This week I’m returning to the “Legends of British triathlon” theme as I interview Richard Hobson.  When I started in triathlon back in 1987 Richard was beginning his own triathlon career (although at a significantly higher level than me) and it was interesting to watch him progress in a short period of time to the very top of the tree in the UK.  Over the years I have come to know Richard much better and to this day he is a true inspiration. Still a very fit guy and busy running his training camps and holiday business in France, and along with his wife Dorte they are parents to two very talented athletic boys.

I really enjoyed this catch-up and we revisited many triathlon topics from the 80’s and 90’s including:

• How Richard made the transition from windsurfing to triathlon

If you want to find out more about what Richard is up to these days or if you would like to book a holiday at his venue in France here are some links

Triliving.co.uk

LivingFrance.org

Facebook 

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 [email protected]

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

To find out more about Ingrid you can follow her on:

Facebook

Instagram

Fearless Endurance

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 [email protected]

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

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

Tools of Titans - Tim Ferriss

Turn the Ship Around

The 4 Agreements

Unbroken Laura Hillenbrand

Body For Life - Bill Phillips

Some videos we talked about

Admiral William McRaven - Make your bed

The Blue Angels visualisation

Turn the Ship Around

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 [email protected]

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

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 [email protected]

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 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 [email protected]

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

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 [email protected]

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

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 Omvana meditation app

The Weck Method

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:

https://youtu.be/3S2VALMvq7c

https://youtu.be/h7rib_DhL2s

https://youtu.be/QT5W8OZ7PlA

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 [email protected]

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

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 [email protected]

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

We also have a more conventional chat about his triathlon life and you’ll discover:

• Which victory was his biggest to date

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 [email protected]

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

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 [email protected]