In this episode, Jill Bartholomew shares her inspiring journey as a triathlete leading up to her participation in the Ironman World Championships in Nice. She discusses her training regimen, the challenges she faced, and the emotional rollercoaster of race day. Jill emphasizes the importance of preparation, adaptability, and learning from experiences, both good and bad. The conversation also touches on the significance of nutrition, the unique aspects of the race course, and the camaraderie among athletes. Ultimately, Jill's story is one of resilience, determination, and the joy of pursuing one's passion in the world of triathlon.
takeaways
Sound Bites
Chapters
00:00Introduction to the Journey
02:23The Road to Lake Placid
03:03New Chapter 2
04:43Training Adjustments for World Championships
07:13Arriving in Nice: First Impressions
08:43New Chapter
09:44Race Week Preparations
12:22Emotional Build-Up to Race Day
14:50The Swim Experience in the Mediterranean
17:06Navigating the Bike Course Challenges
19:21Equipment Choices and Setup
26:59Analyzing the Course: Strategic Decisions in Racing
29:33Navigating Race Day Challenges: Wind and Weather Conditions
32:12Nutrition: The Key to Endurance Performance
34:42Crossing the Finish Line: The Emotional Journey of an Ironman
40:48Lessons Learned: Reflections on Racing and Coaching
45:55Preparing for Future Races: Insights for Competitors
50:43The Journey of an Endurance Athlete: Overcoming Obstacles
56:28New Chapter 3
Jill Bartholomew (00:00)
Hi all, and welcome back to our show. This is episode one. This is Jill Bartholomew. I am a iron distance triathlete and coach and owner of B Fierce Multisport. And I'm here with Troy Theodosio, who is a friend that I've been fortunate enough to make acquaintance with over the last year. And he's going to be my cohost for a while.
We're going to talk today about a number of topics, but it's all going to be focused on the road to world championships at Nice last year and the experiences that I had there.
Troy Theodosiou (00:35)
100 %
and Jill before we dive into race day, let's rewind. Take us through your journey and how you got there.
Jill Bartholomew (00:43)
Yeah, so it was a long journey, but not as long as you would think. I raced a few 70.3s before that, a couple Olympics, a couple sprints. I've only been racing in triathlon for about three years now. And I got it my head. I'm like, 25th anniversary of the Lake Placid race is coming up.
I'm going to race it in Lake Placid. I'm from upstate New York originally. And I'm like, that has to be, that has to be, you know, one that's on my list. I have to race that one. So I trained for about nine months specifically for that race. you know, I, I learned a lot about myself. you know, one, like, how do you fit like iron distance level training into an executive schedule?
At the time I was an executive at a fortune 10 company. So, you know, very busy schedule, just on that. I'm, you know, at the time a single mama too. So, you know, that just adds to everything. And, you know, then, you you learn like how to swim. I'm an adult onset swimmer. I was competent enough to make it across the pool, make it through these distances, but I'm the type of person that, you know, when you decide.
to do something, your goal is not just to cross the finish line. My goal was to cross the finish line, qualify for world championships, and go to world championships. And so I trained for that. I learned how to crush the swim, at least as I defined it, which has evolved since then. I learned that the bike is actually my strongest sport.
When I started out on this journey, I was a runner and I got into triathlon because I had fractured my femur and started taking up swimming and cycling as we rehabbed that. And my coach at the time was like, hey, why don't you take, why don't you take a stab at a triathlon now that you've got all the sports? So that was kind of how I got to Lake Placid. I think I was.
training an average of probably 11 to 13 hours a week. So it wasn't like outrageous, but big enough that it's like, it's, kind of a part-time job and it becomes part of your lifestyle and part of your, your identity. you know, they say like, how do you know a triathletes? Cause they tell you and that that's like, that's true. Cause it's such a huge part becomes such a huge part of your life.
Troy Theodosiou (03:05)
Yeah, well, you certainly covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. And then what's so profound about your journey is the fact that you took an injury and it was almost a blessing in disguise because from the injury, having been a runner most of your life, you became a triathlete, which is pretty awesome. But...
Jill Bartholomew (03:23)
Oh, oh my God.
Yeah. It was like one of those things that I had heard of triathlon. One of my physical therapists, uh, I went to one of those, uh, you know, places where they, stretch you out, assisted stretching and, um, you know, there's a chain that, you know, down here that's kind of all over and I went there and she, you know, my, my person was doing
like sprints and she was at the time I was doing like marathons and Dopey, you know, all the Disney races and stuff. And she was like, Oh, I can never do a marathon. And I had no idea what a triathlon was. And she's like, Oh, while you swim and you bike and run it. I'm like, that sounds awful. Here I am.
Troy Theodosiou (04:02)
Yeah, yeah,
yeah, that's awesome. Well, let's talk about having qualified. Did you feel that you needed to change your approach with regards to your training? Obviously, you're aware of the physical demands of Ironman's niece in France. Did you feel like you needed to make any major changes?
Jill Bartholomew (04:08)
Hmm.
So I learned a lot at Lake Placid and kind of going back, the race I did before that was the half at Happy Valley. And I did the half at Happy Valley specifically because the bike has per 56 miles, I think it's actually more elevation than Lake Placid does. it's like a month before Placid, timing is perfect, it's like the last big dig.
And, know, I learned a lot about that. We adjusted my training based on how I did there heading into Placid. And, you know, at Lake Placid, the things that I learned, you know, was fortunate, we showed up early. You know, I think we drove up like the weekend before the race. It was a course like pouring cats and dogs the day we got there. But I rode the entire course once just kind of like easy ride it. And then.
took specific sections of it and wrote it several times. So like the keen descent, right? It's a long, mostly straight, fast, if you let it be fast, descent. And I'm like, I'm gonna crush this, right? Like the only issue is safety and like getting over that. you know, like for me, like I'm a mom, like what goes through the front of my brain is like those, right? What happens?
Troy Theodosiou (05:31)
lot.
Jill Bartholomew (05:33)
to them if something happens to me. And you have to kind of push that out when you're on the course. And so I had ridden the course once and the first time I went down that, think I was doing like 42 miles an hour. And I'm like, I do that around here. I'm comfortable with that speed. But I was riding the brakes the whole time and I knew that there's so much more speed to be had in that section.
And I'd read online and in all the Facebook groups and the Reddits and the this and that and the other thing, all of the horror stories like, if you crash on that one, you're dead. And I'm like, OK, good to know. So I won't remember it. And the second time I wrote it down, we were staying in Lake Placid. I rode the bike to Mount Van Hovenburg, did that first part of the route.
