# From "Maybe One Day" to "You Are an Ironman!": Martin’s Age-Group Story | Ep 564

An episode of [Oxygenaddict Triathlon Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/951501034), 12 Nov 2025, 35 min.

Audio: https://anchor.fm/s/ea99f7d8/podcast/play/111026924/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-11%2F472808c4-d1b6-f37f-a6f3-a8c738334c03.m4a

This week’s age-grouper story is a cracker. Martin Imms shares how he went from hovering over the Ironman “Enter” button to committing and finishing Ironman Kalmar before his 50th. We dig into juggling training around a busy job, hotel life and family buy-in, the appeal of Kalmar’s flat, fast course, and dealing with raceday adversity Martin talks through his day, including his first ever marathon, and soaking up the Swedish crowd support to cross the line in ~13 hours. If you’re considering your first Ironman you’ll get practical tips on reframing travel weeks, managing expectations, breaking big goals into small wins, and being brave enough to hit “enter.” * * * * * * * SPONSORS * * * * * * * * Thinking about your first Ironman or 70.3 in 2026? At Team Oxygenaddict, we specialise in helping busy professionals fit high-quality training around demanding jobs and family life. We’ve just reopened for new athletes with only a handful of slots available. Book an application call today to find out if you'd be a good fit for Team Oxygenaddict for the coming season here: https://team.oxygenaddict.com/consultation-call/ * * * * * * * * * * * * precisionfuelandhydration.com Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fuelling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised race nutrition plan for your next event. And then book a free 20-minute video consultation with a member of the PF&H Athlete Support Team to refine your strategy. Listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolytes with Precision Fuel & Hydration. Simply click this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout. * * * * * * * * * * * * Watch on youtube Listen on Spotify Listen on Apple Podcasts

## Transcript

[0:04] Hello and welcome to the Oxygen Addict to Athlon podcast.
[0:07] We're brought to you every week by our sponsors Precision Fuel
[0:10] and hydration.com. You can get 15% off your first
[0:13] order with the code Oxygen Fuel 25.
[0:16] Welcome to the show everybody. I'm your host coach, Rob Wilby
[0:18] from team Oxygenatic Triathlon coaching.
[0:20] Every week I bring you an episode of this podcast to help
[0:23] educate, motivate and inspire you.
[0:25] On this week's episode, I've got an age group story.
[0:28] I bring you the story of Martin EMS. Martin completed Iron Man
[0:32] Kalmar out in Sweden, and it's a great story of the first Iron
[0:37] Man from from sitting by the computer, hovering with the
[0:42] finger over the enter button and deciding not to do it a couple
[0:45] of years ago, right through to committing and right through to
[0:48] completing the race. If you're considering doing your
[0:51] first Iron Man or if you're considering doing Kelmar,
[0:54] Martin's got some great experience and a wonderful
[0:56] story, so I hope you really, really enjoy it.
[0:58] Before we get started and get into that, though, there's two
[1:01] quick things you could do to help us.
[1:03] Please, if you like this episode, please follow us on
[1:06] Spotify or Apple Podcasts. And if you're looking for help
[1:09] training for your first Iron Man on 70.3, please check out our
[1:12] coaching memberships over at teamoxygenetic.com.
[1:15] I think we've got the most comprehensive triathlon coaching
[1:19] solution for busy age group as it's specifically designed for
[1:22] people who've got families, who've got work lives, who've
[1:24] got other things going on and can't train full time.
[1:27] If you're interested, there's a link in the show notes to book a
[1:30] membership call with me and see if you'd be a good fit for
[1:32] joining the team. Right then let's get over to our
[1:35] interview of the week, our age group story with Martin EMS. All
[1:39] right, Martin EMS, welcome, welcome on to the show.
[1:43] It's great to have the opportunity to chat to you and
[1:45] hear your age group story and to give a little bit of background
[1:49] to the listeners and to the viewers.
[1:51] You recently. Well, it's last summer and hours
[1:55] net completed Iron Man, Kalmar having come to us with a very,
[2:01] very polite e-mail that said decide that I want to do an Iron
[2:04] Man. Do you think you can help me?
[2:07] I've entered it already. So.
[2:08] So please help was pretty much the background if it wasn't it
[2:11] so. So let's kick things off.
[2:13] Tell us a little bit about about yourself, your family, your
[2:16] work, and what it was that led you to decide you wanted to do
[2:19] An Iron Man in the first place. Yeah, sure.
[2:23] Thanks, Rob. Well, I suppose, Yeah.
[2:25] My journey started like it was many years ago when I first
[2:27] started getting into, well, playing with triathlon.
[2:29] Really. Yeah.
[2:30] I've always been always been relatively sort of active and
[2:33] sporty in various different things.
[2:35] But yeah. And I've done, you know, well
[2:39] before joining COA, I've done a number of triathlons over over
[2:43] the years, mainly short ones, Sprint distance, Olympic.
[2:46] And I did throw my hat into one sort of, yeah, 70.3 distance,
[2:51] the Holcomb. Holcomb half down there swimming
[2:54] in the swamp and then really mound, yeah, running around the
[2:58] really nice sort of yeah, the, the estate down there.
