Podcast

Top-10 books, blogs, and resources for triathletes | EP#125

 May 7, 2018

By  Mikael Eriksson

Top-10 books, blogs, and resources for triathletes | EP#125

TTS125 - Top-10 books, blogs, and resources for triathletes

"What's your favourite book, blog, or resource related to triathlon?" is a question I ask all my guests on the podcast. But today I answer that question myself. Ten times!

Discuss this episode!

  • Let's discuss this episode and the topic in general. Post any comments or questions in the comments at the bottom of the shownotes. Join the discussion here!

In this Episode you'll learn about:

  • My top 10 books, blogs or resources related to triathlon. Some well-known, some hidden gems you've probably never heard of. 
  • A few bonus honourable mentions. 
  • And some books, blogs or resources that I suspect would be strong candidates for the list, but I haven't read/listened to/watched them enough to place them on my list at this point. 

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Shownotes

10 - Training Peaks blog  

3:47 - 

  • Number 10 is the Training Peaks blog.
  • There are some brilliant articles there, but there are also more generic posts that don't give much information. 
  • However, quite often if I have something I'm researching or want to learn more about, I check this blog, which is testament to the fact that it can be a great resource. 
  • I usually find a good article that helps me along with whatever the topic is. 

9 - Twitter

4:57 -

  • Obviously you need to follow the right people, and this depends on your interests. 
  • The great thing with Twitter is being able to stay up date with people you respect and can learn things from. 
  • You can learn from their own research and content, and also from what they are retweeting.
    • From this you can learn about new resources or people to follow that you might not have known about before.
  • Some of my favourite people on Twitter are:
  • The best thing about twitter is if you have a question about a specific topic, you can find the experts in the field and send them a message. 
    • You can often get an answer directly, which is brilliant.

8 - Palladino power project Facebook group & Steve Palladino's articles

6:55 - 

  • The Palladino Power Project Facebook group is particularly for people using running power meters like Stryd. 
  • The articles include both more theoretical and technical ones, as well as ones focusing more on practical advice. 
  • There are also case studies which you can access. 
  • It's a brilliant library of articles.
    • If I'm ever wondering about something related to running power this is my first check point. 

7 - Alan Couzens blog

8:06 - 

  • The Alan Couzens blog is perhaps a less known resource, but it's a gold-mine.
  • This blog is the exact opposite of 'click bait' articles sometimes found on triathlon websites and media.
  • Alan Doesn't post too often, but it makes sense because the research that goes into each articles is extremely high level. 
  • He often uses data he's collected from his own athletes over many, many years.
    • He uses programming/data mining to investigate different phenomenons and shares what he finds on the blog.
  • It's a brilliant resource, with blog posts on a variety of topics.
  • A couple of the topics we mentioned when he was interviewed on the show were related to lab testing.
    • Testing lactate threshold, testing VO2max.
    • There are articles related to that, but also articles about training leading up to an Ironman, periodisation, pacing etc. 

6 - TrainerRoad "Ask A Cycling Coach" podcast

10:14 - 

  • TrainerRoad Ask A Cycling Coach Podcast is number 6. 
  • The podcast is usually based around listener questions.
  • Trainer Road is a cycling software that can be used with an indoor trainer.
  • This podcast goes into both cycling and triathlon questions that listeners send in.
  • They don't answer live off the cuff, they do their research before hand and pick questions that are interesting for the audience. 
  • They go through the science and their coaching experience with each question. 
  • It's also very entertaining! 
  • The only minus about it is that a single episode can have a wide variety of content in it, as they answer listener questions. 
    • It can be a bit difficult to bookmark episodes to come back to with such a range of topics in each. 

5 -  Kinetic Revolution website & YouTube Channel by James Dunne

12:57 - 

  • Kinetic Revolution with James Dunne is number 5. 
  • The tagline of the website is: Building Better Runners.
  • He does that by providing great and well researched advice on things like core training, stretching, flexibility and mobility, injury prevention etc.
  • These things are crucial but so often not done right among runners and triathletes. 
  • If you have a niggle, go to this website and search for the specific area and learn all about it.
    • You can learn about the problem, the causes and the prevention methods. 
  • I do the same when I coach, and seek advice from here if I'm working with an athlete who has a niggle. 

4 - Alex Hutchinson's Sweat Science blog & Endure book

14:34 - 

3 - Matt Fitzgerald books trifecta 

16:03 - 

  • ​​​​I've lumped these resources together into the Matt Fitzgerald trifecta, these are my favourite Matt Fitzgerald books:
  • Matt Fitzgerald is my favourite endurance sports author. 
  • The Endurance Diet talks about the diet of endurance athletes.
    • It goes into both the science and also what the top athletes in the sport actually eat. 
    • It includes food diaries so you can see and learn from the best.
  • 80/20 Running gets into the concept of polarised training.
    • Matt and David Warden are also writing a book called 80/20 Triathlon which is out this Autumn. 
    • This is something people often get wrong in training, so the resource is important to understand. 
    • The polarised approach should be adhered too - do you easy training easy and your hard training hard. 
  • How Bad Do You Want It is in the same vein as Alex Hutchinson's book Endure, it's about the mind and how important it is for endurance performance.
    • You're not limited by your muscles or your physiology, it's your mind that imposes limits on you. 
    • You could go faster muscularly/physiologically but your mind stops you. 
    • The book gives great stories and examples from real world athletes. 
    • It also goes into the science and practical applications. 
  • The great thing about all of these books is they weave in the science, the practice and the stories from athletes.
    • It's an enjoyable and easy to read experience. 

