That Triathlon Show

Listener Q&A, covering nine different questions/topics from building bike power as a runner and a collegiate swimmer moving back into triathlon, through what actually makes us fatigue during a threshold effort, to swimskins, power duration curves and lots more. We do listener Q&As monthly, the last Thursday every month. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: Building the bike as a runner: why heart rate sits lower on the bike than on the run, whether that gap matters, and what it says about where the limiter is. Plus how to use a daily 20 km ride towing a 25 kg dog trailer. A 193 cm, 100 kg collegiate swimmer moving back into triathlon: the engine-stronger-than-the-chassis problem, a run progression specified down to the minute, and why Mikael gets more conservative every time he coaches this profile. Why the maximal lactate steady state is a steady state for lactate and not for the whole body, what keeps drifting while lactate holds flat, and what one study found when it looked for the system that fails at exhaustion. How long you can actually hold MLSS, against the 40 minutes the question assumed, how much that varies between athletes, and where critical power sits relative to it. Swimskins: whether they give you any of the buoyancy a wetsuit does, the performance, drag and energy cost numbers from the closest pool research, and the thing that matters more than the brand and price tag. Whether a swimskin does more for a fast swimmer or a slow one. Reading your own power duration curve with nobody to compare against: the TrainingPeaks chart to start from, why a flat profile means something different for a triathlete than a cyclist, and Strava as a stand-in database. Mikael's W’ bands for male and female age group triathletes, on record for the first time, plus the critical power ratio from close to a hundred of his own athletes' tests. Quickfire round on altitude, heat and the CORE sensor, run volume by intensity, and vegan nutrition. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Jack Hutchens is a triathlon and endurance performance coach with Scientific Triathlon and a professional long course triathlete. Follow Jack on his coach page and Instagram. The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. Related episodes: The "Best Practices" We Stand By That the Research Does Not Support | EP#711 Beginner Series 7 - Running for beginner triathletes Related studies: Why does exercise terminate at the maximal lactate steady state intensity? - Baron et al. 2007 Slow-Twitch Fiber Glycogen Depletion Elevates Moderate-Exercise Fast-Twitch Fiber Activity and O2 Uptake - Krustrup et al. 2004 Time to Exhaustion at Traditional Physiological Indicators in Runners: Between-Subject and Between-Day Variability - Pallares et al. 2026 Effect of Fastskin Suits on Performance, Drag, and Energy Cost of Swimming - Chatard and Wilson 2008 Comparison of buoyancy, passive and net active drag forces between Fastskin and standard swimsuits - Benjanuvatra et al. 2002 Reliability and Validity of the CORE Sensor to Assess Core Body Temperature during Cycling Exercise - Verdel et al. 2021 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mikael and Jack Hutchens each bring up four things they do in their coaching practice that the research does not support, or does not support in the form they use it. What the evidence says, what they do instead, and the reasoning they would defend it with. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: Tapering: Mikael prescribes 7 to 10 day tapers where the literature converges on two to three weeks, with a smaller volume cut than the meta-analyses land on. Why he thinks the study populations do not transfer. Torque training: Jack keeps low cadence work in every program despite a review finding no strong evidence it improves performance. His specificity case, and Mikael's rationale from the cadence drop late in an Ironman bike. Electrolytes: why Mikael prescribes them liberally while accepting the evidence is thin, the one athlete variable no study has controlled for, and the profile that really does not need them. Grey zone intervals: polarised training wins the short intervention studies, so why does Jack lean on the zone in between? The time horizon argument, and Mikael's three week VO2max block that stopped working after two. Heat training: ten sessions over two weeks for acclimation, five weeks of five for haemoglobin mass, against Mikael's minimal effective dose. Jack's pushback: does half a protocol buy half the adaptation? Strength training: where it sits in Jack's list of levers when time is fixed, who he does prioritise it for, and Mikael's rules on frequency, session length and the weekly hours threshold to bother at all. Sprint interval training: the protocol with a decent evidence base that Mikael almost never prescribes, what goes in that slot instead, and the cycling study published five days before recording that he never expected to see. Psychology: why Jack spends more coaching time on self-talk, goal setting and confidence than the evidence warrants, and Mikael's theory for why it looks so weak in group studies. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Jack Hutchens is a triathlon and endurance performance coach with Scientific Triathlon and a professional long course triathlete. Follow Jack on his coach page and Instagram. The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. Related episodes: Including sprint training in cycling – training responses and peformance improvements with Nicki Winfield Almquist, PhD | EP#300 Bent Rønnestad, PhD | EP#386 Effective bike commutes, strength training for Ironman, group rides for triathletes, supershoe effectiveness on hills, and more! | Q&A | EP#693 Related studies: Effects of tapering on performance in endurance athletes: A systematic review and meta-analysis - Wang et al. 2023 Effects of tapering on performance: a meta-analysis - Bosquet et al. 2007 Effects of Cycling Training at Imposed Low Cadences: A Systematic Review - Hansen and Rønnestad 2017 The effects of a sugar-free amino acid-containing electrolyte beverage on 5-kilometer performance, blood electrolytes, and post-exercise cramping versus