[3:02] So that was my sort of yeah, triathlon sort of background
[3:06] work life is, is very busy. Married to two kids who have
[3:11] pretty much grown up now sort of 18 and and 20.
[3:16] And then yeah, I've got a fairly busy sort of work life looking
[3:18] after. And I'm a country manager for
[3:21] for a company in the UK. So I, I travel quite a lot
[3:23] around, around the UK and Europe at times.
[3:27] So yeah, work, work life is is is fairly fairly chocker fairly
[3:31] busy. Yes, awesome.
[3:33] But no, I was, that was before, yeah, coming to you guys.
[3:36] I was, you know, I had it in my head that I was keen to sort of
[3:39] do the sort of next step after the 70.3.
[3:43] And yeah, my 50th birthday is creeping up quite soon.
[3:47] And yeah, I was keen, keen to take off the full, the full
[3:49] distance before, before I reached the age of you.
[3:53] It's funny, actually back in, I think it was 2022, I got to the
[3:57] point of of, you know, getting onto the Iron Man website and
[4:01] almost clicking the box to enter, but really felt the fear
[4:04] at that point in time and thought, there's no way I can do
[4:06] this. What are you thinking?
[4:07] You know, you're a crazy man. And I bottled it.
[4:10] So yeah, for the next sort of 12 months, that was sort of playing
[4:13] on my mind. But eventually entered back in
[4:16] 2023, ticked the box, paid my money and then thought, crikey,
[4:20] what am I going to do now? So yeah, the reality really sort
[4:23] of kicked in. I think a lot of people go
[4:26] through that. I think a lot more people than
[4:29] admit, go to the website, have a look, have a think, go away,
[4:33] come back. And then they go to the getting
[4:36] ready to click the button box and then really get gripped with
[4:39] that feeling of like, it's quite overwhelming, isn't it, that the
[4:42] thought of how far all the distances are?
[4:45] Yeah. I mean, it's, it's, I mean, I've
[4:47] spoken to a number of people before getting to that point.
[4:50] And, but yeah, I mean, it is, it's, it's a really, it's a big
[4:52] commitment both from a yeah, training point of view.
[4:55] And, and then like you say, the distances can be scary, you
[4:59] know, 2.4 mile slim, 180 kilometres on the bike and then
[5:02] and then a marathon. I've never done a marathon and
[5:05] actually I've still only done one.
[5:08] But yeah, so it was the, it was a, it was a big sort of old leap
[5:11] of faith. But like I said, I was keen to
[5:13] get it ticked off before I was 50.
[5:14] So yeah, threw myself in there. A mate of mine who I used to run
[5:19] with, he used to laugh when I would talk about people doing
[5:22] Iron Man's and helping people prepare for Iron Man's.
[5:24] And he would say the guys at the running club who were doing the
[5:27] London Marathon, it's the biggest thing in their life.
[5:30] It's not just the biggest thing in their year.
[5:32] If they get a slot for London or they they do Manchester, they
[5:36] focus for six months on the running trainings, going to a
[5:38] marathon. And you guys triathlete seem to
[5:41] treat it as like a, like an afterthought at the end of the
[5:44] swim and the bike. So it really puts it in
[5:46] perspective. I think the the way normal
[5:49] people see triathletes when they when they think about the the
[5:52] demands of an Iron Man. Yeah, no, I think that's a very
[5:57] fairpoint. I mean, I mean, I'm not a runner
[5:59] really either of I mean, I've, I've done bits, I've done the
[6:01] odd sort of half marathon here and there and, you know, the old
[6:03] 5K and 10K. But yeah, my background was
[6:07] really swimming. I've just spent a bit of time on
[6:09] the bike. But yeah.
[6:09] So it was a it was a real commitment for me to, to make
[6:13] that leap for Yeah. So pushing into the real unknown
[6:16] really from from my point of view.
[6:18] I'm always really fascinated what it is that drives people to
[6:22] do it. Can you remember what it was
[6:24] that made you think, yeah, I want to, I want to do one of
[6:27] these? For me, for me, it was a
[6:29] challenge. I mean, like I say, my, my work
[6:32] life is really quite busy and, and it's so easy to, to sort of
[6:36] coast and, you know, travel with work, spend time in hotels, you
[6:41] sit in the bar or your bedroom or, or wherever.
[6:44] For me, I'm always keen to have like something in the calendar
[6:46] and something in the diary to, to, to, to, to keep me active
[6:50] and to keep me, to keep me moving just from a general
[6:53] health point of view. But obviously Iron Man's a bit
[6:55] of a different beast, isn't it? It's a bit of a step on from,
[6:58] from the normal. But like I say, it was the IT
[7:02] was the, IT was the the magic kit that all really the the
[7:06] mysterious sort of mystery of it, the fact that it is such a
[7:08] big, a big challenge and a big, big long day out was, was what
[7:13] sort of drew me in. Yeah.
[7:16] We'll talk a little bit about the way that you managed to fit
[7:21] your training in then, because I think anybody finds it
[7:24] challenging to fit the training in for an Iron Man.
[7:26] But, but more so if you're, if you're travelling around the
[7:30] country and around Europe and you're in hotels.
[7:32] And what does a what does a typical work week look like for
[7:35] you, if there is a typical thing?
