Regular Good Stuff
Iz King, an accomplished gravel racer, explores the experiences navigating parenthood, racing, and life changes after having a baby. She discusses the challenges, surprises, and lessons learned along the way, offering insights for fellow athletes and parents.
Regular Good Stuff
Regular Good Stuff about postpartum recovery, Unbound, and mom-guilt
In this episode, Isabel and Joe share their experiences navigating parenthood, racing, and life changes after having a baby. They discuss the challenges, surprises, and lessons learned along the way, offering insights for fellow athletes and parents.
Introduction to the hosts and their family life
IzThank you everybody for listening. Welcome. I am Iz and I'm Joe.
JoeAnd we're we are married.
IzWe are married. Husband and wife. Co-parents.
JoeThe worst.
IzTeammates. Roommates.
JoeYeah.
IzThere are less weird ways to say it, probably. But we have a little baby named Hazel. She's the best. Who is the best and getting to be not quite a baby anymore, which is sad, but also really fun to watch. Yeah, so we had a baby about a year ago.
JoeAnd you're pretty well known in the cycling community.
IzSo kind of. Yeah.
JoeAnd by I guess, association, I am.
IzAaron Ross Powell Yeah. You didn't really choose this life, but now you're part of it.
JoeThe life chose me.
IzYou married into this life. I did.
JoeAnd so you are a pretty successful off-road cyclist.
IzKnown off-road cyclist, maybe. Successful is probably how you define it. But yes. Yeah. But yeah, we wanted to kind of start this podcast. We thought it was in a kind of a good time in our lives. We're a year into parenting. Um still absolutely kind of bumbling through it and learning as we go. Um, but it's been really fun so far. And I think also like a really big change in our lives. One that we wanted, um, but also one that's kind of thrown ups and downs as we as we've kind of come along. Um and so we wanted to share a little bit more of details about that.
JoeAnd the more people we talk to, it's a pretty similar experience.
IzYeah, I think so. It's one of those it makes you feel a little bit less alone the more that you talk to people. Um because I think there's some times in the middle of the night when you're like, this can't possibly be normal. And then you talk to some parent friends and they're like, oh yeah, that's happened to me.
Discussing the impact of parenthood on training and racing
JoeI like the parent friends who just claim that their kids sleep through the night and there's no problems.
IzOh, so yeah, since birth. Your child doesn't sleep 12 hours. We're still trying to figure out if that's just like a flex that people are doing, if their kids are actually just really good sleepers. I feel certainly not.
JoeDoes not do that.
IzDid okay last night.
JoeShe's the best. No matter what.
IzNo matter what.
JoeNo matter if she makes about two. So the plan the plan for this podcast is us having these conversations.
IzYeah.
JoeBut also you bringing on other people.
IzYeah. I think the hope is like you and I do a few episodes, um, and then also kind of I will branch off and interview um other people kind of in our world, um, in our community, or hopefully outside of that. Um, just to kind of bring light, it doesn't have to revolve around all parenting, but it's more kind of like outside of racing or athletics and things that people focus on, um, the highlight reel that's on Instagram. Um, what else is going on in life? Um, because I think that's always been the part that I connect with. We're all real people. And when you show up to a race, it's really easy to be like, yeah, everything's great. Like I'm the most prepared I've ever been. Like everything, I'm ready for it. And maybe some people are, and maybe I'm just like the outlier. Um but I do think that there's there's more to it. And then people are kind of have their own things that they're dealing with. And I think that's what makes kind of the character. I even think in this last year, I have more respect for every other person that's lining up for these races. I always have. I've always said like the reason that the pros have jobs is because 4,000 other people want to do these races behind us or on the same day. But it's also, I think this last year I've showed up, done two of the hardest races and been arguably not prepared for them because life has happened and we have a small baby. Um, and those races had a completely different feel than they did when I was racing just as a pro and for myself. And that was the main focus of my life. Um, and so I think I have a new respect uh for everyone else that's dealing with family and jobs and everything else that life is throwing with them, and also trying
Postpartum recovery and managing expectations
Izto sacrifice to get training hours in and be at these races and things like that. So it's been uh I think really good to see it. And I think hopefully sharing that story a little bit more maybe for the pros gives them a little bit of insight into our lives were I think quite easy when the only focus is train hard, race hard, eat right, sleep right. Um in retrospect, it was incredibly simple. I think I knew it at the time, but uh now having something else that we obviously chose to do, um, it adds a little bit of a more dynamic picture to it.
