Unlikely Finisher: My journey to the 2025 Swansea 70.3 Ironman DOCUMENTARY

Six months. One dream. This is the raw, unfiltered story of my Ironman journey.

Watch the highs, the lows, and the fight to finish — and discover the book that tells the full story.

For six months I trained, struggled, and pushed my limits in pursuit of the impossible: becoming an Ironman. This documentary follows the raw, unfiltered journey through the highs, lows, setbacks, and breakthroughs that shaped me along the way.

It’s not a highlight reel — it’s the truth of what it takes to chase a dream when the odds are stacked against you. From early-morning swims and endless miles on the bike, to moments of doubt and the fight to keep going, this film captures the heart of my Ironman story.

The full story — from my first marathon to my attempt at the Ironman 70.3 Swansea — is told in my new book Unlikely Finisher. If this documentary inspires you, the book dives even deeper into the journey, the lessons, and the legacy I want to leave behind.

👉 Watch. Be inspired. And if you want more, the book is waiting for you.

Let’s stay in touch:
📸 Instagram: @tryseantri

UK Book Links
https://amzn.eu/d/7iMku4O Just Finish
https://amzn.eu/d/eokNyv2 Unlikely Finisher
https://amzn.eu/d/e1ObLy4 Just Finish & Unlikely Finisher Together

CAN Book Links
Unlikely Finisher https://a.co/d/0ya02Ow
Just Finish & Unlikely Finisher Together https://a.co/d/9NCpaYL

