Team Nagi Newsletter - August 2025

Hi Guys,

Hope you’ve all had a great August.

I, for one, ended the month with a short holiday/training camp back in Wales that went really well. There really is nothing like the Welsh Valleys and run trails to absolutely lose yourself in the beauty of the surroundings. As ever, the weather was a challenge to say the least, but with careful weather-watching I was able to work my way around most of it. I also got the opportunity to ride the Ironman Wales bike course for the first time with one of my athletes (Andy Rogerson) as he gears up for his second attempt at the big event in a few weeks’ time. And boy, what a course it is! Not for the faint-hearted, that’s for sure, with 2750m of climbing — but stunningly beautiful. My respect goes out to all the athletes I’ve coached over the years who have done this course; it really is something to behold. An Ironman, and then some.

I also want to give a big shout-out to two of our athletes who hit their first-ever podiums this month — Marc Kremer at the T100 French Riviera and Tony Jarvis at the Brighton Triathlon. More about these later, but huge congratulations gents, so good to see your hard work and dedication paying off.

The timely topic I want to talk about this month is more of an issue from the mental side of race preparation. It’s based on a trend I’ve seen in the past week or two, where athletes are looking for clues in all the wrong places and paying way too much attention to sessions that didn’t go their way. We have a lot of athletes with very big races coming up — both first-time Ironman athletes and those chasing World Championship qualification — and this trend has been similar across the board.

I’ll start by saying that when you get into the final few weeks before a race, there is simply no single session that will tell you how well you are going to perform on race day. The reason is that 99% of the work has already been done in the months leading up to this period. If you performed well and were consistent during that time, then you give yourself a very high chance of finding the performance you are looking for on race day.

But even then, there are no guarantees, because you also need Lady Luck on your side on race day as well — and that, unfortunately, is a big part of this game we play. Even at the very highest level of this sport, you frequently hear the best athletes in the world say they had the best-ever race preparation, only to then fall apart on race day. You also see the opposite, where they had far from optimal preparation, even missing lots of training, but still found a lifetime-best performance when something just clicked on the day.

It’s the same with training sessions. They will either be really good, bad, or just plain ugly. And if they are bad, it just means the body and mind weren’t in the right place for it on that day, despite your best efforts to get the stars to align. Should you worry about that? Absolutely not. It’s just wasted time and energy to dwell on it, because more often than not you’ll bounce back the very next day and produce your best training session of the year. That’s simply training — and the more experienced among you already know this.

So for those of you with big races coming up, just accept that this is part of the process. It will probably be a roller coaster of highs and lows during sessions before race day. NONE of this determines how you will feel or perform on race day. So stop putting pressure on yourself to find the perfect session or the perfect day — just get the training done, whether it’s good or bad, and then move on.

You’ll only get the true reveal when the starter’s gun goes off on race day. It’s the Triathlon Gods who ultimately decide.

Race results

Ironman Thun (Switzerland)

Nick Betteridge
Splits: swim 1:13:29 / bike 5:56:00 / run 4:12:50
Total Time: 11:37:19
40-44 category

It might not have been the day Nick was hoping for, but on one of the toughest, most mountainous courses in Switzerland, he fought all the way to the finish. A freezing swim hit him early, and persistent back problems made the bike even tougher, but true to form, he found a way through. Another Ironman finish in the bag — huge respect, Nick!

Ironman Kalmar (Sweden)

Mike Goguen
Splits: swim 1:28:50 / bike 6:00:39 / run 4:14:37
Total Time: 11:58:42
45-49 category

One of our athletes, Mike, took on his very first Ironman in Kalmar and absolutely nailed it! With just four months of training under his belt, he smashed through the 12-hour barrier, finishing in an impressive 11:58. For a first-timer, this is an outstanding achievement—and to top it off, he delivered a strong swim performance despite it being his least favourite discipline. Huge congratulations, Mike!

Ironman Tallin (Estonia)

Anton Sensky
Splits: swim 1:34:25 / bike 7:20:17 / run 5:40:42
Total Time: 14:58:54
45-49 category

So good to see Anton smashed his first (and he insists, last!) Ironman! After a very tough year where training time was limited to say the least, he somehow pulled it off with trademark grit and stubbornness. From camp to the finish line, he proved what determination can do. Huge congrats Anton — you are officially an Ironman!

