Alistair Brownlee is the only triathlete to win two individual Olympic golds, winning at home in London in 2012 and in Rio in 2016. He retired at the end of 2024 after an 18-year career, in which he also won two World Titles, four European Titles and the Commonwealth Games. He also has two second-place finishes from Ironman 70.3 World Championships. This is a conversation about how he actually trained across two decades, in particular when he was at his most dominant and changed the sport: the volume, the intensity, what he would do differently, and lots more.
Sep 3
1 hr 18 min
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.
Aug 27
1 hr 13 min
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. Tapering, torque work, electrolytes, grey zone intervals, heat training, strength training, sprint interval training and psychology. For each one: what the evidence actually says, what the two of them do instead, and the reasoning they would defend it with.
Aug 20
1 hr 19 min
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.
Aug 13
1 hr 45 min
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.
Aug 6
56 min
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!
Jul 30
1 hr 8 min
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.
Jul 23
1 hr 21 min
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.
Jul 16
1 hr 34 min
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
Jul 9
1 hr 12 min
Jack Kelly, professional triathlon coach and host of The Triathlon Hour discusses everything about his coaching methods and thoughts on triathlon training and performance.
Jul 2
2 hr 10 min
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