Episode 89: Rudy von Berg on Ironman Texas Highlights, Bison Energy, and the Ironman Pro Series

This week on Another Triathlon Podcast, we're keeping the Ironman Texas energy rolling with a special guest who stood on the podium and brought the bison vibes all weekend long—Rudy von Berg joins us for a deep dive into his racing roots, Ironman Texas performance, and everything going on in the 2024 season.

Rudy shares what it was like growing up immersed in triathlon with his legendary dad, how he made the strategic shift from ITU to long course, and what it's really like to be one of the most consistent pros on the circuit today. We also talk about the decision to return the Ironman World Championship to a single-day race in Kona for 2026—and get Rudy’s unfiltered thoughts on what it means for the sport.

💬 Topics we cover: 

✔️ Rudy’s early days following his dad around Kona and Austria
✔️ His path from ITU to Ironman—and why he waited until age 28 to debut
✔️ Race breakdown from his 3rd place at Ironman Texas
✔️ Bison mindset, GPS chafing, and post-race snacks
✔️ Transparency with race data and why Rudy shares his power numbers
✔️ Balancing a full Ironman season and the Ironman Pro Series
✔️ The return of Kona’s one-day format: what Rudy thinks
✔️ Advice for age groupers on building fitness patiently

🎧 Listen now wherever you get your podcasts or watch the full interview on YouTube!

🔗 Follow Rudy
Instagram: @rudyvonberg
YouTube: Rudy von Berg Racing

📲 Follow ATP
Instagram: @anothertriathlonpodcast
Hosted by: @jennacaer, @joshmvernon, and @fredrikson.12

Transcript

Jenna-Caer (00:01.852)
Welcome back to another Trathon podcast. We are still buzzing from all the excitement that went on at Ironman Texas. So we decided to grab a special guest this week so we can hear a little bit more about the race as well as his history in the sport and the Ironman Pro Series. Plus, if you are into Trathon at all, you have definitely seen a big announcement went out today and we will have a little bit of a chat around the Ironman World Championships. But to jump us off, let's say hi. Welcome to the podcast, Rudy Von Berg. We're happy to have you on here.

Rudy (00:31.843)
Hi guys, good to be here.

Jenna-Caer (00:33.754)
Yeah, as always, joined by Josh and Fede. So why don't we jump in and learn a little bit more about you, Rudy? Some people might not be as familiar with your background, but what got you into triathlon? You have a bit of a famous dad when it comes to the sport.

Rudy (00:49.137)
Yeah, I mean, I've been in the sport for as long as I can remember. I always mentioned one of my earliest memories is 1998 in Kona when I was five years old watching my dad race. And he would bring us around a lot of the big city or, you Kona and all the major Ironmans. So kind of grew up as, you know, one of those kids in those families that

Fed (00:50.109)
Thank

Rudy (01:17.605)
Yeah, went around to the big Ironman, the Ironman Austria, the ITU long distance worlds, Kona obviously a few times. And then grew up, growing up near Nice as well, that being a triathlon hub and race hub. So yeah, and my dad's been passionate about the sport for, until he was 27 years old about, and when he was in New York City.

and he still loves it now. I still get the long messages after the races with the whole analysis of my cadence, heart rate, pace, why did I lose five seconds in T2 or whatnot.

Fed (01:47.807)
Hahaha

Fed (01:58.141)
Awesome. What's funniest post-race text you've gotten from your dad? The one that you're like, come on,

Rudy (02:08.593)
Well, sometimes I find it... He is a bit intense, let's say, or... Sometimes I find it bit difficult when... He needs to wait a few days, you know? Because I've just been put through the wringer for eight hours. And if after a few hours I get something like, why didn't I do this? Or...

Why is my heart rate so low or why did I not look like I pushed myself hard enough at the end? Why was I so fresh at the finish line or something like that? It's a little irritating. But yeah, no, but if I had to choose, obviously, you know, some parents, have no idea what their children are doing in triathlon. They can barely even spell triathlon. And my dad knows kind of.

Fed (02:40.519)
Yeah

Yeah.

Rudy (02:59.919)
Yeah, in all everything about it. So I think that's definitely nicer.

Jenna-Caer (03:04.967)
Yeah, absolutely. And when it comes to the sport here, when did you decide that you wanted to kind of follow in his footsteps a little bit and start chasing down, really getting into the racing and decide to become a pro?

Rudy (03:17.625)
Yeah, so I grew up doing swimming, biking, running kind of individually. And also, well, you can't really do triathlons that early. soccer and tennis. And then we do two week trips for skiing as well. I started skiing when I was two years old. So I was kind of doing a lot of, a bit of basketball at school too. Not like games or anything, but just.

Yeah, during play time, know. And so I did all of those sports until I was 13, more or less. And then kind of when I was around the age where you kind of have more serious competitions in each sport, kind of had to, because I had a very kind of busy schedule already at that age, just with school and yeah, practice after school. Because in France, as a lot of you know,

The system's different, you it's not part of school. So you have to sign up in clubs and do the sports after school. so yeah, around that age, I kind of essentially started doing just triathlon or, or the sports of triathlon. So I would also do bike racing, cross country running. yeah, so around, yeah, 13 to 15, but yeah, I started doing just triathlon.

Fed (04:41.053)
Mm.

Josh (04:42.018)
When you started doing the, the triathlon at the younger age was the goal immediately to get into long course down the road. Cause you had already seen it and grown up around it, or was it something that you weren't initially sold on until you started participating in more and more races.

Rudy (04:59.537)
Yeah, no, I kind of always wanted to have the dream of Kona and Ironman World Championship. So that was kind of always what I was, what I wanted to do. And the thought at that time, I mean, still is kind of now, but a bit less was, you you have to do ITU first. You kind of have to build up the distance, you know, work on your speed or just do shorter, faster racing and, you know, kind of trickle down the longer distances.

