Journey to Ironman 70.3 World Championship with Coach Peter Ep 78

Every endurance athlete remembers the moment when things finally click. Your swim feels smoother, your pacing makes sense, your fueling works, and suddenly the sport feels not only easier, but more fun. And for many athletes, that moment happens at training camp. That's exactly why we created the Endurance Edge Triathlon Training Camp happening April 22nd through 26th at Lake Jocassee in South Carolina. For 4 incredible days, you'll train in a small group with expert coaches, sports nutrition support, and sports psychology guidance, all designed to help you train smarter, race stronger, and finally connect the dots in your performance. We swim in crystal clear mountain water, ride beautiful and challenging roads, run scenic trails, and spend the rest of the time recovering, learning, laughing, and eating some seriously amazing chef-prepared food. Mm-hmm. Camp is intentionally small, just 20 athletes, so you get real coaching, true connection, and amazing breakthroughs. So if you want an experience that can transform your entire season, we invite you to join us. Head to theenduranceedge.com and click training camp and reserve your spot with just a $100 deposit. Come train hard, learn a ton, and leave stronger than you ever imagined. I'll see you there. All right, y'all, welcome back to the Find Your Edge podcast. We have a fun guest today, Coach Peter, who's gonna just had a, uh, pretty amazing excursion and a pretty amazing experience. So I thought it would be kind of cool for us to hear from him about all the things. So Peter, jump right in. What did you do and where did you go?

So I just got back. It's now a week now. Went to New Zealand, Taupo, New Zealand for my third world championship. So second 70.3, went to St. George in '21, Nice in '23 for the full, and then obviously my third one. Last weekend.

So just a little trip, just a, just a little jaunt, you know, halfway around the world, whatever.

Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So what a unique experience. And I just thought it would be really cool for us to hear from you. So prior to jumping into Too Much, give a little, for somebody who maybe has never been in triathlon, give a little bit of background on like What you just said, World 70.3, like what the heck does that mean? And what's a full? Like give just like, like the Reader's Digest version to somebody who may not be in triathlon.

So 70.3 World Championships is the half Ironman distance. So 1.2-mile swim or, or 2K depending on where in the world you are. So 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and then a half marathon or, or 13.1 Obviously for the full, it's twice that. So 2.4, 112, and then 26.2. So that is the difference between a 70.3 and the full distance for the layperson.

Nice. So is this something that you have to qualify for?

For sure.

Yeah. And how did that whole process go for you?

This year it was It's always on the calendar to try to qualify. This year I, I really only gave myself one shot, so we went to Boulder 70.3 in— I want to say it was June.

Yeah, I think that sounds right.

Yeah, I moved it from August to June due to other races. Um, had a decent race for myself, uh, went 5:06, which getting ready for Roth full in, uh, a month later, so, or 6 weeks later. So it was a perfect pre-race thing for Roth. So I was still getting ready to get into peak training for, for Roth, but did it, um, executed what I thought was a good race plan. So I think it was like 32, 33-minute swim, 2:35 on the bike, and I think I went like 1— I think I went like 1:44. So Based on elevation and everything else, the power was good on the bike. Uh, heart rate run was, was perfect on the run. Finished 12th in my age group, which typically I wouldn't stick around for awards, but my wife's like, shoot, why not? We're here. Um, we're not going back for a couple of days. Let's just go and see what happens. And we went for the roll down because we knew that this was the last race.

Okay. Quick pause. What the heck do you mean by roll down? So Ironman likes to be a little tricky, right? Yeah.

So you have to look at your age group. So each age group is allotted X slots. Um, typically it's anywhere from 1 to— I think it's 3 to 5. My age group is 45 to 49, so, so we get— I think it's 3, um, because I think we're a more competitive age group on the guy side, and So the roll down is if, if anybody ahead of you doesn't take the slot, it kind of just like it rolls down. So if, if the first guy takes it and 2 through 7 don't take it, then the next person to be allocated or would be available would be number 8. So as luck would have it this time around, I was 12th. Literally, I was the first one that stood, that stayed around for long enough to get it.

Yeah, because in Ironman rules, you have to physically be present for that roll down, right?

You have to be present. They will not email. Now, for St. George, they did because it was COVID.

Oh, okay, right.

So I did Worlds. Yeah, yeah, I did, uh, 70.3 Hawaii. So right there at the Fairmont, and I got an email like on Tuesday morning. The race was Saturday. It's like, do you want the slot? I was like, yes. Uh, so for Boulder, it was— everything was rolling down for a lot of age groups. I think the age group ahead of me, or 2 age groups ahead of me, it rolled down like 30th because nobody was there.

Wow.

So whoever was doing the announcements, like, hey, anybody in the top 10? Anybody in the top 12? And my wife literally pushes me to the front of the line. She's like, yes, right there. That guy right there.

I knew I loved that woman.

I literally looked at her and I go, are you sure? She's like, hell yeah, I'm sure. So go up. And the other thing about the roll down is you have to be present, but you have to have a credit card with a little bit of allowance on it because you pay right there.

