Lionel Sanders will once again try to scale triathlon’s highest summit later this month – the IRONMAN World Championship in Kona.

The hugely popular 36-year-old Canadian superstar – second behind Patrick Lange back in 2017 – will make his latest assault on the biggest prize on the ‘Big Island’ of Hawaii with a new mantra underpinning his strategy.

Two years ago ‘No Limits’ freely admitted he had tried to copy Norwegian superstars Kristian Blummenfelt and Gustav Iden when he was coached by Gustav’s brother Mikal. It’s fair to say that strategy did not work in Kona as he finished down in 34th place while the Scandinavian stars dominated the podium.

Now Lionel is back to doing what is best for him ahead of the big dance on October 26, and that means ‘Train Insane but Undertrain’ (surely we will see that on a T-shirt soon…).

Lionel on Train Insane but Undertrain

Sanders, speaking in a video on his YouTube channel (watch the full version at the foot of this article), explained: “I’ve spent a decade learning about myself, and then I spent the last three or four years copying other people. But I already knew what I needed to do for me – I already did that but I didn’t stick to it.

“There’s inherent risk in everything, if you want to reach your limit. Basically what we’re trying to do is train insane, but undertrain. Because if you’re 1 percent overtrained, you’re gonna do s***. So you need to train insane, but undertrain – and that’s like almost an oxymoron. It’s like extremely difficult to do, but that is what we’re trying to do.

“That is why people are using lactate and the heart rate and the core sensor, all these different metrics because they’re trying to train insane, but undertrain. And so sometimes you overdo it, and there’s no coach on this earth who knows what to do not to overdo it every now and then.”

Sanders buying into the program

Sanders is quick to point out that all great athletes have trouble walking the line that is just enough, but not too much. He says the key is trusting your own knowledge, and buying into the program.

“Every single great athlete has been injured – Frodo [Jan Frodeno], Kristian [Blummenfelt], Lucy [Charles-Barclay] – go down the list, they’ve all been injured and they all have great coaches. Because no-one knows exactly, and sometimes you don’t listen to the signals etcetera.

“So this is the culmination of a decade of learning and experience, this is what I’m bought into, and that’s what you need to do. You need to buy into your program, you need to believe in what you’re doing – that what you’re doing is gonna make you the best you can be. And then you need to execute it.”