JoeAnd I also thought when we we uh when you first got pregnant, um the royal weed. The royal weed. I was involved. But you were involved at a distance.
IzUm not that far away.
JoeUh oh boy. Uh and so but I do think that we thought that being pregnant was gonna be the more difficult thing.
IzYeah.
JoeAnd then once you had the baby, it was just gonna be back to normal.
IzYeah.
JoeAnd and I don't think that that was the case.
IzOur child that turned out to be incredibly opinionated. And that's so weird. Yeah, it's so weird.
JoeI like how everybody says she looks like me.
IzYeah.
JoeFirst of all, she doesn't.
IzI think she does. I think I think the the poll has has been out for long enough that I think she looks like you.
JoeOkay, I can't see it. But but she just acts like you.
IzYeah, it's it's tough for us.
JoeUs.
IzUs. I no. I think not that she looks like you is tough. I think that one's just funny. I argued that it more of the work. But uh I think the personality part I think would be much easier if she was like you.
JoeThe only time she's like me is when she gets shy, like at a restaurant.
IzI am also shy.
JoeYou are very shy.
IzSo aside aside note, when Joe and I were like, I think first starting dating, I don't know how the topic even came up, but I somehow describe myself as shy and you've never let me live it down.
JoeYou're the most unshy. I don't even know how like how would you even justify that you are shy.
IzI would say this podcast is a good example where I was like kind of, I don't know, not shy, but almost intimidated or yeah, intimidated is probably the right word to start this. It feels like something where you're kind of putting yourself out there. I guess public speaking is another one, but then you're like, and then you wear bright orange and you love going to talk to strangers and things. So yes, I am more outgoing. Um but I get shy in certain situations.
JoeI I my favorite though is like when you do these, we go to these races. Yes. And they're these pro panels. It's like you and five other people, right? And the mic's getting passed around or whatever. And you're the first one to like grab the mic and start talking. And I'm carrying a 25-pound paperweight who's like mad that she is not sleeping. And I'm like, yeah, that's your mom. She's shy. And so I guess as you've transitioned to having a baby and not being pregnant, how has your relationship with racing changed and you're trying to balance this little shark that that we try to squalito keep in a cage?
IzI think I think in retrospect, when we first found out we were pregnant, it was like, okay, this year is gonna be really different. Like I'm a professional racer, my body is gonna change, I'm not gonna be able to race like I'm used to. Um but in that year I was super thankful I was still able to go to everything. Like I had the time on, you know, after I got out of the first trimester and I felt okay on the bike,
Balancing racing ambitions with family responsibilities
Izand honestly, before my stomach got too big, like there was a beautiful, glorious probably four or five months where like I could ride my bike to kind of to your dismay as much as I wanted. Um, which was really nice. And I think it was one of those I didn't realize it until that moment, but like it took a lot of the pressure out of racing, um, where I could show up to races and still do all of the stuff that I love, the expo, the talking to people, the like race morning, kind of going out there and doing it, but there wasn't a pressure to get a result. Um, which generally I've been super thankful that either maybe to kind of I don't know, against my athletic prowess or something, like none of my sponsors are for me to be winning these races. They didn't partner with me originally because I was the fastest racer. Like there was a different element to that already. So I think a lot of the pressure came from my own self and wanting to get a result. Like you train really, really hard and you make sacrifices and you don't, you know, go out to dinner with people, you don't go to birthday parties and weddings and things like that, so that you can do well in these races. And then I think the year that I was pregnant. Sure, like again, you're not going out and getting hammered and partying and things like that. That's not something that's really in my life anyway anymore. Um, but uh I think I was able to go to these races and enjoy the scene more because anything that I really did was kind of like impressive, not impressive, but like kind of out of the ordinary. Like just even showing up, you're like, wow, you're here and you're out there and and you're wanting to be part of this community still, and that was good. And then I think now in the last year before having the baby, it was like, okay, you have the baby, and then like the safety element is gone. You don't have to be worried about like you know, having a baby inside your stomach. She's hanging out with you, and I get to go train and race, and it's gonna be like safety, actually riding your bike.
