We sit down for a fireside interview with T3 Triathlon Team pro triathlete Harry Palmer to talk about getting into tri, making the jump from age-grouper to pro, learning from his first year on the Ironman 70.3 circuit and plans for 2020.
Harry Palmer might be a new name on the pro triathlon scene but in his first year, he’s already cracked the top 10 at competitive Ironman 70.3 races. A coach and elite member of the T3 Triathlon Team, Harry’s going into the 2020 season with the humble goal of learning more about racing as a pro as he begins to unlock his performance potential.
To get to know more about this up-and-coming British pro, we chatted through Harry’s journey in triathlon – starting at the beginning…
Finding triathlon
“As a kid, I got involved in every single sport I could because I just had so much energy and I think my parents wanted me to use up some of that energy!” says Harry. “Over the years that led to me whittling down until eventually I was just doing the individual running club, cycling club and swimming club, but I didn’t even know what a triathlon was!
“When I was 17 [in 2014], my dad saw an advert for the local Oldbury Sprint Triathlon and asked if I wanted to give it a go. I turned up and raced and it was the most painful day of my life! But at the finish line, as you always do, you forget about the pain and pretty soon you’re thinking ‘I’ll do another one!’”
“As a kid, I got involved in every single sport I could because I just had so much energy”
Harry’s ‘another one’ was to up the distance to an open-water, Olympic-distance tri. “It was a big jump up, but I’ve always been a bit of a diesel engine. This time I absolutely loved it, especially the fact that the run is the last discipline and I was best at running, so it was really nice to run through the field.”
Moving up the ranks
Harry’s raw talent, growing dedication to training and burgeoning love of the sport soon led to a higher level of competition. Just a year after his first race, Harry represented the GB age-group team at both the European and World Championships and by 2016, he was getting elite starts on the British Triathlon Super Series.
This fast and furious sprint league wasn’t exactly the perfect fit for Harry’s diesel-powered performance, however. “It was really cool to mix it up with the really quick guys out there, but I quickly realised my swim is not good enough. I got shot out at the back of the group and was all on my own. Then you can’t get involved in the bike pack and you’re just trying to run through.”
Going long
Knowing Harry’s strengths were in the non-drafting format, his coach, Mark Threlfall, decided on a challenge to test Harry’s endurance at the end of the 2016 season.
“It turned out to be the Hever Castle Triathlon, my first middle-distance event. I’ve got great memories from it. I loved the fact that I was doing a swim and I didn’t feel like I was in the red straight away! It was an incredible feeling to swim and breathe normally and not be super panicked, which was a completely alien experience.
“And then on the bike – this was at a stage where I didn’t have any power or whatever – so I probably didn’t do the best job of pacing, but I actually felt pretty good. Mark was also coaching an athlete called Barney Palmer and we ended up running the whole half marathon together. And everyone was like, ‘Oh my God, this is the Palmer brothers!’ We’re not actually related, but every single race we do, we seem to end up together on the run, which is just really weird!”
Taking fifth place overall – just ahead of his namesake – Harry’s passion for middle-distance racing was firmly cemented, along with the aspiration to turn professional. “I’ve always wanted to be involved in sports and never wanted to sit still and have a normal job, so one day, when Mark said, ‘You know what, you could actually do this,’ I was all for it!”
The journey to the pro field
“The following year I did a few more middle-distance events, but I wanted to end the season with an Ironman-branded event and that was 70.3 Weymouth. We were aiming to get within eight per-cent of the winner’s time because that’s the qualifying criteria to go pro. James Cunnama won that year, so it was a bit of a task! I was second age-grouper across the line after Sam Pictor.
“It turned out I needed two races to qualify as a pro, but it made me think I could do it so I trained hard over winter and made a plan for 2018, which was Staffordshire, Edinburgh and Weymouth again. Staffordshire was great but Edinburgh was the most shocking race! I had to walk pretty much the whole half marathon. That meant it was all on Weymouth because that was the last race of the season.”
Putting the challenges of Edinburgh behind him, Harry once again excelled in Weymouth, following his first AG overall in Staffordshire with the same result on the south coast to earn his pro card.