Pay in full or like pay like a deposit. You're paying in full.

You pay the 8 bills right there on the spot.

Okay, so $800 to enter Worlds.

I, I, I rounded up, but it was like $750. Yeah, but you know, $800 sounds a little more, you know, scary. Yeah, but no, $800, play it in full, do all the waivers, and then as soon as you do that, then they'll give you the I qualified thing.

Oh cool.

And that's the only way to get that, that piece of paper. And then like literally like I think was a week later, they give you the official like registration link, you sign up for it.

And that, that picture is definitely going on the blog for this, by the way, because I do remember you sending that picture.

Yeah, yeah. Um, but that, that's the roll down. Uh, in hindsight, I probably should have stuck around for North Carolina because I had a better race at North Carolina. I finished like, I think it was 18th or 15th, so I wasn't sure it was going to come down that far, and whatever. Yeah. So, but no, that's, that's how I got to spend a lot of money to go to New Zealand last weekend.

Okay. Yes. So if you're okay sharing, what is a lot of money? Because I know some people are like, oh my gosh, going to New Zealand, let alone, you know, paying $800 for a race. But this seems like kind of a once in a lifetime deal.

I've been—

and your wife was on board with it.

Oh, my wife is on board. It's like we got passports for this particular reason.

Yeah, that's amazing. It—

so, so two things. Like, obviously there's cheaper ways to go. There's Airbnbs. You can stay 30, 40, 50 an hour away and it'd be like $100, like a regular hotel room. Um, we enjoyed the Nice experience where we were walking distance to 800 meters to the start to the finish. Yeah. Um, and so Nirvana Europe, which is I think the official Ironman travel partner, Uh, got on their website and, and got one of the last rooms, um, that was available. It was about 1,000 meters or 1,200 meters away from race finish, but then we were only 800 meters away from like transition and everything else. So like literally outside of our window, it was basically Ali'i Drive. We could see them, the, the loops and everybody doing that. Yeah.

Um, did you take some pictures? We'll have to post those too.

I, I've got to do another photo dump.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, super cool. It was— you get what you pay for, and I paid for convenience. Yeah, I think it was like, I think it was $3,500.

Okay.

Or—

and you— but you guys were out there for what, like a week, 10 days?

Yeah, we were Monday to Monday. So we flew out, flew out of Raleigh Saturday afternoon, got in a top— or got into Auckland 8, 9 o'clock Monday morning, which would have been Sunday night East Coast time. Yeah, because it's 14, 16 hours ahead.

Yeah.

So, and it was a 4-hour drive from Auckland down to Taupo, so we got into Taupo at 1 o'clock, 1:30, went for a little 15-minute shakeout, had dinner. But yeah, we— I having done what I do and not having a lot of time to plan, like paying the convenience fee to be right there so that on race morning I didn't have to drive my car, find a place to park.

Because yeah, if, if that's what matters to you in the travel process, don't apologize. And, and what, you know, like, yeah.

And what we found was we got there on Monday. As Ironman started setting up, you start— you started to see roads shut down And, and avenues where you were used to going out and doing stuff were not that way. And so it was nice just to be like, literally, like, I think my wife and my daughter volunteered at swim start, um, Sunday morning. So like, I walked down to transition, pumped the tires up, dropped stuff off, went, walked back to my hotel room, laid down for like an hour, and then walked back to transition or walked out of the swim start. That's pretty cushy to be able to do that. I am perfectly comfortable with.

Yep.

Um, and then going to Australia in October of next year, we are 600 meters away from race start, transition, everything else. So again, convenience, but it's a little cheaper for Australia than it was for New Zealand. Oh, but flights, flights, I think— I don't know if you're going to find a flight. It was 1400 bucks per person to fly out.

That, that is far less than what I thought it would be.

So I, I, you know, that's, that's going— I think going to Nice and Germany, it was about $1,000 per person, but what it is. Yeah. Um, New Zealand is a little more expensive than, than here, but the exchange rate was favorable. Um, so a New Zealand dollar is like $1.50 US. So I haven't looked at my credit card yet to see.

But Merry Christmas.

Yeah, but when you go to dinner or, for example, because you know that I'm a big McDonald's guy. A McDonald's.

I don't know if I have any play or any say in any of that. We're just letting it fly. As Peter's drinking his Monster right now.

A value meal was like $16.

Oh, wow. Okay.

That's, you know, a buck and a buck and a half. It's maybe like $12. Okay. So I think it's comparable that way.

Yeah.

So once you've figured out the conversion rate for the currency, right? Oh, $200 for a Lululemon finisher sweatshirt probably isn't that bad because it's only $120 or something like that.

So, yeah.

We kind of like, hey, this is probably a once in a lifetime trip. We're just going to make the most of it. The hotel had like a little kitchenette, so we actually did what we did in Germany is just like cooking a little bit at the hotel, and then we just kind of ate out like one meal. So it wasn't, wasn't bad.

So did you, did you get adventurous at all in your eating?