a conventional carbohydrate-electrolyte sports beverage and water - McIntosh et al. 2023 Effects of Sodium Intake on Health and Performance in Endurance and Ultra-Endurance Sports - Veniamakis et al. 2022 The effectiveness of polarized versus high-intensity training in moderately trained cyclists: a randomized parallel-design study - Moran-MacDonald et al. 2026 Long-term passive heat acclimation enhances maximal oxygen consumption via haematological and cardiac adaptation in endurance runners - Jenkins et al. 2025 Heavy strength training effects on physiological determinants of endurance cyclist performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis - Llanos-Lagos et al. 2026 The Effect of Strength Training on Endurance Performance Determinants in Middle- and Long-Distance Endurance Athletes: An Umbrella Review of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis - Ramos-Campo et al. 2025 The Effects of Sprint Interval Training on Physical Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Hall et al. 2023 Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training Versus Sprint Interval Training on Factors Related to Endurance Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis - Xiao et al. 2026 Effects of Including Sprints in One Weekly Low-Intensity Training Session During the Transition Period of Elite Cyclists - Almquist et al. 2020 The Inclusion of Sprints in Low-Intensity Sessions During the Transition Period of Elite Cyclists Improves Endurance Performance 6 Weeks Into the Subsequent Preparatory Period - Taylor et al. 2021 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Marc Graveline is an aerodynamics consultant who works with WorldTour cycling teams as well as professional (e.g. Chelsea Sodaro, Lionel Sanders) and amateur triathletes, and road and gravel cyclists. He co-developed the Notio Konect, the first consumer on-bike aero sensor, and now develops his own device, the Gizmo. He also led the testing programme behind IRONMAN's decision to move the professional draft zone from 12 to 20 metres. We cover how to run an aero test you can actually trust, what to test and in what order, tyres and tyre pressure, and what IRONMAN's draft-zone testing actually found. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: Why Marc disagrees with the idea that we have reached peak aero, and where he still sees the largest untapped gains across road racing, triathlon and gravel. Wind tunnel, velodrome or road: what each venue is good for, why he validates everything on the road, and where an age grouper without an unlimited budget should start. Building a road test you can trust: choosing a venue, how long an out-and-back should be, how many repeats, the ABBA protocol, and the single mistake that ruins more test sessions than anything else. The hierarchy of what to test, from position down to hydration, and where the biggest gains will come from. Why head position drives so much of the result, and why the change you make to your position is often not the thing that actually makes you faster. Helmets and skinsuits: which two helmets kept finishing first and second when 21 age groupers worked through a dozen of them at an aero camp, how heat and visibility should be weighed against the CdA number, and how much a custom skinsuit really buys you over one off the shelf. Tyres: what WorldTour riders on good roads are actually running for pressure, why erring on one side costs you more than the other, whether wider really is faster, and why a tyre that wins in the wind tunnel can still be the wrong choice for your race. The IRONMAN draft-zone testing: the stacking effect that showed up at 12 metres, what changed at 20, what those charts with no y-axis were actually trying to say, and the call to Magnus Ditlev's aerodynamicist that confirmed it in the real world. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Follow Marc Graveline on Instagram. He is the first to admit he barely posts, but a DM is a good way to reach him with a question. The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. Related episodes: Tire pressure, aerodynamics, and smart equipment upgrades with Josh Poertner | EP#235 Dan Bigham: aerodynamic testing, equipment, and making your bike fast | EP#229 The Hour record and aerodynamics with Dan Bigham | EP#368 Bernardo Gonçalves | EP#397 The latest on aero sensors and aero testing with Michael Liberzon | EP#339 Aerodynamic testing in the field with Michael Liberzon | EP#294 Resources and tools mentioned: GoldenCheetah - free software for virtual elevation (Chung method) testing. Bicycle Rolling Resistance - the rolling resistance database Marc uses as a starting point. Silca tyre pressure calculator SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Daniel Rowland and Mikael are back for another research roundup with four recent studies. What blood biomarkers do and do not tell you about training load in elite triathletes, why two athletes with the same VO2max can have very different thresholds, what actually predicts running injuries in a cohort of 5,200 runners, and whether supersets deliver the same strength gains in a third less gym time. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: VLaMax (maximal glycolytic flux) and metabolic thresholds: the first evidence in real athletes that at a given VO2max, a higher glycolytic rate means a lower threshold power. How VLaMax is measured, why sprint power on its own tells you little to nothing, and whether you can and should measure it and base training decisions off it. How much running is too much: in 5,205 runners tracked over 18 months, a single run 10 to 30% longer than the longest run of the previous 30 days came with a 64% higher injury risk, and bigger jumps than that led to injury risk increasing by well over 100%. Why the acute:chronic workload ratio and the classic weekly 10% rule showed little or no relationship with injury, and why you should never use the performance management chart for controlling running load. Practical long run progression for a marathon or an Ironman, and the one TrainingPeaks chart Mikael looks at more than any other. Four seasons of blood urea and creatine kinase in 20 elite (some world class) triathletes: urea tracks training load, CK does not, and a single reading against a reference range means almost nothing. Why the ratio of objective to subjective training load may be the most useful signal a coach has, and a heuristic for using it in practice. Supersets versus traditional sets: the same strength, hypertrophy, power and body composition gains in 36% less time, 44 minutes per session against 69, and how to apply that to a triathlete's lower body dominant strength programme. