Scott Harpham

Discipline: Iron Man

Approach to training and nutrition:
My approach to both training and nutrition all revolves around consistency. I believe completely in creating and environment and habits that are simple and can be repeated day after day, week after week, month after month and year after year.

Training wise, I believe in a base of a large volume of easy work with a sprinkling of harder sessions thrown in there on a 7-10 day cycle. Put that on repeat for several years in a row and you will be amazed at how far you can go!

My nutrition beliefs are like my training beliefs where the bulk of my diet comes from high quality whole foods as the base. This means I basically eat the same things every day.

When it comes to the hard sessions or race day, it is critical to ensure you fuel these properly to achieve your best performances. This is where I sprinkle in more simple carbohydrates as a quick energy source. Horley’s gels and replace hydration are critical here.

Post training, especially those hard sessions, I go back to the whole foods approach and ensure I match this with a quality protein source, my go to for simplicity, ease and quickness is the Horley’s ICE Chocolate protein powder. If I am on the go or at the track, then I switch from the protein shake to the Protein 33 Chocolate Fudge energy bar.

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More about me

The past 2yrs has been a whirlwind of learning, improving, and growing in the sport of triathlon. Starting in the age-group ranks I completed Tauranga Half and Ironman NZ in 2021. I was 1st Overall Age-grouper in Tauranga and 4th Overall Age-Grouper at Ironman NZ as my 1st Ironman.

Covid to put a rather large dampener on the following years racing with Ironman NZ being cancelled so June 2022 I flew to Cairns and came 2nd Overall Age-grouper at the Asian Oceania Ironman Champs. From there I was able to get my professional endorsement and the back end of 2022 and 2023 I have been racing professionally.

Professional racing has been a big step up with some decent results and performances as well as some shockers. It is a heap of fun and I am excited to see what the next 2yrs+ looks like.

My biography

I have always been a fan of high-performance sport and triathlon has been no exception. I vividly remember the 2004 Olympics where Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty battled it out for the gold medal. Somehow this didn’t get me hooked on triathlon and I stuck with playing rugby through until my mid 20’s.

The beginning of 2020 I looked at myself in the mirror and wasn’t happy with the physically lazy and out of shape person looking back at me. I was 27yrs old and, physically, was supposed to be in my prime. I had stopped playing rugby and was focusing on a corporate career at the time, however, I had always taken pride in keeping myself fit and healthy, hence why I didn’t like the “me” that was staring back from the mirror.

From there I decided to make a change, signed up for my 1st Ironman, Ironman NZ in 2021. This gave me 12 months to train for it. As they say, the rest is history from there. I became hooked on the process of improvement, had found a sport that rewarded you for consistent hard work and suited my physiological skill set. That passion became so great that in February 2021, before I had even done the Ironman, I quit my job with the sole focus on turning myself into a professional long course triathlete. Ironman NZ went well with a 4th Overall Amateur and was certainly enough to cement my belief that I could make a career in the sport with more time, effort and consistency.

I got my professional endorsement the following year in Cairns after coming 2nd Overall amateur and 10th overall. The 2023 year is my 1st professional season with many more to come.

Sporting Achievements

Tauranga Half 2021 – 1st Overall Age Grouper

Ironman NZ 2021 – 4th Overall Age Grouper, 9hrs 8min.

Cairns Ironman Asia Pacific Championships 2022 – 2nd Overall Amateur, 10th Overall.

Top 3 Professional Results

Taupo Ironman 70.3 2022 – 6th (1st pro race)

Sunshine Coast Ironman 70.3 2023 – 9th

Tauranga Half 2022 – 7th

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