2 -  Swim Smooth book and website

19:52 - 

  • The Swim Smooth book is written by Paul Newsome and Adam Young and is number 2. 
    • Paul Newsom is the founder of Swim Smooth.
  • The Swim Smooth website and newsletter are also really helpful resources. 
  • The book goes into all different swimming archetypes (e.g. Swinger, Smooth, Arnie, Bambino). 
  • Depending on your swim style it will give you tips for how you can improve your swimming.
    • E.g. what a Bambino should do to improve is different to what an Arnie should do. 
  • The Swim Smooth book goes into all things swimming. 
    • Including technique, training/fitness aspect, and open water swimming. 
  • The book is written specifically for triathletes and open water swimmers. 
  • It is very well written and has great images. 
  • It's invaluable to me in my coaching, I use it a lot. 
  • The website and newsletter complement the book very well. 

1 - Triathlon Science book

22:01 - 

  • It was a pretty easy choice to put the Triathlon Science book as number 1 as I refer to it regularly.
  • Every time I make an episode, for example the Taper episode I did recently, I always start with this book to learn about the topic. 
  • The book also gives good references to read the full studies the research discusses.
  • It's not just science, it's very practical.
    • It has example training schedules.
    • It has practical takeaways at the end of each chapter. 
  • You can be sure it's founded in actual science, it's not just one person's opinion. 
  • The authors of each chapter are the best experts in the world on that topic.
    • It's edited by Joe Friel and Jim Vance.
  • In my opinion it's the number 1 book any triathlete should have. 
  • A lot of the authors of the chapters have been on this podcast, check out the links at the end of this episode for a list of related episodes to listen to. 

Could have beens...

24:54 - 

Honorable mentions

30:30 - 

  • These are resources that I do use and are strong candidates, but they didn't quite make the top ten list.
  • ResearchGate.
    • For example, if I go to ResearchGate and search for Inigo Mujika I'll find plenty of things to get lost in. 
    • You can also use ResearchGate to look for publications on a certain topic.
    • You can rank your searches by researcher ranking. 
    • You can also request PDF's of full articles which is really helpful. 
      • Some research articles that aren't OpenAccess will not allow you to see more than the abstract. 
      • On ResearchGate you can often access the entire article.
      • When you can't, you can request access if you have an ResearchGate account (which is free). 
  • "Daniel's Running Formula" by Jack Daniels.
    • This was the first book I read about endurance sports. 
    • It almost placed number 1 on my list, but Triathlon Science covers most topics in a triathlon way. 
    • It's still a must read for anyone doing endurance training.
    • A lot of it applies to triathlon as well as running. 
  • Triathlonlive.tv
    • I really enjoy watching the World Triathlon Series, the ITU races, draft legal racing. 
    • You can sit on the trainer and watch the races which is great. 
    • It costs around 15 euros per year to get access to all of their races - both live and on demand.
  • Bodybuilding.com
    • I'm a big fan of strength training and this website has a great exercise database. 
    • You can either search for a movement and get specific instructions on how to do it with videos, written and audio explanations. 
    • Or if you want an exercise for a certain muscle, you can filter by a muscle group, or other filters such as machine/not machine. 
    • They also have great content on their blog about strength training and nutrition etc. 
  • Sigma Nutrition Radio (podcast).
    • This podcast is about nutrition and takes a variety of angles. 
    • It's often about strength training, and not specifically endurance athletes. 
    • You still learn a lot about nutrition and it's all based on science. 
    • It's the best nutrition podcast I've heard. 
  • "The Endurance Training Diet and Cookbook" by Jesse Kropelnicki.
    • This book would have made my top ten if I didn't already have Matt Fitzgerald's Endurance Diet. 
    • This book essentially contains the same content but it's a bit more specific and technical, which maybe makes it a bit less practical. 
    • However, I do recommend reading it, especially if you're interested in nutrition. 
    • Related listening: Race-day fueling and The Core Diet with Jesse Kropelnicki | EP#40
  • DC Rainmaker's blog.
    • For any gear, gadgets and gizmo's this is where you go for reviews. 
    • This could have been a top 10 but a lot of age groupers probably already spend too much time on here instead of training! 
    • If you're making investment in new kit, this is the best place to go.
  • ​Precision Hydration blog - Hydration Advice. 
    • It's a great blog, with well-researched articles. 
    • It's good for information on hydration and nutrition but there are other articles as well. 
    • There are training articles too. 
    • The Precision Hydration newsletter is also helpful to find out about new articles. 

Links, resources & contact

Links and resources mentioned

Connect with host Mikael Eriksson

triathlon_coach_mikael_eriksson

Hi! I'm your host Mikael,

I am a full-time triathlon coach and an ambitious age-group triathlete. My goal is podium at the Finnish national championships within the next few years.

I first started the website Scientific Triathlon in autumn 2015 as a passion project to share my learnings with a larger triathlon audience. Later on, in early 2017 I started the podcast That Triathlon Show. 

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Discussion

Let's discuss this episode and the topic in general. Post any comments or questions in the comments below. I'll be here to reply and take an active part in the conversation, so don't be shy! 


Mikael Eriksson

I am a full-time triathlon coach, founder of Scientific Triathlon, and host of the top-rated podcast That Triathlon Show. I am from Finland but live in Lisbon, Portugal.

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