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From Last Place to the World Championships: RAF Triathlete Drew Clark’s Journey to a 1:09 Half Marathon
22 Plays1 day ago
In this episode of UK Tri Chat, Scott Hill sits down with RAF triathlete and endurance athlete Drew Clark fresh off an outstanding 3rd-place finish at the Birmingham Half Marathon, where he clocked a breakthrough time of 1:09.
Drew shares his journey from finishing last in his first triathlon on an oversized mountain bike to competing at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Marbella and chasing his dream of earning a professional triathlon licence. Along the way, he discusses balancing military life with 17–20 hours of weekly training, the lessons learned from years of self-coached mistakes, and the mindset required to perform at a high level in endurance sport.
The conversation explores the impact of the Brownlee brothers on a generation of British triathletes, growing up in Cornwall, training with limited resources, overcoming setbacks, and why consistency beats motivation every time. Drew also reflects on racing at international level, handling pressure, setting ambitious goals, and the importance of celebrating achievements before moving on to the next challenge.
Whether you're a seasoned triathlete, a runner chasing a personal best, or someone looking for inspiration to stay committed to your goals, this episode is packed with practical insights and motivation from one of the UK's rising age-group athletes.
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Transcript
Introduction and Guest Background
00:00:01
Scott Hill
Okay, good evening. and Welcome to another episode with UK Tri Chat and myself, Scott Hill from TriWolf Triathlon Coaching. Pleased to say today we've got ah Drew Clark, who is an athlete for the Royal Air Force.
Birmingham Half Marathon Experience
00:00:13
Scott Hill
He is also the third place finisher at the Birmingham Half Marathon this year. So that's third place overall, Drew, that you finished at that race.
00:00:23
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah. yeah
00:00:25
Scott Hill
How was that race for you and how are you feeling post that race with that sort of result?
00:00:30
Drew Clark
Honestly, i was a it was a long time coming, I think, because I really wanted that goal. So it was a 1-09 finish that got me the third. And all the training I'd done prior to the 2026 season, so from December 25 through winter, was all basically towards that goal to get me in a good state for tri-season.
00:00:52
Drew Clark
um so it really did need to happen and I'm really really happy it did it seemed like everything went to plan on the race um and just one of those days where no one's overtook me and it was it was nice because uh two lads out in front were on a different league but i was running solo for the majority of it so it was a bit surreal when I got over the line and realized that I was actually third overall in the whole whole event
00:01:12
Scott Hill
Thank you.
Race Strategy and Elite Status Perks
00:01:19
Drew Clark
because uh
00:01:19
Scott Hill
Yeah, and I guess, you know, time to reflect on that and and even, you know, myself looking at that as well, I'm aware that you never started in the elite pen, although you had an elite finish and you finished on the podium overall completing 13.1 miles. You never started in that elite pen with those elite runners who finished first and second.
00:01:36
Scott Hill
You actually had to make your way through traffic to to run a 109. Could you have done better on the day? And has that really sunk in in your own reflection?
00:01:46
Drew Clark
I think it's a bit of a breakthrough as well. Like you say, the the guys, the AJ Bell obviously is a big company and they've said now I've got my elite entry status for those further events going forward.
00:02:00
Drew Clark
Again, that can be perks of put potential free entries into next year, but also that I've now got that time and that result bookmarked for future races. So it's nice to have that acknowledgement.
00:02:13
Drew Clark
But like you say at the start,
00:02:13
Scott Hill
Yeah,
00:02:15
Drew Clark
I had to run this through a few people and they'd already gone up the road. So it was a bit of a lonely race after that. um I wouldn't say it would have affected the result at all, but um it's nice to start where you are going to finish, if that makes sense.
Support and Reactions
00:02:30
Drew Clark
I knew I had a bit to do in the first kilometre.
00:02:32
Scott Hill
so maybe going squeeze out few extra seconds or even a minute there. Had you not had that traffic.
00:02:36
Drew Clark
Oh yeah, if I had been a 1.10.03 or something, I would have been pretty fuming.
00:02:42
Scott Hill
How's your reaction been then with friends and family and obviously RAF colleagues as well? cause i know you're a triathlete for the Royal Air Force as well.
00:02:48
Drew Clark
Yeah, uh...
00:02:48
Scott Hill
How's the reaction been then?
00:02:50
Drew Clark
work Work's been great. um I know I posted it a lot on social media and i expect people got a bit bored of that, but it was nice to celebrate that. Obviously a nice photo with the two two elite runners and that got shared across the RAF social medias, which was which was great because it shows that the support that they give back to people that are performing well and to to show that I'm using RF CrossFit's facilities to to perform. you know i was i was training...
00:03:19
Drew Clark
two track sessions a week in my lunch times. So being able to showcase that I can do the work on my own, not have any training partners and still perform at quite a high level, purely on a running basis, not even a triathlon basis is a is encouraging. And it means that with those results, people can keep supporting me in what I'm doing whilst most working hard as well.
Balancing Military and Athletic Life
00:03:43
Scott Hill
Yeah, it's been fantastic and it's good to see. And, you know, you made a comment there about social media and I think I even messaged you saying, I think you're milking this a bit now. But in in reality, that's just a bit of military banter and it's absolutely astonishing that type of result and finishing third overall all at the Birmingham Half-Manager Marathon is one I don't think you'll ever forget and and even yeah your close family and friends and stuff as well won't forget that as well.
00:03:53
Drew Clark
Yeah, of course. Thank you.
00:04:04
Scott Hill
And I think that's something you can be tremendously proud of as a result because anyone would be ecstatic with something like that. So, you know, that's commendable and and congratulations on that.
00:04:13
Drew Clark
thank you
00:04:13
Scott Hill
So you are obviously we've mentioned that we touched on it. You're serving in the Royal Air Force. You're an athlete for the Royal Air Force. um in multiple distances you know well not distances but disciplines i mean you you work in on athletics you know you do a bit cycling you do um swimming as part triathlon anyway and you do triathlon as well so you're involved in quite a few sports um how do you how do you balance that with day-to-day life serving in the military and obviously trying to perform in in all disciplines of sport that you do
00:04:28
Drew Clark
Thank you.
00:04:43
Drew Clark
Well, my work itself is very office based, so I can almost rest during the day hours in terms of the the nine to five. And then I can train hard pre and post like most ah normal jobs, I suppose. I'm lucky that where I am based, that there is a swimming pool on camp. So the convenience of living where I do work,
00:05:03
Drew Clark
The commute that most people would find where you have your half hour to travel to swim makes a swim session a whole two hour element of your day. Whereas I've found I've been able to really work that around work, whether that's getting in on a lunchtime or getting in before work.
00:05:20
Drew Clark
As I mentioned, the running track, using that occasional lunchtime, so I had to cut back a bit due to the intensity. But again, access to treadmills and there's some great running routes in the West Midlands as well. um Not totally flat and being from Cornwall, I like a few hills, so it's fun to train around there. I don't know if you can see in my room as well, but I've got my turbo trainer set up and a few bikes stuffed in here as well. So,
00:05:46
Drew Clark
um I do what I can. Turbo training is a bit bit dull, but I'm a bit weird where I do enjoy that. And I i could sit it in front of the Netflix for three hours on ah on a turbo. I wouldn't mind it at
Training Philosophy and Impact of Upbringing
00:05:59
Drew Clark
all. I'm quite self-motivated in that way. And yeah, no complaints really.
