The fourth episode of Tempo Talks presents a compelling exploration of the convergence of triathlon performance and the intricate web of media and personal dedication that characterizes the sport. The discussion opens with a reflective recounting of a conversation with Matthew Marquard, a distinguished triathlete and medical student, whose achievements serve as a testament to the power of discipline and strategic time management. Jeff, expressing his admiration, highlights Marquard's extraordinary ability to excel in triathlon while navigating the rigors of medical studies, illustrating a profound example of how intentional living can yield remarkable outcomes. This thematic thread weaves through the episode as the hosts delve into the broader implications of such discipline within the triathlon community, prompting listeners to reflect on their own training practices and productivity strategies.

The dialogue transitions seamlessly into a discussion of recent developments within the triathlon landscape, particularly the collaboration between World Triathlon and T100, which seeks to enhance the competitive framework of the sport. Jeff and Matt engage in a critical analysis of this partnership, contemplating its potential to challenge the dominance of established brands like Ironman and to foster a more inclusive environment for triathletes of all levels. The hosts emphasize the importance of creating diverse racing opportunities that cater to a wide array of participants, thereby enriching the triathlon experience for athletes and spectators alike. This segment not only informs the audience about key industry changes but also encourages an active discourse on how these shifts may influence personal training and participation in upcoming events.

As the episode draws to a close, the focus shifts to the training methodologies employed by triathletes, particularly the relevance of time trial bikes in enhancing performance. The hosts engage in a nuanced discussion about the merits of incorporating such equipment into training regimens, underscoring the significance of comfort and familiarity with one's gear. They advocate for a tailored approach to training that considers individual circumstances and preferences, reinforcing the notion that effective training is not solely reliant on specialized equipment, but rather on a comprehensive understanding of one's own body and its responses to different modes of exercise. Ultimately, the episode encapsulates the essence of triathlon as a sport that demands dedication, adaptability, and a continual pursuit of knowledge—a narrative that resonates with both seasoned athletes and newcomers to the triathlon community.

Links to topics discussed:

The TriDoc Podcast

Matt's Instagram

Jeff's Instagram

LifeSport Coaching

Email Jeff: tri_doc@icloud.com

Email Matt: Matt@temponews.com

Signup for the Tempo News

Signup for The TriDoc Podcast Supplement form

What would happen if you brought together a professional triathlete and producer of one of the most widely read triathlon newsletters?

Together with the tridoc medical contributor for Triathlete magazine, age group winner and coach at LifeSport coaching, I'd say you had.

The makings of a pretty good podcast.

Welcome to Tempo Talks.

Two perspectives, one sport.

All things triathlon.

All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of Tempo Talks.

This is episode four.

Jeff, really stoked to be here with you.

Episode four.

Things are cranking along.

How, how are you doing today?

I'm doing great.

I had just the pleasure of talking to Matthew Marquard on the weekend.

My conversation with him comes out on the Dry Doc podcast today as well.

So if people, once people are finished here, you should definitely go and find that, because that guy, he's amazing.

I, I, I was blown away.

What's your, like, number one takeaway from the chat?

His maturity and his discipline is just incredible.

Listen, I was pretty disciplined to be able to, to get through medical school and party as much as I did.

Yeah, of course.

This guy is, this guy is, he is being incredibly successful as a professional triathlete.

Now.

He's coming from an incredible background.

I didn't know this about him.

I don't know if you did, but he, he was like one of the top 10 swimming recruits in the country coming out of high school.

Okay, so the guy has, yeah, he's got this phenomenal athletic background, but he goes in his first year of medical school and is, okay, I'm gonna do triathlon now and wins the age group in Kona.

It's like the overall for men age group.

He was the first age group.

This guy's built different.

Definitely want to learn more about that.

And then talking to him and just listening to how he, he manages to get it all done.

I think I have a lot of balls in the air after talking to him.

I'm like a total slacker.

So it was a great conversation.

And if anybody out there is a fan or if anybody doesn't even know much about him, I would urge you to take a listen because it really, it, I was just so impressed.

And now you're, did he have a productivity?

Yeah.

I want to know, though, did he have a productivity that the listeners can find about?

The big thing was just how intentional he is with his time.

He just said, he said to me, he's you.

When you have to maximize every minute, you start to really notice how much downtime you have, and you just make sure none of it Is downtime, for example, on rotation.

Yeah.

