Glenn Poleunis - coaching across Olympics, T100 and Ironman | EP#462

Coach Glenn Poleunis leads a Girona-based squad home to elite triathletes such as T100 World Champion Marten van Riel and Olympic and World Champion Cassandre Beaugrand (who joined the squad more recently, after her standout 2024 season). We talk about coaching at the highest level, the demands of WTCS, T100 and Ironman racing, and how Glenn's coaching is evolving with the demands of the sport. 

HIGHLIGHTS AND KEY TOPICS: 

• How Glenn's coaching and his squad has evolved over the past three years
• Lessons from the Paris Olympics and the Olympic qualification period
• Outlook on the LA 2028 Olympic cycle
• Comparing the WTCS, T100 and Ironman racing formats
• Preparing Marten van Riel for both T100 and the Ironman World Championships
• Season periodisation and managing long racing calendars
• Working with Cassandre Beaugrand, and how to improve an Olympic champion

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/tts462/

LINKS AND RESOURCES: 

• Glenn's website and Instagram
• Glenn's previous appearance on That Triathlon Show: Training talk with Glenn Poleunis | EP#335

WHAT SHOULD I LISTEN TO NEXT?

If you enjoyed this episode, I think you'll love the following episodes: 

• Björn Geesmann | EP#426 - this is a very in-depth discussion on a number of important training topics with Björn Geesmann, who has coached athletes like Patrick Lange, Kat Matthews and many more
• Training structure, periodisation and the science of winning with Jan Olbrecht, PhD | EP#198 - Glenn's compatriot Jan Olbrecht is a massive name in endurance sports coaching and applied sports science, and this might be the only podcast interview he has ever done in English

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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• The Scientific Triathlon website is the home of That Triathlon Show and everything else that we do
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