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Heat. Hey, Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] So, I entered my very first 70.3 Iron Man on the Iron Man website on September 17th, 2024. And ever since then, I’ve been doing the same morning routine, but of course, rotating in cycling, swimming, and running. Now, with this event now being just over 6 months away and dealing with massive imposter syndrome, I’ll be honest, I really don’t know how this documentary is going to end. Let’s find out. [Music] For the two or three people that may actually watch this documentary, other than my family, I just want to introduce myself. My name is Sean. I’m Canadian. I’m living in the UK. I’ve been in the UK for over 18 years. two kids, wife, job, living a life. Now, I’m not going into this iron man journey cold. My fitness journey actually started back in 2016 with a health scare. Now, I do say do not let a health scare be the catalyst for you to start your own fitness journey. But unfortunately for me, I had a health scare. So, I needed to be active. And I decided to do running. I don’t look like a runner. Some days I don’t even feel like a runner. And I am definitely not your typical runner. I literally started using the Coach to 5K app, but then it evolved into, of course, park runs and then I did 10Ks. I’ve done over, I don’t know, 210Ks. I’ve done about 25 half marathons. I’ve done one marathon and one 50k ultra. After the ultra, I needed a next challenge and it just landed on triathlons. I didn’t know anything about triathlons. I didn’t know how to do it. I didn’t know really what they what they what they entailed. But I did actually enter duathlon in late 2023 which piqued my interest. Then I actually found uh a great company uh uk triathlons.co.uk. They had a lot of different events. So this year in 2024 I entered six of them mostly sprints. I did actually enter an Olympic distance triathlon, which was great because it gave me the confidence to move my timeline to do an Iron Man up a year cuz I was originally going to do my Iron Man in 2026. Actually entering the Iron Man online this year, I wanted to see what it actually was going to be like. So, I went to YouTube, of course, and I did see some people who were documenting or did document their journey to their first Iron Man. I thought it was brilliant, and I thought to myself, I can do that. So, basically, I’m going to document my entire journey with my event being only 6 months away. Every month starting in January, I’m going to sort of give you updates, feedback, thoughts, how I’m doing, what I’m doing, and ultimately it’s going to end with me at the start line of the 2025 Swansea 70.3 Iron Man. So, let’s see what I did in January to help me cross the finish line of my first Iron Man. So here we are in January. Now when I entered September to now, I did a few things. So let me catch you up. The first thing that I did is I invested in myself and I actually hired a coach who’s been helping me through this whole process. The second thing that I did was I entered a few smaller events to get me ready for the big show. First event that I’ll be participating in this year will be on May 17th, which is an outlaw event, which will really give me an opportunity to see all the gains I’ve been hopefully made over these last many months. The following month in June, I’ve actually entered an Olympic distance event, which will really test all the gains, all the things I’ve been doing in regards to getting myself prepped. Then, of course, in July is the big show. And then following that, one month later, I got a really small event. It’s just a very short uh sprint event that’s in York, which I’m going to have fun doing if I survive the Iron Man. Now, during the month January and prior to January, I have been doing most of my workouts in the morning. I usually work out probably an hour, hour and 15 minutes before work. Uh sometimes I do uh double- ups and I do some after work, but um I’m not quite there yet according to my coach. On the Saturdays, I would actually do my runs. They would be 60, 90 minute, two-hour runs to help me get my foundation solid. And then on uh Sunday, I would do the long rides, which would be 90 minutes, 2 hours, 2 and a half hour rides. So far, that’s where we are at in regards to training. And the thing is is that as we progress, I am told that it’ll get harder. There’ll be building sessions. There will be rest weeks. There’ll be all these things that I’m still learning as we go. That’s what I needed a coach for. A coach was somebody who could fill the gaps, the knowledge gaps that I have when it cames to actual doing a triathlon. And it’s helping me become a better athlete and hopefully get me to the end of an iron man. Well, in January, it hit me. The flu that kicked my ass. And uh for the first time in probably 8 years, I didn’t do any exercise for an entire week because I was just too ill. Chills, headaches, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, everything just had me on my butt. Just dealing with this bit of a chest infection and shortness of breath. I’m hoping that I haven’t lost any of my fitness. Let’s see what February brings. Okay, here we are in February. I have fully recovered and I’m back at the training. Uh, lots of things have happened in uh, February. The first thing that I decided to do is I thought I was going to be able to use my hybrid bike that I just bought to actually do the Iron Man, but I was told that if I had a road bike, it actually would make it between 40 and 50% easier. So, I bit the bullet and I searched all around for a good deal on a bike, a road bike, and I found one. I now have a track bike. I’ve uh kitted out with all my arrow bars and all my Garmin stuff. And I’ve never ridden a a road bike before. And it took me a while or is taking me a while to get used to the gear shifting on a road bike. It’s a little bit different than uh what I’m used to. Take a look at this. A Yeah, that’s um not my greatest uh moment. So, I got a new bike. The second thing is is quite significant. I decided to part ways with my coach. Yes. Coach Craig, great coach, nothing against him. Uh, very knowledgeable, fantastic coach. I just felt we didn’t have this connection that I hoped we would have as a as a coach athlete. Um, now I’ll be honest, I don’t know if anyone could have uh failed those expectations, but I decided to go on my own. I now have