Simon Ward, Be Battle Ready triathlon podcast - The podcast for strength, resilience, and longevity

Simon Ward, award-winning triathlon coach, sharing insights on how to improve your triathlon performance with a High Performance Human approach to life.

Simon Ward, Be Battle Ready triathlon podcast - The podcast for strength, resilience, and longevity is a sports podcast hosted by Simon Ward, with 100 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Simon Ward hosts Simon Ward, Be Battle Ready triathlon podcast - The podcast for strength, resilience, and longevity, a sports show with 100 episodes published.

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  Episode #487

  The Long Way Round: Georgia Hamblett on RED-S, Aquabike and Starting Again

  Aug 19, 20261h 5m

  Georgia Hamblett found this podcast driving between park runs in Northern Ireland, working her way through all 36 of them as a personal challenge. She was in the middle of a placement year away from university, a deliberate change of scene at a time when she needed one, and the long drives gave her time to think about the kind of athlete she wanted to become. Georgia is a competitive age-group aquabike athlete and sports journalist writing for Aquabike.World. Her journey to the European Age Group Aquabike Championships in Spain, which she made alone, 12 hours of travel, bike box and all, has not been straightforward. She has navigated an eating disorder, RED-S, a labral hip tear, and the transition from triathlon to aquabike as a way of staying competitive while protecting her long-term health. This is a very honest conversation about subjects that don't get discussed enough in endurance sport. Georgia talks about them with clarity, humour and a refreshing absence of self-pity. Her story is still being written and it is well worth following. IN THIS EPISODE WE TALK ABOUT: How Georgia found the podcast driving between parkruns in Northern Ireland and why the timing changed how she heard it Her experience of disordered eating, why it started, and what finally shifted RED-S, the labral hip tear, and the cumulative impact of training before she was ready How working with coach Nat Lawrence helped her build a sustainable approach to training and fuelling The transition to aquabike, the European Championships in Spain, and what she is building through her writing at Aquabike.World KILLER QUOTE "Even though it's been quite a wibbly wobbly journey, I absolutely love it. I wouldn't change it for the world now. Because I personally know how hard I found it to get through those things, it gives me a lot of self belief that I'll achieve some of my other goals too." CONNECT with Georgia Georgia Hamblett is an age-group aquabike athlete and sports journalist based in the UK. Instagram: @georgias_tris_and_tribulations , Aquabike.World Writing: Aquabike.World LinkedIn: Georgia Hamblett Georgia’s book recommendation: Unbroken by Katarina Johnson-Thompson LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: Previous Be Battle Ready episode with Nat Lawrence: Spinning Plates - The Amazing Life of Outlaw champion Natalie Lawrence If you or someone you know is navigating disordered eating or RED-S, please seek support from a professional who understands athletes. In the UK, Beat is the leading eating disorder charity and can help signpost specialist support. RED-S Project -where athletes of all ages, genders, sports and abilities come together to prevent and overcome Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport. If today's episode has made you think about building a training approach that works around your whole life, your health included, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is built around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle FREE Download Find out why some triathletes keep improving into their 60s while others decline in their 50s. simon-ward.kit.com/keepimproving Connect with me HERE: https://linktr.ee/simonward You can find links for the following channels - Website, Facebook, podcast, Instagram, YouTube Email: Simon@thetriathloncoach.com Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to beth@thetriathloncoach.com and you might just hear it on a future episode!

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  Episode #486

  Six Athletes. Seven Lessons. One Question. — With Simon and Beth Ward

  Aug 12, 202648 min

  Over the past few months I've had six remarkable guests on this podcast. On the surface their stories couldn't be more different, but the same themes kept coming up again and again across all of them. Six of them. Jamie Bedwell, a professional triathlete who had his career ended by a rare arterial condition and turned down surgery to protect something more important. Christine Clubbs, a GB age-grouper who has spent two and a half years tracking the human side of training with nothing more than a notebook and a pen. Justin Robbins, a long-time triathlete who discovered he was fit but not healthy, and made a really interesting change in his approach. Sue Reynolds, a two-time age-group world champion who pushed herself to the edge of overtraining syndrome chasing an extraordinary question. Jane Hansom, Ironman world champion, who walked away from the sport she'd dominated and built something completely new. And Nick Parkes, a masters open water swimmer who suffered a cardiac arrest mid-race with absolutely no warning and survived to tell the story. This episode is about what all six of them have in common. 7 KEY LESSONS Identity is not your sport. When the sport can't give you what it once did, you need something else to stand on. The body sends signals we routinely ignore. Fit people are particularly bad at this — partly because fitness masks the moment of reckoning. Consistency and discipline are the foundation. Not talent. Not volume. Consistent effort over long periods. Self-knowledge is a performance tool. Honest self-assessment beats data every time. Letting go of a goal is not the same as giving up. Every guest who did this ended up in a better place. Get checked. Fitness does not make you invincible. Nick Parkes is the proof. Community makes individual sports possible. Every journey in this episode was made possible by other people. THE ONE QUESTION What are you actually doing this for? KILLER QUOTE "When the sport couldn't give them what it once did, they had something else to stand on. That's the thing that made the difference." LINKS & RESOURCES Jamie Bedwell: When the sport you love can no longer love you back - Christine Clubbs: What your Garmin can’t tell you Justin Robbins: Fit but not healthy. The wake up call that changed everything Sue Reynolds: What would happen if an AG triathlete trained like an Olympian? Jane Hansom: From 20 year break to Ironman World Champion Nick Parkes: The day my heart stopped mid-race Book recommendation - Simon Sinek: Start with Why How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. If the answer to that question is that you want to keep performing well, stay healthy and be genuinely durable into your 50s, 60s and beyond, that is exactly what SWAT Inner Circle is built around. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle 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: Simon@thetriathloncoach.com Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter

