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Dr Dan Plews | Educator. Sport Scientist. Coach (PhD)

@theplews

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IM Kona AG record 8:24
Ironman 7:56
HYROX AG world record
@autsprinz Snr Researcher
@endure_iq @the_endurox_system
@pillarperformance Head Research

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FINALLY. OFFICIALLY A PUBLISHED AUTHOR OF A BOOK.
I couldn’t be prouder of this one. This book has been a long time in the making. From 2011 when I first started my PhD research, to 15 years later, a comprehensive piece of work covering the full application of heart rate variability.
A massive thank you to my co-authors Sylvain Laborde, Marco Altini, and Emma Mosley- Amazing contributions and a lot of fun along the way. What a team! 🙏 An equal shout out to my PhD supervisor Martin Buchheit and Paul Laursen. Although not named authors here, with their level of contribution to the content, this is as much their book at it is ours.

And to every HRV researcher, practitioner, tech companies (Whoop, Oura, 8 Sleep etc) and enthusiast around the world who has pushed this field forward: your work has made HRV more accessible, more practical, and a genuinely powerful tool. Not just for athletes, but for all populations.

If you’re already using HRV or you’ve been wanting to understand it better, this book is for you. Link in Bio. by @theplews

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5 months ago

NEW HYROX PR – 58:56! 🏆 1st in age group & now 7th fastest all-time in the 40-45 category.

What a day. Honestly, one of the best sporting experiences and atmospheres I’ve ever been a part of. First-ever Hyrox in New Zealand, first wave of the first race—leading the field for most of the race, holding off @travisowles before he absolutely schooled me on the Wall Balls (respect! 💪). @hyroxanz, you put on an incredible event. Just wow!! 🔥 
Massive thanks to @pelayofelechosa for his unwavering guidance and my amazing support crew on the day. Next stop: Pro weights in Brisbane as the build-up to the World Champs continues.

First order of business? Wall Ball target practice. 😅 Let’s go! 🚀 by @theplews

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2 years ago

7:56:56 for Dan Plews at IRONMAN California- unofficially the fastest AG IRONMAN performance over the 140.6 distance taken in IRONMAN USA – Pacific by @theplews

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3 years ago

Everything above is correct (I think🤷‍♂️). And I know absolutely nothing about car engines 🙂 . That’s a lot of fitness and coaching content right now. The information isn’t wrong, it’s just repeated without the deeper understanding behind it. Someone confidently explains heart rate variability or complex physiology, and it sounds spot on.

It’s a big part of why we started the ENDUROX Podcast. Four tidy slides can make anyone sound like an expert. A long conversation is a bit more showing. When you hear people who genuinely understand, you can tell. They know the nuance, the exceptions, and what the evidence doesn’t say.

As they say “In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king “ 😂-🤓 by @theplews

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6 hours ago

The big-picture view of triathlon training? It's triathlon training.

The swim affects the bike, the bike affects the run, and your plan should reflect that. The biggest mistake he sees from athletes and coaches is mixing and matching swim, bike and run sessions without thinking about them together.

Take the swim. People call it a nothing event. But swim the exact same time and do it 20 percent easier, and the effect on the rest of your race is big.

Place your sessions to make them specific. That means runs off the bike, or even a long run close to a long swim, which changes how hard that run feels.

Save this for your next training plan.

#triathlon #endurance #trainingscience #endurancetraining #EndureIQ by @theplews

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3 days ago

The biggest sled pull mistake is...

Not knowing how big the walk back box is.

It's 1.8 m long, so train in a 1.8 m box and count your steps in the front to the end.

Every time.

Know the number of steps without looking for the line. This will save you time, mental load and from getting penalties.

Send this to someone who's always struggling on the sled pull.

#hyrox #hyroxtraining #raceprep by @theplews

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4 days ago

19 of our athletes started in Kona. 19 finished.

Unofficially, the most Kona finishes from any coaching group!

Three of them went under 10 hours: Martin Capriotti (9:46), Jordan Scott (9:50) and Eduardo della Maggiora (9:55).

Two stood on a division podium. Amy Rappaport took 3rd in her division and Jonathan Whitehead took 3rd in his. Vanessa Bowden finished 8th in her division.

Add it all up and our group raced 2,671 miles and spent 9 days, 6 hours and 12 minutes on course between them.

Every finish time on that list took months of work. From 9:46 to 16:06, all 19 of you got it done.

Congratulations to:

Martin Capriotti, Jordan Scott, Eduardo della Maggiora, Vanessa Bowden, Jonathan Whitehead, Merle Maud, Rodolfo Zeledon, Paul Thomas, Adil Gourari, Jason Gambill, Mark Peverett, Giovanni Carriere, Natalie Stewart, Andrea Ugazio, Metka Jug, Michael Villanueva, Amy Rappaport, Phil Willson and Carlos Sagasta.

