Gordo Byrn on optimising Ironman training, the importance of volume and low intensity training, and practical age-group training

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Gordo Byrn is a former investment banker turned professional triathlete at a later stage in life without an endurance sports background. He podiumed at Ironman New Zealand and Ironman Canada, and also became Ultraman World Champion. Today, Gordo is a coach and a prolific writer, with a lot of great thoughts and perspectives on how to improve performance in triathlon and endurance sports, and even in life.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:

• The importance of high-volume training, mainly at low intensity, in Gordo’s training philosophy.

• Gordo’s comeback to endurance sports in his 50s after a long time out from consistent and focused triathlon or other endurance sports

• Why you should not do an Ironman within your first year of triathlon training

• The difference between adaptive and maladaptive training load, and how to make sure you stay on the adaptive side.

• The importance of lactate testing to establish your low-intensity training zones

• Practical tips for age-group athletes on how to apply more “elite” or professional training principles to their day to day life and constraints

• The main differences between professional Ironman training methods in the 2000s and today.

DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:

• We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode.

• The shownotes for today's episode can be found at scientifictriathlon.com/tts679

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

• Gordo’s Substacks: Endurance Essentials (feelthebyrn.substack.com), Gordo’s Substack (gordobyrn.substack.com), True Wealth (truewealth.substack.com)

• Gordo’s Youtube (youtube.com/@feelthebyrn), Twitter (x.com/feelthebyrn1) and Instagram (instagram.com/feelthebyrn)

• Gordo’s book (with John Hellemans and Julie Dibens): From Lemon To Legend: A Comprehensive Guide To Running, Cycling, Swimming And Triathlon (amazon.com/dp/B0FYYNCTZY)

• Papers cited

• Aerobic Energy Turnover and Exercise Economy Profile During Race Simulation in a World-Record-Breaking Male Full-Distance Triathlete (researchgate.net/publication/385845309_Aerobic…) - Christensen 2024 (the Magnus Ditlev case study, already a modern classic in triathlon science)

• How to Skate a 10k (howtoskate.se) by Nils van der Poel (free download)

WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?

If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following related episodes:

• Craig Alexander – Three-time Ironman World Champion | EP#461 (scientifictriathlon.com/tts461) - one of the very best of Gordo’s contemporaries goes deep into the training that made him a three-time Ironman World Champion

• Rune Kjøsen Talsnes, PhD | EP#427 (scientifictriathlon.com/tts427) - great scientific and applied information on overtraining and non-functional overreaching, related to Gordo’s points about maladaptive training, stress and fatigue

• Ironman World Champion Solveig Løvseth on her race day strategy in Kona, her training block at altitude, heat training and more! (scientifictriathlon.com/670-2) - my interview with Solveig with the simulation session referenced in the episode

You can find our full episode archiveshere (scientifictriathlon.com/podcast-archives), where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc.

You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specificallyQ&A episodes (scientifictriathlon.com/qa),TTS Thursday episodes (scientifictriathlon.com/ttst), andBeginner Tips episodes (scientifictriathlon.com/beginner-tips).

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