Training
insights.

20 Oct

Anaerobic Threshold

If you are afraid of threshold it’s because you aren’t intimate enough with it to understand it.

2 min read → 12 Oct

Ironman Truth

Can you run the pace you desire, fully loaded or not?

2 min read → 05 Oct

The Dreadmill

Relax. Lean in. Focus on the rhythm.

1 min read → 31 Aug

Turn your Pain into Performance

Decisions, not conditions, determine who the athlete is at any given moment.

2 min read → 29 Jul

You can't coach suffering

“Suffering” is the most important leg of a triathlon. The big three live within it; endurance, tolerance and resilience. 

1 min read → 13 Jul

Training Hygiene Wins races

Don’t do it for the sake of it; Be fully in it or don’t do it. If you do it half arsed you’ll race half arsed. 

2 min read → 29 Jun

Build The Unbreakable

Stop rehearsing collapse. Rehearse build. You need to wax when everyone else wanes.

1 min read → 22 Jun

Every Second Counts

The problem is that you do nothing to promote a better moment by abandoning the one you’re in.

2 min read → 11 May

Junk In-Junk Out

Real hard sessions should demand an equal response from your brain and body. Are you up to it or not? If not look at why. 

1 min read → 24 Mar

How To Not Wreck a Prep

Heres the thing: you're not making up for lost sessions, you are adding to what you are doing right now through anxiety and creating a mess of the future.

1 min read → 26 Nov

The Simple Truth

Amplify speed. Simplify the process and you amplify the progress.

1 min read → 10 Nov

Death By A Thousand Cuts

Pain produces speed. Speed produces pain. They’re twins.

1 min read → 02 Oct

Gilesys Key Run Tip

When you spread your toes while running, you’re changing both the mechanics and the neurology of your movement

1 min read → 22 Sep

Relax At Speed

The more you relax, the more you can relax. The more you can relax, the more relaxed you become.

1 min read → 15 Aug

Hold, Don't Fold

If you don’t develop durability, you’ll be like a cat with nine lives. You’ll have some good races, sure— Then wonder why your middle name is inconsistency.

1 min read → 14 Jul

Rack em and Stack em

Yeah, you tick the box and feel some satisfaction. But deep down you know you’re completing — not called.

1 min read → 01 Jul

The Discipline Habit

Is your environment fresh, with a clean slate and session variance? Or is it the same old mouldy grind?

1 min read → 13 Jun

Consistency Is King

Real talent is the ability to end this day like yesterday never happened and tomorrow isn’t coming.

1 min read → 24 Apr

From Chaos To Flow

You’ll engage reality with mechanical movement made of an external input. That’s chaos man. That’s not embodiment, that’s embrainment….

2 min read → 07 Apr

The Plan and The Pattern

We often change things that don’t need changing on an outer level and end up lost and confused. But it’s not your plan, it’s your pattern!

2 min read → 31 Mar

Hard Yards-Grave Yards

Preparation is a measure of what you can absorb, not what you can get done.

1 min read → 28 Jan

Turn the screws

Trust your plan, not your pain!

2 min read → 16 Jan

High Performance Triathlon Coaching: Breaking Free from Cookie-Cutter Training

Move beyond textbook coaching. Connect with athletes on a deeper level. Create champions by breaking free from rigid systems.

1 min read → 15 Jan

The Moment of Truth

We train in fear rather than power! Most people train to avoid failure rather than to invite success.

2 min read → 12 Jan

Stop Training, Start Listening: The Path to Ironman Success

Your body whispers what your mind resists: pushing harder isn't the answer – mastering the art of recovery transforms good athletes into champions.

2 min read → 06 Jan

Evolve

You are creating the exact conditions you are experiencing. If you are a victim of the session, you are victimising yourself. Your body isn’t responsible for your toxic thinking.

2 min read → 03 Jan

Craft not Graft

Make no mistake, it’s not graft, it’s craft….The craft is to make what is hard, easy!

