ÖTILLÖ! Meeting Nature Writ Large

Today I am joined by my friend, coach and teammate Chris Hauth for a special edition of Coach’s Corner – a spin on my typical podcast format — to recap our breathtaking, once-in-a-lifetime adventure competing in the Ötillö Swimrun World Championships in Sweden. A sub-9 hour Ironman, Chris (@AIMPCoach) is a former professional triathlete, two-time Olympic Swimmer and one of the world’s most respected endurance coaches. In 2006, Chris won the Ironman Coeur D’Alene and went on to be the first American amateur & 4th overall American at the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii. When he’s not training and racing, Chris runs AIMP Coaching, mentoring a wide spectrum of athletes ranging from elite professionals — including Ironman and Western States top finishers, Ultraman winners and Olympic Trials qualifiers — to first time half-marathoners. Under Chris’ tutelage since 2008, he deftly guided me through three Ultraman World Championships,EPIC5. and now Ötillö. This past Monday, Chris and I joined 300 athletes from 24 countries to race Ötillö as a two-man team, traversing 26 islands spread across the outer-reaches of the Swedish archipelago on foot and by sea. All told, 40 miles of running and 6 miles of swimming. It was a truly extraordinary experience. Punishing. Humbling. Brutal, beautiful and beyond extreme. Along the way we met gale force winds. Sideways rain. Bone-chilling Baltic waters. And six-foot swells. We were on our hands and knees, scaling vertical granite slippery as ice. We trudged through bogs in knee-deep mud. Loose rocks left us flat on our backs. We bushwhacked terrain so difficult, so impossibly technical, it all feels now like an impossible dream. Today we share the incredible story. I sincerely hope you enjoy the exchange. Peace + Plants, Rich Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Rich Roll?

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• 1:05Chris Hauth?

  There's days that are going to be like you had yesterday for everybody. And you're going to not feel good the first hour. And the voices and the emotions and the self-talk that's happening in those moments, that's where you have to trust in your fitness, you have to trust in the work that you've invested in yourself in the training. And that's not miles run at a certain pace, or distance, or yard swam in the pool. That's the consistency of the daily emotions you have in training, right? Where you build that foundation that, yes, I will finish this. I know I can. And you don't even have to dig into those yesterday.

• 1:47Chris Hauth?

  You just know, deep down inside, I've done the work. I will traverse this distance. I don't have to think too much, or ask myself too hard to do too much about it. It's going to be a difficult day, and here we go.

• 2:01Rich Roll?

  That's Chris Hauth, and this is another edition of Coach's Corner on the Rich Roll Podcast.

• 2:17Rich Roll?

  The Rich Roll Podcast.

• 2:21Rich Roll?

  Hey everybody. My name is Rich Roll. I'm your host. Welcome to my podcast and a very special Coach's Corner edition of the show featuring a race recap on our Odeleau performance. I'm here with Chris Hauth, my coach, my friend, my teammate. How are you doing, Chris?

• 2:39Chris Hauth?

  Awesome.

• 2:43Rich Roll?

  It was a big day yesterday.

• 2:45Chris Hauth?

  What an experience.

• 2:46Rich Roll?

  Unbelievable. Absolutely incredible. We're going to unpack it all, but first let's take care of a little business.

• 3:00Rich Roll?

  All right, we did it. Let's talk about Odeleau, Chris. You ready to talk about it? How are you feeling today?

• 3:06Chris Hauth?

  I'm feeling pretty good. I'm excited to talk about it, hear the, share the epic stories that went throughout our day.

• 3:12Rich Roll?

  So many epic stories. Please tell me you're sore.

• 3:17Chris Hauth?

  I'm a little sore, yeah.

• 3:18Rich Roll?

  Yeah. My major malfunction right now, beyond the fact that like I can't go downstairs and I'm walking around like John Wayne, like just bow legged and stuff, is the top bone on my left foot, I feel like I fractured it. Like it's just, it's really irritating me. I think I might have to get it x-rayed when I go home.

• 3:37Chris Hauth?

  Hopefully it goes away pretty quickly. Maybe your shoes were just tied a little too tight.

• 3:41Rich Roll?

  I hope so. That's what I'm hoping.

• 3:43Chris Hauth?

  Or that log that fell on it, which we didn't notice.

• 3:46Rich Roll?

  I don't know. Yeah. I mean, so many things happen. Like I have all these scratches and bruises all over my body. I don't know where I got any of them. The whole thing was a crazy blur, but I guess to kind of launch into it, and for people that are kind of just tuning in now and have no context for this, can you just break down what it is that we just did yesterday?

• 4:06Chris Hauth?

  Well, we were secluded on some islands outside of Stockholm and given a task to go from point A to B over, what was it, 20 islands and a total of 10 kilometers of swimming and about 42 miles of running to get across it in some extreme conditions, in an extreme location, in extreme temperatures. Everything was extreme out there.

• 4:32Rich Roll?

  Right. So this is called Otelö. Otelö. I think I finally got it after butchering it. Otelö. I think it's close enough.

• 4:41Chris Hauth?

  Which means island to island.

• 4:43Rich Roll?

  Which means island to island. And this is the premiere event, the world championship event in what is a series of other races, similar races like this, all leading up to this, you know, culminating in this world championship event. And so the best teams in the world all descend upon this island called Sandham, which is on the outer reaches of the archipelago, the series of islands that are on the outskirts of Stockholm. We took a ferry out the day before. All the athletes and crew people and support staff, you know, all went out to this island and stayed in this hotel.

• 5:19Chris Hauth?

  And as you head out, the environment becomes more and more ominous. It's pretty intense.

• 5:25Rich Roll?

  It was fairly mild in Stockholm when we left. And by the time we arrived in Sandham, it was raining, it was cold, there were white caps everywhere on the, you know, on the sea. It was looking very treacherous and foreboding, to say the least.

• 5:40Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 5:41Rich Roll?

  Yeah. So we woke up at 4:00 AM and

• 5:43Chris Hauth?

  And to say with that, all night, it's blowing and howling. And it's, we're in this little hotel inn on this island and it is just rattling and the, the flag stands are just howling all night. It's pretty intense.

• 6:02Rich Roll?

  I was well aware of that because as I could hear your heavy breathing next to me, I was wide awake like the whole night. I was so nervous. I just couldn't, I think I got like maybe an hour, an hour and a half of sleep all night. Just butterflies in my stomach for what was to, what was to come. So yeah, so how many teams were there?

• 6:23Chris Hauth?

  It was a total of 300 competitors, so 150 teams.

• 6:29Rich Roll?

  And a lot of these teams, these guys have been doing these races for a long time. Like they're, it's a very specific discipline. You think just because you know how to swim well and you know how to run well, or you can run long distances, that you're sort of well suited to this. But it is an exacting kind of discipline that is very specific to this particular kind of terrain. And I think that was the biggest sort of surprise to me. Like I'd watched all the videos, I did the homework. I thought I knew what to expect and it just delivered me a completely different menu.

• 7:05Chris Hauth?

  Yes, but also keep in mind that this world championship is different than the others, where it is more swimming and running as we're more familiar with. But this one is the extreme version of it because it's the original. And so they put you in a harsher, more difficult environment, with also a lot of the adventure racing aspect to it that we experienced yesterday.

• 7:27Rich Roll?

  Yeah, and I think the biggest, most dominating character in the whole event is the terrain and the weather. And so when we get up, there's literally gale force winds, it's raining out, there's whitecaps in the sea, it's dark out. And they're saying like, yeah, it's gonna be a tough day. Like, it's a tough day on the best day, the easiest conditions. And they were like, yeah, this might be, this might be one for the record books.

• 7:53Chris Hauth?

  And we found out after from a lot of the organizers, how close they were to delaying or cancelling parts of it. Because we were so exposed to the Baltic Sea and how the weather was hitting us in the swims.

• 8:07Rich Roll?

  So the race starts out, it starts out with a 1200 meter run that's fairly controlled. And then you jump into the sea for your first swim, which is the longest swim of the event, about a 17, I think 1750 meters. And it's kind of a shock to the system when you first jump in that water. I mean, it was cold. The one good thing is that it wasn't that cold. Like, I think it looked, if you look at the photos, it looked colder than it was, but the water temp was actually kind of fine.