a plan that I’ve created. Now, it’s based on the Trading Peaks plan that I’ve been doing, but it is something I’m I’m quite proud of that I’ve come up with and it allows me to uh see my gains that I wanted to see. I have now these stats and these graphs. So, uh unfortunately, I’m no longer a coached athlete. Um I’m doing it myself. And I decided that this month it’s time to unleash the new shoes that will carry me to the finish line of the 2025 Swansea Iron Man. Been sitting around for about a couple months uh since Christmas and now it’s time to get them out, put them on, and break them in. So, it’s been a big month. Uh, I feel my my training has uh really progressed a lot. I’m hoping that uh all of this work, all of this new tech will help me get to the finish of the Iron Man. Now, let’s see what March brings. So, here we are in March. First things first, March is my wife’s birthday month. Yes. So, congratulations and happy birthday to my lovely wife, Wendy. Second thing, I have been trapped in this zone 2 hell for seems like forever. Every run, every cycle, every indoor cycle has been in zone 2. And I am just chomping at the bit to get this season started. So much so that I’m not going to wait till May, my old event. I’ve actually entered last minute the 2025 Stratford pool-based sprint event. The interesting about this is is that this event was my very first triathlon that I ever did. Now, after doing it next month, I will be able to compare my times for my swim and cycle and of course run to see if there’s any gains that have been made after doing not only several triathlons, but also the zone 2 off season, which will be very interesting to see because I do hope there is some gains. Now, it is a pool-based event, but I am needing to get back into open water. And I decided this month to go back to Manvers on a Saturday morning, on a very chilly Saturday morning, and get back in to the open water. And this is what happened. So, the idea was to come out on the Saturday to um just um get used to it and see how it is. And um I had the thermal suit and the socks and such, but I started going uh and my face like literally froze up. Um so I don’t know if I’m going to be doing any lengths today, but uh I’m uh it’s uh it’s it’s cold, but I’m glad I’m here. Um, I think I might try to get some uh video of me uh swimming, but it is water is like 8° or something. I don’t know. But it is cold. Colder than I thought it was going to be. Uh, even with a thermal suit. Um, anyways, that’s me. Yeah. So, that happened. Now, my local swimming baths or my local swimming pool is actually been closed for the last two months. and I just got word that they’re not being open until June. So, practicing in a pool is out. I’m going to have to get back into the open water. So, I’m just hoping that next month it’ll heat up so that I can get back into open water. So, let’s see things happen in March. I’m still chugging along. Let’s see what April brings. Okay, so here we are in April. Now, this is exciting because in this month, I did my very first event of two of the 2025 season. It’s a Stratford sprint event, which is a short event, but I just wanted to get my uh juices flowing and try some new things and see some gains. But be before I did that, I wanted to make sure that I got every possible uh advantage. And I heard that uh if you get your bike fitted that it actually will give you some marginal advantages uh from power on the bike, comfort on the bike. That’s what I needed for this really long ride that was coming my way. I got my bike fit. It was interesting process. I would recommend it if you’re not quite sure if your bike actually fits you properly. Um I think there were some slight tweaks that you might be able to see in this uh this comparison shot. After I did that, then of course it came to the first event and I think it went pretty well. I created a little short here to capture all of what happened. And uh here it is. [Music] Yeah. because I actually had uh done this event before last year, I was able to see some of the gains. So, here was my uh results from this year and here are my results from last year. Pretty good. I actually reduced my time by 9 minutes, which I think was great. I felt good. I felt strong at the end. That’s exactly what I wanted going in to uh this year, especially with the Iron Man just around the corner. So that was April. Let’s see what May brings. Okay. So here we are in May. Now this month’s all about the outlaw event that I signed up for. Now this is a proper sprint event. Now last month I did a poolbased sprint. This is what I was looking forward to cuz I had had this on my calendar for a while now and I really wanted to tackle this one and see how I did. Now, this event was interesting because when I got there, I got really nervous because the size of this event was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. My event, the sprint event was actually on the Saturday and on the uh on the Sunday there was a 70.3 Outlaw event. People were getting their bikes set up and racked and that sort of thing. and they had in a closed area that there must have been a thousand bikes in this area and um they were really expensive and really cool. Uh there must have been at least 20 million pounds worth of bikes in this area and um just just the just the atmosphere got me a little bit nervous because of what I anticipated the the um Iron Man to be. I felt I had a really strong event. Uh, I felt strong in the in the swim and the the bike and the run. And I just got a quick uh reel showing you uh what happened on the day and uh what it looked like on the day. [Music] Now, I felt strong. Uh here are my official results uh for this event. And um like I said, I really felt I could have gone further. I felt I could have gone faster, but I am just preparing myself for the big event in just a couple months. So, that’s May. Let’s find out what June has to offer. We’re getting close, folks. Okay, folks. Here we are in June, just four weeks away from the big show, and I am nervous and excited, scared. Not only um am I training physically, but I’m training mentally. And I have, of course, downloaded all of the things that I need to read. uh they sent the video sort of for the uh uh orientation. I watched that, studied that and uh what I’m finding is is that my I think the biggest weakness I have going into the iron man is probably the cycle and uh so what I’ve