WHOOP Podcast - How to Cross-Train with Ironman World Champion Lucy Charles-Barclay

Episode Date: August 13, 2025

On this month’s installment of the How To Series, WHOOP Director of Sports Marketing, Jeremy Powers, sits down with Ironman World Champion, Lucy Charles-Barclay, to explore what it takes to train as a hybrid athlete. From her roots as an elite swimmer to dominating the world of triathlon, Lucy shares how she balances high-volume training across swim, bike, and run, while incorporating strength work. Lucy breaks down her training blocks, recovery strategies, and using WHOOP to stay consistent and injury-free. Lucy also opens up about managing celiac disease, experimenting with HYROX, and building an engaged fitness community through her YouTube channel, all while maintaining elite-level performance across multiple disciplines.(00:37) Introduction to Lucy Charles-Barclay (01:35) Rapid Fire Q’s (02:41) Lucy’s Journey From Pro-Swimmer to Ironman World Champion(06:02) Winning The World Championship: Training & Lead-Up To Competition(12:38) Week In The Life Training For An Ironman(15:13) Balancing Disciplines: Training Hybrid(18:16) Monitoring Strain While Training & Mitigating Injury(20:26) Inside Lucy’s Recovery Habits(21:55) Perfecting Her Game: Lucy’s Tech, Tools, and Coaching (27:08) Lucy’s Favorite WHOOP Metrics(30:16) Improving Sleep Routine While Traveling: Blue light Glasses, Early Dinners, & More(33:55) Training With Celiac: Nutrition for Endurance(36:44) Building A Community While Training: Lucy’s YouTube and Social Media Channels(41:52) What’s Next For Lucy? Upcoming Goals, Races, And Challenges Follow Lucy Charles-Barclay:InstagramYouTubeTikTokSupport the showFollow WHOOP: www.whoop.com Trial WHOOP for Free Instagram TikTok YouTube X Facebook LinkedIn Follow Will Ahmed: Instagram X LinkedIn Follow Kristen Holmes: Instagram LinkedIn Follow Emily Capodilupo: LinkedIn

Triathlon is the ultimate balance in act. You've got three disciplines and you can't put full focus into all three at once. I think it's really important to have periods of time where, okay, in this period of time, I'm really going to focus on my cycling and see how much I can lift that up. That doesn't mean you don't swim and run, but you're not so focused on them. You kind of have the baseline amount that you want to hit on those two disciplines and then you spend the time really working on your cycling and seeing how much you can lift that. In triathlon, the bike is the biggest part of the day.

arguably it's possibly the most important if you're super fit and strong on the bike the run's going to take less out of you it's about breaking it down hey everyone i'm jeremy powers welcome back to the woup podcast today we're sitting down with the big champion in the world of triathlon we're here with lucy charles barclay former elite swimmer who turned her attention to triathlon and has been on a tear ever since uh in twenty three lucy took the title at the iron man world championship in kona swim-bike run combos in the sport. If you fall along on her YouTube channel, she trains like someone who genuinely enjoys pain,

which I'm amazed and slightly scared of. But we're here today to talk about training, mindset, recovery, and of course, some of her incredible whoop data. So, Lucy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to be here today. So one of the things we do on the Whoop podcast is some ice breakers, some fast questions.

So this is a serious, serious business. So on this, you can only, answer yes or no or true or false. Okay. All right. So first question is very whoop related. So your average daily whoop strain is nearly 60% higher than your peers. True or false? I want to say true. This is true. Yes, of course. 18.3 strain versus an average of 9.8 for Wow. Yeah. I have to be honest, I was really impressed by the 18.3. This is kind of blew my mind to be totally honest. Let's keep going. So true or false, your resting heart rate is 63BPM, which is the average for women your age.

I think false. That is you're also right, Ding. Yours is 39 BPM resting heart rate, which is 46% lower than your peers. All right, true or false, you average less sleep per night than your peers. I want to say false. You're right there, too, yes. You average 45 minutes more than your peers. which is good.

All right, true or false, you own an Ironman course record. True. There you go, so. So those are the questions that we've got here on true or false. You did a good job. You actually, you got 100%. I like it. Well, Lucy, welcome to the show.

I guess if you could, just because I think some people that are listening, won't know everything about your background. Maybe you could give us a little bit of a run-through on how you got into triathlon and started this journey. Yeah, for sure. So I started out life as a swimmer. My main goal, even as like an eight-year-old, was to, try and qualify for the Olympic Games. And I was quite young when we got the bid to host the

London Games. So for me, as someone who lived very close to London, that became the ultimate dream to try and compete in a home games. And I was 19 when the London Olympics happened and I just missed out on competing there. I was trying to qualify for the 1,500 metre in the pool and the 10K marathon swim. And after missing out on qualifying, I actually gave up sport almost completely. I was like, no, that's it. I'm not going to make the Olympics. I don't want to do it anymore. And then I randomly started working at a wildlife park. And I hadn't been there very long. And I already, like, missed that dedication and drive towards working towards a big sporting goal. So my now husband, Reese and I decided to sign up for an Iron Man triathlon on a complete whim,

barely knowing what it consisted of and what we would need to finish it. And we were like, that's what we're working towards. We're going to do this Iron Man thing. And Reese was studying in sports science at the time. So he did a lot of research. He was like, right, we're going to need to use nutrition. We're going to need to get a TT bike. We're going to need all this stuff. And it became like a really exciting adventure together, like learning along the way and collecting all the equipment we needed and asking our family and friends for loans so that we could buy the equipment and actually get the entry fee. And yeah, we did that first ever Iron Man back in 2014 in the UK. And we were both just completely hooked on the sport. It was like, I'd done a lot of