But he's so intentional about it.

Like it like in the hospital.

And I remember as a medical student, I would have some downtime between cases or between anything.

And I chose to rest or to do something to take my mind.

No, that's when he does his emails or his Instagram or he'll study because as soon as he's done, he's off to do a workout.

And not a little workout either.

As like he's doing like a main.

He's training for Ironmans.

For Ironmans, yeah.

And when I talked to him, I talked to him at 11, at 9am my time, which was 11am his time, and he'd already been on the bike for five hours.

He had done some house cleaning.

He did the talk with me.

Then he was going to study for a few hours and he was going to do a second workout later today.

It was super inspiring.

Awesome.

Yep.

Yep.

Anyway, so you're back in Colorado.

Welcome back.

Thank you.

Thank you.

The weather's been good to welcome me back.

It's been a little crazy since I've been here, but definitely happy to be home and be back in the mountains, back in the thin air.

That was a tough adjustment after a few weeks.

Yeah.

At sea level.

How's the foot?

How's the foot?

Gone.

Yeah.

Foot update.

It's good.

I'm going to be getting an X ray, I think, on Monday, and that'll be at four weeks.

So I feel like that's the right time to check it out.

I could.

I'd love your medical opinion on when I really should be getting an X ray.

No, four weeks is probably right for a foot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And biking and swimming, I think you've been doing right.

It's just a question of when you can run so that the X ray will help with that.

Yeah.

And really?

Yeah.

Because I've been biking and swimming, I'm not like freaking out.

I need to get back.

Blah, blah, blah.

Because we talked about being able to do other things.

Just helps mentally get through these kind of tough patches.

We got some great feedback from people.

We're going to talk in a second about some of the feedback that's going to lead us to being in the penalty tent.

But also we got some really nice feedback from listeners about how they're receiving the program.

And we really want to thank you for that and we want you to continue to send that.

And don't forget, if you've got something negative to say, we want to hear that.

We were just Talking before we started recording, all the feedback's been lovely.

It's all been really positive.

But if you have things that you think that we can do better, we want to know, because we want to.

For you guys, thicken our skin a bit.

Matt, what are we talking about today?

We got a few things on the cards.

I think you're starting out in the penalty tent with us, which should be good.

A good little segment.

Then we're going to get into this T100 Triathlon, World Triathlon announcement the other day, talking about how they're coming together with more synergy, and we'll get into that.

Then an interesting, I guess, kind of article came across my way, talking about how Advil is now doing influencer campaigns with these influencers to try and get people to take Advil after running.

We're going to talk about that.

I think, Jeff, you'll have probably a bit of an opinion on that one.

And then the final thing we're going to be talking about, really, it's interesting topic with athletes and training.

Do you need to be training on a TT bike, or do you not need to train on one to be successful?

So a few interesting topics today, but you should take us into the penalty box.

Penalty tent, rather.

All right, let's start off in the penalty tent.

We have a couple of things.

Thank you to the listeners who reached out and let us know about a couple errors.

Before I get to those errors, this is not an error, but just a clarification.

We talked about Imogen Simmons and her positive doping test, and we referred to picograms.

So I want to just give you a sense of how small a picogram is.

So a kilogram is 1,000 grams, and a kilogram is 2.2 pounds.

So one kilogram, 1,000 grams, one gram is 1,000 milligrams, one milligram is 1,000 micrograms, one microgram is 1,000 nanograms, and one picogram is 1,000 nanograms.

So one picogram is zero with nine zeros and then a one gram.

So it's a very small amount.

Very trace.

Very trace, yeah.

So it's just a testament to how sensitive the machines are that we do these analyses on.

All right, but then to the errors.

So we made a couple of mistakes on the rules.

Thank you to Brian Dunn, a longtime listener to the Tridoc podcast and a new listener, of course, to the Tempo Talks podcast.

He's a friend of mine that I've met through the podcast.

He reached out and just a Minor correction.

We had stumbled on the front hydration.

We weren't sure about number of bottles on that.

So basically the front hydration rule is that you can have a combined maximum volume capacity of no more than 2 liters, but there's no stipulation about how many bottles.

Right.

So if you want to have a hundred bottles and the total amount is 2 liters, you're good, you're golden.

Or if you want to have one bottle, that's two liters, you're also.

Okay.

So I thought that was interesting because no limit in front bottle number, but a limit on the rear bottle number, which I thought was odd.

