How Kona’s top athletes used LEVER to add miles, recover and stayhealthy 🌺
Kona 2026 Recap: 4 athletes. 4 top 10s.
Laura 2nd, Gregory 4th, Lisa 6th, Grace 10th. Here's how they trained with LEVER.
🌺 KONA 2026 RECAP 🌺 4 athletes. 4 top 10s.
Four LEVER athletes raced the IRONMAN World Championship on Saturday, and all four finished in the top 10. Here's how they used LEVER to get there.
THE RESULTS
2nd - Laura Philipp. Extra miles and speed work with less pounding.
4th - Gregory Barnaby. 80-110 km weeks, with LEVER around his key sessions.
6th - Lisa Perterer. Extra miles, recovery runs and speed work.
10th - Grace Thek. A top 10 debut while managing a back injury.
THE BIG TAKEAWAY - LEVER ISN'T JUST FOR INJURIES
None of these athletes used LEVER only because they were hurt. The same four uses showed up again and again:
1 - Add miles. Extra easy volume without every kilometer at full body weight.
LAURA · GREGORY · LISA
2 - Recover. Swap easy runs onto LEVER after hard days and big races, instead of skipping them.
GREGORY · LISA · GRACE
3 - Train quality. Speed work, intervals and threshold runs with less impact.
LAURA · LISA · GRACE
4 - Manage niggles. Unload instead of stopping when something flares up.
LISA · GRACE
HOW MUCH DO THE PROS TAKE OFF? LESS THAN YOU'D THINK.
~10 kg Gregory & Laura body weight off
8 kg Lisa for 30-sec reps
10-15% Grace of body weight
Enough to feel the lift, not so much that the run stops feeling like running. Start there and dial it back as your legs adapt.
🔥 STEAL LISA'S LEVER SESSION
Her key speed session this season
10 x 30 seconds at 2:45-2:50/km pace
1 minute rest between reps
8 kg body weight off on LEVER
"I always feel great after that, so yeah, I just love it."
LISA PERTERER
Scale the pace to your own fast running, and keep the support small.
MAHALO, KONA
Congratulations to Laura, Gregory, Lisa and Grace 🌺
Thank you for following along this week, and for letting us share the
work behind the work.