Episode 156 - Hall Of Fame Swimmer Turned Triathlete: Chad Rolfs On Training, Racing And Nutrition

Hall Of Fame Swimmer Turned Triathlete: Chad Rolfs On Training, Racing And Nutrition

When you think of an elite athlete, a Division One All-American swimmer might come to mind. But what if that same athlete also excelled in triathlons, coached others to success, and balanced a full-time job? Meet Chad Rolfs, an extraordinary athlete who joins me fresh off an incredible performance at the Washington 70.3, to share his passion, his journey, and his nutrition strategy.  

Chad began his athletic journey as a distinguished swimmer. A Division One All-American swimmer in college, Chad was inducted into the Washington Interscholastic Aquatics Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He was known for events like the 50m Free, 200m Free, and 100m Backstroke, boasting impressive times such as a 21.15-second 50m Free back in 1989. After concluding his swimming career, Chad transitioned into coaching high school swimming for nine seasons. His passion for sports didn't wane, and in 2017, he ventured into triathlons.

Fast forward to 2024 and Chad has just completed the Washington 70.3 with a 19-minute swim, a two-hour-and-42-minute bike, and a one-hour-and-48-minute run. These results are remarkable, especially considering swimming is often seen as his primary strength. Our conversation delved deeply into how nutrition played a pivotal role in his preparation and race-day performance.

Links:

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Episode Transcription

Episode 156: Hall Of Fame Swimmer Turned Triathlete: Chad Rolfs On Training, Racing And Nutrition

Welcome to the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. The show designed to serve you up evidence-based sports nutrition advice from the experts. Hi, I'm your host Taryn, Accredited Practicing Dietitian, Advanced Sports Dietitian and founder of Dietitian Approved. Listen as I break down the latest evidence to give you practical, easy-to-digest strategies to train hard, recover faster and perform at your best. You have so much potential, and I want to help you unlock that with the power of nutrition. Let's get into it.

[00:00:00] Taryn: My guest today is Chad Rolfs, he is an age group triathlete from Shoreline, Washington, and he did his first triathlon back in 2017. And he loves the sport so much that he's decided to coach it as well, and has been coaching for the last two and a half years. Now this guy is an athlete. Absolute weapon in the water.

[00:00:40] Taryn: Back in college, he was a division one, all American swimmer and was recently inducted into the Washington interscholastic aquatics coaches association, hall of fame for events. Like the 50 free, 200 free and 100 backstroke back in 1989, 1988, 1990. This guy did a 21, 15, 50 free back in the day.

[00:01:02] Taryn: Right? Weapon. After his swimming career ended, he moved on to coaching high school swimming for nine seasons. But this swimmer can still run. He is fresh off the boat from 70. 3 Washington and did an amazing sub five hour race.

[00:01:18] Taryn: His swim was 19 minutes. 19 minutes! Bike was two hours 42 and his run was one hour 48. I think that's pretty good for a swimmer. Congratulations, Chad. Welcome to the podcast.

[00:01:30] Chad: Thank you, I'm honored to be here.

[00:01:35] Taryn: How was Washington 70. 3?

[00:01:38] Taryn: You must be stoked. 

[00:01:39] Chad: Yes, I'm very happy. This was my last triathlon of the season and it was fantastic. I mean, it was the first time they held it in this venue. The run courses along the river. It's beautiful. You climb up to this, mountain where you're overlooking the whole valley. it's a beautiful course.

[00:01:56] Chad: the swim was down river, so there was a little bit of a current. So, 19 is not my normal, 70. 3, swim time. So I had a little bit of help,

[00:02:07] Taryn: That is a very fast swim. I was pretty stoked with my 32 minutes. What's a normal 70. 3 swim time for you?

[00:02:13] Chad: uh, like 27.

[00:02:14] Taryn: Oh my goodness. Yeah. See, I was, channeling you out in the water there. I was like, Chad's like, you just got to swim faster. Just keep going. And I I was having too much fun to swim fast, but , how do you run that quick?

[00:02:25] Taryn: Also, most swimmers are not particularly good at running. You're just all over a pretty good athlete.

