Simon Ward, The High Performance Human Triathlon Podcast

How to Consume Carbs in Training & Racing (and still burn fat) * Simon Ward and Matt Bach from UCAN

During my recent trip to Kona I was invited to participate in a Low Carb/High fat (LC/HF) presentation. There are lots of similar events taking place during race week and this one was especially interesting to me. It was hosted by Debbie Potts, and the main speaker was Prof Paul Laursen (both of whom have been guests on this show, and you can find links below). Also at the event was today's guest, Matt Bach representing UCAN. If you haven’t heard of UCAN, it is a ’super starch’ (so yes, it is a carbohydrate) that’s a very good training and racing fuel for those pursuing the LC/HF approach. Because of its molecular properties it allows the ‘fat adapted athlete' to consume carbs in a lower quantity than normally recommended with standard carbohydrate solutions, and yet remain fat adapted through their race. Sounds too good to be true? Listen in to find out more as Matt and I chat about:

• How a life threatening condition in a small boy (Jonah Feldman) was the inspiration for the development of UCAN
• What is a “super-starch”?
• Metabolic Efficiency - what is it and how to achieve it?
• Why and how is UCAN different to other brands of carbohydrate products?
• How Matt went from GI distress, puking, and suffering during most IM races to winning IM Maryland with an 8:51 (a 50-minute PB)
• How UCAN works to eliminate GI distress during long distance triathlons
• Fat adapted athletes and UCAN. How it works during training and racing.

SHOW NOTES

Find out more about Jonah HERE

Tim O’Donnell (TO) talks HERE about his epic race in Kona (2nd in 7:59) and how he uses UCAN to fuel his training and racing

More on TO and his daily nutrition routine with UCAN, right HERE

Read more about TO’s daily routine HERE 

Matt also mentioned Metabolic Efficiency Training with nutritionist Bob Seebohar

To hear my prior podcasts with Debbie Potts, click here and here.

To hear my prior podcasts with Prof Paul, click here and here.

If you want to try UCAN, and if you're in the UK, there is a UK distributor and we have negotiated a 10% discount for all listeners who are interested trying out UCAN. Just use this code when you checkout from the online store ‘simonward10’.

To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click here https://simonward1.lpages.co/swat-sign-up-30-offer/

To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook age HERE https://www.facebook.com/simon.ward1

Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes https://www.simonwardtriathloncoach.com/1-to-1-coaching/

For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Winter Base Plans Revisited * Simon Ward

As we hit November it’s time to think a bit more deeply about your long term goals and how your winter training will help you to achieve them.

This general conditioning phase is just one piece of the puzzle of which training is only 1/3 of the equation (the others being nutrition and recovery). How close you get to your 2020 goals is heavily influenced by what you do in the next few months, and if you are behind the curve come the spring then making up that ground will be more difficult. This week’s podcast is a repeat of the one I delivered last year. There have been no ‘significant' changes in my approach although I might tweak what I do for some people.

This week, there is no guest as I will be taking you through the steps required to set up a winter training plan to ‘crush’ the opposition in 2020.  This is a 45 minute broadcast emphasising the simple technique that I use with the athletes I work with.

I will be asking you to embrace some shifts in mindset and to consider a slightly different approach to what other coaches might propose and what you have done in the past. 

As the saying goes “if you always do what you have always done, you’ll always get what you've always had”.

This episode is packed full of information.  Get yourself a pen and paper and be prepared to make some notes as I share:

• The ONE key factor which will influence your success in 2020
• The “low hanging fruit” which will give you the biggest return for your training investment
• How mastery goals will take you toward your outcome goals
• Why you must think longer than 12 months when setting your goals
• The #1 goal of your winter training plan
• Polarised training and the MAF approach
• Why all training plans work
• How athletes get in their own way by 'splitting hairs’
• The importance of giving sleep and recovery the same value as training in your planning
• Some simple nutrition advice
• The value of yearly strength training for ALL athletes
• Why swimming more and running less could mean greater gains in fitness
• Why you don’t really need to run or ride long in the winter

In the introduction I mentioned other podcasts which will go into more depth on some of the subjects mentioned today. Here are the links:

