38 Years of Triathlon Training Lessons in 67 Minutes

But, uh, jumping straight into the co- coaching questions, what's an old school method that you have learned to let go of over the journey, something that you used to train with, but you don't think is so relevant anymore?

Um, I've got, I've got a second, uh, answer to this, but the main one is probably we, we did too much, uh, long slow training, uh, winter style, summer style, seasonal training.

And, uh, we know now that, that that was absolutely necessary.

We still need that, but not as much, I think.

And I think that would be an old school, um, uh, trait that I would, I would not hang on to as much.

Uh, I, I think, um, long slow distance training is, is really impactful in your, uh, growth as an athlete over a period of a journey of a career, you know.

But, you know, you can still get better improvements.

Now we know from all the science lab testing that's been going on over the years to get, you know, get a better outcome and improve an athlete faster and, and get them to their target goals quicker if you adjusted differently.

And I think that would be probably the main, the main thing that I would, I would be saying, "Look, it's just not one way." Just go and do winter training where you're just doing easy, slow rides, um, you know, and easy little jog runs just to keep your, uh, keep your fitness going.

That's true to a certain degree, but you're kinda getting left behind if you just go with that for...

You know, look, it depends where you live, doesn't it? If you live in Europe, and if you live in the United Kingdom, that is a...

or any of the Scandinavian countries where snow is a really big factor, where you could be snowed in for six months of the year.

And whereas some of the parts of Europe a little bit further south, you've got none of that.

You've got 15, 20 degrees Celsius through winter, um, in Spain and, uh, you know, beautiful places really south.

And the same thing happens in Australia.

You've got really cold temperatures in the southern part of Australia and much warmer temperatures in the northern part of Australia.

So you've got all these opportunities where you can train all year round.

It was more a winter thing where you really can't train outside, um, so you might as well just do some easy training just to keep, not let your fitness drop.

That was the goal, not let your fitness drop.

And I think that's probably a mistake.

You don't wanna just settle for, "I'm not gonna let my fitness drop by doing some maintenance." You wanna actually continue to add to your, uh, to your improvement.

And, and you really, you could possibly be leaving three months or some cases four months of gains by, by adopting this long slow training.

Um, so that would be my first answer.

But, uh, jumping straight into the co- coaching questions, what's an old school method that you have learned to let go of over the journey, something that you used to train with, but you don't think is so relevant anymore?

Um, I've got, I've got a second, uh, answer to this, but the main one is probably we, we did too much, uh, long slow training, uh, winter style, summer style, seasonal training.

And, uh, we know now that, that that was absolutely necessary.

We still need that, but not as much, I think.

And I think that would be an old school, um, uh, trait that I would, I would not hang on to as much.

Uh, I, I think, um, long slow distance training is, is really impactful in your, uh, growth as an athlete over a period of a journey of a career, you know.

But, you know, you can still get better improvements.

Now we know from all the science lab testing that's been going on over the years to get, you know, get a better outcome and improve an athlete faster and, and get them to their target goals quicker if you adjusted differently.

And I think that would be probably the main, the main thing that I would, I would be saying, "Look, it's just not one way." Just go and do winter training where you're just doing easy, slow rides, um, you know, and easy little jog runs just to keep your, uh, keep your fitness going.

That's true to a certain degree, but you're kinda getting left behind if you just go with that for...

You know, look, it depends where you live, doesn't it? If you live in Europe, and if you live in the United Kingdom, that is a...

or any of the Scandinavian countries where snow is a really big factor, where you could be snowed in for six months of the year.

And whereas some of the parts of Europe a little bit further south, you've got none of that.

You've got 15, 20 degrees Celsius through winter, um, in Spain and, uh, you know, beautiful places really south.

And the same thing happens in Australia.

You've got really cold temperatures in the southern part of Australia and much warmer temperatures in the northern part of Australia.

So you've got all these opportunities where you can train all year round.

It was more a winter thing where you really can't train outside, um, so you might as well just do some easy training just to keep, not let your fitness drop.

That was the goal, not let your fitness drop.

And I think that's probably a mistake.

You don't wanna just settle for, "I'm not gonna let my fitness drop by doing some maintenance." You wanna actually continue to add to your, uh, to your improvement.

And, and you really, you could possibly be leaving three months or some cases four months of gains by, by adopting this long slow training.

Um, so that would be my first answer.