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The Be Battle Ready podcast is where everyday athletes, adventurers, and seekers of strength come to forge resilience - in body, mind, and spirit.
Hosted by coach Simon Ward, each episode explores the true pillars of endurance: purposeful training, nourishing nutrition, restorative sleep, a resilient mindset, and the art of recovery. It’s designed especially for those in their 40s, 50s and beyond who refuse to rust - men and women who know that age is no excuse to stop sharpening the blade.
Whether you’re preparing for your next Ironman, rebuilding after setback, or simply training for the demands of life itself, this show will help you stay Battle Ready: strong, adaptable, and unbreakable.
Expect conversations with world-class coaches, scientists, and everyday warriors - those who walk the path of longevity and high performance - sharing wisdom, tactics, and stories from the front line of endurance.
👉 Subscribe now and step inside the ranks of the Battle Ready Society - where strength is forged, and rust never wins.
Episodes
Wednesday Jun 10, 2020
Wednesday Jun 10, 2020
In the past 3 years we have had several podcasts where I've answered questions sent in by The Triathlon Coach Cafe members. It's part of the joining process, and leads to some great content. One of the questions we ask new members is, “What is the ONE question you would like to ask Simon?”.
This show is different because I have invited three of the Cafe members on to the show as guests to ask their “one” question of me LIVE. I hope you enjoy the new format and that you find the answers useful in your own training.
My 3 guests are:
Stuart Melling who asks, “How can I get to 15-hours training a week without being chronically fatigued?”
- Why it is better to target a volume that you can consistently achieve, versus one promoted by a book/magazine
- How to get better results by identifying your limiters
Gutun Morgan wanted to know, “Any tips for training whilst working shifts? I work 4 days on/4 days off, 12 hour shifts when I work. I haven’t yet seen a training plan which incorporates shift work.”
- When the plan you have is already the right one for you
- Why it is important to frequently reflect on your current plan and make minor adjustments
Kevin Powell asked, "Best way to approach a recovery week? I see a lot of people on Strava doing a recovery week with still quite high intensity, but they cut volume. Isn’t this tapering?”
- Why you must include periods of recovery and for how long
- What type of workouts should you do in a recovery week and what to avoid
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
Wednesday Jun 03, 2020
In all sports there are iconic characters and iconic events. In the world of ultra-running, Runner’s World compiled a list of the ‘hardest races in the world’. One of them was the Barkley Marathons and my guest today is the legendary figure who organised Barkley, and many other unique events. He is such an icon that he even has a pseudonym, “Lazarus Lake” (his real name is Gary Cantrell).
If you haven’t yet heard of the Barkley Marathons then here are some facts that might get your attention. The race has only ever been completed 18 times. There are minimal directions. Competitors have 60 hours to complete 5 laps of approximately 20 miles. Each laps alternates direction. None of this stops hundreds of hopefuls submitting their entrance essay to Laz every year in the hope that he will pick them to be one of the lucky 40 competitors to try their hand at the event known to disciples as “the race that eats it’s young”.
It took me 6 months to get Laz onto the show so I hope that you agree it was worth the wait!
- When getting an entry is almost as hard as the event itself
- Who is “Big”?
- Books with quirky titles and why book pages prove you have completed the full course
- The inspiration behind the first Barkley Marathons
- Problem solving and why most of the Barkley finishers have a PhD
- What makes the Barkley Marathons so tough
- The Great Virtual Race across Tennessee - The longest virtual event of lockdown?
You can find a great documentary about the Barkley Marathons on Netflix
Here you can find a link to the article about the Strolling Jim event and Laz’s formula for calculating gender differences for prize money
Oustide magazine referred to Laz as a “sadist creature”. Read the full article HERE.
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday May 27, 2020
Wednesday May 27, 2020
In today’s podcast I’m back with another of my High Performance Human guests. This week it’s Toby Baxendale, who I have been coaching for almost 15 years. We met by chance as Toby came to a bike exhibition in central London to purchase a product which I was selling, and shortly after he asked me to coach him towards his triathlon goals. We have become good friends since then. During that time Toby has built and sold a large fish distribution business, retained a strong marriage with his wife Katherine, reared 3 healthy children, developed an investment business helping companies in the fish business around the world, and managed to train on average 8-10 hours/week, every week. Toby truly epitomises a high performance human but as you will hear during our conversation, there have been times when life did get a bit out of balance.