And so that's why I didn't do my first Ironman until I was I think 27 or 28. It was in 2022. So yeah, almost 29. I was still 28, but it was in the year of me turning 29. And that was kind of by design, you know, I still have, let's say 11 years at that point, 11, 12 years to do an Ironman career. And yeah, so kind of didn't, you know, didn't, didn't rush through the periods. I did ITU for a few years.

in the juniors and then seniors and then OU23 and then kind of did a 70.3 career and then yeah now is more.

Fed (06:04.857)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (06:06.248)
What was that point where you decided you were going to finally kind of jump into the Ironman distance? Was there anything in your race results or your physiology that kind of made you decide, okay, now it's time to make that leap?

Rudy (06:17.809)
I mean the age consideration was somewhat there but also just I was becoming pretty accomplished in 70.3 and I don't know it just kind of felt like it was a good time to start doing full Ironman's you know.

Fed (06:36.221)
It seems to me that, well, you fell in love with triathlon, like following the footsteps of your dad. And obviously it strikes to me that you're the type of guy who just loves endurance sports, being outside, pushing himself. And then you just kind of like fell into triathlon to get that competitive edge off and actually compete with other athletes and maybe showcase your strengths. But it seems to me that maybe Kona was always...

way more important than the ITU career in a way for you. Was that always the case? Was always Kona the main goal and the holy grail for you?

Rudy (07:17.009)
Yeah, definitely. mean, growing up, Kona was the one race, you know, all the top pros were aiming for. It's the one that has the most media. It's the one I grew up being at. I just remember being little on the side of the roads there and just thinking, you know, I just want to be those guys, you know? So yeah, the whole time that was kind of knew that would be, that was my dream and that was my goal. And actually that draws a bit of a parallel with now with the T100.

Which I'd say it's a bit more like ITU, you know? And that's why also I decided to do the Ironman Pro Series this year. Because yeah, mean, it just seems more fun. It's in nicer countries. You know, don't want to have to go to Dubai and Singapore. There's so much travel. The bike courses are not as fun. I know the Ironman races are just a bit more mature and just nicer general races, if I can say.

Fed (07:46.429)
Mm.

Fed (08:03.325)
.

Jenna-Caer (08:15.504)
Mm-hmm. And so you...

Josh (08:16.748)
It was a good decision since you're now at the top of the point standings, I guess. You're off and running and off and running with that decision. Yeah. No, it is early, but you've had two good results. mean, Oceanside and now Ironman Texas. So good decision on your part for a number of reasons.

Rudy (08:21.465)
Yeah, it's so early.

Rudy (08:33.615)
Yeah, yeah, I think Christian and Magnus will both pass me in their next 70.3, but yeah, I mean, if I could be third at the end of the year, I'd already be pretty happy with that.

Jenna-Caer (08:46.524)
Yeah, and speaking of Ironman, you had a pretty incredible result last year at the Ironman World Championships getting on the podium there. Was that kind of part of that decision to chase down more of this Ironman Pro series compared to something like the T100?

Rudy (09:01.825)
Partly, but not really. I think I already knew last year. I should have done the pro series last year already. Yeah, I mean, I had a few issues beginning of the year, so I already didn't perform in the ones where I didn't have Ironmans before the T100s. And then mid middle of the year after Roth and then after Kona. were both London and Dubai were both three weeks after those Ironmans and...

For me, there's just no chance three weeks after an Ironman. yeah, should have, especially after 2023 where I did three very good Ironmans, I should have probably just gone for the pro series. But the, I mean, the PTO have been doing really good things for the sport and it's a lot of guaranteed money as well. So that was also a bit of a draw.

Jenna-Caer (09:51.376)
Yeah, that definitely helps. Now, we saw you out there at Iron Man Texas this weekend. First, I have to ask, what is with the hat with the horns? I saw you running around all weekend with that on there. What is that? Yeah.

Rudy (10:02.353)
The bison hat. Yeah. It's a bit of a spirit animal, a bit of a joke with friends. So it kind of developed a like that. before, so see, I studied at CU Boulder and it's the CU Buffaloes. But that's not really, that kind of happened after. Already when I was smaller, I was getting presents of bisons. I have this like bronze bison and I have like these

Jenna-Caer (10:19.602)
Gotcha.

Fed (10:29.629)
Thanks

Rudy (10:31.503)
these objects of Bison's and then so then I went to Boulder. So then it started adding up and then living with some friends here in Boulder. We started including it a bit in conversations, just as joking as, cause I train a lot in the cold here in both the winter and then bringing it to mindset. know, Bison you could say is pretty, if you can say it is pretty strong mentally or

Fed (10:47.281)
Yes.

Rudy (10:59.963)
pretty resilient, know, they're there in the storm. Yeah, so all that together, then we'd start to joke with friends about it, saying, y'all, you're not a real bison if they didn't do a good workout or if they rode indoor or something like that. And so now we're developing it into I'm the bison and yeah, pretty much.

Fed (11:14.471)
Yeah

Fed (11:23.421)
Hashtag via bison like Rudy

Rudy (11:26.765)
Exactly. That's what you want. And there's always, there's more levels of bison you can attain.

Fed (11:27.59)
I'm

Fed (11:32.325)
Yeah, absolutely.

Josh (11:36.93)
Well, you've, I mean, can't let the Norwegians take the stage in all these pro briefings and meetings anyway. So you got to step up and hold your own too. It's, it's always like, and even like pro try news mentioned it, like, why do we not talk about Rudy Von Berg when we come to talk about winning these big Ironmans and big races? And you're kind of at the end of the discussion, but at the end of the day, we all know you're going to end up right there on the podium or pretty damn close to it. And I think you kind of.

Rudy (11:45.839)
Exactly.

