Humans of Steel Triathlon & Aquabike | North Carolina's Most Unique Race

All right. Welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. I'm your host, Coach Chris, and we are here to talk all about Humans of Steel Racing, a local race that was born from COVID And I'm here with Coach Carly too, uh, who is our volunteer coordinator and, uh, Jill of all trades and who does all the things. And we're prepping for another race and figured it would be a great opportunity to tell you guys more about the race, why it's different, why you should register, why you should do a relay, why you should do all, you know, just come join us, why you should volunteer if you don't wanna race.

Yeah. All the things.

Yeah. Thanks again for coming on cuz you're the bestest.

So, hey guys, it's me. If you're not bored of hearing me yet, I'm not a co-host. I promise. No.

Uh, poor Emily, uh, who was my dietetic intern for 6 weeks, she's She kind of did turn into my co-host. That was like part of her stuff. Carly's like, please Lord, do not give me this podcast.

No, not taking the podcast, but I happily join anytime I'm requested. And I do have lots to say about humans still.

Yes, it is, is a lot of fun. And it reminds me of when I have interviewed quite a few race directors, because at the end of the day, our mission is to empower people just like you who are listening to this and to grow the community of endurance athletes. Because when I got into this sport, I remember finishing my first triathlon. It was White Lake, and I remember literally like sitting in the grass starting to stretch and be like, holy bleep, I just did that. And everyone deserves to feel this way. Like, I did a hard thing that I don't— I don't know if I really knew that I could, you know, like, I just— I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know the things I didn't know. And when I finished, I was like, oh my gosh, everybody needs to experience this. This is amazing. So we were born because there's a little company you may have heard of called Ironman. And in— and this is not a dig on them. I want to make sure that that is super clear because I'm not gonna bite the hand that feeds us. So when In COVID, when everything shut down, which rightly so, we were in the midst of making 5,000 protein bites with the Fueling Edge because we were at the time we had a meal service. And anyway, that's a whole, that's a whole nother podcast. Uh, we were about to do Tobacco Road Marathon, that got shut down. Anyway, we had several athletes on our roster who were training for Ironman and they're like, I I can't keep doing this. Like, I want this done. And so we thought, well, I guess we're putting on an Ironman in the midst of COVID And we did it that September. I don't know if I've— I am sharing our, our website. I love that picture, by the way. Um, so we did a quote-unquote unofficial half Ironman Ironman, which honestly, I loved that format. Of you could do, we had a, we did it in Jordan Lake. They swam and they could choose how long they swam. They could do 1.2 miles, they could do 2.4, and then they got on the bike and they could do 56 or 112, and then we ran on the Tobacco Trail. So we had one athlete who did 2.4 miles of swimming, 56 miles of riding, and then a 10K run, like choose your own adventure. That'd be cool. I think that that would be a logistical nightmare as an official race director now, and we'll get into that here in a moment. But, um, and people had a great time and they were like, huh, this is cool. And we were like, huh, we're pretty okay at this. So Do you remember the second time we put this race on? That was not— that was not officially Human Design.

It was not a race. I, I had a bunch of my athletes, like my coach from coaching. Oh gosh, now I'm trying to remember what made me be like, I'm just gonna put on a race for you guys.

This is how we roll here. We're like, you know what, let's become race directors.

Oh y'all, we just recorded a podcast about day camps and I mentioned that Chris Newport and I are just our fatal flaw and also our superpowers, just being like, I don't know, figure it out. And I just realized this very much is me figuring it out. Um, I, there was, there was a bunch of my athletes and if, if you guys work at the endurance side, you also know that I kind of like, I check, I kind of am with all the athletes and I check in on you guys, make sure everything's going okay. And there were just a bunch of you that needed an Olympic race in August. Mm-hmm. And there isn't one. And I was like, I'm gonna bring back Humans of Steel and we'll do one for our athletes.

Mm-hmm.

Um, and we did, and it was super fun, and we had a good chunk. I feel like I should have refreshed my memory before joining this podcast, but I want to say they were like—

and if you click on the link that is attached to this podcast, it will bring you over to our quote-unquote blog. And those, you guys, those have so much information. If you go to the website version of all of our podcast episodes, the they're detailed. So if you're somebody who would prefer not to listen or watch, um, you would prefer to read, they're so detailed. But we'll put pictures up, we'll put pictures from our first Humans of Steel, and then we'll also put pictures of our quote-unquote second Humans of Steel, which was the Olympic distance that you were just talking about, right? So yeah, we'll cover the picture part of it.

Yep. We— so I think we had like 20 or 30 athletes. We had a sprint option, Olympic option. We did it very similar to the OG, uh, 2020 Humans of Steel. We rode over to the Tobacco Trail, we ran. Anyways, it was so much fun that everyone was like, we— this needs to be a thing that we do with the team every year. We all had so much fun and we were like, well, if everyone loved it that much, let's make it a race. And here we are.

