In this episode of the Be Fierce and Tri podcast, professional triathlete Meg Dirito shares her experiences from the Eagleman race, discussing the challenges of swimming in choppy waters and her nutrition strategies during the bike segment. She reflects on the balance between her athletic career and family life, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing her children's activities. Meg also offers valuable advice for age group athletes looking to improve their performance, highlighting the significance of consistency and a thirst for knowledge in the sport.
The swim at Eagleman was unexpectedly challenging due to choppy waters.
Nutrition strategies can vary greatly among athletes; liquid nutrition works for Meg.
Balancing family life with a professional athletic career requires careful planning.
Transitioning from age group to pro involves adapting training and mindset.
Consistency in training is key to improvement in triathlon.
Staying hungry for knowledge can help athletes advance their skills.
Family support is crucial for managing a busy training schedule.
Every race is a learning experience, and perfection is unattainable.
Age group athletes should focus on their strengths while being open to learning.
Finding joy in the sport is essential for long-term success.
Jill Bartholomew (00:00)
Hi and welcome to another episode of Be Fierce and Tri podcast. I'm here today with a professional triathlete, Meg Dorito, and she's hot off of her race at Eagleman, busy planning the rest of her season and next year. And I'm super excited to have you on Meg. Should we start with talking about Eagleman?
So do you want to tell us like, you know, how did the race go for you? It looked like for a lot of folks, the swim was a bit challenging. And I saw some interesting times on the bike as well, which you wouldn't normally expect on a generally flat course. So how'd it go?
Meg Dirito (00:21)
Sure.
Yeah,
I think overall it's not really what I had expected. Like if you look at like overall time wise and then if you look at each individual sport by itself, I do consider myself a fairly strong swimmer, which I feel like a lot of us had some issues in the swim. It was a lot very choppy, hard to keep in the packs, hard to swim straight.
you know, at certain points it was hard to tell where anybody was. So was kind of just to, you know, try to get through the swim and get to the other end basically.
Jill Bartholomew (01:10)
I mean, you know, that's what I'm used to hearing everyone is as I wait and I'm usually starting like 20, 30 minutes behind you. It's like, survive the swim. But do you think, you know, so you've been doing a lot of competition in masters lately and I've been doing quite well with that, at least based on everything I see online,
Meg Dirito (01:20)
Yeah. Aww.
Jill Bartholomew (01:35)
Do you think like that very short transition from, uh, know, competing in pools to like straight into a choppy open water may have, you know, had part of it or just, you know, luck of the day.
Meg Dirito (01:50)
I think I was probably lucky that day because the week before I swam open water cable nationals and ended up coming second, which I'm happy with off of a two time Olympian that got first. So I was very.
Jill Bartholomew (02:05)
That's a pretty good
finish.
Meg Dirito (02:06)
Yeah, so was very happy with my swim at Nationals. I felt like it was very strategic. The water was very calm, so it was able to keep you pacing. You were able to see the packs in front of you. I was able to change my speed, my stroke rate. So it was a lot of what my coach and I work on. I was able to do that. So I know what I'm capable of doing, but getting into the water at Eagle Man, it's kind of like all that just kind of went out the window. And it was like, this is just going to
BS swim where you're just gonna have to get from one end to the other because the chop was just so hard you couldn't do stroke rate or sighting or anything like that. You know I tried to keep with people but we were all over the place so it just didn't make for my ideal swim.
Jill Bartholomew (02:49)
Yeah. Looking
at the replay on, I guess it's outdoor in the U S, looking at the replay, even the announcers were having a hard time tracking who was where, cause everyone was all over the place and kind of spread out more than normal.
Meg Dirito (03:03)
Yes.
Yeah, and especially with like how we start, we all start in a really long line. And obviously everybody kind of wants to file in towards the buoys and that's when you start to form your packs. You know, but when you're fighting that chop and you can't see like where you're going, it's just kind of a hodgepodge and everyone's like all over the place. So this was definitely a swim where drafting per se was difficult to do.
Jill Bartholomew (03:10)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (03:32)
Just trying to a straight line.
Jill Bartholomew (03:32)
Yeah,
yeah, if you can't find the pack you have no one to draft off of. So any jellyfish things in your swim?
Meg Dirito (03:37)
No.
Yes, I got stung about six times. I think there was actually one that hung a ride on the bottom of my kit because it kept stinging because normally they would sting and then kind of go away. So we weren't wetsuit legal. We had to wear swim skins. Anything 70 71.6 and below.
Jill Bartholomew (03:44)
Next.
Wow.
Mm-hmm.
Right. And what is what's too legal for the pros?
Okay, so four degrees difference.
Meg Dirito (04:05)
So it was like 70,
yeah, it was like 72 or 73 that day, which I was super happy about. I would much rather swim with a swim skin than a wetsuit.
Jill Bartholomew (04:16)
I had some athletes there who were doing their first 70.3 and they were like, thank God it's wetsuit legal for them.
Meg Dirito (04:22)
I just feel like my swims are,
I have trouble with mobility being in wetsuit and I feel like I can actually really swim when my arms aren't bound in this like big thing of rubber. So I was happy about that. But yes, I did get stung multiple times.
Jill Bartholomew (04:30)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I feel like
you have to, with a full arm wetsuit, you have to work so much harder. I mean, your body position's better, but you have to work so much harder to move forward.
Meg Dirito (04:42)
Yes, you do. And then like you
and just mobility with your shoulders too.
Jill Bartholomew (04:51)
All right. So swim didn't go quite, quite how you expected, but how'd the rest of the race go?
