Managing Swim Start Panic, Trtiathlete-Specific Strength Training, and Training Around Your Menstrual Cycle | Ep 604

In this week's podcast:

Hyperventilating in the first five minutes of the swim (when you're a confident open water swimmer and it never happens in training): Listener Helen has had it wreck two 70.3 swims and wants Weymouth 2026 to be her comeback race.

Rob explains what's actually going on (it's a CO2 problem, not an oxygen one) and gives her the mental and physical fixes to stop it before it starts.

Also in this episode:

• Why the adrenaline surge on the start line drives hyperventilation, and how "arousal control" lets you rehearse a calm swim start weeks before race day
• The breathing-every-fourth-stroke and go-out-slower protocol, plus why swimming wide is worth the extra metres
• How to practise close-contact swimming with club mates so bumped shoulders stop triggering panic
• Rob's approach to strength work: small "s", big "C" conditioning to stay injury-free, not lifting to get bigger
• Glute and hamstring activation for anyone who sits at a desk all day, and why hamstrings need so little work to stay healthy
• Maintaining muscle mass as an older athlete: compound lifts at 50–70% of one-rep max, stopping well short of failure
• How to periodise strength blocks around your FTP build so the gym work doesn't wreck your key bike sessions
• Training around the menstrual cycle - why it has to be individual, and how syncing recovery weeks with your cycle takes the pressure off
• Looking ahead at the race calendar so race day doesn't land at the worst possible time
• A race report from Joe at IRONMAN Lake Placid: a 12:46 finish on a 6,700ft bike course
• Cramping in the first mile of the run, and the electrolyte lesson from the med tent afterwards

Plus: Rob is having three and a half years' worth of hair cut off in mid-September and donating it to be made into a wig for a child with cancer. It costs around £700 to make the wig and he'd be so grateful for anybody that can share any amount - big or small - via this donation link

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