
Jelle Geens - Ironman 70.3 World Champion, three-time Olympian | EP#470
That Triathlon Show
Navigating Surf and Training Strategies
This chapter explores the intricacies of open water swimming in Australia, focusing on techniques for dealing with surf conditions and racing dynamics. The speakers emphasize the importance of tapering before races, structured recovery post-competition, and adapting training strategies throughout evolving triathlon seasons. They also share personal insights on balancing training intensity, volume, and recovery to optimize performance while avoiding injuries.
Jelle Geens is the reigning Ironman 70.3 World Champion, a three-time Olympian, and has multiple big wins across the World Triathlon Championship Series, T100 World Tour and Ironman 70.3 on his resume. We discuss Jelle's training in great detail in this episode, and we also cover other bits and pieces like his new training environment on the Gold Coast, how his training and life have changed since having a daughter, and tourism tips for Belgium.
HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS:
- How Jelle got into triathlon, his short-course racing career, and his three Olympic experiences
- Transitioning from short-course to middle-distance racing, getting used to the TT-bike, and Jelle's first (unsuccessful) DIY bike fit
- Comparing the squad training environment in Girona with in-person coaching to more independent training with remote coaching (under Ben Reszel) on the Gold Coast
- Jelle's training structure overall, and specifics across swim, bike and run (including typical key sessions)
- A breakdown of a full training week in preparation for T100 London
- How Jelle tapers into races, and recovers after them
- Jelle's Ironman and Kona plans
DETAILED EPISODE SHOWNOTES:
- We have detailed shownotes for all of our episodes. The shownotes are basically the podcast episode in written form, that you can read in 5-10 minutes. They are not transcriptions, but they are also not just surface-level overviews. They provide detailed insights and timestamps for each episode, and are great especially for later review, after you've already listened to an episode. Naturally, as great as they are, they do not cover absolutely everything in as great detail as we can do in a 45-90 minute podcast episode.
- The shownotes for today's episode can be found at www.scientifictriathlon.com/tts470/
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
- Jelle's Instagram, and results pages on the PTO (middle and long distance) and World Triathlon (short-course)
WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?
If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes:
- World Champions keep things simple: training masterclass with Joel Filliol | EP#172
- Joel Filliol | EP#409
- Solveig Løvseth - Olympian and the fastest Ironman debut in history | EP#466
- Frederic Funk | EP#380
You can find our full episode archives here, where you can filter for categories such as Training, Racing, Science & Physiology, Swimming, Cycling, Running etc.
You can also find separate archives for specific series of episodes I've done, specifically Q&A episodes, TTS Thursday episodes, and Beginner Tips episodes.
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