[7:36] And what kind of things did you have to negotiate around?
[7:39] Yeah, well, I live up in the northwest of England and yeah.
[7:44] And like I said, I spend two or three days a week down in down
[7:47] in sort of North London in Watford in living out of hotels
[7:51] and spending, spending time in the office or long days in the
[7:54] office. I mean, so I mean, before
[7:57] obviously finally committing to the, to the full training plan
[8:00] for the for the Iron Man. Obviously the key thing for me
[8:03] was to get family on board because they, they, they
[8:05] appreciate it as well that it was a big, a big old commitment.
[8:09] So I almost asked permission first before, before sort of
[8:12] diving into it. And then it was about managing,
[8:15] it was about managing the, the, the diary, the training load and
[8:19] the workload. So a typical week could be like
[8:23] I say, two or three days down, down living out of the hotel
[8:26] either in sort of Watford or another, another place across
[8:31] around Europe. And yeah, it's then just, I
[8:35] suppose for me being really disciplined about trying to sort
[8:37] of fit in the various different sessions over over that period
[8:40] of time. In some ways, being away from
[8:43] home, it made it it made it a little bit easier because I
[8:46] could be a little bit more selfish when it came to the end
[8:48] of the day. I didn't need to, you know, yes,
[8:50] there was a, you know, phone call home, check in, make sure
[8:52] everything was OK with, with with the Rachel and the kids.
[8:56] But then it's I could focus on me and get myself into the gym
[8:59] and get my sessions done. I'll be up in the morning and
[9:02] focus on me to get my, you know, the sessions done around around
[9:04] the working day. I mean, and then, yeah, the
[9:07] permission and the sort of, yeah, sort of real challenge
[9:09] came in when I was back home at the weekend, having been away
[9:13] for a good chunk of the week, sort of saying hi guys, I'm, I'm
[9:16] back, but I'm actually looking out on the I was 7 hour bike
[9:20] ride over the weekend. I'll be back sort of later on.
[9:22] So it was, it's getting that, it's getting that buy in I
[9:26] suppose and the support from the whole family which which made it
[9:28] made it possible for me. Yeah.
[9:30] Yeah, throughout the journey, but yeah, yeah.
[9:33] I think that's so smart of you. I think it's such a big part of,
[9:37] like, having a harmonious family life alongside doing the Iron
[9:41] Man is, is to sit down with people before you enter it and
[9:44] say, look, I've done some research and it looks like this
[9:46] is what the training commitment's going to be like.
[9:50] Do we all agree? Are you all on board?
[9:53] Can you guys put up with me doing this for, you know,
[9:55] whatever it is 6 to 12 weeks before the event, being really
[9:58] focused on one really long workout at the weekend?
[10:03] Yeah, I think that's really smart.
[10:05] It's interesting, the thing you said actually about I assumed
[10:08] being away, living in hotels and having to work long days in the
[10:13] office. I was thinking it'd be even more
[10:15] hard to fit your training in around that.
[10:17] But the way you've described it, it sounds like you almost, you
[10:21] kind of pivoted the way you spent your time after your
[10:23] working day and it just became almost like a three day mini
[10:27] training camp. After work is finished, you can
[10:29] kind of get your workouts done. It's an interesting way to
[10:32] reframe it to yourself. Yeah, and I suppose, well,
[10:35] that's, that's exactly what I did.
[10:36] I had to rephrase myself because here I'm fortunate enough here
[10:40] back home, I'm fortunate enough to have, you know, a, a
[10:42] membership at a health group down the road.
[10:45] It's got a decent swimming pool, obviously all the kits here and
[10:48] you know, my, my road bike and stuff so I can get out of the
[10:50] door and everything else. But I did, I did have to adapt.
[10:54] I did have to adapt. You know, I was, I was looking
[10:56] on various different apps trying to find local swimming pools in,
[11:01] in the sort of Watford area or wherever I was working to try
[11:04] and, you know, make sure that I was able to, to, to get to the,
[11:07] you know, to the pool before I started work or, or start to
[11:11] think about which hotel they went to.
[11:13] Because to find out which, what sort of equipment they had.
[11:16] And I spent quite a lot of time on TripAdvisor Googling, you
[11:19] know, you know, what sort of, you know, what sort of training
[11:22] bikes do these various different hotels have?
[11:25] And I'd make sort of decisions on, on where I'd stop off the
[11:27] back of, of the feedback from, from my research.
[11:31] But but yeah, I mean, the, the work day is long.
[11:34] But like I say, after that, it's with, with me being away, It
[11:37] was, I was able to reframe that. I was able to frame it in a way
[11:41] that allowed me to, to, to be able to sort of switch off and
[11:43] focus on, on getting the sessions done.
[11:45] But yeah, yeah. It's funny I'm I'm laughing
[11:47] because so many of the people we work with who travel do a
[11:50] similar thing. There's like this little
[11:52] subculture of people who are checking TripAdvisor to see what
[11:55] the hotel gyms like and whether they have what bikes in the
[11:58] hotel gym they'll have a decent riding experience on.
[12:01] It's funny, isn't it? Yeah, no, it is, it is.
