# ALEX YEE!!!

An episode of [The Triathlon Hour](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1595443343), 30 Apr 2025, 1 h 53 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2640942/episodes/19698064-alex-yee.mp3

Alex Yee joins us to talk about his training & life in details you’ve never heard before. He goes through day by day what his typical training week looked like prior to running London Marathon, including key sessions and why he did things the way he did and compared that to his typical week leading into winning Olympic gold at Paris in the triathlon. We talk about his future plans for potentially trying to break the Ironman full distance world record in a sub 6:44 challenge and going to Kona. Eliot Kipchoge, the half marathon world record, screen time, relationships, the universe and so much more training conversation make up what was a very, very special podcast for The Triathlon Hour. Sign up to Patreon Here - Patreon link Pillar Performance - Pillar Performance Link + TTH15 - 15% off site-wide for first time users Precision Fuel & Hydration - Precision Link use TTH25 for 15% off your first order (or find the code for 20% off all orders on Patreon) buycycle - Buycycle Link need to sell your bike? Or buy a secondhand bike? Then click this link for a special discount code Nerd Belts - TTH20 for 20% off Nerd Belts Link

## Transcript

[0:30] SPEAKER_00: Alex Ye, thank you for joining me here on the Triathlon Hour.
[0:38] SPEAKER_02: So it's nice to finally get it uh sit down together and get it done.
[0:41] SPEAKER_00: Well, really, at this point, it's like it's yourself, it's Lionel Sanders, it's Gustav Eden and Jan Fredino.
[0:47] SPEAKER_00: They're probably in my head the four four big dogs that haven't been on.
[0:50] SPEAKER_00: So thank you for helping me check one of those names off the list.
[0:53] SPEAKER_00: And you come to us fresh off the back of running the London Marathon on the weekend in 211.08.
[0:59] SPEAKER_00: Now we are a Trithon podcast, but I want to touch on that because that's that's what you've been in the news for recently.
[1:05] SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about the day itself.
[1:06] SPEAKER_00: Maybe give me a little bit of a race report, a bit of a race recap.
[1:10] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
[1:12] SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, London was kind of at the start of 2025, my kind of big goal to start the year, this first kind of quarter of the year.
[1:21] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, getting there has been definitely a big learning curve, steep learning curve.
[1:26] SPEAKER_02: And on the day was able to to yeah, rot roll through it pr pretty well.
[1:31] SPEAKER_02: Got to about 30k um in the 20830 group, feeling quite good.
[1:36] SPEAKER_02: And then very quickly, after two more K's time hitting about 20 miles, I was starting to lose my wheels and just had to fight with my with my head and my heart uh to get to the finish line because my legs were were giving way at that point.
[1:50] SPEAKER_02: But mate, as an experience racing around London for me as a London boy, um also just with it being the biggest marathon uh participation event ever uh was so incredible.
[2:04] SPEAKER_02: So many people out, um, so many stories, so much money raised for good causes.
[2:09] SPEAKER_02: You just felt it was a real good day for humanity, and I was, yeah, irrespective of time goals, anything like that, I was just pretty proud to be part of that day.
[2:19] SPEAKER_00: From what I've seen, like on social media and talking to people, it seemed like I want to say like 80% of people, maybe even more, had a similar experience to you where at about 25 to 30k they really struggled.
[2:31] SPEAKER_00: What was it about the day?
[2:32] SPEAKER_00: Was it was it the heat?
[2:33] SPEAKER_00: Was it wind?
[2:34] SPEAKER_00: What like is it just is it just that London's back half of the course is harder, so a lot of people blow up.
[2:39] SPEAKER_00: What made it, what made it so that so many people started struggling at about the same point as you, do you think?
[2:44] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good question.
[2:45] SPEAKER_02: I'm not a hundred percent sure on exactly why, but one of the rationales is definitely is definitely the heat.
[2:53] SPEAKER_02: The um another one is that there was only one mile an hour winds, so we're starting the the start of the day with with one mile an hour winds at about 15-16 degrees, and you've raced for about an hour, hour, hour and a half, and then as soon as you've you've gone through that hour and a half, it's actually gone up to 23, 24 degrees, so you're already a little bit um cooked um going into that point, and then you've got to deal with another extra stimulus alongside that.
[3:20] SPEAKER_02: Um, and because of the low winds, um, there was no wind chill at all, so it's all just pure heat at that point.
[3:27] SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't sound like much to most people, but in the UK, that kind of humid heat is actually is quite hard to hard to deal with.
[3:34] SPEAKER_02: Um, and I definitely saw about 33, 34k, I had a pretty decent uh aerobic decoupling between uh heart rate and and pace, so it's just quite interesting to see those things all kind of marry up at one point, and seems like it was a very similar experience for a lot of people, um, which in a way makes you feel a little bit better about your race, but also uh just yeah, helps rationalise the whole thing.
[3:57] SPEAKER_00: And coming off the the race, you're now a few days removed from it.
[4:01] SPEAKER_00: Are you thinking that you might stick in the marathon for 2025 and go and head to say a Berlin or a Valencia kind of a cooler, faster course at the end of the year, or or are you thinking just straight back to Trithon now?
[4:13] SPEAKER_02: Mate, you're testing me now.
[4:15] SPEAKER_02: Uh if I'm being honest, uh I'm gonna see see how my legs come off this this next few days.
[4:22] SPEAKER_02: Um I've got a lot of really cool opportunities um which could potentially come up um within both spaces.
[4:29] SPEAKER_02: So I'm gonna sit down on Tuesday with my coach and try and map out the year, and yeah, uh I'm sure in the coming days from that I'll make a bit of an announcement on what's what my my my goals for the year will be.
[4:42] SPEAKER_00: Can you talk to me about what the options are?
[4:44] SPEAKER_02: No, I I'll I'll keep them close to my chest for the time being, but uh definitely definitely some cool stuff within the triathlon space and also um yeah, running.
[4:54] SPEAKER_02: So it'll be it'll be interesting.
[4:55] SPEAKER_02: We'll see we'll see what happens.
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: Don't tease me with this.
[4:58] SPEAKER_00: Is there is there a chance we see you in the long course triathlon world, T100 potentially, something like that?
[5:04] SPEAKER_02: I haven't ruled it out, mate.
[5:05] SPEAKER_02: I haven't ruled it out.
[5:07] SPEAKER_00: Oh, the Hayden, Hayden Wilde, Alex E Showdown could could happen this year.
[5:11] SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, mate.
[5:12] SPEAKER_00: Well we'll we'll sit tight and wait for your social media announcement of that.
[5:15] SPEAKER_00: Let's uh let's get into the the juicy stuff uh uh about the training that you did into the lead up into London.
[5:21] SPEAKER_00: And it was awesome in the lead up how you gave everyone a lot of access to your training with your YouTube series and and the Strava access.
[5:29] SPEAKER_00: What did what did you learn in training uh for the London Marathon?
[5:33] SPEAKER_00: Like what were your big lessons in training?
[5:37] SPEAKER_02: I think the the first thing that uh I learned about myself is that I can I can actually do a lot of the the kind of slightly longer distance uh higher higher volume sessions, which I wasn't sure whether my legs would be able to tolerate the load initially.
[5:55] SPEAKER_02: I think I I definitely found that there was a point in that where it started to slip in, particularly in the marathon, but throughout the throughout the kind of 30k sessions and stuff like that, my legs seemed to respond quite well to that.
[6:07] SPEAKER_02: Um I also found quite a few kind of chinks in my armour uh within my lab testing and to train actually against those stimuluses and uh to see some quite quick responses to those things was was really rewarding.
[6:22] SPEAKER_02: Um there also were things within within that which I tried to work on which actually didn't move at all.
[6:28] SPEAKER_02: So to see those kind of little progresses and uh also things which didn't quite go to plan allows us to kind of slightly alter training to to allow us to to work in a very specific zone when I come back to triathlon now and um yeah, train optimally to to develop um I think now, particularly LT1 to bring it a little bit closer to LT2.
[6:50] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you you went and did lab testing prior to starting this block and realized that your well your LT2 or your VO2 max were probably pretty good, but maybe at lower ends of the threshold you were kind of not at the level you wanted to be at.
[7:04] SPEAKER_00: Is that is that right?
[7:06] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, particularly actually sub threshold is sub-LT1 as well.
[7:10] SPEAKER_02: So um my curve is quite uh it's not not as as smooth as you'd probably see a lot of people's.
[7:18] SPEAKER_02: It probably undulates a lot, um, which makes it difficult to define an LT1.
[7:23] SPEAKER_02: Whereas now we've worked, particularly now.
[7:26] SPEAKER_02: I'm doing a lot more of my slightly steadier runs at 15, 16k an hour.
[7:30] SPEAKER_02: I've actually got a lot more efficient at that, and now I'm able to sit, you know, sub one, whatever it may be, or be able to recycle lactate very easily at those those kind of paces.
[7:40] SPEAKER_02: Whereas it's a zone which I'd never trained at before.
[7:44] SPEAKER_02: Um, so it was quite interesting to see having done I don't know, a few hundred miles of of running at that pace, I was actually able to quite quickly change uh my lactate curve throughout that that zone and keep it quite low up until you know the 21, 22k an hour point.
[8:00] SPEAKER_02: So that's yeah, that's that was quite rewarding and and interesting uh from that perspective as well.
[8:06] SPEAKER_00: Okay, I want to explore this a little bit.
[8:08] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, yeah.
[8:09] SPEAKER_00: In your training prior to this London Marathon experiment when you were just training for sprint and Olympic distance triathlon, where obviously I'm sure everyone listening knows you went on to win the gold medal at Paris last year.
[8:21] SPEAKER_00: What was your running training looking like?
[8:24] SPEAKER_00: Like how much mileage were you doing a week in the run?
[8:27] SPEAKER_00: And like what was the structure of your kind of run training week?
[8:31] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh should I talk in K's?
[8:34] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, K's, yeah, yeah.
[8:35] SPEAKER_00: Sounds good.
[8:35] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[8:36] SPEAKER_02: Um I'd say I was probably averaging between 85 to 100k a week of running, um doing two sessions a week.
[8:46] SPEAKER_02: Uh track was was actually quite short and fast reps, so it would either be one or two kind of slightly longer reps, so maybe anything from a mile to 2.4k reps, and then very kind of short reps, so even 300s, 400s.
[9:02] SPEAKER_02: Um and then there'll be a specific session which I did um kind of once every four weeks, which was uh four sets of five hundred, four hundred, three hundred, two hundred.
[9:13] SPEAKER_02: Uh and each time you'd start at 10k pace, go down to to 3k pace, and then if you imagine the next time you start the 10k pace at the at the 7.5k pace, I guess you'd call it, and then you'd slide it down all the way until you're actually running really hard towards the end.
[9:31] SPEAKER_02: So you'd start at 3k pace and work work your way all the way down.
[9:35] SPEAKER_02: So that was all to do with kind of leg speed, um, that first kind of couple K off the bike, probably a little bit of mixed relay conditioning as well.
[9:44] SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then my Friday session was a lot more kind of lactate two uh zone, probably closer to half marathon pace, so that would be your six by two Ks, maybe a 40-minute build where I'd kind of drop down from 310 per K down to 250 or 245.
[10:06] SPEAKER_02: So kind of looking at that zone and working at an LT2 robustness rather than it being an LT2 development, because I was at a point where I was working so hard at um swim and bike that I wasn't in a place where I could push the envelope on the on the run.
[10:21] SPEAKER_02: So just trying to trying to keep that robustness of that, and then everything else around it was was really easy, um, to be honest.
[10:28] SPEAKER_02: It was a very much a polarized block of trying to stay very steady state, running probably as much as as an active recovery as as it was um for stimulus, which is kind of the big change to what I do now.
[10:43] SPEAKER_02: That um each time I go out the door, there's a purpose to what the run rather than it being a kind of zone one, zone one effort, if that makes sense.
[10:50] SPEAKER_00: And were you doing a dedicated long run every week back then as well?
[10:55] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was I was.
[10:56] SPEAKER_02: Uh long run probably went up to one hour forty, but one hour forty would only take me to I guess 24k at that point, whereas an hour forty now may take me a lot further.
[11:08] SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, to to kind of kind of do that, it was more of a time on feet run rather than uh um developing any kind of zone if that makes sense.
[11:19] SPEAKER_00: And so when you were training this way, were you and your coach having active conversations thinking that you were someone who maybe couldn't handle any more training load than that, or like say in terms of weekly weekly mileage, or or were you thinking like maybe we can't do bigger sessions and then throughout this process you figured out that you can handle that?
[11:43] SPEAKER_02: I think for me um balancing the whole all three is about bandwidth, and I've worked so incredibly hard and put so much headspace into swimming and biking over the last kind of 18 months uh leading into the Olympics that I probably didn't have the opportunity to to develop running from a physiological point of view.
[12:05] SPEAKER_02: I think there's definitely always opportunities to to develop tactically, to develop leg speed, technical uh work, and as a result a bit of run economy as well.
[12:15] SPEAKER_02: Um but yeah, I think it it was always more of a maintenance program as a result of doing so much work with swim technical stuff, and then also with a lot of cadence work, um, in and around kind of being reactive out of dead turns, potentially attacks, riding over cobbles, and just training very specifically towards the demands of Paris.
[12:37] SPEAKER_02: Um, so that was the kind of big thing for me.
[12:40] SPEAKER_02: Um, was that I guess naively I'd had a really good run in in 2023 in the Paris test event, and that probably led us to think that if I could become extremely robust throughout the swim and the bike, that that would put me in a really good position to be able to run well.
[12:54] SPEAKER_02: And ironically, that turned out to to be the kind of chink in my armour, and I think that's that's quite exciting for me in a way that we've we've now discovered a new thing and we're able to work on it, and it meant that I was able to do London marathon, so that's also pretty cool.
[13:10] SPEAKER_00: Okay, before I come back to hearing a little bit more about the training into London Marathon, you just touched on it, so let's talk about it.
[13:16] SPEAKER_00: The chink in your armour ended up being your run uh at Paris.
[13:20] SPEAKER_00: That's kind of not true, it's just that relative to one person, Hayden Wilde, it looked like, oh, maybe maybe Alex isn't the the best runner here here on this day.
[13:30] SPEAKER_00: However, it turned out that you were.
[13:32] SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about that battle between you and Hayden on that day and like from your perspective, how did that play out?
[13:39] SPEAKER_00: Like, um, we've obviously heard Hayden's perspective of it here, but but what about from your from your perspective?
[13:45] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, for me, the the first thing uh about my race is that I wanted to get to the run in first of all the most efficient way possible, but also in the most competitive place possible for me.
[14:00] SPEAKER_02: Um so in terms of swim delivery, making sure I was in in the pack, not having to expend too much energy to kind of get in the competitive pack that was was there, uh work if if there was the opportunity, um, but also conserve and stay safe as well.