Meg Dirito (04:57)
the bike was okay. It was actually a really fun bike.
I enjoyed the scenery. I liked being out there. There was hardly any cars. the road was not shut down for us. So we had a little bit of like hesitation in the pro meeting as far as like, you know, which side to ride on. Cause there was like a rumble strip in the center. we ride in on the road road part or like the shoulder? but it seemed like we all kind of figured it out. I mean, the bike for me was my nutrition was good. you know, I had fun with it. I stayed with a couple of girls.
for quite a while. I did see some of the age group men they tend to like to zoom past and make their way to the front per usual. So which made hard because yeah because we have race rangers so that tells us how far apart we have to be but it's really hard when the guys kind of slot in between us so it makes it hard to keep the distance. So we're trying to follow rules but you know.
Jill Bartholomew (05:35)
Yeah, that's not new.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah.
So what's your nutrition strategy on the bike?
Meg Dirito (05:55)
So I've always had a sensitive stomach so I do all liquid nutrition and I do about a bottle per hour. It's about, I want to say like 400 calories, 90 grams of carbs. I use the scratch super fuel with carb powder and a caffeine powder in there. So I just drink all of my calories. Seems to work for me.
Jill Bartholomew (06:19)
See, I tried that
and every time I tried that, by the time I got to the run, my stomach was wanting to empty itself. Yeah.
Meg Dirito (06:26)
Okay, well everyone's different, you know.
I don't do well with eating anything. No, solid for me.
Jill Bartholomew (06:34)
Okay. And my, my coach and I are trying to figure out like, you know, I consistently on fulls consistently get to about mile 16. And then my belly is like, please empty me. And, and like the rest of the race is like crap after that. Cause you know, that feeling through the whole race, it's like, you know, so that's what we're trying to figure out at the moment. But.
Meg Dirito (06:46)
Yeah, yeah.
no.
It's.
Yeah, I think
it's it's tough. It's just like changing things constantly and training and figuring out like what works for you. But again, every every race is different to
Jill Bartholomew (07:03)
Yeah.
So.
So the bike aside from, you know, random age group men sliding in with the women, how'd go?
Meg Dirito (07:19)
it was okay. you know, I feel like my bike strength, you know, is okay. I don't compare to some of the top pros, at this point. they're just really, really strong bikers and it's definitely something that I am working on, and comes with time. I mean, I'm definitely a swimmer for sure. you know, biking, love, you know, running would, I would say would be.
my nemesis.
Jill Bartholomew (07:42)
Running is your nemesis? Really? I would not have thought that.
Meg Dirito (07:44)
yeah.
yes, we've been battling back and forth for many years, me and running. ⁓ It's funny because when I do standalone races running, I do actually really well and I can place in the top or top overall. ⁓ Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (07:52)
So tell me about that.
Yeah, that's why I'm surprised. I've seen your post, your
placements in like single sport races and they're always very good.
Meg Dirito (08:12)
Yeah, and I think I'm able to keep pacing and but whenever it comes to I just have a hard time trying to mesh that with a triathlon because it seems like anytime I get to the run, it doesn't seem my pacing doesn't seem to go as planned. It's definitely a lot slower than what I'm capable of. I seem to do better in the fools. I feel like I can go my pacing for longer. So it's definitely my
Jill Bartholomew (08:39)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (08:41)
Distance 70.3 is I feel like it's still a bit of a sprint You know, especially when you're comparing to the other girls that are swim that are running in the fives and the sixes like I'm not there so
Jill Bartholomew (08:52)
Yeah.
I did a chat Nuga, uh, 70.3 a watt, you know, was that a month and a half ago, a month ago and no swim. So it was my first time trial start. And, know, I'm really strong on the bike, but not as strong on the run. like my worst of the three sports and.
Meg Dirito (09:06)
Okay.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (09:15)
I was like first off the bike in my age group, but I ended up coming in like 13th or something because these women were like passing me doing like five fifties and six the whole day. I'm like, can we bring this wind back to slow them down?
Meg Dirito (09:25)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Yep, exactly.
It's like you're either and my husband and I always talk about it. You're either one of the three sports like naturally, you know, and it's like, I feel like the swimmers always have a hard time running because they're water animals almost, you know, so it's like you get to the run and they're like, rather be swimming and then you find like the runners are super fast, but they're not as good on the swim, but it's a lot shorter so than the run so they can make up, you know,
Jill Bartholomew (09:39)
Mm
Meg Dirito (09:59)
they're the gap, you know, so.
Jill Bartholomew (10:01)
Right.
And the bike is like the equalizer.
Meg Dirito (10:03)
Yeah, pretty much.
Jill Bartholomew (10:04)
is everyone I know in triathlon came from either swimming or running. I don't know anyone personally in triathlon who came from cycling.
Meg Dirito (10:10)
the
Yeah,
my husband came from cycling. He's not a swimmer, not a runner, but a very good cyclist. So he actually taught me to ride my bike. Way back when, yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (10:16)
But I don't know him, so the rule stands.
Yeah.
Well, that was nice. And
now you're in the pro field and he's not.
Meg Dirito (10:32)
I'm sure he could have if he kept putting the work in.
Jill Bartholomew (10:35)
But here we are. the run didn't, you know, the run went how the run went. Any like reflecting back, if you had to change anything, would you change anything?
Meg Dirito (10:37)
Yeah.
Yeah.
wow, within my control.
Jill Bartholomew (10:51)
Yeah. Well,
yeah, you can't change the weather or the top, but like within your control, like how you prepared for the race or anything that you did on race day, would you have done anything differently?
