Episode 36: “The Bonfire of Success,” with World Class Coach David Tilbury Davis
About this episode
David Tilbury-Davis discusses coaching strategies and athlete resilience in triathlon training.
David Tilbury-Davis coaches or has coached triathlon household names such as Ashleigh Gentile, Lionel Sanders, Skye Moench, Corinne Abraham, Cody Beals, and Matt Hanson, and he’s been doing so for three decades. In this episode, David explains his “evidence-led” in contrast to “evidence-based” approaches, how he gives athletes autonomy within structured training blocks, and why understanding your race day "poker hand" matters more than race-day magic. We discuss block periodization across the four disciplines of triathlon, how the Norwegian Method is more a product of excellent professionalism, cognitive load in VO2 work, and why even successful performances need analysis. In the moment I found most affecting, David talks about how an athlete deals with setbacks separates the great from the merely good. Links mentioned in this episode: David's website: tilburydavis.com David on Instagram: @tilburydavis Book: Think Like a Rocket Scientist by Ozan Varol Book: The Scout Mindset by Julia Galef Book: Anti-Fragile by Nassim Taleb Book: How to Decide , by Annie Duke Resource: Swim Smooth
People in this episode
Guest: David Tilbury-Davis
Topics covered
- coaching
- triathlon
- training methods
- athlete autonomy
- performance analysis
- block periodization
- mental resilience
Keywords
- triathlon
- coaching
- evidence-led
- block periodization
- athlete autonomy
- performance analysis
- mental resilience
- VO2 work
- Norwegian Method
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Swim Smooth, tilburydavis.com
Books & works: Think Like a Rocket Scientist, The Scout Mindset, Anti-Fragile, How to Decide
More episodes of The Infirmary | Fixing Broken Endurance Athletes
- Episode 44: Triathlon Only Has Two Zones
- Episode 43: The Science of Sweat | How to Actually Fuel and Hydrate for Endurance with Tash Cooper-Smith
- Episode 42: Stress + Rest = Growth: A Guided Breathwork Session for Mental Toughness
- Episode 41: “‘Metabolic Efficiency’ is Just a Fancy Term for Getting Fit w/Elite Endurance Coach Ryan Bolton
- Episode 40: “Where Is My Mind? Flow State, Focus, and Interval Meditation”
- Episode 39: “10-Minute Guided Interval Meditation”
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