That Triathlon Show

If you are focusing on improving your FatMax in 2026, you’re likely wasting time and money. Not only is fat a more expensive substrate to burn than carbohydrate (you get less energy for the same amount of oxygen by oxidising fat), but the Fatmax number you see in your lab report is mostly noise and very little signal. In today’s episode of That Triathlon Show I’ll explain exactly why that is, but I’ll also give you a tool to evaluate any test or measure that you might (or might not) want to be tracking, from Time Trials to VO2max, HRV and various biomarkers like ferritin and testosterone.

In this episode, coach Daniel Rowland and myself each bring two recent research studies to the table that we have found interesting and potentially useful for athletes and coaches. We discuss the implications and practical takeaways of the findings, how athletes can implement the findings in practice, and the strengths and weaknesses of the different studies. Whether you listen for the love of endurance sports science, or because you want to keep up to date with the cutting edge in triathlon training, this one is for you.

This is the episode for every triathlete with ambitions in sprint and Olympic distance triathlon, from beginners looking to complete to front-of-the-pack athletes looking to compete. Triathlon training has similarities across the board from sprint to Ironman distance, but the specific training obviously differs between distances, and in this episode we break down exactly, when, why and how. Let’s get stuck in!

Triathlon is a sport that rewards a big aerobic base, built over multiple years (if not decades) of training. But even though we all know this, it’s often hard in practice to prioritise this kind of long-term aerobic development, and we make tradeoffs that might lead to short-term gains, but might not help us achieve our full potential in the long-term. Coach Carson Christen joins me today to discuss this topic in detail. By the end of this episode you should have a better idea of what you can do today, this month, and this year, to maximise your long-term development as a triathlete.

Innovations like the aerobar, power meter and GPS watches have shaped triathlon and endurance sports in the last decades. But what comes next? What will be the next big innovation to shape triathlon? Dr. David Lipman returns to the podcast to discuss what the next big innovations will be, and which ones might fall flat. We also take a stroll down memory lane to look at past innovations that succeeded and failed, and try to parse what it takes for an innovation to really stick.

Jacob Tipper is a high-performance cycling and triathlon coach working with athletes such as Ben Healy (Tour de France stage winner and UCI World Championships third place in 2025), Lucy Byram, Dan Bigham and Jonny Brownlee. He is also a team coach or the EF Education-EasyPost WorldTour team. In today’s interview we discuss training for amateur triathletes and we dive deep into Ben Healy’s training and preparation that led to his breakthrough year in 2025.

Sebastian Sitko is a cycling and triathlon coach, and a sports scientist. His active involvement in coaching both amateur and professional athletes, as well in conducting and evaluating research means today’s episode is a perfect opportunity to discuss how to approach the integration of science and practice in cycling, triathlon, and other endurance sports.

Torque and cadence are common features of cycling training programs, but how should you really train them to get the most out of your training? Peter Leo is a sports scientist and high-performance coach working across cycling (Team Jayco-Alula, Cycling Australia) and triathlon (coach of high-level short-course athletes), and since he’s personally researched this topic, and applied it at the highest level, he’s a perfect guest to answer this question. We also discuss training principles, including debunking some common misconceptions and mistakes made when applying training principles in practice.

Most triathletes and runners will suffer from injuries almost every single year (and many will suffer multiple injuries per year). In this episode, world-renowned physical therapist Chris Johnson explains how to break out of this injury cycle, by looking at all of the different variables contributing to injuries. This is an in-depth look at how to balance your running or triathlon training with proper strength training, nutrition, and lifestyle factors, to allow you to train and perform more and better in the long run.

A great fartlek and progressive threshold session to improve your running. Plus, the components that should be part of an effective run program, even though they’re not necessarily classified as “run sessions”.

Learn about the interval session that takes traditional long intervals (e.g. 4 x 5 minutes) and optimises it for more time near VO2max (and by extension, more training adaptations). Also, do Norwegian cyclists do threshold intervals the same way as their triathlon counterparts.

Gordo Byrn, investment banker turned professional triathlete and multiple Ironman podium finisher, discusses how to manage training load and fatigue. The full episode (an almost two-hour long episode!) will be available in the episode "Gordo Byrn on optimising Ironman training, the importance of volume and low intensity training, and practical age-group training" (release date 22nd of January 2026).