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Most triathlons do not allow headphones. Depending on race distance you are looking at anywhere from 90 minutes to 17 hours alone with your own thoughts, no music, no podcasts, no audiobooks. Just you, the course, and whatever is going on in your head.

Because of that rule I do most of my training without headphones too — it is the only way to genuinely prepare for what race day feels like. Long rides, track workouts, open water swims. All silent.

But on easy recovery rides, long drives to races, and the occasional relaxed training day, I listen to audiobooks. And my taste is all over the place — fantasy series, business books, astrophysics, motivational reads. If it keeps my brain engaged for a two hour easy ride, it makes the list.

Here is what I have actually been listening to, and why I think audiobooks are one of the most underrated tools in a triathlete’s training toolkit.

Why Audiobooks Work for Endurance Training

Easy aerobic rides are supposed to be easy. Zone 2, conversational pace, low heart rate. The problem is that easy is boring, and boring leads to going too hard just to feel like you are doing something.

An audiobook solves that problem. When you are genuinely engaged in a story or an idea, you stop thinking about your power output and just ride. Hours pass. Easy stays easy. Your aerobic base gets built without you fighting against the boredom of it.

I have ridden easy for three hours on a book I could not put down. Without something to listen to that same ride would have taken everything I had mentally to stay in zone 2.

What I Am Currently Listening To — Dungeon Crawler Carl

I did not expect to get hooked on a fantasy series about a man and his cat navigating a post-apocalyptic dungeon. And yet here we are.

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman is the series I have been working through on easy rides. It is funny, fast-paced, and completely ridiculous in the best possible way. The narrator is excellent and the books are long enough that a two hour ride barely makes a dent in a single one. There are currently 8 books in the series with 10 planned total — that is a massive amount of listening content, more than enough to carry you through an entire Ironman training block

If you are looking for something that makes easy training genuinely fun rather than something to endure, this series is it. It has nothing to do with triathlon and everything to do with making the miles go by.

Search “Dungeon Crawler Carl” on Audible to find the full series.

Best Motivational Listen — Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

If you want to feel like your training is not hard enough, listen to David Goggins.

Can’t Hurt Me is not a comfortable listen. Goggins is brutally honest about his past, his training, and what he believes most people are capable of if they stop making excuses. I do not agree with everything he says but I have never finished a session after listening to this book without feeling like I could have pushed harder.

The audiobook version is particularly good because Goggins himself participates in extended conversations with the author between chapters — it feels less like a book and more like a podcast with someone who has genuinely done things most people only talk about.

Best for: Pre-race week listening. Long training days when your motivation is low. Any day you are thinking about skipping a workout.

Search “Can’t Hurt Me David Goggins” on Audible.

Best Mindset Shift — The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

The title is provocative but the actual content is surprisingly practical. Manson’s core argument — that choosing what to care about is more important than trying to be positive about everything — resonates deeply with endurance sports.

Triathlon involves a lot of suffering. Bad races, missed training blocks, injuries, days where everything falls apart. The athletes who last are not the ones who pretend it is all fine — they are the ones who have figured out what actually matters and let the rest go.

This book helped me reframe some of my thinking around my AE diagnosis and what I can and cannot control. Worth a listen regardless of whether you are an athlete.

Search “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” on Audible.

Best Business Listen — The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

I rotate business books into my training listening because endurance sports and entrepreneurship share more DNA than people realize. Both require systems thinking, long-term planning, and the ability to do uncomfortable things consistently.

The 4-Hour Workweek is the book that got a lot of people thinking differently about how they spend their time and what passive income actually looks like in practice. Some of it is dated but the core ideas around automation and building systems that work without you are as relevant now as when it was written.

Best for: Long easy rides where you want your brain working on something while your legs turn over.

Search “4 Hour Workweek Tim Ferriss” on Audible.

Best Science Listen — Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson

Short, dense, and genuinely fascinating. Neil deGrasse Tyson has a gift for making complex ideas feel accessible without dumbing them down, and this book is short enough that you can finish it across a few easy rides.

There is something about thinking about the scale of the universe while grinding out a long ride that puts the suffering in perspective. Highly recommended for the triathlete who wants their easy days to feel less like wasted time and more like an opportunity to learn something.

Search “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” on Audible.

How to Get All of These for Almost Nothing — Audible Free Trial

If you are not already on Audible, the free trial is the best deal in endurance sports entertainment.

Audible’s free trial gives you access to their full library and includes free credits to keep books even if you cancel. For a triathlete with hundreds of hours of training ahead, that is an easy decision. I use Audible for almost all of my audiobook listening and have for years.

Every book on this list is available on Audible. Start with whichever one matches where you are right now — grinding through a hard training block (Goggins), looking for something fun on easy days (Dungeon Crawler Carl), or wanting a mindset reset (Manson).

Start your free audible trial here!

Bottom Line

Train without headphones when you can — it prepares you for race day and builds mental toughness. But on easy days, use the time to feed your brain. The miles go faster, the easy stays easy, and you finish your ride having actually learned or experienced something.

What are you currently listening to? Drop it in the comments — I am always looking for the next great listen.

— Andrew | My Life With AE | Competitive triathlete, 10+ years racing, Ironman Jacksonville 2027