• 8:35Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, for sure.

• 8:37Rich Roll?

  But immediately you get the chop and the currents and the swells. And you're immediately very aware that you're in for a long day.

• 8:47Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, and the gray and dark background that you're trying to sight on the swims, you quickly realize this is not going to be easy sighting for the rest of the day. Those islands are pretty low, so you have to get some serious height to see over the chop and the waves to even sight where you're going.

• 9:05Rich Roll?

  Right, and there's so many islands out there during the pig swim, which I want to talk about in a minute. Yeah, the swells were so large that I lost sight of the beacon a couple of times. You know, you really had to be conscious of what you were doing and it was so easy to suddenly be going in the wrong direction and heading towards, you think you're going to the right island, you're going to a totally different island.

• 9:23Chris Hauth?

  Which for the first swim, they have this strobe light, which already, that's so cool, this strobe light shooting across this over a mile swim that we're doing right to start. And so you're trying to focus on the strobe light and you quickly realize you're losing it in the swell and the chop and the wind gusts that your senses are quickly turned on.

• 9:46Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 9:46Chris Hauth?

  I gotta pay attention here.

• 9:47Rich Roll?

  Right. So we jump in at the same time and I kind of swam in your wake for a little bit and you got, you know, sort of progressively a little bit further and further ahead of me until I kind of lost you altogether and I fell in with another group. But when I climbed out, I was able to find you right away and immediately you're hit with like vintage Odele, like, like trying to climb up that first rock with the rain and everything. Everything is so slippery, like I could not get my, you were trying to pull me up and I was sliding back down into the water and like falling on my face and that just became the theme for the entire day.

• 10:24Chris Hauth?

  That and it's, you're so exposed immediately out of the water and you realize that there's nothing out there and you hear the wind howling, you're like, okay, here we go.

• 10:34Rich Roll?

  Right. And it was, that first swim is a big shipping lane. I mean, it was a wide berth to get across that. And then the first run segment is basically you jockey around the coastline, you kind of hug the coast and you're hopscotching over wet loose rocks.

• 10:52Chris Hauth?

  Boulders.

• 10:52Rich Roll?

  Covered in.

• 10:53Chris Hauth?

  Branches.

• 10:54Rich Roll?

  Moss and you're, yeah, brambles, you know. Everyone's slipping and falling and you see these guys who are very skilled at this. Just like Gazelle's jumping over this thing like gracefully just passing everybody and. I realized like that is a skill that I do not have, you know, like I just, I was slipping so much. Part of that, I think, is I made the wrong shoe choice, like the, the surface of the bottom of the shoe that I was wearing just didn't grip the, the rocks at all. And I fell so many times in the beginning or just lost my balance that I lost trust in, in. The ability of my shoe to kind of ground me when my foot landed, which added a lot of anxiety and stress.

• 11:32Rich Roll?

  Um, and also made me take it very gingerly, which put a lot of pressure on my quads because you're kind of flexing at the knee a lot. And I realized like, this is not what I thought it was going to be like, I knew there would be a lot of technical stuff and that just became what most of it was like running on. Wet rocks, uh, and scrambling up, you know, boulder faces on all fours.

• 11:56Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 11:57Rich Roll?

  Slipping around. I mean, I fell on my butt at least a dozen times.

• 12:01Chris Hauth?

  But keep in mind also to, to set the scene, it's not like you just fall here. If you fell, you fall into a bouldering crevasse almost.

• 12:10Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 12:11Chris Hauth?

  It goes straight down, not just into the water, but a bunch of rocks protruding out of the water. I mean, you can quickly. Really injure yourself. So it's not like slipping and oh, you just fall and you're right there. You fall and fall slide down into other rocks and into these little, you know, canyons. I mean, it's pretty gnarly out there.

• 12:33Rich Roll?

  Right. So case in point, uh, within the first kilometer of the first run. We see a woman running in the wrong, like towards us in the wrong direction. Because her teammate, I believe slipped and fell and hit his head on a rock and you saw, I didn't see him, but you were like, he was unconscious.

• 12:50Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. He was just lying there, you know, with a helper, a local who lives on the island. Just holding him calm or holding his hand as he was eyes backwards and his head laying on the ground. I mean, it was.

• 13:02Rich Roll?

  And, and the race hadn't even started yet. And you're like, oh my God. And when the, when the dust settled, I think there were, were there, was it 23 or 32 teams DNFed?

• 13:11Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, I think 118 teams or 111 teams finished out of the 150.

• 13:17Rich Roll?

  Right. So that's a pretty high attrition rate. I'd be curious to know how many of them dropped out due to injury versus not making the time cutoff. I know there were a lot of teams that weren't making the time cutoffs.

• 13:28Chris Hauth?

  We saw people with stitches on their chins. We saw people who have broken their foot and leg. There was a lot of carnage out there.

• 13:37Rich Roll?

  I might be one of those people.

• 13:38Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 13:40Rich Roll?

  I'm realizing now, but yeah, so at about 90 minutes in, my quads just were searing with lactic acid. And I, you know, it was so much more anaerobic work and strength work, like functional strength work.

• 13:53Chris Hauth?

  The climbing straight up. I mean, envision just not 12, 13, or 18. We're talking 20 plus percent on these boulders, straight out of the water and holding on with all fours to get up to the next step. And either I'd be waiting there and try to give you a hand, but even then you still have to push yourself up.

• 14:13Rich Roll?

  Mm hmm. Yeah. So, and that's something I didn't train for at all, and I don't have any experience in. Like to do, if I was to do it again, I would try to work on that a little bit so I could withstand that kind of, that type of exertion. I felt really confident about our endurance base going in. I mean, we put in some big days and some long runs. And sort of the game plan going into it was that we were going to, you know, pace ourselves and rely on that endurance base to kick in in the last couple of hours. The longest run is near the end. It's 13 miles. And so the idea was, once we hit that, then we can kind of open it up and strut our stuff and show what we're capable of and hopefully pass a bunch of teams and make a lot of headway there. But at that 90 minute mark, I started

• 14:58Rich Roll?

  to get concerned about just surviving the day. And when we finally did get, there were, the thing is, like, in the first half of the race, I think there were only two spots where you could actually run. Like just legitimately run where it was open enough to run like how we think of running. Everything else was tiptoeing and bouldering and climbing over logs and you know, going through, we, we, we went through this, we went through this bog where the reeds were as high as your head and we're just like traipsing through mud that was up, you know, almost up to our knees. I mean, it was much more like the vast majority of the quote unquote running was stuff like that.

• 15:35Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. Adventure racing sort of getting through terrain somehow, some way.

• 15:42Rich Roll?

  Literally bushwhacking. Now I understand why they wanted us to have a compass and a whistle. Like I can see the logic in that at this point and I can also see the logic in why, why teams tether to each other.

• 15:54Chris Hauth?

  Well, we learned about that. Yeah. There's a, there's a lot of logic now afterwards and we knew this going into it. Like where if we had any ambitions with regards to placing, it would have been crazy to think that as to complete newbies, that we would understand it. So that's why we already knew going into it. Listen, we're going to just experience this. And if our fitness is good enough to, to have fun at the front, so be it. Even then we still wouldn't know what was coming ahead of us.

• 16:21Rich Roll?

  Right. Yeah.

• 16:22Chris Hauth?

  But this way it was, um, we learned a lot. Yeah.

• 16:26Rich Roll?

  Yeah. There's no question about it. I mean, it became evident, uh, very early on, at least for me, how much I didn't know versus how much I, I knew. And I definitely thought I knew more than I did. And we can sit here and try to explain it all, but the truth of the matter is you just, unless you were there, it's just hard to grasp just how extraordinary and magnificent and intense the, the experience and the landscape is like it's, it's nature writ large in every sense of the word.

• 16:57Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. I mean, I think that was my biggest takeaway too, on how you do not control anything out there. You are just trying to make your way through this terrain, through this environment, through those conditions from point A to point B. And the weather and the terrain controls you.

• 17:16Rich Roll?

  Yeah, for sure. And, uh, and so once. Once my quads started giving me these problems very early on, I had to let go of my, you know, just surrender my ego, surrender my, you know, let go of any expectations, just detach from all of it and to say, okay, we're just here. Let's enjoy this day. Let's get through it. We're going to finish it and try to enjoy it as much as we can with all the suffering that it had to dole out.

