Hi guys, I hope you’ve all had a great October.
What a month it’s been, with plenty of highs and lows, and probably one of the most extraordinary Ironman World Championship races I’ve ever seen. I never thought I’d see a more dramatic race than Hawaii last year, but this year’s blew it out of the water. There was some incredible racing from some incredible athletes, and equally, there were athletes who completely fell apart. These athletes are putting their bodies on the line like never before, and we’re seeing some truly remarkable performances as a result.
We also had two hugely popular winners in Taylor Knibb and Vincent Luis, and the way they won made it so special to watch. Taylor turned the tables on her dramatic collapse last year, hanging on and coming through for the win as the leader fell apart in the final kilometre.
Then there was the absolutely unbelievable performance from the ever-popular Vincent Luis of France. At 37, after a glorious short-course career, this was his first and last Ironman World Championship, and his retirement race. He raced an almost perfect race to take the win, and I have to admit it was one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen on the island. Why? Because he stuck to what he knew. He stuck to his race plan and raced the conditions on the day. What a way to finish your career! I’m sure he’ll have inspired so many people, and I’d highly recommend listening to his near two-hour podcast with Jack, which I’ve linked below. He’s definitely one of my favourite male athletes of all time. He does everything with style, panache and intelligence, and he’s so incredibly humble.
The race also showed just how unbelievably tough it is to race out there. You can arrive in the best shape of your life, and it means nothing on race day if things don’t go your way. There’s the heat, the humidity and the wind, and this year the swim was particularly brutal, with a huge swell that left many athletes seasick. One thing’s for sure: I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much vomiting in a race! It also highlighted how quickly things can flip in long-distance racing. Athletes who were seemingly leading the race suddenly fell apart as the lights went out. It just shows how close to the edge your body is in these races.
Being in your best physical condition is a big part of the jigsaw, but so many other pieces have to fall into place. Things happen during a race that can affect even the hardiest athletes. You can go in with the best preparation imaginable, and your body still might not deliver on the day you need it to, which can be hugely disappointing. When you think about it, the chances of being in your best shape and finding your ultimate performance on the same day are actually pretty low.
On the flip side, at least that race went ahead. Closer to home, Ironman Barcelona was cancelled the day before the race, and for the right reasons, due to severe weather. Two of our athletes were already out there and ready to race, which, as you can imagine, was absolutely devastating for them. It was devastating for me as their coach too, because I know the hard work, commitment and sacrifice they put in to get there. It was also going to be their first Ironman, which makes it even harder to deal with.
With a couple of races cancelled this year, it raises the question: what do you actually do when this happens? I don’t think there’s one right answer. It’s deeply individual. Some athletes will want to go out and do a big training day. I know some athletes who went out and did the whole race themselves when Ironman France was cancelled. Some will try to find another race, while others might just do a harder training session. I’m so pleased that one of our athletes, Matt Berril, decided to do a solo Ironman in London a week later, and I was very happy to be a small part of it. What an amazing debut it was. You can read more about it below.
One thing’s for sure: October never disappoints. The Ironman World Championships always feel like the perfect source of inspiration for athletes all around the world as we head into the deepest, darkest and coldest months of the year. Hopefully, it’s lit a spark inside you for a great autumn and winter too, because this is the time of year when the foundations for next year’s performances are really laid. So now is the time to switch your mindset and ask yourself: “How do I make the most of these next few months, so I go into the new year with the most solid foundation possible?” Get that right, and who knows what 2027 might bring.
Race Results
Ironman World Championships (Hawaii)
- Vicki Hill
- Swim: 1:24:25
- Bike: 6:03:27
- Run: 4:29:34
- Overall time: 12:09:18
- Age Category: 50-54
If there’s one thing I know about The Pocket Rocket, it’s that whatever she does, she always does herself and me proud. This race may not have brought the result she wanted, but it says so much about her character and the class of athlete she is.
It’s rare for any athlete to have a near-perfect build-up to a race, but I’ll be honest: Vicki’s Hawaii preparation was the closest I think she’s ever come. She ticked every single box, and even the data showed she was well ahead of where she was last year, when she finished sixth in her age group in 10:50, just one place outside the podium (top five in Hawaii). I’ve never felt more confident in an athlete going into a race. But we both knew her body also had to come together on the day to deliver that performance in such incredibly tough conditions.
