Lionel Sanders: “If There’s Any Lesson I Would Impart On My Kids…”

In his latest YouTube video, Lionel Sanders shared further reflections following Ironman Texas, alongside the announcement that he is once again formally working with Mikal Iden and embracing the “Norwegian method.”

So what exactly is the “Norwegian method”?

Sanders summed it up simply: a “chronic fairly high-volume method with three double-threshold sessions a week.”

Ironman Texas Limitations

Looking back on his performance in Texas, Sanders was candid. In hindsight, he admitted he felt almost embarrassed to have believed that 15 hours of training per week would be enough to contend at what was widely considered the most competitive regular-season Ironman race in history.

He spoke to a long-standing tension in his training: easy volume has often felt like a waste of time, a sentiment many athletes can relate to. Elite athletes are accustomed to pushing limits, and easy mileage requires a very different mindset. But Sanders acknowledged that this type of volume compounds over time, building resilience and durability, the very qualities he feels were missing in Texas.

“I want to race some of these things…I want to go hard and rip it,” he said, reflecting on how athletes like Kristian Blummenfelt have redefined the standard for Ironman racing – not just to complete it, but to truly race it.

He contrasted that with his own 2017 runner-up finish in Kona, where he finished second in the world but was, in his words, “surviving” rather than racing the marathon. That approach, he suggests, is no longer enough at the highest level.

A Second Chapter With Mikal

Reflecting on his first stint working with Mikal Iden, Sanders pointed to two of the strongest performances of his career: Ironman Florida and his runner-up finish at the Ironman World Championship in St. George.

In hindsight, he believes things began to drift off track shortly after. An altitude camp following St. George did not seem to suit him, and was followed by a block of very intense heat training. Sanders described pushing through, suffering, and ultimately failing to communicate just how costly that load had become. The result was overreaching, leaving him with little left for the back half of the season (including Kona), after which he returned to self-coaching.

Now, looking back, those early performances under Mikal, combined with top athletes’ convergence toward high-volume Ironman training, have led Sanders to reconsider the approach. He believes the method can work, but only with a better understanding of his own limits, clearer communication with his coach, and more measured execution. That includes avoiding confounding variables like altitude and excessive heat, and resisting the urge to match the most demanding sessions including, as he says, the ones Kristian Blummenfelt failed.

All of this leads to perhaps the most poignant takeaway from the video: a commitment to leave no stone unturned, and to truly give his best, whatever the outcome.

What Sanders Hopes to Model

Sanders shared that he has spent a lot of time thinking about retirement, and about who he will be when “professional athlete” is no longer at the centre of his identity. In contemplating the timing of that transition, one of the driving factors – both for himself and in what he hopes to model for his two sons – is this:

“I want to fail, but have failed fully…if I fail, I want to fail having given it my all. [Having known] I did the very best I could and [that] I didn’t have it… Totally cool with that, no problems there… If there’s any lesson I would impart on my kids it would be that… See it through to completion, who cares if you win or lose, give it your best, find out.”

He acknowledged that, given how the sport has evolved since his runner-up finishes, a world title may now be a long shot. He has not closed the door on it, but he is realistic about what it would require.

What he is clear on is this: he is not ready to walk away until he can say he has truly given everything. Not stepping back because things got hard, or because a race like Texas did not go to plan, but closing the chapter only after every avenue has been tested.

In that sense, “failing fully” is not something to avoid. It is the point.

And perhaps that is why Sanders resonates so deeply. Long after the results fade, it will not just be his performances that endure, but the standard he has set: to see it through, to give everything, and to find out. It is why the triathlon world has fallen in love with him – and why we should cherish the races The Lion has left.