Training Concepts

We catch up with our friends at The Pro’s Closet, Spencer Powlison and Bruce Lin, to discuss their recent four-week Strava PR Challenge. In the lead up to their attempts, we helped them with training advice and “race-day” strategy tips.

How do you, as an athlete, combine your understanding of sport science and your training and racing experience to most effectively map out your training? That question is the basis for today’s episode, one in which we drift between the philosophical and the practical.

We take a close look at big gear work. What does the literature say about performance gains? What have elite coaches discovered through practice?

We explore how to use a training philosophy to design your program, then use metrics to guide how much, how often, and how difficult those workouts should be.

This short bonus episode is meant to clarify that formulas are a useful starting point in cycling and training, even though they have limitations.

We bring in Dr. Stephen Seiler, one of the world’s preeminent exercise physiologists, to discuss how to adjust your training now that the world is in a chronic state of disruption.

In this episode we look at the big picture when it comes to training in zones, or ranges, versus training a target number. Because what number is best?

We delve into both the nuances of triathlon and how training for that sport relates to endurance training and cycling generally.

We answer questions on interval training and intensity, training for DK in flat places, and muscle fiber recruitment.

In episode 91 we emphasize the many critical aspects of training and coaching that don’t show up in the numbers.

We answer listener questions on training for long endurance events, cardiac drift, the types of inflammation, and much more.

We sit down with Jumbo-Visma rider George Bennett to better understand how he trains, how you can apply his tips, and how pros have vastly different approaches.

Pioneering sports nutritionist Asker Jeukendrup joins us for a discussion on how in-race nutrition is trainable and why you should be training your gut.

There’s a critical distinction between adaptation and recovery. Today, we focus on adaptations—what causes them and how to aid them.

The great thing about gran fondos is there is no “right” way to do them. We teach you how to train, race, and prepare for these popular events.

Mindset in cycling, especially racing, is an important and frequently neglected side of our training. Mindset is often all that separates the best from second best and can be the difference between reaching the podium or finishing a race.