And here we are, yeah. I think I remember going to like the North Carolina state and being like, um, so Humans of Steel is officially registered. We made a logo, we made that cool sign that if you guys are watching you can see this cool sign that says first triathlon. Well, I didn't make it. We had, oh, you do not want me to. Listen, I like to be good at things, I am not good at that. So, um, but we have the backdrop and we organized it all and created the route and have this awesome sign. If that is your first triathlon, freaking kudos to you. Like, okay, just to be different, we wanted to do this in a reverse style for a couple of reasons. Number one, it gets you on and off the road kind of faster, and then you could in theory cool off in the water. In theory, you know, just— yes, in theory.

The heat of August was a big determining factor on making us be like, you know what, why don't we do it backwards?

Yeah, yeah. So, and I also like a different challenge.

Yeah.

So not everybody out there appreciates it, and I—

it's not for everyone, but it's not for everyone.

It is not for everyone. If you are not good at your fueling hydration, do not come to our race. Like, come to our fueling and hydration services, please. Yeah, that is another thing that you need to work on. But yeah, it's out at Harris Lake, and because getting Jordan Lake in the summertime is pretty much impossible, and for good reason, because you're dealing with campers and all kinds of stuff. So I think we were originally at the end of August and now we're more at the beginning of August. I wish I could make North Carolina cooler, but September and October are pretty much packed for races. It was— it's basically an opportunity to have a fun race in the summertime when there's not a lot of other races unless you go way up north, as a segue to your quote-unquote perhaps bigger races. Yeah.

And that's sort of the, the gap that we fill with this race. We're, you know, our intent is never to be this massive race that's drawing in thousands of athletes. One, again, we have brains, we know it's hot and we know the reverse format's not for everyone, right? Like we, we're not delusional in that regard, but we do fill a gap. There's not a lot of racing in August, uh, but it is a time where particularly anyone doing, uh, a 70.3 or 140.6 in the fall, you're looking for some sort of. Olympic race around this time, and the Olympics can be hard to come by.

It can be.

So a little bit of filling the gap, but also coming from our values as a business and how we want to help the sport grow. We try to be very beginner-friendly, again, hence the plaque, and we make sure we find you all. If it's your first triathlon, we are finding you. We're taking a picture, you're holding up the sign like we are celebrating you big. It's not, it's not a crazy hard race, but it's not an easy race either, again with the heat and the reverse format. So if you're taking this on as your first one, you get extra kudos, and we just like to make sure we're celebrating you.

Yes, totally. And the first year we did this race, we were not USA Triathlon sanctioned, and we made everybody— you can see the picture over on the left where the girl is like got her fist in the air coming through the finish line, which I will say, part of the reason for the reverse format is that I think that Aquabike is an underrepresented sport that is fabulous, especially for those people who are like, I can't run anymore, I hate running. Pick your word about running. I can pick your personal term that you and running don't get along. It's fine. There's Aquabike, and I think it is so cool. However, unless it's an Aquabike-only event, you go out, you swim with everybody else, you ride with everybody else, and then you end up in transition, and it's so anticlimactic. And the finish line is the bomb. Um, welcome back, 1995, or whenever that word was cool. Uh, leave it to me. Um, so So I was like, how cool is this that everybody gets the same finish line? They get the same celebration, they get the same medal around their neck rather than the Aquabikers just being like, here I am in transition, I guess I'll just put my bike away. And like, nobody's celebrating you. You have to like go find the person to be like, can I have a medal 'cause I just finished a race? Like you're asking permission. It's like, no, you paid your money, you deserve the celebration, not like tapping somebody on the shoulder like, excuse me, do you mind if I have a medal? Like, no, you, you pass through. So we had the first time that we did it, we had everybody required to wear a buoy because we were like, I don't know, how is this going to go? And it was a sprint only, and, uh, it went fine. People— I was like, wow, this— it was less stressful than I thought it was going to be for swimmers.

Yeah, well, and I think that's one of the biggest, I'll say, deterrents for people joining our race is that they don't want to swim last and they're really worried about that part. The reality and what we found over the, the years of putting this on is that there's less athletes in the water, which means there is more support staff with eyes on you. So lifeguard to athlete ratio, it, y'all, it's so much better at our race than a mass start race or a wave start race where you're swimming first and you have, you know, 30, 50, 100 people getting in the water at the same time. Um, you're just not gonna have that. You guys slowly trickle in throughout the swim portion, and it's such a great, um, ratio. We always make sure on top of that, because we know you're worried about it, we have extra lifeguards every year, more than what USAT asks us to have. Um, so it's something that surprised us. To your point, we had everyone use the buoys, um, the first year because we hadn't done it to this scale before, and we don't require them anymore. We have caps if you want one to notice that, like, hey, I just want extra eyes on me. That helps, like, our lifeguards know to look for those caps, which is super helpful. But there's just like a nice steady stream of swimmers going into the water and heading around the loops, and it's all gravy.