things in swimming, competed at a very high level and just had a buzz from it. But no buzz was like crossing the Iron Man finish line. I was like, I want to do this again. I want to see how far I can go in this sport. And yeah, never really expected it to become my career. But I knew that I was in love with the world of triathlon and yeah, wanted to pursue it as far as I could. Yeah, it's a hard, it's a hard sport. Like some say it's one of the hardest because it takes so many different things. What was it about it? Like the first time you did it, you loved it. But I think also for regular people that like that's the hardest thing I've ever done but you are like I want to do it again yeah it was definitely the challenge like I've always been someone who loves a challenge even from a young

age I wanted to do the hardest swimming event that there was so I was like nine years old swimming the 200 butterfly and then I was like actually I think it's even harder to do like the longest distance so then I wanted to do the marathon swim and then I learned about ironman and was like oh that's got to be like one of the hardest one day endurance events you can do and I remember like our friends and family thinking we were totally insane and saying, yeah, you've swam this far before, but you've got to do a marathon at the end and you've got a cycle 112 miles in the middle, like how are you going to do this? And I think all of that was such a buzz. So then to actually achieve that was like, this is insane. And then you kind of knew that I'd done it,

but I knew I could do it better. And I think that kept me coming back for a while because it was like, well, I did this and I was working part time as well and doing all these things. So I was like, actually I'm going to come back and see how much quicker I can go. And I think within the space of a year, I took like an hour and a half off of my finish time. So yeah, I knew that I was onto something and potentially could do quite well in this sport. And that led to you winning the most famous world championship in Kona in 2023. Just for listeners, if you don't follow triathlon super closely, it's a 2.4 miles swim, 112 mile bike, and then a 26.2 mile run. and you did it in the fastest time ever recorded, which was eight hours, 24 minutes, 31 seconds.

I have a lot more to talk about on this, but definitely something you must be immensely proud of. Yeah, for sure. And I mean, it was such a journey to get to that point. I'd actually been second four times before I finally won the race. So the first time I went to Kona was in 2017 and I was a complete rookie. I'd kind of got there and not many people knew who I was. And my main goal was to lead out the swim, that was my background and then just see what happened on the rest of the day. And I ended up coming second in that race. And for me, I was like, well, I've come second and I feel like I barely know what I'm doing. So surely it's only a matter of time before I can win this. And yeah, I ended up coming second another three times after that before finally winning in 2023. So

it just felt like one of those things that is it ever going to happen. And then to actually win it the way I did, leading from the beginning and actually going on to get the fastest time ever was like, I think it was so worth the weight, like the journey was so worth it. And yeah, it was an amazing day. Yeah, I mean, I can't imagine. I wrote that down here as like one of the questions was to be second four times is got to be kind of at some point. Like after the, after the third time, you're starting to like scratch your head. And I was, I was thinking about how that mentally was like a, you might think like it's never going to be the perfect day. Because it always takes like a lot of luck to like, if they have good luck, if they have good legs. You got to like,

everything's got to kind of line up for a world class performance like that. Yeah, for sure. And it's like one day and everything has to go right and kind of the stars have to align and the conditions need to be right. And in triathlon, so many things can go wrong with your equipment and things like that and your body as well. So yeah, it was one of those things where it was like, is it ever going to happen? I was starting to get known as the bridesmaid. Like I was always going to be second and there's so much external noise happening and you have to try and switch off to it and believe that you're on your own path and on the right journey. And I knew that every single year when I competed in Kona, I'd got better, I'd made improvements, but it was still leading to the same outcome of second place. And actually going into the race in 2023, I'd had quite a big injury in the May of that year. So I was like, I haven't even had the perfect lead up to this race. I'd actually been written off. No one was even putting me as a podium pick. So I think that fired me up a little bit more that I was like, right, I want to prove these people wrong. And it's always kind of been something that I've had even in swimming. I was like, I want to go out there and prove people

wrong prove I can do this. So I had quite a lot of fire in my belly to go out there and win it. But I went on obviously to win it. But it was a really tough day. I actually sustained an injury during the marathon. So it wasn't the perfect day. And I think that again is what is making me keep coming back. Because even though I won the race, I know I can do it better. I believe I can do it faster. So yeah, it's keeping me coming back. That's cool. Yeah. I was thinking about that. like what, you know, what things are continuing to push you to, like, I think, feel like, athletes that do a lot have to continuously, like, reassess the goal and, like, kind of reinvent themselves. Not saying you doing that, but like, you know, you're always, like,

talking to athletes and they're like, yeah, I needed to, like, put a different thing way out in outer space that, like, a goal that I had to hit. I was going to switch over to, you also won the 70.3 world championship in 2021 in St. George on that course. And I was really surprised by it that you won at altitude by over eight minutes. That all. also had to be kind of like the precursor to Kona, like a really big moment to win. For anyone that doesn't know, a 70.3 is not any easier, I don't think. It's harder in a different way, a shorter version of this insane, full-length Iron Man. But you won the 70.3 championships, and that felt like a big, also a really big result for you.