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Follow Daniel Rowland and Endurance: Ideas + Implementation on his website, Substack and Instagram. The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. New Research on Torque Training, Ketones, Carb Loading and Pacing | Daniel Rowland | EP#698 Is VO2max more important than lactate threshold? | Research roundup | EP#705 Is Optimised Workout Design Pointless (and Time in Zone What Really Matters)? | Q&A | EP#708 Maximal glycolytic flux modulates metabolic thresholds independent of maximal oxygen uptake - Meixner et al. 2026 How much running is too much? Identifying high-risk running sessions in a 5200-person cohort study - Schuster Brandt Frandsen et al. 2025 Dose-response to endurance training: a longitudinal study of training load and biomarkers in elite triathletes - Cejuela et al. 2026 Less time, same gains: Comparison of superset vs traditional set training on muscular adaptations - Burke et al. 2024 Strength and Muscular Adaptations After 6 Weeks of Rest-Pause vs. Traditional Multiple-Sets Resistance Training in Trained Subjects - Prestes et al. 2019 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mikael and Jack answer listener questions on indoor versus outdoor FTP differences, whether time in zone is all that matters and how to optimise interval intensity, a first 70.3 debrief covering swim breathing problems and bike cramps, and lots more! Email us your questions, or answer the question prompts in our Instagram stories to get your questions answered on the next Q&A. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: Why indoor and outdoor FTP differ, whether a 20-watt gap is normal, and why Mikael has never had an athlete test both. Fans and airflow as the most underrated indoor cycling upgrade, including the research showing 40 km time-trial power is maintained up to 27°C when airflow matches outdoor riding speed. How to back-calculate an outdoor FTP from your own sweet spot and threshold interval data rather than doing a second test. Why a 10-minute interval should not be done at your 10-minute power, and how to perform a session so you finish at a session RPE of 7 to 8 with something left in the tank. Is time in zone all that matters? The same power and the same total work can produce very different internal loads. Minimum rep lengths if you want to spread work through a longer ride: 4 to 5 minutes for VO2max reps, 10 to 15 minutes for threshold reps. A first 70.3 debrief: why the swim breathing fell apart and how to break the hypercapnia (CO2 buildup) spiral, and what most likely caused hamstring cramps at 70 km on a hilly bike course. Instagram questions: finding your bike power in the first 20 minutes of a race, whether a VO2max block followed by a threshold block is a silver bullet, training after dental surgery, splitting 120 g of carbs per hour, and preparing for the Ironman Nice climb when you have no long climbs. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. Is VO2max more important than lactate threshold? | Research roundup Kolie Moore – Overrated and Underrated Factors for Cycling Performance Why 90 Grams of Carbs Still Beats 120 | Paul Booth Triathlon Base Training Series 1 - How to train smarter in winter to race faster in summer Prolonged self-paced exercise in the heat – environmental factors affecting performance - Junge et al. 2016 Physiological comparison of intensity-controlled, isocaloric intermittent and continuous exercise - Combes et al. 2018 Short intervals induce superior training adaptations compared with long intervals in cyclists - an effort-matched approach - Rønnestad et al. 2015 The higher the fraction of maximal oxygen uptake is during interval training, the greater is the cycling performance gain - Odden et al. 2024 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Robbie Deckard is a professional middle-distance triathlete and triathlon coach, and the founder of Freaky Fast Aero Accessories. In this episode, Robbie and Mikael dig into the real differences between American and European training methods, using lactate and VLaMax to optimise training and performance, and how age-group triathletes can apply lab-grade thinking to swim, bike and run training without actually going into a lab. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: The real difference between FTP-centric American coaching and the German/Benelux style built around VLaMax, VO2max and physiological profiling. The evolution of VLaMax based training: from Alois Mader's 1970s model through Jan Olbrecht to current day coaches like Dan Lorang. Robbie's case for still doing dedicated VO2max work, including a case study that took an amateur cyclist's VO2max from 74 to 87 mL/kg/min over 58 weeks of block periodisation. Why building maximal aerobic power early is more valuable long-term than chasing threshold gains, and how that shapes the "durability" that separates junior and U23 cyclists from senior professional cyclists. How Robbie profiles athletes using LT1, LT2 and 5-minute power (or 500 yd swim time, or mile run time), and what typical percentage utilisation looks like for age-groupers versus elites. How he prescribes endurance, threshold and VO2max sessions in practice, including cues (power, pace, RPE), lactate targets, and why exact wattage precision on threshold work matters less than people think. Practical advice for age-groupers: open-water swim skills and ankle-band drills, running road races for pacing and durability, and hill running for strength and economy. Improving aerodynamics on a budget: reduce frontal area first, then refine airflow, and how to measure progress without a wind tunnel using Golden Cheetah or a simple speed