Josh (12:06.304)
are always in the backdrop of people's minds, but I think by the end of the season, we're going to have to start putting you up in the front. And I can see that you've already started and have your goals pretty set. do you feel that like that you're kind of an underdog when you go into these races?

Rudy (12:21.233)
Um, honestly, not, not really anymore. mean, since 2023 and even more Kona, I feel like I'm mentioned kind of everywhere. Before, till before Kona, I wasn't on much of the podiums, you know, but, um, since then I've seen my name kind of everywhere. So I honestly don't feel like I'm, um, an underdog in any way.

However, I mean, if you have Blumenfeld, for example, in a race, I completely understand he's going to be mentioned more. You know, he has that super fast run. He has those titles. So like it's normal. He's going to be mentioned above me. But apart from him and Gustav as well, I guess, even though he hasn't been as strong lately, but he's coming back strong. And apart from those two,

I think I'm kind of in the next flock of athletes that should be and have been mentioned more and more. So, but what's name of your guest you had yesterday?

Jenna-Caer (13:23.895)
Travis Mundell from the Daily Try. Travis Mundell from the Daily Try.

Rudy (13:26.929)
Say again his name.

Yeah, yeah, he kind of said it well, yeah, it's just, I don't have that X factor in one of the three sports where I'm just, you I'm not the ladle on the bike or the bloom fell on the run, but I'm

Josh (13:42.702)
You're just there.

Jenna-Caer (13:42.987)
You put them all together well.

Fed (13:44.165)
No.

Rudy (13:45.133)
I mean, it's obviously I'd love to have the same level in one of the two of the three and then increase by five percent a third. But yeah, I'm trying. mean, on my day, obviously I can, you know, I've run a two thirty eight in Florida or I've been off the front in a lot of seventy point threes in the past or Ironman's. So but yeah, if you take obviously the very best in one sport, it's going to be hard to compete, you know.

Jenna-Caer (14:13.943)
Yeah, and we love to see that consistency. Like you said, since Kono, you've definitely been right up there against some of these fields that are absolutely stacked. The Iron Man Pro Series has definitely brought those big names together more often, which we'd love to see as fans of the sport. And it's great to see that you are having those performances consistently now. But talking to Iron Man Texas, why don't you tell us a little bit about how your day went? It was a bit warm, but not so much wind as most would expect.

Rudy (14:42.353)
Yeah, it was a little still more windy than in 2023 when I did it, but also a bit warmer. Yeah, I mean, I had a good swim. mean, I was what, seventh out of the group of 20. And kind of as athletes, we're also looking where we are in the group because, you know, if you're 19th in the group, you know, if there was a break, you would be out the back in the second pack.

So it's also important to see that, I was there in seventh and if there were some bigger accelerations, I would have still been in the front. So that's important to see. And then on the bike, I actually didn't have very good legs. I was actually a little worried because to remove all my days is kind of a day later before the race because the Saturday one week out from the race.

I kind of had my last break and there was a storm on Friday. It was snowing Friday night in Boulder. And so we weren't sure the weather looked okay, but we weren't, we didn't really want to do a break outside and you know, 38 degrees. Yeah. In 38 degrees. And so we moved it to Sunday where it was going to be much warmer, which was six days off from the race, which that was okay. But then also the taper intervals move the day later.

to Wednesday and Thursday. So Thursday I had some taper intervals on the bike two days out from the race. And yeah, I felt awkward on the bike. I had no power, which isn't not really a problem race week, because I never feel great, but it just felt off and being two days from the race, you know, I was like, what's going to change that much in two days? So yeah, so I didn't have great legs.

I did a bit of a surge at the start and Hogan had passed me and I struggled. I was at 50, 60, 70 meters for a while with the entire pack behind me, 12 meters. and I was, I mean, he was kind of surging. was going 340, 350 for a while. And, it was, yeah. So was a bit hard, harder than it should be in some moments. But then, yeah, then once we hit the highway, kind of it was in the group. then the Watts went down.

Rudy (17:03.377)
So overall I did pretty much an hour of 300 watts, two hours of 250 and then an hour of 300. That was kind of my race. So that middle two hours is when Cam caught us, Leon. And then, yeah, then I was behind Leon and back a guard. And then all of a sudden I didn't realize and the pack was like gone because there were all the age groupers as well. So you couldn't really see, you know, I had six pros in front of me and then age groupers in the middle. And then, so I didn't see the pack kind of go away.

Fed (17:09.425)
Well.

Rudy (17:32.427)
And so the last back, had to push pretty hard, drop the guys I was with, catch guys like Ben, Casper Storms, drop them as well. But that was good. So I was still able to kind of bridge that gap to finish the bike with the front, what, five or six of us it was. So that was good in the end. It's a decent ride and felt decent for the run.

Fed (17:36.381)
Hmm.

Rudy (18:01.553)
Then I started to run. My lower back has been pretty tight starting runs. My pace was still okay, but yeah, it just kind of bothers me a bit. You can't really open up the stride and also it just makes you way more uncomfortable generally. So, but I was still in third, but unfortunately, yeah, the two guys Benito and Christian were in front and putting a couple minutes.

in the first 10, 15 K. And then, um, then I had a quick porter potty spot stop. Um, not sure why I never had to, but so I lost close to a minute and then that's when things got kind of tight for the last, uh, 15, 20 Ks, uh, Casper got within five meters of me. Uh, back a guard was within 30 seconds or with, yeah, 34, 30 to 40 seconds for, um, 15 kilometers.

So that was kind of a big mental battle and but I was still feeling, pretty good running pretty good. And yeah, we were able to hold on for third, even almost catching Benito towards the end. And yeah, I mean, happy to hold on for a podium for sure. That was kind of the big goal during the run.