Yeah, I'd still say that that race is probably like one of the most magical days of my entire career. It was obviously the first world title I'd ever won, so that in itself was unbelievable. but to win the race by eight minutes and I'd actually, before the race, I'd spent about 10 days at altitude, which was the first time I'd ever done an altitude block and it was kind of like a gamble. It was my husband, Reese, that said we should do it. And whilst I was training up there initially, I was a bit sick. So I was like not doing much training.

I actually remember one of the most famous eyeman triathletes of all time, Paula Newby Fraser, who's won Kona, I think, six times. She actually lived up where we were training and I'm sure multiple times. she just saw me going for a walk and I had like a big carton of water and I was like she must just think I don't train. I just walk around with water. But it's because I'd been so sick. So I spent two days doing that and then started to come around, started to train really, really well. And then when we dropped down from altitude like a day or two before the race, I was swimming down at, it's still not completely sea level in St George. It's, I think it gets up to like a thousand meters. But we

wasn't at that elevation. We were still a bit lower and I was doing like one of my pre-race swim sessions and I was absolutely flying and I was like I think this altitude thing might have worked for me and it was just one of those days on the race course where you're in that flow state I was like this just feels insane like I feel so good and I remember getting on the run and being told the gap and I couldn't believe it and I had like 3K left of the race and I was like I know I've won and there's like never a point in my career really where I felt like you know you've won before you get to that finish line and you can enjoy it so yeah it's still probably one of the most magical days of my entire career. And yeah, I try and like relive it when I can just to get that

motivation again. Yeah, it's always like that. In an athlete's career, you're always thinking like, you know, how do you replicate that? Like how do I go back? What was the thing? And I feel like maybe it was a little bit younger in your career. I feel like in 2020, there was probably so many people that superstitiously even like the day before like, oh, this is your year. You know, and you're like, no, don't say that. Why are you saying that right now? Whereas like 2021, a little greener, a little new, like can come into this thing. Like first time at altitude, like that, that, that That's magical stuff. Yeah, for sure.

And I mean, even in 2023 in Kona, I remember being on the marathon and every single person yelling at me like, this is your time, this is your day. And inside, I was in so much pain and agony. And I was like, I don't even want to hear that like because I was like, it could be my day or it could completely unravel and I'm not even going to come second again. I might not even finish. So, yeah, there's amazing days in sport, like Utah, 2021. And then there's days where you're just gritting it out and doing everything you can

to get to that finish line. From like a training standpoint, switching a little bit to that, what is a big week like for you? And then I guess also like what's a chill week for you? How do you measure everything? You know, from a, I'm assuming that you're using different like trading programs and things like this, but do you, for, you know, swimming or for riding or for running, like do you go by hours? Do you go by miles? Like, how do you break down your training? Yeah, I think it varies quite a lot depending on what I'm training for. So at the moment, I'm switching between the T100 triathlon, which is 100K triathlon distance, which lasts for less than four hours, or I'm training for full distance Iron Man, which takes eight or nine hours.

So the training for that overlaps quite nicely, but when you're in a specific block, it can be quite different. I train a lot more intensely when I'm training for T100, so that can be like 20 to 25 hours per week. And then when I'm training for Iron Man, it's more like 30 to 35 hours per week. I tracked that obviously using whoop I use my daily strain which we know is pretty high and then I also have my training pretty much laid out on training peaks so I can go on there look at what's set obviously have a good team around me I have my husband who is there every single day adapting things on the fly and just looking at how I'm doing and saying actually maybe we should adjust this session and then I have a guy called Dan Lorang who's quite well known in the

cycling world who sets the backbone of the training and then yeah we can adjust it if needed day by day session by session. I wouldn't say we're too stressed about hours. It's a lot looking at the training toll on the body and I guess going back to my old days as a swimmer, we didn't we'd obviously write a handwritten kind of note pad of what you'd done and it was based around how many metres you'd swam a week, not so much about hours. I kind of laugh when I look back because you'd say we'd train 20 hours a week. We spent 20 hours in water, but it wasn't actually 20 hours of training, whereas in triathlon now, I log like the actual time I spent moving.

So I know it's a lot more. When I serve trained 30 hours, it's 30 hours of me physically exercising, not being submerged in water or sat by the side of the road on a bike. It's quite a lot. It's quite intense, but I really enjoy the variety of the free sports. And I also try and do at least two gym sessions a week, normally three in the off season. And I don't think a lot of triathletes actually talk about strength training, but I think quite a lot of doing it now. It's definitely something I've always

enjoyed doing. I did it as a swimmer. So yeah, I enjoy throwing that into my training as well. Yeah, I want to get into that in a minute, or in a bit, because I have some YouTube stuff here and I notice you've been dabbling with some high rocks things on there. So I want to get into that. But I guess like when you're balancing each of these different disciplines of things, it seems like you're a bit of a warrior in that way. Like you're looking at a lot of different sports or verticals or categories of sport and then like trying to keep each of those buckets generally filled up but like how would somebody think about that like I think if they're balancing even running and swimming and biking just like start there and then you're like okay

how much how much focus are you putting on each of those things I think for people that's probably such a barrier to entry to even thinking about triathlon is because I barely have enough time to even go for a run after work or do this thing yeah how can you balance all three of those things and keep them in you know a decent a decent way so that you can not get injured especially but but but also like be even be competitive in those how do you how do you approach that yeah i think triathlon is pretty much what i look at it as like the ultimate balancing act you've got three disciplines and you can't put full focus into all three at once i don't think i think it's really important to have like periods of time where okay in this period of time i'm really going to focus on

