Joel Filliol

Read the full article on substack: joelfilliol.substack.com/p/the-bullshit…

The Bullshit Asymmetry Problem: Often you're buying into the perception of precision, where devices confidently display numbers that are, at best, educated estimates - and where the marketing effort to sell these numbers dwarfs the effort required to scrutinise them.

The best questions that prompted my deepest reflections in an interview / discussion I’ve done - invested in a lot of thinking and introspection for this one - covering coaching, training, culture, zone 1, athlete development, leadership, technology, self-sabotage and more:

Surprised to see that TUEs are possible for testosterone and growth hormone - and these are being granted in triathlon:

Read the full article to learn more: joelfilliol.substack.com/p/relentlessly…

What I learned from Simon Whitfield - one of triathlon’s greats: -His unique psychology: Who he was as an athlete, and the traits that made him capable of this kind of career. -His environment: The climate he created around himself, and how he managed it. -His preparation: The approach to training that kept him fresh and available across more than a decade.

Listen to the Real Coaching Podcast: Itunes: geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/rea… Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3dpGop1Cy… Subscribe to the Real Coaching Substack: joelfilliol.substack.com Watch on Youtube: youtu.be/kzdWEdlS2QA

🚨 New podcast drop: The Top 20 Swim Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming (2026 Update) 📍Rule number one: conditioning trump's drills. Technique matters, but the way that most athletes try to improve technique doesn't work. 📍Get fitter and your ability to hold good technique improves.  📍Frequency is the best way to improve your swimming.  📍You can't expect to swim fast and be fresh on the bike if you rarely do main sets with the same or higher volume and pace than you expect in the race.

@thenwerun Thank you Jason 🙏

@joelfilliol Few coaches have influenced how I think about triathlon coaching more than you Joel; and even fewer articles have influenced how I think about swimming more than this and its predecessors. A genuine joy to read. 2,5, 6 and 21 are the ones I find myself most commonly quoting.

Revisiting a classic article - does "The Top 20 Rules for Faster Triathlon Swimming" still hold up 14 years after it was first written? Some of my favourites: 1. Conditioning trumps drills. 2. Traditional drills don't work. 9. Don't count strokes

Read more at open.substack.com/pub/joelfillio…

Itunes: geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/rea… Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3dpGop1Cy… Subscribe to the Real Coaching Substack: joelfilliol.substack.com Watch on Youtube: youtu.be/7Q9-GdvC3T4

New podcast drop: Risk and Reward:   'Why smart people make stupid decisions', I suppose is that insight into what Jan and Alistair think were at times stupid decisions. Of course there's no calculator or precision in that process. It's so easy to fall into the trap of chasing confidence and letting ego drive decision making. For most athletes pushing too hard and taking risk in training is not the right approach. For most athletes the cost of getting it wrong are just too high and the top performances don't demand or require a perfect process. Most athletes don't even arrive on race day having done the 95%, never mind the 99.9% line.

Read more open.substack.com/pub/joelfillio…

New article on risk taking in training and racing - key points: -Risk taking in competition is a different calculation to risk taking in training -Learning from experience is hard, many athletes repeat the same mistakes over and over -Chasing the 99.9% is a high risk approach that is likely to result in catastrophic problems -Getting to the start line healthy and ready to compete is the critical part of effective preparation -You can’t win if you can’t start the race! -Focusing on getting the basics right: the 95% is what drives even the top performers to consistently deliver to their potential

Watch on Youtube: youtu.be/7Q9-GdvC3T4

Itunes: geo.itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/rea… Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/3dpGop1Cy…

The basic unsexy consistent work over time is really where performance and talent reaches its ultimate level.