the power that we had planned and just held on to that for as long as I couldn't 401 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:19,400 get a power meter on the bike that you were working on yeah so our goal was to was to hit 402 00:38:21,800 --> 00:38:27,240 was to have my average power be around 200 watts and then my normalized power to be around 210 403 00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:36,120 and it ended up being like I was like 198 average and then 216 normalized so and don't ask me what 404 00:38:36,120 --> 00:38:40,520 normalized me my coach understands it better than I do and I just okay that's what that's 405 00:38:40,520 --> 00:38:48,440 what I have no idea what it means it's averaging of like like when you do like huge spurts yeah 406 00:38:48,440 --> 00:38:55,080 compared to what your actual average is and it's something like that so anyway yeah my my my average 407 00:38:55,080 --> 00:39:02,760 power was almost right on and in turn I got off the bike my goal was two hours and 40 minutes and 408 00:39:02,760 --> 00:39:10,280 I think I got off in two hours and 43 minutes so I was because of the faster swim I still had plenty 409 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:18,840 of time to change and then use the bathroom in the transition which is something I I usually try to 410 00:39:18,840 --> 00:39:24,360 skip because I try to get out going but I felt like okay I have time I gave myself time on that 411 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:33,560 swim so and then the plan to run like the plan was to run between 650 to 7 minute miles and 412 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:43,800 hold on as long as I could and then we had planned for a like a huge uphill from mile 9 to 10 and a 413 00:39:43,800 --> 00:39:50,120 half and so the the plan was to run the try to feel the same effort on that uphill and then 414 00:39:50,120 --> 00:39:57,080 then although my time would slow down my effort would be the same and then after I got around the 415 00:39:57,080 --> 00:40:01,800 corner to start going back down to the finish line the plan was to stop looking at my watch and 416 00:40:01,800 --> 00:40:08,200 just go as hard as I could to the finish line and that's exactly what I did so I think going up that 417 00:40:08,200 --> 00:40:15,960 hill I slowed from like the 650 to 7 minute pace to about 720-730 and then coming back down the hill 418 00:40:15,960 --> 00:40:25,320 I got back down closer to the 7 minute 7:10 pace and and finished pretty strong with a 134 run. 419 00:40:25,320 --> 00:40:31,880 So all things considered pretty perfectly executed by what you were hoping for? Yeah and it was just 420 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:36,280 like all day long I like on the bike I kept saying like I'm gonna push a little harder right now and 421 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:41,720 I just kept hearing my coach's voice saying like don't get excited on the hills don't get excited if 422 00:40:41,720 --> 00:40:48,680 you're faster than where you want to be like just stick to the plan no work. What race are you gonna 423 00:40:48,680 --> 00:40:59,560 do next? So as of now the only one I have on the calendar is 70.3 Indian Wells in like next to Palm 424 00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:08,680 Springs in California. I'm considering another 70.3 maybe in Waco, Texas or Muncie, Indiana those are 425 00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:14,760 kind of around the times I'd want to do another one in September and October but I'm also considering 426 00:41:14,760 --> 00:41:21,000 just like a standalone marathon. Try to figure out see if I could figure out what my problem is 427 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:30,200 with the nutrition on the marathon. Is travel like a like for me the idea of traveling to 428 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:34,120 all over for these races would be stressful and I feel like that would be something that would 429 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:41,640 prevent me from. It's very stressful. The key that I found is to do direct flights because your 430 00:41:41,640 --> 00:41:48,360 luggage gets there so if it's like an extra or like I have to fly somewhere a little closer than 431 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:57,560 drive like I did for this trip I flew to Boston and then drove. The bike getting the bike packed up 432 00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:03,320 and then making sure like that it works that's the stressful part but then the second I open the case 433 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:08,360 and see that like okay the frame's not broken the wheels are good like all I have to do is put this 434 00:42:08,360 --> 00:42:13,480 bag together and I'm fine then the stress goes away. Indian Wells is considered a pretty flat 435 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:21,880 course right? Yeah yeah it can be the water can get really cold but that doesn't scare me like it 436 00:42:21,880 --> 00:42:29,320 used to and then the bike ride is pretty pan flat. So would you like to continue to push that number 437 00:42:29,320 --> 00:42:35,720 down? I'd love to. I think for Indian Wells my my real goal is to have a massive PR on the bike 438 00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:42,840 just just yeah I feel just kind of try to see what it feels like to just go and push myself 439 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:48,520 as hard as I can on the bike and see what kind of run legs I have after and just lay down the power 440 00:42:48,520 --> 00:42:54,680 and see how it goes. That's awesome. Well Zach I think that was that was good insight into your 441 00:42:54,680 --> 00:42:59,720 experience racing and your experience getting into triathlon as a whole. One question that we've 442 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:07,480 wrapped up most of these with is kind of the idea of what do you think needs to be done to make 443 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:13,240 well a lot of our listeners are in the fitness space hopefully but what do you think needs to 444 00:43:13,240 --> 00:43:18,760 be done to make both fitness and maybe sport more inclusive and accessible? One thing that 445 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:24,920 that I that I've actually found recently that's been good is that a lot of apparel companies 446 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:32,440 have been able to find ways