Ali Day Interview – Gut strength

Name: Alastair Day

Age: 20

Height: 184cm

Weight: 74 kg

Occupation: Professional Ironman

Lives: Kiama, NSW, Australia

Recent achievements:

6th in Kelloggs Nutri-grain Ironman Series 2010 (on debut)

7th in Kelloggs Nutri-grain Ironman Series 2011

Most successful debut for a rookie in the Kelloggs Nutri-grain series

NSW Open Ironman champion 2010

NSW Open Board Champion 2011

Debut for Australian Surf Life Saving Team, in New Zealand, 2011

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The following is an interview done with champion Ironman Ali Day. We hope this will be the beginning of a prosperous relationship between Ali and Primal Performance.

I was diagnosed with celiac’s disease when I was 12 years old.

All foods containing wheat and gluten aggravate my digestive tract.

When I was first diagnosed I would still eat little amounts of wheat and gluten, I couldn’t just go cold turkey on all foods, at my age it was just too hard. The older I became the more I became aware of what foods I could eat and what foods would make me sick. I began to realize that if I ate a piece of bread it would have an effect on me. So when I was around the age of 17 I pretty much stopped eating anything containing wheat or gluten. I suppose it’s a lot easier with age and the range of food out now, which wasn’t there when I was first diagnosed. So to answer this question properly I would have to say at least 3 years.

Yes, Celiac’s disease is in our family history. I’m the middle child between a brother (3 years older) who also has it and a sister (3 years younger) who doesn’t. My mum also has it but my dad doesn’t.

For sure. Firstly I don’t think the foods that I eat as a celiac contain as many nutrients as normal foods. I miss out on foods like pasta and bread which others can eat. Secondly whilst at a race, there is very little you can eat because most products are not gluten-free, which makes it hard to get the correct minerals into your body while racing. Thirdly whilst traveling overseas can be the hardest because other countries don’t understand gluten and won't have a gluten-free option or gluten-free aisle in their shopping center. So yes, I think being a celiac can be a huge disadvantage.

I only get 8 weeks of off-season during the year. So during this time, I try to not do anything just completely rest my body. My body needs the rest after 10 months of racing, traveling the country, and training up to 3 times a day, day in day out. However I will still do a little to keep active, I can’t sit around all day and watch TV, I have to do stuff, so I go surfing all the time which I love or I do some yoga or stretching.

Say if I’m racing on a Sunday which I usually do, this is what I would do: Monday and Tuesday would still normally be pretty hard sessions; Wednesday I usually have a recovery swim session in the morning followed by a massage, then I will have the rest of the day off; Thursday morning I try to start doing a bit of speed work in the pool and the same in the afternoon on my ski and board; the same goes for Friday, the workload will then drop off and all I’ll be doing is trying to feel good and stay fresh.

The intensity in the training increases so just spike my training every now and then. I stop running on Wednesday or Thursday because you want fresh legs leading into a 2-hour endurance race. Saturday I will have off, maybe just a light swim or paddle.

Photo Courtesy of Lynley Reid

That’s a hard question, I don’t think I’m better than some of my rivals at the moment, I still have a lot to learn in this sport and still have a whole lot of growing to do. I think my success comes from both my physical and mental capabilities. Physically I think that I’m one of the fittest out there racing, and have a great physique for this sport, I’m light and lean for the longer races. Mentally I train hard and consistently every day. I believe in a few things, if you train hard and consistently you will race hard and your results will be consistently at the top. “There is no substitute for hard work”, that’s something I truly believe. I’ll never give up, so I think these qualities help me against my rivals. I think it's all about having the right attitude. If you have that you’re halfway there.

Since I was in primary school I always wanted to be an Ironman and race in the Kelloggs Nutri Grain Series. It was always a dream for me to do this one day. I used to watch it with my dad and older brother and straight after run down to the beach and train, I pretty much did anything they would do. I used to buy the same color swimmers and everything. My dad used to teach Wes Berg (an awesome Ironman that still races me today) he was from down my way and I’ve always wanted to be like him and get the success he’s had.