my cycling see how much i can lift that up that doesn't mean you don't swim and run but you're not so focused on them you kind of have like the baseline amount that you want to hit on those two disciplines and then you spend the time really working on your cycling and seeing how much you can lift that. And obviously intra-a-falon the bike is the biggest part of the day. So I think arguably it's possibly the most important. If you're super fit and strong on the bike, the run's going to take less out of you. So yeah, it's about looking at, I'm breaking it down, but also trying to really work on your weakest discipline as well. So for me, that usually is the run. It's normally just because that's where I get injured. So I've had to spend a lot of time

not running over the years. But this year my main focus was just to be consistent on the run, not do like hero mileage, but just set a mileage where I feel like I'm in a really safe zone, but I can also progress and just be consistent. So consistency is definitely key. I think that is in any sport, but particularly endurance sport. So yeah, just trying to break it down into a nice way. I think it definitely helps having someone looking at your plan for you and saying, okay, Lucy, this is what I think is going to be best for you. And then having that feedback with them saying, okay, actually, I think I could lift my running up by another 10K and still be in a safe zone where I'm going to progress and feel good. But it's definitely not easy. I think it would be

really hard if you're just looking at that on your own without a team around you to give you good advice. But I do enjoy the challenge of balancing the free as well. What's up, folks, if you are enjoying this podcast or if you care about health, performance, fitness, you may really enjoy getting a whoop. That's right. You can check out, whoop at whoop.com. It measures everything around sleep, recovery, strain, and you can now sign up for free for 30 days. So you'll literally get the high performance wearable in the mail for free. You get to try it for 30 days, see whether you want to be a member. And that is just at whoop.com. Back to the guests. With regards to like the variety of stuff that you're doing, it seems like

swimming, like not going to beat up your body too badly. Like that's, that's like everyone's recovery. Like, oh, you get injured, kill you's injury? Hit the pool. You know? You know, cycling is non-concentric, not like smashing on the ground. But it feels like the running, and I have here that your runs typically average around a 15 plus strain. So we know in like whoop land that that's pretty hard. But also like on your body, it's just like slamming and so much. So I guess like when you're thinking about balancing all three of these and you think

about the running aspect, like are you saying like actually I'm going to like go more on the cardio side or the swim side in the bike side to, I don't want to say save your body, but not beat on yourself as much because you know it's hard? Yeah, I think I've learned over the years like when I have been injured that obviously then I rely on the swim and the bike and it's amazing how much fitness

you can obviously have from those two disciplines but then when you come back to running how quickly it does come back. So I think then when I'm running and I'm healthy, then I'm not too stressed about hitting this incredibly high mileage because I know I can run pretty well off low mileage. So yeah, like I said, I think consistency is definitely key.

I also like to mix up the terrain on running as well. So I'm really lucky where I live on the edge of London. We have amazing trails that I can run on. So they're a bit softer on the body. I also use the treadmill and then like I'll just be a bit more cautious with pounding the pavement for my hard sessions. I'll kind of maybe once a week have a hard concrete based session. Otherwise, yeah, just using the treadmill on the trails, which are just that bit easier on the body. But there's no better feeling why I personally find than doing like a really hard run workout. The buzz from that is definitely unmatched on the other two disciplines. I don't know if it's because running is the

biggest challenge for me. I get the biggest buzz from it. But yeah, running is, when it's good, it's my favorite discipline. When it's going badly, it's so, so tough. So, yeah, sometimes it's a love, hate with running. But at the moment, I feel like I'm loving it. So I'm in a good place. Yeah, I usually get over my skis on the runs. And like, I'll be like, my wife runs every day. I'll be like, oh, yeah, let's go. And I'll go out there and I'll be like 40 minutes. And then I'm just leaking oil everywhere. I'm like, oh, no. Why? Why did I say yes to this? Because she's fast. So since this is the Whoop podcast, I have some recovery and whoop style questions that I think our listeners would like to hear from you on. So my first question is, what does a perfect recovery day look like for you? So my recovery days generally include an easy swim and a strength session. That's probably as easy as it gets in triathlon land and a dog walk usually. Yes, I've seen your dogs. The dogs are a big part of your world.

Yeah. They are a huge part of my world and I feel like they're the best way to like switch off from that all-consuming world of triathlon and just going for a walk, clear in my mind, being in nature and they're so entertaining the two dogs I have. They're called Lola and Pickle and pickle. And yeah, they just are a really great distraction. But I find they're really good for recovery. And then alongside that, obviously, eating really good nutrition, seeing my physio regularly like I all. always use my physio on a rest day and yeah, kind of just do all the good things. I have an ice bath at home as well. Sometimes it takes me a bit of time to like build up the courage to go and sit in there. But I find that also really does help quite a lot as well. Naps? Are we like, are we napping? I'm a really bad napper. Like it's the one thing my husband is like, every pro athlete naps. Like, why won't you do it? And I'm like, no, I've got too much other stuff to do. Like, I need to do the laundry. I need to do this. I can't just be napping when there's things to be done or I might be sending emails or, yeah, trying to keep on top of life. So it's probably

something I could really benefit from. It seems like speaking of your husband, Reese, who we got to meet earlier, who's traveling with you right now, that you guys are really locked in together. I was listening to something where you were saying that maybe over the last year he had been like doing a bunch of research in like how to make you more aerodynamic, like being in the wind tunnel, trying to find all of this different, you know, one percenters that can that can bring you even faster and break more records and be at your best. But I guess have you noticed any big changes in your performance and recovery since like you've started using more tech? Because I guess like the way I'm thinking about this question is that, you know, in the Tour de France or in these

