Pathways to Success

In 2022 at Ironman Busselton, Rhys Lawler moved the goalposts in Australian Ironman history with a 8h 24m race.

Our training block was volume heavy! the guy that trained the hardest and the most, won the race.
One of the most challenging things for athletes and coaches today is readily available/shared training data. We scan Strava, social media and other related platforms, dissecting winning athletes training execution. Desperately clinging to what a person we don’t know did to win. It’s absurd! In reflection I wasted 3 years trying to be Craig Alexander. A pain enduring, ultra heavy volume, heat adapted monster. I had so much respect for Crowie that I couldn’t see my own pathway to success. My winning formula? What was it? The answers were right in front of me. I could swim and bike better than most. How did Luke McKenzie get 2nd at Hawaii ? He became a swim/biking machine. He figured out an alternative route from point A to point B. He put the runners on the back foot and took the World Championships up the road and into his own hands.

I encourage my athletes to study and become students of the sport. An intelligent athlete is dangerous. An overthinking athlete however is a pushover. Take what you research with a grain of salt. Apply and refine new principles with subtlety.

Most importantly be yourself! People and athletes that understand themselves and support and nurture their organic self, are the ones at the pointy end. My Dad was the coach of Dean and Darren Mercer, two of Australia’s most respected and accomplished surf Ironman athletes. They trained at Nth Wollongong in silence. Pre internet. The training stories still put goosebumps on my neck. The Mercer brothers were unbeatable for 10 years. Later into the boys careers they moved to the Sunshine Coast to join more elusive surf life saving clubs. The rest of the professional Ironman athletes were blown away by how the boys trained. The competitors applied new training and racing principles. The Mercer brothers became beatable. If you know your formula? train in silence and let the racing speak. If you don’t know your formula? The answers are within. Trust yourself!