been doing is ensuring that I study uh the route. Uh so I have of course the route here they give you online but I have found some um videos uh that uh really break down every bend, every hill, every gradient um online which have been super super useful. Uh not only that, um I use those I use those um uh videos and other research to make these sort of cheat sheets as to uh when the hills are, what the gradients are, how long the hills are. Uh and it these are really going to be useful on the bike for me to sort of get myself um in a mindset to tackle these hills. And um in a few weeks I’m going to be doing my final sort of race simulation weekend where I’m going to do the 1.9K swim and then I’m going to come home and I’m going to do I don’t know if I’m going to do the full 90, but I’m going to probably try to do 70 80k um uh ride. And then on Sunday, uh what I plan to do is I’m going to go for uh maybe a not a full half marathon, but maybe a 13, 14, 15, 16k run. And uh hopefully um that will give me the confidence to be able to finish. So this month actually I did an Olympic style event, Olympic size event because I’m just progressing. So I did the sprint, I did the uh the other sprint and now I’m doing the Olympic. Now, I can never pronounce the name of this of this event, but it is a a a UK triathlon event. And uh the only twist to this story uh and this event was is that they found blue elge in the water. So, they turned it into a duathlon the day before the actual event. And I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do a duathlon. Um but I paid the money and so I decided to do it anyways. And let’s just say it was different. It just felt different. Um, I really wanted to to really get in the water and and and really have that experience, but uh I couldn’t. It was tough, but I felt strong at the end, which was good for my confidence. Uh, I felt I could have continued. Um, my cycle went went really well. And, uh, here were the results uh of my event. And, um, I’m I’m getting nervous now just thinking about what’s happening, uh, next month. And um it it it’s hard to explain how I’m feeling. It it’s a sort of a calm before the storm sort of thing. And uh I’m taking this time to really focus in on the mind part of it. I think my fitness is there. I think my strength is there. Uh with all the research I’m doing, I think it’s going to really help. So that was June. And the next time you see me, folks, I will have finished my very first 70.3 Iron Man. So, I’m off to Swansea and I’ll see you at the finish line. Man, this is going to be great. First off, full transparency, I’m not doing this specific video in July. I needed some time to reflect, get over, uh, process what happened. Um, I don’t want to bury the lead. I didn’t finish. Um, I was disappointed in myself that I didn’t finish and it was all on me. Um what it comes down to or what it came down to was I was not strong enough. I was not um able to continue something I had prepared for for 18 months. And um I’m so disappointed in myself and uh um so first up um Swansea during this weekend, not looking for excuses, but there was an unprecedented heat wave in Swansea. We’re talking 30 31 degrees. Um, so we got there early. Um, I got involved with all sort of the atmosphere. Um, got the pictures, got the merch, um, which was brilliant. I loved it. um saw my name on the big iconic um uh symbol or uh the logo. Uh but it was hot. It was really hot. So hot that we couldn’t really stay out in the hot uh too long. And um there was a a bit of a warning that if the water temperature actually got a went up just one degree, they were going to ban wet suits. And that threw me for a loop because I need my wets suit. I have a thermal wet suit that keeps me afloat. Basically, without a wet suit, I don’t know how I would do. Um, so I was nervous about that. That’s how hot it was. Um, so I racked my bike. Um, I was quietly confident that I was going to finish and um, the start was great. Um, the swim I thought was brilliant. I I I finished the swim uh, uh, well within cutoff. Well, not well within cutoff, but within cutoff and I was in transition. Um, I thought it it felt like seven to eight minutes, but what it turned out to be was like 15 minutes in transition, which was a shock to me when I found out. Um, because there was like a a a 1k run from the from the swim to the transition. Um, got on my bike, you know, confident, ready to go. I was so laser focused. I knew exactly where every bend was, where every hill was. Um, first thing that happened was um my Garmin had a bit of a a screen on it that I couldn’t shake and so I sort of pushed a button on the side and my Garmin popped off my bike and it rolled down uh this road. So, that wasn’t great. So, I had to stop my bike and and I had to engage my kickstand. Yes, I have a kickstand. and um um got it on and then um I was off to the races. I knew that I needed to maintain a pretty good speed on the flats on the downhill and I I was doing well. I was doing really well and I was entering the mumbles where I knew the first hill was coming. I went to get some water or electrolytes to get myself ready, prepared. Um, I put my water bottle back down. I dropped it. It rolled rolled off. I lost the water bottle. Great start. So, I hit the first hill, tackled the hill, I knew exactly where it was. Got up this hill. Fantastic. It felt strong. Um it it it I was so prepared for this bike event that I had felt I’d done the course already. I made it through the first cut off which was flying colors. I started to feel the energy just vanish. But I still kept going. I had a guy a motorcycle behind me and um I then asked him, I said, “Am I last?” He goes, “Yeah, you’re last.” And I went, “But no one had passed me.” But so was I last person out of the swim or I I was just confused. So then we started going up more hills. I was tackling the hills. I was doing great. I asked the guy, “Am I still within cutoff?” He said, “Yes. Keep going. Don’t burn your matches.” He said he was motivating me. Um, then we sort of joined the people that were doing the first loop and it was like massive people. I’d never r I never rode with that many people around me. Um, and I thought I’d gone the wrong way because um I was with all these people, but I guess everyone had done their first loop. I was still doing my first loop. Everyone’s going out the second loop. And um so I felt I was doing great. I