June 25, 2024 • 39 mins
In our Triathlete's Journey Series, we check in with Brandon Gibson.
When we last left Brandon, he had just come back from a training camp in Tuscon, AZ and was preparing for the Chattanooga 70.3.......
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Episode Transcript
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Unknown (00:00):
Music.
Narrator (00:10):
Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from
race to recovery with your hostsTom regal and Kenny Bailey. You
Tom Regal (00:30):
Hey, Kenny, how you doing?
Kenny Bailey
(00:32):
I am fantastic. Tom, how are you?
Tom Regal (00:34):
I am fantastic as well. We were back with Brandon
our on part of our triathletejourney. We're checking back in
with Brandon when we last left,our hero, he was training for
Chattanooga 70.3 right, Brandon,welcome, welcome back. We're,
we're we're understanding thatthere's some story to be told
(00:56):
here. So let's go back to wherewe left off. Training was going
good. Yes, training opening,
Brandon Gibson (01:03):
training was going awesome. I think I I just
got off out of camp, and I wassick a little bit during camp,
and then from that point until,up till the race, I was awesome.
Like, I mean training, I bouncedback really quickly. Felt
incredibly good going intoChattanooga. Chattanooga had
Tom Regal (01:24):
good conditions. Yes, it did get a little hot, but
it's always hot in Chattanooga.
Other than that, the conditionswere good. The river was moving.
So, yeah, take us through therace. Take us through, yeah, so
Brandon Gibson (01:39):
morning of I mean, everything. I wasn't
nervous. I knew that, you know,this was going to be a good
race. I felt like it was goingto be a good race. I felt, I
felt very ready for it. I wasexpecting to PR the swim,
obviously, well, I mean, I'veonly done one other one, so how,
you know, I was expecting to befaster, let's just say that than
(02:00):
the year before, faster on thebike, faster in the run, faster
all around. And, yeah, and, youknow, I My brother was there. So
I was excited. My family, youknow, family was there. Some
people that my brother is mybrother's first time. So I was,
I was happy. I was I wasexcited. I was hyped. And I got
(02:20):
there, and we did the swim, gotinto my normal rhythm, like, you
know, two minutes per and justwent and just mine to just get
through the swim, because I'mnot fast. I just, you know, go,
go and let the current take mefaster, if it's going to take me
faster. I was different fromlast year, I went really wide to
(02:45):
the right, like I was in the Iwas on the right last year, but
I went, like, on the other sideof the movies this time, to the
point where the kayakers werelike, yeah, yeah, I'm just
chasing. I'm like, I'm, yeah,I'm just out here by myself, and
I like it. And I kept having oneperson kind of do the zigzag
(03:07):
right in front of me, and I hadto stop me, like, what is going
on? Yeah, they just kept theywould come back, and then they
go back, and then they comeback, and they come, get out of
my way. Just hold on a second.
Let me get past you, and thenwe'll be good. But no, it No, it
was a good swim. I felt really,really good getting out. I had
just a quick, like, you know,right before, you know, there's
(03:28):
a really high step coming out ofChattanooga, out of the water,
like, you kind of swim up, andit's just, there's, you know,
the stairs coming out of thewater. It's a really high step.
And right when I did that, I gota real quick cramp in the calf,
and I was like, Oh no. Like,this is too early for this to be
happening, right? And but itworked itself out. They got me
up out of this on the stairs.
(03:52):
And then as I ran, it workeditself out. I think it was just
a quick, you know, I was in, Iwas in a position for so long,
for 40 minutes that, yeah, onceI went to stretch it, it just
Tom Regal (04:03):
yeah, just Yeah, yeah. Tears are great there.
They yank you right out of thewater because of the hot steps.
So they're really good aboutpulling you up and getting you
up there. But that flexion ofthe foot from, you know, from
really flexed to not putting alittle pressure on it, is enough
to tweak a muscle up prettyquick. Yeah, it
Brandon Gibson (04:22):
maybe scared me for a second. I knew, I knew
maybe I'd work it out. And assoon as I got back to T
transition, you know, drank myelement and just it will it'll
come. It'll work itself out.
Yeah, I because that happened incamp. I had this same cramp kind
of flare up real quick in campand swimming, and eventually it
worked itself out after gettingsome electrolytes in me and
(04:43):
some, you know, sodium, but Iwas, I felt really good. I was
hydrated, my nutrition feltreally good going into the race.
I mean, I everything about itlike I was just, I was ready.
And even after the swim, I had aton of energy. And and felt like
the heart rate never jumpedduring the swim last year, the
(05:06):
year before it did, when I gotout great, went vertical, the
heart rate jumped on me. Itdidn't this time get on the bike
and I'm cruising like i i do areally quick transition t1 was
really, really much faster.
Unfortunately, my transitionwas, I had to run all the way
through transition with thebike. Yeah, I was one of the
(05:29):
early ones. So I came in, youknow, off swimmed, and it's, you
know, how long that transitionis with 3000
Kenny Bailey
(05:36):
it's non trivial, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (05:37):
it's big, yeah.
So it was a long run. I wentahead and just ran without my
shoes. I was like, I'm gonna putmy shoes on, you know, when I
get down to the other end. And Idid. And, I mean, I got on the
bike, and I was just, I wasecstatic to be on the bike. I
was excited, and I knew I needto help hold back. I knew when I
get like that, I'll just takeoff and I'll burn up. Right?
Tom Regal (06:01):
Kenny, sound familiar,
Kenny Bailey
(06:03):
yeah, every single race, every every single
we
Tom Regal (06:08):
all, we all do that.
We all just felt like, yeah, Ifeel great,
Brandon Gibson (06:11):
yeah. And I restrained myself. I knew where
I could be, you know, and, andbasically, heart rate wise, I
was running my heart ratebecause I don't have power
pedals on the tri bike. So first20, I guess, 26 miles, almost
exactly 26 miles. I wasaveraging right around 20 miles
(06:32):
an hour, just a little over 20miles an hour, nice. Which was,
you know, much higher than theprevious I was, think I was at
18 seven or something like that,the year before. So I felt
really good, like I was therollers were, I was just up and
down, like, I mean, it was nostraining, getting them. I
(06:54):
wasn't bonked. I didn't have myheart rate never shot up on a
couple of the spikier ones theyyou know, it did, but I
recovered really quickly. So Iknew I was in a really good I
just felt really, really good.
And then Andrews came up.
Obviously, when you Andrewscomes up, you more than likely
are going to stand and, youknow, you're going to spike
(07:16):
there. It's a in Chattanooga,for people that don't know,
there's kind of, it's kind of amidway point. I mean, it's
considered kind of the halfwaypoint. It's actually when you're
going to turn around and startcoming back to Chattanooga, and
it's a spiky climb, like it's ashort climb, but it's, it's
spiky for what you've beendoing. So yeah, and then right
after that, it's a really gooddescent. And I climbed it really
(07:39):
well. I didn't even really needto stand up. I just, I was, I
was, I was in the saddle prettymuch the entire time, and I kept
my power down. And I was, I feltreally good. And I was passing
people like there wasn't. Imean, as far as me, how many
people I had passed comparable,how many people had passed me.
It was, it was awesome. So Iwas, I was just hyped. And then
(08:03):
as I'm going down Andrews, youknow, 35 plus miles an hour, I
hear a really loud pop, and thenext thing is, ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding, and then pow,another really loud pop, ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,ding. And I'm like, What is
going on? And then the ding thedinging went away. But I noticed
(08:27):
that I was like, as I wascoasting my bite first off, when
it happened, my front wheel waslike, you know, yeah, almost out
of control. I was in I was anarrow, and grabbed a hold of it,
and I stayed up. Well, stayed upthe whole way. I totally, you
know, give it credit to mymotocross skills on that one,
because it was, it was, it wasreally, it was really drastic on
(08:50):
how much the front wheel wasshaking at that point. And then
it kind of balanced it out.
Balanced out as I slowed down.
It didn't shake as much, but Inoticed that I was actually
slowing down, like I could feellike a jerk, jerking motion into
the bike. And what hadn'thappened. I broke two spokes,
(09:13):
yeah, on the front wheel, and Ididn't really know what to do
about it. I mean, looking back,I could have, there's several
things I could do. I could havepulled over, pulled the spoke
out, you know, maybe, oh, maybetook a Tool and open the brake
pads up or something to fix it,but I just kept going. And,
(09:33):
yeah, I'm like, I got to getthrough this. Like, I don't. I'm
afraid if I stop, I'm not goingto get back on the bike. Like,
I'm going to look at this, andI'm not going to get back on the
bike, and I'm just my day. Justmy day's gonna be over. Yeah,
that's the way. That's honestly,the way what I was thinking. So
I just kept going, and it was alot of power for not a lot of
(09:55):
speed, because my front wheeldid not wanna move. It was. Uh,
very much like I was holding thefront brake the entire time I
was pedaling. And so I went from20 miles an hour down to 14
miles an hour, down to 11 milesan hour on the second two time
at splits. And I was probably,you're burning energy doing the
(10:18):
whole time I was, I was probablypushing out, you know, 2020,
more watts, just trying to paceup, yeah, or more, if not more,
probably more and. And by thetime I got back into
Chattanooga, you know, climbingwith that, just, you know,
there's another punchy climbthat's yeah, and, and just
(10:41):
trying to climb with that break.