Listen in as we chat about:
- Dogged determination and why you don’t need to be the best to succeed, just consistent
- Making a success of your life when you are labelled ‘Educationally Sub Normal'
- The law of comparative advantage
- Paul Clayton - Health Defence
- Book of Proverbs and how it’s so relevant to life during the COVID19 outbreak
- Purchasing a Sloane Square nightclub at 18 years old
- The power of listening
- Learning to delegate, and how that led to a thirtyfold increase in turnover
- How the book “Primal Endurance” had a profound effect on Toby’s life
- COVID19 exit plans and positioning for success
- The truth behind the phrase “behind every successful man there is an even better woman"
Find out more about Toby Baxendale by visiting his website HERE
"The man is the head, but the woman is the neck", scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday May 20, 2020
Wednesday May 20, 2020
The “Legends of British Triathlon” has been a really enjoyable experience as it has allowed me to wander back down memory lane and chat with some of the characters who were prominent in the sport when I first started over 30 years ago. My guest today is another of those individuals, and was the other half of the “two Sarah’s”,
Sarah Springman and Sarah Coope (a previous podcast guest) who were big rivals in the late ’80’s, female versions of Coe and Ovett if you like. Since retiring from competitive sport, Sarah Springman has continued her involvement in triathlon as an administrator serving twice as Vice President of the ITU, while also progressing her academic career as Rector of ETH, Zurich. This was another great dive back into the early days of triathlon and we speed through 30 years in under 90 minutes so I guess we missed some good bits as well.
I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did as we chat about:
- That first triathlon - how did it work out?
- Making a living from triathlon in the late ‘80s
- How I nearly took Sarah out during a bike workout in Lanzarote
- Those training camps at Club La Santa
- ITU Vice President and working with Les McDonald
- Sarah’s proudest triathlon moments
- Getting Paratriathlon into the Paralympics
- Academia - studying soil mechanics at Cambridge University and the job of Rector at ETH in Zurich
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday May 13, 2020
Wednesday May 13, 2020
This week’s podcast is slightly different in that I am focussing more on the High Performance Human aspect. My guest is one of the high performance humans that I have the pleasure of working closely with in achieving their triathlon goals. Gerard Gallagher is a Partner and a Management Consultant who leads EY Energy business across Europe, Middle East, India and Africa. His role involves working with client teams from across 110 countries, and consequently this requires much travel. At the same time, he is trying to achieve his personal triathlon goals, and be the best father, husband, and friend possible. There are a lot of plates to spin (an analogy that you will hear me use regularly during these conversations). It is a challenge for all of us, and Gerard is not the only person in this boat. Many of you will face similar challenges, and hearing how these guests organise their lives will hopefully provide some ideas and inspiration.
We cover much ground including:
- How "reverse mentoring” works
- Gerard’s favourite books including “The Seventh Sense” and why the message is particularly relevant to current events
- When life gets out of balance - the mistakes made and lessons learned
- The power of mindfulness
- That moment in your life when you realise what is truly important (see the Nigeria video)
- Why Gerard prefers breakfast meetings
- How to become a talent magnet and start every day trying to put yourself out of a job.
See Gerard’s top 7 book recommendations from 2019 HERE (You’ll need to be a LinkedIn member).
In the podcast Gerard refers to a challenging time in Nigeria. Watch the video HERE and notice the shirt/tie combo.
If you are a LinkedIn subscriber you can follow Gerard Gallagher HERE.
Two books Gerard mentioned in the conversation are The Seventh Sense and Multipliers
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Tuesday May 12, 2020
Monday the 11th of May was a sad day for OSB as they finally had to admit defeat and announce the inevitable, the cancellation of the 2020 Outlaw Full. Iain was gracious enough to spare me some of his valuable time on Monday morning after making the announcement so that we could discuss the full enormity of this decision. Iain’s a longtime friend of mine and I’ve been involved in the race for all of its 10 years, so while we discuss the personal side of cancelling a race that you’ve grown from nothing, we also discuss the wider implications of COVID-19 on the sport of triathlon, and what that might look like in the future. Iain’s also candid about discussing things like the refund process which caused so much debate a few weeks ago.
Friday May 08, 2020
Friday May 08, 2020
Today we're releasing a special podcast, as I chat with Joe Duckworth, an airport firefighter who is spending the first 10 days in May doing 10 Ironman triathlons. Each day consists of a one-hour indoor rowing session, 112 miles on Zwift, and a 26.2 mile treadmill run. Why would someone do this? To raise money for the NHS personnel and show support for all their sacrifices. Listen in to hear why he decided to do this, and how he's getting through each day.
