Unknown: 0:00

Music.

Narrator: 0:10

Welcome to the athletes in motion podcast from race to recovery with your hosts Tom regal and Kenny Bailey. You

Tom Regal: 0:30

Hey, Kenny, how you doing?

Kenny Bailey<br>: 0:32

I am fantastic. Tom, how are you?

Tom Regal: 0:34

I am fantastic as well. We were back with Brandon our on part of our triathlete journey. 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 that there's some story to be told here. So let's go back to where we left off. Training was going good. Yes, training opening,

Brandon Gibson: 1:03

training was going awesome. I think I I just got off out of camp, and I was sick a little bit during camp, and then from that point until, up till the race, I was awesome. Like, I mean training, I bounced back really quickly. Felt incredibly good going into Chattanooga. Chattanooga had

Tom Regal: 1:24

good conditions. Yes, it did get a little hot, but it's always hot in Chattanooga. Other than that, the conditions were good. The river was moving. So, yeah, take us through the race. Take us through, yeah, so

Brandon Gibson: 1:39

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 going to be a good race. I felt, I felt very ready for it. I was expecting to PR the swim, obviously, well, I mean, I've only done one other one, so how, you know, I was expecting to be faster, let's just say that than the year before, faster on the bike, faster in the run, faster all around. And, yeah, and, you know, I My brother was there. So I was excited. My family, you know, family was there. Some people that my brother is my brother's first time. So I was, I was happy. I was I was excited. I was hyped. And I got there, and we did the swim, got into my normal rhythm, like, you know, two minutes per and just went and just mine to just get through the swim, because I'm not fast. I just, you know, go, go and let the current take me faster, if it's going to take me faster. I was different from last year, I went really wide to the right, like I was in the I was on the right last year, but I went, like, on the other side of the movies this time, to the point where the kayakers were like, 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 one person kind of do the zigzag right in front of me, and I had to stop me, like, what is going on? Yeah, they just kept they would come back, and then they go back, and then they come back, and they come, get out of my way. Just hold on a second. Let me get past you, and then we'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 a really high step coming out of Chattanooga, out of the water, like, you kind of swim up, and it's just, there's, you know, the stairs coming out of the water. It's a really high step. And right when I did that, I got a 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 it worked itself out. They got me up out of this on the stairs. And then as I ran, it worked itself out. I think it was just a quick, you know, I was in, I was in a position for so long, for 40 minutes that, yeah, once I went to stretch it, it just

Tom Regal: 4:03

yeah, just Yeah, yeah. Tears are great there. They yank you right out of the water because of the hot steps. So they're really good about pulling you up and getting you up there. But that flexion of the foot from, you know, from really flexed to not putting a little pressure on it, is enough to tweak a muscle up pretty quick. Yeah, it

Brandon Gibson: 4:22

maybe scared me for a second. I knew, I knew maybe I'd work it out. And as soon as I got back to T transition, you know, drank my element and just it will it'll come. It'll work itself out. Yeah, I because that happened in camp. I had this same cramp kind of flare up real quick in camp and swimming, and eventually it worked itself out after getting some electrolytes in me and some, you know, sodium, but I was, I felt really good. I was hydrated, my nutrition felt really good going into the race. I mean, I everything about it like I was just, I was ready. And even after the swim, I had a ton of energy. And and felt like the heart rate never jumped during the swim last year, the year before it did, when I got out great, went vertical, the heart rate jumped on me. It didn't this time get on the bike and I'm cruising like i i do a really quick transition t1 was really, really much faster. Unfortunately, my transition was, I had to run all the way through transition with the bike. Yeah, I was one of the early ones. So I came in, you know, off swimmed, and it's, you know, how long that transition is with 3000

Kenny Bailey<br>: 5:36

it's non trivial, yeah,

Brandon Gibson: 5:37

it's big, yeah. So it was a long run. I went ahead and just ran without my shoes. I was like, I'm gonna put my shoes on, you know, when I get down to the other end. And I did. And, I mean, I got on the bike, and I was just, I was ecstatic to be on the bike. I was excited, and I knew I need to help hold back. I knew when I get like that, I'll just take off and I'll burn up. Right?

