Melanie McQuaid is a triathlon coach and veteran professional triathlete. In 2023 she became the first ever 50-year-old to qualify for and race in the professional field in the Ironman World Championships in Kona. In this interview we discuss that feat and Mel's general thoughts on longevity in the sport and on maintaining performance at an older age. Then we go into a long Q&A segment, answering listener questions on a large variety of topics.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN...

Bex Milnes is a triathlon coach of age-group and professional athletes with over 15 years of experience in endurance sports. She has helped multiple athletes and teams achieve Paralympic and Commonwealth medals, as well as pro and age group podiums in Ironman and Ironman 70.3 racing. In this interview we discuss the training of age-group athletes training for half and full distance triathlon.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -How to train efficiently on a limited time budget ...

Tomasz (Tomek) Kowalski, is a triathlon coach and sport scientist from Poland. Tomek's coaching experience includes working with both elite and age-group triathletes, including coaching Ironman World Champions in their respective age-groups, and in his academic work his main focus is on the effect of respiratory muscle training (RMT) on endurance performance.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Tomek's coaching philosophy and methodology -What it takes to podium or win the...

Rune Kjøsen Talsnes, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. In this interview, we discuss overtraining, training progression and periodisation, and some general topics within endurance training and in particular, insights from the world of cross-country skiing.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Overtraining and non-functional overreaching: definitions and diagnosis -Prevention strategies and monitoring for overtraining and...

Björn Geesmann is the coach of Patrick Lange and Kat Matthews, and the CEO of HYCYS and The Aerow wind tunnel. He returns to the podcast for a long discussion on a number of training-related topics.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Psychology in training, racing and coaching -Run training and running economy -Considerations for how to distribute volume and intensity within and between swimming, biking and running -Tapering -Listener questions ...and much more   ...

James Spragg, PhD, is a cycling coach at the Tudor Pro Cycling Team and performance consultant. His PhD research focused on durability, which is the main topic of today's interview.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -The concept of durability  -The relationship between training characteristics and durability in cycling -The relationship between physiological measures and durability in cycling -The type of intensity, not just the amount of work done, impacts the downward shift...

Jacob Tipper is a cycling and triathlon coach working and having worked with athletes such as Ben Healy, Dan Bigham, Lucy Byram and Jonathan Brownlee, and a former elite cyclist himself. In this interview we discuss Jacob's experience in triathlon, two years into his transition from cycling to triathlon, including several important lessons learnt.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Your training doesn't have to fit into popular frameworks -The outsized cost of improving...

Email your application to [email protected]. We have an exciting career opportunity for coaches out there. As our team is approaching full capacity of coached athletes, we are looking to bring on a new coach to join our team and work with athletes from around the world.  To apply, respond to this email with your CV and tell me a bit more about yourself as a person, as a coach, and why you want to join Scientific Triathlon.  Here is a list of a few important characteristics,...

Marinus Petersen is a cycling coach and road cyclist, with a win in the 2021 Welsh road cycling championships on his palmarès. In this interview we discuss Marinus' approach to coaching and training.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Marinus' overall coaching methodology -The importance of nutrition within the training process -The value of doing "oversized" endurance rides -How to balance aerobic volume and intensity -Testing and athlete profiling   SHOWNOTES: ...

Mikael and David Dhooge answer listener questions in a supersized Q&A edition for the holiday season.              IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Favourite TTS episodes of the year -Differences in training between sprint and middle distance races -Weight loss -Muscle fibre composition - how to estimate your phenotype -When and how to get back into training after illness -Pace or heart rate targets for Zone 2 training -"Big Days" in Ironman preparation -Our proudest...

Craig Kirkwood is a triathlon and endurance coach from New Zealand. His introduction to endurance sports was in running where he raced at a high level (marathon PB 2:13) and got his introduction to coaching, working under Kim McDonald with numerous high-level athletes including World Championships and Olympic Games medalists. As a triathlon coach Craig is known as the long-time coach of Hayden Wilde, bronze medalist from the Tokyo Olympics, but he also coaches age-group runners and...

Jem Arnold is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia, where his primary research focuses on sport-related vascular conditions. Jem is a physiotherapist, a physiologist, and an avid cyclist and trail runner interested in optimising endurance training.   IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Including training above "threshold" in your program improves VO2max, but may not improve Time Trial performance more than training only up to threshold-intensity (a recent meta-analysis) ...

