The really specific hate comments I get are from men who often have their.
Speaker BFamily in their profile picture, wife and.
Speaker AKids, and I could say anything to those people.
Speaker AIt's like if your child saw this comment of you bullying a random girl on Instagram, would they be embarrassed?
Speaker ABecause if I saw my dad doing that, I'd be humiliated.
Speaker ASo just think about that.
Jeff SankoffHello, this is the November 29, 2024 edition of the Tridoc Podcast.
Jeff SankoffI'm your host, Jeff Sankoff, the Tridoc an emergency physician, triathlon coach, and multiple Ironman finisher coming to you as always from beautiful sunny Denver, Colorado.
Jeff SankoffI want to take a moment to wish all of my American listeners a very happy Thanksgiving.
Jeff SankoffI hope that you're all enjoying a relaxing holiday weekend filled with friends and family and food.
Jeff SankoffAnd of course, a turkey trot to help burn off some of those calories.
Jeff SankoffPersonally, I'm on the last day of a diving vacation with my family in French Polynesia and will be heading home tomorrow for a short week before leaving again for the other side of the world.
Jeff SankoffThis time I'm off for New Zealand, where I will be finishing off my season with the 70.3 World Championships in Taupo.
Jeff SankoffThis is an event that I personally am really looking forward to and I know that many others are as well.
Jeff SankoffI started my training this year all the way back on New Year's day, and after 11 and a half months I'm definitely looking forward to a small break.
Jeff SankoffNow, like many of you, I am not going to stop training completely, but I have learned over the years how important it is to take some time to decrease the volume and intensity at the end of the year in order to rest and recover and more than anything, give yourself a much needed mental break.
Jeff SankoffIt can be difficult to continually motivate yourself day in and day out to do all of the training, and personally I find it much easier to do so over the course of of the year.
Jeff SankoffIf I give myself a bit of a breather around this time, it's a good time for it too, especially if you're in the Northern Hemisphere.
Jeff SankoffAfter all, it's cold and dark and it's the holidays.
Jeff SankoffWho wants to be dedicating all the time and energy to training when it could be spent with your friends and family?
Jeff SankoffNow, if you're a Patreon supporter of the program, then you may have heard the bonus episode that I recorded with professional triathlete Laura Siddle that released last week.
Jeff SankoffIn it, she alluded to the long season as one of the things that can impact professionals as well as age groupers.
Jeff SankoffWhen we discussed her picks for the men's and women's races in Taupo, she was careful to note that those athletes who have raced the most this year may be the ones who falter in New Zealand, even though they have done the best up to that point.
Jeff SankoffIt's a reminder that pushing yourself hard, while it can be very beneficial for your results, it can do so maybe only to a point.
Jeff SankoffAnd so we have to give ourselves the grace to take a step back at some point and decompress, train a bit less and allow ourselves the time to refocus and rededicate to a new season in 2025.
Jeff SankoffSo be a smart athlete and dial it back a bit in the next month or so.
Jeff SankoffEnjoy some of the things that you may have sworn off during your hard training during the summer and reconnect with people you may have lost touch with.
Jeff SankoffWhatever you do, take the time to indulge in some serious self care and don't feel even the slightest bit guilty.
Jeff SankoffI promise it will be more than worth it.
Jeff SankoffOn the show today, the medical mailbag has a different New Zealand tie in unrelated to the World Championships.
Jeff SankoffNot too long ago I got an email from the Feed about a new product they were promoting that promised some pretty impressive results for athletes who train and race in the heat.
Jeff SankoffNew Zealand Blackcurrant is a fruit very rich in all kinds of organic compounds that are associated with the claims that are being made.
Jeff SankoffAnd according to the feed, the supplement in which the fruit is found called Curranz C U R R A N Z has research to back it up.
Jeff SankoffJuliette Hockman and I take a look into what exactly that research is, what the evidence says and doesn't say, and that's coming up in just a few moments later I'm joined by a very entertaining and talented young woman who lives and trains in Los Angeles.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn Carter is a self proclaimed slow pro in triathlon and has a huge following on Instagram as the latriathlete we connected on that platform after I saw her response to one of the trolls that she too frequently has to deal with and I wanted to know more about her and why it is that we seem to feel the need to tear each other down so much instead of lift each other up.
Jeff SankoffWe had what I thought was a great conversation and you can hear that in just a short while.
Jeff SankoffBefore we get to all of that, I want to take a moment to thank all of my Patreon supporters of this podcast, including brand new subscriber Michael Morrissey, who decided that for about the price of a cup of coffee per month he could sign up to support this program and in doing so get access to bonus interviews and other segments that come out about every month or so.
Jeff SankoffThe most recent of those episodes was released last week and features the aforementioned interview with professional triathlete and member of the Athletes board of the the PTO, Laura Siddle.
Jeff SankoffLaura helps me look forward to the 70.3 World Championships in New Zealand and gives her picks for the win on the men and women side.
Jeff SankoffThat bonus episode and others like it are available on a private feed for Michael and all of my other subscribers.
Jeff SankoffPlus for North American subscribers who sign up at the $10 per month level of support, they receive a special thank you gift in the form of a BOCO Tridoc Podcast Running Hat that I am displaying right now on the YouTube video.
Jeff SankoffFor those of you who are watching, if you're listening, you'll just have to imagine how awesome it looks.
Jeff SankoffAnd for those of you who are going to be in Taupo for the World Championships, I'm going to be bringing along a few of these, so I hope that you will look me up while you're there.
Jeff SankoffI will be glad to bestow upon you one of these awesome running hats.
Jeff SankoffThe other way to get one, of course, is to become a Patreon supporter.
Jeff SankoffAnd this is a reminder for those of you listening that I hope you will leave a rating and a review wherever you get this pop podcast.
Jeff SankoffI promise you they are immeasurably helpful in improving the visibility and also the listenability of this podcast.
Jeff SankoffAnd if you're watching on YouTube, do me a favor, hit the like button and subscribe to the channel.
Jeff SankoffWhatever you're doing, I hope that you will consider visiting my patreon site@patreon.com tridocpodcast look into what it takes to becoming a supporter so that you can get access to those bonus interviews and maybe the cool Tridoc podcast Running Hat as well.
Jeff SankoffAs always, thank you in advance just for considering.
Juliet WatsonIt'S time again for the Medical Mailbag.
Juliet WatsonI'm joined by Juliet Watson.
Juliet WatsonIf you're watching on YouTube, you can see both of us.
Jeff SankoffHello.
Juliet WatsonAnd if you're listening in, it's nice to be in your ears.
Juliet WatsonJuliet, how are you?
Speaker BI'm very well, and you?
Jeff SankoffI'm doing great.
Juliet WatsonI'm doing great since I last saw you.
Juliet WatsonUh, of course, if you're listening, if you heard the last episode, then you know that this is being recorded just moments later but of course, for all of you folks, it's a couple of weeks later and we are back with the Medical Mailbag.
Juliet WatsonThe reason we're recording them in such close proximity is because both Juliet and I are traveling quite a bit in November.
Juliet WatsonI believe when this comes to air, you will be back, but I will be leaving something.
Speaker BBut our commitment to you is such that we are recording these to make sure that you have good content to listen to while we're gone.
Juliet WatsonAnd not an episode will be missed.
Juliet WatsonExactly.
Speaker BNot an episode will be missed.
Juliet WatsonWell, that's right, since we're here for the Medical Mailbag, Juliet, what do we have to chat about on this episode?
Speaker BSo one of the products that you have actually been known to endorse, and not endorse in a sort of financial, commercial way, but just to believe in, is tart cherry juice.
Speaker BAnd we over at Lightsport sometimes tease you quite a bit about that.
Speaker BNow, everybody, our avid tart cherry juice consumers.
Speaker BBut now here comes along this new magical fruit that is, I think, is.
Denise HaslickA little bit of a tart cherry.
Speaker BA JV tart cherry juice, and.
Speaker BExactly.
Speaker BA wannabe, an aspiring tart cherry juice.
Speaker BAnd it is called Curranz C U R A capital N, capital Z.
Speaker BAnd it talks a lot about this powerful little berry from New Zealand called the black currant, which, as a descendant of Brits, I feel like I've seen black currant tea and blackcurrant juice a lot of my life.
Speaker BBut now, all of a sudden, it has these incredible recovery properties and we're supposed to be consuming it in great quantity.
Speaker BWhat did you find out about this?