• 17:42Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And I mean, and I think it's interesting because we both come to from different backgrounds of racing in the endurance world. You know, I'm more in the Ironman racing and finishing at the front and you're more a super extreme with Ultraman and so on where you manage yourself through. And so us both getting to a point around two, three hours in where it's like, all right, we gotta, this is our day now, you know? But the cool thing was, I never at any point doubted that we're not going to finish the race. Like,

• 18:14Rich Roll?

  Yeah, that would never came into consideration of mine.

• 18:17Chris Hauth?

  I don't think even our body language or anything was never in any way that we're not going to finish this. And despite, I mean, and we might get to this, some of the swims being experiences that we will never have an opportunity to experience again unless we do some crazy solo thing because you would never get permits or anything like we did yesterday in the United States or many other places in the world, nor would we choose without the support and the safety craft to do what we did yesterday. So therefore then the adventure of it and the enjoyment of it and realizing, wow, this is so cool. We're getting to do something that we'll

• 19:01Chris Hauth?

  never get to do again in our lives was unbelievably memorable.

• 19:06Rich Roll?

  Yeah, there's no question about that. I mean, I think that for me, that all came into crystal focus during the pig swim, which for me was the highlight of the whole experience. And this is a swim that takes place about halfway through the race. It's the, I think it's the second longest swim, but it is the most, it's 1400 meters. It's the most exposed swim. It's on the far outer reaches of the archipelago. So you jump in the water and to your right, there's nothing but Baltic Sea. There's no more islands. And on this particular day, the winds were, I don't know how fast the winds were going, but they were. Legit gale force winds, sideways rain, and not just whitecaps.

• 19:51Rich Roll?

  These were swells that I think got up to about six feet at points, like anywhere between three and six feet.

• 19:58Chris Hauth?

  They were saying two to three meters.

• 20:00Rich Roll?

  Right, two to three meters. Wow. So much so that, that the boats were pitching, like it didn't even look safe for the boats to be out there.

• 20:07Chris Hauth?

  And that was their biggest concern. The organizers after the race said, our concern wasn't the athletes, because of course they're super prepared for this and they're in the water. And while that seems daunting, it's the safety boats and the safety staff that are not prepared to be out there in this that they were more concerned about.

• 20:28Rich Roll?

  Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it was treacherous. And when you say like, this could never take place in the United States, it would just be an impossibility. You would, no insurance company would underwrite.

• 20:38Chris Hauth?

  Well, the coast guard, the coast guard would have shut that thing down.

• 20:41Rich Roll?

  There's no, you cannot let people swim out here. And in Sweden, they're like, looks fine to me. Go for it. You got, I mean, the fact that in Sweden and the history of this race, they were still thinking about modifying the course, given how, given the conditions says a lot, because anything goes at this thing.

• 20:56Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And 1400 meters doesn't sound that far. And nor when we looked at it, I mean, we were getting our, our, our distances, we were understanding them better during the race, because later in this, the race, we would look at like a 600 meter swim and be like, oh, uh oh, here we go. Right. Whereas before we'd like, ah, 600 meters, whatever. But because of the conditions, it made it that much more daunting. But 1400 meters for the pig swim, like, it doesn't sound that bad. But when we're on the top of that cliff, and you can barely see that strobe over there, and the whitecaps and the currents moving, and then you see these boats tilting that are in the middle of that crossing, and then

• 21:36Chris Hauth?

  you realize you're squinting just to see those boats because of the rain and the wind? Like, I can't even see the boat halfway.

• 21:44Rich Roll?

  I know. It was beyond absurd. But I loved it. Like, that was the most fun of the whole experience, because I'm out like halfway into that swim. We lost touch with each, with each other. I didn't even, I don't even know where you were. And there was one boat that I could kind of see. And then, you know, every third or fourth stroke, I could see the strobe light. But it was easy to get disoriented. But you're just getting pitched in the waves and you're just like. What am I even doing out here? This is crazy. Like, I would never do something like this. I may never, ever again do something like this. This is truly a once in a lifetime experience. And I just felt like this overwhelming sense of like, like gratitude. Like, I'm in the middle of this craziest thing you can possibly imagine. And I like smiled. I was like, this is awesome.

• 22:29Chris Hauth?

  I was the same way.

• 22:30Rich Roll?

  This is something like, like, I'm gonna get across. Like, just relax. And it's a great kind of test or example of how you have to let go. Like, you can't fight these currents. You can't control any of this. Just swim the best you can. Keep that beacon in sight. Pick your line. Stay focused on that and like, just relax. You'll get across.

• 22:50Chris Hauth?

  I was laughing at times because you're just swimming along going, I can't believe this. My, my body got completely turned sideways. I got hit by a wave and next thing I was facing completely south.

• 23:03Rich Roll?

  Yeah, you could very easy, you could easily be turn around and start heading back where you came from and not even notice it.

• 23:08Chris Hauth?

  Because the, the, the waves would hit you from the side. You get knocked around a few times. My paddle got knocked off. It's hanging on my wrist. You know, I'm stopping to fix that and I'm underwater. I mean, you, you miss a breath and you can quickly understand too, what it's like in ocean, open ocean for some of these swimmers or people who are rescue swimmers and stuff like that. It was so intense. And then you look up and you see these boats just getting tossed and turned. And you're like, I'm glad to be in the water.

• 23:39Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I know, right?

• 23:40Chris Hauth?

  Because those guys look miserable. Yeah, safer and they look sick on there.

• 23:45Rich Roll?

  Right. And every, every finish of every swim, you, you don't just like run, run up on the shore. Like, every single one had this like 20% sheer rock face that you had to scramble up on all fours. Like, literally on all fours, like bouldering up these things to try to get it. And then you kind of crest it and then the winds. You'd be like, the wind was insane.

• 24:07Chris Hauth?

  Well, even before that, I mean, I was thinking a few times, in the United States, if they put this race together and you're getting slammed against rocks by waves.

• 24:17Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 24:18Chris Hauth?

  Call it right there. I mean,

• 24:20Rich Roll?

  Like there was that one swim where there was that little lighthouse buoy thing? And like, we were trying to track around it and like, it would be so easy to just crash right into that thing and get racked up.

• 24:29Chris Hauth?

  Yep. And be stuck. Yeah.

• 24:30Rich Roll?

  And if you tried to, if you picked the wrong exit point on that swim, you're getting washed.

• 24:34Chris Hauth?

  Washed out to sea.

• 24:35Rich Roll?

  Against boulders.

• 24:36Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And against boulders. But a few times even the organizers said, well, we'll pick you up three, 400 meters down the coast. You're like, what? And then the next day, we understood what they were talking about.

• 24:47Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I know. It's unbelievable. Like you watch the videos, you see the photos and they all look epic, but like to be in it, it was just, just fantastic. It really was.

• 25:06Rich Roll?

  But uh, but yeah, it was, I would say it was the hardest one day thing I've ever done in my life. Like it, it really tested me to, to my core. Like I had to dig so deep just to get moving. Like you're, you're constantly bending over to duck underneath branches. Like my back was so tight and it just, every aspect of, of just trying to traverse the terrain and keep moving without stopping was daunting.

• 25:32Chris Hauth?

  And keep in mind, every time we fell or tripped or something, that's so many extra movements where you, where you're sore. And then all of a sudden you have to catch yourself properly and then go back to running. There's no rhythm in this at all.

• 25:46Rich Roll?

  Right. Um, and again, you know, the game plan, the idea was that when we finally would reach like open space and we could run that, you sort of like you, you gingerly go through the tricky, treacherous, technical aspects. And you pick your moments to drop the hammer and go hard when it opens up. But I just didn't, I didn't have it in the tank to do it. Like I felt the, the thing that was looping in my mind was I just felt bad because I was holding you back. I mean, for the record, like you were fresh as a daisy throughout the entire thing. I was like, if Chris wasn't with me, he'd be up with the leaders. Like I felt, I felt terrible about that. And I, at one point I even said to you, I was like, I'm sorry, man. Like I'm, I'm literally, I'm trying as hard as I can, but I just don't have any more to give. Like I just gotta like,

• 26:29Rich Roll?