I said we went to McDonald's twice. We— my daughter likes Thai food and all that stuff, so we went to a Thai place because it was really, uh, a lot of Asian cuisines. So like Japanese, Chinese, uh, Thai, Indian. Um, so we had like— I think I had what, pineapple? Pineapple fried rice with chicken, and that was pretty good. Okay, for not going outside of that box, right? Um, There was— we, we did a couple local eateries that had really good reviews that we were able to walk back and forth. Um, two really good pizza places that were recommended. So like, that's my thing. I'll find a local pizza place, and that is either before the race or after the race.

Okay.

Um, and usually I'll do a chicken sandwich wherever I can find a chicken sandwich, and that is— that is— sits well with—

that's your jam.

Yes, it's well with the tummy. So like, a happy tummy is a race-friendly tummy.

Oh my gosh, for sure. Yeah. Okay, that is so cool. Did you guys do any like, like excursions or outside of your race?

So we— so I have to please both the wife and the daughter.

I get that.

While I'm trying to fit in those last couple workouts, um, they wanted to go to the, uh, Lord of the Rings because there's Hobbiton and Hobbitville. That's like 2 hours north, and it was like $180 a person. So we're like, no, we won't do that. Um, but there was New Zealand where we were is very similar to the Big Island, um, topography and just overall vegetation. So we're like, oh, this is just like, just like Kona.

Um, was the weather relatively similar?

I would say it was very, very similar. Now obviously they get a little more seasonal change than Hawaii does, but like it was perfect blue skies for Saturday and Sunday races. So no, we did a boat tour of Lake Taupo and did some, they have some carvings that are like 40 plus years old that kind of give homage to the ancients and the original people that settled there. There was— it's— there's a lot of thermal, thermal hotspots.

Oh yeah, cool.

So that was, that was Craters on the Moon. So that was a huge, like, almost like the Volcano National or National Forest Park in Hawaii. So we did that. That's like a walking tour. So it was like an hour. And then Hookah Falls. So I may have to post a picture of that one too, but that—

yes, please.

That was brilliant blue water or green because of the— that it could fill every 60 seconds, it could fill 9 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Wow.

That's how much water was coming over the falls. Um, so yeah, we did, we did everything that was in the tour book that was free and within basically 15-20 minutes of, of the hotel and everything else. So like, we, we hit a lot of stuff. There was a lot of little walking things that we did and places. So like, we did as much as we could without venturing north, east, west, and south of where we were. But there's— if we went back, obviously there's, there's more things. And obviously going to the South Island, going down to Christchurch and a couple other places. But yeah, um, we, we enjoyed it. It was— Lake Taupo is the largest freshwater lake in the Southern Hemisphere. Um, and it was—

oh, is that where the swim was?

Yes.

Yeah.

So 66 degrees race morning, which—

Fahrenheit?

Yeah, I thought it was going to feel colder than it did, but it, it was perfect.

Cool.

And then where we stayed, there was about like a quarter mile down the road along the beach, there was a thermal little pool. So it was coming out of, out of the land and it would just feed into the lake. So you could go from the lake, like cold bath in the lake, and then go to this little thermal little, little bath and do like a contrast bath. So that was, that was super cool.

Yeah, way cool. All right, so you get there, you get— so now, like, with all the race stuff, so you swim in Lake Taupo, is that how you say it? Okay. Um, how, how was the swim?

Uh, I would say crystal clear water.

Nice.

Um, it dropped off pretty quick once you got in. So, like, I think when you're— we went 300 out, 1,200 over, and then 400 back in, and on the, the flat, the flat outside. I think it was like maybe 30 feet deep. You could see down to the bottom.

Wow.

So it was kind of very, very much like Kona, or, or I'm trying to think of another clear place I swam, but like Hawaii was probably like the next clearest place.

Not in North Carolina.

Not in North Carolina. Not at 70.3 North Carolina. No. Or, well, I guess maybe like Lake Lure or Lake Logan.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Out in the mountains.

Yeah, in the mountains. Yeah. Um, no, I had, I had a, I tell my wife, it's like, this is what I'm gonna do in the swim. This is what I'm gonna do in the bike. This one. And she's like, you came out like 2 minutes ahead of what you told me. So like that was nice.

Cool. So, and I remember you mentioning that I think you were in like the last wave. So tell us about that. Like where, you know, race morning, you put all your stuff up, you went back and kind of chilled out for a little bit, then came back down. And then where, where were you at in the, in the, how many people were in this race too?

They said there was, between the guys and the girls, it was 6,200 people.

And you— and it was men only and then women only on a different day, correct?

Women were 2,400 on Saturday, which would have left 3,800 on Sunday. Uh, the final results only had about 3,000 or a little over 3,000. Um, pros went off at 7 AM. So transition closed at 7. My wave, the last wave, the old man wave, or the semi-old man wave, however they want to vilify me, 9:19. Oh, so the last wave to touch in the water was 9:19, almost 2 and a half hours after the fact for the pros.

Wow.

