In life, we meet thousands of people, each with their own passions, projects, and unique characteristics. But only a few leave a lasting impression.
Mario is one of those people: empathetic, driven, and someone who had a big dream – to go from ZERO to IronMan.
If you too want to discover the path to becoming a real athlete starting from scratch, even when everyone tells you you’re too old to begin, listen to Mario’s story, because it will surprise you.
Friends of Undertraining and FromZeroToHero, today we’re here for a fantastic interview. We’re with Mario Massarelli, IronMan. Hi, Mario!
Mario – Hi Roby, how are you?
I’m doing great, and you?
Mario – I’m fantastic, as always.
I know you’re living fantastically because you’re in a wonderful place where the sun always shines. I don’t know what the temperature is like over there, but I bet it’s nice, right?
Mario – Yes, over 20 degrees, and I just came back from swimming in the sea.
So, living the good life in Spain, in Barcelona, right?
Mario – Catalunya, I must emphasize, because people here care about that, ha ha!
Mario, you’re an IronMan. In my opinion, you are the epitome of someone who wants to become an endurance athlete starting from zero. Tell us your story.
Mario – Well, I’m 52 now, so I’ll fast-forward a bit and not start from my childhood because otherwise, we’d be here all day.
My life has always been quite “sporty” because I played soccer and a lot of volleyball and beach volleyball. Then, I had a long professional experience in tourism, which took me around the world. When I returned from that experience (around 2011-12), I wasn’t exactly in the best shape anymore: a bit of belly, a bit of love handles…
So, I started running, mainly to get back in shape and lose some weight, because I had put on a few extra kilos, which, to be honest, I never liked carrying around.
Running, as we know, is a sport that fills you with endorphins, so the more you run, the more you want to run.
I was covering a lot of kilometers a week and was in great shape again.
However, one day, I seriously injured my calf – a tear in the gastrocnemius muscle, to be precise. A real tear.
We often talk about “tears,” but they’re not always actual tears, just small strains or pulls. Mine was a real tear: 5 cm x 1 cm of muscle rupture. It was practically an internal wound!
So, I had to stop, and obviously, after such an injury, recovery takes a long time.
You can’t just go back to running easily. It’s not enough to rest; it’s not enough to go to the physiotherapist. You need a professional recovery plan. In my case, I turned to you guys at Undertraining.
I wanted to recover mainly to return to running. That was my goal. But obviously, in the first phase, running was still too distant a goal.
Since it’s such an impact-heavy sport, it takes time. So, to avoid being inactive, I started swimming, so there was no pressure on the calf.
Then, gradually, I also started cycling. I bought a second-hand bike. I have to admit, I had never really cycled seriously before, only for getting around town.
So, a bit of cycling, a bit of swimming, and from there, it’s a quick step to… Triathlon!
At that time, I knew little about it, almost nothing, but I liked the idea. I liked the challenge of endurance sports, so I talked to you, Roberto, telling you I wanted to try this triathlon thing.
From there, we began, starting with shorter races – Sprint and Super Sprint, mainly to practice the transitions but also to experience what it means to “pin on a race number,” to participate in a real competition.
I think that’s a crucial step for anyone wanting to get started.
Mario – Absolutely!
Always start with shorter races because there are some things you just can’t fully understand until you’re in a race.
Although I had run a lot for fun, I had never participated in a 5k or a 10k race, let alone a half marathon.
So, we started like that: Super Sprint, Sprint, and then an Olympic Triathlon, steadily progressing. Then I tried my first Half Ironman, in a tough location – Lanzarote.
At the time, I didn’t know much about IronMan; in my mind, they were all the same. But no. Lanzarote’s course has a lot of climbs, and there’s a lot of wind. It’s one of the toughest courses, even for the most experienced athletes.
Someone asked me, “Why did you sign up for Lanzarote?” “Because it’s beautiful, and I’ve never been,” I answered. Indeed, it’s a gorgeous island.
That’s why I thought, “I’ll go with my partner, and we’ll also take a bit of a vacation.” And then I found myself facing a long climb – it’s a very tough course!
A “strong” start for your first Half Ironman…
Mario – Definitely. Here in Spain, they call it the “mas duro” course, which means the “hardest,” precisely because of that brutal climb.
Anyway, from that first experience in Lanzarote, with the right time and preparation, the following year, I participated in my first Full Ironman, in Klagenfurt, Austria, one of the most famous.
You even have to register a year in advance because otherwise, there’s no space. It’s a fantastic environment, lots of people. Just being there made you feel like a “pro.”