Meg Dirito (10:54)
Okay.
I don't think I would have done anything differently. think my training coming up to it has been great. I have been racing a lot in the pool though and open water, but I would never change that because that's what I like. That is my first love. So I would never, I would never give that up. I was happy because my husband was there. He hasn't seen me race in a really long time. So.
he was able to hang out with Reese and cheer for Lucy and myself, although she was a lap ahead of me. I wouldn't have changed anything. I was happy with, I mean, yeah, I wish I could have run faster, but I mean, you just live for another day and you just keep working harder, you know?
Jill Bartholomew (11:38)
Well, I mean.
Well,
and that's what these are. They all end up being learning events,
Meg Dirito (11:57)
Exactly, you
know and and not I don't think I've ever had a race where I was like everything in that race was 100 % perfect like it'll that will never happen ever
Jill Bartholomew (12:07)
Yeah, I'd love to see that race myself. So, okay, so that went down. The last race it was at Cozumel.
Meg Dirito (12:10)
Yeah, me too.
Yeah, in November.
Jill Bartholomew (12:19)
And so what's next?
Meg Dirito (12:21)
Louisville in August.
Jill Bartholomew (12:23)
Louisville in August. And
that's a river swim, right? Where's the lake swim?
Meg Dirito (12:27)
I think so, yeah.
I think it's a river swim. Yeah, so yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited for that. I mean, I was gonna race sooner and I think the hardest thing for me is I want to race more, but I'm not able to because my kids have such a demanding race schedule that it doesn't allow me to. So.
Jill Bartholomew (12:32)
Well, so that should be fun and a little bit warmer. Hopefully flatter for you.
So that's
like where I thought we'd spend like a lot of time today is like, I'm super busy. know, I'm a mom. have two kids. They both have their thing and I have my thing and I do race a lot. And I'm like, but
Meg Dirito (13:08)
Mm-hmm.
Jill Bartholomew (13:10)
I almost have an advantage in that I'm divorced. So it's like, there's a completely separate household to like take care of the kids when I'm doing my own thing, right? I don't know if, I don't think you have that going on, but like, how do you manage that balance between like your, you know, your sporting career with theirs and your children, both from everything I've seen look
Meg Dirito (13:17)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (13:39)
very successful in their own right too.
Meg Dirito (13:42)
Yeah,
think so we have my kids have been in sports since they were 18 months old. So they haven't been out of sport at all. They both have just seemed to grow into the love of swimming. My son started when he was six, swimming competitively and my daughter, she did gymnastics and swimming at the same time at the age of eight.
Jill Bartholomew (13:51)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (14:03)
and fell in love with swimming. then she decided to pursue that. So we moved to another team that was more competitive. So my kids growing up have, they don't know life outside of sports. So to them, like training and being dedicated, like that is part of their life. So they see me and they've seen me, you know, growing up like training, you know, and, and being organized and planning. And so they know what it takes to
Jill Bartholomew (14:24)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (14:30)
get to where they want to go. So they're just just used to it, I guess.
Jill Bartholomew (14:37)
And how old are they again?
Meg Dirito (14:39)
So my son is 10 and my daughter, she's 12 right now.
Jill Bartholomew (14:45)
So my
daughter's 12, my son is 15, almost 16. And about a year ago was when, maybe a year and a half ago was when in like the 10K distance he got faster than me. And then last fall he ran his first half marathon faster than me.
Meg Dirito (15:02)
Mm-hmm.
Jill Bartholomew (15:08)
And it was such a humbling experience for me when now my son in half marathons is sitting at the finish line. Like, mom, I finished 20 minutes ago? What took you so long?
Meg Dirito (15:10)
Yeah.
You're like, that is kind of humbling because you're like, finally they've reached that point where they are able to do it on their own, one, you know, and you've got them to that point where they feel confident and they're good at what they do, you know.
Jill Bartholomew (15:24)
Mm-hmm
Right,
and they're confident enough to do it without you by their side. it's like, you know, it's like at the start line, we start next to each other. And then I just watch him trot off into the distance and finish with like the top five guys. And then he's like, you know, he's like, that's great. You came in second in your age group. He's like, age groups are for losers.
Meg Dirito (15:38)
yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I think my bit my most humbling moment was so Lily loves open water just as much as I do and when she was eight we started her in open water and we my husband and I used to swim beside her in the races and we were a cattle shooter so she would be in the middle and so that she felt like we were there and at the age of 10 she actually started just swimming by herself and
Jill Bartholomew (16:06)
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
Meg Dirito (16:27)
This year, I watched her prep for her own open water race by herself and I watched her stand on that podium as second overall female against 50, 40, 30 year olds just standing up there. Like she has gotten to that point where she is so good and she is so confident out there and very talented. But I mean, it's taken years of like swimming with her and teaching her and
Jill Bartholomew (16:45)
Wow, that's amazing.
Meg Dirito (16:54)
getting that confidence to be out there alone.
Jill Bartholomew (16:56)
Well, it sounds
like she has quite a career ahead of her.
Meg Dirito (16:59)
I think so. mean, she loves swimming.
She does prefer the pool, but she's also very good at open water too. My son doesn't like open water. He's very good at the pool, but he does not like open water. So he says it's dark.
Jill Bartholomew (17:07)
Very good.
Yeah, I have one.
I have one child who loves to be in the pool, but has no desire to lap swim. I have another one who loves to be in open water, but has no desire to swim between the buoys. So yeah, yeah.
