The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Eating Like You're Still 30: Nutrition Mistakes Masters Athletes Make, With Taryn Richardson

   Most masters athletes are still eating the way they did at 30. The training has changed, the body has changed but the nutrition hasn’t. And that gap is quietly costing them muscle, recovery, bone density and performance. Taryn Richardson is an advanced sports dietitian based in Brisbane who spent six years as the sports dietitian for Triathlon Australia, working with elite and para-triathlon athletes all the way to Olympic level. She also runs a private practice and hosts the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast. She has been working with triathletes for two decades and has seen pretty much everything. This conversation is specifically focused on masters athletes, the physiological changes that drive different nutritional needs after 50, and what to actually do about it. IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER: Why nutritional requirements start changing in your 30s, not your 50s, and why laying groundwork early matters Protein as the non-negotiable foundation for masters athletes, how much you actually need, and why most are not getting close The barbecue study and what it reveals about protein timing and muscle protein synthesis Plant-based athletes and what to watch out for when animal protein sources are removed The male and female differences in nutritional needs as we age, including calcium, vitamin D and the hormonal changes that drive them The tension between body composition goals and performance fuelling, and why lighter does not mean faster Recovery nutrition and why getting the bookends of training right is the highest leverage move most athletes are not making Gut health, fibre, fermented foods, and why 70% of your immune system lives in your gut A practical habit stacking action plan to change one thing at a time without getting overwhelmed KEY PRINCIPLES Protein first. Masters athletes are almost universally under-eating protein. Aim for 1.6 to 2 grams per kilo of bodyweight, spread across the day, and time it around key training sessions. Stoke the fire. Eat as much as you can without gaining weight. Under-fuelling suppresses metabolism, accelerates muscle loss and compromises recovery. Lighter does not mean faster. The athlete who races heavier but fuelled properly will almost always outperform the one who arrived lean but depleted. Habit stack, do not overhaul. Start with recovery nutrition. Get that entrenched before adding the next layer. Compound it like interest. Your gut is your immune system. 70% of immune function sits in the gut. Fibre, variety of plants, and fermented foods are the big levers, not expensive microbiome tests. KILLER QUOTE "The best time to work on your nutrition was probably 10 years ago. But the second best time is now. Do one thing today. It doesn't matter what it is." Free 5-part audio series Taryn has created a free 5-part audio series "The 5 Biggest Nutrition Mistakes Costing You Time on Race Day" I recommend checking it out before your next race CONNECT with Taryn Taryn Richardson is an advanced sports dietitian, host of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy podcast, and founder of the Triathlon Nutrition Academy programme. Website: dietitianapproved.com Podcast: Triathlon Nutrition Academy Podcast Instagram: dietitian.approved Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DietitianApproved YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@dietitianapproved LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: Taryn talked about the BBQ study - check that out here: The 100g protein "BBQ" Study GUT HEALTH She was also quite vocal about The Gut microbiome testing study BOTTOM LINE: Save your money!!!! The alternative is to absorb some of the content produced by Megan Rossi The Gut Health Doctor. That might be the best starting point if you want to improve gut health. Taryn’s book recommendation is Up to Speed by Christine Yu. The groundbreaking science of women athletes is a goodie for both men and women. FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s. Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s If what you heard today resonates and you want a training structure built around these principles, with individuality, recovery, strength and the long game at its centre, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is designed around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!

   September 23, 2026·1h 10min
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   Number 2: The Principles of Great Coaching: What Six Triathlon Legends Have in Common

   Over the years I've been lucky enough to sit down with some genuinely exceptional coaches. People who between them have coached athletes from absolute beginners all the way through to Olympic champions and Ironman world record holders. When I went back and listened to those conversations recently, something struck me. They were all saying the same things. Different words, different experiences, different athletes, different levels of the sport. But the core principles kept coming up again and again. This episode pulls those threads together. Six coaches. Eight principles. And one idea that runs underneath all of them. THE SIX COACHES Joe Friel - author of the Triathlete's Training Bible and Fast After 50, one of the most widely respected voices in endurance coaching. Chris Jones - head coach for British Triathlon at the Sydney Olympics and one of the most influential coaches the sport has produced in the UK. David Tilbury-Davis - professional triathlon coach who has worked with elite athletes across the world. Mark Allen - six-time Ironman world champion and one of the most thoughtful people about training and performance I have ever spoken to. Jack Maitland - builder of the Leeds Triathlon Centre and coach to the Brownlee brothers from the beginning of their careers. Jim Vance - American coach with extensive experience across both elite and age-group athletes. 8 KEY PRINCIPLES Individuality is the first principle. There is no plan. There is only a person and a plan that fits them. Simplicity beats complexity. A few principles applied consistently will always outperform a complicated programme executed badly. Consistency is the most important variable. Not volume, not intensity, not methodology. Recovery is where adaptation happens. Compromise recovery and you compromise everything the training was supposed to produce. Strength and mobility are non-negotiable. It is the platform that makes consistent training possible. The athlete's life context is part of the programme. Training stress and life stress draw from the same budget. Honesty and self-awareness are coaching tools. You cannot manage what you do not honestly understand. The long game is the only game. Health first, performance built on top of that, longevity as the goal. KILLER QUOTE "None of these coaches described exceptional talent as the primary ingredient. All of them described wisdom, patience, honesty and consistency as the things that determine how far an athlete goes and how long they last." LINKS & RESOURCES Original episodes with each coach: Chris Jones David Tilbury-Davis: Developing a Performance Mindset Mark Allen: Fit Soul, Fit Body Jack Maitland: How to create an Olympic Champion Part 1 - Part 2 Jim Vance; Start line Mindset Joe Friel; Fast After 50 FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others plateau in their 50s. Why Some Triathletes Keep Improving Into Their 60s If what you heard today resonates and you want a training structure built around these principles, with individuality, recovery, strength and the long game at its centre, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is designed around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!