2 min read → 16 Dec

A Campaign of Misery

An addiction to intensity. If it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t work.

1 min read → 02 Dec

Bend Reality

Everything you avoid in trainings reality is going to be up in your face close and personal on race day and completed sessions do not allow for that, unless you’ve been fully in them boots n all.

2 min read → 07 Nov

Yes

The world is full of great trainers who are in a state of shock at the level of pain they experience in a race, because simply put, they aren’t ready for it.

1 min read → 14 Oct

Be Alive Now

Breathing half a breath, living half a life. Training half asleep and racing half awake. 

2 min read → 25 Sep

Shocker

If you resist the feelings, emotions and the discomfort of not feeling good, you are resisting the teaching your body is giving you. 

1 min read → 10 Sep

The Next Step

Accept the schooling you get: We don’t get what we want, we get what we need.

1 min read → 03 Sep

Eighty Twenty

Anaerobic threshold is the flashy sibling of sub threshold work, but make no mistake, it’s the sub threshold work that AT takes all the credit for

2 min read → 20 Aug

Get It Right

Do something completely different and relax the threat, relax your body into the process and learn how to enjoy what you think is discomfort.

2 min read → 30 Jul

Foundational

Think of yourself as a doomsday prepper; what are you going to do when the shit hits the fan?

2 min read → 13 Jul

Gilesy's Tips: Anaerobic Threshold

If you don’t train it correctly, you will be dictated to by a body that is not trained to do what you are asking of it.

1 min read → 21 May

Harden Up-Soften Down

You need to soften down against the discomfort you feel in your body, relax, let yourself pour like a fluid into the hurt.

1 min read → 10 May

Beast Mode

The aerobic oxygen carrying capacity and strength you are chasing evolves, breathes and expands in the space you create for it.

2 min read → 18 Apr

The Nurture Of War

The best of you is out there on the killing fields, the dead bodies of a thousand athletes strewn all around.

2 min read → 12 Apr

Busting Down The Door

The warrior you are looking for inside yourself is silently waiting for you to show up for yourself.

2 min read → 09 Apr

Back To Basics

You gotta get in the trenches man! You have to learn how to dig in when everything is getting blown to shit.

1 min read → 27 Mar

Reverberation

The repercussions of the reverb are happening in your body and nervous system, they will continue to choose the familiar path of chaos until you learn how to choose consciously and differently.

2 min read → 21 Mar

BackBone

Dedication is an investigation, an inner inquiry and a deep listening to the embodied winds of your own soul. It’s the warriors' inner prayer that you make to yourself.

2 min read → 15 Mar

Combat

Don’t lament the results you didn’t get from the work you didn’t do. There is no glory here, it’s a…

2 min read → 28 Feb

Give in, Don't give up

Contrary to popular athletic opinion, true development does not come from outstanding sessions or killer weeks.  Your resilience embeds itself among your conflicts, when…

2 min read → 23 Jan

Change

Racing is not a test of speed, it’s a test of what you can tolerate.  Training to tolerance is an incremental development that…

2 min read → 09 Jan

The name of the Game

A good coach is someone who makes themselves progressively unnecessary. That has always been my own focus. I work hard to make myself redundant.…

2 min read → 17 Dec

Seamless Transition from Today’s Plan to TrainingPeaks

The recent announcement of Today’s Plan’s closure marks a significant shift in the digital training landscape. As a dedicated high-performance triathlon…

2 min read → 02 Dec

Mastering the Mental Game in Triathlon Training

Triathlon coach Grant Giles integrates psychological techniques into training, enhancing athletes' mental and physical strength.

2 min read → 26 Nov

Grant's Complete Guide to Training for a Half-Ironman 70.3 Triathlon

A Half-Ironman 70.3 is a rewarding triathlon covering 70.3 miles of swimming, cycling, and running. While challenging, it offers a more approachable balance for training than a full Ironman.

