May 2024

IN THIS ISSUE

Suddenly it’s Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and the North American triathlon season is in full swing!

Canadians just had their first long weekend of the Summer for Victoria Day (odd British Empire heritage day? We will take the holiday I guess!) - which Tamara spent riding past tons and tons of lilac bushes in perfect bloom along Lake Ontario, wasn’t terrible! And Americans are about to get their May long weekend with Memorial Day right around the corner.

Our RTS Pros and RTSx have been busy racing up a storm! Catch the highlights below as well as some handy triathlon travel tips, upcoming races, and a second chance at our Zoot store!

Zoot Store : OUR ZOOT STORE IS OPEN AGAIN! And time is running out. Don’t miss your window to buy the gorgeous gear that you can now see all of our pros showing off on Instagram! It’s a great way to support us and to show your RTS spirit :)

CLICK HERE TO SECURE YOUR RTS GEAR!

Note on shipping: we understand that international shipping from the store may be an issue; we are working where we can to resolve this; in particular, please contact Tamara or Zoot directly about shipping to Canada.

In this month’s edition:

(Please note: internal links may not work on some platforms (including Gmail). Until we are able to resolve this, simply click “Read Online” in the top right corner of this email to view the online version of the newsletter in which the links should work. Thanks!)

• Feature Story: Lisa wins her first pro race at St. Anthony’s! And Marc does pretty okay too ;) A great day for RTS at an American classic. Hear more about it HERE!

• Our Network: We want to connect! Click HERE for some easy tips on how to stay involved. ALSO - is this not the sweetest Laundry father and son triathlon shot?

• Epic Travel: Garrick crosses the globe to experience the brutal humidity, beautiful scenery and team spirit of Challenge Taiwan. Read more about triathlon in Asia HERE!

• RTS Pro: Lessons and highlights from Jackson’s 4th place finish (after a mechanical) at the 70.3 St. George North American Championships as well as Lesley’s top 10 finish at IM Texas! Click HERE! This is also where you’ll find a summary of RTS Pro results and upcoming races.

• RTSx: Who is Alexander Frank and how was his day at IM Texas? Find out HERE! This is also where you’ll find a summary of RTSx results and upcoming races.

• On the Pod: What’s new on the Real Triathlon Podcast and Real Triathlon Video Podcast? Click HERE!

• Partners and Discounts: Don’t miss the sponsor links and discount codes at the very end of this email to save money on triathlon products used by our pros. Click HERE!

FEATURE STORY

RTS Pros top both podiums at St. Anthony’s

St. Anthony’s Triathlon is a long-standing American staple. It started in 1984 as the Tampa Bay Triathlon, part of a 10-city US Triathlon Series. It moved to downtown St. Petersburg, Florida in 1985 and continues to this day. It is one of the only Olympic distance long course style triathlons with good prize money for pros still in existence.

This year, the swim was shortened because of water conditions, a circumstance that maybe helped Lisa but didn’t favour Marc. Nevertheless, these two managed to place first in the women’s and men’s pro races. We are particularly thrilled for Lisa since this was her first pro win!

Here’s what Lisa had to say about it:

I’m still a bit in disbelief that I took the win at St. Anthony’s Triathlon! It was my first win as a professional, and to share it with Marc Dubrick made it that much more special!

The shortened swim favored me as it lessened the gap I had to some of the super fast swimmers. I was feeling good on the bike and knew I needed to bike hard if I was goin got have a good result. So, I dropped the hammer and had a 2.5+ minute lead coming out of T2.

I didn’t do a ton of running between Oceanside and St. Anthony’s because of an angry calf, so I had no idea what to expect on the run. Somehow, I ended up holding on for the win by 11 seconds to Vittoria Lopes and set a new 10km personal best!

This race will always hold a special place in my heart, and the triathlon community in St. Pete is like none other, opening up their homes and hearts to the professional community! I will definitely be back!

EPIC TRAVEL

Garrick battles humidity AND bronchitis on “the most beautiful course in triathlon”

Garrick had a tough but rich experience placing 10th at Challenge Taiwan on April 27. He came away with bronchitis, but also described the course in Taitung City as “the most beautiful course in triathlon”. We loved his description of the huge number of aid stations on the run course where local triathlon clubs were able to set up their own “unofficial” aid stations. This meant an aid station roughly every kilometer for part of the very very hot run!

The run course had official aid stations every 2km and unofficial aid stations between those…sponsored by local Tri teams who were handing out everything from sports drinks, ice, water, gels, etc. One of the aid stations was handing out entire liter bottles of cold water to the pros.

Here’s an excerpt of his race recap:

The swim went very well. I managed to get out hard and found myself leading the chase pack early on as I was just not strong enough to hold onto the feed of the leaders. At the turn around, I let a couple of guys come by me and I settled in on their feet….

This has to be one of the fastest ‘hilly’ courses I’ve ever ridden. Nothing is steep, and you can carry enough speed up the hills that you don’t need to break aero for much of any of it. Early on, I was able to settle in to my race power and was feeling like the legs were starting to show up. At 20km, I could see that I was holding the gap to the group in front and by 30km I had started closing slightly. Nearing the turn around my glutes started to get a little sore and then shortly after they started to lock up completely…

As I got off the bike, I hobbled my way through transition trying to psych myself up to get through a half marathon. Starting the run in almost last place, I told myself that anything could happen…

To get the full story of Garrick’s tough fight to 10th and more detailed about his swim and bike experience, read the full recap HERE! 