Speaker BAnd how did you come across this product?
Juliet WatsonYeah, this is one that I just.
Juliet WatsonLike all of you out there, I get inundated with all kinds of emails and social media advertisements for all kinds of stuff.
Juliet WatsonAnd this year I actually signed up to be part of.
Juliet WatsonI can't remember what the group is like, the 1% of the feed, or I can't even remember what it's called, but basically it's like the Amazon prime for the feed.
Juliet WatsonSo we get free shipping and we get like a percentage off on everything.
Juliet WatsonBut it also gets me a lot more advertising emails.
Juliet WatsonAnd so I got one last week and I'm just going to read from it because when I read this email, I found myself feeling very incredulous.
Juliet WatsonJust bear with me.
Juliet WatsonIt's a little bit long.
Jeff SankoffSo here we go.
Juliet WatsonThis is straight from the email I got from the feed.
Juliet WatsonIt's more than finding the right fuel or adapting to Higher carbs.
Juliet WatsonStudies have shown that 90% of athletes have experienced heat induced GI distress.
Juliet WatsonAnd I should also mention, just to interrupt here, that this email came to me in the week in the run up to the Hawaii Ironman.
Speaker BI was going to say that it came out right at Kona.
Speaker BExactly, exactly.
Juliet WatsonSo it was very timely.
Juliet WatsonWhen we train hard, especially in warm temperatures, blood flow is redirected from the gut to help regulate our body temperature.
Juliet WatsonThe result is cramps, nausea, or worse.
Juliet WatsonI and I is the person who sends these emails is somebody named Matt.
Juliet WatsonI don't actually know who Matt is, but anyways, Matt at the feed is the I.
Juliet WatsonIn this email I've started taking something that has not only eliminated this problem for me, but it's also ramped up my recovery time and overall performance.
Jeff SankoffHere we go.
Juliet WatsonFew red flags already.
Juliet WatsonIt's called Currans.
Juliet WatsonThis is an extract supplement made from a powerful little berry from New Zealand called black currant.
Juliet WatsonBlack currant is a superfood containing one of the highest densities of polyphenols and anthro anthocyanins.
Juliet WatsonThese antioxidants dramatically increase blood flow and reduce inflammation.
Juliet WatsonNew research proves that this supplement is incredibly effective in protecting the gut during exercise in the heat.
Juliet WatsonThis study is showing black currant extract might be a simple effective solution.
Juliet WatsonIt's also been proven to reduce muscle damage, soreness and fatigue.
Juliet WatsonEnd quote.
Juliet WatsonThat is a lot of promises packed into a what, two paragraphs?
Juliet WatsonHoly.
Speaker BI wonder if Christian Blumenstel was taking this right before he got on the bike.
Jeff SankoffOh my.
Juliet WatsonNot a selling point there.
Speaker BSo many promises.
Juliet WatsonYeah, when I saw this email I actually wrote write back and I said these are a lot of really bold claims.
Juliet WatsonI would love to see some references.
Juliet WatsonAnd after a couple of days I did get a response and they basically pointed me to the Curran's website's science page that listed a few references.
Juliet WatsonAnd Cosette Rhodes got to work, dug into those references, did a literature search and came up with a few more things.
Juliet WatsonAnd here's what we found.
Juliet WatsonSo polyphenols, We've mentioned those before.
Juliet WatsonYou mentioned tart cherry juice.
Juliet WatsonPolyphenols are one of the chemicals that are found in a huge abundance in tart cherry juice.
Juliet WatsonThe other one, the other reason tart cherry juice is something that I continue to use is because it's incredibly concentrated in melatonin.
Juliet WatsonAnd in fact, my son, who I love talking about, Adam, the cross country runner who just competed in state today, he has been using tart cherry juice to augment his sleep and has actually found it to be beneficial for him.
Juliet WatsonSo even young and old can benefit from tartrate juice.
Juliet WatsonBut I digress.
Speaker BLet's go back.
Juliet WatsonWe're not talking about that.
Juliet WatsonYes, New Zealand black currant, very high in polyphenols, so similar to tart cherry juice.
Juliet WatsonBut then also these anthocyanins.
Juliet WatsonWhat are anthocyanins?
Juliet WatsonThese are a similar kind of chemical.
Juliet WatsonThey are actually a different category of polyphenols and they have a wide range of health benefits, including a reduction in cardiovascular disease, anti inflammatory effects and even anti cancer activity.
Juliet WatsonAnd one of the ways that it seems that it might work to help with endurance athletes is that it upregulates the expression of an enzyme called nitric oxide synthase.
Juliet WatsonNow you may remember nitric oxide synthase from way back when we talked about beetroot juice.
Juliet WatsonI saw you recognize it immediately there, Julia, immediately.
Juliet WatsonBeetroot juice?
Juliet WatsonYeah.
Juliet WatsonBeetroot juice is very rich in nitrates and bypasses this enzyme.
Juliet WatsonSo instead of having our body synthesize nitric oxide, beetroot juice gives us the precursors and we actually formulate a lot of it.
Juliet WatsonAnd nitric oxide is basically a vasodilator.
Juliet WatsonIt allows for dilation of the arterials going into the muscle and theoretically at least improves oxygen delivery to the muscles.
Juliet WatsonBlackcurrant extract in the form of this product called currans is saying theoretically that the polyphenols will help with anti inflammatory effects.
Juliet WatsonThey will help with all of the things that we saw with tartary juice.
Juliet WatsonAnd then also the anthocyanins may help by improving blood flow to your muscles.
Juliet WatsonSo a lot of potential here.
Juliet WatsonWe'll get to the heat stuff a little bit later, but let's first look at performance because there were some studies there, found a couple of small studies.
Juliet WatsonOne of them was on time trial cyclists.
Juliet WatsonAnd I want to point out a very important limiting factor for the chemicals found within currens and that is that it seems to be similar to what we saw with beet red juice.
Juliet WatsonVery time sensitive.
Juliet WatsonAnd that is to say almost all of the effects seem to be limited to the first 60 to 90 minutes.
Juliet WatsonNot 100% clear to me why.
Juliet WatsonMaybe it's because it gets broken down very quickly, maybe because it is not in abundant.
Juliet WatsonI just don't know why, but it seems like it's got a pretty short time life.
Juliet WatsonWhen they did this time trial for cyclists, they actually looked at a 16 kilometer time trial and what they did was they had people do seven days of lead in with this New Zealand blackcurrant supplement.
Juliet WatsonThey took 105 milligrams of anthocyanins.
Juliet WatsonI'm not sure exactly what that translates to into the actual extract.
Juliet WatsonAnd then they had them ride the 16.1 kilometers, which is 10 miles.
Juliet WatsonThey did a 10 mile time trial and found that neither different dosages or the dosing regime resulted in faster performance times compared to a placebo, which is interesting.
Juliet WatsonThere was another study that did the same thing that seemed to suggest that there was a 2.4% improvement in that same 16.1 mile cycling time trial.
Juliet WatsonSo two studies, one found a positive effect of 2.4%, the other one found no effect.
Juliet WatsonSo not really sure what to make of it.
Juliet WatsonWe then found a study on running again short distance because we're talking about pretty limited time effect of this stuff.
Juliet WatsonSo 5k run.
Juliet WatsonThey looked at people getting this New Zealand blackcurrant versus placebo.
Juliet WatsonIn this case the supplement was not given as a lead in like over seven days, but this time it was given two hours before the run test was done.
Juliet WatsonAnd here they found that, and these were not like the fastest runners in the world.
Juliet WatsonThese were people who ran sub 25 minute 5Ks, but they were not running sub 20.
Juliet WatsonSo in this case, when they ran a 5 kilometer time trial compared to placebo with black current, they took off about 3% which is not nothing.
Juliet WatsonIt wasn't huge.
Juliet WatsonThe actual time was 21:48 versus 22:26.
Juliet WatsonSo I don't know, over 30 seconds, it's still something.
Juliet WatsonIt wasn't exactly clear where this was coming from though, because they measured a bunch of physiologic metrics, they bought a bunch of cardiovascular things and they couldn't really find any major differences between placebo and the black currant.
Juliet WatsonBut they were thinking maybe this just shows that the muscles are being better oxygenated.
Juliet WatsonBecause as I said, this idea of the increased nitric oxide synthase, possibly, but they didn't know why there would be a difference here.
Juliet WatsonThen I found a couple of other sort of case studies which are not to be considered powerful research.
