Adult swimmers often overcomplicate swimming. There are too many gurus online offering quick fixes and ideas that ultimately lead to further complications. In this article, Coach Philip explores freestyle breathing and how to correct common mistakes.

Many people have mantras, either for how they live their lives, or relating to how they turn up and train. In this small series, Coach Denise looks at the mantras which have meaning to her personally, and shares how they help her with both life and training.

Mantras – what do they really mean and how can they help?

Many people have mantras, either for how they live their lives, or relating to how they

turn up and train. In this small series, Coach Denise looks at the mantras which have

meaning to her personally, and shares how they help her with both life and training.

Recently, indoor training technology has transformed how endurance athletes approach their cycling training. Meanwhile, traditional outdoor riding offers unique physiological and psychological benefits that no virtual platform can fully replicate.

Triathletes often start coaching with us encountering the same common hurdle: they struggle to run efficiently off the bike. Many athletes approach coaching services with the singular aim of improving their running speed. However, as coaches, we recognise that the nuances of transitioning from cycling to running extend far beyond simply running faster. It’s essential to address the finer details that affect performance in the latter stages of a triathlon. Coach Philip explores how to improve your run off the bike. 

In December 2026, I’ll set off from the Canary Islands with my teammates Martin Mead and Scott Dingle, both fellow airline captains, as part of our team, Coastal Commanders. Together, we’ll row 3,000 miles across the Atlantic in the World’s Toughest Row—a challenge that demands far more than just physical endurance.

This is no ordinary race. It takes three years of solid planning and preparation just to get to the start line. We’ll face sleep deprivation, relentless waves, blistering heat, and total isolation, rowing in shifts, non-stop, with no support and no safety net. Our goal? To complete this challenge in under 40 days.

If you are excited and intrigued by the idea of doing a triathlon, but think it is just for the super fit, think again. In this blog Coach Denise takes a look at the whole sport of triathlon and may just change your mind.

Although racing in the UK has many perks, one downside is that we don’t usually get the excessive heat that some of our European and US friends are accustomed to racing in. In this article, Coach Philip explores some top tips for racing in the cold.

At the start of race season, as thoughts turn to open water swims, one of the key considerations is, just how do you swim comfortably in cold water. In this article Coach Denise uses her extensive experience of swimming in Scotland to look at how best to make the transition from the pool to outside, helping you to have the best swim leg you can.

Every year, nutrition and its strategies take centre stage in our conversations with athletes. It's a subject that sparks genuine curiosity and interest. Yet, the challenge lies in translating this knowledge into effective race strategies. Coach Philip delves into some common pitfalls in nutrition strategy, emphasising the potential for significant performance improvements.  

We all know warm-ups are important, but when it comes to racing, we tend to do things differently than in training. Coach Philip explores why the warm-up is important. 

Athletes often categorise their races. In this article, Coach Philip outlines how athletes can use a category to help adjust their mindsets before the event. 

As we look to the new season, testing is one of the first things many athletes will do. This will be the form of benchmarking to understand initial fitness levels, biomechanics or other areas. Various aspects of training and performance will be measured and improved upon in the coming months. Yet, often, athletes dislike “test week” and miss out on brilliant opportunities to improve. Coach Philip Hatzis explores the topic of improving your testing sessions in this article. 

At some point in their athletic career, every athlete has a point when they’re unsure if they should or should not train. This is often a result of illness or fatigue or something similar. They are feeling a bit “yuck” but do not necessarily understand why, which makes deciding whether they should train a tough challenge. In this article, coach Philip Hatzis explores how athletes can decide whether to train or not.

In this article, Coach Philip explores goal setting and the commonly accepted approach to goal-setting that may actually inhibit performance by forcing a time constraint on athletes where no time may be the best option. 

Love it or loathe it, the topic of planning is central to all sports, none more so than multi discipline endurance sports. Helping to focus time, effort and energy, great plans can produce the best results on race day. In this blog Coach Denise looks at the topic of planning, why it helps within the sport of triathlon and how a coach can help you to help yourself.

Being able to swim in a pool is not quite the same as being able to swim in open water. In this latest article, Coach Rita explores her learning experience when she took an open water swim session with some British athletes and her surprise at the skills gap between their swimming ability and open water experience.

Packing for a training camp is a real art. You must balance your luggage's weight allowance and space with the things you need to take with you and those nice-to-haves. In this article, we look at what you should think about taking with you and some top things to pack, even though it may seem a little extravagant or unnecessary!

Any sport has a set of rules. As the English cricketers discovered in this year's Ashes, the rules are the rules. The spirit of the rules is something different. As an athlete, our aim is always to compete within the rules. However, most of the time, the rules are in place for safety and fair play. Inevitably, if you want to push the boundary of what is possible, you must move closer to the limit of the rules. This article explored how we can respond to moments where the rules are applied to us!

If you are new to the world of triathlon you probably have preconceived ideas of just what the average triathlete is like. In this blog Coach Denise takes a look at triathletes and the results may surprise you.

Triathlon training takes up a lot of time. In his latest article, Coach Philip looks at different ways of fitting in the all-important long ride in an IRONMAN training programme.

Triathlons are one of the most gruelling mass participation events – one sport just isn’t enough – yet still more people sign up for them year after year. How fit do you actually need to be to do one? Are all triathletes the lean endurance machines we see on social media? In this article, Coach Philip looks at how fit you really need to be to do a triathlon.

Swimming pools come in different shapes, sizes and characteristics, in this blog, Coach Diogo, answers one of the most commonly asked questions; which length of swimming pool is best?

In this article, coach Philip looks at a classic area that people resort to in the off-season: Strength and Conditioning. If everyone turns to it in the off-season, is it applicable to all athletes? What about athletes who are new to the sport?