12 min read → 25 Nov

The Cost of Triathlon Coaching in Australian: Investing in Your Success

Explore the varying costs of triathlon coaching and understand the value and costs behind your investment in athletic growth.

2 min read → 23 Nov

For The Win

Race week is about keeping it as simple as possible. That means keeping your head out of the trough. Out of thoughts of what…

2 min read → 23 Nov

Straight Shooting

Coaching is not about bringing on success in an athlete, it’s about removing all the obstacles to it. I see my job as…

1 min read → 16 Nov

The Point Of Hesitation

The crux point that we will all come to is when we have to decide whether we are going to accept or resist. I…

2 min read → 09 Oct

An Unveiling of Trust and Self-Discovery

Trust and self-reflection as critical drivers for breakthroughs and transformation in every athlete's journey.

2 min read → 22 Sep

Unlocking Athletic Pinnacle: My Holistic Journey with Triathlon Training

Discover the balance between mental fortitude and physical capability in my 13-week Ironman 70.3 program, designed for peak performance.

2 min read → 13 Sep

Demystifying Training Intensity Distribution for Triathletes: Finding the Right Balance

Striking the Perfect Balance Between Zones for Peak Performance.

2 min read → 09 Sep

Harnessing Data and Tech for Triathlon Training

Dive into how Grant integrates power, pace, and heart rate metrics using platforms like TrainingPeaks to sculpt elite training regimens for triathletes.

2 min read → 08 Sep

Unraveling Periodisation: The Triathlete's Blueprint for Peak Performance

Explore periodisation's role in triathlon training, a structured roadmap ensuring athletes excel across swimming, cycling, and running for race-day success.

2 min read → 05 Sep

The embodied athlete

Power transfer requires an open pathway. The lightening rod that carries that energy source is your body. When athletes think of power transfer, they…

2 min read → 05 Sep

Breathe Easy

The most misunderstood aspect of physical training is the ratio of easy, moderate and hard. If you are struggling with a plateau in performance,…

2 min read → 02 Sep

Optimising Mind & Body: 13-Week Ironman 70.3 Program

Grant Giles combines psychological strength with physiological training in his transformative 13-week Ironman 70.3 program, blending mind-body excellence.

1 min read → 31 Aug

The Art of Coaching

While coaching combines art and science, its true essence lies in fostering self-reflection and exploration in athletes, emphasising human connection over structured plans.

2 min read → 26 Aug

13-Week Ironman 70.3 Race Preparation Triathlon Training Plan

A 13-week Ironman 70.3 distance triathlon training plan used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks. This is ideal for the intermediate age group athlete.

2 min read → 21 Aug

On the front foot

Mount an attack, not a defence. If you go into a race with a survival mindset, you are on the back foot before you even start. Lets discuss.

2 min read → 25 Jul

Artificial intelligence

There is an enormous momentum around AI. Excitement, fear and doubt seem to be the predominant emotions that are being carried by that momentum.…

2 min read → 08 Jun

Discovery

There isn’t a way. In the end, all good athletes will find out it was only ever about what was inside them. So,…

3 min read → 08 Jun

All Torque

Torque is power, transformed from intension to attention. They are two sides of the same coin made of torque. Psychological intension is made of…

2 min read → 06 Jun

Go Beyond

Trust is the felt sense vehicle that carries this energy that has the capacity to take us into the twilight zone, into the state of zen or flow where we are able to let go of the concepts and allow the pain and discomfort to circulate without resistance.