That was my journey. From my first Sprint race to my Full Ironman, it took about two years, which I think is the right amount of time.
But where have you gone from there?
Mario – So far, I’ve competed in 21 Ironman races, both Half and Full. So, I’ve done quite a few.
For several years now, I’ve been designated as an All World Athlete Gold, meaning I’m in the top 1% of all Ironman athletes in my category (which, in this case, is the 50-54 age group). In 2020, a year in which I was in particularly good shape, I was the second IronMan in my category in Italy.
I qualified for the World Championship, the 2022 Ironman World Championship, although I didn’t end up going for non-sporting reasons, since we all have lives outside of sports, and sometimes there are other priorities (obviously, it hurt not to participate).
Just to give you a reference, I completed my first Half Ironman in Lanzarote in 7 hours and 40 minutes.
Now, I have several Half Ironmans in my repertoire, well under 5 hours, or even around 4 hours and 50 minutes.
My first Full Ironman, in Klagenfurt, I completed in 13 hours and 40 minutes, but now I have a Full Ironman time of well under 10 hours, specifically 9 hours and 40 minutes.
So, there’s been quite an improvement. There’s almost a 4-hour difference!
But I want to emphasize that Ironman isn’t just about times or qualifications for me.
It’s so much more.
For me, it’s fundamentally, and for years now, my lifestyle.
In the past, I admit, I paid more attention to the times. Now, honestly, I think I’m at a more mature stage where I enjoy every minute of the race, from start to finish, giving my all but without putting myself under psychological pressure.
I truly enjoy it to the fullest!
Would you agree, Mario, that the first thing to do if you want to become an Ironman is to start training properly and also eat correctly, following a nutrition plan that allows you to maintain the right weight for racing? All the other factors, like the bike, aerodynamics, etc., come later, though they are crucial for performance too.
Mario – I totally agree.
Talking about nutrition, Mario, how do you manage your diet in daily life to maintain your weight, and how do you eat when preparing for an Ironman race?
Mario – Well, let’s say that this too was a journey. You don’t start out eating right immediately.
It’s not so much about having a plan or, as they say, a diet to follow, but more about creating a nutritional culture for yourself.
This is fundamental. The important thing is to eat the foods you need, healthy ones, in the right quantities and at the right times.
Slowly, I began to learn, also thanks to you, about macronutrients and to understand carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and the needs of my body.
I realized which foods I needed depending on how much I trained and the type of training I was doing.
Because that’s important too, if you’re doing a four-hour bike ride, you can’t eat little, or you simply won’t go anywhere. You’ll run out of fuel.
It’s similar to the famous “wall” that marathon runners talk about. You reach a point where you can’t move anymore, and you can’t make it up that final climb home…
Mario – Exactly!
So, gradually, you grow in awareness of all these things and the correct foods to eat.
But the key connection between what you eat and your training is realizing you must eat properly.
For example, if you want to lose weight (because in the beginning, we all want to lose weight), you need to understand that you lose weight not while training, but at the table.
When you train, you actually need to eat before training, and eat the right amount; you need to eat during training, and you need to eat after training to recover the macronutrients and calories you’ve burned.
So, training itself isn’t for losing weight.
You lose weight by eating right—eating the right things at the table. You lose weight by avoiding the wrong things we all know about, like happy hour snacks, appetizers (or as they say in Spain, “tapas”).
Another important factor in the lifestyle of a triathlete is rest, which I tie closely to dietary supplements.
I remember in one of my first Ironman races, I checked in next to professional athletes. I started talking with one of them, particularly about supplements.
We talked about proteins, creatine, and so on. At one point, he said, “Listen Mario, sleeping an extra hour is worth more than any supplement.”
That’s so true! Many people start a sport, especially to lose weight, and they cut carbs from their diets. But carbohydrates are the fuel for performance, or nearly all performance. In Ironman, they are crucial! If you cut carbs, you won’t get anywhere! So, as Mario said, carbs must be introduced before, during, and after training to prepare, manage, and recover. Throughout the rest of the day, it’s important to focus on proper nutrition, incorporating all the macro and micronutrients needed to recover faster. Carbs should not be eliminated, especially in endurance sports like Ironman.
Mario – Let me add something. It’s true that in endurance sports, there’s this particular strategy of training on an empty stomach to teach your body to burn fats.
In this way, the body learns to use fat as fuel (once there are no other sources available), tapping into additional energy reserves that can be useful in competition.