Meg Dirito (17:20)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm, yeah. It'll come around, you know. They'll figure it out.
Jill Bartholomew (17:33)
Yeah, last year at the AC tri my son was, he was second on the podium, but he was last out of the water. But you know, he was last out of the water, passed everyone on the bike and then did the, that was a 10 K, ⁓ like five minute, five minute splits or something like that. And I'm like, I like, dude, I'm he is, he is a runner.
Meg Dirito (17:40)
huh.
Hmm.
That's crazy. ⁓ He's a runner.
Jill Bartholomew (17:59)
for sure and now he's like starting to get faster than me on the bike and it's like, Oh my God, come on, man. Yeah. So, so how do you balance all this? You know, they clearly have very, your children clearly have very active schedules. You have a demanding training schedule. I would imagine between competing, you know, you know, in the swimming and in triathlon.
Meg Dirito (18:01)
Yeah.
It's only a matter of time. My daughter's faster than me in the pool.
Yeah.
Gosh, it takes a lot of planning. You know, I have to know exactly that day what is on my schedule and I have very small window to do something. So like I know like if I have a two-hour bike, like I know I have to do that bike starting at this time or I will not get it in. You know, so it's never a negotiable for me. It's this is what I'm doing at say like eight o'clock.
I think with my kids training schedule, so my daughter trains 16 hours a week and my son trains 14. We're at the pool all the time, so I use that time for training. Like this morning, my daughter had a two and a half hour swim practice, so I got a swim and a run in this morning. So I use that time to do my training as well. Instead of just, you know, lot of the parents like to sit and watch and I always disappear and end up working out. So and then.
I work 10 shifts a month at the ER clinic. So I do get a two hour lunch break. So I go to the pool and I ride during that time as well.
Jill Bartholomew (19:29)
I was gonna ask if you still had a full-time job with all this going on.
Meg Dirito (19:33)
Yeah, it's usually
twice a week I work. Those are very tough days. I work 12 hours. So it's definitely, but I end up actually waking up.
earlier because my daughter has practice at 7am so I have a little bit of a gap there. I usually end up doing mobility or my strength or whatever. Then I get ready for work, then I go to work, and then I swim, and then I bike, and then I go back to work, and then I finish, and then I go run, and then I come home.
Jill Bartholomew (19:49)
Mm-hmm.
So your
two ships are back to back? ⁓
Meg Dirito (20:07)
They can do whatever I want. So they let
me pick my shifts. Yeah, so allows me to Yeah, it allows me to train and travel Depending on the month. So which is nice
Jill Bartholomew (20:12)
That's very accommodating.
See, I had gotten it in my head that I'm like, hey, you know, if I like start my own business or businesses, then like my schedule will be more flexible. And it just turned out this more haphazard, not more flexible. It's like, I somehow feel like I have less control than I did when I was working a full-time job. And it took me a few months to realize that I'm like, wow, bit off like this huge chunk trying to make two businesses like grow.
Meg Dirito (20:31)
No. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (20:50)
and at the same time I'm like somehow busier than I ever was.
Meg Dirito (20:54)
Yeah, I mean it's tough. It's always a juggle, know, and you have to know what you're doing for that day. We do travel a lot for my kids too, so that ends up being me taking all of my training stuff with us.
Jill Bartholomew (21:08)
So you travel
with your bike too?
Meg Dirito (21:11)
Mm hmm. Yeah, my bike, my trainer, my swim stuff, because
Jill Bartholomew (21:15)
but no recent crushed bikes.
Meg Dirito (21:18)
No recent crash
bikes. No, that's that frame is still down in the basement. I may fix it one day as a trainer bike, but
Jill Bartholomew (21:25)
That
I remember seeing your post on that and I was like, my God, that sucks. And it was in a bike box Allen too, right?
Meg Dirito (21:32)
Yeah, it was in a bike box, Alan, and they cracked my chainstay. And they didn't really want to pay for even like an eighth of it. yeah, so track work with me. And then of course, thank goodness for homeowners insurance to to try and cover it. So. Mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (21:50)
Really? Homeowners covered part of it?
Cause I'll tell you, your incident inspired me to go out and get bike insurance.
Meg Dirito (21:58)
Yeah, so they say get bike insurance or if your homeowner's insurance covers it. So we made like the call and we were like, we had we checked like 10 times throughout the year. We're like, you still cover the bike, right? They're like, yeah, we still cover the bike. I'm like, okay, just checking. So
Jill Bartholomew (22:00)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah,
our agent was like, it should cover it, but we aren't sure because no one's asked before. I'm like, yeah, we're going to get secondary insurance. And hopefully, we're fully covered.
Meg Dirito (22:19)
Yeah, then you need bike insurance for sure.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean,
I mean, secretly I was, I went, obviously I was not happy about the event, but I was happy because then I got to do the colors of my bike the way I wanted it with project one. so.
Jill Bartholomew (22:41)
⁓
So what was it before? was...
Meg Dirito (22:44)
It
was just a stock color that I had gotten before, which I liked, but when I got it, I was like, it's not bright enough and colorful for me because I like color. And I kind of looked at my husband, I'm like, I like it, but I don't like love it, love it. So when I got my blue bike that I have now, I'm like, I love it, love it. So.
Jill Bartholomew (23:03)
I have two project one bikes, the Speed Concept and a Madone that are painted the same. And I'm like, I don't think Trek still does that color combination, that pastel tie dye. And I'm like, if something happened to one of those two bikes, I'd be devastated at this point. And everyone knows me by the bike.