And it's just, I mean, everytime I coast, it was the bike
wanted to stop, yeah. And soit's
Kenny Bailey
(10:49):
catching on every rotation, yeah.
Tom Regal (10:51):
So if anyone's Yeah, so if anyone doesn't know what
happens when, when the spokebreaks, is that the wheel goes
out of true, which means thatinstead of being perfectly
straight, it twists. It actuallyputs a little twist into it,
which was rubbing against thebrake. For those kids at home,
(11:13):
you would stop Brandon and Ihave, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (11:21):
been catastrophic. It very well could
have
Tom Regal (11:23):
been. Yeah, you could have been front wheel collapse
is catastrophic. You would havesupermanded, yeah. At best,
you'd be replacing your frontteeth. At worse, you would be in
the hospital, in a in a neckbrace, or worse, right? So
that's so for people listeningat home, the proper thing would
have been to at least stop atthe next aid station, or stop
(11:44):
somewhere and assess the damageto see how bad the wheel was.
Tweet, because it just takes alittle pop of it takes one
little pothole at that point tojust completely fold that wheel.
There's tension on every singleone of those spokes. And when
you take two of them out ofthere the equation, it goes
completely wonky. So you were,you were extremely fortunate.
Brandon Gibson (12:04):
Yeah, I was the first in that, in that, yeah,
Tom Regal (12:09):
but to boot yourself up to, I mean, perseverance. I
love the perseverance, and werespect you so much for that.
And that's your gumption to keepgoing and keep pushing through.
And that's what, that's what anendurance athlete does. That's
what a, you know, a Triassicdoes, is, like, we figure out,
let's just keep pushing. Let'sjust keep going. Figure out, get
through it. So you did that.
That's great. I mean, it's
Brandon Gibson (12:31):
very much a learning experience on the
mechanical side of that, right?
Like, yeah. Like, I, I felt thatthis was going so sideways so
quickly that I, like, I wouldhave got off the bike. I would
have been done, yeah, probablythere's no way I can, there's no
way I can get back on thisthing, yeah. So I just kept
going until I was like, it'seither it's gonna completely
fall off and break on me or, youknow, and then,
Kenny Bailey
(12:55):
you know, I did that with in Oregon. I mean,
I did the same stupid thing. Mywhole head unit started,
literally came undone. So atevery time I tried to go down
it, I hit a bump. My wholehandlebars went up and went
down. Yeah. Same thing, I was PRin the whole thing, and so I had
to pull up and basically pushdown on it. I should have
stopped, because if my handle,my handlebars could have
(13:19):
literally fell off, yeah. But Ihad 10 miles to go. So same
thing. It's like, you try to dothis, like I got 10 miles to go
above 15, yeah, you know. Andjust kind of hang on to it,
hope, hope to hell, you know,because you're not, like you
said, you're worried aboutnutrition, you're worried about
cramps, you're worried aboutthis, and all of a sudden, two
spokes go. You're like, wait aminute, where did that come
from? Yeah. And then you're not,I think you're also because
you're in race mode to yourpoint. You're, you're just like,
(13:41):
Can I, can I get through thiswithout, without? Yes, okay, if
I could do that, then they'llfigure it out later. But yeah,
anyway, that so that was thebiggest thought, yeah, I get it
though, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (13:53):
can I push through this and get to the back
to t2 and as I, as I got closerto teach, I mean, it's 30 mile I
saw 30 miles to go, and it was30 miles like that. And as I got
closer, when I got down to 10miles, I was just, I was
praying, the bike is my sportout of the three. And I was, I
was devastated, and I was justpraying, and I could not get off
(14:15):
that bike quick enough, like Iwas just ready for it to be
over. I was exhausted. I have,you know, I went into this with
a knowing the I had somehospitalizations that I know I
have a hernia from all mysurgeries that I had, I was
dealing with this hernia, andthis thing blew it out like, I
mean, I was pushing so hard onthe pedals to keep it going that
(14:37):
my stomach start was on fire.
The entire thing. I could tellthere was swelling happening in
my stomach from it, and I, I wasjust hoping not to get sick and
like, have to throw up orsomething, because, you know,
still trying to stay hydrated,it was starting to warm up. It
was already a little humidanyway, on the bike, because it
rained that morning and you. Atleast. I think it rained
(15:00):
somewhere in northern Georgia,because everything was wet when
we got out there in northernGeorgia. So it was, it was felt
humid. So, you know, I pushedthrough it. And then as I got
closer to t2 back intoChattanooga, I had every
intention of just being done. Iwas exhausted, like my legs did
not want to move. My stomach wason fire. I mean, I was, I was in
(15:23):
a ton of pain in the stomach.
And I got back to t2 and Iwalked like I I got off the
bike, and I just walked my legs.
I felt like I had so much lacticacid in my legs that they I've
been lifting for the last twohours, like just doing squats
for two hours, is what it feltlike. And I walked all the way
(15:44):
to my my, you know, back totransition, and just sat down,
put my running shoes on, grabbedmy stuff, and just was just the
emotions were just flooding overme at that point, you know, I
was so hyped, doing so well upto that and you know, I was
going to, I was going to, I wason pace to beat my bike time by
(16:07):
40 minutes, yeah, and yeah, andI was, I was I was flying. And
then everything fell apart. Andso the motions came over me
like, All this time I've spenttraining and something that's
kind of, it's actually out of mycontrol happens. I felt like I
would be felt better if it wassomething in my control, like I
(16:28):
didn't eat or drink enough, orsomething like, then I know I
because it was something I couldcorrect, but this wasn't
something I could correct. As Icame out through transition, I
saw my coach, and she, you couldsee, like her face, like worry,
because she's all my, you know,she's watching my times. And it
went from 20 to 14 to 11. Sheknew something drastically
(16:49):
happened, like either I got aflat or something, you know, and
then she saw me walk throughtransition. She knew that I was,
I was in a bad place at thatpoint. And credit to her, she
walked with me pretty much rightout of transition. Followed me
along that, you know, the fenceline down by the river and up
for up the hill for a while andand then I finally got up to a
(17:15):
there's like, some overpasses.
And I got under in some shade,and just sat down, and I was
just like, I don't think I cando this. I just kept telling me
myself, I don't think I can dothis. And then I started
thinking about just someconversations I had with people
about quitting. Like, I don't,I'm not like, I see, you know,
(17:40):
I've seen coaches and stuff thathave clients, and then they go
out and they just, they're,something happens to them,
right? Like, they have a flat orsomething. They just don't even
fix the flat. They're just like,I'm done and, and I think
that's, to me, that's kind of abad, oh, like a bad thing to do,
like, I feel like the Iron Manis, that's reason why it's
(18:01):
called an Iron Man, is, you tryto persevere through everything,
no matter how much pain you'rein, no How much, matter how much
bad stuff is thrown your way,you keep going like, that is the
that's the prestige of the ofthe sport. It's supposed to
hurt. It's not supposed to feelgood, right? Like, I mean, it's
it. You're doing something wrongif it's easy. Yeah, that's that,
(18:22):
and that's kind of the way Ifeel. And, you know, I sat there
and I had my little pity partyon myself. Was upset, frustrated
and and then finally said, toldher, and she's like, you know,
you you don't need to blow upyour entire year, because at
that point, my stomach was juston knots and on fire and
everything from which eventuallyhad, I had swelling in my
(18:45):
intestines that was basicallyabout obstruction. And I said,
I'm going to take an aid stationby aid station, and I made it to
the first day. I walked all theway to the first aid station.
Was 20 minutes. Walked to thesecond aid station another 20
minutes, and it's like I stillhave three and a half hours. I
can make this like I can I canwalk this entire 13.1 and I'll
(19:09):
make it Yeah. And and then Istarted jogging, and I actually
ended up having negative splitsmy 13.1 because I, once I got to
the first aid station, I grabbeda little bit of coke, got some,
like, almost I started gettingmore second wins, and I started
jogging more. And there was acouple miles there where I was
(19:29):
actually able to hold my pacedown to, like, 11 minutes per
mile, and which is still slow,but it was better than nothing,
sure, than this 20 minutes permile. Yeah.
Kenny Bailey
(19:40):
Board is a pace. I mean, that's, that's the
thing you do. I mean, Ford is apace. And what, I think the you
just encapsulated everythingthat, that the mindset, which is
okay, I know it's a long run,it's 13 miles, it's not it's
just, let's just get to the nextaid station, check it out, and
then it's okay, I made that one.
Let's get to the. Next one,check it out, right? And I think
that allows yourself to calmdown a little bit, show
(20:03):
progress, right? Okay, I made itto that one, and then, like you
said, be able to get some fueland kind of reassess and and
with you, obviously, if you're,if you're because of your
sensitivity, I mean, you have tobe, you have to measure that,
right, so you don't wind up inan ER room. But, yeah, if you're
physically starting to comeback, then allow yourself to do
that. I guess it's not how youfeel at mile one. May not be how
(20:25):
you feel at mile 10. And it
Brandon Gibson (20:28):
was, for sure, the case. I mean, at mile 10 I
felt much better. And I think Isaw Tom at mile six or something
like that was around six, yeah,around six. And he's asked me if
I was on my second loop. I waslike, No, thanks. Thanks. Tom.
