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12 FEB 2025

Gordo Byrn on Building Sustainable, Lifelong Endurance

Have you ever experienced heading out for a ride or run that you used to be able to complete with ease, only to discover that…something is wrong? Your heartbeat feels too high, your legs burn more than they used too, and you run out of gas far sooner than you expected to.

Today, here and on the podcast, we have a story for you that takes that situation to the extreme, but has applications for everyone, whether you are just beginning your endurance journey or you’re returning to training after a layoff.

Gordo Byrn won the Ultraman World Championships in 2002, an event that demands you swim 10k, ride 420k, and run a double-marathon over the span of three days. Add to those already eye-popping distances the fact that the World Champs for this event takes place on the Big Island of Hawaii and you’ve got a truly over-the-top challenge.

Gordo raced at the elite level for another ten years before a bad bike crash left him in the hospital and re-thinking his priorities: he had a young family in which he wanted to play a more complete role, and after the crash he sunk his attention into that pursuit. Ten years later, he began to mull the idea of a return to endurance training, having spent the bulk of that layoff on lifting and skiing.

If you want to listen to my hourlong conversation with Gordo, you can listen to the podcast here or on Spotify, Apple, or wherever good podcasts are distributed.

Absurdly Easy Training

When Gordo began endurance training again, he knew he would have to take it slowly. He hadn’t done much running, swimming, or cycling in the past decade, and he knew (from prior experience) that if he went too hard too soon he’d end up injured. His first runs looked like this:

10 minutes of walking, 3x(9’ jog, 1’ walk), 10’ of walking.

“It was absurdly easy, and I thought ‘there’s no way this is going to work,’ but it’s what I can do,” he said.

Gordo repeated the runs three times a week, and whenever even the slightest possibility of an injury showed up, he addressed it immediately, stopping or shrinking whatever activity was the culprit, and slowly, over time, he began to build a consistent schedule of training he knew he could repeat week after week.

Gordo’s advice: “find the volume and intensity you KNOW you can repeat, because consistency trumps hard or long single workouts every time. Check your ego and don’t let it write checks your body can’t cash (Chris chimes in: “almost every athlete I work with thinks going hard is the way, when what they really need to focus on is a large, easy body of training.”)...

Want to keep reading? You can get the full article on our new, FREE, Substack, or listen to the podcast on Spotify or Apple, or watch it on our YouTube channel!

Six Spots Left For CAMP

Yup! We are down to our last six spots, having expanded from 16 available to 18. This is going to be an amazing camp, with guest coaches David Tilbury-Davis and Cam Wynhof. We're going back to all dinners AND all breakfasts provided (most lunches are consumed out on the road), and we're gonna pack in a lot of training—for you! We adjust workouts and distances for your ability level, but also aiming to push you regardless of your ability level.

But don't wait—we usually sell out by the end of March, and interest is HIGH this year. Make an investment in your 2026 fitness and reserve your spot early.​

As always, thanks for reading.

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Presented by Campfire Endurance Coaching

Today's newsletter is presented by Campfire Endurance Coaching.

We help endurance athletes improve their results (get FASTER), find more joy in the process of getting faster (get HAPPIER), and achieve lifelong wellbeing through sport (get HEALTHIER).

Our company has two major services:

• ​One-to-One Coaching: fully customizable, high-touch coaching built for your life and your goals. Our coaches carry a maximum of 15 athletes so you know you and your goals are always a prioity.
• ​Training Camps and Clinics: immersive multi-day and single-day events aimed at getting you the most improvement in the shortest amount of time.

If any of those sound like something you would like to take advantage of, you should consider booking a 45-minute FREE coaching and training consultation with us​