Meg Dirito (23:07)
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's cool.
Yeah, you'd have to get something different.
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (23:32)
So I've been riding them for so long. But
now I love the Trek Project One kind of program. Now did you get your name on your bike?
Meg Dirito (23:38)
I do too. I do too.
No, I didn't. Well, I was dealing with the money that Homeowner Assurance gave me, so all the upsells, I was like, had to like, because I wanted a lot of stuff and they were like, no, well, you have to pay more.
Jill Bartholomew (23:44)
One.
I bet you did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, the bike industry is good at upselling. Yeah.
Meg Dirito (24:01)
yeah, yeah,
so I was like, it does have a sticker on it that says Dorito though. It's not the same, but not the same.
Jill Bartholomew (24:06)
Not the same. Yeah, I was going
to get mine on and then the dealership like talked me out of it. They're like, well, but what if you ever went to sell it? And now I'm like, the odds of me ever selling this bike are pretty, they're pretty low. They're pretty low.
Meg Dirito (24:19)
Yeah, no. I
can't even sell my old bike, my old Shiv that I used to ride because I still love it. I'll never, I don't even ride it, but I can't sell it. I don't, I'm just like, I like it.
Jill Bartholomew (24:31)
I have, so I used to be a long track speed skater and which explains why I'm good on the bike. And my, use cycling as cross-training. The bike that I used in 2021 is hanging on a wall in my garage. I can't get rid of it. I just can't get rid of it.
Meg Dirito (24:47)
You still have it? Of course! No!
No! I mean...
Jill Bartholomew (24:52)
And it's
now, knowing what we know, it's too big for me. It's a steel frame with a carbon fork. So it's like super heavy compared to the bikes today, but you just can't get rid of it.
Meg Dirito (25:02)
Yeah.
I mean, I still think about this, my very first bike that my husband taught me to ride on, it's an old Cervélo and I sold it and I still think about that bike and I'm like, man, I really wish I still had it, but I sold it. So I'm like, I'm not selling any more bikes.
Jill Bartholomew (25:18)
and
Out
of curiosity, your SRAM or Shimano setup? SRAM.
Meg Dirito (25:25)
I'm sure I am.
Yeah. I like it.
Jill Bartholomew (25:30)
I like it. And the thing I like the most about it is like, you you carry a spare battery and like, you know, like you're never going to get stuck.
Meg Dirito (25:39)
No, and I actually, when I race, put an extra battery in my front piece just in case. It's charged, just in case, you never know. you know, in case. I actually had, at Xterra last year, I had somebody come up to me, because my mountain bike also has to have batteries, and they were like, do you have an extra battery? And I'm like, well, you came to the right person, because I always have extra batteries. Because he couldn't race without it, so.
Jill Bartholomew (25:45)
Yeah. Yeah.
So I did once leave the house without batteries. So that sucked. Luckily, it was a very flat course. My now husband thought he was doing me a very nice favor by charging my batteries. And I didn't know it because I had already put newly charged batteries on the bike and didn't even look and walked out of the house with no batteries attached to the bike. So now like,
It's the first thing I look at as soon as I walk out the door is like, there batteries on the bike?
Meg Dirito (26:33)
That'll always happen at least once. I did that a couple weeks ago trail riding with my son and I'm riding and I'm like, how are you faster than me? And I looked down and I'm like, ah, cause I have no batteries on my mountain bike right now. Just like spinning, you're like, I'm not going anywhere. No, you're not alone. No.
Jill Bartholomew (26:36)
Yeah.
All right, so I feel much better. Thank you for that. It's not just me.
Yes, I felt like such an idiot. I'm like, I crap. And you know, at least got into like the middle of the cassette and yeah, like that was fun.
Meg Dirito (27:04)
Yeah, it'll always
happen at least once. There's always with triathlon so many things that you need. I mean, it's like, you know, at Cosmily, I forgot my shoes. I'm like, who forgets their shoes? You know, so it's like, I'm always forgetting something, you know, because I am a person of habit. So like, I did my last bike at home and put my shoes back where they belong, not in my bag, you know, thinking not thinking I was leaving.
Jill Bartholomew (27:21)
Mm-hmm.
So before every race, I've gotten in the habit, I post on like Facebook or Instagram or wherever, a photo of like all of my stuff by discipline. And people like are like, this is so helpful. Thank you, blah, blah. And I'm like, no, this is so that I know I have everything.
Meg Dirito (27:50)
Because once you put it in a bag,
you're like, think I put it in.
Jill Bartholomew (27:54)
Well, right. And then if you're traveling,
when you get there and there's that thing that you can't find, you can go back and be like, no, it's here somewhere. I know it because I have a picture of it.
Meg Dirito (27:59)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm. Yeah,
although I have to say I like the closer races where I can just put my bike together at home and then stick it in my car, you know, because it's like when you travel and you fly you're like having to have all the tools and you know put your bike together and I remember flying back from Cosmo and they took my bike tools because they said it was a weapon.
Jill Bartholomew (28:12)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (28:28)
and like my multi-tool and they were all color-coded of all the different sizes. It was so nice and the guy was like, it's a weapon and he hits it on the table and he's like, see and I'm like, it's not a weapon. It's a, like it's a bike tool. So I lost it and my husband's like, come on Meg, let's go. It's fine. Just come on, we'll get another one. But I was so sad. was like.
Jill Bartholomew (28:32)
Yeah, yeah.
