A few months ago, top triathlete Lionel Sanders started training under Norwegian coach Mikal Iden, brother of reigning Ironman 70.3 world champion Gustav Iden. In a video, the Canadian athlete explains what the biggest difference is with how he used to train, and he responds to a comment that Cameron Wurf made about Sanders getting pampered too much. “The reality is, he’s seeing what the best guys in the world are doing. And he sees what I’m doing, and he sees that what I’m doing doesn’t deserve that much back patting”, Sanders says about his new coach, mentioning he’s only heard the words ‘good job’ maybe once in the past few months.
After last year’s Collins Cup in Samorin, Sanders started talking to Mikal Iden. In the video below, he explains what it’s like training under his supervision. One thing is for sure, Sanders believes there is still much that needs to be worked on.
“This is sport… You want to be the best in the world? You have to face reality. These guys are better than I am. They have better honed their systems. They may very well be more talented. Does that mean that I’m going to quit? Does that mean I’m not going to try and win? Does that mean I can’t be world champ. Absolutely not, but i’m going to have to do it by maximizing every aspect of training that I can, and I certainly was not doing that,” he states.
