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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 Feb 12, 2020
Wednesday Feb 12, 2020
Some folks think it's odd that as a Tri coach, I’m willing to interview other triathlon coaches and showcase their work, somehow weakening my own position. The truth is, I'm inquisitive about how other coaches work and also about the journey to their current role. Take today's guest, Ingrid Loos-Miller. She is a triathlon coach based in Southern California and she has a training group called Fearless Endurance very similar in philosophy to my own SWAT Inner Circle.
So here we have two coaches, several thousand miles apart, who have never met and yet who have arrived at very similar points via a completely different pathway in order to help other athletes. That is fascinating to me. In today’s conversation we chat about:
- How Ingrid lost over 25kg in just over 8 months to get started on her triathlon journey, and her weight loss strategies
- Exerting power over food
- Becoming a Weight Watchers nutrition coach
- How to train to be a lifeguard
- Becoming one of the ONLY female surf lifesavers in Southern California
- Taking on IM St George at 60
- The philosophy underpinning Fearless Endurance
To find out more about Ingrid you can follow her on:
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 Feb 04, 2020
Tuesday Feb 04, 2020
This week we mark another first for the podcast, with our guest being a 2 star Admiral (there are only 8 in the US Navy) as our guest. Scott Jones has been a friend of mine for the last 10 years. We met in Kona 2009, introduced by a mutual friend and we hit it off straight away. Scott is the same age as me and while we have both had a long time interest in Ironman (he is a very good age grouper, having qualified for and raced in Kona several times) and triathlon coaching, Scott's career has been markedly different. He is a Navy pilot who has worked his way up through the ranks to a senior position. His flying experience also presented the opportunity to pilot commercial, long haul jets for United Airlines. Scott and I have shared many a bottle of red wine of an evening and chatted away the hours discussing many of the topics in today’s podcast. This guy has a wealth of knowledge and experience as a triathlon coach but also as a person who leads others by example. As you will hear, he is more than generous in sharing that knowledge with us. I loved catching up with Scott and I know you’ll love this conversation as much as I did as we discuss:
- Vulnerability and why it’s a strength, not a weakness
- Why daily habits like making your bed are important to create order in a chaotic world
- Advice from a long haul commercial pilot on how to combat jet lag
- The ‘Joneser’ 6F’s which he shares with his fellow naval colleagues on a regular basis, and why work is only ranked at #5
- Getting inspiration from survival, resilience and redemption
- Daily journaling and why many of the world’s most successful people share this habit
- Visualisation with the Blue Angels flying team and how Scott uses the same process when preparing for a race
- Why triathlon coaching and a 2 star admiral are complementary
- Why Scott has coaches for all aspects of his life
In our chat we discussed all of the links below which will give a little more context.
Some books we discussed
Going Long by Gordo Byrn & Joe Friel
Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand
Some videos we talked about
Admiral William McRaven - Make your bed
I also mentioned a client of mine, Gerard Gallagher, who posted his top 7 books of the decade in the LinkedIn post
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 Jan 29, 2020
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
In this week’s podcast I’m taking a slightly different approach. On my recent trip to Dubai I met some of the key players in the triathlon scene in the city. I managed I managed to pin 6 of them down long enough to record short interviews about what they do within the local community. If you are travelling to Dubai shortly for the 70.3 or have considered this race for future years then you definitely want to listen to this episode as you will get a really good idea of how everything works. My 6 guests are:
- Andy Edwards - co-chair, TriDubai Triathlon club - chatting about the club, its members, some of the weekly sessions and what to do if you are in Dubai and want to join the club for some workouts
- Taif Delamie - sports therapist talks about his work at the Valiant Clinic and the value of strength work for triathletes
- Orla White - physiotherapist at RU Active talks about bike fitting
- Nick Watson explains all about Team AngelWolf and how he and his son Rio have been inspired by Team Hoyt, and Kyle and Brent Pease
- David Labouchere chats about his business Optimal Fitness and also his plans for ‘draft busting’ at the coming Dubai 70.3
- Glyn Painter, BTF L3 Tri Coach based in Dubai shares some insights about the Dubai 70.3 course
To find out more about the TriDubai Club, please visit their Facebook page HERE
You can also follow Team Angelwolf on social media - Instagram, Facebook, YouTube
You can find out more about Glyn Painters coaching business by visiting his website, Kona Coach
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 Jan 22, 2020
Wednesday Jan 22, 2020
After a few weeks away from chatting with athletes, I have a real corker for you today. I met Owen Martin on his very first visit to Kona back in 2010 and I even recorded a conversation back then about how using a CompuTrainer had helped him achieve a lifetime goal. Now, 10 years later, Owen has just qualified for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships for the 11th year in a row. He is a model of consistency and in today’s episode Owen shares his thoughts on training, life, long term approach and a whole host of other topics. If you have any ambitions to get to Kona or if you just want to enjoy some longevity in the sport you must listen to this.