Olympic Physio Alison Rose on avoiding running injuries

Louisa Holmes on Breathing

Christie Aschwanden on recovery

Sleep with Nick Littlehales

Prof Paul Laursen on Low Carb/High fat and High intensity Interval Training

John Thompson on psychology including resilience and your reason why

Yoga with Jack Maitland and Kirsten Stefferson

Joe Friel on training for athletes over 50

Dr Phil Maffetone again on all things MAF training

Faster freestyle swimming with Karlyn Pipes

Matt Bottrrill on how to cycle faster 

Malcolm Brown on how to run faster

To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click here https://simonward1.lpages.co/swat-sign-up-30-offer/

To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook age HERE https://www.facebook.com/simon.ward1

Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes https://www.simonwardtriathloncoach.com/1-to-1-coaching/

For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

All you need to know about High Intensity Interval Training * Simon Ward and Prof Paul Laursen

This week's podcast was recorded live in Kona with the sounds of the ocean in the background. Earlier on in the week I had presented a workshop with this week's guest at a low carb/high fat event for Ironman competitors. Today though, my guest Professor Paul Laursen and I are discussing High Intensity Training (HIT), the content of his recently published book, The Science and Application of High intensity Training.

HIT has become very popular in recent years and the current guide for “hacking” conventional training methods has increased its popularity. While one might see the logic of this type of training for team sports which require shots bursts of power, the application to the sport of triathlon might be less obvious.  We explore this and many other subjects in the conversation including:

• Why HIT is relevant to triathlon, even Ironman
• “Bang for buck” and why you get more from shorter, higher intensity workouts
• How HIT workouts can improve your endurance capacity through ‘ventricular stretching'
• Yet another ’smart’ person tells us why we should avoid the ’no pain, no gain’ mentality and get away from mid-zone training
• Exactly what intensity should you workout at during your HIT workout?
• Why a total 8-30 minutes of high intensity work is all you need
• How many HIT workouts per week, and why the 80/20 rule may not be correct for athletes training less than 15 hours per week
• Why HIT should be a year round inclusion in your training plan
• Chit chat about some of the less considered ways to race well in Kona
• Training Peaks TSS and why it's not a perfect measure of total training load

As a coach I have been introducing athletes to this type of training for the last few years. Every time I chat with Paul, it causes me to reevaluate how I coach and how I train. I cannot emphasise enough how useful these conversations have been and I strongly urge you to listen to this one at least once, maybe twice, making notes as you go along. Then, listen to the other podcasts I have recorded with Dr. Dan Plews, Dr. Phil Maffetone etc., and start to link together what a ’smart’ training plan might look like for you.

One way you can further your education is to read PC’s book, "Science and Application of High Intensity Interval Training: Solutions to the Programming Puzzle” which you can purchase HERE.

Paul also has a new online study course - HIT science -  to accompany the book. You can enroll for the course HERE, and you get a 20% discount if you use the code ’SWAT” when you make a purchase.  To find out what Paul is up to on a daily basis, follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/PaulBLaursen.

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Faster Freestyle for Open Water Swimming * Simon Ward and Karlyn Pipes

Kona is not just the home of the Ironman World Championships, it’s also where today’s guest, Karlyn Pipes, lives.  If you haven’t heard of her, Karlyn is a world record holding Masters swimmer, a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame, and an exceptional swim coach.  When Karlyn invited me to visit her home for a 30-minute swim tutorial and to record this podcast, it was an offer I could not refuse.  Prior to starting the podcast, she asked me to swim in her Endless Pool, and proceeded to dismantle what I thought was my reasonable swim stroke (see the show notes below for links to some videos of this session).  It’s always been my belief as a coach that triathletes who are preparing to swim in open water should have their OWS goals uppermost in their mind and in their training when they practice in the pool. If you want to swim faster in open water next season, then this podcast and the below videos are a must.  Please listen carefully as Karlyn and I chat about:

• Her 3 basic principles for faster freestyle
• Why you can learn a lot from watching surfers paddle
• How open water swim technique is very different from pool technique
• Once again, another world class coach emphasizes the importance of mobility
• Her top tips for your winter training, which are not what you might think

 

To learn more about Karlyn, please visit her website at KarlynPipes.com   You can find her book, "The Do Over:  My Journey from the Depths of Addiction to World Champion Swimmer”, here on Amazon.  To watch some of Karlyn’s coaching in action and some of the guidance she gave me, please click on the links below for my YouTube channel.