T100 French Riviera (2km swim/ 80km bike/20km run)

Marc Kremer
Splits: swim 38:33 / bike 2:26:35 / run 1:21:11
Total Time: 4:27:22
3rd in the 55-59 category

Marc claimed his first big event podium with a brilliant 3rd place finish at the stunning French Riviera T100 triathlon! Huge congratulations on a performance to be proud of. Your consistency and dedication that I see day in, day out at the club have truly paid off — and it’s a joy to see you get the reward you deserve. Even better knowing you weren’t sure this was possible just a few weeks ago… what a result!

Brighton Triathlon (Sprint)

Tony Jarvis
Splits: run 11:57 / bike 32:21 / run 20:44
Total Time: 1:08:12
2nd in the 45-49 category

Great to see ‘Rocket Tony’ finally get his breakthrough, hitting the podium for the very first time in his age group with a brilliant 2nd place finish! With the swim cancelled due to rough seas, the race became a duathlon (2.5k run / 20k bike / 5k run), and Tony absolutely nailed it with smart pacing and a powerful performance. Great work TJ!

Cambridge 50 mile TT

Coach
Total Time: 2hrs 7mins

Was hugely pleased to get a 17 minute PB over this distance compared to my first effort in a course with similar elevation 8 weeks ago. This was just one of those races that it all came together and I learned the many lessons from the first attempt. It was also the first time I managed to nail a negative split going out in 1:07 and coming back in 1:00 for each of the 25 mile blocks. Its also the first time since I returned to racing this year since 2008 that I didn’t get really bad cramp so I felt finally able to push harder towards the end. It’s not a good place when you suddenly become a serial cramper but many of the things I tried in the build up top this TT have been spoken about in the absolutely brilliant podcast I have linked to below with Professor Ross Tucker. By far and away the most useful podcast I’ve ever listened to on cramp (Big shout out to physio & run Coach Mark Green at Streek running for forwarding this to me. And trust me it had nothing to do with taking in more electrolytes as I had all of this tested and then tested again. For me this was all about much more race specificity work and progressive loading of this, better HR management in the first quarter (I rode 10 bpms lower than the first time) but more importantly I added a lot more gym work to the muscles that were cramping to get those areas stronger, this included quite a bit of eccentric loading. It worked.

What I’ve been listening to this month…

Cramps are one of the most frustrating race-day problems, and in this episode of The Real Science of Sport Podcast Ross Tucker and Mike Finch dig into the latest thinking on what really causes them. Spoiler: it’s not just dehydration or salt loss. Instead, cramps often come from fatigue and how your nervous system and muscles interact under stress. The hosts share what athletes can actually do about it — from smart training and pacing strategies in the build-up, to short-term fixes like pickle juice when cramp hits mid-race. A must-listen for anyone who’s ever had their race derailed by cramp!

Wildpool swim shoes finally launch!

I’m super pleased to announce the launch of Wildpool swim shoes by our very own squad swimmer Sami Roberston. You will have read about Sami’s swimming adventures in many of my Team Newsletters. Only recently he completed the 48km round Manhattan swim. So to see his idea for swim shoes for swimmers come to light like this is hugely is so wonderful to see. Please see below if you want to get involved.

“Sami Robertson has pushed through some of the toughest swims there is including— the English Channel, Robben Island, Lake Zurich, Straits of Gibraltar and more recently Manhattan’s 20 Bridges. That same grit has gone into his new venture: Wildpool. It’s footwear built for swimmers and outdoor adventurers — lightweight with orthopedic cushioning, water-friendly, and stylish enough to wear anywhere.

Wildpool is launching on Kickstarter this autumn. For just 75p you can reserve your pair and secure the exclusive early-bird price of £38 (regular retail £59.99). This is a limited pre-launch offer for those who want to be part of the founding community”.

Link here to sign up

Also give them a follow Wildpooluk on Instagram to be part of the journey.