So we're, we're listening to the, the race announcers like, oh, Hayden Wild is getting ready to go off the bike. I looked at a guy next to me, I go, that sucks.

Yeah.

He's like, it's great for the spectators. Like, well, it's not great for us.

No, no. So interesting, because you're probably not used to being in the back.

In Nice, it was— we were the last wave.

Okay.

Um, and that was a little discouraging because by the time I got in the marathon in Nice, they were starting to clean up the aid stations on the run.

Yeah.

Um, I get it because they want to get— by that time everybody should be off the course. So it's that 8 hours or 8 and a half hours, whatever it is. It's just disheartening while you're waiting for 2 hours. Yeah. Plus to get in the water.

You're like, I could be done sooner, but I could be done at noon.

I could be done at 1 o'clock. But no, I've got to be done at 3 o'clock. And for me, it was really like you knew it was going to get hot. So you're now you're now you're working about like, well, how are you going to manage the bike to get to the run so you're not overheating and everything else? So I literally texted Carly.

I was like, you told me that.

She's like, Peter, Peter had a panic attack. Last minute thing. So I'm freaking out and it's— but she's like, you got it. And it's different. Like I told my wife, it's different coming from somebody outside of your immediate circle.

Totally.

That puts it more at ease.

Yeah.

And because like my wife's going to be there for me regardless. My daughter's going to be there.

So sports psychologists don't have it all figured out in their own heads, right?

We do, but we want to make sure that we have it figured out. So we just need that extra little like little nudge.

Like, I think, yeah, I mean, that makes you human, Peter. Yeah, it's okay.

But yeah, starting, starting 2.5 hours after everybody else. Kind of sucks. But then like Carly told me, he's like, there's just more people to pass.

There you go.

Um, so I was like, well, you're not, you're not wrong.

So I love how we all learn from each other all the time. It's so cool.

And, and the different thing was, is like, it's like, while that is true, I was like, I'm getting passed on the bike. I was like, well, did I just have a good swim and they just suck at swimming? And then like, well, by the time we get to the run, it's like my run was— I, my wife, I think, said I was smiling the whole time because I was— that was— the run was good.

Yeah.

Um, and I'm just passing people, they're like all walking and everything else. I'm just like, so nice. So good. Oh, I had a blast.

That's awesome. So how— okay, so swim was cool. You could see a ton. How about the bike? Like, how was that?

I'm, I'm kicking myself. So like the, the less I talk about the bike, the better. I think I went a little too conservative on the bike. Based on the power that I was putting out, I, I could have gone faster. But what it was is like, as I described on Wednesday, the roads over there are chip seal. So for everybody, like the chip seal is literally a layer of tar. With whatever rock, pea gravel, whatever, and they just roll it out. So it's not, it's not your typical asphalt road, which is super smooth and you can just roll and be fun with it. It's— you would go from different ages of chip seal to where it's like a new chip seal is probably pretty good, but then older ones have like little pockets of not potholes, but just— and it's not the smoothest of roads to begin with. So, um, I think I rode like 75 PSI.

Oh yeah, so aired down a little bit.

So I aired down and people were going wider tires. Uh, I think a guy in transition had like, like 30s or 32s.

Oh wow.

Yeah, it was rolling 50 or 60 PSI. Yeah, just for the road dampening and everything else. So, and there was a couple steep descents We actually drove, like, we've never driven the course, but we drove it just to see. And there was a couple spots that it's like, while Marty can dive bomb it, I am—

Coach Marty is our resident descender. So I'm with you, Peter. I'm going to preserve my life.

I will flutter the brakes and stay at 38, 39 miles an hour.

And are you— do you have disc brakes? Yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

So like, I, it's a lot better with the disc brakes.

Mm-hmm.

Uh, the 2 days I rode, cuz they had the course open, I rode a short loop and the roads were a little wet from either the rain the night before. And I don't, I was like, if this is the way it's gonna be race morning, I was like, if I can get through the, if I can get through the bike, we're fine. Yeah. But it was, it was a gorgeous bike ride. I, I'd say it's very comparable to, to, to Hawaii 70.3. Lot of rich farmland. Um, the wind was kind of negligible, so it could have picked up and been— I think like Paula Findlay or some of the pros were posting stuff on Instagram, it's like 40K out and 24K back was what they were averaging on certain days.

Wow.

But we didn't— I didn't feel that. Um, but it was— the bike was what it was. It's just get through it, um, in one piece. Don't, don't overdo things based on the roads and, and get to the run.

So maybe your slightly more conservative bike and getting a little bit more, uh, vibration led to a good run.

Well, the other thing is the, the one screw I forgot to tighten on my bike was for my front hydration, um, because I've got the, I've got the, the Aero Water Bottle that hook hooks into my stem.

Oh, okay. Yeah.

And the bike computer mount like screws into the top of that. So I'm looking down like 30, 40 minutes in and my, my computer's going back and forth between the aero bars and I'm trying to tighten it up with my thumb and it's not working. So like literally for, for 2 hours I'm like between the aero bars, thumb on, thumb on each side of my computer to make sure it doesn't pop off.

