32 full ironman-distance triathlons in 32 days: Laura Massey-Pugh’s world-record achievement

Aiming for 40 consecutive full ironman-distance triathlons for her 40th birthday, Laura Massey-Pugh ultimately completed 32 – setting a new women’s world record in one of endurance sports toughest challenges.

Turning 40 is one of life’s biggest milestones. Some celebrate with a party, others book the trip they’ve always dreamed of, while many set themselves a fitness challenge, whether that’s running a marathon or climbing a mountain. Laura Massey-Pugh chose something altogether different. To mark the occasion, she set herself the challenge of training for and completing 40 consecutive full ironman-distance triathlons, setting the women’s world record… and although injury forced her to stop after 32 she still bagged the record.

“I’d heard Sean Conway speak about doing his male version of the consecutive ironman distance and, at the time, he mentioned there was no female world record holder, and I thought that was a real shame and that I hoped some amazing woman goes out there and does that,” Massey-Pugh told 220 Triathlon from her home in Derby after finishing her challenge.

The initial idea was 40 half-distance triathlons, but once she saw the times it took Conway to complete the distance each day, the possibility of tackling the full distance suddenly seemed realistic. Confident she could get through a half-distance each day, the full ironman-distance had a question mark hanging above it.

​“On paper, it could just about work,” she said. “I couldn’t get it out of my head. I enlisted a coach and, at that point, I still hadn’t decided on the distance. It was only through doing the first bit of coaching and benchmarking that I said, ‘I’m just going to go for it, because I’ll never forgive myself if I don’t.’ I will always be wondering.”

​Not her first world record

​Massey-Pugh already holds a Guinness World Record as she and her husband, Stevie, became the fastest cyclists to circumnavigate the world on a tandem bicycle, covering almost 29,000km in 180 days in 2022.

​She’d come from a background in Audax cycling – a long-distance, non-competitive endurance sport where riders must complete a set route within predefined time limits. Audax can be any distance from 50km to over 1,000km, so long stints in the saddle were not alien to the veterinary nurse.

​Triathlon, however… another story, she said: “I got into triathlon off the back of the tandem around the world. I was looking for something completely different. I didn’t want to try and up the bar with something very similar, not just a niche tandem rider. I also wanted to do something by myself.

​“I got in with my local tri club, who were really friendly and welcoming. Unlike what I had in my head, where I thought it’d just be full of butch young men who are super fit. But it wasn’t; there were loads of women of different ages,” she said.

​Drawn to longer events, Massey-Pugh completed her first full ironman-distance triathlon in 2023. By the time she began her world-record attempt, however, she’d only completed one full ironman-distance race.

​’I had no idea how far I’d get’

​Forty was a fitting number. Turning 40, so complete 40. It made sense. But Massey-Pugh admitted that the goal of completing 40 was a long shot. “I didn’t know if I would get past a week, if I was honest,” she said.

​Ironically, Massey-Pugh believes her lack of experience over the full distance actually worked in her favour. “I couldn’t even imagine doing 10, and then when I got to 10, I actually had a bit of a wobble because I couldn’t imagine doing 20 more or even doing it all over again, but it is just a case of what you don’t know can’t hurt you sort of thing.”

​Coming from an endurance background, too, she said she felt less pressure to perform at certain times or to race each day. Instead, her tactic was slow, steady, and most importantly, consistent. Each day would be around 16 hours, getting in the pool for seven in the morning and finishing the run around 11:30pm.

​”One of the big things that people commented on throughout the whole thing was my consistency, and that was no accident. It didn’t mean I was breezing through it – absolutely not – but I think a lot of that was down to my experience and my ability to pace things so close to the time each day,” she said.

​It wasn’t just her pace that she was able to keep consistent with; her nutrition was also the same each day – she even had a timetable, she said, of the foods she planned to eat when.

​Before getting into the pool for the swim, she’d have a carb-heavy bowl of Ready Brek or granola. In the pool, a sports drink, and then post-swim a few biscuits before getting on the bike. Wanting to fuel with whole foods rather than sports nutrition, bananas, sandwiches, and cakes were frequently consumed during the ride, before a wrap filled with rice to top up carbs ahead of the run.