It’s another long chat but there are some great stories in here and important lessons including:
- The traits of elite vs average age group Ironman athletes
- Owen has all guns blazing as he takes aim at the drug cheats in his age group who regularly occupy the podium
- How to recover from Kona and jet lag and still win your age group 8 weeks later
- The importance of patience in training and racing
- The value of a coach, and why the fact that his coach cares about him matters to Owen
- Why communication and the sharing of information are critical in the coach/athlete relationship
- In Kona this year Owen’s “numbers” were the best ever and yet he underperformed. 2 months later with less impressive figures he wins his age group in Cozumel. We talk about this in-depth, as well as the importance of confidence in your fitness.
Owen is planning to do a weekly blog on Instagram about his journey to Kona 2020. You can watch his videos on Instagram at owenie53
If you are ever in Newry, N. Ireland then drop in to Owen’s cycling studio - Ventoux Cycling Studio and say hello.
You can also find out more on the Ventoux Cycling Studio Facebook Page
We also talked about Owen’s triathlon coach Alan Couzens. You can find out more about Alan 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 Jan 15, 2020
Wednesday Jan 15, 2020
This week’s guest is another person I have been chasing for a long time. Stephen Seiler has written extensively about ‘polarised training’ and I have used many of the principles he talks about in his papers and presentations in both my own training and that of the athletes I have the honour of working with. There is no doubt in my mind that while there may be other approaches to developing fitness for endurance events, this one offers the most sustainable long term benefits for both health and fitness. You may have heard my previous podcasts with Dr Phil Maffetone, Dr Dan Plews and Prof Paul Laursen and each of these eminent coaches has spoken of methodology that has polarised training at its heart. This is a loooong podcast, almost 2 hours, and the time absolutely flew by. Stephen has such a great message and it’s easy to listen to his stories and experiences. I have absolute confidence that you will find so much value in this conversation that will be of benefit to your own training or coaching. Please enjoy this show as we talk about:
- The ‘holy trinity’ of monitoring intensity and why you must learn to use all three
- Why 95% of endurance athletes can thrive using just three training zones
- The simple, three step method for determining training zones without visiting a sports science lab
- How the African distance runners use internal measures of intensity for much of the time and only use pace when preparing for races
- What the 80/20 numbers really mean and how they apply to you
- Why the principles of polarised training are even more important if you have only 8-10 hours to train each week
- Hierarchy of Training Needs - what should come first when developing your fitness
Here are links to some of the references in our discussion:
Hierarchy of Training Needs. This is the diagram on his Twitter account representing this theory
The first Seiler paper that I read, "Intervals, Thresholds, and Long Slow Distance: the Role of Intensity and Duration in Endurance Training”
“Experimental Challenges” 12 “aerobic” challenges created by Stephen Seiler, for you to attempt in 2019
Stephen Seiler posts a lot of good information on Twitter. You can follow him 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 Jan 08, 2020
Wednesday Jan 08, 2020
Kettlebells are not a new phenomenon but they have enjoyed an upsurge in popularity over the last 10-15 years. I’ve have been a fan for the last 8-9 years ever since attending a court in Yorkshire, delivered by today’s guest. Steve Cotter is one of the founding fathers of the recent revival and now heads up his own Kettlebell Organisation - IKFF. Steve Cotter has literally written the book on Kettlebell Training.
