Be Battle Ready Triathlon Podcast - Performance and longevity for endurance athletes over 50 | Simon Ward

Mike Reilly is the legendary Ironman announcer, and he's just published his second book, Finding Your Finish Line. This is his second time on the show, and I'll put a link to our first conversation below.

We recorded this in Oceanside, Southern California, in a restaurant with a dish named after Mike on the menu. He only found out when he saw it. He told me his first book was a collection of stories he hoped would inspire people without preaching, and that he never agreed with the title because it had "my" in it. This one...

Simon Butterworth came to Ironman late and has been racing it for decades. He won his age group at the 2017 Ironman World Championships in Kona and  2022 in St. George, Utah describing his own training as a "manic obsession". He lives on the south coast of Ireland, where he was brought up, and in October he crossed the finish line at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in 16 hours 41 minutes, aged 79 and a few weeks short of his 80th birthday. He is one of the very few men over 80 to have finished there.

I first met Simon when I...

Every October, the same thing happens. Athletes who’ve been training for decades either shut down completely and lose everything they built, or hammer through the dark months and arrive in spring injured, ill, burnt out, or a bit of all three. If you're over 50, the cost is higher, because you lose fitness faster and it takes longer to get it back.

In this solo episode, I walk through exactly how I approach winter training with the athletes I coach one-to-one and inside our SWAT community. I’ll start at the end, working backwards from a specific goal...

Rob Sears is a visually impaired triathlete from Norfolk with between 5 and 10% of his sight left. He races in the VI para category with a guide, on a tandem, tethered in the swim. He’s also a sports therapist and an online run and triathlon coach. As a kid, his PE teacher told his parents he would “never do anything in sport.” Today sport is his hobby, his work and, in his words, everything to him.

In July 2025, Rob fell down a flight of stairs at home after tripping over his dog, Hugo. He cracked his pelvis, fractu...

Louise Hanley has been coaching and competing in triathlon for over two decades. She has worked with juniors, youth athletes and adults, helped build the Yorkshire triathlon community, and still races and wins in her age group.

She has built a coaching business entirely on word of mouth, with no complicated systems no data obsession, and training based around a set of simple principles.

What she does have is a philosophy that has stayed consistent across 23 years: keep it simple, and enjoy it.

In this episode, we talk about what that actually looks...

Ashleigh Gentle has been at the sharp end of professional triathlon for more than two decades. Two-time Olympian, ten-time winner of the Noosa Triathlon, junior world champion, runner-up on the World Triathlon Series circuit, and now a multiple T100 and 70.3 winner since making the move to middle distance. She is also, as we record this, a few weeks away from the birth of her first child.

What I wanted to explore in this conversation is not the race results but the bigger picture. What does a career that long actually teach you about how to train, how...

I have had three knee surgeries, a ruptured ACL and a right kneecap that niggles me regularly. The question I really wanted answered in this conversation was simple: how do I avoid a knee replacement in the next 10 to 15 years?

Dr Marc Pietropaoli is an orthopaedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist based in Buffalo, New York. He trained under Dr James Andrews, widely regarded as the greatest sports medicine doctor of all time, and has spent 35 years challenging one of the most deeply held assumptions in his own profession. His book, Repair Not Replace, is an Amazon...

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 ev...

Seven years ago Debbie Potts came on this podcast to talk about what happened when her body finally said enough. A five-time Kona qualifier, she had been doing 20-hour training weeks on one meal a day, working 12-hour days, running on high cortisol and calling it fitness. The diagnosis was HPA axis syndrome. The recovery took years.

Seven years on, Debbie is a health practitioner, author and coach based in San Diego, and she has built an entire philosophy around what she learned. She calls it the holistic method - eight elements of health that go well...

Most people are diligently paying into a financial pension every month. But what about the physical one?

This week Simon and Beth sit down to unpack one of the core concepts behind the Battle Ready philosophy. The physical pension. The idea that the decisions you make today about how you sleep, move, eat and recover determine what you have available to you at 60, 70 and beyond. Not just as an athlete, but as a human being who wants to actually enjoy the life they have worked hard to build.

This is not a performance conversation. It...

Consistency is the word every great coach comes back to eventually. Not volume, not intensity, not the latest methodology. Consistency.

But saying it and doing it are very different things. Particularly through winter, when the race season is over, the mornings are dark, and the motivation that carried you through summer starts to feel a long way away.

This week Simon and Beth do a proper deep dive into what consistency actually means in practice, and specifically what habits and actions protect it through the winter months.