[00:02:31] Chad: It has taken me a long time to develop my run and my coach, helped me out a lot with that. I think it was two seasons ago where it was like, okay, this is my weak spot. Let's work on this. And so we focused on that for like almost all of the off season. and then also getting my nutrition, right?

[00:02:49] Chad: That's a big piece of it. Yes. Thank you. getting the nutrition right, dialed in beforehand, you know, the carb loading, on the bike, so that I can have a good run. So that has helped out a lot too.

[00:03:02] Taryn: And how did your nutrition go for 70. 3 Washington?

[00:03:06] Chad: It went great. It went fantastic. 

[00:03:10] Taryn: No issues. 

[00:03:11] Chad: no, nothing on the race. Leading up to it though, the carb loading the two days before, I was so full. Like, oh my gosh, it was. That's always a challenge, but it's like, I knew, like, okay, it's gonna pay off. I know I'm feeling a little full, but I know this is going in the right place, and it's gonna give me the fuel to, like, smash it once I get on the race.

[00:03:33] Chad: And it, it did. It worked.

[00:03:34] Taryn: We can always tweak your carb loading plan a little bit. If you are feeling a little full, that's something we can talk about in power hour and just finesse it. It's always a work in progress. Carbohydrate loading, you do it and you think it's going to be so easy and it's going to be so fun and you get to eat all these things.

[00:03:49] Taryn: And then the reality of it is like, Oh my God, this is actually way harder than I thought it would be.

[00:03:53] Chad: Yeah, I was thinking, like, Maybe it's just because I'm older and my metabolism's slowing down or maybe I didn't practice it enough but yeah, it all worked out.

[00:04:04] Taryn: you had that energy to go on the run, like you obviously did a great run. Did you ever feel like you ran out of energy or were close to hitting the wall on the run? Or you could have kept running through that finish line?

[00:04:15] Chad: I could have kept running through it, but I didn't want to I mean I was done like another person that I you know virtually trained with and I've raced with before he caught up to me right at mile 9, and then we ran together, and kind of paced each other, and then just like, okay last mile, we're going to build every quarter mile, and he took off a little bit, and I tried to stay with him, but I kept the gap the same, but it was like, I kind of emptied the tank on that last mile, but it was, yeah, I mean I could have kept running, but.

[00:04:47] Chad: not at that pace, 

[00:04:48] Taryn: So good, congratulations.

[00:04:50] Chad: Thank you. 

[00:04:51] Taryn: And so you're in A

[00:04:52] Taryn: bit of an off season now, good to hear. What's next on the cards for you then?

[00:04:57] Chad: little bit of off season. I am doing a half marathon in two weeks and I'll focus more on strength, mobility and probably focus a little more on running too in the off season. 

[00:05:09] Taryn: Yeah,

[00:05:09] Taryn: good. One of the things that we've been working on is your run nutrition. Cause you were struggling a little bit there and we haven't talked yet. Like how did your run nutrition go for your 70. 3?

[00:05:20] Chad: it was perfect. Like, it was right on you know, we worked on some of the timing aspects of when to fuel and what to fuel, and that, that worked out perfectly.

[00:05:32] Chad: No cramping, no hitting the 

[00:05:33] Chad: wall, no gut issues. 

[00:05:38] Chad: yes! It was great! It was like I got over the finish line and I'm like, alright, where's that post athlete food? I'm ready to get my recovery meal in! Let's go! Let's go! 

[00:05:47] Taryn: Yes. 

[00:05:49] Chad: Yeah,

[00:05:52] Taryn: Like it's, you've been able to piece it all together and put it into practice and put that into a great race performance, which makes me so happy because I always get a bit stressed when athletes do longer course racing and I'm like, is it going to be okay?

[00:06:04] Taryn: Is everything going to work? And it's just huge relief to hear that you had a great race and no issues and you're ready to sign up for next year.

