Paula raced the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and this is the full, unfiltered debrief. No questions this week. Just Paula, Eric, and Nick working through the whole day: the rough, choppy swim, the windy bike leg, and a marathon that became something else entirely. This episode is the whole story:

• The days leading into Kona: the commitments, the exhaustion, the headaches, and whether the race week experience matched four years of FOMO
• The TTL Kona Donut Run recap, Malasadas, two kilometers in the heat, and a star-studded crowd
• The swim: rough conditions, a swollen lip, disorientation near the far buoy, and finishing in good position despite it all
• The bike: treating the first half like a 70.3, riding above watts to chase people, Race Ranger dynamics, and what Paula would do differently
• Navigating the aid stations in 28mph crosswinds on a day when the fastest male pro bike split was 4:11
• The run: from the first steps on Ali'i Drive to the Energy Lab turnaround and back, what it actually felt like, minute by minute
• Rachel Zelenkas, Kat Matthews, and the camaraderie that got Paula to the finish line
• Lucy Charles, Solveig Løvseth, and a day that humbled the entire pro field
• Whether finishing without a medical reason to stop is something to be proud of
• What Paula thinks about doing it again
• Kona TTL gear still available, Energy Lab hats, Castelli technical apparel, socks, and swim caps

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To help support the podcast, and if you have a question for next week, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

Just the boys this week. We're recording live from Kona, a couple of days before Paula toes the line at the Ironman World Championship. Eric and Nick recap the week so far, including the TTL Donut Run, which brought out some familiar faces including Flora Duffy, Heather Jackson, and Jodie Stimpson. Then listener submitted questions.

This week we discussed:

• Kona race week: what it's actually like to be here, the energy, the chaos, and the pro athlete sightings
• The TTL Kona Donut Run recap, malasadas, a big turnout, and some A-list company
• Best apps for finding triathlon training routes, gravel rides, and camping spots
• Hip mobility stretches that actually work
• Would Nick take over from Bob Babbitt someday, and what would he call the series?
• Miscounting laps in the pool: do you shorten the next interval or just carry on?
• Advice to your past selves at the inception of TTL, and what it means for anyone building something big from scratch
• Surviving washboard gravel roads: positioning, speed, and whether anything actually helps
• Hydration on long trail and gravel rides with no gas stations in sight
• Backing out of a race you signed up for with a friend, how to feel about it
• Why marathon swimmers hold 1:10 per 100m for 10K but pro triathletes swim 1:20 for 3.8K

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast

One week out from leaving for Kona, Paula is in the background sketching the donut run poster while we record. We open with a busy weekend of racing, Augusta 70.3, the World Triathlon Grand Final sprint in Pontevedra, and UCI Road Racing Worlds, then get into Team TTL applications opening today, the Kona donut run details, and your questions.

This week we discussed:

• Augusta 70.3 results: Lydia Russell wins, Samantha Skold third, Adele Likin's wrong turn with two miles to go, and what it highlights about race coverage
• The Grand Final sprint finish: Matt Hauser wins the race, Vasco Vilaça wins the world title, and whether Matt held his line
• Aerodynamic gravel bikes: what pro racing demands of equipment and what it means for the regular consumer
• Team TTL and TTL Racing Division applications are open now through October 19th, what the Racing Division is, who it's for, and how it's different from the main team
• Kona TTL Donut Run: Wednesday October 7th, 2pm, featuring malasadas
• Team Canada Kona shakeout run: Monday October 5th, 8am, hosted by Lisa Bentley at Big Island Running Co.
• FTP tests for seasoned athletes: how often pros actually do them, what Paulo Sousa uses instead, and why the scariest version might actually be a QOM climb you care about
• Nick's volume experiment: six minutes off a 27-minute climb after a month of Z2 only
• Paula's Ironman swim set: 10x400 on 15 seconds rest, no toys, no alternatives (well, maybe five 800s)
• Rest days vs. active recovery: how often Paula and Eric actually take full days off
• Backyard ultras: how long could each of them last, and why laps are their own special kind of suffering
• Strength training in a triathlon program: how to stay consistent without it wrecking your other sessions
• Looking up race results and imagining where you would have finished
• First 70.3 Worlds advice: why going three weeks early might be the wrong move, and what Paula's Kona build has taught her about not putting races on a pedestal
• The creative process in music and video: prosody, co-creation, and why you can't make art formulaic even when you really want to

A big thank you to our podcast supporters who keep the podcast alive. To submit a question and to become a podcast supporter, head over to ThatTriathlonLife.com/podcast