JoeYeah. Because now it's just you and now it's just me.
IzAnd I think that has been the biggest change in that like my risk tolerance and like fear has gone up exponentially. Um and I think that has been the hardest thing. Um I get to claim that I'm postpartum and still hormone, right? So if I start crying, I don't know when the statute of limitations on that is. Forever. On a baby 40 years, but I'm uh still postpartum.
JoeWhat about you, Joe? Did you ever have a baby?
IzBut uh no, I'm trying not to cry. But I think it's one of those, it took me a really long time to get back to a place where like I don't even know if get back to because I'm still not there, but uh where I feel safer going out to ride. Um and I think that's been harder. I think it's also one of those stupid things. At least I can believe that was to be proud of faster. Um I think it's been hard to be like, oh, we're like a year out from having a baby and I only did two races this year, and I don't know anything on one side. If we're sitting here a year ago and we have a few weeks, few weeks old baby, like if you say like you're gonna do unbound and it's gonna be insane and you're gonna be nine months postpartum, um, and then you're gonna follow it up with doing Gravel Worlds and um, you know, you're I'm gonna race and Joe's gonna run. And I think that
Reflections on race performances after childbirth
Izlike in itself actually does look pretty good. Um, but I think initially my thoughts when I was pregnant was like, you're back, like by March, you're back. Um you're racing mid-south, and then you're going to see Otter and doing all these things. And I think both of us had kind of had to have a conversation where it was like, okay, like things are a little different. Um obviously, like I didn't plan or want to have a c-section, but that was the way that it worked. And so that was the first curveball where it was gonna take a little bit longer to like get back to training and racing. Um, and I think in retrospect it was the most injured I've ever been, which is good from one person. Like it's nice that I've never had a surgery or an injury that bad, but I also think And we didn't realize how significant it was gonna be. Yeah, it was one of those that I think in the hospital, again, they don't mean to, but the nurses were like, You're so fit. Like it's gonna be such an easy recovery. And I don't think they realize, like, if you tell a professional athlete that, they're like, Great, two weeks, three weeks. And like we went into our two-week postpartum checkup, and I was like, so can I like ride my trainer? And like luckily, like ROB had been with me the whole time and I kind of knew I was a little bit psychotic, but I was like, if you herniate any of the seven layers of stitches, like we cut you back open and you start over. And I think that was the right amount of fear to instill in me in order to have me relax. But I still think in retrospect, like I probably overdid it just trying to come back too fast, walking too much, or you know, trying to just figure out how to get your body back when I think I should have just kind of relaxed, knowing that like the difference of me taking four weeks versus five weeks of just to kind of like be in it with my baby versus being worried and stressed about getting back to it is really not a huge difference. But in the moment you're like, oh my God, I haven't worked out in years.
JoeIt's also because you're like, we're awake so many nights, the time kind of drags by.
IzAnd I think it's interesting. I have a few friends, I had a friend that had, I'm not gonna remember the actual name of the surgery, but the artery surgery where you have like the reduced blood flow in your leg. And that surgery is really is a pretty similar incision point. Like the C-section is obviously like across your uterus, but the so this is artery or I don't know, shoot, I don't know the name of it. Should I looked it up? But the name of that artery surgery, it like I think you cut up kind of like the side to get to your leg. And so that recovery is pretty similar. Um, and I remember hopefully Kylie doesn't remember mine that I use. My friend Kylie had the surgery. She's doing great, she's absolutely crushing it now. Um, but I remember kind of thinking, like, okay, and I think I told her this, I was like, it'll be interesting to see how your recovery goes because your focus is recovery and sleeping well, and just like that's all you have to do.