[14:17] SPEAKER_02: Um which I feel like I was able to do very well and and get to the get to the run in in the best place.
[14:25] SPEAKER_02: And coming into to T2 I'd actually had a really good um really good transition and came out probably about third or fourth.
[14:33] SPEAKER_02: And I knew that if I came out third or fourth, that the best thing for me to do would be to put pressure on the run at the start, and and as a result, if I run I d I don't know what pace you would have run at, probably around 250 per kilometre.
[14:47] SPEAKER_02: If I have to run 250 for the first kilometre, if somebody's two, three seconds behind to reach the front, they have to run a 247, then as a result, if that makes sense.
[14:55] SPEAKER_02: And each time that that compounds and compounds, so that was kind of my idea for the for the start of the run was to kind of push the envelope a little bit at the start.
[15:04] SPEAKER_02: Um and then yeah, I think I probably pushed it a little bit too hard, if I'm being honest, and got got round the dead turn on the first half of the run.
[15:13] SPEAKER_02: Um, and Hayden was Hayden was with me, and I probably with with the heat of the conditions and everything like that, probably had just gone a little bit too much into the red zone and a little bit too had spent too much time at VO2 that I had to bring myself back and and recover a little bit.
[15:29] SPEAKER_02: And when Hayden went, I had to make that decision to to kind of hold myself back and um yeah, not go with it.
[15:36] SPEAKER_02: And that definitely was a was a new feeling.
[15:40] SPEAKER_02: Um it was obviously a new scenario that we'd never had before, and I think it was hugely impressive for Hayden to to set that stall out on that day, and I think he did an incredible job of it.
[15:50] SPEAKER_02: Um and I just had to stay calm uh in that moment and race the race that I felt like I had within me.
[15:59] SPEAKER_02: Whether that was enough or not, I didn't know, but I never gave up on there being a chance that I could potentially get back to the front and and be competitive and the time started going out over the next two and a half K, maybe three K, and then it started to stabilize.
[16:15] SPEAKER_02: And at that point I decided that I was gonna pick a point with about I think about 1200 metres to go to to try and make a real effort to to bring myself back in the race, and I did I did that.
[16:28] SPEAKER_02: I'd made the left turning point invalid and went health level.
[16:31] SPEAKER_02: I felt like I'd given everything I had and honestly felt like I'd made no difference at all to the gap itself, and uh it felt like yeah, it was it was kind of settled, but about 300 metres later it went from being this insurmountable gap to me kind of doing the dead turn about 10 metres behind him and eventually being able to come alongside him.
[16:54] SPEAKER_02: And at that moment I just decided I'm just gonna keep going and give everything I have because if he saves something and outsprints me, then I can still be proud of this effort because I've given everything I have.
[17:05] SPEAKER_02: Um I feel like I I would have been better beaten by the better man 100%, and I can I'm I can be absolutely at peace with that, and yeah, luckily it was enough, and it was one of those pretty surreal moments which just happened so fast, and yeah, was able to take the tape.
[17:23] SPEAKER_00: I read, I think on your Instagram that you said that London Marathon was the most incredible experience of your life, but then hearing you describe that there at the Olympics where you go through this battle where you're the pre-race favourite, you've been pretty dominant over the past kind of three, four years leading into that that that Olympics, and then your one rival, like the one guy who can beat you, is beating you at the one day where it really matters, and it gets to the point about a K to go where you have kind of accepted like I might I might be losing this, and then you come back and and win.
[17:58] SPEAKER_00: Like it's just crazy to me that the London marathon experience must have been so like so intense for it to be a better day than that for you athletically.
[18:09] SPEAKER_02: I think definitely there's some some recency bias, bias of that, to be fair, but at the same time, London was an incredible experience, but for a very different reason, I think.
[18:20] SPEAKER_02: Of course, there was the performance aspirations and stuff like that, but in terms of um the moulding of myself, the forming of my character, the foreman of me, I think London had a big influence in that, and to be able to finally have that homecoming race, which felt like yeah, the first time where I'd ever been able to compete at that level with that kind of amount of people watching, supporting, cheering my name, particularly south of the river, just felt very surreal.
[18:51] SPEAKER_02: Um, of course, there were so many people that were able to travel over to Paris and have that experience, and and for me to be able to share that with them was so special.
[19:00] SPEAKER_02: But I felt like I was able to share it with so many more people in London, which was surreal.
[19:05] SPEAKER_02: But I think in terms of achievements, in terms of aspirations, goals, dreams, I think nothing will ever beat Paris.
[19:13] SPEAKER_02: It was yeah, one of those moments, particularly with the fact that Hayden pushed me really to my limit, and I feel like I got to the point where we just crested the top of the hill and um the point Alexandra, and I really didn't feel like I had many steps left in me.
[19:29] SPEAKER_02: And to get to that point was just yeah, a level of appreciation for each other, and um that we were able to push ourselves to that limit, and yeah, on on kind of one of the days where where it really mattered, I guess when we'd had at the end of at the end of 2023 a really disappointing point and end to the year with not being able to be the two that featured, and yeah, I was so glad that we were able to do that um on that day.
[19:57] SPEAKER_00: If you're training for any triathlon or running event, you should 1000% start using precision fuel and hydration as your training and race day nutrition.
[20:05] SPEAKER_00: Their best products, in my opinion, are their gels.
[20:07] SPEAKER_00: I love the PF90, PF30, and PF30 caffeine gels, and I also love their flow gel for the bike.
[20:13] SPEAKER_00: All four of those are just amazing products.
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: The thing that separates precision gels from other brands is that they taste great.
[20:19] SPEAKER_00: They just have this really simple, sugary flavour that you don't get sick of.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: Um, and in combination with that, they also have this texture that goes down really, really easily and doesn't leave you feeling gross and nauseous after taking it.
[20:30] SPEAKER_00: And I know for me, they're kind of two of the biggest factors that I've struggled with in other gels, but with precision, just a really simple, nice, sweet flavour, and they go down so so easily.
[20:40] SPEAKER_00: Um, they've also nailed their packaging, which can be a bit of a bugbear of mine, but they've made a really um practical and simple packaging that that doesn't spill out and get everywhere in their smaller gels.
[20:51] SPEAKER_00: And the PF90 literally has an easy-to-use on-race day screw top.
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: And in training, the PF90 is just absolutely incredible if you're doing a long run or if you're out on the bike.
[21:01] SPEAKER_00: Like there's no better gel on the market than the PF90, in my opinion.
[21:05] SPEAKER_00: It's just the best.
[21:06] SPEAKER_00: Um, they also make electrolyte tablets that have become a staple in the Triton world.
[21:10] SPEAKER_00: So join the bandwagon, start using precision for your training and racing, and to get a discount code when you do, um, either use the code TTH25, which gets you 15% off the first time you use it, or click the link in this episode description if you want a bigger discount code.
[21:26] SPEAKER_00: Um, it's over on the Triton our Patreon.
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: So the link to the Patreon is in the description of this episode.
[21:31] SPEAKER_00: And and there's a 20% off every time you shop at Precision Link if you do sign up for Patreon that you can take advantage of.
[21:40] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna ask you a bit about Hayden Hayden later on in the show.
[21:43] SPEAKER_00: Um Okay, so with this London marathon build, you just detailed your your kind of training week that you would typically do leading into the the Paris Olympics.
[21:53] SPEAKER_00: What about in this in this London block?
[21:56] SPEAKER_00: How long was the block that you did for London specifically?
[22:02] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I mean ideally the block would have been about twelve weeks long.
[22:08] SPEAKER_02: Um but unfortunately I came back from from Boston uh a little bit sick.
[22:14] SPEAKER_02: The plan was to raise the Barcelona half marathon.
[22:17] SPEAKER_02: Uh and and unfortunately I had to take a week off training completely and wasn't able to do any volume at all, which meant I had to rebuild back up my volume, which had built to about 130 kilometres at that point, back up a little bit slower.
[22:32] SPEAKER_02: So the block ended up being about nine and a half, ten weeks in the end of of actual um kind of full volume and intensity.
[22:41] SPEAKER_02: Uh but that was kind of averaging between 135 to 150 kilometres of of training.
[22:49] SPEAKER_02: But the the volume of running probably didn't change by that much, only by about two hours, because the average pace of my week went from being kind of 415 per kilometre to about 340.
[23:03] SPEAKER_02: So it meant that yeah, the hot the whole week was a lot quicker.
[23:08] SPEAKER_00: Wow, okay.
[23:09] SPEAKER_00: That so across kind of like what would that work out to be like anywhere between eight to kind of ten hours a week, you were averaging three four for like nine hours, yeah.
[23:20] SPEAKER_00: About nine hours, yeah.
[23:21] SPEAKER_00: 340 per K average across nine hours of running for the week for for give or take nine weeks.
[23:28] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[23:30] SPEAKER_02: I mean, to be honest, there was only one run a week where I'd go slower than about four minutes per kilometre because I wasn't I I was doing such small volume compared to everyone else.
[23:42] SPEAKER_02: I I can't be afforded to have recovery miles each run had to have a purpose, and some of the runs were the purpose of bringing down that first part of my uh lactate curve, uh making sure I was efficient at that kind of 15-16k per hour, and um and then that that as a result costing a little bit less, and then for for if we do another marathon block or whatever it may be, uh when we bring back to Trialflon, there's a lower cost to that, and as a result, I can do a lot more training of that kind of stimulus that allows me to do a little bit more volume as well.
[24:15] SPEAKER_02: Um, and yeah, that all can kind of adds up in a way.
[24:18] SPEAKER_00: Okay, so take me into this week.
[24:20] SPEAKER_00: How how would it look then from a Monday to to Sunday perspective?
[24:25] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so um Monday would be kind of between 16 to 18k of steady running, so anywhere from 340 to 355 per kilometer.
[24:39] SPEAKER_02: Um so just yeah, quite quite bread and butter, just leave the door at 7.30, 8 o'clock, um, get out there and do that, and then the rest of the day would have a two and a half to three hour bike, which would be which started with a little bit of first threshold uh riding in it, and then uh just eased off to being just an aerobic ride, and then uh an hour of gym.
[25:03] SPEAKER_02: Tuesday would have an aerobic swim, so probably four and a half to five K, a little bit of speed in there, but nothing above VO2.
[25:12] SPEAKER_02: Um, and then into an easy run, which would be seven, eight kilometres, and then a track session, which would be anything from I guess 14k of volume to I think the longest we did was 10 by a mile, so that's six just over 16k of volume.
[25:29] SPEAKER_02: Um in the end, which probably ends up being about 25-26 kilometres of running that day.
[25:36] SPEAKER_02: Uh the following day is similar to Monday, 16k at kind of probably close to 350 um K pace, followed by another aerobic bike, so three three hours on the bike, and then a gym session, and then Thursday I'd have a uh about a threshold intensity swim, uh five 5k or so, and then I'd just have in the evening a 17 to 19 kilometre run um at about 340, 345 pace with um with some drills, and then run off the back of that easy home drills and strides.
[26:21] SPEAKER_02: Um and then Friday would entail my my kind of key session of the week, so that could be anything from 4x6k to 22k under over Ks, alternating between just inside marathon pace, just outside, um, up to we did one which was a 30k at kind of marathon feel, um, and another one which was 5k LT2, uh not LT2 at zone two, and then 20k at marathon effort, and then 5k lift.
[26:56] SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then in the afternoon would be an easy swim uh or a rest, which would be kind of four about 4k.
[27:04] SPEAKER_02: The Saturday would have another easy, easy ride, aerobic riding, so kind of two and a half, three hours on the bike.
[27:12] SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then I'd have an easy run and some gym work.
[27:17] SPEAKER_02: And then Sunday would have my long run, so I think long run went from anywhere from 35k, probably down to like 26k, um, depending on the week.
[27:30] SPEAKER_02: And then it depends it depends on the point in the block, but I had a threshold swim in the in the afternoon, which kind of ticked off the week.
[27:39] SPEAKER_00: And with that long run, the whether it was a week where you ran 26k or a week where you peaked at 35k, were you doing that at kind of that same uh like LT1 development that 340 to 355 per K pace?
[27:54] SPEAKER_02: So very much depended on the day.
[27:56] SPEAKER_02: So one of the weeks was a lot more about time on feet, so we made sure I did uh a few which were over two hours, made sure there was one that was two hours fifteen, so that I'd actually done the kind of full duration of the race, if that makes sense.
[28:14] SPEAKER_02: That was at more like 355 per K pace, but definitely did a few runs which were a lot closer to 340 per K.
[28:23] SPEAKER_02: They'd often start around four minutes and then build to probably doing the last 10k in about 320 per K to kind of yeah, take off that that volume and intensity.
[28:34] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, they were definitely a mixture of getting used to time on feet, but also just getting slightly more efficient at that lower end of the lactic curve.
[28:44] SPEAKER_00: And throughout this block, did you learn something about yourself as a runner, like what kind of session maybe is now your favourite session versus beforehand?
[28:52] SPEAKER_00: Like uh the the kind of three sessions I would I would count you did in a week were the Tuesday track session where you're doing like probably K's, miles, two Ks, that kind of thing, if you were doing 14 to 16k of work, and then marathon specific type of stuff on the Friday.
[29:06] SPEAKER_00: You you talked about them all 4x6k, 22k over under, 30k at Mara, 5k, 20k, 5k.
[29:13] SPEAKER_00: And then the long run, which you know, if you're doing if you're doing 35k or two plus hours at 340 to 355, hard not to call that a session in my books.
[29:23] SPEAKER_00: Do you did did you start to like a certain kind of session that maybe you didn't know even existed really prior to this block?
[29:32] SPEAKER_02: Um for me it was the under-overs to be honest.
[29:35] SPEAKER_02: I think it was really interesting um to try and I think it will it all apply particularly well to triathlon going back into to going yeah, going at the mercy of a race if that makes sense.
[29:49] SPEAKER_02: Often if you're having a great race, you can be in control of a pace of a run.
[29:53] SPEAKER_02: But sometimes if you're having a bad race, you have to be in control, you can't be in control of that that kind of destiny.
[29:59] SPEAKER_02: So going above kind of a point where you're starting to to spike lactate and then to go below and to try and let that settle, I think was something which I found quite interesting.
[30:09] SPEAKER_02: And as you get a bit more efficient at it, I think it definitely makes a difference.
[30:13] SPEAKER_02: So to be able to tolerate potentially people's spikes in a race, um, it was interesting, even for the London Marathon, to have those the spikes through water stations, aid stations where you're getting your bottles, um, was definitely something I noticed.
[30:28] SPEAKER_02: And I think if I'd done a few more, I would have been able to tolerate a lot better.