But I believe a clarification is needed: the energy provided by carbohydrates is like “clean” energy. It’s a much more effective “fuel” than what fats can offer. For this reason, I believe carbs should always be replenished. When you don’t, you hit “the wall,” meaning you’re out of energy, and the fat reserves in your body will do little for you, I assure you.
Exactly. Your point about using fat as fuel is valid, but only to a certain extent. This strategy might work for events even longer than the Ironman. If I were doing a Double Ironman race, for instance (and yes, those exist, though I think they’re crazy, but hats off to those athletes), where you’re covering 200 km, then the fat metabolism strategy might be useful since you need to gather every possible energy source. But when we’re in a race where we need to perform at our best, pushing for about eight hours, we can’t rely on fats alone. We need to incorporate plenty of carbs.
Mario – I completely agree. Ironman professionals take in such large amounts of carbs per hour during the race, it seems almost exaggerated. Personally, I don’t know how I could do it.
Well, it’s a matter of getting used to it and using the right mixes. If you take only glucose, there’s one type of absorption. If you combine it with maltodextrin, it’s another, and if you add fructose, it changes again. So using carbohydrates during the race must first become a habit, and of course, it must be something the athlete tolerates well. Now, onto the next question… How do you manage your own fueling during races? Because that too can be quite tricky, and I think it’s an interesting topic for those getting into racing.
Mario – I dedicate a lot of time and attention to this!
I’m one of those people who likes to be almost 100% self-sufficient. In the half Ironman, I manage all my nutrition alone, while in the full Ironman, I obviously can’t carry everything with me.
It goes without saying that I don’t need anything during the swim, but I start loading up right before the start. I take a gel 10 minutes beforehand. I carry gels and bars with me.
I don’t manage the hydration side, as that would be too complicated. At most, you could carry four bottles, each nearly a liter, but that would seriously impact the weight the athlete has to carry.
These things can’t be underestimated.
I usually carry two bottles, and when I run out (usually halfway through), I use the hydration provided by the organizers, which is already listed in the Ironman Athlete Guide (to avoid intolerances or other issues). However, I always test it out before the race.
As for gels and bars, that’s more personal, and I always carry my own.
There’s also a taste factor. For example, I can’t stomach the strawberry-flavored heavy gel (the one with 50g of carbs). Some people love it, but I can only handle the banana or coffee flavors. So I have to bring my own because otherwise, I feel unwell.
In the final marathon, I wear a Camelbak (a small 2-liter water backpack) with my hydration drink inside, which usually, depending on the race temperature and my pace (which can vary), covers more than half the race. Let’s say 20-25 km. And I also carry gels with me.
The Camelbak contains only pure hydration, meaning just electrolytes, no liquid carbohydrates, which could be an alternative, but they don’t work for me.
So the gels provide my carbohydrate energy. When I run out of water, as mentioned, I rely on the aid stations provided by the organization.
Let me clarify something. There was a fundamental change during COVID.
Before, you’d find small bottles at the run aid stations. You’d grab a water bottle and drink it slowly as you ran.
Now, almost everything has switched to cups. So when you pass by, there are tables with Red Bull, Coca-Cola, electrolytes, energy drinks, whatever you need…
The problem is that while running, cups tend to just splash all over your face!
So you have to decide what to do. You can either stop, drink, and then start running again.
Or you can do what the pros do: they grab one cup after another, continuing to run while drinking as much as they can.
But this strategy is impractical if you’re in the pack, because at the aid stations, you kind of have to push your way through. The pros are up front, fewer in number, so they can use this strategy without any issues.
What do I do? Up to the 25th km, I use my drink in the Camelbak. I may go a bit slower because of the weight, but I find it much more beneficial to drink small sips every 4-5 minutes rather than gulp down two quick cups every 2.5 km where there are aid stations.
Exactly. It’s true that a bigger bolus of liquids allows for faster absorption, but it’s also true that running with a lot of recently ingested fluid sloshing around in your stomach isn’t comfortable. It can be really annoying. So I think your strategy is optimal. It’s not for everyone, of course.
Mario – It’s not necessarily the right strategy. You look at the pros and none of them would dream of running with a 3 kg backpack! But obviously, they’re playing at a different level. They compete for mere seconds, so they focus on every detail.
I’ve tried all the different options, and this is the best solution for me.
Each person has to find the solution that suits their needs. If I tolerated liquid carbs better, which I don’t, I’d take those and not even have to worry about carrying gels and eating them.
I’ve tried, but unfortunately, I struggle with liquid carbs.