Sadly, this was one of those races where an athlete arrives in the best shape of their life and something just doesn’t click. She didn’t feel great after the rough swim, felt flat with very little energy all day and later developed stomach issues. She never felt like she could get going. If you watched the World Championships, you’ll have seen the same thing happen to some of the best professional athletes in the world. Nobody is immune.
To finish well over an hour slower than last year was devastating for her. Vicki rarely says she’s come close to pulling out of a race, but she did this time. Despite everything, she found something from somewhere to get to the finish line. I think she was particularly inspired by having lots of her family there, especially her young niece, who will have been so inspired watching her aunt overcome such adversity to make it to the finish.
Vicki has been to the island several times, and it’s always been a rollercoaster of performances, from incredible highs to incredible lows. That’s part and parcel of what makes Hawaii so unique. It’s just such a tough place to race. But I have no doubt this is just one part of the jigsaw for Vicki. On her day, she’s a podium athlete in Hawaii. She just needs Lady Luck on her side, and she will get there. Of that, I’m 100% sure.
Ironman London (Solo effort!)
- Matt Berrill
- Swim: 1:14:14
- Bike: 6:10:10
- Run: 3:47:47
- Overall time: 11:26:46
- Age Category: 30-34
What do you do when your Ironman is cancelled? You arrange to do exactly the same thing in London as a solo effort a week later!
I’ve seen athletes take this approach before when a race is cancelled, but in over 20 years of coaching, it’s only happened a handful of times with my own athletes. I’ll secretly admit it’s the option I like to think I’d take if it ever happened to me. After all, what could be more glorious than a long day’s training? I take my hat off to athletes who do it, because, as I said earlier, there’s no easy answer when your Ironman gets cancelled. It all comes down to where your own motivations lie.
I massively admire Matt’s decision, because it’s far from the easy option, and it says everything about his will and character. He wanted to finish the season on a high and make sure all the training he’d done was put to good use. He did it for all the right reasons.
What was also wonderful was how many of his friends and family came out to support him on the day. That’s what makes a solo Ironman so unique. People really appreciate what a difficult undertaking it is, and they rally around you. It says everything about Matt, too, because I know he’d do exactly the same for any one of his friends. I even managed to join him for part of the ride, which was done in laps of Richmond Park, and it was brilliant to see him in such amazing shape.
The icing on the cake was an extraordinary 3:47 marathon around Regent’s Park, which, for a first Ironman, is absolutely outstanding. It shows the potential he has and should be a huge confidence boost moving forward, giving him a glimpse of what he might be capable of when the stars finally align. This is a memory and an experience that will stay with him forever, and it’s something very few people ever get to have.
North Carolina 70.3 (USA)
- Deepti Tamhane
- Swim: 56:42
- Bike: 3:41:29
- Run: 2:32:25
- Overall time: 7:28:33
- Age Category: 45-49
I think it was Billy Ocean who once sang, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” I can’t think of a better way to sum up this performance.
Your first half Ironman is always a challenging experience, to say the least. I remember doing my first one back in the day, and I don’t think I slept for about eight weeks beforehand! Deepti had a huge hurdle, or really a mountain, to climb when she first contacted me, as she was only just learning to swim freestyle and had very little confidence in the water. But, like the woman she is, she did everything asked of her. She worked incredibly hard, swam consistently and constantly put herself in environments that challenged her. The open water in particular was an enormous challenge. Not coming from a swimming background, she had numerous fears to overcome.
Underneath all of that, though, Deepti is an incredibly tough and resilient character, and no matter what life has thrown at her, she’s kept moving forward. To say the last couple of months before the race were challenging would be a massive understatement. She was ill at least three times, twice in the four weeks before the race, and then she picked up a cold in race week after the long-haul flight to the US. She did exactly as I recommended, resting up and doing no training.
It’s one of those rare occasions where an athlete goes into a race with far from the best preparation, but the stars align on the day. She put in an absolutely outstanding performance, and considering where she started at the beginning of the year, it’s one she should be incredibly proud of. Her courage and determination have been up there with the best of them, and that’s what made this such a special race.
Congratulations, Deepti! I hope it’s the first of many, because I think there’s a lot more to come.