Yeah, I talked about how those rear bottles can be ejecting out less of those opportunities.

But then the front.

But your point about the front.

Your point about the front I thought was really important, which is the way they have them constructed and you have your arms have to almost slide in and be stuck in there.

I thought that was a really valid point.

And.

And the safety issue, not just the weight of the front end, but also just this idea.

You need to be able to get your hands out to access the brake levers.

That was a really important thing.

And I think that gets lost if you're still allowing people to have four or six bottles.

Two liters, obviously, I don't think you're going to have four or six bottles, but you could, you could.

And I think we'll see how this progresses through the year.

Always what happens is people push the limits and then they make up new, new rules to.

To fight back.

So, yeah, I think we're going to see some interesting front bottle setups anyways this year.

Another rule that we got.

Or that me really, I got it wrong.

And that was pointed out by a friend of the podcast who wanted to stay anonymous.

He pointed out that unintentional littering was and is a yellow card.

Apparently.

You, Matt, you got a yellow card for unintentional littering at Boulder one year.

I would have thought you would have pointed this out.

No, I did.

I did.

I'm just so caught up about that penalty.

I can't even talk about was.

It actually was a bit of a frustrating one.

But the.

Actually the referee who made that call, he also pointed out to me my error with the bottles.

I'll keep them anonymous.

The refs are listening.

And then the blue card is for intentional littering unless local laws and ordinances require a disqualification.

And if that takes place, if that's.

Then the local law takes priority, it would result in a DQ and that would be noted in the rules for that event.

So interesting.

I had thought and I had said in the podcast that intentional littering was a dq.

Apparently I was incorrect.

It is a blue card and it can be a DQ if that particular race is.

There's local laws that stipulate that has to happen.

That actually that would be an interesting thing to look into is which jurisdictions you're racing in.

You might get DQ'd.

Right?

Could be.

Let's exit the penalty tent.

I think we've spent enough time in here and let's talk about our first topic which is this new synergy between the T100 and the WTC.

I read a little bit about it in this morning's.

We're recording this on Wednesday when the Tempo News came out.

So that was the first time I had heard of it.

So Matt, tell us what's going on there.

It's a super interesting move from the T100 and World Triathlon.

I talked about it in the newsletter.

Basically these two high level entities, World Triathlon has been around for a lot longer.

Obviously they last fall they signed a 12 year strategic partnership which was short on details but just signaled to the triathlon world, hey, we're coming together, we're going to maybe do some things together to consolidate.

I think this is the opening salve in that really connection between these two triathlon entities.

Basically what's happening like T100, they hadn't announced their, the, the Spanish leg of their T100 series and now we know it's going to be in Valencia, Spain on September 20th and that is actually going to be held alongside the Valencia World Cup.

This is a World Triathlon World cup that was already on the schedule.

So also alongside those two races they're going to do some age group races, I think super sprint and sprint distance races.

So nothing too large of a footprint but to me it's really interesting.

It's like a minimum viable event footprint of minimum viable event structure that could be scaled up moving forward.

So ultimately maybe we could see a T100 World Tour race alongside that top flagship tier World Triathlon Championship Series race, alongside a massive 3,000 to 3,000 person age group race.

I think that's what they want to get to, but they're just doing this right now to see how it works and then move on from there.

It's certainly an interesting proposition.

I think it really comes down to being two parts of this where you have this kind of market pressure from Ironman, Ironman, T100.

They're in a battle right now and World Triathlon as well.

They're all trying to basically battle for this market share, this triathlon market share.

And it's wait for T100 and World Triathlon to hit back at Ironman and try and reclaim some of that market share.

So I think that's super interesting.

It's also I think in a way a media story because with Ironman they just, they have the mind share of a lot of triathletes.

And ultimately if World Triathlon and T100 can execute well on this, then it creates a lot of buzz, it creates energy and I think it can bring people back into that World Triathlon T100 fold.

And if they can pull off this event in the fall and potentially scale up, it could eventually be a compelling alternative to what Ironman's offering.

I'd love to know if you'd be interested in any of these races.

Jeff, what do you think about all this?

I think it's a winning proposition that they're doing this in Europe because Ironman obviously has a huge footprint in North America.

They do have races around the world, of course, but they tend to be, let's face it, many more races in the North American market.

They are a North American company after all.

