Stuart Tier

Name: Stuart Tier

Location: Tunbridge Wells, UK

Favorite Athletic brew: Run Wild

Instagram: @stuarttier

 

As an ambassador in the United Kingdom, Stuart Tier has been busy building his mind and body for the challenging Athletic Brewing IRONMAN Lake Placid course.

He won’t be alone out there – he’ll be joined by 10 other ambassadors on course – but triathlon is a solo sport. His many years of training and experience athletically is a great base, though, and he feels more than ready to get out there and give it a go.

“The thing of it is, if you don’t challenge yourself in life, then you're always gonna wonder what if, or you’re going to say, ‘I wish I had done that.’ With everything in life, I always encourage people to do what they want to do, because if you’re always wondering what you could do and dreaming of what it’d be like to do something like that, then I say just do it!”

Stuart is a huge fan of CrossFit, as well as mountain biking and functional fitness. He’s also a lover of non-alcoholic beer and is always down to share a Run Wild after a tough workout or training session! 

If you’re around Lake Placid during the IRONMAN race, stop by to cheer on Stuart as he tackles all 140.6 miles of the challenging course. For now, though, read on to learn more about Stuart, how he lives a life that’s Fit for All Times, and what he’s looking forward to the most about his trip across the Atlantic en route to Lake Placid.

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Tell me a little bit about yourself and how fitness and sports came into your life. 

I’m 41 years old, and live in a small town called Tunbridge Wells about 30 miles south of London with my wife and two young children. I’ve always been into playing sports, especially football (soccer), from when I was about 10 years old. So I was playing that all through school, and then I ended up playing for men’s teams after I left school. 

I started training at the gym around 21, doing bodybuilding and strength training, up until probably when COVID hit and the gyms shut. That’s when I found CrossFit. So I had a few weights and stuff at home to use and looked at a few workouts online, and I basically started doing that through lockdown. 

When we all came out of lockdown and gyms opened again, I joined a local CrossFit gym. That opened the door to other avenues: Running, biking, all those sorts of things, and I started getting into mountain biking again – I did that when I was young, along with BMX riding. 

Then this opportunity came up with Athletic to apply for the IRONMAN triathlon, and I thought, well, why not give that a go. 

You enjoy competing in a wide range of sports! Tell me about your favorites and why you chose to pursue them.

As I got older, I realized that I just liked to do stuff that keeps me moving. I prefer noncontact sports where I’m not going to get injured as much because that would force me to take time off work and to recover. In football, that could happen pretty easily. So, yeah, anything that’s active, really. I quite like paddleboarding as well. It’s quite fun and relaxing. 

 

Why did you want to join the Team Athletic Lake Placid team, and what are your goals for the race?

I wanted to show that age is just a number, and if you put the time, effort, and discipline in, anyone can achive anything, really. And I’ve never done a triathlon before. I really wanted the challenge. And also doing it in the U.S. makes it even more special. 

I never really knew anything about IRONMAN at all until this opportunity came up and I started researching. One of the other U.K. ambassadors, Annie – she finished IRONMAN World Championships in Kona back in October, and I was following her journey, and that gave me a bit of inspiration. 

I want to test myself and prove that I can do something like that. It’d be a great achievement. I’ve never really been into endurance stuff. I thought I’d never do anything that distance. But when you start getting into the training and everything, it becomes enjoyable. I couldn’t really swim properly as well before. I could get myself out of trouble if I was in the water. It was a bit humbling when I first started swimming, but that’s all good now. 

How has your training been coming along?

I started in December with short distances, just trying to build up some endurance, really, because with CrossFit you don’t really run more than 5K in a session, so I’ve never really run any further than that. So I’ve been building up slowly as the months have gone on. 

With riding, I wasn’t too worried about that – it’s probably my strongest discipline out of the 3. Now I feel quite confident with the distances I’ve built up. So hopefully I can do it all, one after the other. 

This will be my first marathon. Hopefully the excitement of the crowd and the atmosphere of the race will help get me through it. I’m hoping to do the bike and swim in about 10 or 11 hours. That’ll give me 6 to 7 hours to do the marathon. If it becomes like a run-walk thing, that’s what it’ll be. 

 

Do you have any race-day goals?

I’d like to do it in about 14 hours, but I’ll be totally happy if I finish the whole thing and make all the cutoff points, especially in the swim.

What has sports taught you about yourself? 

Sport helps with my mental health. I realized that I need to exercise pretty much every day, especially in the morning, to set myself up for the day ahead. It just puts me in the right frame of mind for attacking the day, really. And if I don’t go or have a rest day, I feel guilty. 

I know there are the risks of overtraining and things like that, which you don’t want to do – you don’t want to set yourself up to be injured. But it’s taught me discipline. It gives me a good routine, especially in the morning. 

What do we have to gain by participating in sports and challenging ourselves? 

The thing of it is, if you don’t challenge yourself in life, then you're always gonna wonder what if, or you’re going to say, “I wish I had done that.” With everything in life, I always encourage people to do what they want to do, because if you’re always wondering what you could do and dreaming of what it’d be like to do something like that, then I say just do it! 

What’s the worst that could happen, really, at the end of the day? You either won’t finish it, but then you can at least say you tried, or you might surprise yourself and finish it and do it in a good time. I kind of approach everything in life like that. Why not have a go?

 

How did you find Athletic Brewing non-alcoholic beer and the Athletic Brewing Ambassador program?

I came across Athletic because of Mat Fraser in CrossFit. I basically saw him drinking it and thought I’d see if I coud find it over here. I did, and I tried it and really liked it. I wanted to cut down on drinking alcohol because at the time I was going through a bad stage and using alcohol to shut it out. So I needed to cut down. I came across Athletic, looked at the website, found them on Instagram, and it just popped up that they were looking for ambassadors in the U.K. I thought I’d just give it a go and see where it takes me. 

What is the NA beer scene like in the UK, and what drew you to it? 

It’s actually becoming quite big over here now. You can go into any supermarket, and they’ve got a fair range of non-alcoholic beers. Pubs are starting to get it on tap. But I think it’s the drinking culture over here has changed a lot in the last few years – I think a lot of youngsters are into their fitness these days so are not interested in drinking and at a lot of pubs, the nightlife isn’t what it used to be 20 years ago over here. It’s so expensive to go out drinking. 

More of the young people want to go have a good time, but they’re not so much into drinking alcohol like it was when I used to go out. It’s becoming big. Athletic isn’t in the supermarkets around my area, so I have to get it online. 

I see it continuing [to be popular]. I don’t go out in the pubs much these days, but in the supermarkets, they are getting a lot bigger ranges all the time. There’s so much to choose from now, which is good. 

 

What are some of your proudest achievements? 

Having my children. I’ve got 2. They’re 6 and 3. They keep you busy. 

What do you like to do on rest days?

I go for a walk with the family and the dog now. Maybe I’ll go paddlboarding, or spend time with the children at the park. I always make sure they have a good time. I’ll take them to a softplay or something when the weather’s horrible. 

Do you have any favorite foods or meals you eat for recovery after tough workouts?

Any kind of food, really! I do like to make homemade burgers and fries, all washed down with a can of Run Wild. 

 

What gets you up and out of bed every day?

Going to the gym. Working out. Providing for my family   Knowing that it's a new day of possible opportunities.

What does living a life #FitForAllTimes mean to you?

It means being able to play with my kids in the park, basically being able to do everyday chores, being able to do my job to the best of my ability because it’s quite physical, and just being able to be healthy through life and get through each day. 

If you're interested in joining the Athletic Brewing Ambassador program, visit our Ambassador Community Page and sign up to be notified when applications open!