It is. Yeah, I mean, you're, you're already warm. You're generally less stressed out. You're not in crowds. And, and then like Carly said, we have— everybody gets a bright yellow cap, but there are red caps for anybody who's like, can you just make sure that you keep an eye on me? That's the little signal to the water sports staff, like, hey, we, you know, we're keeping extra eyes on you.

Yeah.

And, um, the only part that I wish were easier is that as the day progresses, you know, boat traffic gets— you're Listen, you're totally safe. I guarantee it. But boat traffic along the other side of the lake starts to pick up. And so, you know, every once in a while you might get this like little, hmm, like I'm going up and down just a little bit. But other than that, it's the same, same old thing. You're dealing with less feet and arms and—

Yeah.

You know, just kind of going around the bend like another day in the open water. And then there happens to be this really cool finish line at the end.

Yep.

And a medal and electrolyte popsicles.

Yes. So we do do the medals because who wants to race and not get a medal?

I mean, again, yes, that was important to us. And just seeing if we have any more, like, oh, the Kids Dash, any more good pictures? Of course we have good pictures. Um, Kids Dash, that is so fun. I wish I had more specific pictures. And again, we'll put more on the, um, on the blog, but the kids are so stinking cute. We do a Kids Dash, mm-hmm, and we raise money for Girls on the Run. Um, they come out every year because if I were not in sports as a young girl, I would not be in this job right now. So I feel very privileged to be here and want to give back to women in sports. And building them up, because Girls on the Run is not just a running— if you heard our podcast with them on it, it's great. Maybe I'll link back to that too, about how it's women's or girls' empowerment and running. So they come out, they lead the warm-up, and then, yeah, I mean, what, what are, what are your thoughts on the Kids Dash?

Because if y'all have a kid, particularly a kid like under the age of 5 in particular. The 5 to 12-year-olds have fun with it too, but, um, last year we gave all the kids the medals that the adults get that are racing, and y'all's kiddos felt so cool to have the same medal as Mom or Dad, that it— like, the confidence was booming. It was absolutely adorable. But also, again, to the empowerment point, to see these kids being like, I did a really hard thing like my mom or did. Uh, it was just so great. It's super fun. It's adorable. Like you said, Girls on the Run leads them through a warm-up, which is really cute. Um, we all gather out in the middle of the field and they do their run, and then they get their medal. So it's a great addition. Again, loving getting the kids excited for their own version of racing, um, and having them feel super awesome.

Like, yes, remember, totally. Uh, man, when I was handing those medals out, you would have thought that I was giving them like, like 6 pounds of candy.

Yes.

You know, they were like, what? I get this heavy medal that my mom got? Like, oh yes, you do. So even if you don't have kids, you just have to, you just have to watch because it is so stinking adorable. Yeah. And then nice thing also just with Harris Lake in general is that there is a playground, like literally next to the expo. And we do have some special guests this year of folks after the race. We've got several amazing physical therapists and other partners of ours. So come out and like hang with them, ask them questions. And another little FYI about that, we do not have sponsors. So, and, and I'm not saying that to like toot our horn or anything, but it is very common because The behind the scenes of a race director or of a race organization is there's a lot of stuff that you have to do. You have to hire cops, you have to get the permitting and the approval from the parks, from the water, um, from, you know, like being able to be in the water, emergency services, lifeguards, volunteers, uh, you know, awards. Logistics of like the website. I mean, all, you know, all this stuff, and it is not cheap, which is why a lot of race organizations get sponsors. I was talking to one race organizer that I was like, oh, you know, who do you get your porta-potties through? And they're like, oh, we get, you know, we're sponsored by blah blah blah company and they give them to us. I'm like, that must be nice, but porta-johns are not cheap. So we don't have any sponsors. For anybody to come out, for some of these partners that we have to come out and be part of the expo, our requirement is that they are making a minimum donation to Girls on the Run. That's how we wanted to, to do our organization. That means nothing bad about anybody who gets sponsored stuff like that. I just want to make sure that that is super clear, but it was really important. To us as an organization that we have extra funds going to Girls on the Run. So come hang out and chill at the expo, meet some people, chitchat. Don't just like, you know, get in your car and speed away. Mm-hmm. Come hang, be part of the community. What would you say that you've seen? I mean, you know, this is a great picture here of people hanging out eating popsicles.