​“Once I got on the run, it was pure sugar,” she said, laughing. “I’d be eating jelly sweets, Mars Bars, Snickers, all that sort of stuff. Then I’d have a big recovery shake just as I finished the run and then a big main meal in the evening with lots of rice and protein.”

​Consuming so much on a daily basis, Massey-Pugh did admit to not wanting to see another sandwich on some occasions and was very happy when her parents came to support her for a few days and would do a McDonald’s run or waiting for her at the finish with “greasy takeaways”.

​It’s all about the mindset

​As the old saying goes, the mind gives up before the body, and this was a key factor in Massey-Pugh’s challenge. Doing a challenge of this magnitude over multiple days, exhausted, achey, and having a huge distance stretched out in front of you each day, is tough on the body but even tougher for your mind.

​“I just remember that it’s only temporary,” she said on experiencing low moments during the challenge. “It’s like the weather: if the weather’s awful, the weather’s going to change at some point, even if it is not the same day. If you’re feeling really bad or really low, it’s not going to stay forever.”

​Thankful for picking multiple disciplines instead of just one, she said she was amazed at how often she’d go from the bike feeling exhausted to having a good run.

​The routes were all the same throughout, having been standardised by a surveyor to be a world-record attempt. Despite others saying she’d get bored, Massey-Pugh found comfort in having the same route each day – a routine she could settle into. No surprises.

​The support of those who joined her on the roadside, in the pool, on the bike or out running kept her motivation high. At times, it even inspired her. She noted the number of women who came to run with her, many in their late 50s and 60s, running half marathons or 20 miles after work. Going into a new decade herself, she learnt from these women the importance of movement as you get older, but also finding enjoyment in that movement.

​As the challenge neared the end, the support from others out on the course was even more vital.  “On the last day, loads of the Derby Triathlon Club stayed out with me until 4:30 in the morning, and that helped me through that last day,” she said.

​“I kind of felt like I’d been training for something like this my whole life,” she said, having started with endurance sport, pushing the boundaries with the bike and riding Audax events. “Learning those skills, like self-management, looking after your body, even just putting a waterproof on to keep dry. All those skills I have built up throughout my whole life were just key to this.”

​Finishing on 32 triathlons in 32 days

​Just over four weeks in, however, the challenge had begun to catch up on her.

​”Around day 30, I started to get a niggle,” she said, “and that kind of ended the whole project.”

​She managed to nurse the injury through two more days, but on day 32, the run alone took nine and a half hours. Crossing the finish line in the early hours of the morning, she knew she had a difficult decision to make.

​“I seriously considered getting up the next day to go to the pool. I thought I could probably do that. I could probably get on the bike, and I absolutely know I won’t be able to run. I was trying to work it all out in my head, but I was so tired. My husband said it could take me the whole 24 hours to do the next ironman…” she said.

Although her original goal had been 40 consecutive full ironman-distance triathlons, Massey-Pugh knew stopping at 32 was the right decision. Rather than feeling disappointed, she was simply proud of what she’d achieved.

While Jonas Deichmann holds the men’s record after completing 120 full ironman-distance triathlons in 120 consecutive days, the women’s benchmark is believed to have stood at 30. By completing 32, Massey-Pugh surpassed that mark and is now awaiting official ratification of her world record.

Despite becoming a two-time world-record holder, she’s still not motivated by beating other people. “I like to go for my own goals, my own challenges. I’ve found ways to do that where I don’t have to put myself against other people,” she said. “It’s given me a whole new outlook on sport and enjoying things that I like.”

Looking back, she sees the challenge not as the achievement of a few extraordinary weeks, but the culmination of years spent building endurance, resilience and self-belief.

“I do feel this has been from so many years of learning and training, but I wanted to make 40 a really big one and look back and reflect. Twenty years ago, a 20-year-old me could not have imagined doing this.”