There have been highs (setting the British record at Ironman Kalmar<\/a><\/strong>) and lows (missing the biggest races through injury<\/a><\/strong>), but he\u2019s ready and eager for the races yet to come this year.<\/p>\n Here, he talks to 220<\/em> about dealing with setbacks and the exciting future of the sport\u2026<\/p>\n There\u2019s definitely no hard and fast process. You just go with what feels right. Even though I\u2019ve been doing it for so long, I definitely don\u2019t know what the best way to approach it is.<\/p>\n Ultimately, if you\u2019re worried about something, you\u2019ve just got to take it seriously.<\/p>\n There are a lot of races out there, but on the whole I just aim to be at the best, they\u2019re the ones that I focus on.<\/p>\n I think these days that\u2019s the Ironman World Championships and, outside of that, the PTO races. I just want to be the best athlete I can be.<\/p>\n What motivates me is to take on the best people in the world to get the best out of myself, so those races select themselves fairly easily.<\/p>\n Yeah, I think there\u2019s a lot of racing there in August and that\u2019s not ideal, for sure. But I\u2019ve been racing for long enough to know that there\u2019s a lot of difficulties around planning and timetabling races.<\/p>\n So it\u2019s definitely not ideal, but I think the flip side of that is isn\u2019t it exciting that there\u2019s so many top-level world-class long-distance races going on?<\/p>\n It\u2019s kind of a nice position to be in if you look at it like that.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s presume most people can\u2019t train more, so it\u2019s about keeping your total training hours the same.<\/p>\n I think training for any endurance sport is ultimately about consistency, so what can you maintain as a training week schedule not for this week or next week, but over three, four or six months.<\/p>\n That consistency is really important. You know, not doing loads one week because you\u2019ve got a week off work and then much less.<\/p>\n If you can do your eight sessions that week, you try and do eight sessions every week. I think in terms of specifically transitioning to long course, time-trial biking [is important].<\/p>\n For me, so is training for a single output rather than an up and down varied output. I think consistent long sessions where you\u2019re getting efficient at being at a consistent output is important. And obviously time in the TT position focusing on your aerodynamics.<\/p>\n Then I think the two big things to work on are having a really good pacing strategy and also nutrition, being really confident with what nutrition you\u2019re using on the day.<\/p>\n Well, it depends exactly what I\u2019m training for at the time. Most of my training is based on relatively low intensity aerobic training. What that percentage is varies a bit depending on the time of year and what kind of race I\u2019m focusing on.<\/p>\n If I\u2019m doing Ironman, I\u2019m probably doing a bit more aerobic. If I\u2019m doing more middle-distance stuff, like PTO races, it\u2019s bit more intense because, you know, you\u2019re still trying to run fairly quick.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a balancing act, but to put a number on that, it\u2019ll be somewhere around 80% low intensity and 20% higher intensity. In a big week I\u2019ll do two intense swims, two intense bike rides of some sort and two intense runs of some sort, obviously spread out through the week.<\/p>\n But even the majority of those sessions will be aerobic. You know, so if it\u2019s a swim session and you\u2019re doing a couple of intense kilometres, there\u2019ll be more than a couple of kilometres that aren\u2019t intense. So even in the hard sessions themselves, they\u2019re kind of padded-out by plenty of low-level aerobic training.<\/p>\n I try to set my sessions at a level that I can do them on any day, to be honest., I try to never do anything so intense that I need to be on a good day to do them. I just want everything to be super repeatable and, if I\u2019m not having a great day, they feel a bit hard, and if I\u2019m having a great day, I cruise through them and they\u2019re easy.<\/p>\n But yeah, I want to be able to do all the sessions I do on pretty much any day of my training week.<\/p>\n Aiming for a World Series or Olympics is obviously different to long distance. It\u2019s always been about aiming for the most important races in the year. That\u2019s kind of the same.<\/p>\n But when you\u2019re racing World Series, it\u2019s a bit more laid out for you because you basically have to do so many races and so you\u2019re just committed to do that. In terms of setbacks, how has it changed? Not a lot. It still pisses me off.<\/p>\n I think post-Paris we could see some of the guys who we\u2019ve seen racing on the short-course scene for a long time successfully transitioning over to long course.<\/p>\n I\u2019d say that generation of people could be Leo Bergere<\/a><\/strong> and Marten Van Riel<\/a><\/strong>; people like Vincent Luis<\/a><\/strong> are already doing a bit. I think there\u2019s some really good people out there that are going to be good.<\/p>\n I already think that middle distance is as competitive as anything else in triathlon.<\/p>\n I think it could get more competitive, too, which I think is exciting because you\u2019ve got people who specialise at that, people coming up from short distance, people coming from long distance. I think it\u2019s just great for the sport.<\/p>\n As far as the women are concerned, I think we could see similar. If Flora [Duffy]<\/a><\/strong> really focuses on long distance, it\u2019d be mad to think she won\u2019t be really good at it.<\/p>\n But similarly, if you saw Georgia [Taylor-Brown]<\/a><\/strong> and Jess [Learmonth]<\/a><\/strong> focus on long distance I can only imagine they\u2019d be very good at it, too.<\/p>\n I think we\u2019ve got a brilliant chance of medalling. Obviously, the same athletes are around, with Jonny [Brownlee]<\/a><\/strong> and Alex [Yee]<\/a><\/strong> on the men\u2019s side, and Georgia, Jess, Sophie [Coldwell]<\/a><\/strong> and Beth Potter<\/a><\/strong> on the women\u2019s.<\/p>\n It\u2019d be a disappointment if we didn\u2019t win the gold medal in the relay. So yeah, we\u2019ve got a good chance at the three medals.<\/p>\n It\u2019s maybe an obvious point, but your shoes and your saddles are the contact points on the bike. I spend a lot of time riding my bike, between 15 and 20 hours a week at least, and being super comfortable and making sure that those things don\u2019t cause any discomfort or unnecessary injuries is really important.<\/p>\n Fizik is a great company that makes a great range of products \u2013 I think I\u2019ve been lucky enough to try most of them. There\u2019s everything from comfortable road saddles to off-road, TT and triathlon specific.<\/p>\n Then there\u2019s super-fast shoes for transition, aero shoes and comfortable everyday road shoes.<\/p>\n I think having great top-end performance products that are well designed and offer a good range is important because, ultimately, saddles and shoes are similar to wetsuits in that different things fit different people. Finding out what works for you is really important.<\/p>\nHow do you decide whether to race or not if something doesn\u2019t feel quite right?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Is it difficult to plan your season now with so many races to choose from?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do you think the calendar\u2019s in danger of becoming too congested?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""Alistair\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/06\/ali-brownlee-pto-european-open-finish-dw-ca10d5a.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C430"\" "\\"\"PTO\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>What tips do you have for people moving up from short-course to long-course racing?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
What\u2019s your approach to volume and intensity in training?<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n
How have your goals and the way you deal with setbacks evolved over the years?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""Alistair\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/06\/alistair-brownlee-fizik-transiro-fc4660d.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C465"\" "\\"\"alistair-brownlee-fizik-transiro\"\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Aside from the obvious ones, who are the athletes to watch over the next few years in long-course?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Do you think Britain is in with a good chance at Paris 2024?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How important is shoe and saddle choice to you on the bike?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\""Fizik's\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/34\/2023\/06\/fizik-transiro-hyra-aerowave-carbon-0c82b9e.png?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"fizik-transiro-hyra-aerowave-carbon\"\\"\/")
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