Tom Regal: 6:01

Kenny, sound familiar,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 6:03

yeah, every single race, every every single we

Tom Regal: 6:08

all, we all do that. We all just felt like, yeah, I feel great,

Brandon Gibson: 6:11

yeah. And I restrained myself. I knew where I could be, you know, and, and basically, heart rate wise, I was running my heart rate because I don't have power pedals on the tri bike. So first 20, I guess, 26 miles, almost exactly 26 miles. I was averaging right around 20 miles an hour, just a little over 20 miles an hour, nice. Which was, you know, much higher than the previous I was, think I was at 18 seven or something like that, the year before. So I felt really good, like I was the rollers were, I was just up and down, like, I mean, it was no straining, getting them. I wasn't bonked. I didn't have my heart rate never shot up on a couple of the spikier ones they you know, it did, but I recovered really quickly. So I knew I was in a really good I just felt really, really good. And then Andrews came up. Obviously, when you Andrews comes up, you more than likely are going to stand and, you know, you're going to spike there. It's a in Chattanooga, for people that don't know, there's kind of, it's kind of a midway point. I mean, it's considered kind of the halfway point. It's actually when you're going to turn around and start coming back to Chattanooga, and it's a spiky climb, like it's a short climb, but it's, it's spiky for what you've been doing. So yeah, and then right after that, it's a really good descent. And I climbed it really well. I didn't even really need to stand up. I just, I was, I was, I was in the saddle pretty much the entire time, and I kept my power down. And I was, I felt really good. And I was passing people like there wasn't. I mean, as far as me, how many people I had passed comparable, how many people had passed me. It was, it was awesome. So I was, I was just hyped. And then as I'm going down Andrews, you know, 35 plus miles an hour, I hear a really loud pop, and the next 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 the dinging went away. But I noticed that I was like, as I was coasting my bite first off, when it happened, my front wheel was like, you know, yeah, almost out of control. I was in I was an arrow, and grabbed a hold of it, and I stayed up. Well, stayed up the whole way. I totally, you know, give it credit to my motocross skills on that one, because it was, it was, it was really, it was really drastic on how much the front wheel was shaking at that point. And then it kind of balanced it out. Balanced out as I slowed down. It didn't shake as much, but I noticed that I was actually slowing down, like I could feel like a jerk, jerking motion into the bike. And what hadn't happened. I broke two spokes, yeah, on the front wheel, and I didn't really know what to do about it. I mean, looking back, I could have, there's several things I could do. I could have pulled over, pulled the spoke out, you know, maybe, oh, maybe took a Tool and open the brake pads up or something to fix it, but I just kept going. And, yeah, I'm like, I got to get through this. Like, I don't. I'm afraid if I stop, I'm not going to get back on the bike. Like, I'm going to look at this, and I'm not going to get back on the bike, and I'm just my day. Just my 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 a lot of power for not a lot of speed, because my front wheel did not wanna move. It was. Uh, very much like I was holding the front brake the entire time I was pedaling. And so I went from 20 miles an hour down to 14 miles an hour, down to 11 miles an hour on the second two time at splits. And I was probably, you're burning energy doing the whole time I was, I was probably pushing out, you know, 2020, more watts, just trying to pace up, yeah, or more, if not more, probably more and. And by the time I got back into Chattanooga, you know, climbing with that, just, you know, there's another punchy climb that's yeah, and, and just trying to climb with that break. And it's just, I mean, every time I coast, it was the bike wanted to stop, yeah. And so it's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 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 spoke breaks, is that the wheel goes out of true, which means that instead of being perfectly straight, it twists. It actually puts a little twist into it, which was rubbing against the brake. For those kids at home, you would stop Brandon and I have, 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 have supermanded, yeah. At best, you'd be replacing your front teeth. At worse, you would be in the hospital, in a in a neck brace, or worse, right? So that's so for people listening at home, the proper thing would have been to at least stop at the next aid station, or stop somewhere and assess the damage to see how bad the wheel was. Tweet, because it just takes a little pop of it takes one little pothole at that point to just completely fold that wheel. There's tension on every single one of those spokes. And when you take two of them out of there 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 we respect you so much for that. And that's your gumption to keep going and keep pushing through. And that's what, that's what an endurance athlete does. That's what a, you know, a Triassic does, is, like, we figure out, let's just keep pushing. Let's just 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 that this was going so sideways so quickly that I, like, I would have got off the bike. I would have been done, yeah, probably there's no way I can, there's no way I can get back on this thing, yeah. So I just kept going until I was like, it's either it's gonna completely fall off and break on me or, you know, and then,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 12:55