[00:06:13] Chad: yeah, that's definitely the heart of a coach. Like when anybody that you coach, comes up to a race and I had a few of my athletes in this race. Yeah. It's always like, Oh, how are they going to do? Is it like, it's everything going to work out, 

[00:06:26] Taryn: yeah, I keep refreshing the trackers for somebody that's doing say their first full distance event. And you know, if the tracker slows down or it breaks and they looks like they stop, but I'm like, Oh my God, no, what's happened? It's all my fault. But yeah, so stoked to hear you had a great event at 70. 3 Washington.

[00:06:42] Taryn: So you, uh, just wrapping up your triathlon nutrition academy program with us, you're right at the end of phase three what made you want to come and join the program and educate yourself? For somebody that has been doing sport for a very long time. 

[00:06:56] Chad: well, I mean, yeah. Doing sport, you know, nutrition for. just short swimming events, you know, like 50, 300 free, 200 free is different from, a full distance Ironman. And so how do you optimize fueling for something like that, for that long of an endurance event? you know, if I'm serious about the longevity of doing the sport, you know, you got to master the training of those three disciplines, you got to master.

[00:07:24] Chad: Recovery, you got to master nutrition and you got to master the transitions. So there's, I mean, there's a handful of things you got to master and I'm a learner at heart and so I love to learn stuff and keep learning and build on what I already know and.

[00:07:40] Chad: try to discover things that I don't know that I don't know from people that do know. 

[00:07:45] Taryn: Yes. 

[00:07:46] Chad: yeah.

[00:07:47] Taryn: The more I learn, though, the more I realize I don't know.

[00:07:50] Chad: Yep. Yep. And so it, yeah it's a journey, but it's fun.

[00:07:55] Taryn: It is fun. Learning about nutrition is fun. Well, I think it's fun. when you were a college swimmer, or any time through all of the crazy sports that you've done, have you ever worked on your nutrition with anyone, or did you get to see a sports dietitian back in college days?

[00:08:07] Chad: I didn't and, you know, it makes me think back and question, like, did I have access to one and I just didn't take advantage of it because I was, you know. College kid, you know, just, stupid and crazy and just, letting her rip. But no, I, I've never officially worked with any sports dietitian nutritionist prior to working with you on the Nutrition Academy.

[00:08:29] Taryn: Yeah, it's crazy. And what were you struggling with before that made you go, All right, I'm going to do this. I actually need to invest some time and money into my nutrition education. What were the challenges that you were facing before? 

[00:08:41] Chad: some of them were the things that I didn't know that I didn't know. Like, the carb loading I knew a little bit about recovery but I mean, not to the extent that I do now. you know, like we talked about the fueling and hydration on the run.

[00:08:58] Chad: Like that was, getting through a race, feeling good at the end. I think those were some catalysts to me wanting to do this. And also one of my athletes that I coach has gone through it. And so he really spoke highly of it and encouraged me. Also, my coach encouraged me also to go into areas where he wasn't, a particular expert, he's got his lane and, so the other lanes, if he can encourage me to, seek out information and coaching in those areas too, then, all the better for me.

[00:09:35] Taryn: It's a sign of a really good coach, I think a coach that knows that their strengths are in coaching and there are other experts in other areas that have their strengths in say like nutrition or strength training. And I really value working with coaches that know the area of expertise and their limitations https: otter.

[00:09:56] Taryn: ai Think that they can know about nutrition and go, yep, you don't need anyone else. You just need me really limits the athlete in my opinion.

[00:10:04] Chad: No, you're, yeah, I totally agree. And the, I mean, the longer I'm in the sport, the more I realize how I need to build, not just. One coach, but like build a team around myself of coaches that are like experts in their field and then like, I'll get the best outcome possible. And who doesn't want that?

[00:10:24] Taryn: Right. That is how the elites work. They have their strength and conditioning coach. They have their triathlon coach. They have the access to their sports dietitian. They have physio, they have all the things and each person does each of their areas of expertise. So you have to treat yourself a little bit like an elite athlete, but also work full time because 

[00:10:45] Chad: Yes. 

[00:10:46] Taryn: as age groupers.

[00:10:47] Chad: There it is.