other events, you start to see these times going faster and faster every year. But you also realize it like ceramic bearings and like, you know, shoe covers and, you know, the way that they're feeling and so many things are changing from year to year. It's very science-heavy sport. But yeah, talk a little bit about Reese and maybe how he's been helping you, you know, perfect your game? Yeah, for sure. I mean, Reese has been such a huge part of my, well, my life, but also obviously my sporting career. We met back when we were both swimmers. He was studying sports science at university and I was like on the high performance swim squad there and he always was the person that just had the best advice and was, I'd be like, okay, I'm going to try that in my training and like nine times out of 10 it would work.

And I'd be like, oh, how did you know this was going to work? And he's kind of followed that path. throughout my whole career. He'll be researching aerodynamics, nutrition, all sorts of things, and we'll apply that to the training, and then I progress and make gains. So, yeah, he's completely invaluable to my career for sure and just has been there all the way. He's just incredibly supportive as well. I'd say he's very, very good at tough love as well. So, but you need that. I think there's no point in sugarcoating things like after a race, he'll be very pragmatic, break it down and say, look, you wasn't good enough here. We need to work on this. But that is what you need. It's like 1% all the time to progress. And since I've been in the sport of

triathlon, which is about 10 years, the rate of progression and the things that we've seen over that time is just insane. Like when I first started, no one was really aerodynamic. Now the entire female field has like dialed their aerodynamics. So in the wind tunnel three times a year, four times a year, just trying to find those watts wherever you can. So we made some big gains in the wind tunnel at the start of this year, which was thanks to Reese. He'd kind of looked at all these different things and was like, I think we should try this. And even the people in the wind tunnel were like, it's not going to work. And it did work. But I think it's because I'm quite a unique shape for a triathlete with my swim background. I'm much broader in the shoulders than most of a

triathletes. So things that work for me might not necessarily work for other athletes, particularly maybe not the general cyclist who's a very slim shoulder build. So yeah, he's just been incredible and looking at different things and always thinking outside the box. So yeah, he plays a huge part. And it's like, When I win, he wins as well. Well, the whole team wins. But it's, yeah, a huge team effort. Yeah. Yeah, it's always good to have a good crew.

So obviously, like, those aerodynamic gains, those are real. Like, you look at that and you know, like, hey, we're just going to go faster. So that's, like, free speed. Absolutely. But how much of it do you think, I guess, with regards to like whoop or the data that you get, like the data and the metrics that you're bringing in are changing the way that you're training? And how much of it's also just still based on feel? Yeah, I think what I love about whoop is that it's,

it usually is like completely in line with how I feel. So I'll wake up and you're like, I think I'm going to be like in the yellow today and then I am. So it's like just matching up with how I feel. And swimming was a very feel-based sport. Like obviously I used to be a distant swimmer and I could be quite metronomic in my splits. So like for every 100 metres it would be the same for our 1500

and you're just doing that purely based on feel. So I feel like I'm very good at listening to my body and knowing. but just to have that data there to back it up and then so many different things that you can look at. And yeah, I find it fascinating. I think coming from a sport where there wasn't much data and then going into triathlon, which is like data geeks heaven, I feel like I sit somewhere in the middle. So I enjoy having the data, but I also enjoy listening to my body. Yeah. I often think of whoop as like the third person in the room. So you're like, you're looking at something, you're talking to Reese, you're talking to your coaches. And then you're like making

that corroborating evidence like, okay, this is this is on top of this. We also have this thing that's like outlier here and that's also saying and painting a picture for where you think you feel. And it's maybe, yeah, confirming or saying like, hey, actually, maybe it isn't this. Yeah, absolutely. And I think as athletes, we can be quite bad at like taking the rest day or I think triathletes are particularly bad. So if you're feeling like you're super tired and maybe you should have the day off, but then we like guilt trip ourselves into training. But then if I have the WOOP data there that's like saying I'm in the red. It's saying my respiratory rate is up, my HRV is down. I'm like, oh, I probably should listen to this. And then it kind of just

takes that guilt away. You're like, you know, actually I'm making the right decision here to just have a complete day off, take the rest, and then tomorrow I'm going to train better again. So, yeah, it is like that third person kind of just validating your decisions, which I really like. Yeah, what do you think is the number one thing that you look at with WOOP? Like if you're, you know, we work with a ton of athletes here. Very luckily, we feel super privileged to be able to work with so many cool people and different athletes. But, you know, some of them are really focused on like, hey, time in, time out of bed.

