TRAIN SMARTER FOR IRONMAN
Pro David McNamee offers his ultimate tips for 226km success
He’s quietly established himself as the greatest British Ironman in history and is gunning for more success at Kona in 2018. But what advice does top Scot David McNamee have on moving up to Ironman?
When David McNamee left the British Triathlon programme at the end of 2014 realising that slipstreaming the Brownlee brothers for a place at the Rio Olympics was beyond him, few raised an eyebrow. The Scot had always been a solid allrounder at ITU level, with half-a-dozen top-10 finishes in the World Triathlon Series and a seventh-place on home soil in the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
But while he was without weakness, neither did he possess a standout discipline that would push him to the forefront of selection and become a major Games contender. Almost four years on, and McNamee has proven himself as history’s greatest British male Ironman racer.
Tim Don may have set the Ironman-branded world record last year, but McNamee has never been beaten by a compatriot over the distance, and after Ironman World Championship finishes of 11th and 13th, he broke through last year to finish third. In bettering Spencer Smith’s fifth place from 1998, McNamee also stopped the clock at 8:07.11 – the seventh fastest time ever on the Big Island.
So how has he made the move from Olympicdistance racing to Ironman with such success? And what guidance does he have for age-group iron athletes of every level? Here the Scot guides you to a storming 226km in 2019 with his ultimate Ironman advice.