Why
This
Book?

Smart, Sweaty, and Slightly Out of Sync
A Realistic Guide for Endurance Athletes with a Life
By Darren Gibbons · Smart Performance Coaching

Let’s be honest: most training books are written for people with unlimited time, elite genetics, and a suspicious obsession with meal prep.

This isn’t one of those books.

Smart, Sweaty, and Slightly Out of Sync is the field manual for the real athletes — the ones juggling threshold sessions with school pickups, fuelling on the go, training around shift work, family chaos, mental dips, and whatever else life throws in the way.

Written by endurance coach Darren Gibbons, founder of Smart Performance Coaching, this book pulls back the curtain on what truly makes progress possible: consistency, adaptability, and a system that works in real life — not just on paper.


Inside this book, you’ll get:
✅ The full Smart Performance Coaching system
How to balance load, intensity, strength, and recovery without burning out

✅ Pacing, heart rate, and RPE explained without jargon
So you can train by data, feel, or both — even when your GPS is lying

✅ Real athlete stories and brutally honest coaching insights
Names changed, chaos preserved

✅ Recovery and mindset strategies that actually help
Sleep, soreness, self-doubt — it’s all covered

✅ Race-ready planning for triathletes and runners
With tools for training plans, race day mindset, pacing, and preparation

This book is for you if:
You’ve ever second-guessed your training plan mid-run

You’ve wondered if foam rolling counts as yoga

You’re tired of cookie-cutter plans that ignore real life

You want performance — without the pressure to be perfect

Whether you’re a beginner building confidence, a seasoned athlete trying to train smarter, or somewhere in the middle wondering if you're doing it right — this book meets you where you are.