Intro: This is the TriDot podcast. TriDot uses your training data and genetic profile, combined with predictive analytics and artificial intelligence to optimize your training, giving you better results in less time with fewer injuries. Our podcast is here to educate, inspire, and entertain. We’ll talk all things triathlon with expert coaches and special guests. Join the conversation and let’s improve together.

Andrew Harley: Well, they did it! The beautiful minds behind TriDot triathlon training have released RunDot, data-optimized training for folks who just want to run. Will there be a RunDot podcast where we just talk about running? Maybe so, maybe not, only time will tell. In the meantime, we’ll talk all about RunDot on the TriDot podcast today. Here to tell us all about it is TriDot founder and CEO, Jeff Booher. Jeff is the chief architect behind TriDot’s nSight optimization technology that powers TriDot training. He is a multiple Ironman finisher, who has coached dozens of professional triathletes and national champions, as well as hundreds of age-groupers to podiums and PRs since he began coaching triathlon back in the year 2003. Jeff, on a scale of zero to ten, how excited are you for the launch of RunDot?

Jeff Booher: I’m super excited, Andrew. I’d have to say it’s an eleven today.

Andrew: It’s eleven! Wonderful. Cannot be captured by the scale. Also joining us is TriDot’s Vice President of Marketing, Matt Bach. Matt is an accomplished athlete, with an Ironman Maryland victory, and a 72nd overall finish in Kona on his résumé. He worked on Wall Street as a trader and portfolio manager for nine years, earned his MBA from Temple University, worked at marketing at UCAN for 2½ years, before coming on board to lead TriDot’s marketing efforts. Matt, welcome back to the show!

Matt Bach: Thanks Andrew! I’m excited to be back on today to talk about the discipline that began it all for me, running. That’s where it all started.

Andrew: Mm, yeah! Well, I’m Andrew the Average Triathlete, Voice of the People and Captain of the Middle of the Pack. As always, we’ll roll through our warmup question, settle in for our main set topic, and then we’ll wind things down on our cooldown with Vanessa interviewing a TriDot coach giving us a triathlon coaching tip. Lots of good stuff, let’s get to it!

Warm up theme: Time to warm up! Let’s get moving.

Andrew: Whether it’s triathlon or a run-only event, every time you do a race you are assigned a bib number. Usually it’s out of our control, and usually it’s an unmemorable three or four digits. But the more you race, the better the odds that you will eventually get a race number that stands out and is meaningful for you. Jeff, Matt, for our warmup question today, what was a time where you especially liked your race bib number? Jeff Booher?

Jeff: I’m sorry, this is going to be a disappointment. I have not had a memorable one. Like you said in the setup, usually it’s unmemorable. I’d love to say, after the welcome, that it was number 11 that I had, but I’ve just never had one that’s a memorable number.

Andrew: And you’re a four-time Ironman finisher I believe?

Jeff: Yes, and I’ve done 60-plus races.

Andrew: Can you remember even one of your bib numbers? Just one?

Jeff: No, I cannot.

Andrew: Jeff, it sounds like it’s been too long since you’ve raced, and we need to get you back on the race course one of these days maybe.

Jeff: It could be.

Matt: The only numbers he cares about are the finishing time and the improvement, he doesn’t care about those meaningless numbers on his bib, right?

Jeff: That’s true.

Andrew: Matt Bach, do you have an answer to this one, or did I ask the two wrong guys this question?

Matt: I do have an answer to this one. I was number 22 at a half marathon in Rutgers in New Jersey. Beforehand I had no love for the number, because to me it was meaningless. But afterwards it was pretty cool, because I was number 22, I placed second overall, and I had a two-minute PR, so there were a lot of twos.

Andrew: Yeah, sure, hard to go wrong with that. My answer here, and honestly the inspiration for this question – I did a race last year for the first time. The PTO Tour organization came through Dallas, Texas, and did the U.S. Open. It was right down the road from where I live, so I signed up to go race. My number for the U.S. Open, held in July, was 1776. I honestly didn’t even realize the meaning there, but one of my buddies was with me at packet pickup and he was like, “Aw, dude, you got 1776, nice!” It took me a second, embarrassingly, a little longer than it should, to realize why that was a meaningful number for the PTO Tour U.S. Open.

