38 Years of Triathlon Training Lessons

Get Fast Podcast, with Gerard and Jordan Donnelly

Most of what helps an age-group athlete still comes down to the basics: a regular endurance session, easy days that are properly easy, consistent training and honest expectations. In this episode Gerard looks back over the years since his 1988 Australian Ironman title and sorts the old methods worth keeping from the ones he'd drop. He and Jordan also go through what amateurs should and shouldn't take from the pros.

What old-school training would Gerard let go?

Too much long, slow winter training. The old idea was to keep your fitness from dropping through winter and build later. Gerard thinks that can leave three or four months of gains behind. You still need recovery and an off-season, but they can come at different points in the year, and in most places you can keep improving all year round.

His second answer: there was an upside to having no social media. Athletes stuck to their own plan instead of changing it every time they saw what someone else was doing. No two people are the same, so someone else's program rarely suits you.

What should you keep?

The endurance session. Whether you race criteriums or Ironman, the long ride, run or swim should be the backbone of your program. For about a decade Gerard rode 120 to 180 km almost every Saturday, and it let him keep up with younger riders. In the last three years he hasn't managed it, and his performances have dropped.

He points to Joe Spano, a world champion time trialist in his 60s, who still rides 140 to 200 km most Saturdays.

Hill repeats still earn their place too, as they have since the 1960s, as long as you build up to them.

Should you copy what the pros do?

Learn from them, but work out what fits you. The pros interviewed on the podcast had each found what works for their own body and gone all in on it. One pro triathlete said hard run intervals break her down, so she gets her intensity on the bike. Another runs every hard session as hard as he can, but he has been building to that since he was 16 or 17.

Gerard compares it to a PE teacher's first class with a new Year 7 group. Everyone goes flat out on push-ups and chin-ups, and they're sore for days.

How easy should easy days be?

Easier than most athletes think. Gerard's principle is to train easier so you can train harder: if the plan says zone 2, stay in zone 2, so you can work at the top of your range on the hard day.

Jordan sees many athletes race at 5:00 per km and do their easy runs at 5:15 or 5:30, which leaves them tired all week and struggling in their hard sessions. The best marathoners in the world jog their easy runs at 5:30 to 6:00 per km.

Gerard sees the same on group rides. A pro team on a zone 2 day won't chase an amateur who rides past them. Amateurs chase everyone.

He also separates consistency from sameness: "Consistency is different to training the same." Consistency is frequency, turning up for every session, with the hard days hard and the easy days easy.

Can you hold peak form all year?

No. Gerard says you can hold peak form for about four to six weeks, maybe twice a year, or three times depending on your sport. Plan around your A race. If it's in December, your best form should arrive over the last eight to 10 weeks before it, not in July.

Expect flat days even when you're in good form. If you warm up and your legs still feel like lead, he says to skip the high intensity session.

What about the 1 percenters?

Get the program right first. When athletes ask about fast wheels or skin suits, Gerard often finds they've missed planned sessions over the past four weeks. Eating well and sleeping well aren't extras, he says. They're non-negotiable.

Jordan's version: "the best program is the one that the athlete sticks to." Gerard also changes a program as it goes. In a 20-week marathon plan, he says, the second week would change based on how the first one went.

Should you trust your watch or how you feel?

Check in with yourself first, then look at the data. Gerard asks how his legs feel before checking HRV or resting heart rate. If your resting heart rate usually averages 46 and reads 56, something isn't right.

Jordan described a study where people who were told they'd slept badly performed worse that day, even when their sleep score was fine. In a race, if you can't hold a power you've held race after race, ease back rather than forcing it.

Should you race when you're not ready?

Line up your ability and your ambition. Jordan was six weeks from an A race marathon with a back injury, so Gerard laid out the options: race with lower expectations, race it as a training run for a good reason, or skip it.

A marathon still needs real recovery, so ask whether it will affect your next event. And if you agree to go easy but then go out at your goal pace anyway, you're only fooling yourself. Gerard learned this the hard way. He once lined up for a three-stage tour soon after pneumonia, sure his training would carry him, and raced terribly.

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