you know, I did that with in Oregon. I mean, I did the same stupid thing. My whole head unit started, literally came undone. So at every time I tried to go down it, I hit a bump. My whole handlebars went up and went down. Yeah. Same thing, I was PR in the whole thing, and so I had to pull up and basically push down on it. I should have stopped, because if my handle, my handlebars could have literally fell off, yeah. But I had 10 miles to go. So same thing. It's like, you try to do this, like I got 10 miles to go above 15, yeah, you know. And just kind of hang on to it, hope, hope to hell, you know, because you're not, like you said, you're worried about nutrition, you're worried about cramps, you're worried about this, and all of a sudden, two spokes go. You're like, wait a minute, where did that come from? Yeah. And then you're not, I think you're also because you're in race mode to your point. You're, you're just like, Can I, can I get through this without, without? Yes, okay, if I could do that, then they'll figure it out later. But yeah, anyway, that so that was the biggest 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 closer to teach, I mean, it's 30 mile I saw 30 miles to go, and it was 30 miles like that. And as I got closer, when I got down to 10 miles, I was just, I was praying, the bike is my sport out of the three. And I was, I was devastated, and I was just praying, and I could not get off that bike quick enough, like I was just ready for it to be over. I was exhausted. I have, you know, I went into this with a knowing the I had some hospitalizations that I know I have a hernia from all my surgeries that I had, I was dealing with this hernia, and this thing blew it out like, I mean, I was pushing so hard on the pedals to keep it going that my stomach start was on fire. The entire thing. I could tell there was swelling happening in my stomach from it, and I, I was just hoping not to get sick and like, have to throw up or something, because, you know, still trying to stay hydrated, it was starting to warm up. It was already a little humid anyway, on the bike, because it rained that morning and you. At least. I think it rained somewhere in northern Georgia, because everything was wet when we got out there in northern Georgia. So it was, it was felt humid. So, you know, I pushed through it. And then as I got closer to t2 back into Chattanooga, I had every intention of just being done. I was exhausted, like my legs did not want to move. My stomach was on fire. I mean, I was, I was in a ton of pain in the stomach. And I got back to t2 and I walked like I I got off the bike, and I just walked my legs. I felt like I had so much lactic acid in my legs that they I've been lifting for the last two hours, like just doing squats for two hours, is what it felt like. And I walked all the way to my my, you know, back to transition, and just sat down, put my running shoes on, grabbed my stuff, and just was just the emotions were just flooding over me at that point, you know, I was so hyped, doing so well up to that and you know, I was going to, I was going to, I was on pace to beat my bike time by 40 minutes, yeah, and yeah, and I was, I was I was flying. And then everything fell apart. And so the motions came over me like, All this time I've spent training and something that's kind of, it's actually out of my control happens. I felt like I would be felt better if it was something in my control, like I didn't eat or drink enough, or something like, then I know I because it was something I could correct, but this wasn't something I could correct. As I came out through transition, I saw my coach, and she, you could see, 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. She knew something drastically happened, like either I got a flat or something, you know, and then she saw me walk through transition. She knew that I was, I was in a bad place at that point. And credit to her, she walked with me pretty much right out of transition. Followed me along that, you know, the fence line down by the river and up for up the hill for a while and and then I finally got up to a 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 can do this. I just kept telling me myself, I don't think I can do this. And then I started thinking about just some conversations I had with people about quitting. Like, I don't, I'm not like, I see, you know, I've seen coaches and stuff that have clients, and then they go out and they just, they're, something happens to them, right? Like, they have a flat or something. 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 a bad, oh, like a bad thing to do, like, I feel like the Iron Man is, that's reason why it's called an Iron Man, is, you try to persevere through everything, no matter how much pain you're in, 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 of the sport. It's supposed to hurt. It's not supposed to feel good, right? Like, I mean, it's it. You're doing something wrong if it's easy. Yeah, that's that, and that's kind of the way I feel. And, you know, I sat there and I had my little pity party on myself. Was upset, frustrated and and then finally said, told her, and she's like, you know, you you don't need to blow up your entire year, because at that point, my stomach was just on knots and on fire and everything from which eventually had, I had swelling in my intestines that was basically about obstruction. And I said, I'm going to take an aid station by aid station, and I made it to the first day. I walked all the way to the first aid station. Was 20 minutes. Walked to the second aid station another 20 minutes, and it's like I still have three and a half hours. I can make this like I can I can walk this entire 13.1 and I'll make it Yeah. And and then I started jogging, and I actually ended up having negative splits my 13.1 because I, once I got to the first aid station, I grabbed a little bit of coke, got some, like, almost I started getting more second wins, and I started jogging more. And there was a couple miles there where I was actually able to hold my pace down to, like, 11 minutes per mile, and which is still slow, but it was better than nothing, sure, than this 20 minutes per mile. Yeah.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 19:40

