Aid station peanuts, fastest swims, and a plea for updated rules for the pro women

From the Bay Bridge to Cambridge, Marc Dubrick and Greg Harper led out of the water in back-to-back weekends at the T100 San Francisco and Eagleman, Lisa Becharas suggests rule changes, plus IM Brazil and two upcoming webinars!

The RTS Squad at Eagleman

In this issue:

  • Eagleman 70.3

  • T100 San Francisco and IM Brazil

  • An RTS Exclusive Chat with Addra

  • Where You Can Find Us

  • Poll Results: Cash ‘Stache is King

  • (New!) RTS Media of the Month

  • RTS Podcast Highlights

Eaglemania Prompts Rule Change Demands for the Pro Field

“Probably a bike PR, but […] Alice Alberts and I got pulled along by two pro men the whole bike. I hope IRONMAN is paying attention and we have some rule changes, e.g. a 10-minute gap between pro men and women, a 20m draft rule, and/or a rule where if you’re [a male pro who is] passed by a pro female on the bike, your day should be over!” - Lisa Becharas

Lisa and Jackson are careful not to mix up 5th place plaques at the Eagleman awards ceremony.

To continue her North American tour, Lisa Becharas did her third race in 30 days and had the 2nd fastest bike split at the Eagleman 70.3 after towing around some ladies and eventually catching and passing eventual second place finisher Chelsea Sodaro. She hung on to finish 5th, because she wanted to go to another awards party and join Jackson Laundry (and his dad), who also placed 5th!

Lisa cranking after getting" “the sh*t beat outta me at the beginning [of the swim]!”

“I think it was a PB bike split for me by about one minute. Definitely super fast and flat! I have done more power several times, but with the group dynamics, it made the most sense for me to not be always pushing hard at the front.” - Jackson Laundry (We were thrilled to see Jackson clock a 1:14 run split after a 1:18 in Chattanooga - only one more race and he’s back running 1:10s!)

Amanda Macuiba placed 10th, carried by optimism and tired legs from training through to Lake Placid. “On top of moving into a new home in the last two weeks, I knew I was going to be tired but was still optimistic it could go well. I just tried to keep pedaling as best I could manage, and thankfully with a little caffeine I found my legs again on the run.”

More highlights: Greg Harper, a.k.a. Poseidon🧜, led out of the water and would later place 14th; Lauren Courtway in her first pro race in 24th; Garrick Loewen in 21st, belly still full of exotic electrolytes from IM Brazil just 7 days prior😳.

Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and Dodge at the 100 San Francisco (Ok, mostly diving)

There are so many races to report on, with two of them having a pair of RTS athletes, so we’re doing a side-by-side Q&A for these next two that happened on the same weekend.

Marc enjoys one of the few flat segments of the T100 course. Gif adapted from 📽️ by Daniel Castaneda

Lisa

Marc

Whose idea was the combined photoshoot?

Mine

Mine

Did you make any new friends?

Ya, lots of nice people here!

Yes! I’ve met most of them, but it’s always great when you can do more than just small talk.

Finishing Place

19th

15th

Race Highlight

Raising wedding funds

1st out of the water

Did you feel cheated out of a swim?

No, the swim was plenty scary for me

I sort of expected this! Races are so quick to shorten swims now. The only way that swim is legit is if they bring us out really close to Alcatraz. The current will always make it easier for people to draft.

Dive or jump off the boat?

Dive

Dive

What’d you do to warm up on the boat?

Nothing

Push-ups and arm circles

3-5 words about the bike?

Very hilly

From good to bad

Climbs or descents?

Descents

Descents

Did you change your shoe choice for the gravelly run?

Nope, but it was challenging a bit

No, Nike Alphafly 3

Most $$$ thing you bought in San Francisco?

Food

Dinners

First beverage after the race?

Coke

Coke (then Gatorade and another coke after I was 10mL short in doping control.)

Final thoughts?

Cool experience, learned a lot, tummy wasn’t great

Redemption in Vancouver

Lisa demonstrates a perfect U-Turn. Gif adapted from 📽️ by Daniel Castaneda

On-course peanuts, a next-level expo, and murky rules at IRONMAN Brazil

Meanwhile, many latitudes south and a day later on June 1, Andy Krueger and Garrick Loewen met IRL for the first time after a combined 40 hours in travel each way(!!) to the city of Florianópolis. They finished 11th and 12th place, respectively, and were permitted to leave the country despite never having heard of caipirinhas.

Your 2nd Canadian & 1st American at IM Brazil

Tell us more about…

Andy

Garrick

the most elevated part of the race weekend?

Next level! The section of the run course known as the Ali’i drive of Brazil - the entire street was packed with spectators.