2 min read → 31 May

Forecasting

Our ability to forecast trouble causes trouble. It’s like you have to convince yourself of all the catastrophic ways you could fail and…

2 min read → 25 May

Show Up

Your racing is not about the course, the wind, the elevation or the other competitors.It’s all about you and your response. As…

2 min read → 11 May

Stay With It

In the bubbling caldron of the session, when you are really starting to taste it. That’s when the brain, starved of oxygen, starts…

2 min read → 29 Apr

Speed Power And Flow

I grew up in surfing. I am most grateful for the lessons I got there. There were three aspects of great surfers that were…

2 min read → 29 Apr

Pain the way

Endurance sport is a painful place to put yourself. We often reference good athletes and their ability to suffer. What is rarely discussed is…

2 min read → 29 Apr

Brain Training

It’s an exciting time as the advances in performance and what we know about the brain and our perception come together. The advances…

2 min read → 15 Apr

Turning Point

Probably the most important aspect of physical training from what I have witnessed with both professional and amateur athletes is their ability to hold…

2 min read → 15 Apr

Active Rest

As a coach, I don’t do rest weeks. I don’t schedule drop off tapers either. Personally, I dose the volume, the intensity…

3 min read → 07 Apr

Storm Chasers

Stop trying to calm the storm, calm yourself and the storm will pass.

2 min read → 29 Mar

Inviting Trouble

If you look for trouble, rest assured, you will find it. Scanning for danger will bring that danger to you. Seeking comfort will eventually…

1 min read → 14 Mar

Exercise Wheel

In my opinion, coaching is not about instructive data entry, neither is it about data analysis. Sure, they are inclusive, but that is certainly…

2 min read → 08 Mar

Superiority

Success is stumbling from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm ~ Winston Churchill. That quote speaks to the truth that the inner fire…

2 min read → 08 Mar

Excuses

This is going to sound like a shot across the bow, but it isn’t, it’s pure observation. Difficult sessions, bad weather, apathy,…

2 min read → 03 Mar

Rest

You can be completely inactive and be completely exhausted by the energy around you and, indeed, inside you. The rest is not inactivity. The…

3 min read → 01 Mar

Athletic Patience

Aristotle said: “Patience is bitter, but Its fruit is sweet.” We live in an era where patience is pretty thin. In a world of…

3 min read → 28 Feb

The Perfect Prep

Waiting for the stars to align? For your big chance to shine? That perfect prep, that next big step. Yea, that lucky break.There’…

2 min read → 14 Feb

Don't Tap Out

One of the most toxic performance thoughts an athlete can have is the measurement of time and distance in relationship to discomfort. The wanting…

3 min read → 14 Feb

The Name Of The Pain

We are pretty good at applying technology to the training equation, and we then feel like we are doing something proactive, and we are…

2 min read → 11 Feb

Breakthrough Now!

We have one major problem in sport with our training and preparation. We do everything based on a future that isn’t here yet.…

2 min read → 11 Feb

Loven the Pain

If it comes into your awareness, it’s coming to be integrated and absorbed, not avoided.In that crucible moment when the suck of…

1 min read → 11 Feb

Go On Feel

Go on, do it, trust your body. We only think we dictate to our bodies. We do no such thing. We are energetic creatures,…

3 min read → 08 Feb

Going Hard

While athletes often prioritise intense training, true progress hinges on a delicate equilibrium of effort and ease, urging a shift from brute force to flow and balance.

2 min read → 03 Feb

Rescue Today

Embrace discomfort and challenge for personal growth and development, emphasising that seeking safety and repeating old thought patterns leads to nothing but apathy.

2 min read → 29 Oct

12-Week Olympic Distance Triathlon Training Plan for Intermediate Age Group Athletes

A free 12-week Olympic distance triathlon training plan used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks. This is ideal for the intermediate age group athlete.

1 min read → 29 Oct

10-Week Ironman 70.3 / Half Distance Triathlon Training Plan for Intermediate Age Group Athletes

A free 10-week Half Ironman or 70.3 distance triathlon training plan used in conjunction with TrainingPeaks. This is ideal for the intermediate age group athlete.

1 min read → 14 Aug

Developmental

When I speak to athletes about their development, the conversation for them mostly revolves around the physical aspects, stress and recovery, physical nuisances such…

5 min read → 14 Aug

An Athletic Braille

Athletically people at times ask for something that they are not prepared for, or simply misunderstand. What does it mean to really go after…

4 min read →