Otillo Swim-run Cannes (France) (swim 7:48km/ run 33:47km)
- Simon Evans
- Overall time: 6:38
For those who haven’t come across it, swimrun is exactly what it sounds like. Teams of two swim and run their way across a course, carrying their kit with them and switching between the two again and again. The ÖTILLÖ Cannes World Series is one of the toughest races on the circuit. It covers around 41km, with 12 runs and 11 swims totalling about 7.5km in the Mediterranean, and around 420m of elevation. Starting from the fort on Île Sainte-Marguerite, the course takes in the monastery island of Saint-Honorat, technical urban sections and some brutal hills. It’s a course that challenges you more than you think.
Huge congratulations to Simon and his partner, Nick Thomson, who returned to Cannes once again and put in their best-ever performance. Two years ago they finished in over eight hours, and last year in 7:15, so to go 6:38 this year was an absolutely brilliant effort on such a tough course. Next up is either Rockman in Norway or ÖTILLÖ Rügen in Germany. Watch this space!
Chester Marathon
- Nick Betteridge
- Overall time: 3:28:27
- Age Category: 40-44
- Bex Betteridge
- Overall time: 3:54:19
- Age Category: 40-44
What an incredible season it’s been for the Betteridges! Not only did they complete three half Ironman-distance races, they also tagged on an end-of-season marathon, and both set massive personal bests along the way.
Nick’s original marathon goal was sub-3:35, but his training went so well that we revised it to sub-3:30. Bex’s goal was to go under four hours, which, considering this is her first-ever year of racing and endurance sport, is an absolutely outstanding achievement. To make it even more impressive, the marathon course was far from flat, with the most undulating section saved for the end, just when the legs are at their most tired.
These performances came down to really consistent training, doing the right things in the build-up and, crucially, scheduling the races at the right times of year, so the demands and stresses on the body were spread out as much as possible.
Congratulations to you both! As I always like to say, you’ve definitely earned your much-loved pastries this year, and hopefully this is the perfect springboard to an even better 2027.
The Polar Circle Marathon (Greenland)
What a way for Lucie Jansen to see in her 50th birthday year: by taking on the incredible challenge of a marathon in the Arctic Circle, alongside her husband, Chris!
The Polar Circle Marathon is widely regarded as one of the coldest and toughest marathons on the planet. It starts at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet and includes a loop of around 3km on the ice itself, marked out with poles and flags because of hidden crevasses. From there, runners cross frozen tundra and uneven gravel roads, some of it covered in snow, with over 500m of climbing on the way to the finish in Kangerlussuaq. Add in temperatures that can drop to around -15°C, and you get a sense of why only a couple of hundred runners take it on each year.
By all accounts it was absolutely brutal and felt more like 60km than 42km, but what a very special adventure, and how unreal to be almost at the top of the world together. Huge congratulations to you both!
Battersea Half Marathon
- David Magyar
- Overall time: 1:37:32
- Age Category: 2nd in 65-69 category
Dorney Lake Half Marathon
- Helen Burton
- Overall time: 2:44:58
- Age Category: 70-74
It’s always awesome to see these two hardy souls out racing at the end of the year! Huge congratulations to David and Helen, who both produced outstanding performances over the half marathon distance.
It was terrific to see David run so well, considering he hadn’t trained specifically for this event and had just been doing a few light runs to keep things ticking over. Helen, by contrast, made this race a focus and came away with a brilliant personal best. This woman never ceases to amaze me with what she’s capable of. She seems to get stronger, faster and tougher with every year, which is glorious to see.
If I could bottle what these two have in abundance, I’d be a very wealthy man!
British Masters National Swimming Championships
It’s always great to see our lightning-fast, slippery fish, Bridget Trefgarne, in action at the National Championships at Ponds Forge. As usual, she put in an incredible performance, collecting a full set of gold, silver and bronze medals in the 60–64 age group. Not bad at all, considering she’s been suffering with a really bad chest for the past few weeks!
- Gold: 100m backstroke (1:17.34)
- Silver: 200m backstroke (2:45.03)
- Bronze: 4 x 200m mixed relay
Hugo Haller-Shannon’s English Channel Swim Report: 14 hours 37 mins
The English Channel swim is a prestigious challenge, recognised the world over as an extreme test of physical endurance and mental fortitude. The most direct crossing comprises 21 miles of sea swimming but strong tides may lengthen this journey. The swim is performed wearing only a pair of trunks/swimming costume, goggles and a swimming cap. Buoyancy aids and physical assistance are not permitted. The swimmer is accompanied by an escort boat, from which feeds are passed to them by crew and must be consumed whilst treading water; holding onto the boat is not allowed. Swims usually start from Dover and finish in France, on the stretch of shoreline just west of Calais; crossing in the opposite direction is also possible but less common. In the swimming season, the water is around 15-19 °C. Approximately 2,700 people have completed solo crossings of the Channel since the first, in 1875, by Captain Matthew Webb.
