Nicholas is 24 and races triathlon competitively.
He's also a medical student, which means training has to earn its place in his weekly schedule.
Before coaching
Before coaching, he was doing a lot of training, but it just wasn't translating into results.
Training leaned heavily on intensity. Short, sharp, sessions. His aerobic base was underdeveloped and his performances were inconsistent. Race results didn't reflect the effort he put in.
The shift
When we started working together, the shift was immediate.
Less intensity. More control. More steady, deliberate work.
He was surprised that we slowed him down. Even the hard sessions were controlled enough that he could finish them without being completely knackered.
It felt strange finishing a session feeling like he could do more, and that created doubt.
It's easy to think you're not working hard enough when you're not exhausted. He felt the pull to jump into harder sessions, to train with others pushing bigger numbers, to prove something.
In credit to him, he stayed with the process.
Training settled into a simple rhythm. A mix of long, steady, and hard sessions across the week.
Emphasis shifted depending on the phase. More bike work when the race demanded it. Less focus on swimming, which was already a strength.
The work became repeatable.
Recovery improved. He got better at listening to his body, which mattered as much as any session given the demands of medical school. Training stopped competing with life and started fitting into it.
The results
Then came the results.
Bronze at the 2025 SEA Games in the Mixed Team Duathlon Relay.
Third at the 2024 National Duathlon Championships. Eighth in the Men's Individual Triathlon at the 2022 SEA Games.
Silver at the 2019 SEA Games in the Mixed Team Duathlon Relay.
Consistent performance across years and across disciplines.
The lesson
Nic's biggest lesson is a simple one. Nail the small things. Sometimes doing less is exactly how you do more.