00:06:04
Scott Hill
And that's one of the difficult things we have with athletes is that is, you know, i spoke about this before is to discipline and motivation and motivation is very, very difficult and it fluctuates so much, but you know, you're a disciplined athlete and you've reaping the rewards of that discipline, you know, which when you, when you, when you disciplined to do the training and not necessarily motivated, you're still putting yourself through the motion and doing it and you reap an award from that, which is commendable. Um,
00:06:28
Scott Hill
You mentioned there, obviously, West Midlands, so Royal Air Force Cosford is where you're stationed. Not every station in the military has the luxuries of a running track and a swimming pool.
00:06:38
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:06:38
Scott Hill
However, Cosford is the home for the Royal Air Force's physical training structures, so those that are trained in PT, hence why the facilities are better than most in some cases or more readily available.
00:06:49
Scott Hill
So, yeah. It is a fantastic place to have the benefits of doing stuff like that. You touched on Cornwall. So obviously, you're born in Cornwall?
00:06:59
Drew Clark
Yes, no I wasn't born, sorry. I was born in Colchester, again, father's military, so in that area and then moved Cornwall early on, like two years. yeah
00:07:09
Scott Hill
Cornwall's not renowned for being flat, is it? It's pretty lumpy.
00:07:11
Drew Clark
No, no, it's quite hilly and quite windy as well, quite exposed. But it's good fun. i I enjoyed growing up there.
00:07:19
Scott Hill
Yeah. so So obviously as growing up then, as a very early on, were you exposed to sport? Were you just an outdoors kid? How was that for you going through school? And I'm guessing your parents and stuff like that.
00:07:29
Scott Hill
Did they push you into sport were you just like most kids of my generation, for sure? We lived outside. were always outside anyway.
00:07:35
Drew Clark
Yeah, honestly, not so much.
00:07:36
Scott Hill
There's been a shift in general.
00:07:40
Drew Clark
The majority of growing up, primary primary school wise and second, well, primary, hours was, we lived quite close to a pub. So I didn't really get out at all purely because of the dangers of riding a bike around outside and Occasionally, um i mean, I didn't come from a bad area at all, but you'd wake up with glass bottles and smashed smashed glass on the pavement. So that's just the standard. It's not one't bad at all. um My dad worked away a lot, so I didn't often...
00:08:10
Drew Clark
do sports as such, like team sports, purely because it was just my mum, my sister and myself. So getting out on weekends would be more of a thing we do as a family rather than go to clubs and stuff.
Early Triathlon Experiences and Inspirations
00:08:23
Drew Clark
um So it wasn't until secondary school that I started getting more into my running as such. In secondary school, I think that was the time when London Olympics was on in 2012. And and
00:08:36
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:08:37
Drew Clark
from watching the Brownie Brothers there. Prior to that, I had i didn't know what triathlon was. um I hadn't really swam properly. i you know i did my metre badge and called it there.
00:08:51
Drew Clark
um So yeah, I joined a swim club at 13 and ah did my first triathlon at 13 as well. So 2014 that was.
00:09:06
Drew Clark
um and I used my dad's old mountain bike and I came last
00:09:11
Scott Hill
Thank you.
00:09:12
Drew Clark
in my age group. I got out the swim last. was my first time swimming eight lengths, so 200 meters ever. And then I put my socks on, had a little towel, dried myself off, got on my dad's mountain bike, which was too big for me, rode around field a few times and then ran. But um I loved it. I really loved it. I loved the fact that you had three different things to do.
00:09:36
Drew Clark
um cross country I found quite boring at school because you're either good at it or you're not and if you're not it's just hard work so that's where it started I think is the fact that there's always stuff to improve upon.
00:09:45
Scott Hill
yeah I think cross-country runs always tend to be quite short, don't they? so i i use that and or I think of it in the same comparison to going out and doing a 10-mile TT on a bike.
00:09:59
Scott Hill
You're in the red from the off-go as soon as that starts. It can be quite tight.
00:10:04
Drew Clark
Oh, and as a child, as a child, they're caning it out of the gate, aren't they?
00:10:06
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:10:08
Drew Clark
For first 500 metres and then your mouth's dry and your breathing goes out the window.
00:10:14
Scott Hill
So you say you really inspired them by Brownlee brothers back in 2012.
00:10:18
Drew Clark
Correct, yeah, yeah.
00:10:18
Scott Hill
Yeah, it's renowned. I think that was the triathlon boom for the yeah UK really, wasn't it? And then, you know, I've got some friends of mine that are a little bit older than me. i won't mention any names, but they did. They've been doing triathlon for decades before 2012 boom. And I see pictures of them doing it and they show me what they're wearing and everything else. And I'm very much like you. I, you know, I sort of came into it in that sort of era when it was the boom and found out a bit more But um it's definitely something that took off at that point in the UK.
00:10:47
Scott Hill
And I don't think it's ever really gone. Although we've you know we've we've we've had the issue around um COVID and stuff, which is some years ago now, but it's still very, very popular.
00:10:57
Scott Hill
And I think you said you've gone out and done that one as your first one, come last, but still very much enjoyed it.
00:10:58
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:11:03
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:11:05
Scott Hill
And I think that's important to, you know, I think it's an important message to send that it doesn't matter where you come. It is about enjoying it. And, you know, if you're going out and doing your first one, if you are doing it on a bike, that's not necessarily thousands of thousands of pounds, it doesn't matter.
00:11:20
Scott Hill
um But yeah, I think um potentially Cornwall as a location has
Triathlon Culture and Personal Enjoyment
00:11:25
Scott Hill
given you a positive thing then in terms of, you know, your school education side in sports, your clubs, potentially what you've joined there and even your parents lending you equipment.
00:11:35
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah. I'm very lucky. Um, my dad, uh, well, it turns out he used to do triathlon, uh, when he was younger before he joined the army. So, uh, that was obviously before it was a thing. and you know, he'd always done marathons at silly ages, you know, he'd been running marathons before he was 18 and stuff. And, uh,
00:11:56
Drew Clark
I assume he was at quite a good level. um But now we compare times and I am better. So that's always good. But yeah, I think... Again, seeing certain children growing up that had obviously got a bit of money and they had fancy bikes and fancy kit. oh you know I remember my first big event was national cross country champs in secondary school representing Cornwall. And I was the only child
Competitive Journey and Challenges
00:12:27
Drew Clark
in a team of eight boys or six boys that was not from Truro.
00:12:32
Drew Clark
ah secondary, which was the private school. And they had like a pool and a track and stuff. And I was the only one from another school that wasn't Truro where they all trained together. so I was a bit of a one-off.
00:12:44
Scott Hill
ah know I know Truro a little bit.