In this latest article, Coach Philip looks at whether or not it is practical to put a marathon into an IRONMAN Training programme. This is a common conversation with athletes, so we outline some of the considerations below.

One of the most important parts of swimming outside in a race is swimming straight. Sighting is critical to this; seeing where you are going helps too! Foggy goggles are a persistent problem; Coach Denise looks at how to keep your goggles fog-free.

As coaches, we can focus on tracking metrics to help guide your training and performance as an athlete. It helps to see a quantitative measure of if things are on track or going as expected. One of these metrics is power or wattage, in this article Coach Alan looks at why ‘winning’ or riding with the lowest average power can result in a better performance.

In this article Coach Alan focuses on answering the simple question “what does it take to ride that potentially elusive sub-five-hour IRONMAN/Long Distance triathlon bike split.” Read on to find out some of the factors that go into that performance and how you could overcome this.

In this article, Coach Philip looks at the classic first-time IRONMAN athlete dilemma: To do a marathon in the Spring before a Summer IRONMAN, or not? Have a read on to find out more.

We find ourselves able to swim in open water before going back into the pools due to this pandemic. How much we swim will depend on the water temperatures, of course, but how can we prepare for open water swimming? Coach Tim Ansell discusses.

In this episode we will recover the Coaches on the Couch from 25th of January where Coach Philip, Jon and Kevin discussed why would you spend 5h on the turbo and how can you do it. This is a time where a lot of athletes like to spend a lot of time doing turbo, this episode will be useful, why not listening to it while you do one of your indoor sessions?

In this episode, coaches Philip and Alan discuss the Off-Season: What is it? Why is it important? When is it over? Should you take one...and much more. If you are someone who has just started their off-season or are unwilling to stop for fear of losing fitness, then this episode is for you.

If you’re relaxing in your off-season now, we hope you enjoy this one even more!

As we lead into the final days of this season, when is the right time to call it a day? When should you do one more race? How do you know which is the right decision? In this episode of Coaches on the Couch, coaches Alan and Philip talk about that final race of the season.

Some athletes struggle to find the best way to manage the pressure that sometimes they put themselves for a race, in this episode, Coach Philip tells how to manage the anxiety and the nerves that athletes often have before a big event and have the best experience on the big day.

In this episode, we have an interesting chat with coach Kevin Smith. Kevin is a cycling and triathlon enthusiast and a coach. He has worked with Tri Training Harder for the past couple of years and has been cycling coaching and guiding from his house in France for years before that. After living in New Zealand for four years, Kevin has moved to France and owns a B&B at the bottom of the famous Alpe d’Huez climb. Tri Training Harder has run some training camps there. It is also where Kevin hosts some cycling camps out of his B&B. he encourages anyone who loves cycling to come and join him and his family in one of the most picturesque places to train and enjoy outdoor activities in the world. His experience and attention to detail are fascinating, and we know you will love to hear about his coaching philosophy and approach.

If you would like to know more about our training camps in France, please visit this link, and if you would like to know more about Coach Kevin’s place, please visit his website.

Get to know coach Kevin a little bit more in this episode.

Get to know coach Kevin a little bit more in this episode.

If you would like to know more about our training camps in France, please visit this link, and if you would like to know more about Coach Kevin’s place, please visit his website.

In his episode, we meet Coach Sorrel Williams: a passionate and extroverted coach that tells us her story of how she changed her past from generally not a sportsperson to become a Triathlon Coach and a full-distance triathlon finisher. Sorrel never had any background in sports and didn’t even know how to swim when she started, but that didn’t stop her from changing the direction of her life. Her can-do attitude and positive outlook on life are infectious. As one of our senior coaches, there are always nuggets of information that she can impart from her work with the Academy juniors to her work in other areas of triathlon and coaching. Tune in and have a listen.

In this episode we recover last week’s Coaches on the Couch where Coach Philip has guided us through the process of reflecting on a race and the details we need to to be aware of when racing.

With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games happening at this time, this is the perfect moment for you to learn as much as possible about the aspects of racing and what you can take from others and your competition experiences.

In this episode, we chat to Coach Soraya. Soraya is enthusiastic with a huge passion for the sport. She came to Triathlon coaching after some time working as a PT. For our coached athletes, she’s famous for her Strength and Conditioning workouts and if you met her on one of our camps, you will know her for her big smile and positive outlook on the steepest of climbs! Today, we find out more about her as the coach and the athlete.

If you want to read more about Soraya, check her profile here. This year, Soraya moved from the UK to New York where she has to face a totally different experience in triathlon and huge challenges and is now our US-based coach and representative.

Pretty much every triathlete has posed the question: “how can I improve my run?” when looking at the results list. “Improving my run” is the most common request that athletes have when come to us for coaching.

In this episode, we listen to the Coaches on the Couch, where Coaches Alan, Diogo and Philip discuss how can you run faster off the bike and what aspects you need to consider to be able to improve your run for the race day. These coaches review the different options often athletes consider as well as suggesting a straightforward approach to action as you aim to improve your run off the bike.

The return to swimming has been a major issue for most of the triathletes around the world, being unable to practice one of the most technical segments of triathlon is causing some stress into the athletes and make them wonder how ready or not they feel for the race day. In this episode, Coach Alan Ward and Coach Philip Hatzis discuss what we have learned from the return to swimming after a big pause due to Covid-19 restrictions.

In this episode, Paul Hayward shares with us his experiences in Triathlon and the journey of his life partner. The ups and downs of his journey led him to finish some of the hardest triathlons on the Ironman calendar and convinced his wife to share the same steps.