Craig Alexander - Three-time Ironman World Champion | EP#461

Apr 23, 2025

Craig Alexander, a three-time Ironman World Champion, shares his incredible journey and insights from over two decades in triathlon. He dives into his successful training strategies, discussing the balance of aerobic endurance and high-intensity efforts, as well as key workouts for swimming, biking, and running. Craig reflects on lessons learned from his Ironman experiences in Kona, including hydration and pacing strategies. He also offers invaluable advice for age-group athletes, focusing on common training mistakes and the significance of a solid support team.

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INSIGHT

Craig's Polarized Training Insight

Craig Alexander's training was highly organized, consistent, and polarized, focusing on a lot of zone two work and threshold efforts.
His background in soccer provided a high threshold and speed base, but he emphasized building aerobic endurance and technique over time.

ADVICE

Swim Training Essentials

Use paddles and pull buoy extensively in swim training to build strength and improve technique.
Tailor sets to include threshold-level efforts combined with speed work to mimic race conditions and improve endurance.

ADVICE

Balanced Bike Training Components

Include one long bike ride, threshold intervals, low-cadence strength work, hill rides, and high-cadence sessions for a balanced bike program.
Focus on pedal stroke efficiency by controlling core stability and progressively increasing gear resistance.

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Craig Alexander is a three-time Ironman World Champion and two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion. In this episode we discuss the training and racing strategies Craig used during his career in detail. Craig also shares learnings from his post-racing coaching career on training considerations for age-group triathletes.

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:

An overview of Craig's training approach during his most successful years
Key principles and example workouts in his swim, bike and run training
How to race well in Kona
Things that didn't work and training mistakes made
Craig's team and coaches
Advice for age-group athletes, including time-restricted athletes and older athletes
Common mistakes to avoid for age-group athletes
Overrated and underrated products and concepts in triathlon

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/tts461/

LINKS AND RESOURCES:

Craig's website (Sansego) and Instagram

WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?

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

Frank Jakobsen – Performance, training and mindset | EP#231 and Coach Frank Jakobsen | EP#373 - Frank is one of the coaches Craig worked with during his career, and shares lots of wisdom in these two interviews.
Kona preparation – best practices of top coaches | EP#309 - For more advice specifically on preparing for a great race in Kona, this is a great listen.
David McNamee – training, racing, and insights from 18 years in triathlon | EP#435 - Another interview with detailed insights into the training of an athlete who's had great success in the Ironman World Championships.

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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SPONSORS:

Precision Fuel & Hydration help athletes personalise their hydration and fueling strategies for training and racing. Use the free Fuel & Hydration Planner to get personalised plan for your carbohydrate, sodium and fluid intake in your next event. That Triathlon Show listeners get 15% off their first order of fuel and electrolyte products. Simply use this link and the discount will be auto-applied at the checkout.