00:12:46
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:12:48
Scott Hill
I was born in Plymouth, so I know the area. Down that way somewhat. and My stepfather is actually from Truro, so we used to visit in that location as well. so so yeah It's certainly a good place to be, and I think as a kid in that sort of environment and that sort location, it's got a lot to offer as well.
00:13:09
Scott Hill
um Did you ever think that you would get to the point where you are now competing in an international standard? Because you are in your own right, you know, albeit a half marathon or or a triathlon, you know, you've raced the, we'll come into this bit more later on, but you've raced the world championships in and i'm a half Ironman as well.
00:13:26
Scott Hill
So that's international level. Did you ever think back then you'd be doing what you're doing today?
00:13:32
Drew Clark
always I had the dream of doing that, but um it always seemed far off. I always feel like I work hard, but I've not really had any natural talent. Everything's come to me I've had to work for, whether that's school or sport. say i you know I felt like I was training hard, but I've never had someone to push me.
00:13:57
Drew Clark
So from Cornwall, this big fish, small pond, and then you get to regionals, and then you know the southwest goes past Bristol, and for me, commuting to Bristol is at over two hours, so...
00:14:01
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:14:11
Drew Clark
you know, there's a big, big area and you commute for a an event where when you're under 16, a triathlon is probably a 30 minute event because you're not allowed to bike more than about 10 miles. So it's ah it's not very long and I get humbled because my swim was definitely my worst.
00:14:32
Drew Clark
And at the point where a lot of kids in Cornwall have been surf lifesaving since the age of three, you you know, i was coming out five minutes behind on a 7.50 and then that's game over. So um my dad did well to drive me all that way just for me to come like eighth or something. in But um from there, I feel it really started when I hit 17, 18, where the puberty gap changes, but also you're then eligible going from 17 then be able to enter an Ironman if you wanted at 18.
00:15:06
Drew Clark
There seems to be a lot of...
00:15:06
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:15:09
Drew Clark
I don't know, rules and regulations in place in terms of ages and the distance you are eligible to do from the age of, say, 15 onwards. um And then when I was able to enter Olympic distance tries half Ironmans, that's when I came into my own a bit where I had that diesel engine.
00:15:24
Drew Clark
um I've just always been able to not necessarily go hard, but go for a long time. And I thrived off of that, I but i feel. um I did an event in the Cotswolds as my first Olympic distance.
00:15:40
Drew Clark
And then I came third overall out of everyone there. So it was 600 people, third overall. And the guy that won it was an ex-pro American triathlete, Brad Williams.
00:15:51
Drew Clark
And the second person was from the army, army try. So, and then I was on the podium with these two jacked lads and I was like 17 scrawny little try suit and a very happy with my myself. So was like, okay, I've got something there.
00:16:08
Scott Hill
yeah you mentioned the difference between I guess teenagers and adult and um Unfortunately, you know stuff like that's never going to change. it's It's down to rules and regulations, code of conduct, and what's doing right under safeguarding for children, because normally they're still our children as well.
00:16:19
Drew Clark
No.
00:16:27
Scott Hill
and It's not necessarily what it is the demands on the body, but also you know the demands of the sport and obviously adults and mix and everything else. so It's quite good. I think that there's not every club, but there's quite a lot of clubs out there around the UK that do have kids events on they do promote kids in the sport and getting them involved and stuff and well and and you know if anyone's listening out here and you are interested you've got children or whatever that are interested in the sport then do look at your local clubs and see if they've got you know categories for kids and they might do training sessions for them be it evenings weekends or even little events as well where they have some club rivalry between other local clubs I know I was
00:17:06
Scott Hill
a few years ago and I was part of some tri-clubs down in Wiltshire Way, Salisbury area and they very much had stuff on for children as well so it was great to see that there was stuff for them first triathlon then where you borrowed the bike what was the what was the next one after that for you?
Youth Involvement and Early Achievements
00:17:27
Drew Clark
um That was, we had a little whole thing called the Cornwall Mini Tri Series. You'd have the Cornwall Tri Series, which was five or six events across the year from probably May to September, um locations dotted around where I think we had a big conglomerate of leisure centres that would then host these pool-based sprint triathlons.
00:17:51
Drew Clark
ah which would be on the Sunday and then the Saturday would be often the children's events, which would be, you know, TriStar 1 to TriStar 3. So from the ages of 13 to 16, competed in those.
00:18:06
Drew Clark
So I've got a few little little trophies from the Cornwall Mini Series.
00:18:10
Scott Hill
Still got them?
00:18:11
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah, back at home, yeah.
00:18:13
Scott Hill
Good. Are they in a box in the garage or are proudly on display?
00:18:16
Drew Clark
No, they're proudly on display. there but They're little, but they they mean a lot.
00:18:21
Scott Hill
Yeah. No, that's really good. So do you think do you think it was that Olympic distance one, which you said, the Cotswolds, that you found was the the point you realised I could be quite good at this?
00:18:33
Drew Clark
Yeah, I think so. I think competing against adults and I used to have be very self-conscious of the fact that I didn't look like an athlete. um Going on a start line against loads of men, you feel they've got a lot of muscles and a lot of ah nice kit. And then I realised it's not all about that. And a lot of people just sink like a stone when they get in a pool.
00:18:57
Drew Clark
So i realized not to not to think about other people when i race and just enjoy it. And i feel like having no pressure and being one of the youngest people competing or also helped in my favor because I had no prior experience. And that was a time before looking at power data. you know I was very minimalistic with my kit.
00:19:20
Drew Clark
It was secondhand bike again off Gumtree. So yeah, I bought a secondhand TT bike because I was always growing as well.
00:19:24
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:19:27
Drew Clark
You know, if if I bought a bike at that age, I'd have ridden it for a season and then had to get rid. So ah yeah, it wasn't anything special and just rode hard and then ran.
00:19:39
Drew Clark
So
Racing Philosophy and Technology
00:19:40
Scott Hill
you know what? I think that's got a lot. It has a lot to play in terms of results and performance for a lot of people as well as is racing on feel sometimes. um I think as you become more accustomed to it and you're running your pace and your power, you become a bit more accustomed to where you're write in terms of rate perceived exertions or RPEs and other scale that we can use if people don't have all those metrics. um And a prime example is this. Myself the other week, I did ah a time trial at a local one, 10 miles. And um for whatever reason my garmin wasn't displaying any data whatsoever so i just rode it all on feel and got a pv so it was like was just all out for 10 miles which was great um but it just shows that you don't need all this fancy kit and all you know this other stuff yes it's a nice to have and over time it's something that athletes can build on you know over over periods of months or you know periods of paydays or periods of years in some cases um
00:19:40
Drew Clark
yeah.
00:20:15
Drew Clark
Nice, yeah.
00:20:34
Scott Hill
you know and you You touched on the fact there that you're on a starter line and you've got these these older men that have got all these fancy bikes and equipment and everything else. and you know As people earn money developing jobs, they might have extra capacity to spend money.
00:20:48
Scott Hill
It's no different to anything in life. If someone has a lot of money, you tend to see them with the flash cars. If someone doesn't have a lot of money, then they might have ah a car that's not necessarily a flash because their money is critical to be spent and somewhere else.