I'm like, can hit you on the table and it'll be a weapon. ⁓
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's always one of my fears is I take the, my bike doesn't fit in the bike box with the derailleur on it. So I take the chain and derailleur off and that comes in my carry-on. And I'm always checking the TSA list. I'm like, chain is allowed in the carry-on, right? Because you would think that it's a weapon.
Meg Dirito (29:01)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
They're going to take it from you.
Yeah, but I mean if you thought like this guy thought like I guess you could use anything as a weapon, you know, it's like I mean I had my GoPro stick like that's like, you know
Jill Bartholomew (29:27)
I know it's
a GoPro sticks like a pretty solid stick.
Meg Dirito (29:30)
Yeah,
yeah, and they let us keep the GoPro stick, which was also in there, but not the bike tools. was just like, So, yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (29:39)
That's awesome. mean, it's disappointing
and frustrating, but was that on the way home though? But hey, it's better to happen on the way home than the way there.
Meg Dirito (29:45)
That was on the way home. Yeah, it's always something at the airport. So I love them.
Yeah, well if I didn't have bike tools there I'd be really sad. But it's always something when you fly. So I like the races that I can drive to, which aren't very many.
Jill Bartholomew (29:54)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I did
Texas earlier this year. And I'm like, I don't know how people go and do these races by themselves. There's so much stuff to bring with you between. Yeah. And you try to get like the bike box. So it's actually not 50 pounds overweight, which with the speed concept is next to impossible. Right. You know, it's the.
Meg Dirito (30:13)
Yeah, and I usually go by myself.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (30:29)
the bike with the three wheels that are all set up tubeless. Like it weighs a ton. It weighs a ton. I think the closest I've come is like 53 pounds.
Meg Dirito (30:36)
It was a time, yeah.
Oh, that's good. Usually I'm at like 58, 59. But yeah, it's tough when you go by yourself.
Jill Bartholomew (30:47)
Well, that's like taking, that's like
taking the chain, the derailleurs, the, the everything off the bike and putting that in a carry on. And I'm like, I'm like, I've sometimes they tried to weigh the, the box and you get hit with a fee and other times it's like, they're like, it's under 50, right? I'm like, yes, yes it is. Thank you for asking. ⁓
Meg Dirito (30:51)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yes. I always had PTSD
walking away from my bike box at the airport because I'm like, somebody's going to look at that, right? Like, it's good. And they're like, oh, yeah, whatever. And they like shove it in the corner. I'm like, Is somebody watching that? I'm just terrified every time.
Jill Bartholomew (31:24)
that
I like, uh, to Philadelphia, at least for American, um, TSA will sometimes most of the time, I think I've only had them say no once let you stand there while they go through it. You have to stand like on the other side of this, this window, but like every time they open it and they're like, Oh, it's not a mountain bike. This looks expensive.
Meg Dirito (31:40)
really?
You
Jill Bartholomew (31:50)
And I'm like giving them instructions, you know, on how to put it back together the way it was. Yeah. So it closes and the frame's not broken when we got there. coming back from Nice, they didn't even open it. They're like, you don't have ACO2 cartridges in here. Do you? I'm like, no. And then they put it through the X-ray machine and that was it.
Meg Dirito (31:55)
how to close it back, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Well, I don't know why they don't do that anyway. Like we all, we're all bikers. like, we know you can't have CO2. Like do you want stickies on it that says no CO2? Like I don't have them in there, you know?
Jill Bartholomew (32:21)
Right.
Can they have like a TSA pre for bikes with no CO2 cartridges?
Meg Dirito (32:26)
for bikes. Yeah, you're like, promise
I swear on my life you can take my house and children if I put a CO2 cartridge in here. You know, it's like, yeah, it's crazy because then they have to rip apart your bike and then they can't close it because they move stuff.
Jill Bartholomew (32:33)
Right, right.
Right. And especially if you got like three wheels in there. Had extra wheels, in the rum.
Meg Dirito (32:46)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, and you know and of course I stick Yeah,
and then I of course stick like sometimes my nutrition in there depending on how heavy I am and if you move that everything is like a puzzle so like if you mess it up then it won't close and I'm like did you have to open it in the first place but
Jill Bartholomew (33:04)
Right.
so I do a lot of the Disney races and some of them have a yoga offered. And when you do it, you come back with this, this decent echelon, yoga mat. that you're one of those yoga mats, is now filler inside of my bike box. So that,
Meg Dirito (33:21)
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (33:22)
My helmet and stuff doesn't move around. And I'm like, please don't move that stuff. Like, it's OK. There's no liquids. There's no gels. There's no batteries. There's no CO2 cartridges. Like, we're good. We're good. Just acknowledge that. Put your little paper in and call it a day.
Meg Dirito (33:27)
Hahaha
There's nothing, please don't move it.
It's yeah, yeah, so I feel like anytime you fly it's definitely more anxiety and I always end up flying by myself and traveling by myself because the kids always are at home at school or something so I have to lug suitcase and backpack and bike through by myself.
Jill Bartholomew (33:54)
I was going to say how
much stuff traveling by yourself how much stuff do you end up taking with you?
Meg Dirito (34:04)
I mean a
lot because I always have my backpack but it's like filled with like my helmet and you know all of that stuff plus my wetsuit and then I always have my suitcase that I bring for you know after you need all your clothes and your training still.
and then you got your bike, you know? So it's tough. And I know at the Baltimore airport, we have to take a shuttle to actually get to check in. So I'm like trying to get my bike on a shuttle and everyone just looks at you. They're not like, hey, can I help you? They're looking at you like, yeah, I'm like, you could help me.
