Episode 78: WTCS Abu Dhabi WTF & Triathlon Tea

In this episode the hosts discuss recent race results, athlete training updates, and the importance of nutrition in triathlon performance. They delve into the highlights of the WTCS Abu Dhabi, including the men's and women's races, and recap the mixed team relay, emphasizing the competitive dynamics and standout performances. 

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Trathlon Podcast and Upcoming Races
02:59 Athlete Updates: Training and Upcoming Events
06:01 Training Insights: Balancing Volume and Intensity
08:57 Nutrition Focus: The Importance of Protein
12:04 WTCS Racing Recap: Men's and Women's Highlights
21:03 Mixed Team Relay: Drama and Results
22:48 The Rise of Mixed Team Relays in Triathlon
25:55 Analyzing Recent Race Performances and Future Predictions
27:57 The Impact of Paywalls on Triathlon Viewership
29:29 Super Tri's Acquisition of Mass Participation Races
30:32 Upcoming Events and Athlete Participation
33:21 The T100 Calendar and Its Implications
38:52 Social Media Trends and Athlete Engagement
41:53 Uncertainty Surrounding World Championship Locations
46:36 The Evolution of Ironman and T100
48:29 Resurgence of Ironman Events
50:47 Race Ranger Technology in Triathlons
54:46 The Importance of Coaching in Triathlon
01:05:57 Bucket List Races and Future Aspirations

The conversation delves into the evolving landscape of triathlon, focusing on the increasing popularity of mixed team relays, recent race performances, and the implications of paywalls on viewership. 

The discussion also highlights Supertri's acquisition of mass participation races, upcoming events, and the T100 calendar, while addressing the uncertainty surrounding future World Championship locations. Additionally, the hosts explore social media trends among athletes and the growing engagement of fans in the sport. In this conversation, the hosts discuss the evolving landscape of Ironman events, particularly in relation to the T100 series and the increasing participation rates among younger athletes. 

They delve into the significance of technology like Race Ranger in ensuring fair competition and the importance of effective coaching in triathlon training. The discussion also touches on personal aspirations for bucket list races, highlighting the challenges and excitement that come with endurance sports.

Trathlon, WTCS, athlete training, nutrition, race results, Ironman, triathlon podcast, Triathlon, Mixed Team Relays, Race Analysis, Super Tri, T100, World Championships, Athlete Engagement, Paywall Impact, Ironman, T100, triathlon, coaching, Race Ranger, endurance sports, bucket list races, athlete development, technology in sports, event participation

Transcript

Jenna-Caer (00:01.09)
We are back with another Trathlon podcast brought to you by Mana Apparel. As always, we're gonna catch up on everything going on in Trathlon, which we've actually had some racing. So we'll have some race results to talk through with WTCS. And then we'll jump into our usual What the F and social media posts of week and a bit of Trathlon tea. There's definitely lots coming out and we'll take a little look at the season ahead between all of the different race series going on because there are a few of them.

So we'll jump into it, catch up with the crew, see how they're doing. We haven't chatted with Fede for a bit, so let's see what are you up to these days, Fede?

Fed (00:37.309)
Yeah, hi guys, good to be back. was well, it's been a bit of a crazy couple of weeks, but now everything's coming down to a bit more normal schedule for me. And yeah, training, starting to train a bit more consistent right now. Not swimming a lot because, you know, life.

But I talked to my coach about this and he said to me, if your swimming time is getting a bit in the way, probably as much as it hurts me, we're going to have to cut down the swim time a bit. And I was, you know, smiling because, you know, swimming. Yeah, crying myself to sleep because I was not going to be in the pool five days a week. Just depression. Yeah. No, I was.

Jenna-Caer (01:17.23)
True, devastated. Yeah.

Josh (01:27.941)
Only five days a week. mean, you're still, you're still swimming three days a week. That's not bad.

Fed (01:31.945)
Yeah, three days a week. It's not too bad. But I was scared that he was going to bump up the mileage on the water. no. So yeah, doing that training for looks like probably St. George or well 70.3 Hawaii. It's definitely yes. Already signed up for that one. And then yeah, we'll see. But happy to be back and

Talking to you guys. Yeah.

Josh (02:03.624)
Was, when, when they had that like brief opening and 70.3 St. George, was that just the pro registration or when I sent that to you, it for age group as well?

Fed (02:14.045)
No, that was just the pro registration. Yeah, for age groupers, I think the race is not sold out yet, so I still have a couple of days to decide. Also, yesterday the Patagon Man lottery opened and I'm very tempted.

Josh (02:16.073)
Yeah.

Fed (02:33.897)
because you know I've been trying to get into Norseman for the last couple of years and I thought maybe if I do Patagon Man it's gonna be easier for me to do Norseman but maybe if I do this race I'll be mentally scarred for life with this you know super tough long distance races so I don't know yeah still debating on that one

Jenna-Caer (02:49.582)
You

Josh (02:55.806)
Well, we'll have to nudge our friend Carolyn and see if her and her husband can help you this year.

Fed (02:59.445)
Mm.

Right, yeah, 100%.

Jenna-Caer (03:05.388)
There we go. Well, how about you, Josh? Sounds like you've been putting in all the mileage and volume these days. What's going on in your world?

Josh (03:12.436)
I'm trying to catch Jenna because every time I look and think I had a big mileage week or a big, hour week, it's like, Oh, Jenna nudged me by about a few hours again. Now let's be fair. She is training for an Ironman and I am training for 70.3 is a marathon. So little difference, but I am training for 70.3 and a marathon at the same time. So it's been interesting. Um, obviously not trying to PR my marathon in Boston, but I will be doing Oceanside on April 5th and then two weeks later, the Boston marathon. um,

Fed (03:15.69)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (03:20.792)
you

Jenna-Caer (03:25.518)
Small difference.

Josh (03:41.557)
Not doing the full like long run buildup to that you would normally do for a marathon, but my overall mileage each week is getting up there. I'm looking at people who are training for Boston and I'm like, my overall mileage is more than theirs. I'm just not doing the 60 mile long run. but I'm biking 15 hours and swimming and all of that. So I, I, I'm actually really interested to see how I feel in Boston. Um, and I am doing all of.

Like my Saturday long run is on the course, so it'll be really interesting there too. But yeah, since Puerto Rico, I've kind of been, uh, right around the 19, 20 hour, uh, range. So last year it was like 13, 14 hours. I look at my Strava. It's like this time a year ago, you're like 350 % more swim miles. And it's just, and it, it, and we say it all the time to our own athletes, to, to other age, like just get in the pool and, and put the time in and get the feeling. And I'm up to three or four days a week.

And for me, that's a jump, but it's been consistent and that has made a huge difference. And like I was doing six by fifties before my main set last night. And I think my last 50 was down in the one 10 range. And for me, that's nuts, to even think about, and it wasn't really taxing and to be able to do that and then go into five by four hundreds and on the six 20. So, things are really ramping up and.

The expectations that my coach is going to have for me at Oceanside swim is going to be a little earthy. Now, if I can have the swim that she thinks I'm going to have at Oceanside and I could potentially have, then maybe sub five at Oceanside is on the table with the amount of hours we've been putting in. So it really comes down to how does the climbing go for me on that course on the bike? And then I'll tell you, I'll be fit.

for the run and I'll be fueled and everything. So if I'm healthy and feeling good that day, think Oceanside could actually be a much better race than I thought it might be. With the goal still being Oregon and Chicago is like my two main races this year. But the calendar's filled up and man, I pulled my back a few weeks ago too. And was like, we just worked right through it. And I was able to rehab it while...

Josh (06:01.128)
continuing and not missing a single workout. And, and I really think that that active recovery helped me get through it as opposed to just taking a week off or something. which I'm really surprised about. but it goes to show that same injury four years ago would have knocked me out for a couple of weeks. And then the base level fitness has been a huge help for me. And I'm just excited for the year. Cause I don't remember having this type of a.

base ever in my life. it's like, even when I'm tired, I still get amped up to do the next workout. And it's a really cool spot to be in right now. And the intensity is ramping up. had some crazy far like the other night and, um, and the bike I've got a big three, I think I'm up to three by 15 now, um, on the bike. So getting closer to that magical three by 20 type range. Um, so right where it should be for Oceanside. So.

I'm excited. I just need some of the snow to go away and my driveway is a sheet of ice and it hasn't been above freezing in two weeks. So now I'm definitely in Jenna's territory.

Fed (07:08.289)
Mm-hmm.