00:21:01
Scott Hill
And I think that's what we see in sport. And it's, you know, over the years, it's always talked about that triathlon a middle-aged sport. And I guess in some ways it is, i guess in some ways that hasn't changed.
00:21:17
Scott Hill
But I do think it has changed a lot over the past 10 years where we're seeing generational shift, youngsters coming in and their parents have supported them through that journey in some ways like you have.
00:21:28
Scott Hill
um So there's a change there, but it's, I think it's nice to hear that even from yourself that you don't need all the fancy kit to go and have a good race and perform and enjoy at of the day.
00:21:40
Scott Hill
That's the reason why we should be doing this sport and make everyone feel welcome and enjoy the sport. So, um,
00:21:46
Drew Clark
I love it. I love the fact that when you go to a start line, you could be wrecking your bike next to someone and they've got a mountain bike and they've got, you know, for half Ironman, I've seen events where they've got, you know, pizza slices taped to their top tube because they're going to be out on the bike for six hours.
00:22:02
Drew Clark
And it's like fair play, like, because, you know, we're both doing a half in low four hours and someone could be out for over six. And you're like, that's a really long day to be out working hard.
00:22:15
Drew Clark
And I think, you know, hats off to you, whatever you do, because we're all doing the same distance, aren't we?
00:22:15
Scott Hill
yeah
Effort and Pacing in Triathlons
00:22:21
Drew Clark
So...
00:22:21
Scott Hill
I think it's the same distance and one thing I i you know talk to people about in athletes I coach and stuff it's it's irrelevant of the time you're going to cross the line Someone's going to cross a line you know in six hours, six and half hours.
00:22:34
Scott Hill
Their perceived effort is no different to someone that's going to cross the line in four hours, five hours. You're still working working hard within your range.
00:22:52
Scott Hill
consistency, which touched on there, the motivation and discipline, as we mentioned before, all of those numbers should start to dwindle over time. and and and yeah i think it is um I love the fact that you've still got people out there battling with themselves later on in their races as well. It's quite good.
00:23:09
Scott Hill
um Which discipline come easiest to you, do you think?
00:23:14
Drew Clark
Did or didn't?
00:23:15
Scott Hill
Did or does come easiest to
00:23:16
Drew Clark
Did. Ooh. It's hard to tell. Right now, I'd say cycling. um
00:23:21
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:23:22
Drew Clark
Purely because I'm enjoying it with the sun out and the consistency. like The more you put in, the more you get out, it really seems. Especially volume for me. i found volume is the biggest factor in my...
Cycling Training Methods
00:23:36
Drew Clark
way to progress myself within reason, of course. But um I love the fact of a bit structure. You can make so many gains. And it's not about kit. It's just you versus you.
00:23:50
Drew Clark
um I do use Zwift quite a lot. I know a lot of people have mixed opinions on that. But for me, having structure, racing against people online and people I know and that community feel as well,
00:24:03
Drew Clark
um it has that accountability for me that I'm always got a structure. I'm not just settling for zone two every day. And I love the progress on that.
00:24:15
Drew Clark
um
00:24:15
Scott Hill
yeah i think ah I'm a fan of Zwift myself, I'm a fan of Zwift, but I'm a fan of riding outside as well. I think um i like to fluctuate it and I think Zwift has got its place, but so is riding outside has got its place. I think this goes for all disciplines. you know If you are racing a pool swim, then obviously a pool has a place, but if you're doing an open water swim, then I think you need to get into water experience that as well for various reasons.
00:24:42
Scott Hill
But I think the same with Zwift. the cycling indoors and outdoors is when you're outdoors, you've got real feel, you've got wind resistance, rolling resistance, air resistance.
00:24:53
Scott Hill
And hopefully on races, then there's no traffic resistance, but in some cases that is the case.
00:24:57
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:24:58
Scott Hill
but Not all of them. But obviously when you're on Zwift and you're locked in, it's very much you versus the what you're putting out. Now, if you're going and doing stuff like sweet spot reps or threshold reps, then you're going to hit them numbers, hopefully bang on using Zwift all the time. Whereas if you did that outside, it might not be as perfect because of those other topics that we talked about.
00:25:20
Scott Hill
But um I'm a big advocate for cycling outside, but when the weather's been like, well, look at the weather raven at the minute, it doesn't know what it wants to do, raining or sunning today.
00:25:27
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:25:30
Scott Hill
Last week was amazing, get outside, enjoy it. This week has been a bit hit and miss, but then the wintertime, I think there's so much for riding indoors and you know being safe because you're not going out when it's dark, for instance.
00:25:41
Scott Hill
so it's got a lot to play and I think i think that just adds to that consistency piece of of training which there's periods into that so yeah but yeah I mean you touched earlier on on on swimming you said you know very early in them early years where some of the kids were getting out five minutes before you I know you swim very well now you know I sometimes share the pool with you in the pool lane and I think to every six or I say every four of my lengths you're probably on your sixth
00:25:48
Drew Clark
yeah
00:26:10
Scott Hill
um so i think yeah it's you're a very good swimmer now so if you weren't back then you are very very good now um but i reckon i could pick some pop pick some holes in your uh your style swimming for sure
00:26:20
Drew Clark
Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. it's always It's always a big fishmall pond though, because again, in every level there's bare people, isn't there? So it's...
00:26:31
Scott Hill
So what's your attraction to the long course now then?
00:26:31
Drew Clark
a
00:26:34
Scott Hill
Obviously we we're on half marathon distance and half Ironman distance is your kind of favorite distance I'd say now.
00:26:40
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:26:41
Scott Hill
What was your attraction to that?
00:26:43
Drew Clark
It's definitely still a race. It's ah especially at the level it's, ah you know, people are finishing, like say Outlaw the other weekend, to the top 20 are separated by 10 minutes.
00:26:56
Drew Clark
It's like, you know, there's a lot that can happen and you feel like you have to work for it. I know I definitely look to compete in Ironman in a couple years time, but for now I feel i haven't nailed a half Ironman yet in terms of getting everything right and until then I don't want to move on purely because
00:27:19
Scott Hill
you might might You might never get a perfect one.
00:27:22
Drew Clark
i want to.
00:27:24
Scott Hill
i'm not I'm not convinced it ever goes perfect.
Importance of Celebrating Achievements
00:27:29
Scott Hill
and i think And I think that's the interesting thing with this sport is it's it's never perfect and there's always something that can go wrong.
00:27:29
Drew Clark
No, but
00:27:37
Scott Hill
There's always something that can change. But at the same time, i like the fact that if it doesn't go right, there's still many positives to take from it. And I think that's what a lot of people get lost in that.
00:27:48
Drew Clark
Oh, yeah. ah yeah
00:27:50
Scott Hill
They're like, no, it's not the race I wanted. It didn't happen. I wanted to blow my, yeah, but what are the positives you can take from that? Because there is always positives and that's what you've got to take. You can't change what's happened, but you can change what is going to happen.
00:28:03
Drew Clark
No. And I've learned very early on that when you do have a good event, you need to celebrate it and need to acknowledge that that was a good race because you're so focused on your season and moving straight on to the next thing and hyper fixating on stuff.
