Simon Ward, The High Performance Human Triathlon Podcast Simon Ward

"The RED-S project is a club for sustainable performance. And sustainability to me brings up a few different words, I think about fueling and enjoyment. And no, no process is sustainable unless it's enjoyable. And for me, if I was to get close to a recreational race, and I started to think about race weight, that wouldn't tie in with enjoyment for me."
 
In this week's episode of the High Performance Human, our guest is Alex Vendittelli, a RED-S Ambassador and a recreational runner. We discuss the prevalence and impact of RED-S Syndrome in athletes, emphasising the need for education and support. We also explore the intricate relationship between health and performance in sports, highlighting the importance of prioritizing overall well-being rather than solely focusing on athletic performance. We chat about the challenges of navigating unrealistic body ideals and performance pressures in sports, and the need for a more balanced approach to fitness and body image. Alex shares his personal experience of feeling pressure to conform to a certain body type after reading one specific book, and how another book rescued him from the mire. Even elite athletes with support services can get it wrong, with some openly admitting to health problems caused by an overemphasis on body image.
Lighter might mean faster but it isn’t always healthier
Sore legs and fatigue are not the norm when training for endurance events
Should we be focussing on a sustainable approach to nutrition rather than a specific race weight?
Coaches need to work on changing the mindset of athletes
Giving yourself permission to enjoy life
 


Alex doesn't have a social media presence. He is an ambassador for RED-S Project and you can find out more about RED-S project HERE.
 
Some other links you might be interested in:
 
Some RED-S articles:
Pro Cyclist Jonas Abrahamsen - Gaining weight to achieve greatness
Cyclist Jackson Long - When the power to weight ratio bottoms out
Two articles related to pre-conceived ideas about how we should behave, look and live our lives to meet these 'elite standards' - examples of how trying to be what we're not, can lead to a slippery slope
Niamh Bridson-Hubbard - A Runner’s Body
Are athletes supposed to look a certain way? The Athletic Aesthetic - 

 
Great LinkedIn Post by Mental Performance Coach Aaron Walsh
The Dark Side of High Performance - can you distinguish between mastery and perfectionism?
 
Matthew McConaughey video - Don't ask for permission
 
Research papers:
Carbohydrate fear, skinfold targets and body image issues: Perceptions of the nutrition culture within elite female soccer - McHaffie et al 
 Includes specific examples of things coaches have been heard saying to players etc. relating to food. 
 
Nutrition for Female Soccer Players—Recommendations (Dobrowolski, Karczemna, Włodarek)
 
Alex's book recommendations:
Seven Deadly Sins: My pursuit of Lance Armstrong - David Walsh 
Steve Jobs - Walter Isaacson - Beautifully written book about Steve Jobs and how his personality was the reason for his success but also his ill health. It highlights how our behaviour and decisions will always have a knock on effect in later life. 
 

To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please visit her website at BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.

 


Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's w

Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is gaining more traction in our lives. It's been here awhile, but the launch of Chat GPT has really accelerated our awareness of how it can simplify our lives. AI will be a part of our athletic lives as well, certainly for the way we plan our plan, analyse, and adjust our training to get the best results.
 
Will this benefit athletes and coaches alike? I don’t have enough knowledge on the subject to answer that but today’s podcast guest does! Prof Paul Laursen will be familiar to regular listeners of this show. He’s spoken on this show before about High Intensity Interval Training and we spoke about AI back in 2021. Since then there have been a lot of advances in AI and with his own platform Athletica.ai.
 
If you are a self coached athlete, AI has the power to save you a lot of time with planning and improve your training prescription. Coaches can benefit too, as they'll be able to analyse much more data and improve their decision making for a larger number of athletes. Whether you're an athlete or a coach, AI will have some impact on your work, training, or data analysis. 
In this conversation we chat about:
 
Some of the latest gadgets that Prof is testing out
How Athletica works for athletes and coaches
Threats and opportunities for athletes and coaches 
Garbage In Garbage Out (GIGO) is so relevant, and why athletes need some personal responsiblity 
Coaches will never be redundant
 
To find out more about The Prof please visit these channels:
 
Athletica: https://athletica.ai/ 

HIIT Science: https://hiitscience.com/ 
Twitter - @PaulBLaursen
Click the link to get hold of a copy of Paul’s book, Science and Application of High Intensity Interval Training

 
New links we spoke about on this podcast were:

Respiratory training System - https://isocapnic.com/ forget Powerbreathe. This take breath training to a new level.
Fourth Frontier Heart rate monitor this HRM not only measures heart rate, it also tracks HRV and provides a continuous ECG during exercise.
Strength, Power & Movement testing  If you’ve ever perform a measured vertical jump, this device makes everything a whole lot easier. In fact, you can measure the velocity of many movements.
 
