It may have seemed like a dominant victory from the outside, but Lionel Sanders admits he was very much struggling on the inside as he kicked off his 2026 campaign with a 70.3 win at Dallas Little-Elm, in a race he has since described as ‘one of the hardest wins of my career’.
As he broke the tape, the legend of IRONMAN threw it to the floor and puffed out his chest; Sanders was back and winning, but as he later revealed, it “wasn’t smooth or easy in any way”.
Having spent the majority of last season fighting illness and injury brought on by the nutritional condition medically known as ‘Relative Energy Deficiency’, or RED-S, he returned to action looking leaner and meaner and very much determined to succeed.
Battling back from RED-S
A condition relatively common among athletes where calorie intake is not sufficient to balance out the demands of heavy training. It can lead to poor post-workout recovery and increased risk of fractures at specific weak points.
However, after changing his diet – which now sees him take in 7,000 calories a day – and introducing a new training routine which focuses on quality rather than quantity, he believes he can continue his career without the fear of picking up as many niggling injuries and bone fractures.
The Dallas win clearly meant a great deal to him, as he posted on his Instagram page in the immediate aftermath how he was ‘proud’ of his ability to come through and take the tape in difficult conditions.
However, this week, Sanders has lifted the lid a little more on the chaotic build-up to Dallas Little-Elm, which very nearly saw him pull out of the race altogether.
There was little in the way of fanfare; indeed, celebrations were somewhat limited, as the popular Canadian could have been forgiven for swapping the usual race-winning feelings of exaltation for those more akin to vindication as his long road back was seemingly consigned to the past.
‘The bike was brutally hard’
Victory in Texas took his tally of IRONMAN wins to 35 across a trophy-laden 12-year professional career. And while this new Dallas 70.3 would usually be classed as small fry compared to some of his grander and more important races of the past, it’s the path that he took to get there that quite possibly makes this one of his most meaningful.
But very few looking on will have known just how tough his preparations had been, with a rolled ankle at La Quinta, illness and the stresses of becoming a father for the second time, all culminating into a whirlwind of trouble that even ‘No Limits’ himself wasn’t sure that he could overcome.
He said in the video, which is embedded in this story below: “One of my hardest-fought mental struggle races that I was able to win in my entire career. In terms of a performance standpoint, I wouldn’t say it was very good. It was okay. All things considered, it was okay. But from the challenges and stresses going in, I would say it was excellent… A++.
“It was tough. It was rough. But I made it to the finish line,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of races. I won a lot of races, and now I’m more performance-oriented. How I feel and how well I perform are wrapped up together.
“And so from a performance standpoint, I was unhappy with it, like pretty much the entirety of it, just because I felt that I had more to give. And then, 30 minutes later, I got an intense fever and body aches. So it started to make sense to me. Okay, I was a bit off today from a performance standpoint because I am literally actively infected right now.
“And so all those things considered, on the other hand, the life stressors, illnesses, you know, the challenge it posed to our family. I put it up there as one of the best races I’ve done in my career.“
He had earlier posted on his Instagram page: “My mantra going into the race was simple: you never truly know when it will be your last race. So if this one happens to be the last, make sure you leave with no regrets,” he wrote on his Instagram page. “The bike was brutally hard. I felt rough all day, and the wind was so strong at one point I almost crashed – a pretty stark reminder that you really don’t know when the last one might come.
“The run was a grind, too. Low energy, mentally tough, just managing the day as best as I could. It wasn’t smooth or easy in any way, but I’m proud of how I handled the day and the conditions.
“You can’t control the cards you’re dealt on race day – only how you play them. And something I’ve noticed over the years: the harder I work and the better I focus, the luckier I seem to get.”
Battling with ‘peak insecurity’
Hard work is certainly not something that Sanders will shy away from, even if his new routines are more targeted.
With a menu of high-protein meals, snacks and drinks consumed regularly from 7.30am through to 7.30pm, Sanders – renowned for his extremely intense training regimes in the past and given the moniker ‘No Limits’ – has also dialled back his preparations, adopting a more focused approach to quality and recovery.
The road back has been long, difficult and uncertain. He admitted in the build-up to Dallas that he was feeling ‘peak insecurity’ over competing again as his new-look regime was put to the test. But as he stood with his wife, Erin, and two sons, Levi and Lincoln, after crossing the finish line, his immense effort in even being able to compete was justified.
Victory will not only have given him a timely boost, but it will also serve as a reminder to the likes of Kristian Blummenfelt, Sam Laidlow, Casper Stornes and Jelle Geens that Lionel Sanders is back… and he clearly means business.
