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 Mara Abbott, Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor Last week, I took my first coaching job. I won’t be charting watts or checking TrainingPeaks. The workouts will be measured in yards, not hours or miles – I am now officially the new assistant coach of Buffalo’s girls high school swim team. Swimming was my first love …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning This summer we had the pleasure of having Jackson Brill as one of our summer interns. Along with being a sponsored runner for Salomon, Jackson is also an undergraduate at the University of Colorado Integrative Physiology department. The University’s biomechanics department is spectacular and was pushed into …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder & Head Coach of CTS Early in 2019 there were headlines saying “High Cadence Cycling Offers No Benefits to Amateurs” and asking “Is High Cadence Cycling Actually Slowing You Down?” They – and others – were referring to a Feb 2019 study in the International Journal of Sports Medicine that showed …
By Jason Koop, Head Coach of CTS Ultrarunning As has been the case for the last few years, I spent the better part of a weekend following athletes around the (newly revamped) Sur les Traces des Ducs de Savoie (TDS), Courmayeur – Champex – Chamonix (CCC), and Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) races. The races were …
By Chris Carmichael Founder and Head Coach of CTS Does standing in a supercooled environment for 2-3 minutes provide meaningful recovery benefits for cyclists? Whole body cryotherapy (WBC) is a recovery modality some athletes and cycling teams have added to their post-workout routines, but does it work? How Cryotherapy Works To experience WBC you need …
By Mara Abbott Olympian, CTS Contributing Editor As a Centennial State native, I care deeply about the Colorado Classic. My personal attachment to the success of any competition in those mountains cuts even deeper than the impact last weekend’s female-only edition might have on the profile of women’s sport. It has always been hard to …
By Chris Carmichael, CTS Founder and Chief Endurance Officer Whether you are planning on racing SBT GRVL or preparing for another gravel event, here are some tips from my gravel racing experiences at SBT, Unbound Gravel, and others: Eat your breakfast Take the time to figure out what kind of pre-race breakfast works for …
By Renee Eastman, CTS Coach, M.S., C.S.C.S. Renee has been a coach with Carmichael Training Systems since 2001. She has her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology and masters’ degree in Exercise Science. Her sport is cycling and is a 6-time Masters National Champion. She raced competitively in her 20s and 30s, and now is back for …