Bill Garrels Mental Healthlete

We regularly talk about our physical fitness and health, but we don't talk about mental health much. Why mental health is something that a lot of people don't want to discuss and why we should. Our guest this week is Bill Garrels of the Mental Healthlete Podcast.

 

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In Today's Show

• Feature Interview - Bill Garrels
• Endurance News
• • PTO reduces the age group registration pricing in its inaugural PTO Tour
• What's new in the 303
• • Gravel Triathlons Now a National Series; Stagecoach Gravel One of the Stops!
• Video of the Week
• • Big Updates from the Big Unit

 

Feature Interview: Bill Garrels

According Mental Health America, any Mental Illness (AMI) is defined as having a diagnosable mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder, other than a developmental or substance use disorder. Any mental illness includes persons who have mild mental illness, moderate mental illness, and serious mental illness." 19.00% of adults are experiencing a mental illness. Equivalent to over 47 million Americans. 4.55% are experiencing a severe mental illness. The state prevalence of adult mental illness ranges from 16.14% in New Jersey to 25.25% in Utah.

 

Bill Garrels has lived with Depression and Anxiety most of my adult life and created this podcast to support other athletes who are struggling with Mental Illness and help break down that stigma. Bill shares stories from other athletes on how they could not OUT TRAIN or OUT RACE their Mental Illness and find out where they turned to for support. His goal is to provide resources, ideas, and support so you don't have to do it alone.

 

Let's get into our interview with Bill Garrels.

Mental Healthlete on Apple Podcasts

The Mental Healthlete podcast is on all the major platforms and at www.mentalhealthlete.com

@mentalhealthlete on Instagram

facebook.com/MentalHealthlete

@mntlhealthlete on Twitter - though we’ve done nothing with Twitter at all

Bill can be reached at [e-mail]. 

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Endurance News:

 

The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) today announced that its Professional Athlete Board has unanimously voted to reduce the age group registration pricing in its inaugural PTO Tour.

 

Having announced the three-part race series in early January, the PTO’s commercial team received immediate feedback from the PTO Professionals that the pricing of the events did not align to its goal of growing the sport. The PTO Tour events are owned by the PTO Professionals and as such, the professionals are the hosts and age group athletes are their invited guests.

 

Apologising to the age group community and to PTO Professionals for the error, the PTO’s CEO Sam Renouf said:

 

“We are excited to add age group racing to the PTO Tour this year. This will allow fans to not only watch the greatest athletes on the planet – but to step up and challenge themselves in competing at the very same event. In planning this, we looked at other bucket list events, including world championship triathlons and the major marathons. With closed road courses, grandstand seating, the chance to get closer to pro athletes, ancillary events for friends and family to enjoy and unmatched event merchandise, our goal is to create unforgettable VIP moments for every age-grouper.

 

“Having often shared the concern that age group pricing is too high, we initially priced our events lower than the championship events we took inspiration from, with the aim of making the sport more accessible. We also sought to remove the pain points in such races, such as mandatory extra fees and continual upselling for items we feel should be all-inclusive."

 

“We apologise for not recognising this at the outset and hope that the triathlon community can forgive the error. We are grateful for the structure of the PTO, which provides the chance for the immediate feedback of the PTO Professionals when we’ve misstepped. Following a unanimous vote from the PTO Athlete Board, we have subsequently reduced all age group pricing by 50% and will automatically issue a refund to all existing entrants to reflect this.”

 

The inaugural PTO Tour consists of the PTO Canadian Open in Edmonton, Canada, on 23-24 July, The Collins Cup in Bratislava, Slovakia on 20-21 August and the PTO US Open in Dallas, Texas, on 17-18 September. The PTO Canadian and US Open will feature racing over the 100km and 25km distances and The Collins Cup over 100km where age group athletes will not only race their race, but also get a VIP experience to watch the greatest PTO professionals battle it out for the US$1,000,000+ prize purse.

 

What's New in the 303:

 

Gravel Triathlons Now a National Series; Stagecoach Gravel One of the Stops!

By Bill Plock

 

Below is the official new release from USA Triathlon announcing the nationwide Triathlon Gravel Series. There are eight events including Colorado’s Stagecoach Gravel outside of Steamboat on July 31st put on by Without Limits Production.

 

We will take a deeper dive into the vision Lance Panigutti of Without Limits has with his event, but he had this to say about being part of the series. “The Stagecoach Gravel Triathlon couldn’t be more excited to join the fold, as it provides a level of exposure and legitimacy to the endeavor, but the governing structure doesn’t restrict our ability to be creative.  This will also be the first season USA Triathlon hosts its own national championship on June 3rd in Arkansas.

 

Lance Panigutti—I want to amplify that mindset of “embracing the day”, appreciation for the natural environment, and creating experiences that ignite that childlike competitiveness we once felt playing capture the flag at recess. 

 

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Building off the rapidly growing trend of gravel-related races springing up around the country, USA Triathlon today announced the eight local multisport gravel events that make up the inaugural 2022 USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series.

 

Paired with the first USA Triathlon Gravel National Championships to be held June 3 in Fayetteville, Arkansas, the innovative 2022 USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series offers endurance sports enthusiasts a new way to experience swim, bike, run multisport racing at gravel events in each region of the United States.

 

“Gravel cycling is growing incredibly fast and the multisport community is positioned to take advantage of this trend by providing athletes with new and unique race formats and disciplines like gravel triathlon,” said Rocky Harris, USA Triathlon CEO. “USA Triathlon is proud to partner with local race directors across the country to create this exciting new series. As the National Governing Body for triathlon and multisport in the United States, we fully support gravel triathlon and other gravel multisport disciplines, and we look forward to being a part of its continued growth.”

 

The USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series spans the multisport season from May through October and features events across the U.S., with races in New Jersey, Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Idaho and California. Race series participants will receive special USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series stickers and awards, as well as recognition on usatriathlon.org and USA Triathlon’s social channels. Qualification is not required to participate in the USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series or the inaugural USA Triathlon Gravel National Championships.

 

In the leadup to and throughout the USA Triathlon Gravel Triathlon Series, USA Triathlon will share beginner-friendly resources to show how athletes can get started in gravel riding, spotlights on gravel equipment, race reports from athletes and spotlights on local race directors, coaches and clubs who have incorporated gravel into their events, coaching services and club activities, respectively.

 

Upcoming Guests

 

Coach David Warden of 8020 Endurance to help us celebrate our 6th anniversary

T.O. and Rinny to talk about the Couples Championship

 

 

Video of the Week

 

BIG UPDATES FROM THE BIG UNIT

 

 

Closing:

Thanks again for listening in this week.  Please be sure to follow us @303endurance and of course go to iTunes and give us a rating and a comment.  We'd really appreciate it!

Stay tuned, train informed, and enjoy the endurance journey!