Josh (19:22.124)
Was it, was it good knowing the course and having some of that? talk about it on the podcast a lot with some others, the mojo of having good success there previously.

Rudy (19:32.209)
Yeah, that run course is quite nice, but when you're hurting, know, everything still feels hard. But it is a bit nicer. It's not, you know, too long straights or there's a bit to look at too. So I noticed this insane massive house being built that looked like 20,000 square feet probably.

Josh (19:37.72)
you

Josh (19:47.618)
Yeah, hippies and all.

Fed (19:47.654)
Yeah.

Fed (19:57.274)
hehe

Jenna-Caer (19:58.711)
Anything that keeps you entertained on that run when it gets... And when you're doing your training leading into this, obviously, being a fairly hot day, were you doing much kind of heat prep training in Boulder? You're not getting those 30 or 90, 100 degree temperatures.

Rudy (20:01.2)
Little bit.

Rudy (20:14.565)
Not quite, but we did get a few hot days still before, not enough for it to be really heat prep. But yeah, I did do a heat prep starting six weeks out. I did about three sessions a week. That's kind of where we can get in. think it's hard to get in more than three a week because then, you know, you have your intensity days, so you don't read on the heat on those days. So then let's say you have two to three intensity days, three heat days. Well, that's almost the whole week already where you have.

Jenna-Caer (20:31.18)
Yeah.

Rudy (20:42.895)
you know, a stress like that. So, yeah.

Fed (20:45.807)
Absolutely. I want to talk to you about, well, first of all, I want to thank you because you're probably one of the few triathletes who is very open about your numbers and about Strava and everything. so first of all, thank you for that. And I wanted to ask you, why do you keep it open? Why are you not scared, quote unquote, to share your numbers or because

Jenna-Caer (20:46.135)
Yeah.

Fed (21:14.383)
I know for watts, watts are watts, of course, certain power for you may not mean that I'm going to be going the same speed. There's a lot that goes into, you know, power and bike position and racing and, but yeah, why are you so open about this? Because you've always been this way.

Rudy (21:33.561)
Yeah, but I'll start by saying I don't understand why others are not open about it. I mean, I've always been on Shrava, I've always put my Watts. At times, I've seen guys like the Norwegians, you're supposed to have all their Watts and then last what, three, four years, they hide everything. But, well, first of all, I'm not going to change my training or anyone else, I don't think is going to change their training.

Fed (21:39.356)
Right.

Rudy (21:59.673)
seeing what watts I did in training or in racing. So that's the first point. And then, as you said, it's quite different between athletes. I mean, we've seen power meters are really, it's really quite individual. Like in some races, some guys are gonna do more watts than you and ride 10 minutes slower, you know, or it is very individual in the end. So it doesn't really matter.

Yeah, don't know. It really just, in the end, I think that's just sums it up. It doesn't matter for other athletes what, what I'm doing in my training. Like they have their own program. They're not going to change anything because one person is doing something. yeah. So I think it's, yeah. And it's just generally better to be open. I think.

Josh (22:50.102)
Yeah, like Fed said, we appreciate it. It's always nice to not compare, but just to see what other people are out there doing. And when it comes to race day, then we can see where that translates and how good your CDA is really what it comes down to on the bike. Right. And, so speaking of that, like what, kind of work have you done on your aerodynamics and your fit and making sure you're, you're maximized there.

Rudy (23:14.385)
Um, yeah, so I haven't done, um, wind tunnel since, uh, in a while now, a year and a half, two years. Um, but I've kept kind of the same position. So I was already at a pretty decent CDA in the past. Um, and since I got the new factor, I've been wanting to go. So we're, trying to set that up currently. was trying to do it this winter, but it didn't work out. Um, but yeah, I mean, I feel solid on the bike. Um,

I have good partners, you know, that give me like my, my E-Koya helmet and tri-suit. I think those are really nice. They fit really good. the Factor TT bike is super fast. Kdex wheels. mean, I think all my equipment is, you know, quite good. there's always more work you can do for sure. And that's why I would like to go back to the wind tunnel, you know, look at the bottle placements. And even though now there's not that much,

Fed (24:00.839)
Mm.

Rudy (24:12.277)
with the new bottle rules with Ironman, there's not that much you can do with that. But just generally, mean, look at new positions would be kind of a shorter, higher angle, like closer to your hands to your face. You can't go that long anymore with the front wheel rule. So yeah, I guess there's a bit less to play with, but it is always good. It's always an evolving thing, so it's always good to go back to the Velodrome or Wind Tunnel.

Jenna-Caer (24:42.901)
Yeah, definitely. Hopefully Iron Man doesn't go the way of UCI where everything is so restricted to the point where we can't make any adjustments. So, hopefully there's still some variability.

Rudy (24:51.183)
Yeah, well, and the thing is, I think they wanted everyone to be able to, you know, be on somewhat of level playing field without, but the bottle down the Sioux was the easiest thing for everyone to do. And I thought that was, yeah, it was just quite easy to do and worked well, but we can't do that anymore.

Jenna-Caer (25:05.483)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (25:11.455)
Yeah, it seems almost counterintuitive kind of to the spirit of Ironman, that's where we separated from like, UCI was Ironman was about find the most innovative, fastest way, new bikes, new setups, screw the rules, we're just going to go as fast as possible. it's a, you got to find, that balance point between safety and still having room for that innovation, because it's pretty cool to see.

Rudy (25:26.321)
You're right.

Rudy (25:33.381)
Yeah, I'd say the arrow bars past the front wheel, that's a problem. That just is negative more for tall athletes. I actually was past the front wheel on my previous Unico extensions. And now I'm shorter on my speed bars, but not really by design. It just kind of happened.

Jenna-Caer (25:42.784)
Yeah.

Fed (25:51.314)
Mmm.

Josh (25:57.922)
How tall are you, Rudy?