I signed up for the swim in February 2024, paying my deposit whilst on a ferry from Cairnryan to Belfast. Forking out the money was about the most strenuous exercise I did that year. I was moving to Belfast to start a new job – a post as a consultant forensic pathologist – so I had some other things to deal with, and it wasn’t until April 2025 that I started training. Once I commit to training, I invest heavily. I am an ‘all or nothing’ sort of athlete.
Fast-forward to 26th September 2026 and the swim was finally happening. I arrived at Dover Marina with my crew, Erica, Claire and Maddy. We were met by our pilot, Paul, and co-pilot, Jason, who said a couple of relay teams had cancelled their crossings because of the weather forecast. Paul said the wind was due to ‘pick up’, but couldn’t be sure when. It was going to be a headwind and the waves would be getting in my face most of the way. They both seemed downbeat and the irony that their vessel was called Optimist was not lost on us – something we could laugh about later, but at that time their attitude concerned me. Paul had been upbeat in previous conversations, so I was surprised to see him like that. Heading out to sea in the dead of night for such a long swim is hard enough, but when you see your skipper and co-pilot looking like they don’t want to be there, it can cast a shadow of doubt. The weather was only going to get worse over the following few days so it was a simple decision – we had to go. I got ready and set off at 11.24pm from Samphire Hoe. I would be the only swimmer in the Channel that night.
One thing that wasn’t flat was the sea. It was rolling me about, making it tough to find my rhythm. I swallowed a few mouthfuls of seawater in the early stages and struggled to judge my distance from the boat, getting clattered by the hull a few times. It was a shambles. I had done next to no training in the dark, which wasn’t down to complacency but rather a lack of opportunity. I could not find anyone willing to go out in a boat at night to accompany me on a swim. Not a surprise really. I was gaining my first proper insight into the trials and tribulations of night swimming, on the Channel swim itself!
Feed one came on the hour mark when I drank 300ml cyclic dextrin and ate a mini Battenberg. Not long afterwards, I could feel my stomach writhing ominously and, sure enough, the whole lot got spewed up twenty minutes later. I told myself it was just a blip and believed things would correct themselves. But they didn’t. Again and again and again, the hourly feeds came back out the way they came in, even though we had reduced the feeds to a much lower volume of more diluted drinks. My plan was falling to pieces and I felt like a fool. Rough seas had never been an issue for me but I think my symptoms were exacerbated by the darkness and possibly the disruption of my body’s natural rhythms. I wasn’t used to guzzling cyclic dextrin and mini Battenbergs at midnight in the English Channel! It might have been better to have lighter feeds at the start and to take a pre-swim anti-emetic, but it’s easy to be wise in hindsight.
During feeds, the boat was drifting ahead of me and I was getting wafts of diesel fumes as I treaded water near the stern which wasn’t helping with the sickness. But the Channel was no place to linger. The harvest moon was pulling a powerful spring tide and every second spent feeding was costly, as it swept us along. We were pointing towards Cap Gris Nez, but travelling towards the Netherlands.
I was sipping the drinks gently to try and ease my stomach, in the hope it would settle and hold on to some precious nutrition, but the waves were slapping me in the face and I was being encouraged to feed quicker. I could see the co-pilot circling his arm from the cabin window, whilst shouting at me to get a move on. At one point, Paul came out on deck and said “if you don’t hurry up with your feeds it’s you who’s gonna suffer!” – thanks for the insight, Old Salt! (At the end of the swim, I explained to him that the faster I chugged it down the faster it would’ve come back up – “that’s a fair point”, he said). I said nothing to him at the time. I had made a promise to myself before the swim not to complain to anyone onboard, as it would only amplify any internal thoughts of negativity and waste energy. I managed to honour that promise throughout.
My crew were keeping calm, even though they later admitted they were worried I was going to quit. They didn’t want to amplify the stress that was already significant. The feed plan was essentially in tatters and they were doing their best to try and settle my stomach with water but there was also pressure to get some energy into me and nothing was working. For some reason, my beloved Battenbergs were the only things I wanted to eat, but they just wouldn’t stay down. At one feed, the only word I muttered was “Battenberg” – wisely ignored by the crew.