[12:04] And obviously then when, when, when the days were, the days
[12:06] were longer and the weather was good, I used to, you know, Chuck
[12:09] the bike in the back of the car. And, you know, there was a
[12:11] colleague of mine who was, who was again a keen cyclist, didn't
[12:13] they triathlon? And I sort of, you know,
[12:16] travelled and met with him after work and we, we went and did a,
[12:19] you know, a long bike ride or tour around Milton Keynes, I
[12:21] think it was. But yeah, I suppose you with,
[12:24] with that big scary, audacious goal of an Iron Man, you, you,
[12:28] well, I found myself just sort of adapting and thinking and
[12:30] prioritising and having to really sort of think about how I
[12:33] was going to sort of fit everything in sort of into the
[12:35] working week. Unfortunately, everything at
[12:39] work. And, and you know, I told the
[12:40] guys at work, you know, my, my manager knew and the team knew
[12:43] that I'd, I'd entered into this event.
[12:44] So again, for me, it's, it's supposed I was communicating
[12:47] everything sort of really quite early.
[12:49] And then you know, then it's about focusing and and getting
[12:53] getting the key bits done. Yeah, nice.
[12:56] And what was it made you choose Kalmar?
[12:59] I'd heard good things about it. A friend of mine had done it.
[13:01] In fact two people I know had done Kalmar before, before I
[13:04] entered a fairly big, I'm a fairly big friend for the fella
[13:11] and gravity doesn't tend to like me as I sort of climb up, climb
[13:14] up hills on the bike. So the sort of flat, the flat
[13:16] fast course that Kalmar did did have a certain level of appeal.
[13:21] And I mean, I'm again, travel, you know, I've got Bolton down
[13:25] the road. There's obviously Wales, just
[13:27] just, you know, in there in the UK.
[13:30] And I've mentioned my experience at Holcomb swimming in the duck
[13:33] pond there. And again, I'm fortunate enough
[13:36] to be able to sort of, you know, get, get out into Europe and,
[13:39] and make that sort of trip and travel and, and to be able to go
[13:42] somewhere new and somewhere I've never been to before.
[13:45] I mean, to bring the family along so they could experience,
[13:47] you know, different cultures in different, different countries.
[13:51] That's, that's was, yeah. The, the, the beauty of Iron Man
[13:53] is obviously having all the races all, all around Europe and
[13:55] globally. But yeah, so partly the travel,
[13:58] partly the new, new experience. And obviously a big, big element
[14:01] was of of. It was the, was the, was the
[14:03] course. Yeah, awesome.
[14:06] So for those listeners who don't know, Kalmar is a it's a really
[14:10] well established long standing race out in Sweden.
[14:13] It wasn't, it wasn't always nine man event, but I think it had
[14:16] something like a 20 year history before Iron Man bought it and
[14:20] brought it kind of inside their family.
[14:23] It's got a reputation as turning out some fast times, hasn't it?
[14:27] I think back in the day, people people would go there to go fast
[14:32] in the same way they would go to rote to go fast, which is cool
[14:36] and but I've never been there. So talk us through the talk us
[14:40] through the Iron Man Sweden experience at Kalmar and and
[14:43] talk us through your day, please.
[14:46] Yeah, sure. I mean it was, yeah, it was, it
[14:48] was a great day. I mean, we, we travelled out.
[14:49] I think the race at Kalmar happens on a Saturday.
[14:53] Typically I'm on sort of events happen on a, on a on a Sunday.
[14:55] But Kalmar is isn't 1,000,000 miles away from Copenhagen.
[15:00] And that weekend it's, it's fairly packed for, for, for IMR
[15:03] athletes because there is an event in Copenhagen on the
[15:05] Sunday. So they hope they, they run
[15:08] Kalmar on the Saturday because of that.
[15:10] I might be wrong, that's just my assumption, but we travelled
[15:13] out, we travelled out on, I think we landed in Kalmar on the
[15:16] Wednesday before just to sort of get sort of settled and, and,
[15:20] and settled in. I was, yeah, shipped my bike out
[15:24] with one of the transporters to sort of avoid having to, you
[15:27] know, dismantle it and rebuild it.
[15:29] So I could just focus on, on, on getting myself ready and, and,
[15:33] and being ready for the event. And yeah, Kalmar itself, it's a
[15:37] great place, beautiful place. I mean, the the the people that
[15:39] really embrace the whole sort of Iron Man sort of takeover of the
[15:42] town. It's really well supported.
[15:48] But yeah, I mean, as these things are, they're a long day.
[15:50] I think the alarm went off at 4:00 in the morning down to
[15:53] transition. So you have to get the bike sort
[15:55] of, you know, sort of double checked bottles loaded, Garmin
[15:59] sort of attached to the front and all of that sort of thing.
[16:02] I think I remember feeling obviously, obviously a little
[16:06] bit nervous and a little bit apprehensive, but I knew that by
[16:08] that point, I knew that I was ready.
[16:10] I knew I'd done the training. And yeah, I mean, the, the race
[16:13] ready scores and the system that that you guys have got sort of
[16:16] settled really does get something confidence in, in
[16:18] their ability and to, to know where they are in terms of in,
[16:21] in terms of fitness. The swim went really well.
[16:25] I was really pleased with the swim.