My brother be out there. Yeah,my brother passed me and he
(20:51):
asked me, saying he's like,you're on the second loop? I was
like, No, I'm barely making, youknow, and, and, but I yeah, I
did break it down once I once Igot over the over myself, of
just kind of feeling sorry formyself, and, you know, which is
part of the emotion of the wholething, right? And almost that,
(21:13):
why me? Stuff pops into yourbrain, like, why did this happen
to me? I've done so well, andthen all of a sudden, this just
throws me for a whole anotherloop that I didn't even know
what it's going to exist, yeah,and, and just broke it down,
like you said, aid station byeight station. I was like, I can
make it to this next one. I canmake it to this next one. I can
make it to this next one. And Idid that in the entire 13.1 and
(21:34):
I ended up, like, I said,negative, splitting through
pretty much the whole thing. Andit, yeah, I finished. It's like
809, I think is what I finishedin, which is slower than the
year before, but I added a lotmore. I added adversity in the
year before, but this one waseven compounded so but much
(21:55):
earlier in the race.
Kenny Bailey
(21:56):
Yeah, there's, there's a bit of pressure, I
think when you when you'retrying to do the PR like you
feel good, you know, the PR isthere, right? And like you were
on pace. And then you get tothat realization that either you
didn't feel right, or you had amechanical or whatever else, and
you're still trying to cling onto that, and the stress and the
pressure of doing that, and thenit seems kind of a weird at
(22:17):
least for me, there's a switch.
It's like, okay, like, I had acalf problem on on the half
where, you know, after fourmiles, it was, that was it. I
was forced to walk. It was thesoleus. Was just, and I'm like,
okay, then you flip a switch,okay, well, PR is no longer an
issue, right? I'm still going tofinish. So let's just, you know,
let's just see what we can doand have a good time doing it,
right? And it's that, you know,once you let go of it, it's,
(22:38):
that's the point. Because Ithink on the bike you were, it
sounds like you were trying,like hell, to just like, I know,
you know, like, how do I salvagethis? How do I salvage this? How
do I salvage this? And then onceyou just release yourself, I'm
like, okay, that's not going tobe a PR for me. I'll fight for
another day. Let's just figureout how to get through this and
be done. Then, then it becomes alittle bit, I think, mentally
easier as well. Yeah, I thinkthat
Brandon Gibson (23:01):
obviously there's a certain point where
you have to accept it. Yeah, youhave to accept it. This is
Kenny Bailey
(23:06):
where did you do that today? Was it like mile
10 into the into the mechanicalor did you still no,
Brandon Gibson (23:12):
I it
Tom Regal (23:13):
was past mile six on the run. I can tell you that,
yeah, finally accepted it. Yeah,it's way past mile six. I was
probably mile 10, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (23:22):
I was way into the run when I actually accepted
that this isn't going to happen.
Like I because I was upset, likeI was just, I get in and I and I
think that's just a learningthing, part, part of it, you
know that? I think that's justsomething you have to learn how
to accept early. I don't thinkthat's something that, because
the competitiveness of me isjust so high, like, I can't
stand being slow. It's very it'svery frustrating to see because,
(23:48):
like, I had in the one of thefirst podcasts with, you know, I
was good at everything I done inmy youth, and, you know, ranked
and everything that I did insome sort of a national fashion,
and to come into something andbe humbled that I'm not probably
ever going to be at that point.
Is it's hard, and yes, but I soI compete with myself and for
(24:13):
that, you know, it was, it wasjust hard to it was hard for me
to accept that this wasn't goingto happen this time, especially
knowing what my paces were, youknow, I was doing long bricks. I
was doing very long bricks. Iwas doing the full, you know, 50
mile rides with two hour runs.
So I was pretty much doing thebike in the run, yeah, and it
was, I knew my pace was going tobe good and for it to just be
(24:39):
blown up. It was hard to accept,and it took me a long time to do
it, but I finally did, and that,you know, that
Kenny Bailey
(24:47):
needs to be a learned skill. I mean, because
that happened like Ironman,California, I was going to be a
sub six bike, right easily. Iwas trained up for it. I was
going for it. You get out there,it's a 40 mile an hour headwind,
and it doesn't matter what. WhatI'm going to do. I'm not getting
above 12 and a half miles anhour on the way back. It's just,
or I'll blow up completely. Andso at some point, you're like,
Okay, you know. And it took meseven hours to do a what I
(25:08):
should have done in 545, yeah.
And it was like, and nothingwrong. Nothing happened. Wasn't
a fuel thing. It wasn't atraining thing. It wasn't a
mechanical it's just, you know,God decided to make a 40 mile an
hour headwind. And it's like,and you have to just like, Okay,
I'm going 12. That's it. I mean,that's it. I mean, you know, try
to do something on the run, butthat's it. And that, that
acceptance helped me quite abit, because I'm, I'm hyper
(25:29):
competitive, I'm the same way.
I'm going to get there like alittle excited bunny and try to
crush the thing, and thenthat's, that's the point where,
when you once, you finally,like, I can't, I can't control
this, and I can't, I can try toprove my way through it, but
that's going to yield very badthings. So you just sort of have
to throw it away and go, Okay,well, what can I do in the
condition that I got?
Brandon Gibson (25:48):
Yeah, and I really, I believe that's one
thing too. I think that's someexperience.
Tom Regal (25:53):
Yeah, the more you do it, the more you'll get that
way. You'll get to a point whereyou'll be able to step back to
instead of being in the moment,you'll be able to step back a
little bit to almost a 30,000you know, foot height. Look at
it, and go, Okay, let me look atall the training that's
happening. And this is onelittle blip. Oh well. It's when
you pull out and look back atit, this one little anomaly
(26:17):
really doesn't even add up andthe training and everything else
you're doing, and you just go,okay, it wasn't in the cards
today. This is the conditionsthat we were given, or the
mechanical completely out ofyour control, yeah. And it's
just like, it is what it is.
It's no it's no indication thatyour training wasn't there or
anything else. It'sdisappointing. It's super
disappointing. But you live tofight another day, you just go,
(26:40):
Hey, okay, like, just pull thatin. Yeah,
Kenny Bailey
(26:44):
I get Yeah, if I missing a PR because of,
because of stupidity, right?
Because I didn't, you know, Iknew I was supposed to fuel
better and I didn't. Or, youknow, I, you know, that kind of
thing. That what makes me moremad if I'm going to miss
something because I didsomething stupid, right? One of
my first halves, I figured if alittle bit of of Scratch would
be good, a lot of scratch wouldbe better. And I couldn't drink
(27:06):
it because it was so sweet andterrible, so I dehydrated myself
completely. That's an idiot.
Move on my part, and that's whatI'm mad at myself. But if it's a
mechanical or nature, or, youknow, Storm, whatever, it's
outside of my control, I youkind of gotta go, well, crap.
This is, this is what they gaveus. So, you know, if it's white
caps in the water, it's like,all right, this is what it is,
(27:29):
you know. And then try to acceptit. But the stuff within your
control, I get much more upsetwhen, when I do stupid things,
like, why just stop for asecond? Think about what you're
doing. You're training, youknow, trust your training. Trust
we did that? So I think it's youknow. I think it's you know,
heroic that you know stupidityat the front, but you know
heroic that you did itstupidity, just because you know
(27:50):
that was dangerous and stupid,but you know it was no, no,
yeah, but you persevered it andthat things. So that's your
that's your for your next one.
Now, like you said, You stackthis up. You the key lesson on
this one is you can't solve themechanical but now you know, now
you know you have it in you toknow that you've been in that
valley, then you know that,okay, I can get out of that
valley. And you know that. Youknow you can finish despite
(28:10):
what's going on. But justremember that, Okay, I gotta
just flip that switch sooner soI can just kind of relax myself
and kind of go with withwhatever it's given me. So
that's, that's fantastic.
Brandon Gibson (28:20):
I think, I think I probably would have actually
done a little better, you know,if I would have, if I would have
accepted it earlier, right? Youknow, instead of fighting,
fighting the feelings in the andthen even so, after the race, I
had, you know, I had a crash ofemotions, you know, you have
that hype, and you're doingwell, and then all of a sudden
that happens. And thenafterwards, there's always that
(28:40):
natural, like, okay, the race isover, and you kind of have a
little bit of a crashafterwards. But I had even a
more of a you know, because Iwasn't feeling well. I ended up
being in the hospital for threeand a half days after, after the
race, because of the bowelobstruction that it ended up
causing. Yeah, and soemotionally, I I just almost
(29:02):
like a depression, in a way, fora few days, and then I started
really thinking about my racingwhen I was a kid. You know,
motocross stuff happens like,you know, there's national races
where my ignition wire gotburned in two because it touched
my muffler, and I'm running thebike across the finish line,
like, because, and I ended updisqualifying, flying out of
(29:22):
their state race because of it.