00:28:18
Drew Clark
And I don't feel you appreciate your results enough when they happen. Cause say in hindsight, when you are unable to hit those times, you know, appreciate how you feel when you are at your fittest and you're, you know, you're flying. It's a great feeling when you are super, super fit.
00:28:38
Scott Hill
what um looking back then over the years um
Training Mistakes and Recovery
00:28:43
Drew Clark
Saying that like I'm really old.
00:28:43
Scott Hill
what no but you've been in you looking back to 2012 it's a number of years now looking back over the years what what would you what advice or what mistakes do you think you made in the earlier years that you potentially if you could go back and change what would you change
00:28:49
Drew Clark
yeah yeah
00:29:02
Drew Clark
um thrashing myself every day when i was younger i felt like i had to make myself hurt to progress um obviously i had no prior knowledge of uh how to structure a training week i was just going out after school and uh smashing a little two mile loop around my house and then riding whenever and swimming whenever but i'd always my dad would joke with me what you're doing this morning in the pool and it would always be 10 100s off two minutes or 10 100s off whatever but it was a staple session and i'd do it probably twice a week every week and
00:29:41
Drew Clark
In hindsight now, obviously you weren't going to progress from that, but I just knew it was a session that made me hurt and it made me feel good when I completed it. But there was no variation to then get that stimulus.
00:29:52
Drew Clark
So yeah, not every day easter you need to hurt yourself, do you? And your body thrives off recovery. You know, you know more than me.
00:30:01
Scott Hill
I think yeah and and it's it's something I've seen with athletes I've coached over the years it's Some people, not all, some expect every session to hurt.
00:30:14
Scott Hill
I know need to come off that and be literally, need to be peeled off the floor when you've climbed off a bike, for example. But no, it's not. It's it's not about that. It is about training, balance and training, right and training, consistency and remaining disciplined to bank them sessions over longer periods of time.
00:30:31
Scott Hill
A common phrase out there, and I use it all the time, is Usain Bolt trained X amount of years for nine seconds in the Olympics for every four years. and and and it's and It's a good phrase to use, and it's one that's out there. It's people need to train routinely, consistently to absorb, load, recover, and obviously rest and keep going again. so um yeah I think it is very important to remember that we don't need to hurt ourselves every single session. There is a time and a place for it, but there's also a time and a place for doing easier sessions or some that are in the middle and make it sure you recover.
00:31:08
Scott Hill
um So Ironman World Champs, half Ironman World Champs, was it Nice you did?
International Competition Experience
00:31:14
Drew Clark
Marbella.
00:31:14
Scott Hill
Marbella won.
00:31:15
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:31:16
Scott Hill
I didn't.
00:31:17
Drew Clark
25. Yeah.
00:31:17
Scott Hill
I did the Nice half one. You did the 2025 Marbella won. How was that? How did that feel?
00:31:22
Drew Clark
It was a fun experience. The weather was good.
00:31:24
Scott Hill
yes
00:31:25
Drew Clark
Yeah. It was a shame because ah the 18 to 24 age group started second to last on the day. So although we had to get up in the morning and, you know, check your bike in and obviously you'd do it the day before, but, you know, put your nutrition on, we,
00:31:41
Drew Clark
did that all probably 5.30am and then weren't actually gun go till 10. So stood around nervous eating flapjacks until then. And then, uh, again, the bike course was, was carnage.
00:31:54
Drew Clark
The the aid stations, there was debris everywhere. Um, but what an event like, you know, the, the bike course itself was like a tour de France stage to me anyway, it was, uh, over 1800 meters of climbing over the 90 and,
00:31:58
Scott Hill
Thank
00:32:09
Drew Clark
definitely not suited for a bigger boy i was a 77 kg and six foot two so not a not not a good climber but uh it was an amazing experience and you know the roads compared to the uk it was uh it was brilliant yeah
00:32:25
Scott Hill
what did What did you learn about competing against athletes in that type of environment? Because technically, the Ironman World Champs is is the world's best in that sport. How did that compare and how did that feel for you from racing in the UK to going out and racing and seeing and athletes from all over the globe that are at the pinnacle of their age group racing all in one place?
00:32:47
Scott Hill
How is that for you?
00:32:49
Drew Clark
i I took it in my stride. I think i cat went out with a team with the coup cycle. So they supported me a lot and made me feel very grounded when I was there. And I knew i was surrounded by a good support network of people. You know, my bike was checked in and they made me feel that i was in the best position possible for the event. Yeah.
00:33:09
Drew Clark
I would say that European triathletes are the strongest in the world. And I feel that when you race and qualify at events such as 70.3 Bolton or any other event within Europe for a world champs, regardless of where it is, I feel European triathletes are the strongest bike runners by far.
00:33:31
Drew Clark
um And I feel like that showed...
00:33:31
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:33:34
Drew Clark
I don't know any age group where someone outside Europe was top dog. um And in that aspect, I feel like I didn't just make up the numbers, I was there competing. And from there, wouldn't say i was disappointed with the result, but I i know how fine margins you know, there are in the results.
00:33:59
Drew Clark
So if you look at any of the age groups, they're separated by minutes in terms of five, 10 positions over a four and a half hour event on that day because of how challenging the course was.
00:34:11
Drew Clark
I know Bloomenfeld did it in about three and a half, but um yeah, it, it, you know, I felt, I felt great doing it. And the, you know, the support was, was brilliant.
00:34:21
Drew Clark
Just the heat and the, the event itself really, really killed me off.
00:34:25
Scott Hill
I think, yeah, I think, I think that's, that's negative point for, for UK athletes anyway, is the heat because our climate is not like the rest.
00:34:26
Drew Clark
I,
00:34:33
Scott Hill
Well, not the rest, but most of Europe. Um, and, and, know, and, and I've been raised in those environments as well. And it's difficult because we don't come from that type of climate in some cases. Um,
00:34:46
Scott Hill
So I think for us that adds another layer of preparation, albeit it could be early travel to races, to climate, to make yourself adapt the climate or other methods of acclimatizing to heat stuff like that.
00:35:01
Scott Hill
I've, I, um, I've been known to look at other climates that are very similar to the UK um that may be in Europe because you may end up with ah with a course that's better laid out or better road conditions to what we get in the UK. But generally, picking a yeah UK athlete up, and and i'll talk about I'll say talent for one is perfect in Estonia because you can literally pick a British athlete up drop them into Estonia Tallinn on that course. and The climate is very similar, but the race conditions are far superior to what you get in the UK. So generally, British athletes perform very well in the likes of Tallinn, both the 70.3 or the 140.6.
00:35:41
Scott Hill
So it's worth looking at, if you you know if athletes are listening out there today, and even yourself, and I always do it, but looking at races out there thinking... where can I go and have a really good race based on things like that, that that we may struggle with if you went to say the South of France or the South of Spain, where it could be ridiculously hot and you might not have the time or the facilities to prep in perfect sort sequence to go and race in that environment where all your competitors could live in that environment.
00:36:08
Scott Hill
So it's difficult.
00:36:09
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah.
Military Influence on Training
00:36:10
Scott Hill
um So I guess um training is training training has changed you over the years. um You're now in the military. how long have you been in the Royal Air Force for?