Troy Theodosiou (06:08)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (06:20)
went down to the turnaround, came back around, rode up the hill, which the hill up is kind of annoying, like deceivingly steep. It's not particularly steep, but like it feels steeper than it is.
Troy Theodosiou (06:33)
Keeping in mind, this is all before race day. is...
Jill Bartholomew (06:35)
This, yeah, yeah. This is, this was
on like Wednesday before race day or Tuesday or something like that. And I wrote it down and that time I was at like 46 or something. I'm like, okay, okay. Then John, you know, now fiance, he, you know, rode, you know, drove the car behind me. And at the bottom of the descent, he met me. We loaded the bike up, drove back to Mount van Hovenburg.
and did it again.
Troy Theodosiou (07:01)
What did you reach?
Jill Bartholomew (07:02)
And that time I was at like 52. And then we did it again. And that time I was like 54. And on race day, was 56 on the, on the, on the first lap. And I think I was like 49 on the second lap, because on the second lap, there was a woman who's kind of weaving. was like, it was clear that she was like outside of her comfort zone and it's like,
Troy Theodosiou (07:13)
Wow.
Jill Bartholomew (07:26)
In that case, you want to pass because if they fall, you don't want them to take you out. But you have to make it so that you can pass them safely. And that took a little bit of while. anyways, that was one of the things. And thinking back on it, was like, when you think about the bike course at Nice, a lot of it is flat. Some of it's at sea level.
Troy Theodosiou (07:31)
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (07:48)
Some of it's at 9,000 feet, but the majority of the course is flat rolling hills. We all know how to do flat and rolling hills, but there's like 20 some odd miles that on the map looks like it's pointed basically straight up. And then about the same number of miles that looks like it's pointed basically straight down. And so my training.
between Placid and Nese focused a lot on those two things. It's like.
Troy Theodosiou (08:12)
So psychologically,
let's just touch on that. Do you think that you almost, plastic help you prepare, not only physically, but psychologically?
Jill Bartholomew (08:18)
my god.
Yeah, so like where I live is not mountainous, but you know, I can't ride 10 miles and not hit like 900,000 feet. So we've got elevation here where I live specifically. I live kind of in a valley in Southeast Pennsylvania. And you don't think of Southeast PA as hilly, but it actually is. And yeah, like hills aren't scary, but steep.
long hills are really scary because we don't have those. Like the longest hill here that I can ride is maybe like half a mile long. It's not 20. So yeah, that was really intimidating. And then coming the opposite direction is like, can clearly based on what I just described from Placid, I can go fast in a straight line. That's called drag racing, right? What
Troy Theodosiou (09:08)
There you go.
Jill Bartholomew (09:09)
I don't have much experience with is going fast around sharp turns. Right. And that's what I had to learn. And that's hard to learn, you know, around here. So like, how do do that? I don't know.
Troy Theodosiou (09:13)
Corners, yeah, cornering, yeah.
Well, with that, let's fast forward to race week. You arrive in Nice, you're in France, you're soaking in the atmosphere. Tell us what that experience was like.
Jill Bartholomew (09:33)
It was a little different than I expected. The day that we showed up was rainy. So it was interesting. We arrived at the airport and they have the big I love Nissan. So we took some pictures in front of the big I love Nissan. So the touristy things, I think that picture might actually be like my most liked, hearted, favorited whatever on Instagram to date. Strangely.
Troy Theodosiou (09:44)
did all the touristy things.
Awesome. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (09:56)
You know, I was all stressed out about like, okay, well, how do we get to the hotel? How do we get the bike to the hotel? You know, never really, I've never traveled overseas with a bike and you know, the bike if you've never traveled with one is in this big and Yuletie. I have a bike box Allen's it's like this big plastic box with wheels. And you know, there's, turns out that the plane from Philadelphia to Nice, France, cause it's direct was like half.
triathletes. We sat there on the plane watching box after bike box after bike box after bike box get loaded on.
Troy Theodosiou (10:23)
Yeah, I can believe it.
That is what a world
championship will do to you.
Jill Bartholomew (10:33)
Right. And so we, we communally figured out how to use the trolley to get to the hotel. And, you know, that first day we just kind of checked in the hotel, put our stuff up and did the touristy thing, just explored, you know, figured out, okay, where's the start line? Where's swim start? Most importantly, where's the food? And
Troy Theodosiou (10:40)
Yeah.
I was
gonna say first and foremost, the most important thing as a triathlete when you travel, not only domestically, but internationally, let's be honest, it's seeing your bike. Knowing that your bike has made it on the same aircraft is a huge relief.
Jill Bartholomew (11:07)
yeah.
Yes, that's actually why I picked the flight I did is because I'm like, it's direct. It has less of a chance of getting lost, not getting there or getting there broken.
Troy Theodosiou (11:14)
Yeah. Yes.
There you go. Yeah.
Yeah. Do you put an air tag in your, in your, in the bike bag?
Jill Bartholomew (11:26)
I have a near
tag in my bike, on my bike and in my bike case.
Troy Theodosiou (11:31)
There
you go, just in case, extra sure.
Jill Bartholomew (11:33)
yeah.
Yeah. And two of them are Apple and I forget the brand, there's another one that shows up on find my that's not Apple. I'm like, in case one fails, I've got a backup. Yeah. Yeah. You'd never know that I spent 26 years as an engineer. Yeah. Yes. This is a good point. Yeah. The moment we got to the room, bike boxes open, didn't assemble until later.
Troy Theodosiou (11:41)
Okay.
There's an A, B, and C. Contingency to the max.
There you go. Well, that's awesome.
Jill Bartholomew (12:00)
But it definitely got the inspection. It's like, it make it in one piece? Yes, it did. OK, now we can go do something fun.
Troy Theodosiou (12:06)
Good, yeah.
Yes.
Yeah. Okay, so let's get into the nitty gritty. Let's, upon your arrival, you've settled in. Did anything about the conditions or the course before the race surprise you?
Jill Bartholomew (12:22)
Absolutely. So one of the things we noticed to me, so the day I told you the day that we arrived there, was raining. The Mediterranean right there. I've never swum in the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean right there is interesting. It can be rough and it can be smooth as glass. The day we arrived, looking at it can be both. Yeah.
Troy Theodosiou (12:41)
And it can beat both.