“I’d say actually say that has been my favourite race so far. The weather was so grim, it was a mission to try and get to the finish line. I didn’t care about the time and I didn’t even think about qualifying, I just wanted to finish! It taught me that I race the best is when I’m not even worried about position or anything – I’m just racing to race.”
Pro training changes
Despite not thinking about it during the race, Harry’s 4:12:44 finish netted Harry his qualification criteria for British Triathlon, giving him the chance to swap his age-group race number for an ‘MPRO’ one. But how’s life changed since then?
“It’s basically that I’m doing more hours,” he grins, “but it’s also more quality as well. When I was at uni, I was doing quite a lot of hours, but they weren’t necessarily quality. Whereas now, a lot of my training is done at a very specific level. It’s pretty hard stuff – which sucks – but is the quality is a lot better.
“If there isn’t a reason for a session then there’s no point in doing one – every session needs a purpose and a goal. I’m doing a lot of quality training but this is also balanced out by a lot of really easy training, that’s where most athletes make the biggest mistakes, it’s not that they go too hard on their harder stuff, it’s that they go too hard on their easy stuff and sit at the ‘grey zone’ in the middle – that can be really detrimental to your training.”
Racing as a pro
After his first winter season training as a professional, 2019 would be Harry’s first experience of the pro Ironman 70.3 circuit.
“It was very overwhelming at first and I went into each race almost a bit nervous – like I didn’t belong there. I know I should have been like, ‘I deserve to be here, I’ve qualified’. Sometimes I did think maybe I should have delayed going pro for another season just to kind of gain more experience. But in retrospect, I think it’s definitely been a good thing to chuck myself into the deep end and learn from the mistakes.”
“It was very overwhelming at first and I went into each race almost a bit nervous – like I didn’t belong there”
Harry’s first pro race at Ironman 70.3 St. Pölten, Austria, provided just such a learning experience even if things didn’t go quite to plan. “I deflated my tyres too much the night before, breaking the seal with the tubeless setup so during the race sealant went everywhere and I got a flat! But those lessons are so valuable, because 100 percent, I’ll never do that again!”
Back in the saddle
While it might not have been the pro-career start he was looking for, Harry stayed characteristically positive, picked himself up and headed back to Staffordshire where he netted ninth place before heading to 70.3 Finland, where he took 11th. This was followed by Ironman 70.3 Dún Laoghaire and, to-date, Harry’s best race where he got to toe the line against the likes of Alistair Brownlee, Elliot Smales and Adam Bowden.
“The highlight of 2019 for me was the race at Dún Laoghaire in Ireland and coming seventh in such a stacked field there. I know Tim Don didn’t finish but running alongside him was such a special feeling! Even just to be mixing it up with those guys was the best feeling in the world. I can’t really describe it – it was just incredible.”
Back to Weymouth and Harry picked up 10th in a creditable field before rounding out the season with 14th at Ironman 70.3 Lanzarote.
“This year it was all about trying to get within the top 10 at different races. So I’d say actually it was quite a good year getting those top 10 finishes – they were more towards the 10 rather than the one but still top 10!”
Doing it for the fans
As well as racing for positions and experience, Harry’s growing presence as a triathlon YouTuber with the Harry and Chris channel is constantly giving him a bigger platform to share his love and experience of the sport.
“What I really love actually was continuing to get more and more recognition from the YouTube Channel. When people say, ‘I really enjoyed your videos,’ or, ‘You inspired me to get going in triathlon,’ I’m taken aback but it really means a lot to hear people say that.”
Plans for 2020
Now part of the T3 Triathlon Team and backed by a selection of top-class supporting brands including Saddleback, Castelli, Chris King, ENVE, HJC, Peaty’s, Stages, Precision Hydration, Blueseventy and Strength For Endurance – as well as Melksham Family Chiropractors – Harry’s better positioned than ever to continue his upward trajectory in 2020.
“Really, I want to continue gaining experience. People ask about world champs but I want to make sure that I master just normal 70.3 racing first. Worlds and Europeans are definitely on the cards, but I would want to be competitive when I get to that.
“This year, I want to be doing as many races as I can, learning from every race and learn from the better guys out there. Of course, it would be nice to get better results, but actually that’s not something I’m thinking about too much for next season – I just want to focus on working hard, enjoying it and becoming a better athlete than I was last year.”
