After a frustrating couple attempts at the full Ironman and feeling like he had hit a serious plateau in his career, pro triathlete and STAC partner Alex Vanderlinden decided to switch things up in late 2018 and join forces with renowned coach, David Tilbury-Davis. We’re excited about this partnership for a couple reasons; the triathlon world has seen the success DTD has had with STAC’s own Cody Beals, and for that reason and a multitude of others, David came on board as an advisor to our team, assisting with the development of our products and services. We’re excited to see what Alex and David can do together this year, and decided to have an early season interview with him about the changes that have been made to his training, why he’s going to change his race focus for a while, and more.

STAC: What promoted you to go from self-coached to enlisting the help of David Tilbury-Davis?

AV: I’ve been racing pro now for a couple years and had really just hit a plateau. A couple years back, I had a really great race at Muskoka 70.3 but since then I’ve struggled with low testosterone and some other health issues. My progression really slowed, and then maybe even went backward. I was getting hung up on numbers in my training, often pushing too hard and not finishing workouts. I had two tough runs at Ironman Mont-Tremblant, and I think the half distance is really more what I want to focus on right now. I needed a fresh set of eyes to come in and help me figure out how to move forward and start seeing some success again.

STAC: Have workouts been going better since working with David?

AV: Definitely. He came in and told me right away I was going too hard on hard days and too easy on easy days. He’s made adjustments to the types of intervals I’ll do on the bike, and also on long rides. I might ride at 65% of FTP now where I would have ridden easier before. And on intervals, we’re working at a more manageable intensity so I can actually get through the workout and not dig myself into such a deep hole just trying to get it done. and he’s also got me working a lot more on my strength in the gym, something I was doing a bit of before but not enough. It’s helped improve things from a hormonal perspective. David has really helped reel me in and give me better focus in training. It’s nice to have someone to message and get their perspective on things; like before, if I wasn’t feeling good I might make the wrong call about whether to train or not. Now, I can speak to David and he’ll either confirm, good call not to train today or maybe tell me, “you know what, you can do it.” I’m much more consistent these days.

STAC: Racing often and competing at a high level in full Ironman seems like a hard task, especially as you also have a job.

AV: It is, and so that’s why I’ve decided that I’m going to focus on half Ironmans this year and also go back to racing shorter stuff, like the local sprints and Olympics in the MultiSport Canada series. I think my skills are actually better suited to ITU racing, but I’d have had to grow up swimming to really do well at that. I love working at Ziggy’s bike shop, doing bike fits and meeting new athletes and getting them into the sport. I also love what I do in coaching others. I find fulfillment in helping people reach their goals.

STAC: Does life feel more balanced now that you’re not putting in those huge days training for the full distance?

Yes. I do love the training for the full Ironman and I found I improved across all disciplines doing the longer stuff. But I love racing and Ironman didn’t allow me to race as frequently as I would have liked. Right now I’m happy with having balance in my life; working takes some of the stress away from triathlon. For a few years I did the full time triathlete thing and that’s when things started going downhill in training and racing. I’m a better triathlete when I have balance in my life. I’m 29 right now and I don’t want to waste good years of racing, but I also want to build the base for what’s to come after triathlon.

STAC: You’re one of our Virtual Wind Tunnel experts. Can you speak to the type of client you have coming in for the service and how you’ve seen athletes benefit from it?

AV: I really see that for the athletes who buy into it and make the investment, there are huge gains that are made. Sometimes there’s some hesitation from newbies, who think that they aren’t fast enough to require that type of technology to see results. But it really is one of the most affordable ways to find huge gains on the bike. You’ll get way better results than if you go out and buy fancy carbon wheels or some other type of flashy equipment. Finer details matter and between a bike fit and the virtual wind tunnel there’s a lot of improvements to be made for any triathlete or cyclist.

STAC: What races are you targeting this year?

AV: Right now I’m signed up for Savagement in Maryland. I’ll probably do Eagleman and another nearby 70.3, and I’m excited to get back to the shorter stuff too.