Juliet WatsonInstead they're just supposed to be, it's, hey, we did, we found this with one or two people.
Juliet WatsonIt's interesting.
Juliet WatsonYou might want to do more research.
Juliet WatsonThey had an ironman athlete cycling for four hours in whom New Zealand Black current improved performance.
Juliet WatsonThey had two ultra runners in whom New Zealand Black Current improved performance.
Juliet WatsonAnd both of those papers they said, look, these are interesting, but all it really means is we need to see more research with robust protocols and to date that hasn't been done.
Juliet WatsonSo not really sure what to make of all that.
Juliet WatsonSo that's performance.
Juliet WatsonVery limited body of evidence there.
Juliet WatsonMaybe small benefit for running, cycling, maybe not.
Juliet WatsonCertainly nothing earth shattering.
Juliet WatsonHow about recovery?
Juliet WatsonRecovery also unfortunately has some conflicting evidence and nothing really dramatic.
Juliet WatsonThe first of the studies we found was consumption of New Zealand black currant extract improves recovery from exercise induced muscle damage in non resistance trained men and women.
Juliet WatsonA double blind randomized trial.
Juliet WatsonSo this is the kind of study we want to see.
Juliet WatsonNobody, the investigators and the people in the study did not know if they were getting placebo or the New Zealand black currant.
Juliet WatsonThey were randomized to one or the other.
Juliet WatsonThe only thing is it's not really comparing to the kind of athletes that we're speaking to.
Juliet WatsonThese are people who were completely non trained and then they did some weight training, specifically the biceps.
Juliet WatsonAnd then they would basically say after doing these exercises, how sore are you?
Juliet WatsonAnd then after giving them New Zealand Black current in a lead up to the exercises, were they able to recover and do serial exercises the next day kind of thing.
Juliet WatsonAnd basically what they found was using New Zealand blackcurrant prior to and following a bout of eccentric exercise.
Juliet WatsonSo weight training, it actually seemed to help with muscle damage and improve functional recovery.
Juliet WatsonSo it makes sense.
Juliet WatsonWe've seen that with tart cherry juice, right?
Juliet WatsonThe polyphenols and tartra juice seem to help with recovery.
Juliet WatsonIt makes sense that New Zealand blackcurrant extract might as well.
Juliet WatsonHowever, that is a very kind of controlled study on one muscle in non athletes.
Juliet WatsonAnother study that actually includes the scientific director of this company, Curran's is titled.
Juliet WatsonI love the title because it's the Jeff Sankoff title Writing school no effect of New Zealand black currant extract on recovery of muscle damage following running a half marathon.
Juliet WatsonI don't even think I need to tell you what it says.
Juliet WatsonIt's right there.
Juliet WatsonOpera but this is a really important point to bring up because I've talked many times about how we very rarely see negative studies published, right?
Juliet WatsonAnd this is one of those times that we're seeing, and not only are we seeing a negative study published, but we're seeing a negative study published by the scientific director of this company, which is fascinating.
Juliet WatsonSo that, that to me lends a lot more credibility to the positive studies because it means that they're willing to share with you their negative studies as well.
Juliet WatsonKudos to them at any rate.
Juliet WatsonBasically this is 2020 recreational runners.
Juliet WatsonEight of whom were women.
Juliet WatsonThey ran a half marathon.
Juliet WatsonTheir finishing times were not earth shattering.
Juliet WatsonThese are people who ran about two hour half marathons.
Juliet WatsonThey were given New Zealand black currant or placebo for seven days prior and two days following.
Juliet WatsonAnd then they had to and then they had measures of markers, we've talked about these before, but markers of cell damage, markers of inflammation.
Juliet WatsonAnd then they also had to do some exercises afterwards to see if they had recovered well.
Juliet WatsonAnd it turns out there was no difference whatsoever between those who got placebo and those who got the New Zealand black currant.
Juliet WatsonSo don't know.
Juliet WatsonYou know, we have one paper that seems to suggest it helps.
Juliet WatsonAnother paper that says does not.
Juliet WatsonThe paper that says it does not is a more real world paper because it's actual athletes doing a half marath on.
Juliet WatsonSo I don't know.
Juliet WatsonHard to know what to take from all of this.
Juliet WatsonBut then we get to what that Feed article was talking about.
Juliet WatsonThat's heat performance.
Juliet WatsonNow right before I get to the article in question, I want to talk a little bit about why it is that heat is a problem for us.
Juliet WatsonAnd it was mentioned a little bit in the email.
Juliet WatsonBut Juliet, have you, I knew you've, I know you've never raced in Kona, but have you done any races in high heat, high humidity environments?
Speaker BHigh humidity, no high heat, sure.
Speaker BBut it's a dry heat, so that's a totally different battlefield.
Speaker BBut obviously this is a huge factor for our athletes who, well, race a Kona but also race in Asia, race in the Southeast part of the United States, et cetera.
Speaker BAnd it's a big part of their preparation and a big part of how we expect them to perform and what their challenges might be on race day.
Juliet WatsonAnd how do you counsel your athletes that are going, I know you just had an athlete perform a Kona, so what, what is your advice to those athletes when they're going to these races twofold?
Speaker BOne, to the extent that you can do a heat preparation protocol and that's easier for some people than for others depending on where they live and what their resources are and how much space they have in their house and everything else.
Speaker BOne is to do a pre race heat prep protocol and the other is just to have very realistic expectations about their pace or time goals for race day.
Speaker BWe can see over and over again if the same athlete racing in a cool environment versus a hot environment or a hot and sticky environment and the all things else held equal, the performance in that hot environment is just going to be much, much slower.
Juliet WatsonThe Heat adaptation is huge.
Juliet WatsonYou, you mentioned it and I've talked about it on this program before.
Juliet WatsonThere are various ways to do it.
Juliet WatsonExercising in a warm room, extra clothing on that can help, but it's not perfect.
Juliet WatsonSauna protocols have been shown to be quite effective.
Juliet WatsonTwo week lead in increasing the amount of time you spend in a dry or wet or preferably both.
Juliet WatsonSaunas can also help adapt the body and then getting to the destination as soon or as early before the race as possible.
Juliet WatsonWe see all the pros showing up in Kona at least a week before.
Juliet WatsonMany of them are there for a month before to try and adapt to the heat and humidity.
Juliet WatsonAnd we know that our body will make physiologic adaptations to the heat, but we, our bodies need time in order to do that.
Juliet WatsonSo the longer you could spend in that warm environment before the race, the better.
Juliet WatsonBut like you said, most of us can't do that.
Juliet WatsonWe are working and we don't have the luxury of being able to be down there.
Juliet WatsonSo what happens when we are exerting ourselves in these kinds of warm environments?
Juliet WatsonAnd I, I mentioned humidity because humidity, heat is part of the problem.
Juliet WatsonBut humidity amplifies the problem dramatically.
Juliet WatsonYou can have a much lower temperature, but a higher humidity and it's going to feel significantly worse because of something called a wet bulb temperature, which I'm not going to get into.
Juliet WatsonBut basically it just humidity makes it always feel significantly worse because your cooling mechanisms for your body don't work as efficiently.
Juliet WatsonAnd when air is saturated with water, it transfers temperature to your body just at a higher rate.
Juliet WatsonSo what happens when we exert ourselves in the heat?
Juliet WatsonBasically our core temperature starts to rise and as a means of trying to cool ourselves off, we start shunting blood away from the places where it's needed.
Juliet WatsonOur muscles, our gut, all to our skin.
Juliet WatsonAll our blood vessels were dilated in our skin and we will try and use our skin as a radiator to shed heat.
Juliet WatsonAnd if you're in a warm and humid environment, as I mentioned, it's not going to work terribly efficiently.
Juliet WatsonThat's why we saw Those pros dumping 4 gallon jugs over their heads, trying to cool the skin down as much as possible to allow for this exchange of heat from inside to out.
Juliet WatsonAnd as blood flow is diverted from our muscles, we become less able to do what we want.
Juliet WatsonSo when we see Sam Laidlaw unable to run, it's not because he doesn't have the fitness, it's not because he hasn't properly heat adapted.
Juliet WatsonIt's because his core temperature is rising, his muscles aren't performing as well as they should be.
Juliet WatsonAnd on top of that, he's diverting blood flow away from his muscles, so he's not getting as much oxygen to his muscles as he needs desperately trying to cool himself down.
Juliet WatsonSo all of these things are problematic.