Jill Bartholomew (34:32)
yeah, they're looking like, what is that? What's in that? What? Yeah. Yeah.
I, we have that in Philly from the parking lots, unless you park like in the garage, you have to take a shuttle and it's the same way. It's like, you, get on, I, I hate that you get on your lugging at least one suitcase. your backpack.
Meg Dirito (34:46)
Mm-hmm.
Jill Bartholomew (34:55)
your bike box and trying to maneuver it all on and everyone's sitting. There's no space for any of it.
Meg Dirito (34:55)
You're back.
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
I know I've had some people say hey, can you put your bike on this luggage rack and I'm like What no, I can't like I can't lift it. It's a bike You're like no you're just gonna have to let it sit right here
Jill Bartholomew (35:11)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do I look like I can lift this over my head?
Yeah,
I think it was Texas. appreciate it. the shuttle, the driver, I think it was Texas, the driver held everyone off, took all the bike, there was four of us with bike boxes, took all the bike boxes on and then let everyone get on. And I'm like, okay, that's at least more helpful.
Meg Dirito (35:45)
Yeah, yeah, but normally.
Jill Bartholomew (35:46)
and then try to drag it
and you get one of those wheels over your foot. That hurts.
Meg Dirito (35:51)
Yeah, it's tough. It's tough. you know, especially when you're by yourself trying to do all the things and people are like, are you okay? And I'm like, yeah, trying. Yeah. Just saying.
Jill Bartholomew (36:02)
and be more okay if I had help. So how far
in advance of these races do you go out?
Meg Dirito (36:11)
so I think I have my schedule for this year, although, you know, it's always up for negotiation based on how I'm feeling and how the kids schedule is, which is nice. Cause that's one thing about the pro races is you can drop out like a week before the race if you need to. you know, so I have Louisville in August and then Chattanooga full in September.
I have hopes of doing Portugal in October and Arizona in November. So there's a lot of fall racing, which actually works better for me because I used to race in April, but my kids have championship swim month in March. So training was very, very difficult to get all the hours in, especially for a full. So I swore that off and was like, I'm not going to start racing until end of May or June.
Jill Bartholomew (36:42)
That's a lot of fall racing.
Good night.
Meg Dirito (37:06)
Of course, that's when my kids start their long course season and championship month is in July. So we actually are gone three of the four weekends swimming.
Jill Bartholomew (37:09)
Mm-hmm.
So it actually works out better doing it in the fall. I'm like, most of the races I want to do are in the fall, but so is world championships. like, how do you make it? I'm like, I haven't figured out how to make it work.
Meg Dirito (37:16)
Yeah, so I'm a fall racer. Yep.
Yeah.
Yeah,
I just for me, I find that if I'm very stressed with life stuff, putting in a race is not beneficial for me. It's too much, you know, so I'd rather focus on training and also balancing my kids schedule until they're not racing as much. So.
Jill Bartholomew (37:46)
sense. So you don't go out like weeks in advance and scope out the course and train. Just kind of do it the way the rest of us do and head out when you can.
Meg Dirito (37:48)
Yeah.
Nope.
I out, yeah, I actually try to go to the race the last minute possible. Just because logistic wise, like, it's just stressful. Like for Eagle Man, I stayed home until Friday. yeah, like two hours, yeah. So I actually really liked it, being home. Less stress, less packing.
Jill Bartholomew (38:12)
Eagle man's how far from your house like two hours? Yeah.
Meg Dirito (38:22)
You know, so it depends on where I'm going. You know, if I go, if I do a fool and it's far away, then I'll fly out like earlier. So it just depends on logistic wise, trying to fit everything in. But my kids always have first priority, always.
Jill Bartholomew (38:36)
What's this?
Yeah, it's funny how that works.
Meg Dirito (38:42)
Mm-hmm always like I'll drop a race if it means that my kids have something
Jill Bartholomew (38:48)
You know, I
always thought that as they got older, it would be easier, but it's now it's harder because they're more involved with stuff.
Meg Dirito (38:52)
No.
Yeah, and their races are bigger and they're further away. And, you know, it's like now what we used to do, like the local, you know, the local races couple hours away. Now we're traveling to, you know, my daughter made nationals in August. So that's in Florida, you know, so we're just always all over the place. Further, bigger now.
Jill Bartholomew (39:18)
I don't have that problem yet with the races my kids are in, but hoping that the cross country takes my son to college. But, you know, he travels with me to some of the foot races and then spends the next month complaining about how it set him back in his training for cross country. And I'm like, that's because you just did a half marathon and they're doing two and a half miles at a time.
Meg Dirito (39:27)
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah
Yeah, somebody's
just a firehead, you know.
Jill Bartholomew (39:46)
Right, right. But they're, you know, that's the, I think one of the challenges with like high school sports, the high school coaches, they have like, how they want the kids to train and all the events and the faster kids, of course, like, you know, they want them like,
Meg Dirito (39:59)
Mm.
Jill Bartholomew (40:04)
at the top of their game for every race for the high school. It's like, okay, but is that the best thing for the kid, for the athlete? Like if he's hoping to someday maybe be like an Olympic marathon runner, is him only doing like high school 5K is the right thing to do?
Meg Dirito (40:06)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
It's
tough because like I definitely hear what you're saying because we have a lot of logistics as far as like high school versus private club sports Because private club sports they tend to push that individual to You know higher tier competition based on like what they're able to do high school is like well I need you to sway them X Y & Z, know, which may not be like your forte, but the team needs it or whatever. So
Jill Bartholomew (40:33)
Mm-hmm.