Valencia is an interesting choice just because it had those catastrophic floods last year.

That's true, that's true.

It's interesting.

It's, you know how it is, right?

We move on from one disaster to the next and we forget what happened.

And I have no idea, I don't know what the state of the area is or where this race is going to be.

I think it's wonderful to bring an event to the area to try and bring in some tourist dollars and help an area that's been devastated.

But at the same time, what's the infrastructure going to be like and will it have recovered sufficiently to be able to host an event like this?

Hopefully, obviously they think it will.

Yeah.

A couple of different.

One of the things you said a couple of times is you said how these organizations are competing and to me that has always been the T100 or PTO's fatal mistake.

Stop trying to compete with Ironman.

Stop trying to go head to head.

Stop putting your events proximate to the major Ironman events.

I don't understand that.

Make your events world class.

Make your events really interesting.

We need more in triathlon, we need more choices.

We need more high quality events, but we don't need them in competition with already existing really good quality Ironman branded Events, there's.

There's no need for them.

Give us an alternative.

I agree.

Give us an alternative.

Give us something to do.

But don't put it so that you're competing with them.

Do it so that you're complimenting them.

Interesting.

I've never understood their approach.

T100.

They just.

The, the problem is, I think with T100, they're at the whim of these local jurisdictions.

Like we, we just mentioned.

They only just announced this Spanish leg quite, I would say, late compared to what a typical high level event would when they would announce the Singapore stop for the T100.

I think the last few years it's been in September or so, but this year it's going to be in April.

And as you refer to at the same time as Oceanside, they just, they don't have control over when they get these permits.

When they get these, they.

I feel like with T100 they're just getting.

They're getting what they're given and they really have no power quite yet.

Maybe if things continue along a good path, they'll have that kind of power with these, with the jurisdictions.

But right now they're just desperate to get any kind of race they can get whenever they can get it.

This is the thing, like, why do you need to have city races?

That was the other thing.

When you're trying to be the F1 of triathlon, you got to have these locations.

You got to be in Singapore, you got to be in.

I know, listen, this is just me.

I don't like the model.

I.

To me, I've said this from the beginning.

One of the big allures for an Ironman race is the course.

The reason Oceanside is such a great race is not the community of Oceanside's nice.

There's nothing special.

Honestly, the race of Oceanside is what makes it amazing.

You get to swim in the ocean.

You get this fantastic bike course through the military base that you would never be able to ride otherwise on roads that are pretty much closed.

It's the course that makes a lot of these Ironman events.

And the T100 is like you said, they're trying to be the F1.

I don't want to race on a racetrack.

I don't want to race in like these tight little loops in a city.

I'm personally.

It's just.

Look, maybe it's just me and I have already said previously that I think Ironman does a good job with their races.

I have not done a T100 race, but I haven't done a T100 race because I don't want to travel to a big city to race in a big city that just, it's not my, it doesn't interest me.

I want a course that's beautiful.

I want a course that challenges me and I just don't find what they have offered thus far.

Now Valencia sounds potentially much more interesting.

Yeah.

Everybody loves Spain.

Everybody loves Spain.

I'm actually just going to rip the audio from what you just said and email it to T100 because at the end of the day now T100, they're pivoting to events.

They used to want to be a media product.

They wanted to be, this is why they wanted to be in Singapore and London and Miami and all these other places because they were a media product.

But now they're trying to now become profitable in this, in their path to profitability is pivoting to events.

What was once working for them in that way or what they thought might work is completely different now.

And I think they're realizing maybe they need to find different locations.

They love these global cities for sure.

It sells.

Yeah, look, I'm just one person.

I, I, their events have been quite successful.

The other thing about putting their events up against the Ironman events is they made a big deal about how, oh, our events are going to have all of the big stars.

That's not going to happen.

When you're going on the same weekend as Oceanside, it's not going to happen.

It's a different set of stars.

It's these world triathlon athletes coming up for the most part who are going to be populating it.

So it's almost a very interesting.

We don't have the viewing figures or anything but if you somehow had the viewing figures of both events, pro race is happening.

It would be interesting to see what the different draws look like.

Who's bringing in more eyeballs really at the end of the day, it's all about eyeballs.

Their production quality for their actual to watch has been better.

It's not been fantastic, it's not been terrific, but it's been better.

We'll see, we'll see.

It'll be interesting.