[30:32] SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think that for me that was the the super interesting one to to actually I was getting some lactates done on the fly as we were doing those as well, so to kind of see the difference in in the kind of first time we did it to the the following times where I actually instead of just kind of the lactate creeping up, creeping up, creeping up, even though you're going over, under, over, under, and the heart rate looks like it's going over under fine, by the time you've done it a few times, you actually respond really well to it and you're able to to recover on those on those uh ones which are just above LT1, um, and then yeah, work really hard on those ones which are just below Lt2 as well.
[31:11] SPEAKER_00: So by the end of this block, or whenever you did the kind of best over-under session that that you think you did, what pace was your were you was your under or you know roughly Lt1 and what pace was your was your over or roughly LT2 by the end of it?
[31:28] SPEAKER_02: So it's not nothing incredibly special.
[31:30] SPEAKER_02: The the slower pace would be between 310 and 315, um and the on pace would be 255 to 3 minutes.
[31:41] SPEAKER_02: But I think those are probably two paces which relate fairly well to to two disciplines within um within triathlon, the probably the middle distance racing and then also Olympic distance.
[31:56] SPEAKER_02: So it's quite interesting that yeah, I was able to be one stimulus on one and then obviously raising raising my lactate in the other.
[32:04] SPEAKER_02: So um it was interesting from that point of view to learn about myself from from those those two paces as well.
[32:11] SPEAKER_00: Was there any point during this build where you had thoughts of like maybe I want to stop doing triathlon and and I like this marathon running thing enough that that this might be my thing going forward?
[32:26] SPEAKER_02: I don't think so.
[32:27] SPEAKER_02: I think every time I was I was doing something, it was always how does this work in the context of triathlon or what can I learn from this, which I think was quite interesting.
[32:37] SPEAKER_02: And I definitely haven't given up the title of being a runner, and I definitely love to go back to the marathon at some point, but I think that this was the the goal of this was to learn and to be a better athlete, and I think that all comes within the context of of this next four years and and trying to be you know as complete as an athlete as I can be, and hopefully this marathon block has taught me so much that I can apply now to to to to my sport and to my trade, and yeah, I think that's that's quite cool.
[33:07] SPEAKER_00: But just before we go on, are you a hundred percent committed in your mind to to heading to the next Olympics?
[33:13] SPEAKER_00: Or like is that a lock?
[33:15] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think so.
[33:17] SPEAKER_02: I think I would love to be on that start line in LA.
[33:22] SPEAKER_02: I know it's obviously four years away and the sport's evolving, sports changing, but that was kind of the idea of this this block is that I know that I can't do the same thing that I did for the last three years and expect the same result.
[33:34] SPEAKER_02: I've got to think think fresh and and think differently, think slightly laterally in a way that I can improve, um, but also keep mentally stimulated, excited about the sport, and curious about it as well.
[33:48] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, I think that's all kind of working towards being the best athlete I can be, come 2028.
[33:54] SPEAKER_02: I feel like even just through this block, it might not just be physic physiologically, but it also might be how I am around other people, how I am around media, that kind of stuff.
[34:06] SPEAKER_02: That mental kind of preparation towards that stuff has has definitely shifted in a way.
[34:11] SPEAKER_02: Um, and yeah, hopefully that can then apply to being in a race environment with Trialon, and I can stand on that start line calm, excited, and kind of focused on what I'm doing.
[34:22] SPEAKER_00: Rid this marathon weekend, uh, there was obviously like some huge names at the race, and I saw that you sat down and did that like hotel style interview with Kipchogi, which was very funny.
[34:32] SPEAKER_00: Mate, it was kind of funny, like it was awesome and and funny at the same time, and like how there was just the footage of him sitting in the hotel room waiting for you.
[34:41] SPEAKER_00: That was uh yeah, that was that was really funny.
[34:43] SPEAKER_00: Um talk to me about that, like um that sit down with with Alou Kipchogi and just racing those kind of guys on the start line.
[34:49] SPEAKER_00: Like, obviously, there was some big names like Kip L Kip Lemo in the race coming off the back of the half marathon world record and and that kind of thing as well.
[34:57] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean that meeting with Kipchogi was was super surreal, to be honest.
[35:04] SPEAKER_02: It was I hadn't really been prompted on what we were doing at all.
[35:08] SPEAKER_02: I'd just been told to come upstairs at a certain time and knock on the store, and as you can see, uh he was just waiting for me, and uh yes, it looked like I'd I'd kept him waiting a little bit too long, but hopefully he wasn't too upset about that.
[35:21] SPEAKER_02: Um, but yeah, it was very surreal to have that kind of conversation with him.
[35:25] SPEAKER_02: Uh everything he's he speaks feels like a holy scripture of running.
[35:30] SPEAKER_02: So it was it was one of those moments where I was like, you you never know if they're gonna be like how you expect them to be.
[35:37] SPEAKER_02: And Kipchogi was everything and more than I than I expected him to be.
[35:40] SPEAKER_02: So it was yeah, super nice for him to you know to listen to what I had to say as well.
[35:46] SPEAKER_02: And he was interested about the balance between swim bike and run for triathlon and um our mental preparation, our nutritional preparation.
[35:54] SPEAKER_02: So for him to actually listen to me as well, I think was quite cool.
[35:57] SPEAKER_02: Um, I feel like he's somebody who's very open-minded to learning as well.
[36:02] SPEAKER_02: So it was it was nice to to hear that he was maybe picking up a thing or two from us as well from the triathlon space.
[36:08] SPEAKER_02: And then, yeah, with regards to standing on that start line, it was it was a very bizarre feeling because I definitely knew it was, in my opinion, and I feel like in our generation, the best uh marathon field that had ever been been composed, in my memory, definitely.
[36:28] SPEAKER_02: Um, so to line up against those people and to be called out as one of the the key athletes at the start was was pretty surreal.
[36:35] SPEAKER_02: I felt like I'd won maybe a competition or something, uh line up next to those guys.
[36:40] SPEAKER_02: But I feel like the marathon is very different to lining up in the triathlon in that everyone lines up with their own internal goals, and I think for some of them it's to it's to win the race, of course, but for most of us it's to extract everything out of our body, race to the best of our body, get a good time.
[36:59] SPEAKER_02: And you felt that within our group when we started that everyone's passing about water bottles, a few people missed their gels and stuff like that, and people had spares and would give them out, and that kind of camaraderie was really nice.
[37:10] SPEAKER_02: And I think we see a similar thing within Triathlon that everyone is is such a family, but unfortunately, part and parcel of our racing is that we were racing each other, and um outcome kind of governs everything within our racing.
[37:24] SPEAKER_02: Um, so so yeah, that that was super interesting to kind of stand on the start line with those different thoughts and emotions, particularly that you didn't have to go kind of health a level for that first hundred metres and be in a bit of a fight.
[37:36] SPEAKER_00: I um I recently watched White Lotus, Alex, and I was watching an episode, and so it's so funny you just said that about Kipchogee, like every everything he says, it's kind of like the holy scripture of running.
[37:47] SPEAKER_00: Because I was watching the set there's a scene in it where there's like a monk, or I think he's like, yeah, he's a Buddhist monk, and he just gave me huge elude Kipchogi vibes.
[37:55] SPEAKER_00: And it's funny, isn't it?
[37:56] SPEAKER_00: Because in that interview with you, he just like whispers everything he says, like everything he he says is kind of like meaningful in a way.
[38:06] SPEAKER_00: Like it's all said with like really slow purpose, he whispers it.
[38:10] SPEAKER_00: He doesn't like he's not like it's just not a it's it's a very unusual way of conversation, but but very elude Kipchogi, isn't it?
[38:18] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
[38:19] SPEAKER_02: He has uh aura, I would say that's the best way of describing it, is that when you go in the room, you feel his presence, if that makes sense, and uh the way he delivers his voice and uh carries his voice is very calm, but also he gets his message across very effectively because everyone in the room listens to him, and um yeah, he's so eloquent with what he says, even if he's talking about I don't know, his trip to the shops.
[38:47] SPEAKER_02: I feel like he'd be able to say it in the most eloquent way and come out with a proverb at the end.
[38:52] SPEAKER_02: So it's he's he's a legend, and uh he's doing good things for the sport.
[38:56] SPEAKER_02: Definitely he he was always going on about how he wanted to make the world a running world and inspire the generation, which I definitely resonate with and yeah, hopefully can do as well.
[39:06] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, spot on.
[39:08] SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, like to touch on the start list that you talked about, like it was it was massive.
[39:12] SPEAKER_00: You know, like Tola was there who's the he won the Olympic gold um in the marathon and and you won the Olympic gold in the triathlon.
[39:19] SPEAKER_00: Did you guys ever have a conversation as as two Olympic gold medalists in there?
[39:23] SPEAKER_00: And I guess Kipchogi's a an Olympic gold medalist as well, who was in the race?
[39:27] SPEAKER_02: We didn't in the end.
[39:28] SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, I actually didn't see many of those guys until the actual the start line.
[39:34] SPEAKER_02: Um I think a lot of them are very professional with their preparations.
[39:38] SPEAKER_02: None of them really came down to the kind of communal area where all the athletes ate.
[39:42] SPEAKER_02: I think they probably all have their preparations and and stuff like that.
[39:46] SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, it would have been lovely to have had a chat with him.
[39:49] SPEAKER_02: It's pretty surreal to be in a race where the Olympic champions come in fifth.
[39:53] SPEAKER_02: Um, it shows you the standard of it.
[39:56] SPEAKER_02: Uh to have a world record holder in there as well by 48 seconds in the half marathon, shows the kind of calibre that was there.
[40:03] SPEAKER_02: And I think I was ranked 39th going into the race, so to come for away with 14th from that, that was actually uh yeah, really special outcome and bizarre to think that it was in that kind of a steam company.
[40:16] SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about this half marathon world record.
[40:19] SPEAKER_00: Like I I know it's been like relatively controversial as a record, the the car in front of him and just the pure speed that he ran and and and kind of kind of looking non-human.
[40:30] SPEAKER_00: That's how that's how fast it was.
[40:32] SPEAKER_00: Did you did you get a chance to watch that race?
[40:35] SPEAKER_02: I did, yeah, because unfortunately I was meant to be in that race and had to pull out um of the race itself, and I knew it was going to be a fast day.
[40:44] SPEAKER_02: Um but the marathon course is actually not known for being that fast in itself.
[40:49] SPEAKER_02: It's it's quite flat, but at the end of it there's a a bit of a rise, and whenever there's a rise, kind of at the end of a race, it often deletes a lot more seconds than it would at the start of a race.
[41:01] SPEAKER_02: Um so I was expecting to see a fast time, but not a world record, so it was pretty pretty surreal to see that and to watch that.
[41:10] SPEAKER_02: And some of the splits he was doing, I think, were only four or five seconds away from his 10k PB, and would have won would have qualified him for the final of the 5k in the Olympics, and and would have won the 10k race itself.
[41:24] SPEAKER_02: And you you put it in that kind of context, and that really does blow your mind about what he's achieved there and and the level of it.
[41:33] SPEAKER_02: And to come to to break a a world record which had only just been set in Valencia by 48 seconds is Wow.
[41:41] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's over two seconds a K is it's yeah, it's it's quite scary.
[41:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was 241 per K he ran for 21.1k, which is it's insane to think about, isn't it?
[41:55] SPEAKER_00: And the yeah, you know the craziest thing about it?
[41:57] SPEAKER_00: Like, that's crazy.
[41:59] SPEAKER_00: But the craziest thing was watching him, how it just looked effortless.
[42:03] SPEAKER_00: It did like that.
[42:06] SPEAKER_02: When he crossed the finish line and the celebrations and stuff, I it's one thing which I'm always in awe of the Kenyans was like when I finished in London and uh well Ugandans as well and East Africans.
[42:17] SPEAKER_02: Uh when I finished in London, I didn't have a single step left in me, but it feels like those guys can run past, and the next morning I'm seeing them potentially going out for a little run or something like that, and I'm like, I still haven't run since since London.
[42:29] SPEAKER_02: My body's still absolutely cooked, so they must have so much conditioning from I guess where they've grown up and their their kind of genetics, but also the yeah, the the amount of training they do and the hard work.
[42:42] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I would have thought you'd have been tired from running 21k at 241s, to be honest, but yeah.
[42:49] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what a thought, but uh not Kit Lima.
[42:53] SPEAKER_00: Um read this with this marathon experiment and probably to wrap up the marathon chat, what are what are the big lessons that you have learnt taking it back into triathlon, or or even if you do decide to go and do a another marathon later on this year or step up to long course triathlon later on this year, what are the lessons that you've taken out of the block and and future learnings?
[43:14] SPEAKER_02: Um I think just I I've probably pushed the envelope a little bit with my nutritional demands, uh particularly within running.
[43:24] SPEAKER_02: So trying to meet energy energy balance within a lot of the running that I'm doing uh actually during the run, which I think has allowed me to to adapt and recover quite quickly from every run I've been doing.
[43:37] SPEAKER_02: Um so I think that's probably one key thing.
[43:40] SPEAKER_02: Probably being able to train at those slightly higher paces now on a slightly more frequent basis will allow me to do a little bit more volume, hopefully at slightly lower cost than it would have done.
[43:52] SPEAKER_02: Um in a f in a f yeah, in if I hadn't have done this block.
[43:56] SPEAKER_02: And then yeah, the other thing is.
[44:00] SPEAKER_02: I guess learning and applying some of the sessions which were slightly bigger and maybe can become now key sessions within whether it's a a slightly longer, longer race than than Olympic distance or or an Olympic distance race, uh, how that that kind of meets the demands of the race itself and and also what potentially could happen during the race.
[44:22] SPEAKER_02: So I think having done those key sessions, we can now pick and choose from which the ones we thought had the best kind of bang for their buck physiologically and mentally, physically, and and apply them into racing.
[44:34] SPEAKER_02: And I think the last thing is just the learnings that I've taken away about myself, about the way I practice uh in and around training, um, the discipline which was required to run a bit more of a steady state program than a polarized program.
[44:50] SPEAKER_02: I think if I'm able to apply those good things back into that polarized program, then hopefully I can get you know the m maximum effectiveness from that as well.
[45:00] SPEAKER_00: Unless you've been living under a rock, I'm sure you've heard me talk about Pillar Performance of Triple Magnesium Powder by now.
[45:06] SPEAKER_00: That's not what I'm here to talk about today, but side note, if you haven't tried it for yourself, trust me, go and try it.
[45:11] SPEAKER_00: Your sleep and recovery will never be the same.
[45:13] SPEAKER_00: Today, excitingly, I'm here to talk about a brand new range of products that Pillar have released focus around a new direction called performance health.
[45:21] SPEAKER_00: They're products designed to get the most out of the hours you're not training.
[45:24] SPEAKER_00: They're designed to get you to tomorrow, the next day, the next day, the next day, and eventually to race day as healthy as possible.
[45:31] SPEAKER_00: One of those products is their collagen repair.