Like, that's most important to me. And some are focused on, you know, HRV trends. Like, hey, when I'm in my offseason, I want to see this. Or when I do a big block, I want to see it bounce back after a certain period. Like, I'm actually really focused on my, like, resting heart rate because I think that's super important, you know, or even using it for altitude and things like this. We see a lot of people that want to see, like, you know, a certain amount of time pass before they start to do any exercise at altitude, you know, based off whoop data, like, hey,

we're going to go up there. We know we're going to be in the red, but then when we come back and get to some baseline, like we want to see before we even do even a lick of intensity, like, we want to see some metrics come back to baselines. What do you think is the number one thing that you use it for, you love about it? Because I've got a lot of whoop data here about you from journaling and other things. But I'm curious from from your standpoint, like what do you look at most? Yeah, I think sleep is probably the biggest thing that I track. And it's trying to be in routine. So going to bed at the same time, waking up at the same time, and you definitely feel better for doing that. And then when I can track that, most times when I'm in bed at the same

time and getting up at the same time, then my recovery score is in the green. So that's definitely something I track. I also really enjoy looking at HRV. I find it so interesting. And also how personal it is, so how some athletes have this super high HRV. And I would say that mine maybe sits somewhere more in the middle. But for me to be feeling really good. yeah, it's probably around like the 70s, then I'm having, I'm feeling great, I'm feeling good to go. So, yeah, it's something I really enjoy tracking. Obviously, resting heart rate is a big one. Like, I know if it's elevated, then I could be at risk of getting sick. So it's just managing that a little bit and saying, okay, maybe I should be reducing that intensity a little bit in my

training today or just listening to my body a little bit more or topping up on the vitamin C, things like that. So, yeah, it's amazing to just have that little secondary guide and, yeah, no, I'm doing the right thing for my body. You said that it also, you really loved that it matches up with how you feel. I personally would play this game with myself where I'd like wake up and I'd like, man, I feel, I feel great today and then look at my whoop score. I'm curious if you also play this game. Yeah, for sure. And I also like recently, I was racing obviously quite a lot recently. And there was one day where I was like, I'm not actually going to look at what my score is until after this race. In case it's bad. I was like, I don't want it to like throw off my mental state. I'm like, I've

woken up, I feel good, so we're just going to go with that. And then it was quite interesting because then after the race, I looked at it. And I was like, I think it was like 96% recovered. And I was like, oh, I should have looked at it because it would have given me a confidence boost. But yeah, I obviously had the feeling and I was right. So yeah, it was good. There is an incognito mode for anyone that doesn't know. You can, you can hide your metrics on race day, which is kind of cool. So then you can get like all your strain data, but you don't get in your head. Because even for, you know, anybody, like, hey, I don't want to know today. Like, you can record whatever you want to do, but I'll look at it afterwards. So it is like a good little,

good to know. It's in the, it's in the hamburger. You can go down in the bottom right if you're half in and check it. I guess with that, with so much traveling and like double days of training, what do you think is the most important thing for your sleep routine that you've done or that you've put in place, you know, in daily life, like you were saying getting out of bed and sleep, but like also when you're on the road, like what are some things that you, you know, like, I don't go on the road without this, or I always do this, or, you know, the room that I stay in wants to be this temperature, anything like that that you really subscribe to. Yeah, there's definitely a few things with sleep.

Like, I always travel with my own pillow, so it takes up half my suitcase, but I, like, I'm guaranteed a good night's sleep if I have my own pillow. It kind of sounds a bit deeperish, but it works. I bring it everywhere with me no matter where I go. Towards the end of last year, I started wearing, like, the blue light blocking glasses before bed so that I love being on my phone and playing games or just switching off. like that kind of thing. So yeah, I wear the blue light blocking glasses before bed just to help. I found it has made quite a difference. Always being in like the darkest room possible,

making it quite cold in there as well. So yeah, I'm not someone who travels and doesn't have the aircon on, but I have aircon on at home all the time anyway. So I think I'm pretty used to it. So yeah, they're kind of my go-toes trying to not eat too late as well. So having that last meal a good few hours before I go to sleep so that it's digested. Yeah, I guess just implementing in the same things I do at home and then trying to apply that when I travel. It's not always easy, but, yeah, trying to replicate home as much as possible. Love that. Do you like a firm pillow?

Or is it like a saw? Are you like kind of like a feather, like down pillow for a second? It's pretty firm, actually. Yeah, yeah, it's somewhere quite in the middle. So I really hate a really soft pillow. Yeah. Then my neck is just thrown out and then for swimming, that's not good. And for riding the TT position, it's not good.

Yeah, seriously. That is like a crunch position. Speaking of screen time in bed, one of the things that we know noticed in your whoop journal is that you sometimes track that you use a screen in bed. And we notice that it increases your recovery by 7%. So we might be offsetting things with the blue light blocking glasses, but who doesn't love a good scroll? Like I'm personally like a hangout on Zillow and like look at the, I don't know why. I just love looking at the house listings, but love to know what you love about. Is it catching up? What are you doing on your phone before you go to bed?

And because some people would say this is a downside, but like, I think, I think in moderation, everything's fine. Yeah, I think it depends, yeah, what you're doing. I mean, obviously, I'm not scrolling through and, like, reading comments that are going to get me fired up and angry before bed. But I am definitely someone, again, I do like to go and browse, like, huge houses in the UK and, like, look at those. And I think then it's like, right, I'm going to dream big. If I race really well, then one day I might be able to afford this house. So, yeah, it's definitely something that Reese is the same. We enjoy doing that.

Yeah, playing like card games or there's a game called Rumma Cub. I don't know if you've heard of it. No. It's kind of like a numbers strategy game and Reese's family got quite into it and you can play them online as well. I normally play just random players but yeah, just switching off playing a game that's like completely nothing to do with my life. I find that really helps me unwind.