Jenna-Caer (07:10.038)
Yeah, I am feeling your pain there for sure. Man, way too much time in pain cave these days. I think I'm starting to go little bit stir crazy.

Josh (07:18.836)
Yeah.

Fed (07:19.425)
No.

Josh (07:21.428)
Training for a hut race in Canada in the cold.

Jenna-Caer (07:24.824)
Seems like a great idea. Yeah, see, this is what happens when you go to Kona and you're determined not to do an Ironman until the fall, because that means you'll have the summer to train. But then you go to Kona and you want to go back to Kona because it's awesome. And your teammates suck you into a very hot, very early season race. I know, they really twisted my rubber arm on that one.

Fed (07:27.605)
not.

Fed (07:40.713)
Yeah.

Peer pressure.

Fed (07:48.511)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (07:50.83)
Yeah, definitely in the thick of training these days over here, I'm looking at just over seven weeks to Ironman Taiwan, which is coming up fast and furious. But yeah, in the training group, like there's nothing better when everything's just kind of clicking, the body is absorbing the workload, feeling good. And that's definitely where I am, which is a lot of fun. It's been years since I've trained like this. So it's really nice to be able to put a little bit more of a focus on it.

Josh (08:14.536)
Hell.

Fed (08:17.889)
That's awesome.

Jenna-Caer (08:19.286)
Yeah, just loving everybody. I did my first like Ironman type training weekend. We've been doing things a little differently this year. So it was kind of fun to go back to that familiar Ironman weekend with like a six hour bike ride and then a 20 mile run. I haven't done a 20 mile run in a few years now outside of that. Yeah, that was a jog. The pace on this one was much faster than that.

Fed (08:32.353)
Mm.

Josh (08:37.096)
Well, since Chicago, but that was kind of a stroll.

Fed (08:43.041)
That was a ShakeOut Hangover type of run for you.

Jenna-Caer (08:47.694)
Oh, don't go into a marathon hungover. That was painful. Oh, just not good. Too many, too much wine. Anyways, I'll be less hungover and more sober for this Ironman after all the training going in. But yeah, it's been fun. All the training has been kind of heat adaptation work and most of my long runs have only been

Josh (08:50.718)
Ha ha ha.

Fed (08:53.006)
Wow.

Josh (08:55.422)
Don't go to a marathon with Maka.

Fed (08:57.685)
Yo.

Jenna-Caer (09:14.134)
around two hours, but with a ton of elevation and overdress, so I haven't run any faster paces. So that made it really cool to go do a 20 mile run and just kind of see where the zone two pace is at, even though I haven't been running those paces, and it was solid. So I'm absolutely happy. And whatever Taiwan throws at me, hopefully I'll be ready for it. But starting to get more into the intensity now with last week had a double threshold day, which

That was painful threshold run and then a threshold bike the afternoon. My legs were just cooked. So my coach being a little nicer to me this week, I had a threshold bike yesterday with a tempo run. It'll be the threshold run today. you know, practically easy at this point. Yeah, no, it's good. Only with a few 5 % grades, but other than that, it was fine.

Josh (09:57.693)
Only a couple miles at temper, that's fine.

Fed (10:00.575)
Hahaha

Fed (10:04.991)
No, no, right, yeah.

Josh (10:05.584)
It still feels good though, even at just tempo, when you come off the bike and you get that feel of going somewhat fast. It's such a good confidence builder and gets the body used to it. So yeah, you don't have to crush yourself every time.

Jenna-Caer (10:12.803)
broadly.

Jenna-Caer (10:21.494)
And that's the biggest thing, especially when you're putting in high volume weeks and stuff. If you absolutely destroy yourself on one workout, you're screwed for the next week and you're going to lose out on a lot more fitness and just kind of keeping it steady and consistent. yeah, that's our map. Just kind of steadily cruising along, nothing crazy, nothing insane, just lots of solid work back to back to back.

Josh (10:42.674)
Yeah. I feel like I'm on an Ironman plan, but what is she trying to do? She'd get me signed up for California at the end of the year. It's like you said though, when your body responds and absorbs it, it's a really cool feeling. Like I'm probably on that. We were talking before, I'm probably on that borderline of needing a couple of days down or lower volume, but right now it's the build's been pretty awesome.

Jenna-Caer (10:46.766)
Yep. You got Iron Man volume going on there for sure.

Josh (11:12.38)
And it is absorbing and the key is the fueling and the recovery in between. I've prioritized if I need to take a half hour nap, I'll take a half hour nap and get after it. And like you said, those two high intensity sessions, you have to take a break in between. can't go back and back. can't break it. because those are supposed to be quality on each side. And those have been the big keys to me, like figuring out which order to do them. Cause sometimes she gives me the flexibility, which way to do it and what I can fit in. So.

Making sure if I know I have a hard run session, there is time before that. And I'm not going off of the bike right into a hard front like type of run. when the bike was just an aerobic, warmup type thing. So I will take the break fuel and, recover as much as possible so that the work you're doing is absorbing and so far so good.

Jenna-Caer (12:04.75)
Definitely. And actually talking on the fueling, something that I've been focusing on the last couple of months that's made a massive difference is just getting enough protein. It's one of those things we all know, we all hear all the time, but I actually started tracking how much protein I'm taking in just to make sure I'm getting enough. And it is work to get enough protein. Like it seriously is.

Josh (12:27.124)
Try being 180 pounds.

Jenna-Caer (12:29.038)
Man, at like two grams per kilogram body weight, like that is some serious protein. So, you know, if you are training at home, they're definitely check it out. Kind of sometimes you don't know how much or how little you're getting in. Just track it for a day or two, see where you're at. And I almost guarantee most of us are not getting enough protein, especially keep beating ourselves up.

Fed (12:30.229)
Yeah

Fed (12:34.527)
Yeah.

Fed (12:48.737)
Yeah, no, that's a great point. Yeah, most athletes.

Josh (12:52.916)
It's definitely a huge thing to track carb and protein as quickly as possible after the workout. I've got one powder that's actually a combination of both. So I get my protein and creatine right away and then I'll have, so yeah, sorry, the creatine. So I'll get like five milligrams of creatine right after a really hard workout with the protein, just in a shake format. And there's so many studies out there now that...

Jenna-Caer (13:09.059)
That's another good one.

Josh (13:20.948)
creatine and ketones directly after or kind of where the world's going. And you will retain a little bit of water with the use of creatine. So maybe not use it as you get closer to race day type stuff, but for now, when you're putting on these huge hours and huge intensity volume, the creatine is really helping that recovery process and the muscles grow. So that's been huge for me, but like you said, tracking it, I have a thing in my whoop that

my journal and my whoop, it's, you get 180 grams of protein every day? And so I've been trying to get as close as possible. And most days I think I'm there, but it is a lot for sure. You have to be conscious about it.

Fed (14:02.902)
Hmm.

Jenna-Caer (14:04.898)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, let's jump into some chat about those who are going a little bit faster than us. We had some racing this weekend and it feels like it's been a minute, but it really hasn't been that long compared to most years. But we dove in this weekend with some WTCS racing, had the men's, the women's, and the mixed team relay. And it definitely wasn't boring. So Fede, why don't you tell us what happened this weekend?

Fed (14:29.311)
Yeah, we had WTCS at Abu Dhabi

Josh (14:33.15)
Finally.

Jenna-Caer (14:34.198)
Yeah. You the cancellation last year.

Josh (14:38.59)
Yeah.

Fed (14:40.221)
It seems like we haven't had this race since Covid, since before Covid, but no. It was a cool race to watch.

It's interesting every time how after an Olympic cycle new names start to come up and then names that were already established are not ready on the start lists and start lines. Yeah, yeah, I guess it's that generational passing on the guard every two or three couple of Olympic cycles now that yeah, no Gomez, no Mola.

we didn't see any Norwegian guys on the start list yeah it was it's time passes and but race wise it was a pretty cool race and a very exciting race usually these races is the first one people don't know where they're at fitness wise since it's such a long season but it was a very very cool race to watch on the men's and on the women's side on the men's side we had the likes of

Hayden Wild, know Matt Hauser, Vasco Villaza who were the top three guys and it was it came down to the wire like Matt everybody was thinking that Vasco Villaza was gonna give Hayden a run for his money but it was actually Matt Hauser who was toe-to-toe with Hayden and you could see in Hayden's face he was hurting and he was putting in the work to get away from Matt Hauser and Matt he's a big

Jenna-Caer (15:59.232)
No shock there.