[45:34] SPEAKER_00: It's used to help prevent those annoying tendon and ligament overuse injuries like Achilles tendinitis, shin splints, pataliphemoral pain, hamstring tendinopathy, those niggly injuries that constantly set back your training when you finally found a rhythm.
[45:48] SPEAKER_00: It was developed in collaboration with a world-renowned lab in Germany using the clinically trialed bioactive collagen peptide Tender Forte, which has been shown to strengthen and develop collagen synthesis.
[46:00] SPEAKER_00: Once you're over 30, you've actually lost 1% or more of the collagen in your body.
[46:05] SPEAKER_00: So supplementing it can be such an effective way to help prevent those overuse injuries that come with doing any endurance sport.
[46:12] SPEAKER_00: All you needed is one scoop of it per day with liquid.
[46:15] SPEAKER_00: I've started taking it in the morning for the last few months, just in my morning coffee, actually, which goes down a tree.
[46:21] SPEAKER_00: If you do want to try it for yourself, then make sure you head to Pillar's website or if you're over in the United States of America than the feed.com and use the discount code TTH15 for 15% off any first purchase.
[46:35] SPEAKER_00: With every triathlete, they usually have one dream or or one big goal, and it's to win the Olympics or win Kona.
[46:43] SPEAKER_00: You've won the Olympics.
[46:44] SPEAKER_00: Do you have any desire or or like do have you always been the kind of triathlete who looks at Kona and goes, I'd love to win that one day?
[46:53] SPEAKER_02: Um I would say Kona's definitely on my my bucket list, but I wouldn't say it's something which I'm I my my biggest desire is to win it.
[47:03] SPEAKER_02: I think for me I'm always very internally focused, and and that means that I want to be the best athlete I can be uh on any given day on the course that I'm racing.
[47:14] SPEAKER_02: And I I think that that's always allowed me to stay focused on what's kind of next for me and and looking towards that next race, whether that's an Olympic Games or World Series or the Marathon coming up, and and be excited about that because there's a challenge along the way, whether that's a training, training goal or training process, or whether that's to have the best swim that I can in this individual race or or whatever it may be through that.
[47:41] SPEAKER_02: And there definitely will be become a time where that will that will lead towards probably long longer course racing.
[47:48] SPEAKER_02: And I think that's something which excites me definitely because there definitely is probably some hesitation about me being successful at that that kind of distance and for me to be able to not only prove to other people but prove to myself that I can I can be competitive in those environments is something which I'd love I'd love to do and and work towards.
[48:08] SPEAKER_02: So if I can keep working um towards that now for the Olympic distance, then hopefully come four years' time I can potentially qualify for Kona and and maybe make it to one of those start lines.
[48:21] SPEAKER_00: Well, I was thinking uh like after the the marathon, after London Marathon, that I'm pretty sure 21108 is the triathlon world record, right?
[48:29] SPEAKER_00: Is there any tri fleet that's ever ran faster than that?
[48:31] SPEAKER_00: Because I couldn't think of one.
[48:33] SPEAKER_02: I if I'm being honest, I have I'm not sure at all.
[48:36] SPEAKER_02: Uh I I'll I'll get back to you on that, but yeah, I think I'm not too sure.
[48:42] SPEAKER_00: If there is someone who's done triathlon, maybe not a big name and then gone into running, but like I I couldn't think of anyone off the top of my head who's who's gone gone that fast.
[48:53] SPEAKER_00: And so it just got me thinking that if you've got the marathon world record in the in the triathlon world and you swim front pack at the Olympics, I mean that means you're coming off the bike at Kona, I mean, coming uh out of the water in Kona in a good spot and you're gonna finish with a good marathon.
[49:06] SPEAKER_00: It's just the bike now, isn't it?
[49:08] SPEAKER_00: And how do you how do you think that you would go over the longer TTs at the moment?
[49:13] SPEAKER_00: Like if you if you just stepped into an Iron Man tomorrow, let's say like Iron Man leads coming up, how do you think you'd go over the 180k TT?
[49:21] SPEAKER_02: Mate, one thing that I would love to try at some point would be the you know the breaking seven kind of record.
[49:29] SPEAKER_02: I feel like I at the moment my physiology is really suited to something like that, um, potentially to be able to swim uh and then yeah, the bike be very collaborative collaborative between the front guys to get to that point at the fastest point and then run the best marathon.
[49:44] SPEAKER_02: I think there's definitely scope and what was the time was it 6.24 or something?
[49:49] SPEAKER_02: Whether we could push it closer and closer to six hours would be would be amazing if I could if if that ever got brought back or something like that.
[49:57] SPEAKER_02: But I think definitely at the moment, without having put the time and effort into to TT position, um respecting that, respecting the technology, the um the work that needs to be done on the TT bike, I don't think I'm in a position to be able to be competitive throughout those those those races at the moment, and that's just me being candid and honest.
[50:20] SPEAKER_02: Um I feel like my my physiologies um probably marry up to be to be quite good that one day I'll be able to be able to be competitive in those races, but for the time being, there is so much work that that is required to push power in in a totally unique position for me.
[50:41] SPEAKER_02: So I have to respect that and and respect the guys and and what they're doing and and girls, they're pushing the envelope each day um to see Texas, Iron Man, Texas, and the times which are being pumped out there.
[50:54] SPEAKER_02: You just show it just shows that the sport's evolving constantly, whether that's through technology, through position, through physiology.
[51:01] SPEAKER_02: Um and at some point I'd love to sink my teeth into that because like the marathon block, it's I I love to go into something wholeheartedly and and not do it half like half-hearted.
[51:12] SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, at some point I'd I'd love to give that a go.
[51:16] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, hopefully the physiology's there or thereabouts, and it would be about time on time in position, time on the bike, and and learning from so many other people as well who who I look up to and and have also achieved amazing things in that space.
[51:30] SPEAKER_00: 644, I reckon, Christian went um from memory.
[51:33] SPEAKER_00: And if if a brand came to you, or like I don't know who it is, if if someone comes to you, whether it's a like a company that that does events or whether it is some of your sponsors or some random sponsors, and said, Okay, we want to put together like a breaking the in you know world best time.
[51:52] SPEAKER_00: Christian's I think he's done 721 in in a full and and then six forty-four um at the breaking seven.
[52:00] SPEAKER_00: Would it would it be pretty easy to twist your arm and say, okay, let's dedicate two, three, four months to this if if they came to you?
[52:09] SPEAKER_02: I I definitely wouldn't rule out the idea of it.
[52:12] SPEAKER_02: Um it's it's definitely something which I've I've I've just joked the idea with with my coach Adam uh has it been a potential.
[52:22] SPEAKER_02: Um and and definitely, yeah, that there's there's been evolution, I I believe, since since the last time that record had been done.
[52:31] SPEAKER_02: And I think there's incredible learnings that have happened since that that event has been done as well.
[52:35] SPEAKER_02: So I think if if even if it wasn't me that attempted it, I think there would be some evolution in that time and and um I think in the sport itself, so definitely wouldn't be something which I'd I'd rule out straight away.
[52:48] SPEAKER_02: Uh I think it would be quite interesting, and yeah, I it it would be quite quite a cool cool thing.
[52:54] SPEAKER_02: I think I was very inspired by the breaking two um breaking to both of the attempts that occurred.
[53:03] SPEAKER_02: Um and I think that I think the whole world was as well because it's shown the evolution of humanity, proven that we can do these things.
[53:12] SPEAKER_02: We are evolving as as a you know as a species.
[53:15] SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, I'd love to be part of some sort of history, uh, whether it's that or not.
[53:21] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we'll have to see.
[53:22] SPEAKER_00: I should just preface this for those who weren't in triathlon at the time or for those who are listening in the running world to this Alex chat, that this was uh an event that was very inspired by Kipchogi's Breaking Two project.
[53:36] SPEAKER_00: And it was with Christian Blumenfeld and and and Joe Skipper um on the men's side of things, where they they kind of set up perfect conditions to try and break seven for the Iron Man distance.
[53:46] SPEAKER_00: Now, at the time, Iron Man races were were won roughly in about eight hours, give or take.
[53:52] SPEAKER_00: Um, and then Christian um beat Joe Skipper going 6'4 from from memory.
[53:58] SPEAKER_00: Um, and how it worked is they had a pacer in the swim and then they had a group of pacers on the bike, so they got to they got to draft in the swim and the bike, and then they had people running with them um in the in the marathon as well, on a on a pretty fast course.
[54:11] SPEAKER_00: So kind of all set up to to go as fast as possible.
[54:14] SPEAKER_00: With with your attempt at this, Alex, which we're now confirming is officially happening and we're gonna make happen.
[54:20] SPEAKER_00: Who would who would you have if you could get one pacer in the swim and then if you could have the group around you on the bike and then you know people rotating on and off on the run?
[54:30] SPEAKER_00: Assemble your team for me right here.
[54:33] SPEAKER_02: Right now?
[54:34] SPEAKER_02: Right here, right now.
[54:35] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[54:35] SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
[54:37] SPEAKER_02: Okay.
[54:37] SPEAKER_02: I in the swim I'd have.
[54:42] SPEAKER_02: Um so if if we're picking purely from from the whole performance, we have a uh a swimmer in in Loughwood called Hector Pardo, who is a British open water swimmer, so I think he'd be he'd be great.
[54:55] SPEAKER_02: He'd be doing his no-beat kick, so I'd be able to follow the feet, and and he'll be able to take me there as long as he's not swimming too quick.
[55:03] SPEAKER_02: Um gosh, I'd I'd have some of the boys from from from the VCL club that I used to grow up in.
[55:12] SPEAKER_02: So I'd have Fred Wright there, definitely.
[55:15] SPEAKER_02: Um love to have Ethan Hayter, uh Josh Tarlin, uh to have some of those to some of those British guys in the in the field.
[55:24] SPEAKER_02: I think you'd be crazy not to have someone like Matt Botcher on board to uh work on the speed.
[55:30] SPEAKER_00: Um he was part of Christian's team.
[55:33] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so to have to have him or Dan Bigham as well, someone like that in in your corner making those intelligent decisions, I think would definitely allow you to be as efficient as possible.
[55:46] SPEAKER_02: Uh and then on the run, I'd have to have Kip Chogi, you know.
[55:50] SPEAKER_00: Just whispering, just whispering to you the whole time.
[55:53] SPEAKER_00: You can do it now.
[55:54] SPEAKER_02: Just keep me calm the whole way.
[55:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, God, he would keep he would be the best pacer of all time, wouldn't he?
[56:01] SPEAKER_02: If he just He would be, yeah.
[56:03] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's exactly what you want.
[56:05] SPEAKER_00: And he could do the whole thing with you as well.
[56:07] SPEAKER_00: You wouldn't need him rotating in and out, probably.
[56:09] SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know, actually.
[56:11] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, he probably pick for uh for it.
[56:15] SPEAKER_00: Okay, I like I reckon it's easy to go outside of the triathon world and get like a swimmer, some cyclists, and a runner, but but I would I would want to keep it inside the trython world just to make it kind of a little bit you know more pure in my mind.
[56:29] SPEAKER_00: So I'd um I'd probably get uh oh who's the swimmer you'd pick in triathon at the moment?
[56:37] SPEAKER_00: You know, I like I'd probably just get Vince still.
[56:39] SPEAKER_02: I feel like Yeah, I'd pick Vince for sure.
[56:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I feel I've I feel like Vince would be good.
[56:43] SPEAKER_00: And then on the bike, I'd get Laido and Magnus just to sit in front of me, both big dudes, like they're gonna block the wind as well as anyone.
[56:50] SPEAKER_02: They're they're they're just Cam work, surely after this weekend.
[56:53] SPEAKER_00: No, see the problem with Cam would be great.
[56:56] SPEAKER_00: Cam would be great.
[56:56] SPEAKER_00: But the problem with Cam is that even at Iron Man effort, he's not gonna stop talking the whole time.
[57:02] SPEAKER_00: And when you've got a marathon left and you know you're you're 100k into the bike, Cam worth taking the piss out of Magnus.
[57:11] SPEAKER_00: You know, it'd be funny, but you'd also be like, Cam, come on, mate, we need a bit of bit of quiet here from time to time.
[57:15] SPEAKER_00: Whereas Magnus and Sam, both very funny guys as well, but they know when it's business time.
[57:20] SPEAKER_00: If you could just get get Cam to come in every now and then, like if he could just sit behind, no, he'd even yell out from behind.
[57:27] SPEAKER_00: If you could get him to be like 40 metres off the back and then every kind of 10 minutes come up to the group and tell a joke, that would be perfect.
[57:34] SPEAKER_00: Um but I've uh I've heard stories of training with Cam that you don't get a lot of words in.
[57:40] SPEAKER_00: Um shout out Cam Worth, by the way.
[57:43] SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, I'd go Sam and Magnus, they'd be driving things with probably uh probably my boy Fred Funk as well.
[57:49] SPEAKER_00: Uh again, big dude, big dude, um, block the wind, strong power.
[57:53] SPEAKER_01: Good guy.
[57:54] SPEAKER_00: Um Sam Long would probably be probably be the other one.
[57:56] SPEAKER_00: Uh and then on the run, oh you got it like it's just gotta be Patrick Lang, doesn't it, at the moment?
[58:02] SPEAKER_00: And um yeah, I mean a year and a half ago it might have been Thomas Rodriguez, but he's he's probably too fit for me now.
[58:09] SPEAKER_00: Uh who knows what he's doing down in Mexico at the moment, but he's probably super fit.
[58:13] SPEAKER_00: So too many eggs.
[58:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he dropped me probably too quick.
[58:16] SPEAKER_00: So we get Patrick and and I might have two on the I might get Patrick to rotate with like um maybe I might have you actually.
[58:27] SPEAKER_00: Maybe maybe Patrick.
[58:28] SPEAKER_02: You can have Car Markeys as well, to be fair.
[58:30] SPEAKER_00: Too fast.
[58:31] SPEAKER_00: Too fast.
[58:31] SPEAKER_00: She's too competitive.
[58:33] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she's too competitive.
[58:35] SPEAKER_00: Well, Patrick and you.
[58:36] SPEAKER_00: I know that if I was in shape and um that you'd just happily run next to me, but Kat wouldn't.
[58:42] SPEAKER_00: She'd she'd be like, no, I'm dropping you.
[58:43] SPEAKER_00: So can't you can't have a competitive beast like that in a pacing job.
[58:49] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'd work for you for sure.
[58:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that would be fun.
[58:52] SPEAKER_00: Uh that's that, yeah.
[58:54] SPEAKER_00: The funny thing is that it's realistic for you, and you're talking about it thinking like, oh, this could actually happen.
[58:58] SPEAKER_00: Whereas for me, that's uh that's a little less realistic.
[59:02] SPEAKER_02: Um that could be a fun 2029 project or something.
[59:05] SPEAKER_02: We'll see.
[59:06] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we'll see.