still I still I still felt fatigued, but I felt I was doing well by I knew that I had to maintain a certain speed. I think it was like 24k an hour and I was doing that, but I was losing it because of the hills, but I knew I had to get that back on the downhills. So, that’s in my brain. I knew where all the gradients were and the hills and the bends. Um, but then my chain dropped. A I’m like, I wasn’t even doing anything. I just shifted a gear and it dropped. So, I had to stop the bike, get the bike, get the thing back on. Um, and I got back on it and there was this chunking sound that I had never heard before. And I sort of shift gears and drop off again. And um, stop, put it back on, shift the gears. It fell off. It must have fell off five, six times I can remember. Um, essentially I could only use three gears and the gear was the gear that I would use going uphill. So I could not get any momentum basically going downhill or on the flats. And by this time, my legs were feeling it. And uh um I I didn’t know what to do about this mechanical issue. I was still going, but my my speed was slowing down. And I think I I I think my body just gave up or something. I wasn’t strong enough. Um I think my confidence just bled away. Um, and I really knew at that time I wasn’t going to finish this. And that hurt. That I lost all hope. And um I actually had passed the second cut off time and I thought this was inevitable. I thought there was going to be somebody who’s going to pull me over or sort of tell me stop and and um we came to this sort of fork in the road where everyone went left back to Swansea where the finish line was and I had to go right onto my second loop. Um, but I look up ahead and there’s at least six marshals um there looking straight at me and um they they said I can’t continue and uh I didn’t say anything. They said, “Can I have your QR code on your wrist?” I said, I didn’t even say anything. I showed them to him. That beep was the end. Um, but because I was still riding my bike, they said, “Oh, you can ride back to the end to the start or the finish.” And I went, “Okay.” Um, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. I wanted to sort of stop and lick my wounds and and uh um but it was sort of interesting because I was riding back and everyone assumed that I was with all the finishers, but of course I wasn’t. And so, oh, good job, Sean. Go Canada. And and I just said if they knew. Um, so I got a sense of what it would have felt like if I finished the the bike ride. Um, I I was devastated. Um, it it was I can’t even describe how disappointed I was cuz I thought to myself, even without the mechanical, I’ll be honest, I don’t think I could have finished it. I wasn’t strong enough. I couldn’t couldn’t actually finish. And that was the most disappointing thing because I don’t know what I could have done in my training that would have prepared me to do it faster, stronger. I had the consistency. I had all the things that I felt I could have needed to finish. And uh it was I had accepted it. I accepted it. And when I finally got back and I racked my bike and I got on my thing while everyone was doing the run, it was still hot as hell out. Um I sort of had this acceptance like, yeah, I wasn’t strong enough. I wasn’t I wasn’t able to do it. And um but I’m glad I showed up and I’m glad I tried and that sort of thing. And so on that day, I had this acceptance sort of wash over me. And in two days after the Iron Man, it was time for me to get my M dot tattoo. Now, I had it picked out. This is exactly what I wanted. Here’s what I wanted. And of course, I didn’t get it because I didn’t earn it. And um I changed the design last minute, but while I was getting the tattoo, it hit me how important this was to me. It was it was not a good day. Ever since then, I have asked myself what I could have done. I don’t think I could have done anything different with the time frame and the all the things that I could do for my training. But I still wear the merch. I am proud that I have the merch and I have the hats and I have the shirts and I have all those things. I still wear them because I did show up, but I did pay the money. I did earn to to start. I just didn’t finish the damn thing. People reached out to me on social media when I declared declared this. I did an emotional reel. Um was overwhelming. Everyone saying use it as fuel for your next one and resign up and all that sort of thing. And right now I don’t not going to do it. I I can’t go put that myself through that again. 18 months of all that work and I couldn’t finish it. It’s hard for me to put everything that happened in this video and I’m going to do a shameless plug because I have been writing this book. This is my second book. My first book just finished was all about my running journey from couch to 5k to uh 50k ultra. This one continues on really the same, you know, this continues on from the 50K Ultra to my Iron Man and I have been writing it as I’ve been going along and it has every single detail about what happened about how I felt, what I would do different, and has a story in there regarding my uh wife Wendy’s reaction. um that I’ll let you read in the book. Um it really does chronicle the entire the entire thing. I hope you f buy it and I hope you read it and I hope you inspire inspires you because starting is part of it. Finishing would have been great, but I have an ending to my book that transcends me finishing an Iron Man. I’ll just leave it at that. I’m I don’t want to ruin it for you, but the ending of the book is probably more important to me than finishing the Iron Man because it’s attached to my why I went on this journey. It’s been a very humbling experience and I still have two more events. Um, I’d hoped to, um, go to those events as a Iron Man, but I didn’t get the Iron Man tattoo, but I did get a cool tattoo. And here’s what it looks like. Showcases the entire journey that I’ve been on. I said at the beginning of this documentary, I had no idea where this was going to end up. I thought it was going to be different, but um, it wasn’t. And if you have a a just finished story that you want to share, reach out. I don’t know what my next challenge is going to be. Will it be another Iron Man? Probably not. I would need to get my wife’s permission first. [Music] Thanks for watching, guys, and we’ll see you soon. Hope you enjoyed. Subscribe, comment, and like. Peace. Peace. He sound.