Speaker BAnd likewise, your body is pulling effectiveness and blood away from your gut as it's trying to cool itself as well, which is why we see such huge GI issues in racist Lycona versus a cold.
Speaker BRight?
Juliet WatsonAnd the gut is exquisitely sensitive to blood flow.
Juliet WatsonIf your gut stops getting adequate amounts of blood flow, a couple of things happen.
Juliet WatsonNumber one, you start to have a breakdown in the barrier between what's inside the gut and what's outside the gut.
Juliet WatsonAnd so you can have a translocation of some of the bacterial pathogens that are normally inside your gut.
Juliet WatsonThey can actually gain access to your bloodstream, and that can cause a whole cascade of inflammation, which can make things significantly worse for trying to cool yourself, because, remember, inflammation causes fever.
Juliet WatsonSo we have this huge problem when we start to see the leakage of this barrier between the gut and the bloodstream.
Juliet WatsonAnd then the second thing that happens is we stop absorbing, because we need blood flow to our gut in order to absorb what's in there.
Juliet WatsonAnd as we stop absorbing, we stop taking in nutrition, and sugars start to sit in there and cause problems as they are broken down by the bacteria that sit there.
Juliet WatsonAnd so we end up with gas and cramps and all of those things, nausea and everything else.
Juliet WatsonSo heat is really the enemy of exercise.
Juliet WatsonAnd yet we put ourselves into these environments and try and do things.
Juliet WatsonAnd so the solution to working, even if you're well adapted, even if you have been able to do all that, the solution to being able to get through is simply to turn down the effort.
Juliet WatsonLaidlaw.
Juliet WatsonI use him as an example because I was watching Laidlaw stagger from one side of the road to the other, thinking, my God, somebody needs to pull him off before he gets in big trouble.
Juliet WatsonBut the reality was he ended up walking for quite a while.
Juliet WatsonHe cooled himself down.
Juliet WatsonHe got to the point where he was able to run again.
Juliet WatsonHe finished 17th, which is very reasonable given what he went through.
Juliet WatsonAnd the reason he was able to do that was because he was able to get his body temperature to a point where he was able to reestablish blood flow to his gut, reestablish blood flow to his muscles, and able to perform at least at a level to be able to finish and finish in a very respectable manner.
Juliet WatsonAnd that's what us as age groupers have to do as well.
Juliet WatsonWhen you start feeling those effects in your gut, in your muscles, the only way to get over it slow down.
Juliet WatsonLet your core temperature stop producing so much heat internally.
Juliet WatsonLet your core temperature gradually come down, cool yourself externally as much as possible, and then you'll reestablish blood flow to the areas where it's needed.
Juliet WatsonNow, currents or black currant from New Zealand.
Juliet WatsonThey have a lot of papers, basic science studies that seem to suggest that taking in this current black current into your gut actually seems to help with some of these problems that they had.
Juliet WatsonSome studies that say, oh, the chemicals, the polyphenols, the astrocyanins, they seem to actually prevent some of this leakage, they prevent the translocation of bacteria and they prevent this inflammatory process that comes about when we are exercising in the heat.
Juliet WatsonThe other thing they said was it improves gut permeability in terms of letting in the good stuff but not letting in the bad stuff.
Juliet WatsonSo there's a lot of basic science stuff that kind of points to blackcurrants having some effects that would allow people not necessarily to withstand the heat, but to maybe not develop some of the gastrointestinal effects that we might otherwise get in the heat.
Juliet WatsonNow, the letter from the feed made it seem like, oh, if you take the stuff, you're going to be able to perform miracles in the heat.
Juliet WatsonThat's not what the basic science says.
Juliet WatsonThe basic science basically suggests.
Juliet WatsonAnd the papers are not consistent because there were some papers that said maybe not.
Juliet WatsonBut some of the papers definitely seem to suggest that New Zealand black currant does improve some of the biochemical processes, so that when exercising in the heat there might not be as much impact on the gut.
Juliet WatsonGreat.
Juliet WatsonThat's the theory.
Juliet WatsonWhat actually happens in athletes.
Juliet WatsonOne paper and in the feed email, I'll just remind you what they said because this is why I wrote to them, because they said this.
Juliet WatsonThey're in the feed email.
Juliet WatsonThere was a comment about.
Juliet WatsonNew research proves that this supplement is incredibly effective in protecting the gut during exercise and the heat.
Juliet WatsonSo I wanted to know what that paper was.
Juliet WatsonAnd here it is.
Juliet WatsonAnthocyanin rich New Zealand blackcurrant extract reduces running induced gastrointestinal symptoms in the heat.
Juliet WatsonSounds promising.
Juliet WatsonThis was not a published paper.
Juliet WatsonThis was merely a poster abstract presented at a conference.
Juliet WatsonSo what does that mean when you have done research, but that research does not rise to the level of the highest quality?
Juliet WatsonYou often Cannot get it published as a paper, but you can publish it as a abstract.
Juliet WatsonAlternatively, sometimes when you're doing research, your preliminary results are not ready yet to be submitted as a paper.
Juliet WatsonSo instead you present them as an abstract.
Juliet WatsonAnd the reason you do that is because it pads your resume.
Juliet WatsonIt looks good to have an abstract and that just shows that you're doing ongoing research.
Juliet WatsonBut an abstract ideally would be followed up with a paper published.
Juliet WatsonThis abstract was published a couple of years ago and no paper has followed.
Juliet WatsonSo it suggests that either their results didn't end up being as good as what they put in the abstract, or they didn't have further results, or when they submitted it for review, it was rejected.
Juliet WatsonI don't know what the answer is to that.
Juliet WatsonAll I know is what they said was they gave New Zealand black currant and a seven day lead up.
Juliet WatsonThey had people running on a treadmill for one hour in a very controlled environmental condition.
Juliet WatsonAnd 92% of participants in the placebo group experienced gastrointestinal symptoms.
Juliet Watson25% in those who received New Zealand blackcurrants.
Juliet WatsonShiver me timbers, I'm ready.
Juliet WatsonI'm on board.
Speaker AAre you sure this was, are you.
Speaker BSure this wasn't an abstract from Adam's 10th grade science fair?
Juliet WatsonYeah, let's read the fine print because it sounds too good to be true.
Juliet WatsonIt probably is, and indeed it is.
Juliet WatsonIn the placebo condition, two participants reported severe symptoms and those severe symptoms were dizziness and nausea.
Juliet WatsonIn the New Zealand blackcurrant extract condition, there was one person who had severe symptoms.
Juliet WatsonSo you could report that as a 50% improvement, but the reality is those numbers are very small.
Juliet WatsonYeah.
Juliet WatsonAnd again, the study was on a grand total of, if I remember correctly, 20 people.
Juliet WatsonSo it's a very small group.
Juliet WatsonIn the placebo condition, 11 participants reported total GI symptoms and this was reduced to four participants in the New Zealand blackcurrant extract.
Juliet WatsonSo again, sounds great.
Juliet Watson92% to 25%.
Juliet WatsonBut those symptoms were burping and heartburn.
Speaker BAnd heartburn.
Juliet WatsonNow, I have done Kona twice.
Juliet WatsonI have raced in Chattanooga, I have raced in Augusta.
Juliet WatsonI have raced in a lot of hot and humid environments.
Juliet WatsonBurping and heartburn.
Juliet WatsonI would have been thrilled for those to be my only symptoms.
Juliet WatsonRunning in the heat, I just, yeah, I was a little bit surprised to see that was what they reported as such a earth shattering.
Juliet WatsonAnyways, the takeaway from this is I'm not convinced.
Juliet WatsonNow, this is a natural product.
Juliet WatsonThere's definitely no downside to this.
Juliet WatsonIt has a lot of polyphenols in it, which we've discussed previously as being something good.
Juliet WatsonAthocyanins certainly seem like a possibly a good thing.
Juliet WatsonThere's a couple of hints that maybe there's a performance benefit here, at least in short duration type things.
Juliet WatsonNothing earth shattering at all.
Speaker BThose products, they just haven't done any good studies on yet.
Juliet WatsonThey've done a few.
Juliet WatsonSome of the basic science studies are really interesting, but they just haven't borne out in clinical studies.
Juliet WatsonAnd you're right, there may be clinical studies to come and we'll have to revisit this in the future if it happens.
Juliet WatsonBut to me, the advertising is outpacing the science dramatically.
Juliet WatsonAnd the one other thing we always talk about is cost.