  Like put the blinders on and just make sure that I finished this thing and I don't cramp up or anything like that.

• 26:34Chris Hauth?

  But we had with that, because of all that, if we were like charging and being aggressive and so on, I don't think we would have enjoyed this day and experienced it the way we did nearly as much. I mean, the fact that we could sort of relax and sort of take it all in, like stop for a moment before a swim and look at what we're doing, or meet people on the course the way we did. I mean, there, sure, there's competition, but then there's also like, let's take a moment.

• 27:03Rich Roll?

  Camaraderie.

• 27:03Chris Hauth?

  Exactly. And take a moment and understand where we are. And I, like I told you yesterday during the race, I was like, we signed up for this together. Like, there's, who cares? Like, I could have tripped and rolled my ankle. I could have had cramps as well. Like, it is, it is what it is. And here we are, and we're going to do this. And the fun, and the fun is the wrong word, the, the confidence deep down inside, knowing that we're going to finish it, and this is just going to take a little bit longer, was very assuring all the time. And I never had to think about it because I knew you're pretty steady and tough like that, that you are going to just find your pace for your day, and we're going

• 27:45Chris Hauth?

  to get through it. And, and, and it was. And we finished and was, was just such an overwhelming emotional day in that aspect.

• 27:56Rich Roll?

  Oh, so much so, you know, so much so. I mean, there are moments, you know, the interesting thing is, in a race of this length and distance, for anybody who's done anything, you know, in the, in the realm of this understands, there are moments where you feel great, and there are moments where you feel terrible, the highs and the lows and the ups and the downs. And to be able to just relax with that and know, like, I feel terrible right now, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's how you're going to feel an hour later or two hours later. And just be like, just keep going, just ride it out.

• 28:27Chris Hauth?

  But here's the coach's corner part of it. And that is, there's days that are going to be like you had yesterday for everybody, where even after the first, you know, eight to 10, 12, 20 hour event, and you're going to not feel good already.

• 28:41Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 28:42Chris Hauth?

  The first hour. And the voices and the emotions and

• 28:47Chris Hauth?

  The self-talk that's happening those in those moments because you know this is, I knew it was going to be difficult, but now it's going to be even more difficult because I'm not feeling good. That's where you have to trust in your fitness. You have to trust in the work that you've invested in yourself in the training. And that's not miles run at a certain pace or distance or yard swam in the pool. That's the consistency of the daily emotions you have in training. Right? Where you build that foundation that yes, I will finish this. I know I can. And you don't even have to dig into those yesterday. You just know deep down inside I've done the work.

• 29:29Chris Hauth?

  I will traverse this distance. I don't have to think too much or ask myself too hard to do too much about it. It's going to be a difficult day and here we go.

• 29:39Rich Roll?

  Yeah. And, and that was definitely my mindset. And, you know, I was able to tap into that because of my experience in other races and just all the work that we've done together. Like everything that you've, that you've prepared me for in the past. So yeah, that 90 minute mark when my legs felt like I can't even run anymore. I knew that somehow I was still, you know, when there's nine hours left, that I was still going to be able to finish because of that work. And it was interesting, like every time we would jump into the water, it was so refreshing. Like I was like, ah, cool down your core body temp, let the legs relax a little bit. They cool down, they start feeling good. You're kind of dragging them behind you.

• 30:24Rich Roll?

  And I would think, well, maybe that'll just flush it all out and I'm going to feel better running on the next segment. But then you're faced with climbing up that rock again, and you just repeat the whole process over and over.

• 30:34Chris Hauth?

  But what you just tapped into too, is that endless optimism you need to have during an ultra endurance event. You keep wanting to think ahead to it will be, it could possibly get better. So therefore I'm going to continue to charge on, to march on, stay steady. Don't get emotionally too high or too low. Who knows? Maybe the back half of this, I'll feel great. So that's that endless optimism that a lot of ultra endurance athlete, athletes, I think, display. Because they're like, who knows? I have the experience of knowing that something good might still be happening down the road. And so I'm just going to keep plugging away.

• 31:13Rich Roll?

  Yeah. And I felt that that last three and a half K, the final run to the finish shoot, like I was able to run, you know, in a way that I hadn't been able to do all day long.

• 31:23Chris Hauth?

  Although I had to yell at you the first time all day.

• 31:26Rich Roll?

  Well, we hit that hill. Yeah, here's the thing. Finishing up, you're coming into this town. You can see the ferry and the pier and you see the flags and you're like, there's the finish line. It's right there. And instead of finishing right there, instead, there's a sign that says, turn left and you go straight up this hill for like a half mile. And I was like, are you fucking kidding me?

• 31:48Rich Roll?

  And then that was the one time where you were like, stop it.

• 31:51Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And he's like, well, I think I might have to walk here. I go, we're not walking on the last.

• 31:56Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 31:57Chris Hauth?

  You can, if you cramp, you'll cramp, but let's cramp or get to the finish line and deal with cramping then.

• 32:04Rich Roll?

  I know. That was, I mean, what a way to finish it though. Like right. I mean, it was, it was like, I didn't know that. I didn't know the map well enough to know that that was there. So it was more the surprise. Yeah. Like they just like, let's just grind you one more time before we let you off the hook here.

• 32:18Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 32:18Rich Roll?

  What was the, the highlight and the low point for you?

• 32:22Chris Hauth?

  I would say the pig swim as well, just knowing that it was such a unique thing. And we've talked to other athletes after the race and even those that have done Eutelé a few times have said, this was the, that was the funnest year to do the pig swim. That was just so exciting. The low point, I don't know if I really had a low point emotionally. I mean, physically, of course, you go through highs and lows of, you know, lower energy and I needed an aid station or needed to drink something. But it was just so, so much to take in from those beautiful forests to those amazing islands. And the, the scenery was so harsh, but yet alive that I never felt emotionally low

• 33:07Chris Hauth?

  because there was just so much positive, extreme input. But, um, no, I mean, the fun part too, was learning a lot about myself with regards to racing with somebody for the first time. And I'll be. Honest with you is the first 90 minutes when you were struggling to figure out like why your quads were bothering you and what was going on of also being able to say, you know what? You know, this is, this is a team thing. And you know, it's the first time in my life where I've ever had to do that.

• 33:39Rich Roll?

  You're like, come on, seriously?

• 33:43Chris Hauth?

  You could tell though, early on, I was still saying, hey, you know, just settle in or let's take this a little bit harder here because then we'll work a way around this. And I was still trying to be a little bit strategic, but then after a while it's like, you know what? Let's just back into this is our day and now let's make the best of our day versus comparing to others or our expectations.

• 34:06Rich Roll?

  Yeah. Well, as far as I could tell, you were nothing but positive and encouraging and relaxed about the whole thing, which went a long way to helping me relax and just, you know, allow it to happen. If you were like 90, we're 90 minutes. Come on, man. Like I trained you better than that. You know, if it was like that, I probably would have gone into some kind of weird spiral.

• 34:29Chris Hauth?

  Well, I tried a few times where I said the, remember I was like, you know, just try to find your running stride that you have on your long runs at home. Like try to find that place where your body is in rhythm with your mind.

• 34:41Rich Roll?

  That was helpful.

• 34:42Chris Hauth?

  So I was trying a few times to just take you away from this extreme conditions and put your mind back onto some of the beautiful trails you run and you're light on your feet. Remember I kept saying, try to be light on your feet, run your stride like at home, not thinking about this treacherous footing here.

• 34:59Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 35:00Chris Hauth?

  Find a rhythm and maybe that will help versus being tight, right? Focus so much on the ground and where we are and like, oh my gosh. So I hope that helped a bit.

• 35:10Rich Roll?

  Yeah, it definitely helped. Although then I would remember that I'm like, the other thing that happens is your shoes filled with all kinds of detritus. Like I had dirt and gravel and like little stones underneath my, so you're like doing these, this crazy long run with all this stuff in your shoes, you know, that ordinarily you would just stop and like shake them out or whatever, but you like, well, if I do that, it's just going to happen again in a half an hour. So you just have to like go, all right, this is what it is.

• 35:36Chris Hauth?

  You did change shoes the day before the race.

• 35:39Rich Roll?

  I did. I know. I know.

