In last week’s podcast about recovery, our guest Natalie Brown told us that there were 3 key elements to good recovery - sleep, nutrition and stress management. One area which many athletes (and non-athletes) are keen to explore is a plant based diet. There is certainly plenty of anecdotal evidence about how it can improve health and performance. I…

Building fitness in the long term is quite a simple equation. You workout, and then you recover. If you get the balance of these two right, you should see a steady upward progress over time. Most folks I know and work with are pretty good at the training part, but maybe they could do better on the recovery side. I don’t know about you, but over the…

Regular listeners will have heard me talking about turning 60 in February of this year, and how it has sharpened my mind and prompted me to adjust my focus around training and life habits. I’ve also become a lot more curious about how others are tackling life post-60. Are they just waiting for the inevitable, or are they being proactive and doing e…

The Paris Olympics start this week, and I have clear memories dating back to the first one I can remember: Munich 1972. Every 4 years we witness amazing performances and emotional moments. Hopefully, 2024 in Paris will be the same. For our podcast guest this week it will be a magical moment, when he steps onto the pontoon for the Men's Individual T…

On the podcast this week, we have Kyle Smith! Kyle is a professional triathlete from New Zealand. Raised in Blackburn, UK on a diet of motocross and modern pentathlon, he moved to Taupo in his youth, found triathlon and set about becoming one of the best in the world. He is often first off the bike with blistering swim and bike splits, and this yea…

If you struggle to find a reason to insert regular strength work into your training plan, maybe the motivation from entering a HYROX event will help.HYROX is a relative newcomer to the mix of indoor events combining strength and endurance. At first glance you might think it’s similar to CrossFit, but actually it's quite different. To help you and m…

When you're getting close to the day of your big event it’s natural to feel some nerves and even a little anxiety. It happens to everyone, even the very top performers. In fact, if you felt no anxiety or nerves at all, that would probably be a bad thing. It’s one thing to feel a little anxious, but to get to the point where you feel unable to make …

The first triathlon in the UK was 1983. I did my first event in 1987 and while the sport continued to grow for the next 15 years it didn't really take off until the start of the Brownlee era from 2008. Having said that, there are a significant number of folks who I consider the legends - the Triathletes, coaches, and administrators who were instrum…

As you might have been able to pick up, I’m really getting into strength training at the moment. I feel like I need to share all of my lessons with you, because this type of activity is arguably your best antidote to aging. Dan John is back again today to help me with this. Dan and I discuss the importance of strength training for endurance athlete…

"There are no solutions, only compromises" In last week’s podcast Lexi Kelson and her colleague Emily Arrell from Precision Fuel and Hydration spoke with 3 SWAT athletes to help them create a viable race day hydration and nutrition strategy. This is all very well, but race days don’t come around that often and in between there are many days of norm…

As the race season gets into full swing, I know that many of you are thinking not only of your performance goals but also how you can support these with a good race day hydration and nutrition strategy. Some of the key lessons I have learned over the years are: 1) without a good fuelling/hydration strategy you are unlikely to hit your goals, especi…

Someone once told me that good coaches never stop learning. This is a philosophy that I have carried with me ever since I started coaching, and one which I share with other coaches whenever we are delivering workshops. Reading books and speaking with podcast guests probably forms the majority of my learning these days, although not all. I still go …

Have you watched the Paralympics? What about when you are taking part in or volunteering/spectating at a running event or a triathlon? Have you ever observed the wheelchair triathletes? For them, it’s swim, to hand cycle, to racing chair. Everything is about the upper body, and I’ve always been curious about how they take care of their shoulders, a…

The female monthly cycle and how it impacts training and competition is a conversation that athletes and coaches should have. The reality is that it can be awkward for both parties, so to avoid awkwardness it usually gets pushed aside. Which means that female athletes can feel isolated in navigating this part of their life. We should also include p…

My guest today is Jim Vance There are few individuals in the world with the teaching background, elite athlete experience, and coaching experience with elites, amateurs and juniors, as well as knowledge of training and a passion and understanding of tech. Jim has been the coach to US pro triathlete Ben Kanute for 8 years. He has also written 2 tria…

Lucy Gossage has been around on the long distance triathlon scene for a long time, and she's instantly recognisable with her blue Erdinger kit and infectious smile. If you don’t know Lucy, she has 14 Ironman victories to her name including IMUK, IM Wales, IM Lanzarote and Patagonman (basically all the toughest ones). In 2019 she stepped back from I…

Triathletes like to call themselves multi-sport athletes. In a manner of speaking, they are. They have generally mastered 3 disciplines and combine them all in one single race. Today's guest, Dougal Allen, is a true multi-sport athlete of the highest order. He’s won the NZ Coast to Coast twice (run/kayak/MTB), had many victories and top 10 finishes…

"The RED-S project is a club for sustainable performance. And sustainability to me brings up a few different words, I think about fueling and enjoyment. And no, no process is sustainable unless it's enjoyable. And for me, if I was to get close to a recreational race, and I started to think about race weight, that wouldn't tie in with enjoyment for …

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is gaining more traction in our lives. It's been here awhile, but the launch of Chat GPT has really accelerated our awareness of how it can simplify our lives. AI will be a part of our athletic lives as well, certainly for the way we plan our plan, analyse, and adjust our training to get the best results. Will this b…

A lifetime in sport inevitably leads to injuries, especially if you play contact sports. Rugby was my game until my mid-twenties, by which time I had dislocated both shoulders at least once and broken my collar bone once. Minor concerns compared to some players, but nonetheless it's these injuries that caused me to take up triathlon more seriously.…

As you continue your journey as an endurance athlete you might occasionally think that life is messing you about. There are always obstacles to be navigated - work and family challenges, illness, injury, world events beyond your control. It may even cross your mind that these only seem to happen to you and that other folks have smooth paths to thei…

Since we started the podcast, I've introduced many of the UK triathlon legends, ranging from our Olympic champions to coaches who helped them there, and the folks who were around right at the start of triathlon in the UK. Today's guest, Mark Kleanthous, competed in UK triathlons since the very first event in June 1983. And he has kept on going for …

Who says you can’t get stronger as you get older? Today, Strength and RunForm Coach Matt Pendola is back and this time he’s accompanied by one of his clients, Michael ’Stoke’ Stoker, one member of a small group who Matt affectionately refers to as 'The Silverbacks’. 73 year old Stoke joins us to speak about how his 20 years of work with Matt has en…

Our podcast guest this week is Menachem Brodie, the National Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Israel National Track Cycling Team. He has his own consultancy business, Human Vortex Training, and has also written two books, Strength Training for Cycling Performance, and Lift Heavy Shit (links for both are below). We've heard from numerous swim…

You may have wondered about my choice of the phrase High Performance Human. It doesn’t relate to athletes who perform at the top of their age group. The concept of high performance can be described as a measurable state where an individual consistently performs at a higher level of operational success compared with most of their peers within the sa…