By Chris Carmichael, Founder/Head Coach of CTS The articles and responses about the toxic environment and abusive culture in the Nike Oregon Project have included a discussion about the line between tough and abusive. There is a benefit to holding athletes accountable to their goals, and to pushing them to reach further toward a …
Last week we all heard the news about the cancellation of the 2020 Amgen Tour of California. The event is an important component of the international racing calendar, and we are sad it will not happen in 2020. We also thank Kristin Klein, Ryan Ung, and everyone at AEG for their hard work, and hope …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder & Head Coach of CTS One of the habits that separates champions from everyone else is the willingness to do what they are the worst at. Your greatest strength will not be enough to overcome weaknesses you neglect or refuse to address. To use cycling as an example, being the …
By Chris Carmichael, Founder and Head Coach of CTS Sometimes life conspires to steal your training time, but it’s important to take some of it back and get in a short and effective cycling workout indoors. When I’m out of time and can’t ride outdoors, I hop on the indoor trainer for my Quick Fix …
By Chris Carmichael Founder and Head Coach of CTS Races and group rides on Zwift continue to grow in popularity, and while many riders visit Watopia year-round, this is the time of year when even more cyclists jump on the platform as it gets colder outside. I absolutely recommend participating in group rides and races …
By Chris Carmichael Founder & Head Coach of CTS If you have even a tangential interest in nutrition news, you have undoubtedly seen recent headlines proclaiming there are no health risks to eating red meat after all. This, of course, represents a dramatic reversal of decades of nutritional guidance aimed at reducing consumption of red …
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 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 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 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 …