Jill Bartholomew (12:44)
The day we arrived, looking out the window, it was rainy, it was windy, the flags were all sideways. It almost looked like there was a whirlpool going on out there. The seas were exceptionally rough. I looked out the window, I'm like, oh my God, what did I get myself into? Luckily, the next day, I'm an early bird, went out in the morning to do a shakeout jog.
Troy Theodosiou (12:55)
Interesting.
Jill Bartholomew (13:07)
And by then I had assembled the bike and we're checking out the water. then it was at like swim start time. It was smooth as glass. could like you looked at it you're like, my God, this is not the same body of water that it was yesterday. 24 hours later. And as the week went on, we noticed that like the afternoons, it was really rough.
Troy Theodosiou (13:24)
radical 24 hours later. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (13:33)
And at times, like there was some square currents going on out there. but in the mornings is generally pretty good. So.
Troy Theodosiou (13:40)
Awesome.
okay. So yeah, it's nothing like some unforeseen.
Jill Bartholomew (13:45)
Yeah, I did ride my bike, did several shakeouts. Unfortunately, like that section of Nice is pretty flat. And I was hesitant to really explore the course outside of the town. Just yeah, yeah. And not knowing the area. I kind of understand French, but I
Troy Theodosiou (13:59)
You want to make it to race day safely, Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (14:07)
mostly don't. So I was like, I don't want to be out here by myself, have something happen or get lost and that's that.
Troy Theodosiou (14:13)
Yeah, yeah. Too
often you train for months. You get to this momentous occasion and something silly, foolish happens. And that's not a place you want to find yourself in.
Jill Bartholomew (14:27)
Yeah, I heard several of those happening and yeah, it's like, these are so expensive. It's not, it's not just like the race entries. It's the getting there, the training leading up to, and like, you know, most people are either in a constant training cycle or they're training for like 12, 18 months for these things and to show up and find out that
Troy Theodosiou (14:32)
Yeah, super unfortunate.
It's everything. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (14:50)
Your battery's not charged. Would be a problem.
Troy Theodosiou (14:52)
Yeah.
And I think that's what's, it's such a big deal because if you think about the fact that some people, it's five years, 10 years in the making, you know, it's not as easy or as smooth or, and it's certainly not as quickly as you with your qualification process. For some people that's several years in the making. it this.
There's a lot riding on showing up in good health and being fit, capable, and able to race.
Jill Bartholomew (15:18)
Yeah, and you know, there's a woman that I know locally who, you know, she qualified, she showed up and she broke her foot on race day. You know, it's like those things, you can't really foresee them, but they ruin your week.
Troy Theodosiou (15:28)
dear.
super unfortunate and not uncommon, unfortunately. Let's talk emotions, race day. Obviously, I mean, you tell me in your own words, but I would imagine that there is a big difference between the emotions you experienced at Ironman Lake Placid. Obviously elevated and amplified at a world championship. Talk us through that.
Jill Bartholomew (15:55)
yeah, at Lake Placid, was like, wow, we're here. We're actually going to do this thing. And, you know, there's that, that like emotion of like you've trained for so long for this. then here's the start line. And I'm no stranger to start lines, but that was a new start line. And, you know, this, you know, the distance between.
Troy Theodosiou (16:00)
Mm-hmm.
Jill Bartholomew (16:17)
Like in time between Placid and NIS is relatively small, right? So, you know, didn't get a chance to really recover from like Placid, had like a week of reduced intensity. Part of which was just us driving back home. And then you're immediately back into training. And then, you know, you get here and at the start line, you're like.
this is something else and you see 2000 or more, you know, women who are at the top of their game. You know, these are the best of the best age groupers and you know, all have worked their ass off to get here. And you know, here we are. And it's like, you get that moment. If you saw the pictures of me, like there were several that were like, take the
Troy Theodosiou (16:44)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, sure.
Jill Bartholomew (17:05)
take the big deep breath and soaking in and let it escape. And you have to kind of do that, at least I do, to like not get overwhelmed by it at the start line. But then, know, once our feet hit the water and my biggest, not fear, but anxiety of this race was not the mountain. It was not the ocean swim. It was...
Troy Theodosiou (17:06)
Yeah, take it all in. Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (17:26)
Definitely not the flat back and forth and back and forth boring run. it was the start of the swim. I had never done a mass start like that before. I'm used to the rolling start. mean, I'm used to mass starts from running, but I've never had one where it's like by age group go swim out to the buoy line, tread water for two or three minutes.
Troy Theodosiou (17:34)
Interesting.
Okay.
Yes.
Jill Bartholomew (17:51)
And then the gun goes off.
Troy Theodosiou (17:52)
It's an experience in and of itself. Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (17:54)
It's different and I had like a lot of anxiety about that and we're
the last age group, you know, last age group to start and it's like, you got all the bike cutoffs and everything in the back of your head and like, my God, you got that bike cutoff on the hill going up. And maybe that's why I had such a good swim is cause in my head, I'm like, my God, I got to get past that first bike cutoff.
Troy Theodosiou (18:14)
talk about that in more detail. Let's talk about, we referenced the Mediterranean, well, certainly about that swim. It was obviously a bit of chop. Talk us through that. Talk about swimming in the Mediterranean. What was that like? Outside of the mass start, let's talk about swim itself.
Jill Bartholomew (18:31)
It was a little different from like your average ocean swim. It's saltier. you know, it was wetsuit legal. the vast majority, not everyone, the vast majority of us were wearing wetsuits. It was like Placid, was wetsuit legal, but not by a lot. know, buoyancy, like you couldn't sink if you wanted to.
Kind of thing So that that helps the thing that So first like this one itself. There were some challenges the the buoys were much further apart than we're used to like I'm used to them being roughly every hundred yards or so apart and You know, they were much further. I heard they were like 500 doing the math doesn't make sense that they're quite that far given the number but
They were very far apart. And was one of the things.
Troy Theodosiou (19:15)
Jill, how did
that affect your sighting, you don't mind me asking, with regard to the distance?
Jill Bartholomew (19:21)
Yeah. So sighting became really difficult because you are in the ocean. I mean, it's the med, okay. So, but it's a massive body of water and it has the currents and the chop that you'd expect. Even though it was pretty calm that morning, there's still rise and fall. So,
I was sighting, I was trying to time my sighting. So it was at the top of the swells because if you're not at the top, a lot of times you couldn't see the next buoy. And that combined with the buoys were the same color in all directions. going, know, it's an shaped swim. So going out, going back on both legs were yellow and then
Troy Theodosiou (19:57)
Interesting.
