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Simon Ward, multiple award-winning triathlon coach, shares insights on how to improve your triathlon performance with a High Performance Human approach to life.
Episodes
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
Wednesday Aug 24, 2022
I've chatted to a few guests who have been in the triathlon world a long time - Dave Scott, Mark Allen, Bob Babbitt, Sarah Springman, and Steve Trew to name a few. But none of them have been at as many seminal triathlon occasions as this week's guest. Canadian Barrie Shepley may be better known to you as the commentator of the WTS TV coverage but there is way more to him than just that. At different times he’s been President and National Coach of Triathlon Canadian as well as a race announcer and now author. In today's show, we catch up with him about his triathlon life and talk about some of the inspirational characters who feature in his new book, ‘Chasing Greatness’.
To follow Barrie you can find him on most of the social media channels:
If you’d like to get hold of a copy of Barrie’s book, ‘Chasing Greatness’ then please go HERE
CLICK HERE To watch a short video of the Triathlon event at the Sydney Olympics in 2002 won by Simon Whitfield of Canada.
To download your FREE 4-week mobility plan, please click here.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Aug 17, 2022
Wednesday Aug 17, 2022
The first triathlon book I read was by 6-time Ironman World Champion Dave ’The Man’ Scott. I was inspired by his stories but he was superhuman, right, so I could never really be like him. I tried some of his workouts and they either left me defeated, broken, or worse still injured. If I could have just found a triathlon book by some regular guy or girl.
What I've really enjoyed in 5 years of recording this podcast is getting to talk to people just like you and me. Recreational athletes, weekend warriors if you like, who have similar day-to-day challenges.
Planning training around children and work or learning to swim. Basically adjusting to the demands of life.
Today's guest is one such person, Michael Adeniran a.k.a. The Urban Challenger who will be racing at Outlaw X in late September. Michael is one of 4 Outlaw ambassadors we have in 2022 and as he prepares for the event he's sharing his training journey with his 10,000+ followers on Instagram. Michael is joined on the call by his young daughter Amaia, his biggest fan, so you might hear her in the background as we chat about:
- Becoming the Urban Challenger
- Keeping fit during the pandemic
- Being an ‘influencer'
- Learning to swim
- Training for Outlaw X
To find out more about Michael please use these links:
Instagram: @theurbanchallenger - this is where he hangs out most
Twitter: @urbn_challenger
Also his website - Theurbanchallenger.com
You might like this blog post by Michael about 'Preparing for your first triathlon’
Michael also recommended the following books by Robert Greene
To download your FREE case study on how to excel at your first Ironman, please CLICK HERE
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Aug 10, 2022
Wednesday Aug 10, 2022
Some time ago, I made an executive decision that as well as celebrating the current state of the British Triathlon elite performances we should also celebrate those athletes who came before. They are the foundation of the sport in this country and so I decided to have a sub-section of the Podcast called Legends of British Triathlon
One of those legends is this week's guest, Jodie Swallow. Jodie is an Olympian and a former world champion at both ITU Long distance and 70.3. Jodie retired from the sport in 2017 and has since become a full-time coach (you can find details of her coaching business in the show notes). She is also a mother of 3, including twins. It was really nice to catch up and reminisce and I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did.
As usual, we get into a lot of subjects including:
- The winning mentality
- How a stable environment has a positive influence on our performance and life
- Eating disorders in endurance athletes
- The lack of female coaches in any sport and at the highest level
To find out more about Jodie, please visit:
Website CunnamaCoaching.co.uk
Instagram @jodieswallowcoaching
Email cunnamaj@gmail.com for coaching enquiries with Jodie or squad coaches
Jodie is an exceptional swimmer. CLICK HERE to watch a SwimSmooth video outlining Jodie’s awesome technique.
This is a link to the blog post that Jodie wrote in 2012 about Elite female athletes and eating disorders.
Jodie also recommended these 3 books:
The School for Good Mothers - Jessamine Chan - A horrifying yet funny novel about society's current views on women
Three Women - Lisa Taddeo
Healthy Intelligent training - Keith Livingstone
To download your FREE case study on how to excel at your first Ironman, please CLICK HERE
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
Wednesday Aug 03, 2022
I’ve ridden bikes since I was 4 which means I've owned a lot of bikes. I started cycling a bit more seriously when I was 18 and I can honestly say that until I was in my early 50’s I rode the bike that I purchased from the shop. I never changed crank lengths, handlebar width, or even the saddle. Apparently, that makes me a macro adjuster, just like Geraint Thomas, although that and the fact that we both ride bikes regularly is where the similarity stops.
