Joel Filliol is one of the most successful elite triathlon coaches in the history of the sport. In his multi-national squad he coaches athletes like Mario Mola (three-time World Champion), Katie Zaferes, Vincent Luis, and Jake Birthwhistle, and his on his CV is also coached Simon Whitfield to an Olympic silver medal and working as the Head Coach of British Triathlon. In this in-depth interview we discuss Joel's learnings from this great career of what really matters in training, and how to get t...
Mar 11, 2019•1 hr 39 min
Q&A #24 - Improving and testing aerobic capacity, dealing with 45-minute workout limits, back-to-back long rides, and training the respiratory system What are the best ways to train to improve aerobic capacity (VO2max) and what's the best way to assess it? How should you structure your training when you're limited to 45-minute workout windows? Is there a benefit of doing back-to-back long rides on the weekend in Ironman training (and move the long run to midweek instead)? Is there a benefit ...
Mar 07, 2019•36 min
Fran Bungay is head coach of Goalspecific and a coaching tutor at the British Triathlon coach development programme, as well as a top-ranked age-group athlete with two European titles to her name. She discusses the use of process goals in triathlon, and why you might want to move towards a more process-driven approach rather than focusing hard on outcome goals. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -The advantages of using process goals -Why too much focus on direct outcomes can be detrimental to ...
Mar 04, 2019•44 min
Q&A #23 - Maintaining race fitness for an entire race season and the mental battle of FTP-tests How do you keep a high race fitness for an entire season with multiple sprint and Olympic distance triathlons spread out over a period of time? Should you train differently for the sprint races compared to the Olympic distance races? What's the right mindset to have in FTP-tests (or other benchmarking tests) to get the most out of yourself and avoid performance anxiety? LINKS AND RESOURCES: That T...
Feb 28, 2019•36 min
Wendy Mader is a coach as well as former Ironman age-group world champion, with more than 25 years of experience in triathlon. In this interview we discuss what female athletes need to consider in their triathlon training, and how they may (or may not) need to train differently from male athletes. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -What might female triathletes need to do differently than males in their training? -The impact of the menstrual cycle on training -How does age impact training? -Di...
Feb 25, 2019•47 min
Q&A #22 - How to improve swim pacing, modify Red Mist workouts, and a beginner's guide to training zones and physiological terms How to become better at pacing when swimming How to adjust the Classic Red Mist swim session to your current swim ability The few, simple things beginners need to know and care about when it comes to training Different training zone system options for beginners A beginners' guide to some key physiology terms LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching...
Feb 21, 2019•39 min
Sebastian Weber is a sports scientist and highly successful coach, in both professional sports (having worked with athletes like Peter Sagan, Tony Martin, and André Greipek) and with age-group endurance athletes. He is also the co-founder of the physiological performance software INSCYD. One of the important factors for his success is his knowledge about exercise physiology and metabolism. Today, he shares this knowledge with us so that you too can benefit from it and become a faster triathlete....
Feb 18, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Q&A #21 - Training to heart rate or power, improving your aerobic engine for the swim, and are intervals better than long slow distance training? Do the day to day variations of heart rate mean it's better to train to power (or pace), even though you have assessed your heart rate zones using a lactate test? Things to consider to get the most out of your lactate tests How should you train to you improve your aerobic engine for the swim? Are intervals better than traditional long runs or ride ...
Feb 14, 2019•32 min
Barb Lindquist is a US Olympian and the World #1 ranked triathlete from 2003-2004. After retiring from professional racing, she turned to coaching, and also started working for USA Triathlon on the Collegiate Recruitment Program. We discuss training and overall performance in triathlon from both an elite and age-group perspective. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Setting up the world-renowned collegiate recruitment program and the reasons for its success -High performance triathlon now and t...
Feb 11, 2019•54 min
Q&A #20 - Testing for half and full distance triathlon: are typical 20-minute tests relevant, and are there better options? How relevant are typical field tests (20-minute bike and run Time Trials, 400 + 200 m Critical Swim Speed test) for half and full Ironman athletes? How skewed are these tests by athletes' anaerobic capacity? Can and should Muscular Endurance be tested? What is the role of race intensity training, if it isn't to improve threshold or VO2max? How important is VO2max (aerob...