IN THIS EPISODE WE COVER:

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 wee...

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.

Three years ago Jamie Bedwell and his wife Abi were on this podcast as newly licensed professional triathletes with the world opening up before them. This week Jamie is back, riding solo, and the story has taken a turn nobody planned for.

Three years of gradual deterioration. Chronic back pain, loss of power in the left leg, pins and needles that left him feeling, in his own words, more like a pirate with a wooden leg than a semi-decent triathlete. Every race ended the same way. Every solution fell short. Until earlier this year, when he finally...

The highs, the crash, and what overtraining syndrome taught one age-group world champion about ambition, recovery and knowing when to stop.

Sue Reynolds was a guest on this podcast three years ago. At that point she had lost over 150 pounds, taken up triathlon in her fifties, and become a world age-group aqua bike and mixed relay champion. Her first book, The Athlete Inside, told that story.

But Sue didn't stop there. She wanted to answer a question most age-group athletes never dare ask seriously: what would happen if an ordinary amateur trained with the same...

What standard GP testing misses, and why it matters more for athletes.

Several months ago I wrote a LinkedIn post about my own decision to start taking statins, after several years of resisting that path. Katherine Caris-Harris, a performance nutritionist and fellow triathlete, reached out afterwards. She felt there were gaps in the conversation, and she was right.

Katherine is a degree-qualified nutritionist who works with what she calls corporate athletes, driven, high-performing people who often push themselves too hard across every area of life. In this episode we dig into the limitations of standard...

Phil Burt has fitted Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins, Chris Hoy and Geraint Thomas. He designs saddles for Physique, runs his own clinic in Manchester, and has spent two decades at the sharp end of bike fitting in elite sport. He also wrote a LinkedIn post recently that got a lot of people talking — and that's where this episode starts.

Phil's argument: FTP is overrated. Not useless, but overrated. From there we get into why 165mm cranks are worth serious consideration for a lot of riders, why a bag full of expensive saddles is almost never the answer to...

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...

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...

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 pla...

If you've ever wondered whether your endurance base could carry you into gravel or mountain bike racing — or whether your FTP is really the thing holding you back — this episode is a timely reality check.

Dave Schell is the founder of Kaizen Endurance, based in Boulder, Colorado, and has spent 15 years coaching cyclists and endurance athletes through some of the most demanding events on the calendar — Unbound 200, Leadville, ultra-distance gravel and mountain bike. Before that, he spent seven years at Training Peaks as coach education manager, so he understands both the science and the real-world application better than m...

Thinking about adding HYROX to your training? Or already racing and wondering why your nutrition isn't translating into performance? Dr Kelsie Johnson is a nutrition and performance coach who works with hybrid athletes: people combining serious strength work with endurance sport. With a PhD in nutrition and muscle mass, experience as an S&C coach at Aston Villa Women's, and a background in triathlon and HYROX herself, Kelsie brings both the science and the real-world application. In this episode we dig into what hybrid training actually looks like in practice, why carbohydrate periodisation is the biggest gap she sees...

Carbon-plated running shoes have completely changed endurance sport.

World records are tumbling. Recovery between sessions seems quicker. And for many runners and triathletes, they feel almost impossible to ignore.

But are they coming with a hidden cost?

In this episode, I’m joined by physio and sub-30-minute 10k runner Andy Smith to explore what these shoes are actually doing biomechanically, why we may now be seeing different injury patterns in runners and triathletes, and how to use carbon-plated shoes without breaking yourself in the process. This is a practical conversation about performance, du...

What happens when everything looks right on the outside… but something isn’t quite right underneath?

In this episode, I’m joined by Justin Robbins, a former Ironman athlete and coach who was training consistently, performing well, and doing all the things we’d typically associate with good health. But a routine blood test told a very different story. What followed was a complete rethink of how he approaches training, health, and life. This is an honest conversation about identity, balance, and what really matters if you want to stay fit for the long term.

5...

What happens when you step away from sport for nearly 20 years… and then come back?

In this episode, I’m joined by Jane Hansom, who did exactly that. From a long break after university to running a sub-3 marathon, winning her age group at Kona, and building a successful marketing business alongside her training, Jane’s story is a powerful reminder that it’s never too late to start. We talk about consistency, mindset, coaching, and how the lessons from endurance sport translate directly into business and life.

5 KEY POINTS

1. It’s never too...

You’re 6–16 weeks out. This is the phase where most Ironman races are shaped. Not on race day, but in the decisions you make right now. It’s not about getting fitter. It’s about getting it right.