Board is a pace. I mean, that's, that's the thing you do. I mean, Ford is a pace. And what, I think the you just encapsulated everything that, 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 next aid 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 calm down a little bit, show progress, right? Okay, I made it to that one, and then, like you said, be able to get some fuel and kind of reassess and and with you, obviously, if you're, if you're because of your sensitivity, I mean, you have to be, you have to measure that, right, so you don't wind up in an ER room. But, yeah, if you're physically starting to come back, then allow yourself to do that. I guess it's not how you feel at mile one. May not be how 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 I saw 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 was like, No, thanks. Thanks. Tom. My brother be out there. Yeah, my brother passed me and he asked me, saying he's like, you're on the second loop? I was like, No, I'm barely making, you know, and, and, but I yeah, I did break it down once I once I got over the over myself, of just kind of feeling sorry for myself, and, you know, which is part of the emotion of the whole thing, right? And almost that, why me? Stuff pops into your brain, like, why did this happen to me? I've done so well, and then all of a sudden, this just throws me for a whole another loop that I didn't even know what it's going to exist, yeah, and, and just broke it down, like you said, aid station by eight station. I was like, I can make it to this next one. I can make it to this next one. I can make it to this next one. And I did that in the entire 13.1 and I ended up, like, I said, negative, splitting through pretty much the whole thing. And it, yeah, I finished. It's like 809, I think is what I finished in, which is slower than the year before, but I added a lot more. I added adversity in the year before, but this one was even compounded so but much earlier in the race.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 21:56