00:36:21
Drew Clark
Two and a half now. Two and a half years, yeah.
00:36:24
Scott Hill
Okay.
00:36:25
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:36:25
Scott Hill
How have you found your training pattern change from working in the civilian sector into coming into the military? you think it's changed? it changed by facilities, education?
00:36:39
Scott Hill
has that changed for you?
00:36:40
Drew Clark
I'd answer that with both, both facilities and education. i The routine and structure I've got with ah my job is quite fortunate in the fact that I have a set routine. So it almost means that my structure, i can work easily around that and adapt to to the scenario. um I average between 17 and 20 hours a week now, so a lot more volume than I was doing previously.
00:37:08
Drew Clark
um At university, i was on an elite sports scholarship, however, Covid happened during that period, so I wasn't able to really utilise the facilities in that ascent. But then into now now military life, I feel...
00:37:27
Drew Clark
I'm really able to absorb training because I don't have really any outside distractions. You know, in uni life there's a social aspect as well and although of course I'm i'm a very sociable character, I finish work, I train, i eat well and I sleep well because I have to be up at work the next day as an adult. So there is no real excuse to not have a good structure for myself. I feel if I didn't have triathlon, I'd just be sat watching Netflix after work. So it's really good to have have an aim, a goal and something I really enjoy.
00:38:04
Scott Hill
still get your Netflix, but you do it while you're on turbo.
00:38:06
Drew Clark
Exactly. well And i've I've started stretching, which has never been a thing in my my scenario.
Focus on Marginal Gains
00:38:13
Drew Clark
So yeah, all the little marginal gains now, the stretching, the hidden nutrition, um the rehab, prehab, ah I've now started to really think about as I'm getting to the point where I want to keep progressing and try and push for the pro-licence bits.
00:38:29
Scott Hill
and yeah You touched on there, you're you're training 17 to 18 hours a week. That's for someone racing half Ironman distance racing. That's a lot. You think people training for an Ironman event may not train that many hours.
00:38:44
Scott Hill
so it's lot to still fit in around life it'll be interesting see if you can keep that up especially if you ever end up with a family life changes over the years want to touch back on the half marathon for you obviously Birmingham half marathon we mentioned earlier one hour and nine um talk us through that morning of you getting up then and going to do that race
00:39:08
Drew Clark
So, because it, well, Cosford's quite close to Birmingham, but my girlfriend lives in Birmingham
Birmingham Half Marathon Reflections
00:39:14
Drew Clark
currently as well. So I stayed hers the night before and she was competing in the 10K actually, ah in the elite women's. So she's not bad at running herself. and so we both got up quite early on the morning. I think the race started at 8.30. I think we got up around six-ish because she was a bit nervous. And i had...
00:39:37
Drew Clark
two crumpets with honey and that was it. I felt, I did feel quite nervous at the start because I put a lot of pressure on myself that this was the sub 110.
00:39:48
Scott Hill
yep
00:39:48
Drew Clark
um It's my first big running event, I'd say, you know, I've obviously done other running events, but not to the scale of it was 16,000 people.
00:40:00
Drew Clark
So i headed down way before I should have purely because I wasn't, as you say, starting in the elite pen, which was I think the top 50. um I don't know how, because I put down a ah good ah good time, but obviously that wasn't didn't make the cut to get in that pen. So I got down and got to the front of my wave, which was starting directly behind, and they'd they'd roped it off.
00:40:25
Drew Clark
So went via Greggs and picked up a ah you know a bottle of water because i I didn't want to take a bottle down with me and lose it or get it stolen or whatever.
00:40:34
Scott Hill
I thought were going to say goes for sausage roll then.
00:40:35
Drew Clark
So... and Yeah, yeah, yeah. thought of been That would have been good. Please sponsor me, Gregs. And then ah I had no jumper or anything and no warm-up really because of how crowded it was and also Just my admin, I think they had a thing to drop off, you know, bag drop or an and or hoodies, you know, like they do at London where everyone ends up giving them to charity. But I just thought, you know what, you confirm this, you do it all the time, just go down early.
00:41:13
Drew Clark
do a few jumping jacks and then get ready. I know that's really poor and I wouldn't advertise that to anyone, but purely for the scale of the event, there was no area to warm up before and I know I needed to be in a good position to start off.
00:41:26
Scott Hill
yeah so obviously your third place finish did you realize you had that place at any point in the race
00:41:32
Drew Clark
Because the 10K and the half started at the same time, um no I was running the two lads that came first and second in the half were off in front. They both did an hour six overall. So I saw the flashing lights from the from the lead car up ahead.
00:41:52
Drew Clark
um But i was running in a group of five other lads and then they all turned at the 10K. So that was obviously the top three ten k guys all turn at the point because they loop up around a roundabout and come straight back into town.
00:42:08
Drew Clark
Um, and then it was dead quiet and I dare look round because I've always been taught that looking around is a sign of weakness. So I, uh, face forward down this road that was about two miles.
00:42:17
Scott Hill
Yep.
00:42:20
Drew Clark
I don't know if people know Birmingham, but it went out to Cannon Hill Park and it was ah just a long straight road. Uh, and along this road, it's all probably uni houses.
00:42:30
Drew Clark
And, uh, there's lots of uni students probably out from their Saturday night or just come back from their Saturday night with, uh, with signs and shouting and it was it was good. And you know people said, you know you're u in third. And I didn't quite believe that until there was an out and back and I knew i was in third.
00:42:51
Drew Clark
There was no one else. and I, mum jokes with me, but I have a track record of coming forth in a lot of events. Uh, i was like, I can't, because this would be, this would be big. And I was thinking about, sounds silly. I was thinking about Strava.
00:43:07
Drew Clark
i was thinking about Instagram. I was thinking this would be good for my, uh, resume. So that sounds really, really egotistical, but I was like, this would be really good for me and my confidence going forward.
00:43:23
Drew Clark
Um,
00:43:23
Scott Hill
Yep.
00:43:24
Drew Clark
With the course being in the city as well, my GPS wasn't really functioning and being obsessed with stats, I knew 318 319 per kilometre was the pace.
00:43:37
Drew Clark
um But with it being so zigzagged the course and running through the city where there's lots of big buildings my my watch was jumping from 304 per k to 330 and i didn't really feel like i was changing pace at all so again it was purely off feel and then they had few markers you know your're five k your 5k your 10k and then some random mile ones as well where i could quickly check and work out uh But yeah, the last 5k was tough and it was great. The amount of support I had just from purely other runners but that were starting their route or, you know, were halfway through where you'd cross over all shouting, well done, mate.
00:44:22
Drew Clark
And I was like, well, if I'm in third, I've got to look good, don't I? So I made sure my form was OK running back in.
00:44:30
Scott Hill
were you What was in your head then, then final few kilometres then, other than got to keep your form in shape? um I'm assuming you were in the hurt locker and not many people can put themselves in the hurt locker and really push themselves through that pain.
00:44:43
Scott Hill
What were you thinking and feeling them last couple of kilometres?