Mikael answers listener questions about training, coaching and performance.     IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -How hard should your hard workouts be -Mikael's coaching philosophy and how it has evolved over the years -Mikael's views on science within coaching   SHOWNOTES: https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts419/   SCIENTIFIC TRIATHLON AND THAT TRIATHLON SHOW WEBPAGE: www.scientifictriathlon.com/podcast/   SPONSORS: Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes perform at...

Mikael answers listener questions about the off-season.           IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Overall thoughts about the off-season -What kind of training (if any) besides easy aerobic training to do during the off-season? -Can you incorporate races (e.g. trail or road running, Zwift races) into the off-season? -The difference between training in Z1 and Z1 (in a 5-zone system) and how to balance training in these zones -Weight training and VLaMax in the off-season -How to...

Dan Lorang is the Head of Performance / Head Coach at World Tour cycling team Bora-hansgrohe, and he is the coach of a small roster of world-class triathletes, including Lucy Charles-Barclay, Anne Haug, Frederic Funk and until his recent retirement, Jan Frodeno.   IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Lucy Charles-Barclay's training progression and changes since starting working with Dan -Her final big training block leading into Kona -Doing a home-based "training camp" with lots of...

David Tilbury-Davis is the coach of an impressive roster of pro triathletes, including the likes of Ashleigh Gentle, Skye Moench, Amelia Watkinson (all three women ranked in the top-20 in the PTO rankings), Josh Amberger and others. He also coaches a handful of age-group triathletes. In this interview we discuss the training of professional-level triathletes, in particular at the pointy end of women's racing, and we discuss the off-season for age-group triathletes in detail.     IN THIS...

Josephine Perry, PhD, is a chartered psychologist working across a wide range of sports to help athletes overcome their barriers to success. In addition to working directly with athletes, she is also the author of five books within the realm of psychology, and she is an age-group triathlete herself.             IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Performance anxiety and how to deal with it -Motivation issues and how to deal with them -Common personality archetypes in triathlon: highly...

David Lipman works in sports technology and has a particular interest in the intersection of health and performance. He has degrees in medicine and exercise science, a background in coaching, and a strong understanding of both endurance sports and strength and conditioning.     IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -The evolution of world-class endurance training (a discussion about a recent publication) -Dave's perspectives on triathlon training - are there things that we could do better...

Parker Spencer is the head coach of USA Triathlon's Project Podium, a men's elite development program based at Arizona State University. The project already has produced alumni like Chase McQueen, and Parker himself won the USAT Olympic Coach of the Year award for 2022.    IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Parker's role as head coach at Project Podium -The long-term development plan - how to take an athlete from talent to world-class -Using personality assessments -Using metabolic...

Torben Rokkedal Lausch is the head coach of the triathlon centre in Aarhus, one of three high-performance centres in Denmark. He is also close to finalising his PhD in Sports Science, and he is the individual coach of age-groupers, short-course athletes, and long-course athletes like Kristian Høgenhaug and Mathias Lyngsø Petersen.             IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Torben's coaching methodology -How to adapt training to the athlete based on where they are in their career ...

Bas van Hooren is a sport scientist, sport science consultant, and a runner with multiple national championship medals. In this interview we discuss a number of topics Bas has researched, including practical applications of these findings.     IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Are cool-downs necessary?  -Is there a physiological or biomechanical difference between treadmill and outdoor running?  -What do we know about the physiology and training characteristics of the best older...

Kerry McGawley is Associate Professor at Mid Sweden University, a coach and coach educator, and a very good age group triathlete. In this interview, we discuss the current science on the female athlete, where we need to do more in both academia, in sports organisations and in society, and practical takeaways. This is part two of a two-part interview, where part one was about Kerry's own training as an age-group 70.3 World Champion.   IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -Mother-athlete...

Joel Filliol, coach of the #JFTcrew (Katie Zaferes, Vincent Luis, Vasco Vilaça, Jelle Geens and others), returns to the podcast to discuss training, performance, and the ever-increasing level and demands of short-course triathlon.          IN THIS EPISODE YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT: -How has triathlon and the demands of the sport developed in the last few years? -The impact of the Olympics and the phase of the Olympic cycle on training and racing planning and periodisation -Learnings and...

Kerry McGawley is Associate Professor at Mid Sweden University. She is also a coach, and a very good age group triathlete in her own right. In this interview, we discuss Kerry's own training and racing, as a case study of how a person with all the knowledge that Kerry has about sports science and physiology trains and achieves results like winning her age group in the IM70.3 World Championships. This is part one of a two-part interview, where part two is about the current science on the...