Kevin
11-17-2008, 01:39 PM
All-around champion Andy Potts
By Holly Bennett
Nov. 8, 2008 – On the eve of the Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championship, I checked in with returning men’s champion Andy Potts.
Triathlete: First of all, I hear you have news to share about a new sponsor.
Andy Potts: Yes, I’m excited about working with TYR! I think they’re the fit I’m looking for. Their tagline [Always In Front] fits really well with how I race, they offer top of the line swimwear, they’re really into the sport of triathlon and they see what triathletes offer their brand. I view that as fitting really well with my personality.
Triathlete: How has your life changed in the past year since earning the World Champion title?
Andy Potts: A lot of it has to do with confidence. It’s been a building block to catapult me into the new season, taking a world title with me into each and every race. There’s no more hiding. I mean I didn’t really hide when I first started because of my strong swimming, but I flashed and then faded in races, and now there’s no fading. For the record, I also won a world title in 2006, in team triathlon, but this is my first individual. When I walked out of the 2006 race I thought, “Hey, that’s neat.” It’s obviously not as widely recognized, especially if I had to tell you about it! For so long I felt like I was knocking at the door of all these big races, but then in 2007 all of a sudden the floodgates opened and big race after big race happened for me.
Triathlete: Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Andy Potts: I ask my wife to pick out my race shirt. She picks the winner. I have a few different color race suits, and she’ll say, “I’m feeling black and red,” or whichever one is giving her the positive juju. And sometimes she’s not sure, so I’ll bring both and she’ll wait to pick one on race morning. It’s one way of incorporating her into it. With Lisa and our son, Boston, I try to make triathlon a family outing. Ultimately I think positive experiences feel a little shallow if you can’t share them. I’ve been in foreign countries before with a euphoric feeling brewing inside me because of a good performance and I look around me and nobody speaks English and none of my friends or family are there. It just doesn’t resonate as soundly.
Triathlete: Do your thoughts wander when you’re out on the course?
Andy Potts: I’m fairly well focused on race day, because a lot of races, despite the length, come down to just a few moments. There are a few key moments that make the difference. And if you’re not ready, if you’re caught napping, that could be your race. I feel like I’m very attentive. Part of the reason is my experience in draft-legal races – if you’re not super attentive, the race is gone.
Triathlete: I know you were pretty crushed to miss out on the Olympics this year. Now, given your incredible performance in Kona, do you have that redemptive feeling that everything happens for a reason?
Andy Potts: When I look at how the Olympic experience played out, I’d say it opened my eyes to the bigger sport of triathlon and not just being pigeonholed into one distance or style. In that one moment I was honestly crushed, but I realized there’s a lot I can do in the sport and it has really special things that I can take with me for the rest of my life. So instead of getting bitter and close-minded, I thought of it as a fork in the road, and I chose to open my eyes as opposed to rejecting it and pushing it away.
Triathlete: Would you have raced Kona if you had made the Olympic team?
Andy Potts: We had kicked around the idea, so I might have, but I don’t think I would have given it the preparation it deserves.
Triathlete: Ultimately, at the end of your racing career, if you could have only one, which would you want more: an Olympic Gold Medal or an Ironman World Champion ring?
Andy Potts: Oh, that’s a hard question. I grew up as a swimmer, and I’d have to say the Gold Medal. It’s once every 4 years. But I’d also like to be greedy and get both!
Triathlete: What well-known athletes from other sports would you like to see give triathlon a try? Who would you like to race against?
Andy Potts: A good friend of mine, Erik Vendt – he’s a 3-time Olympic swimmer, he won silver twice and he can run. It would be nice to have some help out there on the swim, as long as he didn’t drop me! I’d also like to see some decathletes out there, maybe reigning Olympic champion Bryan Clay. They’re some of the best athletes around, but I’d like to get them off the land for a second. I also have a ton of respect for basketball players. They’re kind of freaks of nature. They have speed, strength, agility and power, so I’d love to see a really good basketball player take up the sport. Maybe Kobe Bryant - if he can swim I’m sure he’d be fine.
Triathlete: If you could be a pro in any other sport, what would it be?
Andy Potts: Partly from being American, partly from my dad who played football at Yale, I’d be a football player for sure.
Triathlete: Who would you play for?
Andy Potts: I’d definitely go to school in Michigan and play for the Wolverines. Hopefully that would lead to a career in the NFL. I could play for the Eagles or the Broncos – but really, if you’re in the NFL there’s not a bad gig. I could dig the NFL.
Triathlete: And finally, for each of the following, is it a DO or a DON’T?
Andy Potts:
• Compression socks during a race? If you have time to put them on, you’re not having a great race, so don’t.
• Peeing in your shorts during a race? Do it, for sure.
• Assisting a fellow athlete on course? Absolutely, 100%.
• Pre-race beer carbo-loading? Well, as long as you’re not seriously loading, I think it helps calm your nerves.
• Pre-race sex? I’m a fan. Also helps with the jitters.
• Wearing World Champ stripes on your everyday clothes? Not a fan.
• Finish line marriage proposals? Don’t be that guy. Your partner is giving up enough already for this sport, don’t push it on them that far.
• Men racing in banana-hammock style suits? You know, I would normally say no, but I dig it when someone is just so old school. But honestly, don’t.
