In case the day job and the doctorate and Enduroman Events was not enough…I have had the honour over the last few months to be working with Laura Massey-Pugh who is the creator of https://thetriathlonsproject.com/. I have coached some hard core athletes over the years, but somehow Laura has not only survived an extremely demanding and accelerated training plan alongside her day (night) job as a critical care veterinary surgeon, but she has also project managed this from scratch in a matter of months. We have a final benchmarking block next week - 3 Ironman™ in 3 days - a full shake down of kit, equipment, nutrition, pacing, fitness, recovery and test of just how tough a cookie this woman is. The record is 30…come the 6th of May, Laura is going for 40… the last time I did one, i was exhausted and rested up for about 10 years…
I probably should know who that is, but don’t - Google offers a cricketer, an actor in silence of the lambs (1991), and someone to do with Sarah Ferguson. They might even be the same person but somehow I doubt it. Although looking at the diverse achievements of the vet in this thread, who knows🤷🏻♂️
This isn’t meant as a diss, but is she a genuinely crap swimmer, or is there some strategy in swimming that slowly? Normally anyone who swims IM distance >1hr 25 has very inefficient technique which expends so much effort on the swim, that the 2 subsequent events deteriorate disproportionately over the next few days, whereas a good former club swimmer can knockout <65min swims day after day with little energy expenditure, making the bike and run a lot easier, and allowing for longer recovery time overnight, so a double win.
it really is an interesting question, if badly put.
the strategy has been based on her strengths and weaknesses and, yes, the more efficient in all three disciplines, the more scope there is energy saving…
The risk with the whole project is that there is not much wriggle room and ‘success’ (whatever that looks like) is totally dependant upon her capacity to suffer.
Balance of energy verses pace and time. The psychological cost. A single disaplines effect on a strength disapline, and backing it up day after day etc.
Very complicated Interesting puzzle.
All the best on working it out and a positive outcome.
Interesting puzzle.