Mental Strength and Motivation
00:44:48
Drew Clark
ah The quads did start to go at around the 10 mile, the 16K mark. And I was just thinking about all the track sessions I'd done on my own when it was January, February time, where it was just solo, solo windy 2K reps and just thinking, why am I doing this for fun?
00:45:06
Drew Clark
And I do enjoy it, but you have to think back to some of those sessions being like, oh, I could have so easily just been that off and you know gone for a Greggs with my mates at work. But i it all you know it adds up and that's why you want it.
00:45:24
Drew Clark
And it was nice to have one of my first events, I'd say, where I've been like, the work I've put in in training, I was able to showcase on the day.
00:45:32
Scott Hill
Yeah. Yeah.
00:45:32
Drew Clark
ah you know I've heard so many people say, not necessarily to me, but to to external people saying, you know oh, they train like Tarzan, but they race like Jane. And it's like, well, I didn't want to be that person because I know I do put out some good sessions, but I've never delivered it.
00:45:49
Drew Clark
So yeah, i felt I felt good about it, to be honest.
00:45:49
Scott Hill
yeah yeah
00:45:53
Scott Hill
obviously what what is your motivation day to day then? Because you've got to remain disciplined. what What keeps you motivated to get up every day and go and do those track sessions or sit on that Zwift bike for three hours?
00:46:04
Drew Clark
um move the I move the goalposts every time I think. Currently with a bit of an injury, I've had to delay some events, but I've got that goal of breaking that four hour for the half Ironman.
00:46:16
Drew Clark
um So that's that's a long term goal, but that's a 2026 season goal. um I've got, you know, you've got your FTP goal on the bike, so I can keep shifting that target. If in the meantime, I can't run, you know, the 110 that's been broke now, but now 108 uk elite time you know to get elite entry so that's the goal and sub 32 for a 10k so you can keep moving these goal posts even for swimming 400 meters sub five minutes it's so each discipline there's something to aim for and uh regardless of whether i'm competing or not
00:46:59
Drew Clark
there's always something to get up and train for. So for me, it's, it's, I write down on a piece of paper at the start of each season, what I want to achieve, whether that's personal goals, whether that's event goals. So there's intrinsic and extrinsic motivators towards that.
00:47:16
Scott Hill
Yeah, I think I see that quite a lot. And I know a lot of a lot of celebrities actually do that. They write down stuff, goals they want achieve through life, be it personal achievements or you know work achievements, stuff like that.
00:47:29
Scott Hill
And it's something I see quite a lot across social media, people do that. And it's a goal, just a reminder. And I'm actually reading a book at the minute, weirdly about Kung Fu, more about the mindset and how these people train and do stuff and everything else.
00:47:44
Scott Hill
And I think it's...
00:47:46
Scott Hill
It is remembering, you know, that we are human, we are a person. It doesn't matter what people want to do and achieve around us. You're always going to have people that will support you. You're going people that like you.
00:47:57
Scott Hill
You're going have people that don't like you. You're going people that don't support you. But we're here.
00:48:06
Scott Hill
I might go past you there.
00:48:07
Drew Clark
Sorry, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:48:07
Scott Hill
We're here. We're here.
00:48:11
Scott Hill
for a lifetime. So it's important for us to have our own personal goals and strive to achieve them goals, whatever they may be, and not be blinkered or disconnected or discouraged by um things that might come in from the sidelines and distractions.
00:48:26
Scott Hill
And they will come in all the time, but it's always to remain focused and have, you know, I want to achieve that. I want to achieve that sub one, 10, half marathon and having that a goal. And if it doesn't work for you in 2025, that's something that doesn't have to move for 2026.
00:48:41
Scott Hill
It's something that doesn't have to move for 2027. It's still a goal to have on paper. I've got personal goals within my career and sporting still. And very much like you, I i keep them as as a goal, as ah not necessarily a race, but just be aware that you're going to have distractions all the time and just remembering what was that focus.
00:49:01
Scott Hill
So I think it's, um
00:49:02
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:49:02
Scott Hill
It's also another important point I think people need to look at and make sure they've got a focus on what they want to achieve that stuff and and not be too influenced with the distractions as and when they come because they will come and it could be a little injury that is a distraction that takes away that focus.
Social Media and Personal Perception
00:49:19
Drew Clark
think what I would say is, sorry.
00:49:19
Scott Hill
Injuries. No, go on.
00:49:22
Drew Clark
I would say on that as well, i've I had a little dip where you realize that for myself, everyone you follow in life or say, i use Instagram a lot, but Strava, you know, Strava, you everyone you follow is doing stuff.
00:49:39
Drew Clark
And a lot of my friends or people that I speak to are triathletes or high level runners or cyclists. And that's not normal.
00:49:49
Scott Hill
It's about it.
00:49:51
Drew Clark
we're a group of people that like to do things, but you begin to think that that is normal and going out and doing that amount of distance and doing that and doing that. You're actually a really, really cool person in my opinion, but because that's all you see on Instagram is, is that you,
00:50:04
Scott Hill
my
00:50:09
Drew Clark
it almost takes away from your achievement sometimes because you're like, what's the next best thing? um Whereas maybe to external parties, you are pretty cool. But because you're always seeing people that are doing something one step ahead of you or, you know, so if I've done a half Ironman, someone's going, when are you doing an Ironman?
00:50:28
Drew Clark
And it's like, well, it's easy to forget. how well you are doing within yourself sometimes. Because now I'm at a level where I've surrounded myself with other people that are pushing for the same goals and whatever.
00:50:37
Scott Hill
100%, is
00:50:42
Drew Clark
It's made you feel you're part of something as well, although it's not a team sport, that there are people supporting you.
00:50:48
Scott Hill
it 100% supportive sport?
00:50:52
Scott Hill
very much so I think it's probably one of the most supportive I've come across in my lifetime so far I've seen and heard things from all other sports and how they're not very supportive of of each other and you know can be quite clicky in some cases is it you're if you're not a high performer then you're not you know, worthy. Triathlon is very different.
00:51:15
Scott Hill
You don't have to be someone that's a podium. You could be someone that's just finishing, but you are supported by every single member of that sporting community within triathlon. I think that's something that I found and I like and I enjoy. And it's something I think is very important for us.
00:51:31
Scott Hill
But I think going back to your original point on the grand scale of things, if we look at percentage of population, we are probably a very small number of people that do things that some people look at you and think, yeah, that's not normal.
00:51:39
Drew Clark
yeah
00:51:46
Scott Hill
But then going spending a Friday, Saturday night in a pub to me is not my normal. Although it would have been when I was 18 years old, but it's definitely not known.
00:51:51
Drew Clark
no
Future Ambitions and Training Challenges
00:51:57
Scott Hill
Yeah. so future goals what's on Drew's cards for the future
00:52:04
Drew Clark
My dream is to get my pro license at Half Ironman. um
00:52:07
Scott Hill
yep
00:52:08
Drew Clark
That is the dream. I'm 24 the moment and i would like to have a realistic trajectory of by 27 I'd like to achieve that. um Whether that happens or not I would not lose sleep over it but that is, I'll put that out that that is my my goal and what I'm striving to achieve.