Fed (16:20.067)
Probably he's like your height Josh like he's a tall guy and and Hayden

Josh (16:26.322)
I think when I was right next to him in Boston, I had him by a little bit, but when he was nudging Chase coming out of that swim.

Fed (16:29.501)
there you go.

Jenna-Caer (16:29.678)
you

Fed (16:34.335)
There you go, yeah, so that was an impressive race to watch and hopefully it's an indicator of how exciting this season is going to be. Hayden took the win.

Jenna-Caer (16:45.742)
Yeah, are we just going to see like Hayden Wild dominate this because like, hopefully we do see like you said, basketball asset, Maddie Howser kind of getting up there and really pushing him in here. he, him and Alexey were so head and shoulders above everyone else. Hopefully we don't see a pace where, well, actually just thinking of, we have him in T100. Yeah, sorry, I forgot he's got that T100 contract. Nevermind.

Fed (16:53.248)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Josh (17:04.788)
don't think Hayden's gonna be around much.

Yeah. And there isn't another race until May, I believe. Right. So there's a big break right now with WTCS, calendar. So yeah, he's having Singapore was the fact that he won, I think is a testament to what kind of shape and athlete he is because he's in Singapore. Real right now. And he's focused on, getting in shape for T 100 and, not a sprint distance race that

Jenna-Caer (17:14.275)
Yeah.

Fed (17:14.581)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (17:20.558)
Yes, that'll be in the 6100.

Fed (17:35.722)
Right.

Josh (17:36.244)
Uh, in that heat and all that in the midst of moving houses and buying a house and like that kudos to Hayden. Cause yeah, I mean, Vasco and Maddie Hauser, that was a big race for them.

Fed (17:46.869)
Yeah, it was.

Jenna-Caer (17:46.956)
Yeah, and it's got to be confidence building. So he's switched up his whole coaching setup to going to individual coaches instead of a triathlon coach having, you know, bike coach and doing things a little bit differently this year. So, yeah.

Josh (17:50.772)
Yep.

Josh (17:59.015)
new team sponsors, like, yeah, he's changed, everyone's changing everything right now, seems.

Jenna-Caer (18:05.174)
really is. But good start, so it's got to some confidence and yeah, can't wait to see him in that T100 series.

Fed (18:11.393)
Yeah, it was definitely a cool race to watch and then again Yeah, no I was just I was just looking at the results and the top 11 on the men's side they all of them ran under 15 minutes for the 5k So 11 guys went 14 minutes

Josh (18:17.886)
You speak German to give the ladies results?

Jenna-Caer (18:20.462)
Domination.

Jenna-Caer (18:32.398)
Yeah.

Josh (18:33.128)
Yeah. What the Spanish guy run.

Fed (18:36.769)
The Spanish guy he ran 1439 Roberto Sanchez Manteca and no, sorry the other Spanish guy David Cantero. He ran a 1405 casually Just yeah

Josh (18:42.268)
like it 1439 was the fastest.

Jenna-Caer (18:53.816)
That's absolutely insane.

Josh (18:57.022)
going after the new world records that keep going down in the 5K.

Fed (18:57.473)
cruising. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, no. And this is after swimming and biking. So just next level.

Jenna-Caer (19:09.291)
Well, what went down on the women's side, that was awesome to watch.

Fed (19:13.439)
That was awesome and we had a little bit of drama as well on the women's side, little bit of not pulling on the bike and a few words were exchanged here and there but then again that's racing and yeah everybody played their cards to their advantage and yeah we had a German domination, a German one, two, three with Lisa Terch coming in first place, Nina Im in second place and Laura Lindemann running up the podium in third place

and fourth place was Leonie Periol from France and they were duking it out on the bike and taking pulls and it was a very fast pace race but in the end Lisa had the best of the mold just with a bit of a kick with a few Ks to go she just ran away with the victory and maybe Leonie Periol did a bit of extra work on the bike because she didn't look with that

pop that we know her on the run and yeah the Germans just got the best of her in the end but it was it was impressive to see a one two three from Germany I think the last time we had a one two three it was in the regions he Bermuda

Jenna-Caer (20:29.09)
Yeah, that storied Norwegian finish where they had to start asking the crowd for a third Norwegian flag because they tend to expect to have three on the podium. Yeah.

Josh (20:35.924)
They knew too, but...

Fed (20:36.704)
Right.

Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (20:41.39)
Yeah, it was fun that run. was a bit of cat and mouse on there too. Like Leona Perio, she was kind of pushing it off the front and then forcing everyone to respond. this early season, you kind of never know what to expect. So whether it was a case of on the bike putting in some effort or just early season fitness wasn't quite there yet, it at least kept it interesting till the end. So there was definitely some tactics going on.

Fed (20:44.576)
Yeah.

Josh (21:03.622)
a really cool race just visually to watch too. and, and on the bike path, there's just desert and bike path and like these guys flying around in the Peloton. Yeah. Really, really cool atmosphere. You can see why there's so much attention on that part of the world as far as an athletic Mecca going forward and why all the money's being dropped and put into it with, Hey, the T 100 is now called the T 100 chase to Qatar. And, and now you've got.

Jenna-Caer (21:06.422)
Yeah, I like that bike path.

Fed (21:09.749)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (21:11.532)
Yeah, I'm going out over the water.

Fed (21:14.079)
Yeah. Yeah.

Josh (21:33.596)
Abu Dhabi and all of these other UAE stuff that's coming up and what a huge benefit is for our sport and some of the other endurance sports as well.

Fed (21:44.117)
Yeah, 100%.

Jenna-Caer (21:44.27)
Yeah, and you know, was interesting during that bike was kind of looking at Gwen Jorgensen. So I was saying last year, like this year, she kind of breaks through and like the field they switched up. She was right on the bike with them until like the last lap and a half, two laps, and then it just exploded out. But it would have been interesting to see her coming off the bike with them and see what she could actually run alongside that group.

Josh (22:08.594)
I know she can run with anyone.

Fed (22:08.639)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (22:10.712)
Hmm, absolutely. No, it was really fun to watch that race again and see them back at it and pushing it out on course. But we also had the mixed team relay. So last year we missed out on this too. We missed out on a lot of team relays last year. So it's fun to actually see it back. And there was a bit of drama there too.

Fed (22:22.847)
Yep.

Fed (22:30.273)
Yeah, but which then again, we still have the another German domination with the women and then the mixed team really the Germans took the win. Then we had Team USA and Italy. That was, you know, good for Italy because

Josh (22:30.6)
Just a bit.

Fed (22:48.767)
They're always up there, but to finally have them on the podium was really cool to see and it's interesting to see now how after we had mixed team relays in Tokyo and then in Paris, how teams are starting to learn how to play their cards on the mixed team relays. And I probably, to me, it seems like the mixed team relays is what's going to launch Triathlon into the next, you know, viewership.

category and excitement because it's always fast bass exciting drama and it brings out the team element which is awesome and for someone who's starting to get into triathlon if you show them a mixed-team relays that's gonna hook them instantly

Jenna-Caer (23:35.031)
Yeah.

Josh (23:35.163)
It's a lot easier to root for your country or your favorite country when it's multiple people involved and it is that team aspect. mean, although this race was kind of handed to the Americans and the Italians by the five team wipeout, which included Portugal and so three, three, three nations were completely taken out. think only two survived that crash and were able to get back up and going. So.

Jenna-Caer (23:37.986)
Yeah.

Fed (23:43.914)
Exactly.

Josh (24:01.138)
That was a rough crash coming around a bend, where all five teams went down, which was really crazy. Thank God nobody got seriously injured. looks like I think Vasco took the worst of it and it seems like he's back in training and doing okay too. So I don't think the U S had a second place performance. the Germans definitely ran away with first no matter what. And, but, Morgan and Spivey and them just didn't, didn't seem like they were all.

Fed (24:20.288)
Yeah.

Josh (24:28.762)
there and we all know Morgan just came off of a half marathon training. He's been run training, but he is in the T100 as well too. So we'll see if he can get back in triathlon shape after a bit of run focus early in the season. Although it seems like that's the MO of all triathletes right now in the off season is to see how fast they can run in local park races and set in record.

Fed (24:49.163)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (24:50.926)
I'm runners.

Yeah.

Fed (24:57.377)
Everybody's records from the offseason.