And it's just, it's part ofracing, right? Racing, there's
so many variables. It's if allof for it to be a good day, all
of it has to go, right? Yeah?
Like, yeah, there's, there's
Kenny Bailey
(29:34):
a stupidity, yeah, there's a stupid,
stupidity from us on triathlons,right? Because, like, you know,
you gotta, you know, think aboutthat, right? We're doing three
complete sports, like any one ofthose three areas, right? Your
wetsuit blows up, your swim goesbad, right? And, you know, you
still got a whole mechanical onthe bike. And then if you run,
you know, you step wrong on arock, and then all of a sudden,
you know, it's just, you know, Ijust, that's what makes it
(29:57):
glorious and fun when you do it,it makes it so fresh. Or anyone
like, out of the 18 things haveto go right before that thing
lands right? 18 things andyou're like having one goes
back. Yeah, never
Tom Regal (30:08):
happens. I mean, it never and I'd say triathlon,
especially as you get to thelonger distances, are so much
like life in general, becauseyou have a plan. You work hard
at it, you set things up and goand then whatever happens,
happens stuff. Mike Tyson, yeah.
And you just like, and then whatit is you have to adapt. You
have to adapt quickly, and youhave to be able to change gears.
And you have to go to, okay,plan B, plan C, Plan D. You
(30:31):
know, I didn't have a plan forthis one. Keep pivoting,
pivoting, right? You just pivotlike, until you get to the end
and and then deal with theemotions afterwards. There's
always emotional, emotions atthe end of the race, especially
if it doesn't go right, yeah, orthe way, yeah, type of thing. It
makes it worse. So, wow, yeah,yeah,
Brandon Gibson (30:52):
it was, it was a good it was a it was a day, you
know, it's been a day, been somedays since then. So it was, but
it's been, it's, it's, it was agood learning experience. Now I
look back on it, I'm, I'mexcited for the next one.
Tom Regal (31:07):
You did a race after that, right? You did, I did
Brandon Gibson (31:11):
city, yeah, Music City in Nashville, and it
was kind of a redemption, yeah,it's a redemption race, yeah.
First off, the swim. It was asprint. I did the sprint. And as
you know, Tom, the swim wasincredibly fast. It was like,
yeah, the current was so fast. Iwas like, man, I was laughing
when I was swimming. I was like,This is what it must feel like
(31:33):
to be fast in the water, justlooking at these people, they're
just flying by. And you're like,What is going on? I am just not
even really swimming that hard.
Yeah, and it was, but, you know,my bike was a little bit slower.
I ended up having to use my roadbike on the on the and I just
was a little slower on it thannormal. But i i PR my my run
split by six minutes. So nice.
(31:57):
That's a
Kenny Bailey
(31:57):
lot for a 5k I mean, that's yeah,
Brandon Gibson (32:00):
yes, because my fastest was at 36 minutes
before, and this was a 30minutes run. So that's great,
which is, my heart rate was wayup there. But you know, that's
part of the sprint, right? It'sas hard as you can go first.
It's red line, it's short, it'sshort ago, red line the whole
way, right? Yeah, so, but yeah,I'm still learning, and I'm
(32:22):
still it was kind of felt likeit felt good, it felt like a
good little short redemptionrace, but, uh, kind of moving,
kind of proof your training wasgood, right? Yeah, yeah. Like, I
had that. It wasn't that, yeah,exactly like I had, I had
everything there, yeah, it justdidn't happen. It wasn't in the
(32:43):
concerns that day. Yeah. What'snext
Kenny Bailey
(32:45):
for you? Yeah,
Brandon Gibson (32:46):
so the next race was going to be Louisville. I
have had to cancel that. And thereason why is because I have
surgery on Monday, so this willbe number 29 surgeries, so they
have to fix this hernia. I Ican't do another race. It's a
(33:07):
lot more so to do with being anarrow and the crunch of where my
where the stoma is, where theostomy is at, and being in that
position where the muscles arekind of, you know, cramped, it
just puts too much pressure onthat hernia, and it causes,
basically causing me to have alot of pain and bowel
(33:29):
obstruction, like symptoms. So Idecided I need to get it fixed
now, because I still want to doNorth Carolina in October, and
he is unsure what surgery he'sgoing to do. It could be a it
could be a small one. It couldbe a big one. He won't know
until he gets in there andactually, there's out how to
actually fix it. Yeah. I justwant it fixed, right? So yeah,
(33:51):
to do it again, yeah, right,yeah. And, yeah. And is there
Kenny Bailey
(33:54):
a, is there a possibility? Then you may need
to just switch to road bike totry to
Brandon Gibson (34:00):
maybe less than that. Yes, it may. It may end
up. It depends on, you know,what it's like after I get back
on the bike, I don't think I'mgoing to be able to I'll be able
to swim a little earlier thangetting on the bike. I'm the
bike. I will be able to spin,but I won't be able to do any
kind of resistance, you know,wattage, kind of training until
(34:22):
I'm fully released, whichshould, hopefully, is going to
be mid August, and that'll giveme. So what does that? Eight
weeks? 810 eight weeks. It'sabout eight weeks, eight weeks
out from North Carolina. So Ihave about eight weeks to bounce
back for North Carolina. Andwhich, you know, was going to be
my a race, that was going to beone, the one I really try to,
you know, which, at this pointwith the two other races, it
(34:45):
won't be hard to actually beatthe times, but it's going to be
more of a training, you know, Idon't think it's going to be as
fast as I was hoping to be,because I was hoping to train
all the way up do Louisville andcontinue. Train into that, yeah.
But, you know, that's, that'spart of it. So
Kenny Bailey
(35:06):
you may find it may maybe your PR, just for
the sheer fact you're looseabout it, right? Rather than,
you know, yeah. So, very well,very well, headstrong towards
that PR, you just like thingswere loose, and they happened
the way it happened. Yeah? Imean, you know, switching to a
road bike isn't, isn't going to,it'll have an effect, but it
shouldn't be so significant thatyou're gonna I
Brandon Gibson (35:27):
don't think, I don't think it just depends. It
really depends on how he fixesit and how it fills afterwards.
I just, I have to buy new wheelsfor the tri bike. Yay.
Kenny Bailey
(35:41):
We got a GoFundMe for starving children.
Tom Regal (35:48):
No, it's new wheels.
Kenny Bailey
(35:50):
I kind of really want the carbon, you
know, so you know, if we can, ifanybody
Brandon Gibson (35:55):
wants to donate, hit up Tom or Kenny and but
yeah, the it so we'll see whathappens. I mean, I have, I have
a bit of a recovery. The goodthing is, I've been through this
28 other times, and on my bodyis recognize how to heal
quickly. So even if he ends updoing a laparotomy, it should
(36:17):
still be about the same time ofhealing, even if it's a small
surgery or laparotomy,
Kenny Bailey
(36:21):
okay? Because, well, you know, we'll pray for
you, obviously, and we're, youknow, the what, what makes this
kind of crazy is, there's not awhole lot of people have to
worry about three days ofhospitalization after their
after their races, yet, right?
Yeah, yep. And, I mean, the badnews is, you had a lot of
surgeries. The good news is, youknow what's going on, so you're,
(36:42):
you kind of know what's comingup, right? And it's not pretty
and it's not fun. You chose to,you know, you're choosing to do
this because you you're choosingto, you know, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna, I'm gonna lean into mylife. I'm not gonna cower from
it, right? So, I mean, that's ahuge attachment to you, you
know, obviously, we want to keepyou safe and make sure you, you
know, make safe choices and thatkind of stuff. So if you break
your smoke again, you guys stop.
(37:05):
You got 2025, so we're rootingfor you. And, you know, good
luck on your surgery. And, youknow, yeah, no, thank you
thinking about you. Yeah, and
Brandon Gibson (37:16):
yeah, it's, I'm, I'm excited just to get it
fixed. Yeah, be back to be backto it. And I'm looking forward
to North Carolina like I'mreally am. And you know, next
year, already starting to lineup what I want to do next year.
So, yeah, cool, which is cool,which is more So,
Tom Regal (37:36):
plugging at it, so.
And we really appreciate yousharing all of this with us. I
mean, this is fascinating.
Totally impressed, you know,with everything that you do and
what you gone through andcontinue to keep pushing
through. So always, alwaysimpressed with you. Brandon,
it's fantastic, and appreciateyou sharing with everybody. We
will check in with you in a fewweeks. I'm in the middle of your
(37:58):
healing. See how the surgerywent, and see our healings going
and what your plans are. Sowe'll do all of that. So we'll
make sure we'll have you on theschedule. Check in again,
everybody. Thanks for yourquestions. Comments, thumbs up
five stars. All that greatstuff. And you can hit us up on
our YouTube channel, comments,Facebook, Instagram, send some
(38:21):
questions. If you want to knowsome things, just send them in.
So we'll get them to Brandon.
We'll have them on the next thenext time we have them on, as we
follow through on ourtriathletes journey. We
appreciate all of you, Brandonagain. Thank you. And for
everybody else, we'll catch youon the Next episode.