• 35:42Chris Hauth?

  I still had mine.

• 35:43Rich Roll?

  I don't.

• 35:44Chris Hauth?

  It drained nicely.

• 35:44Rich Roll?

  Well, the shoes that I wore, I think I still, they had a lot, they had some good support. You know, like, and I think that was good. Like, the other shoe I was gonna wear was a very light.

• 35:53Chris Hauth?

  Would have been too light.

• 35:53Rich Roll?

  I think it would have been too light. It probably would have gripped better on the slippery stuff, but I think it would have banged me up pretty good because it didn't have enough like sort of support.

• 36:02Chris Hauth?

  It would have hurt the quads for sure.

• 36:04Rich Roll?

  Yeah. So, you know, not the best shoe, but you know, yeah, that was a last minute substitution.

• 36:09Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, the old, the old adage, don't change your gear the day before the race. We're cutting wetsuits.

• 36:15Rich Roll?

  We made a last minute decision to cut the sleeves off our wetsuit, which was a good one.

• 36:19Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 36:19Rich Roll?

  Because the water wasn't that cold. I mean, it was, it was cold, it was 58. It wasn't like warm, but it.

• 36:24Chris Hauth?

  But it was not worrisome.

• 36:25Rich Roll?

  Right, exactly. And it felt good in there. And so that was fine. You then put those sleeves onto your calves and use them as sort of compression socks.

• 36:35Chris Hauth?

  Which were.

• 36:36Rich Roll?

  And that was smart. I used these other kind of, I decided not to use a pull buoy. Everybody puts, uses a pull, straps a pull buoy to their waist of their leg.

• 36:43Chris Hauth?

  The pull buoy idea the last second.

• 36:44Rich Roll?

  Yeah, so I decided not to do that because it's such a hassle getting in and out. I actually still stand by that. I think it would have messed me up to be always fiddling with that thing. And I had these kind of padded flotation calf sleeves on that Jonas, Jonas Colting, who's won this race many times and won Ultraman and has done this race every single year. He started a wetsuit company and that's one of his products and he gave me a pair of those and I wore. They actually worked pretty well. Like, my legs would float quite well. So, I don't know that the no pull buoy thing was that big of a deal. It might have been, if I had it strapped to my back and had figured out and practiced with it a little bit more, maybe that would have been fine.

• 37:21Chris Hauth?

  Which we saw a lot of competitors.

• 37:22Rich Roll?

  A lot of people were doing that. Their kits were like totally dialed in. And these guys that know what they're doing, who are experienced, it's really quite something to watch them execute. They're just hopping on these rocks and just skipping along and they're so fast on these transitions. And they train out on this course. They know exactly where to get out of the swim, where to put their feet, which rock to climb up. Like, it's all scoped and they've just got it dialed.

• 37:47Chris Hauth?

  And then the tether, which was interesting. We learned a lot about that because it would have allowed me to pull you at certain sections. And then, you know, it also keeps you close enough. I could have also helped you out of the water because you're tethered to the person who's on land, whether that's you or me. Because there were a couple of times where you took a way better line getting out than I did. So a lot of it makes more sense in hindsight. But I mean, again, we, we knew that going in that we're going to have a massive learning curve here. And so if you'd look at Attilo the way we do now for the world championships, you would approach it completely differently from, not necessarily from the training. I think we would maybe add another segment into our training weekly where you do more of that obstacle running.

• 38:32Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 38:32Chris Hauth?

  And of course, in the 24 hours before the race started, I reminded Rich, like, remember, we want to run like we did, you know, on the big boulders in Tahoe when we're coming down that climb. He's like, what? Wait, what? What are we doing?

• 38:47Rich Roll?

  Well, I think, yeah, I think I wouldn't change the big days, like the big, long runs that we did and the big sort of swim run simulation workouts that we did.

• 38:55Chris Hauth?

  42 mile run here.

• 38:56Rich Roll?

  Yeah. And, and I think we were well served by having that. And I think that that's probably something that not, not a lot of the athletes do. They don't have that huge endurance base. But rather than do like a lot of tempo runs or interval work, I would find some kind of bouldery place where I would, you know, work on my scrambling and my climbing and, and get more functionally strong. Spend, spend some time in the gym, you know, focus on core work a little bit more and even just, you know, just general overall strength and, and agility, like doing agility exercises. So I get comfortable like tiptoeing around and, and landing on uneven surfaces and all of that. Cause yeah, I run trails and I do lots of elevation and I do.

• 39:39Rich Roll?

  Quite a bit of volume, but I had zero experience with that at all. Like it's just a skill I've never developed and that was the primary skill. I think that, that you know, distinguishes the people who really know what they're doing from everybody else.

• 39:53Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, you have to be able to withstand that first, or did Yona say three and a half, three to three and a half hours of really technical hard terrain in order to then still have the fitness and the legs and the, the energy to then open it up to make it more of an endurance race. Exactly. But I would also say that our training, you know, had we not had the quad stuff and, and the issues with the, the cramping, um, it would have been interesting to see where we would have shaken out. Um, if let's say you take all our walk segments out of it, or you take all of our slower segments, we're dealing with that. I mean, you know, you throw us an hour more, uh, faster.

• 40:36Rich Roll?

  We could slice an hour off it, no problem.

• 40:38Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And so that, you know, that puts us into for not ever having done this. So despite not having the ex, the, the expertise of the unique climbing and bouldering and, and traversing and, and bushwhacking, we would have been pretty far up there another hour faster. So I think our fitness did display itself. And I think there's a space in swim run, which for a lot of the athletes that did the race yesterday, that could use more endurance training. But that brings us back to what Attilo and swim run actually is. And most places it's a totally different type of training and different type of race.

• 41:16Rich Roll?

  Yeah. The other races are much shorter.

• 41:18Chris Hauth?

  Exactly. And it's more threshold and it's more speed and it's more swim favored and it's much easier on the body. You get out on beaches versus straight up a boulder.

• 41:27Rich Roll?

  Yeah. So we finished in 10 hours and 44 minutes or something like that, something like that. Uh, we were 41st, the, we came in 41st place. I think we were the fastest American team. There were, I think there were three American teams, right?

• 41:42Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, I think we.

• 41:43Rich Roll?

  So we were the, we're the, we're the reigning American champion.

• 41:49Rich Roll?

  In the highly competitive burgeoning swim run scene in the United States. I think it's worth talking a little bit about

• 42:00Rich Roll?

  about the integrity of this race and the kind of ethos that the that the series and the race founders have have really crafted and promote through Ode to Low. Like, Michael, who's kind of the face of the sport, he created he created the race with it's Mots, right, is his partner?

• 42:18Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, they're the media company that owns the rights and so on.

• 42:23Rich Roll?

  Right. And Michael is just a beautiful guy. Like, I knew he was a special guy, but the night before the race, when we had the race meeting, and you got to hear him get up and talk and really kind of recollect the history of how Swim Run began, and his aspirations for not just the day to follow, but what he wants this world to be all about, are really, you know, beautiful. Like, it's all about sustainability, it's about it's about natural preservation. They have a rule that if you are caught littering at all, it's an immediate disqualification. You cannot drop anything on the course whatsoever. At all the aid stations, they had high-quality natural products, not just gels and sugary drinks,

• 43:07Rich Roll?

  but they had homemade energy balls. Like homemade, like, I don't know what was in them, like, I think it was like cacao and dates and nuts, and maybe some coconut or something like that.

• 43:16Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 43:17Rich Roll?

  Super tasty, you know, I was eating those all day long, those and bananas. They had an electrolyte drink called Precision Hydration, which is a very low glycemic drink, and that worked really well for me. So, yeah, they don't want any junk, they don't want you dropping junk, and they don't want you ingesting junk throughout the race. And and I think that's a beautiful sentiment. It's all about like celebrating this these extraordinary locations where they hold these races, and really holding them in high regard and respecting them.

• 43:47Chris Hauth?

  And the human connection was amazing, too. I mean, he brings these 300 athletes into this room in the middle of nowhere in the world, right? And he immediately connects with everybody in the room. Well, before that, he hugs every single person as we get off the ferry.

• 44:04Rich Roll?

  You get off the ferry, you get a hug.

• 44:05Chris Hauth?

