Crown Racing Reigns Supreme at Supertri Grand Finale

Good morning everyone,

I’ve recently been dealing with a niggle in my hip. Some kind of “itis.” Maybe in one of my quad tendons or maybe higher in the psoas. It’s unclear, a lot is happening in that area!

• After a couple of weeks mostly off of running, it seems to have come around. This is great timing as I have a couple more races in the next two months that I’m looking forward to hitting hard!

I’m also wondering what the actual definition of a niggle is? I think we can all agree that it’s a small but persistent injury. But when does a niggle transition to a full-blown injury? And is it technically a niggle if you can still train on it?

• Since thousands of Tempo subscribers won’t be voting in today’s U.S. election, here’s a poll that everyone can join in on!

In today’s edition:

• 👑 Crown Racing Reigns Supreme at Supertri Grand Finale in Neom.

• 📈 Five ways you can level up this off-season.

• 🍬 And can you fuel your training with Halloween candy? Kind of!

Thanks for being here.

-Matt Sharpe, newsletter editor

Have a triathlete in your life who can't stop swimming, biking, or running? Fire this off to them. Forwarded from a friend? Sign-up for free.

ONE BIG THING

Crown Racing Reigns Supreme at Supertri Grand Finale

What is it: This past weekend the Grand Finale of the Supertri League was held in Neom, Saudi Arabia. After thrilling and unpredictable races, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Hayden Wilde were big winners in the individual series’, while Crown Racing ascended the throne as team champions.

Women’s race

Taylor-Brown’s to lose: Even with three wins in a row, Georgia Taylor-Brown (Crown Racing) could still be upset for the series crown. And she almost was!

• After the first swim segment, she was fourth from last out of the water and had a huge gap to overcome to return to the front of the race.

After an eventful first bike leg, 15 athletes came into T2 together. Cassandre Beaugrand (Crown Racing) and Leonie Periault (Podium Racing) would take off from the pack and finish the run with a slight gap over Jeanne Lehair (Podium Racing) and Taylor Spivey (Stars and Stripes Racing).

Cycling chaos: Spivey would attack the second leg swim and blast through the initial stages of the bike, opening a gap on the rest of the race. She looked to be on for an incredible day until disaster struck as she crashed hard on a crucial turn.

Watch: Taylor Spivey crashes in Neom. 

• This allowed Beaugrand and Lehair to jump into the lead for the rest of the bike and hit T2 together looking to extend the gap. Lehair, would make it a little harder on herself running the first lap with her helmet in her hand?!?!

Meanwhile, Taylor-Brown continued to look in trouble as she found herself in large group behind the leaders. If Lehair were to win, she would need to finish third or better to win the overall series.

Watch: Jeanne Lehair runs with her helmet.

Last stage glory: On the final stage Beaugrand and Lehair continued to build their gap over the chasers. Out of the water their lead was 11 seconds, and as they finished the bike it had grown to over 20. One of them would win.

• Not 200m into the first run lap the Olympic champion, Beaugrand, laid down a devastating attack to which Lehair had no response. With Lehair most likely second, Taylor-Brown would need to finish fourth or better.

With Olympic silver medalist Beth Potter (Brownlee Racing) right on her heels, Taylor-Brown gave everything she had till she crossed the line. She would finish fourth, securing her the series win and the lovely $80,000 prize.

Neom women’s podium:

• 🥇 Cassandre Beaugrand (Crown Racing)

• 🥈 Jeanne Lehair (Podium Racing)

• 🥉 Leonie Periault (Podium Racing)

Men’s race

Wilde in control: Hayden Wilde (Crown Racing) was the clear favorite for the series crown, but he would have stiff competition from rivals Leo Bergere (Podium Racing) and Olympic gold medalist Alex Yee (Brownlee Racing).

A lead pack emerges: The first stage strangely saw Wilde also running with his helmet, and a distinct pack of six athletes break away from the main field. This included Wilde, Yee, Bergere, Vasco Vilaca (Stars and Stripes Racing), Vincent Luis (Crown Racing) and Jonathan Brownlee (Brownlee Racing).

Vilaca attacks: Feeling the energy from his big win in Toulouse, Vilaca attacked early on the bike. Like Spivey, his heroics would quickly be dashed by the kiss of the pavement and he would later DNF.

• Meanwhile, Wilde and Yee would push the second run, and as they started the last stage Bergere would be the only athlete to be able to hold on.

Fight to the finish: It was a throwback to the Paris Olympics as Yee, Wilde, and Bergere would start the run together and it was unclear who was ready to take the win.

• Wilde started the first lap on fire and seemed to be dropping Bergere and Yee.

• But as the trio started the final 800m, they still remain in a tight battle.

With 400m to go Bergere made a mad dash for victory. But shortly after Yee responded and only Wilde was able to go with him. They were neck and neck until the final turn where Yee was able to just pull away and take his second win of the series.

Watch: Alex Yee takes incredible sprint finish in Neom.

Neom men’s podium:

• 🥇 Alex Yee (Brownlee Racing)

• 🥈 Hayden Wilde (Crown Racing)

• 🥉 Leo Bergere (Podium Racing)

Series standings

In the end, Crown Racing once again ascended the Supertri throne, taking the USD $375,000 first-place team prize.