sensor. SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Follow Robbie Deckard and Freaky Fast Aero Accessories on his website, blog, Instagram, and Freaky Fast Aero Accessories' Instagram. The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. A Scientific Approach to Improve Physiological Capacity of an Elite Cyclist - Rønnestad & Hansen 2018 FTP, VO2max and VLaMax with Sebastian Weber | EP#169 VLaMax, Polarised training, Fatigue and Complexity with Mark Burnley, PhD | EP#331 Training talk with Sebastian Zeller | EP#259 Training structure, periodisation and the science of winning with Jan Olbrecht, PhD | EP#198 Training, testing, metabolism and physiology with Björn Kafka | EP#286 Kolie Moore – Overrated and Underrated Factors for Cycling Performance The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training - book by Jan Olbrecht The Triathlete's Training Bible - book by Joe Friel Software mentioned: Aerotune, Golden Cheetah, INSCYD, Sentiero SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Paul Booth is a performance nutritionist and exercise physiologist who works with elite ultra-endurance athletes and teams, including the Salomon International team, and was the nutritionist behind both the men's and women's UTMB winners in 2025, Tom Evans and Ruth Croft. We cover the science and practice of fuelling: how many carbs you actually need, why the high-carb trend has run ahead of the evidence, and how to get hydration and electrolytes right for triathlon and ultra-endurance racing. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: Why Paul calls himself a "90-gram carb guy" and where the carb ceiling actually sits What the science says about 90 versus 120 grams of carbohydrate per hour The physiology of carbohydrate absorption, and how to work out your own intake for an Ironman without lab testing Gut training: building tolerance to carbs and fluid in the weeks before a race A simple DIY method to work out your sweat rate and fluid needs Why hydration, not carbs, is behind most race-day gut problems Electrolytes: what the evidence supports and what is mostly marketing Fuelling through heat, altitude and ageing, plus listener questions on glycogen-depleted training, honey and more SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES: Follow Paul and Performance Gains Nutrition on his website and Instagram The shownotes for today's episode can be found here. The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here. Related episodes: Carbohydrates, science and practice with Tim Podlogar, PhD | EP#354 Nutrition and hydration data from Kona and 70.3 Worlds with Andy Blow | EP#365 Aerobic training and testing with Scott Johnston | EP#326 Richard Laidlow | EP#403 Studies discussed: Fuelled or Fooled? Examining the Evidence and Mechanisms Behind Ultra-High Carbohydrate Intake in Endurance Athletes - Plews et al. 2026 Graded Carbohydrate Ingestion up to 120 g/h Attenuates the Reduction in Critical Power Following 3 h of Moderate-Intensity Exercise in a Dose-Dependent Manner - Norte et al. 2026 13C-labelled glucose-fructose show greater exogenous and whole-body CHO oxidation at 120 vs 60 & 90 g/h in elite male marathoners - Ravikanti et al. 2025 Exogenous Glucose Oxidation During Exercise Is Positively Related to Body Size - Ijaz et al. 2024 Fructose-maltodextrin ratio governs exogenous and other CHO oxidation and performance - O'Brien et al. 2013 Nutritional intake and gastrointestinal problems during competitive endurance events - Pfeiffer et al. 2012 Modelling sodium requirements of athletes across exercise scenarios – when to test and target, or season to taste - McCubbin 2022 Could It Bee? Honey Ingestion Induces Comparable Metabolic Responses to a Traditional Carbohydrate Sports Product - Fortis et al. 2025 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A research roundup episode, where Dr. Gabriele Gallo (of KnowledgeIsWatt) and myself cover four recent research papers and how they might help us train better and improve our understanding of triathlon and endurance performance HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  Do the same training program twice - get different results? (and how Gabriele and I disagree slightly on the conclusions to draw from this study) Strength training is beneficial for cycling performance, but how beneficial is it really? And is it beneficial for everybody? Finally, how should you structure your strength training program to make it so?  A massive review on the impact of different types of endurance training on mitochondrial and capillary growth, and VO2max improvements.  What separates athletes of different performance levels is not how high they can push their threshold as a percentage of VO2max, but how high the VO2max is in the first place.  SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES:  Follow Gabriele and KnowledgeIsWatt on his website, Substack and Instagram The shownotes for today's episode can be found here.  The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here.  Limited reproducibility of individual physiological adaptations to repeated endurance exercise training - Odden et al. 2026 Heavy strength training effects on physiological determinants of endurance cyclist performance: a systematic review with meta-analysis - Llanos-Lagos et al. 2025 Effects of Exercise Training on Mitochondrial and Capillary Growth in Human Skeletal Muscle: A Systematic Review and Meta-Regression - Mølmen et al. 2024 Elite Aerobic Endurance Performance: Is It Really Related to Lactate Threshold Expressed Relative to Peak Oxygen Uptake? - Johansen et al. 2025 Strength training improves performance and pedaling characteristics in elite cyclists - Rønnestad et al. 2014 Five-Minute Power-Based Test to Predict Maximal Oxygen Consumption in Road Cycling - Sitko et al. 2022 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jack Kelly, professional triathlon coach and host of The Triathlon Hour discusses everything about his coaching methods and thoughts on triathlon training and performance.