Josh (25:00.183)
It's hard to say like, this is one race. We could look at every WTCS race and be like, Hey, LA, LA, LA. was like, this is all going to change in a year or two. I mean, they're not even accumulating Olympic points in anything right now. So like you said, none of the Norwegians are there. The top Americans, yes, Taylor and Morgan were there, but for the most part, nobody's dialed in on LA yet.

Jenna-Caer (25:10.069)
It's so far out.

Josh (25:27.284)
And unless they are a true short course athlete and not bouncing back and forth, and trying to be an up and comer, which is what the Germans have full boat. although the Germans relay team wasn't the same as the podium girls either too. So it's like their B team won the relay race. So now you're talking six, seven, eight athletes that could potentially help them out, going forward. So it's definitely gonna be a bridge to gap.

Jenna-Caer (25:38.702)
Thank

Josh (25:55.739)
to Germans going forward, I would be my guess, but it's still way too early to tell. And I don't think we can start predicting LA until we get within a couple of years.

Jenna-Caer (26:04.354)
So yeah, half the field that race today won't be in LA. Like it is so far out. But the fun thing about this race was that the Germans actually like they were off the back and we don't often see that in the relays. Like usually it's once you're in the first couple legs, if you're not near the front, you're just out of it. But they actually made, were able to call back, which is something we don't see too often. So it's very, cool. Yeah. Unreal.

Fed (26:05.44)
Yeah.

Fed (26:14.443)
Right.

Josh (26:15.55)
Wow, what a comeback.

Josh (26:25.382)
In one leg too, like she was the last coming out of the swim and then bridged all the way up on the bike and then held on for the lead in the run and, handed it off to the final leg. mean, that was crazy how far they came back from.

Jenna-Caer (26:39.182)
And I will say, you can tell that WTCS, like they're trying to do more with the broadcast. We had some more graphics on screen, which is great. Although the audio was rough on some of the announcing and.

Fed (26:53.503)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (26:54.03)
At one point on the run, I noticed the camera was so shaky that I was starting to get a little nauseous. So they definitely, they have some things to work on, but I think the biggest shame is just that it's all behind a paywall. Like you're not going to grow that audience. You're not going to get people into Olympic distance if they have to pay for it because I mean, sometimes I struggled to pay for it because the coverage is mediocre. Nevermind someone who's never heard of triathlon. So.

Josh (26:58.868)
Mm.

Fed (26:59.243)
Dizzy?

Fed (27:16.894)
Exactly.

Jenna-Caer (27:19.738)
They've revamped everything, so it looks like they are going all in on that whole pay to pay to watch format, which I think it's unfortunate. Doesn't help the athletes, doesn't help the fans.

Josh (27:29.524)
Well, I mean, that's kind of a good transition into another hot topic is the fact that super tri announced their acquisition of a whole bunch of mass participation races, which are sprint and Olympic distance. So there is no paywall there. Anyone can watch super tri race now, which, which races they attach their purists is to, still don't know. But I think one of the factors in what super tri is trying to do is that world triathlon is.

Jenna-Caer (27:38.807)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (27:43.246)
Yeah.

Josh (27:57.535)
pushing people away from watching their races and Super Tri is all about that viewership and all of that. So hopefully that will take off and grab some attention and do what the intention is to get more people into the sport.

Jenna-Caer (28:11.608)
Hopefully, it seems like there are another Triathlon brand that has realized that.

Getting cash through streaming travel just isn't the reality. You have to go to the age group or to the mass participation to make anything that has any real value. the end of the day, saw T100 wanted to be just that broadcast entity and they didn't work out. Now they're jumping into mass participation. SuperTry, like I said, they always said it was going to be focused on the pros and now they're jumping into mass participation. it's definitely, we keep kind of learning the same thing over and over again there.

try they did announce some of the new races that they're taking over. We've got Chicago happening August 23rd and 24th. They've got the Long Beach Legacy Triathlon, which there was all of that drama with Malibu and California before, so they've got a race up and going on July 20th. And then we got Toulouse will be on October 5th.

and the Austin triathlon will be on May 26th and Kerryville on September 27th and 28th. So they've got a few more triathlons under their belt there and hopefully they'll bring the same kind of experience to some of those super tri events and just make it a lot of fun.

Josh (29:25.714)
And there might be one more in North America still to be announced as well for this year is what we're hearing.

Jenna-Caer (29:29.014)
Yes. I'm excited about that one, but I won't say too much until about there. No. So I'd be curious to see, like you said, which ones they actually have pro races at, if any. I don't know. Have they announced the pro series locations yet? No, not yet.

Fed (29:33.921)
Yeah

Josh (29:46.669)
No, so no, no pro contracts or pro series yet. Obviously their first big kickoff is the E games. the super try E games. And that's coming up, which they do have the defending champ and his girlfriend Cassandra both participating. So Chase McQueen's coming back to defend his title. Thunder program is going to be part of that. Johnny Brownlee is going to be part of that. So those names we do know.

Jenna-Caer (29:56.204)
Yes.

Josh (30:14.404)
And if you've never seen one of those, those are indoor sprint swim bike run with the swim in a pool with the bikes off the deck and then a run on a treadmill, which is really, really cool and fast pace and just insane redline VO2 type stuff.

Jenna-Caer (30:32.47)
Yeah, super short, fast, furious.

Fed (30:32.511)
Yeah, intense.

Jenna-Caer (30:37.11)
No, it should be a good watch in there. But yeah, curious to see this year. It just seems like there's so much pro racing. I'm curious to see who they'll be able to get in, especially since they've had T100 tap into so many of those pro athletes that they would usually have racing their series. I wonder what that'll look like this year.

Fed (30:55.475)
Absolutely.

Josh (30:55.604)
Yeah. And the T 100, I mean, calendar is out for the most part, but not fully either. So there's still a couple of dates that is, that are probably not helping, um, super try and buy super try, uh, figure out their calendar. But I think they have an idea of when those things are going to be and that they can work around. And there are going to be some athletes crossing over. There's, there's always the wild card aspect to T 102.

Jenna-Caer (31:01.438)
Ish? Ish?

Fed (31:15.425)
Yeah.

Josh (31:25.488)
Everyone has to do Singapore, but not everyone is doing Singapore. know Paula Finlay announced that she's not going to be doing it, but she got a waiver because she's having some green card things that she's taking care of right now. So she's actually going to be doing Oceanside, which is new to her calendar as well. So there's going to be some changes and then once Singapore, after that, they can then decide which races they want to do.

Fed (31:30.347)
Hmm.

Jenna-Caer (31:43.096)
Mm-hmm.

Josh (31:52.423)
as well. So I would imagine you're going to get some of the short course athletes still coming into SuperTry and SuperTry is a good paycheck. It's great visibility. It's in and out and you're done pretty quickly. So it's not a big tax on the aerobic system.

Jenna-Caer (32:10.222)
Yeah, absolutely. Well, here's what we have for the calendar so far for T100. we, like you said, Singapore, that's going to be the first one. It sounds like all the athletes are required to show up to that race, whether they're racing or not. They got to be on that start line, which is good to see. But if you're traveling all the way to Singapore, you may as well race at that point. But that'll be happening April 5th to 6th.

Fed (32:30.037)
me as well.

Jenna-Caer (32:33.006)
Then we're gonna go back to San Francisco on May 31st to June 1st and then hop over to Vancouver Which I'm excited about that one June 13 to 15 over to the French Riviera and June 27 to 29 Over to London after that for August 9th to 10th, and then we've got Spain Location date to be announced who knows where And then we got Lake Las Vegas again again date to be announced Dubai T 100 November

Fed (32:47.553)
you

Jenna-Caer (33:02.96)
November 15th to 16th, and then that path to Qatar goes December 11th to 13th. So that's a pretty long season. When you're doing the final in December, like we saw with 70.3 Worlds this year, like it's basically survival at that point. It still racing.

Fed (33:12.437)
It is.

Fed (33:21.248)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (33:23.352)
Are you guys looking at going to any of the T100 events or any intros there?

Josh (33:27.378)
Man, if I add another race to my calendar, we'll see. I actually would potentially this year, based on my calendar, maybe jump into one of these new SuperTri events after being part of the Boston one. That Austin event is probably too early, but we'll see in May. But maybe Kerrville towards the end. I don't know. We'll see.

Jenna-Caer (33:30.732)
Ha ha ha!

Fed (33:31.733)
Haha

Jenna-Caer (33:42.904)
No.

