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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 Sep 09, 2020
Wednesday Sep 09, 2020
Dr. Stephen Seiler is back and this week he is answering listeners questions including:
- A dumbed down recap of polarised training
- Enjoying your training and 4 other key benefits of polarised training
- How to use the Karvonen method (heart rate reserve) to find the right HR zones without testing in the lab
- How does strength training fit with polarised training?
- Time crunched athletes - Should I ignore polarised and just train hard all the time?
- How to gauge your effort without a HR monitor - understanding breathing patterns
- Should I use the polarised approach to training all year round?
- Does age affect the benefits of polarised training?
- You can follow Stephen Seiler on these social media channels
You can follow Stephen Seiler on these social media channels
YouTube - sportscientist
Twitter - StephenSeiler
Facebook - stephen.seiler
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 Sep 02, 2020
Wednesday Sep 02, 2020
Stephen Seiler is one of my most popular podcast guests EVER. I first interviewed Dr. Seiler in January and soon realised I had so much more to ask him. In our first podcast he broke the endurance record (for this podcast) as we chatted for over 2 hours. We were determined not to do that this time, but he’s just such an interesting character that we chatted for almost 2.5 hours. Rather than give you just one show to listen to, you now have two. In the first episode we dive deeper into the polarised training debate, and in Part 2 Dr. Seiler answers listeners questions. In this conversation we chat about:
- Being inexhaustibly curious
- Sustainable training for attainable endurance goals
- Online experiments during lockdown
- The real life experiment of training your daughter to be a great middle distance runner
- Ageing and how this affects recovery between reps and between sessions
- How to design your weekly training blocks
- Why younger athletes try to squeeze in too much training
You can follow Stephen Seiler on these social media channels
YouTube - sportscientist
Twitter - StephenSeiler
Facebook - stephen.seiler
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 26, 2020
Wednesday Aug 26, 2020
In this second part of the podcast Nick answers questions sent in by listeners and members of our Facebook ‘tribe’ including:
- Waking up in the middle of the night and why it’s normal
- Should I be napping during the day?
- The best time to get “deep & REM sleep”
- How many hours sleep should I get each day?
- Sleeping well the night before a big race
- Caffeine and sleep
- Does training late in the evening affect my sleep, and what should I do?
To find out more about Nick Littlehales please visit the following social media channels:
Website - sportsleepcoach.com
Twitter - @sportssleepcoach
Instagram - _sportsleepcoach
The unconventional wisdom about sleep - Nick Littlehales TedX talk in YouTube
“Sleep” - The book by Nick Littlehales
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 19, 2020
Wednesday Aug 19, 2020
- How Precision Nutrition works, and why it’s different from other programs
- The difference between a Nutritionist and a Nutrition Coach
- Is there a difference between everyday nutrition, and sports nutrition?
- Adam’s pet peeves about how individuals and society view nutrition
- How even nutrition coaches struggle from time to time with their nutrition
- If you’ve gotten off track in the last few months with your eating, Adam’s guidance on how to return to balanced eating
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 12, 2020
Wednesday Aug 12, 2020
Nick Littlehales was one of my very first guests on the podcast almost 3 years ago (If you're interested in listening to that episode to hear how much the podcasts have changed, please go HERE). Knowledge and information about sleep has also moved on, hence the reason for inviting Nick back onto the show. If you’re at all interested in improving your human and athletic performance, you should know sleep is a critical part of this. Forget compression garments, protein shakes and massage. Sleep is hands down the #1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and probably right through to #10 the best way to help your body recover. Best of all, it's FREE! You should be making more of this super-recovery tool.
This is the first of a two-part conversation. In part 1 Nick and I chat about the importance of sleep and Nick takes us through his 7 step Key Sleep Recovery Indicators (KSRI’s) as well as:
- Owls vs Larks and why it’s important to know your "sleep chronotype”
- How what you do when you wake up can set you up for a good night’s sleep
- Compressed Recovery Periods and how to get yours each day
- The importance of sunlight for good sleep
- Post- and pre-sleep routines and how they affect your sleep
- Why your mum was right about sleep
To find out more about Nick Littlehales please visit the following social media channels
Website - sportsleepcoach.com
Twitter - @sportssleepcoach
Instagram - _sportsleepcoach
The unconventional wisdom about sleep - Nick Littlehales TedX talk in YouTube
“Sleep” - The book by Nick Littlehales
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 05, 2020
Wednesday Aug 05, 2020
In this week’s episode I’m joined again by my old friend and still the fastest Yorkshireman in Kona, Dr Dan Plews. Recently I’ve been studying Dan’s new EndureIQ course - LDT102 - all about how to train effectively for long distance triathlons.