Juliet WatsonIt's recommended you take one capsule per day.
Juliet Watson30 capsules cost $38.
Juliet WatsonSo not exorbitant given how much we pay for other things.
Juliet WatsonIf you want to try this, I certainly wouldn't say not to.
Juliet WatsonI just wouldn't tell you to expect anything dramatic.
Juliet WatsonI certainly would never say take.
Juliet WatsonI would never say with the strength of conviction that Matt at the feed did.
Juliet WatsonI would never say to take this thinking that you were going to get incredible results with performance recovery and especially performance in the heat, because that just does not seem to be borne out with the evidence that I have seen so far.
Speaker BAll right, another product doubted by the Tridoc.
Speaker BYou heard it again.
Juliet WatsonI don't say not to use this.
Juliet WatsonI definitely think that there's it's a most natural products I have no problem with and I don't think you're going.
Jeff SankoffTo go wrong using this.
Juliet WatsonBut I definitely don't think you're going to get the kinds of benefits that are being promised.
Juliet WatsonOh, tart cherry juice.
Juliet WatsonThat's going to stay in tar.
Speaker BCherry juice and spirit.
Juliet WatsonYep, that's it.
Juliet WatsonIt's another medical mailbag down and you and I are off to warmer climes, at least for the for a short duration.
Juliet WatsonAnd when you get back, we will have another medical mailbag to record.
Juliet WatsonBut until that time, if you have a question that you'd like to submit for us to answer, I hope that you'll do so.
Juliet WatsonSend me an email.
Juliet WatsonTridocloud.com you could drop your question into the private Facebook group search for the Tridark podcast on that platform.
Juliet WatsonAnswer the three easy questions.
Juliet WatsonI'll grant you admittance.
Juliet WatsonYou can join the conversation, ask your questions.
Juliet WatsonWe would love to have you aboard.
Juliet WatsonJuliette.
Juliet WatsonThanks for being here.
Juliet WatsonHave a wonderful trip.
Speaker BThank you.
Juliet WatsonYou as well And I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Speaker BYeah, sounds good.
Speaker BOkay, see you later everybody.
Juliet WatsonBye.
Jeff SankoffMy guest on the program today is Carolyn Carter.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn grew up swimming competitively and then got into triathlon in 2016.
Jeff SankoffShe got her pro card in 2022 at the LA Triathlon and she now races as a pro while working a full time job as a marketing consultant and creating content for Instagram.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn is a self acknowledged, quote, slow pro, end quote, a title that she bestowed upon herself and wears proudly.
Jeff SankoffShe has, quote, slow pro, quote, raced in Santa Cruz, Indian Wells, Oceans, St.
Jeff SankoffGeorge, among other all at the 70.3 distance and many Olympic distance races as well.
Jeff SankoffShe gave to my attention though because of a social media post that she made on Instagram and we're going to talk about her career as well as her social media content and that post in question as we get through this interview.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn, thank you so much for joining me today on the Tridark podcast.
Speaker AOf course, I'm very excited.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn, tell me a little bit about what got you from swimming into multisport.
Jeff SankoffI'm always interested in hearing people's journey journeys from one sport into three.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AFirst of all, I apologize if you hear the truck outside, it's really loud.
Speaker AI think it's almost done getting the trash.
Speaker ABut yeah, so I swam.
Speaker AI started swimming when I was five years old.
Speaker AI literally did not do another sport my entire life.
Speaker ALike, never had experience with running.
Speaker AI was always horizontal in the pool.
Speaker AAnd then I quit swimming.
Speaker AI swam up until I swam for a D1 school in Ohio and I swam for one year and I ended up quitting.
Speaker AJust, I got so burnt out.
Speaker AIt was so much.
Speaker ANot surprisingly, college athletics is a lot, but it was just, I was over it.
Speaker ASo I did not swim.
Speaker ALike, I quit and I didn't do a sport for the rest of college.
Speaker AAnd then after college I started working and had a lot of free time and I was like, okay, I need like something to do.
Speaker AI'm like really bored.
Speaker AAnd I realized that I like to have like goals.
Speaker AI just need like a goal to work towards.
Speaker AAnd so I started running, which was really hard.
Speaker AAnd I really hated it at first.
Speaker AAnd I was like, I don't understand how people like to run a marathon.
Speaker ABut then I kept at it and I ran my first Half Marathon in or I signed up for it in 2015, ran it in 2016, and before I even ran it I was like, you know what, I've been running a lot.
Speaker AI have the swimming background.
Speaker AI should do a Triathlon.
Speaker AAnd so before I had even done a triathlon, didn't even own a bike, hadn't ran a half marathon.
Speaker AI signed up for my first triathlon, which was 70.3 Ohio.
Speaker AThat was in 2016.
Speaker AAnd then I bought a bike, I ran the half marathon, and then I did the race and everything was fine.
Speaker ASo it all worked out.
Jeff SankoffClearly you had something of an aerobic engine to help you get through all of this.
Jeff SankoffYes, that helps.
Jeff SankoffUnlike so many of us who come to the sport as adult on set swimmers, you had the swimming part taken care of.
Jeff SankoffSo did any of it.
Jeff SankoffYou said running was difficult, but was biking a challenge for you to take up as well?
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AIt felt like.
Speaker ASo running, it didn't feel as natural.
Speaker AI don't know, it just was hard.
Speaker AAnd then it took me a while.
Speaker AIt still does.
Speaker AI've been running at this point now for almost 10 years and it still feels like I'm struggling often.
Speaker ABut when I got the bike, I don't know, I didn't really.
Speaker AI felt like I learned how to clip in really easily.
Speaker AI felt like I could take like the breathing rhythm that I would do in swimming and carry that to the bike and just feel the same like endurance kind of feeling.
Speaker ASo I ended up really enjoying the bike.
Speaker AI ride alone a lot at first, which was also boring.
Speaker ABut then when I started I found group rides and then I learned now biking is like my favorite of the three.
Speaker ABut yeah, I'd say running is still love, hate, relationship.
Jeff SankoffAre you still strongest at the swim?
Speaker AYeah, definitely, for sure.
Jeff SankoffSo what was it like to get that experience at the LA triathlon, which is a huge.
Jeff SankoffOr was a huge triathlon.
Jeff SankoffAnd there you are coming in.
Jeff SankoffWhat?
Jeff SankoffI guess to get your pro card you had to be what, top three women overall?
Speaker AYeah, so I had always.
Speaker ASo I, yeah, started triathlon in 2016 and then 2019 was a weird year because I moved from Ohio to LA, so I didn't really race that much.
Speaker AAnd then 2020 was obviously like Covid, so there's a pretty big gap there.
Speaker ASo, like in that gap, I got way better at cycling.
Speaker AAnd then I did my first comeback triathlon and I think like 2021 after Covid and realized I didn't improve a lot during that time off from racing.
Speaker AAnd I always wanted to get at my pro car, but it felt like a pipe dream.
Speaker AI was like, oh, that's never gonna happen for me.
Speaker ALike, maybe a miracle will happen.
Speaker AAnd so I did the LA Trail and I Didn't even know.
Speaker AThe pro qualifying standards are super confusing.
Speaker AThat's like a big question.
Speaker AI get asked on Instagram all the time.
Speaker AAnd USA Triathlon does have a document with all the criteria.
Speaker AAnd you look at it and you're like, I don't even know what I'm reading.
Speaker ASo I did the LA triathlon, came in third overall for women.
Speaker AAnd one of my good friends came in first, and she, like, DMed me on Instagram a week later.
Speaker AIt was like, are you going to take your pro card?
Speaker AAnd I was like, what are you talking about?
Speaker AAnd she's, oh, you qualified.
Speaker AAnd I was like, what?
Speaker AAnd so, yeah, I, like, looked at the results, I looked at the criteria, and I was like, holy crap.
Speaker ASo then there was like an internal debate for a while.
Speaker ANot a while, because I knew I wanted to take it.
Speaker AAnd I was like, I can always take it and just take it back.
Speaker AYou can take it and you can, like, stop being a pro whenever you want.
Speaker ASo I was like, I can just take it and see what happens.
Speaker ABut yeah, there was like a big internal debate there for a while if I should take it.
Speaker ABecause I was like, I know I'm going to be back of the pack.
Speaker ABut I'm like, does that really matter?
Speaker AI still earned it, so why not take it?
Speaker AThis could be the only opportunity where I qualify.
Speaker AThat's kind of.
