Olympic and world triathlon champion Alex Yee says he’s embracing the “discomfort zone” ahead of his marathon debut in London on April 27.
After winning the two biggest titles in swim, bike and run in 2024, 27-year-old Yee has a different focus for the first part of the year – he’s all in on 26.2 miles.
As a 15-year-old he finished on the podium in the Mini Marathon in London in 2013 and taking part in the event proper has been a long-held ambition.
The first year after an Olympics provides the perfect opportunity and he’s suggested a time of between two hours and seven minutes to two hours and 10 minutes is the aim, which would put him right up there with the fastest British men. Though he’s mindful that it’s a big step into the unknown having never raced further than 10k on the roads before.
‘That’s where growth happens’
One of triathlon’s very best runners – no wonder given he was British 10,000m champion on the track before switching sports – he took in the Valencia 10K in January where he clocked a sharp 28:07.
But plans to do a half marathon have been delayed by illness, though it sounds like things are now back on track.
Writing on Instagram, he said: “Being honest, It’s been a challenging start to 2025 with two bouts of illness and many unknowns, but this is the discomfort zone – and that’s where growth happens.
“That’s my only goal right now.
“Just returned from a productive trip to Boston with New Balance, finalizing the newest race shoe for London… it’s looking fast.”
Track clue to marathon time?
READ MORE: What is a good marathon time?
And there was potentially an encouraging clue on his Strava feed that his target time for London is starting to come into view despite that stop / start beginning to 2025.
For the ‘Yasso 800s’ are seen a speed workout that help build endurance – and many say they can be an accurate predictor of a marathon time.
Named after American Bart Yasso, who came up with the concept, it’s essentially 10 lots of 800 metres (two laps of the track) with short rests in between.
You then take the average time for the 10 and if for example it’s three minutes and 10 seconds then that predicts a three hours and 10 minutes marathon and so on.
There’s plenty of debate about how accurate it is, but it’s at least an indicator.
With eight weeks to go to London it’s also clear that it’s only a guide as to where you are at this point in the training phase but Yee did something very similar at the Loughborough track after his return from Boston – 10 lots of 800m, with 60 seconds rest in between – and he then followed it by going straight into 10 reps of 300m!
And the consistency was super-impressive – every single 800m was two minutes and 14 seconds. So if we believe the Yasso formula then Alex is already in the two hours 14 minutes ballpark with two months, lots more training and those “fast” race shoes to come.
