Ironman Greece 70.3, 25 Oct 2026

My goal was simple: go under 7 hours ,after just missing it in my first race last year, and I smashed it with a result of 6:31! My training had been the smoothest build I’ve ever had (proving hard work can pay off, especially when you listen to your coach). Despite a few too many summer side quests, the final 6 weeks going into the race were really consistent and I felt so ready.

The swim was my biggest worry as I’m not too confident and it was in the sea, but it was completely calm and I came out around 54 mins. The bike was solid with my nutrition plan going well (beta fuel every 30 mins and 2 litres of electrolytes in my bottles), so even though I flagged a bit in the second half I was happy with 3:10 on a rolling course.

My personal goal this year was for the half marathon to be where I made most of my gains. The heavens opened, the pacing wasn’t perfect by any means, and I took a few too many walks in the second half, but I pushed through and finished it in 2:15, which was a crazy improvement on last year.

I crossed the line in 6:31 and taking over 30 minutes off my time from last year AND feeling accomplished made all the hard work worth it. Biggest takeaway? Probably focus on your weaknesses, I did that for the run and it’s worked great, unfortunately the next big weakness is the swim…

Huge thank you to Tim for the coaching and all around guidance and support, as well as putting up with changes of plans over the summer quite last minute too!!

Shianne Beckett