Jeff SankoffWhat was it that drove you to want to be a pro?
Jeff SankoffBecause you said right from the get go, you said, oh, I'm going to be a backpack of the back pro.
Jeff SankoffAnd I think a lot of people who want to become professionals in triathlon do so for a lot of different reasons.
Jeff SankoffThere's obviously going to be this whole group of people who want to do it because I.
Jeff SankoffThis is going to be my career.
Jeff SankoffI'm going to win.
Jeff SankoffI'm going to make a living off of it.
Jeff SankoffThat clearly wasn't your approach.
Jeff SankoffSo what was it that drove you?
Speaker AFirst of all?
Speaker AThe first reason, honestly, is maybe a little bit, I don't know the word I'm looking for.
Speaker AI honestly just thought vanity.
Speaker AYes, Vanity Fair.
Juliet WatsonThat's totally fair.
Juliet WatsonYeah.
Speaker AI was being vain.
Speaker AI was like, how cool.
Speaker AAnd at this point, I had a somewhat big following on Instagram and I'm like, that's cool to be able to say, put pro triathlete in my Instagram bio.
Speaker AHonestly, come on, that's pretty cool.
Speaker ABut then the second reason where the benefits are really good, you get cheaper race registrations.
Speaker AYou get like the pro, the Porta Potties in transition.
Speaker AAnd it just, I don't know, it's just like all these, like cool, like little experiences that you get as a pro that you wouldn't get otherwise.
Speaker ABut I also felt like at that point like I was getting faster.
Speaker AAnd I will say, like, I have been back of the pack, but like this year I did.
Speaker AI did two 70.3s, but I wasn't last.
Speaker AI wasn't even second to last at either one.
Speaker ASo it's.
Speaker AI am back in the pack, but it's.
Speaker AI feel like I'm moving up at least a little bit.
Speaker AI don't think I'll ever be in the money, but it was a way to also push myself harder because once I got my pro card, I also hired my coach.
Speaker AI didn't have a coach before then.
Speaker AAnd then I really got into a routine and some more serious training.
Speaker ASo it's also like an excuse to push myself a little bit more.
Jeff SankoffAnd I think it's important to note that a slow pro is a ridiculously fast age grouper.
Jeff SankoffSo it's.
Jeff SankoffYou can poke fun at yourself a little bit by calling yourself a slow pro, but I still marvel at your abilities and the fact that you did it all without a coach and you did it all on your own.
Jeff SankoffAnd that just shows how much raw talent you.
Jeff SankoffYou obviously brought to this.
Juliet WatsonSo thank you.
Jeff SankoffHow has it felt to show.
Jeff SankoffI love the comment about the porta potties.
Speaker AThey're very nice.
Jeff SankoffYeah, that to me is almost worth the price of the pro card right there.
Jeff SankoffYeah.
Juliet WatsonThe.
Jeff SankoffWhat has it been like to show up to some of these races and find yourself amongst some of the big names in the sport and from what I've heard from other pros that I've spoken to who are similar, who are new to it or rookies or maybe not in the top upper echelon.
Jeff SankoffAll of these women are fantastically approachable, very lovely, and very helpful.
Jeff SankoffWhat has it been like for you?
Speaker ASo I think the first couple races was extremely intimidating because I didn't know any of them.
Speaker AAnd you're like, you're in the pro meeting and you're like, no one knows who I am.
Speaker AI don't know who these people are.
Speaker AI'm like, I don't know if they're nice.
Speaker AI don't know if they're just like, focus on the race.
Speaker AAnd then.
Speaker ABut they were so nice.
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker ASince that race, that was like two years ago almost to the day when I did Santa Cruz as my first pro race and like all the races I've done since then, it is such a community and same people start to show up at every race.
Speaker AAnd I've become such good friends with these women all across the board of the pro women.
Speaker AAnd it's next year, could potentially be my last year with my pro card.
Speaker AAnd honestly, I don't really care about like the racing aspect.
Speaker AThe part that makes me the saddest is knowing that I won't be racing with those women anymore.
Speaker AAnd it's going to the pro meeting with those women, I'm like, of course I'll still see them and still be friends with them.
Speaker ABut it's just like getting that like quality time at the race.
Speaker AI might not have that anymore, which makes me really sad.
Speaker ASo I'm like, maybe I'll re qualify, who knows?
Jeff SankoffBut yeah, and the lack of porta potties.
Speaker AAnd the lack of porta potties.
Speaker AI just like waiting to pee in my wetsuit like everybody else.
Jeff SankoffLike the peons, all the masses.
Speaker AYeah, everyone's just peeing in a big herd by the beach.
Jeff SankoffI do want to go back to that question though, that I asked before, which is what drives you to keep showing up because you've got a full time job.
Jeff SankoffYou obviously are very busy getting all the training in.
Jeff SankoffCan't be.
Jeff SankoffWe all try train because we enjoy training and because we get all these things out of it.
Jeff SankoffBut it's a different level when you're competing as a pro and obviously there's a lot more to it for you.
Jeff SankoffWhat is it that drives you?
Speaker AThat is a really.
Speaker AThat's a hard question.
Speaker AThat's a good question though.
Speaker ABut I think like I said before, I'm like such a goal oriented person.
Speaker ASo I like set these and they're like for now, like before I was getting my pro card, that was like, I guess a big goal.
Speaker ABut then now it's more like time goals.
Speaker AShave this much time off my bike.
Speaker AShave this much time off my run.
Speaker AAnd I just, I think about that goal.
Speaker AI guess it's hard right now.
Speaker ASo right now I have no races on the calendar because I'm getting married next week.
Speaker AHoneymoon's in November.
Speaker AThere's just a lot going on this year and it, it is a lot harder to motivate myself to go out there and train because I'm quite literally training for nothing.
Speaker ABut then I just think about Oceanside.
Speaker AI'm like, okay, that could be like a big race for me.
Speaker AAnd then it's just like.
Speaker AAnd so, I don't know, I Guess I just.
Speaker ALittle improvements and I don't know if that answers any of the question at all.
Speaker AThat's a really hard question.
Jeff SankoffIt is a hard question.
Jeff SankoffAnd not everybody has really sat down to think about it, and that's okay.
Jeff SankoffBut congratulations on getting married.
Speaker AThank you.
Jeff SankoffThat's exciting.
Speaker AThank you.
Speaker AYeah, there's a lot going on.
Jeff SankoffIs your husband to be involved in multisport at all?
Speaker ANo, he's not, but he.
Speaker AHe has a bike that he hasn't ridden.
Speaker ALike when we moved to la, it got put into storage and like literally has not been out of storage in five years.
Speaker ABut he comes to the races, so.
Jeff SankoffOh, that's important.
Jeff SankoffA good Sherpa.
Jeff SankoffA good Sherpa.
Jeff SankoffI want to talk a little bit about your social media Persona.
Speaker AYeah.
Jeff SankoffBecause that is what got us together.
Jeff SankoffBecause I saw a post of yours and reached out after seeing it.
Jeff SankoffYou are out there as.
Jeff SankoffWhat's your Instagram handle?
Speaker ALa Triathlete.
Jeff SankoffLa Triathlete with an underscore in the middle there.
Jeff SankoffAnd you have been out there as that Persona for quite some time.
Jeff SankoffAnd you have been very honest about who you are as a professional and what it is that you're doing.
Jeff SankoffAnd by putting yourself out there, as is not that uncommon, you have opened yourself up not only to the adoration, I think, of the majority of people, but also to the trolling of a small number of people.
Jeff SankoffThe.
Jeff SankoffUnfortunately, I would imagine most of those are men, but I'm sure also knowing what I know from other people who've experienced this kind of thing, women are not necessarily so nice to each other either.
Jeff SankoffBut the post that got me interested in talking to you was your response to a man who had posted something along the lines of, if you can't even break five hours in a half, Ironman, what are you doing as a pro?
Jeff SankoffSomething like that.
Jeff SankoffAnd I thought your response was phenomenal.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn's response was basically telling this individual in no uncertain terms to take his jealousy and his lack of other things to do with his time and go find some better use for it.
Jeff SankoffBut while she did that, she was modeling all of the things that she gets as a pro, which I thought was fantastic.
Juliet WatsonBut the reason I reached out to.
Jeff SankoffHer was because I once again found myself just feeling sad at the state of the.
Jeff SankoffThe affairs that people are so quick to tear others down.
Juliet WatsonAnd I wanted to talk to you.