Mm-hmm.

So that's the one screw I need to make sure I tighten up.

But yeah, because how was transporting your bike?

I've done it for a couple of years now, so it's— it'll take me— I think it took me an hour to pack it up before we left. And then—

and are you both wheels off?

And then— yeah, pedals, wheels, seat comes out, and then I just have to take the the handlebars and just kind of take them out of the stem and just kind of tilt them on itself a little bit.

Yeah.

Um, but knock on wood, everything— it made it, made it perfectly there. Takes me 30 minutes to put it back together when I get there. Um, I've got a hard case, but I was probably in the minority of people with hard cases.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, I saw what we saw at the airport and everything else. It was like 90% of those Syicon soft cases, and I've got one. Yeah. But after I've seen them throw that on a plane, I— my wife goes, no, you're getting a hard case.

Yep.

Hard case it is. Yeah. Um, the—

do they count that as an extra piece of luggage, or is it like a different fee for like an oversized bag or something like that?

Depending on how nice the, the gate attendant is.

Oh, okay.

Nice. Oversized or overweight. Uh, I think going to Germany somebody did it as both and it cost $200. Um, but this week or last weekend it was $100, which I think is the basic bike fare.

Yeah.

Um, so $100 going over. The lady in, um, at the airport in New Zealand was perfectly cool and it was $100 coming back.

Nice.

Didn't have to pay the extra because sometimes it's 52 pounds. And they'll charge the excess fee for 2 pounds, right? Annoying.

And so you brought your pump, right? Like, any other, like, little things that you stuck in your bike case?

Uh, I can't put anything extra in that case to keep it—

it's snug as a bug in a rug then, huh?

Snug as a bug. Uh, I've got one of those little portable, um, the little air pumps that will go in your back pocket, so I got one of those. So I got one of those and I've got a really cool small mini floor pump that'll go in my check bag or in my transition bag.

Cool.

Along with, I think I've traveled with a pedal wrench and a set of, I got a torque wrench.

Okay.

So that all goes in the check bag because—

And are you clinchers or tubular?

I am clincher. My son is trying to get me to go tubeless.

Oh, okay. All right.

I'm just not, I'm not sold on the tubeless just yet.

You're not that— that's okay. That's okay. So yeah, you know, you just have to have the right gear for the right type of equipment.

I've seen tubulars or— yes, tubulars go bad where it's all—

yeah, the glue gets all screwed up.

The glue gets all screwed up and it's just a mess. So like, I haven't quite gone that far yet.

That's okay. We still accept you, Peter. Okay. Okay, so we got the bike, and then how was the run? How was the run course? I mean, I know you felt really good, but tell us about that.

So the run course, you come out of transition and it's— it was two loops. Um, the, the disheartening thing about the, the run course is you actually go out of transition and you head towards the finish line. You could see the finish line.

Mhm. You're like, I'll be there.

You can taste the finish line. And you had to do that twice. So like, literally, you're within 50 meters or 100 meters of taking a turn to go to the finish line. Um, so you get there, you just kind of have to do a little loop and go back out. Um, the run course suited me very much, like North Carolina 70.3.

It was so relatively flat-ish.

Flat-ish. 2 little, little punchy hills that you had to do. Well, one, one punchy hill that you do twice. I'd almost say it was net down because of how long the downhills were compared to the uphills. You basically ran along the road, then you got on a bike path that kind of went along the water, and then you kind of made a little U and then headed back on the road all the way back to up to the finish. So like, it was, it just kind of rolled. Like, um, I'm getting better at the nutrition on the run.

Nice.

So I was able to take, I think, 2 gels. I had 4 with me. I took 2 gels, I think one at 4, like maybe 5 or 6, and then one again at maybe like 9 or 10.

Okay, cool. So nicely spaced out. Cool.

So that's, that's good. The stomach allowed that, so I'm very grateful for my stomach. Mm-hmm. And the only time I slowed down or, or did any kind of walking was just going through the aid stations, just grabbing water, water for my little headband, Omnius cooling hat thing.

Oh yeah. Yeah.

So I had that and I, I, for this one, because we started so late, I wore my arm sleeves or my sun sleeves the entire race. So part of the water that I would take at the aid station was really just to douse the arm sleeves to keep that, that part cool and then just put ice in the back of my, my kit. Um, but yeah, it was, it was fun. It's fun passing people on the run and they're all talking, have a good time. I'm just like, yep, bye. I'm just like, 145 beats, hey, we're rolling 7:30s or 7:45s, whatever.

Yeah.

Um, now the only thing now, I told my wife, is like, this is the first race ever that the last 2 miles, like, I lost feeling in my fingertips.

Interesting.

Okay. Tingly. And I've never had that. Um, so I think—

Were your hands swelling?

I don't think they were swelling. It was just— it was really weird that I was just— it was just like pins and needles type things in my fingers, in my hands. So I don't know if that was— I don't think it was dehydration or anything like that, but it's just a weird feeling.

But did it go away relatively quickly?

