Learn How Mature Athlete Heather Grahame Finds Greatest Success in Triathlon in Her Sixties
The Athlete:
Heather Graham was an accomplished and successful athlete in her late 50s. She’d always enjoyed training, and had successful results over the years as a triathlete. As she crept up in age, performance was deteriorating, recovery time increasing, and mental fatigue growing. Rather than let age get the best of her, Heather sought to reignite her triathlon journey and reenergize her performance as a mature athlete.
The Challenge:
Heather loved training, so motivation was never an issue. Heather was highly motivated, which as she aged, became a double-edged sword with fatigue. Her primary challenge became a change in mindset and approach. No longer could she confront challenges with pure hard work and intensity. Set set a goal of meeting and beating her performances when she was 50, and committed to a new path. That path was Purple Patch, where she was attracted to Matt Dixon as the ‘recovery coach,’ known for turning around several pro careers at what could be considered advanced ages in triathlon.
Heather’s only non-negotiables were being able to train with her local triathlon community for frequent group rides and weekly open water swims. Outside of those areas, it all went on the table for consideration. She also knew that if she was going to be working with Purple Patch, she needed to evolve both as an athlete and a person.
The Solution:
Heather had a feeling that she’d learned everything you could learn about triathlon training, but with the help of Purple Patch partnership, she was able to shed light on some key change opportunities that would lead her down the path of stronger performances.
First, Heather had been training for years but had been neglecting her strength. Resistance training is absolutely vital for not just health as we age, but also lengthening high quality performances in a sports career. She started doing twice weekly strength sessions in combination with 5-7 minutes of prehab work. Second, was a drop in total hours of training. As noted, Heather struggled with fatigue as she continued to age, and was thinking it was just a result of aging. However, the drop in volume was going to allow her to approach key sessions fresh and get more out of those, instead of thinking more is better. Third, there was a reduction in big, longer runs, which were replaced with high frequency running. It took the emphasis off quantity and focused on quality. Lastly, there were frequent 2-3 day blocks of real rejuvenation in order for Heather to refresh the mind and body.
The new journey for Heather was tough (remember: it takes real courage to recover), and it was a new approach of mind and body that would test everything she knew previously.
The Results:
Heather’s perseverance and effort in the new approach not only helped her reach her performance goals versus when she was 50 years old, but she also found surprise successes. One of those was actually enjoying training again AND feeling so much better in general. She was fresher, had more energy she’d had in years, and knew she was a better version of herself to family and friends. Along the way, a big byproduct was that she also achieved great performance results, far exceeding what she could do at 50.
Heather went on to qualify for IRONMAN 70.3 championships with faster times in every discipline. She thought she knew everything there was about riding, but she grew as a rider with the video bike coaching and terrain management lessons, which helped improve her ride so much that she placed 1st in her age group. Heather was also introduced to walk breaks during the run in order to go faster. It seems counterintuitive right? But by using the strategic walk breaks approach during the run, it changed everything. Instead of being tempted to stop, Heather walked the uphills, ran the flats, and sprinted the downhills. This approach helped keep her form and feel fresher throughout, avoiding the pitfalls of previous races where she’d have to stop running.
One of her biggest performance achievements was in the swim. She posted her fastest IRONMAN 70.3 swim time ever as an athlete in her 60s! This was someone who had been racing the 70.3 distance for years. With a simple mindset shift of controlling the controllables, and not worrying about choppy waters or other athletes, she beat her performance anxiety in the water. She just focused on herself, and it led her to her best performance ever in the swim.
Heather also made massive improvements in her cycling. She leaned into strength-endurance riding and the coaching provided through our interactive video bike platform to improve her power, technique, and efficiency as a rider. Most recently, this helped her to take first place in the 65-69 group at IRONMAN 70.3 with a massive 38-minute improvement in her bike split compared to the year before — and the 28th-fastest female bike split overall.
In her mid-sixties, Heather has twice become an age group World Champion at the World Triathlon Multisport Long Distance World Championships, taken first place in her age group at both IRONMAN 70.3 Arizona and IRONMAN Arizona, and another first place at IRONMAN 70.3 Calgary. The sky is truly the limit.
Heather’s results have showed a massive success. Not only did she find performance improvements when you analytically look at results, but she also believes she found a better version of herself with new energy and a higher quality of life when balancing sport. That is what we call true success -- and it is success at any age.