• 🥇 - Crown Racing

• 🥈 - Podium Racing

• 🥉 - Stars and Stripes Racing

• 🍫 - Brownlee Racing

Tempo’s take: On the race course it’s been an exceptional Supertri season. Things kicked off with a bang in Boston and each round showcased incredible action and must-see racing.

• As Supertri heads into the offseason it will be interesting to see what moves, or lack thereof, it makes heading into 2025. Will it be able to resurrect its million-dollar races in New York and Malibu? Or will the former Malibu race director continue to hold the bag? 

And as Supertri expands in the U.S. it also finds itself in a turf war with the upstart T100 Triathlon World Tour. Both entities are looking to make a larger footprint stateside, and rumors of further T100 U.S. expansion could put pressure on Supertri to retain athletes for its revenue-generating age group events.

• The athletes of Supertri are used to dealing with high-pressure and winner-take-all competition. The management will need to fight just as hard as the athletes if they hope to survive.

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Here are the top 8 stores where you can find great deals on Hoka.

FAVORITES

🏊‍♀️ Two-beat breakthrough: If you’re looking to improve your swimming, and be less fatigued for the rest of your race, it might be time to work on a two-beat kick. This swim skill can help you maintain a great body position, and save your legs for a faster bike and run! [YouTube - Pierre Svartman]

🍬 Training with candy: It’s only early November. So there might still be some Halloween candy left in your house (not mine, all gone!). So can you use that candy to fuel your training? Kind of, but you may be missing out on what you really need to perform. [Outside]

☕ Caffeine scene: Back in our day caffeine only came in a couple of forms. Now…it’s in everything! But does your performance based on the form of caffeine like a pill or gummy? Not exactly. [Tom Coughlin]

🚲 Crushing Cadence: With indoor training season on the horizon it might be time to incorporate some high cadence work into your cycling. It’ll help make the indoor riding more interesting, and increase your cycling efficiency! [Wahoo]

TRAINING THOUGHT

Level Up Your Offseason With These Must-Do’s!

Justin Metzler is a professional triathlete with 5x wins and 20x podium finishes. He has a degree in human physiology, has been coaching for 10 years, and has been in the sport for over 15. If you’re aiming to take your racing and training to the next level schedule a free 30’ consultation with Justin here.

Many of us are ticking off our final races for 2024 and minds are starting to shift into “off-season” mode. Through my 11 years as a PRO, I’ve had years where I’ve done the offseason super right and others where I’ve gotten it all wrong. Here are 5 do’s as you head into winter…

1) Do take some time off (but not too much)

After the final race of the year it’s a great time for a “break.” I’ve had years where I trained quite a lot on said break and it never served me well to do that. You’ll lose some fitness and that’s OK, it’s important.

• I like to give my athletes 7-10 days completely off then another 7-10 days of choice training with some limitations on volume/ intensity. You want to feel really ready to start again on a plan after the break.

2) Do sort out your sweat rate and sodium composition

I continue to be surprised by the number of high-level age group and pro athletes who don’t know their sweat rate or sodium composition. Go get a sweat test (like this one from Precision) to get that number locked in. The number doesn’t change and you only need to do it once.

• Additionally, it’s worth spending some time while you’re doing indoor training to get an idea of your sweat rate.

• Simply weigh yourself pre/ post and add in what you consumed to get an understanding for how much you’re losing per hour.

• These numbers will be handy when you get back out on the race course in a few months time.

3) Do adapt to your aerodynamic position

Fitness is nothing without adaptation. You can build a huge engine but if it’s not specific, then it doesn’t really make you go fast.

• Get a mirror and stick it in front of your trainer. Craft some intervals or talk to your coach about doing specific sessions that work on holding your optimized aero position.

I like to give athletes short intervals where they shrug their shoulders, tuck their head, and apply power to the pedals. This is a great way to get speed without having to push harder.

4) Do periodize your training

It’s easy to just think of the entire off-season as an opportunity to “build base” but in reality, you should be using this time to improve your thresholds. Once the season gets going, there are often many races that disturb your ability to make significant progress in any one area.

If you have multiple months until your next race, try to make a 12, 16 or 20 week plan broken up into different phases. I like to spend many weeks doing some preparatory work but then transition into phases with a vo2 max focus then threshold focus.

• These blocks are going to elicit the highest degree of improvement if done properly!

5) Do work on your weaknesses (but don’t ignore your strengths)

The off-season is a great time to take stock of what’s working and what isn’t. It’s also a great time to double down on where you can improve the most. I’m a big fan of doing focused blocks of training trying to improve these limitations, but don’t ignore what you’re good at!

• You don’t want to lose your strengths. It’s a delicate balance but applying the right amount of work to your strengths and leaving plenty of room to pay attention to your weaknesses is the way to go.

Next week is the five things you shouldn’t do this off-season. Spoiler alert…you should keep your easy days easy!

REEL TIME

We’re all thinking the same thing! 🦈🤣

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YOU SAID

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