Jill Bartholomew (20:06)
And then the red or orange turn buoys. so like, could see the turn buoys pretty clearly, but the, there were some occasions where I'm like, is that the next buoy for me? Or is that on the other lane? Because you couldn't quite tell the difference. So we had received some advice, from, one of the pros ahead of time.
Troy Theodosiou (20:19)
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (20:28)
that, citing is easier on the way back. If you cite to the, to the town, you know, the buildings instead of citing the booties. And for me, like, like that was hugely helpful. Yeah. And I did the practice swim, which like, I'm so thankful I did. Cause like the practice swim was such a great experience because it's like,
Troy Theodosiou (20:34)
Yeah. Yeah. The shoreline, yeah.
Game changer.
This helps settle the nerves, get acclimated, get familiar.
Jill Bartholomew (20:57)
I wasn't discovering on race day how to site when the buoy is four to five times further away than I'm, I'm used to it being,
Troy Theodosiou (21:03)
sure. Okay, well you had a fantastic swim in spite of the conditions and the sighting issues that you experienced. You did indeed.
Jill Bartholomew (21:10)
I did, but, I
really had fun with it. And like the pictures of me coming out of the water, I felt like this big smile of his, because I both knew that I crushed it. And I was like legitimately having fun. I did. Now talking to other women who did the same swim started with me, depending on like how far you fell behind the leaders.
Troy Theodosiou (21:15)
Yeah.
And you felt good. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (21:34)
You may have had a very different swim. I talked to a few ladies who, they were in the water when the tide was starting to change and they felt that the second half was very tough. I think how you perceived the swim to some degree, what differs based on not just where you started, but your pace. Once that tide starts changing, everything changes.
Troy Theodosiou (21:48)
Yeah.
I think evidently that's always the case. Time of day, which wave you're in, I think all it plays a huge role in how your swim goes and how that differs.
Jill Bartholomew (21:58)
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Which is nice thing with the whole age group starting as one. Instead of the normal self-seating stuff, it's like, all right, well, we all theoretically had the same experience versus like, your age group is spread out across an hour of people starting, the person starting in the second wave may have a very different experience than the person starting in the eighth.
Troy Theodosiou (22:16)
Here you go.
Yeah,
okay, well, now we're onto the bike and you obviously, I mean, it goes without saying, you're aware of over 8,000 feet of climbing, right? You mentally prepared, you were psychologically, you knew what you had to do. Let's talk through that because psychologically preparing for something isn't always the same as experiencing it in reality.
Jill Bartholomew (22:43)
I did.
Thank
Troy Theodosiou (22:52)
And so I'm curious
Jill Bartholomew (22:52)
you.
Troy Theodosiou (22:53)
as to that differentiation or certainly how it was for you.
Jill Bartholomew (22:56)
Yeah.
So first my bike computer, a Garmin, told me that it was 9,300 feet. My watch, also a Garmin, a Phoenix 8, told me it was 9,800 feet. So no matter how you look at it, it was a big climb. Yeah, it's really intimidating looking at it on paper. Anyone who's doing the course, like,
Troy Theodosiou (23:03)
wow.
Jill Bartholomew (23:18)
talking to people who have done it in the past is hugely useful. In this case, the race director did a few walkthroughs for different groups. I thought all those were hugely useful. I was trying to get out of it. Yeah. And especially on a course like this, leg placcids, two laps.
Troy Theodosiou (23:31)
I was gonna say massively helpful.
Jill Bartholomew (23:40)
And, know, to me, like, all right, go out, spend two or three hours doing 56 miles at a moderate pace, like isn't so intimidating to ride the course, but when it's one big loop, like doing a century, a couple of days before race day, it doesn't sound like a good idea. Um, at least for me, it's not like I can do centuries. Um, but doing one, like three, four days before race days, probably not top of my list of things to do.
Troy Theodosiou (24:00)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (24:06)
So yeah, the thing that intimidated me the most was, like I said, was not the climb. It was the way back down. It was the descent. I think a lot of people were really worried about that. looking at it on the maps, it's like all these switchbacks. And then you look at the map versus the elevation, and you're like, wow, you've got some speed going through those switchbacks. I was fortunate enough that.
Troy Theodosiou (24:14)
with the descents.
Jill Bartholomew (24:31)
You know, I had bumped into a few of the pros here and there. And one of them, I had expressed that I was kind of nervous about those. And she gave me same advice I've heard a thousand times, but it stuck through my head the entire race, which was look where you're going, not where you've been. Right. It's like, look ahead. know, I, you know, I used to drive on occasion, you know, our Mustang on the local.
Troy Theodosiou (24:47)
Yes. Yep. Yes.
Jill Bartholomew (24:58)
know, racetrack and it was the same thing in those schools, right? It's like, look where you want to go, not at the ground in front of you. And it was the same thing. like the first turn is actually the first downhill switchback is actually on the way up the hill. It like goes up and then goes down, then goes up some more. And that one was like, wow, that really works. Like that's awesome.
Troy Theodosiou (25:17)
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (25:20)
And, you know, do a few of those and got a lot of confidence. So by the time we were on the downhill, I was like really attacking them. had a lot of speed coming down and the course they did the course team. They did a good job of marking like where you needed to slow down. And so I kind of got it in my head. like, well, if I don't see those orange caution marks, there's probably not a lot of reason to massively slow down. And I didn't.
Now I did talk to a number of folks who, know, people I know, people I don't know and have run into, who DNF'd on the bike. Almost everyone I talked to DNF'd on the downhill. And it was those switchbacks. Like a lot of people were really nervous about them. It's like at least where we live on the East coast, there's not a lot of places you can go to practice at.
Troy Theodosiou (26:06)
Let's dive into some of the specifics here with regards to your setup, and specifically your wheels. Let's touch on that.
Jill Bartholomew (26:18)
Troy, this is the conversation we had the other day. Yeah, what would I change?
Troy Theodosiou (26:21)
Yeah, but there's
good reason I bring this up because there's a lot of listeners who will be paying close attention to what you have to share. so let's talk about your setup and then why you opted to go that route.
Jill Bartholomew (26:32)
Mm-hmm.
All right, so first, like, you know, I race on a 2024, 2023 speed concept. So like the latest version and you know, it's a fast bike. There's other fast bikes too. I brought with me a zip disc and two 858 zip wheels. So I wasn't quite sure like, you know, do I run a disc? It's got the weight.