 

1st video analysis - https://youtu.be/wqGYnLN9a7E
1st effort at swimming with adjusted stroke - https://youtu.be/cZzdKgriG1E
Floating with arms in Y shape - https://youtu.be/VXJlOuYRWDc

 

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

 

Kona Predictions 2019 * Simon Ward and Tim Helming

In this week's podcast Tim Heming is back to discuss the recent events in long distance triathlon and deliver his now legendary (his words) Kona Top 10 predictions. Tim has a deep knowledge about the top Ironman and 70.3 competitors and keeps track of their performances in order to enhance the validity of his picks. In fact, last year he correctly predicted 7/10 of the female top 10 in Kona including the correct order of the top 3 and he also picked 5/10 of the top 10 males including the winner. Can he go any better and will you be a better pundit? Keep an eye out for my Kona predictions competition. In this chat we covered a few subjects including:

• How did Alistair Brownlee get beaten by a relative unknown in the World 70.3 Championships in Nice
• Does Lucy Charles performance in France indicate that Daniella Ryf has the upper hand
• Patrick Lange finished 22nd in Nice. How will he go in Kona?
• Our thoughts on drug cheats winning age groups medals in Ironman events
• Why Sebastien Kienle’s Nice performance is good news ahead of Ironman Hawaii
• Which nation occupies the male podium (top 3) in Tim’s Kona picks

You can find the answers to all of these questions in this week's podcast. Also, look out for our Kona predictions competition on Facebook.

 

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Hydration 101 * Simon Ward and Andy Blow

In this week’s episode we welcome back a previous guest, my friend Andy Blow.  He and I sat down for a chat at the 2019 TrainingPeaks Endurance Coaching Summit in Boulder, Colorado.  Our discussion begins as we have a laugh about a regular Twitter post by 220 magazine about whether you should have a weekly long run or not.  We recall a presentation at an expo several years ago where Andy and I deliberately took opposing views on a range of different subjects, almost implying that there are only 2 positions to be taken in any argument:  Black or white.  As the chat continues we discuss:

• Drinking to thirst versus drinking to a plan
• Why one individual might have a range of hydration solutions depending on a range of different factors
• What factors influence your hydration plan
• Why the answer to most training problems is, “it depends”
• Why the sports press loves to polarise arguments, and why this does more harm than good

To find out more about Precision Hydration, please go to www.PrecisionHydration.com.  They have a great range of resources on their blogs, https://www.precisionhydration.com/blogs/hydration_advice.  To get 15% off your entire first order, and valid through the end of 2019, enter SIMONWARD at the checkout.

 

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

The 1989 Story * Dave Scott and Mark Allen with Simon Ward

Today I have two absolute legends from the sport of triathlon, as Mark Allen and Dave Scott join me to talk about www.1989TheStory.com.  30 years ago 5-time Hawaii Ironman champion Dave Scott lined up on the Kona start line alongside Mark Allen, the heir apparent, for a race that was to be one of the most legendary battles in triathlon history.  They swam, cycled, and ran together for 139 miles before Mark made the decisive break.  At this point I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know, as the race was well documented in the book, The Iron War.  However, as the 30th anniversary of this race nears, Mark and Dave have joined together to tell the real story of what happened in the lead up to, and during, that amazing race.  In today’s conversation the 3 of us chat about:

 

• Were they sworn enemies, or was this just the press making mischief
• What went through each of their minds at the 1988 race when Dave had to pull out the night before
• Why both Mark and Dave almost never made it to the start line in 1989
• Dave reveals some surprising insights into his own mental health leading up to the 1989 race
• The surprising race day nutrition strategies of the world’s best Ironman athletes in the 1980’s
• Why Mark Allen still has the fastest run time in Kona

 

Dave and Mark have only shared part of their story in this interview.  I strongly recommend that you hop over to www.1989TheStory.com, a new 10-part series, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of what still is the greatest Ironman battle ever, and where you will be able to read the full and frank discolosure from both Mark and Dave.  To watch the original footage of the iconic 1989 race, go here.