Meg Dirito (40:52)
There's a lot of controversy with us because a lot of our like for swimming, for example, our high school won't allow club kids to swim. So they won't be able to do high school swimming. Yeah. Yeah, they said that high school swimming practice takes priority over club and that they have to come to every high school practice and then they can go to their club practice when they're done. So I'm like, so you want them to train five hours a day in the pool? Like that doesn't make sense, you know, so.
Jill Bartholomew (41:01)
Really? That seems kind of...
That feels excessive.
Meg Dirito (41:19)
Yeah, yeah. So basically they just push away a lot of the club kids and they stay club swimming.
Jill Bartholomew (41:26)
I mean, it feels like the high school loses in that game. Because the faster kids are going to go do the harder, more higher level competitions if they have a choice.
Meg Dirito (41:29)
yeah, big time. The club. Yeah.
Yeah, and a lot of the high school kids are the, yeah, they want to do high school because they want that atmosphere. They want to experience that. But they also want to stay club. So they want the integration of the two together. They want them to work together and be like, all right, you got to come to practice before a meet. You got to come to all the meets, at least X amount of practice per week. But they won't do that. They won't mesh the two. So it's all or nothing, which doesn't seem.
Jill Bartholomew (42:05)
Yeah,
I haven't seen it for the stuff we're involved in be spelled out quite as clearly, but like the notion is still there. You know, it's like we give the coach the list of all the races that the kid is doing, you know, over the summer. And then every time he does one, he gets yelled at for doing the race. I'm like,
Meg Dirito (42:13)
Yeah.
Hmm. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (42:26)
The kid came in fifth place in a field of 22,000. Like, could we maybe like tell him he did a good job?
Meg Dirito (42:34)
or tailor his skills to do that kind of running, you know, and because he's good at it, like.
Jill Bartholomew (42:39)
Right. Yeah.
Yeah, that it confused me. Like in track season, they moved him to the middle distance and I'm like.
Meg Dirito (42:48)
He's long distance.
Jill Bartholomew (42:49)
Like he is, he is not a short distance or middle distance runner. He is a long distance runner and he's a quick long distance runner. Like, why are we doing, why are we putting him on middle distance again?
Meg Dirito (42:52)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, I guess I can see like making a child well-rounded in a lot of things.
Yeah, because I know our kids have to swim all events, whether you're every stroke,
every distance, like you are to swim everything. They don't pigeonhole you into anything.
Jill Bartholomew (43:19)
if they did that in track, we, those meets would be even longer than they are. So I missed the middle school meets where they were like an hour and a half. Now they like start at noon and end at 9 PM. And, and, you know, over the winter during winter track, it's like, and behold, like, you know, it's always your kid that's in the last event, you know?
Meg Dirito (43:24)
Psst, yeah, well.
gosh.
Of course.
Jill Bartholomew (43:46)
Like, it's like,
well, couldn't you have gotten here later? No, because I'm in the second event too. Right, right. So we're raising the future generation of endurance athletes here. it just, to me, I always, you know, and you have.
Meg Dirito (43:51)
So you have to say the entire time. It's cool. It's cool.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (44:06)
watched you online. We've chatted a few times. I'm like, how does this lady like keep it all together when it's, know, you, your husband, your two kids compete, you compete and you're all travel. I think every day, I feel like every day you're somewhere new.
Meg Dirito (44:21)
I think the biggest takeaway is that my kids always come first, so my schedule and training are scheduled around them. They take top priority. I think it's important to always go away as a family that is non-sports related. So I always make a point that once or twice a year we go away just for vacation, because I think that is huge.
I just, fill in the gaps basically, like every waking moment of my day is filled with something, you know, and I also have a husband who is extremely helpful and he's extremely accommodating and he works with me and he, you know, he knows the kids training schedule in mind and okay, you got to go do your bike now. He's super supportive. So I couldn't do that without him.
Jill Bartholomew (44:45)
It's a little bit dense. You agree? Mm-hmm.
I think that's amazing. kind of finishing out the conversation, let's talk about age group athletes. So you started as an age group or I think, right?
Meg Dirito (45:11)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Jill Bartholomew (45:22)
And you advanced. so for the age group, because most of the audience is age group athletes. What advice do you have for them as they try to advance towards the front of the field? I think most age groupers don't aspire to be pros, but you know, we'd all like to be faster, right?
Meg Dirito (45:37)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, I think.
I think the biggest takeaway is consistency. I think that's like one of the biggest things that, you know, just showing up every day and not making excuses for why you can't fit in a swim or a bike or a run, you know, and just adapting to that particular day. Like if you had a hard, you know, a hard bike on the schedule, but you're not feeling it, then switch it to a recovery bike, you know, and just showing up every day and being consistent. think that's huge in progressing.
Jill Bartholomew (45:42)
Thank
Meg Dirito (46:09)
you know, just staying in the game, you know, and then constantly being hungry for knowledge, like, how can I do this better? How can I do this better? Talking to people. I feel like everyone has someone, something to offer, you know, advice wise. Some that you can take to heart and some with a grain of salt, but constantly just staying hungry for knowledge in the sport. So I think that those are two huge things to stick with.
Jill Bartholomew (46:33)
Those are great, great words of advice. Well, Meg, thank you very much for spending the time with me. It's been a great conversation and look forward to seeing you at, what was your next race again? We talked about a lot of races, Louisville. So look forward to seeing you at Louisville!
Meg Dirito (46:39)
Yeah, thank you.
Louisville, Louisville. ⁓ Thank you.