I would have to agree with Andy that the cheer section on the run course was the most elevated part of the race.

Another cool little aspect were the groups of young kids waiting for the pros at bike check-in to take pictures with us. I feel like it’s quite rare to have fans of our sport at such a young age.

the pro meeting?

Very surface level, not a lot of detail on logistics, no PowerPoint nor course maps shown.

The pro meeting was more of a Q&A format with a YouTube video we were supposed to watch prior.

the swim, in <10 words?

Hectic with goggles knocked off. Aussie exit at halfway.

Lonely with too few sight buoys between turns.

if rules were enforced?

Seemed to be enforced, but there were definitely motos interfering with the race. The second lap was chaos on the bike with pros and motos passing age group athletes.

Drafting was very poorly enforced but they were stingy on random rules. I had a ref argue with me for almost 500m on the run that my kit had to be zipped up completely for the entire run.

best Brazilian food?

Brazilian hot chocolate!

We didn’t have much time after the race to enjoy the local cuisine.

on-course nutrition?

Very strange. They had a weird electrolyte drink that was difficult to understand how much sodium and carbs were in it before the race. There was also peanut candy on the run course - very scary for someone highly allergic to peanuts!

I’m not even sure how to explain the on-course nutrition situation…

Caipirinhas?🍹

Considering I had to look up what these were, not at the liberty to say 😄 

What? lol

anything else?

A mix between an adventure trip and a triathlon trip. Brazil was very inexpensive - even with the long travel, the race was more affordable than many US races!

This was an extremely affordable and surprisingly accessible trip. While the bike and run courses are far from anything spectacular, the swim venue was the best I’ve ever raced. I would recommend this race for someone looking to leave North America for a full.

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An RTS Exclusive Chat

We’re having a talk with Addra Labs this Thursday, June 12th at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT to talk about:

  • Understand your unique protein needs as an endurance athlete

  • Learn the role of leucine, an amino acid, in muscle protein synthesis and why it's crucial for recovery and muscle growth

  • Chat about Addra has formulated their bars based on scientific research and athlete feedback to maximize recovery and training adaptation, and performance

Bookmark the Next One!

Sean O’Mahony from Precision Fuel and Hydration will join us on Thursday, July 10th at 8pm ET to talk all things hydration in the peak of summer.

Where You Can Find Us

June 14/15

June 21

July

6/14 T100 Vancouver: Jackson Laundry, Marc Dubrick, Lisa Becharas, Dominika Jamnicky

6/21 XTerra Lory (Fort Collins): Sam Teller, Ali O’Donnel

7/6 Roth: Garrick Loewen, Nick Chase

7/12, 7/19 Americas Triathlon Cup Magog, Montreal: Annie Fuller

6/15 Happy Valley 70.3: Nicole Falcaro

7/20 IRONMAN Lake Placid: Nicole Falcaro, Amanda Macuiba

7/26 Boise 70.3: Jackson Laundry, Nick Chase, Lisa Becharas, Liz Licea, Greg Harper

Poll Results: Who Wore it Better?

Nick won the better ‘stache poll by a landslide, but when you consider the fact that the hundreds of you who didn’t vote because you just couldn’t pick one, he didn’t win by much!

The Real Tri Store

The perennial RTS Store is always open with a new Simple RTS white sock, a bucket hat, and tees! (Heads up: Our 💫custom💫 Zoot store is reopening very soon!)

RTS Media of the Month

The St. George 70.3 VLOG includes the leadup to the final-for-now event, closeups of Jackson’s feet, a tour of Marc’s house-on-wheels, and the race itself:

The Real Triathlon Podcast

Recent episodes of the Real Triathlon Podcast:

  • May 19: St. George 70.3 Showdown: Heat, Hustle, & Hilarious Chaos on Apple and Spotify

  • May 22: Ironman 70.3 Chattanooga Recap, Project 8 Training Plan & Triathlon Race Strategy Breakdown on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube

  • May 30: Traveling to Races, Dangerous Bike Courses & Lisa’s National TT Champs on YouTube

  • June 6: Eagleman, T100 Chaos, and Too-Early Kona Predictions on Apple and Spotify

Partner Discounts

Zoot - Code RTS for 20% off

BlueSeventy - Code RTS2025 for 25% off

BiSaddle - Code RTS15 for 15% off

FAST TT - Code RACECHASE10 for 10% off

Sunwarrior - Code RTS2024 for 20% off

Ventum - Code RACECHASE20 for 20% off

Cadomotus - Code RTS-Tri-with-Wings for 20% off shoes

RunningWarehouse - Code AU33ER6 for clearance shoes & accessories

Rythm Health - Code RTS For 30% off

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