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.
HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:
Second at Norseman two weeks before this recording, on what he calls zero structured sessions. What has held on, what has gone, and which part of the power duration curve goes first.
The training week behind two Olympic golds: hours, sessions per sport, the swim, track and bike sessions he built the year around, and what share of it was actually done at intensity.
Riding at 200 watts with a threshold north of 400, and running five minutes per kilometre when he has a 28:32 PB. Why he was that strict about it, and the two things it bought him.
High intensity as the icing on the cake: why he thinks the icing contributes less than most athletes believe, and what follows from that if your cake is small.
His test for whether an easy session was genuinely easy, why feeling hypoglycaemic on an easy ride tells you something, and why he will not give you a wattage or a lactate number for it.
Injuries, and whether you have to take that risk to win an Olympic title. His arithmetic on what a month lost to injury really costs you, and what that means for today.
What changes when you have 10 hours a week rather than 35: the one thing he would move about the intensity proportions, and the trap most age group athletes fall into.
Sodium, cramp and the gap between the literature and what athletes report. Why he is not sold on sweat sodium testing, what heat training did to his own numbers, and the taurine protocol he uses in hot races.
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