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APR MAG: When was the last time you felt like you've really made progress?

Kristian Blummenfelt: That's tricky. Progress is going in circles, up and down. The highs feel as if you’re shape is better than ever. As a triathlete, you swim, bike, and run, so you might feel in perfect shape in one of the disciplines whereas the two others might not feel how you want them to be. In 2023, I felt super strong on the bike, my run was progressing, but the swim wasn't really there. Overall, swim, bike, and run, I wasn't in the best shape ever, even though I felt I had improved massively on the bike.

The last time I felt great in all three disciplines was just before Tokyo. I was in the swim shape of my life, I felt very strong on the bike, physically and technically, I ran fast in regular conditions in Font-Romeu and in the humid heat in Japan, dealing well with the conditions. That was the first time I felt that I could master all three disciplines. Since then, there have been moments in which I can feel that the run is improving, looking at capacity or threshold. When you're training for an Ironman, you feel good in a different way. You don't feel like you're having the 2:55/km pace, but you start to feel like a machine. We can just keep going.

“It’s not the feeling of winning that I enjoy, it’s the feeling of chasing something, of doing the work and feeling progress towards my goal.”

APR MAG: Do you remember a specific moment at which you’ve felt like it clicked? A certain movement with your arm when swimming, or maybe a slight change of your running technique?

Kristian: I think it’s probably the feeling when you're coming from altitude. Coming down from 2300m, you can really feel the altitude-effect when breathing. It's difficult to point out one specific session, though. Sometimes, when I’m having a three days rest, which is like a mini tapering, I will suddenly feel sharper. Last time I came down from altitude, in between camps where we're doing lots of volume, I brought the volume down when I came back home to Bergen. Of course I would feel better in the sessions then, coming in with more freshness. But even though I felt great in these sessions, I knew it was because I’ve been doing less volume and that I was supposed to feel good.

APR MAG: You've basically won everything possible, but you're still trying to improve. How do you maintain this motivation?

Kristian: I think it's the challenge of building towards something. It's not the feeling of winning that I enjoy, it’s the feeling of chasing something, of doing the work and feeling progress towards my goal - almost feeling like a machine. After Tokyo, I was happy to have won the Olympics and it felt like a massive relief, but I was even more hungry to prove that I can do it on the Ironman distance, that I'm not merely a short distance guy. The same goes for St. George and my podium in Kona in 2022. I wanted to show that I can come back to short course again. It’s always about going into the next challenge. Last year was rough and I haven’t reached my goals, so I have to come back stronger this year. This comeback is motivating me. I want to come back stronger but at the same time, the next generation is coming, new athletes who are lifting the game. Now I am one of the older guys in the field, so I want to prove that I can still race against the kids.

APR MAG: You’ve mentioned you haven’t reached your goals last year. How do these setbacks affect you and how do you turn them into motivation?

Kristian: Setbacks create moments for reflection. It may be the tipping point that makes you change direction in order to take it to the next level. Looking back at Paris, it wasn't just my form on that specific day, it probably also were the decisions we made leading into the race. After a disappointing race like this one, you think about everything you dide in the build up in the two years prior to the event. From training camp locations to whether the coach had been wrong. All of your energy goes into trying to understand why you failed. I think the fact that it's still on my mind and still hurting is a good thing. It means that I need to turn it into something positive and I can use it as a motivation to come back to the top, fuel for the fire so to say. These moments make you rethink everything. You come up with new plans, and you’re more motivated than ever. In Kona, when I'm suffering, spending 3.5 hours on Queen K, there’s plenty of time to reflect. I lost the race five kilometres in the run, going backwards. Then it becomes about finishing and reflecting what is needed to come back stronger. These lows hurt, but they hurt in a good way because they allow for change.

APR MAG: Are there certain character traits that make you stay motivated, that make you successful?