The one thing with this partnership with World Travel on and doing these events, I think they have a good model where they are trying to do more of these festival type events where you're going to have 5Ks, you're going to have open water swims, you're going to have whatever Aquathons like, whatever you want.

I think that potentially could bring in More people, just more racing opportunities.

Bring the whole family, everybody in the family can do kids race, all that kind of stuff.

I think to me that's a potential path forward for sure.

It's more opportunities, more races, more big events.

And I think we've talked now several weeks in a row.

We started it with our very first episode, what's the fu.

What's the state of the sport?

And again this week we've had several other races sell out.

The Rockford, Illinois, sold out.

Chattanooga's just about sold out.

I think there's room for these events.

Yeah, a hundred percent.

And I think it's great that we have lots more choices.

Let's move on to our next topic and this topic.

We both had things going on.

I was asked to write an article for Triathlete Magazine based on a scientific article that came out about NSAID use in athletes.

And at the same time you found some influencer stuff.

So tell us what you were finding.

Yeah, again, this article popped into my feed and I just laughed.

I actually just thought, I thought of you.

I was like, oh, Jeff would get a kick out of this for sure.

Basically what it comes down to is Advil has been doing this influencer campaign with these influencers basically extolling the virtues of using Advil as a go to part of people's training and racing routines.

I watched one of the videos, one of the.

One of the infields fit by Mikayla.

91,000 followers.

So yeah, definitely a good following.

The video shows her running, you know, hard on the track, finishing her workout and then immediately like not even a chance to take a recovery protein or anything, immediately starts popping Advils, which, okay, that's a, an option.

Comments were turned off on this post, which I thought was also very interesting.

Advil jumping into the influencer campaign, trying to get people to take more Advil.

Why do you think they would do this, Jeff?

Just why are they jumping on this?

It's interesting that they are because.

So this paper that I reviewed looked at just the history of NSAIDs, and the history of NSAIDs are actually fascinating.

The first one, NSAID, by the way, stands for nonsteroidal anti inflammatory drug.

There are a variety of them, but the first one was aspirin, which is the brand name for acetyl salicylic acid.

And just the history of that particular drug is really fascinating.

It comes from the bark of the willow tree.

It's.

It was used for over 3,500 years.

The Egyptians, the Sumerians, the Romans were all using it and they had no idea, of course, what was in it, but they just knew that it was really useful for treating fever, for treating pain.

And of course, it took thousands of years to isolate what it was and to be able to use it.

Now, unfortunately, it was quickly realized that NSAIDs do have some side effects.

Aspirin in particular.

But over the hundred to 150 years that NSAIDs have been around and several others have come about.

There's, of course, ibuprofen, which is Advil.

There's naproxen, there's various other ones, is like acetaminophen.

Is that an nsaid?

Acetaminophen is not.

So acetaminophen is not an nsaid.

Yeah, that's Tylenol.

So let's just how they work, basically, all NSAIDs, true NSAIDs, work by inhibiting a specific enzyme called the COX enzyme.

And what the COX enzyme is responsible for is for the synthesis of prostaglandins.

And there are two versions.

There's Cox1 and Cox2.

Most NSAIDs are nonselective, meaning they block both Cox1 and Cox2.

The Cox1 is the enzyme that you find pretty much all throughout the body.

Cox 2 is found mostly within the stomach.

And that's important because Cox 2 produces prostaglandins.

And the prostaglandins in the stomach are important for protecting the lining of the stomach against acid.

So when you inhibit that COX2 enzyme, you decrease prostaglandin in the stomach, you leave the stomach vulnerable to acid.

And that's why you get NSAID gastropathy, NSAID gastritis, and eventually ulcers.

There are selective COX1 inhibitors.

So there are specific drugs that just block the COX1 inhibitor and leave the COX2 alone.

And that's great, but they are associated with their own issues.

The study that I reviewed and the article that I wrote that'll be coming out in Triathlete probably in the next month or so.

We'll mention it on the show when it comes out.

But basically, that article talked about a survey that was done that looked at athletes using this stuff.

And over two thirds of athletes, no matter what their proficiency, no matter what level they're working at, they all say they're using this.

And over two thirds of them say they're overusing it.

And the reason most athletes overuse it is because there is this kind of belief that NSAIDs are inherently safe and for the most part they are.

They have a very safe, what's called a therapeutic index.

Therapeutic index is just basically how much you can take before they get poisonous.

