When the 36-year-old made his Olympic debut back at Beijing 2008, he was hardly even tracking his training sessions on a GPS, never mind refreshing his phone to see the kudos roll in
Alistair Brownlee believes the current Strava craze has led to unhealthy comparisons within elite sport.
When the 36-year-old made his Olympic debut back at Beijing 2008, he was hardly even tracking his training sessions on a GPS, never mind refreshing his phone to see the kudos roll in.
But with the rise of social media and fitness tracking apps such as Strava, the double Olympic triathlon champion admits it has made it easier for athletes to be distracted by what their competitors are doing and forget to focus on their own training plan. With comparison leading elite athletes down the wrong path, Brownlee believes the key to his own triathlon success has been zoning in on his own internal goals and not paying attention to what his rivals are doing.
And speaking ahead of this weekend’s inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final, he is urging others to do the same.
“It’s the oldest cliche in sport isn’t it, you need to control the controllables,” he said. “It’s truly important to focus on yourself internally, but it’s interesting having been involved in sport for such a long time.
“The interconnection of social media and Strava, where people can constantly see the sessions your competitors and other people are doing, people now base themselves off that. That wasn’t there for most of my career. You did your training and maybe uploaded it onto a computer and before that you didn’t even use GPS. You had no idea what your closest competitor was doing.
“It forced you to think internally and that’s how I have always been, but it makes it more difficult for athletes these days to focus internally because they can see what others are doing.”
An internal mindset has seen Brownlee soar to double Olympic gold and become a household name in the world of triathlon, still competing internationally over the longer distance.
Brownlee is one of the elite pool of athletes taking part in the inaugural season of the T100 Triathlon World Tour, a first of its kind series that aims to bring a new audience to triathlon.
The Brit has seen a turbulent time on the tour, sitting 11th in the overall standings after two DNF’s out of six races due to injury and health issues. But with the Dubai T100 Grand Final looming, Brownlee has reflected on the larger impact of the series on his future away from sport as he aims to inspire a new wave of long-distance triathletes.
“Hopefully I’m feeling pretty healthy now and will be much better ahead of the weekend,” he said. “For me, the main goal is to race with the best in the world and the T100 has allowed me to do those multiple times in different venues and locations.
“As I start to think about what I’d like to do in a post-sporting career, a lot of it is around motivating people to be more active and life sport filled lifestyles.
“I think the T100 can be a big part of that and it’s providing that inspiration and opportunity for people to race in the pro or amateur races. It’s a key part of the puzzle.”
The inaugural Dubai T100 Triathlon World Championship Final to crown the first ever T100 World Champions takes place on 16-17 November. The women’s race is live and exclusive on Eurosport in the UK from 1315 on Saturday 16 November, with the race starting at 1330. Followed by the men’s race on Sunday 17 November at the same times. Fans can also watch for free on PTO+