 

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Yorkshire Tea * Simon Ward and Alistair Brownlee

It’s not often you get to interview a double Olympic Gold medalist.  It helps that I have known today’s guest, Alistair Brownlee, since the time when he started his triathlon journey way back in 2004. He joined a British Triathlon talent ID programme of which myself and Jack Maitland were coaches for the North Region. It’s been exciting to follow the progress of this young man right through from a talented youth to repeat Olympic Gold medals and now to this stage of his career where he is about to make his debut at the Ironman World Championships in Kailua Kona in just a few weeks time. Alistair lives a few miles away from me so I travelled over to his new house to do this interview and he made me feel very welcome. As you’d expect from someone who is sponsored by Taylors Yorkshire Tea, Al made me a brew and we sat down to chat about:

• Fulfilling a lifelong ambition to race the Hawaii Ironman
• His first thought as they announced the cancellation of the swim at his debut Ironman in Cork
• 70.3 World’s or Ironman - which was his big focus for 2019?
• With an FTP of 400 watts, what he expects to ride at in Kona
• Why he would happily have stopped at 5k into the run in Nice
• Learning to be more conservative when racing long distance
• Why Gustav Iden’s race result was no surprise
• Why the results of his Kona rivals in Nice don’t really tell you much about their current form
• Swimming 3.8km and why Kona will be the first time Al has ever tried this distance outside of the pool

I hope you enjoy this conversation and have a few laughs. It will certainly give you an insight into Alistair’s mindset before his next big challenge.

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

End of Season Recovery * Simon Ward

This week we are back to a solo cast as I talk you through End of Season Recovery.  It’s a subject of much debate, as many athletes do not like to take much time off.  There are, however, many benefits to doing so and the world’s best athletes are very good at taking extended breaks when their season has finished.  In this 45-minute podcast I’ll cover the whole subject in detail, including:

• Why the next step after a peak is always down
• The benefits of being a non-athlete for a few weeks
• The concept of a “goodwill loan” and how to repay it
• How to use the additional time productively
• Why you should continue to swim, and why you should take a break from running
• Alternative activities to consider instead
• Gaining weight and why it’s not a problem

At the end of the podcast I refer to a 6-week end of season plan that I have put together in TrainingPeaks. If you would like a copy then please e-mail beth@thetriathloncoach.com.  You will need to provide your email address in return but I think that’s a fair exchange.

I also made reference to several resources in this podcast:

Podcast with Dr Phil Maffetone

Dr Phil Maffetone - 2 week test

Sweat Elite article about Kenyan Runners end of season recovery

Tanser - Train hard, win easy - The Kenyan way

Podcast with Louisa Holmes - Part 1 - Physio assessment

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Mental Health: Finding Light in the Darkness * Simon Ward and Mike Ergo

When we train for or participate in triathlons we often use military terminology to talk about our commitment or about the dark places we go into.  Today’s guest has literally done all that and more.  Mike Ergo served 2 tours in Iraq as a US Marine, and was involved in Operation Phantom Fury, referred to as the 2nd battle of Fallujah which was the bloodiest battle in the war.  In his words, “so many friends had been killed that I consciously accepted that I would eventually die there.”  After being honourably discharged from the military, his life descended into a spiral of drink, drugs, and self-destruction.  That is, until an epiphany moment when he made a change and found endurance sports.  Since then, Mike’s completed several Ironman events, including Kona 2017, and is now an ambassador for The Ironman Foundation.  This is a fascinating conversation, and we touch on some deep dark subjects, including:

• What actually happens in the moment when you think you’re going to die
• Suicidal thoughts and spending New Year’s Eve with an M16 rifle in your lap thinking about pulling the trigger . . and why he didn’t
• How anyone can find light even in dark moments
• How running and endurance sports in general can make you feel so good
• Racing Ironman, and why having important people to think about (like fallen comrades) can help get you through those tough miles
• The discovery that Mike and I competed in Kona on the same day, and how spookily similar our race-day experiences were
• How mental health issues can affect any one of us at any time, and the importance of having someone to talk to
• Mike’s work as co-Ambassador for Ironman Foundation’s Gold Star Initiative

To find out more about Mike’s work in the mental health field, you can visit his website Transitionsfromwar.com and Facebook page 

Facebook.com/transitionsfromwar/

 

Mike also has his own podcast Age Groupies which you can listen to here:  https://agegroupie.libsyn.com

 

To find out more about Simon’s coaching please visit his website here.

To follow Simon on Facebook, click here.

For more information please go to www.SimonWardTriathlonCoach.com, or www.TheTriathlonCoach.com, or email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.