“Sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream no one can see but you”
The sport of triathlon can be hugely demanding of your time, money, energy, and even on relationships. Who in the sport hasn’t been asked ‘but why do you do it?’. It can often be a tricky question to answer, especially if you think about how you feel on the back end of your run!
Ryan Miller is one athlete who is very focused on his ‘why’, and it seems his success comes not only from his intrinsic drive to be the best he can in any given situation, but also from his love of helping people kick-start their own journey. He achieves this through working at at Xceler8 Fitness Centre in Wagga Wagga, where he helps members reach their goals in life, sport and fitness and also inspiring them along the way. We caught up with Ryan to find out a bit more about his work and training life (and recovery routine – it rocks!)
How did you discover triathlon?
As a kid growing up in Wagga I was always around water and loved running so the sport just chose me as I was always outdoors.
What are some of your results and racing highlights so far?
9.12 Kona world championships 2017 9th AG top 60 overall
9.14 IM Australia Port Mac 2018 14th overall
9.16 IM Australia Port Mac 2015 10th overall ( debut )
1st Age group 70.3 Geelong 2017 , 2018
Highlights would be all 3 Kona WC 2015,16,17 + 2017 70.3 WC in Mooloolaba.
What race destination would you love to go to?
Would love to do Challenge Roth.
We know you value the strength and conditioning aspect of your training, does your coach include this in your programming?
My coach (Clayton Fettell) will set aside gym/strength work sessions in my program. On a weekly basis I will then structure my own program depending what stage of the training block I am up to.
What is your recovery routine?
I am very big on recovery and I am lucky to work at a state of the art facility that includes Edge performance and recovery room with Hyperbaric oxygen chamber , NormaTec recovery boots plus a Inbody composition analyser. Along with an Ice bath /Steam room at the Xceler8 fitness centre. So I’m using all of this in my weekly program.
How have you gone about planning your race nutrition?
The main thing I do leading into a race is testing it out in training. I think it is vital that you have this structure in place weeks out and allow the body to get use to race day nutrition.
Do you have any lessons learnt with regards to race nutrition?
If you get caught up racing it can be very easy to miss a gel or hydration so to have an alert on the bike Garmin or your watch is a great way to make sure you don’t miss that crucial nutrition that can derail your race very easily.
How do you fit all your nutrition on your bike?
I mix 6-7 gels in an aero drink bottle to allow the bike to be free from taping gels to the bars.
What is your favourite session?
Long ride with hard run off. I think it’s a key session to build strength and there is nothing better than being on you bike in the sun.
What sets Ryan apart is his seemingly limitless motivation, however what is really interesting is that he’s not necessarily driven by the end result. He says ‘It’s the chase that keeps me motivated.. and drive to keep improving’. Love your work Ryan, we are so happy to be fuelling you all the way to Kona again this year.
Belinda x