Yeah, I think again with our format, it makes for unique post-race conversations for people that have come out for the first time to try this format. I think everyone likes to commiserate about how hot it is. Um, some years have been warmer than others. Last year we had some unexpected wind. Um, but again, it's all part of race day. It's gonna happen any time of the year, but I think, and something that we try to instill as staff members putting on this event that we have a really like homegrown feel, and that's not on accident. We want it to feel that way. We want you to feel like you're coming into our community and being welcomed with open arms, and not just you but your support person that's there to cheer you on, or maybe your kiddo that also wants to do the race. We want you to feel welcome regardless of if you are here to do your first one and you're a little nervous, or you are a seasoned athlete and you want to win. Uh, we have the full spectrum there and we just want you to come have a good time, feel safe, but ultimately feel like you just kind of came to the cookout, right? Like you came, you did something cool. Uh, you leave feeling strong and supported. That's really the goal. And Obviously, we're trying to support a full Girls on the Run team. That's usually what our fundraising goal is, to support a full team for the season for Girls on the Run. So that's sort of always in our background, trying to raise donations for that.

Yep, I think it's 15 girls. Yeah, a team is somewhere around $3,200-$3,300. That supports them with all the equipment, all the resources. They're volunt— you know, their coaches are volunteer, which is great. But, um, you know, have their own team is just super cool. It was really important to us. So goes to a good cause, great community. As you can see, I don't think anybody is frowning here even though it is hot. Um, what about volunteers? Anything you want to say about our volunteers.

Oh, they're just so amazing. Every year, every year I get really stressed that we're not going to have enough volunteers, and then y'all show up to the point that I usually have a couple extra volunteers that I'm using as floaters for in the moment, like, oh, we need someone over here, like the unexpected changes. And yeah, and then go with the flow, figure it out on race day. But y'all show up, they're super smiley, they're ready to do whatever I ask them to do. It's so great. I'd say over 80% of them are also endurance athletes. So you're also getting people that kind of know, know the gig and know what's going on out there supporting you, which can be helpful too. But generally speaking, everyone, everyone's just so happy and smiley and excited for race day. It really is. We, every year we leave just like, I don't know, warm hearts. It's always— Yes.

Glowing both in sweat and probably sunburn and also in joy.

Yeah. I always feel like I raced even though I didn't.

Oh my gosh, yes. Every time I look at my watch when we leave this, I'm like, I pretty much raced. Yeah, based on the number of steps.

It's miles.

It's miles running back and forth. It is bananas, but so fun. So if you— I would encourage you, if you do this sport, or if you don't do this sport, let's say you quote unquote just run, which I don't want that to be offensive. I hope that is not offensive You are a fabulous, wonderful runner, and I appreciate you. If you choose to cycle only and you don't want to do multisport, come out, volunteer on the bike. Or if you're a runner, come out, volunteer on the run course. The more people who have experience in this sport and can be at the dismount line— that's a really important one. If you have experience in multisport, it's so nice to have somebody who gets that to be there, and you are valued in this community.

So if you're—

if you want to take a lighter training day or a day off and come hang with us, you'll get snacks and super high fives, uh, probably hear me running around with a megaphone a little bit, or a microphone. We do have good— we do have good music too. So I definitely would encourage you to come race, and if you don't want to come race, uh, relay. That's another one.

Yep, we do really often.

Or come volunteer because it is a good time. And if this is your first triathlon, like I said, freaking kudos. Amazing. And you get to hold that amazing board that is on your screen right now. That thing is legit.

It's heavy. Every year I'm afraid I'm gonna drop it and crack it. It solid wood, you guys. I somewhat apologize for that, but it's also really cool.

It is, it is really cool. So yeah, come out, come do the things with us. I do want to make sure that you know this: we trail run first, road bike, and then open water swim. I had somebody give us feedback after the first year that the run— and we, we're very clear about that on the website the run had a lot of trip hazards. And I was like, that's called nature. So don't be fooled. But Harris Lake is very flat, but it is not a time to wear your racing flats. No, like, leave those.

It is a trail run.

It is a trail run. That doesn't mean you need trail shoes. Uh, you can wear them if you'd like. But regular old running shoes should be fine. Just make sure to pick up your toes.

Yeah, leave your super shoes at home. Chris Newport.

Yes, yes, for sure. Give those— give that film a rest. All right, cool. Well, hope to see you guys out at Humans of Steel. You can go to humansofsteelracing.com to sign up or to register to volunteer. Also, quick note, if you are water support, we love you. You are fantastic. Please come out and know that it is a little bit of a longer day than if you have done water support at other events. It is ideal to have a kayak, but bring your water, come hang out, watch all these amazing swimmers do cool things, and we hope to see you guys out there. Thanks, Carly. Thank you.

We hope to see you guys on August 2nd. Woo!