And NSAIDs, you could take like a bottle of please don't do this, but you could take a large amount of Advil and you wouldn't actually get particularly sick.

If you took too much aspirin, you can die.

So aspirin actually is unique among the NSAIDs in that it can kill you.

But Advil, like if you took a lot of Advil, you'd be fine.

If you took more than a handful of acetaminophen, you could get liver failure and die.

So the NSAIDs themselves, the traditional non aspirin NSAIDs are actually, they have a pretty good therapeutic endpoint.

So does that mean Advil is onto something?

Is that.

But that's not to say they're not completely safe.

So I mentioned already the stomach issues, but the bigger issue for Advil is the kidney issues.

Because prostaglandins, the thing that doesn't get synthesized, prostaglandins are also involved in regulating blood flow to the kidneys.

And when you don't have prostaglandins and you tend to get constriction, vasoconstriction of the blood vessels going into the kidneys, which can be significant problem.

If you are dehydrated, somebody who just finished their run and is often dehydrated and then pops a couple of Advil, that's the worst thing you can do because you are at the most susceptible.

And I have written and I have spoken on my podcast, the Tridoc podcast, talked about the danger of taking NSAIDs during long competitions because it's dangerous.

For that reason, there are a couple other reasons NSAIDs are not good for athletes.

Number one is that they block certain healing pathways.

So if you have a tendon, muscle or bone injury, NSAIDs actually block the prostaglandins are necessary for the healing of those injuries.

Sounds like all of the things, what else is there?

After all those things, there's not much left.

And then the other reason, and this is the big one for endurance athletes.

And listen, NSAIDs are great if you do have aches and pains because it has been shown if you take something like ibuprofen, especially like I just did a long run, I ran 10 miles before the podcast and I look sore, I'm achy and like it's normal right after 10 miles, at least for me as a 58 year old non Professional triathlete.

And if I.

And it's been shown that if I take a couple of NSAIDs after I'm well hydrated, I actually will feel better and be better able to stretch out and do more exercise the next day.

That is for sure.

NSAIDs definitely can help with that.

But there's a trade off when we train, especially because, remember, when we train we're looking to do a stimulus that actually causes these sort of micro injury to our cells.

The reason we get sore is because what we're trying to do is we're trying to cause this kind of stimulus in our muscles by virtue of a little bit of injury and some inflammation.

And it's that inflammation, that healing process of our muscles that causes us to adapt to the training stimulus and get stronger.

When you take NSAIDs, you block that inflammation, you block the adaptation.

And there are several studies now that show people who take NSAIDS on a regular basis don't get the same benefits from training as people who don't take NSAIDs.

That's really interesting.

Thanks for that, those insights.

It's awesome.

I guess.

When should athletes then be taking something like Advil?

When would you recommend they take it as a part of their training?

If you have, if you look the, the one thing, the thing that these NSAIDs are good for, and it's not just Advil.

I don't want to, I don't want to speak like we're just promoting Advil, because we're not.

And this could be any of the NSAIDs.

NSAIDs are great.

If you have an injury, you've pulled something, you've twisted something, you, and you have swelling because NSAIDs will reduce swelling.

NSAIDs will help with the pain related to that.

They're very good analgesics for over the counter medicines.

And so if you have something that is like an acute thing that's gonna only be there for a couple of days, absolutely.

I think NSAIDs are very helpful.

Now, I mentioned how they can delay healing of like tendon injuries and things like that.

But if you just hold your ankle and it's sore and it's not broken, you're not worried about a significant sprain, you're able to walk on it, but it's just bothering you.

I think that's a great indication to take some, you have a headache, take some NSAIDs.

Now there are alternatives, right?

If you're worried about the NSAID causing your stomach issues or anything else.

Acetaminophen, paracetamol, Tylenol.

That, that's a, that is not an nsaid.

It does not inhibit the same enzymes.

It.

We don't actually know how Tylenol works.

It's not been completely elucidated.

There's some theories, but Tylenol works very effectively against pain.

It works as an antipyretic, it reduces fever, it's not going to reduce swelling, it's not going to interfere with inflammation.

So Tylenol is an alternative.

And there's a lot of non pharmaceutical things, right.

So there are things that you can take that are herbs.

Curcumin is an anti inflammatory.

Listen, nowhere near as potent as these drugs, but if you're worried about those drugs, then those are alternatives.