[00:10:48] Taryn: And so. Those things that you were struggling with, like understanding how to do carbohydrate loading, I don't know any triathlete that knows how to carbohydrate load properly, to be honest, until they've had some education. You can pull numbers off the internet, but it is still not particularly a good carbohydrate loading plan.

[00:11:06] Taryn: Same as recovery, like we think we know how to do recovery, but a lot of the time, athletes don't know how to do recovery properly because it is very specific to you and the situation and what you've got going on. So now that you've gone through all of that information and we've been talking each week and power hour and really trying to fine tune and finesse what you're up to, what are the couple of the biggest things that you've taken away over the last month that you've been working on that you've been able to put into place straight away and go, yep this is for me, this is working and I'm feeling really good about it.

[00:11:37] Chad: mean, we talked about the hydration and the fueling on the run definitely have. put that into play. I just, I think really fine tuning everything like I feel like, I'm just at the beginning, right? It's like I had the vision of like, A dartboard, like when I first started triathlon, like I was off the board, right?

[00:11:58] Chad: Like I like it was a big miss. I was not even no points, right? then

[00:12:05] Taryn: Did you think you were somewhere on the board though? And it wasn't until you got in that you're like, Oh shit, I'm way off.

[00:12:10] Chad: Yeah, it was yeah after you know after the race when i'm like in a pile after the finish line it's like Oh, that was not good. Like something's way wrong here And so the journey's been like, you know getting closer and closer into the bullseye and I think like we're like Like we're getting right there.

[00:12:27] Chad: We're like the inner ring. We're not quite the bullseye yet, but we're really close like really close

[00:12:34] Taryn: No, that's a great analogy. I love the not even on the board thing. Cause I think a lot of triathletes are like that. You're like, yeah, I think I've got this pretty good. Even people that listen to the podcast are like, thank you so much. You've helped me so much. I feel like my nutrition is really dialed in and I'm like, it is not even close.

[00:12:52] Taryn: Like what we go through on the podcast is. surface level. It's like a big iceberg. It's the tip of the iceberg and all of that huge, big mass underneath is the detail that we go through in the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program. So perhaps a lot of athletes think they're on the board and are just way off the side.

[00:13:10] Taryn: No good. Great analogy chat.

[00:13:12] Chad: You're putting holes in your drywall right next to your art board

[00:13:20] Taryn: That's a good one. So you've been working on run fueling, which is obviously paying dividends for you. The other thing that we've played with for you is probably what you're doing on the bike to set up that run. Anything that's changed for you over the program for what you're doing on the bike?

[00:13:37] Chad: Yes. Yeah. So it's, kind of timing and then what I'm consuming when getting that timing, right. Getting the mixtures correct. and, the secret sauce in there. yeah, that's helped out a lot to help set up the run to make it better.

[00:13:53] Taryn: Yeah, nice. And what are you going to work on now? Like now that you're finished, what I find is. are only just getting started. Now that you've got a really good fundamental level of triathlon nutrition education, what do you want to work on now?

[00:14:07] Chad: well, I want to practice. I want to get better at carb loading, which, you know, we can work on in power hour for the supercharged squad, which I don't know if you want to plug that real quick.

[00:14:16] Taryn: Chad is talking about our secret squirrel alumni program. So once, once you through the triathlon nutrition Academy, it's not see you later forever. We do have an alumni program. If you want to stay and join us where we keep going, like there is so much to learn about nutrition and yes, the program is three phases, nine months.

[00:14:36] Taryn: There are 36 masterclasses inside. I still have so much more to teach you. we've got a masterclass on jet lag now, which I did recently, which is gold. There's information on perimenopause nutrition. There's some strength training experts. There's some swimming technique experts. There is more nutrition expert stuff from me.

[00:14:56] Taryn: Like there is just so much. And there's new products coming on the market all the time that we review. There's so much changing. The sports nutrition is a very rapidly evolving space. And so a way to stay connected and keep learning about nutrition. Plus you keep access to me as well.