Look Mario, to help out those starting, we can emphasize how important it is to be organized. We’ve learned that you need to plan your training; plan your nutrition; and plan your race. This happens in all sports, of course, but given the length and variety of an Ironman race, it’s especially important to plan ahead for the different race phases. If you don’t, when something unexpected happens, you won’t know how to deal with it. So first of all, make a plan. Second, manage the race, meaning plan your transitions, prepare your bars and gels, your bottles—basically have everything ready so you can handle almost the entire race without risking drinking something that upsets your stomach. The third important aspect is to test all the supplements and things you’re going to use during the race beforehand. I’ve coached athletes who, for instance, prefer small sandwiches over bars. You need to find the optimal nutrition and supplementation to use during the race. So the first step is to plan every phase, otherwise, you’ll be lost in the dark.
Mario – Yes, whenever I talk about this topic, I always say that, especially in the Full Ironman, at least 50% of the people who don’t finish the race, or who finish in less-than-ideal conditions that aren’t great for their health, do so because of nutrition problems—a lack of planning and poor management of nutrition and refueling during the race.
One last thing I’ll add, which isn’t about nutrition, but I often talk about this.
Some people say, “Ah, Ironman is all about mental toughness.” I don’t want to use any rude language, but let’s just say I don’t agree with that statement.
Yes, it’s certainly a mental challenge, but not during the race.
Not at all! If you haven’t trained, you can have all the willpower in the world, but you won’t finish the race.
The Ironman mentality is what you have (and it matters) in your daily life—training consistently, avoiding injuries, etc.
That’s where true mental strength lies, not in pushing yourself to finish a race for which you’re unprepared.
Mental strength comes from planning well and training properly.
So, it’s not all mental strength—at least not during the race.
And not eating correctly during the race, for example, leads to a mental crash as well because the fatigue (including mental fatigue) comes from a nutrient deficit (mainly carbohydrates) during the performance. So, Mario, if you had to give one last piece of advice (the most important one) to someone wanting to start Ironman training, what would it be?
Mario – I’d say the best thing is to start with someone guiding you—a coach.
I’m biased because I do this for a living now, but there’s so much to know in the world of Ironman that to do things properly, you need guidance.
We’re also putting our health and physical well-being on the line with this discipline.
Doing it all on your own is a risk not worth taking.
I’ve always had someone coaching me from the start.
That’s the first thing.
The second piece of advice, since that first one might seem a little self-serving, is that since this is a sport people often take up later in life, it’s important to thoroughly analyze your life to carve out the time necessary to do this sport seriously.
As we said earlier, it’s not mental strength that makes the difference—it’s training.
So you need to train. Not the crazy number of hours some people imagine; usually, we’re talking about 6-7 to 12-14 hours a week (the 20-30 hour weeks are only for professionals), but still, you need to understand how to organize your days.
I often talk with professionals, entrepreneurs, and generally busy people who have work and family lives, and I tell them to organize not only their work life but their personal life as well, involving the people close to them as much as possible.
Ironman and triathlon are sports best enjoyed when the people around us (wives, husbands, partners, children…) experience it with us.
I think this is a fundamental aspect that is often underestimated, but it can actually be an opportunity to create new, really enjoyable experiences.
So, to wrap up, let’s say the basic idea is: train, eat, organize, rest, and repeat.
Mario – It sounds like “military life,” but actually, triathlon is a sport that makes you feel good.
It improves your quality of life; it improves your relationships with other people because you feel better, and you’re also happier.
I see this in the people I coach. They feel better overall. Their quality of life improves. They train and start feeling better about themselves. They see themselves as more attractive, and even their social relationships improve.
It’s an all-around improvement!
If someone wanted to start an Ironman journey with you, where can they find you?
Mario- My website is lifestyletriathlon.com, where you can also choose the language, as I’m fluent in Spanish and English.
You can also find me on various social media, especially Instagram, which is the one I update the most (@ironmandopoi50).
Feel free to message me. I even just enjoy chatting.
Keep in mind that if you’re interested in my coaching, everything starts with a free video call with no obligation, which you can schedule anytime by messaging me on social media or signing up directly on my website.
An hour-long call, and I repeat, absolutely free!
The worst that can happen is we talk about triathlon for 60 minutes!
Thank you, Mario, for this incredibly interesting interview.
PS: If you want to become a Super Athlete then join us!
Best regards and… “Always in shape”!
Roberto Pusinelli
DOCTOR IN SPORT SCIENCES
MASTER IN NUTRITION AND DIETETICS
Expert in weight loss and anti-aging
Health connector (I interface with all professional figures in health and performance to find the best solution for achieving your goal)
IG: @roberto_pusinelli_rowing
