Anna Kiesenhofer - Olympic Champion | EP#454
That Triathlon Show
Exploring Athlete Phenotypes and Training Strategies
This chapter examines the differences in athlete phenotypes, particularly focusing on the training requirements of climbers and time trialists. The discussion highlights the importance of balancing intensive training with necessary rest, alongside practical training methods such as interval sessions and block training. Insights are shared on tapering strategies and the psychological challenges faced by athletes in preparation for the Olympics.
Anna Kiesenhofer is the Olympic Champion from Tokyo 2021 in the cycling road race. She is a 9-time National Champion, and a mathematician. In this episode, Anna talks about her training in general, the specific training she did leading into her Olympic gold in Tokyo, being mostly a self-coached athlete for the last decade or so, and much more.
HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:
- Anna's entry into the professional cycling world, and the burnout that followed
- Training going into the Tokyo Olympics
- Anna's extremely hard block training protocols
- Combining training for the Olympics with full-time work as a mathematician
- Race planning and executing her plan on race day in Tokyo
- Anna's self-coaching process
- Thoughts on intensity, volume, training on the road vs. TT bike, testing and more...
- Tips for amateur cyclists, and cycling specific advice for amateur triathletes
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. Naturally, as great as they are, they do not cover absolutely everything in as great detail as we can do in a 45-90 minute podcast episode.
- The shownotes for today's episode can be found at www.scientifictriathlon.com/tts454/
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?
If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes:
- Training Talk with Kolie Moore | EP#271(Anna mentioned Kolie's threshold blocks-training as something that she implemented in her training leading into the Olympics that had great results)
- Training talk and Tokyo 2020 with Nate Wilson | EP#303 (Nate is a coach at EF Pro Cycling, the coach of Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift 2024 Champion Katarzyna Niewiadoma, and coach of the triathlon Olympic Champion from Tokyo 2021 Flora Duffy)
- Dajo Sanders, PhD | EP#384 (Dajo is a coach at INEOS Grenadiers)
- Training Talk with Ben Day (Team BikeExchange) | EP#289 (another World Tour cycling coach interview)
- Sophie Coldwell | EP#395 (for another world class athlete interview, but in triathlon)
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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