There’s a skill to being a world class athlete.

And everyone can learn from those performing at the top.

Last year I was introduced to Paskell Blackwell. He was one of the coaches at Team Charles Barclay - the coaching outfit set up by Lucy and Reece Charles Barclay to train AG athletes.

I’ve now been working with him for close to a year.

My understanding of how to become a serious endurance athlete has skyrocketed under his coaching.

Here’s the conversation with Paskell. Multi sport coach, athlete & sports enthusiast.

Leg one: Meet Paskell Blackwell

What drew you into endurance sports?

I have always been really into sports but mainly team sports. What I have found over the last 6-8 years its much hard to commit time when others can so I decided to move to an individual sport where I could be more efficient with my training time and be 100% responsible for my results. I enjoy the challenge of full distance triathlon but I much prefer races in the 2-4.5 hour range which I feel I can race hard at.

How did you end up working with Team Charles Barclay?

When I first moved into triathlon I started at Hoddesdon tri club which is where I met Reece and Lucy also starting their triathlon journey. We have been friends ever since and when their careers really took off we talked about me getting involved to help and work with them. It was an amazing 3 years together and watching Lucy become double world champion was truly something I will never forget.

Leg 2: Learning + becoming a world class athlete

What have you learned from the top athletes in the world you’ve helped train?

I think the key principles of hard work, consistency in your training patterns and understanding your data so you can build training blocks specific to your physiology, psychology training period and training aim. What I have also seen is that here is where a lot of similarities end. I don’t believe there is only one way to achieve the results you are looking for and I also don’t think many people even pro's can operate to their full potential very often. Training cycles are constantly evolving so recording what you are doing and what you are planning to achieve from it is vital as well as how well you followed the plan. The review and rebuild phases of training plans are keys to success.

You’ve just won your AG at the European Championships, how do you feel?

I was really happy to finish off a very close race with a win especially as I was a little down coming out of T2 so I knew I had plenty of pain and hard work still to get through. I also know that the bar will be going up significantly at World Championships in April so by no means do I think I am even close to the top. What we have seen in the whole of multisport in the last 4-7 years is some massive improvements across the board in what people are delivering. People don’t win with weaknesses anymore which is why I have taken a switch to duathlon from triathlon this season. Proud but realistic, plenty of people are quicker than me so I'll keep working and training hard.

Leg 3: Passing on knowledge

What’s the biggest tip you’d give to an aspiring European or world champion endurance athlete?

Run with runners, ride with cyclists and swim with swimmers. You need to push yourself to the best individual performances you can deliver, balancing you energy levels and fuel is relatively simple once you have a the skills to race the disciplines well. Also personally I don’t try to improve everything at once, within a training block I aim to maintain and be consistent on 1 or 2 areas and improve in 1 area. This way you can focus on those sessions to see noticeable improvements, whilst the other areas steadily improve without detracting from your focus.

What have you learned which you wish you knew at the beginning of your athletic career?

You are only as good as the last session that you recovered from. Your body can’t adapt to the training you are doing without recovery and your brain will certainly only last a limited time trying to motivate a super tired body.

So that’s how to be a world class athlete.

WOTW: Workout of the week

Top end threshold sprint session

Warm up:

• 2km @ Z1 heart rate

Main set:

• 4× 400m @ 3:30s pace

• 1× 1km @ 3:25s pace

• 4× 400m @ 3:30s pace

Cool down:

• 1km @ Z1 heart rate