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  Episode #485

  The Physical Pension: Strength, Longevity and the Only Secret That Actually Exists, With Dan John

  Aug 5, 202656 min

  Originally recorded May 2024. This episode is from the Be Battle Ready archive and is well worth a second listen. Dan John is one of the most respected strength coaches in the world. A former All-American discus thrower, a prolific author with close to 20 books to his name, and someone who has been coaching athletes across multiple sports for over four decades. He has a rare gift. The ability to take genuinely complex ideas and distil them into something so simple you wonder why you ever made it complicated in the first place. This conversation covers the difference between health, longevity, fitness and performance, and why most athletes confuse them. We get into why the basics consistently applied over years are the only secret that actually exists, what strength and mobility work should look like for endurance athletes over 50, what equipment you actually need, and a phrase that came up in the conversation that I think every person over 40 should sit with. The physical pension. 5 KEY POINTS Health, longevity, fitness and performance are four different things. Most athletes chase fitness and performance while neglecting health and longevity. Get the order wrong and the whole house eventually falls down. Fitness is simply the ability to do a task. Nothing more. Stop comparing yourself to people doing different tasks. The best couch carrier in the world isn't automatically fitter than the best Ironman athlete. They're just fit for different things. The only secret is consistency over time. Five days a week, 52 weeks a year. One to five workouts will be brilliant, one in five will be embarrassing, and three out of five will be ordinary. Multiply that by 10 years and the ordinary ones quietly do all the work. Strength work becomes non-negotiable after 50. The 35 to 55 window is when you build the strength reserves that stay with you for the rest of your life. Future you will be very glad you did. The physical pension is real. Regular deposits into your physical health now, while you can, build the pot you'll draw on in your 60s, 70s and beyond. Every consistent week compounds. 3 TAKEAWAYS Mobility before strength. If you're limited in range of movement, getting stronger within that limited range won't give you much return. Fix the mobility first, then build strength through the full range. Focus on movements, not muscles. Squats, hinges, pushes, pulls and loaded carries work the biggest number of muscles in one hit and build the kind of functional strength that transfers to sport and life. Ask yourself: will future me be happy with this decision? If you're 45 and making training, nutrition and lifestyle choices, run them through that filter first. KILLER QUOTE "It's hard to sell a secret when there's no secret. You do the basics right, you recover well, and you repeat the next day. That's it." CONNECT with Dan Dan John is a strength coach, author and educator based in the United States. He has coached athletes from high school level through to Olympic standard across multiple sports. To find out more about Dan John, please visit these channels: Website - Dan John University Sign up for Dan’s weekly newsletter “ Wandering Weights ” Easy Strength with Dan John & Pavel Tsatsouline Check out Dan John’s other books HERE Dan is a prolific writer. Check out his articles and blogs Dan John talks about the physical pension — putting regular deposits into your physical health now so future you has something to draw on. That's exactly the philosophy behind SWAT Inner Circle. Structured training plans from Sprint to Ironman, strength and mobility built in, recovery centred, and designed for the age you are now, not the age you were. New members join at £65 a month. No minimum term, cancel any time. Details at simonward.co.uk/swat-inner-circle 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: Simon@thetriathloncoach.com Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to beth@thetriathloncoach.com and you might just hear it on a future episode!