[16:28] I think I'd seeded myself a little bit further back in the
[16:30] group, looking to finish in about an hour and 20 minutes to
[16:34] an hour and a half. But I was, you know, thrilled to
[16:36] get out the water after about an hour and 7 minutes.
[16:38] In fact, it was an hour and 7 minutes.
[16:40] Yeah, very good. And I was, I was my, my young
[16:43] lad was there. And I was, I was sort of really,
[16:45] yeah. I remember sort of looking in
[16:46] through the fence. It was like beaming.
[16:47] It was, it was a real real, you know, real sort of high.
[16:52] Then through transition and out onto the bike course, which
[16:54] again it is, it's flat. There's one sort of hill, if you
[16:57] can call it a hill, which is going over the bridge over to
[17:00] the island of Holland. A little bit of wind out there
[17:03] on the island. But again, it was a, again, it
[17:07] was a good, a good, a good solid sort of flat, flat run.
[17:11] Yeah. No dramas apart from my power
[17:13] metre backing up. Yeah.
[17:16] So obviously, I mean, we, we, we train.
[17:19] I trained all through sort of, you know, the build up to Kelmar
[17:23] tracking and monitoring sort of power output to make sure that I
[17:27] wasn't pushing too hard to save, save legs for the run.
[17:29] You talk about it a lot, Rob on, on the podcasts.
[17:33] But yeah, on, on the day my power metre did decide to, yeah,
[17:37] switch itself off despite charging it and doing all the
[17:39] prep beforehand. So I ended up racing on sort of
[17:42] heart rate and feel and, and yeah.
[17:45] And I think with it being a flat colour, I think if it was a
[17:47] hilly course then that could have been a bit more of a
[17:48] disaster. But again, you sort of
[17:52] acknowledge the challenge, reset focus and and just sort of keep
[17:55] going. So yeah, push myself around the
[17:58] back course. I'm not built for speed, but
[18:01] yeah, I managed to then get around as about 6 hours, 6 1/2
[18:04] hours, something like that. Yeah.
[18:08] But again, really well supported.
[18:10] I can't, you know, you know, write kalnarly enough.
[18:13] I mean, the, the all the way around the course from sort of,
[18:16] you know, the mainland out onto the island, there was support
[18:19] all the way around. It was a really good, really
[18:21] good vibe, really good sort of day.
[18:25] So yeah, off the bike and then yeah, into my first ever
[18:27] marathon because, yeah, I think in in the training, in the run
[18:31] up to the training, I think the longest ride that sorry, the
[18:33] longest run that I'd ticked off was around about 80 miles.
[18:37] And I think we spoke just before, just before the sort of
[18:39] day and, and you'd sort of said to me, Marc said, all you need
[18:42] to do is run for 9 minutes and then you just, you know, walk
[18:45] for one, run for 9 minutes, walk for one with the sort of trusted
[18:48] 91 method that, that, that, that you recommend.
[18:52] And I can't lie, the marathon was a bit of a slog.
[18:54] It was a bit of a battle. It wasn't pretty.
[18:57] But again, extremely well supported all the way around.
[19:00] And the, the, the people and the, the, the guys out there,
[19:03] they, they really sort of, you know, suck you around the course
[19:05] almost. They give you a real good, a
[19:07] real good sort of uplift. And obviously I was, you know,
[19:10] fortunate to have the family there with me as well.
[19:12] So they popped up on the course every now and again, give us a
[19:14] bit of encouragement and cheering around the way.
[19:18] And then, yeah, across the finish line just over what was
[19:21] it 16 hours? No, it wasn't.
[19:24] It was 13 hours, 13 and a bit hours.
[19:28] And yeah, what a, what a, what a high that is.
[19:29] I mean, to, to, to be able, you know, having having spent months
[19:32] and months and months in the, in the build up and, and all the
[19:34] sort of challenges along the way to get to that sort of finish
[19:37] point in the finish line. And yeah, it was a real, a real,
[19:42] but it was a real vibe. And yeah, one I'll never forget,
[19:45] never forget. It was such a great day, such a
[19:47] great day out. People really do rave about the
[19:51] bike course at Sweden. I've never been there as I said,
[19:55] but the the bridge over onto the island is meant to be
[19:58] spectacular. The road surface is meant to be
[20:00] spectacular. Is it a one loop course or A2
[20:02] loop course? It's the one loop course, yeah.
[20:05] Just the one loop course, yeah. You're over the island, over the
[20:08] bridge, round the island, and back over the bridge and.
[20:11] Yeah, and that'll loop out sort of, you know, around the
[20:13] outskirts of, of, of Calmar. So, yeah, coming back over the
[20:16] bridge, you almost think it's done.
[20:18] I'm done, I'm done. I'm almost there.
[20:20] But no, it does then sort of take you out and snake you
[20:22] around a little bit longer just to sort of tease you.
[20:25] But yeah, no, it was, it was a great experience.
[20:29] Great experience. And it sounds like the locals
[20:31] really get behind as well, given it's given it such a long way on
[20:35] the bike. And one the bike course is a,
[20:37] you know, it takes you a long way away from the town where the
[20:39] event is. So to hear that the support is
[20:41] so good all the way around, that's really cool.
