Athlete case studies

• Four sessions a week, consistently. Consistency matters more than volume: a week you cannot complete does not train anyone.
• A clear distinction between intensities: easy sessions stayed truly easy, and hard sessions truly hard. The pace in between was used strategically as specific race pace, because it is the pace that keeps many runners from progressing.
• Long runs increased progressively, with quality work introduced gradually rather than from the start.
• At the first sign of discomfort, he reported it and we removed intensity and reduced volume for one to two weeks. He stayed healthy, because no easy week costs as much as an injury.

His progress showed across all three distances: from 46:40 to 41:50 over 10 km, from 1:50 to 1:38 in the half marathon and from 4:06 to 3:26 in the marathon.

In Frankfurt, on 25 October 2026, he set a new personal best. He ran the first half in 1:46:43 and the second in 1:39:20 — 7 minutes and 23 seconds faster.

Athens and Frankfurt have different courses. Alongside the new finish time, his pacing stands out: this time he ran the second half faster than the first.

• We built progressively: first the habit and frequency, then endurance and the training blocks of her preparation.
• Shorter races served as intermediate goals. They helped her become familiar with the process, pacing, fuelling and hydration before her main goal.
• Four sessions a week became the consistent framework. Enough to make progress without demanding more of her already limited time.

After one year of preparation, she finished her first marathon in Athens in 2024. Six months later she set a personal best in Thessaloniki, followed by a second consecutive Athens Marathon and a new PB in Vienna.

The Oropos Seaside Race half marathon was another step in her preparation for Florence. The race did not go as she had hoped, but provided useful lessons for what comes next. Preparation continues with consistency and a programme adapted to her needs.

• We reduced his running mileage, leaving his legs fresher during the week. This allowed us to increase quality and volume in cycling and swimming without aggravating the area that had been troubling him.
• Although he was already a very strong swimmer as a former champion, we invested in consistent swim training. A focused plan improved his performance in the water too.
• On the bike, the work became more specific to his target race: sufficient intensity, many hours in the saddle, and appropriate progression and specificity. This transferred his endurance and power to the 70.3 distance.

At Triman, he completed the race without the leg discomfort that had previously limited him.

After two years away from racing, he returned to the podium and earned placings across three different distances at the Greek National Championships in the same year.

• We shifted the focus to running and kept cycling at a much lower frequency. With four sessions a week, rarely five, we gradually built his base for his first Athens Marathon finish in 2025.
• Shorter races were scheduled to build pacing experience before his first major goal. One year after the change, he finished his first marathon.
• The Poseidon Half Marathon fell a few weeks before his next major goal. Racing it outright would require recovery and cost valuable training in the marathon block. Instead, it became the block’s key 30 km long run. He ran 10 km before the start as an extended warm-up and completed the half marathon in 1:56 on already tired legs.

At the Salzburg Marathon, he set a personal best: 30 minutes faster over the marathon, on an easier course, but in just six months. The framework of four sessions a week stayed the same. He also completed 300 km (+5,000 m), 200 km (+3,300 m) and 600 km (+4,500 m) brevets during 2024 and 2025.

His return to cycling was also reflected in his completion of the Elefsina brevet. His running base is being maintained as the training focus shifts back to the demands of longer cycling distances.

• We built the plan around strength training. Most weeks included three or four runs, reaching five only for short periods.
• We organised intensity, mileage and recovery so that running and gym work complemented each other. Shorter races served as intermediate goals before each next step.

At the 2025 Hamburg Half Marathon, he cut almost twenty minutes from his time. A few months later, in Lisbon, he reached 1:41.

In 2026, he also completed his first marathon, in Hamburg, in 3:45.

On 25 October 2026, he returned to the Hamburg Half Marathon and set a new personal best with a net time of 1:32. His overall improvement since his first half marathon reached around 35 minutes, while he continued to combine running with regular strength training.

• Progress came step by step: first experience in shorter running races, then Olympic distance, middle distance and finally long distance.
• We took time to build towards each distance. Every new block allowed him to adapt to the demands of swimming, cycling and running before moving to the next level.

Around six months after his first Olympic-distance race, he completed his first middle-distance race at Triman in 5:00, on a road bike.

Four months later, in September 2025, he completed the long-distance Triman in 11:10, tenth overall and fourth in his age group. He finished Ironman 70.3 Greece 2025 in 5:35.

In 2026, his progress continued with a podium finish in the Leros road race and participation in the Greek National Special Forces Championships in Schinias. He returned to Costa Navarino with better race management and achieved his fastest personal performance in that event, on the same course as the previous year.

• Swim training was organised to get the most from the limited time available.
• In running, we maintained a stable base and let improvement develop progressively, without chasing extra mileage or intensity.
• The greatest investment went into cycling, where he had the most room to improve. This also became his most significant racing advantage over middle and long distances.

In May 2025, he completed Triman 70.3, followed by a 9:50 finish at IRONMAN Tallinn that August.

In 2026, he returned to Triman 70.3 ten minutes faster and took third place in his age group.

In September 2026, Dimitris completed the Triman long-distance race in 9 hours and 25 minutes, setting a new personal best. He finished second overall in the race and second in the Greek National Long-Distance Championship.

• Four sessions a week.
• A programme adapted to the demands of his schedule.
• Priority given to consistency and completing key sessions.
• As he did not often race events we could use to reassess training zones, we introduced controlled track tests. These allowed us to monitor progress objectively and adjust his zones and sessions using the latest data.

In the Naxos half marathon, his consistency also showed on race day: he improved his performance by more than two minutes compared with his March half marathon. This progress came during a more demanding period of family life, with the programme remaining adapted to the time he had available.

• Gradual exposure to different race formats and distances.
• Dedicated sessions with specific swimming and cycling goals.
• Selected running and swimming races used as high-intensity training stimuli and fitness assessments.
• Developing all three sports together so that progress translated into overall triathlon performance.

The transition from trail running to triathlon came through progressive racing steps, with steady progress in all three sports.

In 2025, Teti earned honours at Greek National Championships and received an award from the Greek Triathlon Federation for her performances.

In 2026, she returned to Triman 70.3 with a new personal best and completed Ironman 70.3 Warsaw.

• The programme centred on 6–7 sessions a week, with some weeks exceeding 100 km of running.
• Cycling was introduced strategically to increase total aerobic volume without an equivalent increase in the musculoskeletal load from running.
• The Larnaca and Nicosia marathons were used as controlled training sessions in late 2024.
• Cyprus Backyard and Gyra Manis were targeted stages in preparation for the 180 km Olympios Dromos.

In 2025, he completed the 180 km Olympios Dromos in 25:50, with more than 4,000 metres of elevation gain, meeting the qualifying criterion for the Spartathlon ballot.

A few months later, he returned to the Road of the Immortals. Over the same 140 km distance, he improved from 22:28 to 15:40 — a total improvement of 6 hours 48 minutes in one year.

In 2026, he returned to Cyprus Backyard and, despite difficult weather, maintained steady performance to reach 16 loops and 107 km.