Fed (33:43.357)
Josh (33:56.497)
It's so tough because I'm so focused on this potential sub three at Chicago, which is again, that's to run a six 50, six 51 pace. that's going to take a lot of work out of back half of my year. So I would love to, think eventually the T 100 events, I was watching a lot of Lucy Charles, YouTube stuff, cause she's back on and doing her training, vlogs. did catch.

Jenna-Caer (34:03.469)
you

Jenna-Caer (34:13.005)
Yeah.

Josh (34:24.798)
her like behind the scenes of Dubai, the grand final and she wasn't racing, but she was there. And it was just kind of cool to see her interactions with all of the age groupers and everything that goes on on that side of it that we don't see on the T100 broadcast for the most part. they are really good age group events.

Jenna-Caer (34:45.774)
That's awesome. Yeah.

Fed (34:46.305)
I mean, I did a T100 when it was PTO and it was a cool event and I'm considering in doing the T100 Vancouver. That seems cool. But yeah, don't know. Like Josh said, if it's SuperTry, I want to see their calendar, one of those Olympic distance races. That would be cool to go. Definitely also because it...

Josh (35:12.562)
Texas is easy for you to get to.

Fed (35:15.195)
Exactly and it has a pro element you know the atmosphere so I really want to go to one of the Super Try events yeah definitely but still on the fence well Jenna is probably going to beat to every single one of the Super Try events

Jenna-Caer (35:32.942)
man, those ones we'll see this year with Kona being the focus, definitely going a lot more in on the training these days than all of the travel and work stuff and that, but we'll see. I'm looking at the T100 in Vancouver though. Initially I wasn't going to because with the T100 the swim is longer in relation to the bike in the run, which is not my forte, but it turns out it's a qualifier for the long distance world championships for Canadians.

Fed (35:47.626)
Mmm.

Fed (35:53.151)
Yeah.

Fed (36:01.143)
is that so?

Jenna-Caer (36:02.19)
Yeah, so they've got three spots per age group for that one, the biggest kind of in Western Canada. So now I'm thinking, OK, go there, qualify for a long distance world champs next year and kind of mix it up and give that a go again, see if I can have another good result at the long distance world championship. So looking at that one. And it's always fun to set T100 energy. Like it really, really is a cool feeling on site with the pro racing going alongside it. So I'd be curious to see what that age group her feel.

Fed (36:25.525)
Yeah.

Fed (36:30.527)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (36:30.904)
feels like alongside the pro racing. Is it an afterthought or do they really make it a really great age group experience?

Josh (36:37.832)
Yeah. Be interesting to cause I mean, I, we got a really good look into it with Dubai and that Lucy Charles YouTube was really good. and I know there's some others out there from other races, but Dubai, had like the five K race that Yon jumped into and threw down. so I mean, that's a big spectacle and that is Dubai in a nut anyways, but it was the grand final.

Jenna-Caer (36:53.762)
Destroyed everyone. Oh man. Did you want to hear a trick? Oh, Jan was in it.

Fed (36:55.004)
No.

Fed (36:59.904)
Right.

Josh (37:06.812)
last year, so it'd be interesting to see how other races start to incorporate that type of feeling. and if they do that in, in like Las Vegas and wherever else that they may go or what kind of vibe is it in Vancouver? So I think they're about a year or two away from really starting to grab age groupers. If that's the feel that people start to portray coming out of those events.

Jenna-Caer (37:28.846)
Yeah, and people raved about it. a bunch of friends who did the London event and they loved it. The only barrier I see is it's expensive. to give you an idea, T100 in Vancouver is more expensive than Iron Man Calgary 70.3 by a bit. Although if you're in the US, you should definitely come do Iron Man Calgary 70.3 because the Canadian dollar makes it very affordable.

Josh (37:36.968)
Yeah.

Josh (37:45.138)
And we all know how expensive Iron Man is.

Fed (37:55.441)
Yeah.

Josh (37:55.558)
And hit up Jennifer code.

Jenna-Caer (37:57.39)
There we go. But yeah, I surprised by the price of it. So it definitely, that's going to be a bit of a barrier for people. So I'm hoping it lives up to the hype of the experience because not a cheap price.

Josh (38:10.834)
Yeah. When is Vancouver?

Jenna-Caer (38:14.766)
June 13th to 15th. Yeah, so Fed eight, come up, Josh, you can do color commentary of the another Trap on Podcast Racing on site. You can get all the pro stuff while we're out there suffering.

Fed (38:14.849)
June 12th or 13th think. Yeah, there we go.

Fed (38:25.889)
Yeah.

Fed (38:31.073)
That would be good. There we go. Easy.

Josh (38:31.092)
Perfect. That might fit into my calendar. I'll see. It depends on the new job and all that. So still that that we'll have an announcement on that in the next couple of weeks, hopefully.

Jenna-Caer (38:33.536)
Excellent.

Yeah, fair.

Jenna-Caer (38:41.07)
Excellent. Well, we got a few other things going on. Why we jump into our usual segments here with what the F and social media posts. Let's start with you, Josh. What do you got for social media post week?

Fed (38:41.185)
Thank

Josh (38:52.07)
I started hint at it a little bit, think because it's been a few weeks and the season is just kicking off just in general, kind of check out some of the pro athletes and what they're doing on YouTube and, on their Instagram reels and stuff. But I've seen some great training ride content. Lucy Charles just started kicking back on hers. we just came across a new one. Megan McDonald, a pro who was training and kind of vlogged all about, what

couple of weeks in Lanzarote. So if you want to see what it's like to train like a pro for a couple of weeks while in a literally triathlon training Mecca of Lanzarote, check out Megan McDonald's YouTube and really just kind of start to check out a lot of the pro athletes as they're starting to put up their training updates and race updates and race calendars. And we'll start to get more specific on certain posts to check out as we go forward and start to consistently get.

our podcast up, we've got a big interview next week coming up as well. So stay tuned for that. but yeah, it's just, it's, it's YouTube time. so make sure you subscribe and liking your favorite pros and get on your trainer and watch away and the next thing you know, you'll be done your three, four hour ride.

Jenna-Caer (40:10.478)
Well, this is the time for it. We're all stuck inside on the trainer anyways. I know it's been minus 25 here, so I haven't been getting out there for anything. And if you're listening to this on a podcast, definitely go check out our YouTube page at another TrapOn podcast. We're starting to upload all of these to YouTube and we've got some previous pro interviews on there too. So go give it a view, give us a subscribe. That would be absolutely awesome. But there is tons of TrapOn content going on these days for sure.

Josh (40:40.638)
Yeah, absolutely. It's, hard not to find it. and, and even if you start to watch some of like the old Kona or the old niece recaps, there's a lot of good Ironman recap videos and T 100 video. So plenty of content to get you through to when you can actually get outside and ride again. you're stuck in an area like Jen and I.

Jenna-Caer (41:00.037)
Absolutely. Now that brings us to what the F of the week. Now this is something I just had a whole conversation about, but my what the F this week is we still don't know where the 70.3 World Championships are going to be. Or really, we don't know where the Ironman World Championships are going to be for 2026. So usually at this point, we have a pretty good idea of where those races will be and people start to qualify for 2026 in July in a timeframe.

And I know a few people are actually holding off on signing up for 70.3s until they find out where that World Championships is going to happen. So I don't know, it looks like from all the trends, possibly North America would be very cool, but talking to the race directors here in Canada, they don't even know where it is yet. it's yeah, locked down at this point.

Josh (41:53.493)
That's crazy. It's, mean, it just seems like in an ideal world, can we all just come together and share our information instead of competing and making it harder for people to fall in love with this sport? But I also understand it's a business and they're trying to do what's right. But we all know the Kona debate is going to be up in the air until it's back in Kona every year. But 70.3 worlds? Come on. I mean, we should know that by now.

Jenna-Caer (42:22.286)
So I heard some speculation that this is kind of a good theory where if they're not going to do the Ironman World Championships in anymore, are they potentially talking to Nice to do a 70.3 World Champs and then that way they can still give Nice the World Championship level. Yeah.

Josh (42:35.484)
Which they've done before in Nice, right? So, I mean, there's already a standard set. You know how it goes when you go to Nice for 70.3 Worlds. It hasn't been that long since they were there doing it.

Jenna-Caer (42:49.838)
No, I don't know. It'd fun to see it back in North America, a little easier to get to personally, but yeah, I'm just surprised we haven't seen it yet. Although most of the time we use for traveling. Although I mostly use travel and it's an excuse to travel. yeah, hopefully we hear some announcements soon because there's so many point three worlds, but really.