JoeYou had the same surgery, but you got a baby out of it.
IzAnd I didn't sleep for four months. So, like on one side, I was incredibly thankful to have something else to focus on while recovering from surgery. And on the other side, you're like, man, the body really doesn't recover. You get no sleep, and like every time you this baby wakes up. Also, like Hazel had a fantastic ability of like when she was mad, she would just like stomp on my incision. She got you. Yeah. Like new sleep little baby moving around. Tiny little little feet, just like you're like, oh, okay, you're angry. I get it. Um so I think that was an interesting kind of parallel where on one side mine was self-inflicted. Um, no one that has that artery surgery is choosing to. Obviously, I didn't choose that C section, but like knew that was a
Mental health, mom guilt, and finding support
Izvery real possibility. And once Hazel was breached and didn't flip over, we I had some time to kind of like mentally prepare to know what that was going into it. Um, and it's interesting, I remember reading being like, you're not gonna be able to drive a car for two weeks. And I was like, Two weeks? Two weeks. And then I remember I think I went to the store for the first time alone after like three or four weeks, and I was like, Oh, this is the first time I'm driving my car. This is crazy. I didn't need to drive a car for two weeks. So all of it, it like it was just a different mind shift. Um, but I think that was a long way of saying like the initial start of the comeback was harder than expected. And then I think that outside of the physical part, like my body started to come back and my mind was still lagging, and there was still a really big like separation anxiety. Um, not for fear that, like, I guess a little bit of like my baby needs me, but not really. Like, once I wasn't nursing as much and like I was pumping more, like there was a time limit on when I could go ride, but like I knew my baby was in good care, whether she was with you or with our naney. And so it was more a I don't know, a mental thing. Um, which has slowly like I've gotten more used to it. And I think going into training.
JoeAnd it was and it was mental because you were worried that something was gonna happen to you.
IzYeah, I think so. Where it was like, or you feel guilty, like I think mom guilt is a real thing, or I think you've said it before, where I'm like, if I'm out on a ride, I'm like, I'll be back in town, you know, I'll be back in an hour. And you're like, we're good, we're fine. Like, I'm hanging out with my daughter, she's the best. Whereas like, and I think when you were talking to one of our friends, he said the same thing about his wife. And I don't know if it's like a mom thing where we're like, we feel like we should be there, and it's a guilt when you take time for yourself. Um but I think that I've had to kind of like get over a little bit where you're like, I need to let other people take care of her. And it's like, I want to be there, and I'm incredibly thankful that I do get to spend as much time as I do with her. But I've found that I am a better mom if I have some time to myself. Makes sense. Yeah. I think I I mean, I think most moms would probably say that.
JoeI think you gotta speak for all moms. You do that with everything, right? Like if you and I just hung out all day, every day, you would be a little bit sick of like Joe, you're telling the same stories over and over.
IzWe hang out a lot.
JoeWe do hang out a lot. That's good. Yeah. But I haven't gotten sick of you yet. Which is good. And and so your your recovery as a totally biased observer, I think has actually gone pretty well. Yeah. And and you've gotten back to a level that is super respectable.
IzYeah.
JoeBut I think when you go to these races, you're not getting fifth place. Yeah. Eighth place, tenth place. It's like the the level of the sport has moved up. And and even though it just from my observation, I feel like you've gotten back to your same power levels and your same fitness that you were kind of before you got pregnant, but the sport has leveled up in those two years a little bit, and that's been a little tough to deal with.
IzYeah, I think it's interesting. I think kind of on one side self-inflicted, where it's like, oh, you did the one of the two biggest races this year and expect it to like show up and I don't know, not do well, but like, oh, you got your teeth kicked in, cool. Um but so I was like, should I have just like done a small race for an ego boost to say, like, oh, I am so kind of fast? Um, I think on one side it's a really good thing for our sport to say, like, if you're not like leveling up and continuing to get faster and faster and faster, like you are gonna kind of get left behind. Um, but uh it yeah, it doesn't feel great as like mentally as an athlete to kind of I spent 140
Lessons learned and advice for new parents in sport
Izmiles of Unbound alone. Like that was pretty brutal. And it was interesting because I think the closest comparison that I had was the first time I did Unbound. I think this year going into Unbound, I was like, I'm not quite sure if we're gonna be able to do this. I haven't ridden this distance since two years ago when I finished it. I haven't, um, and the first year going into it was like I've never ridden this distance. I'm like pretty new to cycling.