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  Intensity and key sessions as the cornerstone of Jack’s training programs Not overthinking training volume Don’t be afraid of fatigue or overthink your ability to absorb training Building a story and a narrative to get the most out of every athlete Tips for age-group triathletes on how to improve swimming, cycling and running performance How age-grup triathletes should think about their training on a time-crunched schedule.  Jack’s “overrated and underrated” in triathlon Listener questions directly from Jack’s athletes Ari Klau, Sam “Appo” Appleton and Toby Martin.  …and lots, lots more!  SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES:  Follow Jack on The Triathlon Hour on Spotify and Instagram The shownotes for today's episode can be found here.  The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here.  Kolie Moore – Overrated and Underrated Factors for Cycling Performance - referenced in today’s episode SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kolie Moore of Empirical Cycling returns to That Triathlon Show! In today’s episode Kolie brings lists of his top underrated and overrated factors for cycling performance to the table, and we discuss these. Kolie also tests Mikael on logical reasoning, and has him guess whether each factor is overrated or underrated on Kolie’s list. HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  Kolie’s top underrated and overrated factors for cycling performance Without specifying which categories each of these belong in, some of the things we discuss include creatine, Zone 2 training, training plans, race specificity, and many more!  What factors did Kolie overrate or underrate earlier in his coaching career? Listener submitted overrated/underrated suggestions, including heat training, lactate guided training, genetics and more SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES:  The shownotes for today's episode can be found here.  The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here.  Kolie’s website, podcast (Empirical Cycling Podcast), Instagram The Wason Test (here you can try your own logic!)  Coaching Thoughts: 15 Underrated Factors for Triathlon Performance | EP#440 - Mikael’s own list of underrated performance factors (for triathlon) Coaching Thoughts: 11 Overrated Factors for Triathlon Performance | EP#439 - Mikael’s own list of overrated performance factors (for triathlon) Training Talk with Kolie Moore | EP#271 - Kolie’s first appearance on That Triathlon Show Training, coaching and podcasting with Mikael Eriksson and Kolie Moore | EP#359 - This episode with Kolie interviewing Mikael originally aired on Empirical Cycling and was later republished on That Triathlon Show Watts Doc #61: Quantifying Diminishing Returns Watts Doc #58: Creatine's Actual Effects On Cycling Performance Watts Doc #50: Hypoxia And Muscular Adaptation Watts Doc #40: Endurance Adaptation Is Not Substrate Oxidation Much Ado About Zone 2: A Narrative Review Assessing the Efficacy of Zone 2 Training for Improving Mitochondrial Capacity and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in the General Population - Storoschuk et al. 2025 Long-Term Time-Course of Strength Adaptation to Minimal Dose Resistance Training Through Retrospective Longitudinal Growth Modeling - Steele et al. 2022 Limited reproducibility of individual physiological adaptations to repeated endurance exercise training - Odden et al. 2026 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In today’s episode Scientific Triathlon coach Mikael Eriksson answers listener questions about time-crunched training and lots more…  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  How to train effectively on 7 hours per week, and most workout windows being just 45 minutes.  Can you use running power to do reliable shoe testing (for running economy) without a metabolic cart?  How a highly glycolytic (fast-twitch dominant) athlete should adapt their training strategies for Ironman training, and in general to get better at long, sustained efforts.  SHOWNOTES, LINKS, RESOURCES AND RELATED EPISODES:  The shownotes for today's episode can be found here.  The full podcast episode archives (including category filters) can be found here.  Coaching Thoughts: 15 Underrated Factors for Triathlon Performance | EP#440 Q&A on racing and testing | EP#399 Physiological Profiling Explained – Why, How, and Important Training Implications for Triathletes FTP, VO2max and VLaMax: what triathletes need to know with Sebastian Weber | EP#169 SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Today we discuss how to execute your best possible race day performance. Mikael and Jack provide practical tips that you can apply from sprint distance triathlon to the Ironman. Some of these tips are probably familiar (but bear repeating), others you have likely never heard or thought of before.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  Proper pacing across swim, bike and run in a triathlon Why you should use RPE as the primary driver of pacing strategy Known and lesser-known tips for maximising speed across the swim and the bike Is “run for dough” still true in triathlon? Managing the heat in hot races Nutrition and hydration - more than just having a plan, it’s about understanding how to adjust the plan on the fly when needed. How to get the most out of yourself mentally - the brain is a central governor, so if your head is not in it, you won’t have your best race. But getting your head to be in it and stay in it is easier said than done. DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts701/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  The effect of additional skin wetting on physiological strain and exercise performance: systematic review and meta-analysis - Anderson et al. 2026 WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes, related to sports science and (the third episode listed) fat adaptation and performance.  Pacing science and training talk with Andy Renfree, PhD | EP#349 Sports psychology and applied neuroscience with Simon Marshall, PhD and Lesley Paterson | EP#282 Q&A on racing and testing | EP#399 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Triathlon Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you are focusing on improving your FatMax in 2026, you’re likely wasting time and money. Not only is fat a more expensive substrate to burn than carbohydrate (you get less energy for the same amount of oxygen by oxidising fat), but the Fatmax number you see in your lab report is mostly noise and very little signal.  