"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!

• 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. 

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. 

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:
  • Yann Le Meur (@YLMsportscience)
  • Asker Jeukendrup (@Jeukendrup)
  • Inigo Mujika (@inigomujika (Spanish) and @inigomujika_en (English))
  • Stephen Seiler (@StephenSeiler)
  • Matt Fitzgerald (@Mattfitwriter)
  • Alex Hutchinson (@sweatscience)
  • Alan Couzens (@Alan_Couzens)
  • Louis Burke (@LouiseMBurke)
• 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.

6:55 - 

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. 

10:14 - 

• TrainerRoad Ask A Cycling Coach Podcast is number 6. 
  • Their blog is also very useful. 
• 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. 

12:57 - 

14:34 - 

• Alex's Hutchinson's Sweat Science blog is number 4, and now resides in Outside Online.
• Alex Hutchinson's book "Endure: Mind, Body and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance" is also a brilliant resource.  
• The blog has all sorts of different topics to read about. 
• Alex dives into the research on various topics and tries to distill it into what we know, what we don't know and what the practical implications are.
• Alex was a top class national level runner in his day too. 

16:03 - 

• ​​​​I've lumped these resources together into the Matt Fitzgerald trifecta, these are my favourite Matt Fitzgerald books:
  • The Endurance Diet
  • 80/20 Running
  • How Bad Do You Want It
• 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. 

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. 

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. 

24:54 - 

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 and resources mentioned

• Running with Power Revisited - Advanced Analysis with Steve Palladino | EP#93
• To lab test or not to lab test with Alan Couzens | EP#79
• Mind, body, and the curiously elastic limits of human performance with Alex Hutchinson | EP#101
• Dysfunctional movement patterns, injuries and reduced performance with James Dunne | EP#45
• Structured, power-based cycling training with Chad Timmerman | EP#38
• Joe Friel's advice for improving training structure and periodize your way to success | EP#1
• How to use data to get faster with Jim Vance | EP#7
• Cycling Science and Myth Busting Part 1 with Stephen Cheung | EP#74
• ​Cycling Science and Myth Busting Part 2 with Stephen Cheung | EP#75
• ​Race-day fueling and The Core Diet with Jesse Kropelnicki | EP#40
• ​Training with power meters for triathletes with Hunter Allen | EP#103
• Balancing a Big Life with Big Performance - Matt Dixon | EP#60  
• Training Peaks blog
• ​Palladino Power Project Facebook Group
• Alan Couzens' blog
• ​TrainerRoad Ask A Cycling Coach Podcast
• ​Kinetic Revolution with James Dunne
• ​Alex Hutchinson's Sweat Science Blog
• Alex Hutchinson's book "Endure: Mind, Body, and the Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance"
• Matt Fitzgerald's "The Endurance Diet", "80/20 Running", and "How Bad Do You Want It?"  
• The "Swim Smooth" book (by Paul Newsome and Adam Young)
• The "Swim Smooth" website
• "Triathlon Science" book by Joe Friel and Jim Vance
• ResearchGate
• "Daniel's Running Formula" by Jack Daniels
• triathlonlive.tv
• Bodybuilding.com
• ​Sigma Nutrition Radio (podcast)
• "The Endurance Training Diet and Cookbook" by Jesse Kropelnicki  
• DC Rainmaker website
• Precision Hydration blog
• "80/20 Triathlon" by Matt Fitzgerald and David Warden
• "Training and Racing with a Power Meter" by Hunter Allen and Andy Coggan
• "Fast After 50" by Joe Friel
• ​"Fast-Track Triathlete" by Matt Dixon
• Global Triathlon Network Youtube channel  
• "Endurance Training – Science and Practice" by Inigo Mujika
• "Science and Application of High-Intensity Interval Training" Paul Laursen and Martin Buchheit  
• "Cycling Science" by Stephen Cheung and Mikel Zabala
• Purplepatch Podcast with Matt Dixon

Connect with host 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. 

I sincerely want you to contact me to

• Send me feedback
• Give constructive critic​ism 
• Request topics and guests for the podcast
• Send me your triathlon-related questions 
• Tell me that you've rated and reviewed That Triathlon Show so I can give you a shout-out on the show and tell you how much it means to me!