00:52:29
Scott Hill
Have you got a dream race or is it just to achieve that? Any
00:52:32
Drew Clark
just to achieve that. um
00:52:35
Scott Hill
race?
00:52:36
Drew Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah. um probably looking at your Outlaws and your challenge competitions. But yeah, I'm looking next year at a lot more a lot more events overseas purely to get that experience of riding a bike course that suits me. Being ah being a larger athlete that pushes bigger watts, not necessarily suited to the rolling hilly environments that a lot of the courses throw out. So looking at maybe Belgium or a or a Holland for for those sorts of competitions just to get that bike time to the low two hours.
00:53:14
Scott Hill
Yeah, can have a look at look at Poland and Estonia as well. They're quite quick.
00:53:17
Drew Clark
Yeah, I've seen Warsaw and Gdansk, isn't it? They're the two quite rapid ones.
00:53:23
Scott Hill
Yeah. So, what's your least favourite session?
00:53:30
Drew Clark
V02 work on the bike. Yeah, V02 on the bike.
00:53:33
Scott Hill
On the bike. VO2 on the bike is probably my favourite. VO2 in the swimming pool. God, no.
00:53:39
Drew Clark
On the swimming pool, i find hard sessions with people are ah great fun, because you you're suffering together, whereas on the bike, you're often on your own. in your own mind.
00:53:48
Scott Hill
Yeah.
00:53:49
Drew Clark
And to me, just the pain, the pain that you can cause yourself, that's muscular rather than, for me, it's always muscular rather than cardiovascular, like that is the limiting factor.
00:54:02
Drew Clark
um So yeah, your quads and calves screaming at you is a it's not a fun experience, whereas running, it's a good balance between lungs lungs and legs.
00:54:13
Drew Clark
Whereas for me cycling, it's just legs and that's a horrible pain.
00:54:18
Scott Hill
not probably the other way around swimming is the one that kills me it's difficult it's um
00:54:22
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:54:25
Drew Clark
do you have ah Do you have one session that sticks in your head?
00:54:28
Scott Hill
that i'd like to do or don't like to do swimming um
00:54:30
Drew Clark
they No, no, that is, I would rather not. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That youve you may have done completed because I've had a few really nasty swims where, you know my triceps have cramped up at the end when when I've been been coached.
00:54:46
Scott Hill
Yeah, I'd probably say for swimming, like doing threshold reps, looking at 400 meters and stuff like that. For me, i love open water swimming. If I can just get in open water and just literally swim, I'm off and I love it.
00:55:02
Scott Hill
I don't mind the short stuff in a pool, but when it's a bit more in the middle, middle range, it's when you get past that point of comfortable, it starts to get uncomfortable. And I find that it's too easy.
00:55:14
Scott Hill
Well, I'm just going stop at the end of this length.
00:55:18
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:55:19
Scott Hill
That's the thing for me.
00:55:19
Drew Clark
Long, long and uncomfortable rather than short and hard. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:55:23
Scott Hill
Yeah. But if you put me on a bike, then whatever. I'm happy with that.
00:55:28
Drew Clark
So far.
00:55:29
Scott Hill
Yeah, I like it.
00:55:30
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:55:31
Scott Hill
And then, you know, you touched on yourself very early on when we were chatting. You mentioned about
00:55:37
Scott Hill
it takes you, it's taking you time and consistency to develop, to get to where you are today. And I'm very much the same when it comes to running. I'm not... I'm natural runner. after to It takes me time to build up my speed and endurance and stuff as well. So very much like you, I'm the same when comes to running. I have to work at that to become become okay.
00:55:56
Scott Hill
So yeah, bike's probably my favorite. Swimming, I enjoy it if it's in open water, if it's in the pool, have lump it a little bit.
00:56:04
Drew Clark
Yeah.
00:56:05
Scott Hill
And running, I enjoy it when I feel good, but it takes me little bit to get there.
00:56:08
Drew Clark
I was going to say, if you ask that question on a different day, it literally depends on what what session I've enjoyed that week because ah it does fluctuate so much. If I'm on form and I've just come off a great runner's high, then you'll be running all day, every day.
00:56:22
Drew Clark
ah Same with swimming. If you've completed a great swim session, even just one in the week, I'd be like, I'm enjoying swimming at the moment. But yeah, swimming's a lot less likely than than the other two.
00:56:33
Scott Hill
ah Fantastic.
Advice for Fellow Triathletes
00:56:34
Scott Hill
Well, if you had one piece of advice you'd like to give some age groupers then, they might be doing the sport for a numerous ah years, or it could be some people that are just starting out in the sport, or or some even some youngsters that come into the sport. if you to give them some advice, what would you give them? What would you say is Drew Clark's bit of advice today?
00:56:51
Drew Clark
I wouldn't go for something very normal, I'd say. Little things like wear a plastic bag when you put your wetsuit on so you don't rip it, you know, on your arms and legs when you step into it.
00:57:04
Drew Clark
I'd say that's a life hack that people look at me and think you're a weirdo, but then when you watch me do it, it's actually quite good, and I've been doing that for a while.
00:57:12
Scott Hill
I just leave my socks
00:57:12
Drew Clark
um Sorry?
00:57:14
Scott Hill
i just leave my socks on
00:57:15
Drew Clark
you? Oh, I use a Tesco plastic bag and then ah slide straight on. um And obviously enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that you've paid money to do an event because, you know, even if I had to bruise my ego and get around an event, I'm going to finish the event because I've paid money for it and I want the medal. I feel like even at the pro end, so many people DNF when they're having a bad day and I feel like it puts a bad light on age groupers that will get around
00:57:49
Drew Clark
regardless if they have a mechanical, regardless if they're cramping, regardless if they've been sick on the run course, people have paid money and they're doing it because they want to have that sense of accomplishment. Um, and I feel like the more competitive you get, the more you're likely to pull yourself off course if it's not going your way.
00:58:11
Drew Clark
And I really want to avoid having that mindset because I feel like you have to own your results. Uh, And that's something I'd say to anyone that's, regardless of level, I feel like people need to own your results and enjoy the process.
00:58:28
Scott Hill
Don't always go to plan.
00:58:29
Drew Clark
No, no, no. And they rarely do, do they?
00:58:31
Scott Hill
No.
00:58:33
Scott Hill
Great. No problem. Thanks very much for talking to us today, Drew.
00:58:37
Drew Clark
Thank you, Scott.
00:58:37
Scott Hill
congratulation Congratulations again on your 109 third place the Birmingham Park Marathon. We'll catch up again, get some swimming sessions in and hopefully see you in the future. Still have a smart-sounding performance, no doubt, in the coming years.
00:58:50
Scott Hill
and Maybe we'll catch up again on the UK Tri Chat podcast. That'd be great. But thanks very much for your time today. And we' look forward to speaking to you again. If anyone is looking for some coaching out there within triathlon, then please head over to Instagram pages at TriWolfCoach. And you can speak to myself and ask me any questions on coaching that I can offer.
00:59:11
Scott Hill
hope you enjoyed this episode with drew Clark. And we look forward to our next episode when we'll talk to you again on UK TriChapter.