There is an entire generation of cyclists that views VO2 max as a genetically pre-determined performance ceiling. A more modern and nuanced take shows it to be quite responsive to training. With different types of workouts we can increase VO2 max itself, as well as peak power, fractional utilization, and power duration at VO2 max. That’s …
When I turned 50 I felt like an old man, just like that. While I know “age is just a number” there was something about the Big 5-0 that felt a bit different. Put bluntly, it felt to me that after 50 I was on the downhill side of life. So, after being depressed about …
Cyclists and runners and just about everyone else likes to put their feet up after a workout or a hard day at work. A common belief is that elevating your feet above the level of your heart for anywhere from several minutes to an hour or more will “drain lactic acid” from your legs, improve …
There are numerous methods for field testing, involving efforts of varying durations. I developed The CTS Field Test, which consists of two 8-minute, all-out time trials separated by 10 minutes of easy spinning recovery, in 1994 with physiologist Dr. Edmund Burke. At the time we used heart rate, time, and distance (3 miles). Watts were …
Despite the current frenzy around Zone 2 training, coaches and athletes have long known they need to train the full range of intensities to improve performance. Even proponents of large volumes of easy aerobic training incorporate high intensity intervals into their training programs when it’s time for athletes to get ready for racing. We’ve been …
“How do I become a better runner?” In the days of the internet and social media influencers, that question has a million answers, many of which contradict each other. Filtering information down to what’s supported by science and experience is one of the leading reasons athletes cite for hiring a coach. They want to know …
Part 4 of Leveraging Blood Lactate Response in Training: Using Blood Lactate Response to Guide Training Progression There are many ways to structure training throughout a season to achieve similar outcomes in terms of fitness and performance. The brilliance of human physiology is that applying stress to any point along the spectrum from easy …
By Patrick McGlade, CTS Ultrarunning Coach and Physical Therapist Ultrarunning is an exercise in controlled excess. Athletes enjoy pushing themselves beyond what they previously thought possible. We can train for the time on our feet, for elevation changes, the heat and cold, but at a certain point our bodies will wave the white flag …
By Renee Eastman, CTS Premier Coach Part 3 of a series on leveraging blood lactate response in training How did Zone 3, a challenging aerobic intensity below lactate threshold, or between LT1 and LT2, get demoted to being a “grey zone” and considered a waste of training time? Well, there’s good evidence that athlete …
By Jim Rutberg, CTS Pro Coach, co-author of “The Time-Crunched Cyclist”, “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” SBT GRVL’s date change from mid-August to June 26-29 was one of the biggest shakeups to the gravel cycling calendar for 2025. Athletes who were planning their long-range training scheduled to peak for a long gravel event in August need to …