Rudy (25:59.755)
I'm 6'2", 188.

Josh (26:01.196)
Yeah, yeah, about what I am.

Rudy (26:05.253)
Yeah, so if I try to go slightly on the longer position, I think I'd end up being above the wheel. Which is a bit annoying, but...

Jenna-Caer (26:14.345)
Yeah, you almost need like UCI has some those adjustments available for body composition. They let you if you are a taller athlete or have longer.

Rudy (26:21.073)
Yeah, I mean if you're super tall, know, you're gonna way easier go over the front wheel. It's not like you're trying to do a Gustav Idenkona Superman position. It's more natural, you know, to be in front of... Yeah.

Fed (26:30.525)
Right.

Jenna-Caer (26:34.645)
Yeah, totally. Well, coming up this season, you're obviously going after the Ironman Pro Series. What are the next few races that we're going to see you at after Ironman Texas?

Rudy (26:44.581)
Yes, I'm doing Ironman Frankfurt next. It's really good. I qualified for Marbella 70.3 Worlds in Oceanside. So I don't have to do Eagleman three weeks before Frankfurt, which I think this is, I maybe lost a percent there doing Oceanside before Texas. For me, it's not ideal to do a race in the buildup for an Ironman. The Norwegians, I mean, they seem fine. They do...

a six hour break, six, seven days after Oceanside and they kept on going with big sessions. But I had a bit of a cold after Oceanside. I recovered from it quick, but you know, then I still have a bit of fatigue. know, 70.3 is still hard on the body. So there's no way I could do a six hour break seven days after Oceanside, which is what I would do typically two weeks before a full Ironman. And then yeah, I did a bit of this session, intensity sessions, but yeah, just kind of.

quite a bit less work or TSS than the Norwegians, for example. But know, Christian is kind of built different for that. He can do so much work. So you just got to focus on yourself for that. But I think, yeah, I was just not at my full, you know, top shape just because of that. So that would be good for Frankfurt and the Nice, the next race after Frankfurt, to have just full Ironman builds without a half.

Jenna-Caer (27:48.471)
you.

Josh (28:08.236)
Is that really the only thing you'll do different going into Frankfurt is just removing that 70.3 from the equation and having a full build into it?

Jenna-Caer (28:08.683)
Yeah.

Rudy (28:16.593)
Yeah, pretty much. mean, I'll go to Europe. I'll probably go three weeks out. So I'll do kind of the brick, the big world session there in Europe and France. Yeah, I mean, I'll still do heat prep, Frankfurt will be hot. But yeah, I mean, I've been training really well over the winter. I'm super consistent, kind of been, didn't have any bad session really, a few at the beginning, but like, yeah.

more or less was, so in Texas I was actually hoping for almost better. I mean, it was solid, but I don't think it was my very best race. So I think that's still to come.

Jenna-Caer (28:57.067)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and that's probably a good thing when you're looking at these seasons just seem to be getting longer and longer for you pro athletes kind of starting this while starting an ocean side and then heading into the Ironman World Champs and like said, Marbella afterwards, there's not a ton of downtime anymore. How do you kind of balance out the racing and trying to peak for such long season?

Rudy (29:19.963)
Yeah, yeah, is. You can't really plan any, as you said, downtime or holidays or just do anything or even visit my sister in the mountains. Like it's like, feel like the whole year is really every week has a purpose on us, which is it would be nice to have a few weeks at some point where you're not really training for anything specific. But yeah, as you said, I mean,

Texas to Frankfurt is nine weeks. You you don't really have time to mess around. mean, I'm going to, I'm taking this week super easy, next week pretty much. I mean, the first week, next week or the first week back. I'll be out of eight weeks, you know, will be not too focused, but after that, yeah, it's kind of, then we'll be at seven weeks from Frankfurt. Then that got to be kind of full focused and then a bit same. Yeah. Frankfurt to Nice and then Nice to Marbella. as yeah. So April to.

November is kind of focused every week, which can be a little tough. But I mean, usually I love the process. I have a good life here in Boulder. So it's not like I'm hurting every day, hurting mentally. But as I said, it would be nice at some points to have a few down weeks. But with the pro series, it is pretty difficult. But I think actually I was seeing

Fed (30:35.357)
you

Jenna-Caer (30:35.728)
Fair enough.

Rudy (30:48.081)
If I wasn't doing the pro series, I'd probably do about the same program. Probably do 70.3 Ironman a bit earlier and then early summer Ironman and then a world zero. So it'd kind of be almost the same.

Fed (30:53.213)
Mm.

Jenna-Caer (31:02.103)
Yeah, well we just we kind of teased it at the beginning. just had a big announcement from Ironman this morning kind of breaking news in there that they're changing the Ironman World Championships back to one day of racing the classic Kona style starting in 2026 and then we're gonna have the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice to kind of fulfill that I guess contract obligation to have a World Championship there but Rudy wanted to get your thoughts on having the Ironman World Championships being back to one day many

women racing on the island. What do you think about that?

Rudy (31:35.665)
Yeah, I I think it's a really good thing. I thought separating two different continents, men and women, different time of the year was a pretty bad idea. So yeah, I'm really happy everyone's back in Kona, especially men and women together. I would be happy men and women together kind of anywhere. mean, Kona is even better. But yeah, the main thing for me was to the men and women together.

Also, was thinking you just try couples, you know, I want to do the race. It kind of ruins the whole thing. Cost wise for those couples, if they have to do both races, that would be crazy too. And then also from a sponsor point of view, I mean, a lot of brands didn't want to go to Kona if it was only men or only women. Unfortunately, even more if it was only women, I think the sponsors didn't want to go to Kona.

Fed (32:08.817)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (32:09.418)
Yeah, right.

Jenna-Caer (32:32.8)
Yeah.