In today’s episode of That Triathlon Show I’ll explain exactly why that is, but I’ll also give you a tool to evaluate any test or measure that you might (or might not) want to be tracking, from Time Trials to VO2max, HRV and various biomarkers like ferritin and testosterone.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  What is Fatmax and Maximal Rate of Fat Oxidation? How reliable is Fatmax testing? How to measure the noise of a test using the Coefficient of Variation (CV) How to calculate the Smallest Detectable Change (SDC) of any test or measure Why the SDC of Fatmax is the equivalent of you having to go from 300 to 384W for your 20-minute power to be able to say that this was real improvement and not just noise (!!) CVs and CV ranges for common tests and measures used in triathlon, Ironman and other endurance sports, including Time Trials, Time To Exhaustion, VO2max, lactate and ventilatory thresholds, economy and gross efficiency, lactate concentration, Critical Power and W’, HRV, ferritin, testosterone, TSH and more Why carbohydrate is a 7% more efficient energy substrate than fat, and why you should be oxidising carbs in your next Ironman. DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts700/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Full bibliography in the shownotes: https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts700/ WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes, related to sports science and (the third episode listed) fat adaptation and performance.  The replication crisis in sports science with Joe Warne, PhD | EP#468 The Skeptic’s Guide To Sports Science with Nicholas Tiller, PhD | EP#239 High carbohydrate, low carbohydrate, or periodised carbohydrate intake with Louise Burke, PhD | EP#236 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Triathlon Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Most triathlon training focuses on physiology and skills. Dr. David Spindler argues that the brain is the missing piece, and that you can (and should) train your brain to better process pressure, adapt under stress, and execute under fatigue. This episode will teach you how to do this. Dr. David Spindler is a neuroscientist and cognitive performance specialists who has worked with athletes at the very highest level (including with Sir Mark Cavendish, Sam Laidlow, Chelsea Sodaro, Katie Courtney, and Tom Evans) and across sports from cycling, triathlon and trail running through soccer and Formula 1.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  The brain's central role in athletic performance: coordination, decision-making, focus, emotional regulation, fatigue perception, and recovery. Allostatic load: why amateur triathletes carry far more cognitive stress than professionals, and how to account for it in training. How the brain controls pacing, and why perceived effort rises and the efficiency of firing muscles drops when the brain decides an effort isn't sustainable. Self-efficacy vs. confidence: why they are different, and how to address a lack of self-efficacy as a triathlete. Self-regulation: why understanding how your brain and body behave under stress matters, and how poor self-regulation undermines both triathlon training and the athlete-coach relationship. Joy and happiness as recovery tools: why they are the most effective mediators of cortisol, and how to find joy and happiness in training and life (it’s not the same as dopamine hits) DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts699/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Psychobiology of fatigue during endurance exercise - book chapter containing much of the seminal work of Prof. Samuele Marcora. For more related research and science, see Prof. Marcora’s ResearchGate page here, and listen to my podcast interview with him here. Mark Cavendish: Never Enough - Netflix documentary in which Dr Spindler makes an appearance Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance - book by Alex Hutchinson How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle - book by Matt Fitzgerald Relentless: Secrets of the Sporting Elite - book by Alistair Brownlee WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes, related to the brain, psychology and mental skills aspects of triathlon and endurance performance.  Brain training and psychobiology of endurance performance with professor Samuele Marcora | EP#17 Mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance with Alex Hutchinson | EP#101 Mindfulness, Mental Fatigue, and Brain Endurance Training with Walter Staiano, PhD | EP#207 Psychology and triathlon performance with Stuart Holliday | EP#364 Josephine Perry, PhD | EP#415 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Triathlon Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode, coach Daniel Rowland and myself each bring two recent research studies to the table that we have found interesting and potentially useful for athletes and coaches. We discuss the implications and practical takeaways of the findings, how athletes can implement the findings in practice, and the strengths and weaknesses of the different studies. Whether you listen for the love of endurance sports science, or because you want to keep up to date with the cutting edge in triathlon training, this one is for you.