Not only has Dan walked the walk at Kona (8:24, which is the fastest ever age grouper in Kona, making him AG world champion in 2017), he has also done extensive research into the low carb/high fat nutrition approach for endurance athletes and used his knowledge of working with Olympic rowers and elite triathletes to write the course.
Dan really is the man, and as ever it’s a great pleasure to catch up with him as we discuss:
- Why polarised training works
- The role of volume and intensity in developing fitness, and when to prioritise them
- Mitochondria and why they are so important to endurance athletes
- The benefits of training twice per day and why double run days really work
- Training intensity distribution and how it changes as you get closer to race day
- How and why short duration (<60s) HIT workouts are beneficial for Ironman triathletes
In the show we also discussed the following:
Dan’s cartoon character Johnny Bravo. Watch the video HERE
Favourite book - Lifespan: Why we age and why we dont have to by David Sinclair
Signature tune - Not Many by Scribe
Measuring HRV HRV4Training & The Whoop
You can find out more about the Endure IQ courses click HERE
You can follow Dan at the following places
Twitter https://twitter.com/theplews1
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theplews/
And some great blog posts at the "Plews and Prof" website HERE
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 29, 2020
Wednesday Jul 29, 2020
On this week’s High Performance Human podcast, I feel like a successful fisherman who has landed a catch after a long chase. Today's guest, Alan Couzens, has been on my target list for several months now since chatting with one of the athletes he works with, Owen Martin (podcast 125). I have actually known of Alan for many years now since his involvement with Gordo Byrn and his GordoWorld blog. He posts regularly on Twitter and he is one of the coaches/physiologists that I would recommend you follow if you want to find trustworthy training advice.
Alan has an interesting and varied journey to his current residence in Boulder, Colorado. Starting out as a swimmer in a small outback town in New South Wales, Australia and from there to university in Sydney and on to the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra. Back to Sydney to work as a swim coach and then onto the US where he teamed up with the aforementioned Gordo Byrn and the setting up of a sports science lab in Boulder. And now his current position as a highly respected sports physiologist working with endurance athletes in cycling and triathlon.
Another highly informative discussion which probably deserves at least 2-3 listens to pick up all of the information covered, such as:
- Why ‘exercise is medicine’, and Alan’s 7 Core principles which you can find HERE
- AIS and why it was the first Western attempt to mimic the Eastern Bloc training venues
- Alex Popov swimming - mastering the process and focussing on rhythm, range and relaxation
- It’s the little things that matter - living at AIS and immersion into elite performance and culture
- Eastern Bloc vs Western style coaching and why there are actually more similarities than differences
- Eastern Bloc athlete development culture
- Different again from AIS - working with Doug Frost and Ian Thorpe
- Getting it done - Finding a way, or making one
LINKS
If you want to follow Alan the best place is Twitter and his website
Alan’s latest obsession is Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and you can find out more about this at his site
Alan’s “walk on” music…Pork and Beans by Weezer
We also chatted about several books including:
Deep Medicine by Eric Topol. If you are interested you can hear the author Eric Tool speak about this subject on video HERE
Alan’s current favourite book Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn
Alan spent time observing the great Russian swimmer Alexander Popov. If you’ve never seen him swim here are some videos- Popov Technique Popov Slow Motion, Popov Training
We also talked about Ian Thorpe and for students of swimming, here is a link to Ian Thorpe swimming technique
In this video you can listen to a great presentation by Gordo Byrn on the Business of Coaching
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 22, 2020
Wednesday Jul 22, 2020
In this week’s podcast we return to the theme of High Performing Humans as I chat with a friend and triathlete I used to coach, Dan Williams. Dan entered the triathlon world a few years ago and was drawn to the challenge of Ironman, despite the fact that he could hardly swim. We both laugh about the fact that when I first met Dan at the pool my first words were, “You’ve got a bit of work to do then!” Fortunately, hard work is something Dan isn’t afraid of and since that first meeting, his triathlon progress has been rapid. At the same time, he was working his way up the business ladder. When we met he was Sales Director for Orean Personal Care, the company for whom he is now Managing Director.
Dan has two small boys (Bear and Rain) with his now ex-wife, and as you can imagine he has a lot going on in his life. However, as you’ll hear during our conversation, he is incredibly mindful of keeping his life balance so that he can be a good father to Bear and Rain, be effective at work, and achieve his triathlon goals. With only 24 hours in the day, this requires careful attention to make sure everything stays on target instead of crashing to the ground.