[20:45] Yeah, like I say, I mean through different little towns and
[20:47] villages along the way. I mean, obviously there are
[20:49] periods where there's there's, you know, you're just looking at
[20:50] windmills and, and, and you know, the flats, little road
[20:53] ahead that it's not long before you come across the next sort of
[20:56] little Township in town. And, and there's more people out
[20:59] there with, you know, signs and, and, yeah, cheers and
[21:01] everything. In fact, at one point, Rob, I
[21:04] don't think I put this in my race report, but there was a
[21:07] group of people doing, doing like a Mexican wave, sort of a
[21:10] big long line of people sort of cheering and doing this Mexican
[21:14] wave. And I felt all the time I
[21:15] thought, yeah, I could, I could join in here.
[21:17] So I lifted my hands off the off the arrow bars and sort of went
[21:21] to do it and, and the whole bike sort of shielded of it.
[21:23] And I nearly came off. So I quickly, quickly corrected
[21:26] and got myself back into back into the position.
[21:28] And I had to have a word with myself saying, Martin, come on,
[21:32] we need to focus on getting this done.
[21:33] Don't, don't, don't get sort of swept into all the support.
[21:36] But no, it was, it was. Yeah, it was really good.
[21:38] Really good. Cool.
[21:39] And then the run, how many laps do you have to do and what's the
[21:43] what the surface like? What's the terrain like during
[21:45] the run? Yeah, so the run that was a
[21:48] three, three lap course. And again that's it's pretty,
[21:53] it's pretty much road or sort of pavement all the way around.
[21:57] There are some sections where you're looping off through sort
[21:59] of, you know, sort of like loose gravel tracks, if you will.
[22:01] But they're only short and short lived.
[22:05] Again, relatively relatively flat and and very well
[22:09] supported. Yeah, I remember, I remember the
[22:14] first loop thinking, you know, that's sort of, you know, the
[22:17] doubts sort of creep in. It's like, yeah, Martin, you
[22:21] know, the legs were really heavy.
[22:25] You know, it felt felt tired. And I've been on my feet while
[22:28] I've been on the go for quite, quite a, you know, a good number
[22:30] of hours. And you start to doubt whether,
[22:32] whether it's possible to do this.
[22:33] But again, you sort of then reflect back onto the, the
[22:36] training and you know, know that you've got, you've got it in the
[22:38] tank. And, and yeah, by the second
[22:42] lap, it's not like I'm, I'm, I'm nearly done on my second lap
[22:45] here. And the, and the last lap sort
[22:46] of passed relatively relatively quickly.
[22:50] But yeah, it was, it was a journey.
[22:52] It was a journey. I think there's photos that the
[22:54] official Iron Man photographers have taken, which I think I've
[22:57] got somewhere, which show my face telling very different
[23:01] stories throughout the day, from pure relation at the finish line
[23:05] to, to real sort of pain and, and discomfort on certain parts
[23:08] of the room. And then obviously, yeah, sort
[23:11] of, you know, some people in sort of funny handshakes and
[23:13] funny, funny arm gestures during, during the bike ride.
[23:18] But yeah, it's, yeah, it's, it's I, I can't recommend it enough.
[23:21] It's it's, it's well worth, it's well worth the effort.
[23:24] Well worth the trip. Hey, the people who are are
[23:28] going out to do their first Iron Man this year, did you did you
[23:32] have any really dark moments, any difficult times?
[23:35] And and if so, how did you get through them?
[23:37] Like what tips can we give to people who might be in the
[23:40] middle of their first Iron Man? There was a couple of weeks, in
[23:44] fact, I was reading through some of my sort of weekly journal, if
[23:47] you will, before, before coming on to this job.
[23:50] And I think there were a few weeks during training where
[23:53] where I did find it hard. I did find it really tough
[23:57] again, because, you know, I'd be having a bad week at work.
[24:00] I'd been away from home all week.
[24:03] And I mean, there's nothing more comfortable than your own bed,
[24:05] you know, and being surrounded by, by family and friends.
[24:09] So a bit just, I mean, just that whole sort of travel thing can,
[24:11] can sort of take it take its toll.
[24:16] But yeah, for again, one of the one of the reports, it was just
[24:19] about trying to keep it all in perspective.
[24:22] You know, that was one week of a training block of, of, of many.
[24:26] And, you know, it's, it's about breaking down that real big
[24:30] challenge into, into small manageable chunks.
[24:32] And, and even if you're having a tough time and a tough week, one
[24:35] week, there's nothing to say the next week's going to be going to
[24:39] be infinitely better. And then, yeah, focus on things
[24:43] that you can control, you know, getting the sessions done and
[24:47] small, small baby sort of wins along the way rather than being
[24:51] sort of put off and scared by this big, scary, sort of
[24:53] audacious goal. Yeah.
[24:56] So I mean, during training, I think that was, that was one
[25:00] sort of thing. Don't, don't, don't be
[25:01] disheartened by those challenging weeks and those
[25:04] challenging sessions. It's about consistency and, and
[25:07] it's about building building fitness and building endurance
[25:10] over time. And then when it comes to race
[25:15] day, you know, be confident in the training that you've done
[25:17] and, and, and the time that you've invested in yourself.