JoeUm by the way, by the way, this race is crazy.
IzNo, yes, I see like it's one of those, maybe I'm assuming that most people that are listening to this know what Unbound is, but if you don't, um, it is a 200-mile gravel race in the Flint Hills of Kansas. Um, the rocks are incredibly sharp. They are all the rocks that you know the Native Americans use to make arrowheads. They're super slicey. Um and this race is either incredibly, incredibly hot or incredibly rainy and muddy.
JoeAnd this year is Kansas kind of like on the transition from spring to summer. Yeah. So it's like crazy weather.
IzTruly insane weather. Um so I think it's one of those. This year uh was incredibly rainy uh and muddy. And luckily involved less walking than it has before. It involves some walking and mud scraping and things like that, but it was mostly just like torrential downpour for I think 10 of the 12 hours. I think you remember I was it was my first day that I had spent fully away from Hazel, and it was your first day with our baby for however long, 14 hours. We had a great time. And you guys had a great time. And I made sure going into that day, I was like, I need you to send me updates. So like I had little text updates popping up in my garment, and I remember you after were like, I didn't want to like tell you that you were in the middle of like this gigantic rain. Like on the radar, you were like, it was the whole screen.
JoeLike you weren't gonna be out of the rain for it was like it was like following you.
IzYou were moving and it was moving with you. So rainy. Um and then of course for the last four. Hours it got like really hot, and I was like awesome, super awesome.
JoeWell, I remember hearing about this race for the first time in 20 like 18, I think.
IzAnd it was I couldn't even fathom you can't really wrap your head around it.
JoeLike 200 miles on a bike is just far generally. Period. And and you do like 10,000 feet of climbing over like little hills. Um so it's a lot of up and down, up and down. And then you throw in the the dirt road feature of it, like the unmaintained dirt road. And it's just you can't even think about it. And I remember when when I first heard about it, the question was around finishing.
IzYeah.
JoeLike, how am I gonna ride my bike for 15 hours and finish?
IzYeah.
JoeAnd now it's how fast can I ride these things? Like how how how little can I stop?
IzWhen I was competitive, so two years ago I finished, I like sprint for 15th or 16th place, which is crazy to be like, okay, it was so competitive that we were like sprinting for, you know, in the top 20, at the end of 200 miles. Right. And that one, like I suffered 62 seconds over 200 miles. Like it's so crazy. Um, but I think this year was a little bit different in that it felt like the first year, where like in the first year we were saying, what else do you do for 12 or 13 hours? Like sleep if you're a super good sleeper, maybe work if you have a crazy job, like you know, working financially. Yeah, you take a break and you have lunch and you like go to the bathroom. Um, so it was one of those you can't really wrap your head around it. And the first year I did it, I spent, I think 60 miles alone. Like from the last aid station home, I remember it was just a headwind, like so hot and just completely alone. And that year I finished eighth. And then this year I finished like I spent 140 miles alone because the women were so fast and it was so muddy, and we just got like broken up into twos and threes pretty early. And my group I was with, like we hit one longer sustained climb, and I unfortunately like dropped that group. Um, I like looked back and I was like, oh no, they're not with me. And so, like, I'm going too fast for them. Do I want to wait and like have company or continue? And so again, it was kind of the same
Future goals and maintaining motivation
Izmentality of that first year, except for I was fighting for 30th place or something versus top 10. Um, so it was such an interesting, kind of similar feeling where my my goals were more my own. Um, I think that part was really refreshing this year that I set goals to say, like, I am not sure if I can do this. Like, our lives are different. Like both race days that I did, Hazel woke up at 2 a.m. I think it was on unbound, like it was lightning and thunder, and she was scared. And we woke up at 2:30 and tried to get her back to sleep. And I remember just like seeing the clock getting closer to four and four, and my alarm was gonna go off at four. And once it was 3.55, I was kind of like, I'm awake. Better go make some pancakes. So, like a little bit different than like when you were a pro and you're like, Oh, I kind of slept. I know I was rolling around last night. You're like, Well, I was up at two. So um it's just a different, I think it was kind of refreshing to set a different goal to say, I want to do this that I know myself is hard. I'm not quite ready. I want to prove to my daughter, um, even though she's only nine months old, that like I can still do this. I was breastfeeding at the time, so like that was a whole other element that you were kind of trying to taper and unbound and spread out pumping sessions. And I didn't know if I was gonna be able to like have to stop at 150 miles and pump. And I don't know. It was a lot of unknowns, and it was actually really refreshing to say my story is my own this year, and it felt like the women that I was lining up with were more allies um than competitors, which was nice.