Unknown (38:42):
You
Music.
Narrator (00:10):
Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from
race to recovery with your hostsTom regal and Kenny Bailey. You
Tom Regal (00:30):
Hey, Kenny, how you doing?
Kenny Bailey
(00:32):
I am fantastic. Tom, how are you?
Tom Regal (00:34):
I am fantastic as well. We were back with Brandon
our on part of our triathletejourney. We're checking back in
with Brandon when we last left,our hero, he was training for
Chattanooga 70.3 right, Brandon,welcome, welcome back. We're,
we're we're understanding thatthere's some story to be told
(00:56):
here. So let's go back to wherewe left off. Training was going
good. Yes, training opening,
Brandon Gibson (01:03):
training was going awesome. I think I I just
got off out of camp, and I wassick a little bit during camp,
and then from that point until,up till the race, I was awesome.
Like, I mean training, I bouncedback really quickly. Felt
incredibly good going intoChattanooga. Chattanooga had
Tom Regal (01:24):
good conditions. Yes, it did get a little hot, but
it's always hot in Chattanooga.
Other than that, the conditionswere good. The river was moving.
So, yeah, take us through therace. Take us through, yeah, so
Brandon Gibson (01:39):
morning of I mean, everything. I wasn't
nervous. I knew that, you know,this was going to be a good
race. I felt like it was goingto be a good race. I felt, I
felt very ready for it. I wasexpecting to PR the swim,
obviously, well, I mean, I'veonly done one other one, so how,
you know, I was expecting to befaster, let's just say that than
(02:00):
the year before, faster on thebike, faster in the run, faster
all around. And, yeah, and, youknow, I My brother was there. So
I was excited. My family, youknow, family was there. Some
people that my brother is mybrother's first time. So I was,
I was happy. I was I wasexcited. I was hyped. And I got
(02:20):
there, and we did the swim, gotinto my normal rhythm, like, you
know, two minutes per and justwent and just mine to just get
through the swim, because I'mnot fast. I just, you know, go,
go and let the current take mefaster, if it's going to take me
faster. I was different fromlast year, I went really wide to
(02:45):
the right, like I was in the Iwas on the right last year, but
I went, like, on the other sideof the movies this time, to the
point where the kayakers werelike, yeah, yeah, I'm just
chasing. I'm like, I'm, yeah,I'm just out here by myself, and
I like it. And I kept having oneperson kind of do the zigzag
(03:07):
right in front of me, and I hadto stop me, like, what is going
on? Yeah, they just kept theywould come back, and then they
go back, and then they comeback, and they come, get out of
my way. Just hold on a second.
Let me get past you, and thenwe'll be good. But no, it No, it
was a good swim. I felt really,really good getting out. I had
just a quick, like, you know,right before, you know, there's
(03:28):
a really high step coming out ofChattanooga, out of the water,
like, you kind of swim up, andit's just, there's, you know,
the stairs coming out of thewater. It's a really high step.
And right when I did that, I gota real quick cramp in the calf,
and I was like, Oh no. Like,this is too early for this to be
happening, right? And but itworked itself out. They got me
up out of this on the stairs.
(03:52):
And then as I ran, it workeditself out. I think it was just
a quick, you know, I was in, Iwas in a position for so long,
for 40 minutes that, yeah, onceI went to stretch it, it just
Tom Regal (04:03):
yeah, just Yeah, yeah. Tears are great there.
They yank you right out of thewater because of the hot steps.
So they're really good aboutpulling you up and getting you
up there. But that flexion ofthe foot from, you know, from
really flexed to not putting alittle pressure on it, is enough
to tweak a muscle up prettyquick. Yeah, it
Brandon Gibson (04:22):
maybe scared me for a second. I knew, I knew
maybe I'd work it out. And assoon as I got back to T
transition, you know, drank myelement and just it will it'll
come. It'll work itself out.
Yeah, I because that happened incamp. I had this same cramp kind
of flare up real quick in campand swimming, and eventually it
worked itself out after gettingsome electrolytes in me and
(04:43):
some, you know, sodium, but Iwas, I felt really good. I was
hydrated, my nutrition feltreally good going into the race.
I mean, I everything about itlike I was just, I was ready.
And even after the swim, I had aton of energy. And and felt like
the heart rate never jumpedduring the swim last year, the
(05:06):
year before it did, when I gotout great, went vertical, the
heart rate jumped on me. Itdidn't this time get on the bike
and I'm cruising like i i do areally quick transition t1 was
really, really much faster.
Unfortunately, my transitionwas, I had to run all the way
through transition with thebike. Yeah, I was one of the
(05:29):
early ones. So I came in, youknow, off swimmed, and it's, you
know, how long that transitionis with 3000
Kenny Bailey
(05:36):
it's non trivial, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (05:37):
it's big, yeah.
So it was a long run. I wentahead and just ran without my
shoes. I was like, I'm gonna putmy shoes on, you know, when I
get down to the other end. And Idid. And, I mean, I got on the
bike, and I was just, I wasecstatic to be on the bike. I
was excited, and I knew I needto help hold back. I knew when I
get like that, I'll just takeoff and I'll burn up. Right?
Tom Regal (06:01):
Kenny, sound familiar,
Kenny Bailey
(06:03):
yeah, every single race, every every single
we
Tom Regal (06:08):
all, we all do that.
We all just felt like, yeah, Ifeel great,
Brandon Gibson (06:11):
yeah. And I restrained myself. I knew where
I could be, you know, and, andbasically, heart rate wise, I
was running my heart ratebecause I don't have power
pedals on the tri bike. So first20, I guess, 26 miles, almost
exactly 26 miles. I wasaveraging right around 20 miles
(06:32):
an hour, just a little over 20miles an hour, nice. Which was,
you know, much higher than theprevious I was, think I was at
18 seven or something like that,the year before. So I felt
really good, like I was therollers were, I was just up and
down, like, I mean, it was nostraining, getting them. I
(06:54):
wasn't bonked. I didn't have myheart rate never shot up on a
couple of the spikier ones theyyou know, it did, but I
recovered really quickly. So Iknew I was in a really good I
just felt really, really good.
And then Andrews came up.
Obviously, when you Andrewscomes up, you more than likely
are going to stand and, youknow, you're going to spike
(07:16):
there. It's a in Chattanooga,for people that don't know,
there's kind of, it's kind of amidway point. I mean, it's
considered kind of the halfwaypoint. It's actually when you're
going to turn around and startcoming back to Chattanooga, and
it's a spiky climb, like it's ashort climb, but it's, it's
spiky for what you've beendoing. So yeah, and then right
after that, it's a really gooddescent. And I climbed it really
(07:39):
well. I didn't even really needto stand up. I just, I was, I
was, I was in the saddle prettymuch the entire time, and I kept
my power down. And I was, I feltreally good. And I was passing
people like there wasn't. Imean, as far as me, how many
people I had passed comparable,how many people had passed me.
It was, it was awesome. So Iwas, I was just hyped. And then
(08:03):
as I'm going down Andrews, youknow, 35 plus miles an hour, I
hear a really loud pop, and thenext thing is, ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding, ding, and then pow,another really loud pop, ding,
ding, ding, ding, ding, ding,ding. And I'm like, What is
going on? And then the ding thedinging went away. But I noticed
(08:27):
that I was like, as I wascoasting my bite first off, when
it happened, my front wheel waslike, you know, yeah, almost out
of control. I was in I was anarrow, and grabbed a hold of it,
and I stayed up. Well, stayed upthe whole way. I totally, you
know, give it credit to mymotocross skills on that one,
because it was, it was, it wasreally, it was really drastic on
(08:50):
how much the front wheel wasshaking at that point. And then
it kind of balanced it out.
Balanced out as I slowed down.
It didn't shake as much, but Inoticed that I was actually
slowing down, like I could feellike a jerk, jerking motion into
the bike. And what hadn'thappened. I broke two spokes,
(09:13):
yeah, on the front wheel, and Ididn't really know what to do
about it. I mean, looking back,I could have, there's several
things I could do. I could havepulled over, pulled the spoke
out, you know, maybe, oh, maybetook a Tool and open the brake
pads up or something to fix it,but I just kept going. And,
(09:33):
yeah, I'm like, I got to getthrough this. Like, I don't. I'm
afraid if I stop, I'm not goingto get back on the bike. Like,
I'm going to look at this, andI'm not going to get back on the
bike, and I'm just my day. Justmy day's gonna be over. Yeah,
that's the way. That's honestly,the way what I was thinking. So
I just kept going, and it was alot of power for not a lot of
(09:55):
speed, because my front wheeldid not wanna move. It was. Uh,
very much like I was holding thefront brake the entire time I
was pedaling. And so I went from20 miles an hour down to 14
miles an hour, down to 11 milesan hour on the second two time
at splits. And I was probably,you're burning energy doing the
(10:18):
whole time I was, I was probablypushing out, you know, 2020,
more watts, just trying to paceup, yeah, or more, if not more,
probably more and. And by thetime I got back into
Chattanooga, you know, climbingwith that, just, you know,
there's another punchy climbthat's yeah, and, and just
(10:41):
trying to climb with that break.