[59:08] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, imagine.
[59:09] SPEAKER_00: Um, okay, now we're talking.
[59:13] SPEAKER_00: Um I might actually have to go and go and train with Thomas to make that happen.
[59:18] SPEAKER_00: Um so okay, so Iron Man is potentially on the cards, the Kona Dreams alive.
[59:25] SPEAKER_00: You're not you're not gonna talk to me about the more kind of you know short-term future.
[59:30] SPEAKER_00: You like they're there, you're not gonna talk about 70.3 world championships where we just saw Yala Geans and and Hayden Wilde, two of your contemporaries have a battle, or or you know, Singapore at the T100, where where we just saw Hayden put on an absolute clinic.
[59:45] SPEAKER_00: Like, are we are we allowed to talk about any of this, or is it a bit too secretive at the moment?
[59:50] SPEAKER_02: Well, I can definitely talk about their races.
[59:52] SPEAKER_02: I think it's been pretty incredible to see you know so many guys which I've raced against or lined up against trans transfer and transfer so well across.
[1:00:01] SPEAKER_02: It's definitely encouraging for me, but at the same time I know how hard they've worked on their position and um worked even within 2024 and towards that Paris uh Olympics, even still on the TT bike.
[1:00:15] SPEAKER_02: So that was something I definitely didn't do.
[1:00:17] SPEAKER_02: I tried to dial dial in as much as I could on the road bike, um and and try as be try and be as efficient as I could on that.
[1:00:25] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, maybe this year you'll you'll see me on a TT bike, whether I'm racing or not, who knows?
[1:00:30] SPEAKER_02: But it's definitely you gotta start somewhere and um yeah, we'll see what happens.
[1:00:36] SPEAKER_02: See how I take to it.
[1:00:37] SPEAKER_00: Have you got a TT bike at your house at the moment?
[1:00:40] SPEAKER_02: Uh there's one coming, definitely.
[1:00:43] SPEAKER_00: So uh you got some wind tunnel time booked already?
[1:00:50] SPEAKER_02: Uh we'll see.
[1:00:52] SPEAKER_02: That's a yes.
[1:00:55] SPEAKER_00: Very good, very good.
[1:00:57] SPEAKER_00: I like that.
[1:00:58] SPEAKER_02: Um I'm doing the Taylor Nev, we'll see.
[1:01:00] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, you are.
[1:01:03] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that and we yeah, okay.
[1:01:06] SPEAKER_00: Um, so we know what this means.
[1:01:07] SPEAKER_00: And uh Yalla Geans obviously won 70.3 worlds, Hayden at Singapore.
[1:01:11] SPEAKER_00: We saw Martin Van Riel last year win the T100 world champs.
[1:01:16] SPEAKER_00: Um, I think Leo Bergier's performance, considering he was injured at Singapore, was mega as well, and then what he did at 70.3 worlds.
[1:01:24] SPEAKER_00: Though so it's obviously they're kind of the three at the moment, the the four at the moment.
[1:01:28] SPEAKER_00: It's like Martin, Yalla, Hayden, and Leo.
[1:01:32] SPEAKER_00: Is there anyone else that you kind of race against in short course or maybe even yourself in that conversation that you feel can go and make an immediate impact this year at say like a later season T100 or or 70.3 world champs?
[1:01:51] SPEAKER_02: Um I think for me, particularly within riding on on the bike and and stuff like that, Hayden and and Leo have always shown themselves to be super strong throughout um those those those disciplines and I knew that they take to it very well.
[1:02:12] SPEAKER_02: Um so it was it was no surprise to me to see Hayden up the front, Leo obviously so consistent throughout throughout it all.
[1:02:21] SPEAKER_02: Uh I'm trying to think if there'll be be anyone else who I think would I mean I seeing Hidalgo's race as well the other day was was something which definitely caught my eye to I think he raced about 332 or 333 for his ever 70.3.
[1:02:37] SPEAKER_02: Um but I think another one to kind of look out for as maybe a bit of a dark horse is probably Sam who was my teammate um going into to Paris to some of the bike sessions we did together, I've never seen power like it before.
[1:02:53] SPEAKER_02: So I think if he could make an impact on one of the bikes in the race, then he could maybe shake things up a little bit.
[1:02:59] SPEAKER_02: Um so that would be that would be pretty cool.
[1:03:01] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I reckon Bitterdose is a is another one as well who's doing some pretty crazy stuff that no one knows about.
[1:03:08] SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, yeah.
[1:03:10] SPEAKER_00: Um okay, so with this like post-London version of Alex Yi, who's got plenty of decisions to make, who's got a TT bike coming on the way, who's already booked in two days of wind tunnel testing uh and got some Zoom meetings coming up in the next few weeks with big hitters.
[1:03:25] SPEAKER_00: Was there was there kind of more opportunity and more hype around this London marathon where afterwards, in this period you're in now, you're kind of feeling like you're in demand like in the trython world or with future opportunities, even more so than what there was coming off Paris.
[1:03:47] SPEAKER_02: Um I I don't I don't know, I suppose, is is the answer.
[1:03:53] SPEAKER_02: Uh I think things are still very fresh post London, but in a way I didn't really entertain anything straight away off the back of the world champs going into this year.
[1:04:04] SPEAKER_02: Um, because I was trying to compartmentalize my brain to to focus on this marathon, and now I'm actually starting to open my brain up to what the rest of the year looks like, what that could mean.
[1:04:16] SPEAKER_02: I think yeah, it's starting to animate me a little bit and get me excited about new challenges and about growth and and being better.
[1:04:24] SPEAKER_02: And uh yeah, it's it's quite cool to lay everything down on the table and think, oh, there's actually you know so much here, which five years ago I would have bit your arm off to do even one of them.
[1:04:37] SPEAKER_02: So that's pretty cool and yeah, see what happens from it.
[1:04:43] SPEAKER_00: One of the hardest things to do in your training is fuel and hydrate properly when you're out there running, particularly for your long runs.
[1:04:50] SPEAKER_00: That's why, in my opinion, everyone needs a nerd belt if you run.
[1:04:54] SPEAKER_00: Whether it's for triathlon or you're you're doing a half marathon or a marathon, a nerd belt can be an absolute game changer for you.
[1:05:01] SPEAKER_00: The thing that makes nerd belts great is that they're just practical and comfortable.
[1:05:05] SPEAKER_00: So you can carry like the basics like your phone, keys, bank card, dog poop bags, etc., in the nerd belt while also having up to like a liter or two of water on them.
[1:05:14] SPEAKER_00: The best ones, in my opinion, are the ones that have about 600 mils of water that you can carry.
[1:05:18] SPEAKER_00: And they don't bounce around at all.
[1:05:20] SPEAKER_00: They just sit around your waist, you barely notice them.
[1:05:23] SPEAKER_00: You can have three or four gels in them as well.
[1:05:25] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you can even have more if you get one of the bigger ones.
[1:05:28] SPEAKER_00: Um, so like you can literally be out there on a long run and have everything that you've ever needed and always struggled to carry with you, or you've had to go and place bottles out on the course, or you know, come back to loop back to your car to get your water bottle and your gels and and all that annoying stuff.
[1:05:44] SPEAKER_00: Nur belts just get rid of that.
[1:05:46] SPEAKER_00: They're seriously amazing and they will help you fuel and hydrate better with your running, but also just carry the basics when you're out there running, like your keys and your phone on on easy days, um, or if you're going out for long runs in in the bush and and and the forest and you need The safety of having your phone.
[1:06:01] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Nerd Belts are so great for that.
[1:06:04] SPEAKER_00: So if you want to get a Nerd Belt, then go to Nerd Belt's website and use the discount code TTH20 for 20% off anything on their site.
[1:06:11] SPEAKER_00: And the details of that for that are in the episode description as well.
[1:06:16] SPEAKER_00: And so with this um with this period, are you gonna or have you already got a time booked in with your coach who I know you oh well it seems like you're pretty close with where you guys go and grab a coffee and and discuss like from a performance standpoint what's next?
[1:06:32] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
[1:06:33] SPEAKER_02: We're gonna next Tuesday, uh me in his office and just yeah.
[1:06:39] SPEAKER_02: We we always do this kind of he has kind of three whiteboards all lined up next to it, the kind of big A1 ones, and by the end of it we've kind of filled all of it with with what's what's up what's kind of coming up, what's the potential, what does that kind of mean towards a bigger picture, uh what knock-ons does it have?
[1:07:00] SPEAKER_02: Does that then mean you can't do another opportunity?
[1:07:04] SPEAKER_02: Um and then we can all we can all kind of sit sit down together and and decide what's the best kind of outcome for the year, and and that might not be to do with the best opportunity or or the thing which looks best on paper, it's about looking at it in the context of the next kind of couple of years to be the best person I can be and within Triathlon and within that kind of Olympic distance racing and and beyond.
[1:07:30] SPEAKER_00: Adam Alliot, your coach as well.
[1:07:32] SPEAKER_00: I should have probably said that out of respect.
[1:07:34] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Adam Adam Elliott, um legendary coach at this point.
[1:07:37] SPEAKER_00: He uh I think he's he's won like uh the UK's that that award that you guys have for the the high performance coach of the year and stuff.
[1:07:46] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so clearly, clearly a pretty good coach.
[1:07:48] SPEAKER_00: Um and uh showing some real versatility as a coach, which I think is interesting, like coaching an athlete like yourself to run a marathon, but also to go and win Olympic gold in the in the triform.
[1:07:59] SPEAKER_00: Like they're they're quite different, really.
[1:08:02] SPEAKER_00: Um, how would you describe Adam as a coach and and and maybe like from a from a philosophy perspective, how would you describe him?
[1:08:11] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think Adam would always describe him as coaching the person, if that makes sense.
[1:08:17] SPEAKER_02: So he's coaching me as Alex Yi, not Alex Yi the triathlete or coaching triathlon.
[1:08:23] SPEAKER_02: So I think that allows him to look at me as a holistic perspective, allows us to to kind of take those step backs and look at different things and not just look at swim, bike, and run and try and solve things in there.
[1:08:35] SPEAKER_02: Um but also I think the thing which Adam's incredibly good at is knowing what what his limitations is, what his limitations are, um and going to going to the right people, and and that's one of the incredible things about being in Loughphora is that we have access to British swimming, uh, we have access to British athletics on the doorstep.
[1:08:55] SPEAKER_02: Um, so to be able to meet with those people, um, for instance, uh I worked with one of the British swimming biomechanists for 18 months leading into to Paris to work on my swim stroke to be more hydrodynamic with the current of the Seine.
[1:09:11] SPEAKER_02: Um we worked with uh British Cycling to work on the cadence um project, which I I mentioned earlier about trying to be more responsive to to to the start of the bike, so accelerations at the start of the bike, uh out of dead turns, and then being responsive to potential attacks or anything like that, and also to be a little bit more fresh, kind of coming off the coming off the bike onto the run due to a bit of reduced torque.
[1:09:40] SPEAKER_02: Um so though those kind of things are really interesting for him and and and for him to be able to be open to doing that, I think, is is a real strength of his.
[1:09:50] SPEAKER_02: Uh and I think it was no change going into this marathon block that he he he he knew me as the athlete, he knew me as the the complete person, but he also sought other expertise from Steve Vernon, who's uh another marathon coach within British Trafford on uh British Athletics, sorry, and uh Chris Jones as well to seek that that kind of advice and and make sense of.
[1:10:15] SPEAKER_02: We did three or four uh lab tests, and to make sense of those lab tests and and what that means within the context of marathon, but then bring it back to to me as the athlete and how that makes sense within a slightly more triathlon-based program with a slightly higher volume of running.
[1:10:33] SPEAKER_02: And I think, yeah, that that kind of outlook that he's coaching me as the person allows him to do that the best possible way, and I think has allowed him to do that as well with with Sophie Cole, well, with my girlfriend Oliv as well.
[1:10:46] SPEAKER_02: Um well, because you know we're all individual athletes, we we do very similar programs, but those those minute differences between them and yeah, can really make a difference uh come race day.
[1:10:59] SPEAKER_00: Okay, speaking of your girlfriend here, I was what because I was a big fan of your YouTube series in the lead up, and obviously your girlfriend was one of the characters in that series.
[1:11:07] SPEAKER_00: There was a bit of a debate at at one point about who initiated you two kind of uh hooking up and that kind of thing.
[1:11:14] SPEAKER_00: Can you put can you put it to rest here?
[1:11:17] SPEAKER_02: I'll put it to bed, yeah.
[1:11:18] SPEAKER_02: Liv, so we went on a camp in Wellbeck, which is was one of the first England talent squad camps in 2014, and she had to go home sick, unfortunately, because she was feeling under the weather.
[1:11:31] SPEAKER_02: Um at the end of the week we had Break Jurafflon Champs, um, which we both raced in, and yeah, we we both hung out a little bit and chatted after the race and stuff like that, and then straight after the race, she drops in the DMs, and here we are, 10 years later, or even more, 11 years later.
[1:11:49] SPEAKER_00: Do you have the message screenshot?
[1:11:52] SPEAKER_02: Mate, I'm gonna have to go through.
[1:11:53] SPEAKER_02: It's on Facebook Messenger.
[1:11:54] SPEAKER_02: I'll uh I'll uh I'll get the tapes.
[1:11:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get get get the receipts, get the receipts.
[1:12:00] SPEAKER_00: Uh that's funny.
[1:12:01] SPEAKER_00: That's funny.
[1:12:02] SPEAKER_00: How many years has that been now?
[1:12:05] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so officially it's been nine years, but uh yeah.
[1:12:09] SPEAKER_02: We were we were mates before, and I joke that she jumped in the DMs, but we were very much talking as friends.
[1:12:14] SPEAKER_02: I was probably a little bit more keen on her than she she was on me initially, so uh yeah, even though she jumped in the DMs, I was she's probably playing a bit hard to get as well.
[1:12:23] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but you both were like 11 when you when you met, mate.
[1:12:26] SPEAKER_02: 11, yeah.
[1:12:27] SPEAKER_02: Well, it's yeah, 15 and 16, so yeah, quite young.
[1:12:31] SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's crazy, isn't it?
[1:12:32] SPEAKER_00: Um talk to me about this, about your life outside of Triton.
[1:12:36] SPEAKER_00: Like, what is what is life outside of training and racing for you?
[1:12:41] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's if I'm being honest, it's not crazy exciting.
[1:12:45] SPEAKER_02: Uh have a have a dog uh which we just welcomed into our home about six months ago, um, who's now the pride and joy of the house.
[1:12:54] SPEAKER_02: Uh his name's Jet and he's full of energy.
[1:12:58] SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, and and Liv and I uh yeah, just just don't don't really do too much apart from traveling, if I'm being honest.
[1:13:06] SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's not too exciting.
[1:13:07] SPEAKER_02: I play a bit of PlayStation here and there, um spend time with with my mates, but most for the most part we do we do traveling, which is obviously sounds very boring, but at the same time is the best job ever for me.