The thought of turning my back on the goal was unbearable. I had such a deep affinity with it that every fibre of my being wanted to succeed. Failure would have felt worse than what the Channel was doing to me at that time. I kept telling myself that it would be less than a day’s work, and that time and distance were being eroded with every stroke. It helped me put the challenge into perspective and made it seem more manageable.
At some point between hours 5 and 6, I said to myself out loud: “I’m getting this done”. I’ll occasionally be vocal when I’m on a long swim. Usually it’s just a few words here and there to keep my focus or give technical reminders. But I barely said a word throughout this swim; the Channel had knocked the stuffing out of me. To hear my own voice aloud was almost a surprise, yet it was powerfully reassuring. It was an affirmation that I was still in the fight. I believe this was the moment where momentum shifted in my favour. Mentally, I was prepared to stay in the hurt locker until the job was finished. My body would follow until it broke, or we landed, whatever came first.
Dawn appeared soon after that and more positive momentum was gained. My crew started to build belief as well. The hours before dawn had been some of the darkest I had known in sport – what a hellish time of it. The vomiting persisted and the most I could manage were occasional pitiful sips of water and maltodextrin. I felt if I focussed on the simple act of keeping my arms moving, success would follow.
After about 12 hours of swimming, I noticed the water changing colour to a lighter blue. There were granules of silt moving in the currents beneath me. We were nearing land, slowly but surely. Erica told me at one of the feeds that she was getting ready to get in the water. The plan was that she would join me for the last few hundred metres of the swim. Success was now within reach. I put in a bit of sustained effort and upped the stroke rate.
I didn’t see Erica get in; she just popped up next to me like a seal, with a big smile on her face and said “we’re going to France!”. I was delighted and put my foot on the gas. I felt as if I was going like a steamboat…until I looked over and saw she was doing breaststroke!
I kept the wheels turning and my head down until my hands hit the pebbles at Plage de Sangatte. Getting out of the water was a feeling of bewildered joy and the most immense satisfaction. It was a defiance of where I thought my limits lay. I emerged a very different swimmer to the man who entered the water on the English coast, 14 hours and 37 minutes earlier. There was a group of French people on the beach who cheered me as I landed. They had obviously followed the tracker online and come to meet me. I was very touched. One of them handed me a small bag of shells and two pebbles, as a memento. Another handed me a mini Dime bar and said, in a heavy French accent, “zis is ze best chocolate you will ever have!”. It was.
If you’d told me before the swim that I would have to go the full way on virtually no feeds, I would have thought it suicidal to get in the water. For much of the swim, I wasn’t in the unknown, I was in the unthinkable. The Channel had sounded depths of my endurance that I didn’t know existed.
During my 18 months of training, I spent time focussing on the psychological aspect of open water swimming. I am 40 years old and beyond my athletic peak, but my mind is more resilient now than it has ever been, and that is something I can continue to build on as my body ages.
I also explored my ‘why’. When I was in Dover, waiting for my opportunity to swim, I wrote a private note to myself to affirm my reason for swimming the Channel. I carried its sentiment with me on the crossing and I believe this is what saw me to the other side, against the odds:
“The swim is a celebration of the quiet and personal adversities that have been endured in life, and the unsung victories that have allowed me the privilege of this challenge. They span time and people well beyond my 40 years; I have long contemplated their significance and magnitude.
Sport is a manifestation of our desire to live fully, in mind, body and spirit; of our defiance of the chaos that tries to break us. It is a voluntary engagement with the agony and ecstasy of life, and rejection of temptation to sit idle. It is an act of gratitude for the gift of our physical form.”
Acknowledgments:
Thanks to my crew, Erica, Maddy and Claire, who invested themselves fully in my goal and lived the crossing with me, seasickness and all!
Athlete focus for November
November focus: setting yourself up for autumn and winter
I thought I’d share how I’m approaching this time of year myself. I’ve had an incredibly enjoyable couple of months, and with the summer we’ve just had, getting out on the bike and running outdoors for every session has been a real win-win. But now the focus is shifting.
