Category Archives for "Training"

Scientific Triathlon coach Lachlan Kerin | EP#192

Lachlan Kerin is an Australian triathlon coach, professional triathlete, and the newest member of the Scientific Triathlon team. He has over 50 professional IRONMAN 70.3 races to his name, has experience from working with some of the best coaches in the world, and among other accomplishments, has set 3 bike course records in IRONMAN 70.3 races.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• Lachlan’s training methodology – how does a professional long-distance triathlete train?
• What he has learnt from being coached by coaches like Cam Brown, Grant Giles, and professor Paul Laursen
• Advice for age-groupers on low-hanging fruit to pick and common mistakes to avoid
• Lachlan’s coaching philosophy and methodology

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Lactate and bioenergetics: quantifying and improving endurance performance with Shannon Grady | EP#190

Shannon Grady is the founder of GO! Athletics and an expert in the application of bioenergetics, lactate dynamics, and applied physiology for endurance performance optimization. Shannon has worked with over 9000 athletes including Olympic, professional, collegiate, and high school athletes in over 25 sports, and is herself a former professional runner, NCAA All-American, and five-time Team USA Triathlon with 4 Top-10 ITU World Championship finishes.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• The science of bioenergetics and lactate dynamics and how they relate to endurance performance and training
• The fallacy of traditional lactate testing
• A systems based training approach based on the individuals range of lactate concentration
• How many endurance athletes lack at least one system and are therefore bioenergetically limited and therefore compromising their endurance perfomance
• Training mistakes that lead to bioenergetic deficits and suboptimal performance and training adaptations
• Nutrition mistakes that lead to bioenergetic deficits and suboptimal performance and training adaptations

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Ten high-leverage ways to improve your training and triathlon performance | EP#189

Learn about ten extremely important and high-leverage ways to improve your training and triathlon performance. These aspects of the training process are often not in place, in particular in self-coached athletes. If you can start incorporating even a few of them in your training you are pretty much guaranteed to see great improvements in your training and triathlon performance.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• Knowing the purpose of each and every workout
• Having the right mindset in training to make the most of every workout
• Prerequisites of successful workouts – mobilisation, hydration status, energy and carbohydrate status, recovery status
• Using session-RPE to train at the right intensity
• Focusing on the big picture
• Balancing your engine and your chassis
• Getting out of your comfort zone by doing things that you consciously or subconsciously tend to avoid doing in training
• Using group training strategically
• Benefiting from the compound effect of coaching, testing, and technical advice
• Constantly improving your training and racing by an effective review and self-reflection process

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Nitrate loading, marathons, and endurance sports science with prof. Andy Jones | EP#187

Professor Andy Jones is internationally recognized for his work in academia and applied sports science. He has authored more than 280 original research and review articles, worked with the two best marathoners in history (Eliud Kipchoge and Paula Radcliffe) and is perhaps best known for his pioneering work in the use of dietary nitrate (found in e.g. beetroot) and its impact on endurance performance.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• Nitrate loading: what are the benefits and what is the proper protocol for it?
• Can nitrate loading be done with normal beetroot juice or beetroots, or are specific supplements preferable?
• Will we see the 2-hour marathon milestone broken soon, and what advances in running should take place for it to happen?
• Running and endurance performance in large part comes down to three parameters: aerobic capacity (VO2max), economy, and lactate threshold. How should we train to improve these parameters?
• The Critical Power concept and how it stacks up to Maximum Lactate Steady State.

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Anybody can be a Kona qualifier: genetics is not your limiter with Alan Cozens | EP#186

Alan Couzens is a coach and exercise physiologist in Boulder, Colorado. Through his laboratory testing of a large number of athletes over a long time period he has found that triathlon and endurance sports potential (specifically VO2max) is far more trainable and less limited by genetics than what most textbooks and university courses would have us believe. In fact, most triathletes may actually have the potential to qualify for Kona – with the right training.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• How trainable is VO2max really?
• Why do most athletes fail to reach their athletic potential even though they are putting in a lot of hard work?
• What is the right way to train to reach your athletic potential?
• The importance of training at the first lactate/ventilatory threshold (aerobic threshold)
• The importance of proper testing so you can do the right testing for you
• When to use heart rate vs. pace/power in training

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Polarised training Q&A and Mikael’s perspectives part 2 | EP#185

An in-depth discussion and Q&A session on the ins and outs and dos and don’ts of polarised training for triathletes and endurance athletes in general. This episode is part 2 of a Q&A follow-up to the extremely popular interview with the godfather of polarised training, Dr. Stephen Seiler in EP#177.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• How can polarised training apply to age-group triathletes?
• Polarised training for beginner athletes, masters athletes, and for longevity and health (rather than performance)
• Periodisation with polarised training
• Differences in applying polarised training between disciplines, distances and events
• The physiology of polarised training

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Polarised training Q&A and Mikael’s thoughts and perspective | EP#178

An in-depth discussion and Q&A session on the ins and outs and dos and don’ts of polarised training for triathletes and endurance athletes in general. This episode is a follow-up to the extremely popular interview with the godfather of polarised training, Dr. Stephen Seiler in EP#177.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• Personal case examples from Mikael Eriksson’s and Stephen Seiler’s training and resulting performance improvements
• Common objections to polarised training
• How can polarised training apply to age-group triathletes?
• Polarised training for beginner athletes, masters athletes, and for longevity and health (rather than performance)
• Periodisation with polarised training
• How to execute low-intensity workouts correctly
• How to execute high-intensity workouts correctly

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Polarised training with Stephen Seiler, PhD | EP#177

Stephen Seiler, PhD, is known for his research on how elite endurance athletes actually train. In this research, he discovered that most endurance athletes spend the majority of their training time (~90%) at very low intensities (below the first lactate/ventilatory threshold) with most of the remainder of the training time spent at high intensities (above the second lactate/ventilatory threshold), with little time spent in between. This training intensity distribution has become popularised and known as ‘polarised training’.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• What is polarised training, and what is the evidence behind it?
• Polarised training and “pyramidal training” – the nuances of training for different kinds of endurance sports and events
• Does polarised training work for time-limited age group triathletes?
• How to set up your training zones and intensities correctly (and the dangers of short-cutting FTP-tests)
• Triathlon-specific considerations with polarised training

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The top-5 challenges for masters athletes and how to overcome them – Bo Falck Hansen, PhD | EP#176

Bo Falck Hansen, PhD, is a researcher and cycling coach with a special interest in training and performance for the aging athlete. He describes the top-5 challenges that masters athletes in triathlon and other endurance sports face, and how to tackle them.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• Reducing the rate of decline in aerobic capacity (VO2max) with the right kind of endurance training
• Reducing the rate of loss of lean muscle mass with the right kind of strength training.
• Reducing the impact of the insulin response while still making sure you perform in training and racing with periodised carbohydrate intake.
• Maintaining flexibility, coordination, and balance.
• Having the right attitude to aging

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Dan Lorang – coach of Jan Frodeno, Anne Haug and Bora Hansgrohe pro cycling team | EP#175

Dan Lorang is the coach of triathletes like Jan Frodeno and Anne Haug, as well as a high performance coach and Head of Innovation of the Bora Hansgrohe professional cycling team. In this Training Talk we dive deep into a variety of topics on training and performance, in particular as it pertains to long-distance triathlon.

IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

• The training bull’s eye: maximising adaptations
• How to structure your training over an entire season (e.g. leading up to an Ironman) as well as on a weekly level
• Bike training structure
• Swim training structure
• Run training structure
• The importance of heart rate
• The importance of physiological testing

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