Yeah, there's, there's a bit of pressure, I think when you when you're trying to do the PR like you feel good, you know, the PR is there, right? And like you were on pace. And then you get to that realization that either you didn't feel right, or you had a mechanical or whatever else, and you're still trying to cling on to that, and the stress and the pressure of doing that, and then it seems kind of a weird at least for me, there's a switch. It's like, okay, like, I had a calf problem on on the half where, you know, after four miles, it was, that was it. I was forced to walk. It was the soleus. 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 to finish. So let's just, you know, let's just see what we can do and have a good time doing it, right? And it's that, you know, once you let go of it, it's, that's the point. Because I think on the bike you were, it sounds like you were trying, like hell, to just like, I know, you know, like, how do I salvage this? How do I salvage this? How do I salvage this? And then once you just release yourself, I'm like, okay, that's not going to be a PR for me. I'll fight for another day. Let's just figure out how to get through this and be done. Then, then it becomes a little bit, I think, mentally easier as well. Yeah, I think that

Brandon Gibson: 23:01

obviously there's a certain point where you have to accept it. Yeah, you have to accept it. This is

Kenny Bailey<br>: 23:06

where did you do that today? Was it like mile 10 into the into the mechanical or 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, like I was just, I get in and I and I think that's just a learning thing, part, part of it, you know that? I think that's just something you have to learn how to accept early. I don't think that's something that, because the competitiveness of me is just so high, like, I can't stand being slow. It's very it's very frustrating to see because, like, I had in the one of the first podcasts with, you know, I was good at everything I done in my youth, and, you know, ranked and everything that I did in some sort of a national fashion, and to come into something and be humbled that I'm not probably ever going to be at that point. Is it's hard, and yes, but I so I compete with myself and for that, you know, it was, it was just hard to it was hard for me to accept that this wasn't going to happen this time, especially knowing what my paces were, you know, I was doing long bricks. I was doing very long bricks. I was doing the full, you know, 50 mile rides with two hour runs. So I was pretty much doing the bike in the run, yeah, and it was, I knew my pace was going to be good and for it to just be 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<br>: 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. I was 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. What I'm going to do. I'm not getting above 12 and a half miles an hour on the way back. It's just, or I'll blow up completely. And so at some point, you're like, Okay, you know. And it took me seven hours to do a what I should have done in 545, yeah. And it was like, and nothing wrong. Nothing happened. Wasn't a fuel thing. It wasn't a training 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, but that's it. And that, that acceptance helped me quite a bit, because I'm, I'm hyper competitive, I'm the same way. I'm going to get there like a little excited bunny and try to crush the thing, and then that'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 to prove my way through it, but that's going to yield very bad things. 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 some experience.

Tom Regal: 25:53

Yeah, the more you do it, the more you'll get that way. You'll get to a point where you'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 30,000 you know, foot height. Look at it, and go, Okay, let me look at all the training that's happening. And this is one little blip. Oh well. It's when you pull out and look back at it, this one little anomaly really doesn't even add up and the training and everything else you're doing, and you just go, okay, it wasn't in the cards today. This is the conditions that we were given, or the mechanical completely out of your control, yeah. And it's just like, it is what it is. It's no it's no indication that your training wasn't there or anything else. It's disappointing. It's super disappointing. But you live to fight another day, you just go, Hey, okay, like, just pull that in. Yeah,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 26:44