Endurance Training - Science and Practice This is the latest book by sports physiologist and coach Inigo Mujika and which features a chapter written by The Prof.
 
To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please visit her website at BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.

 


Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

A lifetime in sport inevitably leads to injuries, especially if you play contact sports. Rugby was my game until my mid-twenties, by which time I had dislocated both shoulders at least once and broken my collar bone once. Minor concerns compared to some players, but nonetheless it's these injuries that caused me to take up triathlon more seriously. I broke the other collar bone more seriously in a bike crash in 2015 (so much for avoiding injuries!). It’s fair to say my shoulders have had their fair share of injuries. I’ve managed to get by without surgery but it’s always a matter of doing lots of work to make sure they stay stable and relatively pain free.
 
For most endurance athletes, shoulders are not as troublesome as those other joints but they still take a lot of hammering. Countless metres in the pool, the occasional impact from falling off your bike or while running, and not to mention the daily postural challenges from everyday living.
 
Tim Stevenson is this week's podcast guest. Tim runs a business called Dynamic Shoulders. He's a strength coach who started on the specialisation journey like many folks - overcoming his own shoulder problems. He then worked as a strength coach with para swimming. If you have shoulder issues or want to keep them healthy, this episode is a must as we chat about:

 
The shoulder complex and its interaction with other joints
Shoulder stability and how to achieve it.
Bust some common myths around training shoulders  
Influence of modern living and how it can lead to poor shoulder health
How we can look after our shoulders
Benefits of ground based exercises 
Specifics for swimmers and triathletes
To find out more about Tim please visit the following channels:
 
Social:

Instagram: @dynamicshoulders
This is where he posts most content so if people want to get a feel for who Tim and his team are, this is a good place to start.
 
Website: 
www.dynamicshoulders.com

 
Please also check out these links:
 

Test Your Shoulders
"We currently have a ’test your shoulders’ programme available which is free and will give you an ‘audit’ of your shoulder stability and strength. It will help you to identify the weak links which, when addressed, will increase shoulder health and performance potential".
 
Book a FREE call
"We offer free consultation calls so if anyone wants to book in some time to chat through their shoulder issues or performance challenges and get clarity on their next best steps they can do that using the above link."

 
BASE
"Our 6-week BASE online shoulder training programme draws from our experience and knowledge of building high performing shoulders and can be integrated into any training programme as it takes a minimal effective dose approach."
 
Tim’s Book Recommendation:
 
Think Again - Adam Grant
"Learning to rethink is the most important skill in today’s culture.”
 
We also talked about
Gymnastic Rings - These are from Wolverson
 
A couple of videos you might like to watch:
 
Executing a handstand
Minimum Effective Dose - Tim Stevenson style
 

To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please email her at Info@BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.

 
Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any

As you continue your journey as an endurance athlete you might occasionally think that life is messing you about. There are always obstacles to be navigated - work and family challenges, illness, injury, world events beyond your control. It may even cross your mind that these only seem to happen to you and that other folks have smooth paths to their chosen events.
 
Rest assured that everyone has challenges, including today's podcast guest, Flight Sergeant Scott Hill from the RAF Regiment. As you’ll hear in the podcast, Scott wears many hats in life. He is a father, husband and career military man. In the last year he’s been effectively doing 2 jobs at work, while battling a long term back injury. On top of that, he qualified as a British Triathlon High Performing Coach to enhance the work he does in his private coaching business and as head coach of the RAF Tri team.  Not only that, he is also an excellent age group triathlete, having qualified for the Ironman World Championship twice. He's also an ambassador for my favourite tri clothing brand, Raceskin. Today we talk about:
 
What does W.O.L.F. stand for?
Being comfortable saying NO!
Making the most of opportunities 
The gift of dyslexia
Dealing with injury
Making time for yourself
 
 
To find out more about Scott please visit his Instagram and website:
Instagram coaching @triwolfcoach 
Instagram personal @ironhill83
Website Triwolf.co.uk
 
Scott recommended the following book which helped him to answer a few questions about being dyslexic:

The Gift of Dyslexia - Ron Davis

 
Raceskin Wetsuits and Custom designed cycling gear - Scott is an ambassador for Raceskin and chooses them for his own training and racing kit as well as for his TriWolf garments. Check out Raceskin wetsuits and custom kit HERE.
 
To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please email her at Info@BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.