Proud of every one of you.

#kona #ironman #triathlon #ironmanworldchampionship #endurance by @theplews

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7 days ago

8:24:36. A KONA AG COURSE RECORD that’s still standing eight years later. Honestly, I’m blown away by that, given how much faster times have got across the board since 2018.  
And to trigger a few people 😂: that was done on a daily diet of around 120 to 150 g of carbohydrate, racing on 50 g/hour on the bike and one gel for the entire marathon.

I often get asked whether I’d do anything differently in 2026, in the middle of what I’d call the “carbolution” of ultra high carb intakes.
The honest answer? Not much.
I’d likely follow the same daily diet and a very similar race day strategy, because it worked for me and know how to execute it. 
Two things I would change:
1. Fuel some of my longer training. I used to do 5 to 6 hour sessions on nothing but electrolytes and almost zero carbs. Now I’d take in around 30-60 g/hour on those longer days, because I does makes a difference to recovery.
2. Strength training. During this build I did next to none, apart from a little core and mobility work. I’ve since learned that strength training done the right way can make a big difference. 
My belief: a well-formulated lower carb diet (not keto) can be as successful as a well-formulated high carb diet. A poorly formulated version of either can be very ineffective. The catch is that low carb is much harder to get right for performance. There’s a lot of nuance and detail in it. 
Watching Kona race day still gives me goosebumps. Easily the best single-day endurance event in the world. No doubt. Well don’t to everyone who made it over the finish line. Being a Kona finisher is a big deal! 🔥🔥🔥

#Kona #IronmanWorldChampionship #triathlon #endurance #sportsnutrition strengthtraining by @theplews

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8 days ago

It’s race day for the 2026 IRONMAN WORLD CHAMPS tomorrow, and wishing everyone the best of fortunes out there. We have 19 athletes racing with @endure_iq and ready to! We couldn’t be prouder of you all making the start line of an iconic race.

Memories here of when I was last raced there in 2018, running back from the energy lab in full spirits! Make sure you all give it a YIEW!! 🔥🔥🔥 by @theplews

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9 days ago

PRE-COOLING PROBABLY WON'T SAVE YOUR KONA RUN

Ice vests and slushies before the start look the part, and they can help in shorter events. But as in our LDT103 cooling module, there's no research on pre-cooling for long-distance triathlon, and any benefit is likely gone well before the marathon.

In an Ironman, cooling earns its place during the race, especially the run: water over the head and face, ice and sponges in the suit and under the cap, cold fluid in an insulated bottle on the bike.

Many cooling studies use time-to-exhaustion tests, which tend to inflate the gains, so take them in context.

Test your approach in a hot session first!

#triathlon #ironman #kona #training by @theplews

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10 days ago

Wall balls are the only HYROX station where you can’t slow down.

You can ease off on the rower. You can ease off on the burpees. The ball doesn’t care. It comes back at the same speed every rep, so you do the rep or you don’t.

Here’s how to train for it:

-Racing solo? Do at least 300 wall balls a week. That’s the floor.
-Split them into 5 or 10 minute blocks and find out how many you can hold with clean form.
-Run 10 to 15 seconds per km slower into the station. It can make a reasonable difference, because how tired you arrive decides how fast you finish.
-Pick how many reps you’ll do before your first break, then practise that exact split.

Save this for your next wall ball session.

What’s your plan, unbroken or sets?

#HYROX #HYROXtraining #strengthendurance #raceprep by @theplews

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11 days ago

CRITICAL SPEED AND MLSS ARE OFTEN TREATED AS THE SAME THING. THEY’RE NOT. 
On the latest ENDUROX Podcast, Adam and I talked testing, and I argued that critical speed is probably more valuable for HYROX than LTP2 or a typically defined “anaerobic threshold”. Since the episode dropped, I’ve had plenty of questions about how these measures differ, so here’s a 2021 paper that shows it clearly.

In Nixon et al. (2021), CS sat ~8% above MLSS in well-trained runners. Between the two, VO₂ held steady while lactate kept creeping up. Just 2.4% over CS, VO₂ climbed to max and runners were done in ~17 min. And LT2 from their step test? It landed above both MLSS and CS.

Why it matters for HYROX: every station drains your reserve above CS, and the runs are where you refill it. That only happens below CS. So if your race pace is built off a step-test LT2, you can easily end up overshooting.

The practical fix: MLSS is a safe ceiling if you can get it tested. If you only know your LT2, aim to run ~5-10% below it. In this study, 10% is almost exactly where MLSS landed (15.2 vs 16.8 km/h), keeping you comfortably under CS.
Swipe through for the full breakdown 👉

#HYROX #HybridTraining #CriticalSpeed #ExercisePhysiology #EnduranceTraining by @theplews

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11 days ago