PRO TIP

When traveling on new airlines, be sure to call in advance to find out what their bike policy is. On the way to Taiwan, Eva Air didn’t want to take my bike. They said I needed to have booked space for it on the plane. After some negotiations, they did agree to take my bike. Having to book space on the plane for a bike seems to be common practice in Asia, where we don’t see that in North America.

~ Garrick

RTS PRO

Lessons and highlights from Jackson’s 4th place finish at the 70.3 St. George North American Championships and Lesley’s top 10 finish at IM Texas

Jackson placed a hard-earned 4th at the IM 70.3 St. George North American Championship after a mechanical on the bike. Read about what on earth happened and what he learned from the experience HERE! 

Lesley reflects on the things that went great and the things that did not in her 10th place performance at IM Texas - her first full Ironman in many years! Read about it HERE! 

Other Results:

• Jackson - 2nd place IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Lisa - 8th place IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Marc - 8th place IM 70.3 St. George, 20th place Challenge Championship (Samorin)

• Nick - 22nd place IM 70.3 St. George, 25th place Challenge Championship (Samorin)

• Tamara - 1st place Toronto Sporting Life 10km (fastest women’s run time at that event in the past decade, Tamara’s first running race in 5 years, and her 3rd victory at this Toronto classic)

Up Next:

• Nick - IM 70.3 Boulder

• Jackson - T100 San Francisco, IM 70.3 Tremblant

• Tamara - T100 San Francisco, IM 70.3 Tremblant

• Nicole - IM 70.3 Boulder, IM 70.3 Tremblant *We hope! Keep sending Nicole positive healing energy as she deals with complications from her stingray sting! ARG!!

• Lesley - IM 70.3 Boulder, IM 70.3 Tremblant

• Garrick - IM 70.3 Tremblant

RTSx

Alexander Frank has a tough but determined day at IM Texas

RTSx’s Alexander Frank is an engineer and rookie pro. He joined Lesley Smith at IRONMAN Texas last month and had somewhat of a rude awakening to the challenges of stepping up into the pro ranks. It was a tough but determined day.

Here’s what Alex had to say about it:

Ironman is a whole different beast than 70.3. My goal for this race was to first just finish, stretch goal was to be under 9/8:45. Well, 1k into the swim those stretch goals were gone. My legs started cramping in the water. First time I have raced swim skin in a while and it showed. Got onto the bike with the mentality of holding okay power and getting to the marathon. Started the run nice and easy and made it a goal to never walk. And I completed that! My biggest takeaway from this race was TRAIN MORE.

Alex also just placed 24th in the pro men’s race at 70.3 Chattanooga on May 19.

Other Results:

• Dr Steve Rosinksi - 17th place at St. Anthony’s, 42nd place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Dominika Jamnicky - 31st place at WTCS Yokohama

• Batya Beard - 14th place at IM 70.3 St George, 10th place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Michael Gannon - 11th place AG at IM 70.3 St George

• Rachel Mensch - 24th place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Vant Lammers - 30th place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Alexander Frank - 24th place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Amanda Macuiba - 1st place AG at IM 70.3 Chattanooga (!)

• Shyanne McGregor - 31st place at IM 70.3 Chattanooga

• Sam Teller - 14th at XTERRA Oak Mountain

Up Next:

• Dominika Jamnicky - WTCS Cagliari

• Ali O’Donnell - Injured :-(

• Colleen Baker - IM 70.3 Des Moines

• Flacca Guerrero - IM 70.3 Ecuador

• Michael Gannon - Armed Forces Triathlon

• Rachel Mensch - Milkman 70.3

• Vant Lammers - Milkman 70.3

• Alexander Frank - Milkman 70.3

• Amanda Macuiba - “Possibly” Milkman 70.3

• Sam Teller - XTERRA Belgium

• Shyanne McGregor - IM 70.3 Tremblant

• Batya Beard - IM 70.3 Boulder

• Dr Steve Rosinksi - IM Maine 70.3

ON THE POD

If you aren’t already listening to the Real Triathlon Podcast hosted by Jackson, Nick and Garrick (with some guest appearances by other team members) - go check it out!

Where to start? Why not with Lesley’s take on the high profile first full Ironman of the new Ironman Pro Series at IM Texas!

Listen HERE!

Or watch the Real Triathlon Video Podcast on our Youtube Channel HERE!

OUR NETWORK

We want to hear your stories! (We REALLY REALLY DO!)

Please always feel welcome to reach out to us at [email protected] with information about where you will be racing and recaps of races to share with our community. And never feel shy to say hello at races! Extra cheers for anyone rocking RTS gear 🙂 

Staying Connected:

Keep track of us and our unique RTS community wherever you do what you do: Strava Club, Zwift Club, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn

Any questions on Zwift/Strava/FB/AG issues please contact Adam:

[email protected]

PARTNERS AND DISCOUNTS

Zoot - Use Code RTS for 20% off

BlueSeventy - Use Code RTS25 for 25% off

Precision Fuel & Hydration - Use Code TM-RTS15 for 15% off

BiSaddle - Use Code RTS15 for 15% off

FAST TT - Use Code RACECHASE10 for 10% off

Sunwarrior - Use Code RTS2023 for 20% off

Athlete Blood Test - Use Code NicholasChase20 for 15% off

Ventum - Use Code RACECHASE20 for 20% off