Cycle training typically occupies 45-50% of a triathlete's weekly programme. The longer your chosen race distance, the more time you need in the saddle so bike fit is a crucial element. Today I'm joined by Phil Burt, a physiotherapist by training. After a long career supporting the world’s best at three Olympic Games and seven Tour de Frances, Burt is now concentrating on using his expertise to help cyclists at all levels to improve their health, comfort, and performance. I learned a lot from this call, as I hope you do, including why I should probably have a bike fit after 58 years. I also learned about:
- 3 pillars of bike fit
- Why you should have a bike fit before you buy your new bike
- How a bike fitter can make a difference in performance
- Why the saddle is the most important part of a TT bike
- Why shorter crank lengths on your TT bike might lead to a better run
- Are you a macro adjuster, or a micro adjuster?
- 3 simple fixes you can make immediately for a better bike fit
- Strength training for triathletes
To find out more about Phil and the services he offers, please visit him at:
Website PhilBurtInnovation
Facebook - Philburtinnov
Twitter @PhilBurtInnov
Instagram PhilBurtInnov
YouTube Phil Burt Innovation
Linked In PhilBurtInnov
In this video, Phil explains his new approach to bike fit, performance, and comfort
Phil also recommended these books:
Start with Why by Simon Sinek
Breath by James’s Nestor
To download your FREE case study on how to excel at your first Ironman, please CLICK HERE
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Wednesday Jul 27, 2022
Here's a challenge for you. Put on a blindfold and then ask a friend to run with you. I guarantee that you’ll find it incredibly stressful!
Now imagine swimming, biking, and running not just the two of you but with other competitors around you. Finally, imagine doing this at a pace that will allow you to break a world record or win a world championship medal.
Guiding a visually impaired triathlete doesn’t just mean having great fitness. It also requires great communication skills and the ability to build trust with your partner. Today's guest is Duncan Shea Simmonds. Duncan has been guiding for several years firstly with Haseeb Ahmed, and more recently with Iain Dawson who also joins us on today's show. Iain is a B3 visually impaired athlete and Duncan is his guide. In a few days' time they will be racing for Team England at the Para Commonwealth Games in the PTVI category. It’s super exciting for both as it's their first time competing at the Commonwealth Games. I’ve known Duncan for a long time so firstly we catch up about his triathlon career to date and some of our shared experiences, and then how he got into the guiding role. In the second half, Iain joins us for a 3-way discussion on how it all works. There’s more to it than you might think.
We talk about:
- Average age grouper to Commonwealth Games
- Skills and tactics required for guiding
- Trust and communication
If you’d like to follow Duncan on social media he tends to hang out at the following places:
Instagram @dss123
Twitter @dss123
Duncan also recommended this book by one of the triathlon legends:
Scott Tinley - "Racing the Sunset” - An athlete’s quest for life after sport
Please CLICK HERE to watch a video of Duncan and Iain swimming. You can see exactly how synchronised they are.
To download your FREE case study on how to excel at your first Ironman, please CLICK HERE
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
Wednesday Jul 20, 2022
Several years ago, I listened to Craig Alexander (3-time Ironman World Champion) talking about who might win that year's edition of the race in Hawaii. He noted that there were 10-12 athletes who had the potential to win the event but only 4-5 who would be in the mix come the run. The remainder would have discounted themselves due to poor decision-making.
Note that he didn't say they weren’t strong enough on the bike or fast enough on the run! In this instance the poor decisions could have been: pushing too hard early on the bike, holding back too long on the run, nutrition strategy, or just poor choices leading up to the race.
These problems are not exclusive to elite athletes. We all have decisions to make throughout the day and they have a greater bearing on our life performance than we probably ever consider.
Today's guest is a member of my SWAT tribe, Pete McCarthy. Pete is Head of Human Factors at Cathay Pacific airline and we're going to chat about how they utilise science around performance (both physiological and psychological) to keep their pilots performing at their best. Working around jet lag, loss of sleep, well-being, and positive mental health as well as how to shift from a focus on negative performance to a positive environment. All of these elements affect how the flight crew makes decisions before and during a flight, especially under pressure. It's a fascinating conversation and I’m pretty sure you’ll find some nuggets in here to help improve your performance.