[00:15:10] Taryn: we meet every week for power hour and do things like for Chad, we'll, I'll look really closely at his carbohydrate loading plan and go, all right, what can we fiddle with to make it better? Let's optimize it. Let's tweak it. Let's dial it in. So it's perfect. Thanks for the 

[00:15:25] Taryn: chance to plug my alumni program.

[00:15:28] Chad: Yeah.

[00:15:28] Chad: Well, I love, I mean, I love that because there's always new research coming out too. And I love that you're on top of that. 

[00:15:35] Taryn: I try to be. It's hard, but I try to be.

[00:15:37] Chad: there's a lot, yeah, there's a lot out there for sure. another area that I want to continue to work on and dial in is just continued to build on my sweat rate, like filling out my spreadsheet a bit more, dialing in different temperatures and humidities and intensities to know, How much am I actually losing and how much do I need to replenish and kind of Be able to better dial that in Going into a race Knowing like okay, the temperature is going to be about this and the humidity is going to be about that And no, okay, I'm gonna sweat more or I'm gonna sweat less and so you know dialing that in Yeah,

[00:16:17] Taryn: that you'll be doing for a long time. Like, that's a years type journey rather than a You know, one day, and that's a common myth that people have no idea about, I think, with your sweat rate is that you get this maybe sweat test data and that's one data point.

[00:16:32] Taryn: That doesn't translate to all conditions, all different races, like different times a year, all those sorts of things. And so you need to understand your own sweaty journey. and how to really pull those hydration levers for yourself, depending on what you're up to. So that's a good one. I think everyone needs to keep working on that for a long period of time.

[00:16:51] Chad: Yeah. 

[00:16:51] Taryn: Okay, so You've got a few things to work on, but I feel like, yeah, you are very close to getting things really dialed in for you. And it's, taken nine months to get there. I wouldn't say it's a rapid journey for many people, but I'm stoked for you that we're close.

[00:17:08] Taryn: What sort of events have you got planned for 2025 and beyond? is the end goal for you to get to Kona? Do you want to do Worlds? Do you want to end up doing Ultraman? What does Chad Rolfe's triathlon career look like in the future?

[00:17:20] Chad: Yes. All of them. I 

[00:17:22] Chad: want to do them all. 

[00:17:24] Chad: All the things! do! 

[00:17:25] Chad: all the things! Yeah, I mean, Kona's definitely a bucket list thing. I would love to do Kona. definitely want to go to worlds, 70. 3 worlds Ultraman, maybe? We'll see. I mean, in the off season I might look at doing some more trial runs and see if, like 50k or 100k is doable.

[00:17:45] Chad: Might be fun. I love being in the outdoors, so. We'll see.

[00:17:48] Taryn: You just want to do all the things. And we haven't talked about it, but you've already done all the things also. Like you've done taekwondo, you've climbed some mountain, like you just are an outdoorsy, active person. And now that your wife's doing triathlon, like there's kind of no excuses. Kids are in college, wife's doing triathlon.

[00:18:08] Taryn: Like it's your time, man. It's time to shine. Yes!

[00:18:13] Chad: it, we're good.

[00:18:16] Taryn: Oh no, so hard. Expensive sport. And so you're taking a sabbatical for work or something too, is that in 2025?

[00:18:24] Chad: It is. Yeah. 

[00:18:25] Taryn: How long have 

[00:18:26] Taryn: you got off? 

[00:18:27] Chad: six weeks.

[00:18:28] Taryn: Oh that's not very long, I thought you were going to say six months or something. 

[00:18:32] Chad: But it's, you know, six six weeks paid, 

[00:18:34] Taryn: are 

[00:18:36] Chad: in there as well.

[00:18:37] Taryn: you going to do with that time?

[00:18:38] Chad: Might do a family trip to New Zealand. Go see Hobbiton and, go explore down there.

[00:18:44] Taryn: Nice. You're going to 

[00:18:45] Chad: yeah. probably not.

[00:18:49] Taryn: Around sunny coast 70. 3 time in September 2025. 

[00:19:00] Chad: It could happen as a relay, so we'll see. 

[00:19:02] Chad: That could be really fun.

