Project Description
Name: Steve Lewis
Occupation: Hotel General Manager
I met Steve back in 2018 when he took over the managerial role at the Harbour Hotel Guildford where my gym is based. Through plenty of conversations over the odd coffee about fitness, training, and adventures, it was apparent that we both enjoyed seeking out challenges.
It wasn’t until I got involved in a charity event with the Harbour Hotel Guildford that I started to work with Steve.
He approached me and said, “There is this charity event I am trying to get a team together for, are you in?”
“What is it?”, was my reply.
“It’s a triathlon with a difference.”
Immediately he had my attention.
More than a regular triathlon
He revealed that the triathlon course was to cycle from the Southampton Harbour Hotel to Calshot in Southsea, swim the Solent to Ryde on the Isle of White, then run to Cowes.
“Sounds fun, I’m in!”
So, I started to coach Steve for this event. I had a half Ironman booked a month after, so saw this as a good training session for myself too.
Steve’s background in triathlon competitions was a sprint distance tri some years back. The sprint distance is Bike 20km, Swim 750m, and Run 5km.
Building on past success
For this event, the distance was Bike 20km, Swim 5km and Run 11km. We had some work to do.
We started off with some basic strength and conditioning training in the gym once a week, and programmed him Swim, Bike, Run sessions that fitted around his work schedule. That was the hardest part of Steve’s programming. It was not his commitment but was his availability. Working closely with him, we made it work.
Over the course of 12 weeks, we got Steve’s swimming, cycling and running performance up to a really good standard, and I knew he was going to crush it. Crush it he did.
We all set off on the bike in good spirits and arrived at the swim start. The weather was closing in but the organisers had promised there was a window of opportunity to take before the weather turned nasty. We started the swim and about 30 minutes in the weather forecast had fast forwarded and we found ourselves in the middle of a storm.
Identifying the client’s strengths
It was down to Steve’s strength and conditioning training and hard work over the previous weeks that got him to the shore of the Isle of white and able to finish the run in good time. This is why hybrid training is so important – it’s no good just cycling for miles, running for ages or just swimming lengths. We need to build up strength and mobility in all the right places to see the best results in your run, bike and swim.
Off the back of this I can safely say he has got the triathlon bug. New bike purchases, multiple race entries and a Half Ironman 70.3 under his belt.
The future is looking bright for Steve. 47 years old and fitter then most 20yr olds. Why wouldn’t you choose this life?
Nice work Steve.
Training for a similar challenge? Get in touch, I’d love to help. I create tailored fitness plans dependent on your experience, your available equipment, and can work around previous and current injuries. I offer an online personal training service that is truly personal, with limited spaces on my monthly fitness programme ensuing all my clients get the maximum support they need to smash their goals.