[25:21] And yeah, I mean, during, during the actual race, I think the
[25:24] darkest time was, was that first lap of the, of the wrong course
[25:27] where I was sort of doubting whether I could actually get
[25:29] myself round. But then again, it's, it's
[25:32] thinking back and going back to all that hard work that you're
[25:34] doing on the commitment and the reason why you went in in the
[25:36] 1st place. You know, it's, it's, it's a,
[25:39] it's a privilege to do these things.
[25:40] It's a privilege to be there. So yeah, back yourself and let,
[25:44] I mean, like I say, I'm a, I'm a big failure.
[25:45] I'm not, I'm not built for speed.
[25:47] And if I can do it, I'm sure most of you guys can, all of
[25:49] you. I want to go back to the thing
[25:51] you said earlier on at the interview when you you
[25:54] mentioned, you know, having been onto the website in 2022 and
[25:58] hovering, hovering over the shall I enter button.
[26:02] What advice, what advice would you give to someone who finds
[26:06] himself in that kind of position, You know, really
[26:09] wanting to do the Iron Man, having the same reasons for
[26:11] doing it that you did, to go and push themselves and challenge
[26:13] themselves. But then but they're not quite
[26:16] ready to, you know, they're not, they're afraid to do it.
[26:20] Would you have any advice for them?
[26:23] I think, I think my advice there will be if, if it's, if it is
[26:25] something that you think or, or you want to do and, and believe,
[26:29] you know, whether you believe you can do it or not.
[26:31] But if, if you want to be able to do it and, and, and to be
[26:34] able to call yourself, yeah, an Iron Man or I'd, I'd say be
[26:40] brave, be brave and go for it. It's like I say, it's, it's a
[26:44] big commitment. It takes a lot of time and
[26:46] investment. Make sure that the people around
[26:48] you are fully supportive and, and, and make sure they're fully
[26:52] informed in the journey that you're going in into.
[26:54] Because yeah, for a period of time in like you say, those last
[26:56] sort of sort of, you know, what do you say 12 weeks, 6-6 months,
[27:00] There's a real sort of ramp up in training.
[27:02] So come into it with your eyes wide open and knowing that it
[27:06] is, you can't sort of do it half baked.
[27:10] You've got to be sort of fully committed.
[27:12] But it is very much doable. It is very much doable.
[27:15] And it, and it's such a great achievement to get across that
[27:17] finish line and, and to, yeah, hear the crowds and, and the
[27:20] amount of, yeah, sort of, I suppose the release that you get
[27:24] at the end is, is, is just incredible.
[27:29] You know, I had a bit of a sort of imposter, imposter syndrome
[27:31] at the beginning and, you know, sort of doubting myself to a
[27:34] certain degree. But yeah, with, with the
[27:39] structured training plan and with, with all the support that
[27:42] you guys have given, it's, it's very much, very much an
[27:46] achievable thing. Awesome, love it.
[27:50] So how is life different having completed an Iron Man?
[27:55] What what did you find was different afterwards?
[27:57] And obviously you did this back in the summer of 2024.
[28:02] How did it inform what you did next?
[28:04] What did you do next? It's that classics of what is
[28:07] next for you. But I guess what kind of a year
[28:09] on from that? So what was next for you?
[28:14] Well, that was that was my big sort of scary audacious thing
[28:16] sort of ticked off and having spent, you know, a significant
[28:21] amount of time obviously away with work and and then
[28:23] committing to the training and sort of said to the family.
[28:26] I said, look, next year as in 20/20/2025 this year I'm, I was
[28:32] not going to do a big one, but I did enter into the half 70.3 out
[28:39] in Luxembourg. So very much still on the, on
[28:42] the triathlon vibe. Really, really still loving the
[28:46] structured training and the and, and the swim back and run and
[28:50] run stuff. But yeah, redress the balance
[28:55] with the family and I'd sort of get dialled it back a little bit
[28:58] this year. But yeah, no, I'm, I'm just
[29:02] keen, I'm just keen to, I suppose, yeah, maintain,
[29:05] maintain a good level of activity, keep, keep going for
[29:09] as long as I possibly can. So, so I can see, you know,
[29:14] obviously the family, the kids sort of grow and, and sort of
[29:17] flourish. In fact, during, during the
[29:20] training and, and with the, with the Iron Man, I was able to
[29:23] spend a good amount of time with, with my son Ben on, you
[29:27] know, coast to coast sort of bike rides.
[29:30] And it was something, you could see it in him watching me do the
[29:34] training and me changing sort of physically because I mean, I was
[29:37] fairly sedentary before actually getting stuck into the, into the
[29:41] full Iron Man sort of training regime.
[29:43] And it's sort of inspired so the family to, to, to do more.
[29:49] So, yeah, myself and and Ben have spent time on bikes, you
[29:52] know, cycling coast to coast and, you know, and through Devon
[29:55] and, and various different routes.
[29:56] And I'm keen to sort of plan more, plan more sort of active,
[29:59] active holidays with, with, with, with the guys and, and
[30:02] Hannah and my daughter we forced into doing a triathlon at
[30:06] Whitchurch when she was, oh, she was tiny and she came out in
[30:11] tears and crying and, and one thing another.