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  Episode #484

  Recovery-Centred Training: Your Questions Answered — With Simon and Beth Ward

  Jul 29, 202623 min

  Last week Beth and I made the case for building your training plan around recovery rather than volume. Not everyone was convinced and that's exactly what we were hoping for. This week we’re back to work through the most common challenges and questions that came in. From why the pros train 30 hours a week to whether recovery-centred training is just an excuse to be lazy, this episode tackles the pushback head on and gives honest, practical answers to the questions every serious endurance athlete will recognise. If you haven't listened to last week's episode yet, it's worth doing that first. The link is in the show notes. 5 KEY POINTS Volume works up to the point you can recover from it. The pros train 30 hours a week because their entire life is structured around absorbing it. Match your volume to your recovery capacity, not theirs. You still need long sessions for long races. The question is how many and how often, given what you can actually recover from. Fewer long sessions done well beats grinding through all of them on accumulated fatigue. Following a plan blindly isn't discipline. It's blind optimism. Making a daily judgment call, acting on the honest answer and overcoming your ego to do it - that takes more discipline, not less. A good plan is a starting point, not a rigid prescription. Good coaching builds in flexibility to adapt when life happens - because no coach can predict a sick child or a difficult week at work. Panic training in the final weeks rarely works. Athletes who cram volume onto a foundation they haven't built usually end up injured or ill. Consistency is always a better bet than a hero block. 3 TAKEAWAYS Check your actual training data before planning your next block. Look at what you genuinely averaged over the last three months. That number, without ego, is probably closer to your real training capacity than anything on a plan. If your goal isn't achievable this year, it might just be set a year too early. Stay healthy, stay consistent, and build on it next season. A happy, healthy finish line is always a win. Arriving fresh and consistent will beat arriving exhausted from a plan you couldn't absorb every single time. KILLER QUOTE "How much training can you actually recover from, and how much can you consistently complete? If you can answer that honestly, without any part of your ego being involved, you'll probably get to the right answer." LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: Previous episode — Train Less, Recover More Sue Reynolds episode — What Would Happen If an Age-Group Triathlete Trained Like an Olympian? : WHOOP Project PR Study Tim Gabbett research — The training—injury prevention paradox: should athletes be training smarter and harder? https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/50/5/273 Want a training structure built around what you can actually recover from rather than a generic plan? That is exactly what SWAT is designed for. CLICK HERE TO START YOUR MISSION 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: Simon@thetriathloncoach.com Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to beth@thetriathloncoach.com and you might just hear it on a future episode!

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  Episode #483

  Train Less, Recover More: The Science Behind a Recovery-Centred Training Plan

  Jul 22, 202642 min

  Most athletes ask the wrong question. Instead of "how much training do I need to do?" the question that will actually change your performance is "how much training can I recover from?" In this episode Simon is joined by Beth for a conversation that challenges one of the most deeply held assumptions in endurance sport — that more training equals better performance. They dig into why recovery should underpin every training plan, what the evidence actually says about training volume versus training smarter, and the practical steps any athlete can take this week to shift their approach. This one is for anyone who is consistently tired, consistently below where they expect to be, and wondering why the training isn't working. 5 KEY POINTS Training breaks you down, recovery builds you back up. The fitness gain happens during recovery, not the session itself. Compromise recovery and you compromise the adaptation. The WHOOP Project PR study showed runners on a dynamic recovery-based plan improved their 5k time by the same amount as those on a fixed plan, but trained up to 80 minutes less per week and reported 30% fewer injuries. Consistency compounds. Ten hours a week for twelve weeks beats fifteen hours followed by injury and two weeks off. After 50 this matters even more, fitness drops faster and takes longer to rebuild. Stress is stress. Training, work and life all draw from the same budget. Putting them in separate silos and ignoring the total load is a recipe for breakdown. The most important data source is still the one between your ears. Devices confirm what your body is already telling you. Learn to listen first. 3 TAKEAWAYS Set your sleep target before your training target. Around 95% of daily growth hormone is produced during deep sleep. Cutting sleep to fit in a session is robbing Peter to pay Paul. Make easy days genuinely easy. If it felt like training, it wasn't recovery. Train to your number, not the plan's number. Ask honestly how much your body can absorb today — and respond to that answer, not the spreadsheet. KILLER QUOTE "Recovery isn't something you do when you aren't able to train. Recovery is the element that makes the training worthwhile." LINKS & RESOURCES Mentioned in the episode: WHOOP Project PR Study - the recovery-based training study referenced throughout this episode. Christine Clubbs episode - Be Battle Ready podcast - What your Garmin can’t tell you Sue Reynolds episode - Be Battle Ready podcast - What happens if an age group athlete trains like an Olympian. Want a training structure built around what you can actually absorb rather than a generic plan? CLICK HERE TO START YOUR MISSION If this conversation has resonated and you want a training structure built around your whole life, not just your performance targets, that is exactly what SWAT is designed for. CLICK HERE TO START YOUR MISSION 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: Simon@thetriathloncoach.com Sign up for Simon’s weekly newsletter Got an awkward question for Simon? Send it to beth@thetriathloncoach.com and you might just hear it on a future episode!

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