Jeff SankoffAbout that because I know that you've been out there for a while.
Jeff SankoffYou have a huge following, as you said.
Jeff SankoffAnd I'm sure that's not the only time this has happened.
Jeff SankoffSo you're.
Jeff SankoffYou're putting on a brave face, of course, when you're on Instagram.
Jeff SankoffBut how does it feel to get these kinds of comments?
Speaker ASo when I first started getting bigger on Instagram, I would like.
Speaker BI would.
Speaker AI slowly start getting the negative comments.
Speaker AAnd at first it would bother me a lot.
Speaker ALike, it would put me in a bad mood.
Speaker AI remember, I think it was like three years ago, maybe I went on a backpacking trip for three days and I had my phone off because I was like, in the middle of the forest.
Speaker AAnd I remember coming back and turning my phone on and was getting all this hate on one specific post.
Speaker AAnd I just remember I was so, like, it like, ruined my whole week.
Speaker AI was like, coming back from this backpacking trip and I was like, in the forest, no phone.
Speaker AIt was like a magical trip.
Speaker AAnd then now I'm like, great, now I don't even want to be on Instagram all this stuff.
Speaker ABut I.
Speaker AAs time has gone on, I have.
Speaker AIt's gotten easier, which is good.
Speaker ASo most of the time now when I get a negative comment, I just block the person without even responding.
Speaker AOr if it's really stupid, I like to post it on my story or like, that guy and just show everyone.
Speaker AAnd it's not even for.
Speaker ABecause I'll get messages that are like, oh, ignore the hate.
Speaker AI'm like, it's not about.
Speaker AI feel bad about it.
Speaker AIt's.
Speaker ALook how stupid this person is.
Speaker AThat's more.
Speaker AI'm trying to shame them, but I don't know.
Speaker AI don't know why people do it.
Speaker AI'll scroll through Instagram.
Speaker AAnd luckily, I think my hate comments are pretty mild.
Speaker AAnd there's really not that many compared to other people I see.
Speaker ABut it's just.
Speaker AYou'll see the most harmless post and you go to the comment section and people are just tearing them down.
Speaker ALike, all the comments are just awful.
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker AWhat this is a human being.
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AIt's just.
Speaker AJust, we're all humans.
Speaker AWhat are you doing?
Speaker AAnd it's.
Speaker AIf you see something, you think, I've seen posts that I'm like, this is dumb.
Speaker ABut why?
Speaker ALike, why take the time?
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AI don't get it.
Speaker ACan't wrap my head around.
Jeff SankoffThat's where I always come down.
Jeff SankoffI'm always like, I get how easy it is to sit behind your screen and be anonymous and just say whatever you would never say to someone in person.
Speaker ARight?
Jeff SankoffSo I Get that part.
Jeff SankoffBut the part I've never understood is how you disconnect the fact that there is a person on the other side and how you just like how sorry your life has to be able to take the hate out that way without pausing for one second to think about how it's going to land.
Jeff SankoffAnd that's what we've become as a society.
Jeff SankoffIt's really sad.
Jeff SankoffBut you're out there.
Jeff SankoffYou're putting yourself out there all the same.
Jeff SankoffWhy?
Juliet WatsonLike, why?
Jeff SankoffI'm glad that you do, because I get a lot out of watching you.
Jeff SankoffI think you're very entertaining.
Jeff SankoffAnd I'm glad.
Jeff SankoffLike, I have another friend, Alex Larson, who has a very entertaining Instagram about her business as a dietitian and a nutritionist.
Speaker AI love her.
Speaker AYes.
Jeff SankoffYeah.
Jeff SankoffTriathlon Joe.
Jeff SankoffSo we, the people we.
Jeff SankoffI've talked about with you, we're both mutual fans of.
Jeff SankoffI know that they get a lot of negative stuff, but yet they still get a lot of positive.
Jeff SankoffI'm assuming you get a lot of positive from it.
Speaker AThat's the thing that's, like, why I keep going is because the positive really outweighs the negative.
Speaker AAnd it's just, I'd probably say, what, like, 98% positive, 2% negative.
Speaker AAnd I'm sure there's people and talking smack behind my back, like, sending posts to each other, making fun.
Speaker AI don't know, I don't care, whatever.
Speaker ABut I think that just, like, how much more pop.
Speaker ALike, my community feels so positive.
Speaker AAnd I feel by posting, and I think, I like to think, I don't know if I'm doing this.
Speaker AI hope I am, but I'm trying to make triathlon just, like, a more approachable sport.
Speaker AWhen I went into it at 23 or whatever, 22, I was like, this is so intimidating.
Speaker AEveryone's so scary and everyone's so serious.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, it's just not.
Speaker AIt doesn't have to be that serious.
Speaker AAnd you have dumb questions that you're afraid to ask when you first start.
Speaker AAnd it's just, I want people to feel like they have a safe kind of like, space and can ask me things.
Speaker AAnd hopefully I'm posting helpful content.
Speaker ABut anyway, I think that is why I keep doing it is just like, knowing that I'm hopefully helping other, like, cyclists, triathletes, whoever.
Jeff SankoffAnd have you heard from anybody that you did make an impact on them and that you did help them?
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker ASo this is literally almost makes me cry every time it happens.
Speaker AOccasionally I get like, a Message or a comment of someone who says, I signed up for a triathlon because of you.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, oh, my God, that is the biggest compliment in the whole world.
Speaker AI'm like, they signed up for an entire race because of me.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, just the fact that, I don't know, more people are joining the sport.
Speaker AAnd.
Jeff SankoffYeah, so that is great.
Jeff SankoffYeah, that is great.
Jeff SankoffAnd that definitely offsets all the stupidity.
Speaker AIt does.
Speaker AYes.
Jeff SankoffBut if you could say something to the people who are sitting out there and just don't have anything better to do than just, I don't know, be mean.
Jeff SankoffI know what I would say as a dad to my kids.
Jeff SankoffJust don't do that, like, golden rule kind of stuff.
Jeff SankoffBut you're actually on the receiving end.
Jeff SankoffWhat would you say?
Speaker AI would say, before you have a negative thought about a post, let's say, and you're about to type something out that's really stupid.
Speaker AJust take a moment, put the phone down, touch some.
Speaker AGo outside, touch some grass, go for a walk.
Speaker APerspective.
Jeff SankoffYeah, perspective.
Speaker AAnd then come back and then be like, am I going to look like an if I comment this or another thing?
Speaker AHere's another one.
Speaker AHere's one.
Speaker AI always want to say, because half the time, these men who comment, and you're right, I don't know why.
Speaker AIt's not all men, but it's mostly men.
Speaker AI don't understand it, but it.
Speaker AI'll go to their profile to be like, who is this guy?
Speaker AAnd sometimes you get the ones that are like, I hate cyclists.
Speaker AI want to run you over with my car.
Speaker AAnd I'm like, oh.
Speaker AAnd it's just like some guy whose profile picture is a pickup truck, whatever.
Speaker ABut the really specific hate comments I get are from men who often have their family in their profile picture, wife and kids, and I could say anything to those people.
Speaker AIt's like, if your child saw this comment of you bullying a random girl on Instagram, would they be embarrassed?
Speaker ABecause if I saw my dad doing that, I'd be humiliated.
Speaker ASo just think about that.
Jeff SankoffYeah, those are all good points.
Jeff SankoffThose are all good points.
Jeff SankoffAll right.
Jeff SankoffI want to turn it back to happier things of the races that you've done.
Jeff SankoffWhat are some of the standout memories that you have?
Jeff SankoffBecause I've done every single one of the 70.3.
Speaker AReally?
Jeff SankoffI actually.
Jeff SankoffYeah.
Jeff SankoffI actually wonder if we were at the same events because we talked about Santa Cruz.
Jeff SankoffWe weren't, but.
Jeff SankoffWhich years did you do Indian Wells?
Speaker AI've done Indian Wells.
Speaker A20.
Speaker A22, 2023.
Jeff SankoffSo we were there at 23.
Jeff SankoffYeah.
Speaker ANice.
Speaker ANice.
Speaker AThat was my PR race.
Jeff SankoffAnd when did you do St.
Jeff SankoffGeorge this year?
Jeff SankoffOkay.
Jeff SankoffNo, didn't.
Jeff SankoffI wasn't there this year.
Jeff SankoffI've done St.
Jeff SankoffGeorge a few times, but not this year.