JoeUm but it is still like I don't want to say it's crazy, but I think people were surprised that you were back racing with the pros nine months after having a C-section. And and honestly, like taking care of your baby to the extent that you like Yeah. You you s you did and continue to spend a lot of time with our little girl.
IzAnd that's been a choice that I made. Like I want to spend that time with her. I think it would be easier to focus on training if we had more, if we had her in daycare, we had more um coverage with our nanny. Um, but that's a choice that I've made because I really do enjoy taking going on walks with her and going to the park. But it's a different thing. Like when you come home from training, you're no longer just eating your recovery meal and laying on the couch until your husband comes home. Like life was pretty cushy before. Right. And now Hazel does not care if I did interrolls or not. Like she's like, Mom, what are we up to? What are we doing? Are we going to the park? Are we going to the park? Are we going to the splash pad? Um Yeah, so it's just a different um life that has been kind of fun to figure out, um, but also I think exhausting in all the ways. Because you have um, I would say arguably like I now have two jobs that I don't want to say work against each other, but compete for the same energy, right? Like I have a very physical job, and motherhood is arguably a very physical thing, um, where we're at the stage of parenting where our daughter is like actively putting herself in life-threatening situations regularly. And so with that, like you gotta kind of keep an eye on her. Like, yeah, independent play is fantastic until she's like figuring out how to get out the front door and run towards the like active stairs.
JoeI always think it's funny, like she is a she's very much a toddler now. Oh no. Ooh, toddler. And I always think of like somebody who who toddles around.
Iz100%.
JoeBut she is a very fast toddler around her.
IzI don't think she really walks. She like runs at the speed that her body is at an angle that if she doesn't take the next step, she falls over, which happens a lot too.
Humor and candid moments about parenting and racing
JoeIt is control falling, yeah. And she's good at not falling.
IzShe's ripping around. Like she doesn't really know how to stop, and the stopping is more there are no brakes yet.
JoeThere are no brakes.
IzShe's a fixie rider. She's just ripping around. Like if her legs don't keep moving, she's gonna crash.
JoeUh I also think that we enabled that a little bit. When she was learning to walk, we would carry her a little bit.
IzWe.
JoeWe.
IzThis one's a royal week, just not me.
JoeAnd and you would just hold her and she would lean into you. And I think she'd lean into you. Lean into your as her back did you.
IzAnd then Joe's back started to hurt like a lot.
JoeSo weird. So weird. Um But we we basically taught her to run, not walk. She was crawling to which is yeah, again, your daughter.
IzYour daughter. You're more of a runner now. Oh yeah. I think it's been, I guess we've talked a lot about like kind of how my identity has changed, but I think from your perspective, your life has absolutely changed. Like you have this little daughter that you for the better. For the better. Like you are obsessed with and you love her so much, and I'm so thankful that you are a hands-on dad. And and it still has been really hard. Like, I think I think about that a lot. I have so much respect for single parents or, you know, parents that maybe have a little bit less help from their partner, things like that. Like, we are both fully in it with all of our energy, and it's still been really hard. And we're still, you know, we take turns and switch off on who gets her in the middle of the night, and we're still both kind of like, I don't know, I think we feel okay, and then you see a picture of yourself and you're like, bam.