As you will hear in this conversation Steve isn’t just passionate about kettlebells, he loves to teach and share his unique experience to promote health, happiness, and longevity through fitness.
This is a longer than normal chat because we disappear down a few rabbit holes but I think you will really enjoy this conversation as we discuss:
- Why Steve’s biggest inspiration is provided by mothers
- How to get started with kettlebells even if you are a complete novice to lifting
- Why you ONLY need to learn 5 basic exercises to get a great kettlebell workout
- How you can develop the perfect triathlon strength workout with just 3 x 10 minutes per week
Steve also mentioned many other training forms and practices in our conversation including:
Wim Hof and the Wim Hof Method
6 phase meditation with Vishen Lakhiani of MindValley
The Book - 1421, The Year China discovered the world
Below are links to the basic Kettlebell exercises, including one hand & two hand swings & Kettlebell cleans:
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 Dec 31, 2019
Tuesday Dec 31, 2019
Ironman has grown into a huge, global business and, like many international corporations, they do a lot of work outside of the sport. Ironman does this through The Ironman Foundation (IMF). My guest today is the Executive Director of IMF, Sarah Hartmann.
I first met Sarah in Hawaii through one of our previous podcast guests (Derek Fitzgerald) and she asked me if I would like to get involved with some of their projects. Much of their project work is based around races and host cities, so in recent months they have been doing work in Hawaii (at Ironman time), Panama City, Florida (to continue the rebuilding work after the hurricane in 2018), and Las Vegas (part of a community project to help those affected by the mass shooting in 2017).
While many triathletes who compete in Ironman events may be aware of the Foundation, not many know enough about the good work that they do, so in this week’s podcast we’re highlighting their work, including:
- How IMF works, and the involvement of WTC
- The power of volunteering and why it is good for everyone
- Sarah highlights some of the projects that IMF have been involved with and shares her favourite one to date
- Who actually takes part and how you might end up working alongside “The Voice of Ironman” Mike Reilly
- How the Foundation helped out at Bolton after the moorland fires which affected IMUK 2018
- How you can get involved in an Ironman Foundation project
To find out more about the Ironman Foundation, please CLICK HERE
We talked about several topics including the Gold Star Initiative run by Mike Ergo. You can hear the podcast I recorded with Mike right 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
Tuesday Dec 24, 2019
Tuesday Dec 24, 2019
In today’s podcast we’re speaking with one of the Britain’s best known triathletes. A man who has experienced the absolute highs - 3 Olympic Games, 4 world titles, the fastest official, accurate Ironman in history, as well as absolute lows. Breaking his neck and wearing a Halo device for 3 months.
Congratulations if you have worked out that my guest is none other than Mr. Tim Don. As you will discover as we chat, Tim is an all-round, nice guy and such a humble person.
In this episode I introduce a new warm up quiz which all future guests will be asked to participate in. Tim was the first and among other things you’ll find out:
- Which actor he would choose to play himself, if they made a film about his life
- One superpower he would love to have
- His favourite kids movie
- Which famous person he would most like to have drinks with
We also have a more conventional chat about his triathlon life and you’ll discover:
- Which victory was his biggest to date
- What it felt like to break that Ironman World record in Brazil
- Why he is still chasing the ‘perfect race’
- What happened immediately after that bike accident in Kona
- The amazing experience of Patagonaman
If you haven’t already watched it, please take 30 minutes to watch “the Man in the Halo” right HERE
To find out what Tim is doing and where he is racing you can follow him on
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/tri_thedon/
on Twitter - https://twitter.com/trithedon
Or visit his website https://www.timdon.com/
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 Dec 18, 2019
Wednesday Dec 18, 2019
On this week’ss show my guest is Elliot Smales, one of the exciting breed of younger men and women developing their career as long distance triathletes. Elliot is a Yorshireman who has based himself in Leeds, a city that has developed a deserved reputation as the centre of triathlon in the UK, Europe and maybe even the world.
