This week everyone at CTS joined the rest of the athletic community in watching and celebrating Desiree Linden’s victory at the Boston Marathon. The weather was one of the major players in the race, with strong headwinds and icy rain battering racers all the way. Desi showed, once again, that preparation, adaptability, toughness, and …
“If you want something done right, do it yourself.” That phrase has jumpstarted many companies whose founders recognized the right product either didn’t exist or needed to be improved. Uli Schoberer invented the cycling power meter nearly 30 years ago, and the early commercial versions of the SRM power meter were instantly recognizable by …
In a constant search for energy and performance, athletes tend to focus on the big macronutrients: carbohydrate, protein, and fat. They manipulate the percentage of calories from each, going from the classic endurance athlete’s high carbohydrate strategy to a Paleo-esque high-protein strategy, or even a high-fat ketogenic strategy. However, the foods we eat supply more …
I’ve always been fascinated by the role of genetics in sport. Obviously, there’s the heredity aspect that sometimes helps children of great athletes become great athletes themselves. More practically for those who don’t win the DNA lottery, genes affect the way individuals respond to stimuli, potentially opening the door to even greater customization of …
By Jason Koop Coaching Director, Author of “Training Essentials for Ultrarunning” Racing a 5-kilometer running race may seem antithetical to ultramarathon training, but there are plenty of good reasons why racing fast for 5 kilometers is beneficial for athletes training to run 50 or 100 miles. I should preface this by saying that, while …
By Mara Abbott, Olympian and CTS Contributing Editor My junior year of college, I spent a semester enrolled at a university in Mérida, Mexico. In part, I considered it an experiment in what would happen if I went out in the Real World where sports (forever and always swimming and at the time only recently, …
By David Henry, CTS Ultrarunning Coach Sooner or later every ultrarunner has to get comfortable running at night. While running at night is still just running, seeing well on a trail can be a challenge unless you address a few key difficulties that crop up in the dark. We’ll tackle each one individually below. Adequate …
Most of us are limited by time, somehow shoehorning ultrarunning training into busy lives. Taking an hour at lunch or waking up an hour earlier is often the way people with lives, jobs, and a family fit in their training. It is easy, particularly if you are an aspiring ultrarunner, to conclude you don’t have …
If endurance events were easy, would they be as much fun? For our tribe the answer is: No. We get excited by challenges that push us beyond our comfort zones. Our tribe is drawn to events other people consider insane, including running 100 miles above 10,000 feet in Leadville, CO; riding a road bike …
By Syd Schulz CTS Athlete and Pro MTB Racer When I first started mountain biking, it used to make me miserable, like, somewhat frequently. This was because mountain biking is hard and starting new things is hard and also because I wasn’t very confident in my own abilities. As a result, perceived failures (OMG …