Yeah, because there's a lot to balance. That's cool. You're invited to join the waitlist for Whoop Advanced Labs. Advanced Labs delivers clinician reviewed lab results right into your WOOP app for the most complete view of your biomarkers and biometrics and the most comprehensive understanding of your health. Unlike other tests, WOOP integrates your lab results with your WOOP data. See how your habits and behaviors influence your biomarkers and get clear guidance on what to change to improve your results. To join the wait list, visit our website or the health tab in the Woop app. one of the other things that you logged was a gluten-free diet and I remember when we were at dinner last night with some of the whoop crew and you had noted that you also had been diagnosed with celiac and you obviously logged that every day as like one of the things but what's that been like for you?

Yeah so it was around April, May last year that I found out I had celiac disease. I definitely knew for a while that something wasn't quite well with my health and I kind of had got to a point where it got really bad. also had so many injuries that we couldn't really explain why that happened. We were just putting it down to, well, you're an endurance athlete. You put your body through a lot. But I knew that I was doing so many things right. I was like, yeah, but I can't, why am I the only athlete that gets injured like multiple times a year who's doing this sport? So it was around year, April last year. I'd actually gone out to Germany to visit a few of my sponsors and I'd eaten so much gluten. We'd had pizza, pasta, German beers. And I got home from there and I was like, I am really not well. Like I was like, I'm going to go to the doctor and get this looked at.

So they did run some blood tests. And I went in and they were like, you do know you have celiac disease. And I was like, nope, I didn't know that. I've got to like 31 years old. I didn't know I had this. So it really did explain a lot. It kind of explained why I'd be getting stress fractures and things like that. Because although I get a really healthy balanced diet, I wasn't absorbing any of that nutrition

because I was poisoning myself with gluten. So, yeah, since then I felt so much healthier. inflammation is so much more down in my body. I just have so much more energy or consistent energy. I'm not having those big dips in energy throughout the day. And my training is far more consistent and touch wood. I've been healthy this year. I've had no issues.

So it's been such a positive change. Definitely something that I like do try and promote people to, if they're having similar symptoms to what I had, definitely go and get it checked out because it's been pretty life-changing for me, for sure. I actually had the exact same experience. Like, early 30s, like, went in and was like, man, I, like, I remember drinking a beer and I literally couldn't get off the couch for a day. Like, I don't know.

I drank beer in my 20s, but then, like, in my 30s, I just, every time I'd have a beer with friends, I'd be, like, completely knocked out. And I remember we went out, we had, like, a couple. And, like, you, we had had, like, some other things, pizza and, like, a lot of it. And I remember being like, man, I'm destroyed. And the doctors said, like, come back, you know, you have to not have gluten for a day or something like this before you come in. So, like, I got a test it.

And he was like, hey, man, I got a bad. news like this this part of your life this chapter's over yeah no it's quite devastating in the beginning like when obviously like cyclists we love having like a coffee stop ride and there's cakes and things or pastries and cross-ons and it's like oh when they're off the menu but then the amount you feel better for it you're kind of like okay it is worth it yeah for sure okay so I guess then the other thing that I wanted to talk about is your YouTube channel because I did see some high rocks on there which yeah I'm curious just give it to us With the high rocks. What's going on? Because we've had some high rocks athletes in that were also joining us here at the at HQ here in Boston. And high rocks is taken off. But I'm curious to know, because you already are doing so many sports. I'm really, I'm really curious that you are looking to take on more sports and try different things. Yeah, there's been a few or there's been a bit of a trend actually with like triathletes retiring and then dipping their toe in high rocks. So I've seen a few professional triathletes that have had a go. And it looked kind of fun. And I'm someone who does really love the gym and that kind of thing.

So I happened to be out in Lanzarotti at Club La Santa where I train where they actually have a pretty good high rock set up there. There happened to be a lady called Lucy Proctor who is one of the best high rocks athletes and she was there and I had just done the Iron Man and I was like, oh, we could do a high rocks workout together, which I was like, maybe this is really stupid because I've literally just done an Iron Man and I'm going to be tired. But I was like, oh, I knew it would be hard, but I was like, I think it also be fun as well. So I decided to do a training session with her. My sister, Holly, was there filming it as well, which was good and bad because I did a lot of things very wrong and the high rock community hounded me for it. So yeah, the burpee broad jumps were not a rep. So I got that.

A lot of times, they're not a rep. They're not a rep. I was like, okay, I'm not doing this seriously, guys. It's fine. I was just doing a workout. But I honestly loved it. It was so much fun. I was like, probably actually shouldn't have tried this because it's so much more fun than my

training that I could definitely get on board with it. I feel like it would need quite a lot of work in like dialing in the specifics. I know there's quite a lot of rules around no reps and things like that. But at some point I will definitely do one. Maybe I'll start with a doubles because we kind of did a doubles workout and it was so much fun. I know Lucy Davis is here who also was a swimmer in her earlier life. So I wouldn't mind doing a doubles with her one day as well. I think there's quite a few people that would hit me up to do it.

But yeah, maybe a few years down the line we'll give it a trial. I think I'll stick with triathlon for now. Lucy number three. We had Lucy, number one, then we had Lucy Davis, and now we've got Lucy Proctor. So this is, I feel like if you guys go into something, there's going to be some confusion. Imagine the relay. No, seriously. Yeah, we don't, yeah.

