Jonny Brownlee is one of the most successful triathletes Britain has ever produced.
Along with his brother Alistair, the other half of the famous Brownlee brothers duo, Jonny has enjoyed an illustrious career, winning three Olympic medals.
At the age of 31, he’s still able to compete with the best, as shown by his thrilling sprint finish against Alex Yee at the Super League Triathlon Jersey in September, where the up and coming Yee beat him by only a few metres.
Brownlee’s success and longevity come from his relentless training regime and outstanding dedication to the sport.
His swim-bike-run schedule is tiring to even think about, but his approach offers some good food for thought when it comes to looking at your own programme, whether you’re training for triathlons or another fitness discipline.
Jonny Brownlee’s Training Philosophy
As you’d expect from a world-class triathlete, Brownlee trains a lot.
He builds everything around his core philosophy of taking things easy on easy days and pushing very hard on harder days.
Those hard sessions come on three days a week - Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
On other days, Brownlee aims to build in as much training as he can without getting injured so that he has as strong an aerobic base as possible, which is obviously crucial for any triathlon distance from a sprint to an Ironman.
It’s a similar training approach to the Ingebrigtsen brothers who have dominated Europe’s middle-distance running scene for the last few years.
Jonny Brownlee’s Typical Day Of Training
As we’ve said, Brownlee does different types of sessions on different days of the week, but below is a typical aerobic day that he completed on a Wednesday in the build-up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics:
5k swim in open water
70-min run (14km)
3.5-hour bike (100km)
The swim was completed at a local reservoir where Brownlee started training during the Coronavirus lockdown because of swimming pool closures. He says he’s stayed in open water because it’s a better simulation of a race and you can stay swimming in a straight line for longer.
He then changed and went straight into a very easy run on cross country terrain, with quite a few grassy hills on the route.
Brownlee then had some down time before heading back out for a three-and-a-half-hour bike ride in the Yorkshire Dales.
All that made up an easy recovery day that was sandwiched between two intense workout days.
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