Josh (42:56.325)
Selfishly. Everyone in Topaz is like, no Jenna, come back here.

Josh (43:09.331)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (43:15.79)
2026 Ironman World Championships, like the qualifications aren't that far off from starting, like that's even sooner.

Josh (43:24.628)
That was that, actually reminds me, there was another one I caught briefly last night after I finished my run and had my normal text on, um, was daily tries got his like quiz show and his shows are starting to come back up for the, this season. And he does some great content stuff. And one of the questions was, do you know when the first 70.3 world championships were and where were they and what, so I think it was like 2006, 2009 or 2011.

And then the answer was they were in Florida, but that I knew. Obviously staying close to home for Ironman. But do you guys remember when it was?

Jenna-Caer (44:05.196)
Man, no, 2011.

Fed (44:07.177)
gonna go ahead yeah new 20 2008

Jenna-Caer (44:13.24)
Thank you.

Josh (44:17.94)
Sex? Yeah. Clearwater, Florida.

Jenna-Caer (44:19.214)
Really? Oh geez, yeah. Right? Yeah, because it really, for years, it really wasn't a thing. Like it just, they were, it existed. Oh, there we go.

Fed (44:22.209)
Clear water, okay.

Josh (44:28.372)
Craig Alexander was the men's winner.

Fed (44:31.145)
there we go. Obviously.

Jenna-Caer (44:34.126)
forever ago. Yeah, it really, they've done well kind of taking that from something that just kind of happened, not really tried for, or it's just a thing that happened to making it something that people actually got out of their way to try to qualify for. So Iron Man has definitely done that well over the years, building a bit of a legacy around it.

Josh (44:52.276)
It, the, the middle distance has been a huge feeder for the full distance. think you have people that would never think about doing one 40.6 and it's like, Oh, I did a sprint. Now I can do a 70.3 without having to have that huge leap of 2.4 miles swim really in 112 bike. mean, okay. We, all, most of us can probably get through a marathon with a little bit of training, but it's the other two aspects that are daunting, um, for most people. And, and now you've got that gap bridge.

And now you're starting to see it reverse a little bit to where. Ironman's now pulling T 100 athletes away into the full distance because they really know that there's a potential to make more money in the Ironman pro series. Now. And in order to do it, you can't be just a 70.3 athlete and now you have to go full distance. So look at all the 70.3 athletes now doing Ironman distance last year and even more so this year, which is

Jenna-Caer (45:43.32)
Have a good night, men.

Josh (45:51.249)
a real true testament to Ironman holding hat on what they believed in. And now you're starting to see people leave the T100 to go to the full distance, which probably maybe they wouldn't have done until the very end of their careers otherwise.

Jenna-Caer (46:06.582)
Yeah, see, you know, I still find it ironic that the PTO started as an organization for long distance athletes. But I think that's one of the biggest reasons these athletes are going to Ironman and long distance because it's Olympic distance plus for T100 these days, especially now that they've got all the Olympic athletes in there. Like, if you're an Ironman pro, you're probably not competing like head to head with these T100 athletes on that course, right? Yeah. Well, and even Sam Long, I'm curious to see how he goes this year.

Josh (46:11.046)
Yeah.

Josh (46:30.748)
I can last your Sim long.

Fed (46:33.908)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (46:36.576)
now they're going to have the Olympic distance swim power at the front. I'm surprised he's doing the T100.

Josh (46:36.946)
Ugh.

Josh (46:42.9)
The gap is probably going to be bigger coming out of the swim. don't, mean, Sam love you to death. love all the work you're putting in on the swim, but it's not looking promising for this year based on who you're competing against.

Jenna-Caer (46:46.853)
yeah.

Jenna-Caer (46:56.947)
Yeah, so I think Ironman just came in at the right time with that Ironman Pro Series because as that gets faster, more of the Olympic distance athletes at T100, these middle distance pros even, like they're gonna have to move up to Ironman to get those big paydays anymore because T100 is just gonna be, yeah, Olympic distance plus.

Fed (47:16.575)
Which brings the question, what if Ironman knew about this all along and that's why they pushed the Ironman series and that was their way of telling their pros, hey, I'm gonna protect you. I know that T100 is gonna go into more of an Olympic distance vibe. So why don't you come to Papa again?

Jenna-Caer (47:38.798)
I love your phrasing

Fed (47:42.465)
You

You

Josh (47:46.952)
That I will always remember who's your daddy chant when it comes to Pedro Martinez and the New York Yankees.

Jenna-Caer (47:47.246)
Thank

Fed (47:51.126)
exactly wow yes good times

Jenna-Caer (47:53.646)
Oh my goodness. Oh, that's perfect. Yeah, no, it's good. And it definitely sounds like Iron Man recognizes that this actually has some value. For so many years, they kind of pushed down the pros saying, hey, they don't really have the value for us. We're just kind of doing this to do it kind of deal. But T100 came in and kind of forced their hand to show them that the pros do have value. But it sounds like they're now kind of long term committed to continuing this Iron Man pro series. Because they do see the value in it, all of the buzz around it. And Iron Man.

I just actually had a meeting with the Ironman marketing team and registrations, everything is up.

so much more than it's been in the past few years. There's almost a resurgence happening when it comes to Iron Man events and participation. So that's really, really cool to see. And we're starting to see a younger segment of the population coming in to do it. I was looking at some of the registration charts and data that they sent. it's really like, for so long, we saw Iron Man was 40, 50 plus was the main demographic.

but we're actually getting some new blood in it now, which is really, really great to see.

Josh (49:01.108)
starting with Oceanside, which has like a record number of age group athletes for a non-world championship. mean, I think the number was over 3,600 now or something crazy. That transition's big enough already and I've done it the last two years. So stay tuned for a recon episode on Oceanside as well. I think we're going to put one of those together with some of the talent that we have here and the knowledge we have of that race. But man, that's a testament to what Ironman's doing. And the numbers are just like...

Jenna-Caer (49:11.918)
That's insane.

Fed (49:12.277)
you

Jenna-Caer (49:19.662)
I'm

Josh (49:30.846)
through the roof across the board, but it always starts with Oceanside. then when you can't get in there, you got to find the next one and the next one and the next one. And the amount of races selling out early now, especially on the Ironman side too, it's crazy.

Jenna-Caer (49:43.988)
And that's where they need Race Ranger with that many athletes on course and be like pure red the entire time.

Josh (49:49.139)
That was the race that they couldn't use it last year too. was like, we're all in on Race Ranger and James couldn't get the update to all the devices. So they decided to pull it last year. yeah, we've got a little update from Race Ranger too. So if you're not aware, it was actually used for the first time as an age group solution at Challenge Wanaka, which was last weekend as well.

Jenna-Caer (50:03.458)
Yeah.

Fed (50:04.852)
Yes.

Fed (50:13.12)
Yep.

Josh (50:18.184)
Decent pro field there, but not all the pros were there. what they decided to do was 270 athletes ended up using the race Ranger in the age group field. it went covered all athletes up to the 55 plus age group. And after that, they had to cut it short because of the number of units that they currently have, but they're, growing their, their inventory and the amount of units and they wanted to get a good test event.

Fed (50:20.182)
Yeah.

Josh (50:47.216)
out there and the only problem with it, or one of the problems that they seem to have is when you don't have everyone using it, gets a little difficult when you get into a looped course, especially, which this one had three loops, I believe. You start to get into lap traffic and some of the bikes don't have the units and then you don't know how close you are. then obviously, so that, that is something they'll work on, but from all takes, it sounds like it went really well.

from the people that were able to use it. And even the official saying, like, I don't know how we go back because it made their lives so much easier. And it's going to be a scaling factor. And it doesn't sound like we'll have these big 500, 1000 unit races this year, but most likely next year. And their focus this year is going to be on the pro races and the 40 plus events that they're doing there. So kudos to James and the race ranger team, because it's all about the fairness of the racing and

And these are not draft legal races and we got to keep it that way and keep it safe and keep it fair with a lot on the line with all these age groupers going crazy these days trying to get into the world championships wherever they may be.

Jenna-Caer (51:58.67)
Yeah, hopefully it will lead to some awareness and self-policing where you're seeing that red light in front of you and maybe even just, I hate to say it, but like shame you into keeping the distance too because everyone else can see if you're red right up against the person in front of you.

Definitely be cool to see it on a bigger field and see what difference that actually makes when it comes to raised eggs. There's nothing worse, especially with all of us, like we're slower swimmers and we're coming out and we're usually passing people on the bike. Nothing worse than seeing on the turnaround just a pack going the other direction. You're like, that sucks.