  And he, as if he knows your story already. And then he has this very passionate description of the race and why it means so much to him. And how it truly is in partnership and you look out for one another. And until you go through the race, even if it were less extreme than yesterday, we understand it better in the extreme conditions from yesterday. But it truly is about looking out for your partner and looking out for the people around you. Because there is a big component in that yesterday where if you're not careful, bad things can happen. And he realized that way back when he took over this race. And he wants people to look out for each other, to go from this spot in the world,

• 44:49Chris Hauth?

  300 people as ambassadors of human connection and caring for each other and the people around you. And he lives it, he breathes it, he displays it. I mean, we got a hug at, coming off the ferry. We got a hug at the finish line.

• 45:06Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 45:06Chris Hauth?

  We got a hug leaving today. I mean, the guy is just so connected to every one of his ambassadors that go out into the world, having, having experienced this amazing location and event.

• 45:21Rich Roll?

  It's very unique. You just don't, you don't normally see that kind of character. And it spills into every aspect of the race. And yeah, one of the things he said in that, in that opening, on the, at the opening night was, look, if you see somebody who's in trouble, like you stop and you help that person.

• 45:39Chris Hauth?

  This is no longer a race.

• 45:40Rich Roll?

  Yeah, it's like, it's not a race anymore for you. And, you know, we didn't experience that in the extreme, with the exception of that one person early on who fell. And, and that person was being attended to. But there were plenty of times where somebody, some other competitor reached their hand out to help pull me up a rock. And I push people, you know, people up from the butt. And, you know, you're all just kind of in there, doing it together. And that was really cool. And the other thing is, they do an amazing job with storytelling, like. Have you ever been to an ultra race where they have a live webcast simulcast that's on YouTube that goes for, it was on for like 12 hours?

• 46:18Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 46:18Rich Roll?

  And they get professional sportscasters who've done their homework and they have crews out on the course, you know, with the top guys and in the middle and all the way at the back and they're telling stories the entire time. And I kind of tweeted that out like, hey, if you want to watch, you know, here's where you can do it. So many people thought, oh, well, I'll just check in and see how Chris and Rich are doing.

• 46:37Chris Hauth?

  And they got pulled in.

• 46:39Rich Roll?

  And they're like at work just watching it for hours or staying up super late in the night.

• 46:44Chris Hauth?

  I heard back from people like that too.

• 46:45Rich Roll?

  To watch it, yeah. And they're like, this is, and it's just blowing people's minds. They're like, I knew it was hard, but like, this is unbelievable. So I think the fact that they prioritize that and they understand that, you know, having their media dialed in really helps tell their story and espouse the, the ethics and the, and the ideals that they're trying to promote through their race. Like it's, it's, it's a really cool thing to watch.

• 47:06Chris Hauth?

  And I also think it's great. They're taking that over from that core four, because we met a few of the core four over the last few days. And those original four that came up with this event on a bet on the back of a napkin that live out there and are familiar with out there, they just talk the same way and they, um, the human aspect and the nature aspect is exactly the same message. So Michael took over this race, really bringing that to another level of wanting to promote what they felt and saw and realized with this event originally to a bigger platform.

• 47:52Rich Roll?

  So what are your, uh, what's your biggest takeaways from the experience?

• 47:56Chris Hauth?

  Well, one that I absolutely loved it.

• 47:59Rich Roll?

  Yeah. You were like all in, man.

• 48:01Chris Hauth?

  I was all day. I was laughing and high fiving.

• 48:05Rich Roll?

  And just to know Chris is to know like the harder it is, the harsher the conditions, the more difficult it is, like the more elated you become, like you just start to just get like ecstatic, you know, the more difficult it is.

• 48:17Chris Hauth?

  It was pretty visible yesterday. I was having a great time.

• 48:21Rich Roll?

  Well, at the finish line, when we got the hug from Michael and he's like, you know, he's asking you questions or whatever, you're just like. You were just like beaming like that was the most and you've done, I mean, how many of these kind of races have you done? You know, it's not like, nothing surprises you, right?

• 48:34Chris Hauth?

  No, no, but this really was a new level of adventure and it's, it's exactly what I keep saying, right? When you can use your lifelong experience and fitness and walk into an adventure like to yesterday was and be able to soak it all in and live it and breathe it and smile through it and enjoy it. That's fitness, right? That's health and fitness to me in the ultra endurance world where it's like you can take on an adventure like that and just soak it all up like a sponge and finish with that elation and that smile that we had is, is so rewarding. It was really great.

• 49:17Rich Roll?

  Yeah. I mean, it's one of the highlights of my life. Like I, I just, I can't believe we did it, you know, in, in hindsight, looking back, like it was just yesterday, like yesterday at this time we were in it, you know? And I was like, oh my God, such a hard day, but then to complete it is just the most incredible feeling because it was, it just doled out more adventure than you can possibly imagine. It was just extraordinary. And you know, some of the Swedes were like, sorry, the weather was so crazy. And it's like, are you kidding? Like, we live in California. Like, if we're gonna do this, like just bring everything you've got and they, you know?

• 49:54Chris Hauth?

  I kept saying before the rate, uh, after the race to people, they're like, what'd you think? And I was like, if I wrote down in a journal before we came here, what the perfect, cool, you know, adventure would have been about this day or how I envisioned it, it would have been yesterday. Right? Of course I didn't understand at that point what that meant with regards to the swims and how harsh the conditions could be if it's blowing like that and the chop and the distances in the water, but it was everything that I could have asked for, um, for that type of event. And, you know, the other thing that I wanted to say is that Of course, it was an amazing day, but to experience it as a team with you, I mean,

• 50:36Chris Hauth?

  that was, it was so much fun too, because never worrying about us finishing and just sort of being able to focus on each other as not, "Hey, you can do it, man." It was more just like, "This is, this is how our day is."

• 50:50Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 50:51Chris Hauth?

  And we're just gonna experience it and let it unfold, how it unfolded, which was complete rookies turning around the next turn going, "All right, here we are."

• 51:02Rich Roll?

  Like, "Well, now we're gonna go up that," I guess.

• 51:05Chris Hauth?

  I mean, I'm totally grateful for that because there was such a beautiful aspect of it that we're both so new, like, doing it with somebody that would have done it before, it's not the same. But I knew going around a corner, I was like, "He's thinking the same thing I'm thinking."

• 51:18Rich Roll?

  Right, because they'd be, they'd be, it would be much more serious, all business. "Okay, here's where we tack left, this is where we do this." And, I mean, even in that, you, the idea like that, that, the idea that I had, like, when I was, when we finished that, the 13-mile run, was that, "Okay, we're basically done." Like, there's just a couple of short segments we're on. But then I looked at, we rode all the distances on our hand paddle and I kind of did some math and I was like, "Wait, we still have nine segments to go."

• 51:42Chris Hauth?

  And it was the classic ultra endurance volunteer that goes, "Hey, you're almost done."

• 51:48Rich Roll?

  Right, I know.

• 51:49Chris Hauth?

  And you're like, "No, we're not."

• 51:52Rich Roll?

  Yeah, there's quite a bit to go. And even the, the swims were really short at the end, but there were, there were like these gigantic bald-faced rocks where we literally had to like scale down 40 feet to get to the shore, like, trying to figure out how, how are we gonna get down there and not kill ourselves?

• 52:09Chris Hauth?

  And then that amusement park flume, I mean, you wouldn't draw, make a flume like that in an amusement park because it would be too fast, but it was that perfectly smooth water going across that rock. And I was like, "What is this, some sort of flume joke that we're just gonna walk through?" But no, it was deep enough that the water was moving through so quickly.

• 52:30Rich Roll?

  Yeah, unbelievable. Well, Thank you for, uh, for coming up with this harebrained idea and enlisting me to do this with you because it was just, it was a beautiful gift that I will never forget my entire life.

• 52:45Chris Hauth?

  Me too.

• 52:46Rich Roll?

  And it's been a pleasure, uh, you know, preparing for it and doing it with you. I mean, it was just, it was an honor to do it with you. Like I just, I can't imagine it being any different. And so, thank you for that.

• 52:58Chris Hauth?

  Thank you. I mean, I was saying to others this morning, like being able to do it with you. And then we have this amazing opportunity to not only have these memories in our mind, but we have it all documented.