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  A study looking into two types of torque training: very short maximal effort low-cadence sprints, and classic four-minute torque intervals just below Critical Power. Does ketone ester supplementation have direct performance-enhancing benefits? How age-group triathletes actually carb-loaded before the Ironman World Championships - did they hit the optimal amounts of carbohydrates or not? A review on the science of pacing, and practical takeaways including specific sessions to improve pacing. DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts698/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Daniel’s Substack (Endurance: Ideas + Implementation) and website The Role of Pedaling Intensity During Torque Training in Cyclists: A Three‐Arm Randomized Controlled Trial - de Pablos et al. 2026 Post‐exercise ketone supplementation improves endurance performance and mitochondrial adaptations during an 8‐week endurance training intervention - Robberechts et al. 2026 From Intention to Execution: Pre-Race Nutrition Behaviours, Influences, and Performance Outcomes in Female Endurance Athletes at the IRONMAN® World Championships - Fortis et al. 2026 Developing negative split pacing in endurance athletes: practical guidelines and training models - Grivas et al. 2026 WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following related episodes: John Wakefield of Red Bull BORA hansgrohe – cycling coach and bike fitter | EP#465 - for more on torque training Carbohydrates – science and practice with Tim Podlogar, PhD | EP#354 - for more on carb loading Glycogen metabolism and optimising glycogen resynthesis with Bob Murray, PhD | EP#252 - for even more on carb loading Brendan Egan, PhD | EP#407 - for more on ketones Pacing science and training talk with Andy Renfree, PhD | EP#349 - for more on pacing You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Brenton Ford is a swim coach and the founder of Effortless Swimming, one of the most well-known and well-respected resources of swimming knowledge for triathletes and open water swimmers. Especially for adult-onset swimmers without a swimming background. In today’s interview we start with an in-depth discussion of swim technique, before diving into specifics for open water swimming, training structure, and more. This episode is packed with information, and you’ll have a great chance of finding some advice applicable to your own situation that can help you improve your swimming.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  The hierarchy of needs for improving your triathlon swimming: breathing, body position and tautness, rotation, catch and pull, timing and rhythm Common mistakes triathletes make in each of these areas, and how to fix them What to do when your technique looks good, but you’re not getting faster anyway? Swim technique modifications and specific training advice for open water swimming How much of swim technique and feel for the water is trainable, and how much is innate talent? Training structure: when and how to incorporate technique work, threshold and VO2max sets, and endurance sets within your triathlon swimming program. Listener questions DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts697/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Please support Effortless Swimming and That Triathlon Show by getting the best swim goggles on the market at shop.effortlessswimming.com. Use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership. Effortless Swimming website, Youtube, podcast and Instagram Technique improvement and swim training for triathletes with Brenton Ford | EP#320 - Brenton’s previous appearance on That Triathlon Show WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following related episodes: Power Rankings – Our top five sessions to improve your triathlon swimming Beginner Series 5 – Swimming for Beginner Triathletes Swim Types and Fault Fixers with Swim Smooth’s Paul Newsome | EP#188 Open water swim training with Olympic gold medal coach Marcel Wouda | EP#246 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This is the episode for every triathlete with ambitions in sprint and Olympic distance triathlon, from beginners looking to complete to front-of-the-pack athletes looking to compete. Triathlon training has similarities across the board from sprint to Ironman distance, but the specific training obviously differs between distances, and in this episode we break down exactly, when, why and how. Let’s get stuck in!  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  How long does it take to prepare for a sprint or an Olympic distance race if you’re a beginner? What about an intermediate to advanced triathlete?  Key sessions in swimming, cycling and running for sprint and Olympic distance triathletes How long should your long run and ride be as a sprint or Olympic distance triathlete?  What role does brick workouts play in sprint and Olympic Distance triathlon training?  Why tapering is much harder to get right for shorter than for longer races, and how to actually do it.  Key considerations if you’re racing draft-legal rather than non-draft sprint and Olympic distance races Sample training week for an Olympic distance triathlon Listener questions!  DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode.  The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts696/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Chain lubrication (save watts and money) with Adam Kerin | EP#323 WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following related episodes: The Ironman Training Deep Dive: What Triathletes Need to Know  How to Optimize Your Triathlon Training on a Limited Time Budget | Natasha Van Der Merwe Lance Watson – coach of Olympic Champion Simon Whitfield | EP#453 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON:  The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we do Contact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs) Subscribe to our Newsletter Follow us on Instagram Learn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.  HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)?  I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time.  Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released. Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!  Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones). Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