Get your indoor set-up right
I’ve just set my time trial bike back up on the turbo trainer, which will be a big focus for me over the winter. I’ve taken time to get the room comfortable and set up exactly how I like it, making it as easy as possible to get on and off the bike, with everything I need close to hand for those indoor sessions. A good fan, a towel and plenty of fluids make a huge difference, as you’ll sweat far more indoors than you would outside. On cold, wet days, heading out isn’t always the best option, and sometimes training inside is simply the safer choice. Get set up properly now, so you can make the most of those days.
Start gently, then build
For many athletes, the emphasis at this time of year should be on gentle, light training that’s fun and enjoyable. It doesn’t need to be long. Once you’ve built a reasonable base of fitness and got back into the swing of things, you can start adding intensity back into your programme.
Train by feel and RPE
Remember, you’ll have lost a considerable amount of the fitness you built earlier in the year. That means any targets and zones you used before won’t be valid when you first come back. It’s far better to focus on slowly developing your fitness and getting used to the feel of different intensities again.
This is where I especially like progressive sessions and fartlek-type sessions, where you play around with pace and develop that mind-body connection across a range of intensities. Until you’ve built up enough training to do some fitness testing and set new zones, make it fun and explore intensity, rather than worrying about hitting specific numbers.
Quality over quantity
Winter is a time when quality over quantity works really well for many athletes, with the odd longer session thrown in when it fits your programme (and, most importantly, when the weather is on your side). Make it a priority to work on your weaknesses. If you know there are areas that need work, those sessions should take priority over everything else.
Set a goal
This is one of the best times of year to target a specific goal. For some of you, that might mean developing your running, and we’re well and truly moving into the season when there are plenty of races at every distance, from 5K right through to the marathon. Having something in the diary gives your winter training a real purpose and keeps you motivated through the darker months.
Find a routine that works for you
Get comfortable with a good routine and a structure that suits you. Make it specific and target the things you want to develop over the autumn and winter. Make sure you’re comfortable in whatever environments you’re training in, and have a plan of action for each of the three disciplines, plus strength and conditioning, to see you through to spring.
Be kind to yourself and stay healthy
We’re now entering the worst months of the year for illness, with colds, coughs, COVID and chest infections all doing the rounds. I’ve already seen plenty over the past few weeks. My biggest piece of advice is to avoid people who are showing symptoms, and where you can, avoid situations where you’re in close contact with large groups of people. I know that can’t always be helped, but there are simple ways to lower the risk. Washing your hands regularly, prioritising sleep and not overloading yourself with training all help keep your immune system strong.
Remember, you don’t need to do huge amounts of training during this period, but whatever you do should be quality work that’s specific to your development as an athlete. There’s plenty of time later in 2027 to add in the really long stuff.
Fuel for the mind
Sometimes the best training happens away from the bike, the run, or the pool — in the stories that stretch what we think is possible and remind us why we do this in the first place. Here are a couple things that really struck a chord with me this month:
🎥 📺 🥊 TYSON (Netflix)
This month I watched TYSON, the new four-part documentary series on Netflix about Mike Tyson, and I found it particularly insightful. It’s a fascinating look inside the mind of such a complex individual, and especially at the relationship he had with his coaches.
Most of us know the headlines: the youngest heavyweight champion in history, the ferocity in the ring and the very public fall from grace. What the series does so well is show the person behind all of that. At the heart of the story is his relationship with his trainer and mentor, Cus D’Amato, who took Mike in as a troubled young teenager, became his legal guardian and shaped not just the fighter, but the man. Cus was so much more than a coach. He was a father figure and his anchor.
When Cus died in 1985, Mike was just 19, a year before he became world champion. You can see how that loss marked the start of things unravelling for him. Without the person who had given him structure, belief and direction, the wheels slowly started to come off.
As a coach, I found it a powerful reminder of how much influence the coach–athlete relationship can have, both in and out of sport. Whether you’re a boxing fan or not, I’d highly recommend it. It’s gripping, honest and, at times, deeply moving.
🎙️🎧: Ironman World Champion Vincent Luis with Jack Kelly
If you watched the Ironman World Championships this month, you’ll know just how special Vincent Luis’s win was, and if you want to understand how he did it, I can’t recommend his interview with Jack Kelly on The Triathlon Hour podcast highly enough. It’s nearly two hours long, but I was hooked from start to finish, and by the end of it I was convinced he’s one of my favourite male athletes of all time.