• 53:13Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 53:14Chris Hauth?

  With our photographer.

• 53:15Rich Roll?

  We have Tomas here who came on his own accord because he was inspired by the adventure and he wanted to photograph it. And so, uh, Tomas, why don't you come over here for a minute or grab Chris's mic?

• 53:27Chris Hauth?

  We have these amazing images of our day.

• 53:31Rich Roll?

  He took incredible, incredible photographs. He was in a wetsuit all day in these boats pitching around and then getting out of the boat and climbing up on the rocks and anticipating our arrival to be in the perfect place to take these pictures. And we would see him there in this wetsuit with the wetsuit booties on and rain gear with his, with his camera covered in all kinds of plastic to prevent it from getting damaged. I mean, what was that, what was that like for you? I mean, it had to be, you had your own ultra event to contend with.

• 54:00Speaker 02

  Well, thanks for that. Um, yeah, I mean, the whole event was, um, was just such a big production, you know? My, my biggest fear going into it was how are we going to, um, logistically, how are we gonna do this? And, um, and as we, as we got along, I mean, first of all, I just wanted to say thank you to Josephine, um, she's the PR organizer for the race. Um, and, um, and everybody over there on the, on the course. And it was just fantastic getting the help from the driver, the boat driver. He knew exactly where to drop me off, where to find, where to find you guys. And especially Emily as well, because she was actually looking over the, the, the scoreboard and where everybody is.

• 54:44Speaker 02

  I think you guys have GPS trackers on, on you, right? So that was, that was, uh, that was great. So, so it was, it was intense. The wetsuit helped. Um, I was looking at, um, Jacob, Jacob is the official photographer. I'm seeing his pictures and I was like, you know what? He's wearing a wetsuit over there. That's a good idea. And little did I know, actually, the wetsuit was a was a, I think it was a five millimeter thick wetsuit and it was just perfect and I had these booties. And I was running in those booties on those rugs behind you guys and it was it was slippery. But you know, I felt like, you know, like this is my chance right now. I have to follow you guys and get what I can.

• 55:24Speaker 02

  And honestly, you know, when I finished and I was like, I hope something came out of it because it was raining sideways. It was getting cold there. I think, you know, you guys were pretty warm all day because you're moving so much. But we had moments where we just sit there and just don't do anything and just wait in a boat. And there were moments that we just had to just jump around and just just keep warm all day, you know?

• 55:46Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 55:47Speaker 02

  And um.

• 55:48Rich Roll?

  So you're in a wetsuit for like 11 hours yesterday?

• 55:51Speaker 02

  Pretty much.

• 55:52Rich Roll?

  To take pictures.

• 55:53Speaker 02

  It's still drying in the my room over the upstairs.

• 55:57Rich Roll?

  So is it what you expected?

• 55:59Speaker 02

  Oh, you way more than that. I mean, I was expecting, you know, just beautiful visuals and everything. But the the weather just really turned it up. And honestly, I loved it. I loved every minute of it.

• 56:10Rich Roll?

  Right.

• 56:11Speaker 02

  I was in my element.

• 56:12Rich Roll?

  In your element, man. Well, we're really glad and grateful that you came. It's been cool. You know, it's cool that you came up to Tahoe and we got to know you a little bit. It might have been a little bit weird if we hadn't met you and you showed up. You know what I mean? Like, so I think it was great that it worked out that way. And, you know, we've seen some of the pictures that you took, not all of them, but a couple selects and they're they're fantastic. And they'll they'll be cherished, you know, forever from this experience. So I can't thank you enough for that. It was interesting. Is what's the guy's name who's the main Jacob is the main photographer for the race?

• 56:44Speaker 02

  Jacob Atrom. Sorry, Jacob, if I mess up your name.

• 56:46Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 56:47Speaker 02

  Uh, but his photos are amazing and.

• 56:49Rich Roll?

  He was in the water.

• 56:50Speaker 02

  He was in the water.

• 56:51Rich Roll?

  At one point, I swam right by him and he's literally like in the water in a wetsuit with his camera, taking pictures like it was crazy.

• 56:57Speaker 02

  Yeah, um, I'm.

• 57:00Speaker 02

  What can I say, I would love to come back over there and photograph the whole race. My main focus is to find you guys and get shots of you. And it was, that was the biggest challenge. And going in, and again, I want to thank the organizers, especially Josephine, for helping me find the driver of the boat. And, and Kalap was his name, was the driver of the boat. And he was, those, like you were talking about the pig swim. Those wells over there, I was sitting on the, on the little ledge behind the boat, right? And I never had a life vest on, but he saw me just bobbing the up and down on the back of the boat. He's like, hey, put this on right, right away.

• 57:38Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 57:39Speaker 02

  You know, because we were going up and down, up and down. And, but you know, halfway through the race, we figured out how to put the heat on. Because it's getting cold and the boat wasn't working, right? And actually we lost power in the first couple of hours. So the boat was just going really slowly until we had to pull over to a little, little marina over there and they figured out how to, I think that the engine overfilled with water or something like that. So again, the organizers came through, they, they helped me jump on their press boat. And, and they really took care of me and everybody there. And it was just, you know, like you feel love in this race. It was, you were there to experience the nature, but, but you feel love from, from everybody around you. You know, it was fantastic.

• 58:23Rich Roll?

  Yeah, it was cool. Like even at the end, the very final two kilometers or whatever, there you are, you and Emily, like sitting in the back of a car, like driving in front. I was like, where'd you get this car?

• 58:35Speaker 02

  I didn't know where we got this car either. I mean, apparently everybody knows each other over there, you know? And Kalap was saying in winter, I think in February, the Uto, which is the final island. I think there's maybe like five or six people living there.

• 58:49Rich Roll?

  Right, on the whole island.

• 58:50Speaker 02

  So I guess everybody knows each other. And here there was a car, somebody from his family, I guess.

• 58:54Rich Roll?

  They're like, sure, drive on the course, it's fine.

• 58:57Speaker 02

  He's like, yeah, I know this road, you know, I can, I can drive you all the way to the finish line. I was like, what? Okay, cool.

• 59:02Rich Roll?

  Yeah, it was great. Well, I look forward to seeing the rest of the pictures and, you know, truly an honor and a privilege to have you along with us. And I'm so glad that, that you enjoyed it.

• 59:12Speaker 02

  My pleasure. It was my pleasure. It was great.

• 59:14Rich Roll?

  Yeah. And I want to thank, you know, everybody from the organization as well, Michael and Motts, and all the amazing staff members and people associated with the race. We were just treated with grace and dignity and we were welcomed. You know, it would have been easy for them to say, oh, these guys, they, they don't, you know, they've never done this before. Who do they think they are? Anything like that. But everyone was just amazing and wonderful. And we just met so many cool people.

• 59:38Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And the competitors were amazing too. Also welcoming and so friendly is, is just all part of the bigger experience.

• 59:47Rich Roll?

  I know. So, final thoughts before we wrap it up?

• 59:52Chris Hauth?

  I think everything that we prepared for, prepared us somewhat for the day. But I think we come out of it not only fitter, stronger, smarter, but also with experiences that just make us better athletes, healthier athletes, smarter athletes. And it's a good launching point for whatever you want to do next.

• 1:00:15Rich Roll?

  I don't know what that's going to be. Got to figure that out.

• 1:00:18Chris Hauth?

  It'll take some time.

• 1:00:18Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:19Chris Hauth?

  It's hard to top this too. I mean,

• 1:00:21Rich Roll?

  Yeah.

• 1:00:21Chris Hauth?

  the emotions, the intensity of the experience to go to much of anything else, you have to sort of temper it down because you can't match what that was.

• 1:00:34Rich Roll?

  Right. So, thank you, Chris. Thank you to everybody associated with Eau de La. And thank you to all the competitors that welcomed us. And I also wanted to thank all you guys out there who are listening to this. We were on the receiving end of just an amazing groundswell of support out there. It's been a privilege and an honor to kind of share and be transparent about my preparation leading up to this. And, you know, I kind of diligently put everything up on Instagram stories. Like, here's my workout today. I just wanted to like, here's what I'm doing, you know, leading up to it. And And and then right before the race, kind of tweeting out and saying, oh, if you want to watch the race, here's the live cast and so many people jumping on board and then

• 1:01:19Rich Roll?

  just getting so much like beautiful feedback from people out there who watched it, who were cheering for us. And that means a lot. That's an amazing thing. And so thank you for that because that was truly wind in our sails and I don't take it lightly and I appreciate it greatly. That's it. I think we did it.