Kristian: You have to be loving what you're doing. You need to be desperate to get to the top. I really think you need to be like that. If it didn't hurt after this performance, if I thought it was just a poor race, it wouldn’t mean enough to me. If such an experience doesn’t hurt, the sport does not mean enough to you to do the work. The fact that this sport is what I'm living for, what I put my heart and soul into - that’s what makes the difference. We train 28 or 30 hours a week, but everyone does. All these hours, you need to train just a tiny bit better than everyone else. That comes down to dedication and desperation.

APR MAG: In the past few years, we’ve seen various developments in shoes, in training, but also in nutrition and fueling. How important would you rate nutrition and fuelling, and how does fuelling benefit your physical and mental performance?

Kristian: In marathon running and Ironman, fueling is probably what makes the biggest difference. It seems easy to run in a carbon-plated running shoe and suddenly you’re five seconds faster compared to a non-plated shoe. But if you can go from 60 to 90g of carbs per hour because of scientific and technological developments, you can take up between 50 to 70% more carbs. For an Ironman, this means that you can lift your bike-power by 40 to 50 watts without completely blowing up on the marathon. It’s a huge difference. This development is responsible for the times we see today. There's more and more runners understanding how important it is to fuel and products like Maurten have made it easier. It does no longer cause discomfort as it used to in the past. In the past, fuelling often caused stomach issues, the negative impact on performance was bigger than it's energy benefit. Today, taking down more carbs without negatively impacting your stomach has become easier. You can really feel the energy kicking, it's a huge improvement. The next step will most likely be, that athletes will be fuelling more in training. They can train more, they can train harder, and they will be better prepared for races.

APR MAG: How has this developed throughout your career, from 2013 to now?

Kristian: When I was starting in 2013, we had strong, acid flavours in sports nutrition. It was made to have about two or three scoops. When I tried to double it to get the amount of energy I needed, it was almost burning in my stomach. That was just how sports nutrition was made. It was about having sweet, strong flavours. When I was preparing for my first race, I tried to follow the science I knew, which said you needed to take 60 to 90g of carbs per hour. I tried it in training, preparing my stomach so I could tolerate it. From early on, when I was still on the 70.3 distance, I’ve been aiming for 90g of carbs per hour. By the end of 2019, I first got introduced to Maurten and I could really feel the difference between Maurten and a regular sports drink. When having two bottles of the Drink Mix 320, I was no longer bonking at the end of the session. Within the sessions, I felt a massive difference from the beginning to the end. In all of my wins, I have used the Maurten Drink Mix 320 - in the Olympics, the Ironman World Championships, and the 70.3. These days, more and more athletes see Maurten’s advantage compared to other brands. Even though some athletes are sponsored by different brands, they might still have the Drink Mix 320 in their bottles on race day.

APR MAG: With three different sports to manage, triathlon is very complex and each discipline has its own challenges. How do different forms of fuelling, whether it’s bars, drinks, or gels, caffeinated or non-caffeinated, help you overcome those challenges in training and racing?

Kristian: I'm mainly using the Drink Mix 320, both in training and racing. It’s just the easiest way to get carbs in. When I go for a long run in the mountains, I'll even mix two Drink Mix 320 in one bottle. It has no flavour and tastes good, it goes down smoothly and it’s easy for the stomach. I use the solid bars as a snack before or after a session. When I have a track session, I eat some Solid Bar 160s about an hour before, basically like a very light snack. If I want to control my caffeine levels without drinking too much, I’ll use the gels. I take a few of those in the middle of an Ironman bike leg, since it’s the easiest way to get caffeine and carbs in. In races, I have the gels on my bike as a backup, as many as my top tube can handle. If I’d loose one of my bottles, which contain about 160g of carbs, I just want to be prepared, so I can still get all the energy I need.

For the run, I use the Maurten Gel 160 to have maximum control over my carbs and I’ll only have water at the aid stations. If I had to carry around a lot of water on the run course, it would get quite complicated. It's easier to just take a gel every 10 to 15 minutes, just before an aid station.

APR MAG: When and how do you use caffeinated or non-caffeinated fuelling and how do you feel the difference?