Feb 07, 2019•34 min
Susan Sotir coaches with Breakthrough Performance Coaching, has a PhD in Sport and Exercise Psychology and is an assistant professor at Springfield College. We discuss the importance of balancing the art and science of coaching to develop better athletes, and how leaning to heavily on one side can be costly if you're after improved performance. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Why and how to balance the art and science of coaching or triathlon training for the self-coached athlete -Individua...
Feb 04, 2019•1 hr 20 min
Q&A #19 - Does carbohydrate fueling impact fat oxidation in training and racing, and endurance sports metabolism 101 Does taking on carbs during exercise stop or reduce fat oxidation? The fallacy of the carb/fat oxidation "switch" Effective training is the best way to improve substrate utilisation (and therefore performance) - of both carbs and fats! What we know and don't know about fasted training LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training Plans Intermediate Ironman...
Jan 31, 2019•40 min
Jason Koop is the Director of Coaching at Carmichael Training Systems (CTS) and a wealth of knowledge and experience in endurance sports coaching. We dive into a wide variety of triathlon training topics in this interview, including getting specific on how to improve your triathlon run training. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -How much (or how little...) fitness should you lose in the off-season? -Why you must know the purpose of every single workout and block of training -How should triath...
Jan 28, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Q&A #18 - The problems with the Maffetone method and 180-Formula, and should you choose trails over roads in your run training? Is there any evidence that the Maffetone method and 180 Heart Rate Formula work? Why should you NOT use the 180-Formula, and what should you do instead? How the Maffetone method still gets the big picture right! When should you run on trails rather than roads in your run training, and when is the road a better option? LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website...
Jan 24, 2019•29 min
Tim Floyd is a swim coach specializing in triathlon swimming with his squad Magnolia Masters. He has coached both amateur and professional athletes, and over the last few years has used Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) as a cornerstone of his training program. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -What is Ultra Short Race Pace Training (USRPT) and how can it be used in a triathlon swim training program? -What are some typical USRPT workouts? -What is the anecdotal and scientific background ...
Jan 21, 2019•1 hr 3 min
Q&A #17 - Injury rehabilitation, prevention, and physiotherapy When should you see a physiotherapist, and why should you choose them over a medical doctor? What injury prevention methods should you apply? If you do get injured, how should you rehab that injury? The importance of acting quickly when a niggle or injury strikes - you can save yourself months of training time and a lot of money LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training Plans Interval Training - Science a...
Jan 17, 2019•32 min
Sara McLarty is a former professional triathlete for Team USA, with a particularly strong swim, coming from a competitive swimming background. Today, she coaches age-groupers as well as travels as a Team Leader with the USA Triathlon Elite National team to ITU World Triathlon Series events. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Preparation for a race -Going through race morning -What you should do while standing on the start line and waiting for the gun to go off? -How should you execute a great ...
Jan 14, 2019•1 hr 2 min
Q&A #16 - Recovery and training after races, and training for a 7-day stage race triathlon How fast should you get back to normal training volume and intensity after a race? How do you prepare for a 7-day stage race triathlon like the Monster Triathlon, which includes 600 miles of cycling over 5 days? LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training Plans Q&A #15 - What's the limit and crossover effects of high-intensity training across disciplines, how to adapt trainin...
Jan 10, 2019•30 min
Paul Laursen is adjunct professor and performance physiologist at AUT, he lead the Performance Physiology Team at High Performance Sport New Zealand for both the London and Rio Olympic cycles, and he coaches several elite triathletes. He is also the man behind HIIT Science (together with colleague Martin Bucheit). In his third appearance on That Triathlon Show, we dive even deeper into all things interval training for triathletes, and discuss practical programming applications. IN THIS EPISODE Y...
Jan 07, 2019•1 hr 1 min
Q&A #15 - What's the limit and crossover effects of high-intensity training across disciplines, how to adapt training to hot and humid climates, and training for ultra- and extreme triathlons like the Swissman What's the limit and crossover effects of high-intensity training across disciplines? How do you adapt your training and training zones to hot and humid climates? Should you train differently for ultra-long, extreme triathlons like the Swissman compared to Ironman training? LINKS AND R...
