Dr Chris & DR katie

At the end of 2016 I decided at the age of 63 to enter Ironman Wales with my daughter Katie. My last Ironman was in 2010 and this was her first long distance event. With my advancing years I realised that I needed some help to complete what is widely regarded as one of the hardest Ironman events in the world. I am a retired GP and before signing up with one of the many triathlon coaches out there I did some research to find the best coach for me. I wanted to find someone who was well respected as a coach, had already achieved as a triathlete and who took an analytical approach to training. After my period of research I found Neil and Performance Edge. I haven’t been disappointed!

I am one of the many people who get round events by using the junk mileage training approach. Training under Neil’s guidance has been very different - quality over content. When I trained for Ironman UK I had a three month sabbatical from work and often trained for over 20 hours a week. Neil’s training started at around 8 hours a week and finally peaked at 17 hours. The difference was the intensity of the training with each training session suddenly having a purpose along the journey towards Ironman fitness. 

In May 2017 I went on his training camp with Katie to Majorca. This was an excellent experience and we were able to explore areas of the island I have never visited before. The camp concentrated mainly on cycling and we managed 350+ miles with 24,000 feet of climbing in the week. Before going out cycling we did an hour of swimming in the pool and an occasional run off the bike. The hotel was fantastic as was the organisation and coaching. I’ve booked again for next year and would thoroughly recommend Neil’s training camp which caters for all abilities.

Katie was also coached by Neil for a few months after the training camp before her Ironman. Again she has nothing but praise for his efforts to prepare her for the event.

Ironman Wales finally came on 10 September. Unfortunately the weather was horrendous with heavy rain and strong winds. Apart from the scenery, what made the event for us was the brilliant crowd support. Thousands of people cheered us on despite the awful conditions. Neither of us achieved the times we were hoping for. This was not down to Neil but our decision to finish the event and enjoy the experience. We managed to keep together on the bike and ran the marathon together finishing in 15 1/2 hours.

In summary we couldn’t recommend Neil and his approach to training highly enough. If you are a novice or seasoned triathlete he will be there for you.