Do I run, you know, do I run the carbon wheels, you know, instead of the disc? I didn't have any skinny wheels with me. know, I, yeah, yeah, yeah. You've got limited place to pack this stuff. And, you know, I had made the decision, you know, based on everything I knew about the course that I was going to, you know, race with the speed concept.
Troy Theodosiou (27:08)
It's too late for that.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (27:23)
And a lot of people made the opposite decision to race with a road bike. And the reason why I decided to go stick with my tri bikes, because I looked at the course and I'm like, you know, there's like 70 plus miles of the course is either downhill or flat ish, you know, rolling hills.
Troy Theodosiou (27:43)
think it's so important that you mention that, Jill, because I think people lose sight of those specifics because the primary focus is the elevation gain. But you took the time, the engineer in you took the time to analyze that course, break it down, and that is how you systematically made a decision with regards to the bike that you were gonna race.
Jill Bartholomew (27:52)
Yeah.
Hmm?
Troy Theodosiou (28:06)
and the wheel set. You meant business, you were bold, but you weren't playing games.
Jill Bartholomew (28:07)
Yeah.
Well, I wasn't and yeah, this is my first world championship, but I wasn't going to just finish. I wanted to go and like do as best I could.
Troy Theodosiou (28:21)
given an account of yourself.
Jill Bartholomew (28:23)
Yeah.
And not everything went the way I had hoped. Not everything went to plan. know, in retrospect, you you learned something new from every race. Uh, this one, so race day, I, I did run the, the, disc and, know, in retrospect, you know, I feel like, you know, definitely I felt the weight going up. Right. Did it slow me down going up? Sure. did.
I still passed a lot of people going up the hill and a lot of people passed me going up the hill. Ultimately, looking at the full 112 miles, I benefited from having the disc more than I would have not having it in my.
Troy Theodosiou (28:59)
in spite
of the conditions because let's touch on those. There was some wind. Am I wrong?
Jill Bartholomew (29:04)
there was, and you know what, kind of, what I was describing to you yesterday or the other day, whenever we talked was, you know, there's, there's a perspective on like the effect that the wind has. If you're used to, you know, cycling in like wide open areas, it's that kind of wind coming across a field, coming across the plains where there's really nothing to stop it or slow it down. No shelter.
Troy Theodosiou (29:27)
No shelter, yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (29:30)
Most of the time the wind was hitting us kind of from the side. So like it doesn't really slow you down there is a fairly long out and back that's somewhat negative great negative false flat going out and It's a you know, positive false flat coming back on this race day the direction that the wind was blowing like I said, most of the time is hitting from the side
Troy Theodosiou (29:34)
Okay.
Jill Bartholomew (29:59)
This out and back was in the exact right direction that coming back up that slight grade. and it was, you know, it's not a huge grade. I'm only talking like one and a half or 2%. Like it's not big. you felt that wind on that, like three, four or five, however many miles it was. the rest of the course was fine.
Troy Theodosiou (30:15)
Yes, I can imagine.
Yes.
Jill Bartholomew (30:21)
You you felt the wind kind of blowing at you from the side, but you know, the rest of the time, but you know, my bigger issue at the top of that mountain was just the temperature change. It was a little damp. It was, I won't say rainy, but it was a little drizzly at times. And so you just like feel cold.
Troy Theodosiou (30:43)
I was going to say, were you cold?
Jill Bartholomew (30:45)
was. I know some people had like stuffed solar blankets, you know, down their jerseys and, you know, other people had, you know, put on extra layers. And I chose not to because I'm like, you know, you got that going up the hill part and you know, I don't know about you, but it could be almost any temperature and going up that hill, I'm going to be one sweaty pig. Right. So I the idea of having like,
a solar sheet, you know, a heat blanket under my, under my tri suit, just like, you know, I was like passing out just thinking about it. But yeah, it was, it was pretty cold at the top. did warm up like as we started descending again, but you know, that you're up there for quite some time. So it's a good consideration.
Troy Theodosiou (31:12)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
too much.
burning question I have for you is
like, now you've conquered that bike course. You've you've what were those legs like coming off the bike?
Jill Bartholomew (31:32)
Mm-hmm.
Well before we get to that I want fish answering your other question so like Ike set up, you know What we talked about was you know, I had the 850 eights up front Doing it again. I probably would do something skinnier up
Troy Theodosiou (31:40)
yes.
There you go.
creative vice.
Jill Bartholomew (31:51)
Yeah. Not for the weight, just like with that side wind. Yeah. I'm good with the desk with the wind, but having it on both sides, you just kind of like feel a little bit unstable. yeah. So like getting off the bike onto the run. I was feeling the last maybe five or six miles on the bike. was feeling a bit queasy, like sick to the stomach.
Troy Theodosiou (31:53)
crosswinds. Yes. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (32:12)
And I think what happened was my nutrition going up was not what it needed to be. Yeah. As you're going up, you're sweating to death and it was pretty cool. So I wasn't really thinking about like hydration and I wasn't really thinking about like gels and you know, so I pro I know I missed a couple of gels that I otherwise would have taken. have like a 20 minute timer on my computer and I know
Troy Theodosiou (32:19)
Okay.
Jill Bartholomew (32:37)
that I didn't drink as much going up as I had expected. So I think what happened there talking to some folks, a lot of folks afterwards, because that's now two races that's happened on Lake Placid, it happened, but further into the run, it's like 14, 15. I think what happened, it sounds pretty clear that I took in too much electrolytes, most likely, and that electrolyte
You know, having too much electrolytes kind of makes you a little bit seasick. So legs were actually okay coming off the bike. you got that long downhill and I tend to, to spin pretty fast. So I was spinning, you know, in the low nineties, probably coming down the hill. And that, that to me is, is super helpful. Like I had a lot of speed on that last like.
Troy Theodosiou (33:08)
Nauseous,
Jill Bartholomew (33:29)
10 K or whatever it is from the base of the descent to transition. And although it always cracks me up, you know, that last like mile, everyone's like preparing to get off your bike and you're like, you're still in a race guys. Like keep moving. You're not at dismount yet. So, you know, I'm like, I'm going to put power down until I, until dismount time. Um,
Troy Theodosiou (33:44)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (33:53)
Yeah, so the run, I did not have the run I expected to have. I'm not a hugely fast runner. I'm not slow. I usually run a marathon around four plus or minus say like 350 to 420, like somewhere in that range. And that run was like five something I think. And it was two things. Actually, no, it was one thing.
It was nutrition. came down.