As soon as I finished and kind of got some water in me, it kind of went away. It was just a weird a weird sense that I hadn't had before during a race.

Yeah, interesting.

But, uh, no, it's fun. It was the, the run compared to the bike and the swim. I think some of the pros mentioned this, it was people wall to wall, kind of like Roth was, just people everywhere from the time you got on the run to the farthest end of the run course and everything else. So the, just the, the atmosphere during the run I think was was really cool, like a, like a Roth. Um, uh, but yeah, it, that, I think that was fun. It was, it was a, it was a great day to race. We'll say that.

Yeah.

Just like the people and everything else was, was super cool.

It almost sounds like it's a bit of a catch-22 cuz with triathlon, this, you know, we, we don't have the Chicago Marathon with 30,000 people or 20,000 people. You just can't, you logistically could not have that many people swimming, biking, and running all at the same time. But that being said, it sounds like having a bigger race, which in this case was, sounds like 3,000-ish, third, you know, I don't know how many people DNF'd, but, um, that's a, that's a lot of people on a triathlon course. But it sounds like it, uh, even though you had to start so late, you get to enjoy the atmosphere and the spectators and like being, you know, versus there's some races where you're out there. and you're like, am I all alone? Where are the people? I mean, would you agree with that or, or any other sort of thoughts on that?

Even so, I, we fit, I finished around 3 o'clock, well-ish. Mm-hmm. Um, and there were still people on the run course. So even by the time we got back to the hotel at like 4:30, there was still people on the course, obviously very few and far between, but there were still people like cheering and everything else. Oh, cool. Um, so that, that part of it was super cool to see, um, some of the, the physically disabled, like the, the double amputees. Um, oh wow, there was a, at least one, we saw one, um, that was coming up to the hill to finish, and some of the older, the older age groups. Um, so it was, it was super cool. I, I had, you know, just to have people on the course, and maybe that's why they spread us all out. To, to have that. But like even on the, the women's race, uh, cuz we were doing stuff back and forth and we were, um, we saw the pros race, the women's pro race, and then we stayed around town for lunch and everything else and just walked back and cheering everybody on. So I think that's super cool.

Yeah, definitely. I, I, I wish more people would do that cuz, uh, yeah, it can be hard to be at the back, so needing some more spectating and, you know, Coach Carly's being there like, you got this, you know? So that's cool. So tell us about the finish and like the medal and all that kind of stuff.

So I want to share, my last mile was probably like sub-7, just—

okay, okay. You were, you were cranking it.

I was cranking. I think my last, I, I, I think my last 5 miles I negative split. If I, if I looked at my, my Strava and everything was negative split, my last, whatever it was, like 6:40, which was cruising for me. Yeah. I know your podcasters won't be able to see it, but that's, that's huge.

That's cool.

That is like, I, that's, that's a heavyweight.

That, oh, okay.

So that, I don't have to stick that on the scale then. Man, that is— I, I'd have to compare it to like, I looked at my Roth medal. The Roth medal is like not even like about a little smaller, but definitely from a weight perspective, like the World Championship medal is like, it's got some girth to it.

Yeah, yeah.

Um, no, it was super cool. Like Ironman does the whole run-up, so like the last 100 meters it's got the carpet and it's got the big banner thingy and they're calling you out and you can see the the finish line, your name on the, on the board, name on the thing. And, um, I think I told my wife and my daughters, like, please just get me a picture of me crossing the finish line so you can see my name. And she's like, we couldn't get super close. We got what we think is you crossing the line. But anytime crossing the line at a world championship or a big event like that is, is really special. What they— and what they say at the welcome banquet is like, the hard part is getting here. And then just enjoy the experience. And like, obviously I'm not going to be a world champion or top podium. So really for me it was just enjoy the experience, knowing that you never know when you're going to be able to qualify or get that roll down to go to the next one. So like, yeah, I think that's why we, we jump at any opportunity to go. Um, so like Nice was super cool last year. Tahoe was super cool this year. I think I'm only giving myself one shot next year, so we're going to Musselman in June, which I think is one of the first races for whatever '26 will be, because I think the window closes for Spain before that.

So Worlds will be in Spain in 2026?

Well, '25 they're in Spain, but I think it's a— I think it's an early— it's like no— I think it's November, October, so it's an earlier— it's early on the calendar.

Yeah.

So the qualifying window, I think, closes maybe May.

Yeah. So if this is ever on somebody's radar, they just— you know, these are just things you need to be aware of, right?

So the best hack that I can probably say is pick a race that's one of the last races or the last race when the qualifying window closes. So like, if you look at— if you— and I think Ironman does it, so they'll have the whole race calendar and when the last race to qualify for whatever world championship it is. So like, say it was like Boulder. Boulder was the last race to qualify. Do Boulder or do something in that window and then go to the awards if you finish in the top 20 or top 30, just go. Yeah, then you might get— because everybody ahead of you is like, well, I've already got my slot, I've already got this, or I don't want to pay X amount of dollars, right, to go. And I think that's, that's kind of my MO, because I don't think I've ever podiumed at a, at a, at an Ironman-branded race. I've come very close, um, but—

and you're no slouch, Peter, so, you know.