Jeff: You might need to elaborate on that with all of our international listeners.

Andrew: Our friends in the U.K. will already know this story, but for everybody else around the world, the year 1776 is the year the United States won its independence from the United Kingdom, a few centuries ago. So the theme at the U.S. Open, everything was flags, red, white, and blue logos, and I was 1776, the Independence number for America.

We’re going to throw this question out to our audience. I’m curious, are you like me and Matt and you have an answer here? Or are you like Jeff, and you just honestly can’t think of something memorable? Either way, we want to hear about it. Make sure you’re a part of the I AM TriDot Facebook group, where I will ask this question. The Monday this episode goes out, I’ll pose that question to the group. Have you ever had a race bib number that was somehow extra-meaningful for you?

Main set theme: On to the main set. Going in 3…2…1…

Andrew: Before we get too deep into the show today, I want to give a shout out to our good friends at UCAN. Here at TriDot we are huge believers in using UCAN to fuel our training and racing. In the crowded field of nutrition companies, what separates UCAN from the pack is the science behind LIVSTEADY, the key ingredient in UCAN products. While most energy powders are filled with sugar or stimulants that cause a spike and crash, UCAN energy powders, powered by LIVSTEADY, deliver a steady release of complex carbs to give you stable blood sugar and provide long-lasting energy. I personally fuel many of my workouts with the orange-flavored Edge gel, but between their energy mix, energy bars, almond butter, and more, there is definitely a LIVSTEADY product that you will love. So head to their website, ucan.co and use the code TRIDOT to save 20% on your entire order. Once again, that’s ucan.co, promo code TRIDOT.

The endurance community is composed of athletes who enjoy a wide array of physical activity. Triathletes obviously are attracted to the challenge and the variety of swim, bike, and run. But some folks just want to swim, some just want to bike. Some want to hike or climb, kayak, row, or ski. Some folks just want to go for a run, and for them, there is now RunDot. Now Jeff, Matt, often triathletes at least dabble in run-only events, sometimes with a goal, sometimes for just race-distance practice, and sometimes just to get some racing in when it’s too cold for a triathlon. For the two of you, what is your personal experience with run-only racing? Jeff Booher?

Jeff: Well, I grew up playing all the ball sports and such, but I also ran track. I loved running track, did the decathlon a little bit. In the military, we did a lot of running there, and I entered several races. Even when I was a kid I did a 5K with my dad, and I remember that time, it was 25:25. I’m not sure how old I was, kind of young.

Matt: I told you he’d remember the times, not the bib number.

Jeff: I’ve only done one standalone marathon, and that was kind of funny. In the mid-90’s, I had an uncle on New Year’s Day, we were up together as a family. He said, “I’m gonna do the Cowtown 10K.” It was I think the third week in February, and I said, “I’m gonna do the marathon.” I had not been running at all. I ran 13 times, the 13th was the marathon. It hurt a little bit, but I got it done. Before that, everything other than a 5K was extreme distance. But it was fun.

Andrew: Yeah, that was before Jeff Booher created the nSight Training Optimization Engine of TriDot.

Jeff: Quite a bit. Yeah, don’t do it like that.

Andrew: My relationship with running – I played soccer and tennis in high school and college. After college I was just trying to stay in shape, so I would just get off work and go for a run. Personally, doing races and events never really appealed to me. Why am I going to pay 40 or 50 bucks to go do a 5K at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning when I’m not a morning person? I can go run a 5K for free at whatever time I want to wake up on my own accord. So I just never did much. But there was a guy in our church whose company was sponsoring a 5K, so he was like, “Hey, use this code, you can enter it for free.” I was like, “Okay, well, it’s free, so let me go try this 5K.” That