[30:13] But now, now she's really re energised and, and she's keen to
[30:16] get her first 70.3 done in the next sort of 1218 months.
[30:20] So yeah, for me it's it's about continuing the fitness journey
[30:26] and, and bringing, bringing the family along with me.
[30:29] Nice. It's brilliant that that they're
[30:31] both involved now as well and that Hannah's going to do a
[30:34] 70.3. That's must feel pretty good
[30:36] about that, inspiring them to do something.
[30:39] I guess there's not that many dads out there.
[30:41] Certainly an example like that in the grand scheme of things,
[30:44] right? Yeah, No, it's really cool and
[30:47] it's kind of a kind of a side effect really because that's not
[30:49] what really I set out to do. But, but, but seeing that,
[30:53] seeing that sort of interest and, and, and not wanting to
[30:56] sound cheesy, but the admiration as well, you know, because,
[30:59] because it's, it's not, not every dad, you know, has, has,
[31:02] has done a, a mum has done a, a 70.3 or an Iron Man.
[31:07] And I'm pretty sure in the circle of friends that, that the
[31:09] guys have got it, you know. Yeah, I'm, I'm in a very small
[31:13] percentage of, of, of, of people who have.
[31:16] So, yeah, it's a nice place to be Rob.
[31:19] And, and like I say, I'm, I'm keen to keen to continue this,
[31:22] this, this journey for us as long as I'm, as long as I'm
[31:24] able. Brilliant.
[31:27] All right, well, listen, I'm really appreciate you taking the
[31:28] time to Share your story with us.
[31:31] I think people who were considering either doing the
[31:33] first Iron Man or people considering going to Kalmar,
[31:35] they're going to take a lot from that.
[31:37] And there might even be people listening who want to get out
[31:40] and inspire their kids as well. So well done on a great
[31:44] achievement, but well done also on having the bravery to come on
[31:47] and talk about it and maybe inspire lots of other people as
[31:49] well. So I'm really grateful for you
[31:51] for taking the time. Thanks, Martin.
[31:53] No worries, no worries. And if you are, if you are
[31:55] thinking about it, guys, I'd I'd say go for it.
[31:57] Go for it. Find find a coach.
[31:59] I'd obviously highly recommend the the team oxygen addict and,
[32:03] and, and the guys over here, they're a great bunch.
[32:06] But yeah, commit to that structured training programme
[32:09] and yeah, you can do it. That's very kind of you to say.
[32:12] Cheers Martin and well done again.
[32:15] Thanks a lot, Rob. All right, guys, I hope you
[32:17] really enjoyed that. And if you're one of the people
[32:20] who has been sitting there at home, who has maybe been to the
[32:23] Iron Man website and your finger has hovered over the enter
[32:26] button and you've changed your mind and you've maybe not had
[32:29] the courage to do it. I really hope that Martin's
[32:31] story has has inspired you to maybe take that next step.
[32:35] I said to Martin after we recorded this, of course there's
[32:39] a bit of a business angle for doing these age group stories.
[32:42] You know, we want to talk about the training that our athletes
[32:44] do when we want to show people being successful.
[32:48] But I'm also a really big believer that that the ripples
[32:50] go out into the world when somebody out there hears a
[32:53] story. It might be something that we we
[32:55] never meet and we never hear from again.
[32:57] But if they've heard Martin's story and it's inspired them to
[33:01] to enter that race or to make a change in the life, or maybe
[33:04] it's inspired you to inspire your kids to do something, I
[33:07] really believe that the podcast is out there doing its job.
[33:11] So I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm just going to give a shout
[33:14] out to our sponsors, Precision Fuel and Hydration.
[33:16] You can use the free fuel and hydration planning tool to
[33:18] receive a personalised strategy for your next race.
[33:21] The plan will help you understand your carbohydrate
[33:24] needs, your electrolyte needs and your fluid needs.
[33:26] And if you're training during the winter period, it's super
[33:29] important that you keep on top of your hydration and your
[33:31] electrolyte balance. You can even book a free one to
[33:33] one video consultation with PF and HS athletes support team and
[33:37] also you can use the code Oxygen fuel 25 for 15% off your first
[33:42] order if you decide to buy something from them.
[33:44] So to wrap things up today, I hope you've enjoyed the episode
[33:48] over at Precision Fuel and hydration.com use the code
[33:50] Oxygen Fuel 25 and at teamoxygenaddict.com.
[33:54] I think we have the most comprehensive triathlon coaching
[33:57] programme specifically designed for busy age groupers like you.
[34:00] Busy job, busy family life will help you work it out so you can
[34:04] cross that 70.3 or Ironman triathlon finish line.
[34:09] Who knows? Soon, next year, next summer,
[34:12] maybe even in the spring. We've had people contacting us
[34:14] and saying, do you know what? I'm entering Texas in April.
[34:17] I need help, let's go. So if that's you, if the race is
[34:21] coming up, let's get talking and see if we can help you out.
[34:24] All right, remember there's links in the show notes so you
[34:26] don't have to remember them until next week.
[34:28] Have a great safe training and Racing Week Coach Rob Willby and
[34:32] you've been listening to the Oxygen Addict Triathlon Podcast.

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