The 80/20 method has been around long enough that many athletes are now highly experienced in it, hence able to advise and mentor other athletes who are just beginning their 80/20 journey. One such athlete is Colin Lewis, 44, an IT manager living in Brisbane, Australia, with his wife and young son.

Colin completed his first triathlon—Ironman 70.3 Port Macquarie—in May 2017. Immediately thereafter he signed up for the following year’s Ironman Australia. With 12 months to prepare, he had plenty of time to search for and identify the perfect training plan, which, of course, turned out to be an 80/20 Endurance plan. On race day, Colin blew away his goal of finishing under 12 hours, stopping the clock in 11:16. Since then, he has continued with the system, lowering his Ironman PB to 10:30 and qualifying for the 2021 Ironman World Championship.

With all of this experience and success, Colin has plenty of good advice to offer his fellow 80/20 athletes, including this golden nugget: “The most important week is the recovery week. Do not be tempted to do more in that week; that was my mistake and I paid the price. If you go into the next block with too much fatigue, then it will impact the benefit of that entire two to three-week block.”