- Make time or make excuses
- The value of daily meditation
- How to recognise when life is getting out of balance
- What's the worst that can happen - Why you should throw caution to the wind when you are young
- How to make marriage separation work
- Not compromising on spending time with your children, and how that adds discipline to your working hours
- The 5am club, and Dan’s morning routine
- Being nominated as one of the Top 50 most ambitious business leaders of 2019
- Having a daily plan and why you should have one
LINKS
We talked about a LOT of books including
Simon Sinek - Leaders Eat Last
Titan - John D. Rockefeller
Podcast with Admiral Scott Jones
William McRaven - “Make your bed” video
Living with a Seal - Jesse Itzler
The best places to follow Dan is via his Instagram page just_being_dan and also on Linkedin
Dan also has a podcast which he started during lockdown to share the experiences of other entrepreneurs.
It’s called The Pocket mentors and you can find it here iTunes
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 15, 2020
Wednesday Jul 15, 2020
I love the concept of disrupting an industry. Think PayPal or Monzo with banking, Netflix with streaming TV, Amazon with book sales, Tesla with cars, and in the bike industry think Cervelo. At a time when most bikes were Italian made with traditional round stainless steel or aluminium tubing, along came Cervelo with aero designs and carbon fibre. If you want an example of their first design, look at the Barracchi concept bike which looks very similar to the P5x which came out a few years ago.
My guest today is one of the co-founders of Cervelo, Phil White. Despite not being a bike geek, I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation. Phil was a great guest and I learned a huge amount about what drove he and his partner Gerard Vroomen to make what have become the most popular triathlon bike brand. Having sold Cervelo to PON bikes in 2012, Phil stayed on as a consultant to the company for another 5 years, leaving in 2017. Recently (as in the last 3 months), Phil joined 4iiii as acting president. You may know 4iiii for their range of power meters and heart rate monitors. Their goal is to empower athletes by providing them with the tools they need to get the most accurate results. With Phil White on board, you can bet that they’ll be able to deliver this and more going forward.
We cover a lot of topics including:
- Why triathlon was a good market for Cervelo
- To create good bikes you need to be an engineer and a designer
- "Who dares wins"
- Making cool bikes that are different and better
- Creating a strong company structure
- Understanding what the customer wants
- On leaving the company that you founded, and the challenges of letting go
- City Bikes - Congestion, pollution, and solving the problem of moving large masses of people in cities
- Being afraid of not doing good work
- Tubeless tyres, carbon rims, disc brakes, and the future of bike wheels
LINKS
To find out more about 4iiii please visit their website 4iiii.com
To find out more about Cervelo
To Make Riders Faster The inside story of Cervelo and the Dan Empfield Review on SlowTwitch.com
We also talked about these books….
Will it Make the Boat Go Faster? Ben Hunt-Davies
Car Guys vs Bean Counters by Bob Lutz
Phil expressed admiration for the work done by Dan Bigham
That first Cervelo Bike - The Barrachi
The purists will like this page - Cervelo Engineering Field Notes
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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 08, 2020
Wednesday Jul 08, 2020
In this week’s podcast I catch up with the Endurance Physio, Mike James. Mike came to my attention about 14 months ago when he started posting how-to videos on various social media platforms and tagging me in. I’ve watched a lot of his videos, replied to many of his tweets, and it's become clear that Mike and I share a similar philosophy - do the basics well and they will never let you down!
In this conversation we chat about Mike’s life starting out as an aspiring football player, transitioning to ultra running, triathlon, long distance swimming and back to ultra running. At the same time, he was open active duty with the RAF and beginning his rehabilitation career working with injured servicemen at Headley Court. On leaving the RAF he decided to study to become a physiotherapist and is now based in Cardiff, South Wales. We find a lot of common ground during this chat and Mike shares some valuable bits including:
- Choosing Sir Alex Ferguson as his virtual mentor for a month and why as a Spurs fan he admires him so much
- Why it’s important to be in the moment, and how having children helps one appreciate the smaller things in life
- Telling the same story over and over to patients prompted the filming of his many videos
- 3 key lessons learned from treating severely injured servicemen at Headley Court
- Why sexy sells but boring is best
- Why Mike’s job as a physio is to help you stay uninjured
- Why rest IS NOT rust!
- 3 simple things to do better that will improve your health and performance
- Why marginal gains are really only for elite athletes
If you want to find out more about Mike James, you can follow him on:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheendurancePT/
Twitter - https://twitter.com/theEndurancePT
The Endurance Podcast with Mike James and Marc Laithwaite
Kicksology by Brian Metzler
Mike’s chosen signature tune The Rocky Soundtrack
To find out more about Simon’s SWAT programme, please click HERE
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