Believe. Strive. Achieve. Endurance Podcast Tri Training Harder

In our 50th episode, in celebration of International Women's Day, Coaches
Denise and Rita bring together a panel of our female athletes who bring
together a range of experiences and insight in racing and training. As a
male or a female athlete, this will be a fascinating conversation.

In this episode, we meet with Nick Hart from the Altitude Centre. Nick is a
specialist in extreme environment physiology and brings this knowledge into
the discussion with our head Coach Philip. This conversation explores the
basics of physiological testing, altitude and heat training. All of these
are services available at the Altitude Centre in London.

First, we discuss how physiological testing enables athletes to understand
their signature or blueprint of their physiology. This can illuminate
training efficiency opportunities. 

We also cover altitude training methodologies and the best practices for
athletes to use altitude training to boost performance or time spent
training. We consider how home rental of altitude tents and exercise
machines can be a viable alternative for athletes wanting to maximise their
time or recover effectively from injury.

Finally, we look into the importance of heat adaption and training for heat
tolerance. This new service in their centre impacts more athletes than you
would have realised.

This is one of those episodes where you want to keep diving deeper, but for
now, we will scratch the surface and explore more of this in subsequent
episodes.

This episode's guest is a world record holder, a true endurance athlete and
someone who constantly challenges what is possible and forces us all to
ask, why not?

We first encountered this athlete after hearing he was the first Para
athlete to complete the Northern Channel crossing. Not only did we not know
what the Northern Crossing was, but we soon discovered an incredibly
inspiring athlete who was excellent in cold water and distance swimming.

Additionally, he is a pioneer in making the open water and countryside more
accessible for people with disabilities. He is involved with several
charities and organisations where he passionately believes in making sport
accessible. 

Jonty Warneken is a GB para-athlete, an ice swimming world record holder,
and is heavily involved in OMT, the World Open Water Swimming Association
and the Ice Swimming Association. We are delighted to spend some time
talking to him, though we realise his ability to normalise some of the most
daunting endurance feats is infectious. There is a strong chance that by
talking any longer with him, we would jump at the opportunity of going cold
water swimming, completing an ice mile and looking for the next distance
swim challenge. Why? Well, because why not?!

In this fascinating episode, we explore his feats of endurance, ability to
withstand freezing temperatures, and how he works with a greater sense of
purpose to achieve his goals.

For more information on Jonty and some of what we have covered in today’s
episode:

Ice Swimming

International Ice Swimming – https://internationaliceswimming.com/

Para Ice Swimming – 
https://www.openwaterswimming.com/para-swimmers-made-ice-swimming-history-at-the-5th-iisa-world-championship/

Para-swimming

Para V swim series – https://www.para-v.com/

Open Water Swimming Advisory Board – 
https://www.openwaterswimming.com/announcing-our-new-wowsa-advisory-board/

Charity Work:

Opencountry charity – https://www.opencountry.org.uk/ 

Yorkshire dale river trust – https://www.ydrt.org.uk/ 

In this episode, we have coached athlete and physio Rosemary Fernando and
her business partner, Cat-1 cyclist and physio Penny Colloff, talking to us
about their experiences of starting a new business as physios and a bit
more about their profession.

In this episode, we look at what athletes can do to gain the most out of a
physiotherapy session, how they can understand what different pains mean
and how to decide if they need to go and see an expert or if they can carry
on working through a niggle or pain.

Listen to this fascinating, informed and genuine conversation between two
passionate professionals and our coaching team. There will undoubtedly be
something for all abilities as we explore how athletes can use this
knowledge and inspiration to get back onto their podium, whatever that may
be for them.

In this episode, we meet Carmen Somerset, a long-distance swimmer. Carmen
used to train in our Oxfordshire Swimming Squad before moving to Brighton,
where she moved from lake swimming all year round to sea swimming all year
round. This change moved her towards longer-distance events. She has
completed the Channel swim as part of a relay, Lake Windemere, The Rampion
wind farm and swum the length of Loch Ness. Next year, she is focussing on
a Channel swim solo. 

After her Channel Relay, she reflected on swimming and wrote down the
following thoughts:

"My swimming has taken me far beyond what I thought or even expected it
could, and that's so important to me; I have let it evolve, I have welcomed
opportunities, I have tested myself, I have met incredible people, swam in
amazing places and made memories that will last a lifetime.

Swimming is not something I do; swimming is me. I've never felt more
determined about anything, and I am giving this challenge everything I
have."

We explore what training for these long-distance swimming events looks
like, the natural fears people get of open water and how that can resonate
in life, as well as some really fantastic insight into mindset and
psychology that can be useful for all athletes hoping to balance
extra-ordinary dreams through their busy lives. This one is a must-listen
episode.