Well, thank you.

You're welcome.

I question myself sometimes. Um, but that, that would be my suggestion. If, if you want this, if this is ever on your radar, is it's called cherry picking. You, you pick your races. If you want to go to—

I would just call that being strategic.

Right?

Because you, you never know who else is gonna show up. You never know what their performance is gonna be. What, what you can control, you can control. End of story, right?

So, and if you want to go to the Ironman full distance, you just have to choose a race to go to France, because nobody wants to go to France.

Oh, okay.

Everybody— so like, if I wanted to qualify for full Worlds again, not that I would pay to go to France to do that regularly, but I would go if I qualified. Just pick and choose, right?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Being strategic.

Being strategic. Yeah.

So, which ties into, and you mentioned this at the banquet, like you've worked so hard to get here and I know that I asked you this a little bit before we started recording. What would you say to the Peter who started triathlon in term, like your Peter just finishing Worlds and then the Peter who's like just getting into triathlon. Like what, what would be that conversation? Like what? Tips or pointers would you give him? And do you have any regrets in the way that you got there?

See, my wife isn't here, so I can say what I want. Um, I ended up— so I started in '95, so I ran at Elon. We didn't have track, so I needed something. So my roommate and I just— he was doing them, so like I did them. Um, and did race from—

it was, it was cross-training. And I know you talked about this, um, in your coaches Um, podcast we did. So I'll, I'll link to that if anybody missed that. I thought that was really good.

So I went from '95 to, to I think '01 and '02, 'cause I did, I did Wisconsin in '02. Um, and then I kind of stopped.

Mm-hmm.

Didn't stop training, I just stopped doing triathlons. Uh, I was in graduate school, had two kids and everything else. So it was like, it was like, do I continue to try to race and train? Or do I take a step back, get the career started? And then, so that was '02. So then in 20, maybe 2012 or 2010, started back in. So in some cases you could go both. You could do, you could say that that 12 years or 10-year hiatus actually helped and saved, saved the body for what I'm doing now.

Yeah.

Um, I don't know if I was to tell my 20-whatever-year-old self back then, like, hey, in 20-plus years you're going to have gone to the 3 World Championships and done all these cool races. Just, there's a plan out— there's a plan out there. So like, the door's going to close for a little bit, but know that something special is going to be on the horizon. So it's just, it's being consistent, it's, it's being patient. Um, regret-wise, It is what it is. I've got two great kids, both grown through college, been married for 26 years.

She's your best sherpa.

She's my best sherpa. She's got the shirt to prove it.

Yeah. Um, so now, you know, not that racing isn't hard, because I know it is, but sherpaing well is— I just made up a verb, by the way. Um, Sherpaing well is like, there's a bit of a, there's a bit of some technique to it, right? You can't just like sit in a lawn chair and like, you know, hold a sign.

There were on the schedule for last week, there was a, a 30-minute block of Sherpaing 101.

Okay.

At the Ironman World Championships. Wow. A Sherpa 101. A little thing that you could go to. And my wife's like, no, I already know how to do this.

Yeah, she's, she's a pro at it. Yeah, there's some things you don't say. There's certain places where it's nice for you to show up. Yeah, there's a whole kind of like, you know, but hey, one way or the other, showing up no matter where you are in the race, I feel like is important. And then, you know, you learn just like your athlete learns.

Well, and then next year in Australia, it's, it's little different. So it'll be sprint, draft, and then Olympic, to where my wife's like, well, maybe you just take the kids. And so she's, she's flip-flopping, but she's like, no, I'm going.

No, that's just because, uh, the rest of us are all gonna come with you. She's like, you can have a break.

I'm not gonna let them go to Australia and me not go to Australia.

Coaches field trip.

I, I got my spot. I got, I got my room. We're, we're 600 meters from the start, so like, that's so cool, super convenient.

That's going to be awesome. Okay, so I wanted to finish on some— you were sharing this in our coaches meeting last week. There was some, like, you had some really cool experiences that were, um, I mean, outside of racing. Share some of those, some pro experiences. Oh, oh, oh, you know, cool conversations and like, oh my gosh, I'm actually doing this.

So with every world championship, they do like a fun run. So it's an opportunity to get another medal, another t-shirt.

What? There's a medal that goes with this? You know, you're gonna have to give him so many pictures.

Participation medal. Oh, okay.

All right.