I feel like the announcer is going to have a trip with that. But yeah, you've got a really cool social media following. You do a lot of content, and you've built like a really great YouTube channel. For anyone that hasn't checked it out, I think they should go check it out because there's all kinds of stuff on there about, like, how you eat and how you, you know, a day in your life of training. Yeah, you've built, obviously, your brand as a professional. athlete, you've built this, but where did that passion for documenting stuff like this come from and

why did you start a YouTube channel? And everyone has a social media, but YouTube's a different vibe all together. Yeah, I think I've always been someone that's quite creative. So at school, I studied obviously all the sports, but I also studied photography and I really liked art and design and that kind of thing. So I was quite creative, but then my sister Holly was also seriously sporty, but then her creative side was like, I'd say the bigger side, she probably won't mind me saying. So when Holly graduated from uni, she'd studied photography and I asked, did she want to come on board as like helping with social media? Maybe we could do a YouTube channel, we could kind of just explore that and really share my journey. And I feel like it just,

it really did take off. I mean, it obviously helps that Holly is incredible what she does. But then I do really enjoy sharing my story and trying to help other people by even inspiring them or also sharing like the tough times when I've had an injury, how I've overcome it, what I've done. And a lot of the messages I get from people are like, oh, I've had this stress fracture and I followed your journey and it's inspired me and made me not feel so bad. Like I feel like I can come back from this and will be as good as I was before, if not better. So yeah, if I can be giving any positive influence on someone else's life from what I'm sharing, then that's a really important message for me. Yeah, love that. I love that. What do you think your favorite video that you ever did was?

Oh, we've done so many good ones. I mean, I always love the race videos, especially when the race has gone well because it's like reliving that moment. So recently I raced Iron Man, Lanzarotti and was lucky enough to have Holly like on a media moto getting most of the footage for the day. So I almost just relived the whole day. And it was a really, really fun day. Like Lanzarotti is like a second home for me.

So it was like during a home race, the crowds there were amazing and just yeah, rewatching it back. Like it's one of them I can just rewatch it back on the train. trainer and be like, right, let's give me a bit more motivation. But yeah, we've done so many fun things along the way. And yeah, I enjoy going back and watching the old ones as well. It's a family affair. It is for sure. Yeah. It is. We're also roping my parents and to come to altitude with us on our next training camp. So they can look after the dogs a bit while we train and yeah, we'll call it a holiday for them. But they'll be helping. Your parents will be

flying when they come back down to London life. That's it. Well, they're both quite well, my mom particularly loves running and my dad tries to keep up with her. But I'm sure. sure they'll be trying to do like a park run pb when they get home if you see the last name on the start list of your local uh whatever 5k in london watch out especially if it's after the training camp um a couple last quick questions what what do you have for upcoming goals like near and long term i guess like on and off of the race course what do you got i'm actually doing a swim competition this weekend when i get home just for fun it's kind of like seeing how close i can get to the old swimming times that i used to do i always find that quite motivating and i would say

like with swimming, it can be the hardest one to motivate myself to train for because I'm always at a good level, but it requires so much work to get back to the level I used to swim at. So when I can implement like small swim focus goals, it really does help. So yeah, I should be racing an 800 and a 1500 this weekend, which is like a small side goal. And then the next big event for me will be the London T-100 race, which obviously is a home race for me. So it has that significant importance. most of my friends and family will come down and watch. I actually didn't finish the race last year, which was heartbreaking. So if I can just finish this year, that would be incredible.

But I'd love to get on the podium in that race. That would be great. And then after that, the big goal will be going back to the Iron Man World Championships in Kona and trying to win again or trying to go faster than last time. I'll probably set some kind of more, I guess, like personal targets within the race as well, just so that it's like if you don't win, it's not a complete failure. I think it's really important to like have those side goals within a race as well

to know that even if you didn't get that kind of outcome goal at the end, you still achieve big things within the race. So yeah, I'm sure I'll break it down a little bit more into what I want to achieve on that day. But Cona is always so, so special to me. So that's pretty much the biggest goal of the year for sure. Yeah. What will going into Cona look like for you? Like where you go early, like a week early, two weeks early.

I've never been, but I've heard it's quit the event. And also, I know they split the men's and the women's events up, although I've also heard that it's coming back together. Everybody's going to get the hang on cone again for the big party. Yeah, 2026, we will all go back together, which I think is amazing. Like the atmosphere when we're all there is so incredible. And when I first went and raced there, that's what I experienced. Reese and I was both racing as amateur athletes. And yeah, just that camaraderie between all the athletes is so amazing.

So I think, yeah, 26 will be incredible. This year, obviously I look forward to it as well. It's still. really special when women do have their own day and like all eyes are on us. I think that is really important. But there's still something magical about being out on the race course the same times as the pro men. Like I, when we're riding out to like the halfway point in the bike and the men are coming back, you're always like, oh, who's, who's leaning in the men's race? Like, how's that going? So yeah, it's like a side bit of entertainment that's going on whilst you're

pushing yourself. So yeah, I definitely look forward to that in 2026. But yeah, we've got to get through this year first and yeah hopefully i can go there and have a really great race again well thanks a lot for being a woup athlete thanks for coming through hq and thanks for taking some time to chat with us today oh thank you so much it's been fun if you enjoyed this episode of the woup podcast please leave a rating or review check us out on social at woup at will omit if you have a question was answered on the podcast email us podcast to woup dot com call us 508 443 4952 if you think about joining whoop you can visit woup dot com sign up for a free 30-day trial membership. New members can use the code will, W ILL, to get a $60 credit on Woop

accessories when you enter the code at checkout. That's a wrap, folks. Thank you all for listening. We'll catch you next week on the WOOP podcast. As always, stay healthy and stay in the green.