Elliot was a member of the Yorkshire Triathlon academy who came to study at Leeds University and was part of the triathlon development squad. He dabbled in short course racing but at the age of 23 decided to have a go at a 70.3 event. In 2018 he turned pro and started to post some big wins including Ironman 70.3 Dun Laoghaire and 70.3 Staffs. In 2019 he also won Ironman 70.3 Sweden before deciding at the last minute to enter his first Ironman (Barcelona) just a few weeks after the 70.3 worlds in Nice, France.
Elliot has certainly packed a lot into his relatively short triathlon career so far and we cover a lot of ground in this conversation including:
- Getting started in triathlon with Sheffield Tri Club and never forgetting the club spirit, even when you are a pro triathlete
- What it really takes to race long distance triathlon
- Why even no-drafting triathlon has ‘bike packs’, and the tactics involved in racing at the highest level
- Entering an Ironman event because your clubmates were having a party afterward
- Thinking that anyone can run a sub 2:40 marathon, when your longest run of the year is just 14 miles
- The financial reality of trying to make a living as a young professional triathlete
To find out more about Elliot and his training and racing exploits you can follow him on Twitter https://twitter.com/elliot_smales and Instagram https://www.instagram.com/elliot_smales/
You can watch the Pre Race interview that Elliot did before 2019 IM Staffs 70.2 HERE
Watch Elliot riding his REAP bike in South Africa 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 Dec 11, 2019
Wednesday Dec 11, 2019
The winter months should be the time when you address the weaknesses that limited your progress in the previous season, and which may do so again in the next season. In an ideal world, this would start with a thorough physical assessment by a qualified practitioner, such as my guest today Louisa Holmes (a.k.a. The White Witch).
I have linked two previous podcasts to highlight the full assessment process (part 1) and then on to the hard work required by you, the athlete, to ensure that those identified weaknesses are strengthened (part 2, beginning at 0:32:12).
I have been through this process myself and the fact that I can now run without Achilles or calf pain during or after is testament to the value of such an assessment and the necessity to spend more time working on mobility and stabiliser muscle strength. Please make sure you take notes while you listen as I have no doubt that you can benefit from this as much as I have!
Part 1
- Why a hi tech bike fit isn’t necessary to find the best riding position
- Why a bike fit must include a full head to toe muscle skeletal assessment and lifelong medical history
- How injuries that occurred when you were a child could impact your bike fit as an adult
- When the information obtained from a bike fit can benefit your run performance
- How a bike fit turned into a 10 minute examination of my jaw
- The reason why hip flexors are the most talked about muscles in my podcasts
- How a single leg squat influences your bike fit
- Why you should have a bike fit at least twice each year
Part 2 (0:32:12)
- Scapula stability and its impact on rider comfort and run performance
- Why you must take care of the Soleus muscle
- The startling revelation that endurance athletes should spend 30-60 minutes per day on their strength, conditioning, and mobility
- Further confirmation that reducing aerobic training and increasing conditioning work will give better overall results
- How to produce your FTP power in the aero position
- Breathing pattern disorder, why you probably have one, and how it’s limiting your performance
- The compromise between your most aero tri bike position and the one which helps you to run fastest
You can find out more about the Cyclist's Full Body MOT —>> HERE
Find out more about the Runner’s Full Body MOT —>> HERE
To book your appointment with Louisa Holmes or any of her equally able colleagues, please contact CSPC, phone 0113 2750606
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