5 Main Points

1. Stick to the plan - Consistency beats last-minute changes.

2. Respect fatigue - Recovery is part of the training, not a weakness.

3. Practise race day - Don’t leave pacing, nutrition and conditions to chance.

4. Fuel properly - You can’t train hard and under-fuel at the same time.

5. Arrive...

If you’ve signed up for an Ironman this year, this is the point where things start to get real.

You’re no longer thinking about training… you’re already in it. And for many athletes, this is the phase where small cracks begin to appear. Missed sessions, niggles, fatigue, and a growing sense of uncertainty about whether you’re actually on track.

In this episode, Simon and Beth walk through the key questions every Ironman athlete should be asking 3 to 6 months out from race day. Not to create panic, but to provide a clear and honest...

In this episode, Beth and I reflect on our recent Nevis to St Kitts swim, a brilliant open water adventure that reminded us what it really means to be Battle Ready.

We talk about the event itself, the experience of swimming across open water in a stunning setting, and what we learned from it.

Then we shift gears into a more personal topic. I share why, after years of resisting it, I’ve decided to start taking statins. It’s not medical advice, but an honest conversation about health, ageing, and the difference between being fit...

Mobility is one of the most overlooked parts of training.

Most athletes ignore it until something hurts. Then it suddenly becomes important.

In this episode, I’m joined by Tom Morrison, creator of the Simplistic Mobility Method. I first came across Tom through athletes I work with, and his name kept coming up again and again.

What stood out to me is that Tom hasn’t just studied mobility. He lived the consequences of ignoring it.

From overtraining and constant injuries to a serious back issue that stopped him in his trac...

You’ve trained for months. Everything is building nicely. Then suddenly, your A race is cancelled.

For many athletes, that moment feels like the rug has been pulled from under them. Motivation drops, structure disappears, and the question becomes… what now?

In this episode, Simon and Beth explore the emotional and practical impact of losing a key event. They discuss why races matter, why so many athletes rely on them, and how to respond in a way that keeps your progress moving forward.

More importantly, they challenge the idea that your fitness should depe...

Why training more isn’t always the answer

Most endurance athletes assume that getting better simply means doing more training. More miles. More hours. More big sessions. But after decades of coaching and competing, Simon argues that the athletes who achieve the best long-term results are rarely the ones doing the most volume. They are the ones who train consistently without breaking down. In this episode Simon and Beth explore the idea of durability versus volume, why chasing big sessions can backfire, and how athletes can build the resilience needed to train consistently for years rather than we...

The pool drills that prepare you for the chaos of open water swimming

Learn how triathletes can practise open water swim skills in the pool and feel more confident on race day.

Can you really prepare for an open water swim if all you have access to is a pool?

In this episode, Simon and Beth explain how triathletes can build open water skills into normal pool sessions before the race season begins. They cover sighting, breathing to both sides, faster cadence, group starts, drafting and learning to stay calm when t...

In this real-world episode, Beth and I share our 2026 event calendar, from a 50k ultra and a 40k paddle-board race to a 2.4 mile Caribbean swim and a 700km gravel bike ride following one of the Camino trails in Spain. More importantly, we explain how we’re applying lessons from recent podcasts directly into our own training and lifestyle

Different disciplines. Same foundations.

5 Talking Points

Most athletes only think about heat training two weeks before flying to Kona.

That’s reactive.

Used early in the season, heat training can increase plasma volume, improve heart rate control and build durability before racing even starts.

This episode was recorded last year and I’m re-releasing it now because this is exactly when smart athletes should be using it.

I’m joined by Lindsey Hunt from Precision Fuel & Hydration to break down how it works and how to apply it safely.

In This Episode

• Wh...

After three decades in endurance sport, what surprises me most isn’t what’s changed.

It’s what hasn’t.

Training trends come and go. Methods get rebranded. New tools promise breakthroughs.

But the fundamentals that drive performance, health and longevity have barely moved.

In this episode, I explain why most athletes don’t need more information — they need more consistent application of what already works.

In This Episode

Beth takes over hosting duties from Santa Barbara and pulls out a list of training and racing principles I wrote about 15 years ago. The catch is I’m not allowed to look at them. So we go through the big ones and I react in real time, seeing which ideas have genuinely stood the test of time, what I’d tweak with today’s experience, and what still matters most for age group athletes who want to perform well, stay healthy, and enjoy the process.

We talk about choosing races that suit you (not your ego), understanding the co...