Rudy (32:33.937)
And then in Nice, it was a bit the same thing. So it's better, yeah, for Triathlon overall, think, to have the one big event with everyone together at the same time.

Jenna-Caer (32:45.301)
Yeah, that's the fun part being on the island with everyone there and you know, Traplon just takes over Kona and the pier and stuff. And it's fun to see that the vibe was definitely different the last couple of years, whether it was the men or the women racing, just a lot less sponsor activations, a lot less going on all around. And like you mentioned specifically for the women, unfortunately, they just didn't have that same pull for a lot of the sponsors too. So looking forward to getting that vibe, that energy, everyone back out there and just seeing some epic racing back in the classic Kona style.

Rudy (33:14.897)
Exactly. Yeah. And for Nice, I think it's good also that they're doing the 70.3 Worlds there because that was, they had in 2019, that was a super nice race. And yeah, I think it's a worthy course for 70.3 Worlds. At least it won't be a draft fest on the bike. There's plenty there to separate people on the bike. yeah, Nice, I mean, has the history and it's a very nice area for a triathlon.

Fed (33:33.234)
Thank you.

Josh (33:33.582)
Thank

Josh (33:45.326)
natural progression since you just mentioned it 12 meters or 20 meters.

Rudy (33:50.403)
I mean, I'd say always 20 is probably better, but now it's 12. You got to play the game, you know? So usually in the past, I'd always be, have to go off the front on the bike because if I want to win, not going be the, I can have a good run, but I'm not going to be the fastest runner. So, so yeah, it kind of includes tactics a bit more with the 12 meters, but

Yeah, I just wonder if 20 meters, you know, now we have 20 guys in the groups, if it would be... If you could enforce it the same or if it would be a bit more difficult. Yeah.

Josh (34:26.88)
It's, mean, with, with race ranger, seems like some of the, the cyclists who maybe weren't as technically sound as others can now stay closer and maybe they were drafting 15 meters and not knowing it. now with the race ranger and the lights, they know they're 12 meters or 13 meters. the, think it's probably helped the draft trains.

Rudy (34:47.505)
Yeah, well, I'm not so sure about that because I feel like before you didn't have the light, right? So you weren't scared of hitting the red here and there. So the guys would kind of be at 12 to 15 meters would probably be at 11 meters also quite a bit without getting a penalty. Now we know we're never within 12. I mean, we know if we hit the red, have to pass.

So, and also I find it really, it's really quite hard to just stare at the light the whole time. You know, it's not like we're just dead flat, no turns, no elevation, and you can just do the exact same power and just stay at, you know, 12 and a half meters. So I, for example, get out of even the 17 meters. I'm on no lights for a lot of the time too. So that's why sometimes I'm not, I'm not so sure if you're actually, we're actually drafting more now.

Jenna-Caer (35:19.158)
Yeah.

Rudy (35:43.289)
or not, or just having more of the draft effect being close to 12 meters.

Jenna-Caer (35:48.545)
Fair enough. And actually I wanted to ask, so we saw some posts from some of the pro men after the race with the new, or I guess the GPS trackers that they have to have on their back from Ironman. Looks like a number of athletes either had some extreme chafing or burning. Did you feel any of that or did you see that?

Rudy (36:04.803)
Yeah, well actually we were there in the post-race sitting area food and that's kind of where we took off our tri-suits and saw it on Gustav and Leon and I had nothing but yeah, it looked pretty but they actually didn't even know I guess just the heat of the event, know, they just didn't notice but yeah, it looked pretty pretty burnt on some of those guys.

Jenna-Caer (36:11.339)
Mm-hmm.

Fed (36:31.143)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (36:31.665)
when you have to shower afterwards and you feel the burning of the chafing.

Josh (36:35.118)
That's what sounded like with Knute. Knute said he started feeling it during the run as he's dumping water down his back.

Rudy (36:35.137)
Yes, it's going be great.

Fed (36:37.021)
Thank

Rudy (36:41.777)
Yeah, I guess. Yeah, I don't know how their pockets are made. I mean, I just have a simple mesh pocket. I mean, yeah, I don't know, maybe more muscular back, less muscular backs, maybe has a difference or maybe how you just how you run if your shoulder blades are back, because it is there in between your shoulder blades. But yeah, not sure exactly, because the GPS unit has a bit of kind of silicone around to. It's not.

Fed (37:08.028)
Hmm.

Rudy (37:09.521)
I mean, you feel it a little bit, but, you forget about it during the race.

Jenna-Caer (37:14.996)
Fair enough. Now we put up a post for some questions. Josh and Fede, did you have any other ones that we had from the audience that people wanted to know from Rudy?

Fed (37:22.781)
Yeah, I have a question for Rudy and it says how do you keep mentally strong while going through bad patches, especially on a race?

Rudy (37:36.069)
Yeah, I think that's something that's kind of wired in our body from training, honestly. We do it so many times in training. I mean, not everyone does it, but you got to practice it in training. And we go through those patches so many times in training that I think in the race when you're a more fresh and tapered and all that, you're able to just kind of more naturally access it. I mean, it is very hard still.

But what's the other option? know, well, I'm just going to slow down and be fifth instead of third. No. That's kind of what I tell myself in the race sometimes. I'm like, there is no way I'm losing this third spot. Like I'm telling myself that fifth is shit. I want to be on the podium.

Fed (38:08.977)
Yeah.

Fed (38:12.669)
Right, yeah.

Josh (38:14.148)
Ha ha ha.

Fed (38:24.957)
Right, yeah, totally.

Josh (38:29.652)
Is that, something that you, mean, on top of practicing in training, are you taking it to that other level that most of us triathletes would with without the music, without any thing going on without YouTube or whatever, and just sensation of just you riding for four hours on your trainer.