- How a family tragedy klick started Pete’s triathlon career
- Well-being and positive mental health
- Sleep, fatigue, and fatigue risk management and how these impact decision making
- How to shift your focus from negative to positive performance when assessing training and racing performances
- Teamwork and communication
- How decision making and problem-solving will influence your triathlon performance
To read more about Pete’s daughter please check out this article
Cardiac risk in the young could impact all of us. Please take a few minutes to visit their website to find out about the valuable work they do and how you might be able to help please go to: Cardiac Risk in the Young
To find out more about Pete please visit this page at Cranfield University https://www.cranfield.ac.uk/people/peter-mccarthy-581115
The PERMA model we chatted about https://positivepsychology.com/perma-model/
Pilot wellbeing https://skybrary.aero/sites/default/files/bookshelf/4310.pdf
https://safetydifferently.com - Stories of safety and other successes
Pete also recommends the following books:
Just Culture - Professor Sidney Dekker - (reflects my professional thinking and approach)
Any Ordinary Day - Leigh Sales - (reinforces the need to live our lives, be kind and have empathy for others)
The Art of Resilience - Ross Edgley
Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
Dare to Tri- Louise Minchen
To download your FREE case study on how to excel at your first Ironman, please CLICK HERE
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Tuesday Jul 12, 2022
Tuesday Jul 12, 2022
We’ve had a few guests on the show who've chatted about Heart Rate Variability as a way of measuring fitness and recovery. Today's guest, Anna Hemmings, is Britain’s most successful female marathon kayaker with a staggering eleven World and European Championship medals, 9 of them gold. She is now a leading inspirational speaker on resilience and high performance.
By the age of 24, Anna had been World Champion 3 times and competed at the Olympic Games. In 2010 she was awarded an MBE for her services to sport. She achieved this success against all the odds. At the peak of her career, Anna was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and was told by medical experts she might never race again. She battled her way to full recovery and went on to win a further 3 world titles and compete at her second Olympic Games in Beijing 2008.
Since retiring from sport Anna has become recognised as a specialist in the field of resilience and the psychology of high performance. She is an accredited Leadership Coach and founded Beyond the Barriers high performance training consultancy. Anna has worked with CEO’s and senior leaders through to middle management, designing and delivering resilience, leadership and high performing teams programmes.
There are some fascinating crossovers with previous podcasts on breathing and stress management and you can use some of Anna’s lessons in your sporting performances as well, like managing anxiety before an open water swim.
Some of the topics discussed include:
- The value of group training for mental health
- Overtraining vs chronic fatigue and how to recognise the signs
- Recovery from chronic fatigue
- How to use a simple 2-minute breathing practice to raise your HRV
- Learning to listen to your body and understanding the connection between mind and body
- Self-compassion and resilience
If you’d like to follow Anna Hemmings she has a couple of websites:
And you also can find her on the following social media channels:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-hemmings-mbe/
Twitter: @annahemmings
The HeartMath Institute - founded in 1991, the HeartMath Institute has developed reliable, scientifically validated tools that help people reduce and avoid stress while experiencing increased peace, satisfaction, and self-security.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Jul 06, 2022
Wednesday Jul 06, 2022
"Mr. Duffy lived a short distance from his body.” This is a line from The Dubliners, a novel by celebrated Irish author James Joyce.
What does this mean? While you train hard and try your best to look after yourself, you may not have a full awareness of how everything is interacting. The phrase ‘listen to your body’ is used a lot by me and other coaches, but how many people are doing this very well? A quick observation of life around us would indicate that most people have their focus on their mobile phones or some other gadget. The triathletes I observe tend to get information about their body from their Garmin watch.
In recent months I've spent a lot of time talking about mindfulness, recovery, and self-compassion. I speak enthusiastically about my physio and yoga teacher, Louisa (a.k.a The White Witch). Some of you may have watched my morning mobility video which I combine with a deliberate breathing practice. I've even touched on meditation. But until now, we've never actually had a meditation expert on the show. Today that changes as we welcome mindfulness and self-compassion teacher, Dr. Caroline Hoffman.
