Passion For Performance

Jon Odams is a veteran Australian mountain biker known for his versatility across XC, enduro, downhill, and e-MTB. Jon is a recently crowned Masters World Champion and multiple-time national champion. Jon's skill and endurance have made him a standout in events like Port to Port and Cape to Cape, while he balances elite racing with family life and a professional career. In this Podcast we discuss his training approach in depth including what his weekly structure is and how he approaches seasonal periodisation. 

In this episode Jeff and Pete are joined by Jarrod Crump, coach and performance analyst at HPT. Pete, Jeff and Jarrod discussed testing and race performance analysis, emphasizing the importance of proper planning and attention to detail. They also explored race dynamics, mental focus, and the balance between data-driven insights and the art of coaching in triathlon.

In this special sub-series, the roles are reversed—Thomas Leuchten takes over as host, while the Coach steps into the guest seat. In this episode, you'll get a deeper look at the coach's journey as we discuss what exactly is the art of coaching. How did it all begin? Who were the key influences? What have been the highs and the challenges along the way? And where is coaching headed in the future? Tune in for an insightful conversation.

In this episide the team discusses the importance of aerodynamics in triathlon, with a focus on testing and repeatability, and shared their learnings from recent testing sessions. They also discussed the complexities of aerodynamics, the need for individualized testing, and the potential pitfalls of overthinking and over-researching. The conversation ended with discussions on the importance of mental work, avoiding perfectionism, and the value of coaches, as well as the importance of aero testing in triathlon racing matching the psychology of the athlete.

In this episode, Jeff and Pete pull apart what has been a solid year in the quest for chasing what for some is the Holy Grail - racing the Ironman World Championships on the big island of Hawaii in Kailua-Kona.  We pull apart a race year so far that has had a close call in Port Macquarie Ironman, a "winter" race in Townsville at the World Triathlon Multisport Champs and most recently a successful qualification for 70.3 Worlds achieved at Western Sydney. 

In this episode we speak with Harry Wiles who has just returned from his second European racing block. We chat about the journey of getting around Europe, finding races and chasing prizemoney. This year Harry did 5 races including a 14 day block with 3 races in it.

Chasing Kona is back and in a big way ! In this latest episode Jeff grills HPT's 5 Kona qualifiers, Darren Alchin, Paul Linton, James Knight, Edward Quartly and James Martin on what their secret sauce was for their well deserved achievements of qualifying to race Ironman World Champs on the Big Island this October. 

There are no more passionate athletes in our squad than Sammy and Josh. We sat down and had a chat across a broad range of topics including what their original sporting history was, doing their first Ironman last year, a 6 month European trip and their triathlon "super fan" status. We also delve into the topic of gender equity in sport as well as do some predictions for this year's Kona race. 

Welcome to a chat with long time HPT athlete Thomas Leuchten.  Tom is a passionate endurance athlete and has a rich history cramming a lot of change into his life. He grew up in Germany and Turkey then moved to England and finally settled in Australia.  Listen in to hear about his huge career change, moving across the world and back again to study, riding the Paris-Roubaix Challenge event, mountaineering in Germany and his latest experience dealing with the trauma of a catastrophic shoulder injury which has ruled him out of 70.3 Worlds in December. This one has it all. 

This chat starts as we go back to where it all started for Ben and JD. We then take the adventure racing journey with them that lead to them toeing the line side by side and successfully racing the Coast to Coast. 

Jeff and Pete start our 2024 series by taking stock, answering the following questions.  What is Chasing Kona  What has happened since we last spoke?  What's coming up  Topics include Whoop bands, Form goggles, food diaries, black swans, white swans, crash replacement policies, upcoming races and future guests. 

This episode we sit down with Harry Wiles and have a coach / athlete chat discussing how 2023 went and what were the main challenges of his first year competing in the Pro ranks.  Harry has an interesting history as an athlete. At 16 years of age he took cycling on and raced for the next 8 years competing with good success at the development team level. He then made a major switch and went to CrossFit. After a couple of years though he took on triathlon where after 3 or so years competing as an age group athlete he took the step up to race in the Professional category.   