[1:13:22] SPEAKER_02: So I'm I feel very fortunate to be able to do that and yeah, play Clash of Clans as well if anyone's uh listening who wants to to uh to join my clan.
[1:13:33] SPEAKER_00: Is there is there anyone in the triathon world that like at 8 pm at night you jump on on live with and and play like whatever game it is you're playing at the time?
[1:13:42] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was very surreal.
[1:13:44] SPEAKER_02: At one point I was playing with uh do you know a guy called Nils Laros who's uh he came sick for the the Olympics over the 1500 meters.
[1:13:51] SPEAKER_02: So at one point I just was playing a load of uh Fort Fortnite with him, having not met him him in person, and we we're in this big clan of in in uh clashing clans which has like 30 other athletes in it, so it's quite funny that we uh all share that that kind of that kind of sad hobby together.
[1:14:09] SPEAKER_00: It's not that sad.
[1:14:10] SPEAKER_00: Well you've got to do something to pass your time.
[1:14:12] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
[1:14:12] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[1:14:13] SPEAKER_02: No, I love I love it.
[1:14:14] SPEAKER_00: Um are you like a early to bed, early to to rise kind of guy, or or you stay up late and and sleep in late kind of guy?
[1:14:21] SPEAKER_02: I'm probably a bit more like Martin, so I'll probably uh go to bed a little bit later than than most, but but uh I yeah, I probably wake up at about a normal time.
[1:14:34] SPEAKER_02: We have to for um the Lofra training squad.
[1:14:37] SPEAKER_02: It's kind of 6 30, 6 15, so not crazy, but not too bad.
[1:14:42] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's still rough when you've been up at midnight playing Clash of Clans and then gotta get up at five o'clock for swim squad though.
[1:14:49] SPEAKER_02: You've got to do it for the boys though, so me, you and the boys.
[1:14:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[1:14:56] SPEAKER_00: And um, like uh when it when it comes to maybe performance, are you are you like big on anything else?
[1:15:02] SPEAKER_00: Are you a like are you a real diligent recovery kind of guy?
[1:15:06] SPEAKER_00: You're an obsessed with with your food kind of guy.
[1:15:08] SPEAKER_00: What what like makes up your outside of training performance?
[1:15:13] SPEAKER_02: Uh I definitely would say pre this year, I wasn't somebody who massively focused on nutrition uh as a uh as as a as a key thing.
[1:15:25] SPEAKER_02: Um I probably wasn't doing the sessions which probably tested my stomach enough, if that makes sense.
[1:15:30] SPEAKER_02: So now I'm doing sessions which probably push the envelope and you're doing a little bit longer, you don't want to have those GI distresses.
[1:15:37] SPEAKER_02: I'm a lot more serious around the kind of 48 hours leading up to most most sessions that I do, particularly within the run, so that I'm actually it's not so much about recovery, but it's about feeling good within the session and putting myself in the best place to to deliver those.
[1:15:52] SPEAKER_02: So that's probably one thing, and then yeah, I I would probably say I'm I'm probably not that diligent with like individual kind of pieces of technology with with kind of monitoring sleep or or using a massage gun or uh recovery boots, though I though I have them all.
[1:16:10] SPEAKER_02: Um but I would say that yeah, I I do think that as much as it's about recovery for me and and putting my feet up, I feel like I need to recover my bandwidth, if that makes sense.
[1:16:22] SPEAKER_02: Probably as somebody who started quite introverted, it's often takes a lot of mental energy, whether that's training or um meeting other people and stuff like that, particularly around racing, that I find very difficult found very difficult initially.
[1:16:38] SPEAKER_02: And now I know that I need to have those kind of times to myself where I can reset and allow myself to kind of yeah, refresh the battery so that I'm I'm able to give 100% to what I'm doing.
[1:16:50] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um I like I think the Norwegian hype train that that infiltrated Trithlon since about maybe like 2019 was was when it started becoming really massive, brought with it this huge advancement in like pushing the limits in in Trithlon.
[1:17:10] SPEAKER_00: And I don't know whether it's because of Olav and Gustav and Christian or or whether it's just a coincidence that the next kind of generation were coming through and pushing the boundaries, but it does seem like since kind of Jan Fredino last one Kona that that everything in Triton has gone to the next level in terms of technology and and um and like yeah, pushing the limits.
[1:17:30] SPEAKER_00: And I think um where it's kind of interesting with you is that you've just gone into the running world and the running world are like historically very slow at the time.
[1:17:41] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it's they they resist change, whereas the trython world is is a world that kind of embraces change and uh that are always at the cutting edge of of technology and trying new random stuff, even if you look like a goose while you're doing it, um, but but ultimately whatever makes you faster is is what what wins and the running world are kind of getting towards that stage now with with shoe technology and and they're just kind of uh catching up with with triathletes when it comes to nutrition.
[1:18:11] SPEAKER_00: Did you did you take that kind of triathlon world um like knowledge of of hey pushing the limits of carbohydrate intake, maybe where we're seeing numbers of 100 to 180 grams per hour in triathlon, whereas in running historically they they do you know 40 to 80 grams per hour uh even even in the marathon.
[1:18:33] SPEAKER_00: Did you did you take that into it and try and push the limits there?
[1:18:37] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
[1:18:38] SPEAKER_02: I would say, oh mate, you wouldn't believe some of the stuff you see within like marathon, the top, top level marathon guys.
[1:18:47] SPEAKER_02: Uh you've got like their their representatives kind of taping gels to their bottles the very last minute and kind of handing them in at the the 12th hour of it, and you're like, I I was so particular with how I taped up my bottles, made sure I was trying them and everything like that.
[1:19:03] SPEAKER_02: Whereas it feels like maybe that kind of stuff is is not a priority for for for those athletes, and it's it's purely about kind of their physiological performance.
[1:19:13] SPEAKER_02: Whereas I feel like I was able to bring a crossroad triathlon, first of all, it's being able to tolerate, I guess, probably what I would do is about 100 to 120 grams per hour as a slightly smaller athlete, uh, and be able to do 100 grams an hour in the race was probably the highest out of anyone um within that race, which I think you know is is a strength.
[1:19:39] SPEAKER_02: And and probably meant that I didn't have a limitation from from a carb point of view.
[1:19:44] SPEAKER_02: I think it was definitely all leg conditioning and um that kind of stuff, which was my limitation towards the end, because my heart and lungs still felt felt quite good.
[1:19:54] SPEAKER_02: So um yeah, it was interesting to to bring that across and also to to to yeah, see a very different side of of elite sport uh compared to to what trielon is, and it makes you appreciate you know how much they are pushing the margins and and little barriers, um, particularly within cycling, but also within um traveling as well.
[1:20:17] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh it is crazy to me how like resistant to to this conversation runners are when you have it with them.
[1:20:24] SPEAKER_00: Like if you told a runner who'd been running for say 15 years and and running pretty competitively at the marathon that you were taking like a hundred grams of hour uh per per hour of carbohydrate at London on the weekend, they would be like, Whoa, that's a lot.
[1:20:40] SPEAKER_00: Whereas in Triton, people would be like, they wouldn't even think, they'd be like, Oh yeah, that's not much.
[1:20:43] SPEAKER_02: That's change, yeah, yeah.
[1:20:45] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh you've dropped dropped it off a bit.
[1:20:48] SPEAKER_02: I think, in in my opinion, that's one of the reasons why Kip Choggy is so successful at what he did.
[1:20:56] SPEAKER_02: He was one of the first people to be curious and and be open-minded to development um towards towards running performance and how that can be pushed, and at the same time respecting the purity of it, if that makes sense.
[1:21:11] SPEAKER_02: So he's you know, he was the first person to to try carbon shoes through his um Sub-2 project and to try um using certain compressive running shorts uh that help you with your leg loading towards the end of a run, or uh even if it was just using Morton products for the first time, I imagine he was one of the first within um marathon running.
[1:21:35] SPEAKER_02: So I think all those things have probably allowed him to elicit this kind of performance level, which the the East Africans have probably had in their in their locker as a potential.
[1:21:47] SPEAKER_02: Um, but he's been able to to unlock that by marrying up the the two the two kind of worlds of of performance, but then also kind of yeah, the the scientific side of it, and uh I guess that's what they did with that sub-2 project.
[1:22:03] SPEAKER_00: I wanted to ask I've wanted to ask someone about this question, but I haven't had anyone to ask, and you just brought it up, which is awesome.
[1:22:11] SPEAKER_00: There's been a bit of a secret in the running world for like a while that some people haven't known about that the like a few of the best guys, they've had custom-made tights like like half half-length running tights that have this like compression effect that is like so great that it that like the brands have believed that it improves performance by like you know, some I've I've I've heard from some brands um talking to them behind the scenes that it's like a two to four percent improvement in performance, very similar to the shoes, and they genuinely believe it.
[1:22:44] SPEAKER_00: And when I first heard it like four years ago, or it was actually it was three years ago, and it was through this podcast talking to this person at a brand that I I'm not allowed to say, but they were talking about these secret tights that they were developing.
[1:22:55] SPEAKER_00: Um, I know like some brands have released them, like Mizuno have released them and made it a big thing, but this brand wasn't Mizuno, and so it's like a it's like a bit of a thing, and I think I think potentially Kip Chogi was wearing them because he's always worn the half-tight, and it's it's always been like from what I'm aware, a custom-made tight.
[1:23:13] SPEAKER_00: Now that might be wrong, but have you heard about this that there is like this compressive tight kind of movement happening in running, running that's like um you know, that brands believe does improve improve running by running economy by two two to four percent?
[1:23:29] SPEAKER_02: I guess my disappointed answer in that is I I haven't heard it from from the horse's mouth.
[1:23:34] SPEAKER_02: Of I've heard kind of talks of of the rationale behind wearing um Arm Mormons and Half-Tights is definitely a compressive thing.
[1:23:45] SPEAKER_02: Um and definitely when I got to 34k, the limiting factor for me was um my leg conditioning.
[1:23:52] SPEAKER_02: I think if you eradicate that, then I feel like I would I potentially would have maybe not slowed down at all.
[1:23:59] SPEAKER_02: So if you if you eradicate that straight away, then that becomes almost more than two to four percent, which is super exciting for the right athlete.
[1:24:08] SPEAKER_02: And I think it definitely is something which has potential, and I don't think that only stems from marathon running as well.
[1:24:15] SPEAKER_02: I think that can definitely stem into to triathlon and potentially could be something that people are working on, but maybe we're working on something right now, mate.
[1:24:22] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well that's what I was thinking, that's where my head was going.
[1:24:25] SPEAKER_00: I wonder who will be the first triathlon brand to bring that into their race suit to where they have that on the on the legs of their race suit.
[1:24:33] SPEAKER_00: Because I s I reckon that's like the one of the next things in in speed that everyone will go after, this compressive run run tight thing.
[1:24:40] SPEAKER_00: And it's not like just normal tights, it's like these tights that are like quite hard to get on and they're super tight, like super, super tight, way tighter than than what you're used to wearing.
[1:24:50] SPEAKER_00: Like I do think that triathlon brands will get in on that.
[1:24:54] SPEAKER_00: Maybe me and you need to start our own suit company or get it.
[1:24:56] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[1:24:56] SPEAKER_02: Maybe we should uh keep that under ups.
[1:24:59] SPEAKER_00: We've got mutual friends over at Hoob.
[1:25:01] SPEAKER_00: Maybe we could chat to them.
[1:25:02] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say maybe maybe we'll make it happen with Whoob.
[1:25:04] SPEAKER_02: That would be good, actually.
[1:25:05] SPEAKER_00: Let's chat to let's chat to Dean about that.
[1:25:10] SPEAKER_00: I'm super stoked to announce that Bicycle are coming on board as a partner for the Triton Our for the next six months.
[1:25:16] SPEAKER_00: I'm sure most of you have heard of Bicycle by now, but if you haven't, Bicycle is the leading marketplace for pre-owned bikes and components with over 25,000 pre-owned triathlon, road, gravel, and mountain bikes available on the platform.
[1:25:29] SPEAKER_00: They connect buyers and sellers on a global scale, making the process of buying and selling bikes super straightforward.
[1:25:36] SPEAKER_00: Prepare yourself for the season ahead and sell the bike or components that you've been holding on to and meaning to sell.
[1:25:42] SPEAKER_00: Now is always the best time to sell when it comes to bikes.
[1:25:46] SPEAKER_00: What really sets bicycle apart is their guaranteed buyer and seller protection, secure payments, simple shipping, and first-class customer service.
[1:25:55] SPEAKER_00: Selling a bike has literally never been easier.
[1:25:58] SPEAKER_00: Based on bike brand, model, condition, their algorithms suggests a selling price to help you move your bike quickly.
[1:26:05] SPEAKER_00: And the template makes it really easy to create a listing in less than probably five minutes, I would say.
[1:26:10] SPEAKER_00: Bicycle even provides packaging materials for a small fee, a very small fee compared to going somewhere else, and coordinates the entire shipping process with pickup directly from your house.
[1:26:20] SPEAKER_00: So head to Bicycle, that's B-U-Y-C-Y-C-L-E.com forward slash T T H for an exclusive discount code for the Trithon hour members.
[1:26:33] SPEAKER_00: Follow the link in the show notes for more info on that.
[1:26:37] SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, Alex.
[1:26:39] SPEAKER_00: I wanna I wanna wrap this up.
[1:26:41] SPEAKER_00: Um I've got a a few kind of quickfire training questions, and then we do this thing where we ask a few deeper questions.
[1:26:47] SPEAKER_00: They're randomly selected because I got sent this like packet of a couple of hundred cards that are like called let's get deep cards, and they're they're just uh they're yeah, they're more serious questions.
[1:26:56] SPEAKER_00: So I'll ask you a few quick fire training ones and then uh and then we'll jump into the the serious chat.
[1:27:02] SPEAKER_00: Uh first quickfire training chat favourite session that you've ever done in your life.
[1:27:14] SPEAKER_02: Um God.
[1:27:20] SPEAKER_02: Probably have to say that 30k that I did, uh which is actually documented on the YouTube, but it was in pretty biblical weather, so it was a pretty unforgettable day.
[1:27:29] SPEAKER_02: Uh to do that was yeah, was pretty unforgettable.
[1:27:32] SPEAKER_02: 30k race pace, and it ended up being about 38k the run itself.
[1:27:36] SPEAKER_00: Favorite piece of equipment that you have, equipment product that you have in your training or racing.
[1:27:44] SPEAKER_02: Um I've got to say the gold bike, the trek bike is yeah.
[1:27:50] SPEAKER_02: It it it's it signifies something super special and to be able to race on that at the end of the year was yeah, absolutely mad.
[1:27:57] SPEAKER_00: If you could only train with one of your training Partners for the rest of your life, who would you pick?
