After taking part in two half Ironman races, #TeamTCUK athlete, Juliet Starbuck, made the move up to Iron distance racing and took part in IM Copenhagen this summer. She enjoyed her training programme (and the race of course!) so much, she's now tempted to sign up for her second Iron distance race next year. Suggestions for Juliet on a postcard please! 

"Matt has coached me through two half Ironman races and Ironman Copenhagen. I qualified for the GB Age-Group team as a result of my performance in the first half Ironman and my subsequent performance at the European Champs was my only ‘perfect race’. This can only be due to the carefully constructed and clearly presented programme Matt developed for me. It was so helpful, indeed vital, to have all decisions about what to do taken away. I just had to trust Matt and do what I was told.

"After a year or two off triathlons I couldn’t resist the pull of the Ironman anymore so signed up for Copenhagen. I had the confidence to do this because I knew that Matt would be there to support me. Again, he gave me a suitably challenging programme to follow (I am 50 and am prone to injury so have to be sensible) and provided me with encouraging feedback week-on-week. The system Triathlon Coaching UK use to present and to monitor the programme is excellent, and very straightforward. A particularly impressive feature is the Strength and Conditioning section where there are links to videos in which Matt shows you what to do.

"I was confident that I was ready for the race. Matt gave me a race plan to follow. It worked. I had some frustrating gastric issues on the run but I was delighted with my performance (13 hours and 7 minutes). I certainly didn’t break down or fatigue too dramatically. I put this down to Matt’s excellent programme! The only down side is that I felt so good, apart from the gastric issues, that I’m tempted to do it again!!!!