Josh (52:33.404)
And it sounds like they've come up with some cool features to scale to this level too. Cause I think one of the things that they're able to do in the pro race is kind of just tap each individual bike as they come in before the race race morning with the age group race, they were able to have the devices turn themselves on at a certain time. there there's small little pieces of it and technology upgrades that they're making left and right and constantly, but

that is one piece that they wouldn't be able to tap every bike when you're talking 500 to 1000 age groupers that they've thought about. So that's the level of detail that they're going to. And he shared some of the specifics of it with us and happy to share it with you if you have any questions about it, but really cool what they're doing. And I think it's only gonna get better for all of us as that technology gets more advanced.

Fed (53:19.649)
Yeah, it's a matter of time when we see at every World Championship with age groupers that the race ranger is on every single bike and that I think that's where they're heading and it's just a matter of time to have fair racing for all pros, age groupers, everyone.

Josh (53:39.732)
And whether or not it's 12 or 20 meters.

Fed (53:42.369)
Yes. Just make it 20. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (53:43.342)
can't believe that's still on the page. Age groupers, fun, pros, you need 20. There's no question. Doing all this aerodynamic work and doing stuff with Ghibli and stuff, it's just ridiculous to see the benefits of being that close to another bike. I can't believe it's even a question.

Fed (53:54.207)
Yeah.

Fed (54:02.205)
Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Josh (54:05.332)
We saw it in Kona. mean, if Kona wasn't a testament to the 20 meter, mean.

Jenna-Caer (54:10.454)
at those speeds too, it's just even amplified it. It's crazy. And they're like, well, if we increase it to 20 for the pros, we can't do that for the age groupers because there's not enough room. It's like, okay, cool. Do it for the pros. We have different rules already for the pros versus age groupers around slotting in and like where you can be behind other bikes.

Fed (54:23.35)
Yeah.

Fed (54:28.029)
Exactly.

Josh (54:30.42)
Speed limits at Oceanside.

Fed (54:32.809)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (54:34.891)
Anyways, won't go on that rant again. Josh, we had a call out on the Instagram page for some questions from the audience. Did we get a couple good ones? There we can chat about.

Josh (54:46.14)
We did, thank God for archive. Archiving stories, right? So yeah, these were kind of just ask us, who are your coaches and how long have you been with them?

Jenna-Caer (54:48.174)
Slightly delayed.

Fed (54:50.433)
Archive, yes.

Jenna-Caer (55:02.869)
good question.

Josh (55:04.244)
Start with FedEx.

Fed (55:06.049)
Okay, so my coach, his name is Tim Brazier, shout out. He's a guy from New Zealand, really awesome guy. He worked with Triathlon New Zealand for a while.

He coached the likes of Kyle Smith, Brandon Curry, so he's a very knowledgeable guy and yeah, I get along with him very well. He shares my sense of humor, which is, you know, the best one. And I've been with him since 2018, I want to say. So yeah. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (55:40.526)
That's awesome. Yeah, find someone that you can work with and click with. think that's the biggest thing. Half of coaching is just buying in and trusting that person.

Josh (55:40.968)
That's awesome.

Fed (55:48.597)
Yeah, and the reason why we've been together for so long is because he's not just writing the programs and, you know, he engages and he listens. you know, for our listeners, please find a coach that listens and that adjusts or whatever, you know, for instance, this past couple of months have been a bit crazy for me.

He knows that the workload that I would need to perform at the highest level, it's not there. So he adjusts and yeah, he's also find a coach who's always willing to learn, you know, what might work for you on a specific season. It's not going to be the same for the next one. For example, Josh, right now he's doing 20 plus hours a week and that speaks to his coach. Yeah.

just not somebody that's like a robot sending you programs for no reason. Yeah.

Josh (56:46.724)
Especially when you've been with your coach as long as you too fed. mean, things have changed in the coaching industry from when you started to now and the technology and the advancements and the knowledge of fueling and everything all comes into it. And if you have a coach that's willing to learn what the latest and greatest is that that's a huge piece.

Jenna-Caer (56:46.963)
That would be amazing.

Fed (57:05.214)
Absolutely.

Jenna-Caer (57:07.127)
about you Josh, tell us about your coach.

Josh (57:09.588)
So I've been with Benny Gras Thompson for almost a year and a half now. Um, I actually found her thanks to this podcast. had her coach on Parker Spencer, who runs the USA project podium team, and we had interviewed him and I had talked with him afterwards and he said he was starting his own little coaching business outside of USA project podium. Um, and ended up landing with Benny as my coach a year and a half ago and

Man, it's been awesome because she's a world champion. I mean, she has been on the top step at Ironman worlds and 70.3 worlds and at 53 years old is even winning like overall female age group podiums is insane. So the level of athlete she is warrants some respect. And then the person that she is and the friend that she's become has been a huge impact on my life inside and outside of triathlon.

And, and the inspiration that she is a mom of five and I make crazy stuff that she's able to deal with. If she can get her work done, I can get my work done as well. And we have a great communication level, like Fed said, mean, without the, texts back and forth or the phone calls to make adjustments if needed, or, feedback off of pretty much every workout I do, there's a comment or a text or something.

Jenna-Caer (58:13.774)
Thank

Josh (58:38.022)
about the feel or, or is the heart rate accurate? And it's a really cool relationship that we've had. And she's really invested in my season this year, as you can tell the, the training has changed a little bit as we up our goals and, and have had some extra time to do some extra training right now. So the body's responding. She's been awesome about it. And, it's really cool to be that close to the top level of the sport.

with her coach being Parker and everything that he's dialed in with and, and the knowledge that he has with the whole inside program and, watching a, what was that? was watching a YouTube the other day, the, the Zwift Academy and the Zwift Academy was using the inside protocol. And I was like, that's exactly the protocol that I've been able to train with and really neat to see how it's being implemented in other aspects of the sport, and elsewhere and at the top level, like those guys are with the Pro Peloton. So.

Just really awesome. Don't see us changing our relationship anytime soon unless she gets pissed at me for not getting to the pool again. Love you, Benny. How about you, Jenny? You've been with your coach for a while too, huh?

Jenna-Caer (59:42.926)
No, that's awesome. That's awesome.

Fed (59:43.425)
Assistant. Assistant.

you

Jenna-Caer (59:51.926)
Yeah, actually for quite a while here. I've been with my coach Lucho since 2013. So pretty much signed on with him like six months after I started Traphon, decided I wanted to really do something with it. And funny enough, found him from a podcast too. was on a podcast insurance planet. Unfortunately not on anymore, but.

I that I learned a lot from him just through listening to those episodes. And he was previously a pro triathlete with some top results in Kona and stuff and was doing some, yeah, basically coaching advice on endurance planet. And it's funny, I had to harass him for a few months before he took me on. I was brand new to the sport in there, had done one triathlon. It was a 70.3 that I trained for 10 weeks for.

Josh (01:00:39.348)
off a PDF.

Jenna-Caer (01:00:42.718)
Yeah, exactly. yeah, he was had a chat with him and actually learned something from that first conversation. I'm like, hey, I want you as a coach after interviewing a few and he's like, that's great. I'm Okay, so reach out to him the next month. No, no, I'm still full. Okay, so kept harassing him until he took me on. And yeah, one thing I really appreciate is he just does workouts based on how my body is actually adapting. I came to him super A type competitive and said, hey, I want to do my first Ironman.

I've been in just learned how to swim and bike that I want to do well in our men. He's like, Hey, pull your jets. Let's see what your, how your body responds to the workload. It responded. So we kept pushing and every crazy thing I've come to him and said, I want to win this or do this. And he's like, cool, let's make it happen. So it's definitely been a good relationship in there. And I think that brings up the point. All of us are coached remotely, which is really cool technology these days, the amount of data that you can get from.

these Wahoo or Garmin or whatever watches in there and uploading to something like Training Peaks, which I know we all use. It's incredible the amount of data that for coaches, ourselves to see what your body's actually doing in these workouts. It's almost better than being on site and just watching it. So it's pretty cool to see how successful that can be for coaching.

Josh (01:02:01.257)
I think the virtual relationship too, really forces you to get a feel for your own body, to give the correct feedback as well. Whereas you would maybe just be going through the motions and listening and doing what you're told as opposed to actually trying to get a feel for yourself and an understanding of what you're doing and why you're doing the training. Now, I will say the week that I got to spend with Benny in Puerto Rico this year and the week prior in Arizona the year before,

Fed (01:02:01.504)
else

Fed (01:02:07.745)
Mm-hmm. Yep.