Jeff SankoffBut in any rate, when you think back on all those events as a pro, I imagine there's got to be some things that kind of stand out.
Jeff SankoffSo what are some of the things you look back on and think to yourself, wow, that was really cool, or that was a really good moment.
Speaker ASo there's a really funny one that's not as inspirational, but we were at the pro meeting for Oceanside and last year, so 2023, and we were like, in the question part, and I remember asking a question.
Speaker ASo basically, in Oceanside, there's that speed zone where it's like, for 30ft, you can't go over.
Speaker AI think age groupers.
Speaker AI think it's third.
Speaker A20, 20 maybe, right?
Jeff SankoffI think it's 25 miles an hour.
Speaker AOkay, wait, it's 25.
Speaker ASo age groupers at 25, pros can do it at 30 or 35.
Speaker AI can't remember.
Speaker AMaybe 30.
Speaker AAnd so my question was.
Speaker ABecause it's a no passing zone.
Speaker AAnd so I'm like, if.
Speaker AWhat if a pro is stuck behind an age grouper?
Speaker AWhich did happen to me this year, and I'm like, but it's a no passing zone.
Speaker AWhat am I supposed to do?
Speaker AAnd then the race guy, like, the guy who answered the questions was like, you're just gonna have to go 25 miles an hour.
Speaker AAnd I remember Holly Lawrence turned around and was like, that's.
Speaker AAnd I was like.
Speaker AShe was like, on my side, because she's obviously not gonna have to worry about age group people passing her because she's win.
Speaker ABut I have such a girl crush on her.
Speaker AI'm like, she's so cool.
Speaker AAnd I was just like.
Speaker AI was like, she agreed with me.
Speaker AOh, my God, we're best friends.
Speaker ASo that was really cool.
Speaker ABut, gosh, I don't know.
Speaker AThere's been so many, like, cool experiences.
Speaker AI don't know.
Speaker AIt's just really cool.
Speaker AEver since, like, my Instagram's gotten bigger.
Speaker AIs that at, like, races when people get, like, really excited and they'll be like, yeah, la triathlete.
Speaker AIt's just so hard not to smile.
Speaker AEspecially because it's a run.
Speaker AI don't like the run as much.
Speaker ABut then you're like, at Oceanside, where there's people lined up the whole way and you're passing all the other athletes and everyone's.
Speaker AIt's just so hype.
Speaker ASo much fun.
Juliet WatsonBut yeah, that's awesome.
Jeff SankoffThat's awesome.
Jeff SankoffThat's another great reason to have the Instagram profile that you do because it lends that kind of.
Jeff SankoffYou have friends and supporters at every race.
Jeff SankoffThat's so fun.
Jeff SankoffSo you mentioned, you mentioned that last next year's.
Jeff SankoffYour last year with that card.
Jeff SankoffWhat would have to happen for you to be able to.
Jeff SankoffTo re.
Juliet WatsonQualify for it?
Speaker AThat also is confusing, but I think based off of what I read, I would have to do a race.
Speaker ASo it's either Ironman, half Ironman, or a another situation like the LA Triathlon, where there's a pro field with a prize purse and I'd have to finish my time would have to be within 8% of the winner's time.
Speaker ASo.
Speaker AYeah.
Speaker AAnd then the problem is it's like all the races I want to do, I don't know, but I want to do Oceanside again, St.
Speaker AGeorge, maybe Eagleman, and these are all pro series races.
Speaker ASo it's great.
Speaker AAll the really fast people are going to show up.
Speaker ASo I'm like, now I need to find a race where maybe it's not as fast and I can re qualify, but who knows?
Speaker AMaybe I'll get really fast next year.
Jeff SankoffYeah, maybe.
Jeff SankoffSo you're getting married.
Jeff SankoffYou got a honeymoon coming up, so no more racing this year, I'm guessing.
Jeff SankoffAnd do you have anything.
Jeff SankoffYou mentioned Oceanside, but anything else that you're thinking about for next year?
Speaker AYeah, so I will say Indian Wells this year is not a hundred percent off the table.
Speaker AI'm on the.
Speaker AI need to talk to my coach because I leave, I think, on like November 6th and I come back on like the 23rd.
Speaker ASo I'm gone for a long time.
Speaker AAnd then Indian Wells is two weeks later and I will.
Speaker AI'll be in Africa.
Speaker ASo it's not like I can just go train.
Speaker AI don't really know if I want to train anyone.
Speaker ASo I'm like, will my fitness carry through those two and a half, three weeks?
Speaker AIs it worth it or should I just go and cheer?
Speaker ASo potentially, Indian Wheels and that one's just so close to la.
Speaker AIt's like, easy.
Speaker ABut yeah, I'm definitely doing Oceanside.
Speaker AI think I'll do that one every year.
Speaker AAs long as I race.
Speaker AI love that race.
Speaker AAnd then I'll do St.
Speaker AGeorge again.
Speaker AI did that one for the first time this year.
Speaker AI loved it like that one.
Jeff SankoffIsn't it so beautiful?
Speaker AAmazing.
Speaker AI think it's my.
Speaker AI think it beats Oceanside now and I PR my run there and it's pretty hilly.
Jeff SankoffThat's a tough run.
Speaker AYeah, it's a tough run.
Speaker AI was like, I just was feeling myself and then I might do Eagleman.
Speaker AHaven't done that one heard it's fast.
Speaker AAnd then I need them to release the whole pro schedule because you like think of races you want to do and then they don't make them pro races.
Speaker ABut I would like to do potentially Oregon or Augusta.
Jeff SankoffYeah, Oregon was not a pro race this year.
Jeff SankoffSo I don't know that the swim is so fast.
Jeff SankoffI don't know if it will be.
Jeff SankoffYeah, we'll see.
Juliet WatsonWe'll see.
Speaker AMaybe Michigan and then probably Indian Wells.
Speaker AI've got a lot of random ones in my head.
Speaker AI next year is a lot less busy.
Juliet WatsonAnd so the last question I want.
Jeff SankoffTo ask you is how you manage doing all of it.
Jeff SankoffYou're very busy with the Instagram, but of course you're very busy with your full time job.
Jeff SankoffSo as somebody who also is time poor because of all the balls I have in the air, how do you make it all work?
Speaker AThat can be hard for sure.
Speaker AI think my job is, they call it flex.
Speaker ASo it is like partly remote, partly in the office, which really helps because it's like when you're at home it's a lot easier to go get like a lunchtime swim.
Speaker AAnd my hours, I work with a lot of people that are central time, east coast, so I do start a little bit earlier and I'm able to log off earlier so I have a little bit more I can like work my schedule around like my training schedule around my work schedule.
Speaker AA little easier than some people who might have to sit in traffic and stuff.
Speaker ASo thank God, thankful every day for that.
Speaker ABut yeah, I think for Instagram that one's the hard sometimes because it's not as important as I feel like we're actual job and training.
Speaker ABut on the evenings when I'm just like sitting on the couch, I'll scroll through Instagram and kind of like think of ideas for content and then I'll pick one day, usually Monday, my rest day.
Speaker ASo like after work on Monday I'll just film like five videos that I have in my drafts for the rest of the week.
Speaker ASo I find pockets of time to do Instagram stuff as well.
Speaker ABut yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker AAnd then this week it's.
Speaker AI'm still trying to train and then also I'm like working and then the wedding and then I just like, oh my God, next week's gonna be stressful.
Speaker ABut that's okay.
Jeff SankoffThat's it's a busy life, but it sounds like a fun life and that's why you're always smiling.
Jeff SankoffSo that's great.
Jeff SankoffThat's great.
Jeff SankoffCarolyn Carter, I can't thank you enough for taking some time to chat with me today.
Jeff SankoffIt was a really good conversation.
Jeff SankoffI wish you you the very best for your upcoming nuptials, your honeymoon, and for whatever your triathlon career holds in the next year.
Jeff SankoffI hope that you will be able to re qualify because I think that you are a joy to have on the pro circuit and it'd be great to see you for longer.
Jeff SankoffThanks for having thanks for being here today.
Juliet WatsonI really appreciate it.
Speaker AYep, thanks for having me.
Denise HaslickHi, my name is Denise Haslick and I'm a teammate of the Tridoc and a proud Patreon supporter of the Tridoc Podcast.
Denise HaslickThe Tridoc Podcast is produced and edited by Jeff Sankoff, along with his amazing interns Cosette Rose and Nida Takashima.
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