To this day I still want to be like the guys I race, they drive me to be like them. Shannon Eckstein, His younger brother Caine, Ky Hurst, Zane Holmes, Hugh Dougherty, and Pierce Leonard. I want to be like them and achieve what they have. Also, there are a few older guys like The Mercer brothers, Rhys Drury, and Phil Clayton who are all from down my way who were all-time Ironman. So these guys all inspire me to train hard day in day out because of what they have achieved in the sport of Ironman. I also want to do it for myself and for my family who gives up everything for me.

At the end of the day I want to achieve greatness, I want to be the best I can be, I want to be number 1.

At the start of the season, I do 3 to 4 sessions of heavyweights trying to bulk up and put weight on. These weight sessions are mainly heavier weights and are at a higher intensity. During the year I cut back to one session and it’s normally a circuit training session. This session involves skipping, boxing, box jumps, bench press on a swiss ball, lunges, squats, rows, chin-ups, and core work.

The core work I think is a massive part for me, so doing planks, using med balls and swiss balls to increase my core strength for running swimming, and paddling.

I also think the best thing for strength is all bodyweight, so chin-ups, dips, and push-ups, you can't beat these exercises.

Towards the end of the year, I do most of my sprint and high-intensity work. However the longer races are at the start of the season and you still need a fair bit of speed I think, so at the beginning of the year, I do maybe 2 sessions a week which involve more high-intensity work. Then when the shorter races coming up at the end of the year I tend to do a lot more high-intensity work in all areas of training. This is mainly because the races are shorter and you need speed to get in and out of the break quickly. So towards the end of the season, we do more sprint/speed work.

I have been pretty lucky with injuries. I have had problems with my Achilles tendon which was pretty bad as well as shin splints other than I have been pretty lucky (touch wood). However, I do see the physio weekly to help keep on top of any niggles.

I use a few nutritional supplements. The main one is red bak protein shakes, I use this for recovery after training and racing, it also is a weight gainer which helps me put on weight. I take endura before during and after a race and training. I also take iron supplements, a multivitamin, folic acid, cod liver oil, vitamin C, and a mega B complex vitamin. These are just to top up my vitamin and mineral stores that I miss out on.

I would like to thank my sponsors, Berg Boards, Gibbons Surf Skis, Bennett Paddles, Saucony, Radiator and TYR swimwear for the awesome and valued support.

I’m not the strongest guy getting around, but I believe chins are the best exercise, if you can push out a fair few chins I think you’re doing pretty well. Chins are not my strong point so I try to do 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, and all the way down to 1 with minimal rest and then try going back up, I use mostly the wide grip but occasionally I use other grips. I have never tried weighted chins.

I’ve never really tried my max 1 RPM, for a guess I would say it would be around 70-80kg. I used to bench around 50 kg and do at least 8 reps and 3 to 4 sets.

I always wanted to be a nipper but always wasn’t. I was never that quick at all, I was always better in the water, I wanted to be better on the sand than the water. But I’m now glad I’m good in the water, haha.

I always wanted to be a professional athlete whether that be an NRL, rugby, or AFL player, swimmer, runner, all I knew was I wanted to be one. If I wasn’t one of those I suppose I'd be studying at Uni, surfing, and spending time with mates having a normal life. That’s a hard question, I’ve never really thought about that one.

I’m in my second week of off-season another 8 weeks to go. I’m loving this time off.

I feel I am fine with the endurance side of my sport and could probably improve most in the areas of power, speed and strength. Sometimes it feels like I have no fast-twitch muscle fibers. I think I would like to focus on some gym work to address these areas.

Also, I wouldn’t mind some help with my diet, how I can get the most out of it being a celiac, and just sometimes I’m down on energy and feel really tired.

Thanks, Ali for taking the time to speak with KeeganSH.com and for sharing your story about your path to success. Enjoy your off-season and best of luck with the upcoming Ironman season, we hope to speak with you more throughout the year.