I like to review 2024 and take what made me happy, productive and fulfilled and continue those habits in 2025. And then I sift through what made me feel less happy, less accomplished and less satisfied and eliminate those energy suckers in 2025.

Here are a few hacks that I currently use or plan to use in 2025. I have divided these into fitness hacks, lifestyle hacks and health hacks.

FITNESS HACKS

Set your alarm for 30 minutes earlier than your usual wake-up time. Now get in a quick 20-to-30-minute workout before work.

Make ready your clothes, equipment, water bottles, podcast, headlamp etc. for exercise the night before so that ideally, you can roll out of bed and roll right into your running shoes, onto your bike, rowing machine, elliptical or your mat for strength work. Ideally, exercise in the morning when there is little competing for your time. That way, you will feel the energy and mental spark from the workout throughout your entire day.

Incorporate some strength and mobility work as often as you can. This does not have to take a huge amount of time. I tend to do my foot strengthening and back mobility while I am on the phone with my earphones allowing me to be hands-free. I do some band work to strengthen my hips (which helps my knees and feet) while I wait for something to heat in the microwave. 

For athletes I coach, I incorporate their strength right in the middle of a run or ride or row to ensure that it gets done since it is easy to finish the cardio piece but harder to add on a strength piece to the tail end of a workout. I know this because I am human too and, in the past, I would rather run an extra 15 minutes than spend those 15 minutes doing kettlebell swings. Now, older and wiser (I hope), I set aside 15-20 minutes for strength work three times per week. I stand taller when I do my strength work, and I feel less stiff when I stretch and do some simple mobility work. 

I suggest downloading the ROM Coach from the app store and running through a few routines depending on your sore spots. I do the Slumpy Psoas stretch a few times per day and as I get out of bed to help with my stiff back. I also do the Segmental Spine with a foam roller to open my vertebrae. And I do the Strong Feet routine.

When you are debating whether to work out, visualize how amazing you will feel physically and how accomplished you will feel mentally when you are done the session.

That should be enough to pluck you from your cozy bed or comfy couch. Think about the regret you will feel for skipping the workout and how any regret will last hours longer than the actual session. Always give yourself 10 minutes of running or biking or rowing or swimming or weights and if you really hate it, then stop. But I am pretty sure that most days, you will finish the workout, and your breakfast will taste so good. You will be energized, and you will be your best self for the rest of the day (and you will feel proud as well).

LIFESTYLE HACKS

Touch things once. For example, when you come home from work or the gym or school and you inevitably drop your bag on a chair, unload the items directly into their rightful place in your home. Put the file in your filing cabinet. Put the book on your desk. Put your leftover lunch in the fridge. Put your dirty dishes right into the dishwasher. You get the idea. This is a massive timesaver.

Don’t let your head outsmart your gut. If your gut says no to a decision, don’t let your head talk you into doing something you really don’t want to do.

You must do the things you don’t want to do. You must get out of your comfort zone. What you want—what you truly want—usually is on the other side of something uncomfortable. The body you seek is found in the workouts you skip. The friendship you want is found in the hard conversations you avoid or delay. Action makes the heart sing. Fulfillment is on the other side of the comfort zone.

Learn to use the word “yet.” Instead of saying “I cannot run,” say “I cannot run yet.” “I am not a good enough swimmer to do a triathlon,” becomes “I am not good enough yet.” YET is a three-letter word that says that you are capable of anything if you want it bad enough.

If you have had a stressful conversation or feel stuck in a negative tailspin, change your stimulus. Move. Exercise. Mood follows action. Get unstuck by doing 10 minutes of strength or mobility or go for a walk. Try to do some of your meetings in motion. Have a phone meeting while you are out for a walk or walk around your office or your house as you chat. Phone calls are a great time to stand up and move around. Sitting is so tough on the body especially as our body gets a little less flexible over time. 

My physiotherapist, Steve Hill, always says to me “Motion is lotion.”

Organize your tasks into buckets either mentally or on paper. For example, I try to make phone calls on certain days and at a certain time rather than making them all day long. Each phone call is super important and necessary, but it distracts me from writing, coaching, researching and learning. So, I have phone call blocks and writing blocks and research blocks and coaching blocks and learning blocks. 

I also try to bucket “general maintenance” which includes banking, accounting and general paperwork which is necessary but none of it makes me a better speaker, author, coach or consultant.