[1:28:05] SPEAKER_02: Uh I would pick uh Jack Willis.
[1:28:08] SPEAKER_00: Oh, hell come.
[1:28:11] SPEAKER_02: We lived together when we were we were growing up throughout um uh throughout our university days and yeah, just have good memories of him, feel like he's very easy to train with.
[1:28:22] SPEAKER_02: I'd also pick Ben Dykesha as well.
[1:28:24] SPEAKER_02: That they're probably you know my my two guys which had you know would would be my first two port of calls if you know anything was ever going wrong or anything like that.
[1:28:33] SPEAKER_02: So it's nice to have those people in your corner.
[1:28:36] SPEAKER_00: If you were to become a coach, how would you describe what you think your coaching philosophy would be?
[1:28:45] SPEAKER_00: Um coaching the person, not the the discipline, so I think uh a holistic approach uh looking at everything one bit of training advice that isn't kind of your standard stock standard advice that maybe someone's never heard before from an Olympic champion.
[1:29:08] SPEAKER_02: Um I would say look past swim bike and run uh before you look at at swim bike and run in terms of improvement.
[1:29:26] SPEAKER_02: I think there's so many things that you can do within lifestyle, within certain bits which you can you can potentially change it will have a massive knock on to how you train and also as a result how you race.
[1:29:39] SPEAKER_00: I hate asking follow-ups in in quickfire, but follow up for me, what are some things?
[1:29:46] SPEAKER_02: Well, I just I guess sleep uh sleep hygiene, um how quickly you're you're recovering around things, if you're compromising with yourself, maybe doing a session a little bit later, um, doing all those little things um can all add up and yeah.
[1:30:06] SPEAKER_00: If you if you could like recommend to people one, whether it's an athlete or a creator or someone whose content you consume that inspires and motivates you when maybe you're like, Oh, I can't be bothered getting out the door if that ever happens.
[1:30:21] SPEAKER_00: Who would you recommend they go and watch or listen to or read a book from?
[1:30:27] SPEAKER_02: I'm I'm enjoying uh Clayton Young's uh YouTube at the moment.
[1:30:32] SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's been quite inspiring, definitely for me as on a marathon journey uh to see to see that.
[1:30:38] SPEAKER_02: And uh he's quite philosophical as well.
[1:30:40] SPEAKER_02: So I've enjoyed that, definitely.
[1:30:42] SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you about this.
[1:30:44] SPEAKER_00: So Clayton Young, American marathon runner, came what do you come, second at the the uh trials and then went to the Olympics with his training partner, Connor Mance, and they both ran Boston just the other day.
[1:30:55] SPEAKER_00: I also am a big fan of that series.
[1:30:57] SPEAKER_00: How would you cope if you were Clayton Young and your main training partner was Connor Mance, who is a psychopath in the best possible way?
[1:31:06] SPEAKER_00: Like he just he like he doesn't know how to not push any session ever.
[1:31:11] SPEAKER_00: Like he just any session he does, he's 11 out of 10, 100 out of 10.
[1:31:16] SPEAKER_00: And I reckon there was a period not that long ago where they were pretty similar, but now Connor is clearly better than him, drops him in every session if he wants to.
[1:31:24] SPEAKER_00: He's beating him in in races quite comfortably.
[1:31:27] SPEAKER_00: How would you cope if you were Clayton?
[1:31:31] SPEAKER_02: You I think you just got to be patient with it.
[1:31:33] SPEAKER_02: I think it it definitely can be could be a testing thing for you to see you know somebody who you've worked so hard with, done exactly the same training, kind of move away from you, but at the same time, it's a great opportunity for you to have somebody who's gonna push you each day, day in, day out.
[1:31:50] SPEAKER_02: And um, I think that's hard within the context of marathon running to find somebody, particularly in the US for them guys, but also you need to train in the right zones within marathon.
[1:32:01] SPEAKER_02: If you're pushing above a marathon, uh a marathon pace or a or a specific zone within a session, then it kind of makes the session kind of irrelevant for what you're working towards.
[1:32:11] SPEAKER_02: So at the same time, it must be really challenging to then kind of hold yourself back and not push on to do that.
[1:32:18] SPEAKER_02: Um, so yeah, I definitely I've definitely found it interesting from that point of view to see Connor develop um so much in this last few years and and and Clayton is is still as well.
[1:32:28] SPEAKER_02: Um, and I think for him, he needs to see that he's still improving and still moving in the right direction.
[1:32:33] SPEAKER_02: Just Connor has gone supersonic.
[1:32:36] SPEAKER_00: It's crazy watching Connor run as well.
[1:32:38] SPEAKER_00: Like the guy just looks like he's sprinting everything.
[1:32:41] SPEAKER_00: Um okay, on this, this is kind of a side, side little journey here.
[1:32:48] SPEAKER_00: But the the East Africans have obviously dominated long distance running forever, but we're seeing some really good um performances from the likes of Connor Mance, you know, that kind of 205 region.
[1:32:59] SPEAKER_00: Andy Buchanan's a guy here in Australia who's run 206, Sonia Moen, the the famous Norwegian marathoner.
[1:33:04] SPEAKER_00: Um, and then, you know, like do you think that you could potentially bridge the gap?
[1:33:11] SPEAKER_00: Like, do you think that you could get to that level of your Connor Mance's and and your Andes, and that if you if you dedicated yourself for two years here and be in the conversation for the best non-East African runner in in the marathon?
[1:33:25] SPEAKER_02: I I I suppose the first answer is I have absolutely no idea.
[1:33:29] SPEAKER_02: Um definitely this block was a lot more rudimentary uh and a lot safer than I maybe would be within a triathlon block, and if I did an alpha marathon um preparation, so that would either spell massive benefits or it would just you know completely cook me into a race.
[1:33:47] SPEAKER_02: But to see the likes of Emil Caress uh for us in the UK um as a British guy coming forth at the Olympic marathon, and a guy that you know I I used to race uh occasionally beat uh at through the age group levels to to see him achieve that um definitely breaks down barriers for for us as athletes to think, oh maybe something is possible and maybe you could do something.
[1:34:12] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I guess I guess time will tell um with with that kind of stuff, whether we see you know the gap closed or whether um yeah, East Africans keep developing.
[1:34:24] SPEAKER_02: Unfortunately, we're in a place where we are seeing a lot of um them be pop for for taking banned substances, so um whether that has any extra connotations as well, we don't know.
[1:34:35] SPEAKER_02: But yeah, it would just be interesting to see how how marathon is reshaped in the next few years, but I can only see it getting quicker.
[1:34:42] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pretty disappointing that there's like over a hundred positive tests out of the one region in the world, but yeah, try not to focus on that too much because it gets a bit depressing.
[1:34:51] SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, Alex, let's get into the the serious questions that are serious on a different kind of scale to that.
[1:34:58] SPEAKER_00: Um what I thought, this is this is rare.
[1:35:00] SPEAKER_00: So I've only been doing this this year, and what I do is I shuffle the cards before every time, pick three off the top that after I shuffle it, and then once once they're asked, I put them over in a separate pile to never be asked again.
[1:35:11] SPEAKER_00: I'm just gonna do it until all the cards are finished.
[1:35:14] SPEAKER_00: But because you're such a big guest, I thought, you know what we're gonna do?
[1:35:17] SPEAKER_00: We're gonna get four, not three.
[1:35:19] SPEAKER_00: So you're the first person to ever be asked four questions here.
[1:35:22] SPEAKER_00: Um but you've got yeah, you've got to be really prepared to go deep here, okay?
[1:35:27] SPEAKER_00: Okay.
[1:35:29] SPEAKER_00: The first one is oh, this is good.
[1:35:33] SPEAKER_00: Tell me one thing you want to stop doing, keep doing, start doing.
[1:35:38] SPEAKER_00: So let's start with tell me one thing you want to stop doing.
[1:35:44] SPEAKER_02: Um one thing I do want to stop doing is uh I want to bring down my screen time, mate.
[1:35:53] SPEAKER_02: That's one thing which I think is probably quite bad for me.
[1:35:57] SPEAKER_02: I'm probably in the the six hours and on screen time, so I mean that's that sounds pretty bad.
[1:36:02] SPEAKER_02: It's coming out of my mouth now, but it's definitely something which I'd like to bring down.
[1:36:06] SPEAKER_02: Um I'd like to start.
[1:36:09] SPEAKER_02: Um I'd like to start cooking with my girlfriend together.
[1:36:15] SPEAKER_02: I think that would be quite a nice thing to do.
[1:36:17] SPEAKER_02: I think it's probably something which becomes a bit of a chore in our household.
[1:36:20] SPEAKER_02: So I think it'd be quite nice if we shared that.
[1:36:22] SPEAKER_02: And what was the what was the last question?
[1:36:24] SPEAKER_00: Keep doing.
[1:36:26] SPEAKER_02: Keep doing.
[1:36:29] SPEAKER_02: I I think just keep some of the the really good habits which I've picked up throughout marathon block and and keep keep them in um keep them in my lifestyle, whether that's around recovery, uh, whether that's around nutrition, um, around sessions and stuff like that, and just keep that going and yeah.
[1:36:49] SPEAKER_00: I I reckon there was a time not that long ago where six hours of screen time would have been crazy.
[1:36:55] SPEAKER_00: But now, honestly, I I can I honestly think that's not even like that that could be on the lower end.
[1:37:04] SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
[1:37:04] SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like everyone's screen time every day would be six hours.
[1:37:08] SPEAKER_02: It's just we're getting to a point where we're yeah, starting to be disconnected, and and I'm the first to admit that I'm probably one of those people.
[1:37:15] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, I'd love to you know look outside a bit more and and yeah, I I see Leo in particular when I see him go on walks with Angie and stuff like that, and they're outside and walking the dogs.
[1:37:28] SPEAKER_02: I think oh maybe I should, yeah, maybe I should embrace the outdoors a little bit more.
[1:37:32] SPEAKER_02: It's hard in the UK, but especially when the sun's out like now.
[1:37:35] SPEAKER_00: So with this screen time, because like this is I just wouldn't have picked it, to be honest, Alex.
[1:37:40] SPEAKER_00: I would have thought you were someone who was not like that, because I guess the reason why is that you're not like super active on social media.
[1:37:49] SPEAKER_00: You don't ever do like like you don't do any of your own content really compared to to most people.
[1:37:55] SPEAKER_00: Like you don't, you're not doing podcasts ever, you're not doing YouTube videos ever, really.
[1:37:59] SPEAKER_00: Like, that's why this YouTube series you did into London was so awesome.
[1:38:03] SPEAKER_00: And by the way, please do that for whatever race you do next, whether it's a T100 race, 70.3 worlds, some WTCS.
[1:38:10] SPEAKER_00: Do this, do the same thing because it's incredible and it would like it would take off.
[1:38:14] SPEAKER_00: Um the Triton world needs that.
[1:38:17] SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, yeah.
[1:38:18] SPEAKER_00: So it kind of shocks me that you are someone, or surprises me, not shocks me, that you are someone who is just like like me and spends way too much time on your phone.
[1:38:27] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's probably uh to an effect a little bit of fear of of sharing your whole life, and that was probably part of starting the YouTube series was you know, it was a pretty daunting thing for me to to invite someone into my home to share that that those kind of moments, those intimate moments.
[1:38:44] SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that that was scary initially, but it's been really rewarding to see what people have said about it.
[1:38:50] SPEAKER_02: And I want to show people that I'm a I'm a human being, I'm normal, just like all the other traffices.
[1:38:57] SPEAKER_02: We are just normal people, and we can be relatable, and and yeah, if you work hard, you can be just like us.
[1:39:03] SPEAKER_02: So I think I've definitely been on the the consumer side of of things.
[1:39:07] SPEAKER_02: Uh probably spent a lot of time on Instagram, classic clans.
[1:39:11] SPEAKER_02: Uh but yeah, I mean it's yeah, it's definitely something which I I would like to to kind of hone in, hone down on.
[1:39:19] SPEAKER_02: I always feel like I have my phone in my hand, if that makes sense.
[1:39:21] SPEAKER_02: It's like an extension of me in a way.
[1:39:24] SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, yeah, I think it would be good to spend a little bit of time away from it every now and then.
[1:39:30] SPEAKER_00: It's so hard though.
[1:39:31] SPEAKER_00: Like, it's so hard.
[1:39:33] SPEAKER_00: Like, think about how many times a day you pick up your phone and look at your phone from not having been looking at it, like a blank screen to flicking open your screen.
[1:39:42] SPEAKER_00: Like it it would be hundreds of times a day for most people.
[1:39:45] SPEAKER_00: It's so bloody hard.
[1:39:47] SPEAKER_00: Like we're all completely addicted.
[1:39:49] SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, it's just I I don't know.
[1:39:52] SPEAKER_00: I reckon it's if you could get your screen time from like six hours down to an hour a day, like uh you would be kiddogy.
[1:40:01] SPEAKER_00: Mate, you'd have to, yeah.
[1:40:02] SPEAKER_00: You like there's it's just not it's not possible.
[1:40:06] SPEAKER_00: I don't I honestly don't think it's possible.
[1:40:08] SPEAKER_02: Not for a normal Well, so many of our jobs as well, isn't it?
[1:40:11] SPEAKER_02: So it's hard to Because that's the way we have to connect these days, so it's yeah, it's the impossible balance of trying to do both, but I definitely think I can cut it down a little bit.
[1:40:22] SPEAKER_00: So this takes me into the the like you said start doing where you'd love to like start cooking meals with your partner.
[1:40:29] SPEAKER_00: Do you think do you think that your relationship quality would improve if you and your partner put down your phones more often and like just connected in ways like that?
[1:40:39] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, definitely.
[1:40:40] SPEAKER_02: I think I'm probably probably the worst of the two of us.
[1:40:45] SPEAKER_02: Um so yeah, I think it would be good if uh we sh we shared those moments together.
[1:40:51] SPEAKER_02: I think particularly within our lives, because we're within elite sport, there's those there's a lack of you know those authentic moments that you get to have together, and particularly getting a dog has probably made me realise that those moments are important, and even little things like walking the dog together and having those those small moments do make you appreciate things a lot more.
[1:41:11] SPEAKER_02: And um, yeah, I think I'd I'd love to continue doing that.
[1:41:16] SPEAKER_02: I think yeah, it's it's obviously a challenge, it being you know part and parcel of what we do, and uh social media being a responsibility of us as athletes, I think, to to show ourselves.
[1:41:27] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, it's it's gonna be a challenge, but I think it'll be be nice at the same time.
[1:41:32] SPEAKER_00: And what kind of meals are you thinking that you might start cooking together?
[1:41:35] SPEAKER_00: Like what would you like to really nail?
[1:41:38] SPEAKER_02: Oh mate, I my favourite meal to cook is actually jerk chicken.