By Holly Bennett
Nov. 8, 2008 – On the eve of the Foster Grant Ironman 70.3 World Championship, I checked in with returning men’s champion Andy Potts.
Triathlete: First of all, I hear you have news to share about a new sponsor.
Andy Potts: Yes, I’m excited about working with TYR! I think they’re the fit I’m looking for. Their tagline [Always In Front] fits really well with how I race, they offer top of the line swimwear, they’re really into the sport of triathlon and they see what triathletes offer their brand. I view that as fitting really well with my personality.
Triathlete: How has your life changed in the past year since earning the World Champion title?
Andy Potts: A lot of it has to do with confidence. It’s been a building block to catapult me into the new season, taking a world title with me into each and every race. There’s no more hiding. I mean I didn’t really hide when I first started because of my strong swimming, but I flashed and then faded in races, and now there’s no fading. For the record, I also won a world title in 2006, in team triathlon, but this is my first individual. When I walked out of the 2006 race I thought, “Hey, that’s neat.” It’s obviously not as widely recognized, especially if I had to tell you about it! For so long I felt like I was knocking at the door of all these big races, but then in 2007 all of a sudden the floodgates opened and big race after big race happened for me.
Triathlete: Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Andy Potts: I ask my wife to pick out my race shirt. She picks the winner. I have a few different color race suits, and she’ll say, “I’m feeling black and red,” or whichever one is giving her the positive juju. And sometimes she’s not sure, so I’ll bring both and she’ll wait to pick one on race morning. It’s one way of incorporating her into it. With Lisa and our son, Boston, I try to make triathlon a family outing. Ultimately I think positive experiences feel a little shallow if you can’t share them. I’ve been in foreign countries before with a euphoric feeling brewing inside me because of a good performance and I look around me and nobody speaks English and none of my friends or family are there. It just doesn’t resonate as soundly.
Triathlete: Do your thoughts wander when you’re out on the course?
Andy Potts: I’m fairly well focused on race day, because a lot of races, despite the length, come down to just a few moments. There are a few key moments that make the difference. And if you’re not ready, if you’re caught napping, that could be your race. I feel like I’m very attentive. Part of the reason is my experience in draft-legal races – if you’re not super attentive, the race is gone.
Triathlete: I know you were pretty crushed to miss out on the Olympics this year. Now, given your incredible performance in Kona, do you have that redemptive feeling that everything happens for a reason?
Andy Potts: When I look at how the Olympic experience played out, I’d say it opened my eyes to the bigger sport of triathlon and not just being pigeonholed into one distance or style. In that one moment I was honestly crushed, but I realized there’s a lot I can do in the sport and it has really special things that I can take with me for the rest of my life. So instead of getting bitter and close-minded, I thought of it as a fork in the road, and I chose to open my eyes as opposed to rejecting it and pushing it away.
Triathlete: Would you have raced Kona if you had made the Olympic team?
Andy Potts: We had kicked around the idea, so I might have, but I don’t think I would have given it the preparation it deserves.
Triathlete: Ultimately, at the end of your racing career, if you could have only one, which would you want more: an Olympic Gold Medal or an Ironman World Champion ring?
Andy Potts: Oh, that’s a hard question. I grew up as a swimmer, and I’d have to say the Gold Medal. It’s once every 4 years. But I’d also like to be greedy and get both!
Triathlete: What well-known athletes from other sports would you like to see give triathlon a try? Who would you like to race against?
Andy Potts: A good friend of mine, Erik Vendt – he’s a 3-time Olympic swimmer, he won silver twice and he can run. It would be nice to have some help out there on the swim, as long as he didn’t drop me! I’d also like to see some decathletes out there, maybe reigning Olympic champion Bryan Clay. They’re some of the best athletes around, but I’d like to get them off the land for a second. I also have a ton of respect for basketball players. They’re kind of freaks of nature. They have speed, strength, agility and power, so I’d love to see a really good basketball player take up the sport. Maybe Kobe Bryant - if he can swim I’m sure he’d be fine.
Triathlete: If you could be a pro in any other sport, what would it be?
Andy Potts: Partly from being American, partly from my dad who played football at Yale, I’d be a football player for sure.
Triathlete: Who would you play for?
Andy Potts: I’d definitely go to school in Michigan and play for the Wolverines. Hopefully that would lead to a career in the NFL. I could play for the Eagles or the Broncos – but really, if you’re in the NFL there’s not a bad gig. I could dig the NFL.
Triathlete: And finally, for each of the following, is it a DO or a DON’T?
Andy Potts:
• Compression socks during a race? If you have time to put them on, you’re not having a great race, so don’t.
• Peeing in your shorts during a race? Do it, for sure.
• Assisting a fellow athlete on course? Absolutely, 100%.
• Pre-race beer carbo-loading? Well, as long as you’re not seriously loading, I think it helps calm your nerves.
• Pre-race sex? I’m a fan. Also helps with the jitters.
• Wearing World Champ stripes on your everyday clothes? Not a fan.
• Finish line marriage proposals? Don’t be that guy. Your partner is giving up enough already for this sport, don’t push it on them that far.
• Men racing in banana-hammock style suits? You know, I would normally say no, but I dig it when someone is just so old school. But honestly, don’t.