And it's just, I mean, everytime I coast, it was the bike
wanted to stop, yeah. And soit's
Kenny Bailey
(10:49):
catching on every rotation, yeah.
Tom Regal (10:51):
So if anyone's Yeah, so if anyone doesn't know what
happens when, when the spokebreaks, is that the wheel goes
out of true, which means thatinstead of being perfectly
straight, it twists. It actuallyputs a little twist into it,
which was rubbing against thebrake. For those kids at home,
(11:13):
you would stop Brandon and Ihave, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (11:21):
been catastrophic. It very well could
have
Tom Regal (11:23):
been. Yeah, you could have been front wheel collapse
is catastrophic. You would havesupermanded, yeah. At best,
you'd be replacing your frontteeth. At worse, you would be in
the hospital, in a in a neckbrace, or worse, right? So
that's so for people listeningat home, the proper thing would
have been to at least stop atthe next aid station, or stop
(11:44):
somewhere and assess the damageto see how bad the wheel was.
Tweet, because it just takes alittle pop of it takes one
little pothole at that point tojust completely fold that wheel.
There's tension on every singleone of those spokes. And when
you take two of them out ofthere the equation, it goes
completely wonky. So you were,you were extremely fortunate.
Brandon Gibson (12:04):
Yeah, I was the first in that, in that, yeah,
Tom Regal (12:09):
but to boot yourself up to, I mean, perseverance. I
love the perseverance, and werespect you so much for that.
And that's your gumption to keepgoing and keep pushing through.
And that's what, that's what anendurance athlete does. That's
what a, you know, a Triassicdoes, is, like, we figure out,
let's just keep pushing. Let'sjust keep going. Figure out, get
through it. So you did that.
That's great. I mean, it's
Brandon Gibson (12:31):
very much a learning experience on the
mechanical side of that, right?
Like, yeah. Like, I, I felt thatthis was going so sideways so
quickly that I, like, I wouldhave got off the bike. I would
have been done, yeah, probablythere's no way I can, there's no
way I can get back on thisthing, yeah. So I just kept
going until I was like, it'seither it's gonna completely
fall off and break on me or, youknow, and then,
Kenny Bailey
(12:55):
you know, I did that with in Oregon. I mean,
I did the same stupid thing. Mywhole head unit started,
literally came undone. So atevery time I tried to go down
it, I hit a bump. My wholehandlebars went up and went
down. Yeah. Same thing, I was PRin the whole thing, and so I had
to pull up and basically pushdown on it. I should have
stopped, because if my handle,my handlebars could have
(13:19):
literally fell off, yeah. But Ihad 10 miles to go. So same
thing. It's like, you try to dothis, like I got 10 miles to go
above 15, yeah, you know. Andjust kind of hang on to it,
hope, hope to hell, you know,because you're not, like you
said, you're worried aboutnutrition, you're worried about
cramps, you're worried aboutthis, and all of a sudden, two
spokes go. You're like, wait aminute, where did that come
from? Yeah. And then you're not,I think you're also because
you're in race mode to yourpoint. You're, you're just like,
(13:41):
Can I, can I get through thiswithout, without? Yes, okay, if
I could do that, then they'llfigure it out later. But yeah,
anyway, that so that was thebiggest thought, yeah, I get it
though, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (13:53):
can I push through this and get to the back
to t2 and as I, as I got closerto teach, I mean, it's 30 mile I
saw 30 miles to go, and it was30 miles like that. And as I got
closer, when I got down to 10miles, I was just, I was
praying, the bike is my sportout of the three. And I was, I
was devastated, and I was justpraying, and I could not get off
(14:15):
that bike quick enough, like Iwas just ready for it to be
over. I was exhausted. I have,you know, I went into this with
a knowing the I had somehospitalizations that I know I
have a hernia from all mysurgeries that I had, I was
dealing with this hernia, andthis thing blew it out like, I
mean, I was pushing so hard onthe pedals to keep it going that
(14:37):
my stomach start was on fire.
The entire thing. I could tellthere was swelling happening in
my stomach from it, and I, I wasjust hoping not to get sick and
like, have to throw up orsomething, because, you know,
still trying to stay hydrated,it was starting to warm up. It
was already a little humidanyway, on the bike, because it
rained that morning and you. Atleast. I think it rained
(15:00):
somewhere in northern Georgia,because everything was wet when
we got out there in northernGeorgia. So it was, it was felt
humid. So, you know, I pushedthrough it. And then as I got
closer to t2 back intoChattanooga, I had every
intention of just being done. Iwas exhausted, like my legs did
not want to move. My stomach wason fire. I mean, I was, I was in
(15:23):
a ton of pain in the stomach.
And I got back to t2 and Iwalked like I I got off the
bike, and I just walked my legs.
I felt like I had so much lacticacid in my legs that they I've
been lifting for the last twohours, like just doing squats
for two hours, is what it feltlike. And I walked all the way
(15:44):
to my my, you know, back totransition, and just sat down,
put my running shoes on, grabbedmy stuff, and just was just the
emotions were just flooding overme at that point, you know, I
was so hyped, doing so well upto that and you know, I was
going to, I was going to, I wason pace to beat my bike time by
(16:07):
40 minutes, yeah, and yeah, andI was, I was I was flying. And
then everything fell apart. Andso the motions came over me
like, All this time I've spenttraining and something that's
kind of, it's actually out of mycontrol happens. I felt like I
would be felt better if it wassomething in my control, like I
(16:28):
didn't eat or drink enough, orsomething like, then I know I
because it was something I couldcorrect, but this wasn't
something I could correct. As Icame out through transition, I
saw my coach, and she, you couldsee, like her face, like worry,
because she's all my, you know,she's watching my times. And it
went from 20 to 14 to 11. Sheknew something drastically
(16:49):
happened, like either I got aflat or something, you know, and
then she saw me walk throughtransition. She knew that I was,
I was in a bad place at thatpoint. And credit to her, she
walked with me pretty much rightout of transition. Followed me
along that, you know, the fenceline down by the river and up
for up the hill for a while andand then I finally got up to a
(17:15):
there's like, some overpasses.
And I got under in some shade,and just sat down, and I was
just like, I don't think I cando this. I just kept telling me
myself, I don't think I can dothis. And then I started
thinking about just someconversations I had with people
about quitting. Like, I don't,I'm not like, I see, you know,
(17:40):
I've seen coaches and stuff thathave clients, and then they go
out and they just, they're,something happens to them,
right? Like, they have a flat orsomething. They just don't even
fix the flat. They're just like,I'm done and, and I think
that's, to me, that's kind of abad, oh, like a bad thing to do,
like, I feel like the Iron Manis, that's reason why it's
(18:01):
called an Iron Man, is, you tryto persevere through everything,
no matter how much pain you'rein, no How much, matter how much
bad stuff is thrown your way,you keep going like, that is the
that's the prestige of the ofthe sport. It's supposed to
hurt. It's not supposed to feelgood, right? Like, I mean, it's
it. You're doing something wrongif it's easy. Yeah, that's that,
(18:22):
and that's kind of the way Ifeel. And, you know, I sat there
and I had my little pity partyon myself. Was upset, frustrated
and and then finally said, toldher, and she's like, you know,
you you don't need to blow upyour entire year, because at
that point, my stomach was juston knots and on fire and
everything from which eventuallyhad, I had swelling in my
(18:45):
intestines that was basicallyabout obstruction. And I said,
I'm going to take an aid stationby aid station, and I made it to
the first day. I walked all theway to the first aid station.
Was 20 minutes. Walked to thesecond aid station another 20
minutes, and it's like I stillhave three and a half hours. I
can make this like I can I canwalk this entire 13.1 and I'll
(19:09):
make it Yeah. And and then Istarted jogging, and I actually
ended up having negative splitsmy 13.1 because I, once I got to
the first aid station, I grabbeda little bit of coke, got some,
like, almost I started gettingmore second wins, and I started
jogging more. And there was acouple miles there where I was
(19:29):
actually able to hold my pacedown to, like, 11 minutes per
mile, and which is still slow,but it was better than nothing,
sure, than this 20 minutes permile. Yeah.
Kenny Bailey
(19:40):
Board is a pace. I mean, that's, that's the
thing you do. I mean, Ford is apace. And what, I think the you
just encapsulated everythingthat, that the mindset, which is
okay, I know it's a long run,it's 13 miles, it's not it's
just, let's just get to the nextaid station, check it out, and
then it's okay, I made that one.
Let's get to the. Next one,check it out, right? And I think
that allows yourself to calmdown a little bit, show
(20:03):
progress, right? Okay, I made itto that one, and then, like you
said, be able to get some fueland kind of reassess and and
with you, obviously, if you're,if you're because of your
sensitivity, I mean, you have tobe, you have to measure that,
right, so you don't wind up inan ER room. But, yeah, if you're
physically starting to comeback, then allow yourself to do
that. I guess it's not how youfeel at mile one. May not be how
(20:25):
you feel at mile 10. And it
Brandon Gibson (20:28):
was, for sure, the case. I mean, at mile 10 I
felt much better. And I think Isaw Tom at mile six or something
like that was around six, yeah,around six. And he's asked me if
I was on my second loop. I waslike, No, thanks. Thanks. Tom.