JoeI am really tired.
IzReally tired.
JoeI I also think it's funny looking back on it. W I said, and I regret saying this at the time. I was like, why don't we just have twins?
IzYeah.
JoeAnd then that way we only have to do this once.
IzAnd if if we would have had twins, I shout out to my sister who is still alive and her twins are thriving.
JoeI don't I don't understand. I don't understand how people do it.
IzNo, I don't I think we would have died.
JoeTruly.
IzJust the twins would have been thriving and we would have just been like perished on the ground. Laying on the ground. Yeah, you did say that. You were like, you would only have to be pregnant once, it'd be great. And I was like, okay.
JoeAnd I do think that we've been a pretty good team throughout this whole thing. Yeah. And so just to come back to you, my favorite topic. But you've you did Unbound about nine months after you um had little haze basil. And then you said the other race I want to do, I want to do it with you, Joe. To my dismay.
IzNo, actually, I said I want to do it alone, and you said, ooh. Feels a little ambitious.
JoeYou said you said I want to do the 150 50 mile bike race and then the 31 mile run. Yes.
IzHave I ever run that far? No.
JoeYeah. But am I gonna do this 10 months after that feels a little ambitious considering you've never done that?
IzYou said I don't think you can't do it, but it might be a little ambitious. And I said, Great, we should do it as a family. Well, first of all, you were so mad. I was really angry.
JoeYeah, I wasn't. You were very frustrated saying, How dare you tell me I can't do this? Yeah. So we got we got in a fight about that one. And then you just said, well, you just do the run.
IzYeah. And you said, okay.
JoeI would love to. And so how old was Hazel when we when we did that?
IzExactly a year.
JoeShe was one year old. So that's why you wanted to do it.
IzYeah.
JoeYeah.
IzBecause I think it was fun. I think my reason originally was I did the Gravel Worlds double, uh, I guess it's two years ago now. Um at the time then it was a Friday 25k run and then a Saturday 150 miles. Run first. Run first, ride second. Okay, which I think is the better way to do it because you can fake a bike ride, you can descend and not pedal. You can like draft off of people. Right.
Closing thoughts and upcoming plans
IzAnd then this year, Jason and Sophia, I love you. Um, but they switched it. So it was a longer run. It was a 50K, and it was on Sunday instead of Saturday. Yep. And that switcheroo felt a little bit out of my range. Um because I knew that the bike ride in itself was already gonna be pretty challenging. Um, there's like a huge prize person, so it's gotten really competitive. Um, so I knew even holding on to the group was gonna be hard for this one. Um, and it was, and I did spend a lot of hours by myself.
JoeUm But you hung on for a while.
IzI did hung I for uh 50 miles. That works, which was great.
JoeTake it over zero.
IzWe'll take it over zero was fantastic. Um and then I had a savior angel, Hannah Shell came and just waited for me after her hour break off the front, waited for me at the aid station, and we peddled back together, which was great.
JoeWhich is so funny because you look at the times that you guys did. And you would have been like top five in the amateur women, but you're whatever, 30 minutes off the winning time. Um just to go back to the point of the R.
IzWell, I was saying two two years ago when I did it, I finished eighth in the bike ride, even though I had run 25k the day before. Okay. I was in the group the entire time. I was finished top ten, like it and my time was five minutes slower than my time was this year. And this year I had dropped the group by mile fifty.
JoeYou went faster this year than the time you got eighth place. Two years ago. Two years ago.
IzSo it's one of those where it's like you weren't I wasn't even close to being in the mix this year, despite going faster and spending the majority of the day alone. Um, which again, like the same with my unbound time. I've done unbound five times, obviously like weather and course dependent, but like this year was my third fastest time. Um the year that I finished eighth place, I went an hour and a half slower. It took me like 13 hours. This year only took me 12 hours. So like it was one of those. I guess going back to this sport has gotten incredibly fast. And it's, I don't know, I think it's kind of like legitimized in the last few years, and it's an interesting timing where we had to make a choice that was either like I continue to like go and try and keep up in this sport, or we choose to start a family. Um, and I'm incredibly thankful that we chose this path. Um, but it does mean that I have to kind of like balance the other side of it and figure out like where my um where I fit in in the sport, which I think is uh I think good and bad.