Josh (01:02:30.536)
have been huge stepping stones. So if you do get the opportunity to get in person with your coach for a couple of days at a time, once a year or so, it's really nice as well. Especially on the swim feedback.

Fed (01:02:41.537)
Absolutely. was Yeah, I was just gonna add to that that Yes, that's it's just goes to show how technology, you know thrives with long distance coaching but also if you have the chance of spending some time with your coach like like Josh said and I do the same with my coach I I like to do like a training block wherever he's at or yeah, and that just proves that

Jenna-Caer (01:02:44.738)
So that's where it's always useful.

Josh (01:03:09.832)
Feday just likes to go to New Zealand, let's be honest.

Fed (01:03:11.981)
yes. Also, yes. Yeah, that's, that's the only time of the year where I ride outside of the trainer. so, and, and now my mind is all messed up because, know, they're right. They drive on the other side of the road. And if I go out and I start going backwards, I'm just going to get hit by a car here. So that's why I just keep going there. no, but, I was just going to add to that, that it also proves to the fact that coaches need coaches as well. you.

Jenna-Caer (01:03:14.663)
Good excuse to juggle.

Josh (01:03:19.496)
Ha ha ha!

Josh (01:03:26.291)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:03:26.874)
Jenna-Caer (01:03:39.116)
Yeah.

Fed (01:03:41.129)
Yes, you could self-coach, probably all of us could self-coach ourselves, but that's not to say that good is the enemy of better. So if you do have a coach, it's probably better for your mental health and your physical health, because oftentimes we think we are outside of the norm and we can maybe overtrain ourselves or do what we feel like doing. And that's not necessarily what's best for us. So yes, it's important to no matter your, your

level to always have someone in your corner who can look out for your training program and pull your ears when you need to.

Josh (01:04:23.58)
I'm a much better coach of my athletes than I would be of myself by far.

Fed (01:04:27.849)
Yeah, exactly.

Jenna-Caer (01:04:29.39)
Absolutely, I think we could all say that.

And actually, if you are looking for a coach, we are brought to you by Manna Apparel and we've got M &A Coaching, which myself and Fede coach for. We have a promotion going on this month, I believe, where if you do sign up for coaching on the Gold and Up tier, you get a free cycling kit as well. So it's never been a better time to jump in, get some wicked Manna Apparel when you do sign up for that. And actually an announcement is going to be coming out soon about our Manna training camp. So speaking of getting some in-person training, it's going to be happening

in early May and we'll be sending out details about that soon. But we are going down to Cozumel, one of my favorite places I've ever been to train. Now, the thing that makes this camp different is one, all-inclusive. So there's always food available all the time, which is like the absolutely biggest key when it comes to a training camp because we put in some decent mileage, but also it's a training camp for all ability levels. So we have enough coaches on site so that every speed, every pace is able to do it.

on this island with a loop. The last time we were in Cozumel we had someone who was riding their bike outside for the first time. We had people who never done open water swimming before come out to the camp all the way up to Ironman winners, World Championship winners. So we definitely have the gambit and everyone's just kind of out there to have a good time. You find your groups, you find your training buddies and there's always someone to train alongside. So it's definitely a fun and motivational experience.

Josh (01:05:57.919)
Yeah, absolutely. Still, still looking to get to my first one. Maybe, maybe May is the one that I get to. So looking forward to it. And, the community itself keeps going to where what we're over 500 members now, which is amazing. Finished first tri club in the, in division two last year, and now jumped up to division one with over 500 members and, the community's been really involved. Our WhatsApp chat is like, I think I've had probably 30 WhatsApp since we got on this podcast.

Jenna-Caer (01:06:03.264)
Yeah

Fed (01:06:03.423)
Yeah. Let's go.

Jenna-Caer (01:06:09.229)
We are.

Fed (01:06:26.081)
Probably.

Jenna-Caer (01:06:26.51)
Just might have people to geek out with and share ideas with.

Josh (01:06:30.002)
Yeah. And I think it's been that gear and tech talk too. Well, let's do, let's do one other question that we got to, and this one's a good one. And Fede probably alluded to his answer, but what is your bucket list race? One that you haven't done.

Fed (01:06:33.953)
yeah yesterday was intense

Jenna-Caer (01:06:45.784)
For me, it'd be Challenge Raw. That's the one I still, you know, years of watching it and just seeing all the excitement around it and that's Solar Burkhill. That's the one I definitely have to get to one of these days. How about you, Betty?

Fed (01:06:57.791)
Yeah, well, I yeah, I mentioned it before probably Norsemen that would be That would be my bucket list race Yeah, I don't know what it is about that race that Hunt like it scares me but also like challenged me in a good way. So Yeah, definitely need to do that one. What's it exactly what's it legal no sharks, yeah

Jenna-Caer (01:07:17.122)
That's the fun of it. I think that's why most people don't want to

Josh (01:07:19.026)
It's definitely wetsuit legal.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:25.87)
I think that's why most of us got into Iron Man was something that was challenging and scary and and you do so many of them at some point. just, you need a bigger hit to get that same feeling. So Norsemen seems like it would hit the target.

Fed (01:07:27.381)
Yeah.

Fed (01:07:34.913)
Hmm.

Fed (01:07:38.657)
Yeah, yeah. I was talking to a couple of my friends and all of us were like, that feeling of clicking, of finishing the registration for an Iron Man and that gut feeling that you get, it never goes away. You're like, what am I doing? Okay, sign up. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:07:57.678)
Take my money. How about you Josh? What has you excited? What would you want to do?

Josh (01:08:05.332)
Well, I mean, mine has to be Kona because it still hasn't happened and still haven't done the full distance yet. So we'll get, we'll get Ironman California on the schedule at some point and hopefully get to Kona. but at least go to Kona and be a part of it. before I qualify, we'll see, if I can come down this year.

Jenna-Caer (01:08:24.824)
Come down this year.

Josh (01:08:28.348)
You got to get there. let's see how Taiwan goes first. And then, then you can talk to me. Yeah. Jenna's like, I already got that. No, don't worry.

Fed (01:08:28.671)
Yeah. Come.

Come do the half with me in June, well, late May, early June.

Josh (01:08:39.64)
And, and, no, that is the other aspect to you to, do that. that would be one. And you know, what else has started to come up on my list as I get further and further in this longer base training aerobic fat max type world and in the running world. And we just saw Eric Lagerstrom podium at a 50 K top notch race. these ultra races are getting cooler and cooler. And you had.

Fed (01:09:03.105)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (01:09:07.053)
So yeah.

Josh (01:09:09.598)
Chris Lieferman and Eric Lagestrom in the top five at a 50K trail running event that had the top pros in the sport who focus on 50K trail running. And these guys are as in their triathlon world showing up and, and bringing a whole bunch of viewership to it. I love that whole aspect of it. I don't get to do enough of it. I don't do a lot of trail running, but, the ultra world really does entice me because I feel like I can.

Fed (01:09:26.933)
Absolutely.

Josh (01:09:38.484)
have that aerobic base and the pacing and the fueling strategies to do it. Beth McKenzie just finished in the top three at a 102 kilometer race. mean, she's now won one and gotten another podium. So triathlon and triathletes are doing pretty well in the ultra running space. So that doesn't tice me as some, a little bit down the road, but there's a lot of, that takes a lot of triathlon training away. So we'll see.

Jenna-Caer (01:09:51.79)
you

Jenna-Caer (01:09:58.594)
Yeah, definitely.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:03.244)
No, I definitely see some long distance and ultra trail running in my future too. It just looks like it's so much fun. Yeah. Well, thank you as always guys. We definitely had lots to chat about and next week we'll be diving into some race predictions. We have some racing going on on the other side of the world, but for this week, I think we will call it there and we will be back next week with a guest. So come join us. We're going to be geeking out a little bit more on Trapthon with some insider info, I think.

Fed (01:10:08.693)
Yeah. Yeah.

Josh (01:10:32.692)
And bring your humor with you too, because I would imagine there's going to be some jokes dropped.

Fed (01:10:37.665)
Absolutely.

Jenna-Caer (01:10:38.996)
Absolutely. Have a good one guys. We'll chat next week.

Josh (01:10:42.175)
See you everyone.

Fed (01:10:43.073)
See you later.