I get Yeah, if I missing a PR because of, because of stupidity, right? Because I didn't, you know, I knew I was supposed to fuel better and I didn't. Or, you know, I, you know, that kind of thing. That what makes me more mad if I'm going to miss something because I did something stupid, right? One of my first halves, I figured if a little bit of of Scratch would be good, a lot of scratch would be better. And I couldn't drink it because it was so sweet and terrible, so I dehydrated myself completely. That's an idiot. Move on my part, and that's what I'm mad at myself. But if it's a mechanical or nature, or, you know, Storm, whatever, it's outside of my control, I you kind of gotta go, well, crap. This is, this is what they gave us. So, you know, if it's white caps in the water, it's like, all right, this is what it is, you know. And then try to accept it. But the stuff within your control, I get much more upset when, when I do stupid things, like, why just stop for a second? Think about what you're doing. You're training, you know, trust your training. Trust we did that? So I think it's you know. I think it's you know, heroic that you know stupidity at the front, but you know heroic that you did it stupidity, just because you know that was dangerous and stupid, but you know it was no, no, yeah, but you persevered it and that things. So that's your that's your for your next one. Now, like you said, You stack this up. You the key lesson on this one is you can't solve the mechanical but now you know, now you know you have it in you to know that you've been in that valley, then you know that, okay, I can get out of that valley. And you know that. You know you can finish despite what's going on. But just remember that, Okay, I gotta just flip that switch sooner so I can just kind of relax myself and kind of go with with whatever 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? You know, instead of fighting, fighting the feelings in the and then even so, after the race, I had, you know, I had a crash of emotions, you know, you have that hype, and you're doing well, and then all of a sudden that happens. And then afterwards, there's always that natural, like, okay, the race is over, and you kind of have a little bit of a crash afterwards. But I had even a more of a you know, because I wasn't feeling well. I ended up being in the hospital for three and a half days after, after the race, because of the bowel obstruction that it ended up causing. Yeah, and so emotionally, I I just almost like a depression, in a way, for a few days, and then I started really thinking about my racing when I was a kid. You know, motocross stuff happens like, you know, there's national races where my ignition wire got burned in two because it touched my muffler, and I'm running the bike across the finish line, like, because, and I ended up disqualifying, flying out of their state race because of it. And it's just, it's part of racing, right? Racing, there's so many variables. It's if all of for it to be a good day, all of it has to go, right? Yeah? Like, yeah, there's, there's

Kenny Bailey<br>: 29:34

a stupidity, yeah, there's a stupid, stupidity from us on triathlons, right? Because, like, you know, you gotta, you know, think about that, right? We're doing three complete sports, like any one of those three areas, right? Your wetsuit blows up, your swim goes bad, right? And, you know, you still got a whole mechanical on the bike. And then if you run, you know, you step wrong on a rock, and then all of a sudden, you know, it's just, you know, I just, that's what makes it glorious and fun when you do it, it makes it so fresh. Or anyone like, out of the 18 things have to go right before that thing lands right? 18 things and you'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 the longer distances, are so much like life in general, because you have a plan. You work hard at it, you set things up and go and then whatever happens, happens stuff. Mike Tyson, yeah. And you just like, and then what it is you have to adapt. You have to adapt quickly, and you have to be able to change gears. And you have to go to, okay, plan B, plan C, Plan D. You know, I didn't have a plan for this one. Keep pivoting, pivoting, right? You just pivot like, until you get to the end and and then deal with the emotions afterwards. There's always emotional, emotions at the end of the race, especially if it doesn't go right, yeah, or the 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 some days since then. So it was, but it's been, it's, it's, it was a good learning experience. Now I look back on it, I'm, I'm excited 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 a sprint. I did the sprint. And as you know, Tom, the swim was incredibly fast. It was like, yeah, the current was so fast. I was like, man, I was laughing when I was swimming. I was like, This is what it must feel like to be fast in the water, just looking 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 road bike on the on the and I just was a little slower on it than normal. But i i PR my my run split by six minutes. So nice. That's a

Kenny Bailey<br>: 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 30 minutes run. So that's great, which is, my heart rate was way up there. But you know, that's part of the sprint, right? It's as hard as you can go first. It's red line, it's short, it's short ago, red line the whole way, right? Yeah, so, but yeah, I'm still learning, and I'm still it was kind of felt like it felt good, it felt like a good little short redemption race, but, uh, kind of moving, kind of proof your training was good, right? Yeah, yeah. Like, I had that. It wasn't that, yeah, exactly like I had, I had everything there, yeah, it just didn't happen. It wasn't in the concerns that day. Yeah. What's next