Rudy (38:47.255)
Yeah, I so I already don't train with music. So I think I'm a bit used to it already. But yeah, I mean, in the race, I mean, obviously there's also so many things that come into being mentally strong in a race. Like you have to enjoy it. You have to be happy to be there. You have to have that fire inside you to perform. Like, you know, there's all those things that kind of come into you being strong mentally on race day. So yeah, a lot of aspects to that.

performance.

Josh (39:18.744)
Well, one of the questions I got, actually a couple of people asked it and I don't know if it's because of the, the post or the story that you guys put up about that food tent and the tent post race, but it was like, what are your favorite post race meals? Obviously it's probably not pizza and athletic brewing beer, but that's what you were offered quickly after the race in Texas. But what is your ideal post race meal?

Rudy (39:34.321)
Yeah.

Rudy (39:41.041)
Usually kind of craving something fresh,

Fed (39:45.713)
Mmm, that's a new one.

Rudy (39:47.921)
Yeah, I mean usually I'd also give you the burger answer or something greasy and salty. That's definitely in it. also yeah, something fresh. Even if it's like, what the restaurant after the race, I had in the starters, there's like this octopus and this raw fish with...

Fed (39:55.697)
Yeah.

Rudy (40:15.37)
vegetables, but just yeah, like, you know, kind of nice.

Jenna-Caer (40:19.873)
Fair enough. Well, we've got some kind of quickfire questions that we like to ask the pros that come on here. Nothing too crazy, but I wanted to find out kind of along the lines of food, what's the weirdest thing you've kind of eaten during training or racing? Maybe you've had to stop at a gas station where you're completely bonked and had to just grab something.

Rudy (40:36.913)
Hard to say, usually I just kind go for if it's like a really long ride or something like that, go for some chips and Oreos or you know sometimes the McDonald's stop stop works well. I think kind of that's the bread and butter.

Jenna-Caer (40:50.369)
it's be good.

Fed (40:53.638)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (40:58.935)
Excellent, definitely get that saltiness which is always good. If you had to race an Ironman as a pair with another pro, who would it be? Now this could be someone who either pushes you to get faster or that you just want to hang out with for the eight or less hours to do an Ironman.

Rudy (41:16.081)
And so that would be yeah, I guess I have both options I'll probably go for the performance. So Probably I mean it's hard to go against Magnus. I've raised Magnus a lot last few years so powerful on the bike and he's big so he has a good draft and He's not too crazy on the run though. So so that would be

Fed (41:24.764)
You

Josh (41:35.158)
Yeah, you could practice drafting each other.

Jenna-Caer (41:35.297)
There you go.

Fed (41:35.399)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (41:42.113)
That's it.

Rudy (41:43.493)
He'd be a good guy and I could pull him a bit on the swim maybe too.

Fed (41:46.737)
Mm. Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (41:47.735)
Perfect. Team triathlons in the future, we gotta see it go down. That'd be a lot of fun. Yeah. Yeah. Man, with Kat Matthews performance this weekend, we might see a sub-age just on her own, cruising around.

Rudy (41:51.249)
Sub... Sub-8? Sub-7, I mean.

Fed (41:53.307)
Yeah.

Rudy (42:02.915)
I know, yeah that was wild.

Jenna-Caer (42:05.751)
Well, if triathlon had a fourth discipline, something that would give you the edge in the race, what would that be? So we've had a couple answers like hockey for some more Canadian pros or eating competitions. What would give you an edge if you had to add a fourth discipline?

Rudy (42:23.409)
I am a pretty good skier. let's travel and skiing. That'd be cool.

Jenna-Caer (42:27.372)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (42:31.863)
There we go. Be interested in trying to out what you think.

Fed (42:35.579)
Yeah. But would you put skiing? Yeah.

Rudy (42:36.196)
No.

Josh (42:38.06)
It definitely, it definitely seems to be the sport that crosses over a lot the most. I thought you were going to go with basketball, like back to your childhood and be like, all I'm going to use my height.

Fed (42:43.151)
Exactly.

Rudy (42:46.193)
I do love skiing and even if it's just downhill or ski-mo, that would make it super hard. The uphill skiing is really hard physically or even cross-country skiing is of similar.

Fed (42:53.586)
Hmm.

Jenna-Caer (42:53.675)
Mm-hmm.

Fed (43:04.231)
Yeah. And would you put it in after which discipline? Would it be swim, bike, run, skiing? Or would it be skiing, swim, bike, run? What do you think would give you the better edge?

Jenna-Caer (43:08.801)
So.

Rudy (43:14.246)
Yeah.

Yeah, you'd have to put it after the biking.

Fed (43:20.318)
swim, bike, ski, run. Yeah, I can see that.

Rudy (43:21.681)
That would be a very hard organization.

Fed (43:28.903)
Yeah

Jenna-Caer (43:29.335)
Yeah, finding a location for that might be a little tricky. There we go.

Rudy (43:32.611)
Yeah.

Josh (43:32.682)
Latte.

Fed (43:32.877)
Hey.

Hmm. Well, they just announced a redos erase. Maybe they have a winter triathlon, a swim bike, a skiing run over there and altitude. So that's another factor as well. Yeah, I think it's like 8,000 feet. Yeah. Yeah.

Rudy (43:35.323)
Okay.

Josh (43:41.419)
you

Josh (43:45.539)
Yeah.

Jenna-Caer (43:46.295)
There you go.

Rudy (43:47.373)
Is that altitude?

Josh (43:49.41)
Like AK.

Rudy (43:51.217)
Oh, that should be a cool race.

Jenna-Caer (43:53.047)
That'll definitely be So you mentioned you don't really train with music, but do you have any kind of guilty pleasure song that you listen to, maybe race morning when you're trying to get pumped up or ready to go?

Fed (43:55.762)
Yeah.

Rudy (44:07.313)
Last year's I've been big on Kid Cudi.

