By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor During the final week of September in Yorkshire, a fresh crop of road world champions pulled on new rainbow jerseys, including three young Americans (Congrats Chloe, Quinn, and Megan!). As someone who started winning significant races at a young age, I can say from experience that big …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning To pole or not to pole, that is the question! Over the next 4 weeks, this blog will explore how, when and why to use poles in ultrarunning. Aided by the poignant research of our summer intern Jackson Brill, we will review the science of how poles …
By Chris Carmichael Founder & Head Coach of CTS We need to talk about bad days. At various times during the season I hear athlete and coaches chalk up a poorly executed training session or unexpected poor result to nothing more than a bad day. Then they drop it and move on, and that’s the …
By Adam St. Pierre, CTS Ultrarunning Coach For a few years now, I’ve been fairly critical of sweat sodium concentration testing. In my own personal experience, I’ve suffered more in races when I’ve taken in too much salt, rather than not enough. I’ve also seen, in both races and training, that the amount of salt …
By Chris Carmichael Founder & Head Coach of CTS Cycling’s Road World Championships have always held a special significance for me, perhaps because racing the Junior World Championships in 1978 was a big moment in my development as a young rider. This week, Road Worlds have created some great storylines, and perhaps even bigger …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor It’s tough for athletes and other high achievers to self-evaluate performance. To prevent burnout, maintain motivation, and guard your mental health for the long run, it’s important to learn to celebrate yourself on occasion. We should pause to celebrate our own hard work and accomplishments. At the same …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning This past week, I had the pleasure of being a roundtable presenter at TrainingPeaks Endurance Coaching Summit. The annual summit, which alternates locations yearly between Boulder, CO and the United Kingdom, brings together hundreds of like minded triathlon, cycling and running coaches. These coaches hail from all …
By Chris Carmichael You do not have boundless energy. Even the most driven and motivated people have a finite amount of energy to spread across all their activities. A critically important portion, emotional energy, is easily depleted and unlike physical energy, no amount of food can replenish it. Emotional energy is the mental fuel that …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning This past week, I had the pleasure, pain and privilege of running the Tor Des Geants in the Aosta valley of Italy. The race is a beast, boasting 24,000 M (78,741 feet) of climbing over 356 kilometers (221 miles). Within those miles is a variety of …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder & Head Coach of CTS For a long time, the concepts of ‘time-crunched athletes’ and ‘two-a-day’ training sessions seemed completely contradictory. Over the past two years, however, I’ve seen an increase in the number of cyclists riding twice a day – not every day – but regularly. That has led to …