Is Polarized Training Still Relevant with Dr Stephen Seiler

A podcast to help you Train Smarter and Race Faster. Hosted by expert Triathlon coach, Australian Ironman Champion and 15 x Aus Age group Champion Gerard Donnelly, and his son, multiple Triathlon + Cycling Aus Age Group Champion Jordy Donnelly.

Our guest today is one of the most influential people in Cycling and Triathlon training, and that’s because he was one of the original founders of the 80/20 rule, commonly referred to as Polarised Training.

Even if you haven’t heard of him, basically the entire world of cycling and triathlon now train to this principle of, 80% of your training is to be easy, and only 20% hard.

His name is Dr Stephen Seiler, he is a Professor of Sports Science, earning his doctoral degree from the University of Texas at Austin and has lived and worked in Norway for over 20 years as a university teacher, researcher, and leader. He still resides in Norway and it’s no wonder that they are at the forefront of training development with minds like his leading the way.

We went for almost 2 hours in this interview and we could’ve kept going. We are big fans of his work and are very familiar with majority of his teachings and principles, but even we were surprised about some of the controversial opinions he holds around the wrong things the world is still doing in training.

We clarify exactly what polarised training actually means, we dive deep into training intensity and what the optimal training sessions actually are, we discuss the value and limitations of VO2 max training and a whole lot more.

This was such an enjoyable episode.

Timestamp:

00:00 - Introduction

00:42 - Dr. Seiler’s Day

02:05 - What’s Easy Endurance Ride for Dr. Seiler

06:42 - 80/20: Polarised Training Defined

13:35 - Get Away from the 7-day Micro Cycle

17:45 - Frequency and Consistency

20:30 - The 14-day Cycle

27:30 - Failure with Trying Harder

32:00 - Structuring a 14-day Cycle

37:40 - VO2 Testing

43:30 - Lactate Tolerance

47:20 - Frequency, Volume, and Intensity

53:20 - The Right Intensity for High-Level Athletes

1:03:45 - The Recovery Clock and Alignment

1:12:20 - Staying in the Threshold Zone

1:20:20 - Should Aging Athletes Avoid Intensity?

1:30:30 - Data Triangulation

1:40:24 - Dr. Seiler’s Training with Scottie Pippen

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