Troy Theodosiou (34:17)
And that it's a domino effect, right? Like what happened on
the bike is ultimately gonna affect. And again, I'm really glad that you're being vulnerable and you're sharing transparently what took place because it's not an isolated incident because so often we make the mistake. And ultimately you end up paying the price in the very next discipline. And like I said, domino effect. So what happened on the bike, you carried onto the run, the nausea.
the discomfort. that obviously has a major effect on your performance and the round leg.
Jill Bartholomew (34:48)
Yeah. And the,
and the endurance athlete in me is like, just, just like, stretch forward, you know, work through it. It'll be fine. Uh, and you know, I finished, uh, I finished about 45 minutes to an hour later than I expected to. My, my goal was, uh, 1230 to 13 and I was 13 and a half, I guess. Um,
Yeah, at Placid I think I was like 12, 15 or something.
Troy Theodosiou (35:19)
It's good that you give that comparison, but still an incredible achievement given that it was your first World Championship.
Jill Bartholomew (35:25)
Thanks. Um, I mean, I still have a lot of I said a lot of fun. look forward to doing it again, hopefully next year. Um, of course got to qualify for it again, but no, think, you know, what I learned on that run was, you know, nutritionally, like, you know, I've spent the last six months, like trying to figure out like, you know, electrolyte and I've done a lot of, you know, and now I'm, you know, I'm a triathlon and endurance coach and you know,
Troy Theodosiou (35:26)
Yeah, you'd be very proud of yourself.
Jill Bartholomew (35:54)
There's a lot of resources available, you know, like, you know, how do you dial that in? And the problem is like, it's very individual, right? Like I have a fairly high sweat rate. So you'd expect that I need more electrolytes, but there's a lot of conflicting information out there. I'm like, at what rate do you replenish it? And same thing on, you know, same thing on energy, you know, what is the right rate? And you hear.
all sorts of numbers being thrown around. If you pop into any of the Facebook groups or any of the triathlon groups anywhere, it's like buyer beware because you'll hear everything from like, take peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with you, which probably works for some people. To me, the idea of carrying peanut butter and jelly around with me on a race is not very appealing.
Troy Theodosiou (36:28)
Be careful, be careful, yeah. There's a lot of advice.
Yes.
it might've
started out as a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What you ingest when that time comes could be far from what started out as a sandwich.
Jill Bartholomew (36:56)
Yeah,
by the end of the bike, have a picture that the sandwich bag is more like a frosting bag.
Troy Theodosiou (37:08)
Yeah,
I was gonna say, it could be a lot of things, but I think, Jill, what's important for our listeners to understand is that you're so right. It's not a one size fits all. It is very individualized. And secondly, it's super important to highlight the fact that you're continuously learning, right? Trial and error. You've got to figure out what works and what works for you.
Jill Bartholomew (37:20)
Hmm.
Troy Theodosiou (37:32)
And you've been doing that over the past six months. You obviously knew what worked really well and you knew what didn't. But that's something that continues to, as you continue to evolve, you continue to learn.
Jill Bartholomew (37:44)
and that's one of the, that's one of the problems with endurance sports, I think is you're constantly chasing like dialing it in, at the same time, our bodies are changing because we're getting older every moment of every day, right? You know, our health changes, you know, you know, especially for women, as we get older, things change. like dialing it in is like this elusive thing. So it's like taking for me, it's taking like,
What did I learn the last race and how do I do better the next one? Right. Versus like chasing perfection.
Troy Theodosiou (38:17)
Yeah, and I think Jill, as we're both Ironman certified coaches, I think it's important for our listeners to understand that you also need to allow enough time for something to work. Continuously changing the stimulus is not always optimal, right? Like jumping from one thing to the next can be more detrimental. And I think that's also important to mention.
Jill Bartholomew (38:41)
Absolutely. And I'll go back to the running crowd, Nutrition on runs is all over the place. And I'm very active in the run Disney community. they have all these races every year. you get everyone going to these from people who have never run a 5K to...
you know, people who are, you know, Boston qualifiers who are running it because it's an off season race. And, you know, the advice that gets thrown out there is equally all over the place from people who are like, well, on a marathon, I don't take any nutrition. And both the runner in me and the coach is like, that's not a great idea. And to the other end where it's like,
No, you should be taking like 90 to 100 grams in every hour. it's like, for the average person, 90 to 100 grams is going to make them either puke or it's going to go out the other end. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Cause most of us can't digest it that fast. Or if we can, it, you know, it has to be metered in a way that we can digest it. Right. And then same thing with hydration. It's like drink to thirst. Well, there's a lot of evidence out there that drink to thirst is, you know, was
Troy Theodosiou (39:36)
So have a look,
Yeah. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (39:55)
the rage in the eighties, but today we know better. Right. Right. And then electrolytes, right? You know, from like, no, every water stop, take the electrolytes. You know, you should never take the electrolyte and to everything in between as like, there's so much out there. And most of it's what worked for that person and not backed by like research and science. that, was one of the reasons why I actually had initially started, you know,
Troy Theodosiou (39:58)
has changed radically.
Jill Bartholomew (40:22)
working down certification paths was like, it makes me a better athlete to know more about these things. then when I decided to start a coaching business, it's like now, like, okay, to my athletes, like, do what works for you, but here's like what the science says, here's the current thinking.
Troy Theodosiou (40:28)
Absolutely.
You can help others. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (40:43)
Right. And the current thinking changes, right? Last year, we thought this was a good idea, but we've since learned that it's not. Right. Yes, there's some of that too.
Troy Theodosiou (40:49)
Yeah, no, very valid. Okay,
now this momentous occasion and you've heard it before, you are an Iron Man. That profound statement is, if you've never heard it, it's hard to articulate what you feel in that moment. And we both experienced that it's very special, it's very unique, but talk us through that moment.
and you can highlight what happened after that. But specifically crossing the finish line. Let's talk about the difference in terms of crossing a world championship finish line, the crossing a regular Ironman, which in and of itself is a huge achievement. But for most and for many, not everybody gets to cross a world championship finish line.
Jill Bartholomew (41:32)
So
first we have to recognize that the statement itself is somewhat absurd, a regular Iron Man. It's like, this is something that such a small percentage of people actually do. And an even infinitesimally smaller percentage does more than once. And my goal is to.
Troy Theodosiou (41:45)
Yep. Yep.
