Philip Hatzis
Triathlon and Ultra Running Coach based in Oxford, UK
As a Coach
Philip believes that for the best long-term, sustained outcomes, you must coach the person, not the result.
Triathlon Coaching for Philip started with his University club; from there, his passion for it has continuously grown. Philip strives to develop his knowledge beyond his Level 3 coaching qualification by optimising any opportunity presented to him. Alongside the conventional development through many CPD courses, he has also been fortunate enough to work alongside experts in Physiotherapy, Strength and Conditioning, Nutrition, Psychology, Biomechanics, and Sports Medicine. Putting this knowledge into practice, he has worked with thousands of athletes to various degrees, from training camps in Portugal and around Europe, clinics in the UK and online coaching.
As well as his BTF Level 3 coaching qualification, Philip has been through the IRONMAN U coach education and mentors coaches internally and externally for British Triathlon.
He has taken many of his coached athletes to World and European Championships in all distances, including both IRONMAN and ITU, to both medal and compete. He also loves the challenges at the other end of the spectrum, where athletes are worried about completing events. Philip also has an increasing knowledge of coaching successful ultra-runners as well as sub 2:30 Marathon runners and winners. With multiple athletes securing course records on various marathons or long-courses in running. Philip has built his reputation of coaching the longer distances, with several of his athletes taking the podium, championship or competing as some of the fastest age-group triathletes at prestigious events like Kona. Furthermore, he has had particular success regularly coaching some of the fastest amateur female athletes at the IRONMAN World Championships. These athletes usually get to these positions after coaching with Philip rather than already being fast! Philip takes athletes and develops them holistically to create top-level athletes with a balanced approach to training and life.
Philip is a regular expert coaching author for BIKE Mag, 220 Triathlon and Training Peaks athlete and coaching articles, as well as occasional articles for IRONMAN Coaching University. He is also an author for Fast Talk Laboratories in some of their coaching modules, as well as delivering their Coaching Business Playbook.
Philip also coaches the Wind Tunnel sessions applying his knowledge of biomechanics and aerodynamics to help athletes get faster for less effort and takes the Precision Hydration Sweat testing we do to enable athletes to get the most our of their nutrition strategy.
As an Athlete
As a keen and passionate athlete himself, Philip has raced very competitively as an Age Grouper. Philip has competed successfully in the longer distances: at the Long Course World Championships (5th) and Kona (14th). Philip also has several IRONMAN World Championships finishes as well. With a 1st place AG in IRONMAN UK, a Top 10 overall IRONMAN finisher result, and multiple podium finishes in the 9:something bracket. He certainly lives and breathes the sport of triathlon. However, he will always be the first to point out that he is a coach first, then if there is time, an athlete.
Philip joined the sport after enjoying many different forms of athletics. He excelled at cross-country while at school. Though coming on paper from a running background, he thoroughly enjoyed swimming, and you will often find him at the sharper end of the swimming packs.
As the founder of Tri Training Harder, Philip epitomises the tagline: Believe, Strive, Achieve.
See Philip’s most recent athlete feedback
Q&A with Philip
When did you get into triathlon? I started being involved in endurance sports from the age of about 15 with cross-country running. However, only started doing triathlon when I was about 17 and competed in my first race in 2008 and then began my coaching career in 2010.
How did you first get involved in triathlon? I remember having a conversation with my then cross-country coach where he asked me if I fancied doing an IRONMAN? My naive reply of “Yeah, sure, what is it?” has certainly defined my path as an athlete, a coach and now as a career!
What is your favourite discipline? I don’t have a favourite discipline as such. I really enjoy the sport of triathlon. I come from a running background and love racing at the end of an event, but at the same time, the brutality of bike training sessions and the camaraderie of swim squads has meant that I really do love each of the component parts of the triathlon.
Why did you choose to take up coaching? Initially, I began coaching in other sports (sailing and informally golf) as a by-product of wanting to learn a greater mastery of the sports themselves. However, triathlon coaching bred out of a necessity for my university club to have coaches as well as the fact that, as the more experienced athlete in the team, I found myself being asked all the questions anyway – If I was going to answer them, I may as well answer them correctly! Thereafter, I recognised that I enjoyed it more and more and found myself loving the additional challenge of working with an athlete rather than just trialling “coaching skills” on myself.
What is your greatest athletic achievement? I have been fortunate enough to race in some great places and compete on some big stages. I have had some good successes as an age-grouper (5th place in the world championships and multiple Kona finishes). Apart from numerous victorious inter-brother competitions in various sports, I still think my first IRONMAN in Sherborne (the original location of IRONMAN UK) was my personal greatest achievement as I literally had no idea how my body was going to react. I loved the fact that on the simplest level I had asked myself a question, worked very hard and then answered it.
What is your greatest coaching achievement? In 2016, I was celebrating with one of my athletes who had been the fastest British Female Age grouper at Kona, IRONMAN World Championships, when I realised that one of the GB team whom I knew, was at risk of missing the cut-off. Though I didn’t formally coach her, we had met for lunch a couple of times and I knew how much she wanted to finish, I felt a real sense of duty! I set out to the 20-mile marker and made sure she came home with a medal too. Reflecting on the polar ends of the competing spectrum, it reminded me that as a coach we work with people’s dreams. Everyone’s dream is their most important thing. We, as coaches, should never focus on the dreams of only those we deem as more special. It is that ability to make someone's seemingly unachievable ambition suddenly tangible which drives me as a coach.
What one piece of advice would you give someone new to triathlon? Be patient. Be patient with your training. Be patient with your equipment. Be patient with your results. Be patient with the lifestyle. Be patient. Love the sport, live the sport, but don’t forget to not take yourself too seriously! Just have fun, the rest will come.
Favourite quote: When the pupil is ready, the teacher will appear!
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Please note that any wind tunnel sessions booked through this will need to be paid through the deposit only. We will email you with further details to finalise your booking.