Dan Atkins is the Head Coach of the AusTriathlon Performance Centre on the Gold Coast of Australia. Dan has done it all....from development squads to the Olympics. he has taken his career from being a swim coach where he learnt the skills of engaging, communicating and coaching with a large squad, up to a point now where he is coaching some of Australia's best short course triathletes competing on the world stage. We had an engaging conversation about our experiences in triathlon coaching and discussed the evolution of the sport, the importance of personal wellness and work-life balance, and the challenges faced by high-performance coaches. Through what was at times a vulnerable chat, we emphasized the need for ongoing personal development, the value of networking, and the importance of recognizing when someone is struggling and offering support.

Steve Mackay is back to talk about Aerodynamics. He covers the theory and its surprising history in cycling and triathlon. With such highly individual and unusual outcomes, Steve concludes that the only way to know what is aerodynamic for the individual is to test it. Which is exactly what we will be doing for the next episide of Chasing Kona.

It's interview time and in this episode we are joined by James Martin. James has been in the sport only 5 years and has racked up an impressive list of achievements already.  3rd AG IM Cairns (IM debut) 2019 2nd OA virtual Ironman 2020 1st in AG IM Cairns 2021 1st OA Age Group Athlete Australian Long Course Champs 2021 1st OA AAA 2022 1st in AG IM Australia 2022  James has qualified for Kona 3 times but for various reasons, including being hit by a car 4 weeks before Kona 2022 hasn't been able to race on the Big Island yet !  All this, plus our usual segments ...Honesty Hour and Coaches Corner. 

Fear, Motivation and Communication are my big 3 topics on this episode of The Performance Show. I delve into some pretty big examples of how the best performers in the world use every day skills to become great.  At the top of the show I also give you my Performance Of The Month. A spectacular example of someone with a deep love for their game turns that into success. 

In this episode we get Pete to give us his review of what he saw in the first Ironman World Champs to be held in Nice where we had 2 HPT athletes in Darren Alchin and Paul Linton.  We also go deep on season planning, specifically how we can look at Jeff's season ahead leading into quite a busy race schedule. 

With the addition of Chasing Kona to the Pod, the OG Performance Podcast gets a freshen up. I speak about my thoughts on what the new high performance program looks like and I have added some new segments .... "What I Saw" and "Performance of the Month". 

In his 50th year and his 8th Ironman, Darren Alchin recorded a 51 minute PB to go 9:46, 3rd in his AG, and securing a slot to the Ironman World Championship in Nice France. In this episode Darren unpacks what “having a real go” looks like and how that ultimately lead to his break out performance in Cairns. I wrote down a whole page of notes from Darren's tips including “it's all about the run”. When that comes from a guy who drops a 3:15 IM marathon I'm listening! Enjoy the interview !

Welcome to Chasing Kona ! This will be a series hosted by HPT athlete and previous podcast guest, Jeff Davis. Follow along as Jeff explores what it takes to Chase Kona.  In this intro we will have a quick look into how the concpet came about and what you can expect in upcoming episodes. 

In this episode I have a chat with Jenna Hallam about sports nutrition. Jenna is a dietican and we discuss how sports nutrition has become more mainstream in endurance sports. The golden rule was it being a no nerd chat. No detailed grams per hour chats.. just the basics and how to go about eating well for your sport. A little bit of background on Jenna : Double degree in Dietetics and Exercise Sport Science and completed the SDA Nutrition Course at the AIS. Began her professional career with private nutritional consultations and group fitness sessions. In the search of stability Jenna found herself specialising in aged care nutrition and the typical progression to management positions. During her time in aged care Jenna has kept in the loop of sports nutrition primarily by dabbling with her partners nutrition, who has been training for and racing triathlons for some time now, as well as some nutrition coaching with another triathlete. Having stepped away from the aged care scene and attended more triathlons with her partner, Jenna's interest and curiosity in sports nutrition has been rekindled.