   August 26, 2026·38min
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   Number 3: What Your Garmin Can't Tell You — With Christine Clubbs

   Christine Clubbs started running at 40, accidentally fell into triathlon, and has since gone on to represent Great Britain as an age-grouper. She is also one of the most thoughtful self-experimenters I've had on the podcast. For the last two and a half years Christine has been tracking a remarkable range of data, but not in the way you might expect. No Whoop, no Oura ring, no algorithm telling her how recovered she is. Just a notebook, a pen, and an honest monthly reflection system covering motivation, mood, sleep, stress, training load, nutrition and how she actually feels about her racing. What makes this conversation genuinely interesting is that Christine's personal perception data often tells a completely different story to her Garmin and Training Peaks numbers. Learning to sit with that tension, and to trust her own read of what's going on, has made her a better, more consistent and more self-aware athlete. This one will make you think differently about the data you're collecting and the data you might be ignoring. 5 KEY POINTS Perception and performance data often contradict each other. Both tell you something important and neither should be ignored. Tracking the human side of training reveals patterns wearables miss. Motivation dips and mood shifts show up in a notebook long before they show up as a poor HRV score. Simple beats sophisticated. High, medium or low. Good, okay or rubbish. Christine's deliberately unsophisticated system is exactly why she's stuck with it for two and a half years. Reflect before you look at the results. Writing down your honest perception of a race before checking the data means the numbers don't overwrite your own experience of what happened. Tracking evolves over time. What matters to record changes as habits form and patterns emerge. The goal isn't a permanent system, it's a living one. 3 TAKEAWAYS Start before you're ready. Pick a few things that matter, buy a notebook you like, and begin. There's no right or wrong, only the system you'll actually maintain. Don't let the data become the verdict. Your perception of how you performed and what you learned is where the real value sits. Self-knowledge transfers beyond sport. Knowing when to push and when to back off is a skill that works everywhere. KILLER QUOTE "My perception and the stats are sometimes absolutely polar opposite to each other. That difference is exactly what I wanted to understand." LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: Christine had 2 favourite books which she recommended. One we have had before The Chimp Paradox - Dr Steve Peters - The Mind Management Programme to Help You Achieve Success, Confidence and Happiness The Brave Athlete: Calm the F**k Down And Rise To The Occasion - Lesley Patterson & Dr Simon Marshall - The Brave Athlete solves the 13 most common mental conundrums athletes face in their everyday training and in races. Want help building durable training? If what I talked about today resonates and you want a training structure built around your whole life, not just your swim, bike and run numbers, SWAT is where it happens. Find out more and join SWAT here FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 A simple checklist to see if you’re actually on track 3–6 months out. Ironman Sanity Checklist Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Download Simon’s Free ‘Battle Ready Lifestyle’ Infographic — https://simon-ward.kit.com/battlereadylifestyle Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!

   June 17, 2026·54min
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   Number 4: Why Training More Is Making You Slower (And What To Do About It)

