High-Performance FAQ

Most age-group athletes can prepare for a full Ironman on 10 to 14 hours per week of well-targeted training. You don't need 15 to 20 hours of generic volume.

 The quality and specificity of each session matters more than the raw total. My athletes train on structured plans built around their physiology, with each session having a measurable physiological purpose.

Because your aerobic engine is underdeveloped.

Most high achievers hate Zone 2 because it feels too slow, so they push into the grey zone, which is too fast to build capillary density and too slow to lift lactate threshold. You have to check the ego at the door.

 Strict Zone 2 training builds the mitochondrial efficiency required to burn fat as fuel. Stay disciplined, and your pace at the same low heart rate will climb significantly over a build phase.

A rigid spreadsheet plan doesn't work for an executive lifestyle.

We use a continuous feedback loop via TrainingPeaks. If you're grounded on a long-haul flight or dealing with serious work stress, your central nervous system is already taxed. You communicate your week, and I adjust the volume and intensity accordingly.

 We train the body you have on that day, not the body the spreadsheet assumed.

Most executives go straight from sitting at a desk for 10 hours to a heavy track session. That's how lower leg injuries happen, particularly soleus tears.

 The fix is in the periodisation. Phase 1 of every program I write focuses on structural resilience. We don't introduce high-intensity track work until your chassis is ready, through specific aerobic conditioning and intelligent load management.

Yes, if you're serious about racing well.

Heart rate is a lagging metric on the bike, influenced by heat, caffeine, sleep, and stress. Power tells you the exact mechanical work you're producing right now.

 It lets me prescribe intervals precisely and gives us the data to map your race-day pacing. A power meter pays for itself in a single race execution.

You don't need a lab.

Generic age-based formulas like 220 minus your age are inaccurate for trained age-groupers. Before we start your build, you'll execute a specific Max Heart Rate Field Test, which takes 30 minutes and gives us the data we need to map your zones to your physiology, not a textbook average.

Hypertrophy requires a calorie surplus and specific lifting protocols you won't be doing while training for an Ironman.

 We use targeted, functional strength work designed to correct muscular imbalances from desk work and repetitive endurance motion. It improves your running economy and keeps you off the physio table.

 Done properly, you'll get faster, not heavier.

A template doesn't know you're fatigued. A template doesn't adjust when your resting heart rate spikes. A template doesn't analyse your power files to tell you why you faded at mile 10 of a long run.

 You're paying for 25 years of endurance experience including a decade of professional racing, daily review of your training data, and bespoke programming that protects your time and sharpens your race execution.

We use controlled benchmark testing built into your training blocks, not constant racing. Racing introduces systemic fatigue and often disrupts a build phase.

 By analysing your pace at a fixed heart rate or your power output at threshold over the course of a block, I can see exactly how your physiology is adapting in real time. The data tells the story without you having to pin a number on every weekend.

Executing on emotion instead of the plan.

High achievers get to the start line, feel the adrenaline, and abandon their prescribed power and heart rate caps. They burn through their glycogen in the first two hours and walk the marathon.

 We engineer a precise race plan based on your training data. Your only job on race day is calm, calculated execution of those numbers.