My brother be out there. Yeah,my brother passed me and he
(20:51):
asked me, saying he's like,you're on the second loop? I was
like, No, I'm barely making, youknow, and, and, but I yeah, I
did break it down once I once Igot over the over myself, of
just kind of feeling sorry formyself, and, you know, which is
part of the emotion of the wholething, right? And almost that,
(21:13):
why me? Stuff pops into yourbrain, like, why did this happen
to me? I've done so well, andthen all of a sudden, this just
throws me for a whole anotherloop that I didn't even know
what it's going to exist, yeah,and, and just broke it down,
like you said, aid station byeight station. I was like, I can
make it to this next one. I canmake it to this next one. I can
make it to this next one. And Idid that in the entire 13.1 and
(21:34):
I ended up, like, I said,negative, splitting through
pretty much the whole thing. Andit, yeah, I finished. It's like
809, I think is what I finishedin, which is slower than the
year before, but I added a lotmore. I added adversity in the
year before, but this one waseven compounded so but much
(21:55):
earlier in the race.
Kenny Bailey
(21:56):
Yeah, there's, there's a bit of pressure, I
think when you when you'retrying to do the PR like you
feel good, you know, the PR isthere, right? And like you were
on pace. And then you get tothat realization that either you
didn't feel right, or you had amechanical or whatever else, and
you're still trying to cling onto that, and the stress and the
pressure of doing that, and thenit seems kind of a weird at
(22:17):
least for me, there's a switch.
It's like, okay, like, I had acalf problem on on the half
where, you know, after fourmiles, it was, that was it. I
was forced to walk. It was thesoleus. Was just, and I'm like,
okay, then you flip a switch,okay, well, PR is no longer an
issue, right? I'm still going tofinish. So let's just, you know,
let's just see what we can doand have a good time doing it,
right? And it's that, you know,once you let go of it, it's,
(22:38):
that's the point. Because Ithink on the bike you were, it
sounds like you were trying,like hell, to just like, I know,
you know, like, how do I salvagethis? How do I salvage this? How
do I salvage this? And then onceyou just release yourself, I'm
like, okay, that's not going tobe a PR for me. I'll fight for
another day. Let's just figureout how to get through this and
be done. Then, then it becomes alittle bit, I think, mentally
easier as well. Yeah, I thinkthat
Brandon Gibson (23:01):
obviously there's a certain point where
you have to accept it. Yeah, youhave to accept it. This is
Kenny Bailey
(23:06):
where did you do that today? Was it like mile
10 into the into the mechanicalor did you still no,
Brandon Gibson (23:12):
I it
Tom Regal (23:13):
was past mile six on the run. I can tell you that,
yeah, finally accepted it. Yeah,it's way past mile six. I was
probably mile 10, yeah,
Brandon Gibson (23:22):
I was way into the run when I actually accepted
that this isn't going to happen.
Like I because I was upset, likeI was just, I get in and I and I
think that's just a learningthing, part, part of it, you
know that? I think that's justsomething you have to learn how
to accept early. I don't thinkthat's something that, because
the competitiveness of me isjust so high, like, I can't
stand being slow. It's very it'svery frustrating to see because,
(23:48):
like, I had in the one of thefirst podcasts with, you know, I
was good at everything I done inmy youth, and, you know, ranked
and everything that I did insome sort of a national fashion,
and to come into something andbe humbled that I'm not probably
ever going to be at that point.
Is it's hard, and yes, but I soI compete with myself and for
(24:13):
that, you know, it was, it wasjust hard to it was hard for me
to accept that this wasn't goingto happen this time, especially
knowing what my paces were, youknow, I was doing long bricks. I
was doing very long bricks. Iwas doing the full, you know, 50
mile rides with two hour runs.
So I was pretty much doing thebike in the run, yeah, and it
was, I knew my pace was going tobe good and for it to just be
(24:39):
blown up. It was hard to accept,and it took me a long time to do
it, but I finally did, and that,you know, that
Kenny Bailey
(24:47):
needs to be a learned skill. I mean, because
that happened like Ironman,California, I was going to be a
sub six bike, right easily. Iwas trained up for it. I was
going for it. You get out there,it's a 40 mile an hour headwind,
and it doesn't matter what. WhatI'm going to do. I'm not getting
above 12 and a half miles anhour on the way back. It's just,
or I'll blow up completely. Andso at some point, you're like,
Okay, you know. And it took meseven hours to do a what I
(25:08):
should have done in 545, yeah.
And it was like, and nothingwrong. Nothing happened. Wasn't
a fuel thing. It wasn't atraining thing. It wasn't a
mechanical it's just, you know,God decided to make a 40 mile an
hour headwind. And it's like,and you have to just like, Okay,
I'm going 12. That's it. I mean,that's it. I mean, you know, try
to do something on the run, butthat's it. And that, that
acceptance helped me quite abit, because I'm, I'm hyper
(25:29):
competitive, I'm the same way.
I'm going to get there like alittle excited bunny and try to
crush the thing, and thenthat's, that's the point where,
when you once, you finally,like, I can't, I can't control
this, and I can't, I can try toprove my way through it, but
that's going to yield very badthings. So you just sort of have
to throw it away and go, Okay,well, what can I do in the
condition that I got?
Brandon Gibson (25:48):
Yeah, and I really, I believe that's one
thing too. I think that's someexperience.
Tom Regal (25:53):
Yeah, the more you do it, the more you'll get that
way. You'll get to a point whereyou'll be able to step back to
instead of being in the moment,you'll be able to step back a
little bit to almost a 30,000you know, foot height. Look at
it, and go, Okay, let me look atall the training that's
happening. And this is onelittle blip. Oh well. It's when
you pull out and look back atit, this one little anomaly
(26:17):
really doesn't even add up andthe training and everything else
you're doing, and you just go,okay, it wasn't in the cards
today. This is the conditionsthat we were given, or the
mechanical completely out ofyour control, yeah. And it's
just like, it is what it is.
It's no it's no indication thatyour training wasn't there or
anything else. It'sdisappointing. It's super
disappointing. But you live tofight another day, you just go,
(26:40):
Hey, okay, like, just pull thatin. Yeah,
Kenny Bailey
(26:44):
I get Yeah, if I missing a PR because of,
because of stupidity, right?
Because I didn't, you know, Iknew I was supposed to fuel
better and I didn't. Or, youknow, I, you know, that kind of
thing. That what makes me moremad if I'm going to miss
something because I didsomething stupid, right? One of
my first halves, I figured if alittle bit of of Scratch would
be good, a lot of scratch wouldbe better. And I couldn't drink
(27:06):
it because it was so sweet andterrible, so I dehydrated myself
completely. That's an idiot.
Move on my part, and that's whatI'm mad at myself. But if it's a
mechanical or nature, or, youknow, Storm, whatever, it's
outside of my control, I youkind of gotta go, well, crap.
This is, this is what they gaveus. So, you know, if it's white
caps in the water, it's like,all right, this is what it is,
(27:29):
you know. And then try to acceptit. But the stuff within your
control, I get much more upsetwhen, when I do stupid things,
like, why just stop for asecond? Think about what you're
doing. You're training, youknow, trust your training. Trust
we did that? So I think it's youknow. I think it's you know,
heroic that you know stupidityat the front, but you know
heroic that you did itstupidity, just because you know
(27:50):
that was dangerous and stupid,but you know it was no, no,
yeah, but you persevered it andthat things. So that's your
that's your for your next one.
Now, like you said, You stackthis up. You the key lesson on
this one is you can't solve themechanical but now you know, now
you know you have it in you toknow that you've been in that
valley, then you know that,okay, I can get out of that
valley. And you know that. Youknow you can finish despite
(28:10):
what's going on. But justremember that, Okay, I gotta
just flip that switch sooner soI can just kind of relax myself
and kind of go with withwhatever it's given me. So
that's, that's fantastic.
Brandon Gibson (28:20):
I think, I think I probably would have actually
done a little better, you know,if I would have, if I would have
accepted it earlier, right? Youknow, instead of fighting,
fighting the feelings in the andthen even so, after the race, I
had, you know, I had a crash ofemotions, you know, you have
that hype, and you're doingwell, and then all of a sudden
that happens. And thenafterwards, there's always that
(28:40):
natural, like, okay, the race isover, and you kind of have a
little bit of a crashafterwards. But I had even a
more of a you know, because Iwasn't feeling well. I ended up
being in the hospital for threeand a half days after, after the
race, because of the bowelobstruction that it ended up
causing. Yeah, and soemotionally, I I just almost
(29:02):
like a depression, in a way, fora few days, and then I started
really thinking about my racingwhen I was a kid. You know,
motocross stuff happens like,you know, there's national races
where my ignition wire gotburned in two because it touched
my muffler, and I'm running thebike across the finish line,
like, because, and I ended updisqualifying, flying out of
(29:22):
their state race because of it.