[00:19:04] Taryn: I think you should do the swim.

[00:19:05] Chad: I would love to do this one. Let's race. You have a whole year to train.

[00:19:09] Taryn: Oh, I haven't, I need to get back in the pool. I haven't really swum since the event. We had a family holiday and then I've been sick. So yeah, I need to get back in the pool so that I actually have a good performance out there,

[00:19:22] Chad: You 

[00:19:22] Taryn: but 

[00:19:23] Chad: What did you sum? 32?

[00:19:25] Taryn: yeah, 32 minutes, but

[00:19:27] Chad: Without any training?

[00:19:29] Taryn: I did some training, little bits of

[00:19:31] Taryn: training with no wetsuit, no wetsuit.

[00:19:36] Taryn: I swim once a week, minimum. Sometimes I got in the water twice a week.

[00:19:41] Chad: For how many months prior?

[00:19:43] Taryn: A couple.

[00:19:44] Chad: Yeah, you didn't train, come on.

[00:19:47] Taryn: But just like you, I've swum my whole life, right? I've been swimming since probably before I could walk. And so swimming is not challenge for me. It's technique that you've built from childhood. I find if you learn to swim as an adult, it's so much harder because the, I mechanics of swimming.

[00:20:03] Taryn: I don't know. It just is so hard to figure out where your hands go, but like you, you don't think about where your hand goes in the water. It just does it.

[00:20:11] Chad: I think a lot of it is the technique and knowing when to apply pressure and when to relax. So many adult onset swimmers don't know when and how to relax in the water. Everything's tense and it's like you waste so much energy 

[00:20:26] Taryn: Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:20:28] Taryn: we should do a whole nother episode with you on swim training for triathlon. You have got so much wealth of experience swimming yourself, but then coaching swimming for how many years have you coached swimming? Like a decade, maybe more.

[00:20:42] Chad: Well, I mean, if you throw in the. High school swimming and triathlon coaching. Yeah. It's been, it's been over a decade. Easy.

[00:20:49] Taryn: Yeah. A lot of untapped knowledge in that brain of yours. I think there is a good podcast idea there in the works.

[00:20:56] Chad: Nice. Yeah. 

[00:20:57] Taryn: So any advice, Chad, for somebody listening that, Maybe thinks their dart is on the bullseye, or at least in the circles, but really it's probably on the drywall. 

[00:21:09] Chad: Oh if you think you're on the board and, you're having a race where you're not able to finish the run feeling great or feeling strong, you're probably not on the board.

[00:21:22] Chad: and it could be even, not even race day nutrition, it could be everything leading up to it. I mean that's something that Taren covers. In the academy, just baseline, what's your everyday nutrition? what do your plates look like? you know, when you have a really long hard training session, how are you feeling that day versus a recovery easy day?

[00:21:40] Chad: Like it, it matters. And so that, can have a huge impact on your results and on race day. Just your base level nutrition and, you know, during your training.

[00:21:51] Taryn: it's a huge part of it. It's why we have our first phase. It's eight weeks long. We cover all of the day to day nutrition stuff. and a lot of athletes want to skip that. They want to go straight to the sprinkles, the one percenters, right? Most triathletes build a pyramid from the tip upwards.

[00:22:08] Chad: Yes.

[00:22:09] Taryn: They start with all the supplements and The, you know, I'm going to have 120 grams of carbs an hour because that's going to make me a better athlete on the day. But really it's the small daily habits compounded over time that have the biggest impact on your performance because what you do every day and what you put in your mouth every single day matters for the training that you're doing.

[00:22:30] Taryn: That all leads to race day. Your race day is not about that day. It's about months and months in preparation for that.

[00:22:38] Chad: And not just nutrition, your training too, like all of that. It's the consistency in the, I mean it, it applies, that applies to the training as well. So it's, yeah, definitely.

[00:22:48] Taryn: Yeah, so what you're telling me is I need to get in the water now for next year.