Jenna-Caer (44:11.275)
Yeah, that's a one. Get your ferret up.

Rudy (44:13.169)
So he gets me going good. I feel like with him, it's more kind of a deeper motivation it gives me rather than just like a stupid song that would make you motivated just in the moment, you know?

Jenna-Caer (44:24.447)
Mm-hmm.

Jenna-Caer (44:28.257)
Fair enough. And then last question, our quick fire here. What's one piece of advice you've been given over the years that's kind of resonated with you?

Rudy (44:38.001)
Ummm... hmmm...

Rudy (44:43.255)
Yeah, that's tough. Let me think. I mean, generally, I'd say...

Like advice for anything really or for performance or just general life.

Jenna-Caer (44:56.821)
Yeah, just in support, something that's kind of stuck with you or motivated you or... Yeah.

Rudy (45:06.979)
I think I usually have something but I'm struggling right now.

Josh (45:12.066)
Let me give you one to think about while you're doing that one. is another profession you would do if you had to remove triathlon?

Rudy (45:21.521)
I don't know because I've been so invested in triathlon for so long that there hasn't been that many options, other options in my mind.

Josh (45:32.982)
and partnerships. That's natural progression.

Rudy (45:35.377)
Yeah, I mean, I've always been interested in kind of how human brains work, kind of like psychology and stuff like that. Maybe something related to that. That actually also ties into marketing in general. Yeah, sorry, I don't have a great advice one for you.

Fed (45:43.419)
Mmm. Yep.

Jenna-Caer (45:55.831)
Yeah, absolutely.

Fed (46:00.027)
Hmm. Let me ask you another question. If you were to train somebody from zero to not pro, but like a pretty decent age grouper, what advice would you give that person and how consistent would that person need to train and for how long so that he can go from, okay, you're a sporty person, but just getting into triathlon to like a, you know,

Jenna-Caer (46:00.114)
All good. Yeah, no often.

Fed (46:29.693)
70.3 Kona qualifier type of athlete.

Rudy (46:34.371)
Yeah. mean, in terms of, mean, you need to train every day pretty, for sure. The biggest thing that I follow and that I would tell my athletes to follow would be to not force paces, kind of let the paces come to you. And that can be within a workout or, also throughout the weeks building for a race. I think that's a big, one of the biggest mistakes a lot of people do is

Fed (46:52.231)
Mm.

Fed (47:03.965)
Hmm

Rudy (47:04.197)
They always want to do, you know, if they have a range, they'll always go for the max pace of the range, you know, given by their coach, even if it doesn't feel good or they even try to beat it, which doesn't make sense because then you're above your, what you're trying to work out. Yeah. So, and even within workouts, you know, kind of let the power come to you, let the pace come to you. mean, that's a big one, but yeah, even more just throughout a build.

Like I'll start in January, February doing Ironman pace workouts that people would be like, this is stupid. Like, this is ridiculous. Why is he so slow? Yeah. Kind of same, same for a lot of the interval paces workouts. So that's, yeah, that's the one of the big ones I follow myself and would give an athlete.

Fed (47:45.021)
Yeah

Jenna-Caer (47:45.045)
Yeah.

Fed (47:58.407)
Yeah, that's.

Jenna-Caer (47:58.741)
No, that's some great advice in there. Definitely something you would see with all of these A-type motivated triathletes and kind of that Mark Allen style. Like he would always say the same thing. He was just so slow at the beginning of the season.

Fed (48:06.268)
Yeah.

Rudy (48:09.233)
Yeah, it's hard because you have to be patient. If you're motivated, sure, you want to do your best pace. You want to be happy with your workout, what not. But you need to know in your mind that the best way to be the fastest possible on race day is to follow that and be patient.

Fed (48:30.289)
Yeah, yeah.

Jenna-Caer (48:30.839)
Fantastic advice. Well, thank you so much. We've taken up a fair bit of your time here and we sure appreciate you coming on and chatting with us today, especially so soon after Iron Man Texas. And we definitely will be watching along and following you through the pro series.

Rudy (48:45.637)
Yeah, thank you, it's been fun. Yeah, I'm a bit more recovered now, so, until yesterday I was still very, very tired just doing nothing, but today's a bit better.

Josh (48:57.1)
Wow. Welcome back. You're on your Frankfurt build now.

Fed (48:57.159)
Thank

Rudy (49:00.215)
Yeah, very good. I've had zero workouts since the race, but today is first day of active recovery.

Fed (49:00.594)
Yeah.

Ha!

Josh (49:07.99)
That's a good message for age groupers as well. I mean, you've taken half a week off.

Fed (49:08.198)
Yeah, there we go.

Jenna-Caer (49:10.902)
Yes.

Rudy (49:13.297)
Yeah, I need it. see some other people. I've already seen Instagrams, back to work. They didn't go hard enough.

Jenna-Caer (49:13.591)
Take the time to recover.

Fed (49:19.517)
Yeah, don't do it right don't be the workout hero that's that's that's the message here

Jenna-Caer (49:21.623)
crazy.

Rudy (49:29.593)
Yeah, exactly.

Jenna-Caer (49:30.519)
And Rudy, what's the best way for everyone to kind of follow along with you this season?

Rudy (49:35.953)
So the two main ones are well main one is Instagram and then Just Rudy von Berg and then I also have a YouTube Rudy von Berg racing Have done slightly less videos Recently, but I still done I did Kona and there is gonna be a Texas video coming out soon So, yeah

Josh (49:55.841)
Awesome.

Jenna-Caer (49:57.079)
Sounds good. Well, we will link to everything in the show notes there, so go check that out and you can take a look at his Instagram and YouTube. But until then, thank you so much for joining us and have a great afternoon.

Rudy (50:08.805)
Thank you. Thanks, guys.

Josh (50:08.814)
Thanks,