Nice.

So the moral of the story is you shouldn't be taking Advil right after you finish your hard run workout.

You definitely shouldn't be taking Advil though.

Listen, once again the influencers, not to be trusted on medical issues.

No, no, I think that's.

Before we move on to the last topic, I do want to take a moment just to thank those of you who have left a rating and a review and invite those of you who are either new to the show or maybe have not left us a rating and review and might think about doing so, please go out there and do that.

If you do, it's really helpful to us.

It makes the program more visible amongst the veritable forest of different triathlon podcasts out there.

Getting more ratings and reviews is what helps tempo talks become more visible.

Also, if you would be so kind as maybe share the show with someone who hasn't heard of it yet, that would be another way of getting more ears to hear our dialogue.

Thanks for that, Matt.

What's our last topic, final topic of the day?

I think it's a good one here.

Basically asking do athletes really need to train on a time trial bike?

To me, I really think if you have a time trial bike and you want to get the most out of it and whatnot, I believe, yeah, you should train on it for sure.

You know, if you don't have a time trial bike, it's not absolutely necessary.

But I do think, I think the.

Question is predicated on if you have one.

I read the question.

I read the question as, okay, you've got a time trial bike, plus you have a road bike or a gravel bike or a mountain bike.

Right.

And plus one need to travel you.

Yeah.

So do you need to travel.

Do you need to train on the TT bike if you're a triathlete?

I.

That's how I read this question.

Yeah.

For Sure.

I do think if you're trying to get the most out of that TT bike, it's gonna be the fastest option when you're racing.

I do think you need to train on it.

But any cycling I think is better than no cycling.

So there's that as well.

I agree with you.

I think that the importance of riding on a TT bike, if you.

Assuming you have it, the importance of riding a TT bike is two things.

Number one, it does not handle the same way as a road bike.

And for people who are new to a TT bike, spending as much time as you can on that TT bike, getting used to it, getting used to being in the aero position, getting used to the steering, getting used to getting in and out of aero so that you can handle the brakes if you need to change gears manually versus electronically.

Just being able to do all of the different things you need to do, I think it's just hugely beneficial to get as much time as possible.

We know that all tempo talks listeners.

Everybody's listening now.

We know you're rock stars on the bike and know how to handle.

There just seems to be some kind of stereotype around, I don't know, triathletes and bike handling.

So doesn't apply to any of you.

But we just don't want to perpetuate that stereotype.

It's a hypothetical.

It's a hypothetical.

And then the other reason to spend time is just getting comfortable in the position.

Because the fastest position is not the one that's necessarily looks the most arrow but rather it's the one that you can hold for the longest amount of time producing the highest amount of power.

That's going to be the best position.

And the only way you're going to be able to hold a position for a long amount of time is to be in that position training it as much as possible.

And the only way to do that is to ride that bike.

Do you train and your TT bike all the time?

What's your bike day?

So I train indoors most of the year and that includes in the spring and summer mostly just because.

For a couple of reasons.

Number one, because time efficiency.

For me, it's just much more efficient to be able to just whip downstairs and get in a high quality trainer workout.

The other thing is, I'll be very honest as an emergency physician and writing about this kind of stuff over and over again, I haven't heard about anybody getting hit by a car in their basement on the trainer.

So I.

Not yet.

Yeah, so I am.

It's really sad.

But that is one of the things that keeps me indoors.

But that being said, I will go out and ride outside and when I go out and ride outside, I will decide which bike I'm going to use, depending on what kind of ride I'm going to do.

We're very fortunate where we live and I know myself that I get a lot out of doing these long climbing rides.

For me to spend a four hour ride where I can get like 6 to 10,000ft of climbing is incredibly beneficial.

So I will take my road bike in those situations, but then I'll do other rides where I'll drive out to Boulder and I'll just do the loops around the rectangle, the whatever, you know what I'm talking about for sure.

Absolutely.

Then I'll take my TT bike and I'll just ride the TT bike all day.

Yeah.

I think it is important to recognize that with the time trial bike versus say your road bike, gravel bike, you're in that it's your, it's your hip angle is different.

Am I correct?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So at the end of the day you are using different muscles.

So when you have this closed hip angle, you know, it tends to make me make you use more of your hip flexors more.

Your quads, your low back muscles are working more just to stabilize in that kind of arrow position.

Whereas in a road bike your hip angle, it's more open.