So they, uh, the guy that was announcing goes, well, and 3-time world championship winner Miranda Carfrae is like right there. She's like literally like 2 people over. She's— Rennie is right there. And I'm a big Tim and Rennie podcast, or, or like when they were on YouTube. Yeah, I always enjoyed because Tim was a Naval Academy graduate, which is hometown thing. Um, so I didn't run with Rennie. I was ahead of her the whole time. So I did beat a 3-time world champion. I mean, okay, all right, you know, that's fun. So it was seeing It was fun to see that World Championships, former pros are right there with, with the lay people, the regular people. Um, and then, so that was, that was Wednesday. Thursday, Team Zoot did a, a shakeout run. We did the 3-mile run. So you had like Ellie Salthouse— no, yeah, Ellie Salthouse. Um, and then Crowey, Craig Alexander. Um, he ran and we just started shooting the crap for, for 3 miles. And nice, I asked about the Ironman coaching certification and how that all is, and he's kind of like, while he doesn't write anything, he oversees the content and everything else. So like, okay, we were talking about that. His daughter goes to the, um, Charleston Southern or University of Charleston and runs. So we were just talking about that and the differences between like the European mileage coaches and then how that translates to American coaches. And told him that I coached college. And so it was, it was fun being able to talk to him for, for that and just getting like, I was like, oh, maybe I do know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, yeah, um, you totally do, Peter.

And then what was it? So that I got a picture with Renny, uh, I think Saturday morning for the ladies. She was, she was walking from the, the broadcast booth to wherever she was going, and I kind of got her attention. So I've got a little, a little selfie with Renny. And then the cool part was Greg Welch and Crowe were doing broadcast like right behind us. So I've got a picture of me like pointing to the, to the broadcasters. Yes.

Cool.

So, and then we got to see Taylor Knipp, which is one of my favorite pro females, her and Ellie and what was the other one? Oh, Paula Finley. So like literally like Paula like walked right in front of us. getting in a van to go to dinner one night, I think. So I was like, oh my gosh. So I was like, I was a fanboy for like a little bit. Uh, it's like, oh, I follow them on Instagram. That's so cool.

That's really awesome. So I think you've given some really good tips and like experiences, but if somebody were listening and they're like, whoa, that sounds really cool. Maybe I could do that. What would be maybe a couple of tips that you could offer to them?

Uh, I, I think just trust the process. I think that's the biggest thing is like it's not going to happen overnight. Um, I kind of joke around, it's like I've been doing this for, I would say 30 years. I'm going to say 20 years, um, with time off. But like it's, it's going to happen organically and it's going to be a very fluid when, when it does happen. So I think just like little piecewise type thing. So maybe it's, it's top 10 your age group to top 5 locally, and then, um, test yourself with regional type championships or national, like, age group type championships. So like, um, I'm a big believer now that while I, while I feel I'm a good regional and state athlete, um, because I always check my, my national rankings and and everything else. Um, it's, it's fun testing yourself nationally when you go to like age group nationals or a world championship. You go, man, I thought I was pretty good, but I finished 200 out of like 300 in my age group at the Worlds. And my wife's like, dude, it's a world championship.

Yeah.

So that's, that's the fun part, I think, is just doing that. I think when I looked at my Ironman all-world stuff, I think I'm 95th 5th in the country.

Cool.

For, for my age group and like top 500 in the world.

Wow.

So like, that's cool, like putting in perspective, like, well, I finished here, but then when I look at the world rankings and all world, I was like, that's super cool that I'll, I'll be an all-world athlete 4 years running, which I know is probably not big in the, in the grand scheme of when you see people's bikes that have like all these stickers or or they're like, they're wearing their Ironman stuff from 15 years ago. I still haven't gotten to the point where I can wear old race stuff to races. I think that's a conversation Marty and I will have to have.

Yes, totally. Yes.

But it's also a conversation. It's like, I've got Marty in the back of my head and I've got my daughter. It's like, why are these people wearing this race stuff during the race? Why do you do that? That's bad luck.

That's bad.

Yeah, that juju. Don't do that. But no, I think the— you just test yourself and be patient and ask questions and don't be afraid to jump in the deep end because who knows? Yeah.

Great words of wisdom. I love that, Coach. Great job, Peter. Congratulations.

Thanks.

And thank you for sharing your story. And we're going to post some pictures, so give us a giant photo dump and we'll put as many as we can. That medal, definitely. And your participation medal, if you can find that. And whatever, like selfies you had, that'd be really cool to share.

Well, when they, when they said at the welcome banquet, it was like, well, if you cross the finish line, you get the big medal, which we all want. We all want the big medal. Right, you get the finisher's hat, the finisher's t-shirt, and then the finisher's towel. Oh, so you're getting like, like some good swag right there. Yeah, super swag. So like, yeah, my wife's like, as long as you get off the bike, I don't care, you can walk the run, but you're getting those 4 things. That is, that is, that is a Sherpa princess right there. It's like, I want you to have that stuff, so you're going to make any means necessary to get to the finish line.

Give me my gear. I freaking love it. Awesome. Well, Peter, thank you for sharing your story, and thank you everybody else out there for listening, and we will catch you next time. Thanks for listening to the Find Your Edge podcast. If you like what you heard, don't forget to subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. And if you're interested in learning more about our endurance coaching, sport and wellness nutrition, metabolic and sweat testing, triathlon training team, or our triathlon training library, be sure to check us out at theenduranceedge.com. And don't forget to follow us on social media at The Endurance Edge. Thanks again. And we'll catch you next time.