Keep a daily journal. I have kept a journal for over 30 years. It started as a training log but has evolved into a “life log.” I write down everything that matters to me in my journal. That includes:

1. Workouts since those are small daily wins and accomplishments for me each day.

2. How I felt on that day—sad, happy, angry, lonely—then I can see patterns in my actions and feelings and can try to remedy them or replicate them.

3. Aches and pains and illness—then I can track the events that may have led to those issues.

4. What I did that day. I love looking back and seeing comments such as “visited family” or “started the drive to Florida at 4:30 a.m.—stopped at 8:00 p.m.—stayed at this particular hotel and found a great grocery store.”

Routine is a good thing. Variation is also good. Try not to make a routine of your less-than-ideal habits. It is ok to skip a workout once or eat unhealthy once but when it becomes a routine, then a downward spiral begins. Miss once. Do not miss twice.

HEALTH HACKS

Eat unprocessed foods as much as possible. If it is white or cooks quickly then it is processed. The only good time to eat processed foods is during or right after training since they will be absorbed quickly as fuel. This is so easy and yet so hard. Give yourself some grace but make the effort.

Choose food with limited added sugar. Yogurt is healthy but if your yogurt has 26 grams of sugar then it is not worth it. Instead, eat plain yogurt and add blueberries and oats. Yes, fruit is ok since it contains naturally occurring sugar and fruit also has fibre. Win-win!

Avoid drinking your calories. Coke, juice and alcohol are empty calories and do nothing to satisfy your hunger or nutritional needs. Some people drink 1,000 calories each day which is massive.

A lacrosse ball is your friend. Use it to release your fascia and loosen tight muscles. 

Bands can provide great resistance training and are portable. I can work my quads, hips, glutes, feet and calves with a simple resistance band.

Need a simple circuit with no equipment? Do air squats, jump squats, lunges, push-ups, side-to-side lunges, sliders, bird-dogs, side planks, triceps dips using a chair and grab that resistance band for even more options.

Consistent daily routines trump infrequent bursts. Let’s have a great 2025 and beyond. Find your theme. Be true to the person you want to be. In fact, if you are a dog owner, you know

how much your dog loves you and respects you. Well, BE the person your dog thinks you are! There is only one way to be perfect but thousands of ways to be great. Let’s be great!

You may also like: Winter Running Tips from a Pro

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But now, running out of energy is avoidable thanks to mainstream sport nutrition companies and the energy gel. Your muscles can only store a limited supply of glycogen, which is food for your working body and brain. Consequently, an athlete needs to keep carbohydrates coming into the body to sustain exercise.

While chicken, rice and vegetables are a great fuel at rest, gels are the easiest nutrition source when training and racing. Similar to pudding, their texture makes them easy to eat and their careful blend of ingredients makes them easy to digest. They are power-packed pouches of energy combining precious carbohydrates to replenish your glycogen stores quickly and sodium and potassium to replace electrolytes lost in sweat. Gels are best taken with water for proper absorption and to avoid gastric upset. But a desperate, depleted body will respond favourably even without water.

Suppose you were racing in a sprint triathlon — a 750M swim, 20K bike and 5K run. It would be beneficial to take a gel with some water toward the end of the bike to fuel the run portion since, depending on your speed and fitness level, you may have burned through 800-1,000 calories already.

Fuelling is even more important in a 140.6 mile Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event.

I suggest taking a gel one hour into an event and every 30 minutes thereafter to maintain energy levels. For a marathon, I recommend starting gel consumption at about 45 minutes, then every 30 minutes thereafter. As the body gets more depleted in the latter stages of the event, you may need to increase gel consumption to every 20 minutes.

While the quick energy and digestibility of gels is crucial on the run and in the latter stages of a race when energy stores are depleted, you can also eat a slower release product such as an energy bar on the bike during longer events. Bars pack a more sustained punch and are better at satisfying hunger pangs.

Moreover, gels are necessary on the run because of their near liquid form and instantaneous energy fix. Make sure you start the run hungry for gels rather than hungry for a hamburger by controlling your gel intake on the bike.

Of course, always race with your own nutritional products, the ones you use in training. In 33 Ironman events, I only accepted water on the course, never trusting a new bar, gel or electrolyte. We have too much invested to leave the biggest variable in a race — nutrition — up to chance.