to like either have their stuff tailored or like for instance my 447 00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:40,600 wetsuit was tailored to fit me by by DeBoer wetsuits and it didn't I mean I they did a lot of work 448 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:46,120 but it was like they were willing to do it and they didn't like question me at all they knew 449 00:43:46,120 --> 00:43:51,400 that it had to be done and then the people that make my kit same thing they just they seem a little 450 00:43:51,400 --> 00:43:59,080 more willing to be and I to tailor stuff or like make stuff more appropriate for me and I've reached 451 00:43:59,080 --> 00:44:04,680 out to other apparel companies as well and just kind of asked like hey if I were to go this direction 452 00:44:04,680 --> 00:44:11,320 like what can you do as far as like like the tailoring like maybe hemming the legs up a little 453 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:19,400 bit so they don't go past my knees or and everyone seems to everyone in the apparel part seems to be 454 00:44:19,400 --> 00:44:26,680 like on board with I think we can do that let's try he's let us know what you want like we'll 455 00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:30,520 we'll see what we can do so so that one's that one's actually kind of been figured out in the last 456 00:44:30,520 --> 00:44:40,280 couple years as far as equipment I would love to see the bike industry understand that like 457 00:44:41,560 --> 00:44:47,960 like I mean I told you earlier there are two sizes of common cranks which 165 or 175 which is crazy 458 00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:53,640 because even people that are a foot taller than me could benefit from using something a little 459 00:44:53,640 --> 00:45:00,600 smaller or something a little bigger so just having two sizes it's not just accessible for me it's 460 00:45:00,600 --> 00:45:07,480 accessible for a huge variety of people that I mean seems like there's money to be made 461 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:12,600 a Lee at the very least yeah that's what we usually say like when you're accounting for people 462 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:19,720 with different abilities or with a disability it benefits everyone universally but you don't 463 00:45:19,720 --> 00:45:26,040 kind of know that until yeah and then there's there's still things that because it's not 464 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:31,160 available like there's still things I could get on my bike but because it's not more readily 465 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:39,560 available it either cause for like a new like design for a bike or or just like demand for 466 00:45:39,560 --> 00:45:45,560 stuff that they just simply don't make anymore they don't make the smaller wheels as I have to 467 00:45:45,560 --> 00:45:51,800 use the standard wheels on my bike for it to fit the frame because the more smaller wheels they don't 468 00:45:51,800 --> 00:46:00,120 they basically make like one type of tire that's hard to find anyways and it's it's not like 469 00:46:00,120 --> 00:46:08,920 performance wise it's not that great and and so like make trying to make like the bikes or at least 470 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:16,120 coming up with a way to like customize a bike to fit a different body would be the help light I mean 471 00:46:16,120 --> 00:46:22,520 I think you'd get a lot of people absolutely so it's like businesses that weren't created specifically 472 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:29,480 for people with disabilities prioritizing yeah to adapt things yeah people who are different yeah 473 00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:34,120 yeah I think that's a that's an important theme where it's not just like organizations that are 474 00:46:34,120 --> 00:46:39,320 specifically catered for people with disabilities but it has to be all the ones that maybe weren't 475 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:46,920 designed initially exactly and that's how my my bike it's from coup cycles in Netherlands like I said 476 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:55,320 and they um I had the the opportunity to host the CEO when Ironman came to the world championships 477 00:46:55,320 --> 00:47:02,200 in in St. George and I asked him a whole bunch of questions and it kind of they didn't do it on 478 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:09,880 purpose make them like a bike that would fit me but but after talking to them like they really had 479 00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:15,240 like we need to fit a wide range of people that compared to most brands that have like six to eight 480 00:47:15,240 --> 00:47:22,760 sizes of bikes they have 64 different options of sizes which would fit like way more people in the 481 00:47:22,760 --> 00:47:27,720 world and and that I might even have that number wrong it might even be higher that just like 482 00:47:27,720 --> 00:47:34,520 64 different options of is incredible yeah so well you raced Sunday it's now Wednesday and you 483 00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:40,520 took time to come out to our facility that is not very close to Boston exactly not close to Augusta, 484 00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:45,400 Maine but I appreciate the time today it was awesome to finally get to meet you in person and 485 00:47:45,400 --> 00:47:49,320 I've been talking for the last year and a half a couple of years so it's been cool to have you out 486 00:47:49,320 --> 00:47:54,120 here and I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with us yeah it was one of the priorities 487 00:47:54,120 --> 00:48:00,120 of the trip so thank you thank you for listening to the AdaptX podcast. Our effort to amplify the 488 00:48:00,120 --> 00:48:04,120 ideas of our guests and create more inclusive and accessible industries is futile unless these 489 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:08,520 episodes reach a larger audience. If you enjoyed our discussion today please leave us a rating or 490 00:48:08,520 --> 00:48:13,080 review on whichever platform you use and if you would like to learn more about AdaptX, the course 491 00:48:13,080 --> 00:48:17,080 that we teach to health and fitness professionals, and the projects that our organization is working 492 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:27,080 on you can subscribe to our newsletter through our website www.adaptx.org. Until next Monday.