So that's going to bring in more glute and hamstrings at the end of the day, if you're doing these quality rides especially then I do believe that you should be doing it in your time trial bike.

But again, if you just have, if your bike's in the shop or something and you gotta use a road bike, that's better than nothing.

Will you and your other pro colleagues do you ever do these long.

Will you go right up to left, up left hand canyon, up to what's at the top there?

Yeah.

To Ward.

Ward, yeah.

Will you ride up there on your TT bikes?

I will typically, especially in the summer in arrow.

No.

So this is the thing too.

A lot of the times if I'm riding with a group, especially if I'm solo, I'll probably do more stuff in aero.

But if I'm with other people, I'm probably not going to ride an arrow that much.

But typically when I'm doing those rides, those are more kind of social rides, more zone to just out there getting some fitness.

Whereas when I'm doing these workouts on the flats or even if I'm riding up into the hills.

I'm doing quality.

I'm always in the bars trying to maximize that time, maximize those muscle adaptations like I talked about.

And what about Kirsten?

Kirsten's a Olympian as well.

She continues to race on the short circuits.

She rides a road bike with aero bars or.

No, they actually.

They got rid of those.

They got rid of those.

They don't even have them anymore.

They don't even have.

Just riding a road bike.

Yes.

Okay.

So then for her it's.

That's just what she rides.

That's it.

That's all.

She is starting to do some more 70.3 riding and long course riding.

So a little bit more time in.

In the arrow position but generally yeah, in the road bike quite a bit for sure.

And will she do the longer climbs as well?

Yes.

Yeah, not.

She doesn't climb up, up that high too often.

She's had some back stuff.

So sometimes being in that position, being going up the hills, it irritates the back a little bit.

But yeah, definitely a bit of climbing for sure.

I'd say I go up into the.

Hills quite a bit more interesting.

And do you do some stuff on the trainer?

Right.

Yeah, I, I'm like you in, in, in a lot of ways.

I think the time saving benefits of being on the trainer, like you said, you've never got.

I've never got hit by a car on the trainer in, in swift.

I've never got hit by a car.

So yeah, typically, especially in the winter doing a lot of quality workouts on the trainer because it's just so simple.

You do not.

Will you be an arrow?

I will.

So during like my threshold intervals over gear stuff trying to spend as much time in that arrow position because I do believe that having those adaptations come race day you're going to feel those benefits versus just being in the kind of.

A hundred % agree.

I 100% agree.

I just have so much trouble doing it.

I and it's.

I'm sure it's 100% mental.

I'm just not very good about being on the trainer in the Arrow bars and I don't have an excuse except I'm just lazy and it's.

And, and I know it's harming me and it's so frustrating because every time I go down there and I get on the bike I'm okay, today I'm gonna do the ride in Arrow and I just never do it.

I just, it's.

I, yeah, I don't know.

Yeah, I think I need to get better about that.

Yeah, maybe that's your next next month goal is stay more time in a row in your.

But the problem is you're not going very fast.

You're not going fast at all.

So you're not really feeling that that benefit of being in the position.

So maybe that's part of it too.

All right, I think that's going to do it for this episode of Tempo Talks.

We hope that you have enjoyed it.

We as always, welcome your feedback.

As we mentioned earlier, positive or constructive criticism.

We are here for whatever you have for us and if you have any questions or topic suggestions that you'd like for us to consider on a future episode, please do let us know.

You can reach me at tridocloud.

Com.

I am available also on Instagram at Tridoc Coaching.

All one word.

Tridoc Coaching.

And Matt, how can people reach you?

Hit me up on Instagram.

My handle's D1.

I'm not going to try and tell you to use Advil when you're running just to put that out there.

Don't worry about that.

Or email.

It's going to be matt thetemponews.com all.

Right, Matt was great chatting with you.

Look forward to chatting with you again next week and have a good one.

Hopefully the foot X ray comes out looking good.

We'll see.

We'll have an update on that for sure next time.

All right, take care.

Thanks, Jeff.

Tempo Talks is a production of the Triathlon Performance Hub and was produced and edited by me, Jeff Zankoff.

The music heard at the beginning and the end of the show is Rock by Henry Graggart and is used under a Creative Commons license license from Pixabay.

Tempo Talks will be back again next week with a new episode.

Until then, please leave a rating and a review and subscribe to the show wherever you get your audio content.