 
Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Since we started the podcast, I've introduced many of the UK triathlon legends, ranging from our Olympic champions to coaches who helped them there, and the folks who were around right at the start of triathlon in the UK.
Today's guest, Mark Kleanthous, competed in UK triathlons since the very first event in June 1983. And he has kept on going for 41 consecutive years.
Completing an impressive 535 triathlons in more than 20 countries, including finishing the Hawaii Ironman World Championships, as well as 48 Iron distance, double Iron, and 1 x triple Iron triathlon.
Mark has also finished 71 marathons under 3 hours.
Over the last 41 triathlon seasons Mark has calculated that he's covered more than 12,000 miles swimming, 198,000 miles cycling, and has run more than 61,000 miles (totalling 271,000 miles) in training and racing. That's more than 11 times the distance around the world, or more than the distance to the moon! 
In this conversation we chat about:
Keeping calm under stress, and problem solving
How he still gets satisfaction from each event
Why pacing gets better with age
The secret to Mark’s athletic resilience and longevity
Mark the Innovator - homemade elastic laces & aero water bottles 
To find out more about Mark K please visit the following channels:
Triathlon Coaching website 
Ironmate- Triathlon information website 
Instagram: openwaterswimcoaching & ironmate_coaching 
Twitter X: @ironmatemark 
Face Book Mark Kleanthous
LinkedIn Mark Kleanthous
 
Some videos you might be interested in watching:
Mark's highest elevation and coldest triathlon: Ironman Lake Tahoe 2013, bike had 9,000 feet of climbing
30 Years of Triathlon t-shirts. 
How to smash your ironman transitions. 
 
Research Papers
Mark took part in various studies during Ironman Sweden for ultra endurance athlete and scientist Beat Knechtle
 Changes in body composition in triathletes during an ironman event. 
 Nutrition & diets for endurance triathletes. 
The Age-Related Performance Decline in Ironman 70.3
 
Mark's 3 favourite books
Gold in the Water by P.H.Mullen. Two friends and swimmers who train to compete in the 2000 Olympic games. 
Training Essentials for Ultra Running by Jason Koop- Everyone from first timers to elite can benefit from this evidenced based book on going long.
Gold Rush Michael Johnson. His honest and open insight on how to be the best and beat the rest”.
To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please email her at Info@BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.
To leave a review of the podcast on Apple podcasts CLICK HERE.
Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.

Who says you can’t get stronger as you get older?
Today, Strength and RunForm Coach Matt Pendola is back and this time he’s accompanied by one of his clients, Michael ’Stoke’ Stoker, one member of a small group who Matt affectionately refers to as 'The Silverbacks’.
 
73 year old Stoke joins us to speak about how his 20 years of work with Matt has enabled him to continue powder skiing well into his 70’s, and build his strength up to the point where he can now do 7 full pull ups using the gymnastic rings (having been unable to do just 1 when he was 60).

 
Matt walks us through his approach to working with older athletes, and some of the very specific exercises he includes as well as others which he avoids. If you're looking for inspiration both in your strength training and from a 73 years young ‘silverback’ athlete, please pay attention as we also discuss:
 
Building grip and core strength to improve pull up strength
Why plyometrics and mobility work are hugely important for older athletes
Older athletes need better force production
Let your body tell you how much recovery it needs
The benefits of kettlebell training for female athletes
Fitness aging and longevity: It’s all about lifestyle choices
 
You can follow Matt on:

Instagram: @PendolaProject
Facebook: PendolaProject
Website: https://www.pendolaproject.com and check out his programs including a free movement improvement assessment and protocol

 


Some special offers from Matt for podcast listeners:
Use this code —>>> MATT10. This will get you 10% off Matt's R3 strength program or RunFORM. Matt will also send you "Triathlon in season strength training anywhere" (bodyweight and bands) 6 week program at no additional cost (normally $100).
 

Listen to Matt and Bobby McGee on their RunFORM podcast
ask him any question on the free app: https://link.anyquestion.com/pendolaproject 
 

YouTube video - This is the strength routine we chatted about which Stoke does to prepare for his powder skiing:
Ski Prep Gym routine for Stoke including hangs
 
Stoke recommended these books:
"The Wealthy Barber" by David Chilton
“A Gentlemen in Moscow”, by Amor Towles


And Matt recommends: Rebuilding Milo -  by Dr. Aaron Horshcig. The lifters guide to fixing common injuries and building a strong foundation for enhancing performance.
 

To contact Beth regarding Life Coaching, please email her at Info@BethanyWardLifeCoaching.uk.
To leave a review of the podcast on Apple podcasts CLICK HERE.
Sports Nutrition questions - if you have a sports nutrition question that you would like answered on the podcast, please email it to me via Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.
Join our SWAT/High Performance Human tribe using this link, with a happiness guarantee! You can watch a brief video about the group by going to our website here, and join our SWAT High Performance Human tribe here.
Purchase a copy of my High Performance Human e-book featuring more than 30 top tips on how to upgrade your life.
If you would like to help offset the cost of our podcast production, we would be so grateful. Please click here to support the HPH podcast. Thank you!
Visit Simon's website for more information about his coaching programmes. Links to all of Simon's social media channels can be found here.  For any questions please email Beth@TheTriathlonCoach.com.