The third and final part of the series that firstly took us through "Back in the Day" as a personal retrospective, then onto "It's Not About The Bike" as a deep look into perhaps the discipline that can evoke the most passion in us as triathletes. The Future of Triathlon explores where we feel the sport is headed. From PTO, to the Ironman WC Kona / Nice split, to the impacts it will have on high performance and indeed participation itself. We discuss what lies ahead.  The future is here and it's exciting.  (please excuse a small audio issue at the start only)

Klint Hoare has done it all it seems. Working at the highest level developing elite NRL teams and also 10 years as HP Manager for the NRL Referees he has become a master at leading people towards performance and getting the absolute best out of them. He literally has skin in the game and gets his hands dirty across all facets of development. Not to mention his experience in endurance sport in Triathlon, Running and Cycling.  I'm both excited and proud to present this chat to you. Make sure you have a notebook next to you as we take you through the many pathways to success.       

In this episode I firstly take you through my 3 key loads i use when coaching an athlete. Then I explain a bit about load measurement and management. Lastly I put that together for you in a scenario to help you use these loads in training.  Show notes can be found on my website here

The 2022 version of the Ironman World Championships in Kona was a watershed moment for the sport. Short Course athletes taking the last 2 crowns in the men's race. 2 rookies taking first place. A new Mum winning the women's event. Top 10 under 8 hours in the men and Top 6 under 9 hours in the women. The future is here.  In this podcast I speak briefly about the event itself but really let loose on what I changes I see and how we can access those changes to be better athletes and coaches ourselves. 

This is a solo episode as I get out my thoughts on how we can think about educating athletes in a world where we have better and more access to knowledge than ever. 

Steve checks in again to discuss bikes. We talk history of bikes, best equipment choices, how to improve and we both give our thoughts on what it is we both love about cycling. 

Jeff Davis brings a wealth of experience in high performance environments to the table.   As an experienced endurance athlete and high level business person he knows what it means to "do the work" required so that when the times get tough he is ready with the necessary tools to get through it.  Jeff's framework for success is about knowing who you are, knowing what you want ,and having a team around you to help you get there. 

Matt Bazzano has had a storied life and career in cycling. National Road Champion, winner of the "Bank Race", 8th in the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland are just a few of Matt's results.  Matt is still a keen rider but balances it with a busy life of family, career (he is Managing Director of Shimano Australia - Cycling) and working on the Board of NSW Cycling.  I hope you enjoy our chat where we discuss the early days of hard work and simple training methods. Matt's motto is "you learn how to ride on the bike". 

Steve Mackay is both a veteran and student of the sport. He loves nothing more that a chat about the "old days" of triathlon where bikes were simple and training methods were even simpler. It was great to sit down and chat about his history in the sport and the people that were a part of that along the way. 

Darren Alchin has been with HPT for 4 years now and in that time he has gone from runner and part time triathlete to pushing his way to the pointy end of his category. Daz is a tireless athlete with a work ethic that makes him one of the most consistent and disciplined trainers in the squad. In this episode we take things from his days as a goalkeeper and life as a single figure handicap golfer to pushing the limits of endurance sport the only way he knows how. The hard work way. 

In this episode we find out about how Chris has developed from being a professional soccer player and accountant into a trainer, fitness studio owner and triathlete. We discuss how Chris sees the role of strength and nutrition in endurance sport and life in general. 

In this episode I share an experience I had recently where I realised the difficulties athletes face these days understanding all the different training protocols popping up in our sport lately. I pull it all down into 5 major areas to think about and debunk a couple of myths. 

In this episode I have an interview with Dom Mydanjich, Head of Coffee at local coffee merchants White Horse Coffee. Dom takes us through how his passion for coffee saw him start from the humble beginnings of making coffee for his friends in his garage to now being a leader in his community and one of the owners at White Horse. We rip into what processes Dom follows when seeking excellence in his work. We also chat about his other passion which is Rugby League. 

A special podcast that is brought to you from isolation headquarters. Big question and answer session this one. 