Jill Bartholomew (41:54)
you know, find people to help coach them so that they can do it more than once. that first time, you know, you run down the finisher shoot, you stop and ring the bell, right? It's your first time doing it. It's a PR by definition. You, you ring the first time bell and then you continue. And there's the finish line with the big board, the big iron man, you know,
Troy Theodosiou (42:09)
Yeah it is.
Jill Bartholomew (42:19)
arch and with all the screens and your time and name are right there. know, Jill Bartholomew and my time. You know, or Troy Theodore and your time. Was it?
Troy Theodosiou (42:23)
Yeah, it's huge. Yeah. Yeah. Did you get any fireworks?
Did you get any fireworks? Pyrotechnics? No? Okay, well. Well there was something else that happened. You want to share?
Jill Bartholomew (42:32)
No, no pyrotechnics. I mean, in my head, in my head.
I'll get to that. I'll get to that. But you ask, what does it feel like? That first time you go across, it's like an overwhelming emotion. And it's so contradictory because you just spent 10 plus hours, most people more than 12 hours, most people more than 14 hours to get to the finish line. And you are exhausted.
Troy Theodosiou (43:03)
you as human
being you've just covered 140.6 miles which
Jill Bartholomew (43:10)
assuming
you biked, swam and ran good lines. And it's such an overwhelming sensation, an emotion when you hear the announcer, you are an Ironman. And at the same time, you're so physically exhausted. But it's the adrenaline that that creates is like, my God. you saw me at Lake Placid like.
Troy Theodosiou (43:14)
Yes, so true, so true.
Jill Bartholomew (43:34)
I didn't collapse, but I could have, and I would have been happy to. At Nice was a very special finish for me. The last, I ended up running the last probably five, seven, 10, not 10, maybe like 7K with this woman from the UK. And we follow each other on Instagram still.
Troy Theodosiou (43:55)
Awesome.
Jill Bartholomew (43:55)
and,
you know, comment occasionally on stuff. And, you know, she was kind of having a rough time. I was kind of having a rough time and, you know, we kind of talked to each other to the finish line. We wrapped it out together and about a kilometer from the finish line. You know, I said to her, I'm like,
Troy Theodosiou (44:07)
roughed it out together.
Jill Bartholomew (44:15)
I have a feeling that John is going to do something stupid at the finish line. I think were my exact words. And yeah, I'm coming down the finisher shoot and the energy there at the world champion, like class at the energy was insane. World championship, was like insane on steroids. And you know, there it's after dark, you know, it's that much later in the season and that much, you know, different latitude that like for most people they finished after dark.
and you're coming down the finish line, know, high-fiving people in the finish shoot. It was great. And then, you know, I hear my name and as I hear my name, you know, you are an Ironman. I see Audra in front of me, right? Audra from, from Ironman Foundation. And she grabs me as soon as I crossed the finish line.
Official race photos have her butt in them and pulls me to the side. And like, first of all, if you've ever run a marathon, much less an Ironman, like what's the worst thing you can do after you've put in a race effort? It's stop, right? Right? So there I am. You can see the pictures and there's video of it on the side. And then I look over and there's John and
Troy Theodosiou (45:22)
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (45:31)
They bring me over there because at this point we're like not blocking the finish line, but we're kind of like blocking the finish line. And, you know, he gives me the medal, blah, blah, blah. And then he gets down on one knee and he proposes. So we got engaged at the finish line of Ironman World Championship in Nice. So in the span of three minutes, I heard Jill birth all of you, are an Ironman. And will you marry me? So that's pretty.
Troy Theodosiou (45:56)
Congratulations,
very special. Jill, looking back, what was for our listeners, what was your biggest lesson, your biggest takeaway for all those men who are thinking of qualifying this year and who have qualified to race in Nice?
Jill Bartholomew (46:11)
Yeah, I mean, I'm one person. It's one perspective. I raised it. I did the best I could. My advice, I was telling you earlier, I was in Chicago at a Try It Out pool school event, and we were sitting down at dinner, and I was talking to a bunch of guys who were competing, and they were kind of interrogating me, like, what to expect?
And I think word on, on the street is wrong, right? Word on the street is, my God, it's such a hard course. I mean, it is a hard course. It's world championship. It's supposed to be hard. going as hard. Nice is hard. Um, is it harder in different ways? The, the thing is like, it's not all about the elevation, right? There's a lot of, there's a lot of gain, but it's all at once. Right. It's not like.
another course, not like say Lake Placid where you have a bunch of gain and then 56 miles later you have a bunch of gain again, right? It's you have a bunch of gain and then yeah, like mile 89 or something. There's a couple of mile uphill that when you're looking at it kind of looks like a wall, but you'll get past the bike course and you know, the swim was great. The water was great to swim in.
The energy is different than anything I've felt before. It's not Kona, but it's its own thing. And the people in France are great. They love having the people there. I swear to God that there is three pizza places for every non-pizza place in that town. I have never seen so many pizza places in my life and we're mostly Italian.
Troy Theodosiou (47:40)
There you go.
Was it good?
Did you try?
Jill Bartholomew (47:46)
It was
we ate at a different place every day. I think we had pizza every day. It's a repasta and it was good. There is this little place that we really liked. The pizza actually came out uncut, which we weren't expecting. And they gave us a little like dinner knife. Yeah, like a butter knife. It's like it's got sir. It's got a serrated edge, but it's kind of like a faux serrated.
Troy Theodosiou (47:50)
Vika? Okay.
Okay.
Fun.
Jill Bartholomew (48:10)
It's rated, but it's not going to do anything useful. But that was probably the best pizza we had, but it was all good. It was expensive. Yeah, yeah. It is. Yeah, we didn't spend too much of our time being super touristy, which I'm thankful for. But yeah, advice to the guys doing it this year is like train for hills.
Troy Theodosiou (48:16)
When in need, right? It's experiential.
Jill Bartholomew (48:31)
But don't train just for hills. got, you got to go down them too. But the run, the run is a bit boring, but it's flat. So don't worry about the run.
Troy Theodosiou (48:33)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Well...
I was going to say you, yeah, you pick up from
the energy and the surroundings and the fact that it's a world championship event. it's
Jill Bartholomew (48:48)
And the
run had people lining wall to wall the entire distance. Like it was, it was amazing.
Troy Theodosiou (48:56)
Awesome. Well, the big question, will we see you at another World Championship?
Jill Bartholomew (49:00)
you will. my race season this year is super full. I'm going to be at Texas in a of weeks and, you know, Texas at this point is a get finished race. I had some injuries and the flu over the winter. So I'm not kind of where I had expected to be. Be back at Lake Placid this year is such an amazing race and I'm going to Kona. So I'll, I'll be there twice this year, actually.