If you'd like to show support and/or find out how you can join him on Sunday for his final ride, you can find him here: Joe Duckworth 10 in 10 FB page
To make a donation to NHS, please visit Joe's Just Giving Page.
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday May 06, 2020
Wednesday May 06, 2020
In this week’s podcast the “Grumpy Old Coaches” are back as they let rip about another subject close to their hearts - coaching. Inspired by another podcast recently which attempted to answer the question, “what makes a good coach?”, our three heroes set about trying to find the answer that has eluded others. The long term benefits of coaching have been proven by scientists, whereas the rest of our advice has no basis more reliable than our own meandering experiences. We will dispense this advice in the podcast and cover such subjects as:
- Is a straight talking ’Northerner’ the best model for a coach?
- Why you should be careful about the advice you buy, but patient with those who share it
- The importance of qualifications
- What the hell does Dunning Kruger have to do with being a good coach?
- Should you wear sunscreen?
- How important is it that your coach was/is a good athlete?
- How much technical skill do coaches need?
- What are the key attributes of a good coach?
You can find more information about Steve Lumley HERE
Marc Laithwaite is a coach who also runs a running/triathlon shop - The Endurance Store
You can find more about both HERE
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
I have always found running the hardest of the 3 triathlon sports to fall in love with. To run feels like a chore and probably has something to do with a period of years when I had calf and achilles injuries and running was painful. That is why I envy those who are able to just drop into a trance-like state when they run, and why I was so interested to chat with today’s guest. Sanjay Rawal is a photographer and film maker based in New York City who has recently completed the film 3100: Run and Become. Sanjay views running as a chance to breathe in the sky, re-connect with the earth, and shed anxiety while focusing on the moment - a type of transcendence we all so desperately need right now.
This was a fabulous conversation and it certainly helped me to view running from a different lens. You will love Sanjay's wisdom on:
- Running as a conversation between mind, body, and spirit
- "Running dumb" and finding joy in exertion
- How running's lessons translate to life - and what if the bumps along the road weren't the problems we think they are?
- The long-distance mindset, and what happens to mind, body, and sneakers over 3,100 miles of marathon
- The ‘real’ story of the Marathon Monks from Japan and the incredible 1000 day challenge which is simply a matter of ‘life or death'
Find out more about 3100:Run & Become HERE along with cinemas where you can watch. In the UK the film is available on Amazon Prime HERE.
In the show, we also talked about some of Sanjay’s other films. Challenging Impossibility is available on Vimeo HERE, and Food Chains is available on Vimeo HERE. And Ocean Monk which is available on Vimeo HERE.
We talked about the spiritual work that Mark Allen did before (and since) winning the Hawaii Ironman in 1989. This article with Brant Secunda is worth reading - 9 ways to be a shaman at work. There is also a video on YouTube that you can watch HERE.
If you want to follow Sanjay the best place is his Instagram account HERE.
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
In this week’s episode of the High Performance Human Podcast my guest is the CEO of Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO), Sam Renouf. I’ve known Sam for many years and in fact the first time I came across him he was seeking information on a triathlon forum about how to become a professional triathlete. This was pre-Facebook which will give you an idea of his longevity in the sport. Sam managed to live the dream for a few years, training with some of the world’s best under Brett Sutton’s tutelage in Switzerland, Thailand, and Brazil and in the process he got to know some of the world’s best triathletes. Having come to the realisation that he didn’t quite have what it took to earn money as a professional triathlete he entered the business world, eventually finding his way to the top of the tree at Active.com. The last time I met Sam was in Kona (Oct 2019) when he informed me that he was to be announced as the CEO of PTO the following week and starting in January 2020. Since then it’s been a whirlwind 4 months, dealing with the attempted takeover of Ironman, the announcement and then cancellation of The Collins Cup, and most recently the COVID-19 crisis. So, I was extremely grateful to have an hour or so of Sam’s time to chat about:
- The bid to takeover Ironman and what really happened
- How the PTO really works
- PTO investor Michael Moritz and Crankstart Investments
- The long term plans for PTO
- How the PTO has been able to help professional triathletes financially during the COVID-19 crisis
- Why the PTO are modelling themselves on UFC, and can Alistair Brownlee be the triathlon version of Connor MacGregor?
- What’s happening with the Collins Cup?
To find out more about the PTO Hub, please Click HERE
Read the press release here announcing the Crankstart investment with PTO
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
To comment on this podcast, please visit Simon's Facebook page HERE
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes
For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com