• 1:01:38Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 1:01:38Rich Roll?

  Anything else you want to say?

• 1:01:40Chris Hauth?

  You know, I think our fitness and how we came into it prepared was the best we could do. I mean, I don't, I wouldn't look back and say we couldn't have done anything different or better. Sure, now that we know more, but I think we did a pretty good job going into it with our little swim runs, with our training camp, with our long runs, with our swim fitness, because it was sure nice going into every swim yesterday, just this, I got this.

• 1:02:09Rich Roll?

  Yeah, the swim was not a problem. I enjoyed every swim. I didn't struggle with any of the swimming whatsoever. I wish there was more swimming, you know, as a matter of fact. So that was great. Like, I wouldn't change a thing about that.

• 1:02:20Chris Hauth?

  Yeah. And so from the coaches' corner aspect of it, it's like, forgiven that we didn't know the exact details of the race, I think we were pretty well prepared. And I like what we did and how our buildup was and we're healthy. We both said that at the start of the race. Like, you know what? We're here healthy. We're here fit. And now let's see how the day will unfold.

• 1:02:41Rich Roll?

  And I think healthy emotionally, like, we went into it with a healthy dose of humility. We weren't in it thinking, you know, having some kind of grand expectations about how we were going to measure up. We were very in touch with the fact that we were going to be toeing the line with people that know a lot more about this than we do. And and just being, oh, totally okay. That's, yeah, like, we're not here to like, impress anybody. We're here to participate.

• 1:03:05Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 1:03:05Rich Roll?

  You know, and I think, I think that was. Appreciate it on their part as well.

• 1:03:09Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, I think we respected the race for sure.

• 1:03:11Rich Roll?

  And I think that's important.

• 1:03:13Chris Hauth?

  Fair competitors that respected what this race is and the racers it spits out.

• 1:03:19Rich Roll?

  Right. Because in the wake of, there's probably going to be some people that are listening to this or like, I want to, you know, there's going to, they may have an influx of people next year as a result of all the sharing that that we've been doing about this, who are going to want to do it. And, and I would say to those people out there, it's the adventure of your lifetime. Like, go for it. But understand that this is unlike anything that you've ever done. And it does require that healthy dose of humility and a level of preparation. That's going to be completely different to anything that you're used to, no matter how advanced you are in triathlon or ultra running.

• 1:03:51Chris Hauth?

  Oh, yeah. How many times did he say during the pre-race meeting, this is not triathlon?

• 1:03:57Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I know. Well, I think they have a history of triathletes coming in who who think they have it all dialed in and and they're they're ill-equipped to to to sort of, you know, understand that this really is a different beast altogether. So. Awesome, man. We did it. I feel great. I'm so grateful. What an incredible, extraordinary experience. I mean, I knew that we would walk away from from this with great memories, but I had no idea that it would just be, you know, in many ways, sort of life-defining. Like, it really is, you know, something that I just will, I will never forget and I will always cherish.

• 1:04:32Chris Hauth?

  I will never forget Labor Day 2017 ever again. I even said to you during the race yesterday, this sure beats barbecuing.

• 1:04:41Rich Roll?

  Yeah, I know, right? We could be doing that. There's one guy who has all of the islands on the course tattooed on his leg. And I was like, well, I don't have any tattoos, but if I was going to get a tattoo, that's, that would be as good as anyone I could possibly imagine getting all those islands, you know, inked on me to, not that I need the reminder, because, you know, I don't need to be reminded of what what it entails. So. All right, man. Well, thanks for spending the hour with me.

• 1:05:06Chris Hauth?

  Thank you.

• 1:05:07Rich Roll?

  Thank you, Tomas. If you want to learn more about Etele and Swim Run, you can go to eteleswimrun.com. They did, like we mentioned earlier, they did this live cast. It was 12 hours long, but it's on YouTube. So if you have 12 hours to waste, you can watch it. But there's actually a lot of video. If you just search on YouTube, you'll find a lot of cool videos. Sometime this winter, they'll put up like an edited, like sort of

• 1:05:34Chris Hauth?

  30 minute version.

• 1:05:35Rich Roll?

  30 minute version of it.

• 1:05:36Chris Hauth?

  This year, yeah.

• 1:05:36Rich Roll?

  Last year's was just gripping and amazing. So you can watch the 2016 one that's up there now, and I'll alert everyone when the next one comes up. If you want to connect with Chris and all of his wisdom, the best way to do that is aimpcaching.com, or he's at @aimpcouch on Twitter and Instagram. Anything else you want to let people know about?

• 1:06:00Chris Hauth?

  No, that's good.

• 1:06:01Rich Roll?

  All right. And what's next for you?

• 1:06:03Chris Hauth?

  I don't know either, but I definitely like the Swim Run.

• 1:06:07Rich Roll?

  Yeah, you're hooked.

• 1:06:08Chris Hauth?

  I might be hooked, but you know, of course, we did the ultra endurance version of it. The other ones are way shorter, so I might not be as enthralled by it.

• 1:06:17Rich Roll?

  But it might be fun. I think there's four races in the United States right now. There's one in North Carolina, San Diego, Maine. I think it's the big one. And there's, I think there's one other one.

• 1:06:26Chris Hauth?

  And they're growing it quickly.

• 1:06:28Rich Roll?

  Yeah, so perhaps we could hit a couple of those.

• 1:06:30Chris Hauth?

  Yeah, exactly.

• 1:06:31Rich Roll?

  It would be fun to kind of help welcome the scene to the United States. Like, this is a beautiful and fantastic and super fun alternative for the burned out triathlete. And the fact that there are a couple of races, people are now starting to kind of hear about it. I see the sport growing. Like, it is absolutely in its infancy in the United States. It's, you know, people in, in Northern Europe are all about it. Like, the day before the race, I did a training session with Jonas Colting and a couple of other people. And we were running all over the streets of Stockholm in wetsuits and jumping in the water and swimming across channels and getting out and like dodging tourists and business people. It was crazy. You know, and then we, I posted on Instagram, like, we're in the lobby of the Grand Hotel,

• 1:07:13Rich Roll?

  which is like the Waldorf Astoria, in like dripping wet wetsuits. And I'm like, this is crazy. Yeah, no. And, but in Stockholm, like, there's groups of people that are training this all the time. Like, they see it and they're like, oh yeah, those are Swim Run people. Like, it's a thing here.

• 1:07:26Chris Hauth?

  Yeah.

• 1:07:27Rich Roll?

  And so I think it's only a matter of time before it becomes a thing in the United States. And to the extent that we can be Kind of encouraging catalyzers for that, that would be really cool too.

• 1:07:36Chris Hauth?

  As well as keeping with the theme that we've been given, right? With what we learned up on that island of with the human connection and the nature connection of not of giving back while you're doing this sport.

• 1:07:49Rich Roll?

  Yeah, and that was a big alluring point from the very beginning. Like the fact that that ethos is what this world is all about was one of the reasons why I wanted to do this race because I wanted to, I wanted to be part of that.

• 1:08:01Chris Hauth?

  And we definitely felt that and to be part of it, maybe as ambassadors here in the United States and taking part in some of the growing events to help continue on that message, I think is respectful to those core four that started it and Michael, the race director, and also what we believe in.

• 1:08:19Rich Roll?

  Yeah, absolutely. All right, man, we did it.

• 1:08:22Chris Hauth?

  Awesome.

• 1:08:23Rich Roll?

  How you feel?

• 1:08:24Chris Hauth?

  I feel great.

• 1:08:25Rich Roll?

  Good, man. All right, well, let's go enjoy our final hours in Stockholm.

• 1:08:28Chris Hauth?

  All righty.

• 1:08:29Rich Roll?

  All right, everybody, I'll be back here in a couple of days with another episode of the podcast. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Rich Roll and I'm just gonna leave it at that. That's it for today. Thanks, you guys. See you soon. Peace, plants, namaste.