For many years, the topic of whether a polarized or pyramidal training intensity distribution is more effective for endurance athletes has been hotly debated. Arturo Casado, PhD, is one of the foremost researchers in this area (and former European Champion in the 1500 metres). Today, Arturo dissects what the science really says in 2026: whether there is a winner, and if not, what are the athlete-specific, event-specific, and other variables that impact which training distribution will bring the best results. We also discuss specific training models from Canova to Norwegian from both scientific and practical perspectives, and bring it all together with practical advice relevant for amateur triathletes and runners.  HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:  The science and practice of training intensity distributions. Who should use polarized versus pyramidal TIDs and when?  How do factors such as athlete level, age and sex, sport or modality, distance or event, periodization and more impact the choice of training intensity distribution? The science and practise of different training models in distance running, including Lydiard, Kenyan, Canova, Norwegian, Coe and more How do best practices differ between amateur athletes and elite runners and triathletes?   Practical tips and takeaways DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:  We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode.  The shownotes for today's episode can be found at https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts695/ LINKS AND RESOURCES:  Arturo’s ResearchGate, Instagram and World Athletics profiles  Effects of polarized, pyramidal, and combined training periodisations with Luca Filipas, PhD | EP#328 - study mentioned in the interview Michele Zanini (part 2) | EP#394 - the Renato Canova training method Training Periodization, Methods, Intensity Distribution, and Volume in Highly Trained and Elite Distance Runners: A Systematic Review Casado et al. 2022 World-Class Long-Distance Running Performances Are Best Predicted by Volume of Easy Runs and Deliberate Practice of Short-Interval and Tempo Runs - Casado et al. 2021 Does Lactate-Guided Threshold Interval Training within a High-Volume Low-Intensity Approach Represent the “Next Step” in the Evolution of Distance Running Training?- Casado et al. 2023 Pacing strategies in men's and women's world- record marathon performances and Olympic Games and World Championship's winning performances - Casado et al. 2024 Training Intensity Distribution, Volume, Periodization, and Performance in Elite Rowers: A Systematic Review - Zhong et al. 2025 Which Training Intensity Distribution Intervention will Produce the Greatest Improvements in Maximal Oxygen Uptake and Time-Trial Performance in Endurance Athletes? A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis of Individual Participant Data - Rosenblat et al. 2025 WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT? If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following related episodes: John Davis – Coaching, physiology, and running calculators | EP#464 [Triathlon Science] Durability decoded – a 2025 perspective with Michele Zanini, PhD Gabriele Gallo, PhD – The Science of Cycling Performance | EP#441 You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc. You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.  LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON:  The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we do Contact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs) Subscribe to our Newsletter Follow us on Instagram Learn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.  HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)?  I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time.  Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released. Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!  Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones). Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack.  SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration produce our favourite gels, sports drinks, and electrolyte and carbohydrate products here at That Triathlon Show and Scientific Triathlon. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get a personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event, and get 15% off your first 2026 order by using the code TTS2026 at checkout. Rouvy is hands down the most complete indoor cycling platform for triathletes. Among their thousands of beautiful bike courses from all around the world, all filmed in stunning quality, they have over 75 IRONMAN and IRONMAN 70.3 race courses plus 20+ Challenge Family courses, so you can pre-ride your race from home. Real gradients, real visuals, and real feel! Head to rouvy.com and use the code TTS to get your first month free on top of a 7-day free trial. Effortless Swimming produce the best swim goggles for triathletes and open water swimmers. Their NanoClear anti-fog lenses give you clear, fog-free vision that lasts and doesn't wear off. Don't let foggy or leaky goggles ruin another swim. Go to shop.effortlessswimming.com and use the code TTS15 to get 15% off your goggles, and get a free two-month Effortless Swimming course membership.LEARN MORE ABOUT SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON: The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we doContact us through our contact form or email me directly (note - email/contact form messages get responded to much more quickly than Instagram DMs)Subscribe to our NewsletterFollow us on InstagramLearn more about our coaching, training plans, and training camps. We have something to offer for everybody from beginners to professionals.HOW CAN I SUPPORT THAT TRIATHLON SHOW (FOR FREE)? I really appreciate you reading this and considering helping the show! If you love the show and want to support it to help ensure it sticks around, there are a few very simple things you can do, at no cost other than a minute of your time. Subscribe to the podcast in your podcast app to automatically get all new episodes as they are released.Tell your friends, internet and social media friends, acquaintances and triathlon frenemies about the podcast. Word of mouth is the best way to grow the podcast by far!Rate and review the podcast (ideally five stars of course!) in your podcast app of choice (Spotify and Apple Podcasts are the biggest and most important ones).Share episodes online and on social media. Share your favourite episodes in your Instagram stories, start a discussion about interesting episodes on forums, reference them in your blog or Substack. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.