On this podcast I have taken you through a coaching reflection I had recently as we head into the main part of the 2019/2020 Aussie Season. In the podcast I discuss 5 main concepts that I have reflected on. 9:12 Coach Well-being and recovery 17:38 Coaching the Person Before the Athlete 21:29 The Concept of Mastery in our Sport 25:38 The Four Pillars of Performance 29:26 Delivering Mental Skills Development A written version of this podcast is available on my blog at http://theperformanceproject.com.au/a-coaching-reflection/

Join us for our 10th podcast where we are joined by Kylie Jessop. Kylie takes us through her life from being born in England, raised in New Zealand and now moving to Australia. Kylie has a fascinating history with food and nutrition, turning her life around from an eating disorder whilst in Uni to now being a nutritionist working in the important area of public health. We have a great chat about her progression in endurance sport and go into her favourite race which was the 2018 ITU Age Group World Champs in the standard distance. We also chat about the latest squad results and catch up on what’s happening in and around the squad. 

In this episode of the podcast I get Matt Lester back from Episode 5 to guest host the show. I really enjoyed being much more in the conversational space than preaching solo. Adds a fun element to it that makes it easier to record but also easier to listen to. As usual, we hit the latest squad results up and discuss the preps for those events from a coaching perspective. We then go into a random question and answer piece where we discuss training load builds, mental preparation and what makes us want to endure .... plus more. Matt Lester can be found on Instagram at @lester_endurance My Instagram is @hptcoachpete In the Q&A Matt mentions a great book on mental skills by Angela Duckworth - it’s called “Grit - The Power of Passion and Perseverance"  

On this show I discuss the 2019 Port Macquarie Ironman, chat about the squad’s recent results and what’s coming up. The main topic for this episode is "Precursors to Performance" with a big Q and A session at the end. Transcript of main topic can be found here : http://theperformanceproject.com.au/precursors-to-performance/

A deep look into how an athlete can develop their mental skills.    Transcript can be found here -  http://theperformanceproject.com.au/mental-skills-podcast/

In this Podcast Paul Humphreys comes back from Episode 1 to interview me. Most people I Coach haven’t been around long enough to know about my experience in the sport of triathlon... so Paul encouraged me to have a chat and talk about what brought me to triathlon and what lead me on my journey to be a coach.  In the show we also talk about the history of Cronulla Triathlon Club. He is a link to some interesting facts about that.  https://www.cronullatriclub.com.au/club-history 

In this podcast we chat with 5 year HPT athlete and Red Bull Defiance debutante Matt Lester. In the chat we discuss his background and what led him to this race, how he deals personally with fatigue and fear, and how he has prepared for his biggest challenge yet, the famed Red Bull Defiance race in Wanaka, New Zealand. 

In this episode we have an interview with leading Australian Sports Dietician Alicia Edge. In the interview we discuss current trends in his performance sports nutrition, how the nutritionist can facilitate what the desired outcomes are for coaches and also delve into the world of REDS ... Relative Energy Deficit Syndrome. REDS is a huge problem where athletes are compromising health for perceived performance gains by not eating enough. 

Welcome to Episode 3 of the Podcast where I go solo for the first time. No interviews. Just me rapping on my favourite topic .. coaching.  This one is all about Strategy and Support. Plus I do a review of what I call the “Battle of The Carpets”. The red carpet of Ironman, the blue carpet of ITU, and the black carpet of Super League.  I have some new tunes this week also. Chill Noons by Kronicle. 

Welcome to Episode 2 where I get a bit deep on how I use understanding as a tool in my coaching. We also have an interview with Tofe Evans who recently attempted the 345km Race Across Scotland. Tofe takes us through his physical and mental preparation for the gruelling event and lets us know his “why” for doing the event.  You can find Tofe at http://www.tofe-evans.com 

Welcome to Episode 1 of the Passion for Performance Podcast. In our first week we will discuss exactly how I define High Performance and give you some insights as to how the World's best prepare to be at the top of the game.  We also have an interview with HPT athlete Paul Humphreys. Paul has come from a broad sporting history of motor sport and snow sports, ending up in endurance sports such as triathlon, mountain bikes, running and duathlons. Paul gives us rundown on how he personally has developed into an athlete where his last 12months have seen a personal best performance at every race he has competed in.