   If you're putting in 12, 14, sometimes 20 hours a week and your times are going backwards, this episode is for you. This is a solo episode, and I want to talk about something I see constantly with athletes over 50, and it frustrates me because it's so avoidable. High volume training feels like commitment. It feels like the right thing to do. But for athletes in their late 40s, 50s and 60s, it's often the thing that's quietly breaking them down. In this episode I explain what's actually happening physiologically when you stack training stress on top of work stress, poor sleep and a less forgiving hormonal environment. I talk about what smart training looks like for this stage of life, and why the athletes I've coached who go sub 10 or earn Kona slots are almost never the ones doing the most hours. This isn't about doing less. It's about doing better. 5 KEY POINTS The body doesn't distinguish between types of stress - training load, work pressure and poor sleep all land in the same bucket, and chronic overload triggers sustained cortisol elevation that works directly against recovery and adaptation. The hormonal environment after 50 is fundamentally different - lower testosterone and growth hormone mean the margin for error is much smaller than it was in your 30s. You can no longer outwork a poor recovery strategy. Sleep is where adaptation happens - around 95% of daily growth hormone is released during deep sleep. Cut sleep to squeeze in an extra session and you're adding fatigue, not fitness. Consistency beats volume every time - 10 hours a week for 52 weeks is 520 hours. Sporadic 20-hour weeks followed by burnout or injury will never outperform steady, sustainable training across a full year. Recovery weeks are not a weakness - planned recovery weeks are a strategic tool, not an optional extra. Without them, training stress accumulates without the adaptation following. 3 TAKEAWAYS Make easy sessions genuinely easy and hard sessions genuinely hard - most athletes do everything at medium intensity, which delivers neither recovery nor adaptation. Strength and mobility are non-negotiable - schedule them first and never cancel them for an extra swim or run session. If your times are going backwards, it's not a motivation problem or a commitment problem. It's a strategy problem and strategy can be fixed. KILLER QUOTE "These athletes aren't lazy and they're definitely not lacking commitment. If anything, commitment is the problem, because they're committed to an approach that is quietly breaking them down." LINKS & RESOURCES Want help building durable training? If what I talked about today resonates and you want a training structure built around your whole life, not just your swim, bike and run numbers, SWAT is where it happens. Find out more and join SWAT here FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 A simple checklist to see if you’re actually on track 3–6 months out. Ironman Sanity Checklist Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Download Simon’s Free ‘Battle Ready Lifestyle’ Infographic — https://simon-ward.kit.com/battlereadylifestyle Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!

   June 10, 2026·27min
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   Number 5: What If Nobody's Actually Clean? - With James Witts

   We called them cheats. The reality is far more complicated. There have been plenty of books written about drugs in sport. Confessions, memoirs, exposés. But this one is different. James Witts is a sports journalist and former editor of 220 Triathlon Magazine — someone I've known for well over a decade. His new book, Dope, isn't a first-person account of falling from grace. It's a proper state-of-play analysis of where the battle between dopers and anti-dopers actually stands in 2025 and 2026. Who's winning? How are athletes sidestepping detection? And what's driving people to dope in the first place — because it's rarely as simple as wanting to win. We talk about Colin Chartier, David Millar, Team Sky, TUEs, blood bags, the Enhanced Games, AI, and why this issue reaches much further than elite sport. Including age-group athletes who will go to extraordinary lengths just to qualify for Kona. This is a nuanced conversation that will change how you see this subject. 5 KEY POINTS Doping is rarely just about winning — identity, imposter syndrome, financial pressure and team dynamics all play a significant role. TUEs are widely exploited — therapeutic use exemptions are legitimate in principle but have become a well-documented route to legal performance enhancement. The Enhanced Games raises an uncomfortable question — if records aren't broken when athletes can openly dope, what does that say about clean sport? Social media is a direct pipeline for dangerous substances — young athletes are being targeted by adverts for drugs like DNP, linked to over 30 deaths in the UK alone. AI cuts both ways — it could help create novel undetectable drugs, but also help anti-doping agencies crunch data faster than ever before. 3 TAKEAWAYS Look beyond the headlines — calling athletes cheats and moving on ignores the complex web of pressure and identity that leads many there. The line is rarely clear — from TUEs to grey-area supplements, the boundary between legal and illegal is often deliberately blurred. This isn't just an elite problem — age-group athletes and recreational competitors operate in the same ecosystem, with more similar pressures than we'd like to think. KILLER QUOTE "It's so damning if someone is found to have taken a prohibited substance — it almost feels worse than murder. At least with murder there's a sense of rehabilitation." CONNECT with James James Witts is a sports journalist and author specialising in cycling and endurance sport. His new book Dope is available now from Waterstones and all major booksellers. X/Twitter: @jameswitts LinkedIn: James Witts Buy the book: Dope - available at Amazon, Waterstones and all major booksellers James's favourite book: Racing Through the Dark by David Millar LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: WADA Prohibited List 2026 Enhanced Games Other blogs, Videos etc you might want to check out Honest Sport Substack - Edmund Wilson Icarus documentary - If you haven’t seen this you must. Film maker and amateur cyclist Bryan Fogel sets out to investigate the furtive world of illegal doping in sports and ends up revealing the biggest international sports scandal in living memory. The hidden cost of doping sanctions on Kenyan athletes FREE Download👇👇👇👇👇👇👇👇 A simple checklist to see if you’re actually on track 3–6 months out. Ironman Sanity Checklist Want help building durable training? Inside the SWAT Inner Circle you’ll find structured training plans, strength programmes and regular coaching insights designed to help endurance athletes train consistently without breaking down. £30 per month. CLICK HERE TO START YOUR MISSION Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: [email protected] Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Download Simon’s Free ‘Battle Ready Lifestyle’ Infographic — https://simon-ward.kit.com/battlereadylifestyle Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to [email protected] and you might just hear it on a future episode!

   June 03, 2026·1h 11min
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