Over a long-course triathlon, I routinely eat about five energy bars and three gels on a bike ride that takes about five hours. For the marathon, I would consume another six to nine gels — roughly every 20-30 minutes depending on energy expenditure. If the course is harder, or the weather is harsh, you will need more fuel.

At rest, I would never take a gel, but when I am running and I am tired and suffering, nothing tastes better. Taking a gel can be the difference between finishing a race running and finishing it walking.

Here’s to running through every finish line — with an empty gel packet in your hand.

You have likely been reading triathlon books and magazines so you have plenty of advice on how to get to the start line. But here are some tips learned from experience — not from a textbook. I implemented them for every race of my 20-year career. Some things you have to learn by making mistakes. Hopefully these ideas will minimize mistakes and maximize the joy of crossing that finishing line.

1. Prior to the event, test all of your gear – race uniform, race wheels, race shoes, pre-race breakfast, race-day nutrition. Then don’t change anything before the event.
2. Get your bike tuned a week prior to race day and test it in your pre-race rides.
3. If possible, check out the course prior to race day. The ideal would be to swim, bike and run on the actual course, but driving the bike course and riding the run course can be a huge asset. Pick landmarks on the course you can re-visit on race-day to make yourself feel at home on the course. See yourself being proficient through all of the difficult sections of the course and mentally turn those difficult sections into your areas of expertise. What you visualize is what you will actualize so see yourself making good decisions, executing perfectly and dealing with the curveballs like a master.
4. Shorten workouts the week prior to your event. And while you decrease the volume of workouts, increase the speed of your sessions. For example, rather than riding 40K, ride 20K but include 2 x 5 km/h faster interval to get a feel for race effort.
5. If you are planning a day off before the race, choose the day 48 hours before the race rather than the day 24 hours before. Athletes find themselves lethargic and sluggish after a day-off. It is important to get out for a 30-40 minute ride with a 20 minute run off the bike with a few accelerations. The purpose is to wake up your muscles, enhance the storage of glycogen, stimulate blood flow and simulate race effort.
6. Prior to race day, walk through the race venue. How will you get to the swim start? What timing will allow you to get to the swim start with enough time to put on a wetsuit, do some positive visualization, do a swim warm up and line up for the race start? Walk through the swim to bike transition and the bike to run transition.
7. A few days prior to race day, make a list of every item you need for the race. It is easier to pack your gear following a list rather than from memory.
8. Learn how to change a flat tire, practice it and visualize it. Being able to calmly fix your gear is a skill, which can make an unfortunate situation bearable and empowering.
9. Establish a theme for your race day. Maybe this event is your first step to fitness in your forties. Your theme might be a celebration of the next decade of your life.
10. Set internal race goals that you can control. For example, my internal goals would be, “I will swim, bike and run with proper technique. I will execute good rhythm and roll and rotation during the swim. I will always find the perfect gear on the bike; I will keep my cadence high and keep constant pressure on the pedals; I will dance up the hills. I will attack the run and I love going fast. I will use my hip flexors and run tall with good turnover.”
11. Ignore external goals, the ones we cannot control such as, “I will break two hours in my first Olympic  distance triathlon.” These goals just lead to disappointment since you end up fixating on time rather than on process. If a day is hot or windy, then even realistic time goals become impossible. It is such a shame to allow a watch or wattage meter influence the opinion of our race. You are not a machine. Don’t let yourself be controlled by a machine.
12. See yourself being in control all day. Your mental attitude is the one thing you can control on race day. You cannot control the weather, but you can control how you will react to it. You cannot control the course, but you can swim, bike and run according to your skillset and fitness level. You cannot control the competition, but you can control your execution of your race from start to finish.
13. Absolutely do a swim warm up. Not only will you elevate your heart rate so that you can swim fast, but it will calm you down and help prevent hyperventilating when the race begins.

Never stop smiling. Your first triathlon is a gift. Life will never be the same! Welcome to the sport!

Tri Pro Quick Tips

• Put baby powder in your wetsuit when dry to help the wetsuit slip off easily.
• Put Vaseline on the seams of your race uniform to prevent chafing.
• Put Vaseline around your neck to protect against the wetsuit.
• Put baby powder in your cycling shoes and running shoes so your feet slide in easily.
• If you don’t wear socks on the run, put Vaseline in your running shoes along the seams to prevent blisters.
• Don’t use your towel as just a placemat for your cycling and running gear. Keep part of it clear so you can actually stand on it and wipe the dirt off your feet.