JoeHave you found that you've enjoyed just broadly your life more now that you because I guess before we had a little girl, it was like you train and then we hang out with ourselves or our friends, and that's kind of it.
IzYeah. I think now you add a little whirlwind into that. Um I think a lot has changed, but it revolves around Hazel, um, which is interesting. So I don't think I high socialize. Like I think I've always joked I'm too social to be a really good professional bike racer. I think you have to be incredibly I don't know, you have to like being alone and doing your intervals and being alone in the mountains and doing long rides and just like putting your feet up after rides and sitting there. And I think I've always like needed friends on the weekends and things like that. Um, and then now I think it's just different. I do a lot more like walks and um like kind of have to be intentional about meeting up with people because I also think one of the things that I didn't expect, especially at the beginning, Hazel's turning more into a human now. But in retrospect, before like she was a blob, and so I would spend my entire day with someone else, but that someone else doesn't talk to you, doesn't really give you much back. And so I think the beginning was oddly lonely. Like when you went back to work and I was home before we had childcare, like it was great to spend that time. I wouldn't give up that time, but I definitely found that I needed to see or talk to other adults, um, whether that was, you know, calling friends or or family or things like that, because there's only so much like baby talk and reading Little Boutrec over and over again that you can do. Great book. Um, great book, fantastic book. Um so I think yes, things have changed in that like now our schedule more revolves. I don't know. I think other parents might be arguably better at like just having their child fit into their lives. I think we have chosen to kind of figure out how to do the thing. Like Gravel Worlds was a big one where it was like, this is gonna be a big, even unbound. I was like, this is a big sacrifice for our family as a whole. Um, but we're excited to do it and we're gonna figure out how to do it. And I think certain people will do that better, where they'll say, like, this is our life. We like to travel, we like to do this. Like we say a lot of our friends are going to Europe with their little baby, and we're like, Oh my god.
JoeCannot it would be fine. We I almost the the plane ride to Kansas was how long? Three three hours?
IzYeah. And she just fell asleep on that one. She was asleep a little bit. We our baby is too social to sleep on the plane, and like even when I'm getting her close, like the person behind her starts peekabooing.
JoeIt is the other people. Don't look at her. I know she's super cute.
IzKeep your eyes away from her. Um yeah, so she always wants to like be just like playing and walking around on the plane. So that part on one side it's gotten less stressful because she can stay awake for longer and it's not a big deal. But on the other side, I think we haven't done a longer trip because it's kind of like literally flying into the unknown. And I think as a parent, you're like, I don't want to be the one with the crying baby, even though I don't think people really care, but like you care, which is interesting.
JoeSo as we keep doing these, yeah. I think a lot of it's gonna be you and me talking about the really good stuff about being parents and some of the stuff that's a little bit more challenging, especially and then I think you want to put it.
IzEspecially for me. Well, because you well you have more challenges.
JoeMy job is way easier versus your I sit at a desk and like yeah.
IzSo I think talking about like we're gonna talk about that, where it's like how you know our lives individually have changed as well and things like that.
JoeAnd then eventually you're gonna pull people in as well who were similar in the sense that they've had challenges outside of just being an athlete. Yeah.
IzUm I think I hope the the hope is to expand this into having conversations with other people in our community and just kind of peek behind the curtain and say, you know, what else is going on besides your your perfect race lead up and and how much we're not really gonna go, it's not gonna be a wattage, you know, analysis or, you know, deep dive into the power numbers kind of thing. I think it's more of like what else is happening in your life and what what makes you you because I think that is always uh kind of the human interaction element, is what I like. Awesome. Yeah. I'm excited. Me too. Okay. Thanks. See you guys soon.