Kristian: I respond heavily to caffeine. I don't taste any difference really, but I use caffeine usually before a race. In my first bottle on the bike, I usually have a mix of the non-caffeinated and the caffeinated Drink Mix to get that little bit of extra kick. When I’m feeling in trouble, being really fatigued for example, I might take another caffeine gel, but when I feel like I’m in control, I would always opt for non-caffeinated gels. When I feel like I have enough caffeine in my body from what I'm taking before the race and in the first two bottles on the bike, I try to ease off by the end of the race. Caffeine is a tool I will only use when needed.

APR MAG: You’re really exploring the limits of fueling. Are there any tips that you could share for non-professional athletes when it comes to fueling?

Kristian: It's important to implement your race-day nutrition in training, two or three weeks prior to the event. You should do something like a race simulation and you should try to to push your fuelling in training. This will not only improve your stomach’s tolerance, it will also have benefits for the session itself. I think that's something people underestimate. Fuelling in training is not just to train your stomach, but also to increase your training load, so you can actually go further, longer, and harder. You don’t have to rest as much after a hard session. Instead of having three days between two interval sessions, you could maybe do them with only one day of rest. It will improve your recovery time.

“Fueling in training is not just to train your stomach, but also to increase your training load, so you can actually go further, longer, and harder.”

APR MAG: You’ve mentioned earlier that you train about 28 to 30 hours a week. That's obviously obviously a huge load for your body. How do you, both physically and mentally, recover from your training?

Kristian: Especially here in Sierra Nevada, being snowed in, it’s an extra challenge. Most of the training happens inside, so it’s truly about finding joy in what you're doing. Tonight, I’ll ride three hours on the turbo. It will be about breaking it down into smaller periods. Maybe I will do 60 minutes at a certain power and another 60 minutes with a different focus. Putting these blocks together, it quickly becomes three hours. I’m often trying to simulate that I'm in a race or watch races that I’ll be doing. My next race will be Oceanside, so I might watch last year’s race to get an idea of how the course is looking, to get me into the right mindset. In terms of enjoying the training, I think it's important to train with good friends, to also have this social aspect. If you're having a good squad, it's easier to do 30 minutes extra on a 3 to 4 hours ride rather than coming home a little earlier. Making it social as part of the training doesn’t make it feel like it's training.

APR MAG: So that's strategies during training. How do you recover after your training sessions to be ready for the next day?

Kristian: I think it's good to simplify and plan my day so that it is all about training. Training becomes my highlight of the day and other than that, there’s not much happening. In terms of nutrition, you don't want to go too high on caffeine in your last session of the day, because it will affect your sleep. I'm trying to reduce my caffeine level during the second half of the day. In the evenings, I’ll prioritise mobility work and stretching, maybe also some light activation. It helps me to calm relax after dinner. Also, I’m trying not to be on the phone too much in the evening.

APR MAG: We’ve now talked a lot about performance. As a human being, what is it that you want to be remembered for one day?

Kristian: I don't think too much about what I want to be remembered for. In terms of my career, I want to have dominated the sport and I want to have won everything. Currently, winning in Hawaii is still missing. I want to win the world championship there, but I also want to win in Nice. When I retire from the sport in five or ten years, I don't care if people don’t look at me as an athlete anymore. Then I just want to enjoy life. That doesn’t mean, I’m not enjoying my life as it is, I really enjoy it. Training with Casper and Gustav is great, we love the journey that we’re on, it’s not just the results. Of course, inspiring other people to become active and healthy is also nice, meeting age groupers saying they signed up for triathlons because they’ve seen me racing in Tokyo. 

Ten years down the line, I hope I will still be able to do sports. Today, being a professional triathlete means that I can't do too many other activities. I can't go skiing in winter, I can’t go climbing, rowing, or fishing. Some activities are just too time consuming. When I retire, I'll be as active as I am now, but I want to explore new ways of being active.

APR MAG: Thank you, Kristian.