[00:22:52] Chad: That's right, 

[00:22:53] Taryn: we are coming into summer here, so it is, it's beautiful temperatures at the moment, it's much easier to swim. Having to swim through winter was pretty rough, because we have outdoor pools here, we don't really have indoor pools, so you get in the water and it maybe is eight degrees outside and you've got to go and do a swim, so it's 

[00:23:10] Chad: love that. I love that. The pool is, the pool isomat is an outdoor pool and there were times last year, Season when we got snow where there's like snow on the deck and you know There's all the steam coming off the pool and it's so fun. I love that. I love those days, even though it sucks Like, once you get in the pool and get going, it's great.

[00:23:29] Chad: But, it's cold.

[00:23:31] Taryn: Yeah, I don't know how you do that. I'm a bit of a wuss. I'm, I'm a Queenslander. We don't like cold because it doesn't really get cold here. So it was quite difficult to swim through the winter months, but I think I'll be able to keep on top of it over, over the summer months.

[00:23:44] Chad: You can do it. I have faith.

[00:23:46] Taryn: Thanks, mate. You, you were like my, my swim coach.

[00:23:49] Taryn: Actually, you more so freaked me out. You and Becky freaked me out because you were like, Becky was like, Taryn, you need to do three swims a week and one needs to be endurance and one needs to be strength and the other one needs to be something else. And I'm like, Becky, mate, I am lucky to get in the water once a week.

[00:24:02] Taryn: Don't freak me out. She's like, just aim for 40 minutes, Taryn. I'm like, okay, that sounds fine. I'd be stoked with that. Anyway, my cyclist was in the port a loo, the port a potty because she thought, I've got heaps of time. And I'm like, dude, grab my timing chip. Let's go get out of here. She's like, give me a hug.

[00:24:17] Taryn: I was like, no, go. Funny. It was good times. We are doing 2025 though for TNA. The athletes that came across just had the best time. Uh, Steve from, came all the way from Canada. Kelly came all the way from the U. S. And they've already booked the ACOM for next year. So it is happening. So if you can chat to, uh, the financial controller.

[00:24:41] Taryn: And see if you can come across. It was an epic time. And yeah, looking forward to seeing all those guys, plus maybe some more TNA athletes next time when we do it again.

[00:24:50] Chad: It sounded amazing. I'd love to come. And Australia's been on my bucket list for a long time.

[00:24:55] Taryn: All right. Sunny Coast 70. 3 it is. You heard it here first, people. Well, thank you so much for joining me, Chad. I have loved talking to you straight off the bat from your epic race performance at 70. 3 Washington. It's not often that I got to talk to people this close to a race, and I feel like the energy and the buzz and the vibe of like a really good race, like just emanating off you at the moment.

[00:25:22] Taryn: So I'm so stoked to hear that and looking forward to seeing you You know, after a bit of an off season, where you go for 2025 and beyond. And if you want to do Ultraman, I'm here for it.

[00:25:31] Chad: Yeah, this has been awesome. And thank you for all your help.

[00:25:34] Taryn: you're welcome. just scratching the surface.

[00:25:38] Chad: I know. keep going.

[00:25:40] Taryn: Let's keep going. So if you are interested in joining us in the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, doors are actually open at the moment. They've been open since Sunny Coast Race Weekend and our next cohort starts on the 5th of October. So you've got a little bit of time left to deliberate, decide, maybe chat to the financial controller or don't.

[00:26:01] Taryn: So go and check it out, dietitianapproved. com forward slash academy. If you are looking at joining us, we won't open doors again until January, 2025. Thank you so much, Chad. And 

[00:26:11] Chad: Yeah. soon.

[00:26:13] Chad: Thank you. Bye. 

Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. I would love to hear from you. If you have any questions or want to share with me what you've learned, email me at [email protected]. You can also spread the word by leaving me a review and taking a screenshot of you listening to the show. Don't forget to tag me on social media, @dietitian.approved, so I can give you a shout out, too. If you want to learn more about what we do, head to dietitianapproved.com. And if you want to learn more about the Triathlon Nutrition Academy program, head to dietitianapproved.com/academy. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to helping you smashed in the fourth leg - nutrition!