Troy Theodosiou (49:01)
Okay.
There you go.
There you go.
Well, Jill, your story is truly inspiring and I'm so grateful that I got to be part of this podcast and where we could dive into all the details and share the highs, the lows and everything in between. So thank you for sharing your journey with us.
Jill Bartholomew (49:38)
Well, thanks Troy for, for helping me out. And yeah, you helped get me across the finish line at Lake Placid. I remember coming up the, coming up the hill, you know, on the run and like the run at Lake Placid isn't bad. It's not flat, but like, it doesn't have a lot of hills in it, but it's got the one in Main Street. And you know, I, I grew up in upstate New York. I spent a lot of time speed skating on the oval as a kid. I know that hill.
and it's a steep hill, right? And I remember like being at just about the top of it. And there's Troy hand in the air. You got this girl, you got this. That's right, that's right. That's the, you got a strategy, go do it. And at the time I was like, someone cares, that's awesome.
Troy Theodosiou (50:25)
It's just being in the right place when it matters most, right? When you're digging deep, that's an episode for another day, finding fuel in an empty tank. But you showed a lot of determination, a lot of willpower and resilience. And you pressed on, and you got it done. And you qualified for the Ironman World Championship.
Jill Bartholomew (50:41)
Hi.
Yeah, mean, world championship or not, you still need the tenacity to stick with it and to fit that training in your schedule and to show up to race day as best you know how and to run the best race that you're able to. mean, these are not easy things. These are things that most people look at and say, what is wrong with you?
Troy Theodosiou (51:08)
Yeah, I think that's what's so unique about the sport of triathlon is that you are going to be dealt a hand and that hand may be a good one, but more often than not, it's not a good hand and your ability to overcome obstacles and challenges is what determines your success and your outcome.
Jill Bartholomew (51:14)
Mm-hmm.
yeah. mean, nothing ever goes the way that you plan it on race day. right, right. I'm like, it doesn't matter if you're running a hundred meters or if you're running 140 miles, nothing goes to plan exactly. So I think, you know, for me, having the benefit of having done a lot of like running races and you know, yeah.
Troy Theodosiou (51:30)
Very seldomly,
Jill Bartholomew (51:49)
That was my first world championship. And, you know, I've done a probably half a dozen or more 70.3s, but a bunch of other races too. It's like, you kind of learn how to kind of go with the flow a little bit. It's like, you got your plan, but like your stomach doesn't feel good. So like, what do you do? Right. And one of my big learnings this year was like, if you feel like you're going to puke, you probably should just do it.
Troy Theodosiou (52:15)
Yeah, I think that's my best advice to our listeners is that in every situation and circumstance, you always have a choice and ultimately you decide, right? And you can embrace it and you can see it as a roadblock or you can see it as an opportunity, but either way you have a choice.
Jill Bartholomew (52:32)
That's right. you know, learn as you go. I always find it like interesting when you think back and do your, you know, that that night you're like, my God, I'm never going to do this again. And then how am I signing up for another race before I'm home? And, you know, you start playing back the race and how you felt and you know, why you felt that way. And it's really easy to be like, I didn't go my way that day.
but you control a lot more than you give yourself credit for it too. It's like, yeah, you can't control the current. You can't control the dude that decided he needed to swim over you and gave you a black eye on the course. And that is a true story. I have come out of many courses with black eyes. Knock on wood, haven't lost goggles yet, but I've been punched. I've been kicked. It's a rough sport in the water. You can't control that, but you...
can control how you react to it. It's like everything else in life, right? How you react to things to find you. And so it's like the bike. Okay, you hit a pothole, you got a flat. I raced the Chattanooga 70.3 last year and I was having an incredible bike. I showed up, I was trained, I was...
Troy Theodosiou (53:21)
Yeah, how you respond. Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (53:42)
right at my peak. It was perfect. The first 20 miles of that bike were PR and my chain broke. So there I am. I had an amazing swim. I first 20 miles on the bike was fantastic. And there I am on the side of the road, sitting on my butt, watching the slow people go by waiting for the guy to show up so he can.
take a link out of my chain so we can put it back together again. And it's like, you can't control that.
Troy Theodosiou (54:10)
You can't,
and you had a choice. You could have called it a day there and then. You could have said, right, I'm done. My day is done. But you chose and you decided to carry on.
Jill Bartholomew (54:13)
Mm-hmm.
huh.
well, and now it's like events like that define you is now I'm like, okay, I can tell you every tool that I have in my bike on race day because of stuff that's happened to me in the past or people I know. Right. It's like, I never would have thought to bring a chain breaker with me, but having sat on the road for nine, the better part of 90 minutes, waiting for a guy with a stupid little simple tool.
Troy Theodosiou (54:34)
There you go.
Yeah.
Jill Bartholomew (54:48)
who then tried to talk me out of continuing the race. He wanted me to put it up. And I was like, no, I came this far. And I asked him, said, when's the bike cut off for the next? And I think there was like, I think it was like five miles away from the next bike cut off. And I had like maybe 20 minutes. And I was like, okay, we got this.
And if you take, that bike, like I powered through it and he's like, well, you can't use half your cassette. I'm like, that's fine. I need three years for this race.
Troy Theodosiou (55:17)
Well, moral of the story, you'll never race without that chain breaker ever again.
Jill Bartholomew (55:23)
Well, right. And you know, it's like, you learn, you learn, but now it's like, it's a good story. It's like, Hey, I raced this race and I got to sit. had a firsthand view, front row seat for all the bikers going through.
Troy Theodosiou (55:35)
There you go. We live and we learn. Well, Jill, it's been an absolute pleasure and to our listeners that have enjoyed this episode, please like, subscribe and share. You would be doing both Jill and I a huge favor. And until next time, thank you, Jill Bartholomew.
Jill Bartholomew (55:37)
Yeah.
Yeah, thanks Troy for, co-hosting today and I'm sure we'll do more together. And for our listeners, you know, this is our first episode. I hope you enjoyed what you heard. I hope it was useful. Uh, let us know, um, you know, was it useful? Is it what you want to hear? Uh, what topics would you like us to cover? Like I've got my own ideas choice, got his own ideas, but, uh, you're the ones who are, you know, listening, you know, what are you on here about? What's useful? And so this is.
This is perspective from both coaches and age group athletes. We're not elite athletes, we're age groupers who happen to have some success from time to time. What do you want to hear about?
All right, thanks.