What makes his story so remarkable is that Vincent had already enjoyed a glorious career as an absolute monster over short course, and at 37, he decided Kona would be his first and last Ironman World Championship before retiring. And then he went out and won the thing! It’s rare for any athlete to have their training and race day come together so perfectly, but for Vincent, the stars well and truly aligned, and honestly, it couldn’t have happened to a nicer or more popular athlete. He really is an absolute class act.
In the interview, he talks openly about how he prepared, from losing around 10kg in the build-up to his approach to diet and training, and even the “secret” running shoes he raced in. But what struck me most was just how smart, sensible and intelligent he was in his approach. He stuck to his own race plan, didn’t worry about what anyone else was doing and focused entirely on himself, and on an island that punishes any mistake, that made all the difference.
I think there are some really powerful lessons in that for every age grouper, especially when you reach World Championship level, where so many athletes fall apart, sometimes through their own fault and sometimes through no fault of their own. It was one of the most inspirational performances I think I’ve ever seen, and this is easily one of the best podcasts I’ve listened to in a long time. Grab a coffee, put your feet up and give it a listen. You won’t regret it.
Questions from the squad
Athlete asks: “What do you advise for dry-land training in the gym to support swimming, particularly exercises for the lats if you don’t always have access to a lat pulldown machine?”
Coach Julian’s Says: That’s a really good question.
My approach to strength and conditioning for swimming is probably a little different from what you might expect, particularly as I come from a background in personal training and strength and conditioning.
I’m certainly an advocate of strength training, but I’m cautious about prescribing specific exercises without first understanding the individual.
The shoulder is an incredibly complex joint, and everyone’s shoulder mechanics, mobility, muscular balance and injury history are different. An exercise that works brilliantly for one swimmer might be completely unsuitable for another.
Strengthening the lats can certainly benefit swimming, but I wouldn’t focus on them in isolation. Swimming requires the shoulders, upper back, core and surrounding stabilising muscles to work together effectively.
If you don’t have access to a lat pulldown machine, resistance-band pulldowns, supported rows and other pulling exercises can be useful alternatives. Ideally, though, I’d recommend an individual assessment with a good strength and conditioning coach or physiotherapist before following a specific programme.
The Benefits of Swim Paddle Training
One thing I’m a fan of for ‘some’ swimmers is paddle training. When paddles work for you, they really work for you!
Used correctly, paddles provide an excellent form of sport-specific resistance training, strengthening the lats, shoulders and surrounding muscles while simultaneously developing your catch, technique and feel for the water.
However, paddles aren’t suitable for everyone. Some swimmers’ shoulders tolerate them extremely well, while others find they aggravate existing weaknesses or cause discomfort.
It’s worth experimenting with different paddle shapes and sizes to find what suits you. My advice is always to start small, as larger paddles create considerably more resistance and place greater demands on the shoulders. If paddles consistently cause discomfort, don’t force them.
If your shoulders tolerate paddle training well and you’re already including a reasonable amount within your swimming programme, I wouldn’t overthink the need for lots of additional isolated lat work. You’re already developing strength through the movement you’re actually training to improve, which I believe can offer greater swimming-specific benefits than simply adding more gym exercises.
One Exercise Routine I Really Recommend
One aspect of dry-land strength and conditioning I’m a massive fan of is resistance-band work for the rotator cuff muscles before getting into the pool.
Spending just 5–10 minutes performing some gentle, controlled shoulder activation exercises can be incredibly worthwhile.
The rotator cuff muscles play a crucial role in stabilising and controlling the shoulder joint, particularly during the repetitive movements involved in swimming.
Using resistance bands before swimming helps activate these important muscles, encourages blood flow and prepares the shoulder joint for the demands ahead. Gentle movement also helps circulate the synovial fluid that lubricates the joint.
I’m a big believer that making this a regular part of your pre-swim routine, alongside sensible training loads and good technique, can go a long way towards keeping your shoulders functioning well and reducing the risk of problems developing over time.
And remember, this isn’t about exhausting the muscles before you swim. It’s about gently activating them and preparing the shoulders for the work they’re about to do.
My Final Thoughts
Gym-based strength training absolutely has its place, particularly for addressing individual weaknesses, improving general strength and building a more resilient body.
But ultimately, I’m a big believer in developing strength that transfers directly into better swimming, rather than simply becoming stronger for the sake of it.
And perhaps most importantly, looking after your shoulders today will give you the best chance of continuing to enjoy your swimming for many years to come.