[1:41:42] SPEAKER_02: So um next time uh we're in the same area, I have to cook you jerk chicken.
[1:41:47] SPEAKER_02: My girlfriend makes amazing spicy carbonara using like uh some chili oil, uh Chinese chili oil.
[1:41:54] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, so we'll have to uh be teaching each other our own specialities.
[1:41:59] SPEAKER_00: I'm uh I'm coming to Europe in August for six months, and I'm gonna hit up London.
[1:42:03] SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna actually take you up on that where I want by by the time that comes around, I want you to have cooked that meal with your with your partner at least four or five times, so it's absolutely nailed.
[1:42:16] SPEAKER_00: Alright, I'm gonna hold you to that.
[1:42:18] SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
[1:42:18] SPEAKER_00: Next question.
[1:42:20] SPEAKER_00: What is something about you that I would be surprised to know?
[1:42:26] SPEAKER_02: Uh my uh my well, I don't know if this means anything to you uh being Australian, but my uncle has uh won a BAFTA award for editing the film Baby Driver.
[1:42:40] SPEAKER_00: Well, let me try and I'm trying it British film and TV, is that right?
[1:42:44] SPEAKER_00: Is that BAFTA?
[1:42:46] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
[1:42:46] SPEAKER_02: British Film and TV Awards.
[1:42:48] SPEAKER_00: Okay, what did you say it was?
[1:42:50] SPEAKER_00: What's it called?
[1:42:51] SPEAKER_02: Uh Baby Driver is the film.
[1:42:53] SPEAKER_00: Right.
[1:42:53] SPEAKER_00: I haven't seen it.
[1:42:54] SPEAKER_00: Is a big film?
[1:42:56] SPEAKER_02: It's fairly big.
[1:42:57] SPEAKER_02: It's got like Jamie Foxx in it.
[1:42:58] SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's it's got some fairly big actors.
[1:43:01] SPEAKER_02: Uh he also did uh Hot Fuzz as well, which is uh another British film.
[1:43:06] SPEAKER_00: No way, he did Hot Fuzz.
[1:43:08] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, British uh cult film classic.
[1:43:10] SPEAKER_02: So made hot to that.
[1:43:13] SPEAKER_00: That is incredible.
[1:43:16] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, pretty cool.
[1:43:17] SPEAKER_00: The Hot Fuzz has the guy who played um what do you he played the the hound on Game of Thrones, he's in it.
[1:43:26] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I haven't actually watched Game of Thrones, so I'm not too sure.
[1:43:30] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know crazy time.
[1:43:32] SPEAKER_00: Well, two for the price of one in things I'd be surprised to know.
[1:43:35] SPEAKER_00: That's crazy.
[1:43:37] SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go watch that.
[1:43:39] SPEAKER_00: What was it?
[1:43:39] SPEAKER_00: Baby Driver by Baby Driver, yes, it's good, it's got lots of good music in it.
[1:43:44] SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm gonna actually go watch that.
[1:43:45] SPEAKER_00: Do you know what platform it's on?
[1:43:48] SPEAKER_02: No, you're testing me now.
[1:43:49] SPEAKER_02: I'll I'll uh I'll get back to you on that straight away.
[1:43:51] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm gonna go and watch that, but you have to go and watch Game of Thrones because that is just incredible.
[1:43:56] SPEAKER_02: Um that sounds like a big investment.
[1:43:58] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, you've got six hours a day that you got like now is now free time, so you may as well use it for something.
[1:44:04] unknown: All right.
[1:44:06] SPEAKER_00: The second last one.
[1:44:07] SPEAKER_00: Do you believe in karma?
[1:44:11] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I definitely believe that there's there's something around um doing right in the world and and the world doing right for you, so I guess I guess yeah, to an extent.
[1:44:23] SPEAKER_00: Are you a religious man?
[1:44:26] SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't say I'm a religious person, but I definitely believe in something.
[1:44:30] SPEAKER_02: I think there is you know the world is is the way it is, and I can't imagine that's purely down to to chance.
[1:44:37] SPEAKER_02: So yeah, yeah, that's what I'd say.
[1:44:40] SPEAKER_00: This is a whole other conversation.
[1:44:42] SPEAKER_02: Do you have any like that's the next question, isn't it?
[1:44:44] SPEAKER_00: You got any theories?
[1:44:45] SPEAKER_00: Any theories about what we are or where we are or what the hell's going on?
[1:44:50] SPEAKER_02: No, I don't, but every now and then you just do feel like, am I just in a simulation?
[1:44:55] SPEAKER_02: Is somebody just playing as me?
[1:44:57] SPEAKER_02: You watch a Rick and Morty episode or something, you have a bit of an existential crisis, but apart from that, no, no big theories.
[1:45:05] SPEAKER_00: I reckon once a week.
[1:45:06] SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know, whether I'm in the shower or just like laying in bed at night and can't sleep.
[1:45:11] SPEAKER_00: I just have this overwhelming thought of like, where are we?
[1:45:15] SPEAKER_02: Like where you look at the sky, you're like, well, where does this lead to?
[1:45:22] SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
[1:45:22] SPEAKER_00: What the hell is going on here?
[1:45:24] SPEAKER_00: Like we just we just go through our lives like on our phones, on Instagram, just go about 80 years of our life, no idea what's going on, no what like we don't, it's so weird that like we don't even try really question it that much.
[1:45:39] SPEAKER_00: You know, like it is true, yeah.
[1:45:41] SPEAKER_00: We should all be like every single one of us should be just like sitting down at a table together, all eight trillion of us or however many there are in the world, and just being like, guys, we've got to figure out where we are.
[1:45:51] SPEAKER_00: Like, what's going on?
[1:45:52] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what's going on?
[1:45:54] SPEAKER_02: We just accept it, yeah.
[1:45:55] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but it's true.
[1:45:56] SPEAKER_00: But instead, we just like watch the Kardashians.
[1:45:59] SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm living a good life, so I can't complain too much.
[1:46:02] SPEAKER_02: But when it gets when it goes tits tough, I'll I'll be joining the meeting.
[1:46:05] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, yeah, I'm having one of those moments now.
[1:46:09] SPEAKER_00: Um, all right, last one.
[1:46:11] SPEAKER_00: What is the biggest trigger for your stress?
[1:46:16] SPEAKER_02: Um I would say lack of bandwidth, if that kind of makes sense.
[1:46:22] SPEAKER_02: So when I feel like I've kind of reached the end of my tether, um, so I feel like I'm able to particularly with things like this, um, I feel like I'm able to express myself really well when I have the headspace around it, I'm able to talk freely, comfortably.
[1:46:41] SPEAKER_02: But maybe if I have too many things going on, whether it's a lot of training, a lot of a lot of stuff going on, whether it's around the house, etc.
[1:46:49] SPEAKER_02: etc.
[1:46:49] SPEAKER_02: When I run out of that bandwidth, I think that's a thing which really stresses me.
[1:46:54] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
[1:46:55] SPEAKER_00: Wow.
[1:46:56] SPEAKER_00: I mean, not to harp on it too much, but if you reduce that screen time, who knows what that means.
[1:47:01] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I've got time.
[1:47:02] SPEAKER_00: Well, time, but also maybe just like a bit more a bit more mental energy.
[1:47:07] SPEAKER_00: Like I reckon where we are very ignorant to how much our phone drains us as well.
[1:47:14] SPEAKER_00: Not just how much time it wastes, but just like the constant the constant cycle that you're on being addicted to it with dopamine.
[1:47:22] SPEAKER_00: I like I reckon we're we're we're vastly underestimating how much our phone drains us.
[1:47:27] SPEAKER_00: Because you think of it as like zombie time, but I'm not so sure it is.
[1:47:30] SPEAKER_00: Like if you if you just got rid of that six hours, or if I got rid of my 14 hours a day on my phone, I reckon it would be yeah, amazing how much bandwidth, which is a great word you use, it would open up for you to be more yeah, more connected in other areas of your life.
[1:47:46] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, it's true.
[1:47:48] SPEAKER_02: I'm glad we're having these chats now because it's gonna enforce it when uh when this comes out.
[1:47:52] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
[1:47:54] SPEAKER_00: Your girlfriend listens and she's like, well, I've completely relapsed.
[1:47:57] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, do now.
[1:47:58] SPEAKER_00: I'll just do like a six-month follow-up with you every six months where we just do a podcast.
[1:48:03] SPEAKER_00: Ten minutes to check in on screen, screen time, and and uh if we've if we've got any updates on where we are or what we're doing.
[1:48:10] SPEAKER_02: All right, mate.
[1:48:11] SPEAKER_02: I know what you mean with the dopamine, that is super true.
[1:48:14] SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
[1:48:14] SPEAKER_02: Because I guess as elite athletes, you're always looking for your next, you know, exciting moment, whether that's in training, whether that's whatever.
[1:48:21] SPEAKER_02: So I guess there is probably a little subliminal part of that, which is uh very true.
[1:48:26] SPEAKER_00: Well, I got told this by a sports psychologist um that I talked to at a at a an event um last year or the year before, which I thought was really interesting.
[1:48:36] SPEAKER_00: And they talked about how um you get like so the dopamine pathways that makes like that makes motivation or makes doing something easier.
[1:48:48] SPEAKER_00: So if you um have a run planned, for example, or if you have like a say it's a Sunday and you have a long run planned, and sometimes it's easy to get out the door, sometimes it's hard to get out the door.
[1:48:58] SPEAKER_00: And they talked about that because of the dopamine uh the impact that our phones uh are having on our dopamine cycle, that it's much harder if you're in heavy phone use to get yourself out for sessions than if you get rid of it.
[1:49:13] SPEAKER_00: So what they do and so this I wish I could say who this uh who this psychologist works with, because it's it's it's a pretty big name in triathon, in long-course trithlon.
[1:49:23] SPEAKER_00: And so one thing they did with their athlete is they would um purposely like schedule in like phone time around training so that they weren't using their phone prior to sessions or or that kind of thing, and then the athlete really um found out that it was so much easier to get out the door, like they didn't have that delay, they weren't kind of like uh oh, I can't be bothered, I don't want to get out.
[1:49:50] SPEAKER_00: They were suddenly going back to like, oh, I'm really excited to get out.
[1:49:54] SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to do this because they'd been really struggling with getting out the door.
[1:49:58] SPEAKER_00: And the psychologist believes that it was potentially because they were so um, I don't know what the word is, like, but but their dopamine cycle had been so messed up because of their phone use that they had they they were lacking motivation or they were lacking like the appropriate dopamine response to like, okay, I've got to get out there and train, okay, I've got there out there and trained, I get a dopamine hit.
[1:50:21] SPEAKER_00: So maybe that had been like reduced to the point where it was making it really hard for them to be motivated.
[1:50:26] SPEAKER_00: So I don't know though if there's a lesson in that for some people that if you're like finding yourself struggling to get motivated, struggling to get out the door, that maybe stop like using your phone in the morning and don't use it until you've you until afterwards or save your phone use for night time or that kind of thing.
[1:50:40] SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
[1:50:41] SPEAKER_00: I don't, I'm not the psychologist, but I reckon there is a lesson in that.
[1:50:44] SPEAKER_02: Mate, definitely.
[1:50:45] SPEAKER_02: That's yeah, I'm gonna try it now.
[1:50:47] SPEAKER_02: You've uh you've sold me.
[1:50:48] SPEAKER_00: Try it.
[1:50:49] SPEAKER_02: I definitely think there is some form of desensitization, isn't there, to to little things in life when uh you're getting those free hits.
[1:50:56] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they well, they talked about that it took a like that it was a a compounding effect.
[1:51:01] SPEAKER_00: So the more the longer they did it for, the more the more kind of powerful it was.
[1:51:06] SPEAKER_00: So I think this person had been for like six months not using their phone until um after their second training session of the day.
[1:51:13] SPEAKER_00: So they were like, I think for most triathletes, that's like lunchtime.
[1:51:16] SPEAKER_00: So they were pretty much using their phone for the first time at lunchtime.
[1:51:20] SPEAKER_00: Whereas before they would wake up and be on it in bed as soon as they woke up, and then with breakfast, and then when they were on the toilet before their training, and then after they got out of their car, you know, like so Yeah, of course, yeah, like all of us.
[1:51:32] SPEAKER_00: Like all of us, yeah, exactly.
[1:51:33] SPEAKER_00: So that yeah, you should actually try it and report back to me.
[1:51:36] SPEAKER_00: Like try it for a week or something.
[1:51:37] SPEAKER_00: I'd really like an elite athlete to do that so I could uh have another opinion on it.
[1:51:42] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, sounds good.
[1:51:43] SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna try it.
[1:51:44] SPEAKER_00: All right, mate.
[1:51:45] SPEAKER_00: Well, that wraps us up.
[1:51:47] SPEAKER_00: Uh Alex Yee, everyone, thank you so much for coming on the podcast, mate.
[1:51:50] SPEAKER_00: Real honor because you you don't do these things very often.
[1:51:53] SPEAKER_00: So I I feel very privileged to be one of the one of the select places you've um you've picked to do it.
[1:51:59] SPEAKER_00: Uh and it was a great chat.
[1:52:00] SPEAKER_00: It was so good to get to know you because yeah, outside of this YouTube series, I've um I've felt like uh you are kind of a private guy who who keeps things to yourself.
[1:52:09] SPEAKER_00: So it was yeah, it was just awesome to have a chat.
[1:52:12] SPEAKER_02: No, thanks very much, mate.
[1:52:13] SPEAKER_02: It's been yeah, ri really, really nice.
[1:52:15] SPEAKER_02: I feel like, yeah, I've I've really yeah, it's been it's been nice to share with you.
[1:52:20] SPEAKER_02: And um yeah, it's been it's been really cool.
[1:52:24] SPEAKER_00: Cool.
[1:52:24] SPEAKER_00: And uh keep us updated on on the plans when you do know them.
[1:52:28] SPEAKER_00: Uh and uh look forward to following along for the year, mate.
[1:52:31] SPEAKER_00: So yeah, thanks again and uh enjoy the rest of your night.
[1:52:33] SPEAKER_00: Have a good sleep and uh and thanks again.
[1:52:36] SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you too, mate.
[1:52:38] SPEAKER_02: Hope you uh get some sleep after what is it now?
[1:52:40] SPEAKER_02: Four 4 30?
[1:52:41] SPEAKER_00: 4 51 a.m.
[1:52:43] SPEAKER_00: here.
[1:52:43] SPEAKER_00: Yeah, started at 3 a.m.
[1:52:45] SPEAKER_00: Night shift.
[1:52:45] SPEAKER_02: There you go, that's a commitment.
[1:52:46] SPEAKER_00: I'm just staying I'm just staying up now.
[1:52:49] SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna have a coffee and then push them through till tonight, I reckon.
[1:52:53] SPEAKER_00: All right, mate.
[1:52:54] SPEAKER_00: Have a good sleep.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.