And it's just, it's part ofracing, right? Racing, there's
so many variables. It's if allof for it to be a good day, all
of it has to go, right? Yeah?
Like, yeah, there's, there's
Kenny Bailey
(29:34):
a stupidity, yeah, there's a stupid,
stupidity from us on triathlons,right? Because, like, you know,
you gotta, you know, think aboutthat, right? We're doing three
complete sports, like any one ofthose three areas, right? Your
wetsuit blows up, your swim goesbad, right? And, you know, you
still got a whole mechanical onthe bike. And then if you run,
you know, you step wrong on arock, and then all of a sudden,
you know, it's just, you know, Ijust, that's what makes it
(29:57):
glorious and fun when you do it,it makes it so fresh. Or anyone
like, out of the 18 things haveto go right before that thing
lands right? 18 things andyou're like having one goes
back. Yeah, never
Tom Regal (30:08):
happens. I mean, it never and I'd say triathlon,
especially as you get to thelonger distances, are so much
like life in general, becauseyou have a plan. You work hard
at it, you set things up and goand then whatever happens,
happens stuff. Mike Tyson, yeah.
And you just like, and then whatit is you have to adapt. You
have to adapt quickly, and youhave to be able to change gears.
And you have to go to, okay,plan B, plan C, Plan D. You
(30:31):
know, I didn't have a plan forthis one. Keep pivoting,
pivoting, right? You just pivotlike, until you get to the end
and and then deal with theemotions afterwards. There's
always emotional, emotions atthe end of the race, especially
if it doesn't go right, yeah, orthe way, yeah, type of thing. It
makes it worse. So, wow, yeah,yeah,
Brandon Gibson (30:52):
it was, it was a good it was a it was a day, you
know, it's been a day, been somedays since then. So it was, but
it's been, it's, it's, it was agood learning experience. Now I
look back on it, I'm, I'mexcited for the next one.
Tom Regal (31:07):
You did a race after that, right? You did, I did
Brandon Gibson (31:11):
city, yeah, Music City in Nashville, and it
was kind of a redemption, yeah,it's a redemption race, yeah.
First off, the swim. It was asprint. I did the sprint. And as
you know, Tom, the swim wasincredibly fast. It was like,
yeah, the current was so fast. Iwas like, man, I was laughing
when I was swimming. I was like,This is what it must feel like
(31:33):
to be fast in the water, justlooking at these people, they're
just flying by. And you're like,What is going on? I am just not
even really swimming that hard.
Yeah, and it was, but, you know,my bike was a little bit slower.
I ended up having to use my roadbike on the on the and I just
was a little slower on it thannormal. But i i PR my my run
split by six minutes. So nice.
(31:57):
That's a
Kenny Bailey
(31:57):
lot for a 5k I mean, that's yeah,
Brandon Gibson (32:00):
yes, because my fastest was at 36 minutes
before, and this was a 30minutes run. So that's great,
which is, my heart rate was wayup there. But you know, that's
part of the sprint, right? It'sas hard as you can go first.
It's red line, it's short, it'sshort ago, red line the whole
way, right? Yeah, so, but yeah,I'm still learning, and I'm
(32:22):
still it was kind of felt likeit felt good, it felt like a
good little short redemptionrace, but, uh, kind of moving,
kind of proof your training wasgood, right? Yeah, yeah. Like, I
had that. It wasn't that, yeah,exactly like I had, I had
everything there, yeah, it justdidn't happen. It wasn't in the
(32:43):
concerns that day. Yeah. What'snext
Kenny Bailey
(32:45):
for you? Yeah,
Brandon Gibson (32:46):
so the next race was going to be Louisville. I
have had to cancel that. And thereason why is because I have
surgery on Monday, so this willbe number 29 surgeries, so they
have to fix this hernia. I Ican't do another race. It's a
(33:07):
lot more so to do with being anarrow and the crunch of where my
where the stoma is, where theostomy is at, and being in that
position where the muscles arekind of, you know, cramped, it
just puts too much pressure onthat hernia, and it causes,
basically causing me to have alot of pain and bowel
(33:29):
obstruction, like symptoms. So Idecided I need to get it fixed
now, because I still want to doNorth Carolina in October, and
he is unsure what surgery he'sgoing to do. It could be a it
could be a small one. It couldbe a big one. He won't know
until he gets in there andactually, there's out how to
actually fix it. Yeah. I justwant it fixed, right? So yeah,
(33:51):
to do it again, yeah, right,yeah. And, yeah. And is there
Kenny Bailey
(33:54):
a, is there a possibility? Then you may need
to just switch to road bike totry to
Brandon Gibson (34:00):
maybe less than that. Yes, it may. It may end
up. It depends on, you know,what it's like after I get back
on the bike, I don't think I'mgoing to be able to I'll be able
to swim a little earlier thangetting on the bike. I'm the
bike. I will be able to spin,but I won't be able to do any
kind of resistance, you know,wattage, kind of training until
(34:22):
I'm fully released, whichshould, hopefully, is going to
be mid August, and that'll giveme. So what does that? Eight
weeks? 810 eight weeks. It'sabout eight weeks, eight weeks
out from North Carolina. So Ihave about eight weeks to bounce
back for North Carolina. Andwhich, you know, was going to be
my a race, that was going to beone, the one I really try to,
you know, which, at this pointwith the two other races, it
(34:45):
won't be hard to actually beatthe times, but it's going to be
more of a training, you know, Idon't think it's going to be as
fast as I was hoping to be,because I was hoping to train
all the way up do Louisville andcontinue. Train into that, yeah.
But, you know, that's, that'spart of it. So
Kenny Bailey
(35:06):
you may find it may maybe your PR, just for
the sheer fact you're looseabout it, right? Rather than,
you know, yeah. So, very well,very well, headstrong towards
that PR, you just like thingswere loose, and they happened
the way it happened. Yeah? Imean, you know, switching to a
road bike isn't, isn't going to,it'll have an effect, but it
shouldn't be so significant thatyou're gonna I
Brandon Gibson (35:27):
don't think, I don't think it just depends. It
really depends on how he fixesit and how it fills afterwards.
I just, I have to buy new wheelsfor the tri bike. Yay.
Kenny Bailey
(35:41):
We got a GoFundMe for starving children.
Tom Regal (35:48):
No, it's new wheels.
Kenny Bailey
(35:50):
I kind of really want the carbon, you
know, so you know, if we can, ifanybody
Brandon Gibson (35:55):
wants to donate, hit up Tom or Kenny and but
yeah, the it so we'll see whathappens. I mean, I have, I have
a bit of a recovery. The goodthing is, I've been through this
28 other times, and on my bodyis recognize how to heal
quickly. So even if he ends updoing a laparotomy, it should
(36:17):
still be about the same time ofhealing, even if it's a small
surgery or laparotomy,
Kenny Bailey
(36:21):
okay? Because, well, you know, we'll pray for
you, obviously, and we're, youknow, the what, what makes this
kind of crazy is, there's not awhole lot of people have to
worry about three days ofhospitalization after their
after their races, yet, right?
Yeah, yep. And, I mean, the badnews is, you had a lot of
surgeries. The good news is, youknow what's going on, so you're,
(36:42):
you kind of know what's comingup, right? And it's not pretty
and it's not fun. You chose to,you know, you're choosing to do
this because you you're choosingto, you know, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna, I'm gonna lean into mylife. I'm not gonna cower from
it, right? So, I mean, that's ahuge attachment to you, you
know, obviously, we want to keepyou safe and make sure you, you
know, make safe choices and thatkind of stuff. So if you break
your smoke again, you guys stop.
(37:05):
You got 2025, so we're rootingfor you. And, you know, good
luck on your surgery. And, youknow, yeah, no, thank you
thinking about you. Yeah, and
Brandon Gibson (37:16):
yeah, it's, I'm, I'm excited just to get it
fixed. Yeah, be back to be backto it. And I'm looking forward
to North Carolina like I'mreally am. And you know, next
year, already starting to lineup what I want to do next year.
So, yeah, cool, which is cool,which is more So,
Tom Regal (37:36):
plugging at it, so.
And we really appreciate yousharing all of this with us. I
mean, this is fascinating.
Totally impressed, you know,with everything that you do and
what you gone through andcontinue to keep pushing
through. So always, alwaysimpressed with you. Brandon,
it's fantastic, and appreciateyou sharing with everybody. We
will check in with you in a fewweeks. I'm in the middle of your
(37:58):
healing. See how the surgerywent, and see our healings going
and what your plans are. Sowe'll do all of that. So we'll
make sure we'll have you on theschedule. Check in again,
everybody. Thanks for yourquestions. Comments, thumbs up
five stars. All that greatstuff. And you can hit us up on
our YouTube channel, comments,Facebook, Instagram, send some
(38:21):
questions. If you want to knowsome things, just send them in.
So we'll get them to Brandon.
We'll have them on the next thenext time we have them on, as we
follow through on ourtriathletes journey. We
appreciate all of you, Brandonagain. Thank you. And for
everybody else, we'll catch youon the Next episode.
Unknown (38:42):
You
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