Jan 03, 2019•37 min
Simon Wegerif is the founder of ithlete, a company that creates sensors and apps related to heart rate variability (HRV). He discusses how triathletes and endurance athletes can use HRV to measure and manage total load - the sum of various different kinds of stress on the body, including mental and physical. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -What is total load, and how is it relevant for triathlon training? -What is the relation between HRV and total load? -How do we know how much we can or s...
Dec 31, 2018•45 min
Q&A #14 - Half marathon training with cycling as cross-training, maintaining run fitness during a swim-bike focus block, and my best coaching advice to you for 2019 How should you use cycling as cross-training when training for a half marathon? How can you maintain a high level of run fitness after a running block when turning the focus to swimming and biking? My Best Coaching Advice for 2019 - it starts with looking at your 2018 accumulated training hours. LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlo...
Dec 27, 2018•24 min
James Teagle is an elite triathlete and a Scientific Triathlon coach. In this episode we discuss his own career and training at the Loughborough Triathlon Performance Centre, as well as his coaching and training advice for age-group triathletes. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -The training diary of an elite triathlete -Training in a high-performance squad, with the likes of Jodie Stimpson and Tim Don -Coaching principles and core values: care, communication, individualisation and more -Goal...
Dec 24, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Q&A #13 - Bike power indoors vs. outdoors, and are recovery weeks necessary for low-volume athletes If the difference between your FTP indoors and outdoors can be 20-30 watts, do you need to test your FTP separately in these different conditions? What are the factors that impact how big (or small) of a difference you will have? If you're only training 7-8 hours per week, do you really need a recovery week every 3 or 4 weeks? LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training ...
Dec 20, 2018•23 min
Andrew Buckrell, co-founder of STAC, discusses heat. Our bodies do a great amount of work to get rid of excess heat generated when training, and strategies for maximising the body's ability to get rid of heat, and minimising heat build-up in the first place, are critical for optimal endurance performance. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -How much heat does our bodies generate in triathlon and how does that impact performance. -The effect of ambient temperature -The effect of speed and air fl...
Dec 17, 2018•56 min
Q&A #12 - Heart rate or power zones, and incorporating additional races into a training plan Why it makes sense to train according to heart rate rather than pace or power in your aerobic endurance training, as long as you are aware of some caveats. Using power at your Zone 2 heart rate as a valuable metric indicating aerobic development. How to include additional races in a generic training plan for one key A-race. LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training Plans Q&am...
Dec 13, 2018•28 min
Cyril Schmit, PhD, discusses non-functional overreaching for triathletes and endurance athletes. What is it, how can we identify it and prevent it and what are the biggest risk factors for it. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -What is non-functional overreaching, and how is it different from overtraining syndrome. -How can it be identified using subjective and objective markers? -How can it be prevented? -What are the roles of training volume and intensity in causing non-functional overreachi...
Dec 10, 2018•1 hr 9 min
Q&A #11 - Should you use different heart rate zones for swimming, cycling and running? According to Dr. Phil Maffletone, the aerobic threshold heart rate is the same in all aerobic sports (like swimming, cycling, and running). Is this true? How the type of athlete you are and your ability and experience in different sports impacts whether your heart rate zones will be similar or not between different sports. Practical examples from lab tests and research studies showing massive discrepancies...
Dec 06, 2018•25 min
Rob Wilby, triathlon coach, coach educator, and host of the OxygenAddict podcast, discusses his T.I.M.E system for effective triathlon training through winter. His approach works particularly well for time-crunched age-group triathletes training for half and full distance triathlons. IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Test and Evaluate -Intelligent Intensity -Mindset -Effective Effort -Examples of weekly structures and workout structures Rob uses with his athletes -Rob's recommendations for wh...
Dec 03, 2018•57 min
Q&A #10 - Why 80/20 training is NOT the best way to train for time-crunched age-group triathletes What do you miss out on, if anything, by following a sweet spot based training approach versus an 80/20 approach? Should you keep your TSS constant as you change your approach to training? Flaws in studies used as evidence of 80/20 training LINKS AND RESOURCES: That Triathlon Show website Coaching Training Plans Case study: How David qualified for Kona by training smarter and getting the details...
Nov 29, 2018•51 min