Kenny Bailey<br>: 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 the reason why is because I have surgery on Monday, so this will be number 29 surgeries, so they have to fix this hernia. I I can't do another race. It's a lot more so to do with being an arrow and the crunch of where my where the stoma is, where the ostomy is at, and being in that position where the muscles are kind of, you know, cramped, it just puts too much pressure on that hernia, and it causes, basically causing me to have a lot of pain and bowel obstruction, like symptoms. So I decided I need to get it fixed now, because I still want to do North Carolina in October, and he is unsure what surgery he's going to do. It could be a it could be a small one. It could be a big one. He won't know until he gets in there and actually, there's out how to actually fix it. Yeah. I just want it fixed, right? So yeah, to do it again, yeah, right, yeah. And, yeah. And is there

Kenny Bailey<br>: 33:54

a, is there a possibility? Then you may need to just switch to road bike to try 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'm going to be able to I'll be able to swim a little earlier than getting 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 I'm fully released, which should, hopefully, is going to be mid August, and that'll give me. So what does that? Eight weeks? 810 eight weeks. It's about eight weeks, eight weeks out from North Carolina. So I have about eight weeks to bounce back for North Carolina. And which, you know, was going to be my a race, that was going to be one, the one I really try to, you know, which, at this point with the two other races, it won't be hard to actually beat the times, but it's going to be more of a training, you know, I don'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 and continue. Train into that, yeah. But, you know, that's, that's part of it. So

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:06

you may find it may maybe your PR, just for the sheer fact you're loose about it, right? Rather than, you know, yeah. So, very well, very well, headstrong towards that PR, you just like things were loose, and they happened the way it happened. Yeah? I mean, 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 that you're gonna I

Brandon Gibson: 35:27

don't think, I don't think it just depends. It really depends on how he fixes it and how it fills afterwards. I just, I have to buy new wheels for the tri bike. Yay.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:41

We got a GoFundMe for starving children.

Tom Regal: 35:48

No, it's new wheels.

Kenny Bailey<br>: 35:50

I kind of really want the carbon, you know, so you know, if we can, if anybody

Brandon Gibson: 35:55

wants to donate, hit up Tom or Kenny and but yeah, the it so we'll see what happens. I mean, I have, I have a bit of a recovery. The good thing is, I've been through this 28 other times, and on my body is recognize how to heal quickly. So even if he ends up doing a laparotomy, it should still be about the same time of healing, even if it's a small surgery or laparotomy,

Kenny Bailey<br>: 36:21

okay? Because, well, you know, we'll pray for you, obviously, and we're, you know, the what, what makes this kind of crazy is, there's not a whole lot of people have to worry about three days of hospitalization after their after their races, yet, right? Yeah, yep. And, I mean, the bad news is, you had a lot of surgeries. The good news is, you know what's going on, so you're, you kind of know what's coming up, 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 choosing to, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna lean into my life. I'm not gonna cower from it, right? So, I mean, that's a huge attachment to you, you know, obviously, we want to keep you safe and make sure you, you know, make safe choices and that kind of stuff. So if you break your smoke again, you guys stop. You got 2025, so we're rooting for you. And, you know, good luck on your surgery. And, you know, 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 back to it. And I'm looking forward to North Carolina like I'm really am. And you know, next year, already starting to line up 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 you sharing all of this with us. I mean, this is fascinating. Totally impressed, you know, with everything that you do and what you gone through and continue to keep pushing through. So always, always impressed with you. Brandon, it's fantastic, and appreciate you sharing with everybody. We will check in with you in a few weeks. I'm in the middle of your healing. See how the surgery went, and see our healings going and what your plans are. So we'll do all of that. So we'll make sure we'll have you on the schedule. Check in again, everybody. Thanks for your questions. Comments, thumbs up five stars. All that great stuff. And you can hit us up on our YouTube channel, comments, Facebook, Instagram, send some questions. If you want to know some things, just send them in. So we'll get them to Brandon. We'll have them on the next the next time we have them on, as we follow through on our triathletes journey. We appreciate all of you, Brandon again. Thank you. And for everybody else, we'll catch you on the Next episode.

Unknown: 38:42

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