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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 https://scientifictriathlon.com/tts679/

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

Gordo’s Substacks: Endurance Essentials, Gordo’s Substack, True Wealth
Gordo’s Youtube, Twitter and Instagram
Gordo’s book (with John Hellemans and Julie Dibens): From Lemon To Legend: A Comprehensive Guide To Running, Cycling, Swimming And Triathlon
Papers cited
- Aerobic Energy Turnover and Exercise Economy Profile During Race Simulation in a World-Record-Breaking Male Full-Distance Triathlete - Christensen 2024 (the Magnus Ditlev case study, already a modern classic in triathlon science)
How to Skate a 10k 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 - 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 - 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! - my interview with Solveig with the simulation session referenced in the episode

You can find our full episode archives here, 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, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.

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Ep 739 - Fun With Dick and Jane, and other stories

Overdue

Dick and Jane's Dominance in Classrooms

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