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All sensible money will be on the Brownlees, who have become household names and faces since their performances last summer. Indeed, the publicity the pair have provided the sport has helped see participation grow by more than 30,000 in Britain since 2009. They are now constantly in demand – be it journalists, sponsors, or fans, and can no longer walk down the street without being stopped to sign autographs and have photos taken with adoring members of the public.
For all the attention they garner, their focus is still very much on training though. They recently completed a five week training block at altitude in St Moritz, and when they are not munching their way through copious amounts of cake, baked by Alistair’s seventy-something next door neighbour, they are putting themselves through a gruelling 5 hours of training a day. This amounts to more than 20,000 metres of swimming a week, hundreds of miles of running a month, and thousands of hours on the bike a year.
During the last few weeks, they have been scaling back the training in preparation for the race though. The five hours of training a day has become a ‘meagre’ two and a half hours this week. Meagre! It’s still more than most of us do in a week, let alone a day! Since arriving in London by train on Thursday, they have been taking advantage of Imperial College’s swimming pool for their training, and were heading out for an hour of riding after their press commitments on Friday afternoon.
“I like to keep my body moving. If I stop then suddenly everything stops. Like when you finish at school and you get a cold. It’s similar to that,” says Jonny.
“On the morning of the race itself, I normally do nothing though. When you get a lunchtime start (London kicks off at 1.30pm) I get up and go for a walk, sometimes on the course. It’s quite nice to clear your head. I have breakfast. I try to keep it very simple, some simple cereals with bread and jam; maybe some Weetabix and some muesli. I’ll eat again at 11.30. Ideally I’d have some pasta with tomato sauce and salt. Not very exciting!”
If the preparations are not exciting, the end result almost always is. If the pair can repeat their heroics of last year in Hyde Park tomorrow then they will take another step towards becoming one of Yorkshire’s greatest exports.
How to watch the Hyde Park ITU Triathlon Final:
- Hyde Park (Free Entry). 1.30pm start.
- BBC Two. 1pm.