By the end of this conversation, I hope that we can persuade some of you to give meditation or mindfulness a try and experience some of the benefits that we chat about including:
- Being in the moment rather than dwelling on the past or dreaming of the future
- Mindfulness vs meditation
- The deliberate practice of breathing (again)
- 2 simple steps to getting started with mindfulness practice
- How you can live in your body and not a short distance away
- Practicing mindfulness and how it can help boost your productivity
- Being mindful on the move - how to incorporate this into your own training
To find out more about Dr. Hoffman, please visit these websites:
https://www.oxfordmindfulness.org
https://mindfulselfcompassionuk.com - Video Mindful self-compassion explained
And you can also connect with her on Twitter at Hoffman_dr
Upcoming Course - Exploring Mindfulness and Self-Compassion with Dr. Caroline Hoffman - 8-week course on Zoom, 2 hours per week, Sunday evenings 7.30pm - 9.30pm: October-November 2022 enquiries to caroline@acompassionateheart.co.uk
Dr. Hoffman also recommended the following book if you are interested in improving your breathing:
Breathing Like a Buddha - Ajahn Sucitto Amaravari Publications (available as a free eBook)
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
Wednesday Jun 29, 2022
Imagine you're an elite triathlete, getting on the podium at Ironman 70.3 events, and then COVID comes along. You have no races to do and you feel a bit lost.
What would you do? Some elites did more gravel riding, others chased Strava KOM titles or Fastest Known Times (FKT), and others took part in the indoor race series organised by Zwift or Ironman.
Today's guest, Alice Hector, took a completely different path. She turned from the extreme endurance training of triathlon to the highly anaerobic training found in bodybuilding. She’s turned out to be just as talented, winning a major female physique competition. As a triathlete she raced at 59kg (1.78m or 5’10”), now she competes at 69kg. (You can see that transformation HERE in this Instagram post).
Alice was also joined on the podcast by her bodybuilding coach Mark Palfery who described a lot of the technical information about bodybuilding and particularly nutrition.
The transformation is amazing and we talk about all of this in our conversation as well as:
- What really caused her to make such a dramatic change in sports
- What, no cardio?!
- Training for less than 1hr per day
- The joy of gaining 10k
- Fat-shaming in triathlon to internally motivated weight loss for bodybuilding
- Preparing for a competition - avoid inflammation and just eat plain
To follow Alice you can find her on these social media channels:
Please visit the website to find out more about the Studio 1 Gym owned by Mark, and where Alice trains.
An Instagram story with videos of Alice's victory at the Miami pro-competition.
If you're interested in getting into the weeds on this subject, Mark recommends the following books:
Women's Strength Training Anatomy - Frederic Delaver
The Strength Training Anatomy Workout Volume 1- Frederic Delaver
The Strength Training Anatomy Workout - Volume 2 - Frederic Delaver
The Precontest Bible by Larry Pepe
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
Wednesday Jun 22, 2022
In general, endurance athletes avoid lifting weights like the plague. Cyclists especially will tell you how any extra muscle will reduce their watts per kilo (w/kg) and that if they are heavier, that just makes them slower going uphill.
There are many more reasons why it's a good idea for all endurance athletes to lift regularly. One of them is that it can help to improve their Maximum Sustained Power (MSP). This is different from FTP and is probably way more important to those athletes who are riding for several hours because it refers to the sub-maximal power you can sustain for long durations.
Today's guest is Jacques DeVore, a cyclist and strength coach who wrote the book Maximum Overload for Cyclists. In his book, Jacques lays out a training regime that he claims will help cyclists go faster by improving their sustainable power and fatigue resistance. He has plenty of evidence to back this up, having worked with hundreds of endurance athletes including cyclists Dave Zabriskie.
If you’ve been skeptical about the benefits of strength training to this point, this conversation might change your mind as we discuss:
- At what point of the season should you introduce a strength routine
- Priorities for endurance athletes
- Micro dosing your strength workouts
- Thriving vs surviving on a ride
- How to be as powerful in the second half of a ride as the first
- Why Maximum Sustained Power (MSP) is more important than FTP
- Why strength training is vital for older cyclists (i.e. over 40)
To find out more about Jacques DeVore please visit these sites:
http://www.sirensandtitansfitness.com/
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sirensandtitans/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sirensfitness
Read more about Jacques' thoughts on strength training at his blog:
http://www.sirensandtitansfitness.com/jacques-blog
Walking Lunges - we talked extensively about this in the podcast. Check out Jacques' YouTube channel where the first video you see demonstrates this movement:
Purchase a copy of Maximum Overload for Cyclists
We ask all of our guests to recommend books that have inspired them. These are the choices from Jacques:
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe now, with a happiness guarantee! Join SWAT/High Performance Human tribe here
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here. For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.