Custom(er) Stories: IronMan Matt Poole
We caught up with celebrated IronMan athlete, Matt Poole, to talk about competing at the top level, staying mentally in the game, and having a well-fitted suit to reach for.
What do you love most about your sport? Has that changed over the course of your career?
The thing I love most about my sport is that the beach is our office. Summer training at the beach makes for a great workplace!
What do you dislike most about your sport? The early mornings and inevitable injuries must have taken its toll, or does it just come with the territory?
4:50am swim training alarms are by far my biggest dislike. I love my sleep! Injuries are part of the nature of sport but I've definitely had my fair share. My knee surgery in 2019 was definitely the hardest mentally for me to get my head around, at the time I had a convincing lead in the professional IronMan series and I ended up getting surgery midway through.. I still hung on to 3rd place overall that season, which was bittersweet.
What’s been the trick to staying in your sport for so many years? Have the harder challenges been mental or physical?
There's no trick to it, I would have had more injuries than most in our sport but I always found a way to come back, train hard and perform. I raced 15 years in the Nutri-Grain IronMan series and never missed one race. I think the hardest challenge is always mental. Physically the pain I can always find a way to manage, but mentally when the self doubt and negative talk creeps in it can be hard to handle and even harder to fix.
Have there been any particular career highlights? Where’s your favourite place to compete?
My career highlight would be split into two… Winning my first professional IronMan series in 2017, and then winning my last and final professional series race before I retired, the Shaw and Partners Shannon Eckstein classic. It was at my home club Northcliffe in front of my entire family and friends.
What does life look like outside of sport? What are your passions and interests?
I've recently just had a baby girl, Posy, with my fiance Tammy, so she is my life now. She keeps us very busy!
What’s life after Iron Man going to look like? Are you excited or nervous about the prospect of such a big change?
I've recently retired and began working for Therabody in a community brand manager role. It's been an incredible learning experience and definitely a huge transition from my athlete life
Given you spend so much of your time training, traveling and competing, how would you describe your personal sense of style? How do you feel wearing tailored clothing?
Myself and Tammy often get asked to events and love going to nice dinners, so having a tailored and well styled, well-fitted suit from Institchu is a must for the wardrobe!
Tell us about your and Tammy's beautiful baby daughter, Posy Poole.
She is the best! We are both so very lucky to have her.. She's 5 weeks on Saturday and already growing so fast. I'm working from home most days now so I'm very fortunate being able to spend so much time with her in these early special moments
Tell us about your InStitchu experience - how did you enjoy it? Any advice for anyone about to dive in for the first time?
It was an incredible experience, from start to finish. My cousin is getting married, so all the groomsmen and Rob came in to pick out every custom detail for his special occasion. The team were so friendly and helpful and we are all SO happy with the look and feel of the suit!
Take us through your suit. What did you settle on? How did you make your choices?
We went with a very classic style suit. Black pants, bow tie, double breasted jacket, with a